Author Archives: rickanthony1993

A Very Productive Sunday

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icicles reverse“It is amazing what you can get done when you don’t have to go to church,” proclaimed Andrea near the end of a very productive Sunday.

Earlier that day, I went through my bad-weather struggle trying to decide whether to cancel our Sunday morning gathering.  I hate canceling church.  I have narrowed it down to three reasons why making this rational call is so difficult:

1. I was trained that the more I step foot in the church building, the more holy and righteous I am.  Saint status is given to those who show up regardless of treacherous weather. This belief was cemented in my thinking while on staff at a church in Colorado where we gathered even if our vehicles resembled a merry-go-round on the road.  Not going to church due to bad weather was tantamount to not cheering for the Broncos.

2. People in the church will think I am lazy if I don’t preach on a Sunday, and the world will think that I have no faith if I let the weather hinder the ‘gathering of God’s people’.

3. Mainly, though, I really enjoy our Sunday morning gatherings. I love to preach. I love to see our folks bring their bags of donations to the Bridges pantry collection for area homeless high school students, I love to hear our peoples’ stories of horrible and great weeks. I love the hugs and handshakes. I love to watch as our praise team laughs and struggles through rehearsals. I just love to be a part of it all!

I have learned, however, that it is not always in the best interest of our folks for me to be holy, righteous, and tough, persevering through the weather.  My people have taught me that:

1. Those who need least to be out on the road will be the ones sliding into the parking lot.

2. Those people who are more rational and ready to question my logic will suggest to me, after my “We ARE having church” text, with an equal number of caps suggesting “Maybe YOU should reconsider.”

3. Those who stay home, with or without my decision regarding a gathering, might just be the ones who are doing the most listening and obeying God in the moment.

4. The outside world is not really going to have an opinion regarding our decisions on bad weather Sundays.

This has been an odd year for cancellations.  I have had to cancel because of too much water in the Spring and Fall. as well as too much ice and snow in the Winter.  I even considered canceling due to intense threats of tornadoes. and I had a slight thought to canceling after a devastating football loss to Texas.

Yesterday was the trifecta of cancelation reasons.  First, it was the rain.  Since Christmas, we have had rain. The type of rain that had the people in Noah’s day paying attention.  Our previous drought-afflicted dry land is now soaked and cannot absorb more water.  As a result, we have a small lake behind the church building.  Second, we had ice, snow and cold—the ‘feels-like’ temperature was far below freezing.  Third, our meteorologists were on the air announcing, and announcing, and announcing again, that severe weather was imminent and heading our way.

Even with these facts, I woke up and looked at my weather app which assured me the temps were, and would be, above freezing.  I made the decision, and sent the text, that we would have our Sunday gathering.

I quickly received back a text suggesting I reconsider.  It all but called me “stupid-head.”

I drove out to the church to find that the parking lot was not flooded, yet, and that the roads were not icy, yet. With three hours left until folks were to arrive, I sat in the parking lot confident in my decision and that I was not, indeed, a stupid-head.  I went into the building and called our two weather experts, who happened to be sitting on a beach in Florida. They looked up the weather and informed me that ice and bad weather was just a short time away. They said everyone would probably have a dangerous drive home following worship.  They also made sure that I knew they were suffering on the beach with temperatures in the 80s.  While I was thinking that they were actually the “stupid-heads”, I looked outside to see the ice already falling.

Our church gathering needed to be cancelled.  Our people did not need to risk injury or accidents, furthermore, I would be able to preach next Sunday, as well as many Sundays thereafter.  Even though the only other church cancelation in our community, at that moment, was an ultra- liberal church to which I was now to be associated with, I made the call.  I posted the cancellation on the television closings list, texted and emailed, and even began calling, everyone.  That is the benefit of a small church, the ability to call every member, every attender, and every visitor.

