S5 E5 - Count It All Joy When You Face Various Snowballs

We got a big snow dump again, and the kids wanted to go outside and play in it. This was the best kind of snow, the kind that packs tight so you can make snowballs and snowmen. The kids asked me to teach them how, and I explained you have to apply pressure and press the snow in your hands - that's what makes it stronger. 

Life works the same way with our faith. We've got to recognize that difficulties are not necessarily something to be avoided, they have the potential to test our faith and make us stronger. Sometimes a little pressure is what keeps you from falling to pieces. 

#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 5 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. Let’s grow together! 

It's still the season of giving, apparently, because all the sky continues to do is give us more and more snow. We are forecasted to have snow a couple of times next week, and earlier this week we had quite the accumulation already. We woke up Tuesday morning to a fresh thick layer of 6-7 inches of beautiful white snow. The district had called off school already the night before after verifying the snow projection, so we let the kids sleep in some and I got coffee going to start my workday from home. But from the moment their eyes opened, they were anxious to bundle up and go outside to go play in it. After breakfast I took a break from my work and bundled myself and all of the kids up to go outside and play. As soon as I took my first few steps outside, even I got excited, and for one very specific reason: this was the perfect packing snow. We’ve had a lot of snow already this year, but most of it has been very powdery and not the right composition to make a good snowball or build a half-way decent snowman. But finally, this time around, it was just right. So, the kids and I got right to work. We started off with one big snowman; I had the kids work on rolling out a big base while I worked on rolling out the body and the head to go on top. After properly assembling our first snowman, we gave him a Mariners hat, two eyes and three buttons made out of coal, and a baby carrot nose. They loved him so much that they wanted to build two more – one that represented each of the kids. This one we had built was naturally Dane because of the hat. So, we built another two similar to the first but with bows on their heads for both Ava & Finley. 

After they were complete, I asked the kids what they wanted to do next. They looked at each other with sadistic glee, “SNOWBALL FIGHT!” they yelled in unison! And we were off. The kids ran to one side of the yard and I the other. As a veteran snowball soldier, I was quick to make 5 or 6 tightly packed snowballs and started firing them off towards the kids – each of them a direct hit which made them squeal and laugh. Then they returned fire, which left me laughing next. You see, my kids didn’t really know how to make a snowball yet. They were just picking up handfuls of snow and chucking it my direction – which, naturally, as soon as it left their hands would break apart into a dozen pieces. “Dad, can you teach me how to make a snowball?” Dane asked. “Of course!” I responded, and after Ava called a ceasefire, they came back over to my side of the yard where Finley was swinging and watching the whole thing. I cupped my hands and pulled up a decent size bundle of snow. “You see, you can’t just pick up snow and throw it. You have to pack it tight to make a snowball,” I explained. “What do you mean pack it?” Ava asked. I realized I was talking over their heads and broke it down a little bit. “You see, the snow as it is is kind of loose. If you throw it like this, it will fall apart. You need to kind of beat it up a little bit by gently hitting it with a cupped hand and apply pressure with your hands, and that is actually what makes it stronger, so it won’t fall apart.” I demonstrated a few and helped them to make their own, and before too long we were back to our all-out snowball fight, only this time I had much more formidable foes as they were packing those things tight and letting them fly. 

My conversation with the kids has done two things for me this week. First, it reminded me of another conversation I had with our previous summer intern Daniel Schoenholz. Second, it reminded me of the spiritual truths we read in James chapter 1. Let’s start with my conversation with our young Mr. Daniel. He had called me this week to do a phone interview for his capstone project this being his senior year. He is interviewing many different preachers in the hopes of putting together good material for young men to consider before they take the jump into ministry, which I thought was a great idea. One of his questions he asked is what I want to key in on. He asked me, “I’m sure you have faced many difficulties in your years of preaching, perhaps even many hardships you and your family have faced because of your position. If you could go back and change anything, what would you change?” I thought about his question for a moment and then told him this. “You know Daniel, I would change one thing. I would change how I responded to those difficult moments and times in my life. I wish I would have handled them with more maturity than I did. But that’s all just a part of the growth process. But in all honesty, I wouldn’t change any of the hard things we’ve had to go through, be they related to preaching or not, because it is those difficult times and hard moments that have made us stronger and brought us to where we are today.” 

This this is what brings us to our text for today’s podcast. James states the following in chapter 1, vv. 2-4, “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” I want you to think back, if you’re able, to the first time you ever read this. Usually, joy and trials do not find themselves in the same sentence. And yet here, James tells us that we ought to consider it a great joy to experience different difficulties in our lives. How could he say this? Well, for starters, it’s important to first understand what he is NOT saying. James is NOT suggesting to simply grin and bear it, and never to let on that anything in life is difficult. Most certainly it is. In fact, the Hebrew writer himself would say this, “No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Heb. 12:11) So what is it that James is saying here? 

James is reminding us of the strengthening power that trials and difficulties have to our faith. Imagine if you will having a faith that was never once challenged or tested and then being sent off into this broken world. If your faith was never tested, and you never wrestled or struggled with the pressures of this life that challenge you to really own your trust in God, what do you think would happen? Well, much like unpacked snow that is simply scooped up and thrown, more than likely you and your faith would fall apart. Instead, James reminds us that the trails and temptations of this life help to test and strengthen our faith and produce endurance in our lives. The more our faith is tested, the more pressure it feels, the stronger in our faith we become. I think about the faith that I had as a child, and it is very different than the faith that I have today. Part of that, naturally, is on account of growth in knowledge and maturity. But part of that, truly, is because of many of the hard and difficult things I’ve had to go through in my life. Each of them unique, each of them did their best to try and get me to deconstruct my faith, and each of them forced me to ask myself if I truly believe and trust God or not. But in each instance, God saw me through, and in trusting him it became easier to trust him all the more with each subsequent difficulty. 

Our relationship with God is kind of like a strong, longstanding marriage. Just like a marriage after 50 years is strong not because they’ve had no hiccups or bumps in the road, but rather because they’ve faced pressure on their marriage and gone through difficulties together time and time again and endured. In the same manner, as we grow in our faith and in our walk with God, even when there is pressure and difficult trials, we actually come out on the other side of them stronger. My friends, count it all joy when you face various trials. It’s a period of testing; it is hard and it is difficult. But if you stand firm in your faith, you’ll come out of it stronger on the other side. And then see where God takes you as you soar through this life like a tightly packed snowball. Life can be tough, and it will continue to be tough, but just hang in there – you’ll be better for it in the end. 

This has been the Set Your Mind Above Podcast, season 5 episode 5 – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! A new episode is dropped every Friday, so be sure to tune in next week.  Also, if you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating or most importantly share it with someone else – it would help to reach others that I never could alone.  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.