Standing on the Furniture

I wrote this back in 2009. I was in Helmand Province, Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. It was my last deployment in my last year of 20 years serving in the U.S. Navy. I had been through a lot, I had seen a lot of things, I had gone through so much with so many fine men and women of our military that I sat down and reflected on what mattered. It's all about taking chances in life, trusting in God, going and doing what we all have to do but do it without losing faith in God, in ourselves and in life itself.

I named it Standing on the Furniture because when I was a boy I played a game. I would stand on our couch or Dad's recliner (a big no-no, by the way) and I would jump from furniture to furniture while imagining that if I fell off I would fall into a deep chasm. It was life and death stuff. Mostly death because I fell a LOT and also because when my Mom would catch me doing it. She did not spare the rod, trust me. But I would get up and do it again. Somewhere along the line, I stopped jumping...at least, I thought I had but looking back, maybe I didn't. 

How about you?

STANDING ON THE FURNITURE

Two things I think are the most important in life…

And two things I think you need to think about…

1 is: Sometimes you have to stand on the furniture and -

2: You have to break loose your personal scar tissue.

When we’re young children, we all stand on the furniture ….

We all want to be first in line…

We all want to play 3rd base or center field…

We all want to kiss the prettiest girl – or guy, depending on what side of the fence you are on...

OR

We’re going to be astronauts or movie stars…

Life is an endless series of opportunities with no sense of boundaries or limits…

But then as we get older we’re taught that it’s dangerous to stand on the furniture…

And even worse, at some point we begin to believe it.

By age 20 or so, school has pretty much beaten it out of us…

It’s no longer about being first in line –

It’s about getting in line.

If you’re still standing on the furniture at age 30 … and particularly if you’ve fallen off a couple of times –

You’re thought of as being in danger of “personal or professional failure” – whatever that means for a 30-year-old…

If you’re still doing it at age 40…

And you’ve been somewhat successful,

Then you’re called an iconoclast – sort of a dopey guy who does weird things that nobody understands –

But it seems to work out for him and for the people around him most of the time.

Notice I said “Most of the time”

And then, if you’re still standing on the furniture at age 50, they send you to Iraq or Afghanistan or Okinawa or wherever the wind seems to carry you according to its whims…

Society doesn’t really want us to stand on the furniture EVER…

And institutions fear people who stand on the furniture,

But ultimately, it’s not society or institutions that hold us back…

It’s us as individuals.

We fall and get hurt in one way or another,

Then all too often we hunker down in our comfort zones…

We become afraid…

We get hurt physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually…and we’re afraid to pick up the bat again and swing as hard as we can like we used to…

Two or three of our ideas don’t work out right…

And so we become afraid to stretch ourselves mentally-

Or take a risk in our personal and professional life…

Personal relationships go sideways…

We get hurt emotionally…

And we hurt others in the process…

And we become afraid to let the shields down – and commit openly and honestly to one another as individual human beings…

We become afraid to stand on the furniture because we fall off and hit the floor and it hurts…

And the resulting scar tissue causes us to draw back physically, mentally and emotionally – and worst of all: spiritually.

We retreat to the false safety of boundaries we set for ourselves –

Not boundaries set by society or any institution,

But boundaries we set that limit what we can be as individuals.

Now here’s what I want you to think about –

You can’t be a bull in a china closet –

And you can’t be stupid in picking and choosing your fights –

And not every injustice warrants a crusade –

But if you’re going to do anything worthwhile in life;

If you’re going to experience any of your dreams;

If you’re going to make a difference in the lives of others;

And open up to allow others to make a difference in your life –

Then sometimes you have to stand on the furniture;

Sometimes you have to take some risks;

And when you do you’ll occasionally fall and get hurt –

Because life really is a contact sport.

And then comes the hardest part:

Having the courage to get up, break that scar tissue loose, jump up and stand on the furniture again –

To not allow the friction of life and relentless pull of gravity to make you less of a person…

Trust me – I know.

For 52 years in this business called life I have seen individuals at all social levels and ranks that stood on the furniture…

Fell off…

And got back up and made a difference,

I have seen it in my own life.

I’ve made mistakes in my life that have created new scar tissue for me and others, but I’ve also broken loose some old scar tissue for myself – and, I hope, for others as well.

And I know I’m better for it physically and mentally and maybe emotionally –

(Spiritually, I’m not so sure. I’m still trying to get back on track with God on that.)

Because ultimately it’s all about taking risks in life, and it’s only my life – and it’s only your life.

I can’t live yours and you can’t live mine.

But about God again…after I’m 52, then I’m 53, 54, etc…

And someday I won’t be anything on this earth.

All the risks will be done; all the furniture climbing is over; and I’m down and gone but if God is there in me and I’m in Him then maybe all that I’ve gone through and experienced – all the scraped knees, crying heart tears, and broken brain cells – will be brought into perspective and I’ll realize that maybe the reasons I did or did not do what I was supposed to do was what God intended.

Maybe that sounds crazy … or maybe I just jumped off the furniture again and took a risk in a mental and spiritual jump.

Only HE knows for sure…

Maybe I’ll have peace someday and look back and say, “It was all good – even the times that I accepted the merely existent, and stayed off the furniture, and avoided the contact sport of life, and kept the scabs on the scar tissues – because I was afraid to try and take a chance.”

So…what have I learned ultimately?

Take a chance on life…

Take risks…

In living.

In loving.

