Stop and Hear the Music!

"There's no bad day that can't be overcame by stopping and listening to a barber shop quartet; this is just truth, plain and simple."
Chuck Sigars

Sometimes when I hear somebody teaching or preaching or giving a message I think I have no idea what this person is talking about. This just makes no sense at all. I came across something recently and thought wow, I just have to show this to my friends. This is in a commentary and I quote J. Preston Eby who gives a clear pronouncement of this truth from his essay “Is Man a Free Moral Agent”. Now if you really want to appear smart just put an initial in front of your name. I assure you will become smart by just doing that alone. This is some long discourse and partway through it he says…and I quote “The first Adam is said to be the first man and the last Adam is declared to be the second man. The second Adam is also the last Adam and he is also the last man. Now if the first Adam is the first man it necessarily would follow that there were no man on Earth before him for he was the first. Then if the last Adam is the second man and there were no men on Earth between the first Adam and the last Adam for the last Adam is the second man there can be no man between first man and the second man. If there were even one man between the first man and the second man obviously the second man could not be the second man. He would be the third man or the 100th man or the 5 billionth man. And since the second man is also the last man there can not have been any man since him for if others have followed him he could not have been the last man. So then the first man was the first and the second man was the second man and the second man is the last man.” J. Preston Eby gives a clear pronouncement of this truth. How many of you have heard somebody talking religious talk and you thought I have no idea what you are saying? You seem very convinced of it and seem to be ok with its clarity and simplicity but I am in a fog of rhetoric and I cant even find my way out of it. So. Why do we gather? What is the point? I want to explain a way of seeing the world and as we explore this way I want you to be thinking, is this present in our world today?
Exodus 25…God was giving instructions on the temple…

8 "Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. 9 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

So early in the story God says make me a house. A holy place. A Temple. A sanctuary and I will dwell in the midst of it. Exodus 28 gives specific instructions on this temple. Very specific instructions.
Exodus 28:29 "Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place

So within the Temple there will be places that are even holier than other places.
Exodus 29:6 “Put the turban on his head and attach the sacred diadem to the turban.”
I am getting somewhere here just bare with me.
Exodus 29:31 “Take the ram for the ordination and cook the meat in a sacred place.”
So there is a sacred emblem, sacred garments, sacred under garments, sacred places.
Exodus 29:33 “They are to eat these offerings by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no one else may eat them, because they are sacred.”
So there is also sacred offerings and sacred foods too.
Exodus 30:25 “Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil.”
Sacred oils now. The word sacred is the Hebrew word Kodesh. It means holy, set apart, consecrated. It’s different. It is distinguished from the other. There are these holy things, and then there are those things.
Remember Leviticus 10:10 since I know all my readers have these memorized anyway, if not shame on you. It is an explanation of why there are all of these sacred things. Sacred offering, oils, places, garments, emblems.
Verse 10 “You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean.”
What you have is a differentiation of a physical space. You have the common and then build a temple so a space other than regular space is a realm other than which you actually live. Then you have a place within that temple which distinguishes itself as sacred set apart from the everyday ordinary. This place will be holy. Actually within it is a gradiance of holy. There is holy, then a more holy place, then the holy of holiest place. Now this realm is to be distinguished from the realm. Unclean, clean. Common, sacred. This realm is for everybody, then there is a place where a select few who will wear sacred garments, have a sacred emblem, perform a sacred task, will use sacred oil in the sacred place to offer sacred gifts and offerings on the sacred day. Follow me? 2 realms.
As a little side note here, the word profanity comes from the word profane. We think profanity is just used to give movies certain ratings. The word profanity literally means in its ancient roots to cross the threshold. To profane something is to take something sacred and cross the threshold and treat it common and as an everyday and ordinary thing. Taking words which are considered crude and to use them in an ordinary everyday fashion is profane…hence, profanity. Nevertheless, in Leviticus, there is a world view that sees 2 realms. In the ancient world they saw things this way. In the ancient world they saw things this way. In the ancient world they saw things this way. In the ancient world they saw things this way. Understand? In the ancient world they saw things this way. Just making a point.
So what does Jesus do to this reality in which things are treated in sort of this special sacred and holy parted space? Special occupations, tasks, work, callings and then you know…the rest of us. Certain places where you could only say certain things because it’s in that holy place but since we are over here, all sorts of other things are ok due to not being in that space making it ok and different. Does Jesus uphold and affirm this understanding of reality or does he see it in a slightly different way?
Matthew 12:1 1At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath(sacred day uhoh). His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
BTW, the job of religion is to keep this split view of the world in tact. That’s what religion does. And then it has its rules and its codes for keeping this view of reality preserved.
So you have the Pharisees who are freaking out saying you can’t you can’t. What are you doing?
3He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.
I just want to interject here. Keep in mind that the Pharisees are experts in the law.
5Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.
He sure schooled them.
Now remember Jewish consciousness was deeply shaped by this realm and then the center of reality was the temple. That is where God is. An entire system grew up around the notion that there are common ordinary places but then you go to Jerusalem, the temple area, you are essentially in the center of where God is in the world. That is how we order reality. The center is there. Jesus says, “One greater than the temple is here.” Jesus of course is speaking of himself and says that whatever He is doing there is something happening that is greater than the temple.

