We have all had some generic type food that was not even close to the real thing, at all. Let me give you an example. When my oldest daughter was about 3 yeas old her favorite food was Kraft Mac and Cheese. Well probably the reason why it was her favorite is because at this time in my life it was all that I could afford. However, I remember finding this generic mac and cheese and bought it home to cook that night. I put it in her bowl with some extra cheese. We sat down to eat and about the time she put the mac and cheese in her mouth the look on her face was priceless. She looked at me with her mouth full of that mac and cheese and was not even chewing it at all. All I could do is laugh at her. I told her to go spit it out in the garbage can. She ran so fast. She spit it and out and turned around to me and said dad what was that? There was no way of trying to pass the generic brand by her even if I put more fake stuff on it because she knew it was not the real thing.
This what we do in life, we try to make things look like the real thing when actually it’s not. People can see right through it and it doesn’t sit well them. The perplexing thing is that instead of putting the fake stuff down, our own reaction is usually to put more fake stuff on or decide the fake stuff, while not as good, is good enough. If you ask many people why they don’t want anything to do with religion, they will probably tell you all the reasons they don’t like it, but I bet they will not describe the real stuff. They will probably share with you about some person on TV that said if they send in money they would get rich, watch someone on TV preaching and crying but you can see right through the fake cry, or someone told them God hated them because of how they acted or even married. A lot of these people are dealing with the generic brand and not the real brand, which is sad. We have a chance to allow them to see the real brand of God, but we have to get out of the way and let God work through us and be real not generic. People know a fake. Even the Devil doesn’t like fake people. If you don’t believe me read Acts 19:11-20. These brothers like many say they know Jesus and come to work in Jesus name. However, they didn’t really know Jesus. They were working and doing things to make themselves look good and it was all about them. So when they came up against this Demon saying to leave this mans body and then the demon says to them “I know Jesus and I know Paul, but who are you”?. It did not end well from them you should read it. It’s a really awesome story. We just need to remember that people want you to be real not generic nor do they want to be fed the fake stuff.
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A few weeks ago, I thought I could add one more thing to this shelf. Yes, you guessed it, the shelf came falling down along with everything on it. As I stood there, I was thinking what a mess that I have to clean up. I should not have added that last item. I started thinking that by looking at the shelf I never knew it was under such pressure and that by adding something else would cause it to fall. While sitting on this bucket with clutter surrounding me, I started to think about marriages, work and life in general. How many times has your boss added more things to your plate and it caused you to finally crumble. After you crumbled, you think of some stuff you had to clean up because of what you might have said to your boss. It could be worse because now you’re looking for a new job because of what you said. What if you would have told your boss about the amount pressure you were under before he/she added something else to your plate. Do you think you would be cleaning up a mess? I’m going to bet not!
Let’s take it a step further into a marriage or relationships. Our spouses/significant take so much from us because they love us, but without thinking we continue to add more and more to their plates. Then that one day you are sitting at the kitchen table and ask your spouse or significant other to pass the ketchup and they lose it. And then you start thinking all I did was to ask them to pass the ketchup, but in reality, you just added something to the shelf and it fell. Now it’s time to start to clean the mess you never saw coming. Sometimes we need to step back and look at the stuff we continue to add to people either at work or at home. We need to set time for us ask questions to make sure we don’t miss anything. It’s important for us to take time to check in with our employees and coworkers but do we take the time to check in with our spouses or significant other? This is something we should all be doing because if we don’t, eventually the shelf will crash and sometimes there is too much damage to the wall to be able to put it back up. Don’t let the wall in your marriage or relationship have too much damage. Take the time to have check-ins and listen. As a young kid, my family and I would travel to my grandparents’ house for Christmas in Augusta, Georgia. I remember these trips and how much fun they were. My Dad would wake us up at 3am and my brother, sister and I would get in the back of my parent’s 1974 2-door Pontiac. Actually, it’s a good thing we were so young because how we all three fit in the back of that car was nuts. My parents would travel with us in the early morning or late night, so we would sleep and not kill each other. I think the real reason was that they would not have to hear us ask, “are we there yet” for the 8-hour drive. When we would wake up, usually we were about 1 hour away from our grandparents’ house. As soon as we arrived, Grandma and Papa would have a huge breakfast for us. We had such great times spending time with our cousins and family. We always hated to leave to come back home.
