The second part of my triste on Starbucks and the Church is coming. Until then enjoy this little story.
When I was in third grade my favorite thing to do was ride my bike all over my school. The private school that I attended was built on an old college campus so there were ample sidewalks and hills for me to peddle up and down, over and around. Since my father worked at the school my sister and I had to stay on campus nearly everyday until he finished coaching. On days where the elementary dismissed early we would beg our dad to take our bikes up to school so we could have some fun while we waited on him. After class we would walk across campus to the high school parking lot, climb into the back of his truck, and grab our bikes. Often the first place I would head toward was the ECLC.
The Early Childhood Learning Center was built on the top of a good hill. A long, straight sidewalk jutted out of the back of the building down the hill. The sidewalk conected to the major walkway of the campus but if you kept going straight ahead you could fly down another small hill, streak across a small little field where we would play during recess, and barrel down yet another hill. It. was. AWESOME!
On this particular day I was ready to break a record. For my birthday I had recieved a new bike. This new bike was grey and had a great big red TURBO button. As you peddled you could hit this button and shoot into turbo mode. I was bound and determined that I was going to catch some righteous air that day. Nothing was going to get in my way.
I took off down the sidewalk. About halfway down I hit that red button. Turbo mode baby! Nothing was going to stop me. Not even my friend Curt who was standing at the bottom of the hill in the middle of the sidewalk.
To this day, Curt believes that I maliciously hit him on purpose. When he tells this story he likens me to the Witch as she hunted down poor, little Dorothy. Duh-dut-da-dut-da-duh-da-dat, Duh-dut-da-dut-da-duh-da-dat, Duh-dut-da-dut-da-duh-da-dat.
I swear. I didn’t see him and I couldn’t stop.
Curt ended up riding the front wheel of my bike down the remainder of the sidewalk, down the hill, across the field and down the other hill. It was a ride he will never forget. It was an event I will never forget.
To often in this life, we have our own ideas and agendas and we couldn’t care less about whether or not anyone around us gets hurt. Our wants and desires out weigh our concern for others. We want something, we want it now, and we are going for it.
Whenever I am reminded of this story I am reminded about our attitudes. Paul tells the Ephesians that their attitudes should mirror the attitude of Jesus Christ.
If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care– then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death–and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth–even those long ago dead and buried–will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
God cannot be honored when we are running each other to get what we want. Let’s slow down, look both ways, and begin to trust that God doesn’t need our help to get us where we need to be.
