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Pardon The Interruptions

In the last several days I have had some major interruptions to my schedule. And they’re the best things that could’ve happened all week! Which is so awesome to be able to say considering not long ago I wrote a post called “Fighting The Need For Habit” that discussed becoming flexible toward such interruptions to routines. Boo-yah for personal application of things I’ve actually said!

So let me tell ya what these interruptions were. And let me tell ya what was going through my mind initially. Perhaps you’ll be able to relate in some ways.

The first interruption requires a little background before I get to the story. A few years ago a family moved in next door. A rather large family at that. And an absolutely wonderful family! Their name is the Burdines and they have six kids running around. Three of them are adopted, but are family just the same! I know there will be more posts about the kids in the future, so stay tuned.

Two of the girls, 8 year old Merriam and 7 year old Shariah, quickly developed a fascination and even fondness for me. Whenever I go outside to enjoy the nice weather I can expect these two to soon discover my presence and immediately begin chatting my ear off! I don’t mind it one bit because I seriously love kids! And these kids clearly love me because I’ve been told that they’ve occasionally asked their mom if she thinks I’m outside after they’ve only just woken up. They genuinely look forward to seeing me! I think that’s pretty cool and am not ashamed to call these kiddos friends! (Mostly ‘cause they’re hilarious!)

In fact, their anticipation to hang out with me is so intense that the girls, namely Shariah, have been known to hold me hostage. Figuratively, of course, because I definitely choose whether to stay or go. But it plays out like this: Shariah will start heading inside to do something real quick and she’ll turn around pointing at me saying, in her most determined voice, “Logan don’t leave! Please don’t leave. Promise me!” Yes, it’s as cute as it sounds. Sometimes she even tells her sister to make sure I don’t leave, to which Merriam just giggles and rolls her eyes. I typically stay as long as I’m able cause, ya know, why not?

They get to have fun, I get to invest in lives, everybody wins! But, as with anything else, it can get to be a bit much. In this case that takes a lot because I do enjoy entertaining them. I mean, they’re entertaining me too! It makes my day as much as it makes theirs! The thing is, I have stuff to do though. And as kids, well, they don’t. I’m not sure they see the distinction. I guess I’m a little too intriguing for them to think I do boring adult stuff!

On this occasion Shariah really wanted to milk out as much Logan time as she could. There were multiple moments where I started to head on inside and each time was met with her begging me to stay out a bit longer. I thought to myself, “I really need to get cracking on my agenda for the day, but hanging with me does mean a lot to them. It won’t be much longer, so why disappoint her?”

This cycle happened about four times, amounting to maybe two hours of keeping them entertained. A couple minutes after the fourth time, I intended to finally make my escape. But they had been waiting for their new playset to get there all morning and the man delivering and installing it began pulling into their driveway (which is where I had ended up) before I could. At this point I’d already spent a couple hours with them and I wasn’t about to make the guy pull back out, so I was like, “Whatever, I guess I’m staying here until he’s done, it shouldn’t take long.” That meant another 45 minutes of chilling with the Burdine children.

I guess that looks like a pretty big waste of an afternoon, but I really don’t see it that way. Yeah I didn’t finish everything that I was “supposed to” that day, but I still did something that was important! I made those kids feel loved and showed them that they mattered just by being there. That’s nothing noteworthy, but I have no idea just how much the time I spend with them will impact their lives. I didn’t set aside time for them in my agenda, yet, as the Holy Spirit led, I made time for them. And all of it was rewarding! That interruption resulted in a great day of relationship building!

The other interruptions are a bit simpler. In another instance I was getting a lot of social media feedback for recent interviews. I’ve made it my prerogative to personally respond to everyone that reaches out. Building relationships, no matter how insignificant they seem, is very important to me because that’s what everything I do is all about. I thoroughly enjoy being able to reach back out! But when the volume of such notifications and contacts begins sucking up a large amount of your time that was meant for other things, it becomes a little overwhelming and even aggravating.

So basically, it felt like there were so many people to respond to that there was no way I had enough time to accomplish my tasks for the day. But once again, investing in these lives was far more important than anything else I could be doing!

The last interruption involves an acquaintance that I am now very grateful to have. This gentleman reached out to me via Facebook and requested that we swap phone numbers, which we did. This man has cerebral palsy and works in media. He simply wanted to offer some encouragement and help me in any way he could. I so appreciated this, and freely responded to him!

