Out of my comfort zone...

It's entirely possible that God wants us to spend a lot of our time out of our comfort zones. It seems that the times I feel the greatest satisfaction are those when I have really stretched myself and done something that makes me feel really insecure and uncomfortable.

A couple nights ago I was leaving the church, and as usual I was the last one out, just before dark. I stopped in the parking lot and got out of the car to check something and as I was returning to my car a man walked up to me from behind. The combination of the surprise and his hurry spooked me a little.

He held up a $20 bill- "I need a ride just down the road and I will give you $20 to take me there."

• First thought- what kind of scam is this?
• Second thought- this guy looks like he needs the money a lot more than I do.
• A distant third thought- he needs more than a ride.

I told him to get in, that I would take him where he needed to go and to put his money away. He had a hard time understanding that I was willing to help him and not take his money.

As we rode we talked. He mentioned that he had been to our Singing Christmas Tree. He mentioned that he had grown up in church as a minister's son. He mentioned that he had disappointed a lot of people. He mentioned that he wished that he could get away from the drugs and alcohol that were dominating his life, but it seemed an impossibly large task. He mentioned that he wished he could be good enough for God to love him again, but he was afraid that hope was long gone.

OK God- the hard nudge isn't necessary; even I can field this one. And I'm really glad I was paying attention to Ken on Sunday.

We talked about how God loves us, regardless and unconditionally. We talked about how all of us disappoint God and other people all the time- just some more than others. We talked about how he doesn't have to turn his life around overnight, he just has to make the one next decision in a way that will please God; and the one after that; and the one after that. We talked about how you eat an elephant- one bite at a time. We talked about how drugs and alcohol are reactions to one of two things- filling that emptiness we all have that only God can properly fill, or trying to escape a memory or a hurt that only God can properly heal. We talked about a lot of things out of my comfort zone, and out of his for that matter. Finally, we prayed.

Is his life better today than it was then? I don't know. I may never know this side of glory. But, that isn't my assignment. My assignment is to speak God's truth and let Him worry about the outcomes. No matter how uncomfortable I am.

Healing Place...Part 2

When a person is losing blood, it is pretty obvious- it is messy, and to the untrained eye, horrifying and distracting. Even obviously contrived Hollywood blood is distressing. In many injuries the thing that kills is not the injury itself but the resulting blood loss. One of the first things done in the ER is to start to restore blood volume with saline, plasma or even whole blood.

What are we losing in emotional trauma? Joy, contentment, self-confidence, sleep,concentration, and more. How do we restore these things? Check out Galatians 5:22-23. These "fruits of the spirit" are just exactly what are needed.

When in pain we are internally focused. Our healing goal is to redirect focus from "me" and "my pain" to "Him" and "His presence in my life." Of course, as naturally selfish and self-centered, our tendency is inward and not outward- but outward and toward Christ is the only place we will ever find true joy and true contentment. After all, the pain and loss we are dealing with is usually caused by the loss or betrayal of something human or worldly.

Healing Place...

Even though it's not in my primary job description, I have found myself doing a lot of counseling lately. People might be amazed at the depths in which some people find themselves. Sometimes the situation is the consequence of their own poor choices; sometimes they are the result of someone else's poor choices; regardless, they are desperately hurting.

I started thinking about what we sometimes do in our church office to what goes on in an emergency room. Let's think about it. The patient has been stabbed — deeply. The knife is there, buried in the wound. He is in terrible pain, blood is everywhere, and a life is in danger. Sometimes he is screaming and writhing in agony; sometimes he is motionless, paralyzed with the injury. What do you do?

I am going to spend a few posts exploring this metaphor a little and comparing how much alike a knife into the body and a blow into the soul are alike.

In traumatic injury, the very first thing to do is to control the bleeding and shock. There will be a lot of things that have to be done in the future, but the absolute first thing is to stop the loss of blood, restore blood volume, and deal with shock.

What is the analog of physical blood loss and shock is the emotional trauma? Stay tuned — you didn't think I was going to waste a multi-entry idea on a single post, did you?