Remember that great line from A League of Their Own when Tom Hanks moans to his dejected female baseball players, "There's no crying in baseball."  Classic.  Tom's character (the coach) is just beside himself that baseball players would show such open emotion and feeling.  He enforces the unwritten code of the sport he loves, "There's no crying in baseball."  Well, I often feel the Christian bubble has enforced the same type of sentiment.  Some methods are move obvious than others.  There are those who you'll hear say something like, "Don't be down, have faith in Jesus."  Or, "The Bible says to rejoice always, so suck it up and give him a 'hallelujah.'"  I heard a woman in the church last week talk about how she hates funerals, and that we shouldn't ever have funerals, because we should not allow ourselved to mourn or be sad over those who go to be with Christ.  Yet for me personally, funerals are one of the most moving and intimate things that I experience with Christ.  Maybe it's more subtle, like when we come to church feeling like we can't really be ourselves, or express our struggles and heartaches.  Or, if we see another struggling, we tend to take on a sense of righteousness or "have-it-all-together-ness."

In these next couple of blogs, you'll see that there really is Crying in Christians.  It is okay, it is even Biblical, to have moments of despair, depression, sorrow, pain, and regret (even if they are leveled against God Himself).  The Biblical word for these times is call Lamenting.  Please read carefully, because lamenting is not the same as griping or hoplessness.  There is a hidden hope in lamenting, and I hope you'll give yourself to it.

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In life, we have conflict and fights with one another over many things- what you want and they want don’t match up.  You see it one way, and they see it another.  Your boss, co-workers, your son, your father, your wife!  It’s bothersome and hard.  And we try to avoid the conflict, yet it is unavoidable.  And so, we find ourselves in the midst of a trial or fight.  I have heard there are two kinds of fighters (argue-ers) in life.  You are either a turtle or a skunk.  A turtle shrinks back and does nothing.  No words, no actions, just walks away - avoid it.  The skunk sprays everyone right then and there.  No one can escape from the stink.  It hits us all.  And after that, everything is fine with them.  Maybe not the other guys, but it has been talked about.  Which one are you?  And isn’t true that we tend to fight the most with those we love the most?  

Yet as much as we might say we are a Christ follow-er and love God, would we say that we have been in conflict with Him?  Can that be?  Are we wrong about this?  Is God the exception?   Haven’t there been things in between you and God that bother you?  Hurt you?  Confuse you?  Aren’t there?  And yet, we most often don’t deal with these things openly with Him.  Why aren’t we open and honest?  Are we afraid of His response?  That He might get mad and strike us with lightning or simply ruin our lives?  Or, we might think it, but just can´t imagine expressing or saying it?  Maybe we have and feel that God didn’t respond; nothing changed.  Some might feel that God really doesn’t care and don’t see any reason to begin with.

Wherever you might be, we have a Biblical example for our times of deep struggle against God.  When He doesn’t make sense or seem to care.  This expression is called a lament.  They are deep cries from the heart of a tired and weary sufferer.  They were written by people in real problems and pain; hungry for relief and solutions.  These laments are very open and emotional, nothing is held back.  They come from a people who are assured that God will not scorn or scold them for their honest screams- for they are screams of hope and faith.  And I have entitled this sermon from the words of author, Dan Allender, who just got it right when he called, The Hidden Hope in Lament.

I really want us to look at this passage we read from Psalms 73 as a model or pattern for us today.  This is our opportunity of expression as well.  Some of you hurt so deeply and this could be your avenue of expression to God that would thaw out things between you and draw you close once again.  For others, this is a part of our growing relationship with Christ that is to come, and if you will give attention to it now, it will keep you from traps of destruction and deeper confusion later.  Life is hard, and we will all face moments that bring us to the point of breaking.  And in the middle of that, our flesh, and Satan, will devise every plan they can to keep us quiet and isolated; to keep us from our God.  But we must open up.

There are 4 general parts of laments.  I want to briefly share them with you.  I'll share them with you in the next blog (I promise this time).

I must say that this is my first ever blog attempt, and I’m just not sure what to think about it all. Although I’ve always somewhat had a gift for gab, I have a strong and deep appreciation for concise wording. And the older I get, the stronger those feelings grow. Which probably leads me into my turmoil and angst over this new adventure called blogging. I hope for these things: one, you enjoy, laugh, and wrestle over the thoughts. Two, you get to know me a little better – and I you, if you reply. Three, the Lord is honored.