However, this one Christmas my parents decided to leave at night instead of the early morning. After dinner with my Grandparents my parents got us in the car and off we went. About 2 hours in the trip, all of us kids were sleeping. The next thing I remember was waking up to us what I thought was a drive down a bumpy dirt road. As I truly woke up, we were stopped and there was not site of a bumpy road. My mom was screaming to my Dad to get the kids out this car. My dad was started yelling at us to wake us up. Then was helping us crawl out the window of the car. At first, I thought Dad was finally letting us act like the Dukes of Hazzard. But this was far from it. My mom actually lost control of the car on the interstate and we went into the median and the car ran up on a guardrail and was sliding sideways on it. That was the bumpy dirt road I thought we were on. The car actually stopped 50 feet from a bridge which had a 100 foot drop off the river below. As we all got out of the car on that dark cold night we all looked at the car dangling on the guardrail. My parents told us later, as we got older that the guardrail actually saved our family. If it was not for Gods hand stopping the car when it did and for the guardrail the car would have gone over the drop off and who knows if we would be here today. As I was thinking about this story, it came to me what guardrails actually do. Do we have guardrails setup in our own lives to keep us from running off the cliff of life? Guardrails are put in place to keep us out of the danger zone. Each day I walk through this life I try to make sure I have guardrails up around work, my tongue, and my financials. You can fill in your own blank with what you need guardrails with. As a Christ follower, God helps and teaches me in his word of where I need guardrails. Because He is the ultimate guardrail for me. Even if you don’t believe in Jesus you can apply this to your own life. Life has enough danger zones we don’t see. So, it is always good to have these guardrails in place. The other day I went on a run in an area that I didn’t really know. A friend of mine told me to stay on the path that was marked and that I would do just fine and would make my way back to this point. As I was running, I kept noticing trails off of the marked path. I couldn’t help but wondering what was down those paths. After I passed a few more, my curiosity let me down one of the paths. I won’t get too lost and has to bring me back out to the main path, right? Well you already know the outcome of this! But if you didn’t yes, I got lost! I finally ran into this guy and asked how to do I get back to the main path? He laughed and said follow me. Then I started thinking should I trust this guy? He looked like a runner, but hey what choice did I have. I needed to find my way back. Once I got back to the main path the guy said to stay on this path and I would make it back where I needed to be. As I thanked him and started on my way, he said to me, “this is what Jesus does for us, have a great run.”
As I started back on the right path, it hit me that what he said had meaning far beyond this running trail. Sometimes in life we veer off the path and we need the guidance of someone to help get us back on the correct path. How many times do we go off the path we are supposed to be on because we think another path will be fun. What’s getting your attention to make you go off the path you should be on? Jesus is like that runner that I came across. I was so lost and had no idea of what direction to go. Just like Christ, he said follow me and I will get you back on the correct path. Once I got back to the correct path I stay on the marked path. Jesus has marked our path. We have to follow him and stay on it even when we things get us distracted or tempt us to go in another direction. Remember your direction determines your destination. When we follow the direction of Christ, we know our destination. Do we all paddle in the same direction? A few weeks ago, I was talking to a friend of mine who is a retired Navy Seal. He was sharing with me about all the things they go through during training and the vigorous training they are put through. As he was sharing, I was thinking there is no way I could have gone through all that. I mean I thought my high school baseball coach was bad, now he seemed like a cake walk.
He was sharing how it’s so important for him and his team mates to go in the same direction at all times and to be thinking the same way because one wrong move him and his team could be killed or fail the test during practice. We got talking about a particular training where when they had to carry a boat down to the shore and paddle out a few miles but maintain their spot where the waves were breaking while also going the distance set by the instructor. I thought in my head this does not seem hard to get in a boat and you and your team paddle out a few miles. So, I asked him how hard would that be? I have paddled out from the beach in a kayak with wife, surely 6 men could do this with ease. He looked at me and at first, I thought he was running through his head how he could kill me in 5 different ways without anyone knowing. But then he laughed at me and said well you see in San Diego in the winter time the surf is about 8 to 9 feet. He shared it’s tough and everyone has to be on the same page and paddle at the same time to get through the rough seas. If one person decides to paddle on their own and not be in sequence with the team then we will not make it. It takes the entire team not just 5 members but all 6 of us. He also shared with me that not everyone had the strength to do it on their own. On each team there was always one or two guys that were not as strong as the others, but they pulled their weight and had their team members to help them make it through the battle with the waves. He told me, if you want to make things happen, work as a team and watch how things transform. I thought to myself, as Christ followers do we work as a team and paddle at the same time and in the same direction for Christ? The answer to this is no we don’t, and I can call myself out on this. We think we are paddling in the same direction and for the same cause but if we were then we would see more love within the Church. You can walk in a Church and see that there are folks there for themselves and some to see and be seen. I can say this because I have been there. I was more worried about what people thought of me than focusing on my own walk with Christ. How can we as a Church make a change in the world when we are not paddling as a team and are more worried about what people see on Sunday then what they see Monday through Friday. Look I know I’m not perfect at all and a fall short all the time, but I know what it takes to win as a team. My question is do you know what it takes to win as a team? Or are you more worried what people think of you? |
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