August 5, 2016 – Devotions based on passages from the book David and Goliath
Lopsided Conflict or How To Beat A Giant?

“Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.   David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.” So David removed them.   Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.  The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him.   When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.   The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.   The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.”   But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.   This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,   and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.”   1 Samuel 17:38-47

“…much of what we consider valuable in our world arises out of…lopsided conflicts, because the act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty. And…we consistently get these kinds of conflicts wrong. We misread them. We misinterpret them. Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness. And the fact of being an underdog can change people in ways that we often fail to appreciate: it can open doors and create opportunities and educate and enlighten and make possible what might otherwise have seemed unthinkable.” (David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell, p. 6) 

Giants come in all kinds of places, dress, and cultures. Throughout history there has been no lack of a giant – and they are not always the tall and strong kind of giant. Yes, there was Goliath – but we could also argue that David, the young shepherd who killed Goliath was also a giant in the history of the Israelites. The “Giants” of our lives are the people who seemed to be larger than life itself in how they lived, how they treated people, and what they did or did not accomplish in their time on this earth. Though she died at such a young age, could we not argue that Anne Frank was a giant? Frank Sinatra, Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Kennedy are also candidates for the title of “Giant”.

But Malcolm Gladwell is trying to make a point about how we determine who is a giant. Giants are not always the biggest and strongest, the most famous or the richest. Some giants are people who are short in stature, but overcame great odds to change the world, if not leave a legacy of hope and accomplishment. Candidates for those kinds of giants would be Anne Frank, Richard Branson who is dyslexic, Benjamin Franklin who dropped out of school at age 10, Thomas Edison who failed approximately 10,000 times until he invented the light bulb, and Stephen King whose first novel was rejected 30 times.

As I said before, giants come in all kinds of packages, and many aren’t identified until they are gone. Let me leave you with a poem by Georgia Harkness: a poem she wrote at the passing of her father.

A giant pine, magnificent and old
Stood staunch against the sky and all around
Shed beauty, grace and power.
Within its fold birds safely reared their young.
The velvet ground beneath was gentle,
and the cooling shade gave cheer to passers-by.
Its towering arms a landmark stood, erect and unafraid,
As if to say, “Fear naught from life’s alarms”.

It fell one day.
Where it had dauntless stood was loneliness and void.
But men who passed paid tribute – and said,
“To know this life was good,
It left its mark on me. Its work stands fast”.
And so it lives. Such life no bonds can hold –
This giant pine, magnificent and old.

Pastor Dave

August 4, 2016 – Devotions based on passages from the book David and Goliath
Outsourcing 

“But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”   Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?    Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.”   But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.”   Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad.    You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.   He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him.”  Exodus 4:10-16 

“The Swedish furniture retailer IKEA got its start….founded by Ingvar Kamprad.  His great innovation was to realize that much of the cost of furniture was tied up in its assembly.  So he sold furniture that hadn’t yet been assembled, shipped it cheaply in flat boxes, and undersold all his competitors.  In the mid 1950’s he ran into trouble.  Swedish furniture manufacturers launched a boycott of IKEA.  They were angry at his low prices, and they stopped filling his orders.  IKEA faced ruin.  Desperate for a solution, Kamprad looked south and realized just across the Baltic Sea….was Poland, a country with much cheaper labor and plenty of wood.  That’s Kamprad’s openness: few companies were outsourcing like that in the early 1960’s.  Poland in the 1960’s was a mess.  It was a Communist country.  It had none of the infrastructure or machinery or trained work-force…But Kamprad pulled it off.  What is the most striking fact about Kamprad’s decision?  It’s the year he went to Poland: 1961.  The Berlin Wall was going up.  The Cold War was at its peak.  To be creative (shipping furniture flat and outsourcing in the face of a boycott), and conscientious (to build a first-class manufacturing operation in an economic backwater) and have the strength of mind to defy the Cold War?  That’s rare.”  (David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell, p. 117-118) 

Outsourcing is not just the invention of the mid-20th century.  G-d has been outsourcing since the beginning of creation.  Think about it.  When the people were living sinful lives, G-d turned to Noah to build the ark and start anew.  When G-d wanted to free the Israelites, G-d turned to Moses to tell him he was going to be the one to free the people from the oppression of the Egyptians.  Now, Moses was not so keen to the idea.  In fact, Moses comes up with five specific reasons why he should not be the one.  That takes a lot of courage to tell G-d you are not the right person to go and do what G-d asks you to do – especially when G-d is speaking to you from a burning bush.  Anyway, Moses tells G-d, among other things, that he is a nobody, so why would the people listen to him.  And besides, he does not speak well in front of crowds, so wouldn’t it be better to send someone else.  So G-d decides he will outsource the speaking part of the job to, “your brother Aaron the Levite… I know that he can speak fluently…”  And of course the rest is Israelite history.   

G-d continues to need people to help with the work of G-d, so G-d will continue to outsource the work needed to be done.  That is what is at the heart of the phrase “G-d’s Work, Our Hands”.  There is plenty of work needed to be done, and G-d will continually look to us as possible people to be outsourced.  And that’s the way it should be. 

Pastor Dave