Enjoying a moment.

It’s amazing how much time we spend preparing to enjoy something. For example, this past August my wife and I took the kids to Chicago for a 4-day weekend. Preparation for that rip began in March, and we spent hours looking for things to do in the Windy City, places to stay, restaurants we wanted to eat at and sites we just “had to see.” We spent a lot of time prepping for this family vacation. I remember at one point during the weekend, while we were walking on Navy Pier and looking at thy skyline as the sun went down, that I was truly just enjoying the moment. We were all together, our stomachs were full from a nice dinner, it was pleasantly warm without humidity, the day had been very fun and some great memories had been made -- and as I stared at skyline that was reflecting the sunset, I was a very satisfied man.

I’ve thought about that day on Navy Pier a few times. I wonder how often I don’t enjoy the moment I’m in because I’ve already moved on to the next thing, or I’m so engaged in creating the moment or just trying to survive the moment. You ever been there? So busy, so distracted or so hurt that you don’t give yourself the chance to enjoy the moment you’re in?

A few years ago, Traci and I were in Hawaii and participating in one of our favorite rituals: watching the sun go down on the west coast of Maui. For the first 20 minutes on the beach I was trying hard to capture the “perfect picture” of a Hawaiian sunset, changing angles, changing my focal point and trying several different filters. I tried some shots from up on the bank, from down close on the water and several random ideas to get that perfect pic.

At one point, I looked up from my camera and realized that most of the people on the beach were sitting or standing with their friends or spouse, and they were all just watching the sun go down and enjoying the moment for what it was -- a beautiful sunset on a beautiful beach. Everyone was surprisingly quiet, almost somber, and the color of the sky reflected off the ocean and on their faces. That’s when I turned around and realized my wife was doing the same -- enjoying the moment -- but without her husband.

I promptly put the camera down, sat down next to my wife and soaked in the remainder of the experience with my favorite person on the planet. And while I never quite captured the perfect photo, I did capture a nearly perfect moment with Traci.

A couple times in my life I’ve taken time to journal every day. Last February I started up again, and I’m taking up a lot of space in this journal unpacking the “moments” of each day; taking time to enjoy the beauty that exists all around me. In this journal, I’m really focusing on the joy of relationships and how much God has blessed me with life-changing friendships. There is so much to enjoy, right now, and when I take time to be in the moment, I don’t have any trouble seeing it.

As you and I strive to live the Overboard Life, let’s not be so focused on the journey, that we miss the scenery on the route. There will always be troubles and challenges to face in this life, but woven into the rugged path is unmatched beauty; beauty that is found in the created world as well as the people that God has brought into our lives. When we quit enjoying the moments, I think it’s easy to quit enjoying the life that God has given us.

Take time today to enjoy the moments that you have. Even when the day is hard, take a moment to look around, and I’m confident you’ll find a person standing by you, a sunset that you almost missed or a good report from a teacher that can encourage your heart.

Go ahead and take the plunge, every moment is better on the water!

The view from 950'

I have always loved roller coasters. There is something so thrilling about that initial climb to several hundred feet above the ground, followed by the screaming terror of zipping around the track at insane speeds trying to keep your lunch down. It’s an awesome experience and one that I’ve always enjoyed.  

The first time I rode a real roller coaster I was in high school. My friend Paul and I had made the 12-hour trek from Salem to L.A. in order to hit one of the great ride parks in our country, Six Flags over Magic Mountain. After one run on The Demon, I was hooked! The adrenaline, the heart-pounding loops and corkscrews, the sudden stop at the end and the awesome feeling of near-flight had me coming back again and again!

There’s something cool about getting on top of each coaster, when you get a grand view of the park. From the top of a coaster, you can see all the other rides, you can see the long lines people are standing in and you can see the people beneath you who are eager to hear you scream. Being on top of the coaster gives you a view of the whole park that is unmatched!

Yesterday my wife and I spent the day in Chicago. Now that we live in a town (actually called a “village”) that’s about the same size as the housing development we moved out of when we left Salem, I especially enjoy the trips we get to make to the big city. Traverse City is a nice, quaint little town, but sometimes I just need to be around buildings taller than five stories!

Over the past year, I’ve spent a bit more time in Chicago than my wife, but I’m still getting to know the lay of the land. So when my pastor told me we could grab a reasonably priced lunch on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Center, I totally jumped at the chance. And sure enough, for right around $15 we enjoyed a delicious lunch with an amazing view!

