Wednesday, July 28, 2021

That Room (August 1, 2021)

Do you have one of those rooms in your house?

You know.  


That room.


The one that you would rather not include on a house tour.  The one that you’d maybe just like to forget about all together.  


Ok.  Maybe it isn’t a whole entire room (or maybe it’s a few rooms), but it might be a closet or something considered as “storage space”…an attic, a basement, a side of your garage.  


Do you have a place in your house that is messy, dirty, cluttered, and otherwise fairly embarrassing?  A place that you just kind of throw things that have no other home?  A place that you would rather not look at yourself, let alone show others?


If you’re like me, the answer to that type of question is “Yes.  Yes, I do.  In fact there are a few places like that.”


You may have the best intentions to be neat.  You may have plans to organize and re-arrange, but still there are some places that just don’t get the attention that they need, some rooms that are a mess and have stayed that way for a number of years.  I have these spaces in our house.  Trust me.  I’m working on it.


One such room is what we refer to as the utility room.  It’s not huge.  Large enough to hold the furnace, hot water tank, a stackable washer/dryer, and some “storage” space that is underneath the steps.  Maybe it should be called a large utility closet.  I don’t know.  Regardless, it’s kind of an awkward space.  There’s barely enough room to walk between the hot water tank & the furnace.  Plus, once you are through that narrow gap, you are under the steps.  Obviously that is a space that is challenging.  Funny angles, tight quarters.  In addition to all of this, the room is not really “finished.”  There is no real ceiling and there are pipes, gas lines, and wires traveling throughout.  For an added bonus, house spiders seem to like it as there are plenty of places for them to sling their webs.  Oh yeah, it also holds the distinct advantage of being a little extra dirty than the rest of the house.  Anything you put in there is bound to eventually be covered in dirt and dust.  The stairs have little seams/gaps between the treads and risers.  Dirt seems to be consistently showering through those seams.  Sounds pretty great, right?  I think so too.  


All in all, this is not a place that I enjoy visiting.  Typically, I use the front part of the room, where the laundry is located, and I leave the rest of the space relatively untouched.  Items that are in that space are generally the type that I will not need consistently (most are likely not needed at all).  Spiders can do their thing.  The dirt can fall.  The stuff can sit there all messy.  I’m content to go in, help with the laundry, and go out, shutting the door behind me.  Forgetting all about it.  Not worrying about that space in the least.  Hoping not to return for a long, long time.  The room has managed to stay in the background, largely ignored, largely avoided.


The other day that all changed.  


Silas and I were on vacation traveling to Ohio & Michigan leaving Christa to have some nice time alone in the house.  The problem?  She wasn’t alone.  One of my declared enemies (at least inside my home) had breached the blockades.  Mice entered.  They struck while I was away.  They began to invade and try to take over our living space while we were gone.  The nerve.  We had to call in whatever reinforcements we could.  Christa’s dad entered the picture, but then he had to leave.  Her mom heard the battle cry and came in to fight.  Her sister was enlisted.  All hands were on deck.  Anyone who was home and available was drafted into the Great Mouse War of 2021. 


As if it weren’t miserable enough to have mice in the house and to have the family involved in the fight while I was out of town, but to add a little salt to the wound, guess where they decided to set up their base camp?  Guess where they chose to center their operations?


That’s right.  The utility room.  That space that I would rather people never see.  Ever.  The mice chose the utility room as the perfect spot to attack.  The darkness was ideal for their cover.  There were plenty of little hiding places.  Cardboard and other materials were around for the building of their barracks.  Yes, the utility room was the perfect spot for the mice to set up shop.  So, they did.


As the days passed, the battle raged.  The mice started to make themselves comfortable in other rooms.  The bathroom.  The living room.  The TV room.  Scurrying out from the utility room, the mice were trying to take over the entire house.  The family put up a good fight, but with only a small degree of success.  The mice were just too engrained into the utility room, too comfortable in their base.  Something needed done.  The utility room needed addressed.


Fortunately, my brother-in-law returned home from the same festival that Silas and I had been attending (we stayed out-of-town longer to see family).  He was willing to face the utility room head on.


