“LET GOD DANCE IN YOUR POTATO CHIPS”
PSALM 150 and LUKE 9:27-43
150:1 Praise the LORD! Praise God in his
sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament!
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise
him according to his surpassing greatness!
3 Praise him with trumpet sound; praise
him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise
him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that breathes praise
the LORD! Praise the LORD!
27 But truly I tell you, there are some
standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."
28 Now about eight days after these sayings
Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
29 And while he was praying, the appearance
of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and
Elijah, talking to him.
31 They appeared in glory and were speaking
of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed
down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter
said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for
Elijah"--not knowing what he said.
34 While he was saying this, a cloud came
and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.
35 Then from the cloud came a voice that
said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was
found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
37 On the next day, when they had come
down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.
38 Just then a man from the crowd shouted,
"Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child.
39 Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all
at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him.
40 I begged your disciples to cast it
out, but they could not."
41 Jesus answered, "You faithless and
perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here."
42 While he was coming, the demon dashed
him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
43 And all were astounded at the greatness
of God.
Jesus said, “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” Rain does sometimes fall on our parades
and our picnics, doesn’t it. Sometimes things just don’t go the way we plan or hope for.
And rain doesn’t have to come from a cloud in the sky, in can come in our minds and spirits, can’t
it. Have you ever tried to learn some new task, couldn't get the hang of it, and felt incompetent or stupid? It is so easy to get discouraged, isn't it? You look at all the work that you have to do, and so little
time to do it, and you can end up in frustration and despair. You see all the
problems that won’t go away and you end up wrestling with doubts.
That’s probably how a husband felt after he received a phone call from his wife in the middle of a hectic
day at work. He was having a terrible day and was already frazzled, and as soon as he heard his wife’s voice, he let
her know that this was not a good time for them to talk.
“I’m sorry,” the wife said apologetically, “but I really think you need to hear what
I have to say. Some of my news is good but some of it is bad.”
“I’ll tell you what,” the husband said. “Why don’t you give me the good news now,
and you can give me the bad news when I get home this evening.”
“Well, okay,” the wife said with a sigh. “If that’s the way you want it. You know how
the new car we just bought has air bags, right? Well, here's the good news. They work.”
Life is full of unwanted surprises. And it is easy to get discouraged when life is difficult. Your job gets
you down, or your kids push your buttons, or your arthritis makes it hard to do the things that you used to take for granted,
or you get the news about cancer, or you lose a job.
Maybe
your parents won't accept the fact that the time has come to get some assisted living help and you're running yourself ragged
trying to take care of them. Maybe you have a son who's giving you a lot of grief because he thinks that he knows better than
you.
A minister with a son like that saw an opportunity to change things a little when the son came to him shortly
after he got his driver's license and asked him if he could use the car. "I'll tell you what," the father said. "I'll make
you a deal. If you bring your grades up, help your mother a little more, and get a haircut we'll talk about it." A month later
the son came back and asked if they could discuss his use of the car again. "Well," the father said, "I'm really proud of
you. You brought your grades up, you helped your mother more, but you didn't get a hair cut!" The son must have been waiting
for that argument because he immediately replied:
"You know, Dad, I've been thinking about that. Moses had long hair, Samson had really long hair, and even Jesus
had long hair."
"Yes," the father answered, "that's true, but everywhere they went -- they walked."
The next time you’re a little discouraged, take a look at what happened to the disciples after Jesus came
down from the mountain. While they were on top of the mountain, they had that wonderfully uplifting experience when Jesus
was transfigured. But did you know that once they came back down the mountain, that emotional high didn’t last? The
very next day a father, in great distress, -- a man with a with a sick son –came to the disciples for help. In response,
the disciples tried to cure the son, but they failed miserably. In fact, Jesus had to do it for them. The father went to Jesus
and said, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Jesus did heal the boy, of course, but he also
gave the disciples a bit of a tongue lashing. You could even say that Jesus was downright indignant. “You faithless
and perverse generation,” he said, “how much longer must I be with you and bear with you?”
