Joel Stiff's Adventure

 

While on our snowmobile trip, we ate at a delightful little diner named Shirley’s. The wait staff was the friendliest I’ve seen anywhere. In spite of eleven feet of snow and sub zero temps, their smiles and attitudes warmed the restaurant. Shirley even brought warm samples of her fresh baked specialty breads around for us to try. 

It was in this restaurant that I saw the sign above. They meant it as clever and fun, but there was a time when it carried serious tones. 

My question is, who gets to decide what qualifies as a hippie? For the most part, it is cultural. We were in a small rural town called, Mancelona. As we pulled up to the diner, the row of heavy duty pickups looked like a car lot. They were all diesel and all running to keep them warm. Inside were men who made a living working in this cold, but knew how to do it expertly.

We stood out. Our vehicle, clothes and even manner of speech were different. Not terribly so, but just enough.

It’s that cultural difference that brings out a prejudice against others. Their skin color is not the same as ours, their hair type is not the same as ours, their accent is different. They are different and so they are bad.

There is an authority that gets to determine right from wrong. It does so on the basis of sin and right and not appearance alone. That authority is the Bible. 

Our opinion is clouded and limited by geography, custom, culture and what we know. 

Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Americans work hard. We work more hours weekly than any other nation. When we aren’t at work, we are still tethered electronically to our jobs.
God rested after six days of creation as an example to us.
The Jews were commanded to take a day of rest. God told Moses time and time again that this day was to be taken.
We don’t always have the ability to take a week off or even a full day, but you can take a mini vacation.
Do something that distracts you from every day life and work. It doesn’t have to be big.
I think I’ll take a mini vacation and have some Cracker Jacks.

I was invited up north (anywhere north of Bay City is considered “up north” where I’m from) to do some snowmobiling.
Snowmobiling is fun. It’s fun because you can go fast. Going fast is fun.
Once in a while, you’ve got to give it some gas and get moving.

 

I was out on my prayer drive last Sunday and was running a bit behind to pick Shannon and Winston up to head to church. I was moving along at a nice clip (still within the speed limit of course) when I saw a flash of movement in my peripheral vision. I stopped as quickly as I could on the snowy, icy, dirt road. It was just in time to see a beautiful red fox dash off across a field.

It was my first fox sighting in daylight. Because of my speed, I didn’t quite get the view I would like to have had. If only I hadn’t packed so much into that morning. If only I had been able to take my time and slow down. If only I had driven slowly enough to not spook the fox or see it sooner.

I wonder how many fox I have missed because I’ve been busy doing stuff not nearly as rewarding. I wonder how many fox I have missed because I’ve simply been moving too fast.

Bill Shakespeare penned the famous line, “To be, or not to be; that is the question.”

We all focus on being. I want to be an astronaut. I want to be a good husband. I want to be a good Christian. I want to be a better basketball player. I want to be smart. I want to be liked.

Being is the result of doing. If you never shoot a basketball, you will never be a basketball player. If you never fly a plane, you’ll never be a pilot.

Lots of people want to be, but they aren’t willing to do.

When I first started running, I remember wondering when I would be able to consider myself a runner. A friend asked me, “Do you run?”

I replied, “yes.”

He said, “Then you’re a runner.”

If you do it, you are it, no matter how good or bad you are at it.

If you never do it, you cannot say you are it, no matter how badly you want to be it.

If you want to be it, you must start doing it.

“Commit thy works unto the Lord, and they thoughts shall be established.” – Proverbs 16:3

The weekend before Christmas, our area was hit by an ice storm. The precipitation falls as rain but the temperature drops quickly enough that it freezes on contact.

This wreaks all kinds of havoc. The rain freezing on the power lines and tree branches accumulates a great deal of weight. When the weight surpasses the objects ability to hold it, things come crashing down.

Most homes had several large branches and some even entire trees down. The power lines that didn’t come down because of ice did when trees fell on them. Some families were without power for up to eight days.

It’s amazing to think that puny drops of water can do so much damage. Of course, one drop doesn’t but the cumulative effect of thousands does. 

