Tag: fear (Page 1 of 4)

3 Things God May Use to Get You Out of Your Boat

July 5, 2022 /

If you live anywhere Up North like I do, you will probably know the feeling of the first summer excursion on “the lake” – always Memorial Day weekend. It may be 30 degrees or 70 degrees, but it’s usually blustery and you wear the Minnesota “uniform” of sweatshirt and shorts.

It’s the weekend when all the boat piers get put in and you’re so anxious for it to truly be summer that you screw up your courage and jump into the icy cold water at least once to say you did.

Remember the “Memorial Day Weekend jump-in-the-lake” story in the Gospels? It’s a dark and windy night on the Sea of Galilee in Matthew 14 when the disciples are in their boat alone and are being “buffeted by the waves”.

Jesus scares them by coming out to them walking on the water (you know, the way you do if you’re God, right?). He reassures the disciples that it really is Him and not the Ghost of Christmas Past, but Peter says “Prove it! If it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”

Jesus says “Ok, come on out!”

Peter clambers over the side of the boat and starts walking, but then he looks around him at what the wind is whipping up and starts to sink.

Like a harness on a ropes course, Scripture says, “Jesus didn’t hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand.”  

What was it that motivated Peter to get out of the boat? Jesus’ invitation? Fear of the alternative without Jesus? A sense of adventure?

This story got me thinking about the different things that prompt any of us to get out of our boats of same ol’ same ol’.

3 things that God may use to get out of your boat:

1. Invitation (this may be the least likely one, so read on!)

I had a lunch meeting nine years ago.  The purpose was for me to help a World Vision guy do some brainstorming and networking.  At least that’s what I thought.

I’m pretty creative.  I’m good at ideas.  I’m also good at making work for other people.  It’s a gift.  So I was feeling good about meeting with Bradley (the guy) and giving him some ideas.  That is until he finished telling his story, turned to me and said, “I want you to run a half-marathon with Team World Vision to raise money for clean water in Zambia.”

What the what?!  Not much surprises me.  Even less than that leaves me speechless. This did.

I don’t run.  Unless I’m running from a bear.

As I reflected on the possibility, Fear whispered in my ear:

  • What if you really can’t do it?  What if you don’t finish?
  • What if you let people down?
  • What if you don’t raise any money?

Honestly, one of the loudest whispers was:  This will be a painful, grueling boatload of work and you don’t want to do it.

But there was this invitation that said, “Get out of the boat. This is more important than your discomfort.”

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Years ago in Zambia I danced with women as a well was dug and fresh water gushed out.  They sang “Come and see what God has done.”  The old woman next to me spoke in wonder “He saw us. He answered our prayers.”  I thought, “Wouldn’t be incredible to part of an answer to someone’s prayers?”I think, in this case, God’s answer to the fear of getting out of my boat was “What if I run with you and do something bigger in and through you for others than you think is possible?”

Sometimes an invitation from others is also an invitation from God to get out of your boat.

2. Loss

Six years ago, a dear friend of ours died suddenly, leaving his wife as a relatively young widow. Her grief was intensified as well-meaning people made thoughtless comments or unhelpful gestures.

As an introvert, she would have liked to stay curled up in her bed all day every day, but instead, she got out of her boat (that looked like a bed). She created a class to help people learn to sensitively walk alongside their friends experiencing trauma or loss. This was hard and scary, but it gave her purpose in the midst of her grief, and it equipped others in a much needed way.

Sometimes stepping out of your boat means turning mourning into mission.

3. Need

About 10 years ago our daughter Maggie was doing a summer internship at a girls’ school in northern Uganda. Her job was to create a sex ed curriculum, but in the process of discerning where to start, she discovered that most of the girls were missing 3-4 days of school a month when they had their period, because they lacked resources to buy sanitary napkins (tampons are culturally inappropriate). There was a need that had huge consequences for the education of girls.

Maggie could have just stuck to her assignment, but getting out of her boat meant finding ways to innovate. The school included training the girls in sewing, so Maggie googled how to make reusable sanitary napkins and taught the girls how to make their own.

For her husband, Austin, getting out of his boat looked like carrying cartons of disposable sanitary napkins I had collected here in the states through customs on his first international trip. He delivered them to Maggie in Uganda, so they could also keep a closet of these for emergency needs.

Sometimes stepping out of your boat means tackling insufficiency with innovation.

Can you relate to any of these? Has there been a time when you’ve been prompted to “get out of your boat”? What happened? Share in comments!


3 Truths for Dealing with Covid Chaos, part 4

August 6, 2020 /

“I don’t know a single person right now that’s saying, ‘It’s cool, this is my fifth deadly virus pandemic and I’m an expert at these.'” Jon Acuff

None of us have ever gone through times like this! I heard someone say, “I wish we could go back to ‘precedented’ times!” This week I’m posting a series aimed at bringing Scripture to bear on the chaos we’re living through.

