Never Let a Serious Crisis go to Waste

Never Let a Serious Crisis go to Waste.

Several weeks ago Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff was quoted as saying, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." His words have been rattling about in my head since I heard them. I'm not sure of the connotation in Emanuel's words. But, isn't life really just a series of crises?

My little 3 year old walked into my study this morning at 5:30. I quickly scooped him up and returned him to bed. If Kameron doesn't get enough sleep every one in his world is going to have a pretty miserable day. As I returned to my study I contemplated a scenario I heard from a preacher I had been listening to. What if we were handed a script of Kameron's life when he came into our lives. We would be given 15 minutes to read the script and then change anything we liked. Every crisis Kameron would ever face could be eliminated.Would we rewrite the script so he never experienced any pain? He would never fail a class. He would never feel rejection from friends or a spouse. He would never get fired. He would never have an accident or get a disease. By age 25 what kind of man would Kameron be? He would be a wimp, a pretty sorry excuse for a man.

I never tried to protect my two grown sons from the pain and crises life sends our way. But, I certainly tried to be there and support them through the difficult times.

God allows crises into our lives for a purpose. He never promises we'll escape crises, but he does promise to sustain us and accompany us. We live near an army base. Basic training for the soldiers at Fort Benning is really just a series of crises to help them develop a toughness in their character that will sustain them when they are on the battle field fighting for their country.

God uses the crises in our lives to prepare us for the battle that lies ahead. If we are not sent through the refiner's fire the final product is pretty weak and worthless.James said it quite nicely: "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." (1:2-3)