Contentment

Phillippians 4:11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

This is not my favorite part of the Bible, simply because contentment is an unfinished issue in my life. By nature I am a restless spirit and I simply have to work at contentment, and accepting what the Lord has for me at any given point in time. One of the things that drives me nuts is that the Lord gave me eyes that can see the possible and a spirit that wants to get there right now. Such is my ministry preparation. I'm pushing 40, enrolled in Asbury Seminary, and have all sorts of great ideas. But, as the chorus goes, "In His Time", is not matching up with my time.

Last week we bid farewell to our closest friends, the Risters, as they packed up and moved to Colorado Springs so John can begin classes at Nazarene Bible College. John and I share many things, including a call to professional ministry. His wife and my wife are the closest of friends, and our children cannot remember life without each other. It was truly a bittersweet moment as we said our goodbyes after helping them pack their U-Haul. And I was envious.

Envious that God had opened a door for John where Ford Motor Company offered him a buyout that includes paying for his education. Envious that they get to move to one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been. And envious that their sense of direction seems stronger than mine.

But I know what God has asked me to do, and I continue to prepare for whatever he has in store for us. I rejoice in the Rister's sense of purpose. And for the way God has opened doors for them. Pray that I can be patient enough to wait on his time. I know He has doors to open for me.

A Big Day

Saturday, August 20, was a memorable one for our household. Bandit, our 7 month-old puppy, decided to make his bid for freedom around 1 p.m. He dug under the downspout extension, and crawled out a 6-inch gap and took off. Mind you, the night before he had broken the ring that held his tag and dog license. So he was completely footloose and fancy free.

My wife called me at the office to see if I had the dog and then discovered the escape. When I arrived at home my wife, daughter and daughter's friend were out riding their bikes and calling Bandit's name.

From about 2 p.m. until 7:30 we continued looking for him, broken only long enough to attend an open house for a couple that eloped in June. As the day wore on, my attitude toward this moronic mutt became progressively less charitable, especially as I tired of sitting on a bicycle seat.

Our break came around 7 when a lady said she had seen him downtown on Front Street. I rode down and went into a restaurant to see if they had seen him. It turns out that they had seen him running in and out of traffic and tried to tie him up. When that failed, they took him to a nearby park where the Monroe Fire Department was holding a children's event. A kind fireman took him to the Humane Society, where we picked him up the next day. Many thanks to Julie and her staff at the Monroe Street Grill and the Monroe Fire Department for taking care of our wayward canine.

But as my attitude darkened, the Lord reminded me of the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:4: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? I have never lost a sheep, heck, I don't even like sheep. But I do know that in the bottom of my heart, I was sick with the thought that he might be hurt, dead or taken. And I'm really glad to have him back.

If I can be that happy about my wayward dog, how much more joy is there in heaven when a wayward soul returns home? And how do I put that joy in my heart for the souls that return? That is where I need God's grace to celebrate with others. I get so caught up in my own world that I don't appreciate what God is doing around me. Just what he has done for me lately.

Here we go again

What is it about blowing up airplanes that thrills Muslim terrorists so much? Five years after 9/11/2001, the shoe bomber and countless other plots, here we are again with British authorities stopping a terrorist plot to drop planes from the sky.

In my recent Christian Ethics class, we had to think through some tough just war theory applications. Terrorism is a tough one. The war is always asymmetrical, the opponents aren't easily identified, and often to remove them, you have to attack a failed state that is harboring them.

God help us as we go forward. This is going to go on for a long time.

Too much time on their hands

Isn't New Jersey the state the shut down it's government over a budget impasse? This may explain why. If the state legislature has nothing better to do than this, then it is no surprise that their state is a mess. What a waste of tax dollars.

It seems the link is password protected. Here is the article from the August 9 Wall Street Journal.

Naming a State Dirt
Just Doesn't Wash
With New Jerseyites

'Downer,' the Candidate Loam,
Can't Get Senate Notice;
Enemy of Lawn and Order

By BARRY NEWMAN
August 9, 2006; Page A1

TOMS RIVER, N.J. -- As its license plates affirm, New Jersey is the Garden State. Where does its garden grow? It grows in dirt, which is why asking the state legislature to designate an official New Jersey state dirt sounded like a nice idea to David Friedman.

"It connects plants and animals and water and everything," said Mr. Friedman, a tall 55-year-old who runs the Ocean County soil-conservation district, here on the coastal plain between New York and Atlantic City. On a hot afternoon, he was driving his Subaru toward the broad, burnt lawn of the East Dover Baptist Church.

"What's beneath our feet," Mr. Friedman continued, "is a whole other world of earth and worms and...help me out, Chris."

"And roots and organisms," said Chris Miller, a specialist with the U.S. Agriculture Department who was on an inspection tour; he was riding in the back seat.

"They all serve," Mr. Friedman said. "If we manage what's below our feet, it's going to benefit mankind."

The sentiment appealed to Douglas Fisher, chairman of the state Assembly's Agriculture Committee. Encouraged by Mr. Friedman, he co-sponsored a bill naming a sandy loam called Downer soil as New Jersey's official dirt. Also known as "sugar sand," Downer blankets Ocean County; it's the commonest dirt in the state.

By unanimous vote, the Assembly passed the bill in May, prompting local resident Jay Lomberk to write to the Asbury Park Press: "State dirt? Are you kidding?" And another local, Jackie Daly, to write: "If it weren't so pathetic, it would be funny." There were lots of editorials, too.

Mr. Fisher is sure the mockery explains why no senator followed his dirt bill with one in the state's upper chamber. Earlier this year, Mr. Fisher nominated the tomato as New Jersey's official vegetable. The tomato is a fruit, but Mr. Fisher cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision from 1893 to prove that tomatoes are vegetables in the eyes of the law.

"The tomato didn't go anywhere, either," he says. "Didn't even pass the Assembly. Legislators think these bills make them look stupid. You can reduce anything to folly if you keep working at it."

Hard at work across America, state legislatures have lately ordained official fossils, odes, dogs and doughnuts. Bob Akerle of Netstate.com, a Web site that tracks these bills, says his count of new proposals is nearing 60 for this year. Where official symbols once stopped at flags, flowers and anthems, they total in the hundreds now. A few months ago, South Carolina made boiled peanuts its official snack food. Hawaii just installed the humuhumunukunukuapua'a as its official fish.

United Square Dancers of America has lobbied Congress to make the square dance a national symbol, alongside the flag, the rose and the bald eagle. "What with the war, we were not able to pass it," says Alitia Becker, the group's Plains region vice president. But it has persuaded 31 state legislatures -- New Jersey's included -- that they need an official folk dance, and that the square dance is it.

Until July 1, only Vermont had an official pie (apple). Now Florida has passed a pie act (Key lime) and the American Pie Council has hopes for pecan (Georgia) and cherry (Michigan). "People like to invoke a feeling of America," says Linda Hoskins, the pie council's executive director. "Nothing invokes America like pie."

