Bird’s Eye View Pt.2

As I walked in the door to my cousin’s house to visit the other week I saw them playing a game with their daughter that I remember when I was younger.  His cute 18 month old daughter sitting on the floor playing with her Mom, and Mom said to her daughter, “How big is Emily?”  Who would then squeal and spread her arms really wide and they’d both laugh and say so big!!!  This game used to keep me amused for hours as a kid, laughing about how big I was becoming and how much my Mom and Dad loved me.  It was a fun game for a small kid to be playing.

As young kid we laughed and played along with this game, believing that we were that big, and that our parents loved us that much.  As we have grown we each have been faced with a number of circumstances and situations which make us feel, a little less big, or just downright small.  We have stress at work, busy schedules, and issues with our kids, and worries about finances, just to name a few.

As we read through scripture there is an age old practice that was used to aid during challenging times in life.  This practice was reflecting on God, and His Word.  We read in Psalm 13, “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? (vs. 1)…But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.” (Psalm 13:1, 5-6, TNIV)  You can hear the pain and anguish of the psalmist, crying out to God for help.  As they pray to God and reflect, there is a dramatic shift in their tone as you read verse 5 and 6.  They move from outright hurt and pain, to someone lifting a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.  So what happened, it’s simple.  How big is your God?  So BIG!!!  They had a shift in perspective because suddenly their issues grew smaller in the presence of a God as large and powerful as their God.

To be able to reflect like that on God and our situation, we have to know who it is that we are reflecting on.  We see God reveal himself to us in through the Bible, but also in our lives and in the lives of others.  Take time to read the Bible, to study, to learn about God.  Take time to listen and to hear stories from others about God’s work in their lives.  I have heard stories of God removing cancer and healing a man who was dead on the table for 90 minutes back to full health.  God’s work is not just in those “big” or “miraculous” ways, but we can see God at work through a million “small” or “common” ways in our lives too.  The next time you encounter a bump in the road or have a tough day, take a moment and ask yourself, “How big is your God?”

Pastor Bill

Discussion Questions

1. What is one thing in life right now that is making you feel small, or challenged?
2. What barriers do you have to approaching God in those moments?
3. How would live look different with a shift in your perspective?
4. Take a moment read any of these Psalms to see this at work more: 3, 13, 22, 39, 51, 130, 36, 125, 126

Bird’s Eye View

A few years back I had the chance to take a pastor friend of mine to visit Chicago for his first time.  Did I mention my friend is from the African country of Uganda?  Understand that in Uganda the tallest building was 20 stories tall.  So you can imagine his reaction as we walked down the Chicago lakefront and onto Michigan Avenue.  His eyes went wide, his jaw dropped.  I felt like I was walking around with a small child, having to keep an eye on him so that he was not run over by a car or person as he gazed up into the skyline.  As we walked he saw in the distance what he believed was the biggest building he had ever seen, the Prudential building.  This building is 41 stories tall, and twice the size of anything he had ever seen.

Our final destination of the day was the observation deck of the John Hancock building.  Standing at 100 stories, and over 1,112 feet tall, the Hancock is the second tallest building in Chicago, only to the Willis (Sears) Tower.  As my friend walked out of the elevator into the observation deck and saw the panoramic windows before him he was shocked.  After convincing him that it was indeed safe to go look out the windows, he noticed something.  Bill, isn’t that the building we were just looking at? (He was pointing to the Prudential building)  It looks so small from up here.

I would guess that as many of you read this right now, you may feel you are facing struggles and fears than may be overwhelming; much like my friend felt looking at the Prudential building.  Your busy schedule the next few days, paying the bills, having a tough conversation with your kids, needing to reconnect with a spouse, wondering if my job is stable, and more.  Honestly all that life sends at us can be overwhelming, discouraging, and just downright tough to handle.  We can quickly feel like the struggles of our life are the biggest, most overwhelming, that they are the tallest tower.  It is at those moments that it is crucial to step back and gain some perspective.

A simple conversation at your kids sporting event turns when your friend opens up about their family’s financial struggles, and they wonder out loud if they will be able to keep their home.  Suddenly your financial issues seem much smaller.  You are shocked when you hear about a friend’s family dealing with serious medical issues; you suddenly are not so worried about the medical issues in your own family.  As we speak to others, it allows for us to see the bigger picture, to put everything in perspective.  Ever considered reading the Bible as a conversation partner in gaining perspective?  As you read about the struggles of the early believers and how God intervened in their situations, we are reminded that we worship a big God, who is active in the lives of those he loves.  We are reminded of the smallness of us and our lives compared to the greatest of the God we worship.

Gaining perspective does not remove the pain, the heartache, or the stress of the struggles that we each face on a daily basis, but encourages us to remember the place of God in the midst of all that we experience.

Pastor Bill

Discussion Questions:

1. What in your life feels overwhelming right now?
2. Why are those things so overwhelming?
3. How could you gain some perspective on all that is going on around you?
4. Where does God fit in your world?

Really?

Really, is that really it? I would bet you have heard this question before and someone is asking it because they believe there is more than what has been said or done. I remember sitting down with my advisor in college, and they asked me, what do you want to do with your life. To which I answered, be a high school math and science teacher. Why is that Bill? I want to be a teacher because I like to teach, and teaching math and science as a male would make me marketable. Then they asked me a question that changed our whole conversation. Bill what is it that you really want to do? It stopped me in my tracks and I had to think for a moment, not that I didn’t want to be a teacher, but instead what is behind your desire to be a teacher. Well I guess I want to teach people, because I believe that we can change lives through teaching. Suddenly the conversation had changed and they asked me, Bill how do you believe you can best in the best situation in life so that you can teach in such a way that leads to life transformation? I changed my major to better prepared for seminary to teach as a pastor, not a high school teacher, and now sit here as the pastor of this church.

She asked me a simply question, really? Yet that question pushed me to look deeper, to see if there was anything below the surface that I had not yet considered. I found that what was below the surface was something quite significant and different than my initial answer. When I was asked to look deeper it led me to a different solution than I had initially thought of. It allowed me to put my dream in a different perspective.

One day I was speaking with a gentleman who wanted me to pray for him that he might get a promotion at work. When I asked what lead him to ask for this prayer, he said that he wanted to move up in the business. Is that really why you want us to be praying for this I asked? To which he froze and then met my eyes with laser focus. Bill, I grew up in a house where things were tight financially. I did not go to college, and always wondered, what if I had gone? My family does not have a ton of extra money, but I want to make sure that if my children want to go to college they can. So with a raise, I could start a college fund for the kids, so that they can have opportunities that I never had. His response to the question, “really?” changed our entire conversation and prayer.

What dreams do you have? What dreams do you have for your life, and for your church? Why? Really, is that really what is behind your dream? What will it take for you to achieve it? Because what you really desire might change how you go about trying to make it a reality. The Christian Band Rush of Fools has a song called “Can’t Get Away,” and it opens saying this, “God, I am an arrow, I am a rocket, Cause You are the target and the atmosphere.” No matter our dreams or hopes, at the end of the day our desire needs to remain in God, our final target needs to be what God’s target is. But are we ready for that? Are we ready for what God’s desire and targets are in our lives?