Jan. 13

I am in Rapid City, South Dakota. I was invited here by a friend who leads a large, active, missional congregation. A few years ago they made a decision that changed their direction and their destiny. That’s what decisions do; either for the better or the worse. They decided to become actively engaged with the Native American population and culture in the community where there church was located. Their decision led them through and to some very difficult tests of faith. As we dedicated the Community/Ministry Center that has become the symbol of their focus and their faith I was glad to announce to them that in my opinion they had passed the “Faith Test.” Read on.   

Genesis 22                                         

This is a test

I love flying. Probably a good thing since I have to fly a lot in my job. Sidebar. I never know if I should call what I do “my job” because, for one; I really love what I do and two; It doesn’t seem like work. For that I am grateful. Anyway, since I fly a lot I am interested in airplanes; especially big ones that fly fast and far and carry lots of people to faraway places. I guess that is what I am really interested in; people in faraway places. Recently I was watching a documentary about the development and construction of the Boeing 787. It is the newest plane that carries more people, flies faster and farther and more efficiently than any of its predecessors. I was hooked at faster and farther. There are two things about planes that always get my attention; the engines and the wings. I am intrigued by how the engines, called turbines, even though they are so small in relationship to the plane, can generate enough power and speed to cause the plane to lift or fly. And hardly a flight goes by that I don’t wonder what would happen if one of the engines stopped working or even more interestingly, fell off… it seems like there should be more than just two engines. I mean if two are good wouldn’t three be better, one just in case of emergency. But I have read that most modern day planes could, if necessary, take off, fly and land on only one engine. Who knows maybe they have done just that and I just wasn’t aware of it. Three still seems like a better number of engines. Speaking of emergencies; I love to sit in the emergency or as it is politically correctly called, the exit row. We don’t like to talk about emergencies when we are flying fast and far. Obviously there are lots of reasons to enjoy the exit row such as more leg room and being able to be one of the first ones out of the plane in case of emer…..well in case we need to exit in a hurry. I like to sit in the “exit row” for reasons you might not think. Usually the exit row is located right over the wings and since the engines are located right under the wings The exit row is a great place to watch two things. The engines and the wings. You see I want to be the first to know if one of the engines falls off. That also means I would be available to get the door open and help people out in case of……. needing to exit in a hurry.  But I also love to watch the wings at take off. I invite you to watch them at take off the next time you fly. In order to fly the wings have to provide lift for all the weight of the plane. Remember that the next time you are packing and jamming all that extra stuff into your suit case and carry on. So what happens is, as the plane picks up speed the wings start to lift. You can actually watch them flex or bend. With all the weight of the plane and your suitcases on board some of wings bend almost two feet at the end. Now not only am I watching to see if the engines are staying attached but, yep you guessed it, I am watching to make sure the wings don’t break off. I love flying. I just think it is really amazing to consider all the dynamics that are involved in every take off and landing. Landings by the way are sometimes referred to as controlled crashes but we won’t talk about that here.  So I am watching the documentary and it has an entire segment on the development and function of the wings of the new 787. Since this plane is going to carry more people who know they are going farther so they probably packed a lot more stuff, the wings really have to be able to lift tremendous amounts of weight. In order to discover how much weight the design of the wings could carry the engineers put the wings in a giant press made to test wing strength. I didn’t even know one of those things existed. I was amazed to watch the wing during the test as it flexed or bent nearly in half before it failed (broke). The engineers discovered that the wings could withstand more than ten times the amount of stress placed on them during landings or take offs or more importantly “extreme turbulence” while flying. All those bumps and ups and downs probably put more pressure on the wings than anything. Now I don’t know about you but after watching the wing test on the documentary I was relieved. I am relieved to know that the plane manufacturing company tested the wings BEFORE they actually started flying the plane with people and their overstuffed luggage on board. Really, do you want to be on a flight where the pilot comes on the intercom just before takeoff, welcomes everyone on board and announces that the plane you’re on has never been tested and he is not sure if it will take off, fly or land without problems?  I am glad they test planes before they actually fly them with passengers on board. It is important to know the weight bearing capacity or strength of the wings. It gives everyone a greater sense of confidence and faith.

These thoughts came to me as I read the story of Abraham in Genesis 22 this week. It occurred to me that  what God is doing at this point in Abraham’s life is testing his capacity.  I encourage you to read it for yourself because I really don’t want to type it all out here, but when God asked Abraham to take his son Isaac; the promised son born to Abraham in his old age, and sacrifice him on an altar, I think God was saying, “I would like to know  Abraham’s capacity.” “How much weight can he bear?” “Will his faith hold up under the strain of what I am asking him to do?” The verse that caught my attention in the story this time is verse 14.

“And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

As a result of this test Abraham discovered his own capacity and it changed his faith and life and confidence. The wings held. Consequently Abraham flew faster and farther for the rest of his life.

I think that is how it is in our life; on our faith journey. Our faith is like those wings; it is what gives lift to our life and carries us. Sometimes we don’t know how much we can bear because we never allow our faith to be tested. We avoid altogether or  we back out of the difficult “presses” of life before the test is finished. This has direct consequences on the confidence factor in our life. It is important to know our capacity. It is important to God and it is important to know for ourselves what we can bear. Sure the presses of life are difficult but  how else will we know how far we can fly or how much we can carry unless we let God test us? What is your faith test about?

Just a thought

Gotta go! The next segment of the documentary is about toilets flushing while flying. Fascinating