The Cruelty of Ice-Cold Water

I'm a HUGE Michigan Wolverines football fan, & I was watching the Michigan-Wisconsin game yesterday.

[Insert random, snarky anti-Michigan joke here... I've heard 'em all the past couple of years!]

Anyway, I watched as the team got their butts handed to them (again) and--of course--facebook & the blogosphere were immediately filled with "FIRE RICH ROD!!" comments. But smack-dab in the middle of a series of fb posts, someone left a comment that was so even-keeled & level-headed that it provoked me to thought (a scary idea, huh?).

This person basically said that if Michigan fires Rich Rod now, it prolongs the program's transition-related misery since he hasn't finished HIS transition yet. He urged patience for another year or two, & then watch him do what he has done everyplace else he's coached: win. A LOT!

For some reason (please don't ask me why; I don't know why my brain works the way it does), I started thinking about the transitions that we go through in life. They're never easy, but let's face it: some are MUCH harder than others!

When you're in one of those sucks-to-be-me-right-now transitions, there's a natural, human defense-mechanism that says something like, "Get the heck outta here!" and every impulse in you tries to get you to quit. To borrow the nautical expression: to jump ship.

I did that once.

Once.

I had been out water skiing with a flight-school buddy & my pastor on his boat ("Visitation", I think it was called... His secretary got a kick out of telling people that called the office, "I'm sorry, but Pastor is out on Visitation."). We were headed back in to the dock--at about 40mph--when I got the GREAT idea to tap Pastor on his shoulder, yell, "Bye!" and jump off the back of the boat.

Time out!

At this point, you're either saying, "That Jeff! He sure is a barrel of laughs!" or "Dude! You're an IDIOT!"

If you said the latter, you are light-years of ahead of where I was at that moment!! The amazing thing is that I talked my flight-school buddy into doing it, too... Isn't machismo an amazingly-powerful force?!

Time in!

I tapped.

I waved.

I stepped off the back.

I asked myself, "What the HECK are you doing?!" (In that order, by the way.)

That's when it occurred to me, as I looked down between my feet & saw water going 40mph--BACKWARDS!--that what I had done was 1) dumb, 2) scary, & 3) REALLY GOING TO HURT!

Guess what? I WAS RIGHT!!!

It had seemed like such a good idea just 10 seconds earlier.

Pastor cut his engines & swung around to where the two dumb-a**ed Navy guys were floating in their life jackets, laughing their fool heads off, & asked, "You guys OK?"

We weren't. We were in a LOT of pain, but there was NO WAY either of us was going to admit it!! So we lied: "Yeah! We're AWESOME!! Ha, ha, ha, ha, yuk, yuk, yuk..."

"Good!" he said.

Then he gunned the engines and left us there... almost a MILE from the dock!!!

Here's my point: it seemed like a great idea to "jump ship"... & there was nothing wrong with the ship I was on! How much more does it seem like a good idea to "jump ship" when the ship is on fire or going in what we consider to be the wrong direction?

It SEEMS like a good idea... Until you hit the water!

That hurts.

And--God forbid--if the water is cold!

What seems like the easy (easier?) way out while you're IN the boat is usually the painful (painful-er) way once you're OUT of it.

So, maybe you're a glutton for punishment... Jump away, my friend!

Just remember: water is hard at 40mph and cold when you have to swim for a long time!

If I were you, I'd stay in the boat.

Oh, by the way... Pastor made us swim ALL THE WAY BACK to the dock!

Milestones

Have you ever noticed that there are certain times, events, places, things, and people that just seem to stand out from the rest of life?

"Milestone" is a good word--a perfect word--for them... Don'tcha think?

Recently, we passed one of those milestones in our church, and it really stood out as a significant event!

For years, our church has been changing our focus: we want to be a church that people are proud to bring their "unchurched" family, friends, co-workers, etc. This may sound like a no-brainer to you (it may even be a no-brainer to you), but this has been a tremendously-difficult and arduous process! This battle has not been without innocent victims, nor without sacrifice or heartache.

To be honest, it has totally sucked at times.

But last Sunday, a guest came up to me after church that made all of the struggle worth it.

Bob (not his real name) came with a friend. He's been trying to get his friend, Derek (not his real name, either), to go to church with him for years. Unknown to Bob, Derek started coming to our church recently & God is doing an AMAZING work in him & it's affecting his whole family!

That in and of itself is ample reason to celebrate, but the story doesn't end there!

Anyway, back to the story...

Bob called Derek on Saturday evening & asked, "You wanna go with me to church tomorrow?"

Derek answered, "Well, actually... I've been going to this church I found for a while now... You wanna come with me?"

Bob managed to cough out through his stunned stupor, "What?! Yeah, Dude... If YOU found a church that you like, I DEFINITELY wanna check it out!"

So, he did.

And God met him!

That, too, is ample reason to celebrate, even if there was no more to the story!

But there IS more!

Bob came up to me after church (this is where I started this story) & told me that he was SO touched, that he felt like he just HAD to come & tell me the story I just related to you.

But then Bob continued, and this was AMAZING!

He said, "Pastor, I've got ALL these unsaved friends I've been wanting to bring to church, but I have not been able to find a place where I could bring them..."

TIME OUT! That statement breaks my heart every time I hear it! I don't understand how we can call ourselves followers of Jesus if we are not broken hearted over the things that break His heart... And He WEEPS for them!

Bob continued, "...I have not been able to find a place where I could bring them... UNTIL TODAY! This place is PERFECT for them!!"

My heart went from sunk to sky high in those 7 little words!!! THAT is what we've been working so hard to hear for SO LONG!!

I hope that this is just the first of MANY times I hear this... And I am confident that it is, because I shared this story with our church this Sunday and they were ecstatic! They went NUTS when I told them.

That's not just a great sign, it's a milestone! And a BIG ONE at that!!