There’s a tap on my window, then a Voice, “Do you know how fast you were going?”
“Uh, not really, but I’ve got a good reason for going fast—“
“I see.”
“It seems that I’ve got so much to do that I can’t really slow down. At least, not without sacrificing something.”
“So that’s how you see things, huh?” He said.
“‘He who hesitates is lost.’ That’s what they say. Right?” I wait for His answer.
“And ‘Haste makes waste,’” He replies. “I’m sure you’ve heard that too. Right?”
I nod.
“Again, do you know how fast you were going?”
I shake my head and look at the speedometer needle. It sits at zero.
“You were going so fast that you missed Me.”
Have you had one of those conversations with God?
God has looked at me here lately and asked, “Do you know how fast you were going?” It’s easy to move quickly, make the snap decisions, press forward with all speed and miss Him. And the main reason that I tend to go so fast is this: I think that it all depends upon me. If I do it all right, make the grade, dot each “I” and cross every “T,” I will see the next level, pull myself up by the bootstraps, and attain some sort of fulfillment. In the midst of my grasping and striving, I can miss Him.
I think about Martha and Mary in Luke 10. Martha was “distracted with much serving” (v. 40). The phrase literally means, “She was dragging around.” Martha was overcome with all the things that didn’t matter so much, and she didn’t seem to realize just how fast she was going. She missed Him. All the while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, and Jesus said that she had “chosen that good part” (v. 42). She slowed down to spend time with the most important One.
I’ve been teaching through the book of Habakkuk, and I came across a word that I’ve seen many times before: selah. It’s a Hebrew word (used in songs), and most scholars agree that it is a musical notation indicating a pause. I read the Habakkuk passage from The Amplified Bible, and after the word selah follows this clarification of meaning: “pause, and calmly think of that.” The verse before the pause (3:3) speaks of God’s glory leading the people through the wilderness, and then, “pause, and calmly think of that.” Selah is found again and again in the Psalms. David writes, while being pursued by Absalom and his men, “I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill. Selah. I lay down and slept; I awoke for the LORD sustained me” (Ps. 3:4, 5). God hears David (pause and calmly think of that), and he sleeps knowing the source of his strength is from above.
I need to pause, and calmly think of some things, things that are truly important to God, not just those things that have “importance” to me. I’m finding that I’ve missed a lot. I’m getting tired of being “pulled over” and being asked, “Do you know how fast you were going?”
But what tires me more is the answer to that question:
“Too fast to see You, God. Too fast to see You.”
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Black Coffee
The last time I was in a coffee shop, the selection I found was astounding. There seemed to be a special java-variation for each customer, individualized drinks blended to suit each buyer’s needs and wants. I often found that the hardest thing one can order is a simple cup of black coffee with no flavoring, froth or fizz. It doesn’t end with coffee; one can easily customize most anything today. Your computer can have personalized backgrounds, your phone can ring out with your favorite song, and you can “try on” virtual paint for the walls of your home via certain websites. You can have things your way. We mix and match options, colors and various customizations for our vehicles, a far cry from Henry Ford’s comment about the Model T: “People can have it in any color they want, so long as it’s black.” Not that variation is bad or wrong, but when you look carefully, you’ll find that this personalization can creep into other areas of life as well, most specifically, in the realm of morality.
You might hear something like this…
“You have ‘your truth,’ and I have ‘my truth.’ What works for you doesn’t work for me, but that’s okay as long as you don’t try to impose your beliefs upon me or attempt to sway me in my beliefs. It really doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe something. And if you believe something, it becomes truth for you. After all, truth isn’t fixed, but it changes with the culture, with time, and as wisdom increases. People can pick and choose what they believe from any and all ideological, moral or religious belief systems, and no one has the right to tell anyone differently.”
Ever wonder what happened to the idea of an objective standard? When I was a teacher, I used a test key to grade tests. It would be placed alongside the student’s paper and compared. It didn’t really matter what someone preferred or wanted the answer to be; the only thing that mattered was the answer.
Unfortunately, nowadays, moral choices are often demoted to the same status of merely stating opinion. Issues of right and wrong are placed on the same level as deciding whether you want whipped cream or steamed milk in your coffee. Too often we choose morality based upon personal preference rather than upon a universal standard.
Two verses come to mind… “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12).
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6).
The LORD God of the universe has an objective standard. He didn’t say, “I am one of the possible ways, a truth among many others that are just as valid…” Not only does He have a standard, He is the standard.
Now, if you will excuse me, I think I’ll go get a cup of black coffee.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
You might hear something like this…
“You have ‘your truth,’ and I have ‘my truth.’ What works for you doesn’t work for me, but that’s okay as long as you don’t try to impose your beliefs upon me or attempt to sway me in my beliefs. It really doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe something. And if you believe something, it becomes truth for you. After all, truth isn’t fixed, but it changes with the culture, with time, and as wisdom increases. People can pick and choose what they believe from any and all ideological, moral or religious belief systems, and no one has the right to tell anyone differently.”
Ever wonder what happened to the idea of an objective standard? When I was a teacher, I used a test key to grade tests. It would be placed alongside the student’s paper and compared. It didn’t really matter what someone preferred or wanted the answer to be; the only thing that mattered was the answer.
Unfortunately, nowadays, moral choices are often demoted to the same status of merely stating opinion. Issues of right and wrong are placed on the same level as deciding whether you want whipped cream or steamed milk in your coffee. Too often we choose morality based upon personal preference rather than upon a universal standard.
Two verses come to mind… “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12).
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6).
The LORD God of the universe has an objective standard. He didn’t say, “I am one of the possible ways, a truth among many others that are just as valid…” Not only does He have a standard, He is the standard.
Now, if you will excuse me, I think I’ll go get a cup of black coffee.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Locked Out...
