For me there is always something exciting about coming to the end of another year. It marks completion for me, a conclusion to 12 months of the “daily grind”, hammering out life and blazing my own trail. It’s the transformation from what I was doing and who I presently am into what I can soon become and what God has waiting for me around the corner. This metamorphosis almost always comes with a price and usually comes too late “in my thinking”. You see, all of us are in some type of transition-beaming out of one season and into another. For many this time of year is not simply a glance back and a gaze forward. Rather its more like a stare into a dismal year of unresolved issues, unprofitable ventures and unreliable people. For these folks, everytime the ball drops in Times SQ it’s a reminder of all that didn’t happen; the overwhelming sensation of failure and wasted time. This year I have realized how easy it is to get caught up in this feeling of depression.
Last week the local paper asked Tulsans to vote on the top news stories of the year. The list included the most current events on September 11 , anthrax attacks as well as the Timothy McVeigh execution and the right to work vote. Most of the nominations dealt with disasters and tragedies; just a lot of bad news. So you do not have to look far if you want to be discouraged.
I’m a big fan of the OT thought on “memorials”…setting up reminders of the highlights in life so that I can often look back at them to gain courage and hope. I need to be reminded of times when I felt the thrill of victory because they are the only things that get me through the agony of defeat. But as I already referred to, glancing back can prove beneficial, gazing back can prove tragic. You have most likely heard people tell you that “you can’t live in the past”.
To not live in the past you have to discern the difference between completion and expectation. Too often we want the “expectation” but we do not want to bring about any completion. It just feels like sometimes its more fun just getting there and when we get there we wonder what all the fuss was about:
Optional:Even though Easter is what its all about for the church, Midas Dekkers in his book “The Way of all Flesh: The Romance of Ruins” points out that “Easter can’t hold a candle to Christmas. For Christmas cities are decorated and wars are put on hold but Easter with its meager chocolate eggs is over before you know it. You don’t receive any expensive presents, trees are left in place in the garden and no one-(fortunately even in America)-has ever heard of Easter songs. We’d rather celebrate Christ’s birth rather than His death even though that’s what it is all about. A promise is more fun than fulfillment. Our hearts beat happy with anticipation. Goals are there to be looked forward to”.
I like the idea of waking up to a new day, an unfolding plan of events from God and the inspiration that comes from wondering who I will meet, how will I influence them or they me, and what is God going to do to enhance His kingdom through me today.
I believe that God wants to bring all things to completion …even you! Completion means completion, finishing, resolving, leaving your plate clean…
That leads me to my thought today… something that I have a hard time with…leftovers! Some people like them…I even found a band that is called The Living Leftovers…sounds great doesn’t it? Leftovers :Food that is ordered by sight and not by size of the stomach, food that is prepared expecting some additional families to join you at the table. For many years Bridgette and I used to take home Styrofoam containers of over-ordered delicacies from the restaurants we would visit and place them on a shelf in the fridge. The idea here was to consume the remains within a short span of time from when they were boxed, bagged or shelved. When we cooked at home, Tupperware was the order of the day and many a lid “burped’ in order to lock the freshness in. However, most of my traumatic times came when going to that fridge in hunger and pulling out some of the Tupperware that was “hiding its contents”, popping off the lid, and uncovering the “guess of the day”.
Often this food( or at least I think it was food) would expand and grow what looked to be “hair”…that’s the best way I could describe it. Lasagna, could look like an Italian Chia Pet in just a few short days.
This led me not only to completely “turn” on leftovers(no pun intended) but also to wonder how in the world I could draw a “spiritual” parallel to this topic! Does the bible talk about leftovers? You bet it does! And I have some advice too…when in doubt, throw it out!
In Exodus 15 and 16, Moses is dealing with the “cranky” children of Israel. They had seen so much and Moses had been through so much as he led them through the wilderness. Imagine getting up everyday and having more than a million people ask you “are we there yet? They had gone three days without water and scripture tells us that they started to “grumble’, not their stomachs, their voices. They were thirsty and needed refreshed. They began to show resentment towards Mo and the way He was leading them. They wanted water. But the water where they were was bitter…probably coming from the Bixby Public Works Authority! So Mo went to God and God showed him a piece of wood. Ever been there? Has God ever not made sense to you? Some things are just hard to explain.. (pix of Sod sign)
Mo took the wood, and threw it in the water. And suddenly the water was sweet and everyone was happy. They moved on a bit further and God took them to Palm Springs…a place full of palm trees and 12 springs. But the joy would not last long. They would move on into the Desert of Sin…you could say they were living in sin and be right in more than one way! A few more days went by and folks got hungry. Again, the turned on Mo and again Mo turned to God and God spoke to him about their “trash talk” but offered a solution to the hunger pains…
. EX 16:2In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."
4Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days."
So Moses and Aaron gave the news to the people and the plan was in motion. In verse 11, the glory of God shows up again and the Lord reiterates the plan and provides some specifics…
11The LORD said to Moses, 12"I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, `At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’ "
13That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" (This was where they got the name for WONDER Bread) For they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. 16This is what the LORD has commanded: `Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer(2 liters) for each person you have in your tent.’ "
17The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.
19Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning."
Sounds simple..get what you need for your house and everything will be ok. Eat it all, there should not be any left-overs!
But there is always someone that “thinks they know better”…somebody that wants more…someone that spoils it for everyone else
20However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
21Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much--two omersB for each person--and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: `Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ "
24So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25"Eat it today," Moses said, "because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any."
Unbelievably, some folks still didn’t listen and went out on the Sabbath day looking for some more…but God was serious…God hates left-overs! In fact the people’s disobedience caused them to have their menu reduced to just one item…manna.
31The people of Israel called the bread manna.D It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 32Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: `Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.’ "
33So Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come."
34As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna in front of the Testimony, that it might be kept. 35The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
40 years of manna, fried manna, boiled manna, grilled manna
many pudding, many pie and of course…bamanna bread!
OK, so Pastor Joe, what’s the point? What does this mean to me right now…today. Here it is…tomorrow we come to the eve of another year…the beginning of 12 more months….52 weeks….365 days that have “potential” written all over them. Power that has not yet been “tapped” into, miracles that are still in their “cans” and visions that are on the edge of heaven ready to drop into your heart… dreams that must start moving towards their destiny. We have the opportunity to become all that we believe and talk about becoming.
OR we can take our stinkin’, maggot infested memories of all the things that went wrong this year into 2002 or we can throw them into a 2 liter bottle as a reminder of what was and look forward with excitement to what will be. It all comes down to how you look at it. What are you looking for in 2002?
There was a woman who was diagnosed with cancer and given 3 mo. to live. Her doctor told her to get her affairs in order so she called her pastor and went over the final arrangements, the casket, the songs to sing and the scriptures to read. Then she said, One more thing….this is very important. I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.
The pastor didn’t know what to say-no one else had ever requested such a thing…so she explained.
“in all my years of church functions, my favorite part was when they started cleaning away the plates for the main course and someone would always lean over and say, you can keep the fork. It was my favorite part because it meant that something better was coming…not jello…it was substantial….cake or pie….biblical food.
I want people to see me in the casket and ask “whats with the fork”
I want them to know something better is coming…you can keep your fork!
Tomorrow is the last day of this year. You may be full and you may still be hungry. I want you to know that “you can keep your fork”. Something better is coming and if you will expect it, I can assure you that it’s going to fill you up so completely that you’ll never have to live on left-overs again! Can I get an Amen for that!
