A New Low

Have we really sunken so low?

In less than 48 hours, we will know whether we have elected a crass, rude, jerk, who has so much money he has lost touch with reality; or a lying, cheating socialist.

Okay…now that I’ve offended everyone, let me continue to lament.

Watching television the other night, there was a story about how all other countries are watching our elections.  I for one was rather embarrassed.  We must look like a joke to the rest of the world. 

How is it in 2016, we don’t have more qualified people to vote for?  In a nation of 319 million people, we can’t find a handful of candidates who have the moral and ethical fiber we need? 

For the past several elections, it has come down to me voting for the candidate I dislike the least.  It’s no longer a matter of who I think it best for our country; it is who is NOT the worst?

I came up with some reasons why we are lacking decent qualified people:

•        If you don’t have enough money, there is no need to even consider running.  That rules out the vast majority of everyone.
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•       If you don’t want your family subjected to countless hours of mud-slinging hatred, you have no desire to run.
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•             If you are concerned with offending people, you likely aren’t even elected to office anywhere, and the chances of even getting on a ballot are slim and none.
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•         Unfortunately, if you are a decent, honest person, who believes in a moral right and wrong, and tries to live a principled lifestyle, the vocal minority will raise enough money to insure you never get anywhere.

Let me just step up on my soap box for a moment and get something off my chest…

If you don’t vote in the election, I don’t want to hear you complaining about anything.  If you vote, and your candidate loses, you have the right to be unhappy.  You have the right to complain.  These are guaranteed by the first amendment.  But if you don’t vote, I don’t want to hear it. 

In 2012, it is reported that 57.5% of eligible voters actually voted.  For whatever reason, 42.5% decided it was not worth their time.  Yes, I know; there are reasons some people are unable to vote.  But that number is nowhere near 42%.  And I understand some of it at least.  If there isn’t anyone worth voting for, what’s the point?  The point is we have a right and a responsibility to do so.  Countless men and women have died to protect that right.  So if you don’t vote; shut up.

I feel a little better.  What?  I offended someone else?  That’s okay.  I’m offended by watching and listening to the crud being broadcast about the elections and the candidates.  I don’t want either one of them to win.  I had the option to vote for someone else, of course.  But to vote for a third party was to almost insure my vote went for the candidate I dislike the most.

And this is where, as a Christian, I run into part of my calling where it is really hard.  I’m told that no matter who wins, I am to support them, pray for them, and respect them.

Ouch.

I have the right and responsibility to vote my conscience (though no candidates seem to care what my conscience says anymore).  And I did.  But if the worst one wins, I don’t get to hate, or even disrespect them.  I don’t have the right to wish them harm or hope for some kind of tragic circumstance to happen to them. 

When our last president won his first election, I comforted myself by saying that I respect the office, even if I don’t respect the person.  But I can’t justify that anymore, either. 

It isn’t as if God will sit on His throne, and throw back His head, saying, “I can’t believe won.”

He knew before He ever formed the Earth who was going to win the elections in 2016.  And whether we understand it or not, it is all within His plan.  And I confess, I seldom understand it.  But I don’t have to.  And neither do you.

If you are a Christian, I trust you voted.  It doesn’t matter whom you voted for.  Now I believe we will stand accountable for our actions, including voting.  But you owe me no explanation.  You merely need to be able to justify it to Him on the day we face Him.  And I trust you have been praying for our country. 

Earnestly.

Are we standing in the gap between a country that has fallen so far from where it began, and the Holy God who has blessed us so abundantly?   Or have we become like Jonah; waiting expectantly for God to destroy the evil?  God has called us to pray for our leaders.  We are to honor and respect authority.

Romans 13 tells us we are to be subject to governing authorities.  It tells us that all authority is instituted by God, and if we resist that authority, we are resisting what God has appointed. 

I will be disappointed by whichever candidate wins.  One a little less than the other.  But no matter what the outcome of the election, one of them will be my new President.  I will honor them.  I will respect them.  And I will lift them up in prayer. 

To do anything else, is to go against what my Holy God has commanded me to do. 

