Dear Faith Family, 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” (Hebrews 12:1). 

Great idea!  Every backyard fire pit ought to be surrounded by Adirondack chairs.  And Adirondack chairs ought to be supported by a layer of river rock.  And surrounding the river rock ought to be a circle of solar lights.  Right? 

So, order the solar lights she did.  Carefully calculating, measuring, and spacing the solar lights, I installed them around the fire pit, (insert box here and check the box).  Then?  I waited.  For what?  Why the sun of course.  Nothing like a day of sunshine to charge up the little solar powered batteries.  And then the moment we’d been waiting for.  The solar lights would pierce the darkness and make us smile! 

Or not.  Maybe it would take another day of sunshine.  Yea, that’s it.  No!  That wasn’t it!  It took maybe a week of data for the final assessment.  These lights don’t work.  Waste of money.  Sometime after that (I hesitate to embarrass myself by telling you how much time “sometime after that” was.) an epiphany struck.  (No pastors were injured during the filming of said epiphany.) 

Did you know that some battery operated, non-working fixtures come with a little plastic tab that is strategically inserted so as to frustrate otherwise brilliant electricians?  Of course, a few of those exceedingly brilliant electricians rise above and unveil the strategically inserted frustration enhancer. 

Here's the point.  The enemy is all about strategically inserting “plastic tabs” to short circuit the light.  Sin is certainly a “plastic tab”.  You know like anything that distracts us from pursuing God today.  Selfishness, another tab, that steals our focus from Jesus.  Busyness, tab, that ingeniously keeps us from being still and knowing that God is God.  And what about those unnecessary expectations, (translated: we have to have those decorations, the house has to be immaculate, we have to attend every Christmas party put on by every family member or friend, we have to give all the right gifts…), tabs, that keep us from recognizing the real reason for the season? 

Got any tabs that need pulling?  Acknowledge that it’s a “plastic tab”.  Tell God what it is.  Pull it.  In other words, by the strength of Jesus lay it aside.  Stop it.  Focus on Jesus.  

Interesting phenomenon occurred after I exercised pure brilliance and pulled the tabs.  The light began to shine! 

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven, (Matthew 5:14-16).1 

Pulling tabs, 
Pastor Karl