Tag Archives: Faith

April 21, 2024

Praying for Roots

By Shawn Vander Lugt 
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.  —Philippians 2:3–5

The sun had already ducked behind the Mummy Range and the typical blue and orange tapestry often seen in the western skies of Northern Colorado was beginning to pervade. We were already running behind, and we had a train to catch at 9:00 p.m. Micah, Hannah, and I were supposed to be in Orange City by 4:00 the next afternoon to surprise my dad for his 65th birthday party. My mom had everything planned and I didn’t want to let her down. We would make it, but we didn’t have a lot of time to spare. Suddenly, Hannah heard a slight pop coming from the right, rear tire, and then an explosion that jarred my Ram 1500 to the right curb. We were driving through Greeley and the train station was still 50 miles away in Fort Morgan. I hastily crippled the pickup into a cemetery and we all jumped out to change the tire. If we could perform this task swiftly, there was a chance we could still make it to the train station on time. After fifteen minutes, the spare was on securely and we set off for Fort Morgan. One problem. As is the case with most spare tires, we weren’t supposed to drive faster than 50 miles per hour, but the train was leaving in less than an hour and we had 50 miles to go. I don’t excel in math, but this one was a no-brainer. We had to drive faster than the suggested speed. 

“No problem, right?” I said to myself. “That speed is just a suggestion.” 

Ignoring the suggestion, I drove 65 miles per hour. After driving on the spare for 20 miles, a second flat tire inevitably disabled our truck once more. All three of us envisioned the train leaving the station without us in it, and my dad wondering why all his children and grandchildren were there for his party except for us. In this desperate situation, I swallowed my pride, and turned to the mother of my children. 

Without a second thought, Francie and her husband Jeremy jumped into each of their own vehicles and drove 50 miles on Highway 34 to save the day. Francie let us drive her car to Iowa, we had a tow truck take my pickup back to Greeley, and at 4:00 the next afternoon, all three of us were there to surprise my father for his 65th birthday. 

Samson isn’t exactly the easiest character to talk about in Scripture. He was kind of a douche. Even the author of Hebrews glosses over him, “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies (Heb. 11:32–34). In fact, it takes some time for Samson to even acknowledge his need for God and pray for help. In Judges 15, Samson goes back to his wife to finally consummate his marriage, only to find her married to someone else. This doesn’t bode well for the Philistines. In a very “controlled” rage, Samson catches three hundred foxes, ties them tail-to-tail in pairs, fastens a torch to each pair of tails, lights the torches, and release them into the fields, vineyards, and olive groves to burn them down. Do you know how long it would take to do this? Why not just burn the fields, vineyards, and olive groves yourself? This story is so odd, that it just had to be true. Who does that? The Philistines respond by burning his wife and her father to death, so Samson viciously slaughters them. He then slaughters thousands of men with the jawbone of a donkey. So obviously, he’s thirsty. It isn’t until he’s thirsty and there isn’t any water for him to drink, that he decides to ask God for help. Samson swallows his pride and prays, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” (Judges 15:18).

For Samson, it wasn’t until he had exhausted all his options, that he turned to God for help. His ego couldn’t give way to humility. Even his prayer was a bit on the arrogant side. It is interesting that God immediately answered his prayer and provided for him. God didn’t say, “You’ve managed on your own so far, go find some water yourself.” Samson’s slightest bit or reliance on God with one prayer of desperation results in God’s provision. 

For years, I believed everything was going great in my life. I had an awesome family, a fulfilling career, and a beautiful home with a view of the Rockies. Life was good, and I had no need for God to make it complicated. I pursued my own selfish ambitions. Like Samson, I was kind of a douche. Now, when everything is crashing down on me and I’m thirsty, what do I do? I fall to my knees and I ask God to quinch my thirst. In the same way that Francie and Jeremy dropped everything to come to our rescue that evening 20 miles east of Greeley, God will drop everything to come to our rescue when we fall to our knees in humility, swallow our pride, and ask God to save us. God isn’t petty. God doesn’t hold grudges. 

