Flying off the handle over flying the flag:

Normally I don't have much sympathy for politicians.  I figure they worked really hard and spent a lot of money--usually other people's money--to get where they are, so they ought to just accept the public scrutiny and criticism that comes with the job.

Still, I feel sorry for Chris Christie.  

I guess I don't agree with Christie's decision to fly flags at half-staff in honor of Whitney Houston the late popular singer.  I say "I guess," since I didn't have to make the decision, so I can afford some ambivalence.  I figure the "voices" involved on all sides of the issue must be deafening.  Christie says lowering flags at state buildings to half-staff is appropriate "because of [Houston's] huge cultural impact and as "a daughter of New Jersey."" The governor would have been wise to have chosen some other way to publicly recognize the tragic death.  (Here is a message to my governor, Bob McDonnell:  When I die don't fly any flags at half staff.  Save that honor for fallen military, first-responders, and true public servants, not old preachers or popular singers.)

Still I feel sorry for Christie.  Once the issue--as opposed to the flag--was.raised it was a no-win.  We see what happened when he did decide to honor the dead singer.  A brief search of news stories indicates the kind of criticism that would have come had he decided to keep the flags flying high, racism, gender bias, "Sinatra, but not Houston."  

When we are nice, when we do something kind, the act opens us to criticism.  One of the stories that Jesus told is centered on this concept.  A farmer hired workers for his harvest.  At the end of the day he paid those who had worked all day the agreed upon wage.  They would likely have gone home happy had the employer not chosen to also pay those who only worked one hour the same wage.  

I don't have it all figured out, and I figure the New Jersey Governor is used to the heat, but I still kinda feel sorry for him.

It seems to me he was just trying to be nice.
Do we want a world where we make being nice harder?

It's STTA. 

God's grace reaches to each of us.  You can read about it here.

A Lovely Love Story:

One of the pleasures of spending time with people is being pleasantly surprised.  

I was visiting in the home of some older folk the other day.  They have been married for more than sixty years.  There was a box of candy, in a heart-shaped box sitting on a footstool in the living room.  A single rose on top of it.  It turns out that this gentleman has given his lovely wife a box of chocolate every year for Valentines day.  Hold that "Awww" for a moment.  She looked at me with a smile and told me that she had saved every box.  Now let's hear the "Awww" chorus.  You don't learn that kind of love-lesson from the very young.  You could look through that pile of boxes the way scientists examine the rings in a tree.  "This box was given on the year we had that major health issue."  "I received this one the year  _____ died."  " I didn't know if I would be able to buy one for you that year . . ."

Love endures.

To my lovely wife.  

You have told me not to buy you candy.  I do love you.  I love you sixty boxes worth.

Happy Valentines Day.

It's STTA. 

You can read about the greatest love here.

Memories of Whitney Houston:

I Knew Whitney Houston Well:

I had many conversations with her, recognized the off-the-chart potential that she had and was thrilled when that potential was was realized.  I warned her about the direction her life was taking, and was saddened as I watched a life that had such promise become a tabloid tragedy.

OK, I never met Ms. Houston, we never talked or corresponded.  While I was awed by her voice I can't even say I was a fan.  But I knew her, or scores of women and men just like her--people of incredible talent, gifts and potential, who waste it and come to tragic ends.

It has been observed that teens and young adults often feel invincible--"My life will just keep on . . ." seems to be the sentiment of so many.  The beautiful, talented, rich, singer who came to a sad end illustrates how illusive true happiness is, and how quickly fullness of life can evaporate.  

• Decisions have consequences.  Many of the decisions we make--remember Frost's poem about the fork in the road--cut off vast chunks of possibilities.  We ought to be very cautions about making decisions against the counsel of those older, and wiser, who love us.  (I hope you have folk like that in your life.)
• As a fellow pastor friend of mine says, "It matters who you marry.  It is a subset of what I just said, but the person to whom you say, "I do." and, "I will."  will likely affect your life more than any other human being.
• There is a gravity that operates in the moral, spiritual, emotional realm that is every bit as real as the one that influences every physical thing in the world.  The direction it pulls us is the same as well--down.  God has graciously given various forces that counteract that negative pull, entities like family, good relationships, education, and, beyond any of those, the redeeming force of the Gospel of Christ.
  Make the most of them.

Thankfully I've also know young women and men who have made wise choices, built solid relationships, and are investing their gifts and abilities in ways that are a great blessing to all around them.  I've known others who started down the dark trail Whitney Houston took, but seeing the warning signs turned around and pursued a new direction.

I knew Whitney Houston well.  I mourn for her death.

It's STTA. 

You'll find some resources that explains true hope here.

WAIT

WAIT:

I don't like to wait, and I don't think I'm alone.

But, for those of us who believe that this world is not the end, there is is much to way for.  

Jesus said we ought to store up treasure in heaven.

To those who are in Christ the Apostle Paul says, "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."  (Col 3:4)

The Apostle John adds, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is."  (1 Jn 3:2)

Christians are sometimes ridiculed for looking for "Pie in the Sky."  I am going to have raisin pie, the kind like Granny used to make.

