What's Coming?

Normally, when we get up in the morning we make coffee and open the sliding glass door on one end of our living room/kitchen and a window on the other. It is generally quite pleasant for a couple of hours. This morning is cloudy, so it's a bit cooler (less hot) than usual, and there is just the slightest breeze. Normally, I'd just enjoy the meteorological gift while I check my email and drink my coffee, but this morning the calm feels eery. Somewhere way out my sliding glass door a storm, Mangkhut, is spinning. Already it has wind speeds between 50 and 100 miles per hour. Thus far, since its birth as a tropical depression out near the Marshalls, it has followed a straight path for my front door. I'm not planning to let it in, but, really, there is little I can do. Is the peaceful morning the calm before the storm or just the peace? Mangkhut, like most "natural" phenomena, is unpredictable. It could turn north or south, or unexplainably weaken. Likewise, it could become the Typhoon by which all typhoons ever after will be measured. The only thing I really know is, I don't know. I have a big family, now. We have been, and are taking all the precautions that we should. We have more to do before Mangkhut's predicted arrival on Tuesday. When I woke early this morning, though, I was struck with the thought that I can't "do myself out of this." Really that is always true. It's just that I often don't get it. The apartment where Kathy and I live and some of our other campus buildings are constructed to withstand a Typhoon. Still, they aren't impervious to damage, major or merely nuisance. Another of our main buildings doesn't have the Typhoon Readiness Seal of Approval (Don't try to google that. I made it up.) After the fall, this world so works that everything in it is headed to chaos, "moth and rust corrupt," typhoons blow down. If Mangkhut (is Mangkhut a feminine or masculine name?) continues its, so far, relentless path to my front door, where will our little campus register on the chaos-cosmos (order) scale the day after? Again, file that in the "I don't know folder." So, *   I can't do myself to peace, and *   I can't know myself to peace, so am I just stuck in turmoil? At the point of time just before what might be the greatest cosmic turmoil before, during or after this world's history, Jesus said,   I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. (JOHN 14:27)    The way to peace is through trusting, resting in my relationship with the One Who made the ocean, wind, and waves, and the One Who loves me and my much-expanded family more than I can know. The sun is shining now. The breeze has picked up a bit. Will it steadily increase for the next 48 hours or is it just a nice Sunday morning treat? I don't know. I do know God is good, in the storm or in the calm. I'm trusting you, Lord. Please help my unbelief.  It's Something To Think About.

Change is Coming, But from Where to Where?