Trust me.  He was not happy.


“WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SPIDER WEBS!?!?!   THIS PLACE IS RIDICULOUS!!!!!!  NO WONDER MICE LIKE IT IN HERE!!!!!!”


He wasn’t wrong.


I was just hoping that nobody would ever see or experience that mess besides me.  


I was hoping that I could keep that little room a secret.  Hidden away.  Nobody ever needed to know what was going on in that space.


Eventually, it didn’t work.


It never does.


For my good, for the benefit of my house, for the benefit of our family, my brother-in-law and my nephew braved the utility room to battle the mice.  Though they didn’t get them all, they did succeed in removing their bases and taking care of some.  I’m thankful for that.


We all have places like that, don’t we?  Places that we try to hide.  Places that we ignore.  Places that we hope that nobody will ever see.  Ever. 


I’m not just talking about utility rooms either.  I’m talking about places within our minds, places within our hearts, places within our spirits.  We have had times when we have been hurt, times when we have been disappointed.  We have had times when we have fallen short, where we have engaged in behaviors that we are not proud of doing.  We have had times when we we’ve entertained thoughts that are not helpful or holy, where we’ve desired or yearned for things that we were never meant to have.  We have places that are dark, that are dirty, that are dusty, and what have we done?  We’ve shoved them under the steps in the utility room.  We’ve hidden them away, allowing the spiders to build their webs, the dirt and the dust to settle, the mildew to build.  We’ve tried to pretend as if these areas don’t exist, and we never, ever let anyone under any circumstance into these areas.


The problem?

Eventually if these things within our lives are not dealt with appropriately, mice will enter the picture.  Enemies will take up residence in those hidden spots.  Not only that, they will be so comfortable there that they will attempt to take over the other areas of our homes as well.  Sooner or later little mice will be seen in places that are otherwise neat and tidy.  Lapses of judgment.  Compromises of character.  Words that don’t match our beliefs.  Thoughts and patterns begin to shift out of control until we just can’t hide it anymore.  If these mice escapades are not dealt with appropriately, larger and large problems will surface until the mice are running the whole joint.  (Sometimes we see people publicly fall into sin with a big, outward behavior, but I imagine that there were previous issues/problems that happened beforehand that were not sufficiently addressed.  Inner pain that needed healing.  Small lapses that needed handled.  Other indicators that needed attention as they arose.)  Problems will eventually come to the light.  They always do.  (Feel free to read Luke 8:17 or Luke 12:2-3 to see what Jesus says about the subject.)


Yesterday I cleaned out our utility room.  


The mice in the house combined with my brother-in-law’s experience showed me that it was well past time.  I did what needed done.  I cleaned the utility room.


I entered with a shop vac and began to sweep away the spiderwebs.  I cleared out the stuff, piece by piece, items that I hadn’t seen in years upon years.  Some went into a bag for donation.  Some went into a bag for the trash.  A few things were allowed back into storage.  I took a bucket and soap and washed things off, dusting the things that needed dusted.  Short of moving the furnace, hot water tank, and washer/dryer, I emptied that place out. 

 

Including the dead mouse.


I knew that smell was coming from somewhere.


I had let the utility room get to a place of embarrassment as well as a place that was a safe haven for mice, a place of refuge for them, a home.  From that point, they sought to do the same with the rest of our home.  No thank you.  I knew what needed done.  A reset.  A complete and thorough cleansing.  Emptying out all of the stuff that I no longer needed and allowing only that which was good/necessary/helpful back inside.


How about you?


Do you have places that need cleansing?  Cobwebs that need swept?  Areas that require confession?  Embarrassing spots that need brought out into the light so that they might be healed?


I encourage you…don’t let those places go too long.  Don’t let them be built up into a safe haven for our enemy (see Ephesians 6:12).  Don’t let the mice feel comfortable enough there that they start to move into other areas.  Now is the time to act!  Now is the time to heal!  Now is the time to move!  Now is the time to clean out the utility rooms of our soul!


Yes, it might be hard.  Yes, it might involve going before another believer and baring your soul.  Yes, they might even say “What is the deal with all of these spiderwebs?”  But trust me, the opposite is far, far, far, far worse.