It was funny being on top of all the buildings we had just been driving around minutes before. From the ground, all the nearby sky scrapers stand so tall, and it’s crazy to not be able to see a 30-story building because it’s sitting behind a 40-story building! Or sometimes, when we were on the ground we tried to get our bearings by looking for a one of the recognizable sky scrapers, but even then, the Trump Tower (1,362 feet), the Willis Tower (aka: Sears Tower, 1,451 feet) and the John Hancock Center (1,127 feet) can be blocked out by buildings 1/3 as tall.

When we finally arrived at the lunch lounge on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Center, we had such a view of the previously confusing and somewhat daunting landscape. From 950’ above the ground, we had a much better perspective. We could see the roads we had just driven on, we could see the park we had been taking pictures at earlier in the day and we could even see the construction that caused somer serious travel confusion a few minutes earlier. A change of perspective, changed everything.

So often you and I are living at ground level, and everything can seem big and confusing. We’re trying to turn right, but a one-way street prevents a turn. We try to move through traffic, but a construction project or a recent accident sends us on a wild detour. We’re trying to catch some sun or a gentle breeze, but a giant building blocks the heat or prevents the breeze from reaching our location. We try to see what’s ahead, but all the nearby buildings make any kind of view, impossible. From the ground, life can be very challenging.

That’s when we need a perspective change.   In Jeremiah God says to the people of Israel, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)   Israel was in the middle of some pretty severe punishment because of the way they had turned their backs on God. For Jeremiah and the few others that were trying to follow God, the view was bleak. Other nations were taking advantage of the Jews, the Israelites were under heavy tax burdens and their children were being taken into slavery. From the ground, everything seemed hopeless.

But God doesn’t live on the ground! From God’s perspective, He had plans for Israel and Jeremiah just needed to be reminded that God was working out a different outcome for His children. God’s plans were almost impossible to see from inside the walls of Jerusalem; but they were impossible to miss from the Throne Room of Heaven.

The Overboard Life demands a 950’ perspective -- one we don’t always have! So how do we get it? We get our perspective by trusting the One who already has it. Our perspective comes from faith, not from trying to figure it all out by ourselves.

When Peter climbed out of the boat in Matthew 14, he was only seeing the wind and the waves, the boat and the other disciples. Jesus, however, was seeing all of that, plus He was seeing Peter as the leader of the church in Acts, He was seeing Peter be the first Apostle to take the Gospel to the Gentiles and He was seeing Peter lead this ragamuffin group of disciples after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. He had a 950’ perspective. So when Peter lost his faith and started sinking, Jesus rescued Him and said, “Why did you doubt?” He wasn’t just talking about the water, He was giving Peter a lesson for the future, too.

In the middle of the storm, you and I don’t have a very good perspective, so we must trust the One who sees it all. It seems that God rarely lets us have the full 950’ view ourselves, but He asks us to follow His lead, and we can be certain He knows where He is going, and where He is taking us. Experiencing hardships with a child? Walking through unexpected job changes? Are you enduring a painful health condition? Have you experienced some deep loss, a tough move or a broken relationship? Maybe it feels like you’re going through all of the above at once?

It’s in those moments you can trust God’s hand, because you know He sees it all. He already knows how He plans to use this in your life. He already knows the character that’s forming in you so you will be more of who He wants you to be, so you can do more of what He wants you to do. God always has the 950’ view, and when you learn to trust Him when you need that view most, you’ll be well on your way to living the Overboard Life!

Go ahead and take the plunge, your perspective is always better on the water!

Lessons from 4 days in airports

After speaking at a winter camp in Oregon and Iowa, I had the joy of traveling home to the midwest during winter. Anything can happen with wintry mid-west travel…and it did. I spent four days living in airports, boarding and de-boarding planes, and trying to engage my brain as much as possible. During this stint of getting to know every nook and cranny of the airports in Des Moines and Chicago, I learned a lot about the Overboard Life. Here are a few important lessons that should affect how I live outside the airport:

