Not What it Seems

Posted on September 14, 2009 by day1of1

world_trade_centerAs our nation remembers the horrors of September 11, 2001 many of us are remembering where we were and what we did on that terrible day. My memories of the day are varied – a mix of professional obligations and personal interpretations of the events and their significance.  I’m sure that many of us can look back upon the day, clearly remembering where we were and what we thought.  I’ve had many conversations with friends describing those recollections, so I am not going to use this post to restate them.  In fact, the thoughts that I have regarding the day are based upon an event that took place several years later.

While teaching my seventh and eighth grade social studies class a few years ago, I made a reference to the 9/11 attacks. I didn’t get the informed response I had expected.  After thinking about it for a moment, I realized why; these students were just young children when the attacks took place.  Their families didn’t subject them to the continual news coverage, and even if they did, they were too young to grasp it.  With that realization, I decided to develop a unit on the events of September 11.  Part of that unit included watching a documentary about the attack.  The show takes you through all of the events of the day in chronological order – giving the viewer a vivid picture of the destruction and our reactions as hours unfolded.

At one point in the film a cameraman went out into the courtyard between the two towers and pointed his camera to the tops of the buildings to document the damage that they had taken.  As the scene unfolds, the narrator explains that in the panic and confusion of the day’s events, nobody had turned off the Muzak recording that played soft music in the courtyard.  So as you see the images of the damaged buildings with debris cascading to the ground, flames and smoke billowing out of the windows, you hear an instrumental version of Billy Joel’s “She’s Always a Woman” playing softly in the background.  That image of death coupled with love struck me the moment I first saw it and it has remained indelibly etched into my mind ever since.

What I find most interesting about this moment captured on film is the contradiction.  Here in the midst of destruction we find hope. Surrounded by death and hate exists a quiet message of love.  For me, this exemplifies the amazing love of God the Father, confirming Paul’s words in the eighth chapter of Romans:

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Now let me to take this one step further.  In the song, Joel describes a woman who is elusive, conflicted, and self focused.  She holds back, sends mixed messages, and is unapologetic when it comes to those things that are important to her – even if they conflict with the needs of others around her.  But in spite of this he declares his continued love for her.  So we have a love song about contradictions being played in the most contradictory of circumstances.  Just as the singer’s love remains constant in spite of his lover’s bad behavior, God’s love never wavered, even at Ground Zero.  His love is our strong tower – one which hatred and anger can’t ever destroy.

As we recognize this terrible anniversary, may we give thanks to God for His continued love and good gifts, especially the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Pray for comfort for those who still mourn, continued blessings for those who ministered to the needs of the hurt and dying, and for all mankind to know the fullness of the unbridled love of God that lives in every corner of our world.

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Lost

Posted on September 9, 2009 by day1of1

I don’t understand the premise of the television show “Lost.”  Admittedly, I have never watched a minute of the show.  When the show was first being advertised, the commercials showed the fuselage of the airplane being blown apart and then crashing, leaving the surviving passengers stranded on a deserted island.  It was also around that time that I was going on a family vacation to Florida where my son was going to take his first airplane ride.  Needless to say, that commercial got turned off very quickly whenever it came on just to avoid unnecessary questions.

 

Now back to the show.  I never did watch any of the episodes of it, but I have followed along with the commercials for the show, primarily aired during football games that I do watch.  As the years have gone by, the problems for the castaways have grown progressively worse.  In the same amount of time that it took for Tom Hanks to start talking a volleyball and for Maryann to bake her first coconut cream pie for Gilligan, these people have gone through all sorts of bigger issues – my favorite being kidnapped and imprisoned in some iron-barred prison cell apparently on the same deserted island.  Even the professor with all of his acumen couldn’t come up with that one!  Leads me to believe that not only have the characters been lost, but so has the sanity of the writing staff for the show.  Anything to keep it going, I guess.  Maybe next week one of the castaways will duke it out with Jack Bauer to win immunity so that Paula Abdul can’t vote him off of the island.

 

For the television show to survive, simply being lost wasn’t enough to keep the show going for more than a season or two.  Therefore, the writers had to develop something more sinister to keep the plot going.  It seems far-fetched, but as long as people tune in (the show is currently in the top ten for this season) they’ll keep going with it.

