Stay Under the Influence

The cover story for the Spring 2018 issue of Christianity Today was entitled “When Church Gets Sidelined by Youth Sports.” The feature article was asking the question, “What should pastors do when families choose youth athletics over church services?” There were a number of church leaders answering the question with all kinds of suggestions and offering diverse opinions as to how culture has changed and how churches should respond. In the article a survey of readers revealed that 86% of those surveyed responded, “Yes,” to the question, “Has your church struggled with families choosing sports over church?” The article indicates this is an issue for those who are interested church services.

     How attitudes and perspectives have changed over the recent decades. It dawned on me that many in our Christian culture would not understand or appreciate the Academy Award winning historical drama film, “Chariots of Fire” released in 1981. Contemporary viewers possibly would consider one of the major characters, Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian, as an out of touch relic of a bygone era. His conviction of honoring the Christian Sabbath by allowing it to be fully focused on the Lord appears to many to be irrelevant to modern thought and Christian mores. The movie depicts Liddell as refusing to run the 100 meters race in the 1924 Olympics because it was to be run on Sunday. He does not cave to the strong pressure to abandon his convictions by the British Olympic Committee and even the Prince of Wales. Instead he chooses to run the 400 meter race held on another day. He chose to run a race that he was not expected to win. Just before the 400 meters final he gets the following note from the members of the British Olympic team, "It says in the good Book, 'He that honors me, I will honor.' Good luck." The team did not look upon him with distain or disgust, but with respect. Incidentally, he won the race! Others observed that Liddell was committed to be guided by the words of Jesus, “Seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33).

    Why do changes occur in a person’s or a culture’s convictions? Certainly there are a host of reasons. One factor seems to come to the forefront. What influence are we willing to operate under? In the history of Israel there is a record of a king that had a collapse of conviction when the influence he was under changed. King Joash, who ruled in Judah for forty years (see 2 Chronicles 23-24), lived a paradoxical life. His life began in a most dysfunctional time for the nation. He escaped being slaughtered by an evil grandmother, Athaliah, by being raised in secret by a priest named Jehoiada. Later Joash becomes king under the positive influence of that priest that both protected and promoted him. The influence of this priest yielded national reforms and spiritual revival. When this priest died, King Joash came under the influence of leaders of Judah that did not have a heart for the things of God (24:17-18). The reforms and the revival ceased and were reversed as King Joash ignores the warnings of God. He even overlooks the way God had blessed him under the influence of the godly priest, Jehoiada. In fact the King was so impacted by evil influence, that he even put to death the son of the very priest that had sacrificially spared and positively influenced him (24:22). Coming under the wrong influences quickly changes one’s perspective and practices.

     Reflecting on the way changes can rapidly occur in our convictions should give us reason to pause and evaluate. What are the chief influences or influencers in our lives? Do they reflect what we believe are the directions God would have us follow for our lives? Do we have the courage of our God-given convictions to pursue a direction that may be counter-cultural? Are we willing to sacrifice the approval of others while pursuing the approval of God? How are we strengthening our spiritual stamina so that when difficult decisions need to be made we are prepared to make them? These are just a sampling of questions one might consider in such an evaluation.

     When Eric Liddell’s younger sister, Jennie, quizzed him about his involvement in running, the movie records his response. He wants to honor God with his running and says, "I believe that God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure." When we live to honor and love God first in our lives we are choosing to live under His influence. Living under His influence is not a burden, it is a blessing. Jesus told his disciples shortly before his crucifixion, “Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:9-11). Let’s stay under the influence – the right influence!  