Truth #3: You have nothing to fear.

Our fears reveal what’s most important to us and where we trust God the least.

Fear is a natural by-product of chaos. We are plagued with “What if’s…”

  • What if my kids can’t go back to school?
  • What if I lose my job?
  • What if one of my parents gets Covid?
  • What if the elections are derailed?

But…

God is JEHOVAH SABAOTH – the Lord of the heavenly armies.

Throughout Scripture, this is the name God’s people would use to call on Him when they were in despair.

He will always fulfill His purposes, even when we fail.

from Ruth Chou Simons

Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

psalm 89:8

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

1 samuel 17:45

But now, this is what the Lord says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…

isaiah 43:1-2

Which of these do you need to hear most right now?

What do they say about God and about you?

Driving Blind

April 8, 2020 /

I listen in the darkened sanctuary as a young worship leader passionately describes an experience he had, standing on the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland

He says, “The sky was the brightest blue, and the grass an emerald green beneath my feet as I peered down over the jagged cliffs to watch seagulls dancing, and the waves throwing themselves at the shore.

I was so moved that I stepped back from the precipice and spontaneously started singing, ‘Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands hath made…I see the stars, I hear the roaring thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed…How great Thou art…’”

Instead of being moved, I have to work to keep from laughing! 

While my friend saw God’s awesome wonder that looked like this…

This is what I saw:

When I visited this iconic spot in Ireland, fog wrapped around us like wet wool. We inched along in our rented car, slowly climbing up the steep, narrow road, then down. 

At the bottom there was a small shop, so I went inside and asked, “Did we just drive past the Cliffs of Moher?”

With a lovely Irish accent, the salesgirl cheerfully answered, “Yes! It’s gorgeous! Would you like a postcard to see what you missed?” (insert eye roll)

In the fog at the Cliffs of Moher we felt disappointed, out-of-control, and a little scared on the edge of a cliff.

I’ve been thinking about our experience in Ireland during this “foggy” time of the pandemic when we can’t see clearly, we’re not sure exactly what’s next, and we’re disoriented.

How does the fog, or what you see right now make you feel?If you could name the effect of your “fog” right now what would it be?

You may feel like the Psalmist who wrote, Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief.

Psalm 31:9

It may seem like you’re driving blind.

Could it be that God wants to use this blindness, like He did with Saul on the road to Damascus, to get our attention?

Maybe in the fog God wants to draw our attention to this: Our sight and power are limited, but His is not.

Elisha and his servant are in a “foggy” time in 2 Kings 6:15-17 when they are surrounded by the Arameans. Danger is the most visible thing.

“When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

Maybe we need to ask, not “What am I seeing?”, but “What am I missing?”

If we had God’s view above the fog on the Cliffs of Moher we would have seen that:

  •  The fog was limited; it wasn’t as pervasive as it felt. There was a beginning and end.
  • Beauty was still there on the other side of the fog.

Think of the “fog” the disciples experienced the last week of Jesus’ life, walking to the cross! Nothing was going like they expected and they couldn’t see through the fog to the resurrection beyond the cross!

All they could see was pain, persecution, and death!

Jesus wasn’t acting like they thought He should, but He saw what they didn’t see. He knew what they didn’t know.  And He loved them beyond measure.

Because we live on the other side of the resurrection we have the benefit of seeing the empty tomb even when there is so much we can’t see.

We have this and many more evidences of God’s faithfulness in Scripture, so even in this confusing time we can trust that He will bring light and life.

This Easter may we lift our eyes above the fog of disorientation and fear and loneliness to the God who sees what we don’t see and knows what we don’t know, and loves us beyond measure.

One Place God Does Some of His Best Work

February 18, 2018 /

I’ve been thinking about caves. Weird, I know, right? But recently I had the privilege of climbing to (on rock steps – we’re not talking ropes and crampons here) and exploring, a series of huge caves on an island in Vietnam. It got me reflecting on caves in the Bible and why people went there. Caves were places of refuge, but usually a last resort, and often dark and lonely.

Here are a few that came to mind. Can you relate to any of these “cave moments”? 

  1. When you’re distressed and afraid.

When Saul is chasing David and he is running for his life he hides in a cave with others who are disillusioned.

1 Samuel 22: 1-3

David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there.  All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander.

 Maybe it feels like circumstances are just too much for you and you’re afraid, or angry or discouraged. You may need to hide in God…curl up in the safety of His presence.

2. When you’re exhausted.

After God uses Elijah to miraculously defeat the prophets of Baal, Jezebel is still after him and he runs away, exhausted.

1 Kings 19:3-9

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”  He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”  So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.  There he went into a cave and spent the night.