As it turned out, not gathering physically provided a greater gathering spiritually. I had a personal contact with almost every member, attender, and visitor.  I might have actually had more contact than a usual Sunday morning when we actually gather at our building.  Instead of the regular Sunday morning at the church building, we gathered around their kitchen tables, in their living rooms, and, for some, at their bedside.   I gathered with two families sitting on the beach in Florida.  I heard the stories of great and horrible weeks.  I spoke with regular visitors who seemed genuinely glad to hear from me.  It may have been one of our more productive Sundays; it may have been the exact Sunday gathering that many needed….including me.

I went home and gathered with my family.  We started a fire. We watched movies. We ate the food that remained in the house (which is minimal when the three college students are home on break).  Some of us ventured over to grandparents’ house for showers since our plumbing had been backed up since Christmas morning.  We celebrated after receiving the text from the plumber saying he could fix our problem on Monday morning at 9:00 am (we counted it as our post-Christmas miracle). I played two of the new Star Wars games my Star Wars fanatic son received for Christmas.  My wife and girls went on a cleaning spree — using the boys and me for the messy work like carrying out the Christmas tree.  We all even ventured out of the house for a pizza dinner ….. and to use the restaurant bathrooms.

It was a productive day.

So, at the end of the day, without malice or agenda, Andrea proclaimed, “It is amazing what you can get done when you don’t have to go to church.”

I cannot wait until next Sunday, and for the physical gathering of Grace Fellowship; but, for now, I am thankful for a very productive Sunday.

Paying Attention,

Rick

Being Human at the Apple Store

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I recently revealed my humanity, in public, at the Apple Store, my kids were horrified.

It was unexpected.

As an adult, I have honed the skills of hiding the fact that I am human.  I have crafted an ability to react to situations, or events, that let people know that I have neither feelings or emotions.  I have skillfully learned to keep a fence around myself that permits only the closest family members to see any vulnerability or pain.

However, I am human.

I exposed this humanity recently on a visit to the Apple Store.  If you have never been to an Apple Store you may not have a point of reference to understand.  An Apple Store is much like stepping onto another planet, especially if you are an old guy like me.  There is always a crowd and, upon entering, no one seeks to help, or even acknowledge your existence.  There is no eager employee to please you or even to attempt to sale you the Apple products.  It is your job to identify the employees, which are always the hippest looking people in the mall.  Once you have made a positive identification of the employee it is your responsibility to approach him or her.

It is best to not look desperate or needy.

I ventured into the Apple Store in an effort to drop off my son’s computer.  It had quit working during his summer job in Hawaii; yes college kids can lead a rough summer existence.  He had mailed it to me hoping to get it repaired and working before the fall semester.

It didn’t take long for me to recognize the look on the Apple Employee’s face; you don’t just drop off a computer and expect it to be repaired at the Apple Store. I had violated one of the core principals.  You need to have made an on line appointment and an exact time scheduled to meet with a technician.

Right there, next to the kiosks for flying helicopters, sea salt skin care products and teeth whitening products, you need an appointment. I didn’t have an appointment.

I looked at the face of the employee and then the crowd sitting at tables around me and immediately felt very old.

“There are six people with reservations in front of you,” he said, “it will be awhile before you can see a technician. You are welcome to wait.”

He was very polite.  I came to the precipice of not being very polite which was evident by the fact that I turned to find my daughters gone.  They had made a quick exit to stand outside the store eliminating any possibility of being connected with the crazy old man who didn’t have an appointment.

Somewhere during this exchange, while I said arrogant things like, “I expected better from you guys than this,” I mentioned that I did not have time to wait as I needed to get my youngest son to Children’s hospital.

My son, who is actually fifteen, has had a difficult year health wise. At this moment he had already had two surgeries on his left kidney area. A local urologist had gone in twice to cut stuff out that was blocking the flow from his kidney to his bladder. This had originally revealed itself through his experience with intense pain and continued to cause him agony even after the first and second surgery.  We had recently consulted our amazing pediatrician, who had referred us to the state Children’s Hospital.  Within hours, and before ever meeting us, or my son, these specialists had reviewed his case and made an appointment.  