Calling All Heroes

     Pilot Tammie Jo Shults, after a catastrophic engine failure on April 17, successfully made an emergency landing of Southwest Flight 1380 with 195 on board. She was given a hero’s welcome at the White House on Tuesday, May 1, 2018. She along with the first officer, three flight attendants, and five passengers of the ill-fated flight were publicly commended by President Trump for their actions. He commented, "Tammie really did an incredible job." He joined the praise that has been heaped upon her by passengers on the plane as well as others amazed at her actions and skills that led them to declare her a hero.
     Heroes are not so much created as much as they just show up and rise up to address a crisis. Having said this we also realize that much of their lives have been preparing for the particular event that demands heroism. Tammy grew up in a New Mexico ranch near Holloman Air Force Base where jets constantly flew overhead. This coupled with reading about missionary pilot, Nate Saint, fueled her inspiration to become a pilot. In high school her interest was further ignited.  After graduating from MidAmerica Nazarene University in Kansas, she applied to the Navy, attended Officer Candidate School, was commissioned into the Navy in 1985, and earned her pilot’s wings. Shults then reached the rank of lieutenant commander becoming one of the first female fighter pilots in the U.S. military. In 1993 she became one of a small percentage of female pilots in the commercial airline industry where just 6.33% of commercial pilots are women. All of that background molded her to become the person she was on that fateful day at 30,000 ft. in the skies between New York and Philadelphia. That day in a crisis she was an aviation hero.     What was her initial response to what had happened? Tammie joined her copilot and the flight's other three crew members issuing a statement that they "feel we were simply doing our jobs." As the media reported on her heroism, Christianity Today interviewed Staci Thompson, a longtime friend and administrative assistant in the church office of the First Baptist Church in Boerne where Tammie worships and serves. Staci said, “She wants people to know that God was there with her” on Flight 1380, “that He helped her in getting control of that plane and landing that plane.” Thompson added, “It was because of Him, not her. She was just a teammate and a co-captain. He was the captain.” Tammie’s text to a fellow pilot several hours after landing the plane, “God is good.”     In many respects she was already a hero in many other ways. The Dallas Morning News wrote, “It seems that nearly everyone in Boerne has a Tammie Jo story, and taken together, they paint a picture of a woman almost too impossibly caring, too impossibly devoted to her community. But, they say, that’s why she was a role model long before she landed that damaged jetliner.” Her Christian faith guides her and her family. The newspaper reported, “Shults has taught nearly every grade level of Sunday school at their church. She’s volunteered at a school for at-risk kids and turned a cottage on her family’s property into a temporary home for victims of Hurricane Rita and widows.”     The Bible is filled with women that became heroes as they stepped into the messes and crises of life in a sin- marred world. One such woman that comes to mind is Esther. Esther was called upon to enter into the lives of the Jewish people who faced extermination at the hands of a religious bigot who hated the Jews for their religion and cultural differences (Esther 3:8-9). The challenge to intervene in this crisis was issued by her Uncle Mordecai. Esther had been divinely placed in a favored position as the queen of King Ahasuerus, the Persian king who ruled a vast empire from India to Ethiopia. Her first response was hesitant. She receives further urging from her Uncle Mordecai (4:8,13,14). He challenges her to act courageously by saying, “Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” As we live our lives we must consider that all of the experiences we have had in life may be leading us to act in the crisis that we are currently facing. Esther did act. The king reversed the evil intentions of Haman the bigot (Esther Ch. 7-8). The extermination of the Jews was averted.     Heroes are manifested when people act as they should to intervene in a crisis. It may mean using a divinely given talent. It may mean speaking up to address an injustice. It may mean placing oneself in harm’s way for the life of another. It may mean ignoring personal cost while focusing more on the other person’s need. One thing is for sure, a hero shows up by their action not their indifference.     The greatest hero to me is Jesus Christ. The Scripture describes his action this way, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8). Christ saw us in crisis and acted to intervene in the crisis. He is definitely a hero!     Our world is desperately in need of more heroes. They will show up as people rise up to enter a world in crisis.

