When I chose to become a Christ follower, I hopped in the river with little or no preparation, planning, or knowledge of what lay ahead. I just expected that someone else who had traveled the road before me would help lead the way. I packed up my bible, laid it on my night stand and attended church with little regard to the change it would require me to make. For a while, life was fine and I floated along quite peacefully. Then I started to hit lower waters and my inadequate faith, poor relationship with the God and sin started to trip me up. I was stuck and didn’t know how to get myself out. The Christian life is anything but a lazy river adventure. After we become Christians, we can’t expect that we can just jump in the river and not encounter things that life throws at us. What we can expect is that Christ has given us the wisdom, power and help we need to overcome these hurdles. The catch is that we have to utilize the things He has given us BEFORE we encounter trouble.
The entire chapter of Hebrews 12 is a study in the fervency in which I should pursue my faith. Hebrews 12:1b starts by saying, “… let us also lay side every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” Just as there were preparations I should have made for my river trip, there are preparations I need to make in my Christian walk. One of the preparations I can make is to let go of the things that are going to get me caught up as I travel along. Sin not only slows me down, but it can hold me back. Thankfully, God does not require us to have all our sins taken care of before we become his children, and there will always be more sin to remove as we travel the Christian life. However, bitterness, preferring the delights of the flesh and refusing to listen to the Holy Spirit are essential hindrances we need to get rid of first. They can keep us from even getting started in the first place.
Throughout the chapter, the author also describes things that trip us up. These are things that could cause me to slip and fall if my feet weren’t properly prepared (like being stranded in the river without proper footwear). Eph 6:15 says to, “shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Any hiker, soldier or runner knows that without proper footwear it is impossible to finish the race. Our proper footwear is to be prepared with the gospel of peace. One commentary suggests that it is the, “patient investigation, calm inquiry, assiduous, laborious, lasting; or with firm footing in the gospel of peace.” In other words, we should know the word of God. If we were armed with the knowledge of the gospel, discouragement, weariness, hostility of others toward the faithful, the discipline of the Lord and burdens of afflictions would not trip us up. We would know their place in our walk and be able to grip tightly to His truth. The commentary concludes by saying, “like the boots worn by soldiers, [the gospel] would bear them safe through many obstructions and trials that might be opposed to them, as a soldier might encounter sharp-pointed thorns that would oppose his progress.” I certainly learned that lesson not only in the river and discovered the value of being properly shod.
Then verse 12 says, “Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,.” This is an interesting passage and I had to do a little research to discover its meaning. One commentary said that the words are an address to persons almost worn out with sickness and fatigue, whose hands hang down, whose knees shake, and who are totally discouraged. These are exhorted to exert themselves, and take courage, with the assurance that they shall infallibly conquer if they persevere. During the course of our river adventure, my sisters and I were constantly encouraging one another to continue on, calling back where the safe paths were to travel and waiting until we had all caught up. At the end when only one of us was left, she alone soldiered on. Our faithful sister worried so much that she didn’t even notice the wounds she received on the way. Sometimes in our walk we need to just take courage and keep moving.
Verses 13 says, “and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. “ That is, take the straight path that is before you, do not go in crooked or rough ways, where are stones, briers, and thorns, by which you will be inevitably lamed, and so totally prevented from proceeding in the way; whereas, if you go in the even, proper path, though you have been wounded by getting into a wrong way, that which was wounded will be healed by moderate, equal exercise, all impediments being removed. We certainly had taken the wrong path in our adventure when we tried to exit the river and without proper footwear, I did encounter thorns that made me unable to continue. Had we kept on the river, we would have discovered we only had to walk a few hundred feet or more to the end.
Finally, verse 15 says, “looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God;” Thankfully, my sisters and I did something right on our trip. We traveled together. When we travel together with other believers, we help pull each other along and watch out for trouble.