I was in the Apple Store on the day of the appointment.

As I told the hip and functioning Apple employee that I needed to get my son to Children’s hospital, my humanity began to flow out of me.  My eyes became red and began to swell and my voice began to sound like my dog when the back door is not opened quickly enough at meal time.

I was embarrassed.  I have spent a lifetime keeping this persona separate from anything anyone ever sees, and now it was showing.  I was becoming a progressively increasing display of humanity for the world to see; it was showing in the Apple Store in front of the hip young employee who was able to grow a full beard and then keep it trimmed just perfectly.

As I looked at the young man I saw his countenance change. He continued to look hip and cool but suddenly he didn’t seem to just see me as the guy who was too old to comprehend the way things work at the Apple Store. He got the manager who quickly told me that they were going to see what they could do to get me to the hospital on time.

The manager had heard about the revelation of my humanity from the employee, he had also unlabeled me.  He then brought out the technician, who, incidentally had an even more hip and unshaven beard.  The technician had also learned about my exposed humanity and began telling me about his own experience with his humanity.  His twins had be born premature and spent months in Children’s Hospital before he and his wife had been able to finally take them home.

He assured me that this whole humanity thing is normal, even after my crackling voice kept me from being able to respond to the manager who checked back in to make sure I was doing alright.  The manager said “I hope everything turns out ok with your son.” to which I could say nothing.

As I sat on the hip stool, in the hip store, I began to realize the power of humanity when we cease to be labeled or label others.  The raw response of humans to humans.  Humans that do not have a name tag attached to their old man clothes that says “I am not cool”; “I am too old”; “I am too stupid”; “I am ugly”, I am uncoordinated”; “I am unclean”; “I am a male”; “I am a female”; “I am unacceptable”; “I don’t know what I am”; “I am not worthy or your time”; “I am human.”

What happens when we began to see all of humanity as God’s beloved created.

As I left the store, it occurred to me that this was a great learning experience which had given me the knowledge of a very powerful tool.  Tears, emotions, and humanity.  I had the fleeting carnal thought that this was something that I would need to remember in the future.  I now had something much more powerful than anger and arrogance.

God quickly reminded me that this was, indeed, a learning experience but not for me to use selfishly. This was a learning revelation that showed how God looks at all of us. He looks at us as humans.  He does not see us with labels or name tags that identify our current struggles, our confusion and doubts, our mistakes and sin, our humanity.  He sees us as humans with a beating heart.  A heart that screams out for help, assistance, and acceptance.  A heart that is crying out for God. He sees us without any name tags or labels.

When Christ was writing on the ground at the feet of the accused adulterous woman, while the men stood with stones gripped tightly in their hands, he was discarding the labels that had been placed on the woman.  He was taking off her ‘slut’ and ‘immoral’ name tags and replacing them with tags that said ‘human’ and ‘loved’.  He was seeing the woman through God’s eyes.  Eyes that were then able to lovingly and compassionately say,“Go and sin no more.”

He was looking at a human…..just like him.

wristbandTomorrow my son will have his fourth surgery.  His human family, including his human dad, will be in the waiting room for the endurance.  I have kept the parent’s wristband on my arm since his third surgery to remind me of my humanity, my son’s humanity, and God’s love for all of humanity.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

Being Human,

Rick

Priceless Moments

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Theater with Isaiah and DadLast night Isaiah, our youngest son, and I went to the IMAX opening of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Going to an opening night was, and still is, not something I am giddy about doing and last night was no different.  We purchased our tickets two weeks early and Isaiah gave me a daily, if not hourly, countdown.  When the evening finally came I was surrounded by individuals of all ages (mostly in their late twenties and up) who are Marvel fans, and all types of superhero and science fiction fanatics who know every detail of every Marvel, superhero, and science fiction creation in existence.  They were robustly telling jokes about the genre before the movie (jokes I did not understand), they cheered at the all the previews, especially the Star Wars preview (not to mention the appearance of Hans Solo and Chui, who I did recognize), and there was a handful dressed as Avengers characters in costumes that would have been the envy of Hollywood designers.  It was something that I swore that I would never do in the entirety of my life, but I did.
There were, however, extraordinary circumstances.

