Topographical - w/Eric Rowell

With my sermon today, I'm going to stay with the theme that we have on topographical

locations, sort of being relative, topographical locations in the Bible being

relevant today in this modern world. There are a few particular moments in my

life that have left me amazed, humbled, and a bit bewildered. There are thousands

of moments in my life, of course, that have contained these elements, but these

two have a significant impact on the foundation of my faith.

And when I say bewildered, I mean unsure or confused regarding my understanding

of what I'm supposed to understand. Don't worry, I'll make sense of that. At least

I'll try. Jeremiah 29, 11 states, for I know the plans I have for you, declares

the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a

future. This comes in the Bible when God is telling those placed in exile to

trust in him all the while and also be able to return to their home. This text

has often stirred those of faith to be patient and to accept that God has

placed before us the trials and tribulations, sometimes as great

pathways, sometimes as peril. But along our journey, with the end being that

with faith kept, our future will be bright and we should appreciate it.

A buffer or addition to this verse can be Proverbs three, verses five and six.

Trust in the Lord of all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding

and all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. I believe

these verses to speak as a command for us to trust in the Lord, yet not to

attempt understanding or deciphering what God's plan is for us because, for

one, we're not that smart. It's hard for us to try to figure out and know what

God is saying. The other is perhaps we might get it wrong. I believe we are

simply to appreciate the life we are given, to believe that God desires for

us to prosper and to have dreams fulfilled, but on his terms, not our own.

But again, sometimes these moments through life, though life can be

altering and glorious, they can also also leave us wondering for meaning and that

is the biggest problem that I have. I like trying to figure out things. I like

trying to understand my purpose and my place and that sometimes gets me into a

little bit of trouble or at least makes life a little bit more difficult for me.

Can we have the first slide? My main man, Liam, he's working on it.

Okay, so with this slide you can see what Judea is and then you can see all the way

across where it says India. As the story goes, Caspar, spelled with a C, also known as

Gaspar, with a G, was one of the three wise men, one of the three wise kings who

had come to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of the king of all kings. Caspar,

following the bright star from the east, had brought with him the gift of

frankincense, I had to look at what it was, a fragrant and nourishing oil. He was

the king that hailed from India, which would have been at minimum a

thousand miles going across that landscape and I had seen a few places

that there might have been a town or a city called Kerala, which would have

added at least 300 miles to it and I'm not certain if he rode on camel or

horseback, either way it would have been slow and long. A couple of millennia

later, my wife and I decided to leave our jobs and take on the grand adventure of

travel. I had always wanted to live outside the country when I was younger,

so we had gotten to a point where we had jobs that we enjoyed but we

thought we'd take a chance before we started a family. So we had a friend of

ours and we were living in the Chicagoland area and we had a friend that worked for

one of the sort of global people-oriented organizations, so we asked

are there exchange programs around the world that we could go to? Not knowing

for how long but we were just interested in doing so and we were thinking some,

we were more than likely an English friendly speaking country. We packed all

of our stuff and gave it to her grandmother and she loaded her entire

house with it and they had come back to us. Well they said, well they need a

basketball coach in India. Can we have the India, the next photo? For eight

months we traveled around India and I was coaching basketball. We met numerous

people from a variety of different cultures and backgrounds, faiths

obviously. We were challenged in so many ways, unbelievable ways and I came back,

we both came back with a greater appreciation for America, for the world

and for our own lives. About 15 years later, well first let me say this, we

stayed in contact with one person from India. Now we met a ton of people but

only one we stayed in contact with and he was someone that was interested in

coaching basketball for a career. So we would get, we would email each other back

and forth or send, actually it was Facebook, back and forth over that 15

year span and a couple things happened with this person that I found really

interesting. If you look at this picture, you see the shoes that I'm wearing? Now

it's hard to make them out but they're Adidas somethings. It was the back in the

early 2000s, the late 90s. There was this kid that I met, he was six foot seven

and he had just started playing basketball and I was coaching a variety

of ages and this kid was 17 years old and he had on some gym shoes that

were brand new but I could tell they were going to fall apart within a week

because they were just very cheap shoes. So I got to know him a little

bit over the couple of weeks that we had spent with him. So I pulled him around a

corner one day and I said, hey I want you to try these shoes on see if they fit.

And I think he was thinking that he, I wanted to know what size shoe he wore. So

he tried on the first shoe and then he tried on the second shoe and then I said

you can have those. And he didn't know what to say, he was really appreciative

and thankful, he was almost in tears and I walked away from him because I didn't

want to see his reaction anymore and I didn't want to see what would happen

when he turned the corner and got back with all his buddies now having a

different pair of shoes on. And I walked away from him and I never saw him again.

