To Whom Shall You Go?

I don’t know why…I have the urge to write today.  I have no topic in mind, but something within seems to want to get out, so I thought I’d just start writing and see where this goes.

I’m reading what would be called a study guide, but in practice could be read like a book.  It covers sixty nine verses of the New Testament in the book of Acts.  It’s the story of Stephen, widely believed in Christian circles to be the first martyr of the newly-established church.

Now, I’ve read this story a hundred times or more.  Those sixty nine verses consist primarily of a sermon given by Stephen at his “trial” in front of the Jewish leaders.  It’s a compelling story, but one from which I’ve never taken away very much in terms of modern application.  This author, John MacArthur Jr., takes a story that probably many of us feel like doesn’t have much modern application, and draws from it many applications, lessons, and truths, all relevant to life in the twenty-first century.

Christian scripture continues to amaze me.  I continually find life lessons, application, and truth in words I have been familiar with for most of my life.  I continue to find passages with meaning I have never thought of, or even heard of before.  And I continue to find a thread of consistency, perfection, and relevance that in my view could not have come about by chance or by good luck.

You may disagree.  That’s OK.  But I have yet to find any glaring inconsistency or any obvious falsehood, collusion, or deception that would cast doubt on the veracity of the Christian writings as found in the canon of scripture.  I know that I look at things through my “world view” of things, and I know that a perfectly unbiased opinion is not possible for me (or anyone else in the human race, for that matter).  However, I have always considered myself to have a measure of logical and objective reasoning, and do my best to apply it to those words I find within the canon.

Do I have absolute, infallible, unshakable proof of the reality that Jehovah God inspired the writing of the canon?  No.  Can I look at the evidence and from it make an educated determination sufficient to hang my eternal hat upon?  Yes.  I have examined other religions.  I have examined no religion at all.  And after it is all said and done, I have nowhere else to go; nobody else to go to; no place else to rest.  As John records Simon Peter’s response to Jesus’ question as to whether the disciples will also desert him as have many of the crowd, “To whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”

I know this hasn’t been a blog to remember…but I feel better now, and hopefully can finish the MacArthur book today or tomorrow.  Meanwhile, whatever your persuasion, take another look at the God of the Bible.  Put away as much of your bias as you can, open your eyes, take a deep breath, and allow the words to speak to you.  After all, “To whom shall you go?”

Wondering No More

In church yesterday, we opened the services with a prayer.  The man who led the prayer prefaced it with a desire to pray specifically for one of our members who has spent over a month in a medical intensive care unit due to serious health issues.  The family of the patient was sitting directly behind us.  We had the prayer, then a scripture reading.  Following that, we had our first set of songs.

The songs that were selected this day were songs of praise, generally.  “Awesome Power”, “We Praise Thee, O God”, “How Great Thou Art”, and “He is Exalted” were some.  You get the picture.  I wondered as I looked over the listing of songs just how well they would go over with the serious and sobering opening of services, praying for Don (name changed) and requesting the continued intervention of God in his health and well-being.  I especially wondered how well the family would be able to participate.

I needn’t have wondered.  The singing coming from the row behind me was fervent, passionate, and whole-hearted.  I know there have been multiple times of the two-steps-forward-one-step-back syndrome with Don’s recovery, and corresponding disappointment  and encouragement.  I know things are tough in the family right now with a bread-winner not able to work.  I know lives have been turned upside down and a lot of things have been put on hold for the duration.

Yet there is a faith and hope in this family which transcends the immediate issues.  There is a peace and tranquility that is palpable.  There is a love for and reliance on a God who is very real and tangible.

Such a testimony is sometimes rare in these days of instant gratification and selfishness.  And such a testimony is refreshing, causing pause as we ponder the unponderable and attempt to know the unknowable.  We wonder if we could offer similar testimony to the goodness of God if we were in that same position in life.  And we thank God we don’t yet, anyway, have to find out the answer to that question.