Last December Isaiah landed in the Emergency Room in immense pain.  With our intense medical background, Andrea and I had diagnosed him with something ‘bad and scary’.  We could not make a more in-depth analysis without the help of technology which we do not have…..we also needed the people to read and treat anything discovered through that technology.  After hours at the E.R. we were sent to a urologist who did surgery finding many things that he, with a shocked look on his face, claimed to have never seen in his 27 years of medical work.  When we finally got to see Isaiah following the surgery, none of the nurses were there to greet us due to the fact that they were all on google looking up everything they had just seen inside of my son.  I was told that the surgeon had actually called all the nurses into the operating room to see this anomaly in medical history.  When we finally got Isaiah home, and began the week plus long process of cleaning up blood in the bathroom, he rested with the dreaded knowledge that the doctor had the same process planned for six months down the road.

For my son, the only saving grace from the pain and discomfort coming from the procedure that had been originally promised as minor and ‘no big deal’, was the fact that anytime his sisters annoyed him he could ask them, “Do you have a stent from you kidney through your penis?”  This seemed to obtain him special kindness and treatment.  My bunch has never shied from the use of anatomically correct words such as penis but the whole thought of a stent through that section of the body especially brought me to my knees….not to mention to the place of granting my son his every wish. I became an unfunded one man Make-A-Wish foundation.

So, about two months early of his six month second surgery, he began to to have the same pains that had originally led Doctors Rick and Andrea to seek outside medical counsel.  Whenever your fourteen year old is able to adequately identify his pain as coming from his kidneys, and then correctly point to the location of the kidneys, you know you have to take it seriously. The outcome was that, less than two weeks ago, he had another surgery leading to another stent….yes, from the kidneys ultimately traveling through the aforementioned penis.

This time his sisters were less quick to jump at his reminder of the penis, however, his dad, who also has a penis, once again became putty in his hands.

Days after his surgery I took him to a 10:30pm IMAX showing of Furious Seven.  Furious Seven, by the way, is one hundred and thirty seven minutes long movie not including the previews or the pre-movie special IMAX effects meant to awe you with the capacity of the world’s largest movie screen.  I know this because, thirty minutes into the movie, I illegally looked up the movie time on my phone without going outside of the theater to not bother those sitting around me.  I figured the guys, and girl, that make up the Furious Seven bunch originated as law breakers so surely they could tolerate the whole phone thing, not to mention that I am old and it was way past my bedtime.

I must admit that I now buy senior adult tickets for myself.  I don’t think I am actually the true age of a  movie attending senior adult but two years ago, on a movie outing with my wife, the attendant automatically sold me the senior ticket while giving my wife a special “super young not senior adult” ticket.  I have created this age category for the ticket that the ten year old handed Andrea while stars were spotted in his eyes; my ticket was just dropped on the counter.  I was offended until I realized that my ticket was three dollars cheaper than my wife’s “super young not senior adult” ticket.  At that point, I willing became a senior.  Three dollars is half the price of a refillable bucket of popcorn (that is, if I were permitted to still buy popcorn, or anything else tasteless and delicious at the theater, by the czar of acceptable food….Just in case my wonderful wife is reading, we did not buy popcorn with the fifty cent butter, last night).  If had had known earlier about this financial three dollar windfall when I first received the application for membership in the AARP at the age of fifty, I would have automatically signed up.

ThorBack to last night where I was sitting on the third row of the largest IMAX theater in the country, evidently an hour early is not enough time to get a seat that does not require you move your head from side to side to see the entire screen, for the opening of what will surely be the biggest movie of the year until Star Wars opens in December.  I was the only one there asking his fourteen year old embarrassing questions.  I was the only one being quickly squelched by his ‘too cool for dad’ freshman.  I was the only one who didn’t understand why Thor, sitting in front of us, had female breasts. Or, as my son’s friends asked, “Why does Thor have boobs?” when they saw the picture he sent out.

