Something Profoundly Obvious

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Greetings Lifers,

(Spoiler Alert: I am about to say something profoundly obvious, something so “duh” that most will wonder if they really need to keep reading this email (you do). Ready?)

Most things don’t work unless you use them.

I know, I know – it’s kind of painful for me too. I sat through 8 years of higher education – you should expect more. But stick with me - I’ll do my best to explain why I bring such a staggering breakthrough to this here email/blog post (by the way, you can read these emails now online on our newly-minted webpage at my blog there (I’m in the side menu – baylife.org). Here we go…

So I was speaking recently with my mom about an impending trip north to see her and my dad before they transition from their current living space to another. The whole family intends to gather, and after ruling out certain options, I thought I had pegged the perfect dates. My kids will be out of school on the Friday before and Monday following this particular weekend, and after conferring with them, my sisters and their families were squared up to be there as well.

This is when Einstein here decided to look at his calendar. To be clearer, I chose to look at my calendar after I made my plans (I know – I can’t believe I did something like that either). I realize that this isn’t the correct order, and I know some of you detail-oriented readers are shaking your heads at me right now – I get it, trust me, I do. Let’s just say that I made my plans assuming the dates were clear for take-off.

But of course, they weren’t - hence my previous profundity. Who knew that a calendar of one’s life plans only helps when making future plans if it’s consulted before said plans are made? In this instance, not yours truly, obviously.

So let’s apply this axiom to other things, shall we? A gas pedal only moves the car if your foot presses it down (I’ve noticed that some of us are a bit slow on the uptake in this area, especially at the stoplights where I find myself idling behind you – let’s all commit to working on this together K). A car brake works the same (but opposite) way (is that even possible?) – a vehicle keeps going until the brake pedal is compressed (at my vehement behest, my new-to-driving sons learned this tidbit at the beginning of their first car driving experience). Want more? A wristwatch can only help you be prompt if you look at it before your meeting starts – fyi*. Oh, and btw*, a phone message that would have saved you the drive is only effective when the phone owner checks his messages (learned that one the hard way several times).

Seems we can have all the right tools for what life requires and still choose not to use them.

I’m reading Proverbs again at home and with our staff. If you haven’t read it recently/ever, it’s the original (and biblical) “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book. One of my favorite parts of the book comes early in the first chapter, where it reads:

⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Knowing anything of real worth starts with knowing and revering God. Living a life of any real worth is rooted in our willingness to take what we know from God and apply it to life situations (as in all of them). This is what Wisdom is – our knowledge of what God wants for life becoming our life (wisdom is knowledge applied). And did you catch the end part there? Fools (idiots, dopes, spazzes, dweebs, etc.) choose to take what they know from God and do nothing with it. It’s like having a calendar and a watch and not checking them. It’s like sitting in a car and going nowhere, or riding in a car and using a tree for stopping. It just doesn’t make sense.

And neither does knowing what God wants and choosing it not. May you and I learn the “duh” lesson of the week – most things don’t work unless you use them, especially when it comes to our understanding of God’s will. Like Nike said – “Just do it”. Can’t believe I ended with something so pithy, but in this case, it fits.

Before I sign off, a quick note to those who haven’t joined us on Saturday nights here at Bay Life lately. Our crowd has been growing this year at this service (Saturday, 6:00 pm in building B), so much so that we’ve had to retool our set up to accommodate those coming. If you haven’t been in a while or have never tried Saturday nights, this would be a great week to give it a go. We have childcare offering up through 5^th grade available for your kids, so pack up the fam and join us this Saturday night!

Free,

Mark Saunders

Senior Pastor

Bay Life Church

(*  “for your information”, “by the way” – I used the abbreviations to better communicate with you tech-savvy texting types)