Note that the first thing God does is meet Elijah’s physical needs. Have you ever noticed how fatigue affects your perspective? John Ortberg writes, “Sometimes the most spiritual thing we can do is take a nap.” Maybe you need both physical rest and the spiritual rest from striving that God can provide.

3. When you need to grieve a death.

Jesus allows Lazarus to die in order that He can show His power to bring life out of death.

John 11:38-39

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.  “Take away the stone,” he said.

Maybe you’ve experienced the death of a dream and you need God to show you where He is going to bring new life. Maybe you’re waiting for Him to roll away a stone that has been a stumbling block for you. Maybe you need time in your cave to pour out your heart in grief.

After all, it was in a burial cave that Jesus overcame death and made a way for us to live forever with Him, right? 

In caves we may have silence and solitude pressed upon us, but it’s a time to cling to Jesus. Maybe we can draw encouragement from what David wrote when he was in a cave. Psalm 142:1-3

I cry aloud to the Lord;
    I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
 I pour out before him my complaint;
    before him I tell my trouble.

When my spirit grows faint within me,
    it is you who watch over my way.

 

The Question Fear Asks

August 1, 2016 /

This weekend I had the privilege of preaching on Matthew 14:22-32 – the super familiar story of Jesus and Peter walking on the water. I LOVE this story and I felt like God had so much to teach me as I prepared.

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One of the most important things I learned as I was studying the passage of Peter walking on the Sea of Galilee and sinking, was that it was about more than Peter’s faith. It was about Jesus’ greater grace.

Jesus reaches out when we’re sinking and lifts us up. 

This morning I was thinking about a related story I heard a million years ago about a little boy trapped in the bedroom of his home which was on fire.

He was at the window, the home swallowed up in flames, no way out.  Smoke everywhere.

Below, a fireman called up to him, “Jump son!  I’ll catch you!  I’m here!”

The little boy screamed “No!  I can’t SEE you!!!”

“I know,” yelled the fireman, “but I can see YOU!  Jump!”

Cheesy story?  Maybe.  But it makes me think about the question fear asks of God.

The underlying question in the little boy’s heart was the question that fear asks:

What if…?

What if you don’t see me?

What if you miss?

What if you’re not strong enough?

What if I get hurt?

What if I look silly?

Sometimes I can’t see God.  And I’m afraid to jump. (or step out of my boat)

What does Love ask of you today that’s scary?

To go someplace uncomfortable?  Talk to someone uncomfortable?  Serve in way that’s uncomfortable?

Quit a job, or stay in a job that’s hard?  Give something away?  Build a bridge, or shake the dust off your feet?

Are you afraid to jump?  I am.  And I’m thinking about the lyrics from this Nicole Nordeman song:

But what if you’re wrong?
What if there’s more?
What if there’s hope you never dreamed of hoping for?
What if you jump?
And just close your eyes?
What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise?
What if He’s more than enough?
What if it’s love?

Jumping, or taking a step outside our boat of comfort. There are different things that God may use to prompt us.

Invitation to go on an advocacy trip with World Vision when that’s not “my thing” prompted me to step out this summer.

Frustration over the lack of sanitary equipment for girls in northern Uganda, causing them to miss school, prompted our daughter Maggie to step outside her “boat” and solve the problem.

Fear of the overwhelming emotions around returning to church after her husband died, prompted my sister-in-law to cling to Jesus and take the hard step back.

Loss of her beloved son Brett, who had Downs Syndrome, prompted my friend Nan to start ministries to kids with special needs.

What are you afraid of?

What might God be using to prompt you to jump, or step out, trusting Him? 

If we step out and sink, we can be assured that God’s grace is greater than our faith.

The Other “F Word”, part 2

July 26, 2016 /

Yesterday I re-posted on the F- word in our family. Today another one, and tomorrow one more – I’ll let you decide which you relate to most! 🙂

On reflection I think there’s more than one other f-word.  There may be a whole slew of others that lurk around like stealth ninjas ready to take us down.

So here’s number 2.  Fear.

I don’t think I’m a particularly fearful person.  But I might have slept in the car instead of with the bats in a mountain cabin once upon a time.  And Maggie and I might have told the producers of the Amazing Race that snakes were a no-go for us when we were auditioning.

I’ll admit I AM afraid of heights, failure, suffering, looking foolish in public, and dying in an airplane crash to name a few.  But so is everyone, right?IMG_0767

(John, not me, bungee jumping at Victoria Falls, Zambia)

If I’m honest, what I’m really afraid of is losing control.  At least the illusion of control.

Continue reading

For Days When you Feel Anxious, Scared, or Overwhelmed, Part 1

January 11, 2016 /

The winter stretches out before us here in Minnesota – long, gray, and frozen.

