Serendipity, "the valuable"

Forest Gump hit it on the head. "Life is like a box of chocolates." Indeed it is, but maybe not for the reality that "You never know what you're going to get" but rather because---you never know when it's going to make you sick. You can just be chowing down on a delectable cream-filled, chocolate wonder that comes in a box one minute and in the next be holding your stomach in agony. As grim as it is, the "never knowing" means the bad has as much of a chance as coming your way as the good.

Life can be tough, but it is THE VALUABLE because you can't tie a price tag onto it. It's irreplacable. The "what ifs" sometimes out weigh the "what ares." I know that I, with my human eyes, often have trouble seeing past circumstance and into the well of delight of life.

But give it all to me.

Give me the dew on the leaves as the sun fights its way into the morning sky. Give me open pastures that are big enough for me to get lost in. Give me waterfalls that push you back from themselves in their force. Give me late nights of looking into the stars and finding the soveriegnty of God there. Give me the joy on the face of a baby as it takes its first steps to its parents whose smiles seem to declare victory. Give me drives in the mountains. Give me the sting of ocean water in the eyes. Give me the summer nights of lying in a boat in the middle of a lake while watching the glory of meteor showers. Give me the tears in the eyes of someone who receives Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord. Give me the shear agony and thrill of falling in love, where her beauty makes your pulse race and her heart makes you dream a bigger dream. Give me walks in the cool rain. Give me a sled and a steep hill in the snowy winter. Give me the feeling of being keeled over a toliet with the flu. Give me the feeling of being made fun of, and the feeling of a standing ovation. Give me the feeling of a broken heart. Give me the nervous tension of going on stage. Give me the pats on the back and the slaps in the face. Give me the feeling of being helpless, and the feeling of being helped.

"The Valuable" of exsistence is the very air we breathe. Frederick Buechner wrote, "Be alive this first and holy day because order has been created out of chaos, light out of dark, so you can see, touch, taste, and smell, and tell this day that you have never seen before because it has never been before." Life: inexpressibly, irreplacable...it is the joy of exsistence. In the good, in the bad, and in the unknowing, it is the very passion of a Creator for us.

Serendipity, "the phenomenon"

We live in a violent world. People kill each other. Parents kill children, "friends" backstab, very often the race in the job market means people stepping on other people to somehow get to the top, and some people die of hunger while others feed their faces. The world is cold in its perversion. Seriously, it makes me sick. There is only so much I can handle, but what is worse, I have a habit of being as humanly flawed as the next human.

But there is serendipity, a surprise, and it is nothing short of a miracle. It's the phone call from an old friend. It's someone seeing your gifts on a hard day when you feel like you have nothing to give. It's a thankful voice when you feel like you have a thankless job. It's someone speaking to your heart when your heart doesn't have the strength to speak to them. It's love when you feel unlovable.

"The phenomenon" of life is the love of God. The miracle is that God chooses to reveal His perfect, mysterious love to an imperfect world.

I'm really good at screwing up. It's not that I TRY to screw up...it just happens. There are people out there who don't like me. I know, I know, how could anyone not like me? My beautiful blue eyes, the cute gap in my two front teeth, my incredibly unique volleyball serve...the list goes on. However, my feet are prone to wander. The whole parable that Jesus told about the one sheep that wanders away from the fold? Yup, that was me. I don't want to screw up...I just do. I've set up intricate systems of accountability in my life, but it doesn't keep me from wandering off. Being a sheep is tough. You eat stuff all day, every once in a while you eat too much. You follow the herd: if they go to the grass by the water tower, that's where you go. If they go to the water hole, you follow. Ok, I suck at being a sheep. I want adventure. My roomate in college, Ted the Irish Theologan, told me one day, "Joel, there are three types of people in life: Leaders, Followers, and Mixer-up-ers." "Joel," he said, "you are a Mixer-up-er." I think God likes mixer-up-ers. As a mixer-up-er I know that I cannot do life on my own. I wander, and fall on my butt. I wander into dark gullies, I get myself lodged in caves, and many-a-time have I gotten myself caught in thorny brush. I cry out. Soon I hear the voice of my Shepherd calling out my name. For a second I'm scared that He's going to be mad at me...but when our eyes meet I don't see anger. Sometimes I see compassion, because what I've gotten myself into hurts. Sometimes I see laughter, because sometimes what I've gotten myself into is a funny predicament. But regardless, what I always see there is: LOVE.

