Do You Have What it Takes?

I only watch 2 television shows...well, that is, if all sports programs don't count (because, hey, they're not a series!). Anyway, the two shows I watch are 24 and LOST...LOST pierced my soul last night...wasn't really fair, 'cause I wasn't ready for it.

I am not EVEN going to try to tell you what LOST is about (though I will say it's like Back to the Future on steroids...but completely different!).

There is this one character, Jack, sort of the leader of a group of people who plane-crashed on a mysterious island. Jack is a doctor, a man of science who struggles with matters of faith. He had a rocky relationship with his dad...a man he could never quite please. Apparently, one day, Jack's dad looked straight at him and said "You don't have what it takes."

Now I'm sure in his own sick way, Jack's dad thought it might motivate Jack to succeed...what a stupid man.

It marked Jack for his entire life.

Imagine that.

A man with all his gifts, talents, abilities...living with the Echo in his mind every moment of every day..."You don't have what it takes." So sad.

I know something sadder...

Every human being, in one way or another, hears the same evil echo..."You don't have what it takes."

"You don't have what it takes" to make it in your marriage; You don't have what it takes to make it in your career; You don't have what it takes to be a good parent; You don't have what it takes to make it through adolescence; You don't have what it takes to make it as a Christ-follower; You don't have what it takes to....

Well, you get the picture.

Unfortunately, it's what theologians call a result of "the Fall." When humanity fell into rebellion, something broke in the human soul that has been passed on to all of us...and I mean ALL of us!

So, here I am last night, sitting next to our youngest son, and this scene begins in the middle of LOST. Jack is with HIS son; it's "his weekend" if you get what I mean. You can tell their relationship is strained. Jack has to leave for a bit and when he returns home, his son is gone. Jack is worried. He really loves his son...He longs for a relationship with his son...but he doesn't know where his son is and he doesn't know why things are so hard and difficult between him and his son.

He runs over to his "ex's" house to see if his son is there...he's not. But there's a message on the answering machine...Jack listens. It's some music conservatory talking about a scholarship performance that his son is to play that evening. Jack looks at his watch...it's scheduled to take place in just a few minutes. He rushes to the conservatory just in time to listen to his beloved son play, practically flalwlessly a very difficult piano piece by Chopin.

Jack is moved to tears.

After the performance, his son rushes outside to get back to Jack's place...and Jack meets him. Jack asks him why he never told him he was still playing the piano and why he didn't tell him about the conservatory performance. This is where it gets dicey...at least for me...

His son looked into his dad's eyes and answers...

"I didn't tell you...because I didn't want you to see me fail."

Jack's eyes fill with tears...again...only this time...so do mine.

Jack looks at his son and tells him something that changes their relationship. "One time when I was about your age, my dad, your grand-father looked at me and said words I'll never forget...he said, "You don't have what it takes." Jack, again moved to tears, looks into his boy's eyes and says, "I NEVER want you to fear that you might be a failure in my eyes...and there is nothing that you could ever do that would ever cause me to stop loving you. I will ALWAYS love you...all I want is a relationship with you."

Now his son is moved...and now...I am moved to tears...again.

What was going on in me? The brokenness of the Fall hit my consciousness. I, like Jack, often hear the echo of the Fall: "You don't have what it takes." Sure, we all have family issues I guess...but my dad NEVER said anything like that to me...nope...I was hard-wired that way. We're ALL hard-wired some kind of way that is broken. Mine has always been, "You don't have what it takes."

But here's the amazing thing...the things Jack said to his son...those are the things our Father in Heaven says to us through Christ...

"I NEVER want you to fear that you might be a failure in My eyes...and there is nothing that you could ever do that would ever cause Me to stop loving you. I will ALWAYS love you...all I want is a relationship with you."

Not only that, but God is constantly whispering to our hearts, "You DO have what it takes! Because I've promised to give you in Christ all that you would ever need!"

2 Peter 1:3--His divine power has granted to us ALL THINGS pertaining to life and godliness! Read those words again...slowly...believing the Gospel...ALL things...You and I, in Christ, DO HAVE WHAT IT TAKES!!

Hebrews 13:21 basically says that God Himself promises to bless us and equip us with everything good, with everything we need to do His will...He promises to bless us by actually working into us everything we need to live a life pleasing to Him!! You and I, in Christ, DO HAVE WHAT IT TAKES!!!

And we are to remind each other of this every day.

God is out to replace the old tapes of the Fall with a new Echo...the Echo of His validation/affirmation/love...just like He called out to Jesus at His baptism: "This is My Beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased." THAT is the new echo that the Father wants sounding about in our hearts and minds!

As I sat on the couch with my youngest son...I wondered (and this was part of the tears)...what message have I sent him? What messages have I sent my other two children? What messages have I sent my wife? My friends? My church? Are people "afraid to fail" in my eyes? Do I somehow, sometimes, send the message, "You don't have what it takes?"

I want to be a man that leaves every believer I come into contact with thinking, feeling, knowing, "You have what it takes!"

If you're reading this...and you know Christ...you DO...you REALLY do...You DO have what it takes!

So...Go For It!

Worship Comes to Late Night Television

U2 is on Letterman each night this week (as many of you already know). Last night they played their "contemporary Psalm," to the nation...Worship of God came to Late Night television. "I lift You high in praise, my God, O my King! And I'll bless Your Name into eternity. I'll bless You every day, and keep it up from now to eternity. God is MAGNIFICENT; He can never be praised enough (Ps 145:1-3, The Message). Watch as Bono praises the MAGNIFICENT, and lifts up his hands in worship...

Heroes

The day began with me lacing up my Puma Clydes...Vintage Puma Clydes I might add. Clyde. The name that brought forth some of the first passion of my young soul. Clyde. "Watch Clyde glide" That's how I started the poem..."Watch Clyde glide." A young basketball fanatic couldn't fathom a better opening line. Clyde...Walt Frazier (sorry yungin's who think I'm talking about Clyde the glide Drexler...much later!). Walt Frazier the 6'4" all-star guard of the World Champion New York Knicks of the NBA. Clyde...dressed in a mink trench coat, driving around in a Rolls Royce. All-defensive team, all-around champion, all around hero. Puma was so enamored with Frazier that they asked him to design a shoe of class and color...Clydes. I must have owned 10 pair! Imagine my excitement, when, on a recent trip to NYC with my daughter, we passed a Puma store and there in the window, for the first time in 30 years, was a pair of Clydes. I got me a pair...then I mail ordered another! After all, he was my hero. So I started my day lacing up my Clydes. Now that the day is almost done, I realize I'm winding down with another hero. I just started a biography of Francis Schaeffer, An Authentic Life, by Colin Duriez. Schaeffer...not known for fashion (he wore silly looking knickers all the time...huh, knickers, Knicks, Knickerbockers...hmmm, that's wierd!), no mink coats, certainly no Rolls Royces, but my hero...because his writings (his heart and mind) saved my faith. At a time when no one in evangelicalism seemed interested in taking my doubts seriously, Schaeffer, through his writings, did seem to hear me...and he saved my faith. I can't wait to meet him one day to tell him. But...as heroic as both Clyde and Schaeffer are in their own way in my life...I am reminded, there is only One Hero...only One that draws forth passion from my soul; only One who Authors and Saves my faith...Jesus...and He is enough.