Positioning

Well, I'm eagerly awaiting the departure to God's Country (the Northwoods of Wisconsin). I can't wait to get out of the car and smell the pine trees! Early on in the trip, some students and adult leaders from church are coming up for a mini work project and retreat time. On Saturday, I'm going to spend some time with group reflecting on Zacchaeus.

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. Luke 19:1-4 (NIV)

Two words in this passage really stand out to me: ran and climbed.

Ran.

Climbed.

These words have to do with positioning.

Here's this guy who happens to be short. He is just going about his own business being a tax collector. Then he hears that this dude, Jesus, is passing through the town.

Curious, he does the obvious thing. He runs and climbs a tree.

Climbs a tree?!

What the heck?

But you know what, he wanted to see Jesus. To do this, he had to overcome his height deficiency - so he climbed a tree.

I've struggled for a long time with fear of failure. This has led me to make some relatively "safe" decisions at various points in my life. I think in some ways, though, this makes it difficult to see Jesus at work every day. Like Zacchaeus' height deficiency, the safe way does not really put me in the right position. I mean think of this wealthy Zacchaeus tax collector guy climbing a tree to see Jesus. That was a pretty goofy thing to do. What were his acquaintances saying about him? I can just hear them laughing as they see this guy climbing a tree. What about those disciples who dropped everything to follow this Jesus? That is some serious positioning.

So over this next long week way from B-town, I'm really looking forward to taking advantage of opportunities for positioning.

Take care,

Todd