Joel Stiff's Adventure

We got a little snow today. It started early this morning and continued throughout the day. By four o’clock, all area schools had closed for tomorrow and many churches had cancelled their evening services.

The texts started coming in asking if we were canceling. We have only cancelled twice in twelve years. I began to wonder if I was just being stubborn. Was I being proud and arrogant in the decision that we don’t cancel unless it is absolutely unsafe to be out?

I do not begrudge our folks if they feel unprepared to drive in conditions they deem less than safe. But if I can make it in, we have church.

I decided to go ahead with service as planned. By the time service started a good number of our folks were there including a man who usually isn’t able to make it back for the evening. He is a single dad who has to return his son to his mother right when church is scheduled. Because of the storm, he was able to keep him overnight and return him in the morning. During testimony time, he said how thankful he was to be able to be there when he usually isn’t.

I’m glad we didn’t cancel tonight.

We are doing some remodeling at the house. A couple of walls have been removed and it has necessitated the reworking of our staircase to the basement. The ceiling drywall was removed and a ladder propped against the wall so we could add to the bracing. Nicole’s cat, Charlie, climbed the ladder and got into the attic. Not your everyday occurrence to be sure.

That prompted my dad to call Winston and enlist his help to get the cat out of the attic.

Why did he go into the attic? Because he had never been there before.

When is the last time you did something you’ve never done before?

Don’t let a cat show you up.

God told Joshua three times in chapter one to be strong and have courage. He told Joshua this because he was afraid. There is no point in telling courageous people to have courage.

Why was Joshua afraid? He was getting ready to do something he had never done before. He was getting ready to lead people into battle, into unknown territory. He had no idea what tomorrow held.

We live in a world that perpetuates fear and drama. Much ado is often made of nothing, but it causes us to insulate ourselves from anything that might hurt us. Most of us are in no real physical danger. At best, we might get emotionally hurt. Most likely it is only that we might get hurt feelings.

If you place a mouse in the center of a bright room, it is going to run off to the perimeter and look for a place to hide. It does so to protect itself from predators. People tend to do the same thing. We run from being seen or heard. Not because of physical danger, but because of what someone might say about us.

The number one phobia on most of the lists is public speaking. Why are we afraid to speak in public? We are afraid because of what someone might say about us. Maybe they will laugh. Maybe they will disagree. Maybe they will criticize.

That fear completely vanishes when two things happen. The first is when you truly believe in what you are saying. The second is when you don’t care what anyone thinks about you. If you can believe in what you are doing to the point that what anyone says about it doesn’t matter, they fear will vanish.

What has you hiding like a mouse today? Why don’t you believe more in what you are doing? Why do you care what that person who is clearly wrong has to say about it?

Come out from the shadows. The rest of us want to hear what you have to say.

The bible says that the heavens declare the glory of God.

It is interesting to note how the North American Indians believed in and worshipped a creator. It was a bit off, but they acknowledged a higher power.

There has been a noticeable and progressive change in our proximity to the earth and our belief in God.

The generations that lived off of the earth and worked the land had a clear faith in God. There were exceptions, mainly those locked up inside with books. Knowledge puffeth up after all.

As mankind began to develop our technological advances that marched us into the industrial revolution, we left the field for the factories. Mechanization led to productivity which led to prosperity. The more money I have, the less I need God.

At this stage of the game, much of our population would be dead if left to survive in the wild more than a few days. Face it, people die in Yellowstone every year because they can’t read a sign and obey a guard rail. We live insulated lives moving from houses to cars to office buildings and back again. Let our power go out or worse, our internet, and we are lost.

God still tries to remind us of His existence with eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis and three feet worth of snow. Even then, we turn to ourselves and ask what we have done to bring about such global climate change.

Uncannily, those who spend time in nature still tend to hold a reverence for the Lord. I haven’t met many atheist farmers. When you see a red fox with a large bushy tail trotting across the fresh snow, it reminds you that Someone put her there.

One of the best things you can do to remind yourself of God is to go out in your backyard at dusk. Feel the cold air fill your lungs. Listen to the snow as it crunches under your feet. Watch the deer as they graze. Look at the moon as it shines brightly taking over for the sun that has shined all day. Look for Orion and the big dipper. Realize that hundreds of years ago, an Indian was was looking at the same stars. At least he had the sense to know that something bigger than himself existed.

One man said you will be the same ten years from now as you are today with the exception of two things, the people you meet and the books you read.
If you expect to grow, you have to expose yourself to people who know something you do not.

I’ve lost my tail.
It’s not your tail that’s the problem, Eeyore, it’s your attitude.
Eeyores claim failure before they’ve even started. I counsel many of them. “Pastor, pray for me. I need a job.” I ask if they have ever considered a certain line of work. “Oh, I can’t do that.” I ask if they’ve ever tried. “No, but here is a list of seven reasons why it won’t work.”
I can’t help you, Eeyore.
Eeyore’s think everything and everyone is against them. Age, height, income, lack of connections, eye color, weather, education, etc, are all reasons why they CAN’T.
I rarely see an Eeyore change. It is possible, but rare.
All it takes for an Eeyore to change is one small victory.
The hard part is getting them to attempt one thing.