 

For television, being lost may not be enough.  In life, however, being lost is more than scary enough.  Many people struggle with loss:  the loss of loved ones in death, the loss of love in a marriage, the loss of a friendship, the loss of a job, the loss of one’s confidence, the loss of health, the loss of your security.  Even the loss of your car keys creates problems.  Lately, I find myself feeling rather lost.  That seems hard to believe considering my schedule, but I am grappling with a great many things lately.  In many ways, I feel lost and alone; set adrift in a sea of animosity, confusion, and uncertainty.  Each day starts anew, but more often than not I find myself back on my island.  The struggle comes when you find yourself in this place and there’s really nobody to whom you can reach out and share what’s happening or nobody who can understand and bring clarity to the situation. 

 

In this situation, what a comfort it is to know that our God is big enough to be there for us.  This may sound like a trite solution to a tremendous problem, but in truth, it is actually the spiritual solution to the problem.  When we try to use the knowledge of the world to solve the mysteries of the world, we come up short.  After all, the reason we named them mysteries in the first place is because even with all of the knowledge in the world we were unable to solve them. Why rely on the limited powers of a sinful creation when we have at our disposal the perfect power of the Creator to enlighten us and provide us exactly what we need at the proper time.

 

You see, while the list of losses seems large and complete I haven’t touched on the most significant one in the group.  The greatest of the losses we can experience is the loss of our faith and the relationship that we have with Christ.  To live life outside of the outstretched arms of God, shunning His love for us must be a hopeless and desolate feeling.  How fortunate we are to have this opportunity to have Christ in our lives.

 

But how many of us truly take advantage of the relationship we have?  How often do we find ourselves seeking the approval of others, the knowledge of man, or the advice of a talk show host, instead of turning our hearts and minds toward the awesome power of God?  Why must we rely upon our own thoughts to dictate what it is that we should do?  Yes, God gives us intelligence and common sense for a reason.  But didn’t He also give to us His Word for a reason as well?  Paul writes in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians:

17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:  “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

Why then do we rely upon earthly remedies for spiritual ailments?  Maybe we have more in common with the writers of “Lost” than I thought.

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An Angry Open Letter to Satan

Posted on September 3, 2009 by day1of1

9/3/09

Dear Liar:

For the past month, you have been a constant visitor.  You have shown up at my house and at work.  You’ve ridden in my car and have traveled with me seemingly everywhere I have gone.  I go to bed at night and you’re there.  I wake up in the morning and see you waiting for me.  You never seem to leave.

Your constant presence has had a definite impact upon me.  I have seen your influence in every area of my life.  You have distracted me from my writing.  You have pulled me from my work.  You have stolen my sleep.  You have caused me physical pain.  You have caused me emotional pain.  You have taken money from me.  You have broken things in my house, on my car, and in my yard.  You have taken friends from me.  You have filled me with anger.  You even worked hard to ruin my birthday.

I am sick and tired of you.  You have caused me unbelievable pain.  The hurt that I have felt has begun to linger and is clouding my view of more and more things.  I don’t like the person I am when you’re around.  I don’t like this feeling of hopelessness and despair.  In short, you have taken your best shots at me in an attempt to take me away from my destiny and every good thing that God has promised me, and it ends – now.

In the name of Jesus, I am commanding you to get out.  You are not welcome and you will no longer be permitted to be anywhere near me.  I will certainly have memories of your time spent with me – wounds that need to heal, work that needs to be done, relationships that need to be mended.  I’ve got a lot to do to make right what you’ve done, but with the help of God I will do just that.  And when my work is finished, when my relationships are restored, when the cuts and bruises are gone – you will be too and nothing of what you have created will remain.  It must bug you to know that God’s work is permanent while yours in nothing more than a temporary inconvenience that will never be allowed into my life again.

You are a liar, so I will not hear your voice anymore.  You are a thief, but God will restore everything you have ever taken from me 1oo times over.  You are a deceiver, but God will make things right.  You have lost – Christ settled that score 2,000 years ago.  Never again will I forget that fact.  And so, by the power of the name of my victorious Savior,  I am telling you in no uncertain terms to go away.  Take your lies, your hurts, and all of your tricks and never come back.