Last year around this time found me in North Carolina at a wedding rehearsal in little country church somewhat off the beaten path. After the rehearsal dinner, everyone moved to the sanctuary to begin the walk-though and to go over the last minute details for the ceremony the coming day. Since I had no real part in the wedding, (I was just along for the ride), I brought plenty of material so I could catch up on some reading and also have some time to bring some ideas to the anvil for shaping that had been in the fire for a few weeks. While everyone settled into position and sound checks were in progress, I slipped out the door to retrieve my papers and books from the car. When I got to the church doors again, I found them locked and heard the pastor begin his pre-ceremony briefing. Not wanting to disturb matters by banging on the glass, I moved to the reception hall entrance and discovered it was secure too. I tried two other doors as well and got the same result. I was locked out of church. I thought, “Sooner or later, someone will miss me…maybe.”
So, with nothing else to do, I stood outside under a swaying Carolina Pine as the night breeze cooled rapidly and two of the last crickets of summer lazily answered each other across the churchyard with long, slow chirps as the mercury dropped steadily. Noticing the stained glass windows of the church, I began to walk around the building in the dark to examine them. Each window depicted a different event in the life of Christ, starting with his birth and ending with His return to earth. I stopped when I found the window showing the crucifixion and stood in the shaft of colored light, outside in the cold, while everyone else celebrated inside.
I couldn’t help but think, “I wonder, in Christianity, how many people stand outside, looking at the light and hearing the celebration, but no one invites them to take part.” They find themselves, for lack of a better way of saying it, “locked out.” When we become so polarized that we don’t want people who “aren’t like us” to worship alongside us, fearfully step away from living Christ out before a misguided, hurting culture, or simply develop an attitude of not caring about those we encounter daily, one must wonder if we take Jesus’ words seriously.
After all, He did say, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matt. 28:19a).
Perhaps now is the time to unlock the door, step outside your comfort zone, and show those who stand in the cold how to join the celebration. Because we all are either in the cold, or have come out of the cold; the only hope for any of us is the truth shining from that stained glass window: “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
So, with nothing else to do, I stood outside under a swaying Carolina Pine as the night breeze cooled rapidly and two of the last crickets of summer lazily answered each other across the churchyard with long, slow chirps as the mercury dropped steadily. Noticing the stained glass windows of the church, I began to walk around the building in the dark to examine them. Each window depicted a different event in the life of Christ, starting with his birth and ending with His return to earth. I stopped when I found the window showing the crucifixion and stood in the shaft of colored light, outside in the cold, while everyone else celebrated inside.
I couldn’t help but think, “I wonder, in Christianity, how many people stand outside, looking at the light and hearing the celebration, but no one invites them to take part.” They find themselves, for lack of a better way of saying it, “locked out.” When we become so polarized that we don’t want people who “aren’t like us” to worship alongside us, fearfully step away from living Christ out before a misguided, hurting culture, or simply develop an attitude of not caring about those we encounter daily, one must wonder if we take Jesus’ words seriously.
After all, He did say, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matt. 28:19a).
Perhaps now is the time to unlock the door, step outside your comfort zone, and show those who stand in the cold how to join the celebration. Because we all are either in the cold, or have come out of the cold; the only hope for any of us is the truth shining from that stained glass window: “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
All the makings of a country song...
A few years ago, during one particular summer, it seemed like everywhere I turned there was yet another negative event taking me further into turmoil. Nothing seemed to be going right. To get some sort of relief, I thought it would be good to find some sort of distracting entertainment, so I went to a local rodeo one evening. Getting there early and having skipped lunch, I decided to take the long walk to the concession booth. The grandstands were covered, but the sidewalk along the edge of the area was not. Just as I began to walk, the sky opened up…with rain. Not just a light shower, not a passing drizzle, but a “pair-‘em-up-Noah-one-more-time” rain…hard, stinging and cold. Muddy water began to pour from the arena onto the sidewalk. It was only when my socks began to be soaked that I realized I had put off getting my cowboy boots resoled for much too long. I stood there, drenched to the skin, water trickling into my boots, and stomach growling with hunger. I couldn’t help but think, “God, why are things so hard, and why don’t you just let my life be uneventful? At least then I wouldn’t expect anything.” Looking to the other end of the arena, I saw, through the downpour, the brightly-lit board where the scores and times for the various events would be shown later in the evening. As I watched, sandwiched between two local ads scrolling across the screen were these words: “ONLY THE MEDIOCRE ARE AT THEIR BEST 100% OF THE TIME.” I sighed, wiped the rain from my face, and sloshed on to get a hot dog.
God is committed to the process of making each of His children more like Him. God doesn’t leave us in mediocrity; He calls us to step out to Him and live a life that will lead us through dry times and times when the breakers crash against us. Like the writer of Psalm 42, we go from drought conditions (As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God…) to drowning despair (Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows have gone over me). God uses those times to strengthen our dependence upon and faith in Him. These are opportunities to know Him better than we could ever know Him before. Comfort in adversity teaches more than comfort alone. God never promised a life of ease, and He never promised that things would always turn the way we would prefer, but He did promise His presence. In the final verse of Psalm 42, we find these words, “Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him…”
Weather the storm knowing He is there, shaping you into His likeness, and you shall yet praise Him.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
God is committed to the process of making each of His children more like Him. God doesn’t leave us in mediocrity; He calls us to step out to Him and live a life that will lead us through dry times and times when the breakers crash against us. Like the writer of Psalm 42, we go from drought conditions (As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God…) to drowning despair (Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows have gone over me). God uses those times to strengthen our dependence upon and faith in Him. These are opportunities to know Him better than we could ever know Him before. Comfort in adversity teaches more than comfort alone. God never promised a life of ease, and He never promised that things would always turn the way we would prefer, but He did promise His presence. In the final verse of Psalm 42, we find these words, “Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him…”
Weather the storm knowing He is there, shaping you into His likeness, and you shall yet praise Him.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Push-Button God
This morning I counted 6 remote controls in my apartment. I have, for example, one for the TV, another for the VCR, one for the DVD, and yet another universal one that eliminates the need for two for the TV and VCR. I like remotes. In fact, I found myself spending 5 minutes the other day searching for a remote when I could have simply turned on the CD player by hand. There is something about that element of control. There is a semblance of power in wielding a device that allows one to manipulate yet another device from a distance without wires. We humans long for control. It doesn’t stop with electronics though. If we can control something or someone, then that something (or someone) will not pose a threat to us. All we need is the right “remote” for the person or situation, the power will be harnessed, and all will be well.
