Stolen Echoes

In an empty house he calls out and waits. The only response that comes is the echo of his own voice off the vaulted ceilings and the corners where the egg-and-dart moldings come together. The louder the sound of the echo, the more he is reminded of how alone he is. Some welcome the quiet as a time to recharge, a time to dive into that book, a time to worry about the finances without interruption. The din of activity and every day can addle the mind and disrupt concentration. It can steal one's peace and smile. Yet for many, the balance board can get tipped too far the other way. The silence, broken only by the reflection of one's own utterances, can lead to despair. Hello? Can anybody hear me? Hello? ...

It's funny, but all it seems to take to drive those echoes from our walls and from our minds is the presence of another. Their company, their conversation, their attention, free our lives from the darkness of loss and emptiness. Their laughter and presence, even their stillness and quietude can fill us with contentment and peace. Hello? becomes hello and the echoes are stolen away before they ever get a chance to get back to us.

Sun Stand Still

Sun Stand Still is the first book by pastor Steven Furtick, and it is subtitled "What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible". Actually, I decided to read this book based on the recommendation of my friend Rob. In the back of my mind though, I was thinking that this book sounded like another cookie-cutter, self-help Christian book by another wanna-be celebrity pastor. Yet by the time I was done reading, I felt a part of my spirit that was once dormant, somehow rekindled. I felt real passion and understanding coursing through me. All of this caught me by surprise given how I initially approached this book.

I have read several books lately whose message is that we should pray to God as if he were a divine genie. "Ask and ye shall receive". If ye aren't receiving, ye aren't praying the right way. This book too is about praying bold, high-stakes, audacious prayers. Finding that Godly spouse, healing for that sick child, making a difference at your job, impacting the world. Praying for the miraculous, the seemingly improbable or impossible, and expecting that God will come through. Furtick refers to these as "sun stand still" prayers. This concept comes from the Old Testament book of Joshua, where Joshua and his army are chasing down the remmants of a scattering enemy as the sun is getting ready to set. If the sun goes down, the enemy will get away and be able to regroup. Joshua prayed to God that the sun would not set so that he could finish the job of destroying the enemy of God's people. This is exactly what God did.

However, as you can imagine, there is more to understand than simply praying big and sitting back and waiting for God to deliver. In James 2:17, the brother of Jesus writes "Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead". In other words, there is more to this than simply having the faith to pray for miracles. Once the prayer escapes our lips, we don't just leave it to God. If He does He does, if He doesn't, oh well. We need to pray and then jump into action to do our part. We need to pray and then do all that we can to prepare. Don't just stand in hope, walk in action.

Furtick also makes it clear that just because we pray and do everything in our power to get ready for God to act, things won't necessarily work out as we might wish. We must understand and embrace the fact that God sometimes lets the sun go down so that he can be our only light. It can also be that even if we are praying and acting according to his will, his timing may be totally incompatible with ours. Sometimes, though, God's greatest gifts to us are unanswered prayers.

Day's End

Another day has come and gone, marked by the setting sun in the western sky. Hues in pink and blue and orange bid the world adieu. Perhaps you are unwinding from a long day at work, looking forward to vegging out on the couch in front of the tube. Some may have had a satisfying day off, puttering about on errands or doing a bit of house cleaning or yardwork. Others have been dealing with hardships or personal issues and have been weathering the storm. Yet no matter what you have done with your time during the day, can you look yourself in the mirror and know for sure that you have accomplished anything of value? I am not talking about moving a stack of papers from one pile to another at the office, or dropping off some letters at the post office, or raking up the fallen leaves from your yard. I mean, have you made a difference in the life of someone else? Ahhh, this is where the true value of our effort lies.

This, for me, tends to be a most challenging and convicting question at times. Most days I seem too easily to make it all about me. Did I check off each of the items on my to-do list? Did I get all of the necessary household chores completed? Me me me. I I I. What about really making a difference in the life of someone else? What about giving someone your time and attention to brighten their day? What about encouraging someone you know who needs it? What about letting someone out in front of you in traffic? You can make a difference in the lives of those around you without even breaking a sweat. Yet I have found that sometimes the little things can make a big difference. I challenge you to make the first item on your daily to-do list to impact someone's life in a positive way. Don't let the sun go down without taking care of this one.

Foundations

The great thinker Costanza once referred to the big toe as the "captain of the toes". If it should fall, then the rest of the platoon will most surely follow. Now you may think that a now 20-year-old Seinfeld reference is a strange way to start off a post that discusses a serious notion. However, I think George was onto something important that I want to dive into a bit. It is all about the importance of a firm foundation, solid brick and mortar. If a structure is built on soft earth or shifting sand, it is sure to come crashing down. If it is constructed with poor workmanship, it will not remain. If cracks and fissures are not attended to as soon as they appear, they will ultimately develop into weaknesses upon which the collapse will be centered.