It has been about two weeks since I shared anything to think about with you. The subject of this STTA is the reason. Few of us who have hung around for any length of time think that we can live our lives in stasis, "a state or condition in which things do not change, move, or progress" (Merriam-Webster). Besides that I've seen enough science fiction TV and movies to know that stasis is not a good state. Generally, though, we live with the illusion that the change in our lives will be manageable. I'm growing old, but at a rate slow enough that I can adjust day-by-day. My health changes, but with modern medicine I treat this, take a pill for that, and still muddle ahead. Children leave home, parents die, friends change jobs, but normally these changes are like tweaks--the bulk of our lives stay the same; the differences are not all encompassing. Sure we see in the news that there are people whose whole lives are disrupted--the refugees, the victims of horrible tragedies, or those who face maladies for which we, even with all our technology, have no solution. Those are other people, though, they exist in some realm that is extra-ordinary. The change that comes to we regular folk is handed out in palatable doses. It's packaged with easy hand-holds. It comes to us in such a way that at the end of the day we can say, "I've got this." No I don't, and I doubt you do either. I don't want to appear to put myself in the group of people, like those I mentioned above, who are dealing with change that comes so hard and fast, that it produces blackout G-force. Over the past month, though, I have seen and experienced change to an extent I know, not just theoretically, but experientially, that there is no throttle in my hand that I can use to control the ride. I'm like one of those early test-pilots. Strap in, Let her fly, grit my teeth, and hope for the best. There are several factors that have made the changes in my life of late register higher on the Change-force Meter than any time in recent memory. I was already involved in preparation for making a change when my change was changed. Here I was buying plane tickets, trying to get things buttoned down back home, thinking ahead about returning to a place of service several thousand miles from home, when--hard-right, accellerating all the while--my "orders" were changed. I was already involed in a life-adjustments--setting up housekeeping in another country and culture for four months, serving the Lord, being a missionary. These provided enough stretching that I was able to feel a bit noble. I mean, me being retired and everything. Then the change I was already comfortable with changed. Is that in the employee manual? The change that came barreling down on Kathy and me came for an ugly reason. It's because my friend is sick. He is one of those servants experiencing needle-pegging plan-revision. The new change threw me into a realm where I knew I didn't have control. Not only did I not know the lines for the new play, I found out rather quickly that the script was still being written, and the audience was already restless waiting for the curtain to rise. Don't get me wrong. I'm not looking for sypathy. Perhaps I'm just passing the tenth story on a twenty-story plunge, but I'm doing OK. Maybe it's the adrenalin, but this aspect of walking with the Lord seems clearer to me. Trust is pushing aside self-suffiency. Yieldedness is taking over territory once claimed by two word descriptions that begin with "my." The illusion that I'm in the driver's seat is harder to maintain. While I don't necessarily like all of that, I do know that it is as it should be, at least most of the time, some of the time, OK, I'm still working on it. If you are curious and want to find out about the changes in my life, you can find out more here and here. I'll warn you upfront, as these kinds of things go it's really pretty boring, tame stuff. I guess, though, when you compare it to the way my life has mostly been--pretty predictable--it is enough to get my attention, just like I hope this is enough to give you . . .   STTA. Find out about how the Son of God redeems our past, gives purpose in the present, and hope for the future, here.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow:

By no stretch of the imagination can one conclude that the Bible is opposed to planning.  The book of Proverbs is full of counsel about the wisdom of having a plan.  We read about the Lord Jesus, that there was a plan written down ahead of time (Hebrews 10:7).  Knowing that helps us make sense of Jesus' determination to go to Jerusalem.  In fact we here Jesus speaking of that whichmust come to pass.  The Apostle Paul's letter are full of plans. Yet, Scripture clearly speaks against being future oriented in a way that detracts from the here and now.  Proverbs 27:1 tells us that we ought not boast in tomorrow, because we don't know what tomorrow holds.  James applies that counsel to some business men, who lived and conducted business as if they could reach out and control the future.  Jesus simply puts it this way, "Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:34). Don't presume on tomorrow's opportunities, and don't wallow in misery that is yet to come.  Wisely make a plan, and live in the only time in which we can live--not the past, nor the future, but now.  "Live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age" (Titus 2:12).  It's STTA.

Further Thoughts On My Out-Of-Control Life:

Something To Think About, Control, 2

A couple of weeks ago I woke up after surgery--well half of me woke up.  Because of the type of anesthesia I had received, from the waist down absolutely no one was home. "Wiggle your toes."  Nobody home. "Can you feel this?"  Feel what? If my life had depended on doing something with my lower-limbs there is no doubt I would have died.  I had no control over them. Thinking back on my 50/50 body, I ask myself, "Which end of my body best illustrates my day-to-day life?" I'd like to think it is the waist up portion.  I go where I want to go, do what I want to do.  My destiny is in my own hands.  I think, especially, we guys all felt our spines stiffen when we first heard the words of Invictus by William Ernest Henley. We want to think we are the "masters of our fates" and "captains of our souls." If we keep thinking that, though, we are simply whistling in the "night that covers" us. It doesn't take a great deal of thought to realize that my true condition is more like my waist-down post-op self.  I live in a world that is held together by God's power.  Were he to remove hissuperintending control for a nano-second, all that is, including both ends of me would fly into I-don't-even-know-what. I live in this strange matrix known as time, yet I have no ability make even a second of the stuff.   As Robert Burns mused to a rodent, "The best laid plans of mice and men aft gang agley."  Like me, you probably don't speak the Scott dialect of the poet, but you know what it means. I am out of control because that which I need to control in order to control my life is beyond my control.  To live my life thinking, "I can handle it." is to lay a foundation on the sand of falsehood.  My house won't stand.  My life is not built on the sand of my ability--so called--to maintain control.  My life is built on trust in the One Who transcends, and Who created all that is, and maintains it down to the falling sparrow.  That's as solid as it gets. It's Something To Think About. At CBC, we continue a series on prayer, this Sunday morning. In CBC Sunday Night, What would Hosea say to 21st Century Christians?   covingtonbiblechurch.com