I am reminded of the story found in 1 Samuel 4-5. The Ark of the Covenant was taken from the Hebrews by the Philistines and taken to the temple of Dagon. (Dagon was a fertility idol in ancient times depicted as having the upper body of a man and whose lower body was like a fish.) The ark was placed within this temple in the territory of the Philistines as a sign that the God of the Hebrews had been powerless before the forces following Dagon. The LORD, in the eyes of the Philistines, had been delivered to them by their god. Dagon was their “universal remote control.” Push the button, and control is given.
God had other thoughts.
In 1 Samuel 5:3, we find that the next morning Dagon was lying face down before the ark…prostrate…as in “bowing down.” The Philistines evidently didn’t grasp what God was trying to say to them, so they set Dagon up again and went about their way. The next morning, Dagon again was on the ground, but this time his hands and head were broken from the body. In ancient times an enemy often had his head and hands removed to assure that he was indeed dead (II Sam. 4:12). God was sending a clear message, “Dagon is a dead thing with no power before Me.” The LORD then sends a plague as judgment upon them, and they send the ark back to the people of God.
Is there something in your life that you have placed God alongside, and you think that it’s bigger than Him? Maybe you haven’t intentionally constructed an idol, but you have allowed a problem to get so large in your mind that you honestly believe that God can’t handle it. There have been situations where I placed something alongside Him, and, by comparison, the problem looked larger to me than God Himself.
Or perhaps you have tried to use a situation to manipulate, cajole, and persuade God to act on your part. Maybe you are attempting to have a God for your life that you can easily control, a God with a “push-button omnipotence.” You may see God as one that you can reach for Him only when you think you need Him. You may “point” God at a situation like you would direct a remote control and expect Him to work quickly.
God will not operate that way.
The morning comes, and that which you thought overruled the Almighty will lie broken before Him.
What’s your “Dagon?”
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
I am reminded of the story found in 1 Samuel 4-5. The Ark of the Covenant was taken from the Hebrews by the Philistines and taken to the temple of Dagon. (Dagon was a fertility idol in ancient times depicted as having the upper body of a man and whose lower body was like a fish.) The ark was placed within this temple in the territory of the Philistines as a sign that the God of the Hebrews had been powerless before the forces following Dagon. The LORD, in the eyes of the Philistines, had been delivered to them by their god. Dagon was their “universal remote control.” Push the button, and control is given.
God had other thoughts.
In 1 Samuel 5:3, we find that the next morning Dagon was lying face down before the ark…prostrate…as in “bowing down.” The Philistines evidently didn’t grasp what God was trying to say to them, so they set Dagon up again and went about their way. The next morning, Dagon again was on the ground, but this time his hands and head were broken from the body. In ancient times an enemy often had his head and hands removed to assure that he was indeed dead (II Sam. 4:12). God was sending a clear message, “Dagon is a dead thing with no power before Me.” The LORD then sends a plague as judgment upon them, and they send the ark back to the people of God.
Is there something in your life that you have placed God alongside, and you think that it’s bigger than Him? Maybe you haven’t intentionally constructed an idol, but you have allowed a problem to get so large in your mind that you honestly believe that God can’t handle it. There have been situations where I placed something alongside Him, and, by comparison, the problem looked larger to me than God Himself.
Or perhaps you have tried to use a situation to manipulate, cajole, and persuade God to act on your part. Maybe you are attempting to have a God for your life that you can easily control, a God with a “push-button omnipotence.” You may see God as one that you can reach for Him only when you think you need Him. You may “point” God at a situation like you would direct a remote control and expect Him to work quickly.
God will not operate that way.
The morning comes, and that which you thought overruled the Almighty will lie broken before Him.
What’s your “Dagon?”
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
On faith...and robots
A couple of weeks ago, as I tutored some local children one afternoon, another tutor talked to them about God being the Creator of all things. When he finished one little girl looked at me and asked, “Who made God?”
I smiled and replied, “No one.”
“But someone had to make Him.”
I shook my head, “He’s always been here…always.”
One little boy piped up, “Maybe it was the robots.”
“Robots?” I asked.
“Yeah, maybe the robots made Him, and then He made us—“
“Who made the robots then?” I asked.
“Oh…yeah…hmm…I don’t know.”
We like to have answers. Not just answers, but clear answers. Sometimes we create mechanical ways of thinking to help us avoid dealing with the difficulties of not knowing certain things by empirical evidence. We want answers that make sense to us in our immediate situation that clarify all cloudiness and tie up all loose ends neatly and quickly. Sometimes the uncertainty pushes us to the point where we realize that, with our limited human minds, we don’t have all the answers, and our trust in God will be tested. As a close friend of mine says, “God likes this faith business.”
The writer of Hebrews gives what most Christians quote as the definition of faith: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 1:1,2). In other words, faith is the very realization of and the confidence in that which we can not fully explain by our human senses and experimentation. Sometimes we place great value upon our faith, or our trust, in God. It is valuable (“more precious than silver” according to the bible) and will be tested, but our faith can not become the object upon which we depend. Our faith, at its core, really isn’t about what we do or do not understand; true faith is about who God is. We place our faith in Him and His ability, wisdom and power. Our faith is not in our faith; it’s in Him. No matter how hard we may try to figure everything out and continually come up short, we must trust that He holds complete knowledge of all things…no robots required.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
I smiled and replied, “No one.”
“But someone had to make Him.”
I shook my head, “He’s always been here…always.”
