Listen for the Sounds of Hope

LISTEN!

In our temporary home on, what for us, is the other side of the world, Kathy and I generally awake to the sound of roosters. You'll note that is plural. I'm not talking about one proud male welcoming the sun, or arrogantly assuming that it rises at his command. No, I'm guessing there are well over a hundred of the birds next door. Not only do we awake to their announcement, "Cock-a-doodle-I'm-cock-of-the-roost . . . the-baddest-chicken-in-this-yard!" cries, but often we go to bed to it, and for reasons, yet hidden from me in chicken psychology, all during the day there are periods of intense racket. Using human logic, I figure one of the guys, who lost his cellphone and therefore doesn't know it's the middle of the day, let's out with a crow, which then demands a response from a neighbor, and so the auditory cascade begins. I don't speak Chicken, so I really don't what they are saying, but I can provide some context. Each bird is caged, or tied to a tether, so he cannot reach his neighbors. Everyone of them live with only a few desires: They want to eat. Their owner gives them what they need. He wants them to be strong for what is ahead. They desperately want to get with a hen. As far as I know that desire is frustrated in order to sharpen their lust for the one other thing they want. Each of those birds has a marble-sized brain filled with an all-consuming desire to kill every other rooster on the place. When we look at what is ahead, we know that they will have their opportunity. The chickens next door aren't being kept for eggs (I do know that roosters don't lay eggs), nor are they being raised to eat. The fowl next door are gladiators. They will die in fights arranged for the amusement of those who watch. Another striking feature of my temporary home is the near total absence of birds other than chickens. I've told you in the past about the Brown Tree Snake. It should not be here. The progenitors of the pests who eat every bird and egg they can swallow were brought here by another group with death on their minds. Apparently, a couple of snakes hitched a ride with the military during World War 2. In this cacophonous environment, marked by the by-products of death, a world where the beautiful is consumed by the ugly, and where those bent on death announce their intentions as loudly as possible, is there any hope? Most mornings I hear the soft call of a dove. Exactly how this gentlest of birds has avoided the predation of the serpent invader, I don't know. It's soft "coo" gives me hope. That, and for the past several days I hear the sounds of hammers, saws, and grinders. A short-term missions team is here doing some projects on our little campus. Pacific Islands Universityexists to push back against the darkness. We believe that if we send out women and men who see this sin-cursed, death-infected world through a Biblical lens, that they will be agents of change. They are part of that army who knows that the battle is not won by those who crow loudest, nor by those with the most agents of death on their side. Our message is one of peace in the midst of conflict, life in the face of death, light that overcomes darkness, and hope. Hope. HOPE. It's a message and a cause that is worth our best effort. It's STTA. I think if you read the first 10 verses of Ephesians 2, you'll see that my temporary home is not all that different from the place we all live, planet earth. Find out about how the Son of God redeems our past, gives purpose in the present, and hope for the future, here. One more thing: Got any good recipes for chicken stew?

Going Against the Flow

Something To Think About, Going Against the Flow:

The actual historical footprint of the New Testament is so brief that somewhere on earth there was someone born about the same time as Jesus Christ, who was still alive when John penned the last book of the New Testament.  John, himself, didn't miss it by much.  Yet in that brief period of time the followers of Christ faced most of the crises that have marked the two millennia of the Christian era. Obviously, the followers of Christ faced persecution.  Jesus Christ the founder of Christianity was crucified.  Almost all of His closest followers were martyred. I don't think Peter's question about the propriety of paying taxes was merely a query he was repeating.  Jesus enemies accused him of being subversive.  His followers were trying to sort out just what it meant to follow this Rabbi who spoke with such authority.  The question about the legality of paying taxes to the hated Roman overlords was proposed because the Pharisees had heard something in Jesus words to indicate that this was a point where they might trip him up.  The ruling authorities were not friendly to Jesus and His followers. I found the words "Is it lawful," eight times in the Gospels.  Both Jesus followers and His enemies realized that the teachings of Jesus were counter-cultural.  Some with a desire to trap the Lord and others with a sincere desire to follow Him wanted to know how do these things sort out?  It sounds like Jesus is saying things that would lead on to a conclusion different than others around us about taxes, divorce, the Sabbath, good works, and more.  What does it mean to follow Jesus? The Apostle Paul spoke clearly about the relationship of Jesus' followers to the world around them, do not be conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2)   John and James spoke in terms of starkest contrast.  You can be someone who fits in, or you can be my follower; you can't be both.  It appears that we Christians in America are emerging from an unnatural period of history, one in which the world around us has been more friendly to Christian values than is usually the case.  We can debate another time as to whether that is a good thing or not.  Right now, I'm just pointing out that what is, is, and we need to deal with it.  The mob who demanded Jesus' crucifixion declared, "We have no king but Caesar." I don't hear a consensus yet, but I hear voices that trouble me, and some of them come from the church: "We have no God but tolerance." "Our guiding principle is to fit in." "It's OK to believe something, just don't get too carried away with it." Jesus challenges those who would follow Him to take up their cross and follow Him. You need to do a bit of translation, but this montage from the film Pearl Harbor, comes close to making the point. It's STTA.

Spending Time With Evil

I can't say that I recommend it, but I found it profitable to spend a day with evil.

It's not something I sought out, or lingered over with anyinappropriate interest.  Some are interested in the kind of lust, greed, prurience, and downright meanness I saw.  I'm not.  I didn't volunteer, I was summoned.  You can draw your conclusions from that.

 

Though an experience like mine is depressing, disturbing, pity-inducing, and at times even revolting there are redeeming qualities about it.

 

I spent several hours with the human condition in its most awful state of corruption.  Some who serve us have to wade that cesspool on a daily basis.  Officers of our courts, social workers, police officers, jailers, and, I'm sad to say, many involved in our school systems deal daily with the dregs of society and those who are drug through the mire by them.  The innocent are scarred,by the guilty, who go about their wicked business with scarred consciences. The Bible speaks of those who enforce the law as "ministers of God."  After a brief excursion into their world my appreciation for what  they do is greater.

 

Literature, music, TV, and movies often glamorize evil.  The bad guys are frequently painted as beautiful, glamorous, to be envied, sometimes even noble.  What I saw was pitiful, ugly, repulsive, and markedly stupid.  The adage of an old preacher, whose name I have forgotten was born out by the sorry parade I saw:  "Sin makes you stupid."  These were folk driven by lust, blinded by evil, and made senseless by continuing lives that make no sense.

 

Too often we see laws as entities which limit freedom.  The result of the lawlessness that I saw is the complete loss of liberty. And I'm not speaking of concrete wall, tempered glass, or iron bars.  Many of these folk were so bound by fetters of their own making, that incarceration in society's jails will provide a measure of liberation for some of them.

Theologians speak of human depravity, or the totally depraved condition of people.  People who come from quite ordinary circumstances are capable of great evil.
We are fond of saying that there is a spark of greatness in every child.  If one goes God's way, I think that is so.  The evidence I saw is that the seed of evil is in each heart.  It's fruit is frightening to behold (see here).

 

It's STTA.