Most of you reading this, I am sure, have heard of the saying “When it rains, it pours”.

Has anyone ever felt like that?

Perhaps we have said that same phrase soaked in sarcasm because at times, it simply feels as though we cannot get a break. The car breaks down, you get a ticket, you owe back taxes, your boss is on your case, the house is crumbling down around you, your relationships are shattered, your finances are slowly depleting….does this sound familiar?

Perhaps I seem to be overstating my thought here. Perhaps I am being a bit to dramatic for some of my readers. Others reading this are shouting “Amen” in agreement with this thought, and they have no religious affiliation.

I can share that thus far for us and those we love, 2012 has been a proverbial rainy season. It has rained, poured, and I think I have even seen some hail and the occasional tornado in our lives since we changed calendars back in January.

Friends of our have lost loved ones, fathers, husbands, brothers, mothers, sisters, friends. Relationships have been challenged, stretched, shaken, broken. Health has been questioned. Sleep has been lost. Tears have been shed. Our hearts have been torn and we are broken.

I would be lying to you and to myself if I were to tell you this was a time when my faith stood strong. I would also be lying if I were to say that I did not raise my fist in question or anger at God and wonder “Why?!?” or quote a line from Jim Carey “Smite me you mighty smiter!”

2012 has been tough…and it has made me wonder: where the heck is God in all of this???

Then I remember famous words from a famous man: “He [God] makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust” – Jesus

Why do bad things happen to good people? Because everyone gets a little rain from time to time.

There are lessons in the rain. The main one I have learned: People matter. Relationships matter. Invest in them. Strengthen them.

I have needed a few people in my life to live out Rihanna’s words…

“When the sun shines, we’ll shine together
Told you I’ll be here forever
Said I’ll always be a friend
Took an oath I’ma stick it out till the end
Now that it’s raining more than ever
Know that we’ll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella”

I am not sure about you, but it is raining in my life…I’d like it to stop soon….

One day I will learn how to sing in the rain but for now, do you have an umbrella?

 

Epic, according to Webster, is an adjective which describes something as being “of heroic character or style”.

Adventure is a noun and defined as “a remarkable occurence; a noteworthy event.”

As a man I love a good epic adventure. Movies that come to mind are: The Bourne Trilogy, Mission Impossible, Star Wars, Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Troy, 300…and the list goes on and on.

There is something that stirs within me when I watch these movies.

Something that makes me question “why I can’t I do that?!?”

I could take down the matrix…or throw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom….or restore the power to the Jedi…or well just about any of that. I could do that. Couldn’t I?

Ahh, there it is. In two simple words, doubt comes rolling out of our minds down to our hearts and into our reality: Couldn’t I?

The minute we begin to ask this question, is the minute we begin to disqualify ourselves. We answer the question with a quick “nope, I can’t!” and most of us leave it at that. We say we are okay with it, but really we know we are not. We allow this thought to rip us apart from the inside out. All of our mistakes, mishaps, and the secret things that no one knows about but you all flood your mind with reasons as to why you cannot. Why you should not. You listen to these voices….and so you do not. You, me, most of us…do not do anything. At least nothing epic.

So we settle for watching the hero on the big screen or in the book and we live our lives through them.

BUT…what if WE really are meant to have our own epic adventure?

What if our birth was a remarkable occurence? A noteworthy event?

What if you and I were born to have a heroic character? A heroic style?

I believe we were! I believe we were born and our birth was so grand that no one before us and no one after us will ever have our exact same DNA or Fingerprints or sphere of Influence. I believe that your birth and my birth was such a noteworthy event that heaven has its own assignment for us. That we have our own story in which we are the lead character.

Heaven knows this….and so does hell.

This is where the story gets interesting because now all of hell is fighting against your story. All of hell is trying to give you reason after reason as to why you cannot embark on your journey. The voices scream in your mind telling you that you are: too old, too young, made too many mistakes, have gone to far, you have lost too much, you are too hurt, too angry, too hyper….

These are the stories that we listen to.

And life passes us by.

Heaven begging us to begin our adventure.

Hell content because you have settled for much less than you were created for.

“For when you were born, you were born into an Epic…It is a story of beauty and intimacy and adventure, a Story of danger and loss and heroism and betrayal.” - John Eldredge

Friends, will you shut the mouth of hell and embrace the adventure that you, yes YOU were born for?

Today I am making that decision. Will you join me?

Today I had the opportunity to attend a retirement service for a man who is to be considered a giant in both faith and life.

However if you were to call this man a hero to his face, he would deny it, not with pretense or false humility but with sincerity of heart.

It is my opinion that this qualifies him to be a hero all the more.

The man of whom I speak is Pastor Skip Lewis.

To you, this man may simply be another name. To those of us who know him, who have the opportunity to share life we him…he is much more than a name.

As I reflected on his life and ministry, I realized that while he is far from perfect he is a man whom I respect far above most others.

Pastor Skip met me when I was a young teenager. At first meeting him he was quite intimidating. Not in a “holier than thou” way, it was more of a mob boss kind of way. Though I can assure you he is no mob boss, but does dress like one on Church for Sunday mornings. Think of a 2012 wardrobe and raspy voice of the Godfather with the heart of Aslan from The Narnia Chronicles and you have Pastor Skip. Though initially intimidated by him, Pastor Skip, his wife Carol, and his family became and remain dear friends and mentors of mine.  

Pastor Skip is more than a preacher. He was the man who gave me my first car. It was given to him and he did not need it. A HUGE “Thank You” to sister Carol who thought of giving it to the crazy teenager that would walk to church on nice days, rainy days, and all the in-between. It was a 1992 Ford Taurus and it ran good for me for almost 4 solid years.

