Go Ahead. Ask for the Shark.
A lady I’m going to be volunteering with at church made a strange request yesterday.
“Don’t worry about the decorating part,” she said. “We’ll keep it simple.” Then, almost as an after-thought, she added. “You know, if you had an inflatable shark you could bring, that would be great.”
You may be thinking: “Who has an inflatable shark?”
Well, I do.
He’s in my garage as we speak.
I’d only just met this new friend so she had no idea about the shark pool float I borrowed from my sister and just never quite got around to returning. And what she also didn’t know was that our conversation was taking place after an hour where the enemy had been telling me I wasn’t good enough to help.
Satan was trying to convince me that I’m not talented in the needed areas and that the week of vacation I’d planned to give to this project would never be enough because I’d forgotten to consider things like decorating and extra training sessions.
I wonder if my new friend worried about adding the request, if that’s why there was a pause, or if something—well, really Someone—led her to ask me to bring a shark.
Whatever inspired her to make the request, it was a needed reminder that I am seen by El Roi, “the God Who Sees Me,” and that while I may think I am not enough, all Jesus asks is for me to give Him what I am and what I have and leave the rest to Him. Volunteering about church isn’t about me anyway!
As I was getting ready to fall asleep last night, I wondered how many times I have failed to ask someone to bring an inflatable shark. How often have I talked myself out of saying or writing something because it seemed such an odd thing to put out there? Have I let the inner editor in my brain run the show rather than being open to the leading of the Holy Spirit?
Or, in the case of my writing, have I talked myself out of sharing topics because my stories felt too personal or because I couldn’t understand the point of what I felt led to say?
Have you made choices to not call a friend who is suddenly put on your heart because she’s probably too busy? Have you talked yourself out of sharing your experiences—good and bad—because it felt weird or too hard or what’s that word? Strange?
My chief aim in starting the 2.0 version of this blog was to offer us all encouragement in our faith journeys. But I so often feel supremely unworthy. Or convince myself I don’t have time. Or I don’t want to open the door to my heart in case as a Lewis Carroll poem always makes me think, “There be dragons.” (Or that I’ll share some weird English-major reference that will make people think I’m a nerd. And what if they found out I actually got that reference from a Star Trek book before I ever ran across it in my once-future English major-world? Then they’d know for sure that that’s true!!)
But the fact is I listen to those thoughts way too often. I can easily slip into worrying that I’m not enough—when it comes to writing or volunteering at church…when it comes to a lot of things.
But Hebrews 3:10, tells us we should “Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”
Wait. What? Our encouragement can keep someone from being tricked by “sin’s deceitfulness”? Yep. Read that, “Satan’s lies!”
Our enemy is a liar who roams around looking for someone he can separate from the group, tear down, and DEVOUR. Peter tells us that he’s like a lion, ready to eat us alive.
And one of our defenses is the encouragement we get from and give to each other in Jesus’ name.
So, remember to watch out for the lion. Speak the words that God puts on your heart. Ask for the inflatable shark. And trust that God will use it to build up someone in ways we can hardly imagine.
It may be just the life preserver that person needs to get through some treacherous waters.
