I am not the smartest guy on the planet and I am certainly not the best looking guy on the planet either. Some of you might find that hard to believe; the rest of you have met me. Neither am I the most agile, the strongest, the funniest, most charming, or even the most cuddly—although I am probably in the top ten in that last category.

I have often wondered what it is that I have that sets me apart from anyone in the crowd, besides my delusions of grandeur, that is. If I were forced to decide and come up with an answer—I am also not the most decisive guy either—I would have to say that it is probably that I am persistent. I don’t give up easily. I keep at it. I work hard. I try hard. If I have any success at the things I attempt, it’s most likely because of my effort, not my talent. Still, what little pride I have in my persistence quotient has now been stripped away by a 68 year-old South Korean woman. You see, Cha Sa-soon, the woman of which I speak, has recently passed her driver’s test. Big deal you say, what is so great about that? Well, the big deal is that it took her 950 tries!

Apparently she has been trying to get her licence since April of 2005. That is 950 tests in four years. Do the math—we are talking roughly 238 tests taken per year, with a cost of 5 million won ($4,200) in application fees. Yes, this is certainly a big deal! Oh and by the way, she has only passed the written test to this point. Now she has to work on the driving exam itself!

I guess I could look at this a couple of different ways: Either I could be concerned that it took her 950 tries to get 60% on a driver’s test, or I could focus on the fact that she has a downright inspiring level of determination. I choose to take the high road with option two because I live on the other side of the world—far, far away from any vehicle she might ever find herself driving.

Cha Sa-soon needed the licence for her vegetable-selling business. In other words, there was a reason for her determination outside of the fact that she wanted a driver’s licence. I doubt that just a desire for a driver’s licence would have put enough gas in her tank to get her to take the test almost a daily for four years!

As Christians we sometimes forget that salvation isn’t our primary goal. It is merely our spiritual driver’s licence that puts us on the road to an adventure that will take us to all kinds of destinations in our relationship with Jesus. Thankfully our salvation doesn’t require the same kind of determination that Cha Sa-soon showed in getting her driver’s test. Jesus has already taken the test for us. But I would suggest that your spiritual journey does require determination, if you are going to get the best mileage from your faith and reach all the destinations along the way that Christ has entered into your Spiritual GPS.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:1-2)

source:MSNBC

It was a cold day. The snow had a layer of fluffiness over a harder, crunchier, icier bottom. The inlet from Lake Ontario was frozen. Ducks had given up swimming and taken up their less-than-graceful equivalent to skating. The ice was full of greens and blues. White-greyish lines, where the ice had cracked and healed and cracked again, crisscrossed the surface like an alien roadmap.

After watching the comedy of “Ducks on Ice” for a while, I decided to go down to the lakeshore. There I found ice-covered driftwood and huge clusters of breakwater rocks covered with inches of ice as each crashing wave contributed its own thin coat.

At one point I was going to venture out onto the pier that marked the entrance into the inlet, but then I saw ice everywhere and I changed my mind. I didn’t want to slip and fall. I didn’t want to drop my camera. I didn’t want to get wet. OK, I was being a wimp. (I prefer to call it “being wise”, if you don’t mind.)

As I walked further down the shore and looked back I couldn’t help but be impressed by what I saw. The railing of the pier had been completely covered with ice. I’m not just talking about ice around the railing, I am talking about sheets of ice that went down the sides of the railing; connecting the horizontal supports with the handrail above them.

Such a sight was “cool” enough but there was “icing” on this cake–the lake was expressively expressive! As the waves hit the pier with considerable force, they came up against the side of the pier and swelled to what can only be considered Hawaii 5-0 proportions.

As I watched the beautiful form of these waves come, one after another, I took the photo that accompanies this account. Note the top of the head of a small boy that is just tall enough to be seen over the handrail. There he stands, in a place I was too wise to venture. Ah the hubris of youth! How reckless! How irresponsible! Kids!

The only problem with my irresponsible kid theory, though, was that this little guy was standing, hand-in-hand with his grandfather. Grandparents! Granddad must have lost it! Maybe he didn’t like his grandson? Maybe his grandson was a holy terror? Maybe he wanted him to “wave” goodbye—literally? Somehow though, they looked like they were having a great time together, don’t they? Ice all around. Waves so close you could almost touch them. Spray everywhere.