May the hollowness of your attempts consume your mind as you enter into your eternity of separation from God.

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You Must Love Me

Posted on August 28, 2009 by day1of1

I wrote the bulk of this a few years ago. Recently, I’ve had cause to revisit some of these thoughts and so I’ve made a few changes and decided to share it with you again…

Eva Peron is one of those larger than life personalities that tumble through history. A girl of illegitimate birth and questionable reputation, she rose from poverty to become the First Lady of Argentina and a cultural icon. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Evita is one of my favorites.

Back in 1996, a motion picture of the musical was released starring Madonna. In that version, a new song was added to the score entitled, “You Must Love Me.” From a musical standpoint, the song is very simple. The vocals are accompanied primarily by piano and a cello. It is a beautiful addition to the musical as it adds an element to Eva Peron’s character not seen in the original stage production. Eva is portrayed as strong willed and ambitious, seeking greatness with little regard for anything or anyone else. Even her marriage to Juan Peron was portrayed as being centered on power and not love. The song was added at a place in the story where we find Eva battling cancer – a fight she would lose at the age of 33. She is unaccustomed to weakness, and is now struggling with the emotions of where her life has gone. You can click on the link to hear the song.  These are her words:

You Must Love Me

 

Where do we go from here? This isn’t where we intended to be            
We had it all, you believed in me, I believed in you

Certainties disappear, what do we do for our dream to survive?
How do we keep all our passions alive, as we used to do?

Deep in my heart I’m concealing things that I’m longing to say
Scared to confess what I’m feeling, frightened you’ll slip away

You must love me. 

Why are you at my side? How can I be of any use to you now?
Give me a chance and I’ll let you see how nothing has changed

Deep in my heart I’m concealing things that I’m longing to say
Scared to confess what I’m feeling, frightened you’ll slip away

You must love me

I’ve often wondered how to interpret Eva’s words. When I originally wrote this, I offered two possibilities. I thought she could be saying it with surprise, finally realizing that she really had been loved all along without knowing it. It also thought it could be a result of Eva’s fear. Being someone who had all the answers and unapologetic she now finds herself mired in weakness, pleading to those around her to give her the aid and comfort she needs as she faces her final days. It’s actually both.

Eva is dying and she is afraid. She no longer has the strength of her lofty ambitions to rely upon. Her mission in life was always to rise: in popularity, status, wealth, and power. But her rise has now come to an end; her descent has begun. Life as she has always known it has come to a halt. And now, in the quiet she is finally hearing the words of voices long ignored. They are revealing to her the greatest love of her life – a strong, quiet, consistent love that surrounded her. It followed her as she ran at breakneck speed. It lifted her as she climbed to new heights. A total, complete, and undemanding love – the kind that enhances strengths and overlooks flaws and touches the soul in ways we’ve never captured with words. In that moment, Eva’s eyes are opened to realize what would ultimately be her greatest fear:  her thirst for something greater has caused her to miss the greatest gift she’d ever been given.

Why does love do this to us? Out of all of the feelings and emotions we have, why is love so strong and so complex? It is because God is love. Can anyone clearly understand and explain the nature of God? Is it possible for creation to understand its creator? I dare say that we have a greater working knowledge of how to make a sunset than to explain the emotions stirred by seeing one with the love of your life. And because we fail to understand or fear to feel it, we, like Eva, miss it. We hide from what God has given us – only to realize what we had after it’s gone and when it’s too late.

How often have we buried our thoughts and feelings because we felt it best not to speak them? How often have we acted out of a sense of duty or responsibility, only to deprive ourselves of the very things that we needed all along? Or maybe we struggle with opening ourselves to the full force of what love brings? It’s funny, but I can talk for hours with insight and wit on numerous topics, but struggle to string two words together when trying to share love. Saying the wrong thing, making a hard choice, or one errant slip of the tongue and love can be lost. So in fear of saying the wrong thing, or saying it poorly, we say nothing and achieve the same result.

My suspicion is that I am not alone in this struggle. Joshua 1:9 tells us to “be strong and courageous. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Think about it. God is love and He is always with us, therefore we are never unloved. Because of our human nature it is easier said than done. So how do we find love? It’s in the One who is love. Look to the Lord. Seek Him in all things and you will know today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life a promise for us to which God is bound…

You must love me.

