Life Sucks, Truth is Truth and Life is Good

The blog is going to be all over the place.  My mind is racing with a thousand thoughts from too much caffeine, so bear with me.  I started out this morning with one particular thought, and it just snowballed from there.  Those of you that know me will understand from conversations with me that it often go in this direction.  So think of this as just casually sitting in Starbucks with me and listening to me ramble.  You have to by the coffee though.  

Several years ago, when I was a Children’s Pastor, I ran an 8 week movie club for kids during the Summer.  The church that I was serving at had a huge multipurpose room with a big screen and sound system, so it was perfect for keeping a bunch of bunch of restless kids occupied for a at least one morning a week.  Each week featured a Disney or Pixar movie, complete with popcorn, and afterwards I would teach a short Bible lesson that tied into the main storyline.  Kind of a "hidden" message from God.  The week before the club began, I got a couple :anticipated" calls from concerned parents asking how secular movies would teach kids about God.  My favorite one was an irate mother chastising me for even daring to show movies of this type in a church!  Gasp!  I mean, we all know Woody and Buzz went to Hell after they were discarded and finally wore out, right?  Didn't Andy ask them where they would be in 100 years? 

One of my dominate philosophies or theological beliefs is that God’s truth can be found everywhere.  Whether it’s a Disney movie, nature, everyday culture or even other religions, God’s truth can be found if we seek it out.  St. Augustine said, "Where I found truth, there found I my God, who is the truth itself."  His truth permeates creation and all of existence whether we like it or not.  (Psalm 19)  When you think about it, God can reveal a basic truth by any medium he wants, anywhere he wants and by any method He wants.  It reminds me of a scene from the 80s sci-fi movie Enemy Mine.  An alien, played by Lou Gossett Jr. is teaching his culture’s holy scriptures to a fighter pilot from Earth, played by Dennis Quaid.  They are both stranded on a deserted planet and soon become friends.  When Gossett reads a quote, that is almost word for word from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Quaid’s character responds, “You know, I’ve heard that before?”; to which this alien from a planet millions of miles from Earth responds, “Of course you have.  Truth is truth.” 

   

This week I was watching the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.  If you’ve seen it, you’ll recall the conversation between the two aliens, Klaatu and the Mr. Wu:

Klaatu: We need to prepare to leave.
Mr. Wu: I’m staying
Klaatu: You can’t stay here
Mr. Wu: I can and I will
Klaatu: If you stay you’ll die
Mr. Wu: I know, this is my home now.
Klaatu: You yourself call them the destructive race
Mr. Wu: That’s true. But still, there is another side.  You see, I love them. This is a very strange thing.  I can’t find a way to explain it to you. For many years I cursed my luck for being sent here.  Human life is difficult. But if this life is coming to an end, I consider myself lucky to have lived it.

When I heard this, I instantly saw a couple of deep and profound biblical truths: Human life is difficult.  (John 16:33)  The Bible is replete with examples of the sufferings we can expect while journeying through life.  Not only that, but in many ways, those that follow Christ are in fact "aliens" living in foreign bodies.  Yes, the Bible tells us that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, causing us to reflect on the importance of respecting the vessels we exist in, but we also know that there is much more to our existence than the physical shell that will one day return to the earth and die.  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Through our faith in Christ, we are Spiritual beings.  The substance that is the soul never dies and is greater than the physical body we live in. (2 Corinthians 5:8)  So while we live in the imperfect human body, we experience the imperfection in full.  Human life is hard and as with what Mr. Wu said in the above dialogue, we experience the same dichotomy while we walk this earth.  It's strange when you think about it.  We walk this earth, yearning for something more, sometimes cursing the life we live.  But I wonder how many of us would have just a bit of hesitation to leave it if we had the choice.  In reality, we know that our existence will experience much more in the world to come.  It's inconceivable.  But the temporal is often very hard to let go of despite the eternal reality of what we were really created for.       