I Have No Place to Go

I was watching the sad story out of Colorado on Sunday regarding the wildfire that is consuming thousands of acres in the northern part of that state. Evidently, there is some development in the area where the fires are burning, and several people have lost homes and buildings to a fire that moves at times as fast as 40 feet per second. The situation is dangerous for those living there as well as those fighting the fires.
One or two people who had been affected by the fire were recorded on camera talking about their loss. I was particularly struck by one woman who appeared to be about my age who was telling the photojournalist that she lost her house, then said, “I have no place to go.”
Think about that for a moment. No place to go. Now, she may have been exaggerating somewhat and may, upon reflection, truly had a place to go that night. But there is a real chance that she truly had no place to go. No family. No friends. No church. No place to go.
Most of us don’t live life that way. We cultivate relationships. We have family. We have friends. We have a church family that loves and cares for us. We are blessed with people in our lives who will look after us in some kind of tragic situation such as losing a home. But there are many people who have no one to turn to. There is no one they are close enough to that they can ask for help, or that would offer them help. They have no church, so they have no church family. They either have no family, or they have ostracized their family to the point that no one is willing to help them. They truly are alone.
And as long as things are going along OK…they remain healthy…the money keeps coming in…the job is steady…the weather cooperates…they can do OK. But when there’s a hiccup in the way of things and they suddenly have a giant in their lives that demands more than they have to give, things cave in. The hole gets deeper. The light gets fainter.
I wonder if this woman really had no place to go. If true, she is a sad and tragic example of what happens when we think we can go it alone…when we can do it ourselves…when we have need of no one. The last verse of the song “I am a Rock” by Simon and Garfunkel catches the reality of the sadness.
“I have my books And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor, Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock, I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.”

Advice to New Parents

I was going to write about a comment I heard on the news from a woman in Colorado, I think, who lost her home in a forest fire. I will do that, but not now. I just found out today that some friends who had been members at our church, but moved their membership some time ago, are new foster parents with the state foster care system. They have no children of their own and this is a new experience for them. The wife has written about their adventures these past seven weeks as foster parents on a blog.
As foster parents ourselves, I wanted to encourage them and even possibly be somewhat helpful. I sent what follows in a “thinking of you” card to them today.


Grant and Vanessa:

I didn’t know until today that you were foster parents with the state system. Congratulations to you for jumping through the hoops to become licensed, and welcome to a world of brokenness unlike any world you have seen before. Even if you have experience working with broken kids and families, foster parenting brings a perspective on this aspect of society that is virtually unknowable through any other lens.
We too were foster parents with the state before we became “real” parents. That was well over 30 years ago and some things have changed; the broken people do not. We were foster parents to both smaller children as well as teenagers (not being much older than teenagers ourselves). I’ll not bore you with stories and details, but write this to let you know we share your experience, emotion, joy and pain in ways most people cannot.

Some thoughts at random:
You will continue to wonder, at times, why you are doing this. That’s normal. Just don’t dwell on it too long, or take great pains to answer it.
You will think you’ve seen it all regarding broken people and families. Then something will come up that will overwhelm you with first time disbelief and the desire to deny the reality of the situation. Don’t obsess about it; rather get busy working with God to restore His creation.
You will never, ever forget those you care for. You will, even 35 years later, tear up when looking at the one and only photo you may have of a certain child.
You will probably never, ever hear from or know any updates about any of the children who were in your care and are now gone on. Even 35 years later, you will wonder where they are now, what happened to them, and whether or not they remember you.
The State has virtually no concerns regarding the bonding that takes place in a foster family between caregiver and those cared for. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go. Your opinions, although they may indeed be solicited and heard, carry little if any weight.
Guardian ad litem attorneys and juvenile/family judges sometimes severely disappoint. You may even wonder how they got to the positions they have attained. The system isn’t perfect.
The cloak of privacy rights covers a multitude of sins on the state level. You won’t be told everything. You won’t be told some things you will need to know. Be open and aware with new placements of needs and issues not told you by the state.
You will not make any money doing this. In fact, you will spend far more than you receive at times. That’s a fact of life.
You will give your hearts to these children; yet God will supply plenty of heart to more than make up what you’ve given away. There will really be enough to go around.
Know that you have a “great cloud” of folks who have gone before you who are surrounding you with love and encouragement.
Remember the special love of Jesus for those who are helpless, abandoned, sick, injured…those who society treads on, casts out, ignores, and exploits. Imitate Jesus in caring for “the least of these” and know that vengeance on those who commit these atrocities against these little ones will be sure and just. Know also that vengeance is not your job. Imitating Jesus is your job.

