Slimming Nuts and Resolutions

Have you already started looking back on this year and wondered where it went? This morning I saw this old photo and laughed about how many times I have planned to exercise more and lose weight in the new year. I don’t think that my weight has changed much in 15 years and excercise still comes and goes in spurts. After 30+ years of making Resolutions my favourites have been ones that don’t depend on me at all - but on God. What are you believing for in 2016? Will it depend on you striving to do better or resting more in His Presence?

Lost Socks and a Full Warehouse

Fifteen years ago now, I lived on a missions ship that was sailing around South East Asia. Each member of the crew had a full-time job that kept the ship running smoothly - I cleaned the bathrooms and washed everyone’s clothes. Unfortunately our department kept encountering a problem that would drive people crazy. We kept losing their socks. Now you may laugh, and I may join you, but to some of those crew members this was serious business. There were regular visits to the laundry by frustrated people demanding that we return their socks. How hard could it be for us to accomplish the simple task of washing, drying and returning their clothes? How incompetent were we? Very, obviously.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We took the complaints seriously and made every effort to keep track of every item, searching high and low. We analysed and re-analysed every system, tweaked and refined our processes, trained and retrained our staff, informed and educated our users...but at the end of the day we kept losing socks. Still to this day I have no idea where they ended up. But in the process I discovered a truth that would change my attitude towards life’s frustrations.

See, I wrestled with God about this conundrum. I kept saying to Him, “Jesus, it would be very easy for You to solve this problem and put a stop to all the frustrations and negative exchanges that occur because of it - show us the socks!” But He did not. Instead He transformed my frustrations into a deep sense of empathy and camaraderie with all those involved and we saw the lighter side once more.

It wasn’t so long ago that I experienced the toughest year of my life. Developing an anxiety/depressive disorder shook every part of my world and took me to the extremes of human emotions. All along I wrestled with God. “You could very easily solve what’s going on and the pain can stop.” But He did not. Instead those extreme emotions resounded inside of me and resonated with those around me.
And I realised that God is comfortable with emotions. He’s comfortable with His emotions and He’s comfortable with ours. In fact they are like treasured possessions that bleed from us. Psalms 56:8 mentions God collecting our tears in a bottle. I’m sure I filled a warehouse over that painful journey. But there was a point when the pain stopped. The anxiety stopped. The depression stopped. And a strange sense came over me that not one emotion had been wasted. The warehouse was full and nothing would go unaccounted for.

Unforgettable

I remember when I was about to go on my first summer break after a year at university. My cousin had convinced me that doing something meaningful with our holidays was the way to go so we signed up for a 5 week stint on a missionary ship called Doulos. We were living in Frankston at the time, a southern suburb of Melbourne, and my concept of the world was quite limited. Sure, I wanted to make a difference, but I hardly ever broadened my thoughts past...well, Frankston.

My experience on Doulos blew my mind. 300 missionaries from 35 nations living and working together to impact the world one port at a time. Brilliant. My initial stint on the ship took us from Freemantle to Albany, Western Australia, but living in close quarters with so many cultures gave me a new love for the nations. My desire for making a difference had suddenly exploded from Frankston to… the world!

A year later I went back on the ship for 13 months but those stories are for a later date. For now, I want to put this challenge out there to all our university students. In 15 years time when you look back on this holiday break period what will you remember? My advice is - do something you’ll never forget.

To Toughen or Trust?

Trust is a difficult thing to build. It takes time. A long time. Often we assume that people should automatically trust us and yet we aren’t as sure of their credibility.

I guess the longer we live, the more opportunities there are for people to break that trust. To let us down. Sometimes badly. I tend to be a ‘cup half full’ kind of person and look for the best and of course that has meant I’ve been burnt. But I reached a point that I needed not to lower my expectation of people but to lift my expectation of God.

See, if you expect the worst of people you will inevitably draw it out. You wont give them room to show you how capable they are and they wont rise to the occasion. On the other hand we haven’t even begun to stretch God’s capability. He constantly shines through in places where others fall short.

So when it's time to make that choice with the people around us - to decide if we can step out and lean on them, to open up and let them in, let's not forget the God-factor. For any relationship that's honouring to Him will be an opportunity for Him to prove His honour. They may fail, but He will not. And if they do, He will be there to carry you through.

I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name. Psalms 138:2 NLT