I am currently on
my ninth month away from my family and church.
I would be lying if I said it has been easy. People who have deployed or been on a
business trip or otherwise away from their family probably understand what I'm
talking about. Missing birthdays,
anniversaries, special events, parent teacher conferences, hockey games, and gymnastics
is tough. Plus there is the continuous guilty
feeling of only having to worry about myself while Amanda is playing the role
of mom and dad while I'm gone. If I get
nothing else out of my time away, I will undoubtedly leave Omaha with an
overwhelming amount of appreciation for Amanda and all she has done. Likewise, I will look to with reverence and
gratitude to our church family—each of you—for your prayers, help watching the
kids, letting our dogs outside when days become nights, and so much more.
I have been digging
into Hebrews over the past couple weeks and have found myself stuck on Hebrews
12. You are probably familiar with the theme
of this passage: "The Call to Endurance". What does that mean exactly? Perhaps you have heard a preacher once say
something along the lines of, "finish the race with endurance." The life we live as Christians is a
marathon. We must constantly work hard
to do what's right even when the potential consequences are unfathomable. Doing what is right sounds awesome on
paper. Go ahead and write it down...I'll
wait. See, wasn't that easy? Writing that phrase down, however, is only in
preparation for the marathon.
Take a look at
Hebrews 12:1-3:
Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart.What do you say we take a closer look at this passage? In verse 1, the author mentioned "witnesses." The term 'witnesses' can be translated from Greek into English as martyr. That's right; these witnesses are heroes of the Bible. They came before us and are not witnessing what we are doing. Instead, they are bearing witness to us that God can see us through. God bore witness to them (Hebrews 11:2, 4-5, 39) and they are bearing witness now to us.
If you take a look
at verses 2b-3 you'll see what you already know: Jesus endured a cross and
despised the shame...endured such hostility from sinners against Himself...why? So you won't grow weary and lose heart. Our lives hardly every have a chance to catch
up. We are busy with school, work, kids,
and everything in between. We live our
faith as best we can and admittedly we screw things up every once in a while. Sometimes we're right on top of things and,
on occasion, we ruffle some feathers because we live out our faith. You may be fearful of losing your job by
openly discussing Jesus' love with a co-worker.
Perhaps when you were saved, you lost some of the oldest friends you had
because they didn't understand your transformation. There are a bunch of things that we go
through on a daily basis which provide for us an opportunity to show Jesus'
love through our actions and words. What
does all that mean? Time to bring this thing
full-circle.
I started this post
explaining where I was and some of the feelings I felt. What I didn't mention was the very real anger
I felt, for a few months, after my arrival in Omaha. I was upset, of course, because I was leaving
both my family and church for at least a year, more likely 16-18 months. I felt guilty because I wouldn't be there for
Amanda, Gabe, or Genevieve. In other
words, I had myself a good old fashioned pity party for a couple months until I
came across a wonderful verse I've read a hundred times before, but this time
it felt very real to me, more than ever before, Romans 8:28:
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.You see, my situation, and anything you have going on in your life, is absolutely insignificant compared to what Jesus went through for you and me. I am where I am and you are where you are for a very specific purpose. We may not know or understand that purpose immediately (what fun would there be in that anyway?) but I believe in time, He will reveal His purpose to us. For me, it seems as if my coming to Omaha was God's way of training me. I have been involved in two different ministries here and I believe that God is using the people I've met to train me to be a better disciple-maker, specifically with the youth population. When we are removed from our comfortable atmosphere, God has a bigger plan in store for us. We have to remain patient and faithful that our plan is so much smaller than what God has got going on for us. It's not always easy, but it is always worth it!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Jeremy Meier