Becoming A Victor And Not A Victim

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Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once, the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

– John 5:8-9

One of my favorite things to read is stories about people who overcome difficult life circumstances. These people choose to be Victors and not Victims despite the odds. The latest story I found was about former NFL all-pro Warwick Dunn.

On January 7th, 1993, in Baton Rouge, Betty Smothers, a Baton Rouge police officer, was on a private police detail escorting a local merchant to make a late-night cash deposit. Two men approached her and the merchant. The men asked for the cash bag, and the merchant resisted, which resulted in gunfire. One of the bullets hit Betty, and she was killed.

Betty left behind six children; the oldest was the future All-Pro running back, Warrick Dunn. Warrick had just turned eighteen two days earlier and, as the oldest, was left in charge of his five siblings. Warrick was a gifted athlete, excelling as a high school football player and track star.

Warrick became head of his family and, with the help of his grandmother, raised the other five children. At the same time, Warrick attended Florida State, won a national championship, and was a three-time ACC selection. Warrick also ran track for Florida State and was an Associated Press All-American.

Warrick went on to play in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons. A career where he gained over fifteen thousand all-purpose yards – the 14th best all time.

While Warrick had a remarkable NFL career, it was in his second life that he excelled as well. After he retired, he set up a  charity called Holidays For Homes to raise money to help single-parent families move into homes they could not afford – 150 families moved into new homes.

He also set up Warrick Dunn charities and was named the Walter Payton man of the year award, along with the Bart Starr Award. In other community services, Warrick worked with other professional athletes, such as Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Mario Lemieux, and many others.

Because of his integrity and willingness to help others, Arthur Blank invited him to become a minority owner of the Atlanta Falcons. While Warrick and his siblings went on to prosper after their mother’s tragic death, his attitude of not being a victim set the course for his and their lives. He had chosen to become a victor.

His life reminds me of a story in the Gospel of John. In this story, Jesus approaches a man lying on the ground by the healing pool of Bethesda. The man had been coming to the pool for thirty-eight years and was never healed. One morning, Jesus sees the man at the pool and asks, “Do you want to get well?”

The man replies, “I have no one to help me in the water, and when I try, someone else gets in the way.”

Sensing a state of victimhood, Jesus tells the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

The man understands the meaning behind Jesus’ request, realizing he has been playing the victim for thirty-eight years. Listening to Jesus, he gets up, takes control of his life, and walks. Not all of Jesus’ miracles are physical; in this case, it was sage advice. The man had a simple choice: continue floundering by the pool or walk. He chose to walk.

Not every miracle in life is physical; many times, they are by making brave choices. Jesus knew the man could walk on his own but had chosen not to walk. He was essentially trapped by the comfort of going to the same place for many years, despite it not being the most productive life. All Jesus did was tell him to change and walk a different life.

After finding out about his mother’s death, Warrick could have given up, like the man at the well. I am sure the burden of losing your mother and then having to raise five children was enormous. Yet, he chose the path of moving forward and not lying down as a victim. Warrick went on to raise the children with his grandmother. He became an NFL star, and most importantly, he reached out to others the help them pick up their mat and walk.

Life isn’t always easy. Jesus knows that. He simply asks for us to have faith and walk forward. He asks us every day, Do you want to get well? Sometimes it’s little things that get us down or, for others, really big events. Sometimes it is easier to use our obstacles as crutches than the task of overcoming our obstacles. Every day, we have the choice: to become a Victim or a Victor.

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The Christmas Spirit

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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 

– John [1:14]

 

Over two thousand years ago, Jesus arrived on earth. As the Son of God, he was both human and divine. A simple gift from God for us in human form. In today’s verse, Jesus is called the Word. If we substitute Word with Jesus, it makes the verse clearer. In other words, “Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us.”

A wonderful gift from God to those of us here on earth. Jesus was the first gift from the first Christmas. The word Christmas comes from Middle English and means “Christ’s mass.” Simply translated to mean the anointed one was sent—a present for humankind from God.

Today, Christmas is celebrated throughout the world on December 25th. Although there are many traditions around Christmas, some parts of the world only celebrate Christmas on the twenty-fifth. At the same time, in other regions, Christmas lasts twelve days and ends with the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th.

Presents are exchanged, and dinners are held. There are candlelight services and the final lighting of the advent candle. It is a time when families and friends gather and celebrate this momentous day.

It is also a busy time of preparation and shopping. Unfortunately, many of us get lost in getting everything right. While many have a wonderful holiday, others are left alone. Christmas can be a time of gifts but also a time of loneliness and despair.

Since a number of years ago, Christmas has meant something different to me. It occurred after an unusual act of kindness I had heard about.

A woman named Beth was homeless and near destitution. She was living in a shelter and working at a Dunkin Donuts. She had only two things: a car and a child. Her simple goal was to find housing for her and her daughter in the new year.

On Christmas eve, she had to work. She waited on customers, and this night, her boss asked her to scrap gum off the bottom of the tables. While upset about this request, she still complied for fear of losing her job.

As she scraped gum off the bottom of the tables, she noticed a solitary woman about her age crying and slumped over, sitting at a booth.

