A bad place to hide

A free-tailed bat with an injured wing found a quiet, orange place to rest and recover. Things went well until the orange place suddenly began to move…rapidly. Three engines ignited with such force that mere seconds later the orange place was moving 17,180 mph. The orange place was the side of the space shuttle. NASA scientists admit the bat probably died.

When we are wounded, our tendency is to be bat-like. Too often our pattern is to go off by ourselves and try to lick our wounds. We want to find a place out of the public eye; we don’t want to seek help; and, we don’t really want to deal with the situation.

When we are wounded, Christ points us in the right direction: reconciliation and correction. We need to identify our hurt and seek to be quickly reconciled to the brother or sister who wounded us. If we don’t we can end up in a place that does not contribute to restoration. Instead, it simply explodes.

If you’ve been hurt lately, remember the bat!

The Brevity of Life

Bartlett, Tennessee is a suburb of Memphis where we spent one of our stateside assignments as missionaries. The news out of Bartlett from the weekend was about the disappearance of a former model from her home. Yesterday police went to interview a possible suspect. Before they could get to his room, he had killed himself with a long rifle – leaving a note about where her body could be found.

Just a few miles from the Baptist College of Florida are the towns of Samson and Geneva, Alabama. Yesterday a man burned his mother’s home igniting a rampage of killing that ended with 9 people being murdered before he was killed himself.

Sunday, Fred Winters stood in the pulpit at First Baptist, Maryville, Illinois and preached a message of hope. Before he could finish, a man known to be mentally ill entered the church with weaponry capable of killing 30, and ended Fred Winters life.

Psalm 39:5 declares: You, indeed, have made my days short in length, and my life span as nothing in Your sight. Yes, every mortal man is only a vapor. That wisp, that vapor can end at any moment…without explanation by human terms. Accusation will be leveled at God in these moments: how can a loving God allow something like this to happen? The response is that we live in a fallen world where man’s actions are reflective of his nature. God declares that humankind is fundamentally flawed; morally skewed; spiritually compromised. He offers Himself as the solution via His intervention in this world. But His intervention is extremely offensive to the human consciousness and people do not easily accept His revelation of their nature or His solution.

So, Christians, we press on: to proclaim Truth in the midst of self-deception. It is the Truth that Fred Winters died proclaiming: Jesus came, lived and died in self-sacrificial Love to clear the way for fallen man to come to Holy God. We must not forget that people die without that Message…and that they can die at without Him at any moment.

Grizzly details

We will pray tonight for President Obama, for our legislative and judicial leaders and for our military. We will, if not careful, complain about how terrible conditions are in our country and how the administration is making rookie mistakes in the World Series of economic competition. Some will admit to fear about the future.

One of my favorite writers over the years is Frederick Forsyth. Two of his books that you may have heard of are “The Day of the Jackal” and “the Odessa file”. Forsyth is stuck in the African nation of Guinea-Bissau right now due to the events of this weekend where the president of the country was killed by the military. Here’s how he describes what happened: "They went to his villa, threw a bomb through the window which hurt him, but didn't kill him," Forsyth told the BBC late Tuesday. "The roof came down, that hurt him but didn't kill him either.”
"He struggled out of the rubble and was promptly shot. This, however, still didn't kill him. They then took him to his mother-in-law's house and chopped him to bits with machetes," he added.*

I’ve been in the middle of an African battle. I’ve seen the terror in African eyes at the uncertainty of life and the fear of what is happening. I feel what the people of Guinea-Bissau are feeling.

So here’s what I want to say to you: Did you know that we live in the greatest country in the world, despite the problems that we face? I did not vote for our president; I disagree with much of his social agenda. Yet I will not only pray for our president, I will also render to him the respect he deserves. I will go to bed tonight and pray that the Lord will guide our government and help to have wisdom about what is right and the courage to do it. One thing I won’t fear is that the military leadership of our country will invade the White House and kill the president.

*(Copyright © 2009 AFP)

Yes, I know I’m blessed but….

The big sporting news of the week is that Tiger Woods is coming back to play golf after recovering from significant injury. He is such an incredible athlete that he won his last tournament, the US Open….with a broken leg. He has a personal fortune of 600 million dollars, homes and cars….and it’s just not fair. It is not fair that he has all of this and I don’t.

Some of the greatest Christians I know live in mud huts. They plant and they reap and they suffer when there is not enough rain. They have no money; no retirement funds, and, no real promise of government help when they get too old to work. It’s just not fair that I have more than they do.

Life is a matter of perspective. I am blessed; so blessed. I have pretty good health, a great family and some good “stuff”. Yet, if I’m not careful, I can visit with someone who has more “stuff” and feel that somehow I’ve been shorted. The problem with the title is one word: but. Real Christian living begins with being able to say, “Yes, I know I’m blessed” and then put the period at the end.

Yes, I know I’m blessed.