As I look at this photo now, I still hold to my initial assessment of the danger of standing where they were. I was right and they were wrong. I was wise and they were foolhardy. Still there has to be a lesson to be learned somewhere in all this, don’t you think? What do you think the lesson is? The one thing I DO know is that the lesson doesn’t have anything to do with a little kid and an old man being braver than anyone else!

I think the lesson is simply this–it’s not where you are, it’s who you are with. Even a dangerous place can be safe if your hand is in the hand of someone bigger who is able to protect you.

It seems to me that there was once this guy named Peter who got a bit scared because of the waves that surrounded him. He had a good reason to be scared. The waves were high and he was starting to sink! But, just as he started to sink, Jesus reached out his hand and everything changed. Notice though, that the waves weren’t calmed until Peter and Jesus got back into the boat. Peter was still out in the waves. So what kept him above the water wasn’t a safer environment, it was simply that his hand was in the hand of someone bigger who was able to hold him up (Matthew 14:29-32).

It’s not where you are, it’s who you are with. The next time you are afraid, think about who you’re with. Or, more correctly, think about who is with you!

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)

I have a confession to make-I am a scavenger of beauty. I hunt beauty down (with my camera) and capture it in the most unlikely places. I do this because I have a theology that tells me that finding beauty is more about attitude than it is about the eye.

I have always loved the beach. True, you expect to find beauty at the beach, unless Speedos and hairy backs are in abundant supply, but still- the water, the surf, the shoreline, the driftwood, the soothing sounds and smells-that’s beauty. What I have noticed, though, since I have frequented several of Toronto’s beaches is that many of them are covered with what can only be considered construction waste. We are talking about bricks, concrete slabs, bits of broken tile, and even asphalt. They do this in areas where erosion is a problem.

This isn’t the kind of shoreline you would expect to find in most places. Neither is it the kind of shoreline you would really WANT to find in most places. After all, I don’t think asphalt is on anyone’s list of beautiful things, but look at the photo that accompanies this article. You may not be impressed by this bit of shoreline, but to me this collection of colours and shapes is uniquely beautiful. Look at the bright reds and the creamy yellows of the brick. Check out the flecks of yellow and white in the concrete. Notice how the individual pieces have been moulded and shaped into beautiful curves and orbs. The hard edges are gone. The utilitarian shapes have given way to free flowing arcs of grace. The manmade is still evident, but it clearly has become something more than what man can make.

What is the cause of this transformation? I could talk about how each of these diamonds in the rough was kissed by the elements. That sounds romantic, but the reality is that it’s all about friction. It’s about being on the front lines where you are hit hard by the wind and waves. It’s about being exposed to the pressures and influences that rub and grind the rough edges away and turn the utilitarian into graceful works of art.

I want you to think about this the next time you have a conflict in your life, or the next time you think about leaving your church because of “those difficult people”. I want you to think about this the next time you’re laughed at for sharing your faith, or the next time you make a sacrifice that goes unnoticed. God uses the difficulties found in our relationships to take off our rough edges and shape us into something more graceful. He uses the friction that comes into our lives to erode the manmade and reveal the divine.

James explains this process with these words: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)

One of my pet peeves in ministry is the advent of what I call the Honeymoon Christian. I have learned to spot them a mile away. They come to your church and gush over how they like this and how they love that. They enjoy that brief period of time when, for them, your church still has that “new-congregation smell”. Then the friction comes. There’s something they don’t like, or something with which they don’t agree. There is their first conflict. Or maybe it’s just the first time they are asked to serve or give or sacrifice. The honeymoon is over and off they go- not willing to deal with the friction. That’s why they stay manmade with all their hard edges intact. They short-circuit their growth because when the wind blows and the waves start to rise, they run for a safe harbour and no reshaping takes place.

Life is tough. We all want to give up sometimes. Occasionally, we all want to go somewhere else or do something else. We all get “the grass is greener on the other side of the fence syndrome”, but don’t give up. Persevere! Realize that giving up or moving on isn’t the answer. God wants you on the front lines of your congregation. He wants you on the front lines of your neighbourhoods, your workplaces, your schools. He knows that being there creates a lot of friction, but that friction is protecting our world from further erosion and it’s also shaping you into something more graceful, something with greater humility-a vessel with a great capacity for His love.

Finding beauty is more about the attitude than the eye. Persevere and you’ll find the beauty, and bonus of bonuses, you’ll become more beautiful yourself!