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The other day I stopped by to visit a young friend who’s in a dark time, a very wintery time.

She feels overwhelmed, and anxious, “not enough”, and scared.

Everything feels so hard and she’s tempted to look at all the sparkly, easy-breezy lives on Facebook and despair that she alone is struggling to adapt to a new season.

I know this feeling. I’ve been there.

It’s in these vulnerable times that I picture Satan chuckling with glee.

What are some of the lies the Enemy wants us to believe when life’s hard? Continue reading

How do we Live a Plan B Christmas?

December 14, 2015 /

Last week I had the privilege of speaking at a women’s event in the Chicago area. As I prepared, I felt prompted to speak on kind of a strange topic for Christmas: Fear.

AKA worry, anxiety, angst, hot messiness…

The shepherds, Mary, Joseph, Zechariah… To each of them an angel says, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. Don’t. be. afraid.”

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It’s the most often repeated command in the Bible so I’m thinking there must be a lot of people dealing with it, right?

Fear is a weird emotion to associate with Christmas, but as I reflect on the shepherds, Mary, Zechariah and Joseph, it isn’t “CHRISTMAS” they are experiencing; it’s just LIFE – their ordinary, everyday walking around life.

And they lose any illusion of control, any illusion of “life as we know it” the moment an angel shows up, right?!!

LIFE isn’t going according to their plans.

They are living a life interrupted.

They are forced to adapt to a Plan B life.

The Plan B life may not be as safe, or predictable, or comfortable, or boring as they’d like, because there are new circumstances. But more than that, there’s a new character in their story. The main character has arrived; the messiah cleverly disguised as a baby in the muck and mess of a manger.

How many of us are living our Plan A life? Really.

  • You thought you’d have your dream job by now and you don’t.
  • You thought you’d be pregnant and you’re not.
  • You thought you’d he’d live and but he died.
  • You thought you’d be married by now and you’re not.

Plan B. Life is not going as we thought. Or hoped. Or dreamed.

But the main character, a baby has entered our Plan B life to be with us; to redeem and restore and make the story come out right in the end. 

Aaaannnd…spoiler alert: Love wins.

But how do we get from the fear or anxiety that comes with Plan B to the joy promised to all of us? Continue reading

What to do With all the Big Feelings

April 15, 2015 /

I’ve shared before that the emotional trajectory of any given day (or hour) of my life can look a little like this.

Unknown

Even if this isn’t your norm, perhaps there has been a day or two…

It seems that lately, many people around me have been facing circumstances that have thrown them for a loop even if usually their emotional life looks more like a merry-go-round than a monster roller coaster. So what do you do with all the Big Feelings?

One of the things I love about Scripture is that it’s so authentic, that often I may be experiencing something or feeling an emotion and one of the Bible people seems to jump off the pages and say “Me too!”

The community of young married couples I shepherd has started a study of David. I’m thinking David might have been a roller coaster kind of guy – a musician, shepherd, warrior, leader, and writer… As part of our study, this week we have agreed to read a Psalm written by David every day, starting with Psalm 3.

I love the Psalms because I feel kind of like a voyeur, peaking over someone’s shoulder, reading their journal.  The Psalms are just so dang real!

The Psalms are FULL of All Of The Big Feelings.

Can you say drama???

But the great thing is that the Psalms model how to deal with that drama.

Religiosity may say stuff or deny – don’t admit the messy feelings.

Secularism may say emotion is god – it rules all.

But the Psalms give us a third way to deal with our emotions.  Continue reading

What are You Afraid Of?

February 9, 2015 /

This weekend I did something I didn’t want to do. I opened myself to something when I really wanted to remain safe, and closed. I did it because I thought it would be good for me, like eating Kale or going to Yoga class.  Healthy, but uncomfortable and not very palatable.

I put myself in an environment with a speaker whose theology I don’t always agree with. It was a situation where there would be questions and theories and ambiguity and nuance and I was afraid this person might speak for God in ways that wouldn’t make Him happy. More accurately, he might speak for God in ways that I wouldn’t.

My inclination is to run from controversy and fog like I’d run from an angry bear in the forest. But I want to be brave.

I’ve always preferred black and white to gray, the safe middle to the unknown edges when it comes to theology, and yet, I came out of seminary with more questions than I went in with, but also a bigger, safer, though more mysterious God.

Maybe I went in thinking I could study God like a scientist studies monkeys and learns to predict their movements.  But it was more like diving into the ocean with alternately crashing 10 foot high swells and then motionless becalmed water. The pull of the tide, and the dark, fathomless depths with sea caves and weird creatures.

So why, if I’ve felt secure enough to thrash in the sea with God, does my stomach clench when I’m in situations where someone might say something “wrong”, angry, or… gasp, even heretical? Continue reading

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