Sometimes you feel dumb, sometimes you feel stupid, and sometimes you feel both.

I have been thinking about a room on our campus where I could get away from the phones on occasion for study and prayer. I read recently in our history book that Dr. Howard used the fifth floor room in the bell tower for such a purpose, so I went up there a few days ago to see it. It would be a good space, but does not have heating or cooling.

So a week ago Saturday, as I was driving by the church building on my way home to get ready for the Contemporary Service, I decided to stop and go up to the room to see how cold it gets on a winter day. I didn't tell anyone, or bring my cell phone. I climbed the steps to the fifth floor, the room just below the clock, opened the dead bolt with my key, and apparently relocked the bolt as I closed the door. It locked behind me, with no keyhole on the inside. I was trapped.

Here I am, 155 feet off the ground, five floors above civilization, Saturday at 4:15 in the afternoon, and no one knows I'm here. I tried using my pocketknife to open the deadbolt, without success. I tried prying the pins out of the hinges, without luck. I thought about opening the giant round windows in the room and yelling for help, but wasn't sure that would work. Finally I used a piece of wood in the room to break out the small window in the door, reached my keys through, and carefully unlocked the door. The moment the door opened is now my definition of relief.

The only thing worse that being trapped in our church's bell tower would be if no one noticed. But I choose not to think about that.

Now, don't you feel better about yourself? Apparently, many of us do not.

The Gallup organization’s polls indicate that self-esteem is the chief psychological malady of our day.

John Powell was writing his now-classic book, Why Am I afraid to Tell You Who I Am? and a person asked him, "Do you want an answer to your question?" He said, "That is the purpose of the book, to answer the question." The person said, "But, do you want my answer?" He said, "Yes, of course I do." The person said, "I am afraid to tell you who I am, because if I tell you who I am, you may not like who I am, and it’s all that I have."

Who doesn’t feel that way sometimes?

As we begin looking at our most common problems and issues from the perspective of God's purpose and priorities for our lives, let's begin here. It is very hard to love God or our neighbor unless we see ourselves and others as he sees us. Unless we understand God's self-esteem solution. This is foundational, and crucial.