Alzheimer’s. The word left Charlie’s mouth and hung in the air of the pick-up truck like the smoke of his many cigarettes. Charlie was my foreman during summer months while in college. Raised on a New England farm, groomed in the Navy and wizened by the school of ‘hard knocks’, Charlie taught me the value of life, people, family, and work. Years and years after this conversation, I went to visit Charlie at his home. He didn’t remember me but smiled and asked me if I wanted to see the boat he’d won at a raffle recently. Inside his home the large Navy air carrier in it’s display case, stretched from one side of the room to the other in its full glory.  I experienced the privilege of being in that room because of a commitment made years earlier.

I’m sharing this story because it’s a reminder to me that it’s the limits in life that make it magical. You see, I’d met Charlie because I made the decision to get inside of the box. There were beaches beckoning to me during those summers, noon-time sleep-ins, and long, lazy afternoons with friends, but I chose to work. And I’m glad I did. Those days were some of the toughest in my life up until that point. Inside the box, I ran a Jack Hammer for eight hours straight, some days….no exaggeration. To the older guys I was the ‘college kid’. You get the idea.

But the mantra today is to think outside the box, to live outside the box, to work outside the box, to do ministry outside the box. But whatever happened to working inside the box? Quite possibly, the world is waiting for some people to get back inside of the box. To love inside the box, to dream inside the box, to make love….Maybe in our attempt to be innovative, we’re traveling a well-worn highway, not a customized path. Maybe it’s time to go against the grain and get back inside the box.

The Book of Lamentations, chapter 3, verse 27  says: “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” The implication is that restraints, boundaries, repetition and limits help, not hurt, people in their younger years.

Furthermore, Natural resources do better inside a box. Coal has no power unless it’s put in the box. Niagara Falls supplies tremendous amounts of light and energy but first it must get put in a box. Gasoline has awesome potential, but first it must be put inside the box.

Show me someone who has everywhere before them and I’ll show you someone who is making an impact nowhere. To make an impact, somewhere is our best destination, not anywhere. -Cory MacNeil

We all need a box. Acorns have to get inside the box. People live inside of the box. Employees submit to the box. And at the end of the day if we want people to know where we are, we choose to be buried in a box.

Forest Gump was wrong when he said: “Life is like a box of chocolates….you never know which one you’re gonna get.” Get inside the box and you’ll have an idea of what you’re going to get. Read the insert Forest. The Orange Caramel is right next to the English Nougat.

We spend so much time thinking outside of the box, that we forget the value of working inside the box. Like many areas of life it’s not a case of either/or, but both. Jesus told the story of two men. One said he would get inside the box and didn’t. The other man said he wouldn’t get inside the box, but did. Which one do you think Jesus blessed.

The box is healthy. Limitations are healthy. Rules are healthy as long as there is a relationship. Rules without relationship lead to rebellion. We don’t live in a random world based on chance and luck. We live in a world based on laws and principles. Thankfully, there are less train wrecks in the world and more meltdowns. Providence honors hard work over long periods of time. She also insures things usually fizzle out rather than blow up. Recognize the long downhill slide and you can get out of the boat before it hits the water.

A few personal boxes ensure health and well being. If you get inside the box and refuse to eat in the evening, you’ll experience greater freedom. If you get inside the box when your co-worker is disagreeable the quality of your relationship with them will improve over time rather than burst. It’s not commitment we need to fear, it’s our future we need to fear if we’re not willing to commit to some purpose greater than ourselves.

It is not commitment we need to fear, it’s our future we need to fear if we’re not willing to commit to some purpose greater than ourselves. -Cory MacNeil

One day after Elementary school I found that my Hermit Crab had crawled out of his shell. Parents teach kids that animals shouldn’t suffer. People can suffer and kids can suffer, but animals can’t. So, I did what any self-respecting kid would do. I ended the suffering. If I remember correctly there was a rock involved. In hindsight, I wonder what would have happened if I found my Hermit Crab a bigger shell. We’ll never fear the box once we realize that God can always give us a bigger box once we outgrow the one we’re in.

A man named Jabez prayed for a bigger box and God blessed his prayer. 2 Chronicles 4:10 says: “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that Thou Wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.” There is life and joy and peace inside the box that can’t be found anywhere else.

What if you believed the box you’re in is perfectly designed and suited for you at this very moment? In our pursuit of what’s outside the box we forget about what’s in the box and how God can use it if He so chooses! -Cory MacNeil

Two parents decided to teach their young son that there are tough realities in life, so they went to the garden center and bought him a bag of horse manure for his Birthday. On the big day as the family looked on, the grandmother held her nose and asked her grandson, “What did you get?  What did you get?” The young boy answered with excitement, “I don’t know, but I think there’s a pony in there somewhere!”

Friend, the circumstances in your box might smell pretty bad right now. Maybe you lost your job this week. Maybe the test results came back different than you’d hoped. Maybe your marriage or a close relationship is headed south and you’re holding on with every last bit of grit and resolve. Whatever the case, I promise you there’s a pony in there somewhere. I met a Charlie in the box and that made all the difference in the world. What’s in your box?