Taking a CAB to get to your work.
As I did last week, I’d like to share with you a thought from the online ZOOM conference I “attended” a couple of weeks ago.
Another one of the “images” Tim Elmore suggested to us was that we take a CAB when we are ready to head to work. This was more of an acronym than an image – and Elmore is fond of these, too!
C stands for Context. As you head out to your vocation in the days ahead remind yourself of the context of our pandemic situation. By Elmore’s count, this is the fourth pandemic in the last century. He shared further that he had run across a photograph from 1918. It was of a Georgia Tech football game – and the people in the stand were wearing masks! Our country has been through this, before.
A stands for Application. If the tasks before you seem overwhelming and insurmountable, break them down into manageable steps. Those clear action steps can give you a sense of success and accomplishment as you move your way along.
B, finally, stands for Belief. Whereas the world around us would signal this with phrases like “You can do this” and “We’ll get through this,” our contribution as the body of Christ comes from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians: 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (4:12-13).
God bless you as you head to the things before you with God’s voice (paraphrased!) saying to you “We got this!”
The Flight Attendant Factor
I received an invitation to watch a video conference about leadership during the time of pandemic. It was last Monday during an hour that turned out to be occupied already. Thankfully they made it available for review, so I benefited from all the same material and simply could not take part in the real time online chat.
There were many useful images shared, which is a trait of Tim Elmore, one of the leaders of the conference and a thinker whose work I very much appreciate.
One of the images he suggested was entitled “The Flight Attendant Factor.” Even if you have not been on a plane recently I’m sure you can think of a time as you were on a flight when you experienced turbulence. Elmore’s observation is that the first thing you do when you experience turbulence is grab your armrests. The second thing most people do is look to the flight attendants. If the flight attendant looks scared, then you know you’re in trouble!
If, however, the flight attendant is still smiling and handing out pretzels you calm down. You think to yourself, “Well, if (s)he thinks it’s ok, I guess I’ll be ok.”
That is certainly one of the messages we in the church want to get across. During this time of pandemic we remain safely in the hands of our loving and all-powerful God. He does assure us that in this world we will have trouble – it is, after all, wracked with sin. But our Lord Jesus continues to say to us, “But take heart; I have overcome the world.” This He accomplished through His passion, death, and triumphant resurrection.
I pray that you are finding peace in the assurance of God’s watchful and loving care.
The key word - Inheritance.
From St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians: And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Colossians 1:9-12).
A reflection on this by Thomas Guthrie (1803-1873). “Volumes of theology have been written, and long controversies have waxed hot, about the question – whether heaven is, or is not, in part, the reward of our own good works? Now it appears to me that there is one word in my text, whose voice authoritatively and summarily settles that matte; and would have always settled it, had not men’s hearts been fired with angry passions, and their ears confused with the din of battle. That word is – inheritance. What is inheritance? The pay of a soldier is not inheritance; neither are the fees of a lawyer or of a physician; nor the gains of trade; nor the wages of labor. Rewards of toil or skill, these are earned by the hands that receive them. What is inherited, on the other hand, may be the property of a new-born babe; and so you may see the coronet, which was won by the stout arm of valor, and first blazoned on a battered shield, standing above the cradle of a wailing infant. True, the ample estate, the noble rank, the hereditary honors were won. But they that won them are long dead… “(Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints).
The difference for us in Christ is that the One Who won the forgiveness and life everlasting which we inherit by faith is not long dead. No, indeed, Christ Jesus is risen from the dead and He reigns for all eternity!
As we have just celebrated the Baptism of our Lord, we rejoice that we have been the new-born babe, mentioned above, receiving the gifts Jesus won in His passion, death, and resurrection. Such is the legacy of Baptism, the Spirit calling us to faith and giving us gifts beyond all value.