In John 2:18 Jesus pushes them to the edge. The temple is the most sacred, most holy place where they believe God dwelled with them in some sort of supernatural way. To use that kind of language would be speaking about the holiest of holiest of holiest places people could imagine in this world view. Jesus uses language that is extremely volatile and loaded. Verse 18 “Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" 19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" 21But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
It took years for the disciples to understand what He means by this but they got it eventually, after He died of course.
22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
The light clicked on for John several years later and then he was able to write about it. Ohhhhhhh, now we get it. There is this view. Again some things are common, ordinary…blood, paycheck, sexuality, just the stuff that’s like life. Then there is this other realm. Holy, sacred, you watch your conduct. You only say certain things. If somebody told that joke in this realm you would just look at them and go hmmmm…I don’t approve. But in the other realm you would be like, “Dude! What was that joke again cause that is hillllareeeeus. Tell me, tell me, tell me.”
So He in someway associates Himself with the temple and system and its death with His own death. Keep in mind that temple was in fact destroyed 40 years after his resurrection.
Matthew 27- Matthew gives a small detail surrounding Jesus’ death. In a split view of reality there is a gradiance of holiness. So there is the outside place of the temple, then the priest, then there is the high priest. There is the holy place then there is the most holy place. So within sacred space there is a level of ascending hierarchy. In the temple there is a veil or curtain because God is somewhere at the center of this centered way of thinking of reality. If God is somewhere in there then there needs to be levels and this curtain in which only the high priest could go behind in the holy of holies only once per year.
Matthew 27:50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
Now Matthew is a good Jewish writer and the audience would have been very familiar with the arrangement or the temple. There is this temple that essentially guards people from entering into the holiest of all places and that temple, that veil, the curtain was torn in two.
Later Biblical writers said that is because we can now have a direct relationship with God. People can go in. Which raises another point. If people can go in then God can come out. People now with Jesus have all sorts of new access to God through Christ’s death and resurrection. Again, God can now come out.
What does this mean now? Earlier Christians picked up on the idea that you yourselves are God’s Temple. This was a monumental shift in the way people viewed reality. It is how it was. There was the sacred, then the common. There is the clean, there is the unclean. There is the holy and then there is the everyday sort of thing. With Jesus, the whole thing comes crashing down in some sort of new reality in which the holy is somehow now to be found in the common. The sacred is somehow to be understood within the everyday. There is what you can see, and there are all sorts of depth. This has significant implications of what it means to be a Christian. In light of this, notice in Matthew 25 some of the things that Jesus says. He tells a story of sorts. It’s a parable of warning about when the Son of Man comes with all the Angels with Him and He sits on His glorious throne. He speaks of His judging and ordering of the world. He speaks of 2 different kinds of people. Sheep and goats. He places Himself as a sort of king. Matthew 25:37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Now what is He saying here? It is easy to be around people who are gentle and generous and honest and truthful and kind and creative and loving and say “I saw Jesus in them!” Perhaps you have felt this before. When I am around Karen it is like you can just see the living Christ in her. I mean that. She is the kindest, most gentle person I have ever met. It is obvious so has a certain peace about her. That is simple to see. Jesus says in this story His followers will be the kinds of people who can find Christ in the least of these. Karen, due to this essence is not the least of these. She doesn't fall into that catergory. So His followers will be the kinds of people who are more and more and more able through their interaction with the other, the least of these (He uses the example of the prisoner, which means you are actually identifying with the prisoner, the naked the sick, the thirsty) they will be more in tuned with the Christ who is present in that interaction. It won’t just be another bothersome thirsty person. They will see this person in their need as an opportunity to engage with the living Christ who will be present in that engagement. Click? Karen, that is for you. Click? It is easy to see people who are really Jesus like and say, there He is. He says His followers will be the kinds of people who will be increasingly in every day ordinary relationships specifically in their interactions with the least of these have an acute sense and alertness of the sacred holy nature of that interaction and they will act accordingly. So that means your boss, your ex-husband, your racist/pre-conceived notions in thugs, your interactions with the disease infested drug addicted homeless, and your mother-in-law too.
I am going to get touchy for some here so be forewarned.
The point of a sermon or message is to make us more aware of the Christ in the common. A teaching in a religious system, church or denomination can affirm some things are common and some things are sacred and if you would like to enter into our sacred club here are the rules. It either affirms a split world view OR it is alerting us to the Christ present in the least of these everyday common interactions. Particularly with those who we would be the quickest to dismiss. A sermon is about awakening us to the Christ in the common. If it does not and it further exacerbates a split view of the universe then it isn’t Christian no matter how many Bible versus it quotes. One step further. There is a medium in our culture. A technological medium that is designed to lower your IQ. It is called political talk radio. Now what happens in this medium is people from the extreme edges of both perspectives create caricatures of the other side and then with only one microphone turned on shred the caricature of the other side. And then people call in and say nice job. Click? If you are a Christian and I am not talking about particular specifics on policies, I am talking about broad sweeping generalization about people you have never actually interacted with one on one and you are growing in your heightened awareness of your Christ in the common then it will be harder and harder for you to speak of those stupid people over there. Because sweeping labels of people and generalizations is going the opposite way than finding the Christ in the common. What you will discover as you grow in your awareness of Jesus’ view of the reality that every person is an image bearer. Every person is a sacred precious creation of God. Every person is valued and loved in an eternal infinite sort of way by the maker of the universe. You will find it harder and harder to stick with the same old boring static categories of them and them, and us and them and right and left because what will happen is you will be having encounters with the least of these which by the way includes your enemies and you will walk away thinking there was something Jesusy about that experience and all I know is it was very real. Jesus wants to heighten our awareness. At a very practical level when we gather together for some sort of worship function as a church because what we have discovered as Christians is that on a regular basis it is very helpful to be reminded of the Christ in the common. What personally is my job? One of my jobs is to heighten our awareness of the Christ in the common. True of people and it is also true of places.
Genesis 28, this is one of my favorite passages. I so relate to it. Jacob is all over the place. He is a bit of a head case early on and makes some progress like the rest of us. Notice verse 12 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. I just want to point out here that it says the angels are ascending and descending, so does that mean there home is here among us? That was something Rabbis who had nothing to do would sit around and debate.
13 There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth.”
So this is some sort of massive epic dream. I don’t have dreams like this. Mine are more like I was walking in the grocery store and ran into my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Moore doing a handstand in the cereal section because we all got 100% on our spelling test. How many of you have those dreams where it makes no sense whatsoever? You write it down and the next day you are like I am one messed up dude.
15Behold,I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." 16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." 17And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

To me this is deep. To me this is what it means to grow as a disciple. To follow God. It means that you constantly find yourself waking up going, “Wow, God has been in this place the whole time and I missed it…until now.” When someone asks me what my definition of faith is I respond "It is waking up to a God who has been here the whole time." I just needed the shades pulled back a little bit. Do you know what I am talking about? We have our lives. We have the things that we do. We have the things that are very easy to see as common and then we leave our common life and go talk about other “sacred” things, and then we go back to our everyday sort of being. Think of the things we do…everyday you and I…it is groceries and gas and mowing the lawn, sitting in construction traffic and paying the insurance bill, the electric bill, downlpoading illegal music, painting the walls and surfing the web and vacuuming the carpets and washing the dishes and sitting in construction traffic and laundry and celebrating the new Maggiano’s in the Rim, and taking out the trash and recycling and sitting in more construction traffic and walking outside and saying damn another 100 degree day and jumping off the bridge into the Guadalupe and going to the dentist and another test back from the doctor and haircuts and Chucky Cheese and paying your taxes and going to work and sitting in construction traffic and coming home after sitting in construction traffic and filling out papers for license renewals and sitting on hold with Sprint and sweeping the floor and feeding the dog and then setting one day per week aside as a day of rest going to a church service and sitting in construction traffic on the way home from the building where the church meets. Ugh. No. We have a life that is very easy to develop the common stuff we do and then we gather together and talk about…God…that stuff. Jacob wakes up and says, “Surely God was in this place the whole time. I just wasn’t aware of it.” Do we gather so that somebody can spout off for awhile from the stage so we can say, “Yea, I think she did a great job? Not as good as last week but I enjoyed it.” Is that the point? Or do we gather in order to listen with the assumption and expectation and hope that in some way the shades will be pulled back just a little bit? I will hear something, I will see something, something that is said that will resonate with me in such a way that I will wake up in some small way. Perhaps you are going through a very difficult time and it’s a sort of storm and perhaps you hear something and you became aware that God has been in this storm the whole time and you never saw it that way until now. Do we gather in order to find God? There is this place where you can go and find God? Or is the point of a church service to gather together in order to listen and in order to learn how to find God everywhere else? This of course can change everything.
A split view of reality in which you have the common and the sacred actually disempowers because what it says is that certain places where the action is, the center is here, and certain people who are closer to the action, the Priests, the Pastors, The Rabbis, The Ministers, they are the ones who have access to the stuff. What you find with Jesus is that the center is everywhere. Remember if you were a good Jew in the 1st century you would not ask where is the temple? You would know. It’s there in Jerusalem and you would be able to face it and pray. And so for you, the action, the divine wasn’t there with you, it was in Jerusalem. South, North, East or West of where you were…17 miles away in Jerusalem up the mountain…but not…here with me. The center was there. How does Jesus view the world? Oh no not like that. The center when the temple comes down is now everywhere. So for a Christian to have this view that I have a job and it makes me want to vomit on myself, and there are these people and they make me want to vomit on myself, and this boss and he makes me want to vomit on myself. It is just a cubicle farm and it makes me want to vomit on myself. But then there is this place where I can go and there are all of these shiny happy Christians and there it is totally awesome. What is that? That is a view that the center is here, and then there is just my kind of life over here. What you find again and again and again in the scriptures with Jesus it’s oh no no no…the center has moved. There is no longer a center. The center is everywhere. This will change everything as it starts to kick in. Hopefully by now you will deconstruct some religious experiences you have had and actually thought wow God was always there.
Which brings me to my next question. Why is it when we have missionaries and are about to send them off to a foreign country we have these cards and pictures with contacts and how to support them and yet we don’t do this for people starting a new job at USAA or teaching or at the working at the gas station or in real estate about to make their first sale? Why don’t we come up and say, Mona here, she is starting her first year in the classroom and is serving 5 miles from here and we are going to commission her. Why do we only do it when it is this special sort of holy sacred stuff? What does that do actually? It disempowers. I am just kind of common everyday normal stuff and apparently there are others who do more. It is just exacerbating the same old world view that Jesus came to say One greater than the temple is here. We should start those support cards like we do for missionaries for our Christmas cards this year and be like "Jeremiah Nichols serving in San Antonio with Oak Hills" and send it to all of your friends. That would be awesome! They would wonder what you are doing now and you could say it is what you have always been doing, I just decided to be honest about it. That would be hilarious! We could get that globe picture in the background with a thumb tack pinned on NW San Antonio. I would laugh my face off…Anyways...so look for God everywhere.