One little boy piped up, “Maybe it was the robots.”
“Robots?” I asked.
“Yeah, maybe the robots made Him, and then He made us—“
“Who made the robots then?” I asked.
“Oh…yeah…hmm…I don’t know.”
We like to have answers. Not just answers, but clear answers. Sometimes we create mechanical ways of thinking to help us avoid dealing with the difficulties of not knowing certain things by empirical evidence. We want answers that make sense to us in our immediate situation that clarify all cloudiness and tie up all loose ends neatly and quickly. Sometimes the uncertainty pushes us to the point where we realize that, with our limited human minds, we don’t have all the answers, and our trust in God will be tested. As a close friend of mine says, “God likes this faith business.”
The writer of Hebrews gives what most Christians quote as the definition of faith: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 1:1,2). In other words, faith is the very realization of and the confidence in that which we can not fully explain by our human senses and experimentation. Sometimes we place great value upon our faith, or our trust, in God. It is valuable (“more precious than silver” according to the bible) and will be tested, but our faith can not become the object upon which we depend. Our faith, at its core, really isn’t about what we do or do not understand; true faith is about who God is. We place our faith in Him and His ability, wisdom and power. Our faith is not in our faith; it’s in Him. No matter how hard we may try to figure everything out and continually come up short, we must trust that He holds complete knowledge of all things…no robots required.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
One, Two, or No Change?
I was in fifth grade when I first got glasses. I remember sitting in the optometrist’s chair with the phoropter (the big swing arm device with all the lenses and focus wheels on it) against my face. “Which is better? One, two or three?” the doctor would ask as he flipped through the lens options. He said that my eyesight was such (read: bad) that they were going to make some “special glasses” just for me. Later I found out that “special glasses” meant powerful enough to see craters on Mars with the all the added bulkiness of welding goggles. When I finally put them on, I was astonished: trees had leaves, the writing on the blackboard made sense, and movies were more than talking blobs. All this time I had blamed the forest, the teacher and the projector when the real problem was my lack of focus.
Sometimes I feel like I’m still sitting in that chair, except instead of looking at a chart topped with a big “E,” I’m looking at life. And God is clicking the lenses through, and asking, “Which is better? One or two?”
“Two,” I say.
“One is better,” He replies.
“I like two,” I retort.
“But two is fuzzy, you know that,” He says.
“One hurts too much. It lets in too much light.”
“Two makes you miss things because they’re blurred.”
“Maybe, but two doesn’t hurt. Two is comfortable; two lets me see things how I’ve always seen them.”
“But one is the way I see things…and that’s how I want you to see too.”
I’ve found that I spend far too much time viewing life and others through a lens of my own shaping. Because of the sacrifice of Christ and His life-changing work, Paul writes, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh” (II Cor. 5:16). Paul experienced a permanent change of perspective; he received the right prescription. Life, and those in it, looked different to him. At times the truth was blinding for him, literally (Acts 9). And, at times, his stand for truth brought him pain (II Cor. 11). But despite it all, he saw more clearly than ever before.
People don’t look the same through number one, neither does life, but then, God doesn’t see things as we do. I’m glad He doesn’t see everyone else like I do, and I’m really glad that He doesn’t see me as I see myself…yet He loves me anyway.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Sometimes I feel like I’m still sitting in that chair, except instead of looking at a chart topped with a big “E,” I’m looking at life. And God is clicking the lenses through, and asking, “Which is better? One or two?”
“Two,” I say.
“One is better,” He replies.
“I like two,” I retort.
“But two is fuzzy, you know that,” He says.
“One hurts too much. It lets in too much light.”
“Two makes you miss things because they’re blurred.”
“Maybe, but two doesn’t hurt. Two is comfortable; two lets me see things how I’ve always seen them.”
“But one is the way I see things…and that’s how I want you to see too.”
I’ve found that I spend far too much time viewing life and others through a lens of my own shaping. Because of the sacrifice of Christ and His life-changing work, Paul writes, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh” (II Cor. 5:16). Paul experienced a permanent change of perspective; he received the right prescription. Life, and those in it, looked different to him. At times the truth was blinding for him, literally (Acts 9). And, at times, his stand for truth brought him pain (II Cor. 11). But despite it all, he saw more clearly than ever before.
People don’t look the same through number one, neither does life, but then, God doesn’t see things as we do. I’m glad He doesn’t see everyone else like I do, and I’m really glad that He doesn’t see me as I see myself…yet He loves me anyway.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Two Wheeled Tiny Terror
My friend Jesse came by a while back cackling uncontrollably. “You’ve got to see this,” he said smiling broadly. Following him outside, he stood beside a little, motorized two-wheeler. “It’s called a ‘pocket bike,’” he said. This…thing looked like someone had ridden a motorcycle in the rain and it shrank underneath him. It’s small, no, tiny in size, but the weird thing is that it’s comparable in proportion to the size of a larger bike.
Jesse cranked the motor (with a pull cord), and the engine whined to life with all the fury of a standard, gas-powered weed trimmer. The shocking moment came when he sat down on this pint-sized wonder, revved it up, and shot across the parking lot with a speed that seemed impossible for something barely one foot tall. After the onlookers present had a chance to ride, my turn came. The first thing that someone my height notices when sitting on this thing is that your knees are nearly at the level of your shoulders; you are practically in the fetal position. Gunning the throttle, I took it for a couple of laps. At some point in this surreal experience, I thought I would see what it would do in the straightaway. This thing, which I later discovered has a maximum rider capacity of 300 lbs. and a top speed of 35 mph, easily sped along the pavement. It was right about then that I thought, “The pavement is really close to me right now. And if I crash on this thing and get visibly injured, or worse, have to be taken to the hospital it is going to be super-embarrassing explaining this to people…”
“So, what happened to you Dustin?”
“Motorcycle accident.”
“What kind?”
“Oh, you know, just a motorcycle…two wheels and all.”