Coffee and Cancer

"Everything is meaningless."  I just ran into a friend of mine whose husband is dying of stomach cancer.  It's not pretty.  It's not pleasant to hear about.  It's not easy to talk about.  But she's my friend, she's hurting and her husband is dying.  He's suffering.  He's in pain.  From the look in her eyes, I could feel his pain emanating though her, even though he is currently miles away in a hospital room.  When talking with her, I felt how obvious, real and close their relationship is.  It was almost as if he was just behind her eyes, shaking his head in disbelief and pleading with me to help them both.  It was very real.  This is real.  It's life.  It's death.  It's pain, in a very real, raw and powerful form.

It hit me like a ton of bricks as I helped my friend carry some boxed to her car.  They are having to move from their home because of expenses.  She works at Starbucks and actually seems to enjoy what she is doing.  I think it gets her mind of everything, her life, her pain.  But how can serving coffee to fools like me pay the bills for such heavy expenses?  There was a time when her husband did very well in his career, but today it's different.  There was a time when they didn't worry about paying bills, didn't worry about hospitals, chemo and death.  There was a time when their plans of life did not include getting a nice case of stomach cancer, loosing a career, working at a coffee shop, watching a loved one die an agonizing death or spending their retirement days wondering how to pay the bills.  But it's life.  Their life.  And it brought me to tears just before I wrote this.

She was working just above me, at the counter, pumping coffee flavors into white paper cups.  I was banging away on my laptop, trying to write something, and watching her as well.  She gave me something to write about today.  I wonder if she knows that.  Sonny and Cher were singing "I Got You Babe" over the speakers above us.  She began to sing along.  Not just humming, but singing in a soft, beautiful voice that caused me to stop typing and start listen.  I thought of her and her husband.  I thought of another time when they were young.  I wonder if that song meant something to them years and years ago.  It was the way she sang it.  I could her her singing to him.  Maybe she's sing it to him when she gets to the hospital today.  "Then put your little hand in mine. There 'aint no hill or mountain we can't climb."

I was up early this morning.  My dog casually threw up on my bed as he laid next to me.  That kind of ended my goal of sleeping a little later this morning.  But everything has a reason.  I got to my favorite shop shop to write and two men were talking about life and their faith.  I'm not sure exactly what their conversation was about, but one man said to the other, "This kind of crap makes no sense at all.  Why do these kinds of things happen to good people?  People that follow God?  People that always try and do the right thing?"   Prophecy for me maybe?  Was this conversation intended for my encounter with my friend?  She's not the one that uttered these words, although I'm sure that she shares that sentiment.   She works at a different coffee shop that is miles away.  I made my way there because my first choice was too crowed and loud.  But I was there.  I heard those words.  And I answer them to myself, even though my friend is not here to respond.

"The same destiny ultimately awaits everyone, whether righteous or wicked, good or bad, ceremonially clean or unclean, religious or irreligious. Good people receive the same treatment as sinners, and people who make promises to God are treated like people who don't." (Ecclesiastes 9:2 - NLT)

And the wheels on the bus go round and round.
 
"I don't understand what's going on.  I hate my life!  Since either way it ends up the same, I can only conclude that God destroys the good right along with the bad." (Job 9:22 - The Message)

I don't understand either.  And sometimes I hate my life as well.  I don't have the answers.

God "causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45 - NIV)

Ashes to ashes, we all fall down.  

"Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt." (Genesis 3:19 - The Message)

I don't know.  I guess what I'm getting at is that God never painted a beautiful, blissful picture of what our lives were life.  We live in a culture that recoils at the thought of even the hint of pain and suffering, and we're shocked when it falls on us.  All the while, God gently whispers to our disapproval of life circumstances with a very matter of fact, "I beg your pardon.  I never promised you a rose garden."  Instead, the stark reality is that life sucks.  Plain and simple.  Bumper sticker philosophy.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble." (John 16:33 - NIV)

Translation: "Don't be surprised when the proverbial shit hits the fan.  I told you that it would.  I told you it would make a mess.  I told you that it would stink.  So, just accept it for what it is and move on, OK?" 

But the one thing that remains clear, and it's why I wrote this blog to begin with.  In the exact same verse Jesus say that we are commanded to "love one another".  Proverbs also tells us that "love covers over all wrongs."  And 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. 

