Find the Crazy.

Hebrews 13:15 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”

 

I’m searching for the crazy, and I find it faster than most!

I recently completed a study with some friends on a book called “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God” by Lysa Terkheurst.  It takes a lot for me to recommend a Christian book to someone, as I too often find them to be more about the author than about the Lord.  But this book kicked me in the pants.  And it was the crowning chapter to a year of God telling me to do hard things.  And a very appropriate finish it was.

Some 15 months ago, I woke up one morning and told the Lord I wanted to be radically obedient to Him.  And I wanted to hear His still small voice LOUDER in my life.  In typical God form, He did start talking, but what he was saying was not at all what I was asking for.

“You want to do big things?  Are you sure about that??  Prove it.  Start with what I give you.  If you can be faithful in the mundane and seemingly ridiculous, then we’ll talk.”

And here’s what starting happening….

I had to pick up trash.  Yes, literal pieces of trash.  One morning I was walking back from dropping my youngest off at school.  There is a football pitch between his building and the parking lot.  I was slowly making my way back to the car when, for the first time in hundreds of drop-offs, I noticed how much litter was on the ground all around this pathway.  I thought to myself, “This is a wreck”.  And then God said, “Pick up the trash.”

Clearly, I just kept walking.  I’m a clean girl and all, but this was not my territory.

He said it again, “PICK. UP. THE. TRASH.”  So, I kept walking – right into a God sized brick wall.  Just one day beforehand, I knew He’d said, “be faithful in the small things first”.  And, here I was, task #1 and I was having none of it.  Just then, at the end of the path, I saw a big empty grocery bag.  I had to laugh a little.

I grabbed that bag and started back towards the school.  I picked up every nasty piece of crap along that route.  I got stuck in branches and touched things that surely were diseased.  I filled that plastic sack to the brim.  And, of course, there was no trash bin around to put this collection of mine, so I placed it in my car and drove it to my house.

After that, tasks started to come quickly and regularly.  One more strange than the next.  Some were fast and furious, others required a bit more care.  The quicker I got at doing and not questioning, the more I learned how to hear the crazy.

One Sunday morning I was leading worship at our church.  We’re a small congregation of about 50 on a good week.  But this particular morning I noticed the seats were getting fuller faster.  And, as I had my eyes closed in worship, I heard the Lord say, “Clean the Balcony”.   After a few weeks of these kinds of tasks, I knew I should not hesitate to do this one.  And I knew what He meant.  I was to literally clean the unused balcony over our sanctuary.  The next morning I drove to church with my mop, vacuum cleaner, lysol, and great new worship CD.  We rent the space from a German church, and the building is used for all kinds of purposes throughout the week.  This time there was a full class of foreigners learning German.  And they thought I was the cleaning lady.  Whatever.

It took me 3 hours, 7 buckets of dirty water, and some near death experiences high on a ladder –  vacuum in tow – as I reached to grab those cob webs on that cathedral ceiling.  This is what I knew in that moment.  No one may ever see the work I just did.  Our church may never have people sitting up here.  But it didn’t matter.  God told me to do this, and, even as I cleaned and “made space” for more people in this physical church, I knew that, in the spiritual realm, I was opening up the windows of heaven to bring more to our congregation – to take us all deeper.

An act of obedience, of sacrifice, of prayer – it means more to us, when it comes at a cost.  I prayed and sang the whole time I cleaned, and when I was done, I left.  Waving goodbye to the classroom practicing how to order from a menu in German.  For a very long time, the only one who knew I did this was my husband.

Three weeks ago, we said a hard goodbye to that church, because God told us it was time.  Two Sundays later, they hosted a meeting which had so many people in attendance, they were sitting in the hallways, and, yes, in the balcony, as well.  I wasn’t even there to see it.  But I was part of it.

I will share much more about this journey I’ve been walking.  There have been some rather high highs and very deep lows this year.  But there is not a single drop of regret.  What is the crazy God is telling you to do today?  Make a meal for someone? Hug the lady in line behind you? Call a friend to right a wrong?

Or, maybe you simply need to Pick Up Some Trash.  I DARE YOU.  Find the hidden grocery bag, stop questioning and get started.