Weighty Things

You ever notice how life never stops throwing you curves?  It definitely keeps me busy.  It’s got me thinking about the Joy book: Philippians.  I’ve contemplated it for a long time, but overall I’ve felt like I still hadn’t digested it.   I think I’m finally getting some sense of it.

Paul wrote this climactic passage:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:4-9

In my last post I mentioned bungee jumping and how the operator said, “Look straight at the horizon and jump to it.”  I’ve been thinking about that over and over.  It seems to me Paul was saying something similar in the above passage.

I recall Peter getting out of the boat to walk  on the water with Jesus.  When he kept his eyes on the Lord his footsteps were solid. When he looked at the water he doubted and sank.  I think Peter was truly living in the moment when he had his eyes on Christ.  He was jumping to the horizon. Doubt came in when he looked away because he was stepping out of the moment with Christ and into the abyss that is living outside the moment.

Jesus said, “Every day has enough trouble of its own. Let tomorrow worry about itself.”  Worries become huge objects in our eyes.  They suck up all the attention and keep us from living in the moment with Christ.  God’s grace is sufficient for every moment of our lives.  We make it insufficient by piling up the past and imagined things to come. Collectively, they weigh more than we can bear.  It’s like Atlas carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.

Paul endured horrific suffering, including being stoned and left for dead.  He learned that the secret to joy in the midst of suffering is to focus on the horizon and jump.  Focusing on fears and wounds only exacerbates them.  He learned not to surrender the power God had given him to overcome them to the their pain.  He fully grasped , “Hey, this is better!”

“Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” – Westley, The Princess Bride

Peter wrote, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12)  It would be nice if we were in Heaven today, free from the pain of life, but as it is, we’re here now.  It’s in the mix.  It’s the joy of the Lord that gives strength.  The joy of hope, of truth, of goodness.  Above it all is the joy of knowing God is with you, remembering what he has done, and believing in his future faithfulness that makes our moments of suffering endurable.

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13b-14

Standing in Line

“The Happiest Place on Earth,” Disneyland is a special place.  Many parks have thrill rides that exceed the original Mouse abode, but few have its heart and magic.  It draws millions of visitors every year.  I’ve been there when it felt like they were all there the same day.

Disney instituted Fastpasses to help attendees ride some of the more popular rides without spending hours in line.  Visitors are allowed one Fastpass at a time.  It’s a ticket with a time on it.  You come back at that time and they let you skip ahead of the waiting masses to gain a quick trip on the ride.  This is great, in theory.  It affords you the opportunity to ride a few rides a day without paying the cost of waiting.  Unfortunately, by noon sometimes, the Fastpasses for the day have been scooped up for some rides.  So, it’s a Catch-22.  You can’t get another Fastpass until you use the one you get, and the time on the ticket may be much later in the day.  So in the morning you rush to get a pass for the ride whose line you most want to avoid.

Of all the rides at Disneyland, there’s one ride whose line usually tops them all: Splash Mountain.  It’s a simple log ride with a Br’er Rabbit theme.  During the summer months it’s not unusual to wait three hours in line to ride it for ten minutes.  I did that once.

I, like most that endure the wait, entered the line naively oblivious to how long it would actually take.  There are signs listing wait times, but the line doesn’t look like it will take so long.  After an hour or so, you catch on… but now you’ve already committed an hour to it.  You’re in for the long haul.

It’s a painfully slow journey.  The most galling part of it all is when after waiting so long, in the hot summer heat, you get up to where the Fastpassers are allowed to cut-in in front of you.  They pour in from the Fastpass gate with their smug little tickets.  Of course, you know the system.  You use the system.  But some part of you wants to kill them at that point. (-;

Envy is a powerful emotion.  “I want what others have, but I can’t have it.”  Today, I stared at a copy of Halo 3: ODST, wishing I could buy it for my son.  I just don’t have the money right now.  It’s tempting to complain because I don’t have the Fastpass for the ten minute ride.  What I forget is all the times when I was the one with the Fastpass.

In time, I’m sure we’ll get the game.  We’ll have an awesome time playing it together.  I just don’t want to wait.  For this reason, its probably good for me and for him to wait.  Sometimes, we just have to learn our place in line.

Passing By the Roar

Now the lions were chained, and so of themselves could do nothing.Life in the software industry is one continuous deadline.  Everyone is working to ship all the time.  To stay employed we have to produce something new that people will buy.  After decades of upgrades, it gets harder and harder to top what’s already been done.

