Avalanches in Mississippi

Some lessons are easy to learn.  Other lessons are so hard it feels like someone's ripping out your toe nails.  And some lessons are learned with little realization until it hits you like an avalanche.

My avalanche came today.

Montgomery was just the start of "We Believe 8-0"
that was all over campus.

Last Thursday as I was heading to my 8 a.m. class, I saw a sign hanging outside a building on campus that made me smile and fill with love and pride for my school.  The sign simply said, "We Believe 8-0."  This is the first time in a long time that Mississippi State University has gone undefeated so far into the season, but we knew to keep that record we'd have to fight and fight hard.  Our opponent to make the record 8-0 was none other than the Crimson Tide.  For those of you who aren't SEC people, they've pretty much been the number one college football team in the nation for the past couple of years.  Not to mention the head coach, Nick Saban, is up there next to God and the Virgin Mary for some people.

We were facing giants.  Honestly, we shouldn't have had hope.  We shouldn't have had signs at all and our "We Believe" phrase shouldn't have spread across the globe.  But that's the amazing thing about hope, even against the greatest odds, it still endures.

Even walking into Bryant Denny stadium, a large part of me thought, "We could walk away with a win here.  It won't be easy by any means, but we could do it." I had hope for my team, for my school, but I had no hope for me and no hope in my God.

I've faced the facts.  I'll graduate single with no one standing in line waiting for me.  I'll get a job, move and start life on my own.  I'll learn my way around my new city, find a church and make friends.  While my house may be quiet when I get home, I'll get to pick the TV channel and what show I watch.  I'll go it alone, learn to be ok with that and continue to go through life with no expectations.

Standing in the stands, experiencing culture shock, I was screaming for my team.  I got some really weird looks by cheering for the other team and by the end of the first quarter I'd quieted down, mainly because we weren't doing so hot.  How could I stand there, screaming for my Dawgs to keep pushing down the field with the hope that we would turn the Tide, and have no hope when it comes to me and what God could do in my life?

Little did I know, my favorite part of the weekend would be going to church with my friends.  The pastor spoke on just what I needed to hear; the Holy Spirit spoke straight into my heart that morning.  The church is walking through a series was entitled "Legacy" that focuses on steps to take in order to leave a legacy.  Sunday's sermon was called "Greater Things" and was all about stirring hope once again.  We often lose hope, which can hinder our legacy, because of a wrong view of self (1 Peter 2:9), wrong view of people (Matthew 9:36) or a wrong view of God (Jeremiah 32:17).

We started out in Ephesians 4:1 which says, "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."  The pastor then asked, "Why does Paul urge us to live a life like this?  To answer this question, we need to back it up a bit."  So we did and we read Ephesians 3:20-21, the two verses previous.  Here's why Paul urges us, "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

I had lost hope in my Father.  Even though I've been reminded of what His Word says, I still struggle with having hope in Him.  I know that He is able to do more than I can ask or imagine, I trusted Him with my hopes and dreams and I just feel like I've been burned.  But maybe the reason I feel burned is because I was convinced that my dreams were the best, but God has something even better.  Regardless, it hurts because of the loss that I've suffered in the process.

But we didn't stop there.  Then we moved to 2 Kings 3:9-18; definitely go and read it for yourself, but to sum up the story three kings banded together to take over the Moab nation (where Ruth was from), but they left God out of it.  They remembered that Joshua had marched around a city seven times and it fell, so these guys did the same thing thinking it would work again.  No such luck.  They were running out of water and really confused and started saying, "Why would God bring us together and not give us this nation?"  So they called for a prophet and Elisha came and after he agreed to help them he called for a harpist.  He needed a little mood music.  As a music lover, it seems appropriate.  I often feel God's presence so much more in a song or through music.  The point was, "Faith is birthed in God's presence."  Then Elisha tells the kings to have the men dig ditches in the valley, the focus being, "Faith goes beyond inspiration to participation."  God promised He would fill the ditches with water, but not through rain clouds or from wind, and this shows that "Faith continues regardless of what is seen."

While I may be tired of digging ditches, tired of waiting for the water to fill the ditches, it's no excuse to lose hope.  He may not fill my ditches through big black rain clouds, ominous and obvious, but I have to remember that it's easy to have faith when you can see it coming.  The beauty comes in how He choses to fill it and how it tells of His glory.

"Failure isn't accomplishing a goal, failure is not having a goal at all."  I'd set myself up for failure.  I'd faced the facts and was content to go through life with no expectations, remember?  I didn't have hope, let alone a goal.  He wants me to dream and dream so big that it's a goal only He can accomplish.

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12"

He wants greater things for me.  He wants me to hope for a win against the best team in the nation, He wants me to believe that He will come through for me, He wants me to dream of a life only He can fulfill.  He wants me to hope for greater things.

Are you beginning to feel the weight of my avalanche too?

Father, thank you for reminding me that my hope needs to be in you.  Help me to trust you when you say that you are able to accomplish immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine.  Please give me strength to continue to dig and the patience to wait for you to fill those ditches.  Remind me that nothing is too hard for you.  Thank you for stirring my heart, bringing me a newfound hope and with it a new song.  Thank you for how your lessons draw me close to you.  Whisper your love and truth into my ears today and help me to hold tightly to your words.  How I love you.

Watch, listen or download the full notes for the sermon here.