Sure enough, but even officialdom can get fed up. Florida's lawmakers saw no use for a state rock; Ocala limestone met defeat in April. Last month, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco vetoed the newly written "I Love My Louisiana" as state poem, citing its lack of literary merit. In March, the Utah Legislature killed the rattlesnake's bid for state reptile.

Unlike rocks, snakes and poetry, the official-dirt movement, a loose amalgam of soil scientists, had run into little resistance up to now. Florida named a dirt (Myakka) in 1989. West Virginia did it (Monongahela) in 1997, and Illinois (Drummer) in 2001. Georgia is getting set to name red clay. All told, 21 states have honored dirt.

"There's no financial motivation, like there is with pie," Mr. Friedman was saying as he drove up to the Baptist Church and parked at the curb. He opened his trunk, got out a rubber-handled steel spike and added: "I don't think this should be a controversial issue in New Jersey."

Except for one thing: Mr. Friedman's homage to Downer soil also happens to be a philosophical challenge to what federal researchers recently identified as America's biggest crop.

The lawn.

At the East Dover Baptist Church, the lawn, initially planted in Downer, was now parched and firm. Mr. Friedman started across, paused, and jammed the spike as deep as it would go into the surface crust. It stopped at two inches.

"This is what happens in suburbia," said his colleague, Mr. Miller. Like lawns everywhere, this one had been flattened and turned during construction before it was grassed over. When dirt gets crushed, grass can't sink roots deep enough to drink up water from below; it has to be watered by hoses and sprinklers more and more. Because the dirt can't absorb it all, the water runs off into drains. In Ocean County, lawn fertilizer is then sluiced into barrier-island bays, helping breed algae that can starve fish of oxygen.

By contrast, under a pine stand in a far corner of the church lawn, a patch of Downer had survived in its spongy, primordial state. Mr. Friedman walked over and easily drove his spike up to the handle. He cleared the leaf duff with his book and scooped up two handfuls of the fragrant, sandy loam. "Plenty of pore space," he said, and Mr. Miller added: "It's best as woodland, a natural woodland soil."

Once, Ocean County was almost all woodland, and its population included 2.6 million hens. It has 500,000 people now, most in houses with lawns, plus 93 gated subdivisions for retirees and more on the way.

"Lawns," said Mr. Miller from the back seat as Mr. Friedman drove west toward Lakehurst. "Personally, I don't know what the draw is." The Subaru passed a string of "active adult communities," their new houses standing on treeless greensward. "That's how they build," Mr. Friedman said. "They clear everything."

He stopped at the edge of a future old-age compound called "River Pointe." Banners with pictures of smiling couples hung from poles. Behind them lay 165 humpy, windblown acres. Root-rakers had pulled out the scrub oak and pitch pine. Graders had sheared off the topsoil and stockpiled it. A backhoe was digging a storm drain.

Two surveyors stood at the roadside. Mr. Friedman walked over to introduce himself and offer his views on lawn abuse. "That was Downer soil," he said, looking over his shoulder. "It no longer is."

"Unfortunately, I'm responsible for clearing this," said one of the surveyors, Doug Falkinburg. "That's progress."

Mr. Friedman brought up his legislative campaign, pointing out that New Jersey has a state bird (goldfinch), a state tree (red oak) and a state dinosaur (Hadrosaurus foulkii), but no state dirt, the thing that holds it all together. "People didn't see the value," he said, mentioning that Downer, which almost covers the southern half of the state, was the candidate.

As Mr. Friedman left, the surveyor watched silently, and then he gave the dirt a kick. "Hey, I'm a South Jersey guy, too," he called out. "You got my vote!"

Write to Barry Newman at barry.newman@wsj.com¹

URL for this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115508792324430654.html

Broken things

I was driving down M-50 toward church on Sunday and saw a big maple tree that had lost one of it's main branches. The site where the branch ripped out left a big ugly scar and a gaping hole in the tree, which sits in someone's front yard. My first thought was "why don't they cut that down, it looks nasty" but then the Lord began to speak to me.

I began to realize that while the tree was not what it once was, it was still extremely useful. It still provided shade, the gaping hole had birds transiting in and out of it, and probably nesting there, and all sorts of bugs and beetles are probably making that their home. Sure the tree isn't as pretty as it once was, but it still does some things very well.

People are like that too. Some are physically broken, like the tree. They have injuries or a lifetime of trauma that has left their body bent and broken. But they still have value and can add to the church and community with their contributions.

Others are emotionally or spiritually broken, and their wounds are not always obvious. But they are real. And we have to take them into account when dealing with people. I have not always been good at this, but it is an area where the Lord is working in my life right now.

By nature I am a pusher. I keep moving and prod people to keep moving. But I sometimes push too hard for where people are at that moment. The Spirit has been good to me lately in letting me know when to ease up, and I've been trying hard to listen.

Let's celebrate the broken things. Let's fix what we can, use what we can, throw away what we must and celebrate what we have. God uses broken things, and broken people. So can his church.

The Banquet

I just finished watching Antwone Fisher, a touching story of a young man trying to find his family and his place in the world. Denzel Washington gives his usual superb performance, and Joy Bryant and Derek Luke are wonderful in their biggest roles to date.

There is a scene near the end where Antwone is welcomed into a family he has never known (you have to watch the movie) and he is overwhelmed by the love shown to him. Everyone comes up to him, hugs him, claps his back and welcomes him into the family.

This reminds me of what heaven will be like. When a new person whom we never knew is welcomed into the Kingdom of God, he or she is welcomed with open arms and a great banquet is thrown. Matthew 22 talks about who will come to the banquet that the Lord has thrown. Antwone Fisher is the kind of person who will be invited - orphaned, abused, and neglected. Maybe that is why I had tears in my eyes as I watched this. God has such a tender heart for those who have been mistreated. Just read Amos.

And watch the movie. There is a lot of bad language, but that scene is priceless.

Serving

One of the best lessons in service I learned was from a foreman in a foundry I worked in for a few summers. One year I was the fill-in janitor while the regular janitor dealt with a death in the family. The lunchroom in this place was a microbiological nightmare, to put it mildly. But what made it worse was that the employees would intentionally do thinks like fold candy wrappers into small squares and wedge them into the table just for fun. After a day or two of this, I let go about how it "wasn't my job" to clean up after people who intentionally make our jobs harder and live like pigs.

It was then that the foreman made a comment to the effect that we don't get to define our job. We get to define how we handle the job. And that stung. It still does.

Reading "Practice the presence of God" by Brother Lawrence is inspiring. But I suspect the other monks didn't intentionally make his job harder. But even if they did, he was working for God, not them. And that was the lesson I learned one hot summer in 1990.

Servanthood is an issue between us and God. The people around us are players but ultimately it is a spiritual issue.

I learned a lesson from an unlikely place. And 16 years later I still remember it.

The Revenge Business

"You know, it's very strange -- I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it's over, I don't know what to do with the rest of my life." Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride"

"Revenge is a dish best served cold" Pierre Choderlos de LaClos in "Dangerous Liaisons"

Have you ever met someone who was consumed by a desire for revenge? How much fun were they to be around? Everyone that I knew who was dead set on paying someone back for a real or perceived slight was an unpleasant person to be around. Revenge tends to become an all-consuming passion that destroys everything and everyone in its path.

