Wishing for more!

Over a recent Thanksgiving holiday I did my version of Black Friday shopping.  I slept in, had breakfast, took a shower, and then we all went out as a family.  I was rested, fresh, and full of energy.  After facing the frantic shoppers all morning they . . . well, they didn’t look so good.  BTW I do most of my shopping on my phone now.

Shopping has taken on a whole new meaning since the internet.  At one point a magazine was all we got to wish for a wonderful holiday season. For my kids it’s the toys R us catalog, but for me growing up it was the Sears Wish Book.

The first Sears Wish Book was printed in 1933.  (I don’t remember that. I looked it up.)  Over time it has diminished in size and was even discontinued at one point.  It was revived in 2007, but the one I saw was nothing in size compared to the books I remember from my youth.  Children today don’t really need one.  They have the Internet and their high tech toys to cruise the information highway to identify their holiday “wants.”  But “back in the day” the Sears Wish Book helped us answer the seasonal question: “If you could have anything for Christmas, what would you ask for?” 

Every year I would look through the catalogue and either dog-ear a page or circle our choices in pen.  I didn’t want Santa to miss my requests. 

You may not need the Sears Wish Book today, but you have some wishes too, don’t you?  Next Christmas how would you answer the question, “If you could have one thing in the world, what would it be?” 

Solomon had to answer that one.  He asked for wisdom.  And God gave it to him.  But by the end of his life he had accumulated more and more: more gold, more horses, more wives.  He had it all and wanted more.  In the midst of all these gifts he lost sight of the Giver.  He turned away from God and lost it all. 

Another King gave us another path to follow.  He had it all and gave it all . . . for us.  And regardless of the season of life you can guard yourself from the tyranny of too much stuff by giving.  Simply give so that others can simply live.   That’s what the King born as a baby in the manger did. 

Burning the Past

Chapter 12 / What to Do With Your “Third Week of March”

 When Pope John Paul died, a man named Rogers Cadenhead quickly registered the web address www.BenedictXVI.com, thinking this might be the name chosen by the new pope.  When Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope, he did choose the name Pope Benedict XVI, causing some to question what the Vatican would do to get the rights to that domain name.

Cadenhead didn’t ask the Vatican for money.  Instead, in a humorous manner on his blog he suggested a few things he would trade for:

1. Three days, two nights at the Vatican hotel.
2. One of those hats (referring to the bishop’s hat).

3.     Complete absolution, no questions asked, for the third week of March 1987. [1]

Wonder what Rogers did the third week of March in 1987?  Me too, but does it really matter?.  Most of us have at least a week for which we’d love to have total forgiveness. 

We discover in The Story that David did.  One day when the army is at war, David, who is the commander of the nation’s military, neglects his duties and stays behind.  He sees Bathsheba, seduces her, gets her pregnant, murders her husband, and tries to cover up his actions by deceiving his general and soldiers.  Then he marries Bathsheba and she bears their child.

It looks as if David will get away with all of this.  But he doesn’t.  God sends his prophet Nathan to confront David by telling him a story about a poor man with one lamb.  David knows something about sheep and shepherds, so he listens.  Nathan says that the poor man has a rich neighbor who needs to slaughter a lamb to feed a guest, but instead of taking one of his many sheep he steals the poor’s man’s one lamb. 

David is incensed and says that man should be put to death.  Nathan then declares, “You are the man!”  At that moment David must have wished he had bought a domain name that he could swap for absolution.  He may have wanted to make excuses.  Explain things away.  Blame it on Bathsheba for taking a bath in broad daylight where he could see.  But instead of making excuses, David confesses. “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Sam. 12:13). 

And God did with David’s sin what he will do with yours and mine.  He put it away (Psalm 103:12-13).

You can do what David did.  Whatever your “third week of March” might be, sit down with it, yourself and God.  Confess your sin.  And then let another shepherd from Bethlehem forgive it.  That’s better than any domain name you might secure.

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[1] http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/American_who_owns_BenedictXVI.com_wants_%22one_of_those_hats%22

Facing Giants when you feel small

Chapter 11 / Facing Your Giants When You Feel Small

Imagine the scene: a scrawny sixteen year old shepherd boy takes out a 9’9” tall giant with one rock and a sling.

You may not have a gigantic giant taunting you to come out and fight.  But you are probably facing a few giants of your own.  Giants like the stack of past-due bills glaring at you.  Like the divorce papers waiting on your signature.  Or the depression that looms over you like the Hulk.  It could be low self-esteem or insecurity or child abuse in your past.  But you have your giants.  And so do I.  And we would do well to learn from David.

He could face his “giant” because he had spent time in the quiet with God.  When he arrived at the place of the standoff between the Israelites and the Philistines, he talked about God.  He told Saul that “The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (1Sam.17:37). He did not hesitate to confront Goliath, saying he came “in the name of the Lord of host, the God of the armies of Israel.” 

David was God-focused instead of giant-focused.  He mentions Goliath two times and God nine times.  He knew the giant was there and recognized his presence.  But his thoughts were twice as much on God. 

That focus led him to confront his giant rather than run away.  For forty days Goliath continued to challenge Israel’s army.  And for forty days everyone hoped he would just go away.  But giants don’t typically go away until we face them.  So David stepped into the gap and slung one well-aimed stone at him.

It helps to have someone in your corner that believes in you.  David had his Jonathan.  You need yours.  You need at least one person who believes in you and that also believes in God.  Someone who can encourage your faith—give you courage—when you most need it.

And you will need it.  Because after you slay one giant, there will be more.  You may wonder why David picked up five stones from the river bed.  Was he afraid he might miss?  Not likely.  He was skilled in his use of the sling.

2 Samuel 21:18-22 hints that Goliath may have had four brothers.  I think David was ready.  Ready to take out one giant then the next and the next.  You might say he knew how to get a head of his giants.

And you can too.  Just follow the shepherd from Bethlehem and learn from those that did the same.