Facing the World

My mom has faced some significant struggles in the past few months.  These struggles were one of the things that made it hard for me to be away in Canada this summer.  Thankfully, my sister Penny was home on furlough from Bulgaria and was able to be around for her and my dad.  One of the challenges was having a pacemaker put in.  We found out early in June that she needed it, but it was put off until August, and Penny and I were able to be there with her for this.  She is now doing fine.

The other setback has been more difficult.  Back in May she found out she had some skin cancer in her nose.  The operation in June got all the cancer but took out one of her nostrils and left a significant hole.  She was able to wear a bandaid on her nose to cover it up, and so she was able to go about her life.  Then in August she had the first of two reconstruction surgeries to rebuild her nose.

It has certainly been a trial.  Besides the physical pain involved, there is also the emotional difficulty of being disfigured.  She has to wear quite a large bandage over her nose whenever she goes out, or visits with people.  Her great-grandchildren have been afraid of her, which is really hard to deal with too. She doesn't complain, but her life has been seriously impacted by all this.

But she is a trooper.  She has it in her blood from the example her father set for her.  She and I have thought a lot about him during these trying days.

You see, my grandfather was born with a large birthmark on his face.  Half of his face was a dark purple and his nose and upper lip were somewhat misshapen.

As much as my mom is struggling with how she looks right now, he had to struggle with it his entire life.  I'm sure people stared at him, and others probably found him hard to look at.  But for me, I never thought much about it, and I certainly wasn't put off by it.  Once when I was in high school I took one of my girlfriends over to his house for a visit.  When we left she said, "Why didn't you tell me about his face?  Why didn't you prepare me for this?"  The truth is that it never crossed my mind to prepare her for it.  It was something I just never considered important.

I have been looking back at pictures of him and his family. He has always been a significant figure in our family.  I wish I could visit him now and ask him about how he dealt with his looks and people's reactions to them.  I wish I could understand the role this part of his life played in making him into the man I knew growing up-- a man of great faith, a man of kindness, a man full of grace.

Skin and Bones

This past summer I was able to teach the morning chapels at camp once again.  Since our theme this year was science, I decided to talk about the human body, specifically our skin and bones.  I based these talks on some chapters from a book called Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey.

The most important qualities our bones need to have are being strong and rigid.  Bones that are brittle, bent and weak are of little use.  These bones come together to form our skeleton, and this is what gives framework to our bodies.  Without our skeletons we would be a big blog of tissues.  We would not be able to move about or do much of anything.

On the spiritual side of life, the thing that gives structure to our lives are the commandments of God.  These commands are intended by God to help us live the best life possible here on earth.  They allow us to move and work and do.

But here’s the thing.

We don’t have an exoskeleton, like a bug or a crab or lobster.  When we think about these creatures we know they are not cuddly or warm; they are cold and hard and repelling.  But in our analogy, if the front we present to the world is all about the rules we follow, the sins we avoid and the commands we preach, we are showing the world an exoskeleton that is cold and hard and repelling.

God gave us skeletons that are covered with flesh, flesh that is warm and soft and touchable.  Our skin and our sense of touch are how we communicate love to others.  

And so it is with our faith.  The structure we hold fast to in building our spiritual lives must be covered with the warmth of our flesh and the free-flowing love of God that should radiate from our lives.  This is what will attract others to our Savior.

Jesus set this all straight when he told the story of the Good Samaritan.  He responded to a question by saying that the greatest commandments are to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself.  After further questioning, he told the story of the injured man who was passed by on the road by religious people because they were keeping the rules, because they did not want to become unclean according to the law.

The hero of the story is the Samaritan who comes to the injured man’s aid, who touches him, who carries him to safety, and who binds his wounds.  He was not afraid to show love to him, not afraid to touch him, even though the cost to him was significant.

Even now, weeks later, this lesson comes to me often.  I ask myself, “Do my actions display love and warmth or am I being cold and distant?”  I ask this often because I am prone to be cold and distant, and have difficulty overcoming the tendency to identify as a rule-follower, and to judge harshly those who don’t follow the rules I think are important. It is something I must work at daily.

Thankfully, I am a work in progress, and I see my faith being “fleshed out.”

The Best Moment of the Summer

Gavyn

When I arrived at church in Sioux Lookout on Sunday, I ran into several campers.  One of them was Gavyn, who reminded me of my favorite moment from the summer.

Gavyn has been a camper for several years.  His whole family usually spends 3-4 weeks at camp as his mom serves as the camp nurse.  The whole family pitches in to help, and we really enjoy the time we get to spend with them.

This summer  was different.