In the Princess Bride Inigo is out to kill the 6-fingered man who killed his father. He spends 20 years hunting the man and in the process he becomes a drunk and takes unsavory jobs because "there's no money in revenge."

The Bible has some stories of revenge that are enlightening. The sons of Israel at Shechem. Saul and David. Ahab and Elijah. Absalom and David. All were stories of people who believed that they or someone they loved had been wronged. And all of these instances led to disaster of some sort.

The sons of Israel lost their birthright to Judah. Saul lost his kingdom and life. Ditto for Ahab. And Absalom killed Amnon for raping his sister. Which led him into open warfare with his father, David.

Why do we so desire revenge? Pride I suppose. I know it has been part of our nature since Adam and Eve messed up the whole arrangement with God. But from the beginning God has been telling people that vengeance is his job, not theirs. Go through your bible or go to Crosswalk and do a search on vengeance. In nearly every instance it God reserves that for Himself, or those He instructs to take his vengeance. Other than the Avenger of Blood in the OT, I can't think of a divinely approved vengeance scenario that isn't directed by The Lord Almighty. If you know of one, let me know.

So what do we do with our desire for revenge? The easy answer is to "Give it to God" and let it go. That is much easier said than done. As with any other hurt requiring forgiveness, it becomes a day-by-day decision to forgive. I know that I have struggled with forgiveness and every time I remember the hurt and the anger wells up inside me, I have to choose again at that moment to forgive. The good news is that as I do that, it becomes harder for the anger to take hold and grow into bitterness. It's like beating back a pernicious weed. You may not be able to kill it at the beginning, but each time it gets whacked, it gets weaker. Eventually it will die. So will your anger, on a Cross with the only person who really had a great case for revenge. And he chose not to exercise his right. I'm glad it was Jesus and not me making that call.

Blue Like Jazz

I'm finally getting around to finishing Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz." It is a light-read that contains some very deep and challenging, nay convicting, thoughts. It is a series of essays on life that flow well together and give you a sense that you and Don are sitting in a coffee shop conversing.

Miller is an artist, and a bit of a recluse. Throughout the book you have a lens into his spiritual and personal live as he interacts with Andrew the Protester, Tony the Beat Poet and the other colorful characters he encounters, mostly in Portland, Oregon.

A couple quick observations where Miller and I intersect.

1. My pride gets in the way of accepting grace. He spends some time discussing how pride can stop people from receiving God's grace and living in the power of His love. We think we earn our lumps, and we do. But God will forgive them, regardless of how dirty we are. We just can't stay dirty forever.

2. I tend to see people only in how they fit into my world. God has been working on me rather intensively in this area, but it is one I lapse into easily. I'm a little task-oriented and tend to move through people like Sherman through Georgia, or so I've been told. God is helping me see people as valuable whatever their lot in life, whatever their mistakes, and whatever foolishness they are engaged in. They all matter to Him. I know that in my head, but He is teaching that to my heart as well.

Read the book. It is well worth your time.

Shalom,

Roy

Darkness

I just finished re-listening to a Leonard Sweet presentation delivered in 2003 at the M3 Conference sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene. Sweet struck a few chords with me in his presentation. I attended that conference, so I can provide a little background for you on the audience.

It was the "Missions in the Third Millenium" (M3) conference, and focused heavily on the USA and Canada as mission fields. The attendees were primarily older, pastors and spouses, which will help you understand some of the illustrations he uses.

The illustration that struck me the most was about Christians being called to be light in darkness. He made a few points about the darkness that are worth reviewing. First, there is always darkness. Second, we do not get to choose our time or our darkness. Third, we are called to go into the darkness, not let it come to us.

Ours is a dark time. There is great evil in the world. In this country, Christ is persona non grata to many people because of the way the Christian church has behaved in the past. Every religion imaginable is here. Pornography is delivered into homes with or without invitation. In many ways our society has become extremely licentous and highly sexualized. This is our darkness.

Previous generations faced the darkness of communism and facism. Others faced plagues and pestilence. But this is our time.

So, how do we show our light in the darkness? First, we need to get out of our church buildings and stop using them as refuges from the world. They need to be used as refuges for the world, not from the world. And that requires us to go into the world. For too long the church, especially the evangelical churches, have written off parts of society and made little effort to redeem God's creation.

Second, we need to understand our darkness. Ours is an age where religious pluralism and tolerance are the norm. Christianity is not the norm in many places, and we need to accept that and move on. We may wish we were fighting the darkness of the antebellum era, but we are not. And our message and methods need to reflect the battle we are in, not the battles of the past.

Third, Matthew 28:19 is pretty clear. As Sweet points out, the only verbs there are GO and MAKE disciples. Not sit and pray, not sit and wait for them to find us, not hope and wring our hands. We have to go into the darkness.

How many of you have ever been in absolute darkness? The introduction of light to eyes accustomed to deep darkness is blinding at first. But it is also attractional. Our eyes gravitate to the light. And it compels us to draw closer. We are that light. We know where the darkness is. Now let's go.

Signs of the Apocalypse

It's official. The end is near. Don't buy any green bananas. The world is about to end.

How do I know this, you ask?

It's simple if you read the signs.

First, read this story. It seems that if you are short and commit felonies against children in Nebraska, you get probation. The lack of height is sufficient reason to avoid a jail sentence in that great state. I thought it was crazy when Debra Lafave got 3 years of house arrest for molesting a young boy. But she is pretty, and pretty people can't be sent to jail. Now short people can't go either. I guess only regular schlubs go to jail for molesting kids.

Second, as of May 26, 2006 the Detroit Tigers have the best record in baseball. I can't even begin to describe how ridiculous this sounds to a long-suffering fan. You had to be there for the last 13 years. You just had to be there.

Third, Pat Robertson has leg-pressed 2000 pounds, or so he says. You know my love for the goofy stuff that comes out of Pat's mouth. This one is a doozy. This ranks up with Chia-head Kim Jung-Il, who has made a series of similarly preposterous claims over the years. It seems that both of them have left reality and have entered another plane of existence. Let's pray that they stop making public pronouncements.

Otherwise, the world will come to an end. Very soon.

Ralphie

I was trolling through Glenn Beck's website and saw a picture of him on the "On Television" tab that looks like a 40-year old version of Ralphie, the kid from A Christmas Story. Can it be true that Glenn really is a grown up version of the kid who wanted a BB Gun?

Look at the photos and tell me if you agree.

Pearls

I love the comic strip Pearls Before Swine. Aside from the obvious biblical references, it is a dark and funny strip with some great characters. Take a look at this recent strip:
As is the law of nature, the crocodiles are always trying to kill the zebra who lives next door. But what I find amusing is their penchant for false piety to try to trick the zebra. It always backfires on them, as this strip humorously depicts.

But there is a caution for us here too. Just because someone claims to be a believer doesn't mean their motives are pure. There are many snakes posing as Christians, and many good and Godly people have been hurt by them. We need to take Jesus' words in Luke 16:8 to heart.

8 "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.