At the time I was also working on developing notes for future content. I really had no problem stopping to message him back, but he was soon texting me more than I expected. I liked the enthusiasm, but wasn’t in the mind frame of having an actual conversation. (As I look back at the messages now it really wasn’t a long conversation at all; it just felt like it since I was in the middle of something.) I figured it wouldn’t go on that long with it being our first interaction. He immediately had a real eagerness to be a friend and invest in my life though. He’s never even met me, so that’s pretty amazing!

Thank you Kurt Arnold for being such a great guy! Kurt and I have since talked on the phone and plan on building up a relationship where we offer each other’s encouragement and help. That’s what it’s all about! In this case he was more concerned about that than I was. It was an awesome and humbling reminder of what I already intend to do! Sometimes we need an example from another in order to see just how significant our good intentions are in action. Kurt showed a willingness to go an extra mile for me in doing so.

That idea of going an extra mile actually comes from scripture. The passage it comes from speaks of giving more to someone when they’ve already taken something from you. That can include our time. So in order for us to go the extra mile when someone encroaches on our time, it would mean willingly giving up even more of that time for them. Not only that, but also putting real, enthusiastic, compassionate effort into investing in their lives.

It’s easy to fake compassion for people when we only do what the situation requires, but going above and beyond proves true compassion. Anyone can be courteous when another inconveniences them, but the selfless can transcend courtesy on the way to love. This is something people of the Jesus Kingdom are to be gladly known for! When we are quick to pardon interruptions, it will open us up and give us the freedom to purposely go that extra mile for others.

“If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” – Matthew‬ ‭5:40-42‬

When The Storm Gets Boring

Not long ago I listened to a sermon on trials. I’ve heard many messages on them over the course of my life, as most Christians would likely say. And as I’ve mentioned in the past, my personal trial, the storm of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, has cast its cloud over me since birth. There has truly never been a reprieve from the pain of this lifelong tribulation! Because of this constant scenario, sermons like these have been essential to my spiritual growth. I have wrestled with them in my bitter days of confusion. I have cried through them in the pursuit of humble submission. I have been encouraged by them during bouts of depression. And, on my strongest days, I have clung to the promises of a greater purpose found in them!

Without having heard these messages at so many crucial points in my life, there’s no way I’d be the man I am today. I praise God for His faithfulness and perfect timing in this! I know He has been the one behind my every moment of growth. But, as I heard this most recent preaching on trials, something was different. I welcomed and appreciated the reminders throughout because we can never hear them enough. Yet, as I sat there listening, I had this deep sense that the Lord had already taught and applied every point that was being presented to me. He has so written the principles of perseverance through storms on my heart that I knew every specific angle before it was even spoken.

Honestly, I learned absolutely nothing from the teaching! And that doesn’t take any of the blessing of having heard the message away because its work was still done. I simply came out of hearing the words recognizing something new. Something incredible! I now felt an imperviousness to the pain and heartache that seems to shadow my days! This could only be explained through a supernatural transformation that God had wrought in me! He has done just that, and He’s been doing it for quite some time!

The best way I can describe it is that the storm has gotten boring. I have become so used to the trial that every irritation it offers can be met with a sarcastic roll of the eyes, a quick dusting of the pants, and I’m good to go! At times it’s even comical and I’m able to merely laugh it off. Verses like Isaiah 43:2, which says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.”, have almost come to be an obvious guarantee to me.

It feels nothing short of euphoric to be in this place. It’s just fantastic! Isaiah 54:17 has been all but realized in my life. “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD.” Satan be losing this one, my friends!

That brings me to Romans 5:3-4, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” This verse gives me the freedom to yawn in the face of my trial because all it is is a means to an end. And that end goal is to be made into the image of The Messiah through perseverance, character, and hope! That is what ultimately defines me. So the trial can irritate me through an unending amount of frustrations; and I can just shrug it off. It’s just a tool; it has no power over me. I control it. I am persistent. I am hopeful. Jesus Christ is in me! And a fuller redemption awaits on the other side!

