Courage in Everyday Life

There was a test conducted by a university where 10 students were placed in a room. 3 lines of varying length were drawn on a card. The students were told to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the longest line. But 9 of the students had been instructed beforehand to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the second longest line. 1 student was the stooge. The usual reaction of the stooge was to put his hand up, look around, and realizing he was all alone, pull it back down. This happened 75% of the time, with students from grade school through high school. The researchers concluded that many would rather be part of the crowd than be right.

I don't think the findings of this study are in any way unique to childhood or youth. It takes a great deal of courage to stand for what you know to be right when it seems that the rest of the world is going in a different direction.

The next time it seems everyone else is pointing in a different direction than the life that God has called you to live as a fully devoted follower of Christ remember these words from scripture, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." - 2 Timothy 1:7

A Lesson in Patience

This past week, Joni and I took our girls to Washington D.C. for a quick get away. It was a wonderful to experience the many historical landmarks and museums found in our nation's capitol. Amongst the many things we did was make a visit to the National Archives where they keep original copies of the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Constitution on display. Because it was the height of tourist season in D.C. of course the waits were long to make in into the rotunda where these famous documents and others are on display. Only 100 people at a time are released to go into the rotunda. The police officer at the rotunda made it extremely clear to everyone before entering that you shouldn't form a single file line in front of any of the documents. So when our group was released to go into the room I walked directly up to the Declaration of Independence when all of the sudden a woman started yelling at me that I was cutting in line. I tried to explain that I was only doing what the officer had instructed us to do, but she didn't care. I feared that the headlines of the Orlando Sentinel were going to read, "Pastor Kicked Out of National Archives." My initial response was to engage and yell back at the woman, but I knew this wasn't going to be helpful to the situation. After she shoved her way in front of me while pushing her purse into my stomach, I thought I've got to disengage from this. The whole experience became a giant lesson in patience - patience in waiting to get in, patience with some loud woman I've never seen before and patience with my own feelings. I write all of this to make a larger point. The patience I had to exhibit that day is nothing compared to the patience that God has shown to you and me in life. He is patient with us when we make him wait. He is patient with us when we don't act right. He is patient with us even when we struggle with our emotions. I'm so glad that we serve a patient God. Knowing the patience He has shown to us, how can we not be patient with one another?