Just Bring a Pizza

Last week, a friend posted a deal-i-o on Facebook that I instantly shared with a “YES” comment. Many FB friends shared it, so it must have touched on a nerve. It touched on a nerve with me too.

The next morning, the deal-i-o  was still giving me thoughts, so here they are. Incidentally, the same friend who shared the deal-i-o also shared a fantastic (and somewhat cynical) blog post about the deal-i-o on Monday.  I highly suggest that you read it.  I started this post over the weekend but just wrapped it up today.  She encouraged me to publish it even though it was so close to her post date.  I love encouraging friends!

God doesn’t give bad things.

There is seriously so much wrong (in my opinion) with the statement, “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” Right away, we are grabbing onto the idea that God is giving us all of the trials we encounter.  In fact, it would seem to me that we give ourselves some of our trials, we give each other some of our trials, and illness – a physical side-effect of spiritual sin being in the world – gives us most of the others. I have never believed in the kind of God who sits in heaven trying to decide which of  us should have cancer based on who can “handle it.”  Hello!?!?  Even the book of Job is more about getting us to learn how we deal with trials…not realize that all of our trials come from God.

What is more than we can handle?

Most of our lives seem to be recipes for disaster.  We over-commit ourselves in all areas of our lives, and we leave little room for margin.  When the tough things come along, our schedules have no room to handle anything.  A change in my schedule is more than I can handle.  Getting a cold sends me into a tizzy.  Anything more than that is seriously more than I think that I can handle.  And who is to say that I can handle less than you can?  Where does this phrase come from? Why have we integrated it into our line of thinking?

How do we view God?

I have sat in many prayer circles over the years.  There is a rare person in the circle who gives time to praising God for who He is, for what He has done, and for what He will do through us and for us.  Most of us treat our personal and corporate prayer times like a McDonald’s drive through window.

“I’ll take one healing of cancer with a side of extra healing for my dog, please.”

We forget that, though capable of our physical healing, God is more concerned with our relationships with Him and others as well.  The healing that Christ offered while here on earth was equal or more parts spiritual, emotional, and relational over the physical healings that He performed.  While God cares about us (consider the birds of the air…), God is far more concerned with the state of who we are than of how we are.

God created us for community.

God intends for us to celebrate with others (think birthday parties and weddings) as well as to mourn with others (think funerals).  In the in between of those kinds of moments is real life.  God created us to live life together – to play hard, to cry with each other, to listen well, and to encourage one another.

Before crisis hits, we need to take stock and prepare.

1. Get in community and start supporting each other.
2. View the trials of others as trials alone as opposed to consequences of decisions or “gifts from God.”
3. Create margin in life to both take in our own trials as well as to assist in the trials of others.

Consider ways that we can help each other in crisis.

1. Laundry
2. Coupons for pizza delivery or groceries
3. Childcare

Be ready to accept help from others.

Someone commented on my shared post of the picture above that people have to be willing to be helped in order to get help.  Ya sure. You betcha.  Maybe we would all be more willing to take help if we have done a good job of giving the kind of help that actually helps.

Just bring a pizza!

Idle promises of “praying for you” (and then we often forget to do so) will sound much more like promises if we just bring a pizza to their house and say instead, “I have been praying for you, and I thought this might help ease some of the burden.  I’ll be by next week to fold laundry if you would let me do so.”

It’s not easy, though.

I know that I sound like I’m chastising us, and I might be just a little bit.  I am not any better at this than the next person – on either the giving or receiving of help side of things.  When my mom died over a decade ago, one of the best things that a friend did for me was to bring me clothes for the funeral from (where we lived at the time) Minneapolis, MN, to (where the funeral was held) Grand Forks, ND.  I will never forget that generous act.  Even if we are not comfortable going to someone’s house to fold laundry,  something as simple a gift card for gas to help defray the cost of cancer treatments or for groceries to help ease the blow of losing a job will be a big help to those going through a trial.

Let’s look around today and consider how we can help each other.  That is what we are meant to do.

 

A Confession: I Prefer Not to be a Bother

Note: I am the author today on Blogging Through the Bible – a site on which there are daily blog posts about Bible readings in coordination with the pastor huz’s current sermon series.  The post below is a re-posting of that article because it falls into line with the mission of this blog as well.  I hope you enjoy!  Thanks for reading!  -stacy

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In the back of my mind, there is a little person who crouches in a corner and hopes to be noticed.  She is probably between 3 and 5 years old.  She does not make much noise, she does not demand much attention, but she is there.

I do not have multiple personalities, and I have been assured that we all have a tiny person who needs to be reminded that he or she is important to someone.

While I have spent quite a few years of therapy to understand this little person and often feel that I can handle her emotional battles, I think that today’s reading of Luke 8:40-48 explains her a bit more.

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. ⁴³ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,^[c] but no one could heal her. ⁴⁴ She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak,and immediately her bleeding stopped.

⁴⁵ “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master,the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone touched me;I know that power has gone out from me.”

⁴⁷ Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. ⁴⁸ Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

This woman had a problem, and she knew who could fix that problem.  While she knew this, she did not want to be a bother.  Instead, she believed that touching just the hem of the cloak on Jesus would heal her.

And it did.

She believed that any amount of attention from the Savior would do her some good.  She did not want to bother Him, but she desperately wanted to be healed.

Jesus knew instantly that someone had touched Him and had received healing from His touch.  And He wanted to know who she was.

When the Savior heals, He wants to heal and to KNOW us.

I think that the little person crouching in the back of my mind forgets that her Savior lives,  knows, and loves her.

That little person is me, of course, and she exaggerates all of the parts of me.  When she throws a tantrum, I must listen for it must be that I want to throw a tantrum.  When she is sad, I must be sad.

What she needs to remember – what I need to remember – is that I am not a bother to God.  He wants me to come, trembling as the woman did, with all of my burdens, ailments, and cares to put at His feet, to look Him in the face, and to ask Him for a healing touch. He does not want me crouching in the corner, hiding under the bed, or creeping along underfoot.

He does not want me to think I am not worthy of His touch…for He created me and He desires to see me well and redeemed through His Son’s blood.

How can this truth permeate our lives today?

We need to stop thinking that we are a bother to our Father! He wants to have a relationship with us, and that is not a bother.  Amen?

Giving Life Meaning

As I have mentioned in several posts, my job takes me on the road often.  It also has me visiting courthouses quite often. Recently, I was in Sherburne County for a hearing, and I saw the quote below in the courthouse.

I knew without even thinking that it would make a great blog post.

Read it again.

And again.

And again.

Download the picture, make it your screen’s photo for a day, and then be challenged by what it says.  How can this thought take root in us each and every day?

I also run into many people who think that they have nothing to give to the world around them.  They feel as though no one wants their help, that others are doing it all, or that their skills do not match the needs.

So not true! Willing hands, willing feet, and willing hearts are welcome in just about any volunteer organization around the country!

What have I seen that needs help?

The need for guardian ad litem positions is on the rise as children in foster care and in custody cases need an advocate for them.  Click here for information in Minnesota.  Those in other states can just Google for information.

The need for foster care families is always around with a shortage.  In fact, in Hennepin County, children remain at St Joseph’s Home for Children waiting for families that could care for them.  Because there are not enough families, children stay.

Perhaps foster care is not something you can do (that is legit, by the way!), consider volunteering with organization that support families.  Kinship or the Big Brother/Big Sister’s organizations are excellent ways to get involved.

And these are just the thoughts I have for impacting children.  There are countless ways that we can reach out to vulnerable adults or the elderly.

To hurt is human, but to help is also human.

What can I do today to impact tomorrow?