Remember to breathe

I need to stand in front of a mirror and repeat that phrase over and over again to myself today. I have been shocked, amazed and terrified lately at just how busy my life has been over the last three weeks since I officially assumed the mantle of church leadership. It seems like life and ministry have been one long roller coaster ride with a limitless number of corkscrews and loops in the track ahead. Every time I tell myself, this is when it slows down and I'll have a chance to catch my breath the track disappears beneath me and I'm plummeting into another set of twists and turns and I try to hold on for dear life.

I share this today not so that I can receive your pity or sympathy but because through all of the exhaustion and terror of the ride that has been my initiation into this role of leadership God has surprised me with his sustaining power - keeping me right on the edge of disaster but never letting me go over. To use a different analogy I feel like the pedal is on the floor right now and I've been redlining  the tachometer for the last 200 kilometres just waiting for the engine to melt and die but somehow it keeps on going. It really is amazing and God deserves all the credit.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12 (NIV)

God has been teaching me the application of this passage lately and it's a message that has never seemed so real. He's teaching me not to always look at exhaustion as a sign of defeat or persecution - but as a sign that God wants to show me his power through my fragile clay circumstances. Tomorrow is Friday and the extent of my sermon prep this week consists of some ideas scribbled on one side of a small piece of notepaper - I can't wait to see what God is going to do with that.

Today's Transformer is Universe Ironhide. 

Ironhide is a gruff and seasoned warrior in the Autobot ranks. In the Generation One continuity he was a close confidant of Optimus Prime and quite possibly the oldest Autobot in active service (that was until they introduced Kup during the 86 movie). His namesake has since been absconded by the Black GMC Topkick in the live action movie continuity and has seen a resurgence in popularity as a result. I shared with you yesterday that my brother Keegan collects Starscream figures, well my other little brother Brandon collects Ironhide figures so he's somewhat special for that reason too. I have to think that leaving the collection to support charity is a better ending for Ironhide than he received in the '86 movie when he grovelled at Megatron's feet only to get his face blasted off  by a shot from Megatron's fusion cannon. 

This figure is significant because it reflects the first time in a mass release figure that Ironhide has a figure that closely approximates his original animated character model. Ironhide (and his repaint twin Ratchet) was based on a toy that had almost zero resemblance in the robot mode to what kids saw on TV. The vehicle modes were spot on but you would be hard pressed to see how the two robots were supposed to be the same. For that reason Ironhide was the subject of a great deal of kitbashing and custom work over the years where devoted fans would take other figures and modify them - or repaint them to resemble the Ironhide that they wanted to see Hasbro produce. After many years of crying out - the fans got what they  wanted, and this toy is the fruit of that longing.

Farewell Ironhide.

Chris