Links (Meditations From Forced Rest) – May 28 to June 2, 2023 (155-157/365)

A little bit on what’s been going on, first. And by a little bit, don’t be surprised if I dump a huge load. Off my chest, that is.

You can say that it’s been pretty crazy, in the days leading to the past weekend, and through it. All that time we were anticipating a super typhoon to make landfall, and the words I’ve been hearing from people within my circle of influence have been… colorful, at best. There were some who prayed outright against it – They prayed at the top of their Pentecostal lungs, speaking to the typhoon as if it was a living listening entity, barring it from entering the Philippines, or implying that at the very least it would not enter what the news has told us was the Philippines’ Area of Responsibility, or PAR (and yes, this is one of those things you learn from TV).

There were others still that said that it would weaken, and/or enter Taiwan instead of our weather-hardened shores. And then there were others like me who were bracing for it to come, but also praying – praying, that at the worst case scenario, the folks who are most likely to be hit are protected physically (power) and mentally (peace). I was personally preparing by way of charging my power banks so we’d have as much internet access as we could; Not that I’d be surfing during power outages, take note – if we had our usual brownouts I was prepared to light up some candles and do some writing, old school.

They said Betty the typhoon would probably make landfall by Friday afternoon. And… Okay, I’ll be honest I was just slightly concerned (and equally prayerful) because the weekend was jampacked with activities that were of value to me, personally. Thankfully, Saturday rolled by, and Pastor Joedy had his last session in what the main church called the ‘Grace Leadership Institute’, with a substantial turnout, and exclamation point over exclamation point of revelation for those in attendance (I’m praying you guys went through the last ‘As Jesus Is, So Are We’ posts I’ve been sharing – speaking of which, I should probably put those in a category for easier access). Then came Sunday, where the good pastor finally spoke to my congregation – with nothing less than a great message for all of us, myself included.

Waiting Is Worship, Worship Is Waiting

Okay – I know this should have been discussed as an introduction to my main point, but I think I should just go for broke here and plot it all out so it’s out of my brain and written in public, not just to marinate for me, but for all you folks who I’m assuming are reading my gobbledegook; I absolutely enjoyed what Pastor Joedy had to share with us. He quoted Psalm 40:1 –

I waited patiently for the LORD;

he inclined to me and heard my cry.

And to cut the long story short, I will just say this – I didn’t think much of ‘waiting on the Lord’. It’s clearly something we talk about – heck, even Psalm 27, what our brother Xyrus read out as part of our video intro, had a final verse which stated, ‘wait on the LORD!’ The phrase also brings back nostalgic memories of when we used to listen a lot to The Katinas Live In The Rock San Diego; in their rendition of Lincoln Brewster’s Everlasting God, they sang in their own signature style, as Isaiah once wrote: Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.

Up until the moment Pastor Joedy revealed that the title of his message for last Sunday was ‘The Art of Waiting’, I didn’t care much for it – and now that I think about it, it’s probably because, what, I don’t like waiting? That’s probably not the case because I’m the poster boy for slacking off and finding all sorts of excuses to wait instead of work; Enter, the full awareness of my deep seated issue of awful time management. Or hell, maybe I didn’t think much of waiting because it’s what I love doing in the short term, and it’s what I use to beat myself up with when I suddenly realize I’m a responsible adult.

But there I was, waiting – Waiting on Pastor Joedy to keep on sharing what he had to share, helping my media team in between it all, as they struggled with a beat-up camera and its connections, while struggling with a laptop that didn’t know whether to prioritize recording or flashing a Powerpoint presentation. The poor kids didn’t have a chance, but thankfully we made the latter work, just so the good Pastor would have no hitches while he was sharing – at the cost of us recording video (which, by the way, was a pretty hairy ordeal resulting in substandard visuals).

And there it was – I wasn’t really expecting it, but there it was – the gem that needed to be heard. Pastor Joedy mentioned that the Hebrew for the word ‘wait’ in Psalm 40:1 was ‘qavah’ (we were told that sounded as ‘kavah’ or ‘kabah’); and in typical Hebrew revelations, we see that it doesn’t just mean ‘wait’. No, Pastor Joedy’s handy dandy Powerpoint presentation made it clear – ‘qavah’ didn’t just cover the word ‘wait’, but it covered ‘waited patiently’ in the verse; and sure, it meant ‘wait’, ‘tarry’… but it also meant, ‘to bind/twist together’.

