One of my favorite pics from my team in the Sahara


I was eating at a seafood restaurant recently. In case you've forgotten, Oklahoma is landlocked, and their isn't a salt water body for hundreds of miles. That being the case, all of the "fresh" seafood has to be "shipped" in.

I had never seen how lobsters were crated and shipped until this day. I happened to see the large lobster tank, and decided to take a look inside. In doing so, I noticed a white Styrofoam crate sitting next to the tank. In it were dividers that sectioned the crate into around 24 separate units.

An employee happened to be taking the seemingly dead lobsters from the dry crate, and depositing them into the large tank. After they sank to the bottom, and laid there for a few moments, something unusual occurred.

They began to move!

Since they appeared dead in their small little dry cubicles, I had to ask questions.

What was the deal? Was this woman the Benny Hinn of lobsters? Was she resurrecting each one?

She told me something I did not know. When lobsters are removed from the ocean, after they have been out for a time, they go into a "dormant" state. Liken it to a bear, hibernating. They are put into these cubbies in Styrofoam and kept cool for their journey.

Cool! I didn't realize.

I wish this worked on missionary teams! It would be so much cheaper to ship them around the world. Much less stressful as well.

Anyway, as I stood there looking at the immobile crustaceans in the box, and then watched life spring into them in the water, I could not help myself.

I began to think about so many churches, and so many believers. I saw myself as if standing in front of a mirror.

Back in the 70's and 80's, Christian music artist and evangelist, Keith Green wrote a song that will always have deep meaning to me. The title is "Asleep in the Light."

You don't even have to hear this song to know what it's talking about. You don't have to look much beyond a box filled with inanimate lobster to sense that the roof has been plucked from a local church and you are peering in.

I can remember when the Lord got hold of my heart and I began to share Him with others at every opportunity. I remember watching and listening to my son do the same. I remember those stories he would tell and how motivated I would become at his dedication and surrender.

There is a distinct difference in the lives of those who are active in their faith, and those who are "container christians."

One is active and alive, and very naturally shares Jesus in conversations. That one is seldom awkward.

Then there are those who seem void of life and joy, who walk through their experience in robotic fashion. If they share it is forced and difficult and they seem disconnected from the Life source.

I remember times in my life of being in both places. I remember getting up in the morning and withdrawing from my "cubicle," but conducting myself as if I were still in it. No life, no enthusiasm, nothing to reveal that I was involved in the most amazing relationship ever!

Somehow, the majority of believers today have never shared their faith with anyone and are very accepting of that disposition. They have justification lined up like trophies on the mantle. They can tell you why that is someone elses role. They have grown very comfortable in their tiny little square of discomfort.

I can't find that in the Bible. I've tried.

In view of the fact that we each will have to give account of how we have used our time here, it is quite amazing that we are so easily lulled into a catatonic state of disinterest.

Apathy and lethargy are mighty weapons of the enemy. He has empowered us to wield them well.

A relationship cultivated in Christ is transforming! It's full of power! It cannot be "contained" behind an iron curtain or a Styrofoam box. It transcends our own abilities and spills into the lives of others! It happens because of how surrendered and devoted we are to the Savior! Wake up! The Light is shining His warmth into our lives. We need to be conduits, or refractors...not containers!

Go and spill...overflow the walls of apathy and watch Him break down barriers in the lives of others!


dad