The Road Less Traveled

I found this little cartoon online and wanted to share it with you.  I think it speaks so true to the theme of my blog, taking “the road less travelled by.”  This is what happens if you take the wrong path and pursue popularity:

There is a poster that hangs on a lot of teacher’s doors:  “What’s popular isn’t always what’s right; what’s right isn’t always what’s popular.”  The life lesson there is obvious, but I also shudder at the truth of such a statement when it comes to education.  There are so many popular trends that administrators feel are important and detrimental for students, but usually they have a one-size-fits-all philosophy that is not only ineffective but also damaging to many students.  I believe in increasing your expectations, because usually students will rise to them and not disappoint.  However, everyone has different expectations that are not necessarily more or less challenging that others, just… different.

So, if I am expected to follow what is popular, I don’t have a problem with that, as long as the method works.  I plan to “watch my step” as I travel, and if taking the right path means deviating from the popular one, then so be it.

Until later — “There’s no turning back now that you opened up to your mind.”

Yesterday, something great happened.

After the church service ended and our preacher was finished with his message, our worship minister called for those who needed to pray to come forward. A few men came down, one of them a close friend of mine. Then, the worship minister called for the deacons and elders to come down to help pray. I was one of the first. Then, unexpectedly, the worship minster called for everyone in the church to come forward and pray. We are not a very large church, but there were still a good sixty-five or seventy of us down front, praying joyously. Tears were falling, arms were raised. It was one of the most wonderful things I have ever seen.

The most amazing thing about that is it was something I had been praying for. For many weeks, at altar call, very few people came forward. Worst of all, other than the ministers, no one came forward to pray with those who needed prayer. Myself included.  The urge was always there, but for some reason I kept denying it.

In the book of Luke, when Jesus first appeared to Peter, James, and John, they were fishing.  And not doing a very good job of it.

[1] One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, [2] he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. [3] He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

[4] When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

[5] Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

[6] When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. [7] So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

[8] When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” [9] For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, [10] and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” [11] So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

What happened Sunday morning… that was our church, casting our nets.  I felt like Simon Peter up there, on my knees, “I am a sinful man.”  Now we need to prepare ourselves for the catch.

You’ll have to forgive me just this once.  I have been reading The Tao of Pooh, so I’m feeling a little philosophical today.

If Benjamin Hoff (the author of The Tao of Pooh) is to be trusted, there are many similarities between the views of Taoism and the views of Christianity.  He says, “Once you face and understand your limitations, you can work with them, instead of having them work against you and get in your way, which is what they do when you ignore them, whether you realize it or not.  And then you will find that, in many cases, your limitations can be your strengths” (48).  Apparently, quite a bit of Taoism is about accepting things as they are, yourself, your environment, those around you, and just allowing things to be in the hands of something that is out of your control instead of trying to change everything.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul tells the church of Corinth that he will not boast about himself unless it is to talk of his weaknesses:  “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

Throughout much of the Bible, God’s people usually fail when they either attempt to tamper with God’s plans, or when they try to work things out on their own, without God’s help, thus interfering with the natural order of things.  Taoism also discourages this type of activity.  When someone attempts to change the way things work, the natural order, it is usually so that they can say they did it, or they figured out how it works, rather than simply accepting that it just… is.  Science does this, attempting to understand how and why and scratching its head when it can’t find an answer.

As a Christian myself, I have struggled to get to that point, to understand that some things don’t need to be explained.  Faith is not easy to come by, nor should it be.  A person has to give up quite a bit of themselves in order to understand that they are not in control.  It is not easy to say, “This doesn’t make sense, but that’s okay.”  Why do you think it is easier to believe in something when you are a child?  Because your mind has not yet developed to the point where you start doubting, or rationalizing.  That emerges with adulthood.  So, can we learn from children and choose to just believe that some things don’t need to be explained in order to be believed.

Paul delighted in his weaknesses because he achieved much in spite of them and that was due to God’s work, not his own.  He knew this and never took credit, never asked for pity from others.  In fact, he did not try to interfere with the natural order of things and always worked with what God gave him.

Maybe I’m just superimposing my own beliefs onto others, and if so I apologize.  I recommend the Tao of Pooh because it is a delightful read.  Even if you are not interested in Taoism (which I was not), it is still a fun book that gives another perspective on the zany world of Winnie-the-Pooh.