Doing good while doing wrong

Being from Memphis I am more aware than a lot of people about the good work done by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Recognized as the best children’s cancer hospital in the world, it fulfils an interesting legacy. The TV entertainer Danny Thomas created St. Jude with several Memphis businessmen to repay God’s blessings on his life. To expand the legacy, he influenced Arab-Americans (especially those of Lebanese descent, like himself) to support this altruistic effort. Now thousands of others have joined the support network while others experience the benefits of the ministry. Though I supported St. Jude for years in different ways, I never expected to see any direct benefit. In the last several years, one of my young cousins has received treatment and had his life extended via this dynamic medical center. I am more thankful for St. Jude than ever.

Memphis finds ways to support the hospital. One of the most visible ways is through the PGA golf stop. Originally the Memphis Open, it became the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic with St. Jude as the sponsored charity. Later, St. Jude became the primary title of the tournament as the St. Jude Memphis Classic. Federal Express began to lend huge financial support until it moved to sponsorship of the FedEx Cup on tour. It recruited Stanford Financial Group to become the financial sponsor of the golf tournament.

Stanford Financial group was raided yesterday and accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission with $8 Billion in fraud. This is the latest example of the illusion that doing good can offset doing wrong; of an altruistic public persona while being corrupt morally. It illustrates the quandary of man. The residual goodness of God left by His breathing the breath of life into Adam war marred permanently and graphically by the fall into sin. Yes, fallen man is Danny Thomas; but even more, fallen man is Bernard Madoff and Alan Stanford. The only hope for a world like this is the incredible goodness of Jesus Christ and the only way a world like this hears the message is if we live it out and share it.

Community

Last night, I was reminded of the fact that there is yearning in man’s soul for community. The community I saw in operation was expressed by people who have grown up together and have known each other over a long time. It was a fulfillment of the kind of community expressed in the old Cheers theme:

Making your way in the world todayTakes everything you've got;Taking a break from all your worriesSure would help a lot.Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to goWhere everybody knows your name,And they're always glad you came;You want to be where you can see,Our troubles are all the same;You want to be where everybody knows your name.

The challenge of church is to help us move beyond the community of a local bar or even of the local community. Isn’t it sad that we rarely achieve it? Most often people talk about where they “go” to church. They come to a worship service; listen to the hymns (and maybe sing a little); hear the sermon; and, then exit quickly out the backdoor. Community, Christian community never comes into play for them.

The biblical word that we seek is koinonia. It means partnership and sharing based on Christ’s love for us. It cannot be achieved by sitting in the same building together or even taking a piece of chicken out of the same bucket in the fellowship hall. It requires commitment to one another and that most valuable commodity, time. Don’t you want to be where everybody knows more than just your name?

Pilgrim's Progress

Pilgrim’s Progress is a classic Christian allegory written by John Bunyan, who was serving time in prison for preaching without a license. He was at the time a Baptist deacon and later became pastor of the Baptist church in his town. Since it was written in the 1600s, the style and language make reading Pilgrim’s Progress a hard slog. Still, if you’ve never read it, I would recommend it because of its spiritual value.

For me, its greatest value in my life was teaching clearly that this life that we are in is a journey and is a journey of progress. Satan loves to bring guilt to our lives by accusing us with a truth: you’re not what you ought to be. It is true. I’m not what I ought to be. With the time that has gone by since I met Christ, with the tools that I possess to access God’s Word, with the incredible manifestations of God’s power and presence that I’ve been able to observe, I should be much further in my walk with the Lord. Bunyan helps to remind me that this journey is filled with distractions, diversions and detours that slow my progress. But, there is progress!

I’ve seen this quote in various expressions over the years, but the first time stands out for me. Billy Graham had come to Memphis for a crusade. Among those who spoke as part of the crusade was one of the local news people, a black lady named Francis Kelley. She recounted her testimony – a life that had many ups and downs – but a life firmly committed to Jesus Christ. She wound it up by saying, “I’m not what I ought to be and I’m not what I’m going to be, but thank God, I’m better than I was.” Are you making progress?

On the struggle

After the Men’s Meeting last night, I returned home and watched two different basketball games. In the first, my beloved Memphis Tigers struggled (again) from the free throw line and faced losing the game. Down one with 4.5 seconds left, we turned to Antonio Anderson – a senior who had played horribly all game long. Antonio drove the length of the court straight at Tulsa’s seven foot center and banked in a layup just before time expired. In the second, Kentucky blew away Tennessee. You will remember my priorities: I pull for the University of Memphis and whoever is playing Tennessee. Kentucky’s victory was sealed by one of the greatest performances in college basketball history. Their guard, Jodie Meeks, connected for 54 points. Almost everything he threw up toward the basket went in.

The goal of Christian living is the same as the goal of college basketball: to win. Paul uses racing imagery and boxing imagery to know that we are in a process and that our goal is to obtain victory. Sometimes we struggle. When we do, it is often frustrating to look around to see a star. Life seems to be coming easy for them; they seem to be making incredible progress without much apparent effort. If we are honest, however, there are times in our lives where it also comes easy. Maybe not on the order of Jodie Meeks – but few people ever attain that level. For us, the better comparison is Antonio. A player who had struggled all game long – whose shot was not falling, who couldn’t hit a free throw. Yet, in the final timeout prior to the last 4.5 seconds, he asked the coach to be the one with the ball. Even when we fall; even when we struggle; we should always be ready to ask the Lord to use us for His glory.

