The Divine Crash

If you have been watching the news the last few days you have seen that Hurricane Sandy has been a big deal here in the northeast part of the country. NYC subways have flooded and people are with power and even reports of some people dead. This storm is a huge tragedy.

What I have noticed though is that 1 rain drop doesn’t really bother anyone.  Even 100 raindrops isn’t that big of a deal. It is when Billions of raindrops all drop at the same time that destruction, damage, and death start to happen. It is when all those rain drops happen that things are never the same again.

I think it is that way in life.  One bad thing, one Monday, one thing happens and it hurts and we notice it but it doesn’t really disrupt us.  But then sometimes it feels like a billion bad things happen all that same time and then it really hurts. It really costs us something and we are never the same again.

So what do we do? How do we deal? I think that when all those bad things happen we take our plan from those who have lived through the real hurricanes. We rebuild, put our lives back together again as best as possible and we try to move on. We carry the memories, the scars, and the limp that came from it but we still carry on. We plug-in to a strength that comes from God and is bigger than ourselves and we start moving forward. Yes, still with the grief and pain but we use that to strengthen our resolve and carry ourselves closer to a time when there will be no more raindrops, hurricanes, cancer, death, poverty, and injustice.

So then, when you find yourself in the hurricanes of life may you find that your strength comes from above and may you find that strength to hang on for just a little bit longer because a new day is coming where rain does not win.

Recently I spent six months preaching through the book of Hebrews. I just finished and the sermon on Hebrews 12 about running the race got me thinking.  Then the Olympic runners got me thinking more.  Specifically I am thinking about how I finish this race of life.

Some want to finish in a comfy space, where they can rest and finally relax and be comfortable.

I don’t really want that. I want to run with so much veracity that there is nothing left.  I wanna finish like this guy (who isn’t me).

I want to fall down on the finish line exhausted, worn out, with nothing left to do but kick off my shoes, lay there, and guzzle the living water.

Life isn’t about coasting delicately across the finish line it is about crashing in on all cylinders, collapsing in the dirt and realizing that I left everything I had on that track with all those witnesses watching and letting out a deep sigh of relief.

What about you? How do you want to finish the race? Leave me a comment with your thoughts.

We are well into 2012.  So now what? What will make 2012 different than 2011? How will you achieve your goals this year?

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Today was a different kind of sermon.  We are still examining where the cross is true.  Is the cross some abstract thing that is our ticket out of hell and into heaven, when we die? Or does the cross matter now, today, and in everything we do?

You can hear the entire sermon on ITunes (search for Tanoma) or click here

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there is a tradition in my family of eating seafood on Christmas eve.  So every year we get our seafood ready, nothing real exotic or weird, just shrimp, crab cakes, popcorn shrimp, and maybe crab legs.  This year I noticed the package of peel and eat shrimp said deveined. (more…)