Friday, February 17, 2012

Not in My Future

I just discovered that I didn't know how to do the basic stuff for Twitter. This is interesting to me since I also don't understand blogging, facebook or even email really. I just learned how to zip files yesterday even though I work on a computer for Eyes That See. All of that to say I am going to take three minutes and tell you the five jobs that are clearly not in my future.

1. IT Department anywhere. Self explanatory.

2. Point Guard for the Knicks. I thought that they were going to call me for sure, but that Jeremy guy got there first. I was so close!

3. Zookeeper. It is true that I would be sure the animals stayed in their cage. It is just the whole "join them in the cage and play/feed/treat/care for" part of the job that I am not comfortable with.

4. Car Mechanic. By the simple fact that I put "car" in front of the word "mechanic" I think I am disqualified. It's not that I would be good with airplanes or tanks either, but I think that they all run magically if you just change the oil and give them gasoline. Also, I don't think they drink quality coffee in a shop and I would probably slow down because of that.

5. Professional Chess Player. I just learned that they exist yesterday. That is amazing to me! They travel around the world winning giant piles of money. I learned this while trying to train some chess instructors. As I trained them I couldn't remember the name of the knight piece, so I called it "the horsey." I'm not sure they learned much yesterday. Not my best moment honestly.

I guess part of realizing who you are is learning who you are not.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Deserts and Bats

I love nature documentaries. I'm somewhat afraid of real nature, but I love watching it on tv. My brother got our family a documentary called "Planet Earth" for Christmas. It is amazing. I'm probably less likely to go out in the wild because of it, but lets be honest, I've never been a man's man!

On the special called "desert" they show this cactus in Death Valley. It is obviously a very dry place. Still, every year for about four weeks these cacti have the most beautiful flowers. Right about when they bloom a certain species of bats leave Mexico for their journey north. They have to journey way too far over this desert and would never make it without food. Every year they find the flower on the cactus. It is exactly what they need to get to their next place (which is apparently within Valleybrook Church's buildings.)

This is amazing to me. These silly little bats are taken care of year by year. They take off ill prepared for the journey, completely certain that they will get what they need along the way. Every year the cactus blossoms. It isn't even a plain looking piece of food. They are met with a beautiful flower blooming for these ugly bats to enjoy. The bats finish their journey probably not even aware of the miracle that they just experienced. I doubt the bats realize how dependent they are on the cactus and how rare the provision really is. After all, every time the bat needs the flower, it is there. I'm sure they take it for granted.

It's amazing to me how well God prepares us for the journey ahead of us. Sometimes we don't journey because we are packing our bags to be sure we don't need anything. Other times we are able to trust that He is who He said He is and watch Him do more miracles in our midst.

I have traveled through some of life's deserts. The truth is, in the middle of them I have been met with both God's provision and His beauty. What a miracle this life is. Our Father is so faithful.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Reminders

Sometimes we have those weeks where we are reminded who we are. Other times we are reminded what we care about. Often times we have to be moving slow enough to receive either reminder.

As much as we love to receive this kind of affirmation, I am always amazed how terrified we are to offer it to others. Too often we wait to tell those we love why we love them. Rarely do we thank the people who have poured into us.

As badly as we need reminders, what if we intentionally reminded others this week? What would it look like to actually write a letter, make a call, or find a unique way to say "I see who you are" to those that we love? Take the time to do whatever it is. After all, like you they probably need the reminder.