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Change in Perspective
Joe Killian • September 20, 2014
On this beautiful autumn afternoon the kids were excitedly ending their week at Saint Irenaeus School. I could hear their boisterous enthusiasm just outside the Religious Education office. In the midst of everything I heard the fire whistle and noticed that it was a long one. The fire trucks came shortly afterward and I returned to my task at hand with barely a thought until another set of fire trucks neared... and then another. At this point we all knew that something was really wrong nearby. When I learned that Saint Paul's Baptist Church was on fire, I immediately called my Dad who lives four doors down from that church. Oddly enough, he was at my house and said it couldn't be Saint Paul's because he had just left his apartment. I walked to the end of the school hallway and looked over the trees and saw the smoke. With dread I said to my Dad, "Come and get me."
The roads were blocked off so we had to park in the next block. As we walked towards the church we realized how bad things were. This was a very different kind of boisterous activity.
The fire departments from Oakmont and six other communities were desperately trying to save the building. My Dad and I watched with that helpless feeling wishing there was something we could do to help. I prayed. I decided to call Father George, our brand new pastor at Saint Irenaeus, to let him know I was at the fire and would offer any assistance to the people of Saint Paul's.
Eventually, I met Pastor Shane Austin and expressed our sorrow for their loss and offered the help and prayers of Saint Irenaeus. Just then, the ground shook as the fireman pulled the back wall of the 130 year old building down. We walked around to see the charred remains of the inside of the church.
Talk about a change in perspective...
We continued our sad vigil as the fireman slowly made their way into the building. Just then I noticed one of our Oakmont firemen walking back to the truck. I hurriedly snapped a few photos hoping to capture him.
I quickly forwarded the picture to Pastor Shane with this quote from the Gospel of Matthew, "The fires of hell shall not prevail against it." Pastor Shane's response provided me and all of us with another change in perspective.
He simply answered, "Amen!"
The story continues...I'm still working on the pondless waterfall in our front yard. I shared this project with you two weeks ago in Playin' In the Dirt. Since then I've had to rework sections of the stream three different times because we were losing too much water. I am now an expert on evaporation rates and excessive splash, two causes of water loss. This morning I tore the whole thing apart and I'm starting over.
Have you ever watched DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda? I stumbled across it recently and thoroughly enjoyed Jack Black's performance as a bumbling, noodle selling, kung fu enthusiast, giant panda named P o. Set in ancient China, it is more than a humorous slapstick comedy. The core message of the story jumped out at me as I have been focusing recently on the concept of being. Po is shockingly identified as the Dragon Warrior and he reluctantly enters training. The goal of the training is to receive the Dragon Scroll, which is believed to hold the secret to limitless power. Now I don't want to spoil the big reveal but I will say that what Po realizes is the same as what I speak to in the concept of being and authentic identity. So, where do we find the secret to our "power?" I praise You, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works! My very self You know. Psalm 139:14 God knows it; and we must seek Him with all of our hearts in order to find it. As it was in the movie, the answer is stunningly simple. Our authentic identity is already within us. The challenge for Po in the movie was in seeing himself accurately and not the way others saw him. Even his teacher scoffed at the idea that Po was anything more than an underachieving dreamer who overate when he was anxious. Po's problems are rooted in the fact that he believes the lie of his false identity much more than he does his authentic one. Is it possible that you do the same? Who could have imagined that beneath all of Po's girth lived the Dragon Warrior? What's hidden from view in you? Seek God for understanding as to who He created you to be. Spoiler Alert: the secret of your limitless power is already in you. God placed it there and He wants you to be who He authentically created you to be.
Maria and I have been playing in the dirt a lot recently. First we replaced our French drain and then we embarked on a creative project intended to change the entire look of our front yard. My brother Jeffrey and I installed a new front step.