Look at this picture. It is a young man in a hat, playing an old violin in the Washington DC metro station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played 6 Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately 2000 people went through the station most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing, slowed his pace, stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule. After 4 minutes the violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw some money into the hat and without stopping continued to walk. After 6 minutes a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him then looked at his watch and decided to walk again. After 10 minutes a 3 year old stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again but the mothers pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent without exception forced their children to move on quickly. After 45 minutes the musician played continuously and only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at a normal pace. The man collected a total of $32. After one hour he finished playing and silence took without nobody noticing. Nobody applauded, there was nothing nor any recognition. Nobody knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one the greatest musician in the world and lauded as a child prodigy around the world. He played one the most intricate pieces every written and with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. 2 days before Josh performed and sold out a theatre in Boston with seats that averaged over $100 per ticket. Why do we gather? Why do we listen to teachings? Why do we have lifegroups and house churches? Why do we take part in this thing called the Christian faith? I do because I believe there are Joshua Bells on every corner and our job is simply to be listening so that we don’t miss the music.
Make sure you watch this video!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw

Let's end disposable marriage

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/07/02/sears.family.divorce/index.html

Leah Ward Sears stepped down this week as Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. In 1992, she became the first woman -- and youngest person -- appointed to Georgia's highest court.
After Tommy's sudden death, we found among my brother's personal effects a questionnaire he had completed in 2005 for a church class.
The very first question was a fill-in-the-blank that went like this: "At the end of my life, I'd love to be able to look back and know I'd done something about ....."
"Fathers," Tommy wrote.
When asked to identify something that angered him that could be changed, Tommy wrote, "Re-establishment of equity and balance and sanity within the American family."
My brother was born to be a father, and he grew into a good and loving one. Tommy was tall and handsome, smart, witty and fun. A graduate of the Naval Academy and a Stanford-educated lawyer, he married and fathered a little girl and boy who were the center of his life.
Tommy felt that one of the worst problems in our country today was family breakdown and fatherlessness. He railed against intentional unwed childbearing and the ease with which divorce was possible. He didn't like that we have become a society that values the rights of adults to do their own thing over our responsibility to protect our children.
As a judge I have long held a front row seat to the wreckage left behind by our culture of disposable marriage and casual divorce that my brother so despised.
No-fault divorce was a response to a very real problem. The social and legal landscape that preceded it largely prevented casual divorce, but it often trapped people in abusive marriages. It also turned divorces into even uglier affairs than they are today, forcing people to expose in court damaging information about their children's other parent. That system was intolerable, and we should never go back to that.
But no-fault divorce's broad acceptance as an unquestioned social good helped usher in an era that fundamentally altered the seriousness with which marriage is viewed. It effectively ended marriage as a legal contract since either party can terminate it, with or without cause. This leaves many people struggling to remake their lives after painful divorces that they do not want. It also left many parents cut off from, or sidelined in, the lives of the children they love.
When Tommy divorced, as in so many cases, a bitter struggle over resources and the children ensued. My brother came to believe that the legal system turned him into a mere visitor of his children.
Tommy eventually accepted a job as a lawyer for the State Department and went to Iraq (and later to Dubai) in order to make the money needed to support his children. Being in a war zone, under terrible conditions without the children he loved, was unbearable to him.
On November 5, 2007, my phone rang before daybreak. A U.S. Foreign Service officer was on the other line. Was I the sister of William Thomas Sears?
I knew before I was told what had happened. Tommy had died. But the cause took my breath away: My brother had taken his own life.
I know I'll never understand fully all that factored into his decision to kill himself. No doubt Tommy was wrestling with more demons than he had ever admitted to me or knew himself. But as a divorcee myself and, for a number of years, a single parent, I know the immense pain of divorce and its aftermath. The limitations the law placed on Tommy's right to raise his own children after his divorce magnified my brother's pain and was, I believe, more than he could live with.
Tommy was only 53 when he committed suicide. That was more than a year ago, and I am still learning to live without him and live with the fact that this man I looked up to all my life chose to end his own life.
Tommy's loss has catapulted me even farther down a path I was already on. This may sound like heresy, but I believe the United States and a host of Western democracies are engaged in an unintended campaign to diminish the importance of marriage and fatherhood. By refusing to do everything we can to stem the rising rate of divorce and unwed childbearing, our country often isolates fathers (and sometimes mothers) from their children and their families.
Of course, there are occasions when divorce is necessary. And not everyone should marry. But it has become too easy for people to walk away from their families and commitments without a real regard for the gravity of their decision and the consequences for other people, particularly children.
Removing no-fault divorce as a legal option may not be the right way to move forward, and the solutions we need may not be entirely legal in nature. But answers must be found. The coupling and uncoupling we've become accustomed to undermines our democracy, destroys our families and devastates the lives of our children, who are not as resilient as we may wish to think. The one-parent norm, which is necessary and successful in many cases, nevertheless often creates a host of other problems, from poverty to crime, teen pregnancy and drug abuse.
The loss of my brother has changed my life, as these losses so often do to people. This summer, after 26 years, I'm hanging up my robe as a judge to return to private practice.
I will spend some of my time teaching a course in family law at the University of Georgia Law School. And I have accepted a fellowship at the Institute of American Values in New York -- a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that contributes intellectually to strengthening families and civil society in the United States and the world.
At my request, the fellowship is named after my brother. As the William Thomas Sears Distinguished Fellow in Family Law, perhaps now I can truly do "something about fathers" -- a mission I'm on for Tommy and a critical calling for all of us.

Can You Keep A Secret?

"Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead."
-Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

She grew up in the 50’s. A young black girl raised in the south. This period of time was already difficult to deal with due to her race and no person should have to be confronted with that ever. But it gets worse for her. She was attracted to women, and a believer in God. Torn by this she did not know where to turn. She feared for years the repercussions that she’d face the day she would come out and how her family would react. How her friends would treat her. What would her church think? What would her pastor think?
She covered it up as many do for years. Going out and dating boys to conceal her sexual preference. Then the day came when she had a tale of two fates. Her long-term boyfriend was pressuring her to have sex with her. She did not want to speak with her parents about the boyfriends desires for fear of what would happen and how they would look upon the boy. So she turned to her pastor in hopes he would be able to give her wise advice with a more understanding nature.
She was ready and in need of help. She sat down with him and began to open up the inner conflict she had been dealing with while dating this boy for the past year. He listened as many pastors do. He at first did not fully understand her conflict because she began by just telling him how the boy wants to have sex. Though this may be wrong, it is typically normal for boys at that age, well at any age I suppose. He at first praised her for resisting this temptation. Then he found out why she resisted. It was not because she did not want to have sex, but it was because she liked women. This put a whole new twist on the conversation and how he thought he could advise her.
Being any man in the role he was, he first reassured her that this problem could be beaten. That this demon inside was evil and he knew exactly what to do. So they together prayed, and then opened the bible to that famous passage, Leviticus 18:22. You know it. It is the one that says ‘Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.’
Then they prayed together some more.
Now I am a firm believer in prayer, inward reflection, meditation…all that. I am also a huge believer in knowing that prayer alone without action is dead…useless…so what action did this pastor advise her to take next?
He told her that what he has learned from the past to break this demon was for her to have sex with a man which would help reinforce the fact that it is good. That would somehow convince her that sex with women was wrong. To make it even worse, he said to not have sex with her boyfriend she was dating but rather suggested she have sex with him right then and there. She was shocked. She immediately got up from her chair in disbelief to leave the room and at that very moment the pastor grabbed her and attempted to force himself on to her. The deacons heard the scuffle going on and came running. By the time they got into the room it had already been trashed from the fury of resistance. The story was not believable to the deacons and because it is easier to remove a member of the church than the pastor, you can guess who stayed.
I heard this story yesterday on NPR and was horrified. This is only a small recap and have not been able to find it online. It is no wonder people are afraid of Christians when leaders do horrendous things to the very people asking for help.
Anyways, I thought I would share this story. We all have our battles and when someone comes to you in hopes to gain insight and help, the first thing we need to do is comfort and love them. The last thing they need to do is be abused mentally or physically. Being made feel worse for what they already feel bad about does no good to anyone. They are coming to you for help and that is usually after they already beat themselves up enough. Who are we to make anyone feel worse unless of course their actions have some sort of intrinsic value to your relationship or effect on your life. But even then, do your best to love and show grace. I am working on that myself. It can be hard when others lives impact yours. Be swift to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.