Tomorrow’s only guarantee is that it will be there whether we’re alive to experience it or not.

And the other guarantee is that God will always be there and tomorrows will be forever because He’s forever and tomorrow wouldn’t exist without Him anyway.

I just hope that I’ve climbed on the furniture enough and took enough risks.

 I hope you do too –

And not give up…

EVER…

On yourself, or God.

~~~~~~~~~ 

Weylin Wendt

February 22, 2009

Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan

Taking the Risk in Faith

It's hard sometimes to have faith. It's not a sin to have problems in faith because God knows our frailties and our failings. His grace is greater than that. Trust in the Lord also includes trusting in His forgiving our shortcomings and our doubts. We should also trust in God's timing for God's time is not the same as our time - especially in this push-button, instantaneous gratification society we live in. The process of sanctification does not happen all at once. It's a lifetime of learning and growing in Jesus Christ. Sometimes we have to take risks and believe, especially when we can't see the future. We never can. But God has the future already mapped out. We just have to trust Him - then it really isn't a risk, is it?

~~~~~~~~~~

Taking the Risk in Faith (From 1 Kings 17 - the prophet Elijah and the widow and her son)

At the beginning of Elijah's ministry, God sent Elijah before King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and proclaimed to them that because of their sins in leading Israel astray from God's laws, that there would be a drought and famine for 3 years. Then God sent him to stay with a widow and her son. When he first arrived, Elijah asked the widow for some bread. The woman sadly said she only had enough for one final meal: "I don't have any bread - only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it - and die."

(1 Kings 17:12)

The widow had completely given up on life. She believed she was preparing her last meal, but Elijah told her to trust God and make him [Elijah] something to eat out of the remaining flour. Elijah said it was God's plan to provide for all her needs...but she must believe.

1 Kings 17:14: "For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.'"

The widow could have used the remaining food to feed herself and her son, but she risked all she had and did as Elijah requested. Even though she could not see the extra food nor understand how it would arrive, she had faith in God's Word and took action based on her faith.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). 

"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works?...For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (James 2:14, 26)

The risk was great, but God's promise and provision were even greater: "So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the Word of the Lord spoken by Elijah" (1 Kings 17:15-16).

Taking a step of faith ALWAYS requires risk - always requires stepping into the unknown. If we could see every detail about where God was leading and how He would provide, we wouldn't need faith. But if there is any "success" to be had in the Christian walk, it will only come as we daily live by faith; as we live each and every moment by listening intently for the call of God and then trusting Him, even through our fear, as we step into what we cannot see. This is where the true blessings of God reside.

When God calls us to a place where we must be "certain of what we do not see," we must boldly step forward. We must overcome our fears with a faith grounded in the promises of His Word and trust Him with all our heart that He will never leave our side.

There are so many who live their life without hope. Their circumstances seem to indicate that all is lost and they have been abandoned by God. And yet, He continues to call and promises hope through faith and trust; but we must take the step! Let's compassionately share this message of hope with each other and encourage each other, and if we are faithful - to all people around the world. If we are careful to listen, we most certainly will hear His call. He is faithful and will never lead us astray. So when we hear His call, let's be prepared to step and take the risk of faith. 

In Christ,

Weylin

    3 Nails

+ 1 Cross

= 4 Given

Keep your eye on the Eastern sky. "For as lightning comes out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also will the coming of the Son of Man be."  (Matthew 24:27) 

Occam's Razor Says So!

  Occam's razor states that "simpler explanations are, other things being equal, generally better than more complex ones" This is what has been the cornerstone of science in creating hypotheses, theories and, finally, explanations for centuries. The majority of scientists (of all types) agree with this statement. And since they believe the simplest explanation is most likely the most accurate, or better, than I have to hypothesize that when it comes to the theory of evolution vice the belief of the Creator creating our world, the universe and all life - the evolutionary theory fails. Why? The study of the theory of evolution is so complex, so varied - in fact, so argued even among the members of the scientific community - that it fails the basic tenet of Occam's Razor. 
Are you ready for the greatest, simplest sentence regarding creation, so simple that a child can understand it? So simple a sentence that it fulfills Occam's Razor? Are you ready? --- Here it is, one of the oldest recorded words ever written: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 
Pretty easy, wasn't it? I know, I know - you already knew this verse but I think that sometimes we need to stop and think about God as the Creator and how His claim as Creator of all things directly affects us. In that 1st chapter of Genesis we come to this profound portion of creation - "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness..." Genesis 1:26. Then in verse 27 it says, "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him [man]; male and female He created them." 
The origin of the human race is simply (Occam's Razor) and clearly set forth in the divine record and so plainly stated that there is no reason for any erroneous conclusions. God created man in His own image. There is no mystery to it. It doesn't teach that man was evolved by slow degrees of development or mutation from the lower forms of animal life. The teaching of evolution lowers the Creator to the level of man's narrow, earthly conceptions. Men have been so intent upon excluding God from His sovereignty of mankind and the universe that they degrade man and defraud him of the divine dignity of his origins.
You and I are His children. We come from divine lineage. We come from the hand of God - and redeemed by the very same hand. His hands held Adam when he breathed his first breath, and His hands held Adam's offspring's eternal lives with nails sealing the deal.
It is such love as this that should make us fall to our knees and thank Him from the depths of our hearts - thankful that He created us, that He died for us, that He reaches out to us with everlasting love and grace - all that simply because He first loved us ... loved us from "The Beginning..."