Overcoming

Deep calls to deep

Overcoming, Relationship with God /

Earlier in the summer, my wife and I spent a Sunday afternoon at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis. The spring and summer rains feeding Minnehaha Creek have made the falls a roaring attraction this year. The sheer force of voluminous amounts of water ceaselessly cascading into such a picturesque grotto-like setting is indeed breathtaking. From there the swollen creek tumbles and rumbles its way through the remaining several furlong run into the mightyMississippi.

Waterfalls have a way of mesmerizing your soul as they beckon you to come closer and closer. They have a unique allure in nature that tantalize all the senses. Not only are they a beautiful to behold with the eyes and stunning in surround sound to the ears, but they also cannot be fully appreciated until one is close enough to feel their spray in your face and lick their moisture from your lips. And while savoring that, the senses are finally satiated as you breath in deep gulps of their freshness through your nose. Ah…h that is how waterfalls are meant to be experienced!

But waterfalls also can be perilous. Sensory delight can turn into sensory overload if a person ventures beyond the posted warning signs or danger areas. Those signs are there for a reason because someone, sometime, somehow got too close and went from being a visitor by the water to a victim in the water.

The verse quoted above is written by someone who got too close to a waterfall. In fact the waterfall of life was coming at him with such ferocity that it literally swept over him and would have swept him away were not for God’s love for him. (42:8) All of us have from time to time been engulfed at the base of a waterfall where we feel like we are drowning in the pressures and trials of life that are endlessly pouring into our lives.

The writer of Psalm 42 and 43, which together form a sixteen verse prayer, opens his heart to God in a most vulnerable, if not disarming way. He literally pours out his soul as he battles with overwhelming discouragement and seeming estrangement from God. For him, the waterfall of life is unrelenting. This is an easy prayer to identify with because all of us feel that way at times. In fact like this man we can find ourselves even wondering “Where is God?” (42:19)

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Learning from our mistakes

Growth & Development, Overcoming /

“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” Proverbs 22:3& 27:12 NIV

It has been said “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” That is good advice. But even better advice is this “Be sure to learn from your own mistakes. Life is too precious to be repeating them.”

Life’s most valuable lessons can come from our mistakes and disappointments. Learning from them positions us for success.

The story is told of the reporter interviewing a very successful bank president. “What is the secret to your success?” he asked. “Two words” replied the president. “And, sir, what are they?” “Right decisions.” “And how do you make right decisions?” “One word.” “And sir, what is that?” “Experience.” “And how do you get experience?” “Two words.” “And sir, what are they?” “Wrong decisions!”

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5 types of people who leave the church

3 Comments / Growth & Development, News & Reflections, Overcoming /

One of the jobs that pastors do, with some reluctance, is exit interviews. Having pastored in two congregations spanning over 35 years I have done my share. Exit interviews are basically conversations pastors try to make a point of having with people when they decide to leave their church.

The intention first and foremost is to check on their spiritual well-being and hear what God is doing in their lives. It is also a time to express appreciation for them and their contribution to the church. And finally it is appropriate to affirm and bless them as they move on in their relationship with God.

Although there are many reasons people leave a church I have discovered that they can all be grouped into five basic categories. For simplicity’s sake I will term these categories by the types of people they represent.

And so here are five types of people who leave the church.

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A remedy for panic attacks!

1 Comment / Answers to Prayer!, Overcoming /

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3 NIV

Those who have suffered from panic attacks know how debilitating they are. The very suggestion of their onset can send shock waves of fear through a person’s system. Beads of sweat begin to form on the brow, moisture in the mouth begins to dry up and thoughts begin to careen out of control nudging your closer and closer to the precipice of terrified paralysis.

I share this from personal experience because I have had to battle panic attacks in my life. My bouts have primarily been triggered and associated with public speaking. Since I am a pastor, whose job it is to speak publicly with great frequency, this of course exacerbated my problem.

The panic attacks first surfaced during a period in my life when I was going through the stress of making some midlife career adjustments. I would get up to speak on a Sunday morning or at a wedding and find myself battling all the symptoms of panic. It so unsettled me that I would lose my train of thought and feel like the words I was forming were cleaving to my tongue. The accompanying self consciousness invariably triggered a hot flash and profuse sweating and then an overwhelming fear of fainting would put it’s strangle hold on me. Mustering every once of strength and concentration, while inwardly rebuking the attack I would cry out to God for His deliverance. Each time He spared me from what I feared coming upon me and helped me to recover my composure. Seldom were people aware of the inner struggle I was experiencing. But what a terrifying ride!

As I sought God for deliverance from these

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Moving on from disappointment

Growth & Development, Overcoming /

“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” Genesis 23:4

One of the biggest hindrances to moving on from past losses, disappointments or failures is their painful image embedded in our subconscious. These recurring remembrances can produce a paralyzing cycle of grief and regret. This cycle, with its accompanying fear and negativity, blocks those who experience it from forging a renewed, hopeful and purposeful future.

In this verse we find Abraham negotiating to purchase a beautifully situated piece of real estate in the hill country near Hebron, which he intends to dedicate as a cemetery for his wife Sarah. It appears this is an important topic because an entire chapter in the Bible is taken up with this singular business dealing.

Ironically this piece of property, named Macpelah, would become the only actual deeded foothold the patriarchs would have in Canaan, the land of promise, until its conquest by Joshua over 500 years later. It became the resting place of not only Sarah, but Abraham himself as well as Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah. (Genesis 25:9 & 49:31)

Abraham’s conversation reveals something about himself which is very instructional. He tells the Hittites that the reason he wants a burial place is so “I can bury my dead out of my sight.” That is a very intriguing statement and one from which we can learn a valuable lesson.

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