May 27, 2014
Stop Signs
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13 (NIV)
Matthew Henry was a non-conformist pastor, born in 1662, and renowned for the contribution of his commentary of the whole Bible, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments. His acclaimed commentary was celebrated as a resource of practical suggestions applicable to devotional study. He explains that just as the traveler, the racer, the warrior, and the worker must be dressed and ready for their business, gathering up loose flowing garments prevalent of the times… “Girding up the loins”, so must the Christians be and do with their minds and affections.
To this list of participants, I would add parents, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, grandparents myself… “Prepare your minds for action…”
Stop Signs
One of the first lessons we as parents attempt to teach our children is to STOP, to halt when we instruct them to…And our society is laced with the various signals alerting the populous to stop at appropriate times…They are imperative to the preservation of the safety of the billions of travelers world-wide, to maintain privacy, to protect, to instruct…red lights, flashing lights, gates, fences, barriers, red cones, signs…instructing the traveler to STOP! Failure to do so is imminent danger…
When my husband, Bill, was involved in his racing career, he was participating in a race at Lakeland, Florida. He was an incredibly successful driver, but, he experienced the extreme danger of a mechanical error when his parachute failed to open and the throttle hung as he attempted to brake and slow the race car down at the end of the race-rack. His race-car burst through the safety barrier and launched into the air to land in a lake at the end of the track. Miraculously his life was saved by a quick-thinking and quick-acting crew member who dove into the water, and swam to the submerged race-car. He was able free Bill from the safety belts which confined him and left him immobile and unconscious…By the grace of God, Bill’s life was saved that day, over thirty years ago…His car’s failure to STOP was dangerous…it was life-threatening.
I mentioned in previous weeks that Christie had a propensity to run…to fail to halt…to fail to STOP! It was not a mechanical error…it was a choice in her little girl mind to exercise her freedom of will…her freedom to choose…and her natural inclination was to GO! In her mind, the light was always green! Her failure to STOP created imminent danger! Countless stories of her attempting to GO when she needed to STOP… Attempting to step into a busy street in the Cayman Islands while on family vacation…attempting to drive the big four-wheeler when she did not yet know how to stop it…attempting to climb over a tall fence which separated the back-yard from a forty foot cliff…You get the picture? She was probably three or four at these times…and she had not yet learned the importance and the imminent threat to her when she failed to choose to STOP! Needless to say, we were ALWAYS on guard with our precious one. Yes, I believe at one time, we may have been one of the parents who used the “child-leash” in airports…I confess! And yes, Christie has learned to STOP…
Failure to STOP
Last week I shared the story of “Mercy Moments” in our family. It truly is by the beautiful, loving, miraculous gift from our Loving Father that we are able to experience moments of patience, forbearance, mercy and grace in a family, or in any relationship for that matter. I spent some time thinking about the practical application of this concept…wondering what the catalyst was and is for us to allow God to do His BEST in our lives. I know that in my nature, I am impatient, I am short-tempered, I am querulous, and I am snappy…not ALL the time, but certainly way too often…
I thought back to many of the moments in our family history which were memorable…the successes, the failures, and the redeemed moments…And quite honestly, we were able to learn, to teach, and to utilize every moment, because God uses every moment as a teaching opportunity when we allow Him to participate…But, the redeemed moments, the ones when we got off to a rocky start…or when we had to redirect and recalculate the navigation of the moments…these moments provided valuable, priceless, cherished, profitable, and beneficial results and lessons…(not to mention vivid and dramatic memories and stories).
As I pondered over many events…and thought back to extremely challenging moments…I realized that one of the most valuable tools in my life and in the life of our family has been the recognition of the “STOP SIGNS” in our lives. Failure to stop…regardless of the reason… is extremely dangerous.
“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
Last week I shared a story about Christie and I loosing “it” in our car while going on our endless quest for ranch property…Christie had lost her eight-year-old temper…I provoked her more by losing my adult mommy temper…and she reacted…AND…I STOPPED! I know that had I not chosen to just stop…to wait…to think…to count…to reflect…to pray…circumstances and the outcome of this story would have been completely different! I know that there is an enemy who could have and would have taken this event and used it against me, my children, my family…
I remember clearly those moments…and many others of similar challenge in my personal life and the life of our family…I can see clearly that the pivotal and appropriately influential response was to just STOP! To do absolutely nothing…for seconds, to just STOP! I wish that I had recognized this truth always…But God took our successes, our failures, and our redeemed moments…and He used them to prosper us, our children, Bill and me…as we are still learning to STOP!
