Surviving Chaos

Mark 4:18–19

It was a crazy last night. By the end of the evening, I was so ready for the soft warmth of my bed. My mind hurt, my emotions stressed, and everything else within me was drained. Thank God my taxes are finally done. Oklahoma will be getting their pound of flesh later this month. So when I woke up this morning, I desperately needed a laugh.

Maybe you can relate. The events of the previous day drained you and you’re looking forward to a fresh start in the morning. For me I was blessed this morning to find a video posting on Reddit through Facebook about a dog named Ryker. Ryker is a beautiful German Shepherd who has aspirations of becoming a service animal. The video is about his time going through the rigorous training. Step by step the trainers move Ryker through obstacles and trials designed around two overall purposes; Obedience and Distraction avoidance. In one clip the trainers have Ryker walking with someone with a walker. At first everything is going smoothly until Ryker notices the tennis balls on the feet of walker. Instinctually, he begins to attack the walker. In another clip, the trainers have Ryker being walked by someone in a wheelchair. All is perfect until the tennis ball goes flying across the room, leading to Ryker pulling the man out of the chair. In still another, Ryker is asked to open the Refrigerator door using a pull toy. Ryker obliges and opens the door with ease. But that wasn’t enough for Ryker. He continues yanking on the toy moves the refrigerator halfway across the room. The whole time this video is playing, you hear the song, My Way, by Frank Sinatra. As the video ended, there is a slow motion view of Ryker, perfectly happy and loving the day. Ryker is a good dog. He’s just not cut out to be a service animal at this point in his life. He needs to learn a better concept of Obedience and Distraction avoidance.

As I watched the video I couldn’t help but smile. One, Ryker is a beautiful dog and seeing the contrast between him try to perform to the standards the trainers insist and doing what he does instinctively. was a fun experience to watch. Two, I see a lot of myself in Ryker, especially as I try to be the best father, husband, friend, pastor, Christ-follower, and even human being. Ryker has a heart which is wanting to be obedient to his trainers. Like Ryker, my heart yearns to be fully devoted to my Heavenly Father in all aspects of my life.

Ryker’s biggest failing wasn’t his heart, it was his eyes. During the video, Ryker performed with excellence until there was something that made his eyes turn away from this goal towards something instinctual. When the ball was thrown, all his attention went to the ball and the goal of obedience was forgotten. I do the same thing. I can be working and doing everything that is required of me when suddenly something out of the corner of my eye catches my attention and it causes my eyes to stray. Often it’s not something bad or evil. Most times its good intentioned things that sway my attention. This morning it was my bed. It was warm, soft and comfortable. I hit the snooze a dozen times. I even had my wife beg me not to leave. The distractions were there, the task of getting going for the day was ahead of me, and there was a conflict raging inside of me. Reluctantly, I got up out of bed and the rest is history. The other day it was an old computer. It’s been sitting in my office since I arrived and I was curious about what was on it. So, on my lunch break, I sat down with my sandwich in hand, opened up the computer and started snooping around. Two hours later, I was still snooping and working on the computer rather than doing what the day required wondering where the time had gone. A lot of times when we think of distractions we think of bad things. Truth is good things and intentions can cause our eyes to stray as much as the bad.

In Mark 4, Jesus is teaching his disciples and the listening crowd by telling them a parable. He starts out by saying, “A farmer went out to sow his seed” and proceeds to share that there are four different types of soil the seed falls into. At the end of the story, the disciples are a bit confused. So Jesus explains the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God and the soils are the heart conditions of men. There are four types of heart conditions which the word of God falls onto. Some hear the word but Satan comes in and takes away their desire to hear the word (Path). Some hear the word but never experience the depth of life change the word can bring to their life (Rocky soil). Other hear the word, it takes root, and begins to grow in them producing a bountiful harvest (Good Soil).

But as I started reading and studying this scripture this morning, it was the third soil which caused me to pause. This is the soil that falls among the thorns and weeds. Listen to what Jesus says about this heart,

“Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” vs. 18–19

It sounds a lot like Ryker. In fact, it sounds a lot like me. There are times God is wanting to share the fullness of love and grace through his word, and I am distracted by the things of this world. I start to pray or study, to truly hear what God has to say, and my mind wonders towards things that don’t matter at the moment. There are times when my worry about tomorrow have choked out the blessings of today.

Ryker isn’t a bad dog. He’s just doing what comes natural. What is required of him is to listen to his trainers. What happens is Ryker chooses to listen to his own instinctual desires. When my eyes stray away from God and I focus on my own desires I’m really listening to the worlds influence and voice rather than the one who loves me unconditionally. I need to learn to silence those distractions, voices, and desires. I need to make my desire to be fruitful for God my priority. My desire to serve the one who calls me his own needs to outweigh the desire my natural humanity-filled heart wants to lean. Then and only then will I experience depth, blessing, and fruitfulness that his Word brings.

Distractions don’t make me a bad person or a failure. Knowing about the power distractions can have on my life simply makes me aware of the things I need to learn to ignore, block out, and avoid. I need to learn to listen clearly for my Master’s voice and tune out everything else, one step at a time.

SQUIRREL!