What's interesting is the one person that I knew was at that camp that day

and I get an email post or a Facebook post and he says just out of the blue

15 years later, did you give someone your shoes? Turns out he had run into that

guy 15 years later, this guy was now in his 30s, he had played professional

basketball or had been playing professional basketball for 10-15 years

ever since then and somehow they came across each other and they started

talking and they said something like you remember when we were playing

playing in that camp or what have you and then it just came up the guy said

yeah and that one guy probably couldn't remember my name said he gave me his

shoes so then of course he in turn asked me if I had done so and I said yes of

course and I hadn't thought about it in years. Another thing happened 15 years

later, same guy says Eric and Amy there's these two kids that are having trouble

at this basketball camp in Arizona, they're from India and can you sort of

look into it? Well prior to that moment we had had an exchange student live with

us for about three months through the high school through Rock Island High

School they just needed someone to sort of house this young lady from Fahrain

which is somewhere in the Middle East and so we housed her for about three

months and then she went to another place and then possibly a year after

that we housed a person in our home for a year from Myanmar so when she left not

that anything bad had happened but I was done with hosting people so when I get

the phone call from the same person that says hey can you look into these two

boys I said to Amy we're not taking them in so eventually we started talking to

them and they were having a lot of trouble there was some abuse and things

like that happened at this basketball camp in Arizona so I said we both said

hey why don't you guys just get on a plane we actually have family in

Arizona so we said hey can you house these boys for a couple of days because

we were actually on vacation can you house them and then we'll soon as we get

back we'll put them on a plane and they can come to us and then we'll figure out

where they can go. When they got off the plane Amy and I looked at each other and

said they're not going anywhere it was automatic it was instant and they now

one of them got married they both graduated from Augustana College they

call me dad and it was a great experience that we had the challenge

with that that I have with all of that is perhaps trying to understand it was

all on purpose. I wanted London I wanted you know somewhere in Europe but then

India shows up when it comes down to where we could possibly travel to so we

did it we're adventurous but it seems to me that the whole point in going was so

that we can have these kids come to our house but I'm not supposed to consider

that. What I'm supposed to do is be thankful for the opportunities that I

have because when we start looking for signs and symbols it can be somewhat

detrimental to us when we're trying to figure out what our path is as opposed

to just accepting life as it is and doing what we possibly can to make life

better. For who? For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to

prosper you not to harm you but plans to give you hope and a future. Can we see

the next slide? So this is a map of Jericho. One of the great stories that

comes out of the Bible that happens in Jericho particularly obviously you know

right there where it's highlighted comes a story in Mark 10 verses 46 through 52

Mark 10:46–52

Bartimaeus a blind beggar the son of Timaeus was sitting by the roadside and

we heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth he began to cry out and say Jesus son of

David have mercy on me being told that Jesus was near Bartimaeus went to Jesus

and Jesus said what do you want for me to do for you and the blind man said

Rabbi let me recover my sight and Jesus said to him go on your way your faith

has made you well and immediately he recovered his sight and he followed

Jesus on the way. Can I have the next slide? This is an old-school whirlpool

maybe they still make them so basically you know if you never had an injury

before sports related injury you get in that thing the temperatures right over

the water of course the temperature can be right around 54 degrees or so and

if you don't know that is extremely cold but not enough to give you frostbite

but enough to make everything that's inside it go completely numb within

three minutes and I am telling you those three minutes could be the worst three

minutes of your life feeling everything just sort of tighten and literally shrink

it feels like. About 30 years ago in February it's not about I know 30 years

ago in February I was sitting in one of those it was my senior year at August

Anna College and I was playing basketball and my knees had bothered me

the entire time I played basketball in college they did not bother me at all in

high school but it's like the moment I got to college everything was sore

consistently I was a pretty good athlete but by the time my senior year came

around I could no longer not I couldn't jump as nearly as high I couldn't run

nearly as fast I was constantly in ice bags I was constantly in that thing so I

did not have the career that I wanted I played and my friends and my teammates

and I were very good but I did not have what I wanted personally from the game

of basketball but I still loved and had a great experience so I'm sitting in

that tank we had three games to go in our season and I'm sitting in and we're

about to leave to go play our archrival we have three games to go we have to

win one game and we would win our conference and go to the national

tournament so one of the three we have to win we had all done the math and we

figured that out so I'm in the tank we're getting ready that we had vans and

not buses back then 12 passenger vans can you imagine I'm like one of the

smallest guys and we got two 12 passenger vans for like 12 to 15 people

it's tight knowing this is gonna happen I'm icing everything below me so I can

get it cold and so then when I'm in this van driving for two and a half hours it

won't hurt as much as I'm cramped up in the back of it so as I'm sitting that in

that tank my coach walks by looks in looks at me in the tank where everyone

else is getting dressed and he says my name is Eric everyone calls me he says

hey are you going to the game I'm like yeah I'm going I just I've got to do

this right now so when he walks past me knowing how difficult my career had been

knowing how much pain I had been in I said a prayer and I said this is the

first time I can actually remember ever saying a prayer in my entire life I said

God I just want to be in the game at the end and I want it to matter I don't want