STOP
S- STOP the motion! STOP the words! STOP the process!
“Be still and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10
T- THINK-to reason-to decide-to reflect-to ponder-call to mind
“Wise people think before they act…” Proverbs 13:16
O- OPTION-Review options-consequences-outcomes-vision
“But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce…gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:23
P- PRAY-to address God with adoration, confession, request, thanksgiving, asking for guidance
Jesus says, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” John 14:13
I am amazed at the faithfulness of our Mighty God…who empowers His children and who gives us the power, the ability, the self-control to just STOP! To stop the momentum, the direction, the motion of a moment, or event, or circumstance when it begins spiraling into a direction which is harmful, or dangerous, life-threatening, spirit-threatening, testimony destroying, or joy stealing…
He has sent the HELPER to enable us…to empower us… to lead us…He is ABLE…to help us to choose to STOP! Even when the spiral has started…even in the midst of the moment…when it is spiraling…with and through God’s divine Spirit…we can choose to stop the words, the actions, the momentum…and we can stop and be still and know that God is God…and we can allow Him to be God in our lives. We can think and ponder and reason about our choices…our options…the consequences…the outcome…and we can remember the vision and the hope of what Jesus has promised to each one of His sheep…and we can pray, asking for His words, His patience, His love, His self-control, His redemption…no matter what has already transpired…we can STOP!
We can allow God to redeem the moments…we can ask our Mighty Heavenly Father to do HIS BEST in these moments.
We do have an enemy who would love to take hostage these moments…but we have a Holy God who is the King of Kings who has overcome this enemy if we will accept and acknowledge this truth.
I wish that I could say that I have always stopped at the perfect moment…to always think before I act or speak…to examine the options which I have, which I can choose…so that I can be still and pray and trust God’s Hand of intervention…
However, I cannot say that…but, I can testify that when I do STOP and allow God to have the moments…ugly as they may be…He is faithful to redeem the disaster…and He is faithful to use my good and rationale choices as well…Yes, there are consequences…such as the sticky mess of a lemonade hurled in anger because the mommy temper lost itself…But what valuable teaching moments…And our loving God redeemed these moments between a daughter and a mother, moments which could have been damaging…Instead, we can now laugh at them and testify how the moments were redeemed…and how God’s ways work best!
His has redeemed the moments between Bill and me, between our son, our daughter, our extended family…our friends…when we have chosen to just STOP the momentum of the propensity to just run…to run without stopping to think about the options and to pray…and let God be the Mighty God in our lives…
And when circumstances are beyond our control such as Bill’s race car…when he chose to stop, but could not…I thank God everyday for the life of my husband…whom God saved and redeemed spiritually…and in the frightening moments in a race car, he saved him physically as well. And in those seemingly frightening moments…Bill remembers doing all he could do…and then, just trusting his God…
When circumstances are beyond our control, we can choose to do all we can …we can choose to STOP our anxious thoughts…and to trust our God…
The truth is that with our Loving God, there is redemption when we can humbly, truthfully, transparently, authentically come before Him and say, “Yes, God, it’s me again… I have messed up…AGAIN…I have let my mommy temper get out of control. But I choose to STOP…and let you be God…I will think before I speak or act…I will look at all of my options…and I will choose to be still and to pray and to ask for Your intervention…for Your guidance…for Your wisdom…but, I know that I have to STOP first…to stop my thoughts, my words, my actions…I have to be STILL…and let you settle me into self-control and your wisdom.
It is true that I have been known to run a few “Mommy stop-signs”, but I have also experienced the amazing success of stopping at just the right time. Of taking that extra breath…of counting to ten plus…of looking at the “other” perspective…of allowing mercy to show up and compassion to intervene…and it feels really terrific…And I have known the grace and forgiveness of my Jesus and the forgiveness of my husband and my children when I have failed… and the forgiveness feels really terrific!
Stop Signs
Matthew Henry goes on to remind his readers that we must be sober minded, watchful, and temperate in behavior…That a strong and perfect trust in the grace of God is also required…and we must pray…
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13 (NIV)
It is true that running stop signs can be very perilous…and there are times in life when after stopping, we must proceed with caution…But always, always, life works best by acknowledging the STOP Signs, when they are present. It begins in the mind, the thoughts, the confidence and the trust we place in the God who is for us…who loves us…who is present with us…who saves and redeems us…and with Him, the journey is possible…
“Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Surely I will help you, and Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
Abundant Joy,