“What, was it a Harley or something like that?”
“No, uh, it was…a little smaller than that.”
“So what exactly caused the accident?”
“It was either the little piece of gravel I hit, or I ran over my own shoestring...maybe both.”
The size of the bike didn’t match what you would think its power, speed and overall performance would be. It was a small package, but was a “big” thing. Thinking about it later, it seemed to me that it is a lot like faith.
Jesus told His disciples, “I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matt. 17:20). A tiny amount of faith, even faith the size of a mustard seed, has enormous power. Why? Because that small sliver of sold-out, resolute belief is in an infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing God. Again, God is the focus of faith, not our faith itself.
There’s an old saying that goes like this: “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
Maybe it’s time to say something similar, yet positive, for faith: “Faith will take you places you didn’t plan to go, to do things you wouldn’t plan to do, for results that could come only from God.”
Like that little pocket bike, when you fully invest even a small amount of faith in Almighty God, you had better hang on for the ride.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Jesse cranked the motor (with a pull cord), and the engine whined to life with all the fury of a standard, gas-powered weed trimmer. The shocking moment came when he sat down on this pint-sized wonder, revved it up, and shot across the parking lot with a speed that seemed impossible for something barely one foot tall. After the onlookers present had a chance to ride, my turn came. The first thing that someone my height notices when sitting on this thing is that your knees are nearly at the level of your shoulders; you are practically in the fetal position. Gunning the throttle, I took it for a couple of laps. At some point in this surreal experience, I thought I would see what it would do in the straightaway. This thing, which I later discovered has a maximum rider capacity of 300 lbs. and a top speed of 35 mph, easily sped along the pavement. It was right about then that I thought, “The pavement is really close to me right now. And if I crash on this thing and get visibly injured, or worse, have to be taken to the hospital it is going to be super-embarrassing explaining this to people…”
“So, what happened to you Dustin?”
“Motorcycle accident.”
“What kind?”
“Oh, you know, just a motorcycle…two wheels and all.”
“What, was it a Harley or something like that?”
“No, uh, it was…a little smaller than that.”
“So what exactly caused the accident?”
“It was either the little piece of gravel I hit, or I ran over my own shoestring...maybe both.”
The size of the bike didn’t match what you would think its power, speed and overall performance would be. It was a small package, but was a “big” thing. Thinking about it later, it seemed to me that it is a lot like faith.
Jesus told His disciples, “I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matt. 17:20). A tiny amount of faith, even faith the size of a mustard seed, has enormous power. Why? Because that small sliver of sold-out, resolute belief is in an infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing God. Again, God is the focus of faith, not our faith itself.
There’s an old saying that goes like this: “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
Maybe it’s time to say something similar, yet positive, for faith: “Faith will take you places you didn’t plan to go, to do things you wouldn’t plan to do, for results that could come only from God.”
Like that little pocket bike, when you fully invest even a small amount of faith in Almighty God, you had better hang on for the ride.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Let there be...
Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark or the man afraid of the light?
~Maurice Freehill
The first flashlight I ever owned was a tiny, disposable keychain flashlight given to me by my grandfather. You couldn’t see four feet with the light it gave, but it was light nonetheless. As a kid, I carried that light everywhere I went until it finally died. Then, as kids are apt to do, I didn’t dispose of it, but continued to carry it around with me pretending that it still worked.
After that, I’ve had too many flashlights to name. There were the penlights from the drugstore used to give myself self-prescribed, childhood tonsil checks. I remember a line of lights with colored lenses that made searching under the bed more interesting. I had a 6-cell police flashlight that was stolen by someone a few years ago, and then one with a large array of tiny LED lights in the front that you couldn’t look directly into or you would see spots before your eyes (while open or closed) for a long while after…I know this fact well.
These thoughts came to mind a couple of days ago as I read an ad for (get this) a “15-million candlepower spotlight.” 15 million. This is the kind of light that is not only highly visible, but nearly audible. The ad, in part, reads:
“The 15 Million Candlepower Spotlight is the world's most powerful cordless handheld spotlight. Its quartz halogen bulb illuminates objects up to a mile away and can be seen even further. Powered by a 12-volt 7 amp/hour sealed lead acid battery, recharge it at home, or in your car's lighter socket. Heavy-duty cage construction makes this spotlight virtually indestructible. Cleverly designed swivel mount lets you point the beam in almost any direction so you can work hands-free.”
I like some of those words, ones like “world’s most powerful” and “up to a mile away.” “Heavy duty” and “virtually indestructible” are great too. I read the ad and sighed. “What a light,” I thought. “Its cleverly designed swivel mount would let me point the beam in almost any direction so I could work hands-free. And I could work hands-free…up to a mile away.” I thought about this today as I read Isaiah, my favorite book in the Old Testament.
"Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who walks in darkness
And has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the Lord
And rely upon his God.
Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled--
This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down in torment. (Is. 50:10, 11)
The immediate context of the passage is those who depend upon something of their own making for salvation, but the implications for those who follow God are clear. I can not create my own light or depend upon my own way or lean unto my own understanding and hope to walk rightly. No matter how many multi-colored lenses I use or how much candlepower I may muster, my understanding, in and of itself, is like darkness before the blinding light of the wisdom of God. Yet I seem to insist, when the way grows dim, on depending upon myself alone and pulling out my own light. I keep thinking that it’s the world’s most powerful one, heavy duty and indestructible too, but the truth is that it is a dead keychain flashlight at best, and I use it in the hope that I will be able to make some sense of the situation in which I find myself.
If you read the passage above, you find that the question is asked, “Who walks in darkness and has no light?” It is in those moments of uncertainty that the next line means so much; “Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely upon his God.” Sometimes I may not have the light that I think I want, but I know the God I most assuredly need. When the darkness is deep, He is deeper still.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
~Maurice Freehill
The first flashlight I ever owned was a tiny, disposable keychain flashlight given to me by my grandfather. You couldn’t see four feet with the light it gave, but it was light nonetheless. As a kid, I carried that light everywhere I went until it finally died. Then, as kids are apt to do, I didn’t dispose of it, but continued to carry it around with me pretending that it still worked.
