Tetter Totter Theory

I've been thinking about teeter totters. They used to be on every playground when I was growing up. I'm sure we had some at Flat Rock Elementary. We even had a maypole. If you are not familiar with those, it was simply a pole with handle bars on the end of chain links. We would race out to get one of the coveted handles, then run around the pole, holding on for dear life, and become a human tetherball. If it sounds dangerous, it's because it was!

However, I not only survived, but even enjoyed the playground and have been spending some time thinking about teeter totters. Finding a teeter totter to photograph for this blog entry was hard. Almost as hard as trying to find the words to express the purpose of the entry.

I've been thinking about teeter totters recently because I have been yearning for some balance and this piece of playground equipment seems to best illustrate what I am trying to describe.

I want to live a life that is balanced and I think God desires that for me as well. When I look at His creation, I see that balance is required. My flowers need water. Too much water and they rot; too little water and they wilt. Our bodies need food. Too much and we are obese; too little and we are malnourished.  Unfortunately, we live in a world that doesn't make balancing easy.

Could it be that although balance is required for physical health, our soul desires the extreme. Could it even be that God created us to crave the extreme? Consider this paradox: God created us to yearn for extremes yet requires us to live in balance. Does that sound downright cruel to anyone?

Yet, I know He is not cruel; I know He is kind. And knowing this has made me ponder this paradox. And that is why I have been contemplating teeter totters and here is what I've been thinking...

I know that my God does not create and require without also equipping.

And this is where the teeter totter comes into the picture. God is three-in-one: Father, Son, and Spirit. And although there are many faults with this analogy and my majestic, wonderful, powerful, loving LORD cannot be summed up in a mere piece of playground equipment, it has helped my feeble mind to picture the trinity functioning the same way as a teeter totter.

 One function with three distinct features

that equip me to satisfy my craving for extremes

while maintaining a healthy balance.

Let's look at the teeter tooter: a plank with seats on opposite ends with a middle support that serves as the fulcrum. If the weight on both ends is equal, the plank will be balanced.

I desire balance.

Which left me with this question,

"Where do I fit into this picture?"

I believe God invites me to stand on His balance.

He is my fulcrum and my extremes.

Anyway, that's my theory.

Believin' and Receivin'

Don't even try to suggest to me that my God is uncaring or distant...I would have to politely but plainly inform you that you are dead wrong.

If, by chance, you do perceive Him as distant or even non-existent, would you allow me to introduce you to my YHWH Shammah, my Immanuel? My God who is a "here" and "near" reality. A "with us" God.

I have multiple stories I could tell you as evidence of my belief.  Some of those stories have already been told in my previous entries.  A couple of them involve diminutive dimes showing up in the oddest places at just the right times.

Well, here's one more dime story...

On Friday afternoons, after a week crammed full of classes and volunteering in the community, a group of girls gathers in a campus apartment for a couple hours of Bible study.  Amazingly, they have given me the honor of joining them in their journey.

Beth Moore has heaped on the homework, challenged us to lace up our hiking boots, and encouraged us to believe God to be bigger than we currently perceive Him to be.  Each week we dig deep into His Word to find out what He has to say about who He is and who we are.

This past week was one of believing God can do what He says He can do.  Beth invited us to believe that because His Word says so, we can  believe Him to do mighty things in our present age. She showed us faith pleases our God. She encouraged us to ask!

But she didn't stop there. She also dealt with the tough question of "What if I asked?  What if I believed? And I didn't get my miracle." Here is what she said:

Blessed are you if you are not offended with me. Matt11:6

O God, grant us a faith to be healed and a faith to be delivered but, above all, a faith to trust.  Beth Moore

Beloved, our God is a God of wonders.  Will we not ask because we are afraid of being offended? Embarrassed? Disappointed? Or will we ask, knowing that He is able but trusting that He is good if He doesn't act? Blessed are we if we are not offended with Jesus.

I told some stories then of how I had seen God work miracles in my life and people that I know: supernatural protection, restored eyesight, freedom from addictions. Stories of God's supremacy.  I also shared times when God showed His sufficiency.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 2Cor12:9

Then I told them how God reminds me "I am aware. I care." by placing dimes in my path and proceeded to play the DVD lesson for the day.

One slight problem...we couldn't find the remote control!

Let me remind you that we are in a college apartment shared by four females.  I remember all to well what my college dorm looked like and there were just two of us! Got the picture?

So we began the search for the control. Pillows and clothes were upended. Suggestions were tossed out: "Look in the refrigerator."  I kid you not!

Then..

"I found a dime."

Katie was holding a couch cushion in one hand and a dime in the other.

Katie, who had asked us all to pray for her last week. Katie who is currently believin' but not seein'. Was now receivin' a reminder that God is aware. He does care.

That's my God! He is good. You can trust Him.

A church is like a...

I heard a pastor make this analogy the other day.  He went on to say that a church is to its members like a barn is to a horse. 

It made me think back to those standardized tests we all had to take in school.  Each state calls theirs something different.  My guess is we can thank the state of Iowa for creating the first one. 

Actually, I have never been a big fan of standardized testing, but there was one section of the test I honestly enjoyed. It was the part that tested how well you could connect ideas.  I like ideas.  I like to create them and connect them and even dissect them. The test question would begin with "A is to B" like "C is to..." and you selected the best answer from a list of multiple choices. Remember?

This pastor illustrated his statement by saying that the barn is where the horse is prepared to go out into the field to collect the harvest.

I hadn't heard it put that way before, but it made sense to this horse-loving farm girl. That's when the idea started taking root in my brain and I started extending the analogy. It got me thinking...so now I'm going to gallop with it.

 I came up with a few thoughts that I have learned to be true back on our farm...

~the harvest is not in the barn, it is in the field
~our horses grazed on grass out in the field, but they were treated to grain and hay in their stalls
~when grass was scarce out in the field, we stored hay in the barn to feed them
~our horses spent most of their time out in the pasture and fields, but we brought them into the barn to shelter them when conditions were severe, they were ailing, or we were preparing them for something

~if horses spend too much time in the barn, "you know what" starts to pile up and someone has to muck it out
~horses are the most content when they are doing what they were created to do
~horses need to be excercised
~some horses were afraid to go into the barn; others didn't want to leave
~the barn contained all of the necessary gear to feed, groom, and outfit a horse to serve its purpose on the farm
~horses are social animals
~horses hurry to an open barn door
~the barn and the harvest belongs to the farmer

I think it is safe to say that his analogy holds up! I think I will make like a horse and high tail it to that barn on Sunday.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-13

A New Direction?

To be honest, I'm not sure about this one.  I think God may be asking me to do this, but I can't say that "I know that I know that I know".  So, I'm taking a step and seeing if He confirms or denies it. 

I recently had a  rack card printed with ideas for speaking topics I feel God has equipped me to speak about.  Interestingly enough, they are not areas that I have experienced great success--on the contrary, they are areas where I have failed terribly. 

My first prayer is that if this is of Tonya but not of God, that He will put a stop to the whole thing.  My second is that if it is His idea, that He will open my ears to hear His directions.

I won't go into details here, but if you want to hear more, let me know and I'll be glad to share them with you.