Killing Chipmunks (A Parable on Ministry Distractions)

I came across a brief post by someone on the West Coast. He took a 5-gallon bucket from a local home improvement store; filled it half full with water. He then leaned a 2×4 against it like a little ramp. Sunflower seeds were sprinkled on the wood and over the surface of the water in the bucket.

After a while, the theory is that the chipmunk will come eat the sunflower seeds. Then, seeing the seeds in the bucket, it will dive in, not knowing they are simply covering the surface of the water. With smooth sides in the bucket, the chipmunk will drown.

I tried it and it worked. It worked surprisingly well. Two chipmunks were eliminated my first day with this setup. And then another…and another…until at the time of this post…we are up to 15 chipmunks!

I don’t know if they were all living under our house and in our walls or if they are coming from other neighbors or wooded areas. But that’s a lot of chipmunks!

Why does this work? The chipmunks can get plenty of “free food” from the wood beam and not face any danger. But they are tempted when they see all the seeds in the bucket. They go in after those seeds and that is when it is the end of the story.

The Parable Explained

And this is where I started to see a bigger meaning behind the strange experience I was having at my house. This is not typical for me. I don’t hunt. I like to eat meat. But I don’t like the process of how it gets to me. But hey…these chipmunks came into our house and chewed through wires…which I’m pretty sure are not good for them anyway…and took out our internet. Something had to be done.

I began to think about how this has so many connections to ministry.

As I’m typing this post, Pokémon Go! has taken the world by storm. This augmented reality game has people wandering around to find fictional creatures. There’s a big debate as to the benefits of the exercise and socialization happening around the game vs. the dangers by people risking personal safety by sharing location information and possible private data.

But one things is true: this is a game. And it…for some, possibly many people…is a distraction. People are getting hurt walking into things because they are looking at their device and not where they are going. I was having lunch with a fireman who sighed and said, “Here we go! One more reason we’ll be pulling people out of ditches now.”

He was referring to the problem of cell phones and driving. People use their phones while they are driving thinking they are only looking down for a second and that won’t matter. But whether they are using an app or texting, this fireman shared with me some true stories of people hurt seriously, and one fatally, with the cause being cell phone use while driving. And he shared with me how even talking on the phone – hands free – has been proven to be as distracting to drivers as being intoxicated. All of these distract the driver from their main thing: driving the car!

Narrowing the Focus to Ministry

In ministry, there are so things that fight for our attention. Many of them are good, helpful or just fun! Think about it. In our student space, we probably have some fun games that we could grab some friends and play. We might be building relationships. And we might be wasting time that would be better spent in other ways.

We use social media to connect with students and their parents. But sometimes we are as bad – if not worse – than the students in our ministry when we constantly check these platforms for updates, comments, likes, shares, etc. If this is “social” media, why do I spend so much time focused on myself instead of others? Why do I treat it like a mirror to look at myself instead of a window to help me get to know others?

Then there is technology in our services. Working with students, you may have sound, lights, projection, software, hardware, and more that can be worked with to get ready for the weekend. But…in the end…are we spending disproportionate amounts of time on the tech than on the teens? What if in spending time on things that are fun and good, we are spending too much time on things that don’t really make the most significant impact?

And for some of us, the distraction is saying “Yes.” too much. We’re supposed to help other ministries in our church and in our community. How could it be bad to volunteer a few hours in the local school. After all, that is where the students are whom we are trying to reach! But is this something we have time to do right now and are we really connecting with students during this time?

Cheeseburgers in the Pool

When my junior high son heard about how effective this trap was for chipmunks. He gave me a warning. “Dad, if you look in the backyard and there is a pool filled with cheeseburgers, don’t try to eat them. There’s probably a chipmunk nearby waiting for you to jump in!”

Yeah, he has my sense of humor.

But…if this is a parable and not just a story about killing chipmunks…then I need to take his words seriously.

I Could…Or…

I could spend the next hour perfecting the look, font, background videos and more for our songs this weekend. Or…I could write a few notes of encouragement and appreciation to the volunteers who do all the tech work for us in our program.

I could work really hard at creating the perfect graphic to capture my point for this next series. Or…I could give that to a friend or even student to do for me while I spend more time reading and studying the Bible to make sure that I am taking my responsibility of teaching God’s word accurately responsibly.

I could spend the rest of my day “researching” YouTube for the next great video clip that will wow my junior highers and get a good laugh in our program. Or…I could realize that if it’s funny, they have probably already seen it. And I could spend the afternoon hanging out with a small group leader and his junior highers to build relationships that could have a bigger impact that the fleeting popularity of an online video.

What about you? What could you be doing today…this week…that in and of itself is good or even fun. But, like the chipmunk, if you go too far, you’ll end up regretting your decision.

Now What?

I’m not saying you need to set some traps around your house. I’m also not saying that you have to give up all the fun stuff and only do things with eternal impact. (Because, truthfully, sometimes it is in the midst of those fun and random things that eternal impact happens.)

Here’s what I’m saying. At the end of the day today, take a few minutes to think back. Was there anything you did where you now wonder: “Why did that take me so long?” or “I can’t believe I spent that much time on that!” Is this something you can make a note to avoid in the future.

Maybe you need to do what I did as a starting point for application. Look at all the apps on your phone or tablet or both. Do you have some that you know waste your time? Are there apps that you become a little kid who has to play “one more level” no matter what is going on around you? I’m deleting some of those.

What about your cell phone? I’m trying…trying, not achieved, perfect, or anything close yet…to create a habit of putting my phone on “do not disturb” when I am meeting with someone, in my card, reading the Bible, praying, etc. The messages and notifications will be there when I get done. But I know it is really hard to focus on driving, on being present with someone, on focusing on God…when that little device rudely interrupts me and I cave in. This is hard for me. But I know it’s my way of not taking something good and allowing it to be distracting or dangerous.

Our calling in ministry is much too important to allow small things to distract us from the Main Thing. It’s good to take breaks and have rest and recreation. I enjoy doing things for fun that don’t have to have a point or a direct tie into ministry.

But I also know that those things can easily become dangerous distracts if I don’t limit myself or avoid them when the time is not right. Maybe we can take a lesson from the chipmunks. They probably don’t have a device to switch on “Do Not Disturb” mode. But I bet we both could take the warning of “DND”.

“Do Not Disturb.”

“Do Not Distract.”

“Do Not Die.”

Get to know Jesus really, really well. Help other get to know him too. And help them learn how to help others get to know him.

Everything else…is just a bunch of seeds floating in a bucket of water.