I was actually fully aware of what had landed me in these theaters at much too late of an hour and with entirely too many excited fans.   Last week, when I traveled eighty two miles to take my two college students out to dinner, my oldest child, Caleb, admitted to encouraging his little brother to take advantage of his medical misfortune by “milking this for all he can with dad”.  It is working.  I think I may have to eliminate the Xbox, or whatever game system Isaiah is now playing while concocting devious plans with his bother (this discipline plan is destined for failure as soon as Isaiah mentions the stent in penis situation).

So, I sat through another super hero movie heavy on action and a plot that is far too complicated, and involves entirely too many additional super heroes and plots, for my tiny brain to comprehend.  It was not horrible, and it was well over an hour into it before I turned to google to find out that the movie was one hundred and forty one minutes not counting the previews or IMAX special effects.  We sat to the very end with the other theater full of super hero fanatics, and I mean the very end, to make sure that there was not a second post credits scene.  Spoiler alert: there is not.

Avengers cast and IsaiahIt was after the movie when the real excitement began. As we exited the theater most of the superheroes themselves, not including the Hulk (I doubt even the big comfy seats in the Director’s Suite would fit that guy), were standing outside the door.  I quickly pushed Isaiah over in Captain America’s direction for a picture.  The amazingly dressed Captain, who quietly admitted to me that his wife had made the costume, asked Isaiah if he wanted the other Avengers in the picture. Realistically, could you really say ‘no’ to a question like that with all of them within hearing distance?  So they all gathered around him, including Thor with boobs, and pictures were taken.  A member of the crowd offered to take the picture so I could get in the shot, however, I, not being a super hero expert, was concerned that these men of super human ability and strength also all had super mind reading skills and could discern that I had previously made sarcastic statements about them so I declined the offer.  Afterall, Thor was holding his hammer, you just don’t take chances when Thor is holding the hammer within striking range.

The way home was one of the coolest experiences of my twenty years as a dad.  My son was so excited that I was concerned we may have to stop at the Emergency Room again.  He was breathing fast and talking faster.  It was a very cool moment.  I smiled bigger than him the entire drive.

It got me wondering if God has this response when He witnesses us have super cool moments.  I know that this is a cotton candy question, especially to those super spiritual individuals, but, still, I ask: Does God enjoy our awesome and incredible, unexpected and priceless moments?  Further I wonder if God now has an increased appreciation for these moments following His time in the flesh.  I wonder if Jesus was surprised by the joy of these moments.  Moments like watching Lazarus return to life or seeing Mary and Martha scream for joy as their brother walked from the grave.  I wonder if Jesus couldn’t resist turning around to see who touched him just to experience the excitement on the face of the woman who had been bleeding for over a decade.  I wonder if He was pumped to see the surprise on the countenance of the Samaritan woman at the well as he treated her as a human being.  Or, the high official who returned home to find his daughter alive.  I wonder if He was restless for the Sabbath to be over so He could appear to His friends.

I think the answer is yes.

Enjoying the Moments,

Rick

Growing Old(er)

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growing older 2Later this morning I will wake up to see a fifty-five year old man in the mirror.  Actually I probably won’t really see the fifty-five year old man since the fifty-four year old man lost his glasses tonight.  Andrea says that she wishes she had a penny for all the times I have lost my glasses.  If we did have a penny for each loss we would have the kids’ college paid for in pennies (this is especially true if you add in the times I have lost my billfold, my keys, and the reason I went into the kitchen).  Tonight she also shared that she is impressed with how patient I am, she explained that she would lose it if she lost things as often as I do.  Not sure that was actually a compliment.