Mimicking the Mediocre

After the NCAA basketball tournament, which athlete do the kids on the basketball court emulate? Was it the player who could not buy a basket if their life depended upon it, or the player who seemed to effortlessly shoot three pointers from beyond the arc consistently? Which piece of art work is held up before a class by an art instructor as a model to be emulated? Was it the one that displayed the proper use of the technique being taught, or the piece that seemed to be at best a feeble or perhaps failed attempt at implementing the skill that was the focus of the instruction? What company is held up as the industry standard for which other companies are to aspire? The one that went bankrupt, or the company that has been successfully growing and developing a quality product or service? What person do we hold up as a   model citizen? The individual who selfishly uses people and lacks character traits that are deemed essential to positively contribute to society, or a person who sacrifices themselves for others regardless of the benefits or rewards they may receive from such actions? What military leader would one feel comfortable in following or seeing engage in a battle on their behalf? The leader who had repeatedly been defeated, or the one who had successfully commanded in battles and was highly regarded by the forces he led? Perhaps one may respond to these questions, “Isn’t it obvious?”

     One may assume it should be obvious. However life seems to indicate that at times the obvious answer is frequently ignored. Even when the choice is clearly between the good and the evil, sometimes the evil is chosen. Why is that? Perhaps it boils down to how we feel or what circumstances seem to indicate the best situation at the moment. More often than not, we make poor choices when we fail to carefully evaluate the options and consequences that are really before us. Do we really understand the realities that face us or are we quick to make an emotional and sometimes illogical decision?

     In the news there are numerous reports of tragedies occurring when a person engages in texting while driving. Yet, rather than mimic the person who pulls to the side of the road to receive or send a text, frequently one sees individuals (maybe even us) texting with one hand while holding onto the steering wheel with the other. Are they unaware of the danger? It is unlikely that one is oblivious to the potential catastrophe associated with texting while driving in light of public service announcements, warnings issued by police, and reports of tragic accidents related to texting. So why this poor choice? Perhaps one feels they are more able than others to multitask, or maybe one simply chooses to mimic people around them that are engaging in the risky endeavors. Somehow they have convinced themselves that they are immune to tragic results. This is only one example of poor choices we make when we ignore the obvious consequences for life decisions.

     The Bible is filled with examples of people who ignored the obvious and it led to tragic consequences. In the history of the nation of Israel we read of the poor choices they made. God warned the children of Israel to not follow the false gods of the people around them (Joshua 24). Attached with that warning were consequences clearly spelled out if they did. Supporting evidence given indicated that the true God   (Jehovah) whom they followed had been victorious over all the false gods of the surrounding nations. He had also chosen them to be unique people that He would protect and bless if they followed Him only. However the nation of Israel failed to listen to what they were told and made an emotional and illogical decision to mimic the mediocre gods of the people surrounding them. The results were catastrophic, just as God had revealed to them. Rather than condemn their poor decision, we must consider if we are prone to also mimic the mediocre gods surrounding us. Perhaps our mediocre gods are not idols or images. Maybe they are in the form of materialism, hedonism, egotism, rationalism, or a multitude of forces or philosophies that we worship and place over the true God of the universe. Such poor choices are just as catastrophic for us as they were for the nation of Israel.

     Rather than mimic the mediocre gods that surround us, let us mimic the magnificent Creator and Sovereign of the Universe. He alone is worthy of our worship. Joshua made a bold decision and announced it to the nation, “Chose this day whom you will serve…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (24:15). He chose to mimic the magnificent God who had been revealed to him and not the mediocre gods that surrounded him. A wise and logical choice for anyone!                     

Does Anyone Listen?

People in this age dispense masses of verbiage through multiple means of technology. Why then does there seem to be so little communication? The famous line from the classic Paul Newman movie, Cool Hand Luke, comes to mind to summarize our current communication dysfunctions, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” Such a failure may lead to minor misunderstandings yielding hurt feelings or to horrendous consequences resulting in the loss of life. One of the most tragic examples of the breakdown in communication is seen in the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Early reports indicate that multiple sources reported to numerous authorities including the FBI, social workers, mental health professionals, and others that there was a dangerous situation developing as a teenager threatened to do bodily harm to others. The communication of this information was not processed properly and the result was catastrophic as young people were slaughtered, a community was shattered, and national sorrow again filled our culture.    

