Are Elephants Muddying Your Water? (edited)

I'm currently re-reading Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future by Tim Elmore. Great book for us "old folks" who have the privilege of working with or teaching or parenting those born from 1984 forward. Elmore says he is focusing on those born starting in 1989, but what he says applies to the broader Y Generation. Highly, highly recommended for anyone who works with or leads people in this age group.

Photo by Amo Meintjes, Kruger National Park, South Africa

One of the things Elmore talks about really struck home with me this morning and has a much wider application than dealing with the iY or Y Generation. While not directly related to church planting in Africa, part of our responsibility for discipleship is to teach those who become followers of Jesus to obey what Jesus taught.

In Generation iY, Elmore gives an illustration of a study done a group of adolescent elephants who had been separated from the herd and left on their own in the wild. It seems that, after a lengthy period of separation, these elephants were disturbed by seeing their image reflected in a pool of water. So, they would stir the water to "erase" their image -- they muddied the water. (I haven't, yet, found another reference to this study. If anyone knows who did it, please let me know.)

How often do we muddy the water when it comes to letting others — or even ourselves — see us as we really are? How often do we muddy the water when we talk about reality, whether that's talking with our children, with those we lead, or with co-workers? How often do we try to muddy the water when talking to God?

Elmore lists these reasons we lie — oh, I'm sorry, why we muddy the water:

• Because we're insecure.
• Because speaking the truth takes time and work.
• Because the truth can be painful.
• Because facing the truth makes us responsible.
• Because we've lost sight of the truth ourselves.
• Because we genuinely want [these young] people to be happy.

[Tim Elmore, Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future (Atlanta: Poet Gardener Publishers, 2010), 110-111.]

I also just finished reading a novel, The Justice Game by Randy Stinger (Tyndale House Pub, Carol Stream, IL, 2009). Interesting reading along with this section of "Generation iY" because the 2 main characters had to deal with exactly this issue — how much could they muddy the water before it became wrong? For the record, this was a good fiction book, if you like lawyer fiction. (I just found that the Kindle edition of The Justice Game is still no longer free at Amazon — click the book title to go to the page. Check carefully, though, before "purchasing" — Amazon sometimes gives Kindle books away for a limited time and I cannot be held responsible if you click "Buy" and have to pay. Yes, there's a testimony there and no, I don't get anything if you download the book, not even if you accidentally pay for it.)

• How much are you willing to muddy the water? (Note: I am not suggesting that you muddy the water at all.)

(See: Colossians 3:9, 1 John 2:21, Revelation 14:5)

For the Kingdom,
Bob A