After that, I’ve had too many flashlights to name. There were the penlights from the drugstore used to give myself self-prescribed, childhood tonsil checks. I remember a line of lights with colored lenses that made searching under the bed more interesting. I had a 6-cell police flashlight that was stolen by someone a few years ago, and then one with a large array of tiny LED lights in the front that you couldn’t look directly into or you would see spots before your eyes (while open or closed) for a long while after…I know this fact well.
These thoughts came to mind a couple of days ago as I read an ad for (get this) a “15-million candlepower spotlight.” 15 million. This is the kind of light that is not only highly visible, but nearly audible. The ad, in part, reads:
“The 15 Million Candlepower Spotlight is the world's most powerful cordless handheld spotlight. Its quartz halogen bulb illuminates objects up to a mile away and can be seen even further. Powered by a 12-volt 7 amp/hour sealed lead acid battery, recharge it at home, or in your car's lighter socket. Heavy-duty cage construction makes this spotlight virtually indestructible. Cleverly designed swivel mount lets you point the beam in almost any direction so you can work hands-free.”
I like some of those words, ones like “world’s most powerful” and “up to a mile away.” “Heavy duty” and “virtually indestructible” are great too. I read the ad and sighed. “What a light,” I thought. “Its cleverly designed swivel mount would let me point the beam in almost any direction so I could work hands-free. And I could work hands-free…up to a mile away.” I thought about this today as I read Isaiah, my favorite book in the Old Testament.
"Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who walks in darkness
And has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the Lord
And rely upon his God.
Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled--
This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down in torment. (Is. 50:10, 11)
The immediate context of the passage is those who depend upon something of their own making for salvation, but the implications for those who follow God are clear. I can not create my own light or depend upon my own way or lean unto my own understanding and hope to walk rightly. No matter how many multi-colored lenses I use or how much candlepower I may muster, my understanding, in and of itself, is like darkness before the blinding light of the wisdom of God. Yet I seem to insist, when the way grows dim, on depending upon myself alone and pulling out my own light. I keep thinking that it’s the world’s most powerful one, heavy duty and indestructible too, but the truth is that it is a dead keychain flashlight at best, and I use it in the hope that I will be able to make some sense of the situation in which I find myself.
If you read the passage above, you find that the question is asked, “Who walks in darkness and has no light?” It is in those moments of uncertainty that the next line means so much; “Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely upon his God.” Sometimes I may not have the light that I think I want, but I know the God I most assuredly need. When the darkness is deep, He is deeper still.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Wicked Wicker
I saw and used one for the first time when I was six. A little, multicolored, woven bamboo tube that you place your index fingers into and pull slightly, thus locking them in place. Any effort to extricate your digits by logical means (read: pulling), only draws the bamboo strips more tightly around your fingers. I’m speaking of the dreaded Chinese finger trap. I remember trying in vain to free myself as my mother watched bemusedly. No matter how hard I pulled, I couldn’t get loose. (I think this was a formative experience for me because even today, I don’t usually wear a watch, and if I get something my finger that can not move freely, I feel like I have to remove it. If I ever get married, I hope my wedding ring is little larger than necessary.)
The way you remove a finger trap is counterintuitive; you push your fingers in farther and then slide the bamboo sleeve from them. It doesn’t seem to make much sense approaching the problem that way…that’s why we get trapped, I suppose. We know how things should work, or at least, we think we know how things should work, but sometimes the best answer defies what we think should be true.
The Kingdom of God is counterintuitive, at least to humanity’s idea of logic. Over and over again we find events and teachings in the Bible that turn our reasoning topsy-turvy.
Take being blessed for example. We have our own idea of what it means to be “blessed.” The word in the New Testament often carries with it the idea of being “spiritually happy.” Happiness is a good thing. I like that. I want that. What does it look like? Jesus tells us in Matthew 5: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake…” (vs. 10,11). Seems like this contradicts my usual idea of what it means to be happy and blessed. But this is par for the course when we speak of the Kingdom of God…up is often down, down is usually up, and what we think should be turns out to be the opposite. Just consider the life of Jesus…
The Sovereign King of the Universe was born as a baby surrounded by livestock…
The disciples argued over who was the greatest among them during the Last Supper, and Jesus, taking on the role of the lowliest servant, washed their feet...
Jesus was judged by earthly trials, yet is the Judge of all…
In order to offer eternal life to man, He died…
This is why, when confronted with the truths of God, we often scratch our heads and think, “This doesn’t make much sense.” So we try to figure it out by pulling and tugging and fighting and stretching it to fit our own mindset. But life in the Kingdom of God doesn’t tend to line up easily with human thought. That’s why we must restrain from fighting against His working and willingly surrender to it. We trap ourselves when begin to think we can approach Him or understand Him on our terms alone.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Is. 55:8,9).
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
The way you remove a finger trap is counterintuitive; you push your fingers in farther and then slide the bamboo sleeve from them. It doesn’t seem to make much sense approaching the problem that way…that’s why we get trapped, I suppose. We know how things should work, or at least, we think we know how things should work, but sometimes the best answer defies what we think should be true.
The Kingdom of God is counterintuitive, at least to humanity’s idea of logic. Over and over again we find events and teachings in the Bible that turn our reasoning topsy-turvy.
Take being blessed for example. We have our own idea of what it means to be “blessed.” The word in the New Testament often carries with it the idea of being “spiritually happy.” Happiness is a good thing. I like that. I want that. What does it look like? Jesus tells us in Matthew 5: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake…” (vs. 10,11). Seems like this contradicts my usual idea of what it means to be happy and blessed. But this is par for the course when we speak of the Kingdom of God…up is often down, down is usually up, and what we think should be turns out to be the opposite. Just consider the life of Jesus…
The Sovereign King of the Universe was born as a baby surrounded by livestock…
The disciples argued over who was the greatest among them during the Last Supper, and Jesus, taking on the role of the lowliest servant, washed their feet...
