Plot
verb
secretly make plans to carry out something.
devise the sequence of events in (a play, novel, movie, or similar work).
I think the biggest issue we have as a people is organization. We typically find ourselves divided on most issues. We can't agree. We don’t properly plan. We always find ourselves on opposite sides of the fence. How do we find common ground? How do we find a place where we can agree to disagree and still move forward? We can’t overcome in a perpetual state of solitude. We need each other. We need to plan. We need to scheme. We need to prepare. We need to plot. What’s our next move?
Enough
When is enough, enough? The signs have always been there lurking in the background. Fuel has been added. The country is on fire. The writing is on the wall. The bodies are adding up. The hate is real. The cheek has been turned. Not again. Not another name. What else needs to happen? Killer Mike said it best..."plot, plan, strategize, organize, and mobilize." If you don't know what that means, no worries. I got you. I will be breaking those down over the next few weeks. We got to be strategic. This is not the time to be in our feelings. Enough already!
Isolated
Admit it. Our fears have gotten the best of us. We feel alone. We miss our friends. We miss our social life. We miss being able to just go as we please. We feel imprisoned. We feel like we’re being kept against our will even if it’s for our own good. We feel isolated. Zoom meetings no longer feel like outside connection. They are a reminder of what life used to be like before this pandemic. Guess what? It’s okay. You’re not alone even if you feel that way. There are resources out there that can help. Do something that makes you happy. Take a drive. Have a social distancing picnic. Most importantly, get out of your head.
Impatient
I can admit it. I’m over it. I’m ready for this to be over. I don’t want to wear a mask everywhere. I was a germaphobe before and now it's gotten worse. I want my vacation back. I want to travel. I want my life back the way it was before Covid-19. I want my kids to go to school in the fall. I don’t want to be stuck in the house forever. We've all said it. We've all thought it, but this is bigger than us. We don’t see the big picture. We don’t understand what’s happening. The numbers are wrong. The sources are skewed. We are growing impatient and it's showing. Our lack of humanity is on display. Our selfishness is sneaking out. We can’t hide behind the disguise. We want out and unfortunately many of us will suffer because of our lack of patience. Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is nothing new under the sun, and to everything there is a season. This just happens to be an uncomfortable one.
Incomparable
Sometimes, I think I forget I serve a big God. I serve a God who created the heavens and the earth. I serve a God who created the land and the sea and everything in it. I serve a God who sits high and looks low. I serve a God that cares about every grain of sand and every nerve ending. I serve a God who made microscopic organisms and mammoths. It’s all about perspective. I serve the same God who was, is, and is to come. Nothing had taken God by surprise, not this virus, pandemic or even our response to it. So, either I am going to trust God or not. My life and times are in his hands. So, come what may. I still serve an incomparable God that’s still in control.
Intrepid
in·trep·id /inˈtrepəd/
adjective
fearless; adventurous (often used for rhetorical or humorous effect).
Kids are fearless. They are willing to do and try anything. They do not comprehend the danger associated with their actions. They innately trust people. They are not paralyzed by failure. They simply get up and try again. I see it every day with my daughter. She is learning to walk. She falls all the time, but she gets up and tries again. She hurts herself, but she tries again. We could take a page from her playbook. How many times have we failed? How many times have we just given up? How many times have we been paralyzed by fear? Why don’t we try again? Why can’t we be fearless? It’s all in our head. It is a mindset. Today, I want to remind you that we have been power. We have a sound mind. We are intrepid.
2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Idols
One of the first lessons in Sunday School, besides the fall of Adam and Eve, was the story of the Ten Commandments. Every Easter, I would watch Charlton Heston part the Red Sea. Back then, idols were just big golden calf statues. I soon learned why there were so many idol references in the bible. Idols are things you worship. They are things you put before God. Most of us probably don’t think we have idols, but we do. We have made money our idol. We have put our jobs before our family. We have put our pursuit of wealth before our personal wellbeing. We have made social media an idol. We have made pleasure an idol. The bible says to put no other god before me. It's like God knows that we will make things more important than our relationship with him. He knows that we will choose entertainment over bible study. He knows we will choose to talk to our friends before we pray. The only way to turn away from idols is to first recognize we have them.