Th0ught5 –Ripples and Waves

There is a show, called Numb3rs, on television. It’s basically about two brothers who solve crimes for the FBI. One brother is a FBI agent and the other is professor/genus in mathematical theory. In the show, the brother who is a genus uses mathematical theories to solve crimes but unfortunately his theories are not always understood by his brother and co-workers so to help them understand the ideas behind the theories the professor brother often uses illustrations to explain the theories.

Now recently I have seen and felt the effects of a bad understanding. Most of us would have an idea what is a “misunderstanding” because we have all had them and "been there" but many of us would wonder what would be considered a “bad” misunderstanding.

A bad misunderstanding to me is when it effects a large group of people but instead of going into intimate details of this ordeal, which might be construed as some form of gossip -down the short or long road ahead I will give you an illustration.

Most of everyone hates misunderstandings. I say “most” because there are individuals and beings out there that like to use misunderstandings to their advantage or social gain. One way to divide and conquer their opponent is to provide opportunities and breeding grounds for misunderstandings to occur. Then there are misunderstandings that just happen innocently but they somehow make a big mess.

As I mentioned before, am currently watching and experiencing this ripple affect which is spreading like a stone dropped in a pool of water and every ripple that is produced is changing in size and speed as it moves further from where the stone was dropped into the water. I say “stone” now but in actuality the incident was really just the size of a pebble.

The incident, the pebble, which has caused this affect, was quite innocent in circumstance and nature has transformed into waves - due to those “experiencing” the ripple - and in a sense, those experiencing this ripple have made ripples of their own which have carried this mishap into something that was really nothing from the start.

Like rocks aligned near a beach getting hit by a simple wave, these rocks all have been giving the opportunity to output a splash and ripple pattern of their own.

When these different individuals have been hit by the same wave their different sizes and shapes and perspectives and moods - have perceived the hit differently.

The responding output ripples of these rocks aren't just different but can even be more damaging then the simple initial ripple, which was not harmful at all.

Think of it as rowdy bar scene in a movie. A guy innocently loses his balance and bumps into another guy who knocks a waitress over who is carrying beers to a table. The beer is dumped into some guy’s lap who only sees the guy who bumped into the waitress and decides to give the guy that drenched him a black eye, which proceeds into even larger bar fight and people going to jail.

People have different perspectives, attitudes, notions, bias, responses, and even insecurities and unless the individuals who get hit by the ripple initially realize the ripple was just a ripple - the responding ripples from that tiny pebble will become something much larger and different then what actually happened in the first place.

Remember playing that game in school, where one kid whispers something in another kid’s ear and that kid passes it down to another kid and that child repeats what they thought they heard and by the time the last child in line gets what is supposedly said by the first kid – it is totally different.

Probably the least affected will be the ones who started the miscommunication in the first place.

And those mostly affected will be those who further down the line from initial ripple.
Incidents like this one can adversely a large group of people because of understandings or misunderstandings of the original intent of the pebble.

The incident, innocent or not, can become negative notions or feelings based on previous histories, experiences, attitudes and insecurities. Add vocal and facial expressions to the mix and you have puddle of assumption that has turned into quick sand.

Words and ideas can be powerful but they are only powerful if we give them residence within us.

And unfortunately it is often based on a negative perspectives or judgments on others or even ourselves that make up this mess.

It can be like an ant taking poison to the rest of the hive or a Trojan horse into gates.

Sometimes we can carry the ball of fire all by ourselves without any help from others who intend or don’t intend to hurt us. Even the devil doesn’t have to work too hard to get those bees in the hive all a buzz when they already have circumstances and unresolved issues that are still working among them.

Usually presumptions and unresolved issues can be cleared up if parties are standing on Christ- in humility, honesty and love but if one is just phony or wants to hold onto hard feelings then the parties who want resolution can only do one thing....

There is a painting I saw recently when we went to the Oregon Coast. I had seen it several times before but this time it was a sequence of pictures of the same picture. The pictures were of a lighthouse sitting on a piece of rock jutting out of ocean and a man standing just outside the door of the lighthouse as a surge of a wave comes crashing into the backside of it.

With every proceeding picture the humongous wave is surrounding the bottom of the lighthouse and coming ever closer to where the man of the lighthouse is standing and just before the bottom the lighthouse is totally surrounded by water and the man of the lighthouse swept out to sea, the man of the lighthouse goes inside and shuts the door where he is protected.

2 Samuel 22:2 These are the words he sang: "The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold, my high tower, my savior, the one who saves me from violence. I will call on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, for he saves me from my enemies. The waves of death surround me; the floods of destruction swept over me. The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death itself stared me in the face. But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I called to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry reached his ears.

Psalm 92:15 They will declare, "The LORD is just! He is my rock! There is nothing but goodness in him!"

Psalm 94:22 But the LORD is my fortress; my God is a mighty rock where I can hide.

Psalm 144:1 Bless the LORD, who is my rock. He gives me strength for war and skill for battle. He is my loving ally and my fortress, my tower of safety, my deliverer. He stands before me as a shield, and I take refuge in him. He subdues the nations under me.

God is our rock and he has built a lighthouse in Christ for us to go to and to be sheltered and protected in. This lighthouse was the one who simply told the storm to stop and it did - but in order for any storm to stop inside us we must give it to the LORD.

God gave us free will but it is our choice or not to weather out the storm and crashing waves on our own or seek protection in the LORD who is our high tower in the storms and waves of life. If we try to weather out the storms and crashing waves of life, by ourselves, we are doomed to sorrow and hardening of the heart.

Thoughts, presumptions, insecurities, a person’s outward reactions to you and others you love must be given to the LORD. We must all stand on the ROCK of Christ that will stand forever. We must all enter his strong tower to be perfected and protected in his wisdom, grace and love as the ripples and waves of life come our way. Sure we will hear the ripples and waves and maybe even some vibration but in Christ we can walk out every word and action in love.

There we endure. There we live. There we remain the men and women of the lighthouse.

John 8:12 Jesus said to the people, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life."