Driving through the Empire

"Ouch."

This is the final line of dialogue from The Empire Strikes Back. Now, I must warn you that there might be spoilers here if you haven't seen The Empire Strikes Back. And if you actually haven't seen the movie, go grab the nearest geek and asked to borrow his/her pre-1997 DVD of it. Or just wait until September when Lucas re-re-releases them on BluRay. You know that every fanboy and fangirl will buy their overpriced copy...and yes, I will too probably.

Sorry, back to what I was writing...yes, "ouch." These four letter pretty much sum up the entire movie. From the pain of war to seeing Lando wearing clothes straight out of Hahn's closet. Seriously, check it out in the final scenes, he's wearing Hahn Solo's outfit. Creepy.

The whole movie is about pain. The pain of losing, the pain of the past, the pain of getting your hand chopped off by a lightsaber while dangling very precariously off a ledge. The Empire Strikes Back is all about pain, loss and struggle. And it is all summed up in the word "ouch."

Now, many who saw Empire back in the day were struck at just how hopeless the ending of the movie seemed. Hahn was frozen in carbenite, Lando took off in the Millennium Falcon, and the Rebels were scattered all over the galaxy.

Yet, during this time of trial and struggle, Luke had Yoda walking him through his training as a Jedi. He had a teacher who taught him how to focus, how to concentrate, how to fight and how to escape. This training is what Luke leaned upon when he fought Darth Vader, whom he learned (*spoiler*) was his father.

Now, I'm not comparing Jesus to Yoda what soever. But, in order for Luke to be healthy, he needed a trainer, a teacher to walk with him (and sometimes on Luke's back hitting him) to endure and to understand and to learn. During a time of temptation, Yoda talked Luke through it.

When going through our own Empire Strikes Back, we have our teacher, savior and friend, Jesus, walking with us through it. He is talking with us through tough and dark times. We have one who is greater than Yoda, who died for us so that we might have life. And he teaches us what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Remember this, yes, Empire Strikes Back is bleak, but there is The Return of the Jedi. We need to drive through the hurts, the pains, the struggles of our own life, of our own Empire in order to make it to The Return of the Jedi. Jesus will walk you through this and bring you safely to the other side.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Psalm 23:4

My ears a painin'

So, I got this wicked bad earache/infection going on here. Massive pain in the ear. This last Friday, my wife (oh so loving and wise beyond her years) said I should probably go get it checked out sooner rather than later. I was busy on Friday. I had to get a ton of work done and visits in. Plus I had a sermon to finish and a funeral meditation to get done. I didn't have time to do that. And so I pressed onward figuring that if I just put some of those Wal-Mart earache drops in my ear and pop some Tylenol, I'll be just fine.

Yeah, so not the case. Saturday it started hurting and that ringing sound started playing where you want to make sure that the phone is ringing and not your ear and you're wrong, it is your ear. Yeah. That. Then Sunday it started hurting worse. Monday around 4am I was cursing the day I was born, folded in the fetal position, rocking back and forth trying hard to find my happy place. Okay, so I wasn't really doing that, but I was up with a heating pad watching late night TV in a ton of pain. I almost drove my self to the ER.

As soon as the doctor's office opened up, I called up to make an appointment. I was seen later on in the afternoon and given a bunch of stuff including the wonderful concoction of Tylenol 3.

This got me to thinking--How many times do we ignore our own pain, our own physical pain (just play through the pain), our own emotional pain (spreading the peanut butter over the pie, sealing away the cracks of pain [a line from Mall Cop]) and our own spiritual pain (God can't love me for what I've done).

Honestly, we do it way too often. We ignore the pain hoping it goes away. We ignore it or try to cover it up hoping that we can maybe get over it. Other times it becomes the excuse we use to avoid others, including God.

What pain are you going through right now. Get it checked out. What pain do you have with God? Lay your pain at the feet of Jesus. Give him your worries, anxieties and pains. He's big enough. He can take it.

And what did I learn from all of this? Listen to my wife next time.

Pain Hurts

"Some say pain is an illusion. Others say pants are. Pain is weakness leaving the body, pants are nakedness leaving the body. " Anonymous (for a reason I think)

I heard it in football, I heard it in weight lifting--play through the pain. No Pain, no gain. In someways, I understand. Don't let a little thing get in the way. In the playoffs last year, Cutler played on a broken leg. He played through the pain. In weight lifting, the pain or burn that you feel are the muscle fibers snapping under the strain. This snapping or breaking of the muscle fibers is what causes the muscles to grow bigger. The same is true in sports and conditioning. The harder you push, the pain hits and then you're body recovers and mends so that it can withstand what you put it through. But the body has limits too.

Pain also is a message to your body to stop. Fire hurts. Stop touching it. You're elbow doesn't bend that way. Stop. Other times, it is a sign that the body is healing itself. I had dental work done yesterday and boy howdy does it hurt like a kick in the head by a mule. But a lot of work was done on that section and now the body is healing and repairing and it frakin hurts like the dickens.

Pain isn't seen it's felt. And the signs of pain can be seen on people no matter how hard we try to hide it. There's also too much pain. There's diseases such as Fibromyalgia (a very real disease) which causes constant pain and fatigue. Other times there is cancer which can cause insurmountable pain that you have a hard time dealing with it.

Pain hurts.

So does emotional and spiritual pain. And that pain almost never is seen but it is strongly felt. We don't like to admit these types of pain. It shows that we are weak. That we can't handle things. We have a hard enough time admitting our physical pain, it's even harder to admit our emotional and spiritual pain.

