From the Heights to the Depths

The ministry that I share with hundreds of other leaders at Northside Church is quite distinctive. I wrote before about the significant contingent of Asians whom we enjoy as a vibrant part of our church personality. Last Saturday evening I spent a couple of hours with more than two hundred celebrants of the Lunar New Year at our Coquitlam campus. We ate real Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese and other national dishes until we were bulging and then enjoyed some wonderful Chinese style music featuring two of our members, James and Jane Yang and many of their students.

I loved the variety of sounds and the beauty of their authentic Oriental instruments. There’s something very godly about the blending of cultures, with costumes, foods, language and decor that display the many colours and sounds of God’s family. Sam and Lily Ong (pictured below) do an awesome job of helping our different ethnic members feel welcomed and involved.

But besides the uniqueness that our Asian members bring to our church family, we also have a large span of economic and social backgrounds in our mix. Because our Coquitlam campus has been built in a more prosperous neighbourhood, we have attracted a large group of financially secure members. Of course, we all recognize that there is as much dysfunction in the well-to-do as there is in those who struggle in their month to month existence, but there are also important life lessons that we can learn from both groups of people.

I’m so thankful for every person who is part of our church. There’s not an adult or child who can’t teach me something, but for whatever reason, I find myself discovering a lot of life truths lately from those who’ve struggled more to get to where they are today.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve spent more time than usual with men and women who’ve been working through their recovery from drugs and alcohol. Because my own upbringing has been devoid of both these vices, I’ve learned much about the world around me vicariously. Here’s a few life lessons my friends have taught me.

Honesty – It’s so refreshing to me to either visit our Saturday evening recovery service or to sit in a counseling session with a young man or woman who is working their way up the 12 Steps. I’m pleasantly surprised over and over with their naked honesty about where they’ve been and where they are now.

Healthy introspection – Was it Socrates who said “Know thyself?” Most of us don’t or at least we are slightly deceived about our own weaknesses or vulnerabilities. I find people in recovery know themselves well and therefore are aware of what are their triggers. If we know our triggers we can more carefully guard ourselves from failure.

Humility – As wonderful as success is, it often breeds pride and self-sufficiency. Many of my friends in recovery have spent time on the streets or in jail; they’ve seen life at the bottom and only have one place to look—up!

Open to God – Again, because of their overt failure, and being faced over and over with their weakness, they know they need God’s help. Paul wrote, “When I’m weak; then I’m strong.” That dependence on God is often forgotten when we get strong enough to stand on our own.

Thankfulness – Because those in recovery have been without long enough, they seem to be very thankful for help from others. My perception is that feeling people are more vulnerable to pain, and therefore lean more toward medicating their pain with drugs or alcohol. But when they regain their sanity (as the 12 Steps puts it) their sensitivity, which was God-given in the beginning, returns. They more easily feel both the good and the bad. We, who seemingly have it all together, miss out on enjoying or being thankful for the little roses along the path of life.

I’m sure there’s a lot more for me to learn from my friends. I look forward to every time we’re together.

Barry