My Life Is Out Of Control . . .

Something To Think About, Control

There are times when I simply can't deny that my life is out of control, my control, that is. At any given time, all the time, my plans, well-laid or frivolous, can be interrupted, discarded, and/or shreded, and there is nothing I can do about it. My world is full of bad news from the doctor, identity theft, car-wrecks, down-sizing, out-sourcing, discrimination, and numerous other evils that bring forth an "Oh, no!" response. One of the arrogant assumptions that came out of modernism is that given enough resources, thought, and planning, we can fix anything.  I'm wonderfully glad for the technology that shields me from many of life's unpleasant realities.  When it is cold, my house is warm, when it is hot, I remain cool.  Many of the health scourges of the past have been all but eliminated, by medicine and sanitation.  Distances are shrunk by modern transportation and communication.  I need to remember, though, that just because I exercise a measure of control in my life, that does not mean that I can always . . . and even if there are some things I can manipulate, that doesn't mean that all things come under my control.  Finally, since events are interrelated, if I can't control everything, all the time, then I really can't control anything.   WARNING! CONTROL FREAKS, breath deeply.  Really, though, the fact that my life is out of control propels me in a profitable direction.  Realizing that I can't control critical factors in my life I can be compelled to despair or follow the example of the Prodigal Son, living high until I land in the hog pen.  I chose neither.  Rather I trust the One Who does control all.   So, bottom-line:  My life is not out of control.  It's in God's hands. It's Something to Think About.  Click here to find out how you can have this kind of relationship with the Lord.

Trust? Oh!

Several trust issues have come way recently.  It is no wonder; life as we know it depends on trust.  One example:  When I drive I trust my life to numerous people I have never even met.  Way too often someone violates that trust through substance abuse, texting-while-driving, or just utter irresponsibility, yet early this morning I trusted a score of people to stay on their side of the road, stop at stop signs, and generally pay attention to the task of driving.  Especially, considering that at that hour, in a mill-town, many of those on the road have been up all night, the trust that I place in them involves considerable risk.

So, maybe I should just play it safe and walk everywhere?  But, that raises a new set of trust issues.  I can't even lock myself in my room without the necessity of trusting someone.  The question is "who to trust?" and, "how much?"

When I opened my email this morning I saw that one of our world's observers of human foibles had weighed in on the issue.  (At this point you might want to take a look at Scott Adam's Dilbert cartoon for 11/15.)  Asok is asking Wally a question.  If you are not a Dilbert fan, you need to understand that Wally is an incredibly clever individual, who uses his intellect to avoid all meaningful work.  "Wally,is there any difference between trust and stupidity?"  (emphasis mine)  

Wally, ever present coffee-cup in hand, replies, "Hold that thought.  I'll be right back."

The middle panel is blank except for Asok standing, waiting, trusting.

The third panel show's Asok, still alone, but with one word of enlightenment, "Oh."

It is a hard lesson that many folk in the non-comic world have learned through bitter experience, and one that many more need to master--hopefully, minus the bitters.  

Asok, Howard, reader, there are those who just aren't a good risk.  They will leave you all alone in the second and third panel, looking foolish before all the world.  An old farm related proverb makes the point this way.  The first time the mule kicks me it is the mules fault, the second time, I'm to blame.  I regularly see people with multiple hoof prints, sincerely asking: should I trust him or her again?