Yet, we have a promise for healing those as well. And it can be tough. Tough to admit to ourselves and tough to admit to God. Yet, we hear these words

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Now, I'm not promising it all will be perfect, but there is a promise that you can make it through a lot better than you might be now. Jesus can change your attitude on how you deal with the pain.

Control how you deal with the pain don't let it control you.

What pain are you dealing with now? How can Jesus change the way you deal with it?

In the Colorado Wilderness (redux)

(This is a repost from my old The Harbor blog. This was written during a time of distress and frustration. We went on a family vacation only to have our minivan die on the side of the road in eastern Colorado [which, incidentally looks like Tattoinne.. saw a jawa at Starbucks there]. Now that we're going on our first vacation since this incident, I thought I'd repost it for fun...and hoping it never happens again. Please to enjoy)


When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior Isaiah 42:2-3


These words ring oh so much truer for me now. It’s been a hard couple of days. We were looking forward to some rest, relaxation, fun, and visiting family. And then it happened. Our car died. I mean, it’s beaten up beyond repair. It’s more dead than the career of that kid who played Screech on Saved by the Bell.

Now we’ve been stranded, stuck, in beautiful eastern Colorado. I can see the snow capped mountains in the background. I can see the fir trees turning slightly brown due to lack of water. It’s gorgeous…but not where we wanted to be.

I will admit it, I’m frustrated. This isn’t what I wanted our first family vacation to be like.
These words from the book of Isaiah are words given to the Children of Israel during times of trouble. “When you pass through waters, I will be with you” God tells them. Waters was a way of describing chaos..which I feel like we’re living in right now. And then he says “When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep you over.” Rivers were natural borders between countries and a lot of these rivers were fierce and formable during the rainy season when they were at their peak. When trouble is surrounding us as we pass into a new time in our lives, God says he will be with us. And then he says “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Basically, to borrow from Battlestar Galatctica, when everthing’s fraked up beyond repair, God will not let us be consumed by it; it won’t take over our lives.

This is supposed to be good news for me, right? “Yes, yes it is” I keep telling myself. “God has a plan and this is part of it” I keep telling myself. And these answers are true and real. I know God is in control, but right now, it feels like everything’s fraked up and not going according to plan.
So this is what I’m doing right now. I’m trusting, I praying and I’m walking forward.

I’m trusting that God will provide. God says that he takes care of us. He will be there. In fact, not a hair can fall from my head without Him knowing or being somehow involved (I spotted a gray hair yesterday…from the trip, I don’t know…but if God’s involved somehow, we’re going to have words). Everything is out of my control. I am at the mercy of others. I can’t have a say right now, because other people will determine what will happen. So I need to trust that God will use these people to get us through this mess we’re in and that it will be a great story to tell later on how great God truly is.

I’m also praying. I’m praying so much that I’ve even set the timer on my cell phone to go off once an hour so I can pray. But part of prayer is also listening. So I’m asking God for help, pleading with him for help, but I’m also listening to his direction and guidance.

And I'm walking forward. This is the toughest part. But I know that God is there. He is speaking, he is active. I remember the verse right before the ones I quoted above where he says “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” I am His. He has summoned me by name. He is mine. I am His. The God of all the universe knows my name and I am His.

I wish I could end on that note. God is here. He answers my prayers. But the answer isn’t always what I want it to be. Right now, it’s “wait.” It s wait.

And so I wait…..

(epilogue--we did finally leave eastern Colorado and made it safely back to Chicago, sans vacation in California. Two years later, we are once again attempting a trip back to California. I might have a blog post or two when I come back. In the mean time, there will be some good guest bloggers on here to keep the blog a goin')

what I've learned from coffee--A lenten meditation

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love coffee. There's just something about it first thing in the morning that gets me going. And, no, it's not the caffeine. Okay, it's not just the caffeine. It's all the memories wrapped up into it. There's something about sitting around with friends drinking coffee and eating a slice of pie. There's something about standing around after church, coffee in hand, gabbing away with friends.

Recently, I've realized just how thankful I am for coffee.

We've all gone through hard ache and pain. We've all heard the cry of the catawampus. But what happens at the end of the tunnel? What's the outcome?

For me, it all boils down to coffee. Literally.

Take three items here--carrots, eggs and coffee beans. Carrots are hard, stiff. Eggs are fragile, coffee beans are hard and oily.

When problems hit, they can hit us hard and totally mess with us in ways we'd never like. It's a lot like boiling water. Hot, scalding, violent.

Carrots in boiling water become soft, floppy, and loose a lot of nutrients. So many times, we can run the risk of entering into a season of problems just like that and be beaten up so much we come out just floppy.

Eggs on the other hand get cooked. They look the same on the outside but on the inside they are hard...and that cooked yolk can be bitter. We can run the risk of looking the same on the outside, but be bitter and hard on the inside.

Coffee beans on the other hand are a different story. You put coffee beans in boiling water and you get coffee. Coffee beans change, they are still in boiling water, but the water now becomes coffee. Both change. And, in my open, are better for it.

Now, if life just down right stinks right now, don't become a carrot, don't become an egg. Allow it to stink but don't allow it to change you. Allow it to make you into something wonderful--let it turn you into coffee.

In fact, God promises to make you coffee

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God. Isaiah 43:2-3

Paul says something in Romans that helps me to remember that I will always be coffee because of the grace of God.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

Looking at Easter, it's because of Jesus that we can truly be coffee by the grace of God.

Are you coffee?