I almost lean to following Ronald Reagan's advice to "trust but verify" when dealing with people. Whether they claim to be a Christian or not. I've been burned by Christians who behave no differently than the culture at large. Maybe that is why I find the crocs so funny.

Border issues

Here we go again. The furor over illegal immigration has reached a point where the U.S. Senate may have to act, and tonight President Bush is preparing to announce that National Guard troops will be placed in support roles along the border with Mexico. Predictably there are many in favor of this and many opposed to the plan. President Fox is concerned about the militarization of the border. Of course, his country takes in billions each year from illegal immigrants sending money back to Mexico, so he has a vested interest in keeping the status quo in place.

One of the most intriguing comments comes from Senator Chuck Hagel (R- Nebraska) who said the proper way to do this is to double the Border Patrol during the next five years, but opposes using National Guard troops during the intervening 5 years. So, is it a free-for-all during that time? This makes no sense to me.

I have nothing against immigrants. But I am terrified of a porous border when we are at war with fanatics who recruit all over the world. Unfortunately the Mexican citizens trying to get into this country get caught in the blowback.

Stillness

Take, take till there's nothing, nothing to turn to.
Nothing when you get through.
Won't you break, scatter pieces of all I've been.
Bowing to all I've been running to.

Where are you?
Where are you?

Did you leave me unbreakable?
Leave me frozen?
I've never felt so cold.
I thought you were silent.
And I thought you left me for the wreckage and the waste.
On an empty beach of faith.
Was it true?

Cause I, I got a question, I got a question- Where are you?

Scream, deeper I wanna scream.
I want you to hear me, I want you to find me.
Cause I, I want to believe but all I pray is wrong and all
I claim is gone.

And I, I got a question, I got a question- Where are you?

lyrics from Silence by Jars of Clay

That's where I am today.  I'm reaching out for God to tell me
what he wants me to do with my life, my vocation, and the
seminary education I am acquiring.

But there seem to be more questions than answers.

Then along comes a chapel podcast on Be still and Know.
Whack! (sound of 2x4 hitting skull)

Read Psalm 46 with me

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.

6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 8 Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. 10 "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." 11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah (emphasis added)

Pray for me to be still. If you know me, you know how difficult that is. I want to know it all now, and it doesn't work that way. But I want to know because there is a restlessness in my soul that I cannot explain.

Time

I'm at the Sci-Fi thing again. This week's episode of Dr. Who was about Rose going back in time to see the scene when her father died. She was an infant when this happened. Unfortunately Rose ignores the Dr.'s instructions and intervenes and sets off a calamitous chain of events because of the breach in the time continuum. This got me to thinking about what would I like to go back in time to see. There is so much.

I would love to see the Exodus live. All 40+ years of it if I could. I envy Moses for the relationship he had with God. The signs and wonders he saw had to be mind-boggling. Yet he faithfully soldiered on.

I would also like to see Solomon's Temple when the Lord moved in. To see the presence of the Lord inhabit a place would be the most awe-inspiring thing I can imagine. To viscerally feel the presence of the Lord Almighty, to see, hear, smell and feel His presence would probably cause me to completely lose my composure. Yet I would love that opportunity.

Rome in it's heyday is something I want to see. It was a city of 1 million people, a feat that was not equalled in the West until the 19th Century. Rome had it going on, and seeing that would be an incredible scene

I want to hear Jesus teach. I'd love to be with him and the disciples as they walk from town to town. To hear the banter, admonition, jokes and teaching that went on between the Son of God and his followers would give me insight into a person who is hard to get my head around.

Where would you like to go? Anything you would like to see? Let me know if you have the time.

How has it come to this?

A few years ago I attended a conference on USA/Canada Missions in Nashville, TN. The conference, sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene, had nearly 5000 participants focused on how to evangelize the United States and Canada. The M3 refers to the 3^rd Millennium of Christianity, which we are now in.

Am I the only one to cringe at the concept of having to have a conference on how to evangelize our “Christian” nation? I used to make fun of the Jews because they “just didn’t get it” when they had the Messiah in their midst. In Acts 1:4,8 Jesus tells his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they have received the Holy Spirit and that “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.” People, our Jerusalem is all around us.

Look at your community with God’s eyes. Who is hurting? Who needs a friend? Who needs food? Shelter. A lift out of addiction? Freedom from fear from an abusive spouse? Who are the widows, orphans and poor that God cares so deeply about? And how can we help them?

I am reminded of King Theoden, sovereign of Rohan in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, whom, when surveying the evil that surrounds his nation, asks, “How has it come to this?” (In case you didn’t know, I am a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Hobbit) How has it come to the Church of Jesus Christ having to make a concerted effort to see the needs of the hurting? When did our eyes stop seeing the hurt, the loneliness, and the needs in people? When did a church so rooted in serving the poor, turn its heart away from those that need Jesus? I can’t answer that, but it has been that way for a while.

I have good news. The Church of the Nazarene has reaffirmed its commitment to serving the needs of all God’s children, not just those who look like us. Speaker after speaker talked about how we need to reach out, and how we can reach out to the lost in our communities. Since 1998, more than 500 new churches have been started in the United States and Canada, and 1,000 more will be started by 2008. More than 300 of those new churches will be primarily Hispanic congregations. The church has identified leaders to reach nearly every ethnic group imaginable with these church plants. The commitment to those who are not “pale-skinned” resonated throughout all the speakers, culminating in the address of General Superintendent Dr. Middendorf, who told us this is our time, God has been ready, and now we are ready to go where he wants us to go.

Pray that we will be obedient to God’s leading in these issues. We need to be prepared to reach people who do not look like us, act like us, or are even the kinds of people we like to be around. We are all sinners, some of us are saved by Grace, and others are waiting for that opportunity. God loves these people, and we need to be obedient to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them. That may mean a church plant, opening a Compassionate Ministry Center, or implementing outreach efforts to show Christ’s love to them. Or something that we haven’t even imagined. Mercifully, God is not limited by our imaginations.

Pray with me that God will lead us to follow His direction. We can’t be passive, but we need to be obedient. Pray with us, come with us, and work with us to reach the lost for Jesus.

Easter

Wow! What a weekend that was. It started out with a moving Stations of the Cross service on Good Friday followed by the Eucharist. Since we meet in a school, it was kind of a linear mode, but it was very well done and it spoke to many hearts.

Sunday was a great day as well. We had an all-church breakfast at 10, service at 11 and an egg hunt at 12:30. We had more than 100 people for the first time on Sunday and 45 children for the egg hunt.

Our message was about Thomas, and how he is stereotypically known as "Doubting Thomas." There is more to the man as Pastor Sam pointed out, but he also encouraged us to lay down our doubts. I know I have my share.

I doubt whether God still intervenes in the daily lives of people. Then I remember a kindly gentleman, and I use that term in its most positive manner, named Howard Carroll who was told to go home and prepare to die because his cancer was untreatable. More than 10 years later, he had become a hospital chaplain and he was there to explain to my 9 year old daughter how God does heal people. Her grandfather had recently had what we thought were strokes, and she was having a hard time praying with any belief. I told her about Howard and she started firing questions at him (if you know her you can imagine the scene) about his story. Afterward she was comforted and more confident in her God, because she heard first-hand how he intervenes in people's lives.