In his speech from the White House as part of the American Legion Program, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” My buddy once said that the only time we truly need God in our life is when we truly need God. There’s so much truth in these sayings and it bothers me. Why are we all so compelled to be like Samson—to turn to God only when we need God and to seek out our own selfish ways when things seem to be going well? I hate this about myself. I hate this about human nature. 

I want to conclude with an analogy and I’m not sure who even came up with it, so unfortunately, I can’t provide an attribution. There are three kinds of people in this world. Leaves, branches, and roots. Leaves are only there for a season. You can’t depend on them. Whenever the wind blows, they blow away. Branches are stronger and maybe last longer, but eventually the weight is too much for them, and they’ll break. Roots hold you up and help you live a healthy life. If you thrive, roots are happy. They don’t attract attention or even want it. Roots hold you up, nourish you, feed you, water you, and keep you strong. Roots love you for who you are, not for what you do or don’t provide them with. God is a root. Francie and Jeremy are roots. My children and my true friends are roots. My dad, my brother, and my sister are roots. I want to be a root. So, my prayer today isn’t for water from God, it is for me to be a root and provide water for someone else. 













				

				

				

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						April 15, 2024					
				

				
Filters, Fakes, and Fabrications

				

					By Shawn Vander Lugt				

				

					

Social media is toxic. What people present to the rest of the world through social media is typically a fabrication of their reality. They present a picture-perfect life where—through the use of filters their skin is free from flaws, their teeth are white, their joy is everlasting, and they are indubitably happy with their current situation. Most of us know this is all ridiculously false, yet many of us still succumb to its seduction. The illusion that with the right look, the right body, the right relationship, and the right job, we will be happy. It’s BULL!





As of late, I have unfortunately spent an exorbitant amount of time reflecting on the past eight years of my life. My mother got sick. I fell in love. I married for the second time. My mother died. I raised four teenagers and released them into the wilderness of adulthood. I had a lot of fun and I enjoyed those years of my life—I don’t regret them even though hindsight has provided clarity into the disfunction. Now I’m going through another painful divorce. I’m supposed to be practicing mindfulness and meditate on the present rather than the past. As exhausting as it is, I do find mindfulness helpful. Within that process, I have discovered that the pursuit of personal satisfaction and the illusion of happiness in exchange for God’s purpose can be detrimental to your own growth. Because being happy or being satisfied isn’t something we can obtain. As Anthony de Mello writes, “Happiness is our natural state. Happiness is the natural state of little children, to whom the kingdom belongs until they have been polluted and contaminated by the stupidity of society and culture. To acquire happiness you don’t have to do anything, because happiness cannot be acquired.” 





We are all under the delusion that the right relationship will make us happy, or we will be satisfied once we have the right career or live in the right house in the perfect location. These things are great and I don’t want to suggest that we shouldn’t have meaningful relationships or live in nice houses with mountain views. However, when we sacrifice our relationship with God to satisfy those appetites, it is detrimental to our spiritual, mental, and physical health. The truth that has revealed itself through the practice of meditation and mindfulness, is that no matter how far I wandered away from God and God’s purpose for my life, God never left. God’s grace remained!





Judges 14 is an interesting chapter in the Bible. Samson is now an adult and he has truly stepped out of God’s purpose. He believes that he will obtain happiness by satisfying his primal appetites. He demands a Philistine woman, he eats honey from the carcass of a lion, and he murders others to avenge those who have bruised his pride. Samson is a loose cannon aboard a shifting ship. He continues to skirt his responsibilities as a Nazarite and doesn’t seem to care about God’s purpose for his life. Yet we continue to see “the Spirit of the Lord [come] powerfully upon him” (Judges 14:6, 19; 15:14). Samson willfully sinned, failed morally, and placed his own selfish desires above God’s will and purpose for his life, and yet God never abandoned him. God’s grace remained!





