A Lesson from Mandela

By Peter Lundell –

Presidents, prime ministers and royalty from around the world came to pay tribute at Nelson Mandela’s funeral, held in a soccer stadium.

People carried banners that bore a close-up of his face. On the left, his birth year (1918). On the right, instead of the date of his death was the word “eternity.” In people’s minds he didn’t entirely die in 2013. He passed into eternity.

I’m not talking about theology of salvation here. I’m talking about how a person can live such a life on this earth as to be regarded to not die as much as to pass into eternity and still live on as a beacon of inspiration.

The irony is that the man spent twenty-seven years in prison. During the prime of his life. Breaking limestone boulders into gravel. By hand.

Many of us go around with full schedules trying to do everything we can to make the most of life. Busy. We’re so busy.

And this world-renowned inspirational leader was off on a prison island doing hard labor.

He was there because he was the primary leader of resistance to Apartheid. Yes, he was busy fighting the government before he went to prison, but his impact had little to do with how much

he got done each day or week or month or year. His value lay in who he was. And what he did about it, by suffering in prison for so long and by forgiving his captors and forging peace after he was released.

What would happen if each of us focused our lives twice as much on something valuable and reduced our busyness by half as much?

I’m thinking about my life. What would happen in yours? Of course the world around you would resist such a change. But if you did so, what would happen?

Prayer: Lord, You have given me one life. Work in me to focus it well, to do what I was most created to do—and not get sidetracked or seduced by busy stuff.

“One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4 NIV).

Rabbit on the Runway

By Peter Lundell –

A rabbit is on the runway. Now it’s on the service area around the jet.

What? How did a rabbit get there?

Denver International Airport is gargantuan. I’m looking out the terminal window at a rabbit hopping across the tarmac, between rows of parked planes. It is light brown and plump; hopping here, hopping there.

A jet lumbers by, and the rabbit hops some more. It had to have crossed several runways and fields and passed a dozen planes to get to this terminal. How utterly strange and out of place is a rabbit on a runway.

By the time I emerge from my stupor enough to extract my camera, the little bugger hops to the other side of the plane and continues out of sight.

Have you ever felt far from home or far from your comfort zone? Maybe you’ve felt like a misfit. Or just lost or out of place.

Or have you ever been so curious you did something crazy, like the rabbit? Have you ever defied your fears, gone beyond your self-imposed limits, or limits others imposed?

Doing so can seem foolish. It can be scary. And people or systems will almost always push you back into your expected place. If that’s God’s intention for your life, then stay there. But if God made you to be someone else, someone who pursues dreams and dares to make them happen––then learn from a rabbit hopping among commercial jet aircraft. That rabbit has gone way beyond its meadow of grass, across fields of concrete, to hop among silver behemoths. What guts.

Go, rabbit, go!

Prayer: “God, O God. I choose to learn from a rabbit. Lead me beyond my comfort zones and boundaries of fear to venture out in ways that will scare me but will surely grow me.”

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10 NIV).

So What If I Miss Her?

By Peter Lundell

I recently sent my daughter off to a very good private university with our church denomination, for which we got enough financial aid to afford this privilege.

She’s working so hard at her schoolwork, and now a part-time job on campus that she can’t come home this weekend as she had originally intended.

People ask if I miss her. Of course I do. And so does my wife and the dog. But that’s not the point. She’s experiencing what she needs to grow into a capable, strong, and mature person. Would I really prefer to see her at home lying on the couch?

It doesn’t matter that I miss her. It matters that she is in school starting the teacher education program, with the faculty and student community, and in the spiritual environment that are all best for her. There are a lot of great schools; I’m only saying this is the best one for her, and I hope every student gets into the school that’s best for him or her.

Any good parent sees beyond feelings. Good parenting, like good relationships, work, habits, life choices, faith in God—every good thing we do in life—is not based on how we feel but on what’s the right thing to do.

My missing her is irrelevant because she’s experiencing what she needs—in countless ways. And for that I am grateful.

