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We Need Each Other

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By Larry Short

“May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.” (2 Timothy 1:16-18)

Last week Brian Waple spoke of how important prayerful dependence on the Lord is when things don’t go quite as we hope and expect. This was a timely word for Darlene and me, as we were traveling 2,500 miles east in our RV and had just experienced some serious technical challenges.

First came some troubling computer errors. We were zipping down the highway doing 80 in that big rig (the speed limit in South Dakota), passing a Mack truck doing 75 or so, when we hit a major wind gust. The engine suddenly cut out and all sorts of audio and visual alarms began to ring and flash. With traffic zipping angrily around us, we were finally able to pull to the shoulder. To make a long story short, one tire was quickly losing air, and both front tires were wearing unevenly. We replaced them in Indianapolis and got back on the road.

We were almost into Pennsylvania when the next big challenge arrived. Our RV is diesel, and all throughout the nation I’d been looking for those green-handled diesel pumps when I filled up. I pulled into a BP which said it had diesel for $2.25/gallon. I found a green-handled pump with that price on it and began filling up.

Suddenly I realized the pump I was pumping out of wasn’t diesel—it was regular fuel! I stopped immediately, but not until four gallons of regular fuel had been placed into my diesel tank.

Chagrined and embarrassed, Darlene and I discussed and prayed about what we should do. It was a weekend and finding a diesel mechanic in that small town would be next to impossible.

“Why don’t you call Brian Holthe?” she said.

Great idea! Brian used to attend Elim, and I have grown to trust him implicitly. Brian’s shop, Genesis Automotive, had been providing good service to our RV for several years. But the shop was closed, and I did not have Brian’s cell phone number.

My wife is always full of good ideas in challenges such as this. “Try Martin,” she said. “He will know how to get a hold of Brian.”

I called Martin, praying he would pick up—and he did. He provided Brian’s number and encouraged me NOT to start the engine. (He said he had once been in the reverse situation—accidentally putting diesel into his regular-fuel motorcycle engine—and Brian had been invaluable. I was encouraged, and I also didn’t feel as dumb as I had a few minutes earlier!)

Brian answered his mobile, and Martin was right, he was very helpful and gave me great advice. He provided the name of a diesel additive that would help, and suggested I fill the tank with as much diesel as possible to minimize the ratio of regular to diesel fuel in the tank. With luck, watching my engine temperature and listening carefully for any problems, he thought I’d probably be okay. (He said he would normally advise the tank be emptied on the spot, but that wasn’t possible in our situation.)

His advice was spot on. I hiked a mile to an auto parts shop that sold me the additive, then I added it and topped the tank with diesel. We then drove carefully the three hours to our daughter’s home in Pennsylvania, with no further problems.

Prayer is very important under such difficult circumstances. But we also found great help in fellow brothers in Christ who were willing to drop what they were doing to help us through a tight spot. I’m not sure what I would have done without them.

It strikes me that even the Apostle Paul leaned heavily on his brothers and sisters in Christ as he conducted his difficult ministry. In stressful times like these, it is more important than ever before to have brothers and sisters in Christ we trust to help us when we are in trouble.

And it’s also critically important that we ourselves be available to help others who need us!

Are you seeking to connect with and depend on other brothers and sisters in Christ, here at Elim and elsewhere, to be there when you need them to? As Brian suggested last week, take your challenges first to the Lord, but then listen carefully as He directs you toward people who can help you run the race with confidence and strength.

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Wanderlust

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By Larry Short

“Wanderlust” is one of those words I have very mixed emotions about. On the plus side (I think!), I am one of those people who feels drawn to the idea of exploration and road trips and hikes in the wilderness and camping and all those sorts of things. There is a sort of romantic, gypsy feel to the lifestyle of a wanderer. As Tolkien wrote, “Not all those who wander are lost.”

On the other hand, half of the word “wanderlust” is not so nice. We usually don’t give a positive connotation to the word “lust,” do we? (Although I readily admit I unashamedly lust over chocolate!)