Even HE said this was interesting. For when we wait, it’s apparently not just an expectant action – that is, it’s not like we’re merely waiting for someone else to act; but it’s a dependent action – That is, we’re involving way more than we usually think when we’re waiting for something, binding ourselves, twisting our beings as yarns form a rope. There’s more to waiting than biding our time – we’re involving our entire beings on all that we’re waiting for, all that we’re waiting on. Indeed, our minds, and consequently, our entire bodies are involved as we wait – even if we say that we are doing other things while waiting, it’s clear that a recognizable part of our being is bound to what (or who) we are waiting for.

I’m led to think now, that this is why it’s probably to our disadvantage for us to wait, or hope on unreliable things – especially now, when we realize we aren’t just staking our time but more of our being into these things, or these people.

Pastor Joedy also warned us that there is the tendency for us to lose our patience on things, and even get sick of waiting on God, that we would stop waiting, and consequently ‘unbind’ ourselves from Him. When this happens it’s only a matter of time before we find out that the actions that we do ‘unbound’ to Him result in the opposite of what we were waiting for; Indeed, this adds more meaning to when we quote our Savior: ‘Apart from (Him), we can do nothing.’

Yes, I’ve quit on making this just an intro, but let me continue.

And sure, interesting as all this sounds, it’s only ONE side of the equation; There’s even BETTER news! See, when we wait on the Lord, not only are we placing our hope and trust upon Something reliable (as He is our Rock) and Someone trustworthy (as He is our Savior), the greater news is in His promises:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Friends, Pastor Joedy had an explosive point for us to take in, one that I agree on, wholeheartedly – much as it is quite the deeper thing now to wait on the Lord and therefore bind ourselves to Him, it is actually HIS desire to bind Himself to us… And not only do we know that this HAS been fulfilled by the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we are constantly reminded of it by the power of the Holy Spirit poured out upon us – The SAME Holy Spirit that convicts us of our righteousness, which guarantees that (1) we are never disconnected from the love of God and (2) we are ALWAYS connected/bound to God, through Christ!

And speaking of the Holy Spirit, behold – It’s no accident that one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is… Patience! Folks, it’s not by our patience, we have patience as a fruit of the Holy Spirit alive in us, and it is by this patience that we wait on the Lord, resting and assured that He has bound Himself to us.

It’s because of this that I propose that part and parcel of the salvation that Christ paid everything for us to have is our involvement in what I’m calling a sweet cycle of waiting, and binding:

Because Christ inclines to me and hears my cries,

I waited patiently for the LORD;

Because I waited patiently for the LORD;

He inclined to me and heard my cry.

In closing, Pastor Joedy shared the story of Blind Bartimaeus, as mentioned in Mark 10:46-52. In a mix of what he mentioned in his time in the pulpit and in the succeeding discussions after the service, he pointed out the humility in Bartimaeus’ crying out to the Lord for help (even if the crowd around him was telling him to shut up)… And when he was brought to the Messiah, who asked him what He can do for him, it was faith that brought Bartimaeus to ask for a Porsche, duh the recovery of his sight.

There’s more to waiting than we give attention to, and there’s much more to waiting on the Lord. As we move, intentionally acknowledging how we are forever bound to Him, and He in us, it’s no surprise that we have peace that in His perfect wisdom and power, and in His perfect timing, He shall respond. Pastor Joedy was led to remind all of us in attendance, and those watching online, that even if we forget everything we prayed about ever since we found ourselves in Christ, our good God has it all listed down in His infinite wisdom, and surely we would be revived in knowing He would respond in His everlasting grace, and eternal glory.

Now doesn’t that just downright renew your strength?

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Weakness In Realization, Realization In Weakness

Well… These revelations should have renewed my strength. And I should have been renewed. Before turning in last Sunday night I already had stuff plotted to type and create… and sure I was able to get stuff done. Monday morning, I got my workout in – starting a new and more difficult cycle. And awful video recording notwithstanding, I was still able to create and post a passable recording of last Sunday’s service last Monday afternoon.

But remember the typhoon we thought would come Saturday or Sunday? Well Betty thought to come around, starting Monday evening. We started getting power outages, but in my mind, I wasn’t going to be fazed – I still had my to-do list that could be faced, with or without electricity.

Then Tuesday came around, but something else happened. Instead of me creating as expected, I was tested – in my mind and in my relationship, and like a cherry on top, in my body, as well. I thought I went through Tuesday’s workout well, but it turns out I pushed myself too hard, leaving my body and my head aching, and giving me a nasty cough that aggravated my head even more. And now that I recall, I was sweating from leading worship last Sunday, and genius me also had the great idea to manage traffic so Pastor Joedy could back out safely into the road (even if he could have easily done it himself), and I got rained on. It was just a matter of time before flu kicked in – and, as a bonus, a canker sore decided to pop up… on my tongue, of all places.