Jesus was judged by earthly trials, yet is the Judge of all…
In order to offer eternal life to man, He died…
This is why, when confronted with the truths of God, we often scratch our heads and think, “This doesn’t make much sense.” So we try to figure it out by pulling and tugging and fighting and stretching it to fit our own mindset. But life in the Kingdom of God doesn’t tend to line up easily with human thought. That’s why we must restrain from fighting against His working and willingly surrender to it. We trap ourselves when begin to think we can approach Him or understand Him on our terms alone.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Is. 55:8,9).
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
As School Starts This Fall, Let's Remember...
Ben Franklin wrote of an interesting exchange between some of the early colonists and the Native Americans. It seems that after the treaty of Lancaster was signed by the two parties in June 1744, the Virginian government offered, as a gesture of goodwill, to take 6 of their young men and educate them at one of the colonial colleges. After thinking it over, the Native Americans gave their answer the next day…
"For we know that you highly esteem the kind of learning taught in those colleges, and that the maintenance of our young men with you would be very expensive to you. We are convinced therefore that you mean to do us good by your proposal, and we thank you heartily. But you who are wise must know that different nations have different conceptions of things, and you will therefore not take it amiss if our ideas of this kind of education happen not to be the same with yours. We have had some experience of it: several of our young people were formerly brought up at the colleges of the northern provinces; they were instructed in all your sciences; but when they came back to us they were bad runners, ignorant of every means of living in the woods, unable to bear either cold or hunger, knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy, spoke our language imperfectly; were therefore neither fit for hunters, warriors, or counselors; they were totally good for nothing. We are however not the less obliged by your kind offer, though we decline accepting it; and to show our grateful sense of it, if the gentlemen of Virginia will send us a dozen of their sons, we will take great care of their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them."
-from The Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin
For the Native Americans, knowledge carried more importance than just understanding a concept or committing a fact to memory. The knowledge had to hold a practical component; something meaningful should result. Being educated was more than passing a test sitting at a desk. Education and wisdom was learned by hands-on experience and intensive practice.
It really reminds me of the idea of wisdom found in the Bible. In the Old Testament, the word used often for “wisdom” could be translated as “skilled living.” When God gives us His wisdom, skilled living is the desired result. It’s more than just being able to win a Bible trivia game. There must be a practical application of truth. Because of the importance of living a skillful life, we are admonished to seek this wisdom. “Wisdom is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding” (Prov. 4:7). God wants us to run after that type of true wisdom with diligence and passion: “If you seek [wisdom] as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God” (Prov. 2:4-5).
God offers to take us, and take great care of our spiritual education, instruct us in His wisdom, and make fully-devoted followers of us…but we must seek it as the treasure it is.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
"For we know that you highly esteem the kind of learning taught in those colleges, and that the maintenance of our young men with you would be very expensive to you. We are convinced therefore that you mean to do us good by your proposal, and we thank you heartily. But you who are wise must know that different nations have different conceptions of things, and you will therefore not take it amiss if our ideas of this kind of education happen not to be the same with yours. We have had some experience of it: several of our young people were formerly brought up at the colleges of the northern provinces; they were instructed in all your sciences; but when they came back to us they were bad runners, ignorant of every means of living in the woods, unable to bear either cold or hunger, knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy, spoke our language imperfectly; were therefore neither fit for hunters, warriors, or counselors; they were totally good for nothing. We are however not the less obliged by your kind offer, though we decline accepting it; and to show our grateful sense of it, if the gentlemen of Virginia will send us a dozen of their sons, we will take great care of their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them."
-from The Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin
For the Native Americans, knowledge carried more importance than just understanding a concept or committing a fact to memory. The knowledge had to hold a practical component; something meaningful should result. Being educated was more than passing a test sitting at a desk. Education and wisdom was learned by hands-on experience and intensive practice.
It really reminds me of the idea of wisdom found in the Bible. In the Old Testament, the word used often for “wisdom” could be translated as “skilled living.” When God gives us His wisdom, skilled living is the desired result. It’s more than just being able to win a Bible trivia game. There must be a practical application of truth. Because of the importance of living a skillful life, we are admonished to seek this wisdom. “Wisdom is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding” (Prov. 4:7). God wants us to run after that type of true wisdom with diligence and passion: “If you seek [wisdom] as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God” (Prov. 2:4-5).
God offers to take us, and take great care of our spiritual education, instruct us in His wisdom, and make fully-devoted followers of us…but we must seek it as the treasure it is.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
Thank You Captain Obvious.
I read an article the other day about avoiding shark attacks and what to do if attacked (I really have no real useful reason for knowing said information, but I suppose it is better to have the knowledge and not need it, than to need it and not have it). After the detailed description of what to do in order to escape a hungry shark, I read this: “Australian scientists have discovered that swimming with another person decreases your chances of being attacked by 50%.” I would say so, and if I were swimming with 99 other people, I suspect my chances would be further reduced…just a hunch.
Funny how the obvious seems so hard to grasp at times…
How many times has it happened to you? You stand looking for something, maybe your keys, an important paper or the remote control, yet you just can’t find it. You search everywhere you can think of to look, then, stopping to think, you cast your eyes downward, and there, sitting before you, is the very thing you sought. It didn’t seem like it was there all the time, but it was.
I’ve heard married couples comment on this phenomenon when one has asked the other to retrieve something from the refrigerator. Standing there before the open door the husband, I’m told, usually speaks these words, “We have no ketchup.”
“Yes, we do. Look again.”
He peers longer into the shelves. “No, I don’t think we do. It’s not here.”
The wife, sighing, crosses the kitchen, slides the milk aside, and there, filled to the brim is a bottle of ketchup. “It wasn’t there earlier,” he says. It’s so obvious that you miss it.
