You are more than you think

I've been camping out this weekend…camping in really. Camping In = pup sitting, a workshop on prayer (God is faithful.), engaging in a little financial maintenance, reading, looking at the stars, and thinking. It's been good. Revelatory.

Somewhere between the Princess Bride and the last episode of "Storage Wars" (why?), I began to wonder why we strive for stuff, applause, and more stuff (and more applause). 

We feel small (we are).

We feel powerless (our own strength falls short).

Loneliness grips us and we go shopping or barreling down an avalanche zone to stave off the pain. Too soon we shuttle our purchases and mementos to a locked and dark storage unit. Too soon we realize that this only shields us temporarily from our "buyer's remorse" and empty feeling. This pile of stuff does not satisfy.

Even adventures fall short.

So what do we do with all of the stuff inside looking for meaning and the stuff we've picked up and paid for along the way?

What do we do with the guilt and shame that weigh us down, the failures that sneakily try to define our mirror's image, our successes and trophies?

I'd say gather them all up and PUT THEM INTO PERSPECTIVE.

They are temporary. You aren't.

Your life is brief and precious and God had something beautiful in mind when he thought you up. 

Not "beautiful, but…"

Just beautiful and strong and purposeful.

So your life is in the chipper right now? That hurts. But it won't last forever unless you want it to.

You've racked up more losses than gains and your confidence is face-flat in the dirt? Unqualified? Excitable? Exhausted? Demoralized? You are in good company.

Check out Peter – Jesus' flighty crusty pal who was eventually called the "Rock" on whom the Church was built. You'll find his "denial of Jesus" in Matthew 26; 69-75, Jesus restoring him to good company in John 21: 15-23, and how his transformed life played out in 1 & 2 Peter.

This is the man who could say – without a doubt – that "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

Sweet salve to a sagging soul.

If ancient Jewish fisherman changing the world doesn't inspire, what about these women in Cambodia who – though young and inexperienced – are changing the world for the prostituted, broken, and beaten.

It has not been easy. 

They have encountered hardship, disappointment, and grace.

They are also encountering the reality that in the hands of a loving God, they are more than they think. 

My friend, Corrie Ten Boom…well – she feels like she's my friend – sheltered Jewish refugees in a crawl space of her narrow home above the family's watch making shop in Holland. Because of this, she lost most of her family, all of her possessions, and too many years and dignities to the hatred of one man in power. She had never married, was crusty, resourceful, and no great beauty.

But she changed a world by her selfless love and inspired courage. 

This feisty watchmaker lost everything and gained the whole world. 

Because of Corrie and other people like her, many people and their stories were saved from extermination. 

Because of the faith and willingness of a handful of brave women, many Cambodians will be saved from hopelessness and despair.

Small? Crusty? Imperfect?

You are in great company. 

What can grow from the stuff of your life? 

Or in Corrie ten Boom's words,
  Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.   

Tenth Avenue North sings a little song about who you are, "You are More".