Author: Frank

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:27)

The second chapter of Crazy Love focuses on our brief time on this earth relative to the infinite nature of God. A favorite verse comes from the fourth chapter of James, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (Js 4:13-14) The illustration is given in the book that if all of history was a movie, God would be the star, and our brief cameo appearance would last a fraction of a second.

Yet we live our lives as if we are the star. We believe our lives, our choices, our importance is history-making. Yes, there are people who have made significant, lasting marks on history. But of the 8 billion people on Earth right now, what makes us think that will be us?

The truth is, we are only a mist. We don’t even know the given length of our lives. So that important deal, that important decision, may never even come to pass. It is sobering, humbling, to consider. And looking at life given this revelation should change how we approach worry and stress.

There was an interesting email exchange last week. One brother was sharing from his personal Bible study and quoted 1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” and talked about how, in all of our trials, we should remember that God calls us his children. I followed up with the above verse from Matthew and the conclusion to that chapter, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Mt 6:34a). I also referenced the command Paul gives in Philippians 4:4 to rejoice always. I paraphrased a definition of stress from Crazy Love, that when we stress out we are saying that our worries are more important than obeying that command. In other words, it is ok to sin because we are that important.

The brother shared again the next day, quoting Romans 8:35-37, and followed that up talking about how God promises that all the hardships, trials, and challenges he has been facing over the past year cannot separate him from the love of God. What a comforting and encouraging thought! Another brother followed up discussing joy quoting Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

It was clear from the above email chains, that worry and stress is something we can all relate to. In fact, in yesterday’s sermon our preacher noted that the verse, “do not be anxious about anything…” (Phil 4:6) is probably the most disobeyed command in all the Bible.

Worried. Stressed out. If I took a survey, I bet many would describe themselves this way. But it need not be. We need to be reminded of God’s love and the short time we are given to draw breath. The following video, though only covering a year, and the accompanying songs is a good reminder of what is really important. (Disclaimer: I don’t know this family. Often when looking for videos for songs, you find a lot of picture slideshows. But this video was perfect. I think you’ll agree)

Sorry I’m a little late with the recap of Monday’s Crazy Love group. How did it go? Well, like most things, not at all like I expected. We ran long. Dinner took longer than I thought to serve and eat. All the children were well behaved! Despite not everyone knowing everyone else at the start, most everyone was pleasantly open in sharing. The online video took too long to buffer so we only got half-way through, but it worked out perfectly since we were already running late. And it froze at a perfect stopping point anyway.

I also learned a couple of things too. If I’m inviting people every which way I can, it’s hard to keep track of who’s coming and who’s not. I just checked my Facebook messages and saw a friend said he was coming and needed my address. Monday. Whoops. So we had about a dozen people over and I’m expecting 3-5 more next week.

What did we learn as a group? Well, I think everyone is hungry. Almost everyone shared the same lack of passion and zeal that filled them back when they were baby Christians. Everyone is looking for something to call them higher. Perfect. As my wife and I have been praying, we hope this starts a fire, and it’s ok to burn down some churches in the process.

Not a bad start and I praise God for how well it went. Just goes to show how God blesses when we take a step of faith.

Speaking of stepping out on faith, this is Super Bowl weekend. I was once told the story of Jimmy Johnson coaching the Cowboys in his first Super Bowl. The team won only one game a couple of seasons prior. Most players have never been on such a large stage. But Jimmy won a National Championship at the University of Miami and knew a little about big stages. He also knew about butterflies and fear.

I don’t know if he did this on a bench in the locker room, or if he laid down a line of string, but he talked about how high-wire acts don’t start practicing at the highest of heights. They start low, where when they fall it will be safe. When they master their routine, they raise the wire. The whole time recognizing that it’s the same wire they’ve been on, the only thing different was the height. He stood on the bench (or on top of the string) and told his players that none of them would be afraid of walking across. That was the regular season- low, safe. But know they’re higher than they’ve ever been. But it’s the same bench. The game was on its highest stage, but it was the same game.

We approach life and our walk with Christ the same way. Fearless if the consequence is low. But raise the stakes and we forget just how big our God is as we cower in fear. Francis Chan illustrated the same principle as Jimmy Johnson, but probably got a few more laughs.