Psalm 94 is the final of the four Psalms, 10, 37, 73 and 94, that I've been talking about.  In all four the Psalm-writers see life in an upside-down situation.  The righteous on the bottom and the wicked on top stomping them down. In Psalm 10 the counsel is to pray.

David, in Psalm 37, encourages trust. 

Asaph tell us to decide to see things God's way in Psalm 73.

In Psalm 94 we see a song that we have often sung, "How long?"  we ask in plaintive tones.  We hear the difficult reply, "Wait."

As the Psalmist looked back it made sense for him to wait.

But the LORD has been my stronghold,  

And my God the rock of my refuge.

He has brought back their wickedness upon them

And will destroy them in their evil;  

        The LORD our God will destroy them. 

(Ps 94:22-23)

It makes sense for me too!

It's STTA. 

You'll find some resources that explains the true hope here.

DECIDE:

DECIDE:

A popular question after some major event:  

Where were you when . . . ?
Some events change our lives forever.  Asaph records in a beautiful Psalm the perilous condition into which he had descended, and where he was when he found peace.  

". . . my feet came close to stumbling,   

My steps had almost slipped."  (Psalm 73:2)  

He was tempted to envy, struggling with what appeared to be the logical conclusion--a life of following the Lord makes no sense.  "I'd be better off to live like others around me who have no interest in serving the Lord."  He was just about to make a life-changing decision, a step I've seen others take.  He was ready to take down his "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord." plaque and put it in the Goodwill pile.

Did he actually take a trip to Jerusalem, or was his entrance into the sanctuary of God a journey that took place in his own heart?  Either way he came out of the "Sanctuary of God" a different man than the one who went in.  He said that he "perceived" something that he hadn't grasped before.  It was a mental shift so profound that when he looked back on the way he had been he described himself as "senseless, and ignorant . . . like a beast."

It is a paradigm shift that each of us needs to make and remake.  Read the Psalm and you'll see that Asaph's focus shifted from the temporal to the eternal, and from the trivial to the ultimate.  He had seen God as wrongly tolerant, now he recognizes in his Lord mercy, side-by-side with an absolute commitment to absolute justice.  He began to look at life through the lens of God's truth.

It is a decision.   Asaph decided that he would believe God's word, trust God's character, and depend on the Lord for his own well-being.  It is a decision that Solomon recommended (Proverbs 3:5-6), and in which Isaiah saw great benefit (Isaiah 40:31).  It is a large part of what makes life makes sense to me.

It's STTA. 

Read about a struggle I had following a near fatal accident here. 

You'll find some resources that explains the true hope here.

TRUST:

A while back I was in a meeting I had been dreading.  I don't remember what the issue was, but I had been anxious about it for several days.  When the item came up at the meeting all the tension I had imparted to the issue vanished--or really the fact that it had never really been there became clear.  After the appropriate action was easily and pleasantly taken I confessed my anxiety to the rest of the group.  A very wise friend commented, "That was uncalled for."

My friend's comment reminds me of the second action I observe in Psalms 10, 37, 73, and 94 to the troubling observation that the wicked are prospering and the good not so much.  It is an observation not only of the Psalm writers of three millennia ago but of many world-watchers today.

Psalm 37, gives very straight forward advice.  

• "Do not fret because of evildoers."  (v. 1, also 8)
• Don't be envious. (1)
• Refrain from anger. (8)
• "Delight yourself in the LORD; 
• And He will give you the desires of your heart." (4)
• "Commit your way to the LORD,
• Trust also in Him, and He will do it." (5)

I encourage you to read the entire Psalm.  The one word theme is TRUST.

When I dreaded that meeting it was because I did not trust my colleagues to step up and do the right thing.  They did.  My friend reminded me that I should have trusted them.  How much more when I'm dealing with the Lord of the Universe.   He is worthy of my faith.  When I fret about the inequities in this world--injustices which my Lord says are temporary--or become envious of what the unrighteous have--paltry (though gaudy) junk when compared to the riches that await me--or when I let anger over this world's imbalances control me, it is uncalled for.  I ought to trust the God of the universe to work it out.  

What is called for is trust.

It's STTA. 

Read about a struggle I had following a near fatal accident here. 

You'll find some resources that explains the true hope here.

Pray:

An old joke tells about a Sunday School teacher who described a creature who lives in a tree, has a bushy tail and eats nuts.  "What is this creature? The teacher asked.

Little Johnny raised his hand and said, "It sure sounds like a squirrel to me, but this is Sunday School, so the answer must be read your Bible and Pray."

Like most good jokes the humorous story picks up on a point of reality.  In the church we do have these boiler-plate, cliche, one size fits all answers that we give out with way too little thought.  The reality behind Johnny's answer, however, is the basic truth that we do need to spend more time in the Word and prayer.

Yesterday I told you that over the next couple of days we would explore some answers to what we should do when we observe life being in an upside-down situation--the wicked getting along just fine, prospering even, while the righteous not only aren't doing so well, but are suffering because of the oppression of the wicked.  This inversion is a frequent complaint that we find in the Psalms, 10, 37, 73, and 94, for example.