It’s one thing to miss a container of tomato product because you aren’t paying attention, but it’s another to miss the God of the Universe because you are too busy with everything else that comes your way. And it’s not that God has hidden Himself away in some dark, inaccessible corner. To the contrary of that notion, He has revealed Himself to mankind. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). Creation itself testifies of God’s existence (“His invisible attributes are clearly seen”), His work as the Creator (“being understood by the things that are made”), His “eternal power” and divine nature (“Godhead”). Creation screams out the name of God, yet we sometimes miss the most obvious message of all.
Sometimes, when I’m at the point that I feel like I’m missing something (or Someone) in my life, much of the time, it’s the Eternal God that I’m overlooking.
How obvious is He to you?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
Funny how the obvious seems so hard to grasp at times…
How many times has it happened to you? You stand looking for something, maybe your keys, an important paper or the remote control, yet you just can’t find it. You search everywhere you can think of to look, then, stopping to think, you cast your eyes downward, and there, sitting before you, is the very thing you sought. It didn’t seem like it was there all the time, but it was.
I’ve heard married couples comment on this phenomenon when one has asked the other to retrieve something from the refrigerator. Standing there before the open door the husband, I’m told, usually speaks these words, “We have no ketchup.”
“Yes, we do. Look again.”
He peers longer into the shelves. “No, I don’t think we do. It’s not here.”
The wife, sighing, crosses the kitchen, slides the milk aside, and there, filled to the brim is a bottle of ketchup. “It wasn’t there earlier,” he says. It’s so obvious that you miss it.
It’s one thing to miss a container of tomato product because you aren’t paying attention, but it’s another to miss the God of the Universe because you are too busy with everything else that comes your way. And it’s not that God has hidden Himself away in some dark, inaccessible corner. To the contrary of that notion, He has revealed Himself to mankind. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). Creation itself testifies of God’s existence (“His invisible attributes are clearly seen”), His work as the Creator (“being understood by the things that are made”), His “eternal power” and divine nature (“Godhead”). Creation screams out the name of God, yet we sometimes miss the most obvious message of all.
Sometimes, when I’m at the point that I feel like I’m missing something (or Someone) in my life, much of the time, it’s the Eternal God that I’m overlooking.
How obvious is He to you?
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
I Was So Tired That I Started to Grimace...
I have a close friend who was telling me once about returning from Jackson Hole, Wyoming near the end of a road trip. He was the only one awake in the car, and he was driving. Somewhere out in the middle of America, in the middle of the night, he had an encounter. He told me that as he topped a hill and began the descent, his headlights fell upon a 30-foot tall Grimace. The resulting conversation went something like this:
“You mean the big, purple, gumdrop-shaped guy on the kid’s McDonald’s commercials?”
“Yes.”
“So there was a McDonald’s nearby?”
“No.”
“What then, was it a statue?”
“No, it was Grimace.”
“I understand that, but what was it?”
“Grimace.”
“I know, you said that already. I’m asking you if it was a tourist attraction or something like—”
“No, it was Grimace…a live Grimace.”
(I didn’t know how to break the news to him that Grimace was not a living entity, not even in the Great Plains. I tried to be understanding.)
“You know that Grimace isn’t real, right?”
“Of course I do.”
“Look, I’m a little confused.”
“I was so tired, I was seeing things. Not only did I see Grimace standing on the side of the road, but there were a number of little baby Grimaces standing on the other side, waiting for me to pass by so they could safely cross. That’s what I saw, but nothing was really there. Later, when I thought about it, I realized just how exhausted I really was, what with seeing Grimace and so forth…”
We all have moments like that; we see things that aren’t even there. I’m not talking about seeing an exhaustion-created hallucination from a fast-food chain, but those times when we see an attitude, or intent, or a problem where none exist. Not only do we often “read into” things and see the non-existent, sometimes we do the opposite: we miss what is really there. Winston Churchill said, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”
We too often miss the reality of the moment. For me, the saddest and most sobering moments come when I get so involved with something, whether good or bad, and, in the busyness of it all, I miss God. David told his son Solomon in II Chron. 28:9, “If you seek Him, He will be found by you…” When I reach those moments when I’ve missed Him, then I have really missed the point of everything.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
“You mean the big, purple, gumdrop-shaped guy on the kid’s McDonald’s commercials?”
“Yes.”
“So there was a McDonald’s nearby?”
“No.”
“What then, was it a statue?”
“No, it was Grimace.”
“I understand that, but what was it?”
“Grimace.”
“I know, you said that already. I’m asking you if it was a tourist attraction or something like—”
“No, it was Grimace…a live Grimace.”
(I didn’t know how to break the news to him that Grimace was not a living entity, not even in the Great Plains. I tried to be understanding.)
“You know that Grimace isn’t real, right?”
“Of course I do.”
“Look, I’m a little confused.”
“I was so tired, I was seeing things. Not only did I see Grimace standing on the side of the road, but there were a number of little baby Grimaces standing on the other side, waiting for me to pass by so they could safely cross. That’s what I saw, but nothing was really there. Later, when I thought about it, I realized just how exhausted I really was, what with seeing Grimace and so forth…”
We all have moments like that; we see things that aren’t even there. I’m not talking about seeing an exhaustion-created hallucination from a fast-food chain, but those times when we see an attitude, or intent, or a problem where none exist. Not only do we often “read into” things and see the non-existent, sometimes we do the opposite: we miss what is really there. Winston Churchill said, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”
We too often miss the reality of the moment. For me, the saddest and most sobering moments come when I get so involved with something, whether good or bad, and, in the busyness of it all, I miss God. David told his son Solomon in II Chron. 28:9, “If you seek Him, He will be found by you…” When I reach those moments when I’ve missed Him, then I have really missed the point of everything.
Dustin C. George
Minister to Single Adults
www.sevierheights.org/ministries/singles
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