There was a time when software was a wide open frontier.  A simple original idea could net millions.  That can still happen, but at this point a lot of original ideas have come and gone.  The roads are crowded.  The opening months of the iTunes App Store were sweet for developers.  It was frontier time all over again.  Now, a little over a year later, the store is flooded with applications.  It takes an amazing effort to stand out.

Software is complex.  Major products can have millions of lines of code.  It’s like managing the New York City phone book and keeping it accurate.  There’s always one more bug to fix.  The most painful part of a product cycle is the month it is due.  It feels like a tractor pull.  Sometimes you think it’s just never going to happen.  Everything comes due at once like the last week of a semester in college.  Every code change has reprecussions. A single bug can prevent the release from reaching Golden Master, or “GM’ing” as developers call it. Someone (I don’t know who) once said, “Software isn’t released. It escapes!”

Needless to say, people get stressed out.  You can see it on their weary faces.  Experienced developers learn to temper their reactions during this period.  The alternative is to lose self control and start chewing each other up.  “Don’t Panic” becomes a mantra.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Life in the software industry is one continuous deadline.  Everyone is working to ship all the time.  To stay employed we have to produce something new that people will buy.  After decades of upgrades, it gets harder and harder to top what’s already been done.

There was a time when software was a wide open frontier.  A simple original idea could net millions.  That can still happen, but at this point a lot of original ideas have come and gone.  The roads are crowded.  The opening months of the iTunes App Store were sweet for developers.  It was frontier time all over again.  Now, a little over a year later, the store is flooded with applications.  It takes an amazing effort to stand out.

Software is complex.  Major products can have millions of lines of code.  It’s like managing the New York City phone book and keeping it accurate.  There’s always one more bug to fix.  The most painful part of a product cycle is the month of the deadline.  It feels like a tractor pull.  Sometimes you think it’s just never going to happen.  All your assignments come due at once, like the last week of a semester in college.  Every code change has reprecussions. A single bug can prevent the release from reaching Golden Master, or “GM’ing” as developers call it. Someone (I don’t know who) once said, “Software isn’t released. It escapes!”

Needless to say, people get stressed out.  You can see it on their weary faces.  Experienced developers learn to temper their reactions during this period.  The alternative is to lose self control and start chewing each other up.  “Don’t Panic” becomes a mantra.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

In the book Pilgrim’s Progress, author John Bunyan wrote these very interesting words:

Now Mr. GREAT-HEART was a strong man, so he was not afraid of a lion; but yet when they were come up to the place where the lions were, the boys that went before were glad to cringe behind, for they were afraid of the lions: so they stepped back and went behind. At this their guide smiled, and said, “How now, my boys, do you love to go before when no danger doth approach; and love to come behind as soon as the lions appear?

Now the lions were chained, and so of themselves could do nothing.

In Bunyan’s story, Christian was told to walk the straight and narrow path, which led right by the lions.  He passed by them unharmed because they stood chained, but hearing them in the distance was intimidating.

You can hear a real lion’s roar from a long way off.  I recall years ago visiting the Sacramento Zoo.  The zoo had one male lion that liked to be heard.  All over the zoo, when he roared, you heard it.  If you were standing in front of his cage when he thundered his call you felt its ferocity.

The “lion’s” we face in day-to-day living tempt us to pull off the path of wise choices, turn back, or give up.  Primal emotions want to govern how we react. They keep our heads swimming with thoughts like: “Be afraid!”  “Run away!”  “This is too big for me!”  “This isn’t worth it!”  “Take the easy way out!”  Discipline and determination are required to press through.

I’m fortunate enough to work with some very smart and mature people.  I’m on a team that’s been honed by years of working together on tough assignments.  We assist each other through crunch-times.  We’ve seen storm after storm.  We’ve learned from repetition and from each other how to endure.  Its not just that our livelihoods are on the line.  The team has a sense of character, diligence, and responsible pride and ownership in both its work and relationships.

No one enjoys “passing by the lions.”  It’s taxing. Still, there must be value in it.  An unchallenged life is liable to be boring, undeveloped, or worse, bratty.  What I take from the analogy is the recognition in my own life that lions are always roaring somewhere.  With God’s grace I’ve managed to pass by them over and over again.  I still get freaked out by emotions now and then, but I come back together because the lions are chained.  I’m far less likely to panic than I once was.  The one thing that I’m certain has changed is I’ve learned a little bit about self control.