A Typical American Trap Shoot
 

Jesus, as the Son of God, didn’t use qualifiers. He would just say, “the kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field, or a pearl of vast worth, or a dragnet.” An experience I had the other day has caused me, a son of God, to observe that…

The Kingdom of God is also a little like a Wobble Trap.

Myself and a few friends hosted a gathering yesterday for the men of our local fellowship. Note; If you want to appeal to that wild-at-heart thing in a man, as a retreat organizer, by all means include food and firearms. Note; if you want to appeal to that wild-at-heart thing in a man, as his woman, or his would be woman, …well, I’ll let you organize your own retreat.

 

One more suggestion for a successful retreat; let your guest of honor be a wobble trap. Trap refers to the device that launches a clay pigeon so that aspiring marksmen can attempt to break it mid-flight. Many trap launch clays in the same place shot after shot. A wobble trap almost never launches clays in the same place twice. It is in that respect that a wobble trap is a bit like the kingdom of God.

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When they stepped up to the firing line, our shooter-guests did not know the full capabilities of the wobble trap. We introduced them to the machine by setting it to throw the clays repeatedly in the same place. Each shooter had a dozen or so shots. When it came his turn, each man, would call, “pull!” and the clay would launch. On this first round of predictable shots, the average kill ratio was often better than 50%. We then set the machine, without the shooter’s permission, to launch clays anywhere within a 100 degree range from left-to right. Result; the new kill ratio was typically less than 50%. Then, once again, without permission, we added the variable of vertical uncertainty. After this adjustment, the kill ratios dropped to much less than 50%.

I proposed in our debriefing that the kingdom of God is a little bit like a wobble trap in that life tends to throw us things that we did not anticipate and that we would have certainly not requested. In our wobble trap parable; the authentic follower of Christ, whose beliefs and understandings place God in a place of sovereignty and control, is often left wondering why this or that particular circumstance has been thrown at them. I am reminded of the lyrics of a song;

He picks up Gideon’s Bible…
Open at page one….
God stole the handle and
The train won’t stop going…
No way to slow down

I think this philosopher/troubadour represented a common response men have to life in its propensity to allow a broad range of unpredictable, unwanted and uninvited circumstances. In our trap shooting context, it was the assistant’s touch of a button that gave flight to our clay targets. In life, especially for Christ followers, we are left with the mystery and uncertainty of whose got the handle (or the button) that launches and sets up life’s circumstances.

For years I was troubled by the notion that God, in His sovereignty, either directly or indirectly had the handle and that the fact that I was not hitting many targets frustrated me and fueled an essential, yet pitiful, victim- oriented, complaint-centered life of introspection and prayer. The verse from Ash Wednesday by T.S. Eliot characterizes the dark and unproductive reflections of my life in that season;

And pray to God to have mercy upon us
And pray that I may forget
These matters that with myself I too much discuss
Too much explain

Christianity has provided many pat answers as to who’s got the handle and why targets fly where they do. Many, who I listen to, are near despair at the formulaic answers to life that traditional Christianity has offered them. In our post-wobble trap debriefing I thought I heard this question; What does our Good Shepherd have to say to hungering, hurting human beings who are confused and, in a few cases, offended at a God who seems to just let the train run off the tracks and slam into our lives?

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For clarifications sake; The kingdom of God is simply the realm of Christ’s expanding reign. It is where Jesus is actually ruling. It is where righteousness, peace and joy and love are having their way in human hearts and spilling over into our networks of friends and families and coworkers. The Kingdom is where Christ’s presence in us is manifesting itself in its flow of deed and truth form one to another. The kingdom is that space that is being reclaimed by God in our hearts which has been previously occupied by half-truths or blatant lies which have only served to establish false reference points for Christ’s abundant life. Christ is reclaiming all that is rightfully His by establishing His kingdom on earth in willing human hearts, one liberating truth at a time. Will we cooperate or will we just persist in rehearsing our same lifeless cliches and prescriptions to ourselves and others in Jesus’ name?

Those of us who lead should risk it all; hosting post-wobble trap debriefings. With our new ears (the ones that came with our new hearts), we can learn to listen; creating safe spaces for His people to grow into their identities and inheritance. I am going to do what I can to sustain this dialogue; giving it plenty of room to breath.

The tragic thing is that in the religious cultures we have created (which are not limited to churches), the dynamics often develop such that the man on top, usually the senior pastor (if its a business, the CEO), is the last to know what is really going on in the hearts of those entrusted to him, and sadly, he is often the one least inclined to ask.

Will the kingdom of God expand one 501(c)(3) at a time? Will the new tax exempt entity, with its more professional professionals, provide us with a new life-giving vision, where personalities and politics do not eat away and undermine the very essence of family which was God original intent? Will the kingdom of God come as existing non-profits hone their game, creating new, more appealing materials, programs and conferences? I am doubtful to say the least. But, at the same time, I am very hopeful because….

I do see God’s kingdom expanding one heart at a time. I see believers, scattered (strategically) across denominational, racial, gender, generational, social and national lines, responding, in Christ, to life, with all it may throw at us. I see the true shepherds of His flock arising to speak

 

and lead from their earned authority to the hearts of those entrusted to them; teaching these Christ followers to find Him in the midst of the uninvited, unwelcome circumstances that life seems to have thrown them.

As we individually learn to respond to Jesus, right square in the middle of our messy circumstances, he will establish a kingdom beachhead in our hearts from which He can further His mission in reestablishing His kingdom’s dominion over this earth through human beings as He originally intended. As we move ahead, enjoying the fruit of His reign in our hearts, we will sing a new song of Life, characterized by the boldness and joy that is now ours as citizens and sons of His kingdom. We will tell a new story that matches His claims and vindicates Him as the One who redeems all things according to His majesty and glory.

The Lord does not guarantee that life will be a predictable and welcome experience. However He does promise, regardless of outward circumstance, that we can have His Life in abundance. How ironic it is that when we encounter and respond to Him in the midst of our circumstances, He becomes our Lord in-fact. How amazing that the establishment of His Kingdom on earth is dependent on our heart’s response to the wobble trap feature of life. It is in this sense that I mean that the kingdom of God is a little like a wobble trap.

Father, help our hearts to see that, in all that life throws at us, it is with You with whom we have to do. Help us be less concerned with why life has transpired as it has and more concerned with just how we can respond to You in the midst of it. Thank You.

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