So there I was, resting and trying my darndest to stay warm and to recover my strength and to heal, instead of writing as I expected. But something else dawned on me while I was recovering – this wasn’t going to be like other times that I was recovering of similar illness. There was so much more in stake now, which required my presence and my attention. Thankfully, I was able to conveniently cancel some of my obligations (citing the weather and my sickness as ‘valid’ reasons), while I was able to reschedule other meetings, my workouts, and my posts (citing ‘rest’ as another equally ‘valid’ reason) but I thought to myself – I can’t be caught so weak in case of more pressing matters.

I’ve been sick, my friends, and if there’s anything I’ve learned in the time I’ve spent recovering, it is this: Even if I do find myself able, at the very least, to attend to such urgent matters, the fact of the matter is I can’t do it all alone. I am NOT the Body of Christ. As I was recovering, and even as I forced myself to quicker recovery by way of taking medicines, much to the distress of my mother, I’ve had to realize that I am merely a part of His Body, and I have been humbled.

Sure, I’ve realized this before, but I’ve only seen the necessity for it now. Considering the mountain of responsibilities in other ventures was apparently not enough. I needed to be struck down a foot or two for me to realize that all I do amounts to nothing, on my own. It’s just as Pastor Joedy shared.

I spoke to Ann, who was pretty gracious to me about all that I’ve faced so far this week, and whom I am thankful to God for; I told her how, at my age, I’ve realized it a little later than I should have – management is not only an advantage, but it is necessary, as time passes. And you aren’t just managing for yourself, or for your legacy – Ugh, that word. The truth is, your legacy isn’t for you – You’d already be with Jesus! No, your legacy is for those who have been left behind. If you care a little more than yourself as you age, you’d work on managing every aspect of your being – off the top of my head: your time, energy, relationships, people, power, money, and resources; and you would do all this managing for your legacy, which you would realize (if you were smart enough), is more for your loved ones than it is for you.

If you’re around my age (thirty plus is what I like to say), I pose this challenge to you: What’s keeping you from having your loved ones rise up now, instead of when you pass away? This here was a thought that popped up as I’m recalling all of this and plotting all this to post, but I’m afraid it’s a thought among others that have just been collected throughout the day.

At this point, I have to admit – I had another post done and ready to share, but I only thought I’d post this ‘catch-up’ piece before I shared anything else. Throughout this week I suppose I’ve been feeling like passing on what I can and call it a startup for a legacy, but it’s really more of a set of guidelines I’ve been more motivated in putting together nowadays, for tasks I’m supposed to be delegating to other people, so I had more time and resources to give to other obligations.

And I tried – Oh my God, did I try.

Ahem. Well, I did, didn’t I? I mean, during the first part of this year I was so proud to pronounce that this year was going to be a year of movement, where it apparently wouldn’t just be me moving, but others would move as well. I’ve spent the majority of 2022 getting us overwhelmed by the amazing love and the everlasting peace and the great grace of our God, expecting that upon my proclamation at the beginning of 2023, anyone and everyone would move out of their own volition, into greater adventures, that more and more people would see the goodness of God that leads to repentance!

We’re starting the last month of the first half of this year – why does it seem like I still have my hand over too much of my Sunday Service?

I’m trying to do everything, and doing nothing in the process.

It all boils down to this. You can ignore everything in the past couple of walls of texts, and come to this and remember this, realize this – that any person can go ahead and inspire and motivate you, but a leader that cares about you is willing to tell you where to go and what to do, no matter how much it hurts their own reputation.

I’m sorry I’ve had to go through circles just to get that point through, but there it is – again, this is actually more for me than it is for anyone else, and while I’m glad I got all of the dross out of my head, I’m elated that I was able to get some choice gems and precious metals out for all of us to appreciate.

Much ado for me to say that it is necessary for anyone who is given the responsibility to lead – to win the hearts and minds of those under their care, not only through inspiration and motivation, but also in vision and direction. This is my own journey into learning what Jocko Willink calls Extreme Ownership.

Expect the coming posts to contain more direction than mere motivation. And you’ll see more of what I mean regarding a leader being a leader by telling people what to do in the next post, particularly where I talk about 1 Chronicles 29:10-22.

Until the next post, God bless you.