arms wide open

Over the last couple of months I've had quite a few conversations with different friends about giving up our worldly possessions and about the inconsequential nature of all of our worldly goods. I've seen a few videos and heard a few sermons over these last several weeks about the injustice that's taking place in our world today and I've been reminded just how good I have it here in America, the wealthiest nation in the world.

I've certainly never been what I would ever call wealthy. Oh, I grew up in a home where my needs were always met, though sometimes by the generosity of others. We were on the receiving end more than once of our church's charity come Thanksgiving or Christmas when the canned goods were collected and distributed to the families "in need." But we never went without. My mom and dad would have done anything necessary to see to that. What must it feel like to wake up in the morning and not know where your next meal will come from? Whether there will be a warm place to sleep come nightfall.

Tonight in church we watched a slideshow of pictures from the devastation that scarred Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina made landfall a couple years go. Seeing those images up there on the big screen, larger than life…they touched something deep inside my soul. I had to ask myself what that would be like…to lose everything I own. And possibly everyone I love.

The story of Job keeps coming to mind. He lost everything he owned and everyone he loved and still he didn't curse God. How did he do it? Where does faith like that come from? A faith so unshakeable. So firm. Would my own faith withstand such weathering?

I'm not much of an "earthly treasures" kind of person. I'm not very materialistic. I don't put a lot of value in my clothes, my furniture, my house, or my car. I periodically go through all of my possessions and donate or give away as much as I can because I prefer the least amount of clutter in my life possible. I'm sentimental but not to the extreme. When that age-old question is asked about what I would save if I could only save three things from being burned in a fire, I have usually answered my pictures, my Bible, and my pillow. But that's a ridiculous question and my answers are even more absurd. A Bible and pillow are easily replaced. My pictures will one day fade to a golden brown in a box in my closet as their ink loses its color.

There's a part of me that longs to know what it feels like to be the victim of such a disaster as what those victims of Katrina faced. Or perhaps the victim of a violent tornado. To wake up one day and be grateful to simply be…alive. There's something absolutely wonderful and freeing in that thought. Don't get me wrong. I thank God that He has spared me from such tragedy. But what a wake up call to think about standing in those shoes of the man who just lost his home and everything he owned when a tornado demolished it all in just minutes. It definitely puts my pain in perspective. Who am I to complain about my loss when others have lost infinitely more?

You might think I'm crazy for seeing something wonderful and beautiful in something as tragic as a natural disaster. But storms are becoming something precious to me. The way I see it…the beauty isn't in the storm itself, it's in the rescue from the storm. To watch a community come together in a time of crisis is…beautiful. To watch the church raise money and support to rebuild homes and rebuild lives is beautiful. To truly recognize my need for a Savior....beautiful.

And so the question is…how do I live a life of extreme gratitude without having endured such extreme loss? How do I surrender everything I own and everyone I love, holding them out to God with my arms wide open, fingers outstretched…ready to be taken from my grasp at any moment? How do I live in the "perhaps today I may breathe my last breath" mentality? How do I make every second count? How do I live every single day for the cause of Jesus Christ? How do I store up all of my treasures in heaven?

With arms wide open.

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Philippians 3:7-9

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:19-20