I repeat that story for myself for those times when my business is down, I am discouraged, or feel like roadkill. God still intervenes in our lives, and He cares about us. That is the message of Easter. God cared enough to rescue us from the pit of despair. And he still does that today. Celebrate it with me.

Cubans

More on the immigration debate.

Remember Elian Gonzalez? The little Cuban boy forcibly removed by federal agents and sent back to communist Cuba? If he had been Mexican, none of that would have happened. I'm not trying to stir hatred toward anyone (except maybe the potatoheads in DC) but there is an obvious double standard. Our Immigration service practices catch and release for illegals flooding the Southern Border. They don't automatically send them back.

But any Cuban who doesn't reach U.S. soil is summarily sent back to Cuba, without even a hearing. There is something inherently wrong here.

Protests

I really don't know what to make of the recent wave of protests about illegal immigration. As someone born and raised in this country, I have a hard time understanding what the illegal immigrants must go through. They live in fear of deportation, and are reluctant to turn to the authorities when they are mistreated for fear of being deported if their status is discovered. The Bible clearly calls on believers to take care of the less fortunate and defenseless in our land. And they qualify as defenseless in many ways.

The prophet Jeremiah summed it up pretty well how important the defenseless are to God in chapter 7 of his book: ' 5 "For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 {if} you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

All of the groups highlighted in v6 were defenseless in that era. There were not many methods of recourse for them if they were mistreated, and so God made a special point of instructing Israel to take care of them.

But what do we do with people who broke the law to get here? There are 12 million or so of them in this country right now, and our border is so porous that one could smuggle just about anything over it. Social services in border states are overwhelmed with the workload, and many Mexican women are coming to the U.S. to give birth so that their child will be a U.S. citizen. Hospitals in Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas are closing because they are not reimbursed for the care given to illegals.

I see church leaders leading the protests, and I sympathize with them. I see the leaders of the House of Representatives taking an enforcement tack, and I empathize with them. I hear the calls for amnesty, and I fear that will just open the floodgates unless the border is secured. And who knows what Al Qaeda will bring across the border.

This is a vexing problem that defies easy answers. This may be one of the cases where the church and the government's interests diverge. God help us to make the right decision. Lives do depend on it.

Apocalypse

I'm A Sci-Fi fan. I love the Sci-Fi channel, and it is probably the one I watch the most. I know it's a bit geeky, but hey, it fits.

Last week a new series, Dr. Who, premiered. Click on the link for the storylines if you want. I wanted to comment on the episode "The end of the world" which aired on March 17. In this episode Dr. Who, our time-travelling alien, takes Rose, an typical British young lady, 5 billion years into the future to see the end of the Earth, when the Sun expands. Much goes on that we don't need to discuss, but at the end Rose makes a telling statement.

She says "We were so busy saving our own lives that no one watched the end" or something to that effect. Then Rose is transported back to present-day earth and she stands among the pedestrians on a London street watching the people go about their lives. And she knows they have no idea of the coming apocalypse.

This resonated with me and the church. We know of the coming apocalypse. We just don't know the date. Yet so many of us, myself included, are so busy saving (and living) our own lives that we will miss it. And those around us will miss it if we don't do something.

I'm not advocating street-corner fire and brimstone preaching, but we do need a sense of urgency to tell others about Christ's love and how they can enter the kingdom of God right now. Not fear, but love. Urgent. pressing love that tells people that the Sovereign of the Heavens loves them. And wants to spend eternity with them.

People who have stared death in the face through illness, accident or war have an altered perspective on life. They often have a new respect for the mundane things others take for granted. Christians should be like that as well. We have received a pardon from a death sentence. And we need to show our gratitude.

God forgive us for our spiritual inaction. John the Baptist had a sense of urgency, as did Paul, Jesus and the disciples. We should have no less. Lord, help us.

Max

CBS is about to finally announce a replacement for the disgraced Dan Rather. It appears that Katie Couric, the perky diva from NBC's Today show, is the heir apparent to the chair that Walter Cronkite once held. And the CBS staff apparently is not in favor of the move.

I'm not going to get into the politics, or my like or dislike of Ms. Couric and her style of journalism. My bigger question is "Does it really matter who sits in the big chair?" Do Americans ascribe validity to the information they receive based on the talking head reading it off of a teleprompter? Seriously, do news anchors do any real reporting? Do they go out and beat the bushes for news? No. They read what their producers put on the teleprompter and they make inane chatter with the correspondents whose pieces are being used on the newscast.

I vote for bringing back Max Headroom. The folks who created him were way ahead of their time. If the news we receive is just some talking head reading off a script, why not have an animated character and save a boatload of cash? Plus, Max doesn't have bad hair days and he doesn't have attitude problems, like Mr. Rather's famous walking off the set incident.

Vive le Max!

Bridges

Sometimes a picture really does say it all. This is a bridge in Honduras that lost its purpose after Hurricane Mitch struck that country several years ago. In case it isn't clear, the bridge goes to nowhere because the river moved. The tremendous rainfall and flooding from the hurricane changed the channel of the river, and what is a magnificently constructed piece of engineering has no purpose.

Ever been to a church like that? It has a beautiful edifice, strong, stately columns, flying buttresses for support and by all measures it is a prime specimen of craftsmanship. But it is empty most of the time. Like the bridge, it is well constructed but not useful.

Rev. Jim Garlow, pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church, pointed this out to me in a chapel message he delivered at Asbury Seminary. Podcasts are available here. He spoke of the church being primed to fight the last war, the war on modernity. We have our columns of proof texts, legions of trained apologists, and an army of witnesses to go tell people that the Bible is not in conflict with science. Problem is, Modernity is dead, like the old Soviet Empire.

In its place, we have a world where proof texts are pointless, when the person you are talking to is biblically ignorant and apathetic. We have an army primed to fight the last war, and the new one is upon us.

In the new battle, we have to "win the hearts and minds" of the culture. We are no longer the favored player. Quite the opposite is true. Every religion but Christianity seems to get a better shake from the culture. So we have to start over and try to win people to Christ through our love, our lives, not our words.

Garlow challenged us not to become like the bridge in the photo. We can build bridges, but we have to be prepared for the ground to shift underneath us. Or we end up looking like a sad relic from the past.

Hurt

Wow. I just finished watching one of the most visually powerful videos I have seen in quite some time. It is Johnny Cash's rendition of "Hurt", the old Nine Inch Nails song. Click on the link to take a moment and watch it.

The song, albeit written by someone else, still expresses the deep sense of regret that Cash has for the lifetime of bad decisions he has made. In a voice sapped of its volume, he speaks more clearly than I've ever heard him about his faith, his life and the regrets he has at the end of his life. I was in tears as I watched this moving performance.

What spoke to me most was his sense of regret. For all the hurt he had caused others. I share that too, and hopefully I am not near the end of my days. There are a lot of things I regret - things I've said, not said, done and not done.

