REJOICING & WEEPING WITH OTHERS

Romans 12.15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep”

Which would you rather do, rejoice or weep? Or maybe I should say, “which is easier, to rejoice or weep? Actually, it kinda depends. It’s easy to rejoice when your favorite sports team does good, but it can be a lot tougher to rejoice alongside a teammate that rocks it, but your performance was personally disappointing. So yes, weeping isn’t all that much fun, but in many circumstances it’s a lot easier to do (weeping with someone going through a tough time).

There’s a certain precept, I’ll call it the “jealousy factor”, that the closer you are to someone (especially when involved in the same endeavour) the easier it is to be jealous, and hence-tougher to rejoice with them. For example, maybe you’re  never tempted to be jealous when Canada super xc skier Alex Harvey does well in a world cup race. He’s so far out of your league,  but when the local provincial skier with whom you go back & forth in races over achieves in a race and really nails it, the jealousy factor can score pretty high on the envy meter.

The athlete pictured here totally breaks the jealousy factor mould. Gen Morrison is embracing her teammate that had just defeated her for the Olympic spot in their weight category for team Canada. Gen was sharing in her teammates joy, and her teammate was sharing in Gen’s sorrow. What a moment!

Going into the match Gen was the favourite coming off last summer’s PanAm gold medal and recent bronze medal at the world championships. The latter result was the one that gave Canada the Olympic berth in the first place, but Gen had to win that place back at these trials. Going into the match, she pretty much knew it would be close as these two trained daily together and totally knew the strengths, weaknesses, moods and ebbs and flows of each other on a day-to-day basis. This match was epic. It could have gone either way as both athletes entirely wrestled to their absolute potential, and they both were certainly aware of this.

How did the world view this? Did they think she was weak, especially in a sport where you have to be tough in so many ways? Realizing that for so many athletes reaching the Olympics is a life long dream that is the driving force in many a sport career. No, the moment, captured in this picture, was named the international 2015 wrestling highlight moment of the year (Gen was named the Female Canadian wrestler of the year also).

In the Romans 12 verse, the command is given in the context of a body of believers...a close body of believers. I’m sure potential jealousies existed everywhere among this tightknit group of Christians. But what a joy to have a community that could actually live this rejoicing and weeping out together.

It’s an old saying, but it really is true: “shared sorrow is ½ sorrow, but shared joy is double joy”

How cool could it be to genuinely rejoice with your teammates and competitors at the end of a contest no matter your personal result. You’ll be guaranteed a celebration. Proverbs 15.15 says: “...a cheerful heart has a continual feast.”   Now that’s the way to live!!

A TRIBUTE TO AN UNSUNG HERO

The world lost a great man just before Christmas. You’ve never heard of him. He was a  family friend. Although you may have benefited from his work at Billy Graham ministry. He ran the computers there. If you’ve ever received mail from BG or contacted them, you’ve benefited from his work.  Funny though, as personal computers came into our society, he never got one. His computer world consisted of antiquated memory tape and other historical technology.

He retired years ago and in retirement volunteered with his wife each winter at the Wycliffe ministry headquarters in Texas. In summers and fall they’d come to my parents apple orchard and just be busy helping out. They actually moved to the area because my parents were out there. That’s loyalty.

Every Christmas this couple would come to our family tree trimming party. Their presence was an important ritual even more important than the many other rigid festival rites that we performed at Christmas time. There were many other family gatherings that they often would be a part of. Since they never had children of their own I often felt like we were kind of their adopted kids.

One Christmas in the ‘70's that stands out to me was when they brought us gifts for each child consisting of Bibles, the Living Version. I still have mine.

One constant was that no matter what was going on, at a certain time very early in the evening, he would pull the plug and start getting ready to go home. The reason was that for him, his 4:30 A.M. personal Bible study and prayer time was the most important thing and he didn’t want to compromise that in any way.

That never changed either. For so many people their walks with God  have ups and downs, but for him year after year he never stopped that 4:30 A.M. wake up call. There must have a been a lot of mornings when he was tempted to keep on sleeping... but that’s my world not his.

I remember the Sunday I got ordained. Of course this couple was at the service and later at the  reception at my home. In the card he gave me there was an inspirational sentence he wrote in Greek, knowing that I’d just completed a lot study in this original New Testament language. You see he studied both Greek and Hebrew. Certainly not needed for any computer language, but if you’re a serious student of the Bible... well that’s just what you do.

Two summers ago we vacationed in Mn and I really wanted to make a point to visit this couple. I knew that the world wouldn’t blessed with his presence too much longer. He  was in his 90's and scheduled for a heart operation. In retirement that early morning wake up call came a bit later. I think he said somewhere around 6:30. Still earlier than a lot of people get up.

Sometime before Christmas that old heart with the implanted cow valve gave up. I guess you can’t be too sad, except maybe for his widow. How lonely it must be for her.  But, the reception in Heaven would have been glorious. All those mornings communing with the Saviour, now it’s face to face. The words, “well done, good and faithful servant” were most surely stated.

I’m sure his life wasn’t perfect. Every human has weaknesses and fallen nature battles, even our heros. Maybe that’s what makes them our heros. In their imperfection they keep fighting and don’t quit. For Duane Wriedt there is just one main thing that stands out to me, his unrelenting quest to go hard in knowing God. I don’t know anyone else personally that I can look to as an example of this. I guess they’re pretty rare. You can read biographies of people like William Carey and George Mueller, men known for their devotional lives. But these are just people I read about in books from a long time ago. To actually have a flesh and blood friendship with someone that has something you’d like to be like...that’s a gift.

Torches get passed, and our Saviour said that to whom much is given, much is required. I’ve been given a gift to have a real life example of what it’s like to go hard after God. Time to pick up the torch, keep it burning bright and pass it on to others.

Some Thoughts on Tragedy

With the news of the weekend's tragedy at the COP Bobsled track so many thoughts jumps into my head. In working with RCMP victim services I've come to view tragedies in light of being right in the midst of many of them.

My first thought is that victims come in many forms. Those that are directly impacted by the choices of others and those that are indirectly affected. The latter often don't see themselves as victims, but if you're emotionally distressed as a result of a tragic situation, then you're certainly a victim. There are many friends and colleagues of mine that train, compete, coach and service that track. Many of them are far away in Europe competing in world cups and world championships, yet from the tweets, etc. I can see that many are really hurting from the loss of life and terrible injuries that occurred yesterday on the ice track. Your emotions are real. Allow yourself as a victim to grieve. We all grieve in unique ways to our personalities. Whether it’s taking some time to pray, talk with someone or make some new life path choices, do what you need to do.

My second thought is more towards the families of the teens involved in the heinous crash. From what I’ve been seeing in the media, it seems like they came from real good families, most likely even God fearing Christian families. The hope they’ve expressed so far has been truly amazing. As good a family background as you have though, sometimes regretful choices are made. But the important thing to realize is that how your life ends often (and usually) doesn’t define the life and how it was lived. This is an important point to dwell on over the next several days and weeks as the lives of  2 twins that perished are celebrated.

We’ve also got to keep in mind the 6 that are struggling both physically and emotionally in the hospital. They must be in perilous physical condition and certainly in emotional anguish at the passing of their friends.

Let’s all be there for each other and keep our heads up to recognize needs around us!