to be in that game if it's a blowout and that's when you put me in if we're up

20 or down 20 I don't want to play in that if it matters I want to be in at

the end of the game so get out of there get into get in the van go to the game

now what you don't know is the game before our absolute best player all

American he was also became the MVP of the final four that we made it to that

year he sprained his ankle so our absolute best player was not going to

be playing in that game leading scorer average 27 points a game he was not

going to be playing so we were down a player so I but I didn't start but that

was okay we end up getting in in the first half and then two starters bowed

out early in the second half so I played actually most of the first half or much

of the first half all of the second half and then we went into overtime and I

played all of the overtime it was so glorious for me we won the game 79 78

and I hit the last two free throws to win the game I told my friends before

the game forgetting about the prayer and everything but just because this is our

arch rival we hated them so I said and I talked to Ash a little bit when I'm on

the basketball court so I said to my friend I said my teammate I was like

dude when we win conference today I'm gonna do the cabbage patch right there on

center center court you know the cabbage patch remember this from late 80s early

90s yes yeah I am dating myself yes yes but it's coming back I'm gonna bring

baggy stuff back to you know yeah yeah absolutely absolutely so and in fact I

did that at the end of the game and the reason the reason I bring that story up

like I brought up the first one is I'm trying to understand if God answered my

prayer that is the difficult part that I have with life I can take all that it

throws at me the good the bad the mundane and ninth to me 90% of life is

mundane it is average it is brushing your teeth these are regular things that

we all do that no one even thinks about we got some highs and lows but for the

most part it goes just like that so with hat with having this challenge of

understanding the signs and symbols that exist it makes me wonder it makes me

contemplate always was this on purpose I'm always trying to figure out what my

path should be as opposed to simply allowing life to be what it is and me

being the best possible person while I'm going through it and I imagine from time

to time you guys do the same we're always looking for hope we're always

looking for options we're always looking for a path or at least

understanding and at times perhaps we shouldn't can have the next slide

what I have to tell myself when considering these moments and so many

others is not to worry about meaning or purpose in hindsight many events we can

often find in many events we can often find signs and symbols that detail what

we think God's intentions are but the truth is as far as I can understand God

knows what he knows God does what he does and I'm only a man trying to be

good son of God I believe I must simply accept all moments good bad or mundane

and be grateful for them as an example when we score a touchdown or fumble ball

perhaps we should simply be grateful for being in the game and not get too bogged

down with what God's plan is I remember back in the 90s another day you

mentioned a date over remember back when yeah you date yourself the Bulls were

playing against the Phoenix Suns and Charles Barley after I think it was game

four I think they had one everyone thought the Bulls are going to win that

game and then win the championship and then the the Phoenix Suns won the game

and Chicago literally was boarding up stuff because the year before there was

like chaos in the city so they were boarding up windows and everything so

when the Bulls won there'll be this grand celebration and then people get

out of hand but Phoenix won that game so Barclay walking out said God told me we

were going to win this game and win the series now I'm not questioning Charles's

faith or anything but sometimes again and Bulls end up winning that series

sometimes we are we are so hungry for signs and symbols that we don't we put

too much emphasis on that as opposed to just simply living our lives and I think

to me that is extremely important I think we are best when in times of joy

and triumph perhaps even glory we should simply fall to our knees or knee

you get a football player fall to one knee and thank thank God for the

touchdown and give thanks for merely the opportunity to be in position to do

something great have joy envelop us in the times of great ache a failed test a

lost job the death of a loved one we can ask for patience and a pass with and a

pathway out of the agony yet accepting the time and distance to be whatever it

is as God had planned it

your Lord thank you for all the moments the triumphant the normal the unusual

and the tragic please help us understand that we don't have to

understand we can simply trust in you and be the best sons and daughters of a

glorious father

your name we pray

we pray

yes I know you won't be able to see it but this is the guy who's talking about

in India I I had the privilege Amy passed away handful of years ago and

Eric is remarried to the lovely and wonderful Cody but I had the privilege

of getting to go to India with Amy for us really 10 12 15 to something I mean it

was I loved every single minute of it and I actually mentioned is one of the

places like odd if I can live anywhere else international was my answer like I

don't know that's India or if that's London or wherever but I got to meet him

and what was amazing I've told people this before that everywhere that we went

or we went all the way from the south all the way to the north everywhere we

went people remembered the two of them

that's what happens when you just follow God when you just decide I'm not going to

try to make sense of absolutely everything

I'm just going to put one foot in front of the other I'm going to go to India

because that's what was available and that's what I'm going to do and I'm

really excited that you guys get to hear that message from Eric in particular

because the experiences that he's had in his life I think lend some credibility

to what he just said does that make sense and so I hope that you embrace it

that you internalize that and that that impacts and affects the way that you

pray about what God might have for you next