Visited?

And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? 

 - From Matthew 25

On this day, February 27, 2023, I am making public my plan to do actually this. God has placed a burden upon my heart for decades, to serve people such as Christ mentioned in Matthew 25. Except, the focus will be on family members. I will seek out any relative of mine, that is in my generation or prior, going all the way back seven generations.

I am looking for those in prison. For any lacking basic healthcare. For the children of single parents, that cannot afford music lessons, soccer club dues, nice presents for Christmas. For our elders, especially widows, that need a roof repaired or reshingled; that need a ride into town for groceries; that would love to receive Christmas cards every year. 

We will look for such people, and then act. The impact is enhanced, because they are family. Love is offered to them; unmerited, unexpected . . . because they share DNA, they are family. And we will take care of family. Our vision will grow, and it will overflow . . . and we will begin to offer it to others, non-related to us, representing other races and cultures. The gifts and service will be offered, as from an entire extended family group.

Come . . . you who have no family . . . and join ours. 

I post this now, because it is Lent. And Matthew 25 is in today's reading. And God has recently taken care of a big part of why I have delayed in implementation, all these years. He got tired of dropping hints, and finally just provided me with a decisive nudge. 

God rolls out His plan for the ages, via families. And while families are the paradigm of the Old Testament, which has been displaced . . . still, families remain as the chief platform upon which to practice unconditional love. As my cousin Louise once said, of a very difficult aunt: "I don't care. She's family, and I love her."

Perhaps this is my Lenten mission for 2023: to launch this faith-based mission to my family. And therefore, to the world. 

Impostors

We are treated as impostors, and yet are true . . . 

 - From 2 Corinthians 5 & 6

One of the sickest practices of fallen humanity, is the way that phonies and fakes invest so much energy into convincing everybody that the real people, the simple, genuine, authentic people, are the phony ones. Rather than just look at themselves honestly, realize that they are fallen and imperfect, own it, and work on themselves, they waste time, damage their own health, by stirring up vitriol against others - against the actual good people. 

Why?

It catches up to you eventually. And when it does, it becomes way costlier than it would have been, if you just nipped it in the bud initially.

The Regents of the University of Michigan, and Dr Robert Anderson, are a case in point. The U of M ignored decades of students asking questions, reporting on practices of Dr. Anderson, that seemed unnecessary and possibly criminal. They looked the other way. But they also maligned hundreds, thousands of students that sought answers. They could have done something along the way, to correct the problem. They could have clarified to Dr. Anderson, way back in the 1970s, that the practices had to be stopped. They could have gotten him help - provide simple and inexpensive reparations to the few students who, at the time, had come forward. But they kicked it down the road, insulted the student-victims, and ultimately were require to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. 

Usually, you will have two sides in opposition to each other, each labeling the other as the phony.

Does this sound familiar?

It gets very confusing. But here's the "siren song" that I personally believe we all should be the most aware of:

The "intellectuals" are the ones you need to watch out for. Since the time of Christ, and His constant run-ins with the Pharisees, the Romans, and other well-educated groups, the "upper crust" has always been a problem. Christ went straight to blue-collar fishermen without college degrees, to build His church. 

But the Old Testament has analogues as well. Moses dropped all of his elitist pretentions, and became the brother of slaves. He squared off against the paradigm of evil for his time (for all time?) - the Pharaoh and all of his "experts" that ran the world's greatest empire of its time: Egypt. 

Who are the true fakers in 2023? Which side is it?

I can draw a straight line from Scripture, to the most sincere and humble people of modern times: and it is not the experts from academia. It is not the celebrities in Hollywood. And it is not the swamp creatures operating inside the DC Beltway. 

You have to go to fly-over country to find the real people - them that are the most genuinely "good." The plant workers. The gardeners and landscapers. The artists piecing together an income. The teachers that do not prioritize union dictates. The mechanics and farmers. The retired NCOs from the military. 

2023 wants to confuse all of us, and divide us from each other. 2023 is obsessed with pointing out some group of people that must be stigmatized for spreading "disinformation." But who are the real people? Who really can we trust?

Look no further than right down the road. 

Look not at the "leaders," or people that successfully got their moment of fame, on tonight's news. And certainly, look not at all . . . not at all . . . at successful politicians. They are good only at being good fakers. Their life itself is misinformation. 

