I was away for a 48 hour retreat recently and God showed me a new perspective, while maybe not new but a fresh perspective on the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. I had been reading John 13 and the first verse talks about how Jesus knew that His time was up. I laid down thinking about this and, I know this may sound morbid, but starting thinking about how I would feel if my own son were to die. The emotions I felt must have been like those God was feeling at this time in the life of His Son. It wasn’t until I was in church Saturday that I was struck that this is the beginning of Holy week and that though Jesus died, God knew also that He would rise again. I then thought how I would rejoice knowing that even if my son were to die I would also see him again some day. As I took communion that day, it had a whole different feeling for me.
Doing Common Things in Uncommon Ways
Ah, vacation, a time to wander and ponder. My family and I are in Chicago for a few days and are enjoying the areas museums and attractions. Yesterday, we spent 5-6 wandering around the Field Museum of Chicago. What a place. What really caught my attention was an exhibit about George Washington Carver. A former slave who over came a variety of barriers to make a great impact in the world in the areas of science and humanity in general. In the museum store was a t-shirt which either a quote or summary of Carver’s beliefs. The shirt read “When you do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” A simple thought, but quite profound.
As Christ followers, this is the attitude we need to have. We should be doing the common things in life, loving, serving, respecting, etc in such uncommon ways that the world pays attention. This attention should not be about you and me, rather we should then direct it to the glorify God. This line of thought brings me back to a discussion I was a part of a few weeks back with a young man who is part of a group of offenders I (and 5 others) are working with at a state prison. The assignment was given to study a passage about the branch and vine and barring fruit. He made the statement the even non-Christians do good things. The point that was made to help understand this was where is the attention that is gain directed, at ones self or back to the Creator? Then there is the idea of “uncommon” way.
In his book The Faith, Chuck Colson was talking about this very things. He gave two example of doing common things in uncommon ways (and the world did notice). He first described and incident that happened in an Amish community in which a number of school age girls were killed by a troubled man. This community not only forgave but reached out the killers family to support them as well. A common thing done in an uncommon way. The second example were a group of Christians who cared for plague victims in ancient times. Giving of themselves to serve others. Colson concludes the chapter with these stories in this way:
What common things do you do, that you can do in uncommon ways to bring glory to God?
New Direction
I am looking forward to next week. My family and I are going to be spending a few days in Chicago and then I get to go on a three day personal retreat at a place called Pacem In Terris which is a place where one can get away and spend time with God.
I look forward to how I will encounter God. Of late I have been excited and very much wrapped up in a lot of what at first seemed to be random thoughts, ideas, verses, and quotes that have filled by white board at work. Things are getting a little clearer and I hope spending 3 days alone with God will bring more clarity to the matter. The best way I can describe it now is how can we best respond to God’s will, being His hands and feet on earth to accomplish it.