God's First Responders

We see them all of the time and we sometimes get a bit nervous when they quickly approach in our rear view mirror. Flashing lights. Loud wailing sirens and the urgency for us to quickly find a place to pull over as they speed by.
They are first responders and what they do day in and day out is absolutely awe inspiring.

I remember reading the words of a first responder once that said:
"Saving someone is one of the greatest feelings in the world. But you might not be saving a life. People can be ‘saved’ in many different ways (outside of religion). In EMS, there are so many things you can be where you are a savior of someone else. You are the calm one in the midst of a storm. You are the rational one in irrational circumstances. You are the knowledgeable one when little is known. You are the one who listens when the rest of the world is deaf. You know what is wrong when others draw a blank. You are the one grieving when there is no one else who cares. Or you are willing to be honest when others skirt the truth. These are awesome feelings, amazing circumstances." 

In last weeks post (Stopping Bullets: Click Here), I introduced the idea that not reacting to harmful words was like stopping bullets from an adversary and how learning to take a bullet  proved the strength of the internal armor the Holy Spirirt provides us.
This week I would like to look at the flip side of a passage we looked at last week and see the power of this passage from another view point.

"Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" ~ James 3:3-5

I read this passage and I see the power of the spoken word. It is compared to a fire and a fire has both the ability to destroy life or to enrich life.

You can bring destruction into a person's life through the words you give them, or you can build great things into the soul of another.

As Christian believers, I look at our opportunities to speak to people to be like a spiritual first responder of sorts.

Think about the last terrible encounter that you had with another person for a moment. Their spirit was in a place of pain when you showed up on the scene. Seconds before you spoke with them, you had no idea what was going to be waiting for you when you pulled up, but you were chosen to speak with them. Why?

Why were you chosen to cross paths with the people you have today? Because you had within you, what they needed. You have the Holy Spirit and you were able to assist in the way you were made to do so.

An EMT is not a doctor or a surgeon. They often can only assess based upon what they see since they have very few instruments or diagnosis helps. It strictly comes from what they know in their head and in their heart. The code they operate by is similar to the understood code of the believer.

• to conserve life, alleviate suffering, promote health, do no harm, and encourage the quality and equal availability of emergency medical care.
 
• to provide services based on human need, with compassion and respect for human dignity, unrestricted by consideration of nationality, race, creed, color, or status; to not judge the merits of the patient’s request for service, nor allow the patient’s socioeconomic status to influence our demeanor or the care that we provide.

• to not use professional knowledge and skills in any enterprise detrimental to the public well being.

• to respect and hold in confidence all information of a confidential nature obtained in the course of professional service unless required by law to divulge such information.

• to use social media in a responsible and professional manner that does not discredit, dishonor, or embarrass an EMS organization, co-workers, other health care practitioners, patients, individuals or the community at large.

"And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh." ~James 3:6-12

We have an AMAZING opportunity in front of us today! Do we have all the answers? NO! Do we have the most incredible source in the universe within us? YES!

So we ask God this morning to open our hearts, ear, and eyes to see what He has for us and when we speak to others, we ask The Source to speak through us and trust that what He gives us is exactly what is needed.

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation." ~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-6

 

 Think back for just a moment of the people God used right in the middle of the very last wall that you faced on your path? The walls (Difficult circumstances) were filled with spiritual first responders who God used to help you for "such a time as this". Were they trained emotional surgeons? No. They were parents, friends, co-workers, believers and even children. A first responder is not a job that you do just because you want or need a job. Anyone can carry the title of First Responder, but a true first responder is one who carries in their heart the sincere desire to help those who need it and are willing to sacrifice their own safety and comfort to do so. Your walls (Difficult circumstances) in life are full of faces and names of God's First Responders.

 

 

You may not have met them yet today, but they will be coming across your path today. No matter what you find at the scene of that connection opportunity, remember that you are God's First Responder!

 

 "...Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" ~ James 3:5

 

Climbing with you,

~Dan

 

*If this blog post was helpful, you will enjoy the following posts as well.

 

Moments : Click Here

 

You hade it all the time: Click Here

 

 

 

 

Stopping Bullets

The barrel of the gun loomed his direction ominously. He had faced many guns before this one and had learned to identify the marks of those who were comfortable killing with them. The finger always tightens around the trigger in a perfect mirror with the muscles in the corner of the eye. When the trigger is firmly squeezed, the eyes completely deaden of all emotion and compassion.

The gun roared like a wild animal and spat it's hot death with a hungry desire to consume it's prey. Standing as close as he was to the barrel, he felt the released gas from the chamber on his chest a micro second before he felt the impact of the molten lead. Looking downward to it's point of impact, he saw the lead mushroom out and fall harmlessly to the pavement.

