If I’m going to go any further with this project, I must make it clear that I am a LOST fan.
And if there is one thing I believe LOST contributed to our collective conscious, it is the power of good story telling. LOST told us a good story because it connected us to good characters. We connected to the characters because they faced difficult situations on a constant basis. We connected to characters through the virtues they showed us in their reaction to difficult situations.
Charlie, the burnout rockstar, found a wrecked plane filled with heroine.
John Locke was constantly challenged by his disabilities, and his strong sense of belief in the power of the island.
Kate faced her conflicting identities, both her goodness and her crime-ridden past.
Sawyer was tested to show whether he could become a man of integrity or remain a conman.
And Jack, the doctor, was constantly confronted by situations he simply couldn’t fix. He was tested as a man of science in order to become a man of faith.
I want you to imagine the power of this one aspect of LOST. Imagine if you woke up in the morning, and every single day the one daunting task that cut straight to your heart was there waiting for you. What decisions would you make? Because the characters in LOST not only faced day-to-day, physical tests – polar bears, thieves, rogue island tribes and nuclear bombs. They also faced the deep, haunting tests that struck to the core of their being – addictions, self-doubt and many insecurities.
I have spent much of the summer meditating on the story of Moses in the Bible. I think the reason it has stuck with me for so long this summer is because his is a story that is riddled with conflict.
The Pharoah had made slaves out of Moses’ people and he issued a decree that every baby boy should be thrown into the Nile River. Moses’ was literally born into a world of conflict. And yet he lived. And on top of that, he wound up right at the Pharoah’s doorstep, and was raised in Pharoah’s house. Just to make it through his years as an infant, Moses faced great trials.
And the drama continued to build.
Moses saw an Egyptian guard beating one of the Israelites, one of his own people. He became outraged, kills the guard and hides the body. When he learned that folks saw his act of murder, he fled to the desert. Here he was welcomed into a family, found a wife and became a shepherd. I think many of us would be a lot happier if the story of Moses ended right there. “And after an exciting young life, Moses moved out to the suburbs, worked until he could retire and then lived out the rest of his days, happily ever after.” Or something like that.
This begs the question – How many of us are fleeing to the desert? How many of us are hiding out and shying away from the challenges God has placed before us? How many of us have been burned a little or had a couple bumps a long the road, and quickly learned that it was just easier to avoid conflict rather than to overcome it? How many of us are choosing not to be a part of the great story God has for us?
And it wasn’t like Moses was some awesome guy. He had a speech impediment. He didn’t want to go when God called him. He said “God, send someone else, anyone else! But not me!” Moses said “God who are you? They won’t listen to me, but maybe…maybe if I can say exactly who you are, then they will listen.”
Moses finally overcame it all – the doubt about this burning bush that suddenly talked to him, the insecurities within himself, and the worry that he was going right back to his enemies.
And God was with him every step of the way. What’s more is that after all this – fleeing from Pharaoh, holy encounters with God, the showdown with another Pharaoh and leading God’s people out of slavery – Moses didn’t even set foot into the Promised Land.
I think the reason that the story of Moses has stuck with me this summer is because of this reminder that God has not called us out into the desert. The desert may have been one of the few times in his life where Moses experienced peace. But Moses was not left out in the desert, in fact God called him back to the place where he was wanted for murder, where there was slavery, where God’s people cried out in agony; a veritable hell on earth in every sense of the phrase.
God is not calling us to the desert. God is not calling us to the safety. God is calling us right back to the deep, haunting tests that cut straight to our souls. Even when we are not facing the physical, day-to-day tests, even when we are not being tested by our own addictions and doubts, someone in our world is. This morning, children in developing nations across the globe will strap 5-gallon water jugs to their backs and walk over an hour just to get their water for the day. Over the course of the day, over 40 percent of the world’s population will struggle to get by on the equivalent of $2. By the end of the day, 5000 children will die from water-related diseases, most of which are completely preventable. The story of the world is riddled with conflict. It is up to us whether we choose to take our part, or hide in the desert. As Donald Miller writes:
We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn’t it?
May we take our part in God’s story for the world. May we realize that it will be a path riddled with conflict that we must face daily, but let us not shy away or grow weary. May we realize that even after all the obstacles we overcome, that we still may not enter into the Good Land, the Land of milk and honey, or the Land of Retirement and easy living. And may we begin to tell the stories that show the world the virtues of our character and that inspire others to find their own story.
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