Think Memorial Day

"An Honor Is Not Diminished For Being Shared."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Shards of Honor" 1986

I am humbled to have an uncle who knows just about every cool person in the entire world. I was privileged this morning by waking up to this email from Leo to my uncle and thought on this day of honoring those who served, it would be fitting to honor the POW and Medal of Honor recipient Mr. Leo Thorsness for what he did. Not many people in this world served our country, and only an extremely small amount of those went through what he did. I just wish to share his words, not mine. Oh and if you have not read his book "Surviving Hell" please do! The link is here.
http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Hell-Journey-Leo-Thorsness/dp/159403236X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243279769&sr=8-1
You will find it...well...enlightening...and now you will be able to have an educated conversation versus just an opinionated one.

Memorial Day – Torture Thoughts ©
By POW and Medal of Honor recipient Col (USAF Ret) Leo Thorsness
Author of Surviving Hell – A POW’s Journey

Think Memorial Day and veterans usually come to mind. Think Veterans and our national debate about torture comes to mind.
Of the 350 “old timer” Vietnam POWs, the majority were severely tortured by the North Vietnamese. Ironically the Department of Defense did not formally study torture after the POWs were released in 1973. We provided our military an actual “torture database library” but to this day, the Pentagon has never tapped the resource to help clarify national debate about “what is torture.” 1
I and many other Vietnam POWs were tortured severely – some were tortured to death. Several POWs wrote books after our release in 1973 describing the torture in detail. Mike McGrath’s book had extensive drawings vividly depicting types of torture the North Vietnamese used.
When I wrote “Surviving Hell” in 2008, initially I did not include torture knowing that others had earlier described it. My book editors encouraged me to add it; if our younger population reads only current books, they may perceive that the treatment at Abu Grab and Gitmo was real torture. I added my experience being tortured so that readers will know that there is abuse and humiliation, and there is torture.
If someone surveyed the surviving Vietnam POWs, we would likely not agree on one definition of torture. In fact, we wouldn’t agree if “waterboarding” is torture. For example, John McCain, Bud Day and I were recently together. Bud is one of the toughest and most tortured Vietnam POWs. John thinks waterboarding is torture; Bud and I believe it is harsh treatment, but not torture. Other POWs would have varying opinions. I don’t claim to be right; we just disagree. But as someone who has been severely tortured over an extended time, my first hand view on torture is this:
Torture, when used by an expert, can produce useful, truthful information. I base that on my experience. I believe that during torture, there is a narrow “window of truth” as pain (often multiple kinds) is increased. Beyond that point, if torture increases, the person breaks, or dies if he continues to resist.
Everyone has a different physical and mental threshold of pain that he can tolerate. If the interrogator is well trained he can identify when that point is reached – the point when if slightly more pain is inflicted, a person no longer can “hold out,” just giving (following the Geneva Convention) name, rank, serial number and date of birth. At that precise point, a very narrow torture “window of truth” exists. At that moment a person may give useful or truthful information to stop the pain. As slightly more pain is applied, the person “loses it” and will say anything he thinks will stop the torture – any lie, any story, and any random words or sounds
This torture “window of truth” is theory to some. Having been there, it is fact to me. While in torture I had the sickening feeling deep within my soul that maybe I would tell the truth as that horrendous pain increased. It is unpleasant, but I can still dredge up the memory of that window of truth feeling as the pain level intensified.
Our world is not completely good or evil. To publicly proclaim we will never use any form of enhanced interrogations causes our friends to think we are naïve and eases our enemies’ recruitment of radical terrorists to plot attacks on innocent kids, men and women – or any infidel. If I were to catch a “mad bomber” running away from an explosive I would not hesitate a second to use “enhanced interrogation,” including water bordering, if it would save lives of innocent people. Our naïveté does not impress radical terrorists like those who slit the throat of Daniel Pearl in 2002 simply because he was Jewish, and broadcast the sight and sound of his dying gurgling. Publicizing our enhanced interrogation techniques only emboldens those who will hurt us.
1. Kepler Space University is beginning a study of Vietnam POW Torture, headed by Professor (PhD) Robert Krone, Col, USAF, (ret).

Oh Captain, My Captain

Bob Dylan said, "I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom." Day after day, hour after hour, my hero is spending her time saving lives in a hospital. Not just any hospital, but one that is frequented by the sounds of sirens due to incoming threats from mortars, rocket propelled grenades and all sorts of attacks. The sirens cause interruptions to the intense and already stressful environment where lives are on the verge of death and every single second counts. She is not just saving any life either, but the lives of our troops who are sacrificing everything so honorably for the betterment of others. My good friend is a Captain in the United States Air Force working tirelessly as an Intensive Care Unit Nurse at the Air Base Hospital in Balad, Iraq. She is assigned to the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing made famous by the Tuskegee Airmen. The troops that my hero is serving are both American and Coalition forces to include Iraqi troops who have been wounded by many different means. Their injuries range from close range gunshots to burn victims with missing limbs from Improvised Explosive Devices.Six months of her life will pass performing this incredibly tedious but honorable duty when all is said and done. So much of her life has been placed on hold in the meantime. But knowing lives are at stake, she was humbled to go and bring her gifted touch of calmness to those in traumatic times. She found peace in God’s omnipresence to guide her through this period and she has hope that His grace transpires vicariously through her.It is simple to meet my hero and be captivated by her smile and gracefulness. She not only lives but truly personifies a life of humility. Like any other hero, I am sure she considers it a normal duty that anyone in her position would do. I am not sure of the number of lives she will have touched in the end, but I am sure she will not seek one single bit of recognition for it, and that in itself is the reason why I consider her my hero. With that, I will end this with the words of Will Rogers who said it best. “We can’t all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.” I am so glad to have such a wonderful hero and I look forward to applauding her job well done when she returns.

Nature Does Nothing Uselessly

“I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.”
E.B. White (1899-1985)

“In all things of Nature there is something of the marvelous.”
Aristotle (384BC-322BC)

After 8 months of anticipation I had the wonderful pleasure last evening of watching the film entitled “Earth” by Disney Nature in celebration of Earth Day. And, it was as perfect as I had imagined. Oh! I am also excited to have a tree planted in my honor because of my ticket purchase.
Some critics have been labeling it a kids’ movie but I wholeheartedly disagree. I must admit that although it is being labeled such, many of the same critics rarely show this much enthusiasm for a “kids’ movie”. Here is a quote from one of the harshest movie critics of all time- the L.A Times- "It shouldn't be missed. What it does well is so remarkable that by the time the credits roll you likely won't want it to end." Some didn’t like James Earl Jones’s narration. Some of it was a little, ummm, unexpected and perhaps corny, but J. Earl Jones is one of my favorite guys alive today, so I enjoyed his narration very much.
I also read some people mentioning that Global Warming is an undertone theme or drive behind this movie but being a somewhat skeptic (emphasis on somewhat) of Global Warming and its causes, I did not find that in there at all. If you go looking for it, you will seek it just as anything you are searching for to fit and shape your already deeply engrained opinion. Even though Earth’s temperature rising is mentioned, it does not even acknowledge that the human race exists one single bit or the causes of the warming, not even a suggestive reason.
It was incredible to see our wonderful and incredibly vibrant planet on such a grand scale in the theatre. Species of beings I never knew existed and their uniqueness was completely captivating. We lose touch with our world and ourselves when we don’t take notice of all the life around us. That concrete jungle previously mentioned. I am so grateful to have people with such talent and vision in the world to create pieces like this that inspire all of us to live, not just be. Walt’s vision 65 years ago with True-Life Adventure Films have come so far and this only makes me a thousand times more excited about visiting Disney World once again next month. (yes Christy, Disney World is better than Disney Land, just as Florida is better than California).
As a brief side note, it appears this Earth Day film release will be an annual occurrence. Next year Disney Nature will release a film entitled “Ocean” and it looks just as incredible!!! I can’t wait, I hope you can make it.
You can view the trailer here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G06r7eKKjkI
or google Disney Nature Ocean.
What a wonderful world. Enjoy it and take care of it!

