You Can Do Anything for 5 Minutes!

            It is amazing where your mind wanders and the connections it makes between things that should be totally unrelated.  I think it was my friend Lee that said one time,  “You can do anything for five minutes.”  It is strange that this phrase would stick in my mind at all.  It is even stranger that as I read Philippians 4 today my mind would connect this phrase with verse 1.

            Philippians is an amazing book about having a Christ centered mindset.  Throughout this letter to the Christians in Philippi, Paul, the author and apostle, shares much with his readers about how a Christ centered mindset has affected his life as he faces torture, prison, and his possible death. 

            As the letter winds down in chapter 4, Paul challenges his readers to “stand firm thus in the Lord.”  Paul knows that it will not be easy to be a Christian in the world.  Often the values presented in the Bible will not match up to those of culture.  This will cause at minimum exclusion from parts of society but possibly even torture and death. To live for Christ will not be easy and those who claim to be Christians will have to strive hard to stand firm in what they believe.

            How then can these people, and us today, hope to stand day after day and year after year?  The answer lies in the verses at the end of chapter 3. (Remember the original biblical texts did not have chapter breaks.) Paul uses the word, therefore, at the beginning of verse 1 to tie it back to these previous verses.  In these verses, he celebrates that the Christian’s true home is in heaven, where one day we will live with Christ in glorified bodies.  Thus, the Philippians can stand firm in this life because they know it does not last forever and they have an eternity of joy and pleasure in heaven to look forward to. 

I have heard the analogy before of standing on a beach.  As you look one direction, the beach stretches as far as you can see.  As you turn the other direction, the beach stretches as far as you can see.  You then bend down and pick up one tiny grain of the sand.  The size of this grain seems insignificant compared to the sand on the beach.  In the same way, our life is a breath compared to eternity.  No matter how tough life is, it is barely anything compared to the bliss of heaven.

So how does Lee’s phrase come into this?  At the beginning of the summer, I began to run regularly and for distance.  Anyone who runs for distance knows that it is grueling and the farther you go the worse it gets.  As you get close to the end of your run, the pain gets to be almost unbearable.  On a very difficult run, you almost get to a point where you want to just lie down on the road and let a car hit you and end it all.  (These are the times that try men’s souls.)  One trick I use to push through this wall is to look at how much time I have left to run and repeat Lee’s phrase;  “I only have ten minutes left. I can do anything for ten minutes.”  Then, “I only have five minutes left.  I can do anything for five minutes.”  The pain might be intense but relief is only five minutes away.

Paul is saying the same thing to his readers and to us.  Life is short compared with the glory of eternity.  Stand firm in your faith.  When you do not fit in and others oppose you, it will be grueling and may even be literally painful. However, you can do it. You do not have much further to go.  Relief is coming soon and will last much longer, making the pain seem insignificant.  Keep standing up for Christ. You can do anything for five minutes.

Wandering in the Woods (Part 2)

            Last week, I started discussing how life is like hiking on a trail through the woods.  In the woods, we must trust the one who created the trail to guide us to our destination and, in life, we must trust the God who created us to guide us through the journey of serving him to eternal life.  And while I planned to write some more about this topic, I did not know God would give me some fresh insight from a crazy life experience.

            After writing last weeks post, I headed to a local park to do some trail running.  I selected a trail, cranked up some music in my headphones, and headed into the woods.  The trail was a bit rocky and had a slight grade but was easy to follow with the bright green blazes (painted markings) on the trees.  At least it was easy to follow until I reached a point with no more blazes.  However, being the experienced woodsman that I thought I was, I continued to run thinking I could just follow the warn path on the ground.  I did not take into consideration that there would be a dozen other trails crisscrossing and winding through the park.  After running for a few more minutes, it became obvious that I was not making any progress and, as I frantically switched from trail to trail searching for the one that would lead to freedom, I just got myself more lost.  Eventually, I had to admit that I had no clue where I was or what direction would lead me back to my car. So, like any experienced woodsman, I did not panic but pulled out my smart phone.  Thankfully, by using Google maps and a compass app, I was able to navigate safely back to the car.