Jay and Pat

Redemption

A dear friend was having a bad day and a bad time. Things weren’t going well in her family, and it seemed like positive movement on the issues at hand was elusive to say the least. Not being able to do much of anything else, and feeling rather helpless, I responded to her email with what I hoped would be some encouragement. I’ve reprinted here, with some minor changes, and with her name changed, what I said to her in the hope that it might help someone else.
Janie, we face discouragement and difficulties at every turn, it seems. You encounter medical tests with bad results. You use up your financial cushion and expenses continue to mount. An addiction grabs on to one of your loved ones. You lose your job and have no prospect for other employment. Someone steals your identity. A friend turns on you with vile accusations. Life seems to continue swirling down the toilet. You face dark hours and darker thoughts in the middle of the night. The light of day leaves and the smothering darkness of despair and hopelessness sets in.
Then you get to hold a newborn. Or you see a nest of baby rabbits. Or maybe the hummingbird that has been hanging around hovers right in front of you one day, seemingly desiring to communicate somehow with you. You may see the marvelous web of an orb spider glistening in the sunrise. Someone sends you an encouraging note, by snail mail no less. You hear the unmistakable sound of Peter, Paul, and Mary on a CD. You hear of the selflessness of an ordinary person as he risks life itself to rescue another human being he does not know. Someone pays forward to you a good deed they had done to them a few days before. A young man opens the door for you at the post office.
All of these, Janie, and hundreds more, are God at work to redeem his people and his creation and "make all things new". (I am tearing up as I write this...I find the thought of God's love overpowering.) The same God who showed himself to Elijah (I Kings 19) when Elijah thought all was lost and all his work was for naught. The same God who loved the world to the point that he gave his son. The same God who "prepares a place" for us so that one day we can be with him and he with us.
I pray peace and wisdom for you and your family.

Glimpses

As I work in this vocation, I have the opportunity to catch glimpses of the lives of others as they navigate day to day. I get to see family dynamics in real time. I have the privilege of sharing joys and sorrows with others. I can interact with people on a level that is not often broached in ordinary life and living. I have a couple of observations regarding these “glimpses” into the lives of others.
First, I marvel at the resilience and toughness of the human creation. Even with all that this fallen creation can throw at the human race, I see marvelous adaptation, powerful reaction, and creative intervention. The human spirit was created to embrace life and be renewed by hope. We encourage and are encouraged. We love and are loved. We value and are valued. We cherish and are cherished. We give hope and are given hope. We encounter trial and we persevere. We are knocked down, and we get back up.
Second, I cannot help but see the hand of someone greater than we are intervening in the affairs and lives of humankind. Whether that hand is healing, protecting, encouraging, loving, arranging, ordering, or all of the above, the hand of who I call Jehovah God is apparent to anyone who has eyes and ears attuned to things beyond the immediate here, now, and present. One would have to be intentionally discounting the indicators and tossing away the signs to not pick up on these, perhaps the most compelling evidences for the existence of a Creator and God.
I am reminded of the words of the great apostle Paul. He tells the Corinthians in one of his letters what he believes and experiences as he continues his God-given work.
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you…Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Interesting Facts

More interesting (at least to me) and random facts (From Scientific American Magazine).

If all the bacteria in your body were put into a jar, they would measure about ½ gallon by volume. There are ten times more bacteria in and on your body than there are human cells.

Sound waves between 40 and 50 hertz can put out a fire.

Identical twins do not necessarily have the same genetic makeup. Although most regions in the genome carry two sets of genes (father and mother), some carry up to 14 sets, any one of which may be the active set.

Superfluid helium (liquid helium cooled to within a few degrees of absolute zero), flows without friction, and thus can climb the sides of the container it is in. If you set the fluid in motion inside the container and maintained the temperature, theoretically, in 10 years it would still be in motion.

The Indonesian earthquake of 2004 increased the speed of the rotation of the earth by 2.68 microseconds. The cause was the movement of so much water in the tsunami that followed.

Coal ash, the material left over from burning coal in power plants, is more radioactive than most nuclear waste due to the concentration of uranium and thorium in the ash.

Some infinities are larger than other infinities. This was shown true mathematically by German mathematician Georg Cantor in the late 19th century. For example, he showed mathematically that there are more real numbers between the integers 0 and 1 than there are integers in the real number system.