     The reality is that communication is not about technology; it is about people connecting their thoughts with another. Communication at its most basic level involves two groups, the sender and the receiver engaging successfully in specific responsibilities. Those responsibilities may be summarized as clearly expressing and transmitting a thought and carefully receiving and processing that thought. If communicating groups or the responsibilities go awry, the communication short-circuits, the connection is not made, and there is a “failure to communicate.”

     Dr. Tim Elmore in his book Habitudes writes, “Without question, the greatest emotional need of people today is the need to be understood. And to understand we must listen.” Too often our culture displays massive communication failures because no one is listening. People have become so absorbed in their emotional antagonism toward an issue that they invest little or no processing-energy to listen to another’s thoughts on a matter. One can be so fixed on an opinion or position, that one becomes deaf to any other communication. Some people act as if they are saying, “I have already made up my mind; don’t confuse me with the facts.” This is not to say that we do not have opinions or embrace absolutes. One can have those and still engage in hearing what another is thinking. Such an attitude helps one appreciate how or what another thinks, and may even sharpen one’s own perspective on a matter as Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Elmore further states one needs “to seek to understand the perspective of others before they communicate their own points… show empathy and ask good questions. As a result, they earn the right to be heard.”

     One of the areas in our culture where this communication breakdown is seen is in our national government. We have political parties saying they want to resolve issues yet they appear to not listen to what another party is describing they believe is the issue. This year a local TV news broadcast panned politicians as they sat “listening” to the State of the Union address the president was giving to a joint session of the United States Congress. There were multiple officials thumbing their “smart” phones instead of being engaged listeners – regardless of their approval or disapproval of president’s thoughts. One might assume they were tweeting a thought they wanted to share. However, a camera zoomed upon one legislator and they were actually playing an electronic game! People have not elected officials to play games in government but to find potential solutions to the challenges facing the nation. Regardless of what one thinks of a speaker, there is merit in listening even if to better understand the specifics of what one opposes.

     The issue of listening is important in the spiritual realm too. God chose to communicate to His creation in a variety of ways over the centuries. The author of Hebrews indicates how intent God was in communicating by saying, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (1:1-2). The biblical text records also a breakdown in communication. The problem was not the sender, God. It was the receiver, humanity. The Apostle Paul summarized the breakdown in Romans 1:18-23. The truth was revealed clearly, but it was suppressed completely because people would not listen even though “God has made it plain to them.” Failure to listen does not excuse one from accountability. The passage indicates that humanity listened more to their wickedness than they did to God’s message of righteousness and grace. Refusing to listen to God’s clear communication resulted in a human disaster.

     Jesus shares a parable in Matthew 7:24-27 that indicates how important it is to listen to his words. He talks about two men. One listened and could survive the storms that came his way (24-25). The other did not listen and his life ended in disaster (26-27). The principle is clear; the one who refuses to listen to God and respond to his word in obedience faces disaster in life. That is a high price to pay for refusing to listen.

     One person wisely observed, “God gave us two ears and one mouth, thus we should listen twice as much as we talk.” Good advice for operating in a world where we wonder, “Does anyone listen?”     

Plans or Principles?

February in some ways is where the resolutions and great intentions made on New Year’s Day come to die. In February the resolve to lose those extra pounds amassed in previous Fall holidays is swallowed up by Valentine’s Day and gorging sweet chocolate treats. In February one might imagine the Fitbit purchased in January beginning to send alerts, “Are you alive?” The lack of physical activity has activated an automated message system! In February the gym membership card misplaced in early January is found under a crumpled potato chip bag beside an empty two liter bottle of Mountain Dew. In February the intention of being more disciplined about time spent on information and communication technology has been sabotaged by a new collection of apps and more connections made on Facebook or “Words with Friends.” February, upon reflection, confronts us with the reality that positive plans hatched in early January have somehow ended in dismal defeat in just one month.