I can’t begin to express how grateful I am to this fact. No matter how far I have ventured away from God’s presence, purpose, and providence over the past eight years, God’s grace remained. No matter how filtered, fake, and fabricated our lives get, God’s grace remains. 





Samson was seeking happiness and fulfillment from outside sources. God’s grace is a lot like happiness. It isn’t something we can acquire. It is with us—past, present, and future. It is our natural state!  



		
	
				

				

				

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						April 7, 2024					
				

				
Hope in the Wasteland

				

					By Shawn Vander Lugt				

				

					

Thirty mile-per-hour winds assaulted the side of my Tacoma and the attached twelve-foot trailer shook and shuddered. I was now on my third attempt to tie down the tarp that covered several totes in the bed of my truck. There wasn’t anything special in these totes. They contained few memories; just totes that bore a semblance of a life I soon had to forget. I left several unimportant things—and one woman back on the east coast where the waves still lightly slapped the sandy beaches. I prayed a short prayer as I secured the tarp and climbed back into the cab. I wanted those memories to join the waves and disappear into the abyss as they receded back into the ocean. A salty tear, finding its comradery with the sea, grabbed just one of those memories, traversed my cheek, dropped into the fabric of my shirt, and disappeared. I gazed out over the barren prairie of Oklahoma and whispered to myself—and to God, “I’m so broken; I’m so empty!” 





I convinced myself that nothing good could come from my current situation. I felt as if my heart and my soul would be destroyed in a wasteland. My mind spiraled again. I reached out as if to grasp the thought before it entered the barren depths of my soul. I chose to recognize it and release it back into the uninhabited grasslands as they rolled to the horizon. Pressing my ignition, I settled back into the present, shifted the transmission into drive, and continued toward Colorado. Another thought passed before my mind’s eye and I reached for it again. Only this time, I embraced it. The thought wasn’t as tangible as the last one, but it was pure and unadulterated—which was completely juxtaposed to the thought I had just previously released into the barren wastelands of Oklahoma. It was hope. I was returning to those who loved me—all to which I had neglected and abandoned—my God, my children, and my friends. I would have to ask for forgiveness. I would have to make amends. However, it would all be worth it to embrace the hope and joy that exists in God’s presence and the hearts of those who truly love me. There was hope that from out of the wasteland of betrayal, humiliation, and abuse, God would bring forth life and joy and redemption. I still couldn’t smile, but I felt the warmth of God’s love and I heard God’s whisper mingling within the Oklahoma wind, “I see you! I’m here, and I never left!” I knew then and there that God would do great things within me. I knew that God loved me, but more than that, God wanted me to act upon my calling and engage my purpose. That out of this wasteland in which I now dwelt, God would bring forth life, sustenance, and salvation—and I would respond to that with action and purpose. 





When we encounter the birth of Samson in Judges 13, the Israelites are cycling back into another forty-year wilderness experience. This time, under the oppression and abuse of the Philistines. Just when you think God has abandoned the people God loves, a woman—unable to bear children—encounters an angel. Where have we read this before? Samson’s mother, Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth, and even Mary have angelic encounters where God promises them that life will spring forth from their barren or virgin wombs. Out of this emptiness, God doesn’t just love and care for the broken—God creates life, God redeems and fulfills promise—and we respond with action and purpose. From Sarah, the people of Israel—through which the redemption of humanity comes. Hannah is the mother of the prophet Samuel who anoints King David—the bloodline of Christ. Elizabeth gives birth to John the Baptist—the predecessor of Jesus. And from the virgin womb of Mary, God delivers and redeems humanity with his only son, Jesus Christ. Even in Judges, God delivers his people from forty years of trauma, tyranny, and oppression through the deliverer Samson—a baby born from a barren womb. Time and time again, salvation and new life springs forth from a wasteland of hopelessness. But it doesn’t stop there. God’s providence isn’t passive. Isaac, Samuel, Samson, John the Baptist, and Jesus actively participated in God’s redemption. And we must too. 





