JRMITCH85 Character, Decisions, Faith, Ramblings

I Can’t Control It All

Today I got on an airplane. It was already almost an hour later than we were supposed to leave, and then just as we were about to leave, the Captain told us that there was a problem that had to be resolved before we could leave. After waiting about twenty minutes on the plane, I decided to call the airline to change my connecting flight because we were going miss the original connecting flight, and I wanted to get a head start on the rush of people that would be trying to book the later connecting flight. However, during my first call, the call disconnected before I could talk to an agent. This happened three times before they fixed the problem and we pushed back from the gate and I had to turn my phone off.

My mind was filled with anxiety. I tried to fall asleep on the flight, but the fear that I wouldn’t be able to make it to my destination kept me awake. As soon as it was okay to pull our phones out, I call the airline, and thankfully get connected to an agent relatively quickly, and as I proceed to describe my situation, she informs me that the airline has already booked me on a later flight.

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I am thankful for that agent, and my anxiety is mostly alleviated, but I still run to talk to a live agent as soon as I got off the plane, and they simply print out my new boarding pass, and all that anxiety was completely unnecessary.

Similarly, I try and control God. I try to handle God, directing my prayers, my devotions, my energy into trying to get God to act and move nature in my favor. However, my connection always seems to get disconnected, and I feel as if I can’t reach the Almighty with my prayers and I get frustrated. However, I need to realize that I cannot control God, I cannot be the Almighty, but rather I need to yield to where God is leading me and stop trying to manipulate the Almighty through my actions, my prayers, or even my “devotions”. This isn’t honest or devoted, but rather God calls us to give up our whole selves to worship and sacrifice(Rom 12:1-2).

We often will find that no matter what we do to try and conform the Almighty to our will, we will fail and find ourselves worrying and getting frustrated by the things we ultimately cannot control. God will surprise us when we finally give up on this, and God takes care of us, and ultimately we will find blessings in areas we do not expect. It may not be exactly what WE thought it would be, but it will bless us beyond measure.

Where are your blessings found? I challenge you as you read this to give up your concept of control, and yield to God in all things, and find out where you will be blessed.

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Saturday by Steve Thomason

Saturday must have been a long and dark day. Not only did they hide in fear of their lives, but even worse, they grieved deeply. Jesus was gone. His disciples had watched the soldiers carry him off to his execution the day before. Now it was Saturday, their master was dead and the grief cut deeply, leaving them utterly hollow.

They had not signed up for this. Jesus was supposed to be the Messiah. He was supposed to lead them to victory over their oppressors. He was supposed to establish Israel as a strong nation once again and allow them to bask in the joy of sweet justice. Pain, grief, and sorrow were not part of the package.

Perhaps you have felt like the disciples that dark Saturday. I know I have. Over a fifteen-month period in my life I experienced the deaths of a friend, two grandmothers, my father-in-law, and the church that we had planted, as well as the near death experiences of a sister-in-law and a niece. Wham! There I was. It seemed like everything around me was dying. I didn’t sign up for this. I thought the way of following Jesus was one of victory and peace. All I felt was pain and despair. Actually, I had lost the ability to feel. I wish I could say that I handled it with poise and dignity, quietly nodding and smiling, quoting pithy platitudes about God’s sovereignty. I didn’t. I toggled between numb denial and irritating doubt. I wondered if perhaps I didn’t measure up. Perhaps God was punishing me for something. Perhaps I’d been duped all these years and the universe really was a cold and empty place.

I have to think that the disciples had similar feelings on that dark Saturday. It seemed as if all hope was gone. We feel this way because we forget an important truth. The way of Jesus is a way of pain, grief, and sorrow. Jesus suffered much in his life – even before his arrest and execution. As a child he knew what it meant to be hidden in Egypt in fear for his life. He knew the loss of his stepfather, Joseph. He wept over the death of his friend, Lazarus. He grieved over the blindness of the citizens of Israel. He agonized to the point of blood in the garden of Gethsemane. He screamed out in the words of his ancestor, David, as he hung on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?”

