Stop, Look, and Listen

Nancy Claster, who will forever remain Miss Nancy in the hearts and minds of her loyal fans as television's original "Romper Room" teacher, died this past week of cancer. She was 82.

Do you remember Romper Room? Daily televisions were turned on to find a friendly woman who seemed to be able to see us while we were in our living rooms using her Romper Room Magic Mirror.

The Romper Room hostess finished each program by gazing through an empty mirror frame and reciting the names of the children whom she pretended to see watching the program (a different list of names each day). For example, “I see Tommy and Cathy and Joe and Vickie and Stan and all you boys and girls out there.”

 

During the show, simple life lessons were taught on things like manners, kindness, and waiting your turn. Sometimes other life lessons like Stop, Look, and Listen.

That particular message was pretty simple: When you come to a railroad track, you are supposed to stop, look, and listen until proceeding on. The goal was to prevent being run over by a train.

As I said, the lesson was simple; so simple that it was taught to elementary students; which is funny considering the application wouldn't be applied in their lives until ten years later when they were drivers!

Yes, the lesson was given specifically for when one comes to a train crossing. But; and hopefully you figured this out yourself, the lesson was taught so that it could be applied to other situations in our lives.

And yet, lately, I have been thinking that many adults seem to have forgotten that lesson when they got older. I observe too many adults who are doing way too much talking instead of listening.

I see way too many people in situations in which they are metaphorically about to be run over, and, they hit the gas instead of doing what they were instructed to do:

·  STOP when you are entering a dangerous situation.

·  LOOK at where you are about to enter

·  LISTEN (that means that you have to stop talking)

Too many people who fail to see they do not have to voice their opinions on everything they see posted by others.

Too many people who then pass on their opinions to all of their friends in the form of a post or video.

Too many people who simply need to stop posting, stop ranting, stop forwarding, stop insisting that their way is the only way!

Too many people who simply need to look at who might be reading their posts, look deeply with eyes of compassion and empathy at those with whom they have a differing point of view.

Too many people who simply need to listen. This, of course, implies that one needs to stop talking (including texting, tweeting, or posting) to do so!

You might be surprised just how much you have in common with someone you see as your opponent.

⁹ Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; ¹¹ not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; ¹² rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; ¹³ distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. ¹⁹ Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Keeping My Eyes Above the Waves

I love water! I love to look at it, swim in it, use all types of boats and watercrafts on it. I love to drink it; hot and cold. When it is frozen it becomes one of my happy places to be; especially if it has a hockey net at either end of the frozen area of water.

But my love of water wasn’t always a huge part of my life.

When I was very young, I had a traumatic experience that caused me to be afraid of the water for a while. I was up at my grandparents’ cabin; which was one of my favorite places to be as child.

My older siblings decided that it was time for me to learn to swim. To do this, they helped me get out to the diving dock on the lake. Once out there, they told me that I couldn’t get off the dock unless I would jump off into the deep side.

When I hesitated, I was thrown off and then one of my older siblings held me under water. This was their attempt to make it so that I wasn’t afraid of the water and would learn to swim and to dive.

Needless to say, it didn’t achieve their goal. Instead, I was ‘afraid’ of the water; that is until I took swimming lessons at the local YMCA. The lessons not only taught me how to swim and get over my ‘fear’ of the water, but also gave me a confidence to even join an AAU swim and diving team. I competed in both swimming and diving meets and I eventually was able to jump off a five-meter platform at a diving competition.

My youngest daughter Rachel had a completely different experience when it came to water. When she was very young, she had a non-fear of water; almost to the point of concern for both Cathy and I.

She would run and jump into the water and not even be aware of the fact that she needed to breathe as she smiled all the way down to the bottom of the pool. This meant that one of us had to stay close to her and be ready to jump in and rescue her from the bottom of the pool when she forgot that she needed oxygen.

At one end of the swimming pool at the same YMCA that I had learned to swim, there is an observation window where parents can watch their children swim.

During her swimming lessons, Rachel would jump in and swim towards the end of the pool where we were sitting, smiling at us as the water poured into her open mouth.

She appeared to be oblivious to the water and waves in her face because she kept her eyes above the waves, moving forward, and having fun as she focused upon her loving parents who were waiting for her at the other end of the pool.

Instinctively she knew that if she got into trouble, one of us would jump in and rescue her like we had done so many times before.

And, I am happy to report that twenty-some years later Rachel continues to love the water; with an understanding that she needs to breathe.

I thought of Rachel recently while listening to the song by Hillsongs called “Oceans…Where Feet May Fail”. The song is a declaration that we too will keep our eyes above the waves as life crashes upon us and we find it difficult to breathe.

