Glow Sticks

Glow sticks.

They are interesting objects if you think about it. They are the only objects that I can think of that have to be broken then shaken up before it will work.

I was recently teaching a message about conflict with God. One of the topics that got brought up was the idea of natural disasters and if it is fair to blame God for them.

The example that was used was Hurricane Katrina. So much destruction was caused by this natural disaster. So many lives were flipped upside down and completely shaken up.

Friends and loved ones lost. Homes destroyed.

We can look at something like this and wonder where God is. How could this come from a loving god? Non believers use situations like this as ways to disprove the existence of God.

But let's look at how when there is a disaster of sort - thousands of people turn to God or the church for comfort.

Now look back at the glow stick.

You take a glow stick, break it in half, then shake it up and it glows brightly. What if these situations, these disasters, these times when things just don't seem to go right, are not punishments, but instead us being broken, shaken up, so we can glow with the brightness of God's love and mercy?

I believe that there are times when we become so distracted, so preoccupied with our day to day that our relationship with God becomes one of complacency and routine. There are times when God needs to shake things up to get our attention.

Now, this is not to say that the reason there are disasters are so God can get our attention. Since we do not know how God works in the larger sense, there is no way to say why God allows these things to happen.

I am but merely suggesting, that when things are going wrong in your life, when you feel like your life is being turned upside down, maybe that is God's way of breaking and shaking you so you can glow brighter for Him

Between Lightning and Thunder

When I was in college, I was pretty busy. I was working part time at a video store(a) during the day and full time at Albertson's stocking shelves during the graveyard shift. I was also taking a full load of classes while speaking a lot at Young Life. I worried my poor Mom so much during those couple years because the only time she would see me was when I'd stumble upstairs for a couple hours of sleep before the next class, speaking gig, or shift at work.

Despite all of the busyness, I look back fondly on that time because I learned how to wait on God. I used to read in the Bible about Jesus waiting forty days in the wilderness or Moses waiting forty days to carve out the ten commandments as something quite boring. I mean, you can only pace and skip stones for so long. Hurry up and do something God, I don't have all day! Waiting is what we do in line at the grocery store. That busy period of my life taught me waiting on God is much more exciting than that. In fact, waiting on God was the most thrilling part of my week.

I remember sitting in my car in the parking lot of Albertson's before work. I hadn't slept in a couple days. I remember taking out my Bible and turning to the book of Isaiah and squinting my eyes to one particular verse under my car's dome light.

"but those who wait in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint."(b)

I took God at his word. I turned off my dome light, closed my Bible, and clocked into work. And as I worked, I would wait.

But this waiting was a joyful expectancy.

A giddy excitement.

Like a teenager waiting their turn to jump off a cliff into the water.

Like a child peering through the window at lightning flashing in the dark and waiting for the thunder.

Like a trapeze artist that has just let go, arms stretched out, waiting to be caught.

And while I waited, God would strengthen me. He'd carry me. He'd help me. Every. Single. Time. His faithfulness built a steady reputation in my life that I have leaned on all these years.

Now, I don't think of waiting as a boring obligation. It's become the best part of my week. Prayer ceases to be a painstaking ritual but a conversation with the One that promised abundant life. Waiting turns my attempts to follow Jesus into an adventure. When I wait on Him, this life opens up to me. I become keenly aware of His ability to do anything and his activity in this world. I heard someone say that grace is best received to those with empty hands. If that's true, I believe waiting helps me open my hands up.

So, I got a lil "waiting" kind of prayer I'd like to share with you:

"God, can I be a part of what you're doing today?"

Then wait. And see what happens.

I double dog dare you to ask Him that. This life may open up to you. Distractions may become divine moments. Inconveniences may become opportunities. Your answer may be right around the corner. Christianity may become an adventure again. You may find yourself between lightning and thunder.

a. Did you know they used to have video stores?

b. Isaiah 40:31