Cliff Diving (and other crazy stuff)

I know a lot of people that are risk takers. Michelle and I love to surround ourselves with “risky” people. Some of them will jump off a cliff without looking over the edge or considering what lies at the bottom. They love putting their full trust in the Lord, like Jonathan and his armor bearer, to see if He will do something great. I know other risk-takers that will look over the edge, measure the distance, wind speed, weight and rate of descent, then, take the long way to the bottom and observe the best and most secure places to land, remove any rocks or dangerous items and then decide when or if to jump. I’m not taking sides here, nor am I suggesting one is more favored over the other. I guess it takes all kinds of crazy to make a difference.

Personally, I tend to lean more towards the latter more than the former. You may have heard me say before that I’m a contemplator, so my tendency is to think it all through from every angle. I’m not afraid to jump, I just want all the information I can gather before I do. My wife, on the other hand, welcomes any information that someone is willing to share, but if the information doesn’t arrive on time, she’s jumpin’. It’s great because we tend to balance each other out (when we’re not making each other crazy!) Many times, I’m pulling her back from the edge and she’s trying to push me over it. She pushes me over the edge a lot.

Back to the subject on hand. Over the last 2 years as we’ve walked through some of the most traumatic pain that anyone should have to walk through, James 1:2-4 has been a contemplative study of mine. I’ve examined and continue to examine it from every angle. Mostly because it just doesn’t make sense from a purely humanistic point of view. I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s what it says:

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4 NKJV

For those of you who have read my book Shattered: Finding Hope and Purpose in the Midst of Disappointment, you’ve heard me talk about this before, but some of it bears repeating. James in this passage is not necessarily talking about trials that are a result of a stupid decision that you made or a failure in your life. He uses the words “fall into” on purpose. Not everything in your life is in your control. In fact, most things are not. We live in a world that is broken, consequently, things in life break. James is trying to help us understand something. First, he’s setting our expectations that we are going to fail, we are going to struggle and we are going to grieve through the disappointments of life. That has to be first. If we live life as a follower of Christ thinking that everything is going to be sunshine and roses, we will live in a constant state of disappointment and discouragement. There is no failure in admitting that life is hard and full of dark places. The failure is in giving up. That’s what James is talking about here. This is a passage about “staying the course”. Let’s look at the interpretation of these verse through the eyes of a different translation, The Message:

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” James 1:2-4 The Message

I feel like this opens up the meaning a bit better for our understanding. I love the interpretation for “patience”: “So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely.” Isn’t that the truth. I’m always looking for a short cut, a way out – especially when the pain is almost unbearable. I just want it to stop and I’m certainly not thinking, “Hmmm, this is going to make me stronger, more perfected, lacking nothing. I think I’ll just sit back and enjoy the journey.” Nah, I’m looking for the escape hatch. Get me out of this nut house.

Herein lies the rub. I want the pain to stop, but the very thing that can make the pain lessen is my decision to stay in the race – letting the pain and trials that result from them do their work on my spiritual and emotional muscles – strengthening them to a place where they can bear up under more pain and disappointment. It’s a process. But, as soon as I step out of the process, I’ve lost. My muscles begin to atrophy and slowly get weaker. The next big disappointment that hits me, and it will hit me, might knock me off my feet and throw me over the cliff while beating me with a stick all the way to the bottom. I know – I have had days where that type of treatment would’ve seemed like a mercy.

I’m not here to sugar-coat anything. Staying the course is hard under the best conditions. Life will beat you down and throw your broken and bleeding body into a meat grinder if you let it. I don’t know about you, but I’m not climbing into a meat grinder willingly. Ima fight till I can’t fight no more, and then I’m going to bite and scratch and claw my way out! We are followers of Christ (if you’re not, talk to me offline, because it all starts there). We are not sheep among wolves. I heard someone say recently, “I would hate to be a lion in a den of Daniels.” I laughed at that, but it’s pretty descriptive of what we carry as the children of God. A wolf does not want to be caught in our fields.

Staying the course is the way of perfection. It is what makes us more like Jesus. We are on a journey. It’s a journey that started when we said yes to Jesus, but that’s not where it ended. We are following the King into the Kingdom – so let’s act like it – let stay the course and finish strong!