My Moment of Clarity

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, commited citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead (1901-1978)

"God creates men, but they choose each other."
Niccolo Machiavelli(1469-1527)

The Kingdom of God isn’t a far away place on a cloud. It is in the here and now. It’s in the hug of a friend. It’s in the tears I have cried on the way to work listening to a teaching. It’s in a well in Burundi where water was once not readily available. It’s everywhere that can be touched by people who are forever changed by an encounter with the creator of the universe. The love of God is a celebration of discovery far more ancient that can’t be numbered in years. It’s a celebration of finding home. Of finding what it is like to be wanted and affirmed. Of finding faith that becomes tangible. Of finding faith when and where life is difficult. Of finding faith when there is nothing else left to tell. There are seasons where we are very tempted to allow our hearts to harden. Be encouraged and open to the healing process Jesus leads us through. Sometimes as you are moving out of the dull, cold, grey life, it takes something to pull you out of the old ways of thinking, feeling and acting. I just want to say thank you to all of my friends who have been a window to the outside for me. It is so refreshing for me to remind myself that church is doing life with people and sticking with them through whatever they are going through. Church is sharing a great meal with friends. Church is asking for support when you need it. With all the love I can muster from the deepest part of my gut, thank you for being a church with me.

It's A Concrete Jungle

"Never to suffer would never to have been blessed."
Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."
Hellen Keller (1880-1968)

"Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the first suffering, how we can turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers."
Leigh Hunt (1784-1859)

Up without down. Love without despair. Fast without slow. Success without perseverance. It is a measure of perspective. One without the other and their significance will cease. Yes, they are somewhat cliché. One we don’t typically enjoy thinking about is having joy without suffering. I remember when I was younger on some hot nights growing up in Tampa Bay I would put the even hotter cover over my head for a long period of time. After 15 minutes or so it would begin to become pretty difficult to breath due to the heat. It is funny looking back on it now, but when I decided to pull the cover off of my head that first breath of fresh, cool air was so refreshing. If I never placed myself in the heat I would have continued to not appreciate the blessing of cool, fresh air. Did you ever watch a movie or go on a ride that simulated going underwater and you instinctively held your breath to test yourself or make it a more fun experience? Why? We have to go through difficulties sometimes to reflect and appreciate the already occurring blessings. Your outlook on pain and suffering will either strengthen or break you. I am currently going through physical therapy on my left wrist. I have to tell you, it sucks. It is very painful. But I welcome it wholeheartedly because I know this will help me get the flexibility back. Otherwise I would have a pretty much useless wrist. My point is, life is not sustained without an occasional or sometimes unwanted and lengthy hardship. We so often walk through life without noticing the most minute blessings. You have to be reminded so often to slow down and smell the roses. Why do you not always notice them? That one flower growing in the grass.














This picture displays a flower that captured my imagination. But would I have noticed this one flower if it were growing in the grass? I really doubt it. Here it sits with the weight of the world on top of it. Literally. People walk on top of this flower every day on the sidewalk heading to work so often trying to suppress it and keep it down. Somehow, with the grace of God it has bloomed amongst a concrete jungle. This flower could have sprouted in the field of grass to be like all the other flowers never to be noticed. But this flower did not have that fate. It was placed in the hardship and now it becomes a wonderful blessing through realization that joy and suffering bring the essence of life. Do you feel blessed?

Put your life in perspective to others...














Enjoy this Nooma clip by my favorite eye opener-Rob Bell
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=588355778163

Childlike Faith

Matthew 18:1
About that time the disciples came to Jesus, and asked Him. Which of us is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?

Aren’t these nice boys? I always feel good when you really read the bible in a non-prejudicial way. These guys are as common as dirt. Now Jesus is divine, but these guys are just like you and me. They need a lot of work.

"Who of us is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? And Jesus called a small child out over to Him and put the child among them and then He said, “That I assure you unless you turn from your sin and become like little children you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