You make an investment into an account. It seems small and insignificant. You make these investments on a regular basis. Without quite realizing it, the investment begins to grow. If you watch it too frequently or too closely, you can’t see the growth. In fact, sometimes you see it on a bad day when there is a temporary loss. But if you leave it alone and keep making small investments as long as you can, the account will grow large. There may even come a day when you no longer add to that account. The balance is till there and the account still grows. Your small consistent deposits make a huge difference over time.

Now reread this and instead of thinking about money, think about people.

Our church treasurer sent me a text today saying she needed a piece of paperwork. The first of the year finds my desk covered in paperwork as I strive to wrap up the previous year and make new plans for the coming year. It wasn’t going to be fun. Looking for a piece of paper in stack of pieces of paper is like looking for a needle in a stack of needles. I looked everywhere I could think of and came up empty. It is frustrating when you can see in your mind what you are looking for and not find it. After i looked everywhere, I sent her the bad news. She was looking into a work around when she called me with the news that she had found it. Hallelujah!

There is nothing like looking for something lost. You lose yourself in it. Life stops until you find it. Nothing else matters until you get what you are looking for.

Luke chapter fifteen tells us of some lost things. They were a sheep and a coin. We are given these parables as a picture of how God seeks us before we are saved. As furiously as we pour through stacks of papers, drawers and boxes looking for one specific thing, God seeks us specifically just as diligently.

If you’re wondering how much God loves you, the next time you are looking for a particular item, remember that God sought you just as diligently.

As a kid in high school, I would pay attention to the days the farmer’s market was open downtown. It was open every day that had a “T” in it. Monday, i was bummed because it was Monday. Tuesday, I noticed the market open and knew there were three days left. Wednesday was hump day and it was closed. Thursday, I was glad to see it open because it meant one more day. Friday, I barely paid attention, because after all, it was Friday.

I’ve worked jobs where i couldn’t wait for the weekend. Monday through Friday seemed to drag and then the weekend would fly by.

Eventually I decided that I didn’t want to live my life dreading five-sevenths of it. I did two things. First, I started enjoying anything I was doing regardless of what it was. Secondly, I set out to try to do what I wanted to do every day. Times when that wasn’t possible, I reverted to number one.

Every single day of my life, I get to wake up and do whatever I want to do with my day.

It sure beats dreading every Monday and biding my time until Friday.

One man put it this way, design a life you don’t need a vacation from.

When I was in college, I paid my first couple of years room, board and tuition by slinging boxes at UPS and RPS. I also did some time as a telemarketer. I’m so sorry.

At the beginning of a new year I had a roommate that did some work selling appliances part time at Sears on a commission basis. One morning, I happened to spot his pay stub lying on a dresser we shared. I truly was not trying to be nosy, but it was in plain sight and I happened to notice the take home amount. It was four times what my pay would be for the same period. I asked him how he could possibly make four times what I did working only half the hours I did. He explained the commission process and how he looked at what he did as his own business. He could work as hard or as slothfully as he desired and the results would show in his paycheck.

I began to ponder the possibility of making a job change. One thing scared me. I wasn’t sure I was willing to walk away from a guaranteed hourly pay rate to one that did not carry a guarantee. I asked my friend if he thought I was capable of doing what he did. Not wanting to be responsible for my decision, he tried to avoid the question. Several nights passed of me slinging boxes and he working three hour shifts in the evening. I continued to press him about it and he finally admitted that he believed I could if I believed I could. That was the push i needed. He helped me get an interview and I was hired at a different store to sell electronics. It was the best work decision I ever made while at college.

That was the first time I ever picked myself.

Later in life I would find myself as an assistant pastor ready to move on to the pastorate. Once God had confirmed in my heart that I was to move on, I had to figure out how to go about it. On one hand, I could send out feelers and begin to network with other pastors. The trouble was that no one knew me from Adam. I didn’t have the connections needed to send out resumes and get the networking process started.

So when you want to pastor a church, but no existing church wants you to be their pastor, what do you do? You start one from scratch. I had been very burdened and praying that God would send someone to Flint to start an aggressive soul-winning church. He answered my prayer by sending me.

I never saw myself as a church planter because church planters have great faith. I didn’t think I had great faith, yet God still used my family and I to get our church off the ground. This was yet another time I picked myself.

I am grateful for my friend who believed in me. I wonder if he hadn’t encouraged me to step out into commission sales, if I ever would have had the courage to step out and start a church. I believe a reward awaits him in Heaven.

Too many people wait for opportunity to knock. they sit and wait for a door to open.

There is an alternative. Pick yourself and open your own doors.