Coup d'etat

James 1:1-15 -- Genesis 45:4-11 -- Proverbs 1:1-7

So, it's after 10 p.m. -- more than 12 hours later than I planned to write this! I planned to do it this morning before K-Life. Instead I packed. I planned to do at church before I got to work on my projects. Instead I got caught up with others. I planned to write it as soon as Mom and I checked into the hotel in Bentonville, AR, as we were planning to begin our vacation tonight. We got about half way there...Eureka Springs, and EUREKA! We realized we forgot our Disney passes/airline itinerary/AAA packet. So...we turned around and drove home imagining that our 2 hour trip was now going to be 4 hours, and that we would be Bentonville by 8:00. So, we got home, got the packet, got back in the car and I decided to make a quick stop at Dollar General. As I dug through my wallet, I discovered that I did not have my check card. Retracing my steps of the day, I determined that I must have left it in the ATM machine. I called the 24-hour banking center, reported the problem only to learn that I can fix it at any bank branch...in Missouri. Not Arkansas. So, I called the hotel canceled our reservation for tonight, and have plans to be at the bank when they open in the morning. I'm not sure why, but I don't think we were supposed to be in Bentonville tonight. Maybe we weren't supposed to spend the money. Maybe we would have been in an accident. Maybe it doesn't have anything to do with Bentonville or us. Maybe it's just circumstance or chance or old-fashioned stupidity. So, finally, I'm home. It's 10 p.m., and I open my Bible to read this:

"My brothers and sisters, whenever your face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have it's full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing." Now, I know that the problems that I faced today are so insignificant to the problems that so many of God's children face. In fact, I have faced much greater worries in my own life. However, I was struck by the word "any." Any kind of trial--large or small. I can honestly say I wasn't angry about the events of the day, but I certainly did not consider it joy!

It would seem there was a coup d'etat on our plans for the day. I love that today's title is French. It literally means "strike to the state." According to freedictionary.com it means " The sudden overthrow of a government by a usually small group of persons in or previously in positions of authority." Hereth, in Listening to Lent, likens a coup d'etat to when we're seduced by all that glitters thinking that the more we amass the more like God we'll become--or at least the more invincible. The reality is the more we try to be like God--try to create our own happiness--try to control others--try to be in charge of everything--the less like Jesus we become.

Wouldn't it be great if Jesus suddenly took over our lives and became our authority? Soloman, in all his wisdom, said "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." Fear of the Lord comes only when we take the time to consider the full magnitude of God. It happens when we take time each day to reflect on God's greatness and our smallness. When we praise God for who God is. When we humble ourselves before God and others. Joseph could have lorded his position over his brothers. He had every right to abuse them for what they did to him. After all, it would have only been fair, right? God doesn't call us to be fair. God doesn't call us to tolerate one another. God calls us to humble ourselves. God calls us to love. God calls us to serve. God calls us to care for the widow and orphan, to visit the imprisoned, to clothe the naked and feed the hungry. God doesn't tell us to visit the innocent in prison, to care for the ones who have tried to care for themselves, to feed the hungry who work. In other words, God doesn't call us to care for those who deserve it. I don't think it matters how someone got into a difficult situation. What matters is that when we see someone hurting, we're called to alleviate that suffering. When God's children ache, we also should ache.

A few nights ago, I spent the evening with some friends discussing how we could help in the fight to end world poverty. My friend Jeff said that if one of his children were in another country dying of hunger he would do whatever it took to get to that country to save his child. He said there would be nothing that would stop him. And he wondered how it must also break God's heart when so many of his children are suffering while so many of his children do nothing about it. Hmmm. Good question.