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).

Full Circle on the USS Midway

By Peter Lundell –

I wanted to become a Navy pilot. Yes, indeed. But my left eye was 20/25—not perfect, so I couldn’t. In the meantime God led my life another way. Yet I always wondered about the Navy pilot thing. What if…? And why did God lead my life in a different direction?

I found out “what if” when I had the privilege of visiting the aircraft carrier USS Midway.

I got to sit in the pilot’s seats of several jet aircraft. My mind sizzled. How will it feel? Here we go! And––Dials, levers, buttons, and lights all around me. Gag, choke, get me outa here. I love the feel of flying, but I couldn’t take the technical onslaught of what I’d have to go through to pilot a jet.

Then on deck I learned about landing these planes, sometimes in the dark, on a midget runway continually rising and falling as much as ten feet, with cables to grab and stop the plane. And every single landing is graded. Graded! And every grade affects a pilot’s career. The pilots argue with the graders and always lose.

I would have either jumped ship or died of stress.

Rarely does a person get to enter the world where he almost went—and then see for himself what it would have been like. I’m thankful I did.

All those years I wondered what might have been. No more. I learned that God knew me better than I knew myself. He knew beyond what I could see. He led me in the way I was born to walk. Even when I dragged my feet.

We all have “what ifs.” God doesn’t explain everything. He lets us wonder. When we find out, we know. When we don’t find out, we can only know by faith.

What are your “what-ifs”?

“Lord, You know me better than I know myself. Forgive me and correct me in the moments I disagree. Teach me patience to see what You see—and the humility to trust when I cannot see.”

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10 NIV).

Your GPS is a Lamp to My Feet

By Peter Lundell –

Driving at night from Interstate 5 through the coastal mountains to San Jose. GPS says go this way. Really? But we need to go to the 101. Double lanes narrow to single. Road curves and turns. Seems to head the wrong direction.

“Pete, this can’t be right.”

I grumble.

“Turn around.” Wife is not happy.

But the GPS seems happy.

I consider tossing it on the road and running it over.

No lights anywhere but for other cars. Shuttered fruit stands the only structures in the dark.
How did this happen? Can’t trust a GPS. Maybe a glitch and it thinks the address is in another town.

“I’ll pull over and check the map.” But there’s no place to pull over. I say a bad word and keep driving.

She calls ahead. They have no idea. Not good. Let’s try anyway. What a dumb idea.

Wait. Huh? We’re on the 101. How did that happen?

Soon the GPS says, “Arriving at address . . .” And we’re in front of the house.

Returning the next day, the same dark windy road becomes a picturesque tour through hills and fruit fields. What a lovely drive.

And I think how often I’ve done this in life, and so have you. We encounter uncharted directions and field untested challenges. God’s GPS, a.k.a. the Bible, directs us but we don’t trust it. Our situation is different. God doesn’t understand. Or maybe He doesn’t care. So we’re on our own in the dark.

Until we find that we’re not. That we’re in His hands. And we arrive well. When we look back or revisit the situation, it seems fine. Because we know how it works out.

Blessed are we when we learn to trust even while it’s still dark and the road still twists.

“Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. I have suffered much; preserve my life, LORD, according to your word” (Psalm 119:105–7 NIV).

“Lord, too often I have not trusted you. Forgive me. I choose here and now to trust You the next time my life’s path gets twisted or dark. Your Word is my map, and I travel in Your hands.”

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