The Kingdom of God is Like "The Pop"

As a teen, I helped my older brother build a row boat in the basement of our home. It was a long and slow process because we had to save enough funds to purchase wood for the project. That took time. So the boat building proceeded piecemeal, but finally we rejoiced when the project came to completion. The boat was christened “The Pop” in honor of our father.

It was my father’s idea to have a picnic at the lake where we would launch the boat. My brother and I were excited until we tried to get the boat outside. Our basement had one small door to the outside and when we tried to take the boat outside for its debut it would not fit through the door. No matter what angle we tried, no matter how hard we pushed, the boat was not going to go through the door opening. The boat had to be disassembled, brought outside in pieces and reassembled again.

The day of the picnic finally came with my father inviting most of our extended family living in the area. We all lined up along the shoreline for the launch and there was much excitement, but my brother and I were reluctant to get into the boat. My excuse was I was not a good swimmer. Can’t speak for my brother, but he built most of the boat so that says something.

My father decided to be the brave one. (He was born and raised in the mountains of Italy miles from any water, and I had never seen him swim up to that time) I had reservations about his bravado. He entered the boat like he was the captain of a luxury Italian cruise liner, as we pushed him out toward the wider part of the lake. The boat hadn't sailed but 5 feet when it immediately started taking on water and sank into the sand. (The lake was less that 1 foot deep at this point so my father did not have to swim back to shore after he disembarked.)

Upon reconstruction of the boat outdoors we forgot that every sealed joint we had made was now compromised. So much for launching The Pop! It never sailed again.

Today I see another lesson in this story that relates to the kingdom of God. Within the walls of many churches we plan and construct all kinds of strategies to reach the lost, but as soon as we try to bring it to the street we can’t get “through the church door” to the outside where it can serve its goal. Too many places are content with the program, the planning and the crafting without much thought to the outside where it counts the must.

The second lesson I see is if you do manage to get the outreach effort through the door, sometimes the attempt is ill-conceived, full of holes and will sink with failure.

What do you think? What’s the best way to reach the lost?

Superman & What If?

I was always fascinated by Superman. At one point in my life as a young boy I was convinced I could fly from the top of the steps to the second floor of our home to the bottom without ever touching a step. In hindsight I must have dreamed that feat because every time I tried to fly from the top step to the bottom, I failed (for obvious reasons!).

This failure to fly did not stop me from trying to replicate Superman flight with my friends. We would jump off boulders. We would jump off a swing when it reached its highest point of the arc. We were daring enough to jump off a picket fence. We knew we could not fly but our desires had not yet been convinced.

Then came the ultimate challenge, when we dared each other to jump off a second story porch. When you're looking down 7 ft. or so, it took great courage to take the leap of flight. We all had successful jumps the first time around which only emboldened us to reach for further success.

Then there was the double dare to jump off the top rail of the porch banister, the height now looking more like 10 ft. I took the challenging, climbed up onto the rail, looked down and changed my mind. I was not that crazy!

Then the worst possible nightmare happened. I don't know if it was an accidental bump or a purposed push by one of my playmates, but I fell off the porch railing. I hit the ground with my left arm and shattered many bones. I spent weeks in the hospital, with multiple surgeries, and months of therapy to regain use of the mangled arm.

But more than bones were shattered that day.

I emerged from the event as a stutterer which almost destroyed my life. (How I overcame that speech impediment is basis for a future blog.)

The speech difficulty lasted almost 10 years with growing anger for the kids who bumped or pushed me. That anger continued into my adulthood every time I thought of the incident. But one day I asked the question … what if the persons involved came now into my adult life at this very moment and asked for forgiveness? What would I do?

That’s the question I would like to pose to my blog community. What if someone who hurt you deeply in the past came forward after many years and asked you for forgiveness __ what would you do?

I’d like to hear from you. Won’t you share your thoughts?

Click on COMMENT below and drop me a line. Please remember what you write will be open to public view. No names or graphic specifics. Just write about yourself, your struggle and whether or not you would forgive the person(s).

Robert Parlante

May 2014