I park on level 4.
Every working day.
The thing is I have to jump a lift up to level seven which takes to me the city street level.
It's a lift (elevator) that could tell a million stories.
It's a lift that you could say has different seasons.
And the season we are in right now as I write?
The student season.
Loads of students use it to access one of the colleges. Located right on the ground level of the car park.
So when I get in it in the morning it can be found to be crammed with highly active students. The air is thick with heavy perfume and deodorant which seems to just overwhelm the brutally small space.
Or?
Without fail?
If no students are in?
It's guaranteed they have pressed every button so that the lift stops on every level on the way up.
It's an old trick.
And one that for some people is so frustrating.
I've seen people get so mad and the old comments about "young people today" come rolling out of funnily angry people.
I just laugh.
It's no good getting frustrated.
Frustration gets you off to a bad start.
Frustration can easily make you take your eye of the game.
The only worrying thing is whether you can make it to level 7 without getting gassed by the perfume and eau de toilette that fills the entire lift cabin space.
I've managed to make it so far!
This morning was a, "Stop at every level" morning.
As I came out of the cheap aluminium doors on level 7 into the semi-fresh air of the awakening city this morning I had this amazing kind of clarity in my head and I heard God speak into my momentary clarity of thought.
It's amazing how many frustrated Salvationists, in fact how many frustrated Christians there are.
I've met some this week.
People Who have been sucked in by the most trivial things.
And I've got to be honest I've fell for it myself on many an occasion.
Things that deflect our focus.
Things that cause us to take our eye of the mission.
Take our eyes off Jesus.
Trivial things.
A bit like stopping at every floor in a lift in a multi-storey car park.
Massively trivial.
A bit annoying but trivial.
Which brings me to a word that God slapped into my life this morning. A word he asked me to communicate to my own denomination.
So here goes.
Hey Salvation Army.
We are in times right now that require the focus to be shifted from the trivia to the spiritual. The battle is shifting into a dimension never experienced before. The Spirit of God says, drop your meaningless battles and join the real fight. The fight for the souls of people. Reflect and think, and then stop yourselves being drawn into the tempting snare that frustration embraces. Do not lose heart. Do not lose faith. Do not lose the fighting Spirit I instilled into you at the beginning. Trivia stifles the energy of my Spiritual mission. Do not be drawn by it. Focus on the things that are blessed. Focus on me. Focus on the fight. Focus on pure love. Don't get pulled off the track by things you can't control. Brush them aside and follow me. When the focus is on me there is massive ground to be taken, the positioning is already taken care of, there is territory to be regained, there are stolen lives to be returned to the creator. This work is the work I have given you. Trivial frustration is holding you back. The Spirit of God says the door is unlocked but frustration is preventing you from walking through it.
Set your minds on the things of God. Set your course on the mission. Set your life on the track that moves.
I've spent a few minutes just thinking of the trivial stuff that I can't control.
Stuff that goes on around me.
It can be frustrating.
Really frustrating.
But.
There is work to be done.
Relationships to be built.
Prayers to be prayed.
Compassion to be shown.
Sickness to be healed.
Lost lives to be rescued.
Plenty to be getting on with!
So don't let frustration that little troubles cause slow us down.
There really isn't time for that.
Blessings guys.