In early June, Gavyn was experimenting, as Gavyn is prone to do.  He was using a knife to remove power from some caps and then putting the powder in a tube.  He was using the handle of the knife to tamp down the powder when it suddenly ignited and propelled the knife upward, and it pierced Gavyn's eye.  The next several weeks were spent in surgeries and trips to specialists and ended with doctors removing the lens from Gavyn's eye.  When he grows up, they intend to replace the lens, but for now, Gavyn has lost sight in that eye.

It was quite a struggle for the whole family.  Plans were disrupted.  Anxiety about Gavyn's sight was constant.  And they were also upset that they weren't able to come to camp.

But finally, during the last week of camp, everything had settled down enough for them to come.  Gavyn was told to take it really easy, but that is a very difficult thing for him.

During the week of camp, Gavyn came to one of the activities I was leading, "Parachutes with Pam."  I would help the kids make a parachute and then we would attach water balloons to them and see if we could float them safely to the ground.  Gavyn made a parachute and launched his, but as soon as he did, he was off saying, "What will happen if we tie two parachutes together?  What will happen if we make it bigger?"  And on and on.

So we happily experimented.  Later I said to Gavyn, "I just love watching your mind work, Gavyn.  You are so curious and wondering what will happen next.  I think it's so great."

Gavyn said, "Yeah, that's how I lost my eye."

Wow!

While he was working with me, he saw my rocket launcher.  He wanted to know if he could build a rocket and launch it.  I said sure.  I showed him the ones we had built and told him how they worked, but Gavin had his own ideas about how this should go, and he wanted to build one that had a parachute.  I told him that rockets with parachutes are very tricky, and I had not seen anyone be very successful with them, but that did not deter him.  He spent a good part of the day developing a rocket that had a parachute attached.

That evening we launched his rocket.  The parachute did not deploy.  He was so disappointed.

He spent a good part of the next day tinkering with his rocket, refining the design, trying to correct the mistakes.  He is a really hard worker and very persistent.

That evening after chapel, we launched his rocket once again.  His dad had arrived and both his parents were able to be there for the launch.  This time the rocket blasted off and quickly reached the apex of its flight.  And then, as it started its descent, the parachute deployed perfectly.  The rocket floated flawlessly to the ground.

And we celebrated!  The smile on Gavyn's face was priceless.  It was a spectacular moment!

We launched the rocket again to see if we could replicate the flight, but this time, the parachute did not deploy.

But no matter.  The success of the previous launch was enough.  It made Gavyn's heart sing to have had this moment, and I'm so glad I was there to share it with him and his family.

On Labor Day

When God created our world He taught us some things about work.  First of all, there is the fact that God works, and this tells us that work is important and valuable.  Next, we learn that God worked with great enjoyment.  Every time He created something He pronounced it good or very good.  If you're like me, you've felt the deep satisfaction you can get from a task completed and a job well done.  God felt that in His work, and He wants us to feel that way about our work too. 

I read a passage from a book by John Ortberg that opens our eyes to what it would be like if God approached His work the way we often do.  I've shared many times since I read it and thought it would be appropriate to share it on this Labor Day.

"In the beginning, it was nine o'clock, so God had to go to work.  He filled out a requisition to separate light from darkness.  He considered making stars to beautify the night, and planets to fill the skies, but thought it sounded like too much work; and besides, thought God, 'That's not my job.' So he decided to knock off early and call it a day.  And he looked at what he had done and he said, 'It'll have to do.'

"On the second day God separated the waters from the dry land.  And he made all the dry land flat, plain, and functional, so that-- behold-- the whole earth looked like Idaho.  He thought about making mountains and valleys and glaciers and jungles and forests, but he decided it wouldn't be worth the effort.  And God looked at what he had done that day and said, 'It'll have to do.'

"And God made a pigeon to fly in the air, and a carp to swim in the waters, and a cat to creep upon dry ground.  And God thought about making millions of other species of all sizes and shapes and colors, but he couldn't drum up any enthusiasm for any other animals-- in fact, he wasn't too crazy about the cat.  Besides, it was almost time for the Late Show.  So God looked at all that he had done, and God said, 'It'll have to do.'

"And at the end of the week, God was seriously burned out.  So he breathed a big sigh of relief and said, ' Thank Me, it's Friday.'

So people are working at jobs where they find no joy or satisfaction. You hear it all the time in the way they talk about what they do.  But joy and satisfaction doesn't come necessarily from the particular job we have to do, but mainly from the attitude we choose to have as we work.  Even the most menial of jobs can be very rewarding if approached in the right way.

We find the right attitude in Colossians 3:17:  "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father." Just as God pronounced his work good and very good, we should strive to work in such a way that we, too, can feel that the work we do is good and even very good.

So. may you find joy in your work and satisfaction in a job well done, whatever that may look like in your life.

Happy Labor Day!