One of the young men in Pulse is a young professional with a serious case of wanderlust. Oftentimes he just launches out in his car, driving to he knows not where. He usually ends up in another state, on the coast or in the forests of Oregon, in the mountains of Idaho or Montana, or sometimes even farther. He just loves to wander. He says it helps him process life. (And eventually, thankfully, he comes back!)

WanderlustJedediah on his maiden voyage (to Lake Chelan)

I’ve confessed to several people that I’m getting to the point in my professional career where I can see a light at the end of the workday tunnel . . . that light that is sometimes called “retirement.” One of the recent symptoms of pre-retirement, for me, is wanderlust. I spent several months researching and then purchasing a motorhome, and I’ve been getting it equipped to take on the road. I’ve taken a maiden (mushroom-hunting) voyage already, to Eastern Washington with my son Nathan, and Darlene and I took it for a few days to the beach. Two weeks later we had some time with Gordy and Linda at Taidnapam (on Riffe Lake), where they are camp hosts.

But I have dreams of going much farther. Ultimately, we’d like to make our way lazily over to Pennsylvania, for a month or two at a time, where our daughter Mandy, her husband Mike, and our granddaughter Annabelle live. Pennsylvania in the fall is beautiful (full of mushrooms), and there is plenty of space for Jedediah (that’s what we named our new motorhome, after the explorer Jedediah Smith) on their small farm there.

From there, we could even explore the eastern coast of the U.S., or divert up into Canada on our way home . . . or maybe Iceland . . .

Mandy inherited my sense of wanderlust. She and I spent a good portion of the summer of 2006 exploring several nations in Southern Africa, including the Congo. We had a blast, and she went on after that to wander through India and Nepal with a friend. She and Mike also frequently hike places such as the Appalachian Trail, and when they visit here later this summer they want to hike a part of the Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier. (As do I!)

Where am I going with this? I’ve felt vaguely guilty at times about my wanderlust. God calls us to be content with where He has placed us, and I love our home, our family, and our friends. I hate missing Elim, even one weekend service. So I’ve wondered whether my wanderlust may be a sign of ungodly discontentment.

But then I look at my model of godliness, Pastor Martin. There’s a guy with some serious wanderlust. He thinks nothing about jumping on his manly motorbike and heading out into the open highway, bugs splattering thickly across his grinning teeth.

If Pastor Martin has wanderlust, it seriously can’t be wrong, can it?

Pulse is currently studying the book of Jonah, which I’m enjoying very much. Jonah had a serious case of wanderlust. God said, “Go to Nineveh!” The great city was due northeast of where Jonah lived. So he headed out . . . due west, to Joppa. There he boarded a ship for Tarshish, which was WAY west, actually out in Spain, on the westernmost edge of the known world!

Jonah was fleeing God, which he discovered (while soaking in bile in the belly of a big fish, buried deep in the Mediterranean Sea) is actually not possible. As David says in Psalm 139:

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

In Jonah 2, the reluctant prophet says: “From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,  and you listened to my cry.”

If the belly of a great fish deep in the ocean isn’t “the realm of the dead,” I’m not sure what is! Once the fish barfed Jonah out upon the beach, pointing toward Nineveh, he thankfully started heading in the right direction.

I think the important thing for me (by way of admonition to those who, like me, have a bad case of wanderlust) is this: Are we running TOWARD God, or AWAY FROM Him?

There’s nothing wrong with travel. But when we travel, are we making it a priority to connect with other believers in worship? Are we ensuring that our home church has our financial support while we are gone? And are we staying connected with those (at home) we are in community with, through whatever means are at our disposal? (Ahem, social media, cough, cough . . .)

And is our motivation for running away, getting away from something that God wants us to deal with, instead of simply dealing with it?

Christ frequently wandered into the wilderness, even amidst the pressing demands of ministry. But He was running TOWARD the voice of His Father, who was drawing Him to solitude for the sake of their fellowship together. Does our wandering have the same aim?

Larry welcomes your comments here or on his personal blog. Just don’t let your thoughts wander . . .

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