This was no ordinary man taking the bullet intended for the person who hid behind him. This was Superman and the shooter would join the ranks with countless before who had learned that the attempt to stop the man of steel with a bullet was futile.

Sigh!

I am a comic book fanatic and nothing causes me to smile as I read a comic book like the scene that I just described to you. The picture is always so intense. A strong person standing up for the weak against a threat who would force their way with violence.


As a boy, I loved seeing this happen in the Superman movies and every time it did, part of me wanted desperately to be able to do that for other people. I wanted to be able to help and protect other people who could not stand up for themselves. (Waiting for Superman: Click Here)

As a boy I only knew the comic book type of danger.
When I grew up, I quickly realized that bullets come in many other forms.
They are not fired from a gun, but from a soul. They shoot out in the form of words and they are every bit as devastating as a lead bullet.

What makes words so deadly is their ability to bury themselves deep into another humans soul and they lay buried there slowly seeping out the infection of bitterness which can bring even the strongest person to their knees.

"Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" ~ James 3:3-5

This passage is amazing because it graphically illustrates the immense power of our words.
In this passage we see the comparison of our tongue to a ship's rudder, a horses bridle and even a fire. These descriptions all bring to mind powerful things.

Words are so easy to fire off aren't they?

I want you to see the rest of the passage because what you will find is amazing. Words are only the bullets, they are not the gunmen.

The words that come from the mouth are only the bullets that are fired from the heart.


"And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh." ~James 3:6-12

This is one of the reasons why God allows testing in our lives. Testing brings us to the place where we can identify our flesh from our Spirit. Some of the testing we endure happens as a result of the words that are fired at us in a given day.

God uses circumstances (God's Phone Booths: Click Here) to help us learn to exchange what we settle for for who He made us to be. (Mr.Perfect:Click Here)
This is His perfecting process.

So this leads me to what I want to express in this post.

A few days ago, I was brought into a situation which I would have rather not been brought into. I given some information where I had been misrepresented and at first, I was irate. Really? They said this?
I sat down and began to compile my list of events and documentation into an e-mail that not only proved the previous information was false, but also shed light on the reason why this information was given falsely. I decided not to send the e-mail that day, but to just go home and send it in the morning upon my return to work.

The next morning I was in the middle of my workout and I noticed this picture to the left. It is a comic book cover, and one that I have framed in on the wall of my "Man Cave / Gym/ Art Studio". I love the picture because the Man of Steel is stopping a picture full of bullets!

I began to think about the thoughts I had as a boy, which I mentioned at the start of this post, and remembered how cool it was that Superman could stop bullets.

Then my gaze fell on a shelf I have below this picture. On the shelf I have several .9mm slugs I had picked up from a gun range years ago.They have been smashed flat by the impact against the bullet stop and they make cool "superman" decor.

I picked up those bullets and the Holy Spirit spoke.
"Dan, How could you ever expect to stop bullets from hurting others, when you have a difficult time taking a bullet."

Whoa.

Superman stopped bullets because he knew how to take a bullet. They crushed because of the internal armour he possessed. Many times, the words we are hit with are mean, and unjustifiable, but our response to those words is where the test is.

No one likes criticism and our first reaction is to lash out in defense, when our response should be to take the words and prove how strong His strength in us truly is.
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."
                                            ~ Isaiah 53:7

Jesus showed us that this is possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.

"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." ~ Romans 8:11

I got to work that morning and quickly deleted the e-mail that I was going to send. The truth is, what was needed more than a defense constructed in emotion was a person who knew how to take bullets as they fly. The strength of the armor was needing to be displayed.

People are hungry for God all around us and what they really need is to see Him displayed with power and grace. There are more important things than proving you were right.

 

Our response determines our future.

Climbing with you,
~Dan

Your Greatest Need

I spoke in detail about this passage of scripture in the post (So Close but Lame: Click Here), but I want to share with you how God opened this passage up to me in a whole new way this past week.

"Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms." ~ Acts 3:1-3

Every day, friends carried him to a gate called beautiful. Misery and Beauty met here every day. An un-beautiful circumstance lay in the gate of beauty every day. Here he lay every day, scanning the faces that streamed by him, asking for them to give him help.

 

WATCHING TIME, LIFE, AND PEOPLE WHO HAD WHAT HE DID NOT SLIP BY.

 

As we look at the scene unfold in front of us, I would ask you to notice something else.
He was content to meet the smallest of his needs, but in his mind he was lame as well.

His thought process was crippled. In his mind, the greatest need  he had was money for his crippled existence.
How meaningless did life must seem for him? Everyday the same as the last. The moment this man breathed his first breath, he was lame. 

From birth, his greatest need seemed to be centered on just eating enough today to gain the strength to wake up the next day and beg… beg for just enough money to buy just enough food to eat just enough that day to wake up the next and beg.

