From the Desk of Murray Lincoln: Moving from Offense to Opportunity

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Today’s Blog Post

Moving from Offense to Opportunity – what a journey

“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone…” were the words crooned by Johnny Nash in 1972. Johnny’s song became #1 on the US and Canadian hit parade. You can see him sing it on this YouTube Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkwJ-g0iJ6w

The song speaks of tough times becoming better times.

Johnny’s career in music covers many years from 1957 to 1989 He was born in 1940 and today registers a whopping 71 years of talent.

Yesterday I heard a young man tell an amazing story that brought Johnny Nash’s song to life.

The young man’s name is Pastor Trevor Headricks. He and his wife Stephanie are the fairly new Pastors at the Newcastle Crossroads Church (http://crossroadsnewcastle.ca/)

Pastor Trevor shared the story of Joseph, the guy with the coat of many colours. Joseph, you may recall, was hated by his brothers, sold into slavery which took him to Egypt, did well except for the accusations of rape by Potiphar’s wife, a jail term, some bad and good dreams… and over all suffering an abnormal amount of “Offenses” done to him and against him.

BTW - you can hear Pastor Trevor preach this sermon on their brand new Web Site and the tab "Sermons" at http://crossroadsnewcastle.ca/sermons2012

- the click on the one that you want to listen to.

Pastor Trevor Headrichs told the account well and made it come alive. Although I have preached extensively on this part of the Old Testament – it wasn’t until yesterday that some major pieces started making even more sense.

I had a WOW Moment in Pastor Trevor’s sermon and it has been going on every since.

The WOW Moment came as a result of actually seeing my own life which kind of parallels the life of Joseph.

Joseph faced mountains of “Crap” from people over the years. He may have caused some of the Crap as well when he was the centre of his daddy’s love and admiration – which came at the expense of his brothers.

As Pastor Trevor spoke I saw Joseph… it was like I was really there in the time when it happened to the dude. The words that Trevor was speaking was one thing but the almost out of body experience was wild. I was with Joseph through his whole life.

Now most of you reading this will have little idea of what I am talking about. You don’t really know me. You know little of what I have gone through over all these years of working and ministering. My life had to be guarded and the information that I know and knew could not be spoken of. It involved the lives of people that were at times less than lovely.

I was a Minister. I served in this role for 35 years. I have many stories… too many actually!

Having served in this role I can tell you that I know what “Offense” is all about. I know what it does to people. I saw it for years and spent a good deal of my time dealing with it.. trying to get people to leave the Crap behind and move on into better things. Some did it and many couldn’t.

Worse yet others around the Offended one picked up the person’s Offense and carried it – destroying their own lives.

But then there was the Offenses that piled up against me personally. Yikes!

In Pastor Trevor’s sermon yesterday I saw the Pile of Crap that had built up. The Offense Crap-o-la… pile. And the stuff that is in it is plain and simple Crap that stinks and hurts everyone around the person that pours it out.

I suddenly felt dirty as I thought of all the Crap that people have poured out around me. Dare I even tell one story without making even more people more angry.

One couple came for help. Their marriage was in a disastrous shape. They could not resolve anything. The wife is primarily the problem – actually the nightmare who regularly blames everything on her husband. She has left him for another older man… so have her kids. The kids are in deep trouble now and unless there is some major intervention… it is real bad.

Guess who got blamed for this mess. Yep! I did. My inept ability to magically make everything right… was the problem. When I told the couple that the way they(she) was acting would lead to some major problems for their children – she screamed out her anger in horrific ways. Mainly against her husband and that I was the cause of all this CRAP.

Offended? I certainly knew what that meant at that time. But I could do nothing about it – at all.

Another wicked old lady did everything in her power to destroy my life. She was horrible to deal with and plain nasty to live/work with. I have nothing but pity for her husband. Her Offensive Crap was very stinky to say the least.

Nope you will never guess who she is. She appeared in six different places that I ministered in… each time with a different name. The best name I could give her was “The Queen of Crap”… each time she reared her ugly attitude.

As I listened to Pastor Trevor yesterday my life flashed before me just the way that Joseph must have has that happen so man time in the places that he lived.

All of a sudden yesterday I saw how big the pile of Crap was in my own life.

I realized something vital at that moment. I could let the Crap bury me and sink my future… or I could take another look at what God had already done for me. As I left it alone and moved away… not suing people for their defamation of my character, for the slander, for the ugly attitudes and destructive power of all their words… and let it go…. I survived.

As a result of moving away from the Crap God positioned me in a far better place and some wonderful opportunities.

Yesterday I could see clearly now, the rain has gone… WOW.

Pastor Trevor is an excellent speaker. He knows his stuff well. But he is young… and how could someone so young get through to me… who is so much older? I was ready to hear what God was about to say to me!

The Lyrics to “I can see clearly now” are as follows and make perfect sense today – absolutely perfect sense!

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I’ve been praying for
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Look all around, there’s nothing but blue skies
Look straight ahead, nothing but blue skies

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.