Lessons on Greed and Corruption

The headlines are dominated on this day by two major headlines. The first is the immense domino effect of greed gone wild by financier Bernard L. Madoff. In classic “rob Peter to pay Paul” fashion, Madoff stole 50 billion dollars from investors who trusted his position and reputation. Long after there were suspicions about him, even the Securities and Exchange Commission failed to investigate the suspicions and relied instead on information that Mr. Madoff supplied. The second example is the strange case of Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich. Placed in the position of authority to name a successor to the new President-elect Obama, the governor is charged with a scheme to profit from this appointment – as well as many other charges. These two merely headline the destruction of our financial system by people bent on personal profit.

What is strange about all of this is the context where it is happening. Go back a year…before the current crisis hit. The New York Times best-seller list top 15 books clearly indicated the irony. There were books presaging the crisis we are in. The other two dominant subjects are where we find the true irony. Many of them fed the greed orientation: WOMEN & MONEY, by Suze Orman; THE 4-HOUR WORKWEEK, by Timothy Ferris; BE A REAL ESTATE MILLIONAIRE, by Dean Graziosi; WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON'T GET YOU THERE, by Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter; and, a book co-authored by Donald Trump all led to a “more is better; get all you can” mentality. It is the second area that I find so interesting. LAUNCHING A LEADERSHIP REVOLUTION, by Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward; GIVING, by Bill Clinton; and, NOW, DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS, by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton give the definitive contrast. Leadership has been the buzz word of business for years. In the midst of books touting mission statements and vision statements, the implication has been that business operates best from strong character and a commitment to give your best to others.

Here’s the problem. There is, admittedly, a residual stamp of God written into the constitution of every person. We bear the image of God which has left some form of conscience within. The breakdown occurs in that we live in a fallen world and are all, in the words of the Scripture, sinners. We tilt toward ourselves; no one is more important than us. Altruism that begins and ends with man will always end up in the benefit of self. Man has character but it is character that breaks down when left to itself. There is no surprise that we are seeing the decline because we have been in decline for some time. There is no fear of God in our culture; there is little respect for Christ in our land. This is not the first crisis of morality to grip our country, however, every other time we had something to go back and lean on: a morality dominated by Judeo-Christian thought and character. We have abandoned Him. My suspicion is that we will find no where to turn. My prayer is that God grants us the other alternative: a powerful movement of His Spirit: an Awakening; revival. (But revival always begins with God’s people. Are you ready?)

The courage to be adversarial; the conviction to be Christ-like

The New York Times is probably the most prominent of the various news outlets reporting the same story. Apparently, Proposition 8 (and its passage) in California has enraged the homosexual community. They are now into creating organized vehicles for influencing America to accept their version of truth. Their intent is to utilize “in your face” techniques to force America to accept the homosexual lifestyle as a valid way to live.

As believers in Christ, we will need to be prepared for confrontation. God’s expression of truth leaves us no option: homosexuality is against the way that God has created us and violates the standard of morality that He has given to us. We need to be prepared to voice truth whenever we are confronted.

Here’s where the problem lies. Often, in an adversarial forum, our tendency is to turn…well, adversarial. When an adversarial environment is created, conversation can quickly turn to insult and denigration. You cannot read the Gospels without quickly gaining an understanding of the character of Jesus. One of the most impressive things is His reaction to sinful people. We are in the season of the year when we think about His incarnation: holy God left heaven and lived among us. It is hard to imagine what just the least sin did to him – yet Christ remained respectful even as He dealt with people in the midst of terrible immorality.

So, as we approach this world where we live, with more and more encounters with militant homosexuals, we need to prepare ourselves. We need to have the courage to be adversarial, but retain the conviction to be Christ-like in our dialog.

Oh, come to my heart, Lord Jesus...there is room in my heart for you.

There is a Christmas song that declares “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”. For making memories, there is probably no better time of the year. Family traditions develop; special groups make sure that they gather together. Celebration is a major part of every dimension of this time of the year! Christmas parties are all over the church calendar; most people are amazed at how many places they will be going and all the things they will be doing.

All of this joy and celebration and tradition is a positive thing – until its not. Holiday time is hardest for people who have suffered loss; when a key person is no longer part of the mix. It is even harder for those whose loss happened during this time of year. Their suffering is generally quiet suffering. They let the pain remain inside and put a smile on the outside. They will stand beside you with a cup of eggnog in their hands; smile; laugh; and be thoroughly empty inside.

Sometimes we let the festivities overshadow the meaning. There was a real birth of a real baby who came on a really important mission to this world. As another, more profound song says, “You left Your throne and Your kingly crown when You came to this earth that day. But in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room for Your holy nativity.” The song continues. And for the one who has that empty spot, it is important to consider the next part: “oh come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee.” I am not saying that the Lord Jesus will fill the place of void where a loved one was! What I am saying is this: when we suffer loss it is a blessing to be able to turn to the One who came and find him right there next to our loss. In this season of joy and celebration and tradition, my prayer is that the One who began it all has come to your heart.