What really spoke to me was our ability to change that life of regret before we get old and broken down. If we turn from our own path and follow what God has for us, we can begin to live a life we will not regret. It will still have hurts, but we have One who can heal the hurts walking with us.

Fun

Have you followed the antics of the elected officials in Detroit lately? After successfully hosting a Super Bowl, they have managed to regress to schoolyard antics in just two weeks. And the public is outraged, as evidenced by their comments.

It seems that Detroit has a $300 million budget shortfall. So, the Detroit Zoological Society agreed to take the operations of the Detroit Zoo off of the city's budget. The state of Michigan offered a $4 million grant to help with the process.

Here is where it gets really weird. According to news reports, the mayor's office took months to get the plan to the City Council. The plan arrived to the Council late Friday and they debated the issue well into Saturday before voting 7-2 to not turn over control. The grant offer expired Sunday morning and the Mayor's office immediately announced that they would begin closing the zoo.

Public outrage ensued.

Then race entered the picture. Quoting from the Detroit News:
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson stoked the fire by saying the council itself should be placed in a zoo. Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins said white people don't own black people anymore. Patterson said he'd rather own a 1948 Buick than Collins.

You can't make this stuff up.

Let me get this straight. You (Detroit) can't afford the zoo. Group offers to run zoo, take over operating costs. You reject offer because it didn't meet your timetable. Then you invoke slavery?

The Detroit City Council needs a new motto. I propose "City Council - putting the fun back in dysfunctional."

This is so embarrassing.

Enough

Enough of Fred Phelps and his crazy, homophobic congregation. Enough of this self-described minister adding to the grief of the family of slain soldiers. You can read about them here.

Mr. Phelps has a congregation that believes it is their job to run around to the funerals of soldiers who gave their life for the country and tell the grieving family that their son/daughter died because God is judging the U.S. because of the "don't ask- don't tell" policy on homosexuals in the military.

How is this helpful? How does it help more people get into the kingdom of God? How does it portray the love of Christ to the world?

Mr. Phelps and his band of haters do more to damage the cause of Christ than I can imagine. But I have no idea how to stop them.

Friction

fric·tion n.

1. The rubbing of one object or surface against another.
2. Conflict, as between persons having dissimilar ideas or interests; clash.
3. Physics. A force that resists the relative motion or tendency to such motion of two bodies in contact.

Friction is one of those morally neutral things that drive us crazy. Friction is good, as in iron sharpening iron. It's bad when it's ball bearings screeching to a halt. We like it when it helps our tires grip the road surface, we don't when it creates static electricity and shocks us when we open the door.

Friction is everywhere. It is why the jet stream is faster than surface winds. It is why the center of a river channel generally flows faster than the area near the edges. Friction is what slows our snow sleds on the hills, unless we pull a Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation and use some super lubricant to reduce friction.

Friction also exists in our lives in less abstract ways. Friction occurs when you have competing ideas and visions. The two sides may not agree on a particular approach to a subject, but one will carry the day. How that process is handled is extraordinarly important.

If there is no lubricant between the two sides, things can heat up quickly. Just forget to add oil to your engine once to get an idea of what can happen. Heat builds up to a failure point. In relationships the failure point can be words spoken in anger, rash decisions, or a decision to go negative and backbite and gossip about the other person.

Properly managed friction can produce a relationship where the two sides pull together and work for the common good and purpose. In a machine, liberal application of a lubricant such as oil usually does the trick. With people, oil is much less effective.

The lubricants of choice would be love, grace and humilty. Putting those together can make a number of things go much more smoothly. Remembering that the other person is a child of God is always helpful. If the question comes down to purely personal choice, e.g there is no clear right and wrong, then humility needs to be applied. And grace covers a number of bumps along the way.

I say this knowing that I have not always done this. But God continues to work on me to mold me into something useful to him. A pastor once called me "hard-headed and tender-hearted." I took it as a compliment, but realized that the hard-headed needs to be tempered with humility. And God is really good at humbling people.

I know.

@&%#%%&!

Wow. It used to be that cartoons made you laugh most of the time. Aside from the Doonesbury types who seem profoundly cynical AND negative, as opposed to just one of the two, most cartoons and comics are designed to make the reader chuckle. And most cartoonists used the characters at the top to express cursing and frustration. Given that knowledge, it appears that the Danish press missed the memo that their Muslim readers don't have much of a sense of humor. At least when Mohammed is the target of the humor.

I'm sure you have seen the stories about the rioting, killing and street protests across Europe and the Middle East since the cartoons were reprinted. Several things strike me here. First, the cartoons were in poor taste. Not that taste has been at its zenith lately, but they were unnecessary. Second, this kind of "art" has been done to Christians and Jews for some time. A crucifix in a jar of urine passed for art in New York last decade. Jews are frequently depicted in a very negative manner in the US, European and Arab press. Third, what is it about insulting their prophet that makes Muslims want to riot? I still do not understand their religion.

There was no reason for these cartoons to be reprinted. But Muslims need to realize that in the this era, nothing is sacred. Especially a religion. Welcome to the Post-Modern world.

Death and Politics

It used to be that the only two things you could count on were death and taxes. But I think political enmity can be added to the mix. To wit, read this story about the sinking of an Egyptian Ferry. It seems that the Egyptian Government would rather let it's people drown than accept help from the Israeli or American governments. Both countries offered air assets to help with the search and rescue operations, and were rebuffed.

It's sad when hatred and political posturing cost innocent lives. Especially when it is so unnecessary.

Pray for these people. They need it.

As you wish

In the movie The Princess Bride, the character Westley responds to Buttercup, who is his employer with "As you wish" whenever she asks him to do something. That thought has struck me recently as an attitude that I have lost toward my Lord and Savior.

In the Lord's Prayer, we say "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" without really thinking about what that means. We are in effect saying, "As you wish" to God. In the Princess Bride, Westley does this out of deference to his employer because that is what servants do. Are we not servants of God? If so, we need to be far more deferential to the Lord.

If he asks us to move and take a new job - As you wish
If he asks us to change our ministry within the church - As you wish
If he says no to our requests for healing - As you wish

As you wish

As you wish

As you wish.

That is my theme this year. To say "As you wish" to whatever the Lord has in store for me. I know He loves me and does things for His Glory. Let me be an instrument of His Glory this year.

Peace,

Roy

Creation Care

I've been pondering what my role as a believer is in caring for God's creation. I know we were given dominion over the earth, but what does that mean? Does that mean we can exploit the earth to the point that it harms other humans and species? I don't think so.

The Brian McLaren quote from my previous post about judging our actions through the lens of how they better the world sticks with me. All tree-hugging jokes aside, this is something that I am really chewing on.

I'm listening to a Cherokee christian talk about how native Americans view creation care. It's thought provoking to say the least.

What are your thoughts on this topic? I'd love to hear them.

How to be helpful

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." That phrase has stuck with me since I saw it on the cover of Forbes magazine many years ago. And there is much truth there.

I have been reading "The Church on the Other Side" by Brian McLaren and have found it to be a challenging read. Challenging in the sense that it dissects some thoughts that I held dear and makes me think about them.