It is hard to say why Jesus reacted the way he did, but it’s possible that he got angry with the disciples
because they gave up too soon. Jesus
had already given the disciples the power to heal, but for some reason they couldn’t do it for this father and son.
Now it’s possible that they couldn’t help the boy because they were feeling despondent; their feelings were down,
because they had just been told that Jesus was going to be put to death. Jesus told them that terrible news shortly before
he went up the mountain, and it was reaffirmed in his conversation on the mountain with Moses and Elijah. The disciples were
sad and discouraged, and there’s nothing wrong with that. After all it’s not a sin to be discouraged or disheartened.
When something bad happens it’s normal to be dispirited and even to cry. However, what we don’t want to do is
to end up like the disciples. The disciples let their discouragement shut them down.
The worst thing that we can do when we’re discouraged is to let it stop us from doing what we can do.
That happens when we get down on ourselves. It happens when we begin to think that we’re helpless and that the situation
is hopeless. We begin to doubt ourselves and our abilities; we lose our energy. We get out of touch with the power God had
given us, which is exactly what the disciples did.
Instead of giving up, what we really want to do is be like the elderly widow who surprised her family by moving
a huge, heavy rock that had been sitting in the middle of her backyard for years. When the family asked her how she managed
to move the rock she said, “I was discouraged when Eddie and Jack -- her strong, teenaged grandsons -- said they couldn't
budge it. But I have never taken NO for an answer for very long. So I talked to my neighbor, who is a civil engineer. He showed
me how to use a smaller rock behind the big one, and how to use a long pole over the smaller rock -- like a lever. Then I
just went out each morning with my pole and the smaller rock, and I rolled the big rock just one flip. That one flip took
all my strength, but every morning I kept rolling it one flip at a time, until finally, I had flipped it all the way across
the backyard and into the woods.”
Jesus did not get angry with the disciples because they were discouraged, but rather, because they gave up.
They let their poor spirits, their hopelessness, keep them from using the gifts that God had given to them. So Jesus would say to us, “Don't give up!” And secondly, he’d say: “Get out
of yourself and do something kind and helpful for someone else.”
A woman, whose father owned an ice cream store, tells a story that taught her an important lesson about dealing
with discouragement and hassle. It happened during an extremely busy time. It was hot, and folks were clambering for ice cream
from the moment the doors of the shop opened until late at night. It was exhausting
work for everyone, then one of the best employees moved away.
The owner of the shop was beside himself with overload. Finally he hired a young woman to fill the empty spot
in the store. But she had a horrendous first day on the job. If there was a mistake to be made, she made it. She not only
was no help, she actually made more work for the father. The young woman got the prices wrong all day, mixed up order after
order, and even dropped several big ice cream cones.
After watching the all the errors mount up, the owner's daughter became exasperated, went to her father who
was lugging in two big containers of ice cream. She begged her father to put the young woman out of her misery and let her
go. Since her father could see what was going on, the daughter expected him to fire the young woman on the spot. After listening
to the litany of complaints, the father took a deep breath. He thought about the situation for a minute, and then went out
to talk to the young woman. "Debbie," he said, "I've been watching you all day, and I saw how you treated Mrs. Forbush." The
young woman's face turned red, and her eyes began to well up as she tried to remember what she had done wrong with that customer.
Before she could remember, however, he put his hand on her shoulder and said, "I've never seen Mrs. Forbush be so polite
to any of my employees before. Even though you had some difficulties, she saw how hard you were trying. She even laughed when
you dropped her ice cream. I'm sure that she is going to want you to wait on her every time she comes in. Keep up the good
work." The daughter was shocked as she watched her father handle the situation. But because of his willingness to see the
humor and to be kind and helpful, he ended up with a loyal and hard working employee who stayed with him for sixteen years.
He also ended up with a friend for life.
So Jesus might say to us, “First: Don't give up. Second: do something kind: be patient and helpful toward
someone else. And a third thing he would tell us about being discouraged: It is never helpful to make mountains out of our
mole hills.
