Covenant Church

Last week's Pastor's Heart letter was about getting out of the box. Response has been positive. Apparently, the thoughts expressed found fertile and receptive ground.

In a discussion with the pastoral staff the question was raised: "Why do people not get out of the box?"

The idea that folks do not get out of the box because they do not want to get out of the box is entirely too simplistic. The trap of the box may be so confining that those in the box are not even aware of what is outside the box. For example, for most of the world's history for one to suggest that the earth is not flat could have resulted in his being designated as criminal, mentally ill, or even executed.

Once I asked a missionary leader: "What do people in your native land (primitives) think about all the high technology of Americans?" [I commonly refer to this being one of the most ridiculous questions I have ever asked.] He was an astute and gentle person, a friend, and very kind. He paused in thinking, which I later considered to be time to gain his composure and not offend, and then he responded to my question, "How do they know what to think about what they do not know exists?"

Some folks stay in the box because it is all they know.

Then there are those who feel security in the box. During my time working in a state mental health facility early morning was the common release time for patients. More than once a person released to the public committed some aberrant behavior within a few hours. This insured that by nightfall they would be back behind secure walls, with three meals a day, and in the social network of a medical milieu totally dedicated to them on a first-name basis.

Part of my job was interviewing. If a patient was asked why he tried walking down the middle of the street while taking off his clothes, the answer would be something like: "Man, they let me out of this place this morning. You know that out there in that big world there are crazy people. I tell you they are crazy--people robbing, shooting, and killing each other out there. I am safe here. Doctors are nice to me."

Oh, the box can be so secure.

But security in the box may be with mixed blessing. Laila and I took in a 15 year-old girl who had been beaten with a glass soda bottle, because she would not sexually entertain men in her own parents' home. We gave her a private bedroom, moving our two small children into a single room. We bought her new clothes, and watched her eat her first steak. We took her on trips. She went to church with us, and her love for the Lord seemed to grow by the day. Laila and I began to quietly talk about her adoption.

Then one day I found her crying in the kitchen. She could see her home from our kitchen window, and she was crying because she missed home and wanted to go back there. I reasoned with her about the disaster that would follow. She agreed with me. But nothing we said changed her mind. She went back to the environment that had boundaries she knew. Not that she liked the boundaries, but she knew the boundaries. The box of her life was more comfortable than the future with our family that included NEW DIMENSIONS, NEW POSSIBILITIES, NEW FACES, college, and ever changing social conditions. The old box was comfortable because she knew what to fear and had survived it. The new life was a challenge that brought undefined fears.

The last time I saw our "almost" daughter she was unmarried with several children. I did not recognize her. She waited on me at a restaurant and said, "You do not know me. I was almost your daughter."

The box: Why do people stay where they stay? Maybe there are more reasons than can be numbered. I do remember that the Israelites, who had been delivered from brutal slavery, cried out to Moses that they would rather be in Egypt with the garlic and onions than to be on a journey with God (Numbers 11:5).

I do remember that the Bible speaks of the pleasure of sin. God is no fool. He is the one who made us. Our bodies can enjoy certain sins that give great pleasure for a time. However, the pleasure of sin passes (Hebrews 11:25). The box, if an unholy box, becomes self-destructive. In the end there is only torment with no pleasure.

As I finish this letter to you, the academic side of me is frustrated. Not all of the issues have been discussed. A proper thesis has not been argued with all aspects of the issues being adequately explored. However, my heart is calling for God's people to look in a holy direction and seek the Lord. He will lead us out of our box into green pastures. With thoughtfulness and hope,

Pastor Bare
Proverbs 3: 5 & 6