Functioning in Chaos
Several years ago, Russ, Lee, my nephew, and I stopped at a Taco Bell while traveling in Orlando, Florida. As we walked into the place, all seemed calm; the seating area was clean but almost empty, and Donna greeted us from the register with a radiant and friendly smile and disposition. “Whatcha need, baby?” she said as we stepped up to the counter. As I proceeded to give my order, I glanced over to notice about 6 to 8 customers standing to my left and several of Donna’s colleagues answering questions and attending to the concerns of these customers the best they could.
One gentleman whose name was Alexander had received the wrong dinner – only to be told after some investigation by Donna and her coworkers – that the problem was that there were two Alexanders. Sure enough, the other Alexander, one of the few who had received any food, was in the seating area eating the wrong dinner; my guess is he had given up and took what he could get.
Still optimistic and relatively unaware of the many inquiries of the customers gathered at the counter, we gave our name for the order (because, as Donna told us, they like to keep it personal rather than assigning a number…thus, the confusion with Alexander), and we made our way to the seating area to wait for our order to be ready. We were greeted by a friendly gentleman who was quietly cleaning tables that appeared to have already been cleaned. He was curiously but obviously distancing himself from the hustle and bustle of the kitchen and counter area. At one point, he stopped to tell us that he “just stayed away from the cookin’, he just did the cleanin’.”
Our optimism and anticipation of a taco began to wane as more people ordered and gathered around the counter with inquiries concerning their food. After waiting enough time that “fast food” was no longer our hope, Lee and I headed to the counter - as that seemed to be the system of having any hope of food. As we approached, we were able to see the entire kitchen area. My guess is there were at least 20 employees who seemed to be working and doing what appeared to be answering orders. However, with more observation, we noticed many of the staff wandering aimlessly around a floor strewn with lettuce, bits of meat, cheese, tomatoes; every ingredient needed to make our tacos. As we made our way through the growing crowd of customers to the counter, we were once again greeted with the bright smiles and cheerful attitudes of no less than 4 employees - to include the manager (who looked about 12 years old). “What’s cha name, Babe?” one asked; we gave them the name on our order, and they looked up - to check what I suppose was the “official order screen” and said, “That’ll be ready in 7 and a half minutes.” It was at this point that one of the other folks who was there when we arrived leaned over and said, “Good luck with that.”
The cheery, happy dispositions of the staff amid chaos and dysfunction reminded me of the state of our world. Happy and unaware, men and women operate and function amid turmoil and mess, never clearly seeing the nature of their surroundings or the reality of truth about the chaos, filth, and sin in which they live.
Paul references the words of the Holy Spirit to Isaiah concerning this predicament of men.
‘Go to this people and say:
“Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand;
And seeing you will see, and not perceive;
27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.” ’ Acts 28: 26-28
If we fail to see what we live in – when we don’t perceive the darkness, we will remain blind and function with no light. It is a basic spiritual principle that leaves us groping and hungry to “see”. If we refuse to understand and identify the chaos, then we will never search for stability, relying on a false sense of security. I feel sure the young manager, who relied on the “official order screen” understood that “7 and a half minutes” may or may not be accurate. But it was the best the chaos had to offer, and therefore, it allowed her to give an answer (albeit unreliable) amid the turmoil and disorder.
Surely, we are able to see and hear; having eyes, we must perceive, and having ears, we must understand. Surely, we see the rambling of those who do not know God, the obstacles and stumbling over the ineffective and disorderly patterns of the dark world. If we perceive that we are living in chaos, it will keep us out of the world. Looking back on our experience at Taco Bell that night, it seems to me the only employee who could “see” and “hear” was the gentleman cleaning tables, who stayed away from the chaos and kept busy working and doing good.
Peter addresses this intention in 2 Peter 1:2-4, when he says, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Peter continues on with these thoughts of escaping the corruption and chaos as he says in verses 10-11, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
We must remain diligent, with open eyes and sharp ears. Our hearts must not grow dull, but be steadfast, partaking in all things pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who calls us by glory and virtue. We must be sure in our election and calling so that we never stumble over the filth and chaos of this world; understanding it for what it is, seeing and avoiding failure. Otherwise, we end up in the kitchen unable to see the real state of things; food covering the floor, lost orders, confused customers, frustration, bitterness, and finally a disastrous outcome of hunger and thirst not being satisfied. If we no longer see our circumstances in the world for what they are and if we are happy and content in this world of chaos and sin, we need to grab our wash rags, get out of the kitchen, and get busy cleaning tables.