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The Last Booth on the Left

Posted on August 22, 2009 by day1of1

What a familiar place – the last booth on the left in the Dearborn Heights Panera.  I can’t begin to tell you how many hours I’ve logged in this spot.  I practically wrote my entire action research project from this seat.  Have worked on curricula, writing, downloaded music, played games, chatted with friends, and shared coffee and conversation with people I love.  It’s been a work station, a meeting place, and a hiding place.  It’s a spot where I am both familiar and anonymous; a perfect little corner of the world to which I have grown quite fond over the past few years.

It seems funny, but we all have specific places and spots that we remember for reasons good and bad.  Remember where you had your first kiss?  Where you proposed and where she said yes?  Where you were when you first heard you were going to have a child?  Or conversely, do you remember where your first love broke it off with you?  Where you were when you were hurt badly in an accident?  The place where you received the news of the passing of a loved one?  These places are etched into our minds.  The scenes are vivid and it would take little effort to recreate the image in our mind’s eye – to hear the words, see the sights, feel the emotion of moments gone by in a particular location.

So what is my endearing memory of the last booth on the left?  Love.  It has to be.  Look at each of the examples I’ve given and you’ll see that love is the common thread.  This is even true of the accident because when we are faced with those types of traumatic situations, our minds take us to a place where we envision how that event either will or could have impacted the people we love.  So it is with my booth – the last one on the left.  Sometimes I think of the faces of people I love who have joined me in work, talk, and fun.  But most often, I think of the moments of quiet reflection – like this one – where I have spent time in thought, a quiet stream of music filling my soul as I sit here with the true love of my life.

It is in Jesus that I have found love because He is the one true source of what real love is.  This isn’t to say you don’t share a true love with that special man or woman in your life.  But let me ask you this: who was it that brought them to you?  Who builds you up to show him or her your true self?  Who empowers you to continue to love them in spite of them showing you their true self?  Consider this quote from advice columnist Joyce Brothers:

“Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully. When you dare to be vulnerable.”

Unwittingly, she got it right.  While it may mirror the love that exists between a man and a woman, what she’s really describing is our relationship with God.  Think of Christ’s sacrifice for us.  We can agree that it was done out of love for us.  To that end, there is no manipulation on His part.  Christ certainly put us and our need of salvation before His own needs – suffering one of the most horrific deaths ever devised by man.  He opened Himself up, making Himself vulnerable to the world and it’s sinfulness out of the simplest and deepest motivating force there is – love.

So I’m thanking God this morning for loving me so much that He would give so great a gift to me.  I’m asking Him to fill me with that same level of love so that I might share it with those people He has brought into my life.  By submitting to God’s will in this manner, God uses my life to bring others to a deeper love and knowledge of Him through me.  This is my role in the Kingdom and an amazing blessing bestowed upon me by my Heavenly Father.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a drizzly Saturday morning: sitting with my Savior in the last booth on the left.

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Bread of Life

Posted on August 19, 2009 by day1of1

“Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.” – Words of MacBeth, Act 5 Scene 1 Lines 23-27

MacBeth utters this dark sentiment after hearing the news of the death of his wife.  His crown, stolen from its rightful owner by MacBeth’s own murderous acts, will be his for only a few more moments as he is about to be overthrown and sent to his own death.  In the middle of all this, he assessed his life and speaks this phrase out of despair.  He is about to fall from power, but this is not the first nor is it the greatest failing in his life. 

In the truest form of tragedy, MacBeth has already suffered his fall: a moral one.  His actions in plotting the deaths of the king and others has brought down a once great and honored man and made him a paranoid shell of his former self.  The man that is left is hollow, void of feeling, and in many ways incomplete.

In life, the same thing happens to many of us.  Now I understand that few of us are in a position where we could murder the King of Scotland and take his crown, but that’s not the comparison.  The comparison lies in the loss of ourselves.  We can live lives that lack purpose, that have no greater meaning; lives without fulfillment.  Believe me, I know.