     Numerous individuals have shared their thoughts about the importance of planning. Benjamin Franklin warns, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” On the other hand former President Dwight D. Eisenhower rightly observes, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” In other words planning carries no guarantees, so it is wise to plan while realizing there may be different outcomes to your plans. Perhaps cartoonist and writer, Alan Sauders is correct when he concludes, “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”

     A Pakistani writer and teacher concludes, “The intelligent have plans; the wise have principles.” Perhaps he has uncovered a valuable ingredient to success in achieving our plans – principles. Principles energize and focus our plans so that they can stay on course and have endurance in the face of obstacles that would thwart them. It is impressive to scan the Bible and see how God used people who were committed to principles that guided their plans. Those principles enabled them to be people who could carry out the plans God had for their lives. Joseph in Genesis 37 – 50 is one such person. God gave him two dreams revealing a great future for him. Soon after these revelations, life became bleak for him. During a period of thirteen years he was hated by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused of rape by a master’s wife, imprisoned, and then to add insult to his agony he was overlooked in prison for several years. One would think that this dark period of life would certainly squelch any plans one might have had. Yet we find certain principles still alive in Joseph’s life.

     A key principle that guided him was that he was answerable to God. When tempted to engage in sexual immorality he responded, “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (39:9). He saw that in order to enjoy God’s plan for him he needed be a person of purity no matter what opportunity may arise. Essentially what God thinks of us is more important that what others do.

     Another principle that kept him focused was he knew that current circumstances were not where God ultimately planned him to be. Servitude and prison were not where he belonged (40:15). God had revealed a different plan for his life. Too often God’s plan for a person’s life is shattered by current events. One stops living by hope for the future and cower in despair at our present realities. The Apostle Paul reminds God’s people that present sufferings “are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Honestly, life can be painfully hard. One must realize that what one currently faces is not the ultimate plan God has for those who are His children.

     A final principle that aided Joseph in his life is to recognize that God’s plan is bigger than we can imagine. When Joseph is finally released from prison and elevated in the kingdom of Egypt, he encounters his brothers – the very brothers who sold him into slavery! How he responded to his brothers reveals a principle-driven life. The brothers assumed that they would receive retaliation from their mistreated brother. Instead they heard a brother saying that even their evil actions had been used by God to accomplish His purposes. They heard words of explanation, not retribution. Joseph says, “Do not be angry with yourselves for selling me to here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you… it was not you who sent me here, but God… You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (45:5,8; 50:20). Seeing a bigger picture of one’s life allows us to see plans and outcomes through a different perspective.

     Joseph had a great plan that God had revealed for his life. Associated with those plans were great principles that carried him through the twists and turns of his life. Other children of God experience a similar reality as they live by principle not just plans. Carson Wentz, quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, on December 10 was planning on scoring a touchdown as he ran for the goal line. He was not planning on tearing his ACL ligament and ending his exceptional season. He tweeted after the injury, “I greatly appreciate all the prayers! I know my God is a powerful one with a perfect plan. Time to just lean in to him and trust whatever the circumstances! #Proverbs3:5-6” Here is a man who had great plans but is guided and focused upon even greater principles. People who live life this way will have a great impact upon the world around them, even when their plans don’t go as planned. Are we people guided merely by plans or mainly by principles? 

Remembering an Attitude Adjustment in a Furnace Room

It was Christmas Eve. Rain that had pelted the worshipers coming to the Christmas Eve service had stopped and the wind now blew with a vengeance out of the northwest. The forecaster had warned that there would be a “flash freeze” as temperatures dropped and finally bottomed out at ten degrees below zero. Already the remaining moisture in the air had changed to a mixture of sleet and snow flakes. I locked up the church and walked across the church parking lot to the parsonage. There I intended to throw some more logs in the wood stove, have some Christmas Eve dessert, and tuck into bed our two excited children. They eagerly anticipated Christmas morning and the surprises they assumed would be waiting for them.