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” – Romans‬ ‭8:18‬‬

Enduring The Arrows

As I wrote about last time, recently doors to grow my impact and influence have been opening up all over the place. God has opened those doors and continues to open them! But, as many believers will be familiar with, there seems to be a pattern in my life where fresh off of a high point the enemy will launch an attack on me. It happens without fail. In so many ways these attacks can really test my faith in the moment, but eventually they always end up strengthening my faith instead. So it also happens without fail that, if I’m patient, the Devil’s plans always blow up in his face! Praise the Lord that this difficult reality leads to great victory if we let it!

These experiences bring a few verses to mind that I want to get into. Before I do that though, I’ll share how I was attacked recently. In hindsight, what happened wasn’t that big of a deal at all, minor inconveniences at most, really. For me, these little wrenches in my daily life prove to be my greatest irritations though. Satan has certainly studied what will be most effective in tripping me up while I’m in progress. More on that later. What gets me most about these frustrating occurrences is that all of the inconveniences that actually have an impact on me are usually connected to my condition with DMD.

Here’s what exactly went down on this particular occasion: Firstly, let’s just say, that on this day my stomach was especially bothering me. And it wasn’t because I was hungry. So there were several undesired trips in and out of my wheelchair throughout the day. I’ll leave that there. The point being that it takes a whole lot of tedious work in going through this transfer process. I aim to do it as few times as possible every day. The more I have to do it, the more understandably annoying it gets.

Other than that my headrest got whacked out of position in the morning. It can take some time to get it back to where it’s comfortable and as you can imagine I never really plan on having to fix it. My joystick has also been a bit glitchy lately, so it malfunctioned later on, causing me to crash, which got its mount whacked out of place too. The same principle applies because I’ve got to take the time to get it right so I can drive properly. Mind you, all the while someone must help me do these things. You see my frustration?

Honestly none of this would be too irritating if I didn’t have anything else going on that day. But that simply wasn’t the case. I had a social gathering that I was going to that evening, so it’s not very thrilling to have to handle unscheduled nonsense like those things all day! Of course all this took up the entirety of my time until I left. This put me in a funk and I felt unable to actually connect with people that night. So as you can tell, each of the day’s hitches were either directly or indirectly correlated to my physical situation. This is just a small sample of the nightmarish captivity of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. It’s enough to make you want to scream! If you’re not careful it can even lead to serious anger and despondency!

Let’s be real, I’ve absolutely gotten to that point in the past. But I’m glad to say that I am clearly getting better at countering these attacks on my success! By my account that was one of the worst days I’ve had in awhile. Thankfully the display of my displeasure was nowhere near as ugly as it has occasionally been earlier in my life! This is a welcomed sign of personal improvement! It means the enemy’s tactics are gradually losing some of their validity in deterring me. With that being said, there still remains an enemy.

An enemy that wages not a physical war, but a spiritual one. Don’t be so naïve to think that this isn’t exactly what was going on in the instance I described! Spiritual warfare happens at multiple levels and can become very complicated because the souls of men are at stake. The opposition of God desires man’s destruction, while the Lord aims to bring salvation. And the Father uses His children to grow His kingdom, so they become the devil’s number one targets.

This is why Ephesians 6:11-13 is so important to understand: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” I’m not going to take the time to explain every part of the armor of God that the passage continues to detail, but it goes on to describe the fiery darts of the wicked one and how faith is what is able to quench them. So in order to endure the spiritual arrows that are shot our way, we must practice faith and do what is possible to grow it. The more we do this the more ground we take!

1 Peter 5:8 says this as well, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” That tells us just how crafty and creative Satan is willing to get in order to defeat us. He doesn’t care about us one bit. He will do whatever it takes to crush us, as any predator will do to its prey. Therefore, we’ve got to be watchful and aware of every possible tactic! That adversary will throw all of his weapons at us until he finds the one, or several, that works best against us. He is paying attention to us, so we need to pay attention!

The other part of this is that Lucifer really doesn’t want to lose. He is actually terrified of those who pose a threat to him by serving the savior, Jesus! The devil is desperate. He knows he’s going to lose and yet he believes he will be victorious. Wickedness has a natural way of contorting one’s reality like that. You and I have nothing to be afraid of! We can take pride in the attacks we face because it means our walk with the Lord has been effective! Be ready for the bullets, but be ready to dodge them. You’re on the winning team and protected by the winning leader!

“We ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure,” – 2 Thessalonians‬ ‭1:4‬

“…And He has taken it (our debt in sin) out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” – Colossians‬ ‭2:14-15‬

“And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” – Romans‬ ‭16:20‬