An Update

2-19-10
Language and Coaches

Well, if you missed More than more last night, you missed a great time! We enjoyed relaxing for a while and chilling out for a few minutes (not that being cool enough is any issue at all right now in Lafayette!) to begin. It is always nice to see new people and people we have shared some of life with when you have not seen them in a while. That seems to be how it is when we first get together each time. To me, it is walsy amazing how folks who are new to the group are brought right in and embraced with the love of the group – it doesn’t seem to matter much at all what they look like, what they drive, what their economic situation is, etc – they are welcomed all the same! Truth is, this group loves people – it’s not creepy, just warm and comfortable – like going to grandma’s house (if your grandma was nice).

After some time to settle in, we spent a little time noticing how cool life and God are. You see, we spend almost all of the hours of all of our days focusing on what we need to do, what we need to become, what we need to achieve, how we are going to survive, get this bill paid, get this deadline satisfied, etc. But, if I asked most of the people I know what really matters to them, the most important things in their lives, they would say things like family, friends, good times, relationships, etc. So, we believe these things re important, but most of our lives we live for other things – spending very little time focusing on what is really amazing about life.
On this night, we brought our focus onto language. I know, how silly – to me this conjures images of my grade school sentence diagrams and subjects and predicates and all. But, language is really amazing and so is our wonderful ability to understand it!
I wrote a word on the board – “HELLO” – so, when you just read it simply, it just says, “hello.” But imagine if you have been separated from the one you love for 3 years and all of a sudden you hear their voice, behind you, in the airport, “Hello!” It takes on an entirely different meaning! What if it is spoken by the one who you love so much, on Valentine’s day, and the kids are with the sitter and the word is, “Hellllo, How you doin?” Well, we won’t go any further with that one, but you get the idea – the word means so much depending on the way it is said, who is saying it, the context it is said in, etc. Not only that, but we have not take into account the facial expression and body language involved. If the face is frowning and the eyes drift the watch, glaringly – you know you are in trouble – I guess you get what I mean. Now, understand that this is one of the hardest of our times together to adequately describe in writing, but how amazing are we that we can deliver such amazing information with language and that we can understand and “hear” it so wonderfully. How awesome are we made that this is just part of being human?
So, over the next couple weeks, until we get together again, begin looking for chances to notice the wonder of language. When someone says something to you – try to really notice all that it means – take a second sometimes to thank the God who made you so marvelously for making you that way – invite Him into the moment and enjoy something deeper than just getting by in the next thing you need to do. You might begin to see life differently!
We next took time to notice each other – talking to God about each other quietly – confidentially when requested. It was good to notice each other – how amazing the people in the room are and how many hurts they have in their lives. It is easy to slide right past people all the time and forget that they are wonderfully made and also that they have so much junk and pain in their lives – that it might just change the way we thought about them, us and life, if we would begin to notice and invite God into their life and into ours in those moments.
Last we had a couple small stories. The first was about sports – Sports figures in our time have become bigger than life and more than one of my friends has left behind a “sports-widow” as he must watch his ESPN every night, etc. Kids grow up wanting to be Lebron James or Peyton Manning (no offense intended Colts fans – he is a good guy I think too). But many times, we, especially guys, escape our world, real life, the joys and wonders of life into our sports. Well, this last week I was doing some ESPN escaping when George Carl (the recent coach of the NBA all-stars) came on. There he was, his head as big as the TV as the cameras closed in on him like hungry lions chasing an antelope, saying, “No, I have not come to grips with it. The first things I think every day when I wake up is ‘Oh Crap, I have cancer.” And there, this most successful of coaches began to choke up, right on camera, and I got a dose of reality. Basketball was not important, sports heroes are just guys, like me – and what is important to them? LIFE. I was humbled.
A couple days prior to the George Carl episode, Nate and I were walking across the parking lot at Faith Community Center, on our way into his last basketball game. It was cold, imagine, in February, in Indiana! As we stepped, he looked down at the ground and saw a thin layer of ice across the blacktop. He stepped on it, trying to break it – but, even though it was quite thin, it did not break – it was applied directly to the pavement. “That ice is really thin, dad,” he said. “Yup,” my less than profound reply, and then, “Won’t break, will it?” “Nope” “What would happen if you took that thin layer of ice and raised it off the ground and into the air and then tried to break it?” “Well, it would break really easy.”
“Yes,” I said, “This is what is like to be a person. We find ourselves a lot to be very thin and breakable. We just are not strong enough to handle all that life gives us. But, if we apply ourselves to God, something strong enough to handle life, we find that even though we are thin and frail, we do not break.”
So, if you would join the 2 stories with me. Life will show you how thin and weak and frail and temporary you are, I see it every day in my office. It will be bigger than you can handle – I guarantee it! Those who think not will be wrong – I watch them melt in front of me with the words, “It’s cancer. You have 6months to live, so sorry.” Or “The baby died. I have no words to describe how sorry I am that this has happened.” Or “I am leaving you – I don’t love you anymore.” And on and on the list goes – you will break – and the things that seemed important will not seem so important anymore – just ask George Karl how important basketball is now. But you are not just a thin piece of ice, broken over the air. You must begin to set yourself against the amazing God who made language and life – who made you – and loves you tons – who says that are amazing and worth more than any price anyone could ever pay! You do this by inviting Him into the moments of your life and starting to live your life trying to grow closer to Him. At More than more – we can help you! And, as your ice is applied more and more to the wonderful One who made it – against the powerful blacktop of God – you will find that you will not break. I am not saying that all life will be kicks and giggles – the cancers still come, the heartbreak still happens – but the ice that is applied to the God of all the universe – it will not break. In fact, when you begin to be applied to God, you will find more joy and more wonder and more power and more fulfillment out of life than you had ever dreamed.

If it sounds good, join us next time – we will be at McAllister Center, 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette, 6:45-8:00PM, on March 4th. Of course, there will be free, excellent, child care for those of you with kids. Hope to see you there!

Finally, don’t forget the dates for our community outreach this year:

April 2nd Friday
July 27th Tuesday
October 28th Thursday

We will be giving out shoes, providing free medical care and free medicines - to those in need in our very own community. If you are intrigued by noticing, give it a try in your town!
The earliest we can know if you will be joining us, the better. We will have hundreds of people to help and will need all the help we can get. Consider talking to God about this now and asking off early. Let us know when you do and we will plan on having you – we already have several who have volunteered to take days off to share in giving with us!