After an hour or so and close to closing, Beth saw the woman wasn’t emerging from her despair. So when she clocked out, she went to the woman and asked if she could help.

The woman told her she was broke, hungry, and had no place to go. It was raining very hard, and Beth noticed the woman was poorly dressed. Beth listened to her story and found her heart breaking. She took her outside and drove her to the shelter she was staying. She got her checked in and helped her get settled.

All the money Beth had on her that night was her tips and her food money. She was close to having enough saved in the bank to make the down payment on a new apartment. The money she had with her would allow her to make the deposit for a new home

In the morning, she asked the woman what she could do to help. The woman told her she wanted to go home to her parents and start over. To accomplish this, she needed a bus ticket. Beth took her to the bus station and bought her a ticket home. Then went across the street and bought her breakfast. The woman got on the bus to start her life over.

Beth later heard from the woman; she had reconciled with her parents and was now working. On a rainy evening, the woman had been visited by another woman, Beth, who had the spirit of giving – a spirit of Christmas. She gave her some of the money she was saving to use as a down payment to get an apartment. But, she explained to me later while she needed the money for herself and her daughter, she felt this woman needed it more.

The following week, Beth found a better job, and her new landlord, after hearing about why Beth didn’t have all the money she needed, allowed her to move into her new apartment.

Beth moved on to resolving the issues which had created her homelessness. Her new job helped her pay for her life. Her daughter started school, and she remembers the first morning her daughter got on a school bus. A grateful for time for her; she had a home and a job, and her daughter could now have a normal life.

When you ask her today, “What was your favorite Christmas?” She will tell you it was the night she could help someone else. A memory she uses to help her understand the meaning of Christmas.

God sent Jesus to help us. So that first Christmas, we not only got Jesus, our savior. But, we also received an example of the meaning of Christmas- giving to others.

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Caiaphas and the Art of Critical Thinking

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“Lazarus, come out!”  The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

– John [11:43]-44

Miraculously, Lazarus emerged from his death tomb, saved by Jesus. Many of those who witnessed this event turned to believing in the power of Jesus. But some did not and went back to Jerusalem to tell Caiaphas, the chief priest, and the other leaders what they had seen.

Immediately, Caiaphas and the other priests called a meeting of the Sanhedrin to discuss this latest feat performed by Jesus. The few who had gone to see the leaders were seeking favors from the leadership in Jerusalem. In turn, Caiaphas and the others were alarmed, seeing this as an event that could encourage the existing population to rise up against them.

During the meeting, they all agreed it was time to get rid of Jesus. For the past year, Jesus had been saving the blind, healing the lame, and speaking to huge crowds. Now Jesus had raised the dead! Because of this last event, Caiaphas and the other leaders now knew Jesus had become competition for the control of the masses.

Caiaphas was the chief priest, and head of the ruling Jewish body called the Sanhedrin. He was in the fifteenth year of his reign. His father-in-law, Annus, who had reigned for nine years, had appointed Caiaphas as his successor. Combined, they had held the chief priest position for almost a quarter of a century.

During his reign, Caiaphas solidified his power with the Jewish aristocrats and the Roman rulers. However, at the same time, he had made life for the average citizen very difficult. As Caiaphas grew in power, the people became poorer.

After deciding to get rid of Jesus, Jesus could no longer move about publicly. So instead, he went to Ephraim in Samaria. A place he would stay until his return to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

What amazes me is that instead of seeking Jesus out to find out more, instead, they chose to kill him. It would seem to me after such a powerful action of raising the dead, Caiaphas would want to learn more and perhaps see Jesus as who he was, the Lord.

So why didn’t Caiaphas and the others turn to Jesus and, at the very least, find out more? It seems they were stuck in their own narratives, and Jesus directly opposed the lives they were leading. Jesus was a change in the course of how Caiaphas thought.

Caiaphas had become so enamored with his life and power that there was no room for other viewpoints. Any different view, he squashed. Those around him had learned this and only told him want they thought he wanted to hear. Conversation amongst them had collapsed into making sure Caiaphas didn’t get angry.

Caiaphas and his group had lost the art of critical thinking. When differing points of view rose up, the individual would be shamed and discarded. Instead of hearing the person with a different opinion, their ideas were seen as extreme and threats. As a result, the person was usually ostracized.

Looking back at these events in the 21st century, we can clearly see the flaw. Jesus had saved a person from death, yet no one in power wanted to know more. We can all agree they lacked the skill of critical thinking.

Critical thinking in the dictionary is defined as: the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

Simply, critical thinking allows events and statements to change our viewpoints and perhaps our behavior. A method of thinking that prevents our thoughts from getting stale and outdated.

What if Caiaphas had honestly sought out Jesus to learn more? We could assume he would have become a follower of Jesus as well. Instead, Caiaphas chose the path of denial and elimination.

By ignoring Jesus and seeking to destroy him, Caiaphas, in turn, lost everything.

A few months later, Caiaphas successfully had Jesus crucified on the cross. But the outcome for Caiaphas was bleak. When the Roman rulers learned about this event, Caiaphas was removed from power and forced to leave Jerusalem in 36AD.

Everything thing he had was gone. All because he denied the reality of Jesus.

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