She Blossoms When They Smile

        I started this blog a few years ago with it in mind that it would be a way for my kids and even more my grandchildren to have insight later on into how I saw life. The birth of Jesus is thus a very appropriate topic.
     
      Another Christmas is arriving! I've had 71 already. My wife's enthusiasm for the holiday activities drags me (lazily, not reluctantly) along with it. She does yeoman service, determined to create wonder for her grandchildren. I marvel at her loving efforts! She blossoms when they smile. The ease of online shopping enhances her ability to accomplish some of her fascinating outcomes for them. Not to be intentionally morbid, but (at my age, such things are relevant) what a head-rattling shock the kids would have if she were gone and I were responsible for making their holiday bright.
        
         Everything, not just Christmas and a beautiful wife of 48 years, is sweeter as one moves toward the end of one's years, if one's health and wealth and relationships allow . . . God has certainly blessed me. 
         
         I, as have many others, would caution all not to get too caught up with the gifts and presents---they are super in themselves. But, that sense of giving is the largest element of the Season. That making others happy. That effort of their grandmother. That awareness of God's gift to humanity---His Son. That saving touch of the eternal into the temporal.
         
         The tree, the lights, the shopping, the fellowship with family and friends, the food---all should increase our understanding and appreciation of Love . . . and please don't get so caught up with the "season" that you forget those who are troubled and deprived. Reach out as best you can. Jesus will honor all efforts!
         
         Let me close with saying Merry Christmas to all my family and friends. God's blessings upon you!
        

We Have Sheepishly Followed

     I've been away from my blog for several months. Tied up with numerous daily activities. Got to thinking about the chaos that has invaded Christianity recently and wanted to make some remarks about it.
     Those "in charge" have messed up thoroughly I'm afraid. We have sheepishly followed. The Church is the Bride of Christ, not Ours! But, we've decided to make it conform to our human ways of thinking and human emotions and personality---just as many spouses insist on trying to mold their mates to fit their needs. As human individuals and culture are marred and always have been, so we often misuse God's Bride.

   We've pushed into an out-of-the-way corner repentance, we've diminished almost intentionally understanding and awareness of the Holy Spirit, we've substituted to some degree fellowship meals, youth rallies, faster soundtracks, positive-love sermons, and other human-centered concepts for God-centered worship. We've accepted the necessity of today's much-lauded inclusiveness to gain attendance numbers for the exclusiveness presented in scripture. 

    So, yep . . . Who am I? Who am I to bemoan these matters and indiscriminately criticize (evaluate?) the Church in such a generalized manner. I don't know. I don't claim any marvelous wisdom or expertise or spiritual status. I'm 72 now. I've worshiped in one particular Southern Baptist church for years now.  I've watched as my life and opinions and beliefs have become, to many, more and more irrelevant and outdated. Yes, at times, I feel a bit sorry for myself as I realize my age and outdated experiences sometimes seem to diminish my worth.

     Yet, I'm convicted---totally convinced---that truth is unchanging despite seeming cultural and scientific variations, some that are very drastic indeed (Wow, artificial intelligence)! Despite cultural self-centeredness. Change has been the mainspring of my last two decades. From my first reading of "narrow is the gate," I've marveled at that "exclusive" element in Jesus's words. I still do. Perhaps, current-day Christians would be wise to deal with that aspect of Jesus in a little greater depth. God bless all of you!

      

     

   

I Am Now History---and so are you

As a retired teacher of 30 years, I am constantly encountering former students. Often (pleasantly I have to admit) they say the kindest things to me when we encounter each other. Not too long ago, I happened upon one in a cafe. As I stood listening, she introduced me to her grandkids by informing them that I was a "legendary" teacher from their school's past. I was flattered. But, later, that word stepped upon a sensitive neighborhood in my usually peaceful soul. I pondered. In some very real sense, I am now history. Part of me has "died." It's over . . . one entire part of my life. Legendary? It's history. And other parts, too?