A Buddhist monk who taught a Chinese Philosophy course at the University of Pennsylvania once said, “You Christians teach your children to pray wrong. You teach them to pray, if I should die before I wake. It would be much better if you taught them to pray, if I should wake before I die.” What a great thought. There are a lot of people 45 years old still asleep. Their heart is pumping blood but they are not awake. The monk went on to point out most of the people who he knew were half awake when they should be asleep, but even worse when they were asleep they were half awake. No body seems to be totally alive. Nobody seems to be turned on by what was going on around them in life.
How long have you lived? I don’t mean how long have your lungs been taking in air, but seriously lived? There are some folks that may say you’ve lived an hour. Maybe 5 minutes and for some they haven’t lived at all. For most people life is the meaningless passage of time between all too few moments when they are genuinely alive. Now that’s a sad commentary because most of us don’t live life like we should. We let it slip away from us. We don’t mean to, but our attitude is procrastination. "You know some day I am gonna get it committed." Someday I am gonna sharpen up, or lose weight or be a better father…and you never live today. In James he says, "Life is like a vapor, and whooooph it’s gone" leaving you to wonder what happened. All of us need to ask ourselves whether or not we lived life. And the only people I see living life with any kind of joyful spontaneity and passion are little children. That’s why Jesus said unless you become like a little child you will in no way enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is focusing on the characteristics of a child. You know their intensity. They cry with agony like you are gonna kill ‘em. They also laugh and scream with joy and delight too. Kids re not intimidated by anything; they are turned on to what life is all about. So Jesus said unless you change to become like little children you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, unless you can approach life with their kind of passion and enthusiasm you can’t be a part of what I am about.
What was it Jesus saw in children he wants us to know? Let me give you 3 things.
1.Children have no doubts about their real importance, their self worth or value.
I think Jesus saw kids who had no doubt about their self esteem. And people who are worried all the time about their self image, their self worth or value usually go through life being overly concerned with themselves. Self conscious, self centered, selfish and all the other S words you can think of.
One day during a thunder storm lightning was flashing; thunder was roaring and this father went to check on his 5 year daughter in the house. He found his little girl standing on the window seal leaning spread eagle with her face planted against the glass. The daddy said, “What are you doing?!” she replied, “Daddy, I think God’s trying to my picture!”
Here’s a little girl who knows who she is and she knows her value and she knows her worth. If you are gonna live life fully, I don’t care who you are, you’ve got to feel pretty good about yourself. I’m not talking about cocky pretentiousness. But I am talking about a feeling of self-esteem . Jesus said, “Love others as you love yourself.” For some people that I know I hope they don’t love anybody because they are dangerous. They hate themselves. They don’t like themselves. Unfortunately most people are down on themselves. That’s one of the reasons Jesus came. He came into the world to do something that would enable you and me to feel differently about ourselves. Most people can name everything in their lives that’s wrong. They beat themselves up and say there is so much wrong with me. Well of course there is a lot wrong with you and a lot wrong with me too. But here is the good news of the Gospel; Jesus came into the world not only to die for our sin, but to absorb everything that is dirty and ugly and negative about us and to free us from it. Jesus does not only cleanse you from the dark side of your nature and character and personality but also removes those things that ought not to be there. He will impute to you His own righteousness so that you are the righteousness of God. Now you think about that for a minute. The average believers do not think of themselves as the righteousness of God. But wow, that is a heavy thought. You know when I get to Heaven I am gonna tell the angels to get outta my way. Scripture says they are only messengers for us. “Ariel, you over there, go get me one of those hamburgers from Chesters loaded all the way with barbeque sauce”…wow those hickory burgers are good. And I am going to go before the seat of Christ and I am gonna look at God and just stand there. I’m not going to say one word and I won’t have to because Jesus will be seated at the right hand of the Father and He’ll say, “Father, I want you to meet my friend Ian, the perfect one.” And I sure hope all my friends are there to hear that. Especially Amanda, who does not think I am perfect...little does she know. You say how can you say such a thing? Because the Bible says, "If you are a believer in Christ your sins have been blotted out. They are buried in the deepest sea as far as the east is from the west I will remember them no more." Jesus said “He will present you faultless before His Father, spotless and without blemish.” So everything you don’t like about yourself, get rid of it. I quote the man again, "Let me take it on myself and make it my own. He who knew sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ." He became what you are so you can become who He is. In the old covenant, I mean the old Hebrew men covenant, they would cut an animal in two, symbolic of Jesus shedding His blood for us. They did not shed their blood, but the blood of an innocent animal. They would also exchange coats or garments. That garment symbolized who you were. Your character, your nature, your personality. And you would say I am giving me to you. You would give me your coat and I would be saying I am giving who I am to you. So Jesus gives us what scripture says is a “robe of righteousness”. He takes my sin, everything negative about me, He who knew no sin becomes sin so I can become who He is. That’s a legal transaction by simple childlike faith. That means when the Father sees me, He doesn’t see me like you do with all my flaws. That’s good! That’s really good!!! I have to be aware of that and you have to be aware of that or it is easy for the enemy to trap you into guilt, shame, and condemnation. So everybody can name everything wrong. But you need to listen what Jesus will make right about you. God wants to give you His own nature. You go see a psychotherapist because you feel horrible. All you end up doing is dumping all your crap on to them. You leave feeling good but now they feel horrible. Jesus is the ultimate counselor. That is what He was called in the book of Isaiah, counselor. The ultimate psychotherapist takes on Himself everything that is negative, shameful, condemning and ugly about you and makes it His own. That means you can live life like a child with passion, intensely, and with great excitement without all the crap.
2. Children have a quality of spontaneous joy.
Let’s put it this way all you Christian readers I have. KIDS ARE FUN! THEY LOVE LIFE AND ARE FUN TO BE WITH! Am I fun to be with?! What a great question to ask yourself today. Jesus did not screw you up. He did not make you unhappy; give you a bad haircut and a lousy marriage. You did that. He did not do it. Heck, I was fun to be with on my way to hell. Jesus did not mess that up. I’m still fun to be with. Every time I take a new person to church with me to Summit Christian Center, I usually get this comment. “Wow, I had fun at church, I did not know church could be like that.” And I always think, well, it was doing great when Jesus started it but we have kinda screwed the whole thing up and now its about how miserable you can look and unhappy you can be and how many things you cant do. No dancing? Are you serious? Now isn’t that a turn on. Maybe I would rather be a suicide bomber too if I had to live that way. But that’s not the way Jesus came to give us life, abundant, effervescent flowing life. So kids have spontaneous joy.
A daddy took his young son to Disney World. As they were leaving the park the young son said, “Daddy I want another ride on Space Mountain.” The dad a little bit frustrated says, “Now look son, Im outta money and we are outta time.” The boy replied, “But Jesus wants me to go.” The daddy said, “What do you mean by that?” The little boy said, “Well a pastor in church said whatever we feel Jesus feels. He is touched with our emotion. When we cry, He cries. The pastor said Jesus feels every emotion we feel.” And daddy said, “Well, theologically that’s right but so what.” And the little boy said, “Well daddy, if He feels every emotion I have, then when I am laughing on Space Mountain He is having a good time too. So I think He would enjoy it if I had another ride on Space Mountain.” Not bad theology. True story. I got to witness the conversation a year ago. I kind of feel like that myself. We have a God who wants us to be freed from the burdens that keep us from enjoying life and living it passionately and intensely. He wants to fill us with an excitement and a childlike joy that enables us to live life with incredible spontaneous enthusiasm and joy. Question. Do you have that in your life? That’s what Christianity is about. It’s not mainly about Heaven. Heaven is for dead Christians. Now a few of you could qualify but most of us are still alive. I don’t want to go anytime soon. It’s just getting good. I love everyday of life and when 4 friends have suddenly died in the last few months you realize how short it really is. But I think about kids celebrating that kind of a life as well. God wants me to enjoy it. And I want to enjoy it. God wants you to enjoy it and have some fun and have a good time. Do you have that in your life? Jesus came to invade you in your life here; you don’t need it in Heaven. He wanted to create in you an excitement about life. That’s why you need to surrender that life to God. Not to make you miserable but to really kick you into gear to live with self worth and esteem, joy and celebration whether you are looking at a sunset on Hawaii or you are standing victoriously on Yosemite Falls. There is so much to be alive about and yet Christians seem to be the unhappiest people you have ever met. Go rent a jet ski or rent a Harley and go ride up in the Hill Country for a day. You say, “Well I might get hurt.” Well you better get hurt, it might get some excitement out of you. You can tell everybody when you come back wounded, “Well Billy, I fell off my Harley ridin’.” It would be great! Seriously though, have some fun. Have a little bit of stimulation in your life.
Dr. G.K. Chester wrote, “I think God is the only child left in the universe. All the rest of us have grown old and cynical because of sin.” What a great line. You throw a kid up in the air and bounce him off your knee and you know exactly what that child is gonna say. “Do it again!!! Do it again!!!” And you do it again, and they say, “Do it again!” And if you do it 50 times on the fiftieth time that kid is yelling hysterically, “DO IT AGAIN!” That’s the excitement of a little child. How did God create daisies? Just like a child. He created one daisy and the Bible says “Creation claps and shouted to do it again!” So He created daisy number 3 and daisy number 4 and fifty billion trillion daisies later the great God of the universe is still creating with childlike excitement while creation shouts and claps and says “DO IT AGAIN GOD! Do it again” Can some of you remember when you were a kid and full of life and dynamic and actually fun to be with? Now your life has grown dull and slow and boring? No wonder Jesus said, “Do you like this boring color? Do not adjust your television.” Ok, he did not say that. But that is why Jesus said look guys, why don’t you come to me. Why don’t you let me give you a new birth? A spiritual birth. Why don’t you become like a little child once again? Surrender to me, let me in your life. I am the resurrection and the life. I will take possession of you. I will change you, I will free you from guilt and shame at the same time give you a sense of dignity. Then you will be free from all that burden of negativism. I will fill you with my joy in life and excitement and love. You will know joy like you’ve never known it before. That is why the Gospel is called Good News…helloooooo….
3. They have confidence in the future.
I think there is a 3rd like quality that comes to everybody who is fully alive in the Lord and it’s absolute confidence in the future. All young children whether they are born in a ghetto by a wealthy single parent or live in an orphanage have this in common. That is until they are tampered with or until society beats them down through racism, prejudice and bigotry will respond positively to the question when you ask, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” No child will say I want to be in jail at 21 for pushing drugs and have 3 kids, unmarried and on welfare at 28!!! Nobody says that because that is not their dream. They say I want to be a doctor, a fireman, an astronaut or a policeman, a teacher. I want to be a pro NBA basketball player. The dreams are always noble and good and it is always a greater place than where that little child is for the moment. They see a great future until we beat it out of them with our own negativism and the ugly realism begins to set in as they get older. The Lamborghini posters come off of the wall to only be replaced by a more “realistic” Honda.
Watch this clip from “Dangerous Minds”.

Ok, so how difficult is going to be for those 2 promising boys to break out of that cultural barrier? The parents don’t believe, momma doesn’t believe, the culture is pretty much against them. There is just a tiny ray of hope that’s faced every single day.
Watch this next trailer from the movie October Sky. It is based in the West Virginia hills. The only escape from the mines was a football scholarship to a university. Beyond that not one person could see a better future than a job in the mine. This boy wanted to build rockets and go into space. Try and see the problem he has to overcome.

