Keep Swinging

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" -Isaiah 6:8

This verse has gotten me into my fair share of adventures, experiences, many memories, and a little trouble. It basically continues to encourage me to be willing. Willingness is the first step to growth and accomplishment. If you want to learn new things, you need to be willing to try. You need to be willing to put yourself out there, to be used, to fail, to go. 

Years ago, a friend asked me to join him and a few other men on a trip to Haiti. I immediately said "yes" and then started to consider what I just agreed to. I didn't know anything about Haiti, the other people going on the trip, or the work we were going to be doing. I did know we were going to be staying at an orphanage, and that seemed like enough information to me, so let's go. God says if I call you, be willing to go. Trust me. Too often in my life I fail to recognize the call as it comes in many different ways, different people and at strange times. There's a great song by Micah Tyler called "The story I tell" that speaks to this. How easy it is to miss the call and yet how wonderfully exciting it is to hear it and respond with a "yes." 

So off we went to Haiti. I could write an entire book about this one trip and the lessons I learned: the poverty, the need, the outdoor showers, the "roads," the heat, the chicken coop, the arguments, the flood, the fear, the market, etc. One experience stands out, though, as it is how I chose my pastor, gained a friend, and learned just keep swinging. 

One day our job at the orphanage was to install a swing set. I thought to myself, sweet! This will be easy, dig a few holes, mix a little concrete, and we'll be done in no time at all. It's about 5,000 degrees out, and I could use an easy day and just spend the afternoon holding a child in a rocking chair in the shade. Jay and I got to work. Jay Watson was one of our team members and a pastor at Life Community Church in Nolensville, TN. We had just met and I was looking forward to spending some time with him. He didn't seem like what a pastor should be. He was younger than me (which didn't make sense), and he was a big, burly, bearded regular guy that told jokes and laughed too much. He seemed more like a guy I could sit and enjoy a bourbon with than a pastor. I was curious.

Well, fast forward 4 hours. What we were digging in wasn't dirt at all. Sure it had a false covering that looked like dirt, but it was rock. Solid rock. We didn't have the tools I thought we needed. We were armed with a pickaxe, a shovel, a hammer, and a chisel. Did I mention the heat? It was HOT!!! We had been going at it for hours. We had sweat coming from places I didn't know I had, our hands were beaten, we were covered in dirt, and my attitude was such that I needed a pastor next to me to keep me in check. I remember laying on my stomach, face down, Jay next to me and we were taking turns hammering this rock with our trusty chisel. We hit the rock over and over again, and every few minutes (seemed like hours), a piece would break off, and we'd celebrate and be encouraged to continue. At one point during this process, Jay looked up to me and said, "You know Matt, this is kind of how it is pastoring a church"...(now me paraphrasing) we preach and teach and hammer the message day after day and every now and then we reach someone in a small but meaningful way and make progress. You just have to keep at it. Don't quit—what a lesson. In Andy Andrews's book, the Traveller's Gift, one of the decisions he teaches about is to persist, without exception. How many blessings have I missed because I didn't say "yes" to a call, or I quit when things got tough?

We finished that swing set later that day as the darkness fell on the orphanage. We just kept swinging, and piece by piece, the rock broke away. Years later, Jay married Susan and I, he is our pastor and, more importantly, a friend that I hammer through the rocks of life with. 

Say yes. Keep swinging. Don't quit.