     After the prayers and wrestling matches in their beds, it was time to go down stairs to sit in the overstuffed chair and watch the dancing flames behind the glass panels of the woodstove. Outside the wind howled and the branches of giant oak trees rattled with each blast. I sat down exhausted and discouraged. The yearlong church building project had drained me of energy. Disputes some church attendees had with one another discouraged me. Financial issues at the church and my own personal accounts concerned me. The cares and heavy burdens of individuals in the church were heavy on my heart. The schedule in the last several months had been so hectic I felt like the proverbial hamster on a treadmill. It seemed so hypocritical singing “Joy to the World.” Where was that joy? Joy at the time seemed to be on life support!

     Before I went to bed it was time to get the surprise bike for my son out of the station wagon. I pulled on a coat, exited into the howling darkness and promptly slipped on the sidewalk. Everything was encrusted in ice and covered with snow. In the last few hours the world outside had frozen into an ice-skating rink. Slipping over to the car I discovered all the doors were frozen shut. No door would unlock. The bike was trapped in a frozen car and outside stood a frozen frustrated pastor. As I turned to go back to the house, I noticed several lights lit at the church. “Great!” I thought, “Now I have to slide down the parking lot to turn out lights!” I put on more layers and some boots and cautiously inched my way to the church as the wind and snow stung my face.

     When I entered the church I saw lights in the basement and heard noise in the boiler room. Opening the door I found Eby, our part time custodian, working at the boiler. The only noise in the room was the draft damper of the furnace opening and closing with each gust of wind outside. “Eby, what in the world are you doing here on Christmas Eve?” I quizzed. He explained that he noticed during the service the furnace was acting strangely and sometimes would not reignite. He had to manually hit the restart button several times. He was concerned that the pipes would freeze if the furnace stayed off through the night. He worked and I watched for about an hour, but the problem persisted. We discussed and prayed over what to do and decided to take shifts restarting the furnace throughout the night. He took the first shift until midnight and I would then relieve him.

     Just before midnight I returned to the church to begin my shift. The problem had persisted. We sat together in the furnace room looking at the gauges on the boiler as water temperatures lowered and praying it would restart this time. Just after midnight Eby suddenly said, “Merry Christmas pastor!” I replied with less enthusiasm, “Merry Christmas Eby.” There we sat on two upturned five gallon buckets and prayed for a miracle. It didn’t come.

     Half joking I said, “We ought to sing a few carols while we wait.” Eby surprised me by agreeing. There in the furnace room, with just the flapping of the furnace damper to accompany us, we sang a couple of carols ending with “Silent Night.” As Eby stood I thanked him for his efforts and I said, “What a lousy night.” He replied, “It could be worse,” and turned and left.

     I sat down on the five gallon bucket and tried to settle in for my shift. Eby’s words echoed in my mind, “It could be worse.” Mentally I thought, “How could it be any worse? Christmas Eve in a furnace room!” Pulling my work coat closer abound my neck, I brooded over how bad things were. Suddenly with crystal clarity I thought, “That’s right, things could be worse!” I reflected how things were much worse for Jesus during the night of his birth. Here I am focusing upon my problems and overlooking what Jesus endured on that first Christmas. He left a perfect sinless environment to come into a sin-scared world. He left the place where he occupied a position of prominence to encounter the obscurity of a world that did not know him. He set aside all of the riches of heaven to be born into a poor family. He left the place where angels responded to his every desire to dwell on earth as a servant to all. He came not for a life of ease but a life of hardship, challenge, ridicule, betrayal, and death. He came because of love that looked past the difficulties and disappointments.

     A verse came to mind in that furnace room challenging my faulty attitude, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Paul challenges us to “let this mind be in you which was in Christ” (Philippians 2:5). Looking at Jesus’ birth as he came to earth has a way of adjusting one’s attitude – even in a furnace room! 

