The Speed of Solution

No matter what your observation based opinion has been regarding the folks from Idaho taking Haitian children over the border to the Dominican Republic, the speed they chose to serve Haiti, the children and parents of the village, was entirely unappreciated by the Haitian government.

Why is their decision to aid hurting children in an earthquake torn country being called into question? Their cause was noble. Their desire to help children admirable. So what's the complaint?

Well, according to Haitian officials - everything. The folks from Idaho didn't follow legal protocol required to remove children from their own country and unfortunately, when asked at the border where the children were from and how they came to be on the bus, the group deceived the authorities.

An old sharp-shooter term comes to mind; slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

A hurried rush to remove the children from danger and a swift effort to aid the Haitian children to a better future in the Dominican Republic did not end well for those who were caught up in the crisis. As a matter of fact, their swift response to the crisis of others resulted in a very slow quagmire of legal and international wrangling.

And therein lies the problem. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIX AND SOLVE.

The speed of fix moves at the speed of the crisis, and crisis moves very quickly. For those of you who have been caught up in running after the crisis in someones life and have even from time to time successfully matched speed with the crisis - you just as quickly realized that the crisis has another speed and just as you were able to offer your fix, the crisis moved out in front of you once more.

Now that's exhaustion.

The speed of solution and unfortunately the speed less chosen, rejects legacy building, grand standing and one-up-manship. The speed of solution is much slower than anyone wants. But it is the right speed if we want to ultimately move faster. The speed of solution suggests the momentary relief of a problem through fixing it, is not valued over the arduous pursuit of lasting and sustained endurance.

Frankly, the consultation I would have given to my well intentioned brothers and sisters from Idaho, would have been to sell all that you have and follow Jesus. I would have encouraged them to take the proceeds from the sale of their homes in Idaho and instead of removing the children from the village and from their parents, move into the village themselves and spending the rest of their lives improve the life of the village by serving the parents of the children and actively participating in something truly noble - village transformation.

There you go. The problem of poor children not being raised in a Christian home without a good education needed to have a better life is solved. Solved for generations of villagers to come.

It's hard to follow Jesus, that's why so few actually accomplish it. To follow Jesus requires everything and everything is often harsh. The rich young ruler faced the same harsh dilemma in the Gospel of Luke chapter 18 verses 18-23.

Here's today's question; 'Am I living toward God in such a way as to answer His imminent observation with an everything response?

Dan

A Brand-New Ending

For those of you who follow and/or forward my weekly blog, thank you for your patience as I intentionally took the month of January off.

One of the axioms of Cherry Street is; 'Rock bottom is a firm foundation from which to build'. Based on this, we who serve in this part of the river of the human condition have a rather developed belief system which allows us to have high comfortability creating and being in an environment of 'rock-bottom crashers' who are encouraged to get on with it .... and crash.

David, in Psalm 139 verse 8 wrote; 'If I go up to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, you are there.'

Now listen, many who follow God these days do not know - in the Biblical sense of knowing - what David is talking about here, nor have you embraced God's complete comfortability with us as He watches and waits for us at rock bottom.

In fact, many of us who have potential 'rock-bottom crashers' in our lives are trying to slow their rate of speed as we witness them spiraling out of control, while others of us try to cushion what we know is going to be a hard landing ... why?

God is there - are we?

Scottish Theologian Carl Bard once said; 'Though no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending.'

Frankly, its hard to start something new if you're still holding onto something old. It's as though we want for others what we know is not even possible for ourselves. Life has amply taught you by now that rock bottom, though harsh, was your salvation. It was there that you found God - I mean really found Him. You found Him waiting to bind the wound of your fall and solve the reason for your decline.

Here's today's question; Are you willing to risk standing where God is standing?

To stand at rock bottom is to stand at a brand-new ending. The Apostle Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:17; 'Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.

We now live in a world who largely wants the new start without having a new ending. If you are to be an effective voice of rescue in 2010, learn the lesson of 'a brand-new ending'. Develop your relationship to God in such a way that those around you will know, really know Him, as the One who waits like no other at rock bottom.

As you do, you'll also be known for the same quality.

Dan