Thanksgiving Reflections

Last Friday while looking out the window at Lake Floyd I enjoyed a brief period of reflection from one of the many places Jamie and I are thankful to call home. We've been incredibly blessed with loving families, with a wonderful community, and with each other.

More than this, we have been able to give our time and energy to meaningful work, to loving our neighbors, and toward a way of living that attempts to scratch the surface of the beautiful way of Jesus of Nazareth.


Today I slept in, and stayed away from the special sales, the shortages, the lines, and the hustle and bustle. As G. K. Chesterton once said, "There are two ways to get enough: one is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less. There are many "things" that we can acquire, and, living in this period of amazing innovations, those 'things' can be pretty cool, but they pale in comparison to the people with whom we get to spend our lives.

Each year at Thanksgiving, whether I write about it or not, I try to carve out some time to look at just a few of the blessings I have received in this relatively short life. I actually try to do this more often than thanksgiving just because I think there is a value in seeing how much we truly have.


We get marketed many times daily and told about so many things that will "make our life better", but my limited experience (I'm still a young learner on the journey of life) tells me that the 'things' that make our life better are not what people lined up at stores for on Friday morning.


Rather, what makes our life better is a dedication to things like work we find meaningful, to people we love, a sense of purpose in our lives, and an opportunity to serve others rather than be served. This is an amazing world in which we live. I believe that it is filled with treasures that we tend to ignore while looking for something more. As the author Annie Dillard once quipped, "It is a poor person indeed who can't stop to pick up a penny." It's not an easy task, especially with so many entities selling us on other ideas of joy and happiness that aren't nearly as satisfying. My temptation is to write explicitly about what some of these treasures are, but I feel like I may never end this post as I start. Besides, I think there is way more excitement and adventure for each of us if we go out into our world with eyes wide open looking to discover what treasures we may be stumbling over just outside our doors or in our everyday routines.


As we are all amid the throes of the holiday season, I hope you are surrounded by people you love, and that you don't take for granted the little treasures that surround you. Stop, pick them up like pennies, and savor the moments of discovery, of laughter, of healing, and of togetherness.

Why 40 years?

Earlier this morning, I was trying to find some information about the length of time it would take to make the journey from the Red Sea to the promised land for Israel (apparently it would be about a month if you made a direct route), and I found this video about a hiking trail running from the red sea, through israel, and ending at the border of Lebanon.

Of course, we all know it took about 40 years for Israel to make the journey, and during that time God led them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Why would God be so inefficient with time. I mean Israel gathered everything and left Egypt in the night. They moved so quickly, they couldn't even wait for their bread to rise. So why would God have people take such a long time in the wilderness.

The big answer is God is about a relationship. He's about a relationship with each one of us, and with all of us together. He's about us learning to live together, and he's about us learning to trust Him. Imagine the level of trust you might have if God had delivered you without going hungry, growing thirsty, or letting your clothes and shoes wear out in 40 years. Maybe you would know His love in a greater magnitude than you would if you had walked through the wilderness in a month.

God takes time with us just like he took time in Israel. Relationships take time. People take time. Tonight, I'm supposed to talk about the idea that God wants more than just Sunday at our 17three college and post-college summer event tonight. I think maybe part of the reason why we see such a breakdown in our families and a lack of commitment in our relationships in the west is because we have grown so independent of one another, and soooo busy, that it is hard to take the time to walk with and care for another human being. Sure, we all like the idea of loving others, but when it comes to actually doing it, it's another story altogether.

I wonder how many teachers get their degree only to find out that every student doesn't just want to learn everything they have to share. I wonder how many nurses study their field because they love the idea of helping people, but then find that helping people isn't all that easy.

THis week, take some time from the business of your schedule, and prioritize other people. Actually physically be with them if you can. Sit down with someone and have a meal. Talk to each other. Go and care for the sick, the downtrodden, and the broken hearted.

Go and learn through a relationship what it is like to love and to trust. And of course, spend some quality time with God. God took forty years to cultivate a loving and trusting relationship with Israel. Give God your time, and grow in your trust of Him. As you do, you will find your capacity to love and grow in the trust of others will increase as well.