1. Be kind to people under stress. While winter was blasting the midwest with snow, sub-zero wind chills and ice, those working in the travel industry were under a ton of stress. One day in Chicago, over 3,500 flights had been canceled, and thousands of weary travelers were stranded. Many of them, like me, were just trying to get home, some were trying to get to a job, and a few I met were on vacation. Everyone was going somewhere. The poor American and United airline employees were powerless to control the weather, but so many customers were rude, unkind and downright childish in the way they talked to the workers. I was amazed at how far kind words went whenever I spoke to employees who were doing everything they could to get everyone rebooked and sent home. Some were working double shifts to help with the overload of travelers and a simple, “thank you for your hard work” or “I really appreciate that you’re doing all you can do” changed demeanors, brought smiles and in one case, even a couple of tears to a travel agent who had been beat up by several of the previous customers in line. When people are under stress, be kind. I still worked hard to get home and to get on flights etc… but I was able to do it with kindness and those who received it were grateful. Paul’s words are so fitting and so direct: “Be kind to one another…”
2. Think win/win, not win/lose. While everyone was trying to get a flight, there were just limited number of seats. Flying into Traverse City, for example, there were just a handful of flights a day, and when previous days’ flights were canceled, the flights suddenly were massively overbooked. One day, I -- along with two others -- were put on a plane headed back to TC and suddenly we were removed by customers who were high up on that particular airline’s loyalty program. As we got off, the patrons getting on were a tad smug and boasting a bit about their success, “no one treats me like that” was one comment I heard. Well one of the girls with me burst into tears as we lost our seats, because she had been stuck in Chicago for four days, her luggage had been checked through to TC, so she was living on airport food, airport clothes and very ready to be home. In order for one set of travelers to “win” their seats, someone else “lost” theirs. Sometimes when we’re fighting for “our” way, “our” seats or “our” thoughts, we take a win/lose mentality. We don’t think about the cost to others if we get our way, because we’re so stuck in one zone. How can you turn a win/lose into a win/win?
3. Everyone loves to talk. I was waiting at one gate, hopeful that I was finally going to catch a flight. A young lady, in her mid 20’s, was sitting next to me with ear buds planted firmly in her ears, playing games on her phone. After an hour, she popped them out and sat their silently. I simply asked, “Where you headed?” and we engaged in a 60-70 minute conversation about her life. She was a student, traveling abroad, but headed home from a vacation in Florida. Her family is fractured a bit, but her aunt and uncle’s home in Florida is a safe place for her. She loves the son, but stays in Iowa because that’s been her childhood home. She shared with me her hopes and dreams, shared heart ache about a broken relationship and we even talked a bit about God. Over and over I engaged people in conversation and I realized that everyone has a story, and everyone loves to share their story. I never had a shortage of conversation, all I had to do was ask a few questions, and people would begin to talk. Are you listening to those around you?
4. People aren’t used to receiving grace. Sometimes when you offer kindness and grace to people, they don’t receive it well. Grace can be easier to dispense than to receive. (I only have to look at myself to see this truth in action!) While travelers were walking numbly through airports (is it just me, or does time move at a different pace during travel?!), and airline employees were working frantically to solve problems, grace wasn’t always readily available, and when it was given, wasn’t always received well. But people’s inability or choice to not receive it, shouldn’t discourage us from still offering it. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 reminds us that the grace God gives us is meant to be given out to others. The passage doesn’t say others have to take it, we just have to be willing to give it.
5. Sometimes a hug is all it takes. Back to point #2, when the young lady and I were booted out of our seats on the airplane, we had to do the walk of shame back up to the gate. However, when we got to the gate, the door was closed and we had to wait for the flight attendant to open the door and let us back in to the terminal. This young lady and I were standing silently, both feeling a little bummed about being on a plane and then losing our seats, when she suddenly burst into tears…full on sobbing! I didn’t know what to do as it was just the two of us on a the jetway. After a moment, I just reached over and gave her an awkward Baptist side-hug, and she buried her face into my shoulder and cried her little eyes out. She had been stranded for four days, she was at her wits end, and losing a seat she had been begging for was devastating to her. I couldn’t help her. I had no way to get her on the flight, but I could stand there and hug her, a total stranger, until she regrouped. By the time the flight attendant arrived, she had recovered enough so that we could go to the counter and figure out our next flight options. I’ll never forget that the hug from a total stranger gave her the strength to process and press on through what was an emotional moment for her.
6. Let your friends help. I have been blessed with amazing friends that live all over the world. Two of them live in Chicago, Mikee and Joel Stutzman. More than once during the day they sent a text saying, “If you get stuck, give us a call and we’ll come get you.” Mikee and Joel live an hour from the airport, and I kept thinking, “I don’t want to put them out….” After two days of hobnobbing between airports and hotels etc… I needed to be with friends. So after an on again, off again airplane ride to nowhere, I called them and they were eager to come pick me up. I could tell it was a joy for them to help out, put me up in their home, let me eat their food and then to take me back to the airport in the morning. They were practicing 1 Peter 4:9 (the subject of another blog!) and demonstrating the gift of hospitality. I’ll tell you what, when I got back to the airport for day four, I was refreshed, energized and ready for whatever was next. My friends were a real encouragement to me. Are you letting your friends encourage you?
7. Walking clears the head. Whenever you get bogged down, what do you do to clear your head? I couldn’t do much in the airport, but I decided to walk. Who knew you could walk over 3.5 miles in the Chicago airport and still not hit all the terminals? I used an iPhone app to track my mileage and I set out walking. It helped. I realized that when I often get mentally or emotionally bogged down, I tend to turn to things that don’t help clear my mind: food, tv, sulking etc… Instead, a high-energy walk helped a ton. Physical exercise is a huge part of our mental health and well-being, even if you’re stuck in an airport.

