By Kat Silverglate Founder Copyright 2020

The Obstacle Crushers. That’s what we called the group who decided to do a race together as a way to help each other work through obstacles in our lives. Most of the participants weren’t runners.  Some of them never ran a mile before joining the group.  But the goal of this journey wasn’t running.  It was leaving something at the finish line that we couldn’t carry anymore.  Unforgiveness. Anger. Bitterness.  Fear.  Hate.  Whatever it was, no effort before this journey resulted in victory.  Temporary relief, maybe. But real victory?  Nope. 

We got together regularly and talked about God’s power to take up burdens.  To set people free from strongholds.  We did the training mostly on our own, agreeing to walk, crawl or inch our way through the training miles as we prayed for God show us how to let our burdens somehow fall into His capable hands. 

For most of the participants, the journey was about putting a name to the burden.  What was so heavy?  What was standing in the way of this abundant life that God offers. What did we have in our hands that belonged in God’s?

Week after week, the labels became more clear.  Shame.  Self-loathing.  Trauma.  Judgment. Hadn’t we tried to let that go?  Leave it behind?  Let it fall?  We’d leave it behind or let it fall only to look down and find ourselves again and again standing in a pile of decomposing  “leave-it-behinds.”  The Scripture say:

“Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.  Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.”

Psalm 126:5-6

Theologian Timothy Keller says that there is a vast difference between expressing grief over your burden and sowing it. To sow something is to plant it in a deliberate place with a deliberate intention.  Keller says that we can “waste our sorrows” by dumping them again and again in guilt or anger or self-pity.  Or we can sow them intentionally into a place where God promises a harvest.  We can sow them into the very hands of the Man of Sorrows whose tears and suffering brought life, not death.  See Keller’s short meditation on youtube called, Don’t Waste Your Sorrows.

So, that’s what the Obstacle Crushers did. We spent the training time giving labels to the burdens we had been carrying.  We were encouraged to write them on a piece of paper and refuse to cross that finish line still holding them. It wasn’t about dropping or forgetting or ignoring or avoiding it.  It was about planting it in a place where a harvest could grow. In God’s hands.

After the race, when that burden came knocking on the door, we said things like “I left that at the finish line with You.”  We were encouraged to see God carrying us in it and through it.  We were encouraged to seek Him to ask questions like “what do You say about this?  About my future?  About your power?” 

2020 has been a brutal year. Lots of sorrow.  Lots of grief.  Lots of uncertainty.  Lots of change.  We have a finish line of sorts coming up. The end of the calendar year.  How will we cross it?  Will our hands be full of burdens that belong in God’s?  Will we stand in the same pile of decomposing “leave-it-behinds?”  Or will we learn how to sow them?  Into God’s capable hands?

Our Mobile Mission This Month:  When you open your mission pack, a few things may have fallen out -- a sturdy cardboard leaf and several fragile ones.  The sturdy one has seeds baked into the paper.  If you plant it, flowers should grow.  Spend some time praying about your obstacles.  Your “leave-it-behinds.”  Your own pile of decomposing leaves. Write them on that big sturdy leaf.  When you are ready to invite God to carry those burdens - to show you His ways, His power, His mercy - surrender them to Him. Place them in His hands and then go plant that leaf as an act of celebration. You aren’t alone.  He is with you.  Every step of the way.  And when that burden comes knocking, take a look at those fragile leaves.   Go where you sowed those burdens.  Go to Him.  For a harvest.

As with all our mobile missions, you may not do this right away.  You may do it next week or next month or next year.  Pray over it.  When you are ready, you’ll have this equipping piece.  Some of you may read this one or hear this one and decide, this is just not for me… no worries.  Consider giving it away to someone who might enjoy it.  Or, you may want an extra one to give to a friend.  We’ll be happy to send one while supplies last.  We only ask two things.  Please don’t throw it away or copy it.

And if you just aren’t quite sure where to start with God, don’t worry.  He started with you a long time ago.  He’ll never stop knocking.  The question for each and every one of us is this, will we respond?  That’s the mission, inspiring lives ridiculously responsive to the prompting of God.  We sure hope you’re inspired to do just that today, respond.

Amen.