Becoming an Ephesians Kind of Husband

Ephesians 5:

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

For the past year, I have been dealing with this issue.  We all know how we poke fun at this.  Men quote Ephesians 5:22: Wives, submit to your husbands, as unto the Lord.  And for many years, I was bothered that it didn't seem many women submitted to their husbands.  In fact, the last twenty years has seen men too often portrayed as bumbling fools.  How many commercials show a man trying to do something, and the wife comes to his rescue?  When did we decide that men had to be rescued because we were incapable of knowing how to do the simplest things?

But I digress...

I'm not a tough, macho kind of man.  I love playing sports, shooting, wrestling with my dog, and until recently, participated in a Krav Maga class.  (If you are unfamiliar, you can Google it).  So I'm not a wimp, certainly.  But I speak softly, and very seldom find anything worth arguing over.  I act like an idiot most of the time to make people laugh.  So if you were to walk into a room, and look for a man who would make a strong leader, you would likely look past me to someone taller, stronger and tougher looking.

Why would my wife submit to me?  If I were taller, stronger, louder, more assertive...more of a leader......

Blah, blah, blah.

I spent so many years wishing I could be someone else.  "If I looked like he does, my wife would love me more; respect me more," etc.

I began studying the Bible again for my own purposes.  From time to time, I would just bounce around and focus on certain areas.  Other times, I would find it hard to decide what I wanted to study.  It was during on of those time, I decided to just open the Bible and let it fall open.  It went to Ephesians 5.

"Well, that's dumb," I thought.  "I've studied that."

I wanted something different.  But something told me to really study it.  So I started reading through it quickly, knowing I knew the text.  I had taught it at least a couple of times in different ways.  And I taught it the way I feel it needed to be taught.

When discussing the Garden of Eden, we men tend to joke about Eve being the reason life is so hard.  But I think we all understand that she was tempted first.  Adam certainly would have also fallen if Satan had gone to him first.  And Adam willingly strayed.  Adam was held accountable.

So in teaching Ephesians 5, I had taught about how we are to love our wives as Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for her.  I know if it ever comes down to it, I will absolutely step in front of my wife to take a bullet to save her.  But what God began to reveal to me was much harder than that.

Harder than taking a bullet?  What could possibly be harder than that?

Living it.

As I taught this years ago, I tried to focus on being the type of man my wife would want to submit to.  I began truly praying for holiness.  I truly started seeking God to lead me in even the smallest things.  And I began to feel differently.  But something was still not right.  My relationship with my wife.

We don't fight.  We don't argue even, really.  There have been a couple of times, but overall, it feels like a pretty peaceful place.  But I kept going back to Ephesians 5.  For months, I kept wondering what God was trying to tell me.  I thought I was doing this right.  But He began to open my eyes to a deeper meaning in the words.

"...love your wife, as Christ loved the church...."

Yes, I understood.  Christ gave His life for the church.  I'm willing to do that.

"...love your wife, as Christ loves you...."

Okay.  Christ gave His life for me.  I'm willing...

"...love Dawn, as I have loved you..."

I've taken a couple of IQ tests (and not the silly ten question ones).  My scores were between 137 and 143.  So I don't consider myself ignorant.  But it still took awhile.  I began to really think about how Christ loves me.  I had to stop there.  I couldn't even consider loving my wife until I truly understood how He loved me.

That was eye opening in itself.  Yes, I know all of the Sunday School answers about God's love for me.  But I've never really understood it.  I tend to bash myself with "if you were better", or "God loves you, but"...  I found myself at the end of the day, realizing I had failed again, in one way or another.  Someone I was supposed to talk to, or something I wasn't supposed to do.  Irritation and bitterness over the situation at work.  Realizing that I hadn't been a "good Christian" that day left me wondering why God would choose to love me at all.

Yet, I know that Jesus Himself prays for me.

John 17:20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word..."

Jesus was praying for His disciples, and also for those (us) who believe in Him through their (the disciples') word.

In spite of how I fail, Christ prays for me.  He stands before God to intercede when Satan accuses me.  The difference between me and Job is when Satan accuses me, he's absolutely right.

"God, look how Laron......"

Guilty as charged.

And Jesus answers that He has already paid for that.