Whether we like it or not, our spiritual life is the same. From what I read in Scripture and see in life, God is not particularly interested in how we feel about things but rather in what’s best for us.

You could ask if God the Father missed Jesus when Jesus came to earth. Same answer: It didn’t matter. Because Jesus came to do what was best, what humanity needed.

What will you give up or let go for someone else’s good?

“O Lord. Work in me to get over whatever feelings I have that keep me from doing the right thing, especially when it concerns other people. . . .”

“I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me” (Philippians 2:23–26 NIV).

Rebel against the Insanity

By Peter Lundell –

A seismic drift happening for decades in America seems to be crossing a line we may never cross back.

At Thanksgiving we now tend to see, hear, and read less about Thanksgiving than ever before. Instead we endlessly see, hear, and read about Black Friday. Which has now invaded Thursday.

Retailers are tapping sources of money, the reason they exist. Yet last year countless people, better defined as consumers, complained—complained!—that 6 a.m. or even midnight wasn’t early enough to open the stores.

On the surface Thanksgiving doesn’t seem to be about religion or morality, it’s just about being thankful. But deep down it reveals our beliefs and moral values, what’s important to us, to whom we submit our lives. And for decades materialism is the god who’s been winning. It seems this idol has led masses across a threshold.

Hours after the richest nation on earth is supposedly pausing to be thankful, its citizens trounce each other to grab more stuff on sale. Who has time to be thankful? We have sales to find, and we research and map a strategy beforehand to make sure we win. Thereby we find purpose and create meaning by the new possessions we bag and the percentage-off we count.

I am not against battling crowds for bargains on the day after Thanksgiving—or even online on “Cyber Monday.” Go ahead. But when it eclipses thankfulness, we have a problem.

To a huge part of the populace, Thanksgiving has become only a pretext for bargain hunting. I encourage you to rebel against the insanity. Even if you shop on Black Friday, make a point to leave Thursday alone. And be thankful, even now.

“Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes” (Proverbs 27:20 NIV).

“Lord, in the midst of crowds who clamor for more stuff and won’t take time to be thankful for what they have, keep my heart right. I choose to be satisfied with what I have, and thankful for it. When I hunt for bargains, I choose to keep it secondary to honoring You and living right.”

Danger Lurks in Paradise

By Peter Lundell –

Danger lurks in paradise. Kim and I were sent to speak at a Pastors’ retreat in Honolulu. So of course I had to swim at Waikiki Beach. The water was warm and clear blue. But below were patches of exposed lava. I smashed my toes black-and-blue, cut-and-bleeding. At least I didn’t break them. Underneath the post-card-perfect-most-famous-beach-on-earth lie rocks that wait to injure swimmers.

When people on the mainland hear the word “Hawaii,” they think vacation heaven and say, “O-o-o-o-o-h.” Indeed it is for tourists. But for more than a million people who live there, it is much like anywhere else, or more so.

Housing, cars, food, merchandise, and almost everything else costs more there than anywhere else you’d like to live. The pastors I met frequently deal with greater financial, cultural, and social challenges than those on the mainland. And people in Hawaii have such an easygoing culture that pastors have a hard time motivating them.

Everyone still loves the place—it truly is wonderful. But when we see beyond the veneer of the tourist industry, we find that in daily life, Hawaii is a rough and tumble place like any other.

We humans tend to idealize. We want things to match our imaginations and fantasies, whether vacation spots, careers, or people we fall in love with and marry. But we always find that a more difficult reality awaits anyone who sticks around.

Think about how much that happens in your life.

People can be the same way about God and faith. But anyone serious about it will find that following Jesus includes more than just being loved and forgiven. He leads us into facing ourselves and changing, and also embracing the pain of others.

But even at that rough-and-tumble level we come to know a deeper beauty than we could have known on the surface.

“Lord, sometimes my eyes only see what they like. Teach me to see as you see. Deepen my heart and mind to embrace the hard things in life—and then to find and appreciate the blessings from them.”

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? . . . No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:7, 11 NIV).

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