As the fifty-four year old man, minus his glasses, went to turn the lights off in the kitchen I put something in my mouth from the counter that was not chocolate.  I was expecting chocolate but without the advantage of sight I will never know what the strange taste was (very different than fifteen years ago when I was changing a diaper and put something I thought was chocolate in my mouth…tonight was a distinctly different non-chocolate taste and experience).  So in the morning, the fifty-five year old will be looking at the mirror without his glasses not knowing who is staring back at him or what that faint odd, non-chocolate taste is in his mouth.

Earlier this evening my daughters offered to take me out to lunch for my birthday but withdrew the offer when I revealed that we may be interrupted by the guy who needs to fix our fence. Our fence fell down in the tornado three years ago, I have kept it standing with everything but duct tape.  My wife also offered to take me out to dinner before we realized we will have to go late in the evening since my youngest son has a doctor appointment to figure out why he is having kidney pains again. This will put us looking at the menu as my second child, my oldest daughter, arrives home from college for her Friday, six am wrist surgery. Finally, as I was about to retire to bed, without my glasses and still with the non-chocolate taste in my mouth, I answered a call from my oldest son, who is also away at college, informing me that the doctor said his flag football rib injury is only a bruise.  I was unaware he was on a flag football team.

Tomorrow I am sure I will get many birthday greetings, including those on Facebook which will make me regret not remembering to do the same back to all those wonderful friends on their birthdays.  However, I don’t really expect to feel very different, except for the inability to read or recognize faces.  It will be a regular day like any other.  A day when I will laugh at the stories from my wife’s day, rejoice at my kids victories as well as their funny stories, worry about everyone’s health and concerns, check my bank account repeatedly, learn things I should have already known or have been previously been told, consider the things that are left to accomplish, try to remember to rest in the Lord, and wonder if I need to go order new glasses.

Oh, and try to remember that just because something looks like chocolate is not reason enough to put it into my mouth.

I think fifty-five is going to be alright.

Older,

Rick

Canceling Church

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trees in snow landscapeI did something yesterday that I would have scoffed at half a decade ago.  I cancelled church.  I sent out the email….

canstockphoto22576949No Worship Gathering Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Sunday, March 1, we will not gather for worship.  Even though I hate the idea of canceling our time together, a drive out to the church building convinced me it is the best decision.  While the main roads are sanded, the side roads, including 60th Ave. NW,  are still slick in most spots.  That combined with predictions of coming sleet confirm that the best place for all of us to be tomorrow morning is at home. Let’s all take a moment of personal worship, 10:30am tomorrow at home, and we will still be having corporate worship, only without the amazing coffee (no comments are welcome regarding my coffee)!   If you know of someone who does not regularly look at their email, give them a call and let them know to not drive out to the church tomorrow….however, do tell them to drive out next Sunday, March 8.

Be Safe,  Rick

In addition to the email, I sent out a text, posted it on the ‘closings’ feed on each local television stations, changed the outgoing phone message and finally put a sign on the church building door.  A great thing about having a small church is that it is easy to feel confident that you have contacted everyone.

For the remainder of my Saturday I lost at high stakes games of Monopoly and Risk with my kids, and called/lectured my kids that are away at college about the value of being safe when considering driving on the icy roads.

The entire day I comfortably rested in my decision to cancel church.

Four years ago I cancelled a Sunday gathering for the first time and it was anguishing.  I refused to make a call on Saturday, even though the weather made it obvious.  On Sunday morning I drove out to the church building at the edge of town to convince myself that canceling was the right decision, and then I paced the floors.  Our music team even showed up at the building before I finally decided, after hearing their harrowing driving experiences, I knew that I had to cancel our worship gathering.   Still, I worried, I worried what our church people would think, if the community would criticize, I worried that other pastors would judge, I worried it would make me look like a wimp.  Finally, my wife pointed out that the people that would still get in their cars and drive on the dangerous roads to the church building were our older folks who did not need to be on the road or sidewalks.

Still, in the years since, I have been hesitant to cancel church.  I watch the news feed to see if other churches are canceling in an attempt to justify my decision.  Still, I pace the floors and anguished over the decision.