I don't understand it, but I'll accept it.  It must hurt Christ horribly when I blatantly disregard His word.  When I go against His will.  When I ignore Him.  When I choose to follow my own path instead of His wiser, more loving way.  He died a death I can't fathom, to offer me a life with Him. Because He loves me.  And no matter how many times I fail, He is always there; loving me; praying for me.

Wow.

Revelation received.

This may come as a shock, but I married an imperfect woman.  Which is okay, because I'm far from a perfect man.

"...love Dawn as I love you..."

My biggest failure as a husband?  Being married for 16 years before realizing this.

When my wife does something that hurts me, I am not to try to punish her, or feel negatively toward her.  I am to love her.  I am to help her.  I am to pray for her.

Really?  It's okay when she accidentally forgets some little thing.  But I have to pray for her when she willingly does something she knows will hurt me?

"...love Dawn as I love you..."

I don't want to ever lose the love of Christ.  The Bible tells me it is impossible.  But I know I can choose to live outside His will for me.  And I don't ever want to lose the knowledge that He is praying for me, even when I have failed.

So I must be willing to love my wife the same way.

Thank you, Jesus, for loving me in a way I cannot comprehend.  Thank you for being willing to leave your home in Heaven to live in a fallen world.  For teaching us your way.  And most of all, for your grace and patience with one of your most stubborn pupils.  Thank you for praying for me even when I go astray.  Teach me every day to love my wife as you love me.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. – Jeremiah 1:5

So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female He created them. – Genesis 1:27

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. – Psalm 139:14

A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. – Proverbs 16:9

How often have we looked in the mirror, and decided we weren’t happy with what we saw?  How often have we told God we aren’t happy with who we are?  How many times have we grumbled that we didn’t have the gifts someone else had?  How many times have we felt inferior because we didn’t think we were good enough; smart enough; strong enough?

All power rests in God’s hands.  He certainly could have made me 6’4” handsome, strong and smart.  But He (in His infinite wisdom that I too often distrust or second guess) created me to be exactly what I am.  I have spent a lot of time over my life wondering what it would be like to be different.  To have the strength I wish I had.  To be smarter that I am.  To be taller, better looking, more outgoing, etc.  Yet I get out of bed most mornings, struggle to get through a day, and wish things were different.

But where would I be? 

Maybe in a nicer house, with less money issues, a better job, etc. 

But if I were not exactly who I am (and who I have been, where I have been, when I have been there), the blessings I have been given may have been missed.

I wouldn’t trade all I have wished I were for what I have now.

Thank you, God, for making me who I am.  Help me to hear your voice; feel your presence, and trust your spirit.  Make me who you have created me to be.  Erase all of what I think I should be, or wish I were.  Thank you for the gifts I have.  Help me to use them the way you intended.  Make this New Year a year of following you closer than I ever have.  Living for you, as you guide my steps to make a difference in the world through me and my life.

11:00 PM, Monday, December 31st, 2012

It is 11:00 on the last night of the year 2012. As so many do on this day, I sit reflecting on the year past, and think about the coming year.

2012 brought stories of sadness, and anger. Jerry Sandusky showed us that even in the halls of schools, those who are chosen to guide and protect students are capable of horrible atrocities. There was the fall of General David Petraeus, showing that even heroes are capable of falling. And, of course, there were the 20 innocent children gunned down in their classrooms.

It seems every year, news stories grow colder and bleaker. More pain, more death, and more suffering. It's easy to feel little hope for the future.

Being a Christian, I read the Bible, and I know that the end will come one day. I can't imagine it will be too many more years (or months), before God decides He has had enough. And in spite of things I look forward to living and experiencing, I'm ready.

Yet, I'm called to be light and salt to the world around me. How can I be light when there is so much darkness? How can I possibly help people find hope when despair seems to fill each day?

In my quiet time, I pray for guidance and words. As my wife could attest, I'm not a very good communicator. This is evidenced by the fact that I average one blog posting about every four months. But I want to be able to communicate hope to those around me, especially when they are suffering. That's where I find some of my comfort.