What happened? "Legends" are in the past. As far as my teaching years, it's true. I am "in" the past. It's okay (I think). I worked the front desk of a government agency for nine years after I retired from teaching. Retired from there now, for several years. And, yes, that's over, too. Another death. Another era of my history. You know, you just walk away . . . and going back isn't even an option. You really can "never go home again." A few of your friends may walk away in the general direction you're heading, but even they will eventually, surely turn to tend to their own, personal gardens.

One recalls moments as though reading about them in a book---experiences, people, joys and trials---but my imagination is a frenzied squirrel, darting about indecisively, unable to conjure up a complete image. By chance you learn that such-and-such ex-student is a grandfather and another may even be a great-grandmother! You learn that many have passed away. And, by cliche, it just doesn't seem possible. It doesn't seem possible that that much time has gone by. You remember them as kids. Good grief. It seems warped--eerily distorted. The value of life, I finally conclude, is mysteriously, intimately interwoven with the passing of time. 

That spectral passing of time reverberates through the Biblical repetitions of "These are the generations of . . ." and so-and-so begat so-and-so. Those passages nearly impossible to read emphasize something that happens in each of our lives. The passing of time---the movement of our lives.

Where is my rambling going to end? Somewhere here tossing about in a wonderment about time and life and how they do or don't fit into my concept of eternity. I really don't know. I do know that my Hope lies in the resurrection of Jesus Christ---and despite the disdain for this concept nowadays by so many of my fellow Americans, I will claim that belief as a reality . . . and so, in a greater, vital sense, my history is just beginning and has the potential to be so fine! God be with you. He loves you.

Good Grief. Who Do We Think We Are?

I'm beginning to age. And that's okay. It's the established process of life. 

However, in my older years, certain things stand out more than others, as I consider my life and experiences. Telling lies, even living those lies, has become so acceptable; cheating of all kinds has become more than marginally okay, provided one can find some kind, almost any kind, of excuse for it; living behind a false and perhaps glorified facade of hypocrisy has become okay, even expected.

Not to say that deliberate deceit, dishonesty, and manipulative deception are somehow new; they obviously are not. Yet, there's an acceptance, an approval, a shutting of the collective eyes more and more to these immoral practices that concerns me.

Lying and cheating are curses that will grow along with children as they grow, and once they get good at it, usually increase pretty quickly, and it is nearly impossible to correct. Pinocchio's elongating nose leads inevitably to a donkey. Each lie makes the next one easier to tell. Now, politicians, theologians, and celebrities of all types have learned to tell the really big lie, then "sincerely" apologize as a foolproof way to further whatever their cause or need.

Watching the USA's society generally slipping into moral decay causes me to feel very old---and tired. While I'm at it, let me consider another practice that I'm observing that I don't believe was prevalent when I was younger. Most Americans have a very strange and sentimental grasp of the meaning of unconditional love. God's love has conditions; He is not Big Daddy ready to supply our every whim. He is the creator, the Lord, of this majestic universe. Pardon me, as I dip my feet into the waters of theology, just to wade out a little way.

Even in the Garden of Eden, God gave humans a condition---we could eat of anything in the garden freely, EXCEPT the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Later, God sent his son Jesus to die for our sins---God's integrity, His justness, His holiness, His love are conditional upon the cross and Jesus' death and resurrection. Our eternal future is completely conditional upon our faith in this expiation, this mandatory reconciliation.

Love, true love, involves the ebb and flow of innumerable responses on our part---and our responses are always conditional. God has good will [love] toward Man alright, but outcomes of this love depend upon our responses. God's love in His relationships with us is always available, but conditional. So what?

God's love has conditions---His conditions. We should not conclude that all He really wants for us is happiness and easiness and possession of all our wants. Life is about Him, not us. Heaven will be about Him, not us. We are to worship Him, not His worshiping us. So . . . quit being so full of yourself and look to God and look to other humans---build your life there in love for them.

God's love is not some small, wimpy, Romantic, slobbering-all-over-you, you-gorgeous-wonderful-you, love. He doesn't somehow owe you that, nor does He ask me to love you in that manner either. It's a love that is intentional, thoughtful, purposeful, and freely given.

