Almost Nearly but Not Quite Hardly

A couple of years ago, I was in London England for some teaching and band gigs. One of the great things about going to London is the opportunity to dive head first into their train and subway system to get around town.

For a guy from Joshua Texas, it’s still a thrill to try and navigate through their multi-level, underground, concrete cave system. I wouldn’t want to do it every day but its fun every now and then.

So I’m running to get to the door before it closes and within ten feet, it shuts all the way and a moment later, takes off while I am still standing on the dock. An old man who had also failed to catch the subway poked me with his cane and said something rather brilliant. “The thing about trains”, he said in a heavy British accent, “is if you only miss it by a second -you still miss it.” He tipped his hat and walked away while I tried to process what he said.

Yes there are lots of things in life where almost doesn’t count at all.

So several years later, last week in fact, I find myself in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Truckee, California and I was thinking about what that old man had said.

Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades

Just west of Truckee is a beautiful lake known today as Donner Lake and just beside it is a mountain and a pass with the same name of Donner. I was stomping around out there knowing this was the place where the famous Donner party camped out through the winter of 1846-47.

In case you don’t know it, the Donner party was a group of pioneers that got stuck there in bad weather for six months. The disaster of the Donner party rocked our nation the way the Hindenburg crash and Mount Saint Helens would later on.

Basically what happened is they rested for five days near present day Reno before attempting to summit and by the time they went to go over the pass, it was impossible. The snows had come early that year and a record 26 feet of snow fell upon those pioneers as they scrambled for pitiful shelter. Four months later most were dead and some had resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.

I stood on the very spot where several of those families had camped out. It broke my heart because when you look west you can actually see the pass, the last hill they had to get over before reaching California. For six months they looked up and saw nothing but snow. Oh If they had just gotten there a little bit earlier.

Some say they missed it by only one day. Others argue two or three days but as the old man told me in England, “If you only miss the train by a second, you still miss it.”

The Near Miss

The dictionary’s definition of almost looks like this: Adverb: very nearly; all but. I don’t think there are very many things more frustrating than almost. The Brewer hates almost. This week’s confession of a highly caffeinated Christian comes brewing with a warning label. Be very careful of almost. Do not settle for almost when you can have the real thing.

Sometimes we church leaders will settle for the general ballpark of something and the end result is a disaster like the Donner party. As much as I love having a great band for praise and worship, which we do in our church, musical talent can not be substituted for real worship of the Lord. As much as I love doing huge food outreaches, handing out food without loving the people you’re handing it too is only a near miss. As much as I love the Bible, knowing the 31,171 versus without knowing the heart of the one who wrote it is close but no cigar.

Almost-Christianity is not Christianity at all. If you miss Jesus by a little bit, you still have missed him all together, and that is not party at all.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

The Brewer on site of one of the cabins near Donner Pass California

Contact the Brewer @ www.OpenDoorMinistries.org