friday night lights

I love when a blog is inspired from unexpected things and places. As a writer I always think in terms of this blog. I can't help it. I perceive things a little differently. I observe. I listen. And then so often out of nowhere I'm stirred, and it's time to write.

 I started watching the tv series Friday Night Lights on Netflix (praise the Lord for Netflix) and I haven't been able to stop. I could write so many blogs about this freakin show, but my favorite part about the show is that it's realistic about how hard life is. And it's true, life is just hard. Sometimes it seems hard to simply wake up in the morning. We're faced with heartbreak, sickness, death, disappointment, rejection, abandonment, and who knows how many other things. Everyone faces them. There are no free passes. I think that's why myself, and so many other people relate to Friday Night Lights. I'll be honest, I related to certain aspects of the show so much that it made it really easy for me to feel sorry for myself about things I've gone through in my life. I don't do that often, but sometimes you get to the "when am I going to catch a break" or "when is _________ going to happen" point. The whole "why is this so hard" question.

But I found out it's not just me and you and Tim Riggins who ask these questions. It's Jeremiah, too.

Jeremiah was a prophet, and in Jeremiah 12 we find him crying out and pleading with the Lord, asking why his enemies are thriving when he had been obedient, only to find himself and his family suffering hardship after hardship. See, it's not just me and you who fall on the floor and cry out, "WHY?" "WHY is this so hard?" It's Jeremiah, too. One of the greatest prophets in the bible. He's struggling with his family too. He's struggling with his wife too. Life isn't easy. He doesn't see God's plan come to fruition immediately.

That's all great and comforting and everything. I can relate to Jeremiah. Congratulations me. But God's response to Jeremiah wrecks my perspective. It humbles me. It puts me in awe of God's bigness, and my smallness. God hears Jeremiah cry out about these sufferings in his personal life and responds...

"If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?" -Jeremiah 12:5

It's right there. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. It's written down. It's been in there for thousands of years, and God is still answering you and me the same way he answered Jeremiah. I know son. I know daughter. It's hard. I'm sorry, and I'm here and I'm preparing you and I'll pull you through. But then God doesn't miss a beat and grabs us by the shoulders and says IF YOU FOLLOW ME, THERE IS MORE. There's more pain and more suffering and more attacks from the devil coming. They're coming and on a scale you've never seen, because you're called. YOU ARE CALLED. You have a purpose and a gift that nobody else can fulfill, which you must unapologetically embrace. And for that you will be a target. When you run with the horses you will face opposition that you must be PREPARED for. God doesn't coddle Jeremiah. He basically says, if you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Jeremiah went on to be attacked by his own brothers, beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet, imprisoned by the king, threatened to death, thrown into a cistern by Judah's officials, and opposed by a false prophet.

God's response to Jeremiah's cry called Jeremiah forth, and he had a decision to make. And we have a decision to make. It's either fall back and retreat when you feel the heat. It's easier. You can manage. You can somehow walk with men for the rest of your life and you'll have the same problems we all do and think life is all about you. Or. Or you can go deeper when you feel the heat. You can grab your problems and your dreams and tenaciously run with the horses where you're called even though you know there will be a price to pay. I don't know what it looks like for you. I don't know where you're called or who you're called to go with. But I do know we are never told it will be easy. We are told it will be hard. Harder than anything we've ever done.

I know that the story God is telling is bigger than each of us. I don't mean to say He doesn't care about our lives and our sufferings. I'm saying, do we even care about His plan? Or just ours? What if His plan looks different than ours? What if the path to the dreams He placed inside of you looks more like imprisonment and opposition before His promise to you is fulfilled? The dreams He gives us are not to make you feel good. They're to tell His story. To spread his Kingdom. Sometimes there's great joy in that, and other times, great suffering. God turns both for good.

So as always, this blog is a prayer, a prayer that we'd learn from Jeremiah. That we'd have the courage to say yes to wherever and whoever we're called despite the heat. That we'd turn our eyes on the God of the entire universe. The God who parts seas and shuts lions mouths and turns water to wine. And may we be reminded of God's promise to Jeremiah over and over as we face life and struggle and those who stand in opposition of where God calls us, "attack you they will, but overcome you they cannot." Because our lives and our stories only matter to the extent we embrace the larger story that God is telling. It's not all about us, and until we realize that, we're just going to exhaust ourselves racing with man, when we're called to run with horses.


More to come - J