Friday, April 30, 2010

Cold Comfort Camping

Growing up camping, there was a lot of togetherness, but not necessarily comfort. That meant six (and occasionally more) people enduring a road trip of roughly fifteen hundred miles (each way!) in a vehicle with only three seatbelts (actually only two since nobody wanted to sit in the middle of the mini-pickup with the manual transmission gearshift bruising your kneecaps). It also meant huddling for warmth in a frosty tent and spending time hiking trails with sore feet. Even when we camped close to home, we endured gravel campsites and dense swarms of mosquitoes.

BTW, mosquitoes like cologne (Dad found that lesson out the hard way).

Needless to say, we went through enough privation growing up that we not only grew accustomed to it, we actually kinda liked it. This helped immensely during my year in ROTC because I just didn’t care if I wasn’t comfortable. Oh, I WAS miserable at times, I just didn’t complain about it. College brought me my fair share of walking (even when I wasn’t mad). Finally, in seminary, my palate became numb to my daily dose of ramen noodles, shredded cheddar cheese, and canned spaghetti sauce (I called it seminary goulash and my wife forbids me from making it at home…sigh).

Through the process of getting older, I have also grown somewhat softer.
You see, I LIKE being comfortable.

I especially like that I have a programmable multi-remote that lets me control the TV, VCR, DVD player, digital cable box, and sound system without having to dig out a bunch of remotes. I like having my Cuban Coffee in the morning. I like having a garage door opener that opens with a simple push of a button. I like having the house frosty at night so I can cocoon myself in my down comforter. Every morning, I am reminded of Proverbs 26:14, which says, “As a door turns back and forth on its hinges, so the lazy person turns over in bed.” It DOES feel like my back is attached to the bed!

With all that in mind, I saw a man sitting in a planter this morning as he waited for work. He literally was sitting on top of a pile of dirt and rubbish.

And he looked comfortable.

What is it that makes a person comfortable in a seemingly difficult position? Have my sensibilities gotten so soft that I look down with disdain at anything that requires “needless” exertion (and yes, I do go to the gym)?

What makes us comfortable now? What have we gotten so used to that we’ve lost our edge? Have you ever tried cutting a tomato or raw piece of chicken with a dull knife? You’re just as liable to cut yourself! When a knife is sharpened, it actually loses tiny pieces of the edge. Afterwards, a honing steel is used which actually straightens out the ragged edge and makes the knife razor sharp.

What can you start doing to sharpen yourself? What habits must be developed? Which ones must be discarded? Who can help you to hone yourself?

What is ONE thing you need to change today? This week? This month? This year?

Related Verses
Matthew 9:14-17

One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?”

Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

“Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”

Proverbs 27:12
As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

Matthew 4:12-17
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah:

“In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River, in Galilee where so many Gentiles live, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.”

From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

Scripture quotes taken from the NLTse

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