Too Easily Stirred Up!

I will admit it. I get too involved in just about anything I focus on. It’s something that I’ve always done. I pretty much gave up on NFL football a number of years ago but I do watch some of it occasionally. Often I’m not even up to date on who the team is or what’s going on but my wife comes through the family room and says, "Why are you leaning forward and trying to help that running back make one more yard?" Last night I was watching the Food Channel and they had the national pie championship on. People came from all over to compete and there were over 700 pies to judge. Pretty soon I became engrossed in trying to think about a pie I might be able to enter in this contest. In fact, I later had trouble going to sleep as I tried to think about Granny Mac’s pie crust and what kind of ingredients might be just the order to win the best of show prize. I have no intentions of ever entering a pie championship but this doesn’t keep me from losing sleep over it!

This week I am studying from John chapter 13 where Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. As I have read and studied this passage my mind goes into that very room and I can sense the tension, the atmosphere, the lighting, the sounds, the smells, and no doubt the surprise when He, the very God in human flesh, gets up and starts performing this task which typically would be done by the lowest household servant. When I sleep and dream about this event I see myself there in the room. I am a part of the scene and can understand their Aramaic dialect and they see me but take no notice of me. I am a witness to this unbelievable demonstration of humility and even in a dream world it makes me aware how far I miss the mark of the Master’s great example.

Hey, I’ve been doing this kind of stuff all my life. Visiting places far and wide and often paying for it dearly. My school teachers did not embrace me leaving the classroom to make a visit to ancient Rome or ride the waves with Columbus. You would have thought by now I would have outgrown this imagination thing but it is still alive and well. I’m sure there’s a psychologist somewhere who has a good explanation for why I’m so obsessed with being somewhere other than my present reality. Maybe so. I sure don’t see it that way. I could not be more blessed than to have the wife I have, the children I have, and the grandchildren I have. I could not be more blessed to have the mom and dad and extended family I have. I could not be more blessed than to work with the people I work with and have the Church family I have.

The joke used to be that I always wondered what I would be when I grew up. The trouble is in this particular area I’ve never grown up. They used to call me a daydreamer or a kid with a vivid imagination. At one time I thought I had come up with a scheme that would put all of this into perspective. Moses lived 120 years. His life was divided into three phases, the first 40 in Egypt, the second 40 in the back of the desert, and the last 40 leading the nation of Israel. Therefore, I came up with this idea that if I lived to be 75 then I would have 25, 25, and 25. I took this approach and looked at my life in the first 25 years, and then the second 25 years, and I am now in the final 25 year span. This all looked pretty good except for the fact that I still have a lot of the stuff from the first 50 overlapping into the final chapter. Sounded like a good idea at the time.

Now I’m faced with straining to help Tiger make a good shot, pulling for Venus to win her match, becoming red faced on behalf of trying to urge Jeff Gordon on to victory, or visiting the Upper Room in Jerusalem, or helping David from the Bible in his many exploits. This is why I wouldn’t wish me on anyone else but I am thankful that God has allowed me to be who I am and with His help perhaps I can find a way to utilize even these quirks for His honor and glory! More later.