So this past week, the three of us spent some time in Colorado, maybe my favorite place in the U.S. and we spent a good amount of time talking, because its a pretty long drive. I'm sure we'll make that drive a few times in your life. But while we were talking, I started to get pretty impassioned, talking about the two actions that I think are the most important things in my life right now. We were talking about being a pastor and what that means and how it translates into counseling and the two things that came up are things that two men have taught me in the last few weeks. Daniel McIntosh says that the role of a pastor is to orient and reorient people around hope. This is incredibly profound, because there are so many hard situations that you and I and everyone else will face, so many questions left unanswered. People often feel the need to offer some sort of explanation for why hard things happen. The problem lies in the fact that the last thing a person needs in their time of pain or trouble is someone's half-ass, desperate grasp at some logical reason for their suppering. This simply won't cut it. The only appropriate thing that I can think of is to simply be with someone, to reach out and let them know that they are not alone. As a pastor, as a Christian, as a friend, you are representing hope for a better day. When we are alone, we feel powerless, hopeless, weak. When we have a friend, there is hope, there is strength, there is tomorrow. There is no higher honor I can think of than to point someone towards hope, towards the dawn of new days. There will certainly be difficult times in life, but Proverbs 24:16 says for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes. I strongly suspect that the righteous man has a righteous friend standing by his side offering a strong arm of hope. what an honor to be that friend.
This next lesson was taught to me by a man named Jett Stubbs. He is an elder in the church, a mechanic who owns his own shop, and good good man. I played baseball with his son in highschool, but never met him until last year. I recently asked him the two most important things about being a man. He said they were honor and respect, which both come from the idea of value. Value comes from the purchaser. If someone is selling something for $10 but noone is willing to pay more than $5, then that objects value is really only $5. The value is determined by the one willing to pay the price. So if Father really did pay the price of his only Son for your soul and mine and everyone else's, then our value is determined by Him, and nothing else. Value comes from the buyer. Right now, the culture in America is so rampantly trying to impose value based on appearance, productivity, wealth and whatever else you can think of, that if you aren't sexy, talented and rich, you're pretty much worthless. This sucks for most people, because most people won't make the cut. So while the fabulous few push everyone else down to exalt themselves, people allow them to, because maybe they believe that they really don't have a choice, they really don't have any value. This is where I get really fired up. Because how amazing is it to look someone in the eye who's been broken down, despised and forgotten and say by words, but most importantly actions "you matter, you are worth something, you are valuable". Oh man! we get to add value to people's lives. we get to stand up and show people by offering them respect, by honoring them, that they matter to Almighty God and to us.
I feel like i've done a really poor job typing this out, maybe because its late at night, but i know this is a lesson you will hear many many times from your dear old dad, because I love you and because it matters. Offer hope and value to those who have none, and you will make a difference in the world. you will be the flicker of light in a sea of darkness. May you live these truths every day of your life.
I love you with my whole heart son.
Dad
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