To which I ask, "Is there any credible reason to think that the mule has reformed since the last time you were kicked?"  

 Trust involves taking a chance.  Wisdom involves making sure it is a risk worth taking.

It's STTA.

Truthers, Birthers, Deathers, Doubt-everything-ers . . .

When I first heard the jokes, I had a nagging suspicion that it would soon be spouted with deadly seriousness--"Osama bin Laden isn't dead," or so say the "deathers." Look it up; their websites are up and running. (Well, maybe not. Actually the deathers may not really exist. Their presence on the web might be a conspiracy concocted by alien fugitives from Rozwell.)
What if--as at least one of these websites requests--the bullet-riddled body of the bearded terrorist were put on display, online as well as in the decaying flesh? I have no doubt that ten minutes later another site would be up and running. The "Medders" would claim that this body is not that of the famous terrorist. In reality, they would solemnly claim, these are the remains of Achmed Murphy Steinbaum, a New York cabbie who recently died in gang-war crossfire.

The Truthers were mainly regarded as wackos, at least in the United States. Most of us who watched the events of 9/11 on TV find it incredulous that this was anything other than what it appeared to be--a terrorist attack. A couple of years ago, though, I stood in a Mosque in Kazakhstan and listened to a totally sincere cleric explain why 9/11 wasn't really 9/11. He also told me, by the way, that Neil Armstrong had converted to Islam. Check it out. The Birthers, with their mega-rich, Donnie-come-lately spokesman got enough traction that our President found it wise to produce his documentation. (Though, the documentation needs to be documented.)

OK, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I am aware that big lies have been perpetrated. I know that with today's technology, the ability to spread and support such falsehoods has never been greater. I see in the scripture that monstrous lies will be foisted on humanity (2 Thessalonians 2:11).
I'm concerned, though, about living in a land, or world, where every pronouncement is considered false until proven true (with affidavits signed in blood--certified to be that of the signer), and every explanation is considered a conspiracy. A very old joke asks, "Do you know how to tell if someone is a communist?"
The answer went: "You ask them. If they say,'No.' then they are communist, because they always deny it."

I fear that Thomas is being elevated to chief of the Apostles.
I see a coalition forming, and I'm not sure I like it. Some of my more intellectual friends say, "You believe that?" How naive." My more radical associates say, "You're buying that? Here, have some more cool-aid." The cynical among us--with the burn-scars to prove it--can not only point out the "lies" but point to "where this whole thing is headed." The coalition is formed around the certainty that we are being lied to. That seems to be the one truth that isn't doubted. No one is trusted. Doubt is elevated to the chief of virtues.

I'm not just picking at the wacko-fringe of our society. I have a serious question: Can a culture long exist when the mortar of trust is reduced to the sand of doubt and cynicism? And more important: What can God's people do to restore trust in our relationships?

It's STTA.

We Are Playing With Funny-Money:

It should be becoming more and more plain that the money that we use every day, and that some of us are way too concerned about, is an ephemeral fiction. Even in its most substantial form—the bills and coins in our pockets—it is nearly useless in a practical sense. It wouldn’t burn long enough to keep us warm, you can use a dime or a quarter for a screwdriver, but it’s not a very good one, and, even for the basest use of paper, a dollar bill is rather small and stiff. Besides, most of the money we use doesn’t even exist in the physical realm. Add to those considerations the fact that our government—maybe even foreign leadership—can render our money useless in less time than it takes to make an online purchase, and the counsel of scripture has never made more sense.
Jesus classifies earthly riches, as that which moth, rust, and thieves can take away. Matthew 6:19-20) Paul links the word “riches” with uncertainty. (1 Timothy 6:17)
Both encourage putting our trust in that which will last, long beyond inflation, deflation, stagflation, and even decomposition.
It’s STTA.