The Overboard Life isn’t meant to be lived in church or in some secret religious practice. The Overboard Life is a process of embracing who God made us to be (Psalm 139), so that we can do what God made us to do (Ephesians 2:10). That means there are lessons and opportunities, everywhere. I hope I never have the opportunity to be stuck in airports for four days, again. However, if I do, I still am privileged with the choice to live Overboard with those whom I am encountering. Overboard living doesn’t get to take days off; “whatever we do, whether in word or deed” or travel or fun or exercise or…. “do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

What lessons are you learning?

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

If you are looking for some great Overboard resources, be sure to visit our bookstore: www.bookstore.overboardministries.com

The view from on top

In every new phase of life, we have an opportunity to see God’s work in the world through a different lens. We this with our own family. CJ just has this matter-of-fact faith when it comes to God, she’s 7. AJ & BJ (10 & 11) are starting to understand what it means to have a relationship with God in a very active sense, understanding the challenging of being in a world that doesn’t always embrace the concept. Tati, our 15-ear-old, is right at the point of life where many people set their course in terms of their relationship to God. It’s really interesting to see how each of these phases gives more perspective to what it means to know God. Traci and I can see those changes in our kids, but can also recognize the changes in our lives. When we got married, we both began to understand, experientially, not just intellectually, what it means to choose to love someone when you don’t feel like it. It’s not that we have massive fights or disagreements, but when two people merge their lives, there is tension. That tension sometimes leads to real frustration but at the end of the day, we have chosen to love each other regardless.

Then we had kids. You begin to really understand God’s love for people when you have your own children. We’d do anything to protect our kids, to save them and to give them the very best. We’d sacrifice our own lives if it meant saving our kids. And we try to always do what’s best for them, even when they don’t understand what or why.

I wonder how often I’ve questioned God’s work because I didn’t understand what He was doing? (More often than I care to admit!) And just like I shake my head at my own children when they resist something that is for their good, but not of their choosing, God must shake His head when we do the same to Him.

A few years ago I was on a plane getting ready to land in Chicago. As I looked out the window, I had an incredible view and saw the whole city below me. I realized this is God’s perspective on my life. I’m in the city, caught up in traffic, trying to get from one end of town to the other. I’m frustrated by the traffic, I’m irritated by the pedestrians that walk slowly across the street and I’m in awe at the tall towers that block my view and distracted by the smells of food that call out to me from each food cart we pass.

But God sees all of that at once. He sees the start and end of my journey at the same time. My frustration in the middle of the journey is primarily based on my lack of perspective. I don’t see what God sees -- I can’t see what God sees -- so I get irritated, frustrated and angry. God sees it all, and He knows that if I’ll trust Him on the journey, He will guide me to the precise destination He intends. Even my “wrong turns” and crazy middle-of-the-street U-ies work out in His plan. I just have to trust.

Living Overboard isn’t about knowing the answers. It’s about know The Answer and trusting His lead. God doesn’t want me to check my brain at the door, but nor does He want me to trust in my own understanding and ideas alone. He has the full perspective. He sees it all. I’ve gotta move forward one day at time, while trusting Him with each moment.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is better on the water!