You family. Your friends. The people that would take a bullet for you. Listen to them. Heed them. 

Good Things

He satisfies you with good things, and your youth is renewed like an eagle's. 

 - From Psalm 103

For over a a week now, the world of Christendom has marveled at the unfolding drama at Asbury University. 

A revival started quite innocently and simply, via a prayer meeting of some students. It continued. It grew. It flourished without a break. And God willing . . . it will begin to spread. 

What families could not do. What schools could not do. What law enforcement could not do. What politicians could not do . . . God is now making happen, with just a thought. 

For me, at least, the shooting last week, at Michigan State University, was the last straw. One MSU student is a young woman that I have known since she was a pre-schooler. Her roommate was one of the fatal victims of the shooter. That's too close. 

Other developments in the world are equally troubling . . . and they too may reach a point that is too close. I have known the action that I may take, for some time, but have stalled. God patiently works with me. He quietly provides. He opens doors. He closes doors. And today, here we are . . . 

Within a twenty-four hour period - the final straw, for me, of shooter horrors, happened; but so did the launch of a revival, the likes of which America has not seen, for decades. We are getting a true side-by-side comparative view of how God acts, versus the crazy random violence of humanity. 

In the end, God wins. And when God wins, good things happen to people. We get fed, clothed, housed, and we get treated to nice things. We get beauty and plenty. We get eternal life. When God acts, good things happen. When humanity messes things up enough, God acts. 

God is youth. And God is life. God is everything that humanity has ever yearned for. Immortality. Quality of life. A future. True freedom from want. God is the answer. Jesus is the answer. 

We all know what we need to do. When we do what we are called to do, shooters disappear. Prayer, and action, are all it takes to get us through all of this. And on the other side of this . . . are good things. 

2023, Anyone?

He whose throne is in heaven is laughing . . . 

 - From Psalm 2

Recently, I shared that the reading of the day included one of my top ten favorite verses. This Psalm contains another one of them.

The phrase grabbed me the first time that I purposefully read it. It was probably during the Summer of 1980. I remember seeing it: "He who sits in the heavens laughs . . . " And when I first read it, I remember laughing out loud. 

God is like a doting Parent. A condescending Big Brother. He sees our behavior and shakes His Head. 

As a teacher, when I catch a student throwing something across the room, my first impulse is to smile inwardly. "Yeah, I would have tried that too, once." 

My ex had a memory she would share, that became one of my favorites: When she was younger, perhaps a pre-teen or teenager, she got in trouble with her mother, who got so mad at her, she began chasing her around the house with a broom, to swat her with. Her mom was normally very permissive and patient. But this time my ex had gone too far. As she evaded her mother's swinging broom and stayed several steps ahead of her, she began to laugh. This made her mom more angry, to a point. But finally her mom also burst out laughing and the thing was over. 

Our misbehavior can be funny. Our parents may laugh. Our teachers may chuckle inside. You think to yourself "They're just kids." And their deeds may remind you of your own days of foolishness as a youngster; and how over the course of time the memories may transform into warm, even happy thoughts. 

But when you look at the first three verses of Psalm 2, you see a description that has 2023, of all earth's years, nailed. 

In 1980, as a nineteen-year-old, I laughed because even then, I could see the craziness in the world, the foolishness of world leaders, and conclude that "yep, we're pretty messed up, and God finds it all partly amusing." 

But 1980's got nothing on 2023. 1980's world's leaders may have been narrow-minded and misguided. But compared to today, they were adults with some gravitas. They were the oldest kids in the family exerting their unprepared independence. But 2023's leaders are the babies of the family. The "kid brother" and "kid sister." They're the spoiled brats whose parents were too tired or pre-occupied to discipline. They're the generation that permissive parents and society looked the other way for, as they experimented with every kind of mind-altering substance and sexual adventure. They were protected from consequences and emerged into adulthood with underdeveloped brains and lack of wisdom. They are reckless, vain, and totally devoid of historical perspective and empathy. Their god is their belly, and their long-term view goes out about two weeks.

They make ridiculous threats against each other. They gather together in their global "forums" to plot the fate of the entire world. They seem determined to cast off any vestige of what we would call godly practices: responsibility, charity, service, selflessness, ethics, morality. 

If it feels good, do it. And if it feels good, it must be love. 