The Christian walk is an adventure, but it shouldn’t be all rock and no river. If we are properly prepared in our relationship with God, we can withstand anything the river throws at us.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The Not so Lazy River Part 1
It was a sister weekend with four women who hadn’t all been together in over a year. I must warn you that us sisters get a little crazy when we are together. On this occasion we were in Portland and decided that a day on the river sounded just the thing for a sister weekend in July. So we headed out to a tributary of the Columbia River, loaded up our food in a cooler to float alongside and headed downstream. However, we were not prepared for what awaited us. You may be thinking, “Oh no, they hit rapids.” No, that would be a cool adventure. What we encountered was terrible….duh, duh, duh… planning. We wore completely inappropriate footwear, didn’t plan for how we were going to get back to our car, how long it would take to get down the river and had the most awful floating devices for this type of river.
As we floated down the river, we were fine for a while, but the season’s low water flow had rendered the previously full river a little on the low side. It wasn’t long before our bottoms were dragging in the sand while we clung to the floaties that were being wrenched from our hands by the lower, but faster moving water. As we tried to stand up and navigate the river’s alternating sandy and slippery rocks, in flip flops of all things, you could hear four grown gals screeching and yelling over one another in an attempt to help each other while simultaneously trying to help ourselves. If we had been prepared, we could have walked back up to the car at the first sign of trouble, but we didn’t know how far down the river we were. As there were several people who had gone on before us, we were hoping one of them could give us a ride, so we decided to try and get down the river faster to catch up with them.
As we went along, it seemed to get better for a time and then we hit a long patch of low water. The water was moving fast, we were slipping all over the place and our lazy river trip was slowly going downhill. We couldn’t decide what to do next because as far as the eye could see downstream, the way was rocky. What we did see in our immediate view was what looked like a small incline that led up a bank to the road. This was mistake number two. Our flip flops were woefully wet and traction free, so on our way up the incline we were slipping and sliding, gear in hand up the sandy bank. Halfway up, we looked around and noticed we were near a blackberry bush full to the brim with blackberries. We happily munched on our find, glad to take a break until I made the clever decision to take off my flip flops to get better traction up the hill. Not living in Portland, I didn’t realize that blackberry bushes have thorns and that those thorns fall off and get covered by sandy slope as four girls in flip flops try to haul themselves up the hill. I dug my foot into the sand and boy did I get something to grip. Yes, for my trouble, I received several large thorns imbedded in my right foot.
We could have turned around and went back down the river before this point, but now I was bleeding and could barely walk. My youngest sister had also twisted her ankle the day before and was unable to walk down the river, so we kept heading up. Finally at the top of the embankment, we noticed a large, “No Trespassing” sign tacked to a tree. We had climbed the cliff only to land ourselves in someone’s private backyard. I am not a particularly brave person, so the thought of being trapped in Portland where there could be crazy people with guns didn’t appeal to me. We skirted around the edge of the gated property looking for a way out. Luckily, the owners either didn’t see us or opened the gate to set us vermin free.
We had made it to “freedom” on the side of the road. We still didn’t know how far a walk it would be back to the car and two of us were out of commission. Sister number one and sister number three bravely decided they were fit enough to make the two mile walk back to the car. Both are amazingly strong and know a bit of self defense, so they felt prepared to walk back to the car in flip flops and bathing suits, while sister number four and I sat on the side of the small road in our bathing suits with all the gear. What happened next was relayed to me by sister number three who only made it one mile to the car before her weird flip flops made her unable to walk anymore. She was left on the side of the road to wait while my oldest sister bravely soldiered on.
Sister number one was the last one standing, but she was starting to worry about the rest of us littering the side of the road in only our bathing suits. So she decided to jog the rest of the way in flip flops and a bathing suit. She was so worried in fact, that she didn’t notice that her feet were rubbed raw by her flip flops and were bleeding as well. She said her only thought was, “I have to save my sisters!” That should tell you a little something about her personality. She finally did make it back and picked up the rest of us along the way and now we have this incredible story to tell you about our lazy river adventure.
