Do Not Squander Time...

The story of Exodus is a story of a man sent by God to deliver the nation of Israel from the clutches of an evil pharaoh bent on building his own empire.  When I hear people tell me how boring the Bible is I always look at them quizzically.  How can a story about a man drawn from the waters as a mere babe by his enemy's own daughter be boring?  How can a story that builds to a climax better than most Hollywood blockbusters not be read by the people who claim its authenticity?

My Sunday school class recently began to study the book of Exodus.  While it is a familiar story to I'm not sure that we fully engage in what was happening in the life of Moses.  After Moses was rescued from the "ark" by the princess of Egypt, he was raised in two worlds.  He was raised for the first years by his own family in a Hebrew home.  But after he grew into a boy, he was taken to the palace and raised as an Egyptian prince.  I wonder if Moses knew that God had a plan for him.  I wonder if he understood that God was developing him into a man who was supposed to free his people from bondage.  After all, when he saw an Egyptian taskmaster harming a Hebrew, he interceded and killed the Egyptian.  And when he saw two of his kinsmen fighting, he tried to intervene then too.

Whatever illusions of grandeur Moses had up until that time seemed to vanish.  He ran away to Midian to escape from what he had done to the Egyptian.  It seems as though Moses was content to live a life of a shepherd "beyond the wilderness."  It seems as though he figured that he had misunderstood his calling and he was going to simply exist on the fringes of society.  Even when God called Moses back to fulfill his duty, Moses wanted to argue.  He continually looked for excuses as to why he was unable to return to Egypt.

In the movie trilogy The Lord of The Rings, Frodo is called forth to destroy a ring forged from evil.  He is only a simple Hobbit.  He is someone who comes from the least of the beings of Middle Earth.  And yet, he and his friends undertook a most serious quest that had dire consequences.  Here is a scene from the movie where Frodo laments his task, especially since he is being pursued by the previous ring's owner.





Just like with Moses (and Frodo), each one of us is called into a vocation.  Sometimes the calling falls into our lap as it did with Frodo and the ring.  Sometimes the display of a burning bush illuminates the darkness around us drawing us to it so that we can receive our marching orders.  But usually our calling slowly matures within us.  It grows out of who we are...who God builds us to be...and who we need to be at that moment in time.

Gandolf tells Frodo, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."  As humans, our time is limited.  As the children of God, we are called into a life of service and ministry built on the foundation of love.  But what we have to decide is what we will do with the time that is given us.  Will we go forth like Moses and defeat the odds or will we choose to remain beyond the wilderness because we are frightened of our calling?

Until next time...

+May God the Father give you strength to fulfill the calling of Christ through the Spirit's activity in your life.  Amen

"Do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of."--Benjamin Franklin

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Wounded Healer

When I was in seminary I had the distinct privilege of sitting at the feet of a man filled with wisdom, compassion, and mercy.  He is a professor at Asbury and has a long history with my alma mater.  Before I even left Texas for Kentucky, my pastor who had also attended Asbury told me about Dr. Steve Seamands. When I began to plan out my course work I made sure to include one of his classes as soon as I could.

I was not sorry.  In fact, as I journeyed through one of my first classes with this professor, he had us read one of the books the he had written.  One thing you must understand is that seminary is filled to the brim with reading material.  Students are assigned books to read, web pages to read, magazine articles to read, and anything else that a professor can lay his or her hands on for them to read.  Fortunately, most of the reading assignments are interesting and are beneficial beyond just imparting some kind of knowledge.

The life of a seminary student.

But the book that Dr. Seamands wrote and had us read was different.  I wasn't just gleaning information along with spiritual growth from it; it was as though the words from the pages of that book were being transmitted directly from his heart to mine.  Not only did I understand what he was saying, I had lived it.  In fact, I could feel my spirit being fed in a wonderfully frightful way.  At the end of the class one day, I tried to explain to him how I had been changed from reading his book.  I'm not sure I conveyed it to him very well that day, but I tried.

The next fall, he offered a course on Christian healing.  Once again he had us read one of his books and once again I could sense the Holy Spirit working in me as I read the words he had written.  Over the course of that semester, I was given an opportunity to give a testimony during a chapel service of my own healing from severe arthritis.  The next time the class met, Dr. Seamands asked me to give the testimony again for those who had been unable to attend chapel.  When I was finished, he made a statement that has been in the back of my mind ever since.  He said, "Dustin is a wounded healer."

At the time I guess I wasn't spiritually mature enough to understand fully what that statement meant.  I'm not sure I am spiritually mature enough fully to understand even now.  But this week while I was reading through 1 John, the Holy Spirit revealed more of my wounds and the ability of a wounded healer to work among people.  In 1 John 5 we are told, "Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts.  Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.  And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."  As I read through these words, my faith was once again confirmed.

But even as my faith was confirmed, the evil things I have done were brought to mind.  The disgusting talk, the horrible way I treated people, the way that I had tried to make myself center stage came flooding into the forefront of my thinking.  All of the self-doubt, all of the selfishness, all of the hatred I had felt for others in their treatment of me had caused wounds in me.  But then the Holy Spirit reminded me of Dr. Seamands' statement, "Dustin is a wounded healer."  I had a decision to make.  I could either keep these wounds hidden away from others or I could go ahead and let people see the wounds and explain to them what caused them and how they had healed.  I could either continue to live my eternal life for myself or I could happily live my eternal life for the benefit of others.  I have chosen to live for others.

One of Dr. Seamands' books.

After I made that decision, I looked Dr. Seamands up on Facebook and let him know what had happened.  This was his reply, "Blessings on you too as you go deeper in Him, and as your scars become more radiant, like his."  That was the affirmation I needed.  I hope my scars do become more radiant in the coming years.  I hope that the wounds I have give me the opportunity to genuinely love, care for, and minister to those who need Christ's wounds.  I pray that my wounds never cause me to look back with resentment, but that they free me from the cause and help me to love the healer much more deeply.

My wounds have been healed and they are being healed.  That is what happens when you have the Son...you get eternal life.  Not some hoped for, distant other world.  You get to start eternal life now, having your wounds healed through the wounds of our glorious savior.  Until next time...

+May your wounds be healed by the Father, through the blood of Jesus Christ, by the ever present authority of the Holy Spirit.

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