It has been said somewhere in my past that:
"Love is the active concern for the life and growth of that which is loved."

The Phenomenon is that God not only created us and loves us, but that He is continually active in loving us. He never stops. Even if you don't WANT Him to love you, He still does. It's sort of annoying, but I need someone whose active love for me is stronger than my tendency to wander away.

Serendipity, "the faculty"

The Sovereignty of God:
Something deeper than the unfathomable depths of the places you've never thought of.

You know, sometimes you just have to give up. Right now I feel like I have to give up on this subject. Not because it's hopeless, but because it's too big. I could go on to talk about how God created the ocean, Grand Canyon, or a daffodil. And you might say, "Oh, that's nice," not quite impressed that it is more exciting than watching llamas at the zoo. It always seems that we sell God short. Short, that is, to each other, the people at work, at home, or the people that we see on Sunday mornings when we socialize at church.

Frederick Buechner once wrote:
"All-wise. All-powerful. All-loving. All-knowing. We bore to death both God and ourselves with our chatter. God cannot be expressed but only experienced."

It's like a man swimming in the ocean holding a Nalgene water bottle. Splashing around, the man manages to fill his bottle full of ocean water and screw the lid on. Out of glee the man holds up his water bottle and exclaims, "I have the ocean in here!" No, I'm sorry my friend. That is NOT the ocean. What you have is a bottle full of salty water, you're swimming in the ocean...the ocean is much too big for you to contain in a bottle. You might splash around in the ocean, but if you're not careful the ocean might swallow you.

Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) once prayed:
"You, O eternal Trinity, are a deep sea into which, the more I enter, the more I find, and the more I find, the more I seek. O abyss, O eternal Godhead, O sea profound, what more could you give me than yourself? Amen."

The serendipity, the "surprise" for us is that the faculty of the Giver of life wants us to experience Him to depths that we don't understand or can imagine. He's invested much to give us the opportunity to experience the depths of Him, but we push that aside in view of our priorities. Somehow we devise plans that, we think, shape our destiny. We struggle to "make a name" for ourselves, to "create a niche." We get bored with the silent times in life, when it is in the silence that God wants to speak to us. God wants us to get lost in Himself, but we fight to replace that possibility with potential of what WE think a "good life" is.

Now we come to a new morning to realize that we had been woven together in our mother's womb. That we are known better than we can know. That we are loved more than we can love. That every second, every breath is a gift given by the Author of life.

I've been shaken tragically out of the "daily grind" of life. I am lost at sea, don't bother looking for me.

Serendipity, a Surprise Beginning

I'm not a morning person. I really want to be a morning person someday. It's in the mornings where I recollect my thoughts and, hopefully, my sanity; I try to remember the goings ons of the 24 hours before, and with that, also the deluge of failures and things that I wish I did different. I'm sort of a living illustration of the Fall of Mankind. In the morning I'm as fallen as a human can be, and throughout the day God (in His grace) redeems my day (and me). Mornings were created to be beautiful, but my blaring alarm clock pisses me off. And then alarm clock #2 goes off. And then alarm clock #3 goes off. Yes, I have 3 alarm clocks. As beautiful as mornings are, I suck at them. After my rotation of alarm clock snoozes, I finally manage to shut them off. Then I roll out of bed. I shower. I check email. Nothing exciting. Just life.

Then every once in awhile it will be different. Maybe I'm out for a run early in the morning, and as the sun rises I'm knocked of my wanderings with a sunrise that shudders of the delight of it's Creator. The yellows peel back the haze of the moist morning to show a brief bit of orange, or even periwinkle. Then all of the sudden (or all at once) I'm hit with a revelation that I'm not alone, and that somehow the Hand that made the sunrise made me...and maybe for all I know (who knows) maybe He made that sunrise for me to have this moment to spend with Him

I think I want to take some time to write about "serendipity."

Serendipity:
the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for

"The faculty" being the sovereignty of God.
"The phenomenon" being the Love of God.
"The valuable" being life.
"The agreeable" being peace.
& "The 'not sought for'" being [you'll see].

More persistent than my alarm clocks, is the mercy of God. He gives new chances every morning. New starts. Take two's. Do overs. New canvases.

Psalm 92:1-2
It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night