He is preparing a place for me…

Sometimes you don’t fit
You aren’t aligned with the world you are living in
The masses flow in one direction, and you’re cutting across stream.
You surround yourself with people who are supposed to be like minded,
but you discover that you fit more like a floppy sock on a hand than a glove.

The spaces between your fingers are empty, as you try to grasp anything you can to find connection, protection.
You long to be tightly wrapped in a loving embrace. A glove would let you retain your dexterity, allow you to do the things you were meant for, while protecting you from damaging attacks of the outside world.

Sometimes you don’t fit. You can’t find a place to call home.
You see those around you finding peace, finding happiness, finding love.
You’ve sought those things before, but seeking, you haven’t found, and when you knock all the doors remain closed.

You’re perspectives are so unlike those around you, that you aren’t even sure you are looking at the same thing. You’ve searched for your niche, the place you fit the best, but instead of finding a fit, you find all of the places you don’t.

You aren’t the best at anything. There is always someone better than you.

You aren’t even sure what you are looking for, you just know you haven’t found it.

I’ve always heard that Jesus had gone ahead to prepare a place for us. I imagined a mansion, full of all the treasures I felt I had earned. Piles of gold laying around, resources aplenty, an endless supply of material goods.

Now I know that none of that would make me happy.

Instead, today I found hope in the place being prepared for me. It isn’t a mansion, it isn’t money, resources, honor.

It is a place that I will fit. I’ll no longer be out of place, for the place has been prepared for me. Jesus is preparing a place for me, and when that time comes, I will fit perfectly.

I will be at peace.

I’ve heard stories of a man named John Chapman since my first days in school.  Legend has it that he would travel around Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Indiana in the early days when they were still territories and not actually states, and plant trees.  He is known for being a bit eccentric, but we still speak of him more than 100 years after his death.  I live in the city where he is purported to have died, at the age of 70, which apparently was quite the accomplishment back in 1845.  In many ways, his legacy continues far past his life, and there is a festival that bears his name each year in my home city.

I am speaking of the man known now as Johhny Appleseed.  Like folk heroes of old, he is credited with accomplishing some astonishing things, but unlike Paul Bunyan and Babe his faithful blue ox, John Chapman was a real person.  Johnny is known for planting apples wherever he went, scattering seed to the wind, so trees would spring up everywhere he went.  Mr. Chapman was more deliberate in his approach, planting seeds inside of fences he built to protect them, and selling these orchards to settlers for homesteads.

One part of the legend of Johnny Appleseed does appear to be true though.  He cared deeply for nature and the animals that share our planet.  Perhaps we are passing into legend again here, but it is said that he would extinguish a campfire, rather than allow insects to be burned up in it.  He also became a vegetarian in the later years of his life.

Mr. Chapman seems to have believed in living a life at peace not only with the earth around him, but also with the people he met, .  As he planted and cared for apple trees, he also planted and cared for people.  It is said that befriended settler and native alike, sharing his knowledge with them.  He forsook the comfort of the riches that he earned in his life (at the time of his death, John Chapman owned more than 1200 acres of land) in favor of travelling to plant trees and share his messages of peace.   He planted seeds of peace that grew throughout his life, and into the decades following his death.

In fact, they believe that one of his trees is still alive, 176 years later, in a small town in Ohio.

I hope that as I endeavor to plant seeds of peace, I am as willing to be as uncomfortable as John Chapman was.  I hope that I am willing to forsake the riches I earn, in favor of a legacy that honors the Prince of Peace, whom we honor in this Christmas season.  I may never plant a tree that grows apples, but I hope that I am planting seeds that will grow fruit, and leave a lasting legacy.

Thank you for your example Johnny Appleseed, perhaps one day I’ll be known as Joshie Peaceseeder.

Could somebody maybe come up with something a bit cooler sounding though?  Please?

“I have things to do, and people to see.   I don’t really have time for this whole project this year.”