To align my illustration with the great Costanza, I want to focus on the feet, and in particular, on the captain of the toes. Recently I developed an in-grown toenail on my captain. I tried to ignore it for a while, but this soon led to hobbling and limping and gimping about. Soon I developed pain in my knees and my back. This lead to fatigue and irritability and headaches. One small problem in one toe, left unattended, led to my entire body feeling pain and a noticeably surly demeanor.

The toes and the feet provide the body with a firm foundation, but they must be cared for and attention must be paid to ensure that any problems that spring up are dealt with in a timely manner. It may even be that some short term pain is required to ensure longer-term health and vitality, such as my having to go see a podiatrist with had to stick me with multiple needles and snip at my foot with a pair of shears to bring me back to right. Of course, this post isn't really all about my toe problem, but hopefully you get the point.

Entropy

Thermodynamics is a branch of physical science associated with relationships between heat and mechanical energy. An important quantity in this field is referred to as entropy. In simple terms, entropy is a measure of disorder of a system. A basic tenet of thermodynamics states that the entropy of the universe is increasing, and further, the entropy of a closed or bounded system can never decrease. In a closed system, any reversible process results in no net change in entropy. However, most processes are not reversible. Once you drop an egg on the tile floor and it splatters everywhere, up goes the entropy of the system and the universe. You can't undrop the egg. The damage is done. The process is irreversible.

My example of an irreversible process serves to illustrate the notion well enough, and I am sure that with a moment's thought you could add a few of your own. However, I wanted to share the real impetus behind this post. I was driving my daughter to one of her activities in an area that was new to me. I tend to get a bit anxious and nervous in these situations, and to make things a bit more flammable, we were running a bit late, and I was faced with lots of traffic, poorly labeled roads, and construction detours. I was lost and confused. When she tried to encourage me, my response was to snap at her.

Another example of an irreversible process is the act of raising our voices in anger or frustration at our children. Once the words escape past our lips, they too impact in irreversible ways. From a smile wiped away, to a slumping of the shoulders, to tears streaming down little cheeks. Where there was once playful warbling, only cold, hard silence remains. Our outbursts surely cause the entropy of the universe to increase. Try as we might to heal the wounded spirits of our children, we can't put the egg back into the shell.

Strange Currencies

Stories are passed from person to person. An ounce of sanity is sought. It doesn't make sense, nothing makes sense. Is this a reflection of them or a reflection of us? Hard to swallow this bitter root.

A lady had a good job for the first time in her life. She was able to finally pay her bills and gain a measure of self-respect. Finally, she was able to dump that old rust bucket at the junkyard and have something that ran reliably. Memos from the top down warned of a new drug testing policy. Random, regular urine tests of everyone. The next week her desk was cleared out. Every knick-knack and photo. An acquaintance who talked to her told us that she quit because she liked smoking pot too much to give it up.

A bright man, husband to a caring wife, father to two loving children, has been seriously overweight since high school. He claims he has a low metabolism, but his weakness is betrayed by the trash can full of vending machine wrappers. On top of this he is a heavy smoker. When asked about his health and his weight he teared up and said it was too much of a hassle to try to change. He is already suffering from high blood pressure, has a weak heart, and lives with severe joint problems in his knees.

A man has been married for over 20 years. Nothing about him or his wife is particular noteworthy. Average Joe and average Jane. If they hadn't found each other, they would both likely still be single. Somehow they just seem to complement each other. I would guess that neither of them would fare particularly well on their own. Yet whenever he heads out to the local dive bar, he hooks up with an old friend. He claims that it's just sex.

A word, a nod, a little breath. These snapshots of life haunt me, hunt me down, catch in my throat, make me pray, ..., strange currencies.

Field of Dreams

My daughter has been part of a local sports team for several years now. She chose lacrosse, which I find interesting because I have never played it nor did I encourage her to pursue it. Furthermore, this sport doesn't have any sort of broad following or wide-spread exposure on television. Anyway, I suspect the lacrosse seed was planted in her based on the encouragement of a friend.

From my standpoint, what all of this means for me is that once during the week I take her to practice that lasts for 90 minutes and on Saturday I take her to a game or tournament that can last for 2 or 3 hours. Being around other parents who have children involved in similar activities, I tend to hear a lot of negative comments. Mostly these complaints involve having to ferry their child around town and kill time while their kids are off doing their thing. They find the whole responsibility boring and time consuming because they would rather be doing something that interests them. They do it only because that's what parents are supposed to do. For me, however, I have always liked taking my daughter to her activities. Of course we lose out on a bit of together time, but there are definitely several positives for me in taking part. These include:

• Watching my daughter enjoying her interaction with others her age.
  
• The pride of watching her succeed.
  
• Watching her complete and develop self-confidence.
  
• Listening to the sounds of happy children.
  
• Enjoying the outdoors.
  

Usually I take along a few snacks and my book, and find a seat in the shade or out on the grass along the sidelines. I then alternate between watching my daughter play and reading. Sometimes I feel like I am immersed in a positive energy field and my spirit is inexplicably uplifted. Even though I am not directly involved in the game or the practice, the experience just energizes me and brings me a little peace in my field of dreams. I have never looked at this as something that I have to do, rather it is something that I get to do.