What I Learned During My Time as Borg:

OK, I need to start with a couple of disclaimers/warnings/cop-outs:

• If you don't anything about Star Trek you may want to stop right now.
• If you are one of those folk who think that grown people should be wasting time on fictional worlds, beings, and events, then please do stop right here.
• If you are someone who has trouble sorting out reality and fantasy, note: I was not really a Borg. The only Borg I am familiar with in the real world is half of the manufacturing company, BorgWarner.
• This is an analogy.
  

The week of January 31 I was assimilated. I went to the Dr.to have a badly cut, but healing, thumb re-bandaged and didn't come home for four days. When I came home the collective had installed bio-implants so I could receive necessary fluids. I remained Borg until yesterday.

Not, "Resistance is futile," rather "Resistance is necessary:
A nurse, a physician assistant, an orthopedic surgeon and an infectious disease specialist, all agreed that my thumb looked and smelled bad. Since bone was involved in the wound, the assumption was made that the invasion of bacteria--was it MERSA?--had entered the bone. Resistance consisted of near the round the clock IVs of what I call Gorilla-mycin. Since we couldn't identify the invader, immediately, we had to rely on a substance that kills about anything--actually there were two. Later we identified the bacteria--not Mersa, but a variety of Staph. Resistance was focused to deal with that specific invader. Resistance continued. It was strange. We never were absolutely sure that the bacterial invasion got past my thumb, but the consequences of allowing it to colonize my body were so devastating that massive resistance--more than that, annihilation--was entirely appropriate. Make it not so, was the standing order.
This is Something to Think About, so I won't do all the work. Look at these two verses and mount your own resistance campaign: Romans 13:14, & James 4:7.

None of us can survive apart from the collective:

During the early part of my treatment I saw doctors, nurses and therapists more than I saw my wife. Before I could come home a surgeon and his team had to install the necessary plumbing so I could get my meds at home. After I came home, I went to see a health professional 2 or three times a week, another one came to see me weekly, and behind the scene were pharmacists, medical device makers and marketers, even UPS who delivered my supplies. I could not resist by myself.
Again, here is some work for you: Hebrews 10:14-25, & 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (Read the context if you have time).

Regeneration is a good thing:

The thing I missed most while I was part of the Borg-Collective was the freedom to alter my schedule. I had to give myself an antibiotic IV, every eight hours. To wash, wipe the port with alcohol, flush the line with saline, hook up the elastometric infusion device, let the medicine enter my bloodstream, wipe with alcohol, flush with saline, then Heparin, and throw away the mess took about 40 minutes. My life was built around that cycle.
One of the concepts that I have tried to live by, and encourage others to make part of their lifestyle is regular prayer and time in the Word of God. Take time to spend with God.


RESISTANCE IS NECESSARY IF WE ARE TO AVOID ASSIMILATION by the world! (John 17:13-16)

It's STTA.

Keeping the unimaginable in bounds:

The earthquake and tsunami that have devastated Japan, and beyond, are off any scale that exists in my thinking. Massive waves that move across the ocean at 500 miles per hour, and tremors that cause buildings to sway like reeds in the wind don't exist in my mind. When "experts" explain these phenomena I gain a new appreciation for their magnitude, but I understand them only in the sense that I learn to parrot back some of what these specialists say. It is not dissimilar to my "understanding" of this computer. I know that when I press the "I" key that the letter appears on the screen in front of me, and that the code that produces that "I" can be stored on a hard drive or sent by digital signals across vast distances. (I'm going to date myself here.) I remember when manual typewriters were popular. I could examine the levers, springs, and gears and understand how it worked. I am confident that if I had put forth the effort I could have explained, complete with pictures, how my old Remington worked. This computer: in broad terms I can explain it, but much of it is a mystery. That is where I am in explaining the cataclysmic events of the past few days--my knowledge base is inadequate.
I think I know enough, however, to be confident that the correct answer to why this tragedy erupted in Japan, is "I don't know." Beware of those who have neat, tidy answers. The vast debris fields that once were neighborhoods in the Island nation, are matched by the clutter in our minds. I'm not sure we can altogether understand what has happened. What we can do, however, is "contain" the disruption in our mind and heart with some reality barriers.
"I don't understand, but I do know this."
What are some of the "this"es we can know?

• Disasters like the one that struck our neighbors on the other side of the globe, are tragic, in particular, because they are an accumulation of personal, totally real disasters. This morning the estimates are that 10,000 people died in the earthquake/tsunami. Each of them is a mom, dad, brother, sister, grandparent, or friend. Every one of those buildings was someones home, their place of employment, house of worship, school, etc. One of the dangers of the worldwide communication/news environment is we tend to see the devastation as if it were the tide washing away children's sand-castles. People talk of good that can come from this tragedy. We can identify good that has come from past tragedies, and I already hear of God's people reaching out with the Love-of-Christ. That is definitely good. One of the boundaries we must respect is to call things like this bad--in this case bad beyond my scale of reckoning. In the Old-Testament the word "evil" is used not only to describe the morally corrupt, but natural disasters. This kind of evil will be eliminated in the heavenly realm, Revelation 21:4. The natural disasters that afflicted Job were seen by him and his loved ones as evil, Job 42:11. Let us never be guilty of calling bad things good. Romans 8:28 does not say, "all things are good," but, "all things work together for good." Look in the context and you'll see that a short time before the Apostle pronounced the truth of verse 28, he wrestled with the presence of bad things in the world.
  