But Jesus told us it would be this way. In John’s account of Jesus’ final teaching Jesus said that God would prune the branches that clung to the Vine (John 15:1-17). Pruning hurts. To have large parts of your life severed from you is not a pleasant experience. There is no joy in the sensation of shears cutting into your flesh. Yet, as the Great Gardener knows, without pruning there is no life.

That is the way of Jesus – the way of God’s love and grace. God purifies us with pain. The disciples learned this and went on to write to the churches about it. James said to consider it pure joy when we suffer various trials, because in the end it makes us complete and strong. Peter told us that suffering refines our hearts like fire refines gold. Then Paul, as he described the painful process of working through persecution and breaking down the walls of prejudice, reached the climax of the whole process with one word – hope.

Saturday was finally over. On Sunday the disciples came face to face with a reality that is deeper than grief. They met hope. Jesus plowed through pain and grief and came out the other side alive once more. Saturdays will come. Of that you can be sure. They will come and they will be painful. They may last a day; they may last twenty months. When they come, remember this – without Saturday we don’t get to Sunday. The love of Jesus is our hope for today and forever. We will grieve, but we can grieve with hope.

JRMITCH85 Uncategorized

Prayer to Do Good

Prayer to Do Good (F.B. Meyer [England, 1847-1929])

Forgive me, most gracious Lord and Father, if this day I have done or said anything to increase the pain of the world. Pardon the unkind word, the impatient gesture, the hard and selfish deed, the failure to show sympathy and kindly help where I had the opportunity, but missed it; and enable me so to live that I may daily do something to lessen the tide of human sorrow, and add to the sum of human happiness.

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Lean on Me by Karen Sloan

“Lean on me.” God makes this invitation to you and me in every moment of our lives. We can choose to respond, “Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me.” But as for me, my focus often remains stuck on myself. I become caught up either in all that I accomplish or in all that I have left undone. I believe circumstances are either the result of my own abilities or the fault of my own limitations. When life is all about me, I am blinded from the reality of my complete dependence upon my Creator. The noise of arrogance and anxiety deafens the call to lean on the everlasting arms.

We are designed by God to be dependent. It is a twofold dependence – first, directly upon God, and second, indirectly upon God through those people God brings into our lives. Our existence is to be one of interconnection, not isolation.

As Jesus lived his life on earth as both God and human being, he lived the ultimate life of continual dependence upon his Father; yet he also depended upon the provision from his Father through other human beings. God provided for Jesus’ human life through Mary. Mary first carried Jesus inside her body and then in her arms. The nourishment Mary took in was the first nourishment he received. She prepared his daily bread and mothered him with all her heart – satisfying one of the deepest needs of the human soul.

In adulthood, Jesus depended upon a large community to accomplish the work he was called to do. A young boy provided the five loaves and two fish that would feed five thousand. Jesus asked a woman for water at a well – and depended upon her word to evangelize her entire Samaritan town, leading many to believe in him. Overwhelmed with sorrow in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus sought solace in the company of Peter, James, and John, even as they fell asleep just when the Lord needed them most. When Jesus died on the cross, Mary was there with the other women and John, perhaps ready to hold his body one final time. Jesus called upon his disciple to do one more thing for him – take care of his mother (John 19:26-27). Even his tomb was a gift from one of his followers (Matthew 27:59-60).

Yet Jesus did not stay in this tomb beyond three days. For the One he depended on before all others raised him from death to life.

There is freedom in dependence. It enables each of us to accept our vulnerability. We no longer have to hide in shame or self-sufficiency. You and I can choose to lean on our Father amid a full range of disastrous and delightful events, praying, “Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me” (Psalm 70:1).

