Help for the Hurting

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter” -Matt. 7:21 As you have no doubt heard, Robin Williams died yesterday. I know a lot of people die everyday, but we wake up and notice when a famous person or someone close to us passes away. We all struggle to make sense of the fact that he died by killing himself. Unfortunately, thousands of people are dying in Africa as well, but that doesn’t hit us quite so hard. It seems when it’s close to home, we wake up to the reality of death. People comment about “raising the awareness of mental illness.” Apparently, Williams’ struggled with Bi-polar disorder. There is always an outcry when the illness affects us. But it’s not about being aware. Most people are clearly aware that people have mental struggles. This side of heaven, we all are “damaged goods.” The real question is what are we doing to help those with debilitating mental illness? Being aware of a problem is worthless- helping someone with their problem is priceless. People comment about Williams going to hell. I firmly believe that there is a heaven and hell. We will all live for eternity either in the presence of God or separate from God. We are brought into the presence of God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is available only because of His death on the cross as a bridge between sinful man and perfect God. But we are never instructed to judge anyone. That is God’s business. We simply do not know. Salvation is a decision of the heart that no one sees. We use the “I don’t see any fruit” device, but again, we don’t know. When I was a teenager at a youth summer camp, we received word that a classmate of ours had died back in Fort Worth in a motorcycle accident. We all grieved his loss because he was a “partier who probably didn’t go to heaven.” Our leader rebuked us. “We have no right to judge,” he said. “Respect his loss,” he instructed us. I’m convinced we’ll all be surprised at the finish line of life. People we thought were “lost” will be winners and people we thought were “spiritual” will be left behind. The point is, we should focus on ourselves, our obedience to share our faith, and our responsibility to love those around us. Jesus said as much in Matthew. Check out the verse at the top. The judging is up to God- not us. Our call is to care, bear and share the truth of God’s love. People comment about how someone so funny could kill himself. People commit suicide more often than we would like to admit. Thousands die everyday. It’s the second leading cause of death for teenagers. Most have been severely depressed. Most are stuffers. Why? Because we like to hide our struggles. We cover up any deficiencies and flaws because pride wants to rule our hearts. Behind too many shaky smiles is a hurting heart. And hurting hearts can only be helped by being open, vulnerable and trusting. Hurting hearts are only truly healed by the touch of a loving God though loving friends. Robin Williams died, never to return. But many are still alive. Let them be our focus. We are all aware of mental illness- now let’s step out of our comfort zone and help someone through his or her struggle. Give them a ride, take them to lunch, be there to listen. Reach out in love. Let’s not be shy about sharing our faith. A relationship with Jesus Christ is the only path to salvation. Exclusive, yes, but wide open to everyone. May we all be willing to be used. May we all be open to loving the hurting in this world. And may we all be open to being loved by others. Robin Williams played the therapist Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting. He commented to his client, Will, one day, “You don’t know about real loss because it only occurs when you’ve loved someone more than you love yourself. I doubt you’ve ever dared to love anybody that much.” Robin Williams is gone. But if you’re reading this, you’re still here, for now anyway. As Jesus did, dare to love others more than yourself… …and then you’ll truly live. By Eric Joseph Staples © www.lifeaid101.com

The Trip, part 5: the End

“This is the day which the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it- Psa. 118:24 After our wonderful trip to Washington D.C., we turned north to Pennsylvania to our last major stop, Gettysburg. It was amazing. As we drove north, we realized that our trip was coming to an end. After weeks and months of planning and expectations, only a few days remained. But that’s the story of trips and life. If we’re not careful, we spend all our time planning for tomorrow and little time focused on today. Yet today is all that matters- tomorrow may never come. I’m reminded of an outstanding article by Oswald Chambers: “We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God’s purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end. What is my dream of God’s purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working towards a particular finish; His end is the process – that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God. God’s training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we get wrong when we think of the afterwards. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end. God’s end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present: if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious.” Wow! Oswald always seems to get it so right. What a wonderful week of travel and as we focused on each stop along the way, we had a great time. Every stop was our first visit to that site. The excitement of each unique spot grabbed us for the day. Andy Griffith’s hometown, the places where the Civil war began and ended, the White House, and more consumed us. These were once-in-a-lifetime visits and we weren’t about to miss the moments. But what about places we’ve been before. What about our families, our hometowns, our workplace? When we’ve “been there and done that,” we can easily look too far down the road and lean on tomorrow. These crucial areas need all of us today. Yes, the trip was awesome. We’re back home now and we smile when we think back on the journey and our future trips together. But mostly we’re excited about today… …and all the God has in store. By Eric Joseph Staples © www.lifeaid101.com