             While I hope you have not had an experience like this, many of us have had times in life where we feel completely lost.  The trail of life is not always easy to follow and there are always many different paths we can take and many different people telling us to go different directions.  Like the smartphone in my story, we often need a map to guide us and a compass to point us in the right direction.  Thankfully, God has given us these tools for life.

            God’s map for us is the Bible.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that the Bible is the words of God written to us.  The Bible is useful for everything we encounter in life especially if we desire to use our life to serve God.  And like a trail map, it keeps us on the right path. (Psalm 119:9)

            A map, however, is useless unless we have something to point us in the right direction.  This compass for life is the Holy Spirit.  While the Holy Spirit is often ignored, he is a part of the Godhead, (Matthew 28:19) lives inside every believer, (Ephesians 1:13) and is our guide through life. (John 16:13) We need to be utilizing this power by seeking his presence and his aid in prayer as we study the Bible and as we encounter decisions in life.

When we read the map of the Bible using the compass of the Holy Spirit, we can begin to see and better understand the plan of God and how we can be a part of it. (1 Corinthians 2:10)  We do not have to wonder through the woods of life lost and unaided.  Instead we need to be using these tools everyday by spending intentional time in prayer and Bible study seeking real life transformation.  Life is complex and difficult but God has given us direction and all we have to do is use it.

Wandering in the Woods

           It has been a long time since I have written for this blog. (Over a year) In that time I have seen God work through two amazing summers, and a crazy school year of teaching science, pastoring at Hopewell Grace Brethren Church, and finishing my Masters degree in theology.  In just the past four months, my life has changed drastically as I was called to be an Associate Pastor at Liberty Grace Brethren Church in Johnstown, PA. This meant that I had to resign from my teaching job; leaving the security that job provided; transition from my part time position at Hopewell, and move from the home in which I had lived my entire life to a place where I only knew a few people.  I could never have predicted I would be here five years ago or even one year ago.  I have no clue what God will do next.

            This whole situation reminds me of an experience from my college years.  I was sitting in the woods on top of one of our picturesque PA mountains spending some time studying the Bible and praying. (It is amazing to sit in the beauty and solitude of God’s creation and meditate on Him.) As I breathed the crisp, fresh air and looked at the beauty of the trees, plants, and annoyingly loud squirrels around me, I noticed the path that I had followed to get to my resting place.  I could see the warn track on the ground and an orange blaze (painted marking) on a tree that identified where to hike but I could only see a few feet of the trail.  Beyond that the trail went on but exactly what direction it went was impossible to tell until you walked that small portion of the trail and then could see the next small portion. This is how a well marked trail works.  The blazes are placed so that when you stand by one you can see the next one and only the next one so that you do not get confused.  It is impossible to see the entire trail while you are hiking it and, if it is a trail you have not hiked before, you must trust the person that made that trail that it is leading to where you want to go.

            As I pondered the intricacies of hiking trail design, God gave me some insight into the journey of life.  Life is often like a trail we are hiking for the first time.  We cannot see all the places the trail is going to go.  We cannot know every twist and turn.  We do not know what sights we will see on the journey.  All we know is the little chunk of the trail immediately in front of us. We must simply trust the one who created the trail.  Thankfully, the Bible tells us that the one who blazes our path is the almighty God of the universe (Proverbs 20:24) and for those of us who have put our trust in Christ as savior our trail ultimately leads to eternal life in heaven. (John 10:28) It will take many ups, downs, twists and turns to get there but God is good and faithful to use us on the journey and bring us safely home to him.

            The best part is that God does not leave us alone on the trail.  He gives us a map and a trail guide to keep us from slipping off into the wilderness.  So, tune in next time (hopefully it won’t be another year) when we examine those aspects. Until then, trust God and follow Christ on the trail to eternal life.