It started years ago.  It remains today.  There are plenty of solutions – quick fixes that would come to the rescue and make everything better.  Immerse yourself in work.  Devote yourself to those things that are important.  Give tirelessly to your friends.  Take comfort in material things.  These solutions that have been passed down for generations.  Unfortunately, they don’t work. 

Immersing yourself in work, volunteering, or whatever else you find can distract for a short while . But when you immerse yourself in anything you will eventually need to return to the surface for air.  And like a drowning victim, once that critical point is reached, you’re left panicky, fighting for what it is you need to survive with little hope of finding it on your own. 

Devotion to family and those people you love is noble, but we’re all sinful.  Pinning your hopes on people is risky.  There’s a reason why love at first sight and happily ever after are only used in fairy tales.  Stories don’t show the hard work that is required to make relationships successful.  Without it, relationships can and will become empty.  Family is more than a collection of marriage and birth certificates, but too often out of fear, resentment, distrust, and neglect, that’s all they become.

Giving of yourself to others, making yourself accessible to others, helping meet the needs of those people around you are all great parts of what we’re called to do.  But when we do this too often, we use our calling as a method of avoiding the issues that surround us.  You start things, but you fail to finish.  You extend yourself to please others, only to be unable to meet all of the demands and so you begin to disappoint.  Excuses explain away the shortcomings until lies begin to dominate.  Those people who started out in your corner walk away, or stand just around the corner speaking gossip and spreading rumors about you.  These things hurt at any time, but when it comes from someone we trust, or when it comes at a time when we are least prepared for them, the sting is only magnified.

Taking comfort in people or objects is dangerous.  There are many things in life upon which we can become addicted.  I know that drugs and alcohol are the biggies, but you don’t need to drink like a fish, shoot chemicals into your veins, inhale smoke, or pop vicodin like candy to be an addict.  You can be addicted to almost anything.  I know people who are addicted to sports, to crude language and dirty jokes, to sex, to television, to gossip, to gambling, to books, to video games, to shopping, to negativity, to laziness, and on and on and on.  These things are quite appealing when you’re searching for something to take the pain away, but ultimately they will neither satisfy nor last.

This is not God’s plan for us.  Jesus tells us in John 6 that we have been given bread to eat.  But this is not your ordinary, run of the mill ground wheat, baked and topped with peanut butter kind of bread.  It is bread from heaven.  It is the bread of life.  It is not the bread that allows us to avoid hunger and physical death, but spiritual starvation and eternal death.  This bread builds us up, turns us to God and brings us face to face with the Savior of the world, your Savior, my Savior.

“And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”  (John 6:40)

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Trust Me

Posted on August 14, 2009 by day1of1

1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. – 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

It’s hard to know who we should believe anymore.  So many people making so many promises about so many things – it’s difficult to know what’s true, what’s false, what’s good or what’s bad.  Watch TV and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  Commercials tell you what products are new, improved, cheaper, better, stronger, easier, faster, longer-lasting, and more aromatic.  And it’s not just the commercials that are trying to sell you something.  Television shows of every kind are trying to persuade you of something.  Talk shows use their format to share information and opinions.  Dramatic shows and sitcoms speak to us about specific themes – offering us methods of handling situations in our lives by watching our favorite actors play out those scenes before us.  The news media provides us impartial information along with plenty of opinionated analysis.  With all of this opportunity for people to hear the thoughts and opinions of others on so many topics, is it any wonder that so many people have no original thoughts on most topics?  Republicans and Democrats watch channels that are slanted to their own political views, allowing the average person to simply quote their favorite talking head in conversations without giving their words a moment’s thought.

Is that a good thing?  People are more informed now than ever before, but it seems that repeating information and understanding information are two very different things.  There is nothing wrong with seeking the thoughts of other people, but while those thoughts are valuable for perspective and entertaining over a cup of coffee, they must not be the basis for every decision we make in life.  What good is it for me to impress others by repeating the thoughts and ideas of other people?  I could very easily sit here are write the words of another author, to tell you all of the great things he said and why they are correct and important.  But if I did, then I would honestly have to ask you why would you read what I’m writing?  Save the time and the money and just go buy the other guy’s book.

