Home  

PRECIOUS THINGS
by John T. Crestwell, Jr.
November 20, 2004

(SONG SUNG BEFORE SERMON)

My song, “FAITH”, I wrote about 10 years ago during one of those times in your life where you need faith to pull you through a rough place…  I was working for Metrovision Cable as the youngest manager in the company.  I had many employees I supervised, my salary was good and Sharon was pregnant and a new stay-at-home mom with JT, my first child.  I was on cloud 9!  Unfortunately, the beautiful Serus cloud turned into a threatening Thunderhead after 2 years (9 months after my move from Texas) as new company took over and I lost my job. 

Here I am with a new job, new house, new baby.  Sharon was a brand new stay-at home-mom as I said, and my world came crashing down.  I did what I was taught so I prayed and prayed and prayed BUT no answer came.  I asked the God I knew back then “WHY?”  I suffered from anxiety and depression and I got real negative, and thought life was cruel.

That’s when I met Ronald Dunn.  I didn’t physically meet him but I read his book “WHEN HEAVEN IS SILENT”.  Up until then, I had a lot of magical formulas that I used to make sure I was blessed. If I didn’t curse, If I went to church, if I was a good husband, if I didn’t drink, if I was a really religious, perhaps I could avoid the calamities that befall so many… This was my thought. But it happened. Life happened to me and now I had to deal with it…

Dunn helped me find perspective. You see, he lost his first son to a tragic car accident and as a minister he wrestled with that deep existential question “WHY” or “WHY ME?”

And his story was like mine--- NO ANSWER came.   We heard in the reading this morning from Dunn’s book that the simple answers don’t always explain the unexplainable.  You know, someone gets murdered.  “Well was it a drug dealer, or was it domestic violence, or maybe somebody was out at 3am when they should’ve been home?  It has to be something explainable…  God forbid if it’s a RANDOM crime... NO, NO, NO.  The human psyche can’t deal with RANDOM.   If I said to you there is a certain randomness in life, many of us don’t want to hear that…  “Yes, standing where calamity has struck, we are stunned with bewilderment,” as Davies said.  He continued, “What is the use of hope and faith, of patient labor and long endurance?  And what is the use of this—this senseless, blind destruction” which takes place when our hearts are broken and life throws us a curve.

You know you can wallow in misery for a long time.  You can wallow about that job.  You can despair about broken relationships, you can get depressed about those bills, or for many of us that election (hello).  We can sit there, right there, in the midst of it and say “WOE IS ME.  WE CAN LIVE RIGHT THEIR IN THE JEWISH SHEOL; IN OUR LIVING CATHOLIC PURGATORY; IN THAT BUDDHIST HELL, if you get my point…   Or you can step out of that cycle, find release, and begin down a new path…

That’s all we can do…     Now, don’t get me wrong, there are times when we must grieve and be angry and frustrated.  But this is a season and our rebirth begins there.  But to complete our learning and growth in the process it is vital that we move forward.   Now, just how do we move forward?

Well, Ronald Dunn came up with a simple formula that therapeutically brought him back.  And it brought me back.  Also, A. Powell Davies gave us a few pointers…  And then I have found a few things that work for me…

First, Dunn.   What does he reveal to us.  Nothing new but something simple…  Dunn says that in order to move forward we must not ask, “Why me?” or even “Why” rather he says we must ask “What now?”  You see, WHY is defensive.  He says that it blames, it seeks a scapegoat, WHY keeps us in the cycle of negativity.  WHY or WHY ME can never be answered. 

WHAT NOW moves us out of the defensive to the offensive.  WHAT NOW moves us from looking at a situation negatively to positively.  WHAT NOW is not stagnant it is kinetic.  WHAT NOW does not eat at us in the depths of our being, rather it heals us and catapults us forward to a loftier and deeper spirituality.  WHAT NOW transitions us from blame to acceptance and assists us in re-channeling, refocusing, and re-visioning a brighter today and tomorrow.  That is the power of two simple words that have gigantic ramifications!   Ask yourself-- WHAT NOW?