When I feel down about what might be happening in my life, I look around, and realize there are so many people who have it so much worse than I do. When I complain about having a bad day at work, I look around and realize there are a lot of people who only wish they had a job to go to. And there are those who don't have the health to get out of bed, much less keep a job. In doing this, I find a perspective that brings me hope.

So to be uplifting, I should tell you about all of the wonderful things the New Year can bring. New, exciting changes in science or medicine. Maybe the economy will turn around this year. But we can't control much of that, so let's look at what we can control.

Every new year, we make resolutions that we have every intention of keeping. What is on your list? Maybe you will stick with your resolution to eat healthier this year. Maybe you will exercise five times a week the way you have tried to in the past few years. Maybe it's the year you choose to go back to school to finish a degree. Whatever your resolution, you make them for one reason. To try to make this year better than previous years.

So will this year be better? That depends on you. Not so much whether or not you make, or keep, your resolutions. That can in its own way, make you feel better about yourself. But when you are surrounded by news stories, will you feel discouraged, or will you be able to find peace?

It isn't like there is going to be a drastic change in the events that unfold around us. There will still be favorite people who we have put up on a pedestal who let us down. There will always be news stories about senseless killings of innocent people. Most nightly news will NOT be uplifting, happy stories. And if we rely on news stations to help us find peace, or even happiness, we will forever be unsettled.

What I hear when news stories tell us about the disasters, or horrible acts of people, are also stories of everyday heroes. The teacher who hid her students, saving many of their lives. Among the worst people, there are also the best people. In putting others ahead of themselves, they bring a ray of hope in the darkness of horrible acts.

I've often said that at the end of my life, if there are a handful of people who can truly say that their lives are better because of me, then my life has been worthwhile. Yet I realize there has been a lot of time I've spent worrying about what is going on in my life...to me. In 2013, I hope to truly live more for others, and less for myself. When I put others ahead of myself, I find peace. And when I'm suffering, the quickest way to feel better is to do something for someone else. Counterintuitive, I know.

But when we open our eyes to others, we learn that there are people all around who are hurting. When we spend all of our time looking down at our own feet, wondering how we will make it through whatever mess we are facing, we miss a great opportunity. When we help others, we help ourselves.

May each of us find more time in 2013. More time to spend in prayer. More time to read and study the Bible. Time to say thank you to a police officer; a firefighter; a soldier; a sailor. Time to help a neighbor rake his leaves. Time to just listen to those around us when they need to talk. Time to make our little corner of the world a little bit brighter for those around us.

God bless you in 2013.

 

Bible Belt Coming Unbuckled

Her name is Jennifer Keeton.  She is a graduate student at Augusta State University in Georgia.  She wants to be a counselor when she graduates, "helping strengthen and prepare young people for the challenges they will face."

She has been told by the campus, that she will not be allowed to graduate unless she changes her beliefs.  She has been ordered to undergo a re-education program that will force her to attend diversity and sensitivity training, including attending gay-pride marches, and writing papers, telling how she felt after the event.

We've been told we are no longer allowed to pray before football games.  We've been told if you have a Bible on your desk, you can be fired for it.  Now, public colleges are threatening to expel students if they do not agree with whatever the college decides they want you to believe.

Private companies and even private colleges have the right to choose who they would like to serve.  A public college is not guaranteed that right.

If a homosexual had been turned away from Augusta State because he was gay, there would be national uproar.  What happened to equal treatment?  Why is it okay to punish one person because they believe "A", and not punish another because they believe "B"?

We in America have freedom of religion.  That means the government does not have the right to force any religion on its people.  It does not mean that no one is allowed to practice their religion if it could possibly offend anyone anywhere. 

You choose to believe what you want.  I accept that.  I may not agree with you, but I support your right to have your belief.  I can even have wonderful discussions with you about our beliefs, and why we believe that way.  But if you have the right to believe in evolution, that homosexuality is right, or that we all are nothing but lumps of organic matter, then I have a right to believe in Creation, that there is right and wrong, and that God loved me enough to die on a cross for me.

Augusta State University does not have the right to take your money, and then decide you can't graduate because you don't believe the way they want you to believe.  Neither do they have the right to force that upon Jennifer Keeton.

Where are the equal rights?