On page 42 he offers 4 guidelines for evaluating programs in the church. They are not revolutionary, but they are extremely helpful.

1. Does this help uncommitted people (including uncommitted people disguised as nominal Christians) become followers of Jesus?

2. Does this help followers of Jesus become better followers of Jesus?

3. Does this enhance the development of authentic Christian Community?

4. Does this empower, equip, deploy the church for a missional identity for the good of the world?

The last two may cause some gastric reflux for many Christians. Too many of us are caught up in the "Jesus and Me" thing, where the only important thing is individual salvation. And the last one, working for the good of the world, will require some serious rumination to digest.

Think about these things, and let me know what your criteria are if they are different. I'd like to hear them.

For a good laugh

go to Larknews and chuckle. You will see why.

Adults say the dumbest things

Art Linkletter used to entertain America with his "kids say the darndest things" show. Little kids would say things that were funny because, well to be honest, they came from kids. But that doesn't work well with adults.

Here is this week's example of how not to make a public statement.

Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, uttered one of the dumbest comments I have heard in years. Imagine if he were white and calling a city a "vanilla city" because that is the way God wants it to be. This is the same man who refused to use school buses to evacuate his residents as Hurricane Katrina innundated his city.

Someone should tell Mr. Nagin to think before he steps in front of a microphone. But then, he could be a senator.

It only took 6 days

God created the world in 6 days. Pat Robertson took six days into the new year to utter another profoundly ignorant remark. This time God is smiting Ariel Sharon for "dividing God's land" by seeking peace with the Palestinians. Pat never ceases to amaze me with the inanities that come out of his mouth. But judging a man in critical condition for seeking peace and trying to restor a homeland to the Palestinians seems a bit un-Christian to me.

Will someone take his microphone away? Please?

Launching the Pat Patrol

Back in the 1990's sports fans around the country engaged in the "Wayne Watch" - a vigil to see when Detroit Lion's coach Wayne Fontes would be fired. It became an ESPN staple as the flamboyant Fontes rode the roller coaster that is Lions football.

I'm starting the Pat Patrol. Our purpose is to catalog the seemingly endless series of inane remarks that flow from the mouth of Pat Robertson. The secular media loves Pat, because he is a great source of inflammatory remarks and material for late-night comedians.

His latest pronouncement is a doozy. He is telling the people of Dover, PA not to call on God if a calamity comes their way, because they rejected school board members who favored the introduction of intelligent design. What God is he talking about?

Even in the Old Testament Prophets where Israel was getting pummeled for their idolatry and neglect of God's laws, God made it clear that he wanted them back. Sure there were consequences, but there was always some hope of redemption after repentance. Pat didn't seem to leave much room for repentance and redemption in his comments.

Intelligent design is a watered-down Deistic theory that nature is too intricate to be left to chance. The Designer is as vague as the Higher Power in AA meetings. It's a start, but it is only a small step. Why on earth would a Christian call down fire and brimstone for a half-measure at best? If we are going to toast some people, let's at least make it a real hill to die on. Not a molehill as this one is.

I reiterate my call to take away Pat's microphone before he speaks again.

Dig a well

I love this modern parable about well diggers and fence builders. It harkens me back to my days in the South Dakota Department of Agriculture when we were helping protect rangeland by promoting cross fencing and water system improvements. It rapidly became evident that 1) Cows aren't stupid; and 2) if you want the cows to move away from the streambanks, you have to provide alternative water sources.

The cows, in pure self-preservation instinct, stay close to the water supply that they know. They will destroy all of the grass around that area if water in another location is not provided. And even after the water is available, the cattle have to be led to it. And putting up cross-fences with gates is a good way of getting them to go to the new pastures.

There is a ministry lesson there. First, we need lots of water sources to steer people toward. And not all of them have to be inside the church walls. Second, we have to lead and prod when necessary. Cows get comfortable with the known, and tend to stick with what they know works. Churches are like that too. Sometimes it takes a leader to move them to new pastures and new sources of sustenance. The trick is finding a leader willing to lead and matching him/her with a congregation willing to move.

The churches who don't move end up with weeds along the banks and little good food and muddy water. And they wonder why they don't thrive.

Peace,

Roy

Stuffing the Dog

What a mental image that is. Not that we are thinking of it in light of the previous posts about our dog's health issues. Rather, it is about our tendency to hang onto that which has passed. Instead of burying the dead, we tend to try to hang on to it, like Frank in the Hotel New Hampshire. He stuffed the family dog in an attack position as a Christmas gift. The law of unintended consequences causes a grandparent to open a closet, the stuffed canine to fall, and the grandparent to die of a heart attack. Lesson here - bury the dead or bad things happen.

Check out this article on this subject. Too often in the church we hang on to programs and services that have had their day and need to be buried. I'm not going to go into the holy wars over service types and times. But numbers and interest do not lie. If the people have walked away, bury it, hold a service and move on. Put your energy among the living and energetic. Jesus didn't spend his time converting Pharisees and Saducees. He went where there was potential and interest. He didn't go to the field of dry bones, he went to the living. And we should do no less.

A long goodbye

We received some good news this week. Hannibal, our beloved 12-year old Lab/Golden Retriever mix, is not as near death as we thought he might be. The vet told us he had about 6 months to go in April, and he is noticeably thinner, but she said he looks pretty good, all things considered. But even in the midst of the good news, I managed to find a negative. I began to think that he might die in the winter, which will greatly complicate our plans for his final resting place. I can't dig a hole in frozen ground very easily.

God forgive me. Here I am worrying about how this will inconvenience me as a rush to say goodbye to someone who has selflessly given himself to me for so long. He has been the best dog we could have hoped for since his days as a little furball chewing machine through our children growing up and beating on him and now in his golden years the stiff movements and confusion that seems to be setting in.

I know he is a dog, not a person. But we can learn a lot about grieving, love, suffering and friendship from our pets. Sometimes I have to carry him up stairs or pick him up when his hips give out. I have to entice him to eat by changing up foods, adding special treats and other things because he is losing weight so rapidly. But I owe him that.

He has been our ever-present companion for years. He protected my wife when she was pregnant, guarded the kids, played with the neighbors and kept the squirrels off of the pumpkins on our porch. He was always ready to play, tolerated us dogsitting for friends, and traveled from South Dakota to Michigan several times.

It's hard to watch him go slowly. But his quality of life is still pretty decent. And I keep reminding myself it is not about me. It's about me serving another. It's about compassion and love, not scheduling.

Pray for me. This is a life lesson I need to learn. It won't be the last time I lose a friend and loved one.

My new favorite word

I love words. I love new ones, big ones, ones that mean interesting things, and ones that just sound cool as they roll off your tongue. I heard one several times this week that I had not heard in a long time, and I love it.

Bloviate (ing) - to speak or write verbosely and windily.

I'm watching the spectacle of bloviating Senators lecturing John Roberts, nominee for Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, under the guise of questioning the nominee. Some, such as Swimming Ted (hic!) Kennedy and Plagarizing Joe Biden, had to be repeatedly reprimanded by the Judiciary Committee chair to allow Roberts to answer the question they had just posed.