And, as John Piper points out in the video below, people are simply fascinating. They are made in the image of God, and they are filled with little interesting nuances that reflect that image to others. Take time to make some time for others.

Some of the People I Meet Along the Way (Part 2)

This is Terri, and she has been helping us out since my dad arrived on this floor. She was asked to change my dad's dressings for the myriad holes that had been made in his body, and to clean all of those incisions he had. She's an LPN at the hospital, and she has just been dynamite.

As she stood at the bedside, she explained thoroughly everything she was doing, and what each wound, hole, and dressing was from. It was great because none of us knew exactly what was going on with my dad. She had a very gentle and caring bedside manner that night, and it really did a lot to make my dad feel safe and encouraged in a VERY scary situation.

On Monday, the day he had such repeated setbacks, she made it a point to come into the room and be the person who change the dressing on his wounds again. I think she did it purely to be an encouragement to dad and the family, and to be a friendly and calming voice in the hospital. There's a lot of hustle and bustle in this place, and I can see how easy it might be for one to become callous (and if that happens, it's probably time to find a new career or take a vacation).

There has been a lot happening with my dad, and for the folks on this floor, my dad's situation is probably routine, but it is not routine for us. Everyone has been really helpful here, but Terri has just really stood out as a friendly voice on the day my dad arrived on this floor. Some of what was happening up to that point was a mystery, but she explained everything to us. She asked dad as she was cleaning him if he had ever used alcohol (to clean wounds) before. I responded, "He doesn't drink, but if you think it will help with the pain he's willing to start!" She just about lost it laughing at that statement.

I talked with Terri briefly on my way out the other night, and told her what a great witness she was to the deep love God has for us. She told me that she looks at her work in the hospital as an opportunity to bring a little bit of the light of Christ's love into each patient's room by listening and serving in whatever way she could.

I'm thankful for the faith and the attitude of service of people like her in the world. She has been an encouragement to us, and I'm sure the same is true for many other patients and families here in this hospital.

Rick Varner

There I was sitting in sozo monday afternoon, when this guy Rick Varner came into the shop. Rick is one of the people who volunteers at sozo. You see, we have a lot of people who work here, and most of them are volunteers.

So Rick comes in, and he says Billy I've got to tell you about this miraculous provision God has made. Needless to say, my interest was piqued. So I invited Rick to sit down and join me at my table. He began by telling me a little bit of his story. Twenty-one years ago, he was given five years to live after he had a heart transplant. He should be dead, but he's not. And then, four years ago, he found out his kidney was failing. He was told that it was next to impossible for him to get a kidney, because the wait lists for donors were so long. Part of the reason wait lists are so long is because it takes a long time to recover from giving a kidney. At least it used to take a long time. Now, Rick says there's a procedure that takes about a week for both the donor and recipient to be back on the mend. Not only that, but Rick's wife was tested for the possibility of being a donor. Spouses usually don't make great matches for organ donations. Children, parents, or siblings maybe, but not spouses. Rick's wife is able to donate.

This means that rick (who is already a very energetic guy) will have even more energy very soon when he has better kidney function.

Rick is thoroughly excited to be part of the sozo team, but he hasn't always lived in Morgantown. For a long part of his life he lived in Parkersburg, WV where he was a youth minister at North Parkersburg Baptist Church. I had a roommate by the name of Jimmy Shreeves who went to that church and was involved in the youth group. As Rick and I talked, I discovered that he was Jimmy's leader. Small world.

Aside from the miraculous work God is doing in Rick's life, I have to remark on the profundity of our meeting and sharing stories. If I hadn't talked to Rick, I would have missed out on this remarkable miracle. I would have also missed out on his connection to my old roommate Jimmy.

Now picture this. There are people in your world who have profound stories, miraculous stories, tragic stories. Until you stop and listen, you'll never know, and you'll never be able to learn from them or share in their story.

Beyond that, none of us are as far apart as we seem. We're connected in a way that probably won't make sense to most of us on this side of eternity.

So as you read this blog entry, you can choose to sit silent and secluded in your own private world, or you can begin to share, You never know what God may be able to do with your story if you are brave enough to share it. Or maybe you just need to listen, because someone else has a story that you need to hear. Don't live as an island. Life is too short to miss out on all it has.