Think about this in the terms of a dating or marriage relationship.  How fulfilling would your relationship be if your partner simply agreed with everything you said?  I know that there must be compatibility and a level of agreement in the things that couples find important: faith, finances, raising children and the like.  But I’ve dated people in the past who had no opinion other than mine and I found that spending time together in conversation with her unfulfilling.  I want to be challenged to think, to discover, and to grow.

God desires that we do the same in our relationship with Him.  We don’t often think about our God in those terms, but try it for just a moment.  Doesn’t God challenge us in our relationship with Him?  This isn’t to say that God plays games with us; there’s none of that “If you really love me, you would…,” kind of stuff.  God is not a jealous ex, or a passive-aggressive friend trying to manipulate your relationship.  He is straight shooter who tells you honestly what He desires of us.  More than that, He also reveals to us the blessings in store for us if we live our lives in obedience to His Word.  Christ states clearly for us in John 14:21-24.  “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” Then Judas said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

Beyond that, He takes two more steps to insure our ability to do the things He wants us to do.  He sends His Son to die and rise so that our sins will no longer keep us apart from Him.  He also sends the Spirit, who will guide and strengthen us to give our lives completely to God.  Jesus Himself reminds us of this truth again: “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17).

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Moments of Courage

Posted on August 8, 2009 by day1of1

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? – Psalm 56:3-4

tank_man

Sometimes a picture needs no words to describe the power of the image shown.  While these photos are rare, when they come they leave an indelible mark upon everyone who sees them.  Such is the impact made by this picture taken on June 5, 1989 in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China.  For several weeks, thousands of students had been protesting in the square.  Their demands of the government were simple; they wanted democracy and an end to the corruption they saw within China’s communist government.  A simple request, but not a simple solution.  The Chinese government had no intention of bringing about reform.  They demonstrated their position by storming the square on June 5 with troops and tanks to forcibly remove the protesters.  The Chinese government admits to approximately 300-400 deaths.  The New York Times reported that number to be between 600-800, and student organizations within China claim 3,000-4,000 were killed.

In the midst of this tragedy, the was an iconic image that tumbled down through time. It is a photo of a man whose identity and whereabouts are disputed, standing before a column of tanks, single-handedly trying to prevent them from moving toward the other students.  He stands alone; solemn yet defiant.  He’s not leading an army.  He has no power except that of his own courage to stand in the face of what he felt was wrong and stop it, even if for only a moment.

Was he successful?  Most will say no.  He didn’t stop the tanks from rolling into the square to perform their bloody task of removing the protesters.  Instead, he was pulled away from the tanks by a crowd who feared for his life.  His actions saved nobody on that day, and according to numerous reports, he too was executed by the Chinese government a few days later.  You could easily say that his actions, while heroic, accomplished nothing.

I disagree.  This was more than an amazing photograph chronicling a moment in time.  It speaks to the human need for freedom.  It is an image of one man setting aside his fear and standing for his beliefs without concern over the price he would have to pay.  That courage is what makes him successful.  That image of bravery was broadcast around the world within minutes of it happening.  In the thirty years that have passed since that day, this picture has not only become the defining image of the attack in Tiananmen Square, but it is inextricably connected with the fight for human rights in China and around the globe.  “Tank Man” as he is sometimes called, was listed as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.  Of course, he didn’t do this for fame or fortune.  It is likely that he knew his actions would lead to his death. What he didn’t know was the extent to which his moment of courage would spread throughout the world…

The martyr had become an icon.

How similar this moment must have been for a Nazarene, who one night stood in a garden and watched a mob come for him, led by one of His closest companions.  What an image that would have been – Christ standing alone before his captors.  Or picture Jesus standing alongside Pilate before the crowd: broken, beaten, stripped down with thorns smashed into his brow.  He stood solemnly in front of a hate-filled crowd as they screamed for the release of a common thug while for calling the death of the Son of God.  This moment of courage was never captured on film, but its ramifications had a far greater meaning for humanity than any other event in human history.

Take a moment to visualize it.  It is the image of one man setting aside his fear and standing for his beliefs without concern over the price he would have to pay.  In that, he too was successful.  But His death isn’t the end of this story.  Imagine the image of a woman with a look of shock and awe upon her face as she recognizes the man standing before her as teacher and her friend, the resurrected Christ.  What an image that must have been…

The martyr had become the Savior of the world.