I’m not out of the wasteland yet. I have a long way to go. I have made amends and those who love me have forgiven me. God sees me, is with me, and never left me. My journey toward redemption has just begun, but there is hope. Thich Nhat Hanh writes, “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” I have hope in a God who delivers us out of the wasteland into a world of life and redemption. I have hope that God will deliver ME! But the hope needs to be accompanied with action. I can’t simply dwell in the contemplation of hope and respond to God’s sustenance with passivity. I must act, have mercy on others who are experiencing their own pains, seek justice for those who are oppressed, and humbly walk with my God. Since I quoted him before, I’ll finish with another Thich Nhat Hanh quote…one of my favorites:





“The source of love is deep in us and we can help others realize a lot of happiness. One word, one action, one thought can reduce another person’s suffering and bring that person joy.”

				

				

				

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						October 3, 2011					
				

				
God’s Armor – Stand

				

					By Shawn Vander Lugt				

				

					
Last night I briefly sat behind a closed-door, away from my kids, and wallowed in my own fear. Lately it feels as if the enemy has found his way inside my perimeter and is on the verge of attack. It is during times like these where I have to pick myself up and prepare for whatever he’s going to throw, fire, sling, or launch in my direction. According to the Apostle Paul, the first step in preparation for the enemy’s attack is to stand:


Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.


—Ephesians 6:10-13




Paul mentions the word “stand” three times in this short passage. Standing is obviously an essential component to wearing God’s armor and protecting ourselves from the enemy’s attacks.


I’m reminded of an episode from Seinfeld. Who am I kidding, arguably, every event in my life reminds me of an episode from Seinfeld. In this episode titled “The Maestro,” George Costanza feels sorry for a security guard who works in his fiancé’s uncle’s store. George, thinking he’s entitled to make decisions regarding the ongoing management of the store, arranges a chair for the security guard. After sitting for a few hours, the security guard falls asleep and a burglar robs the store. Standing is definitely more difficult than sitting, but it keeps us alert, prepared, and secure. The Battle of Sterling depicted in the movie Braveheart would have had a completely different outcome, if the men of Scotland were sitting down as the English cavalry stormed the battlefield. Can you even imagine such a thing?


Standing in battle is essential. That isn’t to say, we don’t fall…because we do. When the enemy succeeds in knocking us down, he strikes a blow…but it’s only significant if we stay down. The strength of the Lord found in the Holy Spirit provides us with the fortitude to get back up. Last night, as I floundered on the ground and felt sorry for myself, I realized that if I didn’t get back up—if I continued to dwell on the devil’s arrow as it protruded from my side, the enemy would win. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to break off the arrow, fight back the tears as the pain was coursing through my body, and stand back up.


The song “Stand” by Lenny Kravitz was music to my ears this morning:


Don’t give up,

You’re gonna see tomorrow

That you’ll be on your feet again

Sometimes the world’s gonna knock you over

But you will see who you are your friends


Come on, stand, up again

 Come on, stand,

 Stand, you’re gonna run again


Your faith and patience will be your soldiers

 To guide you through your troubled times

 Just put one foot in front of the other

 The battles are inside your mind

 You have the power to face your demons

 No matter how they go on time

 And rid yourself of your fear and weakness

 So you can start to live your life


In an odd paradox, humility directly correlates with standing firm. When we humble ourselves before God, He provides us with His strength. All of our weaknesses can be placed in His caring hands, and He will provide us with strength, courage, and faith to withstand anything the devil throws in our direction. When we do this, we are like the standing security guard—alert and sober. When we don’t—when we lose sight of God, sit down defeated, and stay down—our mind and strength weakens…eventually causing us to fall asleep. At this moment, the devil emerges to rob us blind.


Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.


—1 Peter 5:6-9




The enemy is still watching me from the shadows…I can feel his eyes upon me and sense him waiting for me to falter. Therefore, my next few posts are going to focus on the armor of God.


I just have a feeling that I’m gonna need it.



				

				

				

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