There is so much hate in our world today, isn't there?  Don't you just feel like screaming, "Enough!"   So, I come to this very realistic, but sobering conclusion: when we love one another, we are in essence, showing God to one another, in a very real way.  He is manifest in the flesh through us, the Body of Christ, the Church and living as the Church is supposed to live.  And when we show others God, He covers over all the garbage and refuse that we walk around in every day of our lives.  And that is the equalizing factor that makes this life bearable.  That is the one aspect that brings unity among us all and gives purpose and reason to this sometime meaningless existence.  


"Love one another." 

Bereft

Psalm 88 is the most dark and depressing of all the Psalms.  It's a suffering cry of a person that expects his future days on earth to be few.  Abandoned and isolated, the character calls out to the God of his salvation, with the expectation of hope that seems to never come.  Sounds like an average day?  

Psalm 88 is the only Psalm in the Old Testament that does not eventually end with the author's usual revelation of redemption, and the subtle shadow of joy and hope.  There is no climactic realization of God's goodness and provision that is the pattern of most Psalms.  There is no eventual release from pain.  There is no usual epiphany that God's reality overshadows the darkness in which he finds himself.  The Psalm is a progression of pain and suffering that does not rise and fall, but is a static lamenting plea of a mournful and despondent character.  This is a person in deep distress, abandon of friendship, love and, from his clouded perspective, abandon by God as well.  Ever felt that way? 

In reading this Psalm many times, I concluded that such misery, without apparent eventual relief, is not consistent with most Scripture.  The essence of the Bible is a string of redemptive love stories, causing us to believe that despite our circumstances, God's transcendent love will eventually overwhelm our pain as we allow His Spirit to propel us forward.  To me, the Bible is the ultimate love story of a God that calls out, romances, delights in and showers His children with the unconditional love we all long for deep within the recesses of our soul.  Surely, there must be some hidden redemptive truth lying somewhere just below the surface of the character's pain in Psalm 88.  And I think there is.

More than likely, Psalm 88 is a picture of a person who has possibly fallen to his lowest point of his life.  Whether it's bad decisions, consuming sin or emotional sickness that has overwhelmed him, he stands defeated, crushed beneath the weight of a darker side of life and racked with the grief of his life situation.  The spiral has pulled him down into the pits of suffering, and despite his attempts at clawing his way out, he only slides further beneath the surface.  Helpless, he cries out to God, as a child begging his father to take the pain away.

Why is there no climax of relief?  Why does God's light not shine though the darkness and alleviate the authors pain?  Why does he appear abandoned by God?  I think the answer lies in the word "appear".  As a father, there is nothing I would not do for my two boys.  If they feel pain, emotional or physical, I will do anything within my power to remove it from their lives.  But there is certain pain that comes from choices made and situations they stumble into, especially as they grow older.  My love and identity as dad never changes, but sometimes my ability to turn the "pain switch" off is limited.  To them, it may appear that I'm sadistically standing by as they hurt in their isolated dimension of suffering.  But in realty, I suffer with them, feeling pain that equals the love I have for them.  Dad never stops loving his boys, and never stops being dad. 

The overwhelming realization is that for the author of Psalm 88, God never stops being God.  He remains who he is throughout this dark scenario, and continues to be God when the Psalmist laments the fact that his friends have abandoned him.  In his isolation, the writer does not seem to lose sight of that basic fact, and perhaps this is the redemption that will eventually carry him through  to the obscure hope we fail to apparently see.  This forthcoming redemption is the missing hope that we see in most of the other Psalms.  The author, acknowledging his very real pain, also acknowledges God's power and attributes as they truly are.  The unchanging and consistent existence of God is the thread that brings forth the hope we might miss in Psalm 88, and the author may fail to see as well.  

God doesn't change; we change.  As we live our lives from day to day, we sometimes get sucked into the darker corners of existence.  Places that we don't want to remain.  Places from which we long to escape.  Sometimes we change.  Sometimes to don't.  The point is, even if we decide to remain isolated, unmoved and indulging in our self made darkness, God remains just as He was before we decided to allow the spiral to plunge us below.  Psalm 88 is the quintessential image of a person that suffers, like many of us do from time to time.  And regardless of the duration of the author's suffering, the light of hope still shines through.  I wonder if he knew it at the time?