I could not find the clip I was hoping for but I did find a website that had the script of the scene where his dad discouraged him and his “hobby”…and if you want you can read it here.
http://www.cswap.com/1999/October_Sky/cap/en/25fps/a/01_18
Basically his father wanted him to grow up and be like him in the mine and take his position. His daddy was too negative to see what his son was capable of. That young man by the way went on to get a scholarship to the university off of his rocket science project and as a result got into NASA and helped design and launch the first space shuttle. True Story. You can watch him talk about it here.

Thank God he was not discouraged enough to quit. He had a huge dream but his daddy could not see past the coal mine. Where would America be? Would God have intervened anyway? I am not God, but these are just things to ponder if you believe in destiny and purpose.
So what’s your dream? If you have never done it, it is difficult for you to imagine something better. The only way God can pull you out of the position you are in is to give you a dream of something better. And don’t EVER step on the dreams of your children even if they frighten you. Even if you can’t see how you will pay for it, “We don’t have the money” or will she be getting out of the military to pursue her singing career, “you have a better chance of getting a record deal in the AF Band, will you have health insurance" or…blah blah blah. Don’t worry about that part of the dream. If what they want to pursue is noble and honorable and legal, you encourage the child to dream big and to go for it! Because most of these children just give up early because daddy or momma or the culture or racism puts them down and they say yea, what is the use? They give in and the world isn’t a better place but it could have been had they listened to the dream inside.
Joseph wanted a better life than his brothers. His own dad did not believe in him. “Here comes the dreamer” is what they said about him. His brothers kidnapped him and wanted to kill him. Then they sold him into Egyptian slavery. He became a prisoner through false accusation. But the dream stayed alive in his heart until what God promised came true 17 years later. The dream. I am telling you if your parents never graduated from school, if they never owned a home, if they never owned a business, if they never went to higher education or could hold a job you can be the first one. Some of you are saying, “Well, I could never see myself in that position.” Then you probably won’t achieve that position. It is a vision, a dream that lets you see what your current reality isn’t. Genesis 13: Old man, I’m gonna make you father of many nations and I know I don’t have a whole lotta time to do it cause youre already 94. God says look north, look south, look east, look west. Genesis 13 folks. All the land you see, I will give it to you. Meaning if you can’t see it, you can’t have it. So what can you see? Can you see a better marriage, a better future, a better lifestyle or see yourself escaping from the bondage and addiction of drugs. Like that boy said, “Coal mining’s your life, it’s not mine. I am not against ya dad but it’s not my life. I want something bigger, I want something more challenging, and I want something better.” I would rather die and fail for something better than to just sit back and live complacent with what is. So the way God lifts you and changes the future in your life and makes life better for everybody is through a dream. And the good news of the Gospel is we have a Jesus who creates dreams and visions for us and who will empower us to fulfill them, no matter what the obstacles are. To paraphrase a proverb, when the young no longer dream dreams and the old no longer have visions, people perish. Children believe they can do something incredible. Children don’t think they are limited. Children believe they can become anything until parents beat it out of them or culture does. And I want to say Jesus can impart spontaneous joy, self worth and esteem and glorious visions of a future to children. Well He can impart to you too. And He can impart it to me. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old. God says just because you are old person doesn’t give you a right to drool and become grouchy, not to mention being judgmental to everybody else. God says I am going to give old men dreams and young men visions. So you should never stop seeing bigger and better things for the future just because you get old. It gets you out of bed and pushes when you don’t want to be pushed. Children have that. You can tell you are old when the memories of the past are more prevalent than your visions of the future. You’re like an old rock-n-roll singer who had a one hit special and now you’re singing in a Holiday Inn Bar on Tampa Bay’s Beach making $300 playing your 20 year old hit. That’s no life and that’s no future. I want to tell you about a God who gave Abraham a vision at 94. And you are never too old or too young to surrender to a God who will not only make you believe in yourself but believe the future can be better than the present. I personally think modern sociology, which I am studying right now for college is too oriented about the past. They say if you want to understand a person you have to understand where he has come from, you have to understand his background and what has happened to him. But when you study scripture what is more important than your past, and how you were treated or abused is your vision of the future. A person is more controlled by his vision of tomorrow than his hurt of yesterday. I will close with 2 thoughts.

How can you start dreaming big and never stop?
1. Believe God has a plan to do good things in your life.
Jeremiah 29:11. "I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future."
Not only do you have a future, God gives you a hope in that future. When you are worried about tomorrow and your situation ain't looking good for the moment, you stand on that word! Your situation may not look good but you stand on what God said. I have a good plan for your life. You claim that and say it in your prayer time for your children when your situation may not look good for that moment. So I believe I have a great future no matter what I am going through for the moment cause that is what God said.
2. Don’t let your circumstances stop you from dreaming.
You are never too young or too old. Mozart wrote a symphony at age 6. Marjorie Gestring won Olympic Gold at age 13. Ray Kroc founded McDonalds at age 57. Colonel Harlan Sanders founded artery clogging, trans-fat overload Kentucky Fried Chicken at age 65. He has been into more countries than missionaries with KFC. That’s why as long as I live I want to keep dreaming. When I am an old man looking good and fit, I want to pass dreams to a younger generation. You are never too old. Never concentrate on the shortages of resources or money. There is no shortage of money in the world. What there is a shortage of is dreams and vision and courage to go after it. Dreams will attract resources. Dreams will attract people. It’s obvious I don’t want to attract some religious people if all they want to do is measure how long your dress is or how long your hair is or what you don’t do or where you don’t go, or what you believe about the Easter Bunny or when Jesus is gonna come back, or who the white horse of Revelation is, or once saved is always saved. If that’s your life, you aint gotta life. You certainly don’t have a future here. I have bigger fish to fry. That may be something to talk about over a cup of hot chocolate but I am not gonna build my life on those stupid little nit picky legalistic issues that divide people and only hurt feelings and don’t amount to squat. And when you get to Heaven, you are not going to be asked what you believed about the Easter Bunny. Stop it! Did you take your kids trick or treating, or what you believed about the white horse in Revelation. Some of you reading this are thinking I did not know there was a white horse in Revelation. I don’t know. It’s not going to matter! It is not a criteria for going to Heaven, that is just something you learn from watching too much Christian TV and you start loosing perspective about where life and where people are and what’s important to them. We live in a little Christian sub-culture and we lose touch of reality. Don’t concentrate on what there is a shortage of. Every time you take a big step of faith, it is very easy to focus on what you don’t have. Focus on what you do have. God will always bless you. Have every confidence in the God who can do anything but fail and will help you fulfill your dream. I am not basing that on nothing. You have a legacy to lean on. God can make a way when you have no way. Stop looking at your past failures, skin color, your race, I don’t have that SAT score or I don’t have blah blah blah…4 out of the top 10 fortune 500 companies are run by immigrants and they don’t even have college degrees. They came to this country with a dream believing it would come true. Don’t stop dreaming!
Proverbs 16:3- Commit whatever you do to the Lord so shall your plans succeed.
Humor me a second, say this out loud. “My dreams will have an impact on my life, my children, my future, and my destiny.” I promise you with every ounce in me, they do.

"The Great Thing About The Dead, They Make Space"

"Men are all heart and Women are all body. I don't know who has the brains. God maybe."
John Updike (1932-2009)

The 2 time Pulitzer Prize winning author John Updike passed away today. The title of this blog happens to be a quote from his first prized book, Rabbit Is Rich, so please know I am not saying it to be cynical, I am just quoting him. He was from the hometown of my father, Reading, Pennsylvania. Yes, the Reading Railroad from monopoly was also located there. I don’t mean to be anal but it is really pronounced Redding, not reading like the verb.
He was most famous for his Rabbit series and The Witches of Eastwick which also became a movie. This truly brilliant fiction writer also received one of the most prestigious sci-fi awards, the PEN/Faulkner Award.
I have mentioned in previous posts that you aren’t anybody until The Simpsons make you a character on their show. Well, John also received that honor as well, playing a ghost writer for Krusty the clown.
My favorite quote of his is, "Time passes in America and Asia; in Europe, history occurs" On the contrary sir, you will forever be in the history books as one of America’s most prized writers, and you will be missed.

