{"id":8937,"date":"2024-05-23T11:32:28","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T17:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/not-mastered-by-sickness-5-gritty-practices-that-tell-a-heroic-story-about-jesus\/"},"modified":"2024-05-23T11:32:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T17:32:28","slug":"not-mastered-by-sickness-5-gritty-practices-that-tell-a-heroic-story-about-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/not-mastered-by-sickness-5-gritty-practices-that-tell-a-heroic-story-about-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"\\&#8221;NOT Mastered By Sickness\u201d\u20145 Gritty Practices That Tell A Heroic Story About Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Scott Box<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"\\&quot;wp-block-quote\\&quot; is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"\\\"wp-block-image\" size-large\\\"><img src=\"\\\"https:><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Leading worship music helped me begin to understand how to manage Bipolar disorder. In the same way, Bipolar disorder gave me a unique angle to evaluate and practice Christian worship\u2014as a way of life. Here are the five gritty practices, born out of desperation, that I use to discover and declare a heroic story about Jesus (and NOT be mastered by sickness):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wrestle God<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be HEROic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chop Wood<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lift Rocks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make Babies<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>WRESTLE GOD\u2014Wrestling with God seems like a stupid or even sinful thing to do. The ancient Hebrew father, Jacob, gained the provision and blessing of confidence that came with having wrestled with God and not \u201clost.\u201d \u201cYou chose to grapple with God, now no man will overcome you.\u201d\u2014Genesis 32:28 (paraphrase). But wrestling with God caused Jacob a wound that he carried with him the rest of his life\u2014he walked with a limp because God popped his hip out of its socket. My wound\u2014Bipolar disorder\u2014made me desperate. Desperation made me dependent on a friendship with Jesus. My friendly dependence on Jesus made me create and repeat a daily rhythm to achieve health. I don\u2019t know if this was the way desperation worked for Jacob, but it is how it worked for me. As I learned to manage my \u201cwound,\u201d I regulated my health by submitting myself to mental boundaries and everyday practicalities like taking medication, healthy nutrition and portion control, even making my bed, brushing my teeth and drinking lots of water. I dedicated myself to lifestyle routines like counseling, exercise, and scripture study. All these disciplines became necessary for balance. And my balance allowed Bipolar disorder to not master me. I gave the Master (the Great Hero, Jesus Christ) control of my mental crisis. I worshiped Jesus through my way of living. My rhythmic management contributed to my health\u2014not perfectly, but rhythmically. Wrestling with God taught me that \u201cGod leverages pain (sickness) to point to promise, to provision and to purpose.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be HEROic\u2014To be HEROic means that I pursue and reflect the Great Hero, Jesus Christ, in the way He pursued and reflected God, His Father, the Great Storyteller. In other words, like Jesus, I place my confident HOPE in God\u2019s eternal promises for humanity. I EXPECT God will come through for me in His timing and ways. Hope and expectation give me immeasurable REST. And His rest inspires me to OBEY Him as I work to know and allow Him to know me (even though He already knows me). I use HERO as a daily prayer tool. I express my HOPE and EXPECTATION to accept His REST and proclaim my willingness to OBEY and seek to do His will, not my (sick) will. I can\u2019t be Jesus, but I\u2019m supposed to try\u2014I long to be HEROic.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CHOP WOOD\u2014Chopping wood refers to becoming a selfless, obedient servant\u2014I call this type of person an S.O.S., And S.O.S.s tend to ping on the radar of people who do not follow Jesus. At the church our family attends and serves, we literally chop wood as a specific ministry to the poor who cannot heat their homes in Central Oregon. But \u201cchopping wood\u201d also has to do with obeying Jesus\u2019 teachings in the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5), doing \u201cGod stuff\u201d by giving the fruit and gifts of the Spirit to God and others, being heroic like Jesus is heroic (Galatians 5 and 1 Corinthians 12), being Christlike (Ephesians 4). This means that I long for the heroic image of God to be restored in my life, my story (John 7:35-38)\u2014It is possible. I\u2019ve lived it. I regularly think of being a selfless, obedient servant, S.O.S. in my daily living\u2014from picking up trash on the street to thanking a person with a smile or quietly ignoring an offensive comment. I\u2019m not perfect, but I am far less selfish (sick) than I used to be. I \u201cchop wood.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>LIFT ROCKS\u2014Lifting rocks involves exploring the unending mysteries of life and eternity with each other. We can pick up stones and explore underneath to widen and expand (health) instead of reduce or neuter (sickness). Lifting rocks has to do with working to shape people\u2019s imagination to create a longing for Jesus. As a music leader and storyteller, I live to \u201clift rocks\u201d and blow people\u2019s minds with Jesus\u2019 power to transform people into heroes like Him.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>MAKE BABIES\u2014Making babies is both fun and necessary. Grin. But seriously, I facilitate two things related to lifestyle worship and \u201cmaking babies:\u201d\u201cDiscovery. Declaration.\u201d To put it another way, I have discovered my Rescuer, and I must declare my rescue. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Great Hero, does not share itself. God made our stories necessary to tell His story\u2014it is His plan, not ours. \u201cSo the woman left her water pot and went into the city, and *said to the people, \u201cCome, see a Man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is He?\u201d They left the city and were coming to Him.\u201d\u2014John 4:28-30 NASB2020. My job is to \u201cmake babies\u201d and leave worship healthier for the next generation than my parents\u2019 generation left worship for my generation (sickness). I can leave it healthier when I live in a way that inspires and invites others into Jesus\u2019 grand heroic narrative by sharing my gritty story. I must help people discover and declare Jesus\u2014The woman at the well did. I have learned that telling my story reminds me that I am desperate for Jesus to save the day every day. God changes the heart of people, but I must tell the stories.&nbsp;I tell my story to \u201cmake babies,\u201d to replicate myself. I must\u2014Because people will needlessly suffer if I do not (sickness).&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These practices do not encompass the entire Christian experience but serve as handles I regularly grab in my journey with Jesus, to tell a heroic story about Him. They are tools I use to give stability and provide a vantage point to reestablish clarity when Bipolar disorder unbalances me (sickness). These practices are how I prepare to lead worship music and serve others. Ultimately, these practices are how I work to live my worship and become a gritty means to Jesus\u2019 heroic end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you learn to integrate your lifestyle of worship into your management of your health, how do you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wrestle God?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be HEROic (hope, expect, rest, obey)?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chop Wood?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lift Rocks?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make Babies?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope these gritty practices become helpful for you as you grapple for wholeness. Maybe they will inspire you to create your practices of your own. No matter what, I pray that your gritty lifestyle of worship will help you manage your health\u2014NOT be mastered by sickness.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have a great month discovering and maybe even declaring your gritty story that tells a heroic story about Jesus.\u00a0\u2014Scott<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Scott and Kariann Box live in Redmond, Oregon. Scott serves as Pastor of Development at Shiloh Ranch Church and has been a worship leader for over twenty-five years. Kariann works as a Realtor in Central Oregon and supports Scott\u2019s\u2026creative spirit. They have two children, a one-hundred-pound Labradoodle and a four-pound Shih Tzu without teeth. Scott is the author of\u00a0<a href=\"\/es\/\"https:>HEROIC DISGRACE: Order out of chaos. Hope out of fear. \u2015 A Worship Hero Story<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Scott Box<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1603,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[984],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fresh-hope-for-mental-health"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.1 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - 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