I’m 6 foot, 4 inches tall, which is about 1.9 meters. No matter where I go in this world, people always say “Man you’re tall!” I always say thank you but in the back of my mind I think, really, I was unaware of my height. No I don’t play basketball! And if someone asks me one more time, “How is the weather up there?” I will spit on them and say it’s raining.
By the way, the first paragraph comes from a spoken word artist I have really grown fond of named Joseph Solomon.
I don’t have this bitterness built up about my height. I love that God made me exactly the way He did. I performed my first spoken word poetry when I was in Nepal. It was such a cool experience and I hope to do more of it as the Race progresses. God has not made me a writer yet, so I have decided to speak on others peoples work. I also make sure I give them the credit. You see Solomon has the same physique that I do, tall and skinny. He goes on in his spoken word entitled Standing Tall to say many bold and impactful things.
“Far too often we downplay the way God has made us because he made us standout, made us look different, made us with uniqueness that people stare at when we walk in a room. Standing tall, we have painfully played limbo with invisible bars that people have set for us when really we were never made to bend our backs for them in the first place but to stand up. Because despite what others expect, beyond some unmeasured reason God has made me just the way I am to do exactly what I’m doing. And I guess I’m still learning to be cool with that.”
I want to STAND TALL when it comes to my faith. I want to be a lion, the same way Jesus was. You see our culture has also put Jesus is a box. We call Jesus the lamb of God, and yes that is one of his names. Recently I have been focusing on the name, Lion of Judah. You see Jesus did not get people to follow him because he was soft and quiet like a lamb. Jesus was fierce, wise, and bold like a lion. My squad leader Grace told me that I have these same characteristics as Jesus. For example, Grace and I talked about the theme of getting overcharged because I am a westerner, and the way it pissed me off every time.
Let me set the stage, when we lived in Nepal we would always have to ride a bus that was packed to the brim with locals. This was an amazing experience. Slowly creeping 6 kilometers up into a mountain range perfectly sculpted by God, yes I’m talking about the Himalayas! Before we arrived, our host told us to never pay more than 50 rupees for the ride. But every time we stepped foot in the bus the young man collecting money would always tell us to pay 100 rupees. For some reason this modern day tax collector would never be the same guy, so every time I would have to start from scratch. I would first start off by saying “No, we will pay you 50, which is the same rate you charge everyone else.” He would always say no, the mic dropped from the ceiling, and all I could here was, “Let’s get ready to rumble.” I would verbally fight these guys until they gave my team the fair rate. Grace asked me if this battle was the hill I was willing to die on? My answer is and always will be a resounding YES! To me injustice comes in all different sizes and I will fight until I’m black and blue until I see an end to it – I will STAND TALL! I will be a lion and fight for the ones I love and the next 1000 westerners that get in that same bus.
Let’s look at the Bible scripture where Jesus turned over tables in the temple courts. “And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.” Matthew 21:14–16. You can see here that Jesus was angry, the lion was roaring! He was mad that people were selling animals to be sacrificed in his Father’s courts. When you read the context of this story you will understand that he was also mad at the prices the businessmen were charging their customers. You see the closer a person got to the temple court the more expensive the animal costs. I was furious that these jokers on the bus where overcharging my loved ones, just like Jesus was mad these corrupt businessmen were overcharging people.
So my question to you in what areas of your life are you NOT Standing Tall? Why?
What are the hills that you are willing to die on? Why are they so important to you?
Do you believe that God has made you just the way I are to do exactly what you are doing?
God has made each of us unique. He has given each of us unique passions and gifts. He wants us to stand up to things that we consider unjust. There is however both grace and truth that has to be expressed when standing tall. As I continue my journey on the Race, the grace vs. truth idea is something I will need to understand how to better live it out.
This month all the guys are in Phnom Penh, Cambodia doing “Manistry” together. This will be a great month with continued growth in my walk with the Lord.
Shoutout to my friend Nick Hennequin. I miss you a lot, keep fighting and never forget that am always here! Give Tim a big ole hug from me the next time you see him!
-Joe
