S4 E22 - We Need Some Perspective

Hurricane Helene came through and did some damage to our area, but absolutely nothing compared to other areas of the country. At first, our kids were pretty upset about no power and no tv/internet. But once they learned that that other people were losing their entire homes and communites, that was no longer important. They needed some perspective. 

I think we all do. We can be so entitled, ungrateful, and complain about everything. But if we just gained some perspective, we would learn rather than complain, to be lights, we ought to be grateful. 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day? 

What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me? 

 Welcome back to season 4 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. And I’m excited to share a few moments together with you learning some important lessons from the simplest things. Thanks for tuning in! 

I am back in the saddle after three weeks away from the podcast. Three weeks ago we left on vacation for Florida’s Walt Disney World for our kids very first experience at a Disney theme park. My parents generously treated us to three days at a nearby resort and two days at two of the different theme parks, Epcot & Magic Kingdom. It was a wonderful time, and I’ll never forget watching the kid’s excitement on their faces as they met their favorite characters and experienced the magic. Last week, I had fully intended on dropping an episode – but as we are all aware, hurricane Helene came through and completely changed that. That is going to be the topic of today’s podcast, because after much reflection over the past week – I believe it is very important to remind ourselves that sometimes, we need to fix our perspective. Before we begin, I want to start by extending my love to all those who have been impacted by the devastation of the storm. I have been in contact with our family in North Carolina and other brethren we know in heavily impacted areas, and it is just heartbreaking hearing of the tremendous loss that so many have experienced. If you want to help contribute to efforts being made to support the saints in need, please reach out to me and I would be happy to provide you with contact information for those in need. 

That being said, lets back up to Friday morning of last week. We knew the storm was coming through, but being all the way in Kentucky to be perfectly honest I did not give it much thought at all. I woke up at 6 am to a message from the school district saying that they had cancelled school for the day due to the possibility of severe weather. “That’s odd,” I thought to myself, because at that point I still had no concept of what was to come. In my mind, we might have some winds and some rain, but certainly nothing worth cancelling school over. Boy was I wrong, they certainly made the right call. Before long, the rain was coming in sideways because of how strong the winds were. I looked out back and our new maple tree we had planted over the summer was about to break – so I grabbed some line and went out to stake it down to try and save it. The winds were so strong that it was even pulling the stakes completely up out of the ground that I had just pounded in. I came in, soaking wet, and sat down at the table to start some work. But that was short lived, because within ten minutes *ZAP* all of our power was gone. That’s when I really knew how much I had underestimated this storm. In the five and a half years we have lived in this house, we have not even once lost power. Other areas around Danville had before, but not our neighborhood. So, for us to have lost power, this was a really big storm. 

Before long we started hearing from others around town – trees were down, powerlines were down, fires were being responded to; this was a really big storm. And yet, we still didn’t know just how big. We started checking in on our family in North Carolina, and what we started hearing from them and what we started reading about on the news with every passing hour sent our hearts into our stomach. Dams breaking. Roads collapsing. Houses disintegrating in flood waters. It was then that we realized that like Katrina & Harvey in the past, this hurricane was going to change lives forever. Suddenly, our situation did not seem so bad. We sat down at the table with our children to have a family meeting and converse over a meal Saturday afternoon. Up to this point, the kids had been having a hard time with the whole no power thing. It was dark, there was no internet or tv, they couldn’t play outside, it was just really inconvenient for a six, four, and two year old especially. We told them how good they were doing with the small inconveniences, though it didn’t seem small to them. And that was the point: this was an opportunity to gain some perspective. We started sharing with them just how bad this storm was elsewhere, and that while sure we came home to a dark home, thousands of others would never go home again because it was just gone. As we shared more, we could see on their faces that the kids understood. At one point, Dane started to cry, and from the most genuine and sweet heart told us, “They don’t have homes anymore? That’s so sad!” While I hated seeing the kids cry, I loved that they understood. Suddenly, not having internet or tv was even important, because they had gained some much needed perspective. 

To be quite honest, I think a lot of us need to learn the same lessons that my children learned this past weekend. In our lives, I think a lot of us would benefit from gaining some much needed perspective about our circumstances. We can be so entitled, can we not? In our affluent, fast past society in America we are so incredibly blessed to have far beyond all that we could possibly ever need. And yet, we still find ways to complain on a regular basis don’t we? We complain when the service is slow at a restaurant. We complain when the internet has to buffer on the tv show we are watching. We complain about the way our car looks as it takes us to our jobs or wherever our heart desires to go. We complain about the most ridiculous, petty, small things in this life – and it shows me that we could really use a reality check. While you’re complaining about the slow service at a restaurant, others elsewhere would do anything to be able to have even one full meal of any kind to fill the stomachs of their children. While you’re complaining about your slow internet on your tv show, folks in the Appalachian Mountains right now are praying that emergency response teams will be fast enough to save their own lives. While you’re complaining about the way your car looks, entire roadways are collapsed and have buried cars and those in them underneath of it. 

Paul would say in Philippians 2:13-15 the following important reminder for us all: “For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life.” I want you to pay very close attention to what is being said in this context. God desires to work in our lives, that we can be lights to a dark world and illuminate the glory of God through our actions. But my friends, if we become a people that grumble and complain about every single little thing in our lives through our entitled hearts, we no longer are useful for the work and will of God. Instead of being a light in dark times, we contribute to the darkness by our self-centered “woe is me” attitude about every slight inconvenience in our life. It cannot be this way, and it has to stop if this has been our attitude. Instead, may we live up to the words of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 when he would say, “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” May God help us in our lives to be a joyful people, a grateful people, and a humble people. If we are struggling with this, then maybe, just maybe, what we need is to gain a little perspective. 

This has been the Set Your Mind Above Podcast, season 4 episode 22 – and I’m so thankful that you decided to tune in today! A new episode is dropped most Fridays, so be sure to tune in next week.  Also, if you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, as well as share it with someone else – it would help me greatly in trying to reach others. And more than anything, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.