Growing Up

“Is not this the carpenter’s son? … And they took offense at him…” (Matthew 13:55, 57 / ESV)

I stayed in bed a little longer than usual this morning, enjoying the opportunity to catch up with my bride. She had been gone for the past ten days. A trip that she faithfully takes approximately every 6 – 8 weeks but that for some reason, was harder this time around. Many of our kids still live back east, one of them still in high school (and 2 others, ages 12 and almost 11, but we do not get to see or talk to those children of ours – a blog for another day perhaps…).

As so often happens, the conversation got pretty deep the second we invited God in to our mini pow-wow. “But pastor, shouldn’t you bring God in to every conversation?” askes religion. “Yes, and just like you, we’re human and forget sometimes.” replies the sinner. So, there we were, breaking out our holy shovels and digging deep. Questions and responses aimed to encourage deeper questions and responses, and so on and so forth. I cherish this about my wife – unafraid to get cerebral with me. My friends will tell you (and I absolutely agree) that I married up in the brains department. I digress.

The question was thrown out on our little table for 2 (5 if you count the Trinity): “Why hasn’t God given us peace over our sacrifices that we’ve made in answering the call to be pastors?” And, “Are we actually called to be pastors?” Yeah…about that… You see, I told you our snuggle time was getting crazy! This prompted us first to discuss sacrifices, both ours and others that we both know and do not know about. Each and every person in the world has made some level of sacrifice(s) in their life. While the sacrifices we made to answer God’s calling over our lives often hurts, others have sacrifices more, and less. We came to a truth that is basic Christianity, and yet for some reason, both my wife and I will tell you that this particular time around, it pierced our hearts more than any other time we’ve had this revelation.

God understands. He understands our sacrifices and He understands your sacrifices because He made the ultimate sacrifice in His Son, Jesus Christ. He completely grasps our hurts and our struggles. We began to ponder how important it was for both of us to get out of Pennsylvania. Now, please do not read in that statement that we were running from responsibility. Many people pack up and move out when life gets difficult. My dad used to say, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” For us, leaving Pennsylvania was healing. We were stepping in to what God was calling us to do, and in doing so, we were answering His question, “Do you love me?” For Leslie and me, the only way to answer that multi-layered question was to show God that we were all in.

That’s when it hit me. In faith, we both needed to grow up. For many people, the growing up doesn’t happen where you grew up. Are you with me? In fact, often times, they aren’t even closely related. Take me for instance. I grew up in Battle Ground, Washington. Graduating class of BGHS, ’93. I went to a small Catholic church on Sundays faithfully! That is to say, I was made to attend. Monday through Saturday, I cursed and cheated in classes and drank after football games (and every other excuse to throw one back) like most of the other kids that grew up there. But I never grew up there in the sense that I became stronger in my convictions and filled with God’s wisdom to help me on the battlefield called life. It didn’t happen in Pennsylvania either, for the most part. I would say to you that I began growing up when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ in 2010, except that I am not even sure that’s true anymore. I think (and am currently on a trek with God regarding the matter) I knew Jesus my whole life. Maybe?

Message here? Yeah, there is. Please don’t feel bad if you don’t have one of these amazing break through stories surrounding your salvation and the split second where you remember being saved into the kingdom of heaven. The real importance about your salvation – is whether or not it exists in the first place. I claim 2010 (and specifically February of that same year) as when I gave my life to Christ because it was the very first and only time, I could ever remember having a profound vision from the Holy Spirit. What was that vision? I remember it like God gave it to me yesterday. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as a boy, to show me the wonders of the outdoors and deliver me a personal message from The Father that I was going to be a pastor.

Hey fam – I still believe that today. Leslie and I still believe, unequivocally and emphatically so, that we were called to this region to pastor and shepherd those that have not grown up yet. This answers the second deep question we discussed in the privacy of our bedroom this morning. We’re here and the enemy cannot and will not kick us out of little ‘ole Troy, Montana. There’s some growing up to do still and we embrace it. We’re here because we said, “Yes!” to the Holy Spirit. For some of my brothers reading this today – just like your spiritual maturity does not hinge on how long you’ve been following Jesus – growing up in a place does not mean you’ve grown up. The Nazarenes scoffed at the notion that a “carpenter’s son” could be the Messiah – the Savior of the world. Is it a coincidence that God then moved Jesus’ ministry to Capernaum? Perhaps even Jesus felt the need to grow up and out from the shadow of being a Jewish carpenter’s son, stepping into the light of God’s Only Son – the Savior of the world.

What are you supposed to be stepping into today, that may require from you a great sacrifice? What areas of your life do you need to grow up in? If you take this trek, and I pray you do, be careful. God’s answers to our deepest questions are often nothing like the answers we imagine in our minds.

I love you.

#TrenchBrothers4Life