We lean in dependence on the Lord, we depend on those closest to us, and we lean also upon the saints who have gone before us in the faith. Sixteen hundred years ago, a European Christian leader named John Cassian published an account of his conversations with monks living in a Middle Eastern desert. One older monk, Isaac, had shared this prayer from Psalm 70 with the young John on his visit to their monastery. John’s book – and Isaac’s prayer – had such an influence that even today many Christians around the globe begin times of prayer with the Scripture verse Isaac commended to John Cassian. And on days when I am still enough to hear the call, Lean on me, I, too, join in this prayer practice, thanks in part to John Cassian, Isaac, and his fellow monks.

JRMITCH85 Character, Hope, Ramblings

Another Lesson On Preparation

Today I ran and finished a half marathon, it wasn’t my first, but it is the first race I have run since the LA Marathon in March. I finished with my best time, but it most likely did not live up to the potential of my previous training. The excuses I fought were blaming it on running in rain, blaming the course, and blaming the other runners. However, these are nothing but excuses, and the reason I didn’t run the time I desired was due to the fact that I wasn’t prepared well enough to run the race I could have run.

For other races I have made sure to get a good mix of road running coupled with treadmill runs. This prepares your body for running on pavement. For this race I didn’t fit even a single road run into my training. I didn’t prepare my body for the rigors and pounding it would take over the 13.1 miles of steps on the pavement. For this reason, around mile marker 9, when I began a descent the muscles in my legs began to seize and I could not will them to move any faster. Not that running on the road could have prevented this sensation, but I definitely could have known what my body was telling me and adapt the way I ran to minimize the effects. Additionally, the value to a run on the road as opposed to a treadmill, because a treadmill keeps you at a constant pace, while you have to pace yourself when you are running on the road.

Another training element that was absent from the training for this race was the lack of a significantly long run. I believe my longest run in preparation for this race was 7 miles, which is only slightly more than 1/2 the total distance of the half marathon. Previously, I have run at least one 10+ mile run. This obviously prepares not only your body for the distance, but also your mind to understand the distance and helps you learn how to pace your run.

This is how I live too often. In the life of this blog, I have already talked about my procrastination, and it is significant that I thought about my lack of prep work as my first thought as I crossed the finish line and saw my time. Even though I recently saw the Lion King, I didn’t learn my lesson from the song, “Be Prepared”. I walk through too many things choosing procrastination, or ignoring them until I don’t have a choice, but to address them. In some cases this has led to undesirable circumstances, and consequences. Thankfully, my lack of preparation for this race only led to missing my time goal and some soreness in my muscles and knees. However, I hope I can learn to prepare, so that in the future I don’t have worse consequences to my poor preparation.

JRMITCH85 Character, Decisions, Faith, Hope, Ramblings

Don’t Get It Confused

Throughout my life I have tried to be viewed as a person that tries to give his all to God. Clearly I have fallen short through the process and I have given in to the things that this world deems as good. This is evident as I think about the fact that I am writing this blog post on the iPad I was given as a gift, but couldn’t settle for just an iPad, but I also needed the matching bluetooth keyboard. I am a technophile, and this mere fact shows that I give in to the latest and greatest the world has to offer. (I certainly am not claiming that owning an iPad is a sin, but my obsession certainly crosses into the idolatry side of things.)

However, in preparation for a sermon I recently gave I was reminded that as much as I want to be viewed as a devout follower of God, it IS NOT ABOUT ME!!! I get this confused far too often. In Acts 13, Paul recounts the history of Israel, and throughout this history the main thrust is not about what Israel has done, it wasn’t about how well the law of Moses was followed, but rather it is about how FAITHFUL God was and is, and how much GRACE is poured upon us time and time again. I will fail, but God has taken care of that sin, and God will continue to take care of me.

This bashed in my skull again as I sat reading Romans 12, as I worship I have thought that I was bringing something to God, but in fact, God brings the goodness, the grace, and the fulfillment. So again I am told loud and clear that IT IS NOT ABOUT ME!!! So I realize that it takes a lot more humility to simply accept the grace that God pours upon me, and to even go further to ask for serving after serving of this grace.