That's what I'm seeing in my old age:  People are living in a pseudo-world of narcissism and seem not even to be aware of it. Even in the Church, God's Church, humans have become more important than God and His will. Ah, but I ramble . . . that's what old age will do to one.

Hmm . . . more important than God and His will? Good grief, who do we think we are? Get over this false interpretation of unconditional love and quit basing your life on lies and cheating.

Walking Down the Aisle of a Local Walmart---Forlorn

The frightening part of it is the drooling hate, the random raging anger---the I-don't-give-a-hoot-about-you part of it. Our Jesus said very simply and definitively we are to love our neighbor. But, so many folks out there, worldwide, are willing to hurt you, without flinching. It's as though you are merely worthless flesh to be stepped on to get someone somewhere else.

I saw it yesterday in as simple an event as walking down the aisle of a local Walmart, less deadly but just as symptomatic. The oncoming customer willing to walk straight through my physical being, shoving me, if necessary, out of the way---acting as though unaware of my presence and the whole incident. An uncaring-ness superb! What else would one expect in a society that nonchalantly ignores the killing in abortion, overlooks so easily the plight of the homeless, shows no interest in the distorted lives of many veterans? Oh, sure, listen to the hypocritical righteousness of our wonderful "liberal" brothers! Their high-sounding talk. Stare insistently into your cell phone and walk on by. Ignore the real-ness of the world. I am so guilty!

I surely know that Jesus is right . . . but, it is so herculean to love people who are so completely invested in the horrendous dung prolific in our world! He knew what He was commanding us. And He knows that we cannot live that way---that it is not within us to love that way. So, where are we?

We are lost and alone! Jesus commanded us to love others as He loved us (John 13:34). He told us that if we cannot love those we know, we cannot love Him (1 John 4:19-21). He said we should count others more significant than ourselves and should be as concerned about their interests as our own (Phil 2:3-4). He went so far as to say we should love those who misuse us---anyone can love those who love us (Matt 5:43-48). So . . . we are lost and alone. He knows we cannot love that way. Jesus, you ask too much of me!

I know that you promised to be with us . . . yet, my faith is often too small to find you nearby. Sorry. I look into the swirling fog of hate and murder . . . and I cannot find you. I pray. You said that faith the size of a mustard seed (Matt 17:20) would allow me to move a mountain. I cannot even move myself to one small good deed. I am so forlorn and faithless and weak!

I pray for strength from You, for just a shadow of faith, for a recognition of opportunities to love, for an understanding of Your will in this most sinful world. Your intercession through the Holy Spirit is all I truly have. My entire hope. And, yep, I come back to what I first recognized when I accepted You as my Lord and Savior. I have and I am nothing without You. There it is! Everything good in my life is completely dependent upon You!

That's where we are, folks. Totally and hopefully dependent upon our God. Chaos all over our own countryside. Chaos all around the globe. Love each other, pray, smile and cry, cherish family and friends, learn to have faith in a good and all-powerful Friend who does His best work behind the scenes. Be true. Be persistent. God bless! Don't despair!

Islam and God-Less Liberal Cream Puffs

It seemed to me ex-Pres. Bush (the one dancing in the blue suit) might have had one too many before the memorial service for the five slaughtered Dallas policeman. Or, perhaps, he deliberately took this last opportunity to make Michelle Obama's life as miserable as possible as she seemed to have found herself in the most awkward position she had ever known---holding hands unwillingly with a smiling, swaying, older white male at, of all things, a funeral. And, Pres. Obama holding tightly to all his old-time ideological training just had to mention gun control once again . . . one more time---his sense of decorum is so feeble. There's so much he just doesn't get.

Now, abruptly, my easy, pleasant, old-white-man's evening is interrupted by first, the news of 30 dead in Nice, France---then, later 73 dead, who knows how many in the final count. In my musing on this, black deaths and white deaths roam freely about. Dead gays in Orlando. Blacks killed being arrested lie dead. Cops killed in the line of duty lie dead. Americans are so used to violent death nowadays. And the blame gets thrown around haphazardly and randomly like the treacherous voices that speak to the insane.