Then Davies tells us clearly that—and I quote, “…where a plan was crushed or a hope was broken, something better than plans and stronger than hope began to grow…”

Davies is speaking about FAITH and COURAGE.  Davies was a liberal Christian but here I think he is NOT referring to believing in something metaphysical only.  And that is not the core of what he is saying.  So, this is not belief in the God who solves your problems and fights your battles for you.   Davies’ God would not be a paternal guardian.  His God was much more complex.  And he would say his God has empowered him with the ability to overcome any obstacle!

What is at the core of Davies’ message?  I think he is talking about a faith that says “BE NOT AFRAID TO LIVE.  Everyday is a walk of faith.  We trust that our houses will heat our bodies without a fire starting.  We trust that we can drive and our car won’t breakdown; that it will turn and stop…  We trust that bus driver on Metro, or the subway, or that escalator, or traffic light will work, or food we eat when out, or whatever... LIFE IS A FAITH WALK.   So faith for Davies is belief in yourself that you can pick yourself up no matter the calamity that befalls.  He believed we could pick ourselves up and start again even with worn out tools.  It also takes courage to do this.  But we must press on toward our mark indeed!

We are all destined to be victimized by life in some capacity.  We mentally know that but, cannot wallow in it.  Our test will be how do you/we respond to the struggles of living?  This is the human test we must pass; and our very happiness and peace rest there.  Too many of us stay in HELL that we get used to it.  “IT’S NOT SO HOT AFTER ALL,” we say to ourselves…  But you are kidding yourself.  IT’S HOT and UNHAPPY.  But it is our choice...   You/we have a choice to move on or not.

 Back to my story when I was a young man… I stopped asking “WHY?” and began asking “WHAT NOW?”, which helped bring me back mentally and emotionally.  I began to see that I had been looking at life all wrong.  I was looking at life and thinking life owed me something?  But I figured it out.   I was asking the wrong question of life, and so I asked a new question to myself:  “John, what do you owe life?  John, what shall you render unto life for all the blessings you have been given?”   And this opened me up from the inside out.  It pricked my consciousness deeply and I realized I was fortunate to be alive.   In the midst of my loss, I began to say, “Life is a blessing.”  I came to see that the sun and rain shine and fall on the good and bad alike and that this was life.  But in spite of all the problems, I was beginning to remember that there are many, many precious things and moments in life.  So, when I would get home from interviews—frustrated and jobless, I’d see little J.T. with his mommy.   I would grab him and hold on to him, looking into those beautiful eyes, and I saw that wonderful innocence and purity, and it hit me---YES THE PRECIOUS THINGS OF LIFE! I decided to spend more time with him and enjoy my son.  As I thought less about work opportunities presented themselves and the Buddhist principle of letting go manifested.  As it is written, “In times of trouble do nothing.”  I didn’t know any better, I was just refocusing and re-channeling my energy naturally.  Financially, funds were coming up a bit short to pay bills but friends and family chipped in.  I wrote several songs (like the one you heard), read a lot, and continued to spend time with my wife and new baby.   I was focused on what was precious to me. 

This was my solution.  To remember what is precious in life.  I don’t know what is precious to you?  Whether it’s your children, or if you don’t have children, it’s a loved one, or perhaps it is your pet or garden or yard or favorite park you walk through, or the drive down Brandywine Road to see the beautiful trees in the Fall, which tells you over and over life is beautiful.  I don’t know what is precious to you… But whatever it is, you have to discover or rediscover it.  That is where you will find your release.  What can you render to life?  You can render your appreciation for the gift of life afforded to you.

As we enter into the holiday season with Thanksgiving upon us, many of you will eat with family and friends.  If you get a chance to share around the table regarding what you are thankful for, remember what I have shared with you today.  Remember that it’s the precious things in life that really matter.  And when you leave this sanctuary today, have the courage to persevere even in the face of darkness.  Have the courage to move beyond the WHY to the WHAT NOW.   And have the courage to believe in yourself.  The Spirit of Life has given you the power to overcome whatever trial or tribulation you are facing…  And so, as I close: “Give thanks for the corn and the wheat that are reaped…”

HYMN 69 (Read).  Give thanks this day…. That is the hymn we shall sing after the interlude.  Amen.

About Our Diversity Growth Plan

Request updates for this site.

Rev. John Crestwell Bio & Sermons

A. Powell Davies Bio

A. Powell Davies Sermons

Sunday Morning Worship Services

Celebrations

Caring Network

Membership

Virtual Memorials

Links