The Great Escape

The year was 1912.

In a bid to perform the greatest escape act the world had ever seen, Harry Houdini was lowered upside-down in giant steel and glass cabinet, filled with water to overflowing and locked from the outside - forced to hold his breath for more than three minutes as he desperately attempted to escape. He did in-fact escape and would successfully perform this daring feat for the duration of his career.

Houdini would later explain some of his illusions: how he would expand his chest, dislocate his shoulders, and swallow keys in order to make his escape acts look stunningly believable. And nearly a century later, while other performers like David Copperfield, Chris Angel, and Lance Burton have made notable careers as escape artists, Houdini's name is still synonymous with unbelievable acts of illusion.

Amazing how we marvel at an illusionist's acts of escape without even noticing that many of us are as equally talented, if not even more than the very best of the great escape artists.

You see, our acts of illusion are those that put up a facade over our motives, over our fears, over our hearts. Some of us dazzle spectators like family, friends, and co-workers with the illusion that our lives are just fine, the television will teach the kids what they need to learn about life, the long work hours are no problem, the marriage will heal itself, the drinking is no big deal, the artery clogging fast food will never catch up with me, the drug use is only for a season, the out of control overspending will be followed by another big financial breakthrough.

Others perform the great escape of reality, relinquishing responsibility of their lives to circumstances and consequences. "I can't love because I wasn't loved...I'm rough because I had it rough...I can't get ahead because others keep me down...I don't show my wife love because she doesn't show me respect...my dead end job drives me to drink...life ends at death so what does it really matter anyway...I'd make more of an effort with my kids if I had more time...I can't get a hold of this chaotic life because I don't have what it takes...what is the use in committing to a loving God that simply won't show himself.

For so many of us, the show we put on day after day rivals that of the very greatest performers and is often the result of the questions left on the table - the reasons that hold us back from making a real commitment to marriage, to family, to fellowship, to career, to stewardship, to forgiveness, to deliverance, to sacrifice, to fulfillment, to love, to praise, to obedience, to faith, to peace, to healing, to life itself. The bottom line is that in this grand illusion, we need not look any further than in the mirror to see the ones we are truly fooling. Fate, it seems, has its own sense of irony, as the great escape only leads us to a place of bondage, eternal prisoners of our own illusion.

But it doesn't have to end there. It's okay to drop the front, be honest with ourselves (and others) and admit that we live in an tough world, oftentimes balancing itself (as one writer puts it) on the razor's edge of uncertainty.

It's okay to stop the act and admit to our families that we aren't equipped to solve all the problems, that "I don't know" is sometimes the healthiest answer; It's okay to escape the excuses and agree that its time to let go of past hurts, residual pain and move into a position of greater spiritual maturity; It's okay to do a curtain call, end the magic show and fully commit to God even though doubts are still a real part of daily life. It's okay to finally let the guard down, take a deep breath and have faith that no matter the trials, no matter the challenges, no matter the circumstances - there is authentic contentment found in going in empty handed and abiding in the only one worthy of surrender.

I submit to you that it is time to show the world the real great escape - the escape from slave to free, from fallen to risen, from from dead to alive...

Nate


"For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You." - Psalm 86:5

The Response

I am firmly committed to the belief that the destiny of a man is embedded not in how together he seems to have it, how successful the world decides him to be, or even how super spiritual he may have grown over the years.

No, the destiny of a man lies squarely in one place and one place only...in his response.

It is in his response to the threatened marriage; in his response to the chemical dependency; in his response to the obsessive thoughts; in his response to the waning commitment; in his response to dad's baggage, in his response to the unstable employment, in his response to the magnetic addiction, in his response to the undiscipled children; in his response to the defense of the weak; in his response to all of life's setbacks, challenges and troubles, in his response to the adversary's unrelenting drive to steal, kill, and destroy, in his response to the call to stand and fight for heart, mind, spirit and soul...in his response to the unwaivering offer of God.

Our destiny is unequivocally defined by our response. What is yours?

Help Me To Believe

Do you ever have those moments in life when you are confronted with a pivotal question? A pivotal decision? A pivotal response?

I was recently taking a car ride with my 12-year-old nephew and we got on the subject of God. He asked me how God (if there was one) could allow all those people in Africa to go hungry. Wow, I thought, heavy question for a child, even for an adult. And it wasn't that my nephew was trying to stump me, he was rather saying in his own way, "Help me to believe."

'Help me to believe.' Isn't that what we each ask at some point in our lives?

Help me to believe that there is more out there than just superficial lusts and empty dreams. Help me to believe that life's hurts can be healed. Help me to believe that addiction isn't the end of the road. Help me to believe that all this pain and suffering isn't God's doing. Help me to believe that there is freedom in forgiveness. Help me to believe that no matter how desperate and bleak the circumstances, there is a way out. Help me to believe that even though I am overloaded with what look to be insurmountable responsibilities, I can overcome. Help me to believe that depression can be beat. Help me to believe that less can be more. Help me to believe that charity is still worth the sacrifice. Help me to believe that the cause for human dignity is still alive. Help me to believe that absolute truth is still worth the fight. Help me to believe that there is so much more to be gained from love than with hate. Help me to believe that there really is life after death. Help me to believe that illness will not irradiate out my hope. Help me to believe that I can and will have victory over my financial burdens. Help me to believe that security isn't found below my feet, but above. Help me to believe that courage is found in taking a stand for righteousness, no matter the cost. Help me to believe that life isn't simply a series of tragedies buffered by just enough of a sliver of hope to give me a pulse. Help me to believe that whatever the direction of my life (even if unbelievably way off course), God unconditionally awaits my repentance and reconciliation. Help me to believe...

What have others around you desired your help to believe? That this country will make it? That their business will prosper? That their family will have unity? That their faith will withstand the storm?

For my little nephew, the answer could have come from so many different angles. But with love, I explained that it is not God who has failed us, but us that have failed God. We have failed God with every act of impurity, false idolatry, hatred, discord, jealousy, rage, selfish ambition, dissension, envy, and so on. If we truly desire the world to be a 'better' place, making that difference starts no further than with us. It begins with a choice, a change of mindset, a change of direction, toward God rather than away. Our own lives can radically change this world for good. Sometimes all we need is a little help to believe...

Nate

"I have told you this so that through me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble, but be courageous-I have overcome the world!" - Jesus (Jn 16:33)

Life's True Love

There once was a young man who set his heart upon true love.

He searched and searched for this sweet vision from above.

Alas, after many years and to no avail,

He was weakened to arrive at a point of utter betrayal.

With head sunk so low, his autumn sky filled with sorrow,

With nothing for hope and an empty tomorrow.

Then along came Wisdom asking, "What troubles you son?"

"Dear stranger, I am heartbroken to find love's chosen one."

"Ah, my son, there is but one reason for your desperation,

what you seek is yourself - beyond that, you'll find no consolation."

"Then all is lost...there is no one but me."

"Precisely, my boy, for that is all you can see."

And the young man left perplexed, his heart forever to grieve,

for until he looks beyond himself for love defined, he will neither recognize it to give or to receive.

Nate


"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8