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Life Compass

Posted on August 5, 2009 by day1of1

As a boy, I participated in scouting. I was a cub scout, webelo, and then a boy scout for many years. In fact, I was only two merit badges away from becoming an eagle scout before I learned that dating girls was more fun than tying knots (only later did I realize that had I stayed in scouts, I could have learned how to untie some of the knots that dating got me in to – but that’s another story altogether).

Of all of the things we did in scouting, the most enjoyable event of the year was undoubtedly summer camp. Going to Camp Rotary for a week of swimming, boating, fishing, campfires, and of course – earning merit badges. Every year I went to camp, I always tried to use the week to earn as many badges as I could so I could move further along in the program. Besides, the offerings that the camp had were much better than most of the badges that I could earn back home. One year, I remember looking over the schedule of badge classes being offered and quite happily plotted out five badges to earn that week – a hefty amount as I thought. The genius of my plan was that it left me with a good bank of time in the afternoon to do the things I wanted to do – namely go swimming and canoeing. Productive and fun together, an excellent set up for the week.

Then it happened. On Monday afternoon, just as I was finishing a project at our campsite, only moments before grabbing my swim trunks and towel, I was faced with the worst set of circumstances imaginable. Wildfire? If only! Coyote attack? I wish! Tornado? I would have welcomed it! No, my fate was far, far worse.

You guessed it…It was our assistant scoutmaster, Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones was the guy who had been in the scouting movement since the 1910’s and had the uniform to prove it. Had he been in Lord Baden Powell’s first scout troop the very future of scouting could have been in jeopardy – either that or ritalin would have been invented decades earlier. He was fanatical about it – not in a creepy stalker way, but in the, “Hey, relax a little before you blow a badge,” kind of way.

So Mr. Jones walks into the camp and informs me that the class for orienteering was meeting in a few minutes and that nobody in the entire camp was signed up for it. That seemed reason enough for me not to buck the trend, but Mr. Jones wasn’t seeing my logic. So instead of a week filled with afternoon swims, I was off to learn how to use a compass and a topographical map to get myself lost, or found – I forget.

After several stops, I rushed to the class – arriving only about 30 minutes late. There were four other boys whose ASM’s had decided that they should also be miserable at camp who were now in this with me. Our instructor, a college aged guy who apparently felt compass reading was a life skill whose importance ranked somewhere between breathing and blinking, was there teaching us everything we needed to know about reading the compass and the map, finding the various points and plotting out our routes through poison oak on the back side of the lake. Yes, the same lake in which the children who had cool adult leaders were currently swimming (bitter, bitter, bitter). But I digress. We were preparing for Friday – the day we’d get dropped off in the woods and have to navigate the orienteering course all by ourselves. I can’t say I was enthralled, but I didn’t like the thought of sleeping with the raccoons, so I paid just enough attention to sort of know what I was doing.

Now we fast forward to Friday: the big day. I received my sealed envelope and was driven out to the middle of 42nd and Nowhere so I could find my way back to civilization after writing down numbers off of randomly placed milk jugs in the woods. I began the process of finding my bearings on the compass and the location on the map and used my incredible skills and intelligence to complete the course, scheduled to take at least an hour, in about 35 minutes. Of course, the camp hadn’t changed the course in many weeks allowing every person who’d traveled it before me to create a path that I merely followed to each destination. Upon my return to the “base,” I explained the source of my skills to Commander Compass. He didn’t appreciate my new world application of logic to the art of orienteering, but I did manage to earn my badge and a half hour of swimming time out of the deal.

If only life were that easy – the path marked out for me, just look closely and see exactly where I need to go and how to get there. You don’t need a compass and a map to know that it certainly is not. Life is filled with all sorts of nasty terrain: valleys of sorrow and depression, swamps of guilt and fear that bog us down, relationships rockier than any rough terrain, all of it covered in generous foliage of sin more potent than any poisonous plant. For much of my life, I have dealt with this in a similar manner as I dealt with orienteering as a boy scout. Wait until someone makes me deal with it, learn a base level of how I might approach it, find myself lost in the middle of something I’m unequipped to deal with and start looking for the easiest path out. Sound familiar? I thought it might. What’s our excuse – our explanation for how we deal with the troubles of life? “I’m trying”?