We are called to respond to this grace, but our response is not the source of the grace, nor is it the reason the grace was given in the first place. God gave us grace because He LOVES US ABUNDANTLY, and that is why CHRIST DIED, that is why our JUSTIFICATION can only be found through the power of God expressed in Christ dying on the cross and being raised from the dead. That happened. Whether or not we respond by living our lives as worship-filled as we can, God still LOVES us!

SO don’t get it confused, IT IS NOT ABOUT ME!!! (or any of us.)

JRMITCH85 Character, Faith, Hope, Ramblings

Fathers

While this is a bit late, these are some of the thoughts I had after reflecting on this holiday where I found myself blessed beyond measure.
The following are three things I have learned since becoming a parent.
  1. We aren’t perfect.
  2. We are often idolized by our kids.
  3. We can’t make it on our own.
I forget every once and a while and I change my behavior, although something always happens to remind me that no matter what I can’t escape the truth in the three statements above. Sometimes I wish they weren’t true, but then I am reminded that it is important that I submit again and again to the truth found in these statements.
We aren’t perfect.
While I could probably go on and on about how we are completely depraved, and off on a tangent about the fact that we all fall short of the glory of God, and are desperately in need of a savior, which is true, but I want to point out how this is accentuated when I look at my life as a father.
There are times when I let my son watch too much television. There are times when I don’t discipline correctly. There are times when I don’t say, “no.” There are times when I am less than my potential.
I have the most darling little boy in the world, admittedly I am biased, but he does something every once and a while to get on my last nerve. I lose patience and sometimes my cool. I fail.
Wow. I am so far from perfection.
However…
I am the greatest thing in the eyes of my child.
I can’t explain it. It must be that form of special blessing that God gives us when we have children. He looks to me for approval, for guidance, and for love. Despite my failings listed above, he still views me through the rosiest colored glasses.
There is a great responsibility that goes along with being idolized in this way. He will go onto learn my actions, and imitate them. Unfortunately, my failings have the chance of being carried on by him. Therefore the responsibility to be perfect is present, so that the errors in my character can end with me, but this can only be a striving as long as I realize that I am not currently perfect.
This leads to the fact that…
I can’t do this alone.
The community that surrounds us is a great guide so that we may strive toward perfection. They help show us examples of how to parent, and help us see our own imperfections. The partners in crime (other parent/grandparents/aunts and uncles) help give us voice, support, love, and breaks that we sometimes need. This all helps to strengthen our resolve, teach us in other methods, get support in our methods, and show us that we aren’t perfect, but that we can be loving and be a wonderful example of love. The community establishes values, and affirms that the child is loved, and surrounded by people that love them. However, most of all I am instructed by the overwhelming love of the Almighty, and that the love of the Father shows me that the perfect love is sacrificial.
—–
I thank my father, and my community for teaching me that I need them, and that I need God to grow as a better parent.
JRMITCH85 Decisions, Hope, Uncategorized

Playgrounds

Being outside has always been my son’s preference, and I will give him the credit at pulling me out of the house, and getting me active once again. He loves going down the slide, climbing anything he can climb, and pretending he is on a boat/spaceship/ school bus, etc. I enjoy watching him do all of this, and even more when he invites me in his fantasy. This is supposed to be a safe place where energy can be dissipated in a safe environment so that kids can play. However, at our favorite park, there have been more “older kids” just sitting and waiting for something to happen. While they are waiting,  they usually have stuck to sitting on benches away from the playground, but as the weather has warmed up there are more people and “those waiting for something to happen” have moved closer and closer to the playground, until they are actually sitting on the equipment, moving to this spot as children are playing. Bad enough, right? It gets worse.  While on the equipment they were smoking, loudly arguing using unimaginative language, and fighting. Our boat/spaceship/ school bus has been infiltrated by pirates.

Before we found ourselves asked to walk the plank, we decided to take a break from that park, and use our imagination more.