This year was different, this year I made a quick decision, largely thanks to Ms. Barbara.

Ms. Barbara is a perfectly behaved senior adult in our church.  She endured a liver transplant and is still around over fifteen years beyond the medical community’s predictions of life expectancy.  She has diabetes, and countless other medical conditions and diagnosis.  She is known to my kids as the woman with the exploding toe; I won’t go into details except to say that the toe is not her only casualty to diabetes.  She is also the most polite and respectful person I have ever known.  She is always perfectly behaved and respectful to all.  I have a difficult time checking in on her because she always wants to know about my family when I am attempting to find out about her.  She is just that type of person.

Actually, she is perfectly behaved until she is a bit doped up in the hospital, especially days within a special hospital procedure.  She has had a lot of special procedures over the years I have been her pastor.  I love visiting Ms. Barbara within the pain medicine time period. During pain medicine time she is the person I always wish I could be.  The person that can say anything and get away with it.

On a hospital ststanwyckay years ago I told her that she was truly a ‘tough old broad’ in the example of Barbara Stanwyck.  She laughed.

On her most recent hospital stay I visited her room on Friday.  I got to her room at a moment of true chaos.  The weather was getting bad just as the meteorologists had predicted, and she had just finished her physical therapy following surgery after a very serious fall.  The nurse was on the phone with Ms. Barbara’s daughter attempting to explain the current situation while trying to get an oxygen count.  During all of this, Ms. Barbara noticed that her IV had come out and something was flowing out of her arm.  Everything was loud and busy.  However, not too busy for Ms. Barbara to yell at me as I walked into the door that I should not be out in this weather and that I need to cancel church for the coming Sunday.

“We have too many old people like me and they do not need to be out on the roads,” she yelled.

I stuck around for the chaos and as I left, after the nurse had loaded warm blankets on Ms. Barbara in an attempt to get an oxygen count, I was lectured again. Even as I was walking out the door she was still yelling that I needed to ‘cancel church.’

She was right and, as I drove away, I knew that I had to cancel our gathering on Sunday.  I had to because it was not about me, snow bridgeit was not about what others would think or how they could judge.  It was, and is, about what is best for the church, the people that are the church.  It was best that we all stayed home.

I didn’t need to pace anymore, I just had to keep my focus on what is right.

Stay Safe and Keep Focused, Rick

Let

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“When scientists jubilantly announced last week that a telescope at the South Pole had detected ripples in space from the very beginning of time, the reverberations went far beyond the potential validation of astronomers’ most cherished model of the Big Bang.”*

Bicep 2 Telescope near South Pole

Bicep 2 Telescope near South Pole

 

The news of this detection peaked my curiosity. It got my attention not because I am a scientist, I am not, or because I understand much of the article Mr. Overby wrote, I really did try, it got my attention because of the monumental interesting topic that it is.

The beginning of time!

It is not supposed to get my attention, especially in a positive way, but it did. I am a pastor from a conservative, almost fundamental background, who is expected to walk hand in hand with young earth literal creationist. I should be rolling my eyes in disgust at this article. I am not. I should be critical, but instead I am intrigued. I am very blessed to be a pastor of a church who are patient with me and my excursions into the excitement of God and His creation.  Also, I must say that have no problem with those who hold to a literal view, I believe it is possible. However, I really believe that the creation account in scripture was given in order that we could gain a great deal more than a simple science lesson. I believe that the creation account holds the foundational truths that set us up for a full understanding of God. So, seeing ripples that may be from close to the start of it all, the start of the creation, is pretty cool.

What I would really love is a telescope that could show me the LET of creation.

“Let there be light” and there was light.