• God is in control. Sometimes we feel like God needs our help. We think that we need to lobby on His behalf and make sure others know this isn't His fault. It is true that God is not the author of evil, but He is in control in this world. His sovereignty extends from the falling sparrow to the culmination of all things. God was not napping when the earth moved with violence. Other than what He has revealed, I don't know why, but I do know the world is in His hand.
  
• People are responsible. The choices we make have consequences. When aggregates of people make choices--national policies, the direction of cultures, etc. those decisions have far reaching consequences. Where we build cities, how we provide them power, and how the people there live can have consequences far beyond what we see. The Old-Testament is full of examples of societies that became ripe for the judgment of God. The later part of Romans 1 records a pattern that is all too common. Fatalism is never the answer. We need to make wise, right decisions, and encourage the groups we are a part of to do so as well.
  
• We are to reach out with love and compassion whenever we are able. One of the reasons Christianity came to dominate the Roman world was because Christians reached out with compassion to those afflicted by plagues and other disasters. We must avoid being opportunists. At the same time we must, with courage and hope, reach out with the love God in the face of this world's darkness.

There is much that I don 't know. I am able to cope because of what God has graciously made sure for me.

It's STTA.

Some further thought:
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/evil.html

Don't Look!

When one arrives at a "certain age" he can look back and think of times that when a voice from within or on the outside said, "Don't Look." I look back with gratitude for the warnings that prevented certain scenes from becoming part of the photo-album of my mind. There are some pictures in those collections that cause me to wish I had listened. Pictures are instantly uploaded to this most sophisticated of computers, but only erased with great difficulty--if at all.
Traffic always slows down near a wreck. Everyone wants to get a look, even though they know they should "move on along." There is at least a bit of the Voyeur in each of us.
There is a mammoth industry that depends on getting us to look. From a young woman with a last name made famous by hotels, to cute drug addicts with an eye for jewelry, to athletes who live like adult-empowered two-year-olds, to funny men whose lives have become decidedly non-humorous there is a perverted ugly co-dependency. Certain TV outlets, internet sites, magazines, agents, and a whole host of other parasites attempt to keep these human carwrecks in front of us as long as there is a dime to be made. As long as we, like rats in an experiment, push the lever one more time, getting our "Ooh," "Ahh,", or even
"Yuk!" fix, the sorry spectacle goes on.
Can we just all agree that we aren't going to expend any energy or especially money, to find out out what she stole, or how much cocaine he snorted with however many prostitutes in tow. Perhaps inquiring minds want to know, but wise souls realize they a better off to stay ignorant of some things. I sincerely hope these tragic folk find help, but I am trying to maintain a stance--"Watch my mouth. What part of 'I don't care!' don't you understand?" Sure there is this tousle-headed boy somewhere between my ears who keeps jumping up and down saying, "I wanna see! I wanna see!" I'm remembering the times when folk wisely told me, "Don't look," and telling him the same.

I want to listen to those wise voices more. Perhaps this STTA is one of those voices you need to hear.

It's STTA.

Thank You Frank Buckles. But even a guy like him can only do so much.

Frank Buckles, one hundred ten years old--still sharp just three years ago died February 27. Corporal was the last known living, American Veteran of World War I. He denied lying, but he added a few years to his age so he could enlist. At sixteen Buckles was driving an ambulance in Europe.
Far be it from me to accuse such an honorable man of prevarication, and I'm certainly not going question the patriotism of those who gave so much for their country, but there was an untruth involved in that first great global conflict.

World War I was called the "War to end all wars. It is a sentiment that is not isolated to the first part of the Twentieth Century. Unfortunately, the plan didn't quite work out--World War II, the Korean Conflict (still unresolved) Southeast Asia, various rebellions ruthlessly suppressed by the Soviet Union, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Libya provide evidence that all wars were not ended. Ironically, Frank Buckles, though a civilian became a De facto POW in the second world war.

I'm not saying that the world is not a better place because of the right side--or maybe the "less wrong" side--winning a number of those conflicts, but clearly some humility is in order. Bringing peace to the world is beyond the likes of us, even if we start at fifteen and live ten years into our second century. Jesus said we would continue to deal with "wars and rumors of wars." (Mark 13:7) It is clear that Jesus uttered these words in a context that deals with the culmination of times. It appears to be a part of the human condition. Going to war is a serious matter. Sometimes it is necessary, but let us not have an inflated notion of our abilities. The same, BTW, can be said about politics, philanthropy, and other worthwhile activities. We can make a difference, and we can a case can be made that we should, but we won't fix it all.

Soon the strains of Handel will swell in celebration of our Lord's resurrection. (If you click here you can hear a recording of the Hallelujah Chorus, recorded on Edison Diamond Disc at about the time young Frank was inflating his age so he could serve his country.) The peace we long for will not come from military success. We won't see it until "The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord." (Handel took these words from Revelation 11:15.)

"Even so come Lord Jesus." (Revelation 22:20)

It's STTA.