The Bucket List

I recently heard a term I wasn't familiar with: bucket list. I was reading Facebook and saw a conversation where someone was talking about their bucket list. I had to ask my wife to learn that this is a list of things people hope to do before they die. It seems the term evolved from the old cliché "to kick the bucket". I suppose I have a vivid imagination but I could just see someone walking around with a bucket trying to cram as much as they could into it.

 

I am reminded of the story Jesus told about the man who wanted to tear down his barns and build bigger barns to hold more of his accumulated wealth. Then Jesus said, "You fool, this very night you will be required to answer for your soul." I am sure the man's wealth meant very little to him after he stood in judgment before God.

 

 Those of you who know me know that I love to travel. There are a whole list of places I'd like to see and things I'd like to experience. There was a time when the things I wanted to do defined everything about me. I was motivated but what I wanted to do and nothing else. If an item wasn't on my "bucket list" I  considered it a waste of time no matter how important it might be.

 

It took me a while to realize that there were things God might have planned for me that weren't on my list. In fact, I am convinced that the best way to make God laugh is to give him a list of things we think are important. It is not that he is a callous, indifferent God. It's just that his ways are so much higher than our ways. God is truly like a parent and we are so often like children. We demand to have things the way we want them and he knows that some things are simply not good for us.

 

Now I am all for dreaming. I believe God wants us to better ourselves. Without a dream very little would be accomplished in this life. But we can't be so set in our dreams that we don't leave room for God to redirect our paths as he sees fit. A very popular book came out several years ago called The Purpose Driven Life. In it the author sets forth his idea about how we all need to be driven by a purpose to keep us going. It sort of sounds like that bucket list again.

 

Everything I have ever said I would never do I have found myself doing. I remember telling a junior high football coach that I never wanted to work as a janitor. I spent three years working as a janitor and it was a very good experience, though somewhat humbling. I told a mentor of mine that I never wanted to work with little kids. If I taught, I wanted to teach high school or college. I make my living working in Head Start. I didn't realize what a joy it can be to work with children until I was involved in it. You get the picture.

 

You see, the problem with making our own lists is that we usually set our sights to low. God wants us to prosper. He designed each of us with a purpose. But only he knows what all that purpose will encompass. A bucket will be way to small to hold all the good things He has for us if we yield our lives to Him.

 

Lord, help me not to limit myself to a bucket list. The sky is the limit with you in control. Amen.

 

Prayerfully Yours,

 

Sullivan Jones

I Need You to Survive

I awoke this morning with the words from a song by Hezekiah Walker going through my mind. The song is called "I need you to Survive" and speaks of our need for each other. The words are not just beautiful, they are true. None of us was created to be an island. God put a need deep in the heart of the most austere of us to have human companionship.

There are some, like me, who treasure their quiet times. Others feel the need to have people around all the time and enjoy being the center of attention. All of us have our unique personalities. But their is one thing that is certain: none of us can make it through life completely alone. The very first thing that God said after making Adam was, "It is not good for him to be alone." I don't think God was thinking only of romance, though he did create that need in us as well. The bigger picture is that he created us to be socialites. We enjoy living, working, and playing together because God intended it to be that way.

Corrie ten Boom was a heroine of WWII. She spent many months in solitary confinement for hiding Jews in her home to protect them from the Germans. In her book The Hiding Place she describes the joy she felt the first time she was allowed to emerge from her cell and go to the shower room. She frantically looked around to see if perhaps her sister Betsie, who was in another cell, had been allowed out as well. She first felt disappointment at not seeing her. Then Corrie realized her error. Later she would write these words: "These are all my sisters. How rich is anyone who can simply see human faces."

As I contemplate these words I am so thankful for the people God has put in my life. God has given me family and friends. I have a church full of people who love me; and I work with people who have gone out of their way to show me that they care. It is so easy for us to take one another for granted. We build walls that separate us over the silliest things. Yet the walls that seem to protect usually just make us lonely by keeping others at bay.

I am making a fresh commitment in my own life to reach out to others. I want people to know that I care and that they are important to me. I may not even have to say it. A smile, a kind word, or a helping hand will probably be enough. Would you join me in letting someone else know how much you need them? We need each other. I need you to survive .....



I Need You To Survive
I need you, you need me;
we're all a part of God's body.
Stand with me, agree with me;
we're all a part of God's body.

It is His will that every need be supplied;
you are important to me,
I need you to survive.
You are important to me,
I need you to survive.

I pray for you, you pray for me;
I love you, I need you to survive.
I won't harm you with words from my mouth;
I love you, I need you to survive.

Trusting God

Psalm 139:17 – How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

Psalm 139 is David’s declaration that God knows everything about him. He begins by acknowledging that God has searched him and known him. He continues on to say, "God you know when I sit down and when I get up". In verse 4 he says "I can’t even say anything that he doesn’t know because He knows every word in my mouth". (My paraphrase) In short, David was declaring that he could trust in his God.

Yesterday I had need to remind myself that I can trust God. My wife and I had one of those unexpected curve balls of life thrown our way. You know the kind: the ones that catch you so unprepared you don’t know what to do. After nearly four years of struggling with her health, my wife had a knee replacement in October. The second surgery was scheduled for June 3, less than a month away. It has been like the light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday the doctor’s nurse called to say he was leaving the area and that we would have to find another surgeon.

We were upset, to say the least.  I was angry, frustrated, and truthfully, a little afraid. What if we can’t find another surgeon willing to see her? How long will she have to wait for another surgery? These are the things that go through a person’s mind at a time like this.

On the way home from work I tried to “encourage myself in the Lord” like David did. It didn’t seem to be working. I knew God was with me but I felt like my faith was a million miles away. Thankfully last night was church night. And do you know what Pastor preached about? Worshipping God! That’s right, worshipping God.

Now I know we have all heard it before. “If we will worship God in the midst of a trial, he will come through for us.” I have preached it numerous times. But last night I had to practice it. I think you know what happened. The more I began to worship, the smaller my problem seemed and the bigger my God seemed. You see it really isn’t a big problem compared to the God that we serve.

It could be a big problem if my trust was in the surgeon. It would be a big problem if my trust was in my own ability to solve it. But our trust has been in God from the very beginning. He knew this was going to happen and he allowed it to happen. He could have stopped it. But he chose to let it happen. He must know something I don’t know.

You see, in those times when we don’t know what to do, we have to trust God’s heart. If I truly believe he loves me and is looking out for my good (I know He is) I can trust him with perfect peace. It may be that we needed a different doctor. It may be that God knew which nurses needed to be in the hospital on a certain day for Gail to get the best care. It may simply be that God knew we needed a lesson in trust. I don’t know but I don’t have to know. He knows and that is enough for me.

God Bless,

Sullivan Jones