Some time ago, there was a comic strip in Peanuts that showed Lucy in her psychiatrist booth. She is trying to analyze Charlie Brown. She says, "Charlie Brown, life is like a deck chair." "Like what?" "Charlie, have you ever been on a ship when the passengers try to open up one of those chairs so they can sit in the sun? Some of them place their chairs facing the rear so they can see where they have been. Some of them face their chairs forward so they can see where they are going." "On the cruise ship of life, Charlie Brown, which way is your deck chair facing?" Charlie Brown, "I’ve never been able to get one of them unfolded!"
That’s a good question. Let me ask you: On the cruise ship of life, which way is your deck chair facing? To the back to see where you’ve been? Or--looking forward to see where you are going? I have discovered in life and in our churches, so many of us are looking back.
We see things as they were. We spend a lot of time talking about before…. Before covid, before the economy tanked, before ….. Why can’t things be like they used to be? Things used to be better. There are others who are always looking forward ... to the future ... optimistically ... with faith. There are some of us who can identify with Charlie Brown ... when he replied: "I’ve never been able to get one of them unfolded." Frustration. There are some who are frustrated with life because it seems that nothing works.
For believers there shouldn’t be any chairs pointing toward the back. As believers the position for a Christian must always be forward. Jesus followers are people of faith, hope, vision and optimism.
John F. Kennedy took a statement made by George Bernard Shaw and made it famous. He said, "You see things as they are and you ask, ’Why?’ But I dream of things that never were, and I ask, ’Why not?’"
If our hearts and our lives ... our all ... are committed/surrendered to the great God of Heaven ... the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ... the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... who raised Jesus from the dead ... and "is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us ..." ... then there is no limitation to our horizon. We can look and dream of things that have never been and say, "By the grace of God ... why not!?"
Where there is no vision the people perish. Today, we need a vision of our golden opportunities. Our vision at South Troy is to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Our mission statement is: “To Know, Grow and Go” with Jesus Love. It is more than a cliché- when we look at events, at programs, at the future that is the lens we use. We are introducing people to Jesus. We are here to help grow people through Life Groups, service groups, and Kids Worship. The go is to serve others in the community, minister to those that come to our food shelf, those that are hungry, those that strive to break free from addiction and those all around us that still don’t know Jesus Christ.
What an amazing amount of opportunities are about us. God’s Spirit is ready and waiting to fill His people with His visions for the future.
In the 1840’s two young men came to this country from Germany. The older of the two was skilled in making Sauerkraut. He immediately headed for the west coast. He bought land ... cultivated it ... and raised cabbage for sauerkraut.
The younger brother had no skill .. no profession. He decided to go to mining school in Colorado. When he finished, he went to visit his brother. His brother was proud of his business and took him to see all that he had accomplished. As they walked, he noticed that the younger brother had stopped and was kneeling.
He ceased to pay attention to what his older brother was saying and just sat there rubbing the soil in his hands. Big brother came over and said, "You are not interested in my work. You have no interest in what I have accomplished."
The younger brother stood, shifting some rocks in his hands. "Do you know what these are? "They’re just quartz." "Yes, but these yellow flecks are gold. You are raising cabbage in a gold field." That was the beginning of the great Gold Strike in El Dorado, California in 1845.
What I fear is that most of us are content to raise cabbage in a gold field! We’ve lost sight of our potential. We must not settle for mediocrity. We are living in some of the most exciting times in history. The problem is we are confused and frustrated. We can’t face the deck chair, much less get it open. We are still fiddling with it when we should have finished and on to another project by now. We must not raise cabbage in a gold field. We must see and seize our opportunities to share the gospel.
We cannot act like a multiple-choice society when it comes to Jesus Christ either. Jesus is the only way. He is the "way, the truth and the life. "There is no other name given under heaven ... by which we must be saved." "That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."
We must see our great responsibilities. The Bible says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48.
Our deck chairs are facing the future. My deck chair is facing the future. I want to see a mighty movement of the Holy Spirit here in the Zumbro River Valley. And I want to see more people in our churches on Sunday mornings. I want to see people surrender their lives to all that God is calling them to.
What direction is your deck chair facing? If your deck chair is facing the proper direction you will see that our God is personal, He is present and He is powerful.
Isn’t it time you moved your deck chair so that you can get a correct and proper view?