In other words, don’t sweat the little stuff. So what if you didn’t get every last thing on your
list done today. So what if you didn’t get an A on that term paper. So what if
the cake fell. So what if you found another gray hair this morning. So what if the stock market went down another few points.
So what if the roads have potholes. In the grand scheme of things most of the minor setbacks in life really aren't all that
important. You won't even remember them in a few weeks.
That’s what a woman realized one day while she was getting supper ready after a particularly disastrous
day. Listen to her story.
Recently, I had one of those days. I was feeling pressure from a writing deadline. I had company arriving, and
not only was the toilet clogged, but the rubber in the plunger was split. I went to the bank, and the teller processing my
deposit, was a trainee and had to start over three times. I swung by the supermarket to pick up a few things and the lines
were so long and serpentine my green bananas were starting to turn yellow.
By the time I got home. I was frazzled and sweaty and in a hurry to get something on the table for dinner. I
decided on a grilled cheese sandwich and Cream of Tomato Soup diluted with milk. I grabbed a can opener, cranked open the
can, dumped the soup into the pan, then after pouring some milk in the soup I realized it was sour. The kids had left the
bread out and it was dried up. Forget the soup and sandwich idea. Setting the pan aside, I went to plan B, which was leftover
baked beans. I grabbed a Tupperware from the fridge, popped the cover, took a look and groaned. MOLD. My husband isn't a picky
eater, but even HE won't eat baked beans that look like fuzzy caterpillars. Really frustrated, now, I decided on a menu that
promised to be as foolproof as it is nutrition-free: hot dogs and potato chips. The relish and catsup could be the vegetables.
Retrieving a brand new jumbo-sized bag of potato chips from the cupboard, I grabbed the cellophane bag from both sides and
gave a hearty pull. The bag didn't open. I tried again. Nothing happened. I took a breath, doubled my muscle, and gave the
bag a hearty wrestle. With a loud POP, the cellophane suddenly gave way, ripping wide from top to bottom. Chips flew sky high.
I was left holding the bag, and it was empty. It was the final straw.
I let out a blood curdling scream. ‘I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!’ My husband heard my cry for help.
Within seconds he was standing at the doorway to the kitchen, where he surveyed the damage: an opened can of soup, melting
groceries, moldy baked beans, and one quivering wife standing ankle deep in potato chips. My husband did the most helpful
thing he could think of at the moment. He took a flying leap, landing barefoot in the pile of chips. And then he began to
dance and twirl -- arms and legs and chips flying! He made a pirouette like a ballerina, and held out an imaginary tutu as
he danced. I stared. I fumed. But pretty soon I was working hard to stifle a smile. Eventually I had to laugh. And finally
I decided to join him. I, too, took a leap onto the chips. And then I danced too.
Then the woman concluded: Now I'll be the first to admit that my husband's response wasn't the one I was looking
for. But the truth is, it was exactly what I needed. I didn't need a cleanup crew to fix the mess in the kitchen, as much
as I needed an attitude adjustment. The laughter from that rather silly dance in the potato chips provided just what I needed.
So now I have a question for you, and it is simply this: "Have you ever let God dance in your potato chips?”
It’s normal to get discouraged from time to time. Just don’t sweat the little stuff. And don’t
let frustration and despair rob you of the gifts that God has given you; gifts that can make your life and the world a better
place.
One gift that God has given us is a sense of humor. Jesus used it often. Use humor to help with an attitude
adjustment. So don't cry over spilt ice cream cones nor ankle-deep potato chips.
Try not to let discouragement blind you to God's real blessings that are dancing all around you. Don’t
let it keep you from laughing and loving and really living your life.
All around us God is dancing and offering an attitude adjustment. There are mountain views, sunsets, beautiful
spring flowers, and loving people. There are children blowing bubbles and people making music. There are parades, and fireworks,
and festivals. There are plays and paintings and popcorn.
Like the disciples you’re going to fail, you're going to get discouraged and down on yourself from time
to time. It’s unavoidable and it’s understandable. But when it happens please remember, let God dance in your
potato chips; and you join him in the dance.
Rev.
Dr. Hal Fohlin – Pastor Emeritus
May
6, 2007