Speaking of voices, there will be in the hours ahead so many talking-head voices (75, now, they say) spouting endlessly opinions and tiny bits of egoistic truth, while doctors and nurses, doing the real business of life, are busily attempting to stop the bleeding and stabilize their patients. Talk is such a cheap commodity. I hear just now that "the civilized world must wipe out ISIS like the rats they are." I wonder what this emoting will sound like tomorrow morning. Time tends to soft-pedal the intensity of our emotions. We tend to look for less aggressive ways to solve our problems when given time to re-consider. Isn't it time, though, finally to stop compromising?

Our leaders are so impotent now, as our country has adopted a value system driven mainly by tolerance and general approval of anything and everything. Civility and Godly love have vanished as protocols for behavior. The definitions of courage and manhood have been "grunged" into complete blurriness. 

I, for one, am sick of all the apologizing that I hear from our leaders. If we are to survive as a civilization, we must obviously admit and deal with our faults and weaknesses, but more importantly we absolutely must protect our values. Fight for them, if necessary. Islam must conform to us, liberal cream puffs must be removed from policy-influencing positions---yes, we must "cling to our guns and our religion." And if that doesn't suit you, tough! Domestically and on foreign shores, we must resolve to quit allowing ideological bullies to control our lives. 

Not the Janitor in a Culture of Narcissists

". . . no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (1 Peter 1:21).

You know, there's great drama in the failure of the human will---great literature and art and music have chronicled that spectacle over and over again. And there's emotional majesty when weak and anemic man overcomes. But, really, ultimately, who cares? I mean, really, who? Many in America now would say we all simply die and disappear into mindless, emotion-less dustiness . . . and live their lives on that premise---a subjective position that suggests that nothing is important other than our personal experience of life, hence, allowing for the many irresponsible, contorted behaviors of this day and time.

It seems today that tolerance and approval and minding one's own business are expectations for any and every situation. And, if one cannot operate under that protocol, then one is simply a bigot, hyper-opinionated and unworthy of further note. This mindset, this sentiment, seems most dramatic in cultural matters. One is either 'all for' or 'all against' something.

I don't find myself fitting comfortably into the acceptable pattern. I believe, as the apostle Peter suggests, that all true inspiration for living man comes from some form of intercession by the Holy Spirit. To aggravate the matter, I believe that death is not a finality---a permanent dustiness. Good grief!

The first Jesus-disciples---common men and women---were completely and intensely convinced of His resurrection. Upon His return, they "saw" Him; they "heard" Him; they even "touched" Him---they experienced Him firsthand! So convinced were they of His non-death that they would give up their lives if it be necessary. I, too, believe in that resurrection---too often, I fear, however, in a simple, nonchalant, secondhand religious correctness.

Like Peter, I believe that prophecy and any genuine and ultimately significant truth comes through the Holy Spirit of God, not through human understanding. Therefore, in Him is my faith and trust---not in the human will in any ultimate form or shape. You? . . . believe whatever you choose or must---live however you wish. You are your own person, and I've been commanded to love you no matter what your sin(s) may be. I try, but often, very often, I'm afraid, I fail to be accepting and forgiving and compassionate for you. "When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about me" (John 15:26).

That amazing helper is mystically present in our lives once we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. If you haven't, I invite you to invite Him into your life on that basis. Then, you'll become one who really "cares." The Spirit will then indwell you.

As a Christian, my main assignment is to tell other persons about the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I am commanded to love God and to love my neighbor. A tributary effort is to have a positive effect, then, on my culture. But, I am NOT ordered to be the janitor in a culture of narcissists---a fact I must remember, to protect myself, to avoid stress, frustration, and general distress. So . . . I pray that you will be accepting of me, as I will be of you as a person. But, never expect me to be approving of your self-focused, sinful actions.