Convenient Thanksgiving

Recently I came across an article in the Wall Street Journal by Anne Marie Chaker entitled, “Early-Bird Special: Some Families Can’t Wait for Thanksgiving” The byline read, “More Americans are celebrating Turkey Day earlier than the fourth week of November, citing cheaper travel and lower stress.” The article indicated that people chose the early-bird celebration in an attempt to: avoid travel logjams; snag cheaper travel deals; escape the commotion of the food frenzy at grocery stores; and have less competition for days off around the holiday.  A recent survey found that 16% of those polled are choosing to celebrate Thanksgiving early, and another 13% are willing to celebrate the holiday earlier in the future. The chief executive of the polling firm, John Dick, concluded, “More people are willing to sacrifice tradition to fit things more easily into their lives.”

     Has our nation become such a culture of convenience that even our holidays now have to fit into what is convenient and comfortable for us? In reality what is supposed to be convenient often does not produce comfort. Consider a stop at a convenience store to get a pack of mints. There you find a person ahead of you purchasing a string of lottery tickets. The convenience store now becomes an uncomfortable waste of time. Think about a trip to the drive-through to grab some convenience food. The endless line of cars seems to move at a crawl. People choosing to bypass the drive-through sometimes enter the establishment and exit before you even get to the speaker to place your order! What was to be a convenience has become an aggravation.

      Why does one crave convenience when it is sometimes less than we expect? Perhaps a look at the term “convenience” will help us understand. A dictionary highlights various uses of the word: “1. the quality of being suitable to one's comfort, purposes, or needs; 2. personal comfort or advantage; 3. something that increases comfort or saves work; 4. a suitable or agreeable time.” It struck me the word “comfort” was highlighted in the definition. Apparently people desire convenience hoping it will produce some level of comfort. Individuals are longing in an uncomfortable world to find some sort of comfort.

     Many people associate comfort with the act of giving thanks. How many times have we sat at a Thanksgiving celebration and heard people give thanks for the comfortable blessings they received during the year. Somehow the pains of the past year are temporarily and conveniently erased from minds and one reflects only on the things that made them comfortable. The reality is that life is filled with both comfort and pain. We can understand giving thanks for the comforts of life. Can we give thanks for the pains of life? Frankly, pain seems like an inconvenient intrusion into what one expects and desires from life.

     There is an account in the Bible of two men who held a “thanksgiving service” in the midst of their painful life experience. Paul and Silas in Acts 16:16-25 had done a good thing by releasing a girl possessed of an evil spirit that controlled her. Men who owned her as a slave and had used her divination to make “her masters much profit,” became enraged. They had Paul and Silas arrested, brought false charges against them, and caused the magistrates to “tear off their cloths and to be beaten with rods.” To add further pain, “When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison… and fastened their feet in stocks.” One would assume there was nothing here to give thanks for in an atmosphere of injustice, abuse, and pain! However, the Bible records, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

     What went through the other prisoners minds? Maybe they thought: “They are crazy!” or “They must be delirious and don’t know what is going on!” or “They are some kind of religious fanatics” or “What in the world makes these guys act this way?” The account seems to indicate that Paul and Silas were not focusing upon convenience or comfort. They were focusing upon God: who is overall; who has made promises to never leave or forsake them; who is bigger than their circumstances and pain; and who is able to deliver his children one way or another. Certainly, this was not a convenient thanksgiving setting for these men.

     This thanksgiving season certainly will not be a convenient thanksgiving for many. The blessings of the past year are shrouded in the pain of living in a sin-scared world. The remaining members of the small Baptist church, their family, and friends in Sutherland Springs, Texas, certainly are aware of this. They join many in the world who have had painful life experiences of death, disease, disappointment, depression, and a host of other issues surrounding their lives. It is in these times focus will determine the ability to somehow process the seeming unfathomable heartaches of life.

     Paul and Silas processed their pain by focusing upon their God.  What does the patriarch of the Holcombe family of which eight members were murdered in that Baptist church focus upon? Joe Holcombe, 86, who mourns the loss of the generations he had raised, told an interviewer in a quiet voice. “We know where they are now,” he responded. “All of our family members, they’re all Christian. And it won’t be long until we’re with them.” His thanksgiving was on the certainty of his family’s present and eternal state, and the prospect of a future reunion. Thanksgiving is always convenient even in painful times when we maintain the right focus.