Doctors have performed over 100 brain hemispherectomys (removal of half of the brain) in the last 30 years. Remarkably, other than use of one eye and one arm, much functioning otherwise remains intact or can be instilled through training. The procedure is performed as a “last resort” for conditions such as multiple seizures.

The largest organism in the world is thought to be a fungus in Oregon, an Armillaria ostoya fungus that occupies well over 2,3900 acres and is thought to be anywhere from 2,400 to 8,650 years old.

A Devastating Day

We know the people who were touched by the tornadoes in Harper County a couple of nights ago. Curt and Bobbie are good people, and have a good blood family and church family behind them. They are resilient, their families are with them, and they will come back.
Having said that, there is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (literally) between the events of two nights ago and the “come back” part. There are three thousand questions needing immediate answers, and just as many issues needing to be immediately resolved. And there is only so much the human body, mind, and spirit can absorb and deal with in a 24 hour day.
The task at first can seem overwhelming. And it is. There is so much to do, so much to decide, so many people to talk to, and so many phone calls to make. The business of running a farming operation has to stay on track as the weather slows down for no one. Animals have to be fed and cared for. Crops have to be harvested. Ground has to be prepared for the summer crops. Equipment has to be obtained somehow, to do all of that. And it’s expensive. Is it ever expensive. Scads of money (we’re talking multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars for an operation this size) have to be found, right now. One tractor costs $200,000. A combine costs $300,000 or more. Insurance may or may not pay out on time. Some items may or may not be insured.
Time, however, has a way of healing. Things get done. Decisions are made. Papers are signed. Debris is cleaned up. Families step in and quietly and without fanfare support, uphold, validate, and encourage. And life goes on. People continue to live, work, and make their way in the creation.
Why do bad things happen to good people? I have no answer, and neither does anyone else. The closest the Bible comes to answering that question is, I believe, in the book of Job where God tells Job (paraphrasing here) in answer to this very question, “Who are you to dare think I owe you an answer to your question? I am God. You are not. I’ll do with my creation as I please.”
One day we won’t have to wonder anymore. One day (as John says) God himself will be among us and will live with us. One day we will shed no more tears, have no more hurts, or feel any more pain. The old things will have passed away and all things will have been made new. Sounds kind of good to me…doesn’t it you?

The Difference in Night and Day

A few nights ago, I had the occasion to drive Kellogg Avenue here in Wichita at 2am. Yes, 2am. I got on at Hillside and went to the West to the Maize Road interchange where I got off. As I got on, I marveled that there was so little traffic…then remembered the time of day. I decided to count the number of vehicles I met going the opposite direction between the time I got on and when I got off.
Any guesses? Well, to avoid any apoplexy, I’ll just tell you that I counted thirty vehicles. That’s it. Thirty. Normally, one can count thirty vehicles going in the opposite direction in the span of a half mile or so. Not at that time of the day, however.
The drive was very pleasant…much more so than normal. The seeming ever-present speed trap was out on Kellogg…this time between Seneca and Meridian. I, however, try always to be at least close to the speed limit or a little below, and I just went on by.
Night is indeed different from day. That old saying contrasting the two isn’t just a saying. If you’ve ever had occasion to be out at night for any length of time, you know it’s different. I used to deliver newspapers between 3:30am and 6:00am (although not in Wichita). It was a very different environment then.
What makes it that way? Is it the lack of natural light? The cooler air? Maybe it’s the nocturnal animals versus the “normal” animals. No, I don’t think any of that accounts for it. I do think that the lack of humanity out at night, and the different “clientele” that ARE out at night are what makes the night environment so different from the day environment.
Human beings have a big impact on the world and the creation. We make things happen, prevent things from happening, change the environment and the “aura” of a place, and generally disrupt what would normally be a natural environment with our substitute environment, whether good or bad.
Some things we cannot control. Weather, wind, and some of that kind of thing is beyond our control. So too are some of the actions of some humans. No matter how hard we try; no matter how many police officers we have; no matter how many laws we make, we cannot eliminate bad, indecent, and illegal behavior.
I think just as Jesus said we’d always have the poor with us (John 12:8), we will always have bad, indecent, and illegal behavior. Sin will always be part of