In Psalm 10 David (he is the likely human author) observed

Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hideYourself in times of trouble? 2 In pride the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised. 3 For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire, And the greedy man curses and spurns the Lord. (Psalm 10:1-3)   

 Trouble, affliction, boasting, cursing, this isn't the way things ought to be.  What should we do?

Notice the lines, in the portion of Psalm 10 above, that begin, "Why do You . . ." and, "Let them be. . . ."  These are but two examples of several throughout this Psalm.  David is talking to God.  He is praying. 

When I say we should pray I don't intend it to be a trite, easy answer.  

• Could it be that there is more going on than immediately meets my eye?  Look for instance atRomans 11:34-36.
• Who can, and has promised to, do something about this?  (Romans 12:19)
• Is there any possibility, that, though the wicked are getting by--at least at the moment--there is a lesson that I need to learn?  This was Habakkuk's struggle.

 All of these questions point us to the importance of--indeed, the absolute necessity of--prayer.

Answer #1, is Pray.

Stay tuned.

It's STTA. 

Read about a struggle I had following a near fatal accident here. 

You'll find some resources that explains the true hope here.

Almost:

Almost!

Those of us who get out of bed in the morning have all kinds of "almost" experiences.  

"I almost slipped on that icey spot by the front door."

"That guy who ran the red light almost took the front end off my car."

"I almost said something about Bob being a lazy goof-off, before I realized that he is the boss's son-in-law."

Just thinking about what could have happened leaves us with a queasy feeling in our stomach.  Hopefully those near misses bring home the reality that next time it might be "six inches to the right," or "half-a-second sooner."  Instead of telling a tale of what could have happened and nearly did, we would be sharing a real history from a hospital bed or an unemployment line.

Asaph shares these frightening words in Psalm 73.  "But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped." (Psalm 73:2)   As he looked around at the wicked and saw how they prospered and looked at himself and others who like him were seeking to live according to God's word, he saw a dissonance that shook him to his core.  "The way," "The path," "The narrow road," are all ways of expressing following God.  I picture Asaph walking a treacherous mountain trail.  He was walking it because he believed it was the right path.  He had confidence that it led away from a place where he no longer desired to live, and to a place where life is good.  But as his attention was diverted away from the goal he sought to achieve to the abyss of the wicked who were all around him and to the shear rock wall of difficulty that living a Godly life had become in his mind, he almost stumbled and slipped.

Praise God for "Almost"! 

Last night at CBC Sunday Nite we identified four "One word" responses to the almost condition we see not only in Psalm 73, but Psalm 10, 37, and 94 as well.  I encourage you to read these Psalms.  Over the next few days we'll see what we can learn from these spiritual near misses.  

It's STTA. 

A little over ten years ago I actually had a wreck.  Some things really happened.  Worse things almost  happened.  Read morehere. 

You'll find some resources that explains the true hope here.

Life's Unfairness, #3:

"It's always darkest just before the dawn." 

Really?

Lot's of people would argue with that, with good reason, I might add.  The experience of many is, "It's always darkest just before the lights go totally out."

Eleven of Joseph's 28 years had been spent as a slave or in jail.  Even if Joseph had done something worthy of incarceration back in Israel, he would have been tried as juvenile--by today's standards.  The fact is, other than, perhaps, getting caught being stupid and having a penchant for self-importance--a tendency, which was fed by his father's foolish behavior--Joseph was innocent.  But it's LIFE that appears to be wearing the black robe, sitting behind the big desk and life isn't fair.  

Even in jail, Joseph's abilities were clear, those and the blessing of his God.  Even though Joseph in essence ran the jail, I am sure he wanted out.  He was about 28 years old when an opportunity presented itself.  Joseph successfully interpreted the king's cupbearer's dream.  Sure enough, just like the dream said, the high-ranking servant was restored to his position.  Surely his gratitude would cause him to remember Joseph, his jailhouse buddy, the one who first broke the good news.

How many mornings did Joseph get up thinking, "It will probably be today.  Pharaoh will send guards to get me, and few minutes examination will reveal that I was thrown in this place because of lies."?  How many nights did he go to bed thinking, "Maybe tomorrow."?  

I don't know, but I have to believe that on one of those 730+ days the bottom fell out.  "He's not going to remember me."  Or worse, "He did remember me and Pharaoh didn't listen."  

That was the day hope came crashing down.  

Perhaps life's greatest unfairness is to allow us to think it is going to get better, so that when the realization comes that it is going to stay bad, our disappointment will be all the worse.  The words of the Sawi, a cannibalistic stone age tribe in New Guinea, "To fatten him with kindness for the slaughter," certainly apply.  It seems that life is like a hog farm--lotta weight being put on to a deadly end.  

It is clear to me that part--a big part--of God's purpose for letting this world be the way it is, is to keep us from loving it.  If we love it with all its unfairness, just think how much we would if skies were always blue, and cupbearers always remembered their buddies back in jail.  

Again I encourage you to readRomans 8.  

If you put your ultimate hope in anything in this world, look out.  All bottoms are subject to falling out without warning.

It's STTA. 

You'll find some resources that explains the true hope here.