Let me ask you three things.

1. WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST NEED AT THIS MOMENT?

Think about this question for a moment. What is the greatest thing that you need in your life right at the moment that you are reading this post?

Hold the first word that entered your mind and then keep reading.

The lame man in this story had a thought crippled thought process as well as a body unable to move himself further. In his mind, the greatest need  he had was money for his crippled existence. This is not completely crazy, because our churches are full of people who come on routine, lay at the gate, and on routine ask in their own way for the surface needs.

Day after day, the “THEY” of their life will continue to carry them to the gate to beg for the surface needs. I do not want to minimize surface needs, but most surface needs are symptoms of a root need. This man begged for alms, (Symptom of being crippled) his root need was that he needed to walk. He did not know to ask the right questions.

 Thank God that two faces that were in the crowd were different that day.

"And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them." ~ Acts 3:4-5

2. WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST NEED AT THIS MOMENT?

I would submit to you that the need you first thought of is not in fact your greatest need in this moment. Most people are content to lay in their need and settle for their wants. Wants are only a indicator of a need

The widow in 2 Kings 4 assumed her greatest need was finances, however through oil pots, God revealed to her the understanding of her greatest need as being a complete understanding that God was her sole provider.

Gideon assumed his greatest need was and army, however through three simple test, God revealed to him the understanding of his greatest need as being a complete understanding that God was his protector.

Woman at the well assumed her greatest need was water, however God revealed to her through the words of Jesus, the understanding of her greatest need as being a complete understanding that God was her savior.

I spent the majority of my Christian life, lame in the idea that my value to God was determined by how much I accomplished for Him and in His name. I lay on my spiritual mat and begged God to allow me to live FOR Him and was lame in my understanding of my greatest need. I needed God to show me how He desired me not to live FOR Him, but rather to live FROM Him. I was spiritually lame. I will never forget the day Father reached down and helped me to stand up!

Often times, the needs we list off first as being our needs are simply the fruit of our greatest needs.

Look at your answer to the first question and ask it of yourself again.

"Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength." ~ Acts 3:6-7

People that are in-tune with God are also in-tune with the real needs of others.

3. WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO ASK GOD TO OPEN YOUR EYES TO YOUR GREATEST NEED.

"And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him." ~ Acts 3:8-10

God is not interested in helping us settle for our wants. God is not interested in us remaining in a crippled state, satisfied for just living out our wants. God designed our needs in order to be met IN Him.

God allowed me to see this very principle acted out in front of my very eyes this morning.
I work in a job where a portion of my responsibilities include the oversight of several warehouses. We have a selection of office furniture stored in these warehouses and periodically I will receive a request from someone within the company who is looking to upgrade their office furniture to take them to the warehouse where we store the furniture.

There is one particular chair that has been in storage for a very long time. It is probably the nicest and most expensive chair we have in storage but not for want of request. In fact, this particular chair has been requested countless times and anytime someone goes to the warehouse, they ask to have this chair.
It sits in storage because it is missing a wheel. It is an odd sized wheel and I have not found one  to replace the missing wheel so there it sits.
Until today.

On this particular morning I received a request from one of the ladies in our dental department. When she requested to go to the warehouse, I answered, "I would be happy to take you to the warehouse today. What do you need?"
She needed a chair she replied, so I took her to find her chair. As we drove I was telling her about a newer vehicle  my department had purchased and made the remark that I had claimed the truck before we were able to purchase it and how God had provided it. She laughed and said, "I guess I need to claim a chair and God will provide that too!"

We walked into the warehouse and she went straight to the chair everybody wanted. I was preparing to tell her about the missing wheel when I happened to look down at her broken chair we had brought with us to exchange. Her broken chair had the exact same wheels as the chair that she wanted. She was delighted!

As we prepared to drive back to the office building, I began telling her about the lame man in Acts 3.
"What are the odds?" I asked her.
"When I spoke with you on the phone, I asked you what you needed and you replied that you needed a chair. Your broken chair had a wheel that would fix the nicest chair in the warehouse. You thought you needed a chair, but you could have made your old chair do for a bit longer. Your greatest need was NOT a chair, your greatest need was to know that God loves you enough to care about where you sit. He cares about your comfort, but more than this, He wants you to know that whatever you are facing outside of this chair is cared about as well."

Our greatest need is not the need that pops into our mind right off the bat. Your greatest need is much deeper and God longs to reveal this to you. It's amazing because when you ask God to open your eyes to your own greatest needs, He opens your eyes to others greatest needs as well.

God created you to walk in Him and not to spend your life laying, lame in your wants. Let Him show you how your greatest needs are met in Him and discover how awesome it is to walk in the newness of LIFE He promised!

Climbing with you,
~Dan