What I learned about this adventure taught me a little something about life…the Christian life to be more precise. I wonder how often I complained about the troubles I encountered in my walk with Christ that were direct results of my own actions. In the past, I know I complained A LOT. When I look back during those times, it often resembles my not so lazy river adventure.
Stay tuned for part 2....
As we floated down the river, we were fine for a while, but the season’s low water flow had rendered the previously full river a little on the low side. It wasn’t long before our bottoms were dragging in the sand while we clung to the floaties that were being wrenched from our hands by the lower, but faster moving water. As we tried to stand up and navigate the river’s alternating sandy and slippery rocks, in flip flops of all things, you could hear four grown gals screeching and yelling over one another in an attempt to help each other while simultaneously trying to help ourselves. If we had been prepared, we could have walked back up to the car at the first sign of trouble, but we didn’t know how far down the river we were. As there were several people who had gone on before us, we were hoping one of them could give us a ride, so we decided to try and get down the river faster to catch up with them.
As we went along, it seemed to get better for a time and then we hit a long patch of low water. The water was moving fast, we were slipping all over the place and our lazy river trip was slowly going downhill. We couldn’t decide what to do next because as far as the eye could see downstream, the way was rocky. What we did see in our immediate view was what looked like a small incline that led up a bank to the road. This was mistake number two. Our flip flops were woefully wet and traction free, so on our way up the incline we were slipping and sliding, gear in hand up the sandy bank. Halfway up, we looked around and noticed we were near a blackberry bush full to the brim with blackberries. We happily munched on our find, glad to take a break until I made the clever decision to take off my flip flops to get better traction up the hill. Not living in Portland, I didn’t realize that blackberry bushes have thorns and that those thorns fall off and get covered by sandy slope as four girls in flip flops try to haul themselves up the hill. I dug my foot into the sand and boy did I get something to grip. Yes, for my trouble, I received several large thorns imbedded in my right foot.
We could have turned around and went back down the river before this point, but now I was bleeding and could barely walk. My youngest sister had also twisted her ankle the day before and was unable to walk down the river, so we kept heading up. Finally at the top of the embankment, we noticed a large, “No Trespassing” sign tacked to a tree. We had climbed the cliff only to land ourselves in someone’s private backyard. I am not a particularly brave person, so the thought of being trapped in Portland where there could be crazy people with guns didn’t appeal to me. We skirted around the edge of the gated property looking for a way out. Luckily, the owners either didn’t see us or opened the gate to set us vermin free.
We had made it to “freedom” on the side of the road. We still didn’t know how far a walk it would be back to the car and two of us were out of commission. Sister number one and sister number three bravely decided they were fit enough to make the two mile walk back to the car. Both are amazingly strong and know a bit of self defense, so they felt prepared to walk back to the car in flip flops and bathing suits, while sister number four and I sat on the side of the small road in our bathing suits with all the gear. What happened next was relayed to me by sister number three who only made it one mile to the car before her weird flip flops made her unable to walk anymore. She was left on the side of the road to wait while my oldest sister bravely soldiered on.
Sister number one was the last one standing, but she was starting to worry about the rest of us littering the side of the road in only our bathing suits. So she decided to jog the rest of the way in flip flops and a bathing suit. She was so worried in fact, that she didn’t notice that her feet were rubbed raw by her flip flops and were bleeding as well. She said her only thought was, “I have to save my sisters!” That should tell you a little something about her personality. She finally did make it back and picked up the rest of us along the way and now we have this incredible story to tell you about our lazy river adventure.
What I learned about this adventure taught me a little something about life…the Christian life to be more precise. I wonder how often I complained about the troubles I encountered in my walk with Christ that were direct results of my own actions. In the past, I know I complained A LOT. When I look back during those times, it often resembles my not so lazy river adventure.
Stay tuned for part 2....
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