“Let the waters gather” and the waters gathered,

“Let there be vegetation” and there was vegetation,

“Let there be light” and there was light,

“Let the waters swarm with living creatures and the birds fly across the sky” and there were creatures swarming and birds flying across the sky,

“Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind” and there were all kinds of living creatures,

“Let Us create humankind in our image according to our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish, birds, cattle, all kinds of animals, and over every creeping thing that creeps” and that is just what happened.**

I think I know what Let really is, it is the same as when my own kids were very young and they would yell “Let me go”. They wanted to see something exciting or do something even more exciting. I was the only thing holding them back and I was not about to let them go until it was right. When it was the right thing, the right place, the right time I would let them go. And they would go. They had been waiting for this moment and it was finally here, they were let go. They would spring forth with such excitement and joy that I could not wait until the next let.*** It is the same Let. They are both a work of letting go, halting the holding back, the restriction from activity. Restriction from creation. All the time before this glorious creation, God had been holding the creation back. Holding it back until just the right time, the perfect time. Creation was at the gate ready to roll just waiting on God to let loose of His grip. Finally the perfect time, the right time arrived. Finally God let it flow out of Him.

God Let Go.

And what a mighty and exhausting Let it was. Compared to the work of the creation that came from Him, the holding back must have seemed like a piece of cake. Letting go was exhausting. So much so that after He finished letting it go, He rested. He rested for a full day. I only do something that exhausting when it is something I love, for someone I love, because I am fully committed to the person I love and the action of let that is required of me. That was why God let creation go, He let it come forth. He fully loved the creation, He created for those He fully loved, and He was completely committed to the created.

While the first Old Testament phrase

In the beginning God

sets up an unarguable truth foundation for the remainder of God’s Word,

Let

gives us the needed foundational understanding of the character and nature of God. We immediately see the depth of God’s love for us by His exhausting first recorded actions for us.

LET

It is all the more amazing then that we miss this truth and even the truth that in the beginning there was God, already there, before creation.

INSTEAD

we argue over all the different ways that He Let. The strategies, the formulas, the blueprint for the how, while missing the all important what. We try to force our agenda about the creation on a world that has no understanding of the beginning, the Let, and therefore the Father, the coming Messiah and Holy Spirit. They miss it because they first did not get to meet the God who lovingly and passionately created a world that is all they know. They hear about young earth, literal days, and maybe even where the dinosaurs fit in, but they don’t first get to see God. The God they don’t know they are missing who loves them enough to exhaustingly let go for them.

They miss it because we have missed the focus, the point.

We argue over methods and theories. We attempt to force nonbelievers to teach and learn an unbelievable account that few scientist can even fathom instead of showing them this God that loves them enough to create, to let. We spend so much time on our agenda of how, that we miss God artistically and beautifully explaining why. I have heard many say that it is impossible to grasp and receive salvation if you don’t first ascribe to a certain theory of creation. Secondly I have heard it said that God does not care and love for His creation or the created. That it will ultimately burn so why spend the exhaustive effort to take care of it. The first thought I don’t understand, the second I find tragic.

Years ago, on an NPR interview, a renowned atheistic scientist said that his biggest complaint about Christians is that they diminish the majesty of the universe. He said, that we minimize how awesome the universe is in our attempts to shrink it down to a six day endeavor by a magical God. I didn’t catch the name of the scientist, nor evidently did any on at NPR who have repeatedly been unable to figure out who I am inquiring about. I did, however, catch what I think was his Holy Spirit inspired statement. We do miss the majesty of God’s magnificent work of LET when we insist it happened in such a simplistic manner. We miss the foundational signal of love and compassion that was core to His exhaustive work.

I wonder what it would do to our understanding, and even following of God, if we were to grasp the Let.

RAA

* Overbye, Dennis. “Ripples From the Big Bang.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Mar. 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2014 (pictures are from the article as well)

**Genesis, NRSV

***My wife birthed five kids in five and a half years, she is a saint. This was not our plan but we are very thankful for better plans. However, I must admit that the word joy at letting go of my toddlers’ hands is probably more of a ten year old memory lapse that has allowed me to forget the exhaustion of those moments. Interesting, in that way we did understand, at least a little bit, what God’s let really felt like.