Dotting the landscape.

I was sitting in a small Italian owned coffee shop in downtown Seattle with my dad this morning, just chit chatting about the trajectory of life and the punch these past few weeks have packed for me.  In conversation, I was reminded of a story that was shared during the Justice Conference about a church in need of $250,000 by Monday.  It was Friday.  With a ten year tithing trend of $50,000 - $60,000 each Sunday, it was obvious that enough greens would not be coming in.  Regardless, the Pastor made the executive decision to refrain from sharing this with his congregation, and instead, with the elders, simply continued to pray for God’s provision.  Worst case scenario, they would take out a loan on Monday morning.  It wasn’t too long into Monday morning that an elder approached the Pastor’s office with the news that the tithes from Sunday had been counted and there was $251,000.  No joking, joshing, or kidding.  $251,000.  More than what they needed. 

And I sat there.  And sat there.  And the only word that I could find in my mind was abundance.  

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.”  ~ Ephesians 3:20

And even despite hearing this story, (among countless other stories of God’s never failing provision), and knowing and seeing His Word, why is it that my knees buckle, frogs begin to bounce around in my stomach, and my feet begin to sink every single flippin’ time I am confronted with a new need that appears to have zero hope for being met?  Anytime, anywhere, it’s as though I am a robot just responding as if I were performing regular maintenance.  And it’s not even just when there’s a need, but it’s also each time I find myself longing or dreaming of something that I would like my life characterized by.  Defeat shows up before I even have the opportunity to lace my kicks.  And typically, defeat wins before the fight even starts.

I got to thinking even more about this topic as I watched and re – watched (and re – watched again) the new video and call to action by Invisible Children.  If you haven’t seen it, I demand that you stop all life traffic and blog reading immediately and give yourself a priceless 29 minute gift.  This team at Invisible Children has been persistently working for ten years to spotlight the injustices happening in Uganda by choosing to quiet their own voices in order to be the voice of all the men, women, and children being captured, raped, and killed by Joseph Kony.  Ten years.  I cannot even begin to imagine the waiting, the hoping, the feelings of defeat, and the endurance required during that stretch of time.  And it’s not even over yet.  But.  But.  That’s just it.  They have persevered.  They are persevering.  Too often we do nothing.  Too often we are paralyzed.  Too often we don’t even lace our kicks.  Too often we put God in the shoebox of our kicks as though He were a tiny and incapable piece of air, containing no oxygen, let along being something that we can even see, thus giving Him the smallest area in our closet to simply rest and be.  And do we do that because we don’t believe we can do certain things in our life, or because He can’t do certain things in our life? 

I have no idea if the team at Invisible Children are Christ follower’s or not, but it is evident that their lives are marked by boldness.  Everything other than defeat.  And for however many times they were told, or even believed that they were crazy, courage always took the trophy.  And I use the word “end” literally because I believe that they will succeed.  I believe that they will continue to challenge the status quo and contribute to the creation of a fearless generation.  When people think of Invisible Children, I believe that they will be remembered as an organization that set out to make what was seemingly impossible, possible.  And that should be a significant reminder to all of us challenged by the small and large, but unmet needs in our life.  A reminder to all of us defeated by defeat itself.  To push back.  Everything is beyond a God that sits in a shoebox, but nothing is beyond a God who reigns from the sky.

As I started my second read through of David Platt’s book, “Radical,” I came across a portion of the book titled, Exalting Our Inability.  It read, “God actually delights in exalting our inability.  He intentionally puts people in situations where they come face to face with their need for Him.  In the process he powerfully demonstrates his ability to provide everything his people need in ways they could never have mustered up or imagined.  And in the end, he makes much of his own name.” 

Tangibly speaking, I have had a need for a laptop (recycled and thirty years old would have been good enough, and not just so that I can continue blogging), but because there is a potential opportunity on the horizon in which I truly believe the Lord is asking me to step out in faith and do, that would be greatly hindered by being without one.  But let’s be honest, unemployment doesn’t offer much grace in terms of spending money. ;)  Nevertheless, I decided to put these words to action and instead of allowing the frogs to play in my tum tum, I told them to go to he…aven and that God would take care of them there.  It was but yesterday, having not even shared the (in my eyes), urgency of this need with my Dad, that he texted me, “I won enough points at work to redeem a new Mac.  Want one?”  Enough points?  Huh?  Your work just does contests for free laptops?  Redeem?  As in free?  What are you talking about?  Never could have, would have, or tried to see that one coming.  And so I invited him to coffee this morning to share with him the significance and powerful implications of his contest winning and my personal “$251,000” story.

I believe that there have been times in all of our lives where God has lived outside the box, times where He has shown Himself faithful over and over again.  But it begs the question, do we remember?  Have we dotted our landscape in such a way that when our knees start to buckle and frogs enter our tummies and our feet start to sink, we know of His provision, the impossibilities that were made possible, and the mountains that were indeed moved?  Do we remember? 

Whether it be deciding on a new career path, going back to school, tackling an injustice in the world, leaving an old life or an old habit behind for a new one, trusting Him for a spouse, a child, restoration in a relationship, a roommate, finances, or for the boldness to do something radical, to give more, serve more, love more, to know what to do, how to do it, or when to do it, all of it.  My hope is that God doesn’t get too small, nor that we find Him resting in our shoebox.  That the things we know of who He is and what He has already done, carry enough weight to make us more courageous, inviting us forward to see even bigger things than the provision of a laptop and $251,000.  So folks, let’s start dotting the landscape!

1 Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.”