The other day we went to a wilderness park, where we were able to use the original playground equipment, trees, ponds, hills, and open space. Much like the playground, there are still the dangers of  falling down and skinned knees, but we did not encounter any pirates, and we were able to have fun enjoying nature. While the playground was always the safe choice for fun, we found a great blessing in just playing around and exploring. The important thing about play is not the specific equipment, but in the fact that children are incredibly inquisitive and have the ability to make the most out of their environment. As a parent I have looked and searched for the “best” playground with the most equipment , but I am reminded that a child’s mind is the best piece of equipment.

As a father I have sought to give my son all the tools and toys to foster his imagination. I don’t buy him every toy, but, as we sit in his room playing looking around at all the toys we aren’t playing with, I recognize that I have purchased too many toys. I have thought this is cool, or that will be fun to play, I forgot that the key to play is not the toy, but the child playing. The Almighty created my son with a mind and a body made for play. I need to remember that there is nothing and no place that will ever be anything more than the thing or place is seen to be in the eyes and mind of my son.

As an adult I am just like that, I find myself bored, and that life will just be better if I get a new this or that. Maybe an iPad will do the trick? Nope. Not even the iPad2 is better than the Creator’s natural gifting. We have become old, and our equipment might be rusty, but if we shake off the dust, we will find the best tools and toys occur naturally.

Perfect is not found in places or things, because just like The Boss says, “Baby we were born to run,” and climb, and play. So whatever your preferred play, use the natural tools we have been given, and stop relying upon all our toys and equipment.

JRMITCH85 Ramblings

Where have I been???

Clearly I have been dancing around and having a good ol’ time. With all of the fun I haven’t made time for you all, and I apologize. Although my reader pool is small I appreciate anybody that takes time to read my rambling thoughts and  perspective. I hope to put forward a few thoughts this month, so that you can peek into my mind.

I wanted to send out thoughts and prayers to all of those that have been affected by the tumultuous tornado season, and I pray that all will have time to mourn and rebuild lives. If you would like to help please follow the following link at the end of this post , or simply offer aid in whatever form you can.

Love you all!

http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/pages/usa-hea-2011-eappeal?Open&campaign=113655231&cmp=knc-113655231

JRMITCH85 Character, Decisions, Faith, Hope, Ramblings

Once all the eggs have been found…

So I have been out of the game for far too long. It seems like Ash Wednesday was yesterday, Lent was this morning, Palm Sunday was lunch, and Easter finished five minutes ago. But in our congregation, similar to many congregations, we spoke about the journey toward the cross and the road we take toward a deeper relationship with God through the process of going without during Lent. But that is all done now, because all of the eggs have been found and we can move past that stage in our faith walk for another year. Or can we?

For many of us the journey toward the cross is filled with the reminder of our failures, marks showing us how we have fallen short of the glory of God. But that pain doesn’t tell the whole story, because the story doesn’t end on Friday; but rather death, pain, and our failure are overshadowed and redeemed through God’s victory and the Resurrection of Christ Jesus!

We spend much of our lives alternating between living our lives flaunting our failures and trying to redeem ourselves because we are not worthy.

When we flaunt our failures and are living in the world of  “cheap” grace we are of the mindset that the Easter Egg of Grace should be brightly colored and three-feet in diameter. We know the egg is there and we can turn around and get it at any time, but we are going to do our own thing until it is more convenient.

However, when we view ourselves as not worthy, we are of the mindset that the Easter Egg of Grace should be camouflaged and the size of a pea.  The quest is going to be arduous, and we don’t think it is possible to find the egg because we are so blind from our sinfulness.

Most of the time we are actually in the middle, and see the Easter Egg of Grace as the pink egg above.

But the story tacked on to the end of John is how the Lord reaches out to us, especially after we have finished celebrating the Resurrection.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

 “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

The Almighty is calling us to follow. We failed, and we continue to fail, just like Simon Peter, but the Lord calls out to each one of us to do the Kingdom work each day. We have chores we need to get done, the sheep need to be taken care of and fed, the lambs need to be fed, and we need to learn to follow better. The eggs are not hard to find, but we need to follow Jesus to their hiding place, and once we get there we find abundant grace.