Take this advice from James:


Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

~James 5:16


Try this sometime.  You might find that bringing your problems to light in the hands of a committed follower of Jesus is the very thing that sets you free.

Friend, it’s time.  Take care of that room in your life.  Trust me.  You will be happy that you did.


~ Pastor Chris

Find the Hose (July 18, 2021)

         Recently my niece turned 16.  And upon turning 16, her parents threw her a huge party filled with games, fun, food, and competition.  Competition?  Yep, competition.  Tons of competitive games.  Being an avid lover of competition, I threw myself fully into every game.  It was the best 16th birthday party ever!


One of the games was called “Find the Hose.”  I’ve never played the game before, but soon found myself a huge fan.  Let me explain the game, because I assume you have probably never heard of it either (other than the times where you really couldn’t find your garden hose and spent hours searching your shed or garage).


So, here’s how the game worked…


“Find the Hose” involved teams lining up on either side of the yard.  Each team member was assigned a number that matched with another player on the opposite team.  Let’s say you are number 9, so there would be another number 9 on the other team who would be your matched opponent.  After the numbers were assigned, the host of the game would place the garden hose randomly in the space between the two teams and scream a number.  


“9!”


The two number nines would run out of line and try to find the hose.  Hence the name, “Find the Hose.”  A winner was only declared once someone located the hose and sprayed water at the opponent!  Sounds easy, right?  Just wait until your number is called, get the hose, and spray your opponent.  Pretty simple.


There was just one catch:  you are blindfolded.  The whole time you are trying to find the hose you can’t see a thing!  


The only help you have (besides crawling desperately on the ground and grasping pieces of grass hoping it is a garden hose) is your teammates.  Once a number was called, the rest of the players were allowed to remove their blindfolds and try to talk you through the steps of finding the hose.  


Well, “talk” is a mild word.  Players from both sides are SCREAMING at you to turn left, turn right, go straight, go back.  And you don’t know who is talking to who, if your teammates are telling you to turn left or if it is your opponent’s teammates telling them to turn left.  It is completely chaotic!  


But almost every single time my niece’s number was called, she won.  She always found the hose first and sprayed her opponent for the declared win.    


How?  


First, let me tell you that it was not a situation like that of Pastor Chris’s opponent.  He was assigned a number that happened to match up with a little seven year old boy.  The boy decided that the only way he would have a chance up against big, tall, Pastor Chris was to just not use his blindfold.  Genius, right?  He came to the conclusion that he could easily find the hose as long as he could see.  So, when Chris’s  number was called, the little boy would lift off his blindfold and simply go straight to the hose and proceed to spray Chris right in the face.  Chris never won once and never even had a chance!  


So, if my niece used her blindfold appropriately, why was she able to find the hose so easily?  Was it because we let the birthday girl win each time?  


Nope.


She won because she listened to one voice on her team.  Her aunt’s voice… my voice.  Voices were coming at her from all directions, but she zeroed in on the voice she was most familiar with out of anyone else’s on her team.  She tuned out every other voice and focused in on my voice and allowed that voice to direct her straight to the hose.   She found the hose first more than any other player (besides the little seven year old boy).


Even though a lot of you have never played “Find the Hose,”  you actually play it more than you know.  Every day, in fact.  In our spiritual life we are always trying to locate the “hose”… God’s will, the right thing to do, the purpose for our lives, etc., and we have voices screaming at us from all directions.  When playing the game  “Find the Hose”, there were a number of voices you could choose to listen to, and those same voices are true for us as we walk our faith journey.  


One of those voices was from the opponent. 

If my niece would have listened to the other team screaming “Turn left!” when she was actually supposed to turn right, she would have been going in the opposite direction.  She would have surely lost and had the consequence of getting sprayed with cold water. Likewise, our enemy is always trying to take us down the wrong path. When we listen to our enemy we are headed in the opposite direction that will only result in loss and consequences.  


Another voice(es) is the clamor of others.  