That’s worth considering when we think that a little indiscretion here or a small wrong there won’t take it’s toll.

Also worth considering is that one small positive choice isn’t going to change your life for the better, but the accumulation of hundreds of small little positive choices will most certainly change your life in ways you could never imagine.

I’ve heard that more damage is caused in the world annually by termites than all the earthquakes, tornados and floods combined.

 

The sunglasses pictured above were popular when I was in high school. I think Risky Business was why. I didn’t wear them.

I don’t wear them now. Some would say that living in Michigan and not being a celebrity negates any need to wear them. I still see a lot of non-celebrity Michiganders wearing them anyhow.

I heard an interview with Jay Leno recently and it was brought up that he doesn’t wear them either. It was interesting to me that his reason was exactly the same as mine. I don’t want anything changing reality. It bothers me that sunglasses change everything from the way it truly is. I want my sky blue, my grass green, my sun yellow and everything else the color it is supposed to be. I don’t want everything brown. Sometimes the sun hurts my eyes, but I would rather squint and see things as they truly are than put on sunglasses and be mislead.

Many don’t like reality so they put on a pair of glasses that paints their world the color they want it. Others are busy trying to put glasses on people to get them to see things the way they want them to be perceived. 

 

Two years ago, I ran a marathon. It took four months to prepare and four hours, fifty-seven minutes and twenty seconds to complete.

It was difficult. Running is hard. It’s not technical, it’s just hard. It’s not quantum physics hard. It’s digging ditches hard. Anybody can do it, but it’s difficult. Did I mention how hard it is yet?

The trouble with our perception is that we sometimes confuse hard with bad. We can look back on a period of time that was difficult and automatically label it bad. A difficult financial year, a difficulty with our health or a dip in business are labeled as bad.

The difference between bad and difficult is how it leaves you. Bad leaves you worse off than when it found you. Difficult leaves you better off than when it found you.

The running was difficult, but not bad. It left me in the best shape of my recent life and gave me confidence I hadn’t felt in years. 

Maybe the difference between difficult and bad is simply our perception of the events and whether or not we consider the gains instead of the losses.

 

On Sunday mornings before church, I take a drive through some country roads near our home and spend some time praying about the day. This sign is on one of those roads.

Not too many weeks ago, my family along with an out of state uncle and aunt were driving through here and I remarked that this sign described my life. Slow, rough road ahead pretty much nails it. I meant it to be funny in a self-deprecating way, but there is actually great truth to it and that isn’t bad. 

Most of life moves pretty slowly and can be plenty rough at times. The drive and ambition to move forward almost always outpaces reality. Things do not come our way nearly as fast as we would like them to. Unfortunately, this also means that difficult times also tend to mosey along at a leisurely rate. But they also will be a distant memory eventually.

Most of life is lived climbing the mountain. It is slow paced and arduous. When the peak is reached it is enjoyed only for a season until we see another higher peak in the distance that offers its challenge. Then begins our downward decent.

The truth is, no one stays on the mountaintop for very long. That’s because we just don’t want to. It is enjoyable for a while, but we begin to miss that slow rough road that leads us to the next peak.

Burger King tells us that we can have it our way. 

McDonald’s tells us that we deserve a break today.

It has been drilled into our consciousness that the customer is always right. Because we have been so conditioned, we begin to expect every interaction to result in our satisfaction. We only consider others and their obligation to make us happy rather than our responsibility to them and even ourselves. 

If our hamburger isn’t exactly what we want, we forsake the franchise and look for a suitable replacement. We learn to view the people and institutions in our lives as disposable. 

If my wife isn’t satisfying me, I move on to the next woman. If my children aren’t living up to my expectations, I give up on them. If my friends don’t keep me entertained, I drop them for new ones. If my church doesn’t thrill me on a given Sunday, I look for the one with a slicker marketing program.

We have taken Ronald McDonald’s flattery too far. Sure we deserve a hot hamburger if we are paying for one, but relationships take a bit more work and commitment than a sandwich does. If we fail to realize this, we are not only going to do great harm to many people in our lives, but we will be doing great harm to ourselves as well.