Obscured View

As I’ve previously written about, I have a long drive to work. Thankfully,I like to drive and God doesn’t let these extended times spent on the road go to waste. He often uses them to teach me things about Himself and about the Christian life. It is no mistake that the Christian life is often compared to a journey for there is much about a significant time spent traveling that equates to the time we spend on this Earth walking with God.

Since the seasons have started to change (a subtle occurrence in Southern California, to be sure), there is now the greater possibility that my morning commute will be peppered with fog. Usually, the sun is breaking through so the condense air is nothing more than a pretty filter for the bright rays of light. Sometimes, however, the fog is heavy and it makes seeing what’s in front of me a challenge. Even the car that just passed me, can be difficult to see within a few seconds.

One unexpected outcome of this is that the fog can make my familiar journey seem strange. The landscape and the signs that I’m used to seeing our hidden from my view, and therefore the road appears to be a different one. I will be heading towards my exit, and have to check and make sure that it is the right path  to take because all my suroundings look different. Even though I know the way, the fog makes it seem unfamiliar. It takes that which I know to be true, and makes me think twice about it.

Sometimes we let the foggy teachings of this world do the same to us. We start off on our familiar journey with God, but we let the heavy air obscure our sight. It appears to change the path that we’re on, even though it is in fact, the one that God has called us to walk.  We wonder if we’re heading the right direction because we can’t see the familiar signs and settings. Not because they aren’t there, but because we are letting other considerations – our thoughts, feelings, and desires – hide them from us.

Yet when we are on the right path – when we are walking where God has called us to walk – the fact that our view is hazy shouldn’t prevent us from our journey. After all, He is above the fog – and He still sees the journey that we’re walking. Instead we need to do what I do on my morning commute – drive through the fog and continue down the path He’s called us to  The things that cloud our view that aren’t from God need to be dismissed – much like the morning fog fades in the light of day.

If the foggy things of this life are obscuring our view – we need to keep moving forward – knowing that for His children the fog is temporary, but the path He has us on leads to eternity.

 

Why does the fog of this life impact our walk with God? How can we prevent it from doing so?

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Here to Serve

Since I live in Southern California, I get the opportunity to go to Disneyland frequently. Although there is assuredly much to be criticized about “The Happiest Place on Earth” one thing that they do exceptionally well is train their employees. The people who work there, Disney calls them “cast members,” are steeped into the Disney way of doing things. They are focused on creating a “magical” experience for their guests. For all the times I have been there, I can’t think of a single instance where a cast member was rude to me. It doesn’t matter if I’ve interrupted what they’re doing or even if there are many other people clamoring for their attention, they always stop to provide the requested help. Seemingly their focus in on making sure that my day at Disneyland is a good one.

Disney isn’t the only company with this intense preoccupation with service. Many other companies such as Nordstrom &  Apple are not content with simply selling customers a product.  They are fanatical about serving their customers with excellence. As a result many of these companies are among the most celebrated today. As a recent quote I saw on Twitter and attributed to Blake Nordstrom said, “”For 62 yrs, all we sold were shoes. Being on your knees fitting shoes teaches you servant leadership.” If you serve people well in humble, and sometimes humility ways, you’re bound to serve them well in all other ways too.

I was reminded of all this when recently, I thanked a young man at our church for filling in at the last minute, and he aptly replied “Here to serve.”  It was a poignant reminder of what our mindset as Christians should be. Just like the employees at Disneyland, Apple and Nordstrom view it as their job to provide exceptional service to those they encounter, so should our objective be as Christians. The only reason we remain on this Earth is to serve our Father here – and to do so by serving those that He created. Our focus then shouldn’t be on protecting our interests or staking or claim, just like the Disney cast members aren’t focused on simply getting their task done. Instead, we should have fanatical preoccupation with serving others. We should view our job as being “here to serve.”

This means that when we’re called to pinch hit, we don’t see it as an inconvenience but an opportunity. It means that we don’t look for a reason why we have to do something, but we proactively search for creative ways that we can improve somebody else’s day.  We’re doing our “job” when we’re serving someone else.  It is the reason why we’re here. It’s what we’ve been tasked to do.

After all, it’s what our Master was about and it’s our goal to live lives more like His.

 

Who is someone that you know that is “here to serve?” How do they demonstrate this commitment?

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