Yes, sometimes other people can shine wisdom in our situations and can be extremely helpful.  In fact, God calls us to be in relationship with others and share our burdens with them.  But sometimes there are so many voices all around us telling us different things that we can’t tell what is up and what is down.  Listening to everyone while trying to find the hose was extremely overwhelming.  Even if they all knew where the hose was, they didn’t all direct you the same way.  Sometimes you heard, “Go back” because the hose was behind you.  But it was also to your right.  And so at the same time you were hearing “go back”, you were also hearing “turn right” which only resulted in more confusion.  


Another voice comes from ourselves.  

We think we know where to go.  We don’t care what anyone else is saying.  Sometimes we have an easier time trusting in ourselves than in others.  Sometimes we are right.  Other times we are blinded and only think we know best. While searching for the nozzle of the hose to spray your opponent, you could find a part of the long hose and think you made it and were about to win.  The problem was when you started making your way to the wrong end of the hose and not toward the nozzle!  Sometimes we think we know the way, but we are actually just headed the wrong way.  


My niece did not dominate this game because she listened to the opponent, or to the clamor of others, or even herself.  


She won because she listened to one voice.  


That’s how we win too…we listen to that One Voice.  


The Lord’s voice. 


Isaiah says it perfectly,


And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 

-Isaiah 30:21 ESV


Isaiah’s words offered direction to the children of Israel as they struggled with sin and idolatry.  The Israelites had “voices” all around them trying to lead them astray from the laws of God.  Before this verse, Isaiah told the Israelites to cry to God for help and promised them that God would hear them and answer them.  


If my niece needed more directions or better directions, she would tell me.  She would ask for my help, and I answered.  Believe me, I was not silent!  I wanted her to hear me.  


God wants you to hear Him too.  


You might say, “But I can’t.  He doesn’t talk to me.  He’s completely silent.”  


But, is He really?  


Have you turned to Him?  Have you sought Him?  Have you cried out to Him, and asked to hear Him?  More importantly, are you familiar with His voice?  Would you even know it was Him who was talking to you?


One reason why my niece chose to listen to me was because she knew me.  She spent more time with me than anyone else on her team.  She recognized my voice, and knew my voice the best.  She never had to question if I was on her team or the opponent’s team, because she knew my voice well.    


Do you recognize His voice?


  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

-John 10:27 ESV


The only way to be familiar with God’s voice is by spending time with Him…which involves praying and reading His word.  That way when you need to know what is right, you will recognize what is right and true because you are now familiar with what contradicts His Word. 


You will recognize His voice because you have spent time with Him and have begun understanding how He talks to you…either through the Bible, in your prayer time, listening to sermons, through His creation, etc.  


You will know your Shepherd so well that you can hear Him and follow Him because you know Him not just in a head knowledge kind of way, but in an intimate and deep way.  You will know His voice the best and never have to question that He is on your team.  


Do you know Him that way?   

My niece knew that I not just existed, that I wasn’t just there as a random voice, but she knew she could trust me.  She knew I would not lead her astray.  She knew that I wanted her to win, I wanted her to succeed, I wanted what was best for her.  Because I loved her.


We must trust Jesus.  Trust that He will never lead you astray.  He wants you to win, He wants you to succeed, He wants what is best for you.  He loves you.  


What voice are you listening to?  The opponent’s?  The confusing mix of many?  Yourself?  


Or are you listening to the One who will always lead you in the right direction?


Sometimes you will feel like you are blindfolded and have no idea where to go.  Life does not always allow us to lift up the blindfold like a seven year old and head straight for the win.  Sometimes finding the hose is difficult.  The voices surrounding you might be loud and overwhelming.  But never forget that there is a voice behind you saying, 


“This is the way.  Walk in it.” 


So, go find that hose.  More importantly, find that Voice.  Hear that Voice.  Follow that Voice.  


If you don’t… watch out!  There might be a stream of water coming straight for your face.  