It is a song that declares that our eyes will be upon the One who is ‘at the end of the pool’ waiting for us. One who has always been faithful; He’s never failed and He won’t start now. One who calls out to us and reminds us that we belong to Him.

Do you KNOW this One? He is called Father in the Bible and the only way to know Him is through His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only way, truth, and life. Jesus said that no one comes to the Father except through Him (See John 14:6).

The good news is that Jesus wants to take you to the Father; that is the goal of His death, burial, and resurrection: A relationship with the Father!

Do you KNOW this One? He wants for you to do so today; He’s calling out for you to come to be with Him. He already knows that you’ve made a mess of your life (sinned). That is the other goal of His death, burial, and resurrection: Forgiveness with the Father!

Do you want it? Jesus wants to help you today. Simply call out His Name right now. Then call 1-888-NEED-HIM for more assistance. Or drop me a line at pastortommyoestreich@gmail.com

Pastor Tommy O, River of Hope Ministries

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)

You call me out upon the waters

The great unknown where feet may fail

And there I find You in the mystery

In oceans deep

My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise, my soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters

Your sovereign hand

Will be my guide

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me

You've never failed and You won't start now

So I will call upon Your name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise, my soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior

I will call upon Your name

Keep my eyes above the waves

My soul will rest in Your embrace

I am Yours and You are mine

Songwriters: Joel Houston / Matt Crocker / Salomon Lighthelm

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group

Washing The Truck

My Saturday morning task was simple; wash our pickup truck. In a few hours, we would be heading to a family gathering out in the country and I saw this as an excuse to clean our truck.

 

While gathering the tools needed, I decide to wash and wax the exterior of the truck and “Armor All” the interior.

 

It was a task that shouldn’t have taken so long except for the fact that the bottle of wax was empty. So, I decided to head up to Target (yes, some of us still shop there) to purchase a new bottle of wax.

 

I also decided to stop at the Holiday Gas Station to fill up the tank for the long road trip. I returned to my scene of the washing one hour later.

 

As I washed and waxed the truck and cleaned the interior, I noticed that our other vehicle probably should be cleaned as well…which means that I ended up washing and waxing both vehicles and “Armor All” the interiors even though we would only be driving one.

 

Start to finish, the whole process used up several hours of my time. But, BOTH vehicles glistened in the sunshine and reflected everything surrounding them; that is until one day later.

 

Have you noticed that clean vehicles seem to get really dirty really fast? The next morning while getting in the truck to go to church, I noticed that even though it rained the whole time that we drove home from the party, the dust from the county roads still caked the outside of the truck.

 

In my opinion, the truck looked even dirtier than before I had cleaned it twenty fours earlier. One dusty road; one rainstorm was all it took to go backwards!

 

I suppose I could have put the vehicles in a garage or covered them with a tarp of some sort, but eventually, they would return to their former state of dirtiness.

 

All that to say this: Relationships are like that. We put so much effort into building, cleaning, repairing; and one misunderstanding; one conflict seems to make the relationship worse than before.

 

This was my mindset as I sat in church one Sunday when I felt as though I wasn’t on the same page as Cathy. We had migrated back to where we were before we had done some concerted efforts to move the relationship forward and make it stronger. And being a “fixer”, sitting still wasn’t an option and yet that is where I was at. Distant and detached and wondering what she needed to get us back on the same page again.

 

The worship team was leading the congregation in the song; “Oceans” by Hillsongs. And the words jumped off the screen to my heart.

 

And faith arose.

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

 

I always thought of that song as pertaining to moving mountains and believing God for a miracle; not mundane things like reconnecting relationships.

 

And yet the song proclaimed that His grace “abounds in deepest waters” and that His “sovereign hand will be my guide where feet may fail and fear surrounds me”.

 

And I thought of the truck; beneath the layers of dust and raindrops there was a fresh coat of wax. All it would take to get it back to the mirrored finish of yesterday was to wash it off.

 

The song shouted out to my heart: “You've never failed and You won't start now!”
 

Similarly; I needed to call out to the Lord to remove the relational dust and raindrops to reveal what was below those layers: A relationship built upon all of the hard work we had done before the dust and raindrops of misunderstanding and bad communication.

 

My response was to shout back to my troubled soul that was longing for help:

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

 

So I responded to the hand held out to me and cried out in my spirit:

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

Oh, Jesus, you're my God!

I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine

 

Grateful that the Lord responded with His grace to soften two hearts eager to once again go forward. together.