Episode #101 - Dude, Where's My Ladder?

When we returned home last weekend, everything was as we left it...except one thing that was missing: the ladder we borred from Randy. Was it stolen? Did I misplace it? Were other things missing? Our minds went haywire. As it turns out, the truth was much simpler: a neighbor borrowed it, whom I had already asked if he needed it before we left. Usually the things we worry about never really are true, are they? Well...maybe that's why Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow, because our minds are concerned with fiction, not reality. We need to give Jesus control over our thoughts, and not let them run free. 

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Transcript

Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way. 

I want to begin today’s podcast with an apology, because as you may have noticed, a new episode did not air yesterday as would typically happen on a Wednesday. Sadly, I had to spend the entire day back in court up in Indiana once again with more extended family issues. God willing, it will be the last time we all are needed in a court room. By the time I got home I pulled into Danville just in time for evening Bible Study, and after getting the kids down it was already 9 PM before I could have started working on the podcast and had only slept 3 hours the night before. So, as promised in Tuesday’s podcast, today I have a story for you about something that happened when we returned home from the mountains last weekend. We had recently borrowed an 8 foot free standing ladder from one of our shepherds, Randy Ratliff, in order to do some painting inside of our house. Our living room has high vaulted ceilings, and while we have a 16 foot extension ladder, we needed one that we wouldn’t have to lean up against the walls. So, right before we had left for North Carolina we had finished up all of our painting and set the ladder outside in the garage, thinking nothing of it. Well, fast forward to Sunday evening after we had returned home. I needed to run out to the garage for something to start doing some Holiday decorating around the house. As I looked around, I suddenly realized that something was missing: Randy’s 8 foot ladder we had borrowed. “Um, honey?” I called out, “Did you by chance move Randy’s ladder?” “Noooo…?” she responded back, “What do you mean? It’s not there?” “No,” I said back, “It’s…it’s gone!” I started looking all around, but it was nowhere to be found. Maybe I took it outback? No, it wasn’t there. Maybe in the garage water heater closet? No…it was just gone! My brain started freaking out – did someone steal it? Why would someone steal just a ladder? Nothing else was missing from the garage. Then it dawned on me, our door leading from the garage to the house was unlocked while we were gone. What if someone broke in while we were gone? Was something missing from our house? We started searching the house, checking drawers and taking inventory, but everything was accounted for! We then thought to ourselves that maybe Randy has our garage code and he came and picked it up? Hesitantly, I called Randy up on the phone. “Hello, BJ! What’s going on?” he asked. “Hey Randy…any chance you came and picked up your ladder while we were gone?” I asked. “I completely forgot you had it, but noooo...has it wandered off on you?” he replied. “Randy, I don’t even know what to say – it’s just gone! Nothing else is missing. I promise we’ll get you a new ladder.” I told him. He laughed and said, “Oh, I’m not worried about the ladder. But hey, pump the breaks. You’ve got all these complicated theories about what could have happened to this ladder, I’m sure it’s as simple as a neighbor borrowed it – things always turn out different and simpler than all the complex theories our brains come up with.” I kid you not, no sooner did he say this that my phone beeped, and it was my next-door neighbor Drew. “Hey, welcome home!” he said, “I hope you don’t mind, I actually changed my mind and did end up needing to borrow your ladder. I’ve got it in the garage and will bring it over tomorrow!” Oh, stupid me. Of course! Before we left Drew was putting up his lights and I asked if he wanted to borrow a ladder. While we were gone we had asked if he’d be willing to bring our trash can back into our garage for us, so while he was doing that he took me up on my offer and grabbed the ladder like I had offered. We chatted for just a minute before I hung up the phone and called Randy back. “Hey Randy…guess what? You were right.” We had a good laugh, and the mystery of the vanishing ladder was solved – as it turns out, it was much more simple than my brain had made it out to be. 

In fact, aren’t most things? My mind went back to Randy’s response about my mind going to all of these crazy theories about what could have happened, when in reality it was nothing like anything I had been worried about. It reminds me of the Lord’s words in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” In the context of this passage, Jesus has been dealing with the issue of being anxious as a result of not trusting in God’s love & ability to care for us. But in what Jesus says here, I think there is another powerful lesson for us to understand about our minds. Why should we not be anxious about tomorrow? Because in most cases, the things that we allow to consume us that we worry about never come to pass, do they? Our brains come up with all of these crazy scenarios and situations as we lay awake on our beds at night. I know even the night before last I allowed my mind to do this before the court date yesterday. What if the Judge rules this way? What if these people show up in person and cause problems? What if the ruling is just but causes back lash among the unstable members of our family? What if they do others harm? What if I hit traffic and don’t make it? Should I have left tonight? You’re getting the picture. But guess how many of those things ended up taking place? None of them. In fact, the day was much more simple than all of the crazy scenarios that my mind had played out. Think about your own life now for a moment, and I’m sure that you can relate. Philosopher Michel de Montaigne once said, “My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened.” According Dr. Robert Leahy in his book, The Worry Cure: Seven Steps to Stop Worry from Stopping You, studies show that 85 percent of what we worry about never happen, and with the 15 percent that does happen, eight out ten people discover either they could handle the difficulty better than expected, or the difficulty taught them a lesson worth learning. This means that 97 percent of what we worry over is the product of our mind exaggerating and being allowed to run wild. Fascinating, isn’t it? Maybe Jesus was on to something after all, huh? What is the answer then? 2 Corinthians 10:5 says that we are to allow every thought to be taken captive to obey Christ. In other words, we give Jesus control over our minds. Rather than allowing our minds to run without restraint and think up every kind of evil or awful thing that can happen to us today or tomorrow, we are to give it over to Christ and trust in him. The vast majority of the things we think about never take place. Instead, we must set our minds above. As Paul writes in Philippians 4:8, “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.” Let’s give Jesus control over our minds again, and finally stop worrying ourselves to death over the things that exist only in our vivid imaginations. 

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.