-Christa Morris

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Don't Be That Turkey (July 11, 2021)

One of the many blessings (and sometimes challenges) of living where we live is the abundance of wildlife.  It is not unusual to see some type of creature roaming around near our house.  We see some fairly common ones like deer, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, groundhogs, raccoon, possums, skunk.  If you’re looking just a little bit harder, you can see some water-loving creatures like frogs, toads, newts.  There are tons and tons of small crawly and flying things like mosquitos, bees, wasps, hornets, praying mantis, ants, beetles.  We’ve also seen some bigger, scarier things around like bear, coyote, bobcats, snakes.  And of course, we see birds.  Lots and lots of birds.  For me, it is awesome to see so many animals roaming about (unless they are choosing to do some damage to the property).  Though I typically don’t go out of my way to find them, when I do see an animal I like to watch and see if they might be teaching me something about myself, about God, or about God’s creation.

The other day as I was driving home, I came across a small family of turkeys.  A mom and her young‘uns.  There were 5 or 6 of the little ones (I couldn’t quite tell) following the mom, all in the middle of the driveway.  In my best estimation they were either looking for a bite to eat, they were taking a site-seeing road trip, or they were playing a quick game of parcheesi.  I’m not 100% sure as I’m not an expert on turkey behavior or parcheesi for that matter.  Regardless, there they were, minding their own business, enjoying life as a family of turkeys when my giant SUV approached.  I’m sure it was quite startling.  Large.  White.  Dirty.  V8 engine rumbling.  Roof rack on the top for summer kayak trips.  Tires kicking up gravel as I dodged any potholes I would encounter on the way home.  To those turkeys in that instant, I’m sure I appeared to be an apex predator on my way to Thanksgiving supper.   I expected the turkeys to flee.  To run.  To fly.  To hide.  To get out of there as quickly as possible.


That’s not what happened.


Momma Turkey did make that snap decision.  She saw me coming and quickly went into the brush, safely away from the approaching danger.  I’m sure she expected her little ones to follow, but they didn’t.  (Well, maybe one did…that’s where I’m not sure if there were 5 or 6 of the little ones.)  Five little turkeys didn’t follow, didn’t hop off the driveway, didn’t hide, didn’t flee.


Do you know what they did?


They decided to see if they could out-trot the SUV.  They started their own, little turkey trot race.  5 little turkeys vs. me.  They turned, single file and began trotting down the driveway in front of the car.  For a looonnnnggggg time.


Can you picture it? 


A large, white, SUV creeping down the drive with five little turkeys trotting right in front of the passenger side tire.


It was quite comical…and a little bit sad.


There I was, telling the little turkeys, “Just turn!  Duck off the road! (To borrow a term from another bird.)  Your mom went into the bushes.  Why don’t you?  Go in there.  Be safe.  The path you are taking isn’t a good one!  What is the matter with you?”


Clearly, their turkey logic had failed in that instant.  Instead of choosing the quickest path to safety, they chose the longest path of peril with death and destruction breathing down their necks.


Fortunately for the little turkeys, I was not the apex predator that they likely feared.  I wasn’t hungry.  It’s not November.  I had no intention of running over the things.  Even though they felt like they were trotting away from death and destruction, no harm would befall them at my hands.  The turkeys could trot the whole way to the house, and I wouldn’t let them succumb to my tires.  Had I wanted to squash them I imagine I could have gotten a whole row of them without much effort; however, that was not my intent…even if the turkeys thought that it was.


So there we were…5 little turkeys, trotting down the driveway with me in my giant SUV following them.  They weren’t getting away.  If anything, I was getting closer. 


Eventually, two of the little ones at the back of the line had a light bulb moment.  They said to one another, “What if we ducked into the brush?”  “Yeah.  That might work.”  “Let’s try it.”  Off they went, escaping the giant, white monster that was in pursuit.  


The other three continued on with their plan.  “Let’s out-trot this thing.”  It wasn’t working.  I stayed right with them until eventually the two in the back of the line had a similar idea as their siblings.  “What if we ducked into the brush?”  “Yeah.  That might work.”  “Let’s try it.”  Off they went, escaping the giant, white monster that was in pursuit.


Finally, there was one little turkey left.  The leader.  The one who was leading the entire turkey trot from the beginning.  It looked like it was bound and determined to trot the whole way to the house, but then something unexpected happened…


Just as I was thinking “I guess I’m doing this the whole way home,” the turkey did something drastic.


