Not My Job

As a family, we followed the Sing-Off a capella singing competition every season it aired.  This culminated for us when we attended The Sing-Off Live tour in March 2015 for Geoffrey’s birthday.  The show that night ended with the entire cast joining tour headliner Street Corner Symphony on the edge of the stage singing Coldplay’s “Fix You” with no microphones and absolutely no amplification at all other than their natural voices.  Coldplay released the song in 2005, but since I was playing by the rules of the churchboy during that time and listening to only Christian music, I was not exposed to the song until that night in 2015.  I instantly fell in love with the song, the heart behind it and the performance that night was very moving.

Last night we sat down as a family and did something we have put off for nearly two years . . . we watched the movie War Room produced by Sherwood Pictures.  War Room is the fifth film written by Alex and Stephen Kendrick and produced by Sherwood Pictures and we have thoroughly enjoyed all of the other films, so why did we resist seeing this film for so long?  As I’ve shared before, part of the journey we have been on included rejecting anything that seemed typically Christian or churchy in any form and, based on other films produced by this church based production company, we were fully aware of the content of the film.  It has taken us to this point in the journey to even be willing to see the film!!

The point of War Room is to remind us who we are fighting against and how are we fighting.   In fact, after the film was over, my mind went back to that night in March 2015 and “Fix You.”  We all have people in our lives that we want to fix, but how do we do that? I believe and agree with the message of War Room, that we not only fight best in prayer, but we also “fix” best in prayer.  On numerous occasions, I have found myself praying for people or situations that I desire to be fixed and I have discovered that the fixing occurs in me.  When I say I was praying for them, I was not necessarily putting Jesus’s words to practice and blessing those that curse me and praying for those spitefully using me.  I mean I was honest with God.  I admitted I was angry, that I liked being angry, and I wanted to stay angry!!  That’s when the “fixing” occurred.  By admitting it, I was able to start healing.  It was not an instant thing.  I slowly realized I could face certain people and situations without experiencing the anger or feelings that I had previously felt.

I understand the heart and intention of Coldplay when they sing “Fix You” but in reality that’s a skill none of us have.  I cannot fix you.  In fact, that’s not even my responsibility.  I am not responsible for you, no matter who you are.  I am called to be responsible to you, but not for you.  My responsibility to you is to love you, as you are and where you are.  Love is not based on fixing you and fixing you is not my job.  Churchboys want to fix, and I’m recovering from that!

Rocky