Rainbows

I can't stop thinking about a little girl I met at church yesterday morning.

About 9 years old, she was well spoken, respectful, and a bundle of positive energy. She was mildly bashful when first introduced to me, but when I was trying to leave 10 minutes later, I was not allowed to walk past her without engaging in conversation.

Not just any conversation, though. She was referred to me by (Pastor!) Jeff, who I imagine was as surprised as I was when she asked him, in the midst of all the flooding and chaos going on in the McCook Lake/Dakota Dunes area:

"Why does God let bad things like the flood happen? Is God angry?"

What a profound question, my darling. If only we knew what went through God's "mind."

Perhaps the reason I find myself still thinking about this conversation a day later has to do with the intense and thought-provoking conversation that followed. I found myself challenged by the honesty and genuine questions of a (9year old?) little girl. She wondered aloud, "will we be wiped out like all the people except Noah?" as she also made astute observations like, "when I am sad it is like it should be crying outside. and when I am unhappy a storm... when I am angry a Tornado (etc)." Is that how God works, too?

I began with the most well-known story of a flood: she was well acquainted with Noah and reminded me (in her words) that there, too was a story of God seeking vengeance on God's creation for all their wrong-doings. I asked her if she knew what happened at the end of the story and was promptly told, "the ark was left on dry land, but even they were stranded on top of a mountain!"

Searching for the message of hope offered to us, I asked, "Do you remember the rainbow at the end of the story? Do you know what that means?"

"That God was angry and we should be careful."

I wasn't sure what was worse: that we teach our children the difficult pieces of stories to instill fear in them, or that it seemed there was no sign of hope in a story that really ends with an ultimate reward offered to us: a covenant with God. How great that we have a God who offers us hope and love and makes promises to us that are not dependent on anything we do?! God covenants with us purely because God cares!

We talked about the rainbow and its promise and she was entirely unfamiliar and so she continued, asking equally thought-provoking questions. Eventually, I found I could leave her with only this:

God loves us and when we are sad, God is also sad. It is not always that God wants bad things to happen, but sometimes they do. It is then that we should remember how much God loves us, how God even sent Jesus to show us that, and because of Jesus, we know that God really does understand how we feel. So when we are sad, God is sad too. When we are hurting, God is hurting. When our homes flood, God is cries with us through our struggle and is sorry that we have suffered and lost so much. God does not want bad things to happen, but God does want to help us find hope and to offer us strength as we find ways to pick up our lives and begin anew.

That, my friends, is why we have the rainbow. and today… my rainbow and reminder of hope came in the form of a little girl...

Lent Devotional

I am pleased to announce that many of my students and fellow staff have written a devotion to be shared during the season of Lent. I encouraged everyone to write a story from their life that gives testimony to the work that God is continuing to do in and through each of us. It opens with these words:

We believe that every person has a story to share, that there is evidence of God’s grace, love, and sacrifice in each of our lives. These stories are glimpses of that truth in our lives and give evidence of the Light God has revealed in and through our lives.

I am excited to share these stories around the world. They have already been sent to places in Europe, Asia, North America and South America. If you would like to read these short stories/devotionals and pray with us this season of Lent, I would love to share a copy of this devotional with you. Just send me a message and I’ll send you an electronic copy.

But if you get one, I challenge you to wait until Easter Sunday to read the final devotion titled, “Jesus is a Chicken!”

Reflection on Matthew 4:21

Training is going great. We've discussed important topics ranging from diversity and seeking mutuality in service to discussing where our stipends will come from and how our health benefits will work. Its been a busy time from morning to night, but a productive time and one that I am grateful to be going through with my fellow Mission Interns and US-2s. They have proven to provide great company and companionship, and know that lifelong friendships are sure to bloom out of the budding relationships begun here.

Sunday we had the honor of spending the afternoon to study Missiology together. Rather than a traditional lecture, we were each given a verse (or chapter) of Scripture to study independently for about an hour and then came back to share what we learned. It was a great way to study, learn, and spend a day of Sabbath.

The verse I was assigned was Matthew 4:21. This story is a familiar one, the story in which Jesus first calls upon the men who will become his disciples to follow him. It is a story that I have seen, heard and even taught as one that offers to us a vivid example of the immediacy and lack of hesitance we should have when called upon to follow Jesus. When Jesus comes across James and John, they are doing every day tasks, and in verse 22 they "Immediately" follow his call. I was not assigned verse 22 to pray about, though, I was assigned 21. In the NRSV translation, this reads,
As they went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zeb'e-dee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zeb'e-dee, mending their nets, and he called them.

For some reason this time, a few small words jumped out at me for the first time: "and he called them." I kept repeating it, trying to figure out what it meant and why I kept repeating this phrase over and over again until I finally realized the incredible significance of those four small words I had previously thought of as unassuming. As one who has struggled with my call to ministry and mission, its hard to believe and perhaps even embarrassing to admit how many times I have passed over this, but today nothing in the whole of that chapter seemed more important. "...and he called them." I kept repeating this phrase. My meditation on this verse has stuck with me, and so I have decided to share the reflections I wrote here...

James and John were busy and had important work to do. Its not like they were sitting around, looking for something to do. Quite the opposite, really. They were hard at work, focusing on the task of mending nets, preparing for the next time they would go out looking for fish.

"...and he called them"

If James and John were working so hard with their father alongside them, it sure seems like an inconvenient time for Jesus to walk by and pull them away. Yet that didn't stop Jesus from calling upon them and interrupting their lives or from pulling them away from their father who was sitting with them, but who was not called to follow with them. Jesus knew the timing was right, and James and John, though unexpecting, were ready. They trusted that Jesus had a plan greater than any they could understand, so they followed (immediately!). I couldn't help but squirm in my chair as I read it again,

"... he called them."

God doesn't always call us at a convenient time, but God's time is the right time.

"...and he called them."

But who will take care of our families? James and John were with their father, working toward perfecting his profession so they may take over and someday care for him. Yet Jesus called them away from their family and on to something more. Our stories are often the same - I know mine is. What if when I first heard God calling, I refused the call answering in honesty, "I cannot go now, for if I do, I may well give my poor mother a heart attack! I wouldn't want to put her through the stress and anxieties of so many unknowns that I call 'adventure'!"

"...and he called them."
"...and he called me."

The reality is, if we listen, we will hear that God is calling all of us to serve in some way. As we prepare to do so, we must remember that our active acceptance and obedience to follow Christ in response to our call is not something we have completed because we have accepted that call to serve. Especially for those of us preparing to work full time in our mission sites, it will be far too easy to go forth and become comfortable in our new homes. Soon, we will again have a routine we are following, we will be going on with our daily lives in these new places. It is then that we must remember again the words spoken to us here,

"...and he called them."
"...and he called me."

We will be called upon again and again, and as we seek to more fully live out that call, we shall seek to let go of the urgency of "fixing our nets" and to leave behind us our daily work to allow ourselves to be called, to be re-directed and re-shaped and re-formed into the kinds of servants that Christ is calling us to be in the here and the now.

"...and he called them."
"...and he called me."
"...and he called YOU."

What is Christ calling you to today? What is the net that you are focusing on while Jesus is calling us to move on, to follow him? There will always be a "net" that is easy to get caught up in. Are we willing to let God untangle us from it, that we might move beyond that which is comfortable and into a realm of the unknown service yet familiar (albeit intimidating) covenant of Christ?