Aside from the car, Pastor Skip has taught me life lessons that will go with me for the rest of my days. One of these is allowing a 16-year-old young man to preach in his pulpit. That was cool. Think of Tiny Tim meeting the Aslan-Godfather. Yeah it was like that. Pastor Skip showed me (more than told me) what it was to be a man of God, provide for your family and the value of integrity. When it came down to the popular choice or the right choice, Pastor Skip always goes for the right one. Then there was the brief season in my life when I dated his granddaughter. There were NEVER any boundaries crossed there. I was terrified the godfather might forget his Aslan like heart. But he accepted me into his family and though the relationship ended (on a good note too a might add) I’m still family in his eyes and that is one cool thing to know!

When I was facing a major life crisis and needed direction, he was one of the first people I went to and was able to help me through it. Never once was I met with a judgemental heart or mind yet I was always confronted with truth. (It should be noted that people today need to know the difference between judgement and truth. There is a difference. Find it. Then appreciate the people in your life willing to be honest with you because they love you and ditch the haters. Again, there IS a difference.) Pastor Skip is a jokester when its okay to be and serious when he needs to be. He prays because he gets to, not because he has to. He is an eager listener and is never out for selfish gain. His influence and leadership are not out of ‘title’, ‘position’ or ‘obligation’ but flow from a deeper place.  A place we all need to find.

As I reflect on how to properly honor this man, I am humbled, quieted, and at a loss for words….

Typically when people think of honoring someone, it is how to remember them when they have passed from this life into eternity. how to properly remember them. How to remember their sacrifice. But why wait? Why wait for them to be gone to honor them? To remember them? To serve them, as they have so willingly served us…..served me.

I am not sure what people think of “honor” anymore. Honoring Parents. Honoring Spouses. Honoring….anything.

Honor almost seems like something you read from a history text-book from days gone by. But it is something we must get back to and never leave.

In the Bible, the book of Hebrews chapter 11 talks about “others” those nameless people of the Christian faith “of whom the world was not worthy” (verse 38). Pastor Skip Lewis definitely belongs and is a part of those “others”. We need more “Others” like Skip Lewis in this world.

Pastor Skip is still alive and well, and it is my hope that I find a way to honor him while he is still here. Perhaps this blog was a place to start…

I am huge on writing.

My sophmore and junior years of high school my english teacher wanted us to keep a journal throughout the year and provided us with a list of different themes or quotes that we could respond to. Since those assignments I have been journaling off and on. I enjoy it but at the same time, after a while i get writers cramp.

Last year I had the opportunity to meet a man who had been journaling every day for the past 40 years. Fourty years! That is crazy! That is 14,600 days recoreded in a book. That is serious dedication.

When you think about life, isn’t it funny that most of our lives are forgotten. Sure we remember the big things: High school graduation, your wedding day, the birth of your first child or your first car. Then there are those other moments: when you found out your parents were getting divorced, the death of a parent or grandparent, your first traffic ticket. But what about all of those other moments? The little things like when I brought my wife flowers home after work and her smile could light up the next 3 city blocks. The lunch that you had with your friend you have not seen in years and how you were able to pick up right where you left off without missing a beat. The comment your boss made about how your contribution to the company is appreciated more than you may realize. All of these things matter. 

They make up the day to day of our lives and this is what our life is really is. This is the day to day that we forget….but should remember.

This year, my goal is to journal every day. Celebrating the wins and learning from the rest.

Here is a link to one of my favorite bloggers with his thoughts on the idea of journaling. Enjoy!

http://www.markbatterson.com/uncategorized/ink-your-faith/

As 2011 drew to a close, I set aside time to finish reading a book that should not have taken me nearly as long as it did, “Sun Stand Still” by Steven Furtick. As the closing of the book drew near there were two lines that hit me greater than all others, to quote Steven “Too many people forget the promise and forfeit the payoff because they faint in the process….Have you ever considered that in the overall scheme of God’s desgin, the process is the pont?” The process is the point?? Really? Traffic. Work. The “daily grind”. Sickness. Loss. Gain. And all the in between is the point? The more I thought about it, the more I realized he might be on to something.

Recently I had the opportunity to lead the Sunday morning conversation at Epic Church. I spoke about life, time, how much of our time goes where. When I did the math for the conversation, I discovered that if we sleep 8 hours a day, we sleep one-third of our live away. Then, if we work an 8 hour day, we will work for approximately 24% of our year. 57 percent of our year is spent working or sleeping! Craziness.  Yet it is a part of the process. Work, sleep, the commute to and from home, laundry, date night, church, family…the list goes on and on. All part of the process.

When I was a teenager I had the opportunity to meet a ton of people because of my involvment in 4 different youth groups. One of the ladies at one of those churches told me one day that I was so focused on my destination I was missing all the good stuff going on around me. Process. I needed to embrace the process. Now at 27, the husband of an amazing woman, full time employee of a Financial Institution, fulltime college student, son, mentor, friend, I still seem to be looking ahead to a new destination…but at what cost? What am I missing out on now because I want to be “there” so bad that I do not enjoy the “here”?

In my opinion there is danger to living in extremes. Danger to living only in the “now:. Danger to living only in the “then”. I am on a journey to embrace them both. Appreciating the here and now, living in the process while planning and preparing for the “then” whenever that may come.

To quote one of my favorite authors: “Life does not come to us like a math problem. It comes to us the way a story does, scene by scene. You wake up. What will happen next? You don’t get to know – you have to enter in, take the journey as it comes.” – John Eldredge.

I want to invite you to be a part of my process. The good, the bad, the ugly. In return I ask that you allow me to be a part of yours. Together, let us embrace this process of life that sometimes gets lost in the day to day of things.  Let us embrace this process…this life…together.