It flew.


Flew!


Flew.


It had spent that whole time trotting away from me in my giant SUV when it could have flown to safety at any point!  


“You’ve got to be kidding me.”


That was all I could think.


How could this bird choose trotting over flying?  How could this bird refrain from following its mother into the woods, lead four of its siblings down the driveway, squawk and yell, and be in fear for its life from me in my SUV and it never chose to fly before this point?  Really?  Trotting?  Over flying?  Away from a car?  A big one at that?  Seriously?  


Yet that was the reality.  That bird could have fled from danger in multiple ways at multiple points, and yet it chose the second worst option (the worst would have been a Kamikaze style attack, running straight under my tire).  It could have followed its mom right away.  It could have ducked into the weeds at a variety of points.  It could have FLOWN.  Flown!  Instead, it chose trotting right down the path that I was headed.  Trotting.  Not flying.  What a bird-brained choice.


It made me wonder…


How often do we do the same?


How often do we get a glimpse of imminent danger and choose a terrible path?  Maybe it’s because of our shock, or our ignorance, or our unwillingness to change direction, but it still happens.  Danger approaches.  Darkness comes after us.  A monster with a V8 engine is nipping at our heals and we choose to trot down the same path.


Perhaps we think “surely that thing will duck into the woods.”  Or maybe we reason “I’m the best trotter I know.  That won’t catch up to me.  I can stay a step ahead of it.”  Maybe we see our Mom dart away or hear someone say, “You really ought to get off of that path,” but we don’t listen.  “What do they know?  How can they help?  I like this path.”  We just keep trotting along as if we know that the driver of the SUV won’t hurt us, but in reality the driver is bent on obliterating us and doing everything in its power to tear us apart.


Too often, many of us choose trotting when evil approaches.  We think things like, “How much is really too much?  How much of ____ or ____ can I get away with before it harms me or my relationship with God?” Or “I’ll just get a little bit of the juicy news and share it with just this one person.  That’s not really hurting anyone.”  Or “If nobody else knows, it isn’t really a problem.”  We maybe try to cut back on our sin, limit our evil, or hope that on some giant cosmic scale that our good outweighs our bad.  Instead of seeing the real threat, the real danger, we minimize, ignore, or think that “It won’t happen to me.”  We trot away down the same path when we should have fled long, long ago.


Romans says it this way:


Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Romans 12:9


David said it like this:


Turn from evil and do good;

Psalm 37:27


Other translations use words like “abhor” or “flee”.  Hate/abhor/despise/detest that which is evil.  Flee from it.  Run from it.  Avoid it at all costs.  Cling to what is good.  Do that which is good.  Seek after that which is good.


Granted.  This is not possible on our own, but then again, we are not on our own.  For those of us who have offered our lives to Jesus, we have been given the Holy Spirit, the very Presence of God living within our hearts, the very Spirit and power of Jesus at work within us.  You remember Jesus, right?  The One who would not turn rocks into bread, even while hungry.  The One who would not pitch himself off of a cliff to prove that he was loved.  The One who would not worship the devil to receive all of the material blessings that the devil had to offer.  (See Matthew 4:1-11)  That same Jesus.  You have his Spirit.  With you at all times.  He has enabled you to do much more than trot.  He has enabled you to fly.


Friend, do not be like that turkey, leading others down an ill-chosen path, failing to follow the advise of those wiser and more experienced, choosing to trot when God had given it the ability to fly.  Instead, flee from those things that are evil.  Heed the advice of spiritually mature believers in Christ.  Lead others down the path of salvation.  Rely on the Holy Spirit within you.  Fly.  


Fly/flee/run/sprint/do whatever you can to to escape that which is evil and bent on your destruction.  Cling to that which is good.  Don’t be that turkey.  After all if that turkey continues with the same pattern, it will one day come across someone who is in the mood for a turkey dinner, willing to run it over.  You don’t want to end up the same way…devoured and learning that your trotting had done you no good.


Fly, friend.  


Fly.


~ Pastor Chris