Pain

Yesterday was a very difficult day for me.  I found myself having to make a decision that was very painful, but realized that there was no other option in the scenario I faced.  Because of this decision, I'm experiencing somewhat of a loss, so in many ways I feel as if I'm mourning.  Throughout the day, I made my way from distraction to distraction in order to try and alleviate the pain I was experiencing, but nothing seemed to fill the void that had been created.  The pain has been deep.  The pain has been real.  And it appears that for now, the pain cannot be avoided.

Pain is one of the byproducts of decisions we make.  Right or wrong, most of us make decisions that eventually shake us from peaceful apathy, and create a series of events that cause pain in our lives, as well as others. When the full force of the pain is overpowering us, sapping our strength, making us ill and sometimes rocking the very foundations of our lives, we seek relieve in any form it can be found.  Some of us find consolation in prayer, some in exercise, some in talking with friends, some find the edge taken off by alcohol, drugs or other forms of self-medicating.  But one area that I have found peace in is music.  I have very little musical talent, but have always been consumed by the music of others that have the gift of touching the heart, stirring the soul and calming the storms that rage within me from pain.

Since yesterday, I've found comfort in many artists that I've found healing in over the years.  One in particular caused a profound effect on me.  It caused me to close my eyes, drift away from the pain I felt, if only for a moment, and imagine a world that did not exists at the time.  I found solace in not only the words of the song, but also in the haunting melody that seemed to lift me from the pit I was in.

It's no surprise to many of you that know me, but I'm a pretty emotional person.  Most of the time it's a blessing, but from time to time, like today, it can be a burden and a curse that weighs me down and causes me to question why God made me the way I am.  I guess that's why I relate so much to the life of King David.  Reading through each Psalm that David wrote, you can hear every human emotion in vivid description and eloquent poetry.  David was by no means afraid of expressing his emotions, regardless of how high the mountain top might have been, or how low the pits of despair may have found him.  David was an emotional man, and through that emotion came incredible creativity, imagination and strength.  One of those areas of creativity came in the form of music that he had been gifted with at a very young age.

In 1 Samuel 16, we read a story of a man named Saul, who was the first King of Israel.  Saul had been faithful to God but made a series of bad decisions that began to effect his mental state.  The Bible says that an evil spirit came over Saul, because God's Spirit had left him.  We can probably assume that Saul was consumed by overwhelming fear and depression.  We know nothing about what alleviated the pain that consumed Saul, except for one thing: Music.

1 Samuel 16:23 says, "Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him."  Think about these words for a moment.  Saul is struggling through the shear agony of depression, fear, panic, anger and frustration.  The choices of his life have overwhelmed him as he realizes that God has all but left him completely.  He's drowning in his sorrow and helplessly grasping for a life ring to save him.  And when the waves are about to crash over him one last time, he hears the sweets sounds of David's harp.  They call to him from above the surface of the ocean, he is captivated by the enchanting melody and is swept to place of peace.  A place of escape from his pain.  If just for a brief moment, the music from David's harp, soothes his anguishing soul and bring the relief he longs for.

You may not connect with music in the way I do, but chances are there is something that touches your soul in the same manner.  Whatever it might be, realize what David's harp is for you.  Who is a "David" in your life that can come beside you and easy the pain that can come from life's journey.  We live in a chaotic world, don't we?  To think we can escape pain is unrealistic at best.  My pain will soon dissipate.  I will rise above the waves that have crashed over me for the moment, and at least for the time being, David's harp sings melodically to me, as I close my eyes and rest, and let the peace envelop me, if even for one brief moment in time.  God has placed a healing refuge in my life and I thank Him.  I thank Him for the melodies that dull the sharp edges of pain.                               