When criticized for cracking so many jokes in the middle of a terrible, violent war, President Lincoln said "I have to laugh. For I must not cry."

God laughs right now. And it's serious. 

CDO

If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God . . . and [observe] his . . . decrees, and ordinances ... 

 - From Deuteronomy 30

Commandment: The act of directing authoritatively, as from a superior officer in the military. 

Decree: An order usually having the force of law.

Ordinance: Something ordained or decreed by fate or a deity.

These three terms seem redundant. Their meanings are very similar, and only represented vague shadings of the same thing. But Scripture, from cover to cover, has left out countless details in its many narratives. There is a lot that has not been recorded, that frankly, would be nice to know. 

Therefore, the little bit that is left must be very important, and highly relevant. 

God was very deliberate in admonishing us to observe, and follow faithfully, his commandments. But not just the commandments. We must also follow His decrees, and His ordinances. 

Let's pick them apart a little, and see what specific point is being made. First, we are commanded to do and be certain things. We do not have a choice. We must do what we're told whether or not we feel like it. Second, what we are required to do, is not arbitrary nor based on a person's whim. It has the force of Law. Laws do not change much over time, if at all. They are etched in stone, especially if they are natural laws. They have the gravitas of Science. If you break these laws, there will be consequences to yourself. If you follow them, both you and your community will be at peace, and will thrive. Third, and finally, these commandments are ordained. Ultimately they are not found in a document written by human hands. They come to us directly from God. They are to be written upon our hearts. We should know them as we know our own hearts. 

Our attitude should be that - we are so committed to God's commandments, that it's as if they were our own. We came up with them. We articulated them. We believe in them. They were our idea. 

I came up with them. They were my idea. I am committed to them. 

Something like that. That's what it means to write them on your heart. They are your own. 

God shouldn't have to use redundancies to get us to obey. His rules should be the framework for our own identities. Our own self-worth. Our own sense of safety and security. 

And then . . . we are finally free to be who we really are. 

Yes. No.

Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’ . . . 

 - From Matthew 5

I may able, soon, to go ahead and compile my top ten favorite tenets from Scripture. This is one of them.

And it is perhaps an irony. For my entire life, I have been known as a good talker. My Dad used to say he wished I would talk less, and that my brother would talk more. I always get asked to say the prayer at family meals. I have caught myself, more than a few times, engaged in a long discourse late at night, with good friends, as they would slowly drift off to sleep. I would wonder what's wrong with them! Am I not more interesting than that?

There may be a total number of words that we all are allotted in life. More and more, I feel that my quota is approaching. I am becoming less interested in hearing myself talk. At the root, I seem to have less and less, of importance, to say. I have become more aware of other epic talkers, and found myself wanting not to be like them. Why don't they stop, to let someone else get a word in, edgewise? Why don't they express more interest in topics that will bring others out? What makes them think their opinions and observations of the mundane, want to be heard by others?

Why do they seem to believe they are gifted in turn-of-phrase (in reality, their word choice is too-cute-by-half)?

One of my MBA professors gave me feedback once, in front of the entire class, following a team presentation. He said that a silver-tongued person should be given something of substance to say . . . and not just to glibly provide whimsical transitions for the others. 

I am getting it now (see my other blog, "The Boulder.")

I talk too much. The reason? To cover up other insecurities. To make myself sound smart, without having a lot of results in life, to back it up. 

George Harrison quoted a mystic in one of his songs: He that speaks doesn't know. He that knows doesn't speak. 

I would rather aspire to that now, than to be a good talker. 

Jesus loves us all equally, unconditionally. But He takes aim at a human behavior that's problematic for many of us. His practical advice always yields a more spirit-filled and humble heart. 

Don't talk so much.

If all it takes is a reply of "Yes," or "No" . . . please . . . please . . . do yourself and all of us a favor, and make that all you say.  

It's a skill that must be learned, practiced, and perfected. 

In my 1990s career at Nortel Networks, Gerry Butters, the President of our American corporation, was good at it. When taking questions at company meetings, he would think long and hard before saying anything, when replying to questions. And if a "yes" or "no" sufficed, that would be all he would say. It was nice. And it was powerful. 

Now, having said all of this . . . I do wish to retain the ability to do what my Aunt Sue once said about me, as needed:

Gordon could talk a snake out of a tree.