Can You Hear It?

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought."
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (1893-1986)

Well well well…so there is something unique about mosquitoes after all. Growing up in Florida I could not sit on the front porch of my house without having my body bombarded by those little rascals. Hearing that high pitch buzzing noise created turmoil knowing I was going to be itching hours after I was simply trying to have an enjoyable moment in the nice weather Florida so often blesses. It turns out that the high pitch noise produced by their wings serves a purpose more than just some side effect of their maintaining flight.
According to a study by Cornell University Scientists have discovered mosquitoes produce pitches in order to mate. The study was published an article in the journal Science,
Science 9 January 2009:Vol. 323. no. 5911, p. 279DOI: 10.1126/science.323.5911.279b
To be honest, lots of animals and bugs sing or dance before mating but mosquitoes are different. They actually harmonize and sing perfect 5ths. The male sings a D and the female sings a G. When they sing together it will generate a harmonic pitch what is also known to us musicians as an overtone. Only when they hear the overtone created will they mate. If this does not occur…they won’t mate. So I feel bad for the tone deaf mosquitoes who don’t hear the pitch because they will never get to experience the joy of creating life. Like I said, many animals/bugs use sounds to mate but none are known to use pitch in the process.
Hear is what it sounds like. Enjoy.

5,000 But Who’s Counting

“The truth is, marijuana probably isn't going to make you kill people. Most likely isn't going to fund terrorists, but pot makes you feel fine with being bored and it's when you're bored that you should be learning a new skill or some new science or being creative. If you smoke pot you may grow up to find out that you're not good at anything.”
Trey Parker and Matt Stone

“A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.”
Joseph Stalin (1879 - 1953)
It is so sad to see coward less acts of violence in one of the worst lawlessness places in modern times, and possibly in the world’s history. All due to drugs, lust and greed. In 2007 there were just shy of 2,500 murders in Juarez, Mexico. In 2008…it doubled to just over 5,000 in 2008. I have included 1 of a 3 day program called “Hearing Voices, Shooting Crime Scenes in Juarez, Mexico.” You can link to this on
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99010638
and I would strongly encourage you to educate yourself about the tragic happening by listening to the other 2 days on NPR.org.
I can’t believe the Mexican Government is taking no action on this matter and it is very frustrating. They send in the military to put up some fake front as if they give a damn. Nobody is ever punished or imprisoned. Now that nobody is investigating these lawful actions and punishing the criminal it has spilled over into mass raping and murder of women. Just because they know they will be able to get away with it. It is so sad. I don’t know what to say. I truly believe in the good consciousness of people but rarely get disgusted with what we humans can do to one another.

Being Friendless Taught Me How To Be Friends

"Don't flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary tact and courtesy become. Except in cases of necessity, which are rare, leave your friend to learn unpleasant things from his enemies; they are ready enough to tell them."
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 – 1894)

I lost a good friend or someone I thought was a good friend. She decided to dump a bunch of built up aggression on me again. I did not deserve it and now realized she was not such a good friend after all. I would never hesitate to do anything for my friends. This person in particular would get my attention and I would drop anything I was doing to be there no matter what. But she continued to choose to take all of her anger and frustration out on me because “She knew I would take it and still love her anyway” or so she says. Well, after the third time of unloading every bit of anger and saying some pretty hurtful things I have decided to step away and move on to better friends who are uplifting and see the inherent good nature in me. I know I have faults and am not perfect and I have still lots of life to experience and grow with, but nobody deserves to be treated so harshly as friends, leave that for my enemies.
In the meantime I have made friends with a wonderful person and I am so thankful to have once again a person who I feel so free talking to. Someone I can talk for hours on end and not feel like I am running out of things to discuss…or just sit on the phone with in silence and not have that uncomfortable feeling. I am glad our paths have crossed. You have been such a wonderful addition in life. Your perspective is truly enlightening and I, like you, have been stretched to see things differently.

400 Years of Change

"Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better."

King Whitney Jr.

Wow how far we have come. First let me make my position clear. This is not a post or blog of racism nor politics. I voted for McCain. Am I upset that a man who served our country so honorably lost? A little. Am I wondering what lies beneath our future? Absolutely. I serve our country in the United States Air Force so my political views and opinions sum up to this, the vote is over, the choice is made, I will gladly serve the new Commander-in-Chief.
So, change. Change We Need. Change was the theme for Obama and was a wise selection for his “motto”. This brings me to my history lesson on 400 years of change. Truth is what I am going to write about is actually a 400+ year progression from well before the founding of the United States.
400 years ago slavery was a way of life. There were other forms of forced labor known as indentured servants. If you owed a debt and did not pay your debt within the agreed upon time they would force you into manual labor. It was not slavery though. Once you worked off your debt, you are free. In slavery, you were property and never freed unless the owner signed off on your freedom.
In the 16 and 1700’s communities took on the debt of birthing children. It was not cheap then either. You weren’t expected as a parent to do it alone. If a woman was single and birthed a child out of wedlock it was so frowned upon so much that she was forced into manual labor to repay her debt to the community.
As time went on and more and more blacks were brought to the states, more laws came into effect preventing blacks from having sex with whites creating mulatto children. Black slave’s mulatto children inherited being enslaved as well. It became such a problem due to racism that they went to extreme measures to try and stop it from occurring. Legislation was written that if a mulatto child is born out of wedlock, then that child will be forced into labor for 30 years. Considering the fact that the life expectancy for a child not in slavery was 32-43 years, you are pretty much birthing a child in to slavery for his entire life just because you had sex with a white man or black man. Yes, it worked both ways. (Just to rule out the people who are upset about white men raping black women) White women had their share of fun too.
So change we need? 300 years ago Barack Obama would have been forced into slave labor just because his black father had sex with a white woman. I say we have changed a bit. I am grateful for that. I just pray this position which is now going to be held by a black man will make people pull their pants up, stop the dropout rate from going higher and higher, and keep teen pregnancy down. Not to mention black on black crimes. That’s the change we need and I pray people find their hope and belief in knowing the highest office in the world has been achieved by a black man.

You Have The Last Laugh

“One should, perform karma with nonchalance without expecting the benefits because sooner or later one shall definitely get the fruits.”
-Rig Veda

So it has finally come to fruition. I get what I deserve. I fell in love only to be blindsided by dishonesty about something I am not sure if unfaithfulness came into play. I tried to do the right thing this time and be open, honest, and even cut people out of my past to protect and nurture my relationship for the future. It was the correct thing to do. Even though, I was only to be taken for granted. Now I am starting from scratch. I must go back to the drawing board to work on myself once again alone. I will not get too personal about what happened because it is between her and I so the public display of laundry would be an immature thing to do. All I can say was she was a sweet person and I will miss her. Such a shame because I felt so strongly for her.
Somehow I knew this was going to happen. I entered the relationship hoping to get my karma behind me and over with. After I did so much damage to someone else I felt I would have this occur to me. I do have to say I knew I could never put myself through all that I put Angie through. I learned from my mistakes and knew when a habit would continue to occur and cut it off before I let it become one. So, I hope this makes you happy out there knowing it has come full circle. You get the last laugh. I had it coming to me. I know I cut you from my life, but if you still happen to read this blog like you used to from time to time to check in and see how I am, you deserve a bottle of wine to sit back and relish in this occurrence. My Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, I suppose.

Now I go on with my future. I have purchased my first rental property and I am excited to start building some wealth. It is not much but it is a start. I purchased the house as a foreclosure. It is worth $119,000 and I got it for $85,000. I should be closing within 20 days and already have some renters lined up. Hopefully one will work out. My intentions are to accumulate at least 50 houses and have them paid off. That would generate roughly $50,000/month in income or $600k per year. It is not a great fortune, not even really a small one but it will definitely help me retire. We shall see. I just have to find the drive to keep going. I need God right about now. So sad and disappointed. Tired too. Aw shucks.