These blowhards in the Senate are so used to hearing their own voice that they cannot even ask a question and allow time for an answer before they begin talking again. Howard Kurtz nailed this embarrasing practice in his column "Supreme Blather."

It seems that the Senate in particular has become increasingly detached from society and reality. I fear for our democracy. It's as if it is all about them, and the actual process of governing is a secondary business for them.

God help us.

Foot in mouth disease

Day 2 of the Pat Robertson digesting his foot saga is upon us.

Now, the leader of the Christian Coalition (that name makes me wince because of his propensity to step in a pile) says he was misquoted yesterday about advocating the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the democratically elected president of Venezuela.

Robertson claims he meant kidnap or something other than kill Mr. Chavez. Hmmm. Here is the quote and I'll let you decide:

"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we are trying to assassinate him, we should go ahead and do it," Robertson said Monday. "It's a whole lot easier than starting a war, and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

Gee, I can't imagine why anyone would think Robertson had it in for Chavez after that statement. Clearly The Associated Press made the whole story up out of whole cloth.

Someone take his microphone away before he brings more embarrassment on himself and further damages the cause of Christ.

Stop him before he talks again

Will someone please take Pat Robertson's microphone away? What on earth was going through his head when he advocated the U.S. Government assassinating the leader of Venezuela? Click here for the story if you missed it.

How is it a good idea for a Christian minister to advocate the cold-blooded murder of another individual? It's one thing to kill someone in combat, e.g. Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay. There at least they chose to fight and die as a result of their actions. But to advocate murder is beyond the pale.

We need to denounce this kind of idiocy in the strongest possible terms. It is not Biblical and it does nothing to advance the Kingdom of God.

Pat, please retire. Now!

Fools rush in (Second in a series)

1 Corinthians 1:17-31 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. 18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE." 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God as chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."


Foolishness. That word brings up a great deal of mental imagery, and almost none of it is positive.

Down the Rabbit Hole

First in a series.

I love The Matrix. I love sci-fi to start with, but I really enjoy The Matrix for many reasons, including its grounbreaking special effects. I love the way it can enable one who thinks on such things to view it as sort of a modern allegory to Christ

Some of the similarities are obvious, and I won't recount them here. For more on that go here. But several things struck me as I watched it recently with some friends.

First, The Matrix is a modern day Alice in Wonderland, where up is down and down is up. In the Matrix reality isn't real. What you think you know to be true isn't true. The Red Pill/Blue Pill scene where Thomas Anderson takes the pill that allows him to step out of the false world he lived in really speaks to me. It was as if the scales were lifted from his eyes and his ears were opened for the first time to the truth.

This is oddly similar to a series of discussions that occured nearly 2000 years ago between an itinerant Jewish teacher and the religious leaders of the day. This Galilean rabble-rouser turned the conventional wisdom of the day on its head with his pronouncement that "many who are first will be last, and the last, first."

This pronouncement did not sit well with the religious leaders who were convinced that their public piety, service to the letter (but not the spirit) of the law, and maintenance of community order during the Roman occupation would entitle them to special privileges in the afterlife. The Pharisees were greatly disturbed by this teaching because they viewed themselves as better than the average Jewish citizen and had no problem displaying their superiority.

Along comes Jesus to tell them that the Kingdom of God is not attained through their actions but rather through simple faith. In Matthew 5, Jesus declares war on the Pharasaical system of the day with a series of teachings.

• Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
• Matthew 5:10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
• Matthew 5:20 "For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."

The last one is a direct shot at the Pharisees. Telling them that despite their piety and rules, their righteousness is nothing in God's sight gave hope to the masses and drew a line in the sand. From that point forward the Pharisees were gunning for him. Just like the machines in The Matrix. Neither side could risk the truth getting out to the masses because it would upset the order of things and revolutionize the world.

And their ox would be gored.

Are your eyes open? Can you see the things of God happening in the world? Or do you see the world as you think it is. Dark, futile, pointless, warring, hateful? Or do you see souls waiting to be freed from bondage? Only Christ can open your eyes to see what is present but unseen. Seek Him through his word and get ready to find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Ending Poverty

For the poor will never cease {to be} in the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land. Deuteronomy 15:11

On July 3 the world was treated to a bevy of musical artists coming together to ask the G8 nations - Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia, United Kingdom, United States – to forgive the billions of dollars owed by African nations and other poverty-stricken areas of the world. They want the G8 to declare a year of Jubilee The intent is that if the debt service burden were lifted from these nations, the inhabitants of those countries would experience an increased level of affluence.

All politics aside (I question whether the situation will change for the average African if the same corrupt governments are still in place) this was truly an amazing event. Sure, the whole world focusing on debt relief was cool, but where was the church of Jesus Christ on this issue? The only openly Christian band performing was Jars of Clay, though other bands doubtlessly have Christian members. Various Christian websites have links to the One campaign to end poverty, I still wonder what would happen if the Western church invested as much in education, compassionate ministry and economic development as it does in furniture, choir robes and buildings. What would Africa look like if the church poured its resources into helping these people instead of spending most of its budget on its internal issues?

Sadly, we may never know.

Everybody Hurts

When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,
When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on
Don't let yourself go, 'cause everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes

Sometimes everything is wrong. Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)
If you feel like letting go, (hold on)
When you think you've had too much of this life, well hang on

'Cause everybody hurts. Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts. Don't throw your hand. Oh, no. Don't throw your hand
If you feel like you're alone, no, no, no, you are not alone

If you're on your own in this life, the days and nights are long,
When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on

Well, everybody hurts sometimes,
Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts. You are not alone

The quintessential Post-Modern band REM touched a nerve in many lives when they released this song. The song speaks of the despair of someone who has lost hope and feels isolated. I've been there. Just recently in fact as we earnestly prayed for guidance about the situation at our church. Ultimately God told us it is time to move on, and now we are in the grieving process as we enter an new phase of our lives.

Grieving is such an individual process, no matter what Elizabeth Kubler-Ross says. We grieve for many things - dead friends and relatives, shattered dreams, broken marriages, moves that force us to leave people and places we love - and each person grieves at his or her own pace. Some do it publicly, others do it very privately. I tend to be one who works through grief in spurts of seemingly disconnected events. But the disconnected events are just the outward expression of the discussions that have been occuring in my head.

Pray for us please. Pray for the kids who are no longer attending the only church they have ever known. We don't leave on bad terms, but it is not the way we had hoped it would happen. And for that I am sorry. There is some unnecessary complication here, but that is probably just attributable to human reactions.

But it still hurts.

WOW!

The 9 days in Guatemala were an incredible display of the Holy Spirit intervening in the lives of people. While we were there showing the Jesus Film, nearly 1000 came to know Christ and we helped plant 2 churches. For more details on the trip, go to our pastor's blog.

The photo shows that even the dogs in Guatemala want to hear about Jesus. A new variant on "The Rocks crying out?"

Thanks for your prayers for our safety. Despite 2 earthquakes and a near miss from a hurricane, we had a great time and saw the hand of God move in a mighty way.

Now if only we could do that in the USA.