Breathing Life

This has been a really strange week.  Last Sunday we hosted the local Boy Scout chapter for "Scout Sunday"; this was a time where the Scouts and their families joined us for service and then had lunch with us afterwards.  That's not why this has been an odd week however, regardless of your opinion of Boy Scouts. It was actually an amazing day of fellowship, laughter, and food.  Then Monday happened. 

I'm not overly spiritualizing this but it sure felt like the rest of this week has been payback for having a great Sunday.  It really kind of felt like an attack...a confrontation with an enemy who knew right where to hit us.  We've had serious illnesses, a miscarriage, members admitted to the hospital, a tragedy which impacted not only Calvary but the entire Valley...by today it seemed like things could not get more surreal.  As a first-time pastor I'm trying to process all of this and simultaneously trying to help my flock to do the same.  This is a monumentally tough challenge because in many ways it seems as if I'm neglecting personal need for the needs of my people.   You know, I'm used to giving up meals to talk on the phone, staying up late to make hospital visits, the monthly Deacon's Meetings...all of that seems normal and acceptable.  I'm talking about having to sit down and try to explain to my three and five year old daughters the darkest realities of humanity in terms they can understand.  It's watching them tear up over the fact that  a nine year old boy, his seven year old brother, and their eighteen month old sibling will not see their mommy again.  It's me feeling inadequate to address the disturbing reality that all that is good and humane seems vastly over-matched by dark and unsettling shadows of evil that linger and dwell in the souls of men.  It's attempting to explain "peace that passes all understanding" when my own heart seems confused and unsteady.

I keep thinking back to Ephesians 6:10-13 (The Message)...

God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet.

One part of that passage really sticks out to me and brings me courage:  "You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own"; the New International Version translates it as "and after you have done everything".  "After you have done everything"...when you have rationalized the situation in every way possible, when you're at a complete loss of words, you can still stand.  After you have done everything you can think of and you're at that point of utter helplessness so that there is nothing else left to do...right then we earn the humility to scream "Please God...please step in and help me know what to do and what to say!"  When all is lost, when temptation is about to overcome, when darkness surrounds us with death and desperation as the only answer and the ultimate last result, that's when the light of God's beauty and grace shines brightest, illuminating the smoky condition of absolute bewilderment, and His glory is revealed as that which has already conquered this enemy...this thief of joy, this breather of death.  It's the knowledge that the enemy's power is vanquished in the glorious life of Jesus Christ and it's this Life that He provides to those who would follow Him, who are "called according to His purpose."  Jesus came to breathe life into what was dead, to resuscitate those who had been smothered by the one who deceives and steals as opposed to the One who receives and heals.  Jesus breathed life into those who would follow Him and it's His Followers who live with the ever-present opportunity to breathe life into the world around them.  

It's a simple thought but today I want to encourage you to breathe life.  The world is a desperate place...but you can breathe life.  There are unspeakable tragedies taking place all around us but we can all breathe life.  "You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own"...so thank you Jesus because today I will breathe life.