What a weekend! Have you experienced tremendous life change in an instant? Where one minute your walking a certain path and the other there is no path whatsoever? Change can be funny like that and can play a myriad of tricks on our emotions, feelings, and overall health. Our heart may skip a beat, the load we carry might seem a little heavier, our blood pressure might creep up, or perhaps the anxiety level rises to dangerous heights. We all respond to such challenges in different ways but one thing is certain…when unexpected change comes our way we get the choice in how we react.
My wife and I have been spending a lot of time recently thinking about how we want to live and the kind of life we want to create. Perhaps like many of you this was a foreign concept to us. Unfortunately, way too many of us have been sucked into the consumer driven American dream that leaves with little to no choices…or at least we think. The truth is that we always have choices, lots of them, and if you allow it to be so, unexpected change can bring a plethora of positive choices.
I have never been a go-with-the-flow kind of guy. There is something in my DNA that screams out toward the status quo, rule following, and to be quite frank I really don’t like anyone telling me what I do or don’t have to do. That last statement really has very little to do with submitting to authority, but more to do with someone else shaping how my life is lived. As human beings we were not created to hold that sort of power over one another yet we have created a world that revolves around it.
Back to my original thought…my life has recently undergone a massive and sudden change. Over the course of the weekend I had many decisions to make and many choices in how to respond. After some serious self-examination and heart connecting I made some choices that were very hard, but very rewarding and in the days ahead while navigating this change I will have the chance to keep making those choices. Ultimately, it’s up to me in how I am going to respond. I can let this opportunity for change be a setback, or I can let it catapult me into a new way of living and be a starting point in creating the life I want and what I was made to do.
The best part is realizing I am not alone. It reminds me of the story where the disciples were in the boat with Jesus when an unexpected storm brought all it’s fury on the sea of Galilee to their little fishing vessel. Jesus was asleep when the storm arose and obviously not too concerned with the sudden shift in the weather. The disciples however absolutely flipped a lid. They were scared, afraid for their lives, and ran to wake him. Out of fear they displayed their outrage and lashed out to their friend and Rabbi claiming that he didn’t care about them since he was sleeping and they were on a sinking ship. Jesus woke up and spoke peace to the elements, the storm stopped, and the chaos was over. He then turned his attention to his pupils and no doubt gave them a little lesson when it comes to fear and the connection with he and his father. “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
I believe the storm would have been much easier for his followers to handle if they would have had fair warning that it was coming. Their reaction was no doubt directly connected to the unexpected that quickly became a reality. In such moments fear can play a starring role and stop us in our tracks. We feel alone, we are frightened, and as the wind and waves come crashing it is easy to respond in desperation. I sometimes wonder if the disciples considered other options or thought about the other choices they may have had before rushing to wake Jesus from his sleep. We will never know for sure but I’d be willing to bet that waking Jesus was their first option rather than their last.
My change is here. Like it or not I have found myself in the middle of the sea in a boat with a raging storm brewing up. You may be going through a similar situation. What will you do? How will you respond? What choices will you make? Are you scared, frightened, depressed, anxious, and hopeless? If so, what are you telling yourself to combat those lies and feelings? When we tell ourselves only one story and picture a certain outcome it can be very hard to see anything other than our ship completely sinking. Here is another thought to consider…let us go worse case scenario! Your ship sinks…what do you do? In the moments where your life and fate hang in the balance how do you respond? Does the thought of swimming even cross your mind or do you succumb to the circumstances and drown? Again, we have the choice…to sink, or to swim.
So my wife and I have been talking about things for a long time but just sitting on our hopes and dreams. Now, I have suddenly been put in a situation to either sink or swim. It is time for me put into action what we have been practicing. I have choices, lots of them, and I’m the only one who can make them. I have not been abandoned…I am not alone in this storm. Jesus has not forsaken me anymore than His Father forsook him. He is there, all three are there, Father, Spirit, and Son are very much present. Are they asleep? Perhaps. But maybe if they are resting it is because they are inviting me to rest with them…right in the middle of the shit storm. Could it be possible that the triune God of grace simply wants me to rest and relax…to let them fight for me, love me, and lead me to the best choices?
My friends these are the moments where our faith is put to the test. We can be swallowed up in fear, or we can look the storm in the eye knowing that we have one who speaks on our behalf that commands the storm and speaks peace be still…and the storm actually has no choice but to obey! These are the moments where we can respond reactively, grip our lives even tighter out of desperation, and try to make our own way, or we can let go and step into the freedom of trust, faith, and endless possibilities. If we can have this approach our sinking ship can turn into a sturdy aircraft carrier forging the way to a new destination that our lives have so desperately longed for. Won’t you practice with me? Lets flip the script on fear and live courageously on new adventures full of mystery, excitement, and the journey of the unknown. When we were children we would have jumped at the chance…what has changed that we so reluctantly step out on that limb now? I’m ready to take the leap…are you?
The choice is yours and mine…sink or swim
Be Blessed Friends…You Already Are
theuglybeautiful 
My visual picture is living in prison. Everywhere is iron and grey. As you fall on your miserable bed and pillow your hand slips underneath to find the key to the door. How long does it take you to use it?
love the imagery!
SWIM!!!
just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming 🙂
Hard work, doing the work of the ministry…not sitting at home will allow you to win in life. Giving your all to Christ and submitting to those that rule over you will allow you to be all that Christ wants of you. From following you there seems to be many lessons you have yet to learn, but raising hell in The Church is never a good thing.
I acknowledge your position. My position is that you make quick, hasty judgments through the framework of your own belief system. This post had nothing to do with the church. And…not all that rule over you are meant to be followed. Perhaps hell is exactly what needs to be raised in the church for increasingly the church has become irrelevant and gone once again to a yoke of slavery.