A sermon I recently heard mentioned something quite interesting about trying. As long as we keep trying, that’s probably all we’re going to do. We need to learn to stop trying and start doing. But not just doing what we think will solve things, not looking to Oprah and Dr. Phil for their behavior modification self-help, and not doing what brings us the most immediate and intense level of satisfaction. I’ve been a broken record of sorts lately, but bear with me as I head back to Matthew 6:33 once again…

BUT SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU AS WELL.

We turn to Him for answers to the questions that hang in our minds and trouble our souls. The sleepless nights, the anxious days, the slow burn of a life filled with stresses and responsibilities filtered through the love and Word of the Creator of the universe. The hopelessness and despair of a life filled with disappointments and grief turned to comfort and increase through the promises of God. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? That’s because it is. Start each day in prayer and the Word. Read a chapter, or even just a few verses, but read and ponder what God is doing for you through the promises for His inerrant Word. Then take the next step and hear what He has to say to you through prayer. Bring your petitions to Him, cast your burdens, or simply worship Him but take time to go to Him in prayer. Do it tomorrow morning; do it later this evening; do it now. God’s promise to you is big and it’s real and He’s waiting for you. No compass needed, no map required, the path is marked with the blood of the Lamb of God.

Just watch out for Mr. Jones!

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When We Met God

Posted on July 31, 2009 by day1of1

Most people my age have seen the movie “When Harry Met Sally.”   If you have, then you know that the major theme of the film centers on the question of whether men and women can just be friends.  This premise is explored in the relationship that builds between the two lead characters – Harry and Sally.  One of the best lines in the film comes at the end as Harry has finally come to the realization that he is in love with Sally.  He runs to meet her at a New Year’s Eve party to confess his feelings.  Sally is hesitant to hear him out at first, but he finally gets her to listen as he declares…

“I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night.”

Now I know that movie writers can craft a phrase and actors spend years learning how to deliver a line to evoke just the right emotion.  But what amazes me about this line is the manner in which it depicts the fullness of the love Harry has for Sally.  That love shows itself in the minute detail in which he describes her actions and the effect that it has upon his heart.  Through observation and shared experiences, Harry has grown to know Sally and to love her for those idiosyncrasies.  In other words, the romance comes in the details.

God’s love for us, His creation, goes far beyond the love that Harry has for Sally, far beyond the love that any of us have for one another.  There isn’t a single detail of our lives, any small part of the sum total of who we are that God does not know, did not create, and does not love.  He knows our thoughts, our joys, our hurts, our fears, and our passions (Psalm 139).  Even in our sin, God was moved in love to sacrifice His own Son for us.  What an amazing love He has given to us and continues to give us every day of our lives.

But it doesn’t end there – for God or for Harry.  His last sentence is not only the perfect conclusion to his declaration, but it also serves as a great reminder of how we, as God’s dearly loved children, are to respond to His incredible love:

“I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

If there is somebody in your life that you truly love, then you are already aware of this feeling.  But for a moment, instead of directing that thought toward a man or a woman, direct it toward our Father in Heaven.  For somebody living their life outside of the grace, mercy, and abundant blessings of God, that moment when they truly realize what God is giving to them must be amazing.  Even for those of us who have been brought up in the faith, there comes a time when we more readily accept the promises of God and more actively build a stronger relationship with Him.  As we strive to “start the rest of our lives,” we find ourselves compelled to be in the Word more than just on Sunday.  We take time to be in prayer throughout our day; in the form of those quick thought prayers during the day as well as in a block of time set aside for us to connect with God.

We must strive to build ourselves into a stronger relationship with our Lord in order to build ourselves up for the ministry He has called us to do here on earth.  This isn’t earning our salvation – we are saved by grace through faith in Christ and that is certain.  But we have also been empowered by Christ through the great commission to go out and share the good news of Christ crucified.  We cannot effectively do this if we aren’t properly trained and equipped, and our lack of training isn’t based on lack of materials.  God provides for us everything we need.  Paul gives us our charge to grow in our faith in Hebrews 6:1-3:

“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  And God permitting, we will do so.”

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