I really do have things to do, and people to see.  Maybe more so than any other year, I find myself trying to balance work, personal work, work I’ve promised others, rest, sleep, and relationships.  It has been a bit tricky to say the least.  I have not been successfully fulfilling all of my commitments the last few weeks, and to an extent it bothers me that I have chosen to spend time on this project every day.

I guess on average it takes me an hour or two to complete a post, if we include the time I spend thinking about it, thinking about starting to write, starting to write, and then finishing a post.  For someone who only has a 24 hour day, it feels like a lot of time to spend on something that I am not getting any material benefit from.  Even if all I did with that extra two hours was sleep, wouldn’t that be at least something material?

Many aspects of this process are very much like work, and for me to stand here and say that I am reaping a harvest of peace right now would be for me to lie to you.  I fell asleep last night mid-conversation with someone, and had to apologize when I woke up in the morning.  I find myself leaving work a bit early so that I have time to work on posts, which costs me my hourly wages, and a bit of standing in my job.

This is the way I find myself thinking, if I do not make a deliberate choice to focus on the hidden, but very tangible benefits of this process.  I am not reaping a harvest of peace right now.  I am planting the seeds of peace so that I may one day reap that harvest.  A farmer doesn’t harvest his crop and then do the work after he has received all of the benefit, but instead does the work hoping that he will one day harvest what he has planted.

Today I am a farmer, planting seeds of peace for my future.  Tomorrow, I hope to feed the nations with my harvest, filling them with the future harvest of today’s hard work.

I will not change the world tonight.  I will not change the world tomorrow night.  Perhaps if I faithfully continue to plant, I will find I’ve grown the resources to change the world in the future.

So if you have been struggling along on this journey with me, I ask that you keep planting in faith that we will one day harvest the peace we seek.

Even if you haven’t been a part of the church ever in your life, you have probably heard the story of The good Samaritan.  Just in case you haven’t ever had a chance to hear it, I’ll quickly paraphrase it for you.

A man is beaten and robbed, left for dead on the side of the road.  Many people pass by, seeing his plight, but ignoring it.  A priest crosses to other side of the road, a levite (a member of a tribe of Israel dedicated to doing the work of God) sees, but passes the man by.  It isn’t until a Samaritan sees the man that someone takes pity on him and helps him.

The Samaritan man provides first aid, and takes him to an inn, where he provides for the mans costs, and promises to pay any additional debt the man acquires when he passes back through.
Jesus ends the story there with a question for those who listen.  Who was the beaten man’s neighbor.   The answer obvious.

There is a lot of cultural symbolism going on in this story, and biblical scholars can really tear it apart into it’s various components and teach some pretty incredible truths.  It is a simple story with a lot of depth.

I am not feeling particularly deep tonight, so I think I’ll skip most of the deeper points the story can make.

Instead, lets focus on what exactly a Samaritan is.  In biblical times a Samaritan was a half breed.  A hated race.  So our hero’s identity is that of someone who is hated, and it was often the case that the Samaritans would return hate for hate.   This man, he chose differently.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my personal responsibility to be peaceful, and just what that means in a world with so many injustices.

Do you think that perhaps the priest told someone down the road about the beaten man and tried to send help?  Or perhaps the Levite continued down the road just long enough to find someone to help him carry the beaten man home?  We are not told if this is the case, perhaps because it wasn’t the point Jesus wanted to make, but perhaps it was because their efforts were too little too late.

I think one of the points that Jesus was trying to make is that it is our responsibility to act, personally and directly act.  It isn’t enough to just promise to send help, if we see a person in great need, we should take direct action ourselves!  The Samaritan in the story has seen a person in dire straits, and has taken the actions that he can to set the situation right.  Someone in need entered his field of vision, and the Samaritan chose to act.

How many times have I passed someone in need by?  How big is my field of vision?

The internet has changed the world, it has given us great power.  It has given us the ability to witness things happening in real-time all the way around the entire earth.  If something happens, it seems that someone has captured it on film to share with others.  Our field of vision is limitless!

With great power, comes great responsibility.

Those who take responsibility for others needs, will act.

Those who walk by, are forgotten.