I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

My first year of high school track, I entered a race I didn’t finish.

It as the 2 mile, which meant 8 laps around the track.

Exhausted after 6 laps, I skirted off the track and ran into the storage garage, where I flopped onto the high jump pad. Gasping for breath, I eventually regained my composure, tried to dream up some lame excuse, and unsuccessfully evaded the coach’s wrath. This was not my finest hour.

Quitting makes us embarrassed, ashamed, and sad.

I was disappointed in myself and literally felt worth less.

Years later when I went on to actually finish races, I won a few and did well in others.

Persistence, though harder than quitting, leads to accomplishment and builds a sense of self-worth.

Not wonder I felt proud, satisfied, and like I had been true to myself and my calling.

This Sunday we will hear Jesus tell an iconic story of perseverance - about a man who won’t quit knocking until his request is fulfilled. Jesus commends this, and we think we know why - because we feel happier and more fulfilled when we take the harder, but more rewarding road of perseverance.

What are we currently facing that’s demanding persistence?

What project or relationship?

Let us remember that our perseverance will make us proud - for our hardest times often lead to our greatest moments - so let us not avoid failing as much as quitting.

Dear American Vacationer -

Congratulations are in order for our great nation - on our recent accomplishments regarding our time off: we American workers are simultaneously at the bottom of the Global list for vacation time offered - and we’re at the top of the list for workers who throw those vacation days away.

Yes, the majority of Americans end the year with unused vacation time. And even when we go on vacation, a large percentage of us work while we’re gone.

We would think that this would solve our problem - that 40% of us feel overworked. Half of us feel like we have too much work to finish in a typical week. Two-thirds of us report not having enough time with our spouse, and three-quarters of us report not having enough time with our children.

We can thank grinding corporate policies and a fearful workforce that play no small role in keeping us ‘on’ even when we’re supposed to be ‘off.'

And so this summer, I won’t ask us to disconnect on vacation - rather I’ll ask us why you don’t.

Is it the fear someone will take our job?

Are we perfectionists whose self-images are too wrapped up in our work?

Is our ‘busyness’ a societal badge of courage, or a way to hide our vulnerabilities - because to "slow down" means we’ll have time to face who we really are?

This Sunday Mary will sit at her house guest, Jesus’ feet, and Martha will be distracted by many tasks.

Jesus will chide Martha and commend Mary.

We know vacations are good for us - what keeps them from being better?

The Gift of Inconvenience

What a dark and gray day it was when my friend and his wife learned she had breast cancer.

My friends have been married for years, have three children, and have always been healthy. So when the diagnosis came, they were blindsided, and simply stunned at what may await them. Sure enough, there was fear, inconvenience, discomfort, as the journey unfolded.

But thankfully, a combination of good doctors, good medicine, a good support system, and a lot of prayer came together to bring healing.

This year my friends celebrated 6 years being cancer-free. And they used this anniversary to conclude that the strength and joy they now have in their marriage would simply not be there had they not faced down cancer.

While no one should ever pray for the kind of suffering my friends went through, we should pray for the grace to see in trials, the blessings that may result.

This Sunday, we will hear the familiar story of the Good Samaritan, and be reminded of the charity and love of its main character.

The Samaritan did not have to stop and go out of his way to tend to the needs of a complete stranger. It was inconvenient, unsafe, and unpopular.

However, when he did, not only was there satisfaction to experience, but he also went down in history as an icon of kindness and compassion.

Sure, given the choice, we’ll all choose the comfy road.

But when we have no choice, taking the difficult road rarely goes without reward.

True Freedom

I remember the freedom of owning my first car.

No more borrowing from my parents, sharing a car with siblings, using it only when it fit into their schedules. (see facsimile below)

No, now I was free to come and go as I please! I could go anytime, anywhere. At last, true freedom!

That was before I fully understood that I also had a car payment, an insurance payment, gas and repair costs, and the creeping anxiety of knowing that I was now solely responsible for taking care of this car upon which something could break anytime, anywhere. In my search for freedom, I had also found bondage.

While there is truth to the notion that the more we have the more freedom we will experience, that's not the whole truth. That term, financial freedom is a half truth, and in some ways a lie.

On this holiday weekend upon which we celebrate the blessings of freedom, Christians acknowledge that true freedom is not earthly, but divine. It doesn't come through things, but through God.

In Sunday's a gospel Jesus will send his followers out to spread the divine news of freedom. And he will do so by sending his disciples, not by chartered chariot, or by well-equipped caravan, but on foot, with a bare minimum of supplies.

And you and I will contemplate the ways we are sent out by God, and the ways we are to emulate their example by traveling light.

This is about the things we carry, and not necessarily tangible goods. Jesus bids us to travel light by casting upon him our anxieties, our worries, our unforgiveness, our pain - everything that binds us and keep us from being free.

If we are to preach a gospel of freedom, how are we free? And how are we in the process of being free? What are the things binding us?

The more we discover God, the more we discover freedom.

Chris Yaw

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