The Power of Pain

Let me ask you a question. We live in a culture, where we are constantly taught to avoid pain and suffering at ALL cost, right? Pain and suffering, whether physical or emotional, is meant to be avoided. Go to the doctor for this. Take a pill for that. How is the world are we supposed to teach our children that pain and suffering is part of the Christian's journey, and should not only be expected, but welcomed! In his book “On the Anvil”, Max Lucado takes a look at human sufferings. He compares the suffering of a Christian to that of being on a blacksmith’s anvil. As the blacksmith hammers the hot steel, it’s not exactly a pretty sight. It’s chaotic. It’s ugly. It takes much work. It’s hot and uncomfortable. But after the blacksmith has completed his job, what he is left with is a beautiful piece of metal; perhaps a sword or a valuable tool. The point that Lucado makes is that through our suffering we become refined. We become better. As God allows us to go through the fire, what comes out on the other side is beautiful. Yes, it’s painful, chaotic and ugly. But when the work has come to fruition, what remains is a tool that God can then use, on his terms. Beautiful. Useful. Refined!

In the book of Job, we see the quintessential example of human suffering intertwined with the nature and sovereignty of God. We see life being played out in a great drama. On the big stage we see Satan suggesting that Job was only faithful because of God’s blessings in his life. Take away the blessings, and Job would surely reject and curse God. God begs to differ, knowing full well that Job’s heart was in the right place. “Prove it!”, Satan challenges. God sees redemptive history in front of Him. The big picture. He knows the pain that Job will go through, but in the end it will bring Him glory. And that’s what lies at the heart of this story. God’s glory.

Well, God allows the heat to be turned up on Job’s life and he makes it though the fire. Job became the steel. He was sent into the fire. Thrown upon the anvil. Beaten with the hammer. Refined for God’s will. What remained? A tool to be used for God over the next several thousand years and for all eternity! Pretty awesome, huh? Do you think Job had any idea how his personal suffering would be used for the glory of God? Probably not. In fact, there is no evidence that Job had any idea what was going on between Satan and God. And he probably had never realized what God’s will was throughout his tragedy. All that mattered was God’s glory and Job faithfulness. The point was made.

We all go through tragedy. You may be going through a tragedy as you read this. Most of us do not go through suffering to the magnitude that Job did, but that doesn’t matter. Suffering is suffering. Pain is pain. But as we feel the heat being turned up, and the hammer coming down upon us, do we ask God to stop the pain? Or do we just try asking Him why? Do we ask Him what the purpose of this particular trial might be? How can it be used for His glory? How can it be used in the big picture? How can we grow from it? See, God has a reason for every tear we shed. We may never know what those reasons are, but that really doesn’t matter. What matters is that God receives the glory and we prove to be faithful. And our kids need to see this lived out in our lives. They need to see that we, as parents, teachers, leaders, confront the pain and suffering because it is an element of a fallen world. And they need to see that we welcome pain and suffering because it refines and makes us better!

Flux (Part I)

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you." (1 Peter 4:12) Then why are we always so surprised? Why do we think some something is wrong with us? Why do we think our trials mean that we've done something wrong in our lives?

Life is interesting. Since the creation of time, humans have pondered their existence. Our journey through this world consists of changes in perspective that cause us both unexplainable joy and unbearable pain, but rarely does there seem to be any middle ground. Basically, it seems that life is a series of peaks and valleys, with the ascensions and descensions occurring rapidly as we frantically try and make it to the next season of life. In our pain, we cry out to God and beg Him to accelerate our time in the valley, and when we arrive at the peak of the mountain top, we always seem to find some reason to discount God's favor. And what happens? We miss out on two very vital points in life where God teaches us the most.

C.S. Lewis wrote that "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains". Is this why we seem to learn the most as we walk through trials? When you think about it, pain, emotional, physical or spiritual, is the one element of life that demands our full attention. It doesn't matter what's occurring around us; when we are in deep pain, it seems to be the only focus of our existence. It's as if nothing can penetrate the barrier of pain, as we sit isolated from relief. I wonder if this is what Lewis meant? In these times, is God lifting His voice to the limit of human perception? Is His voice the only thing that cuts through the solitude of pain? If we are honest, we know that God is allowing us to feel pain in order to teach us something that has been drowned out by the other senses of our lives. Joy, peace, happiness, love, passion, excitement; they all can hinder us from hearing from God. Pain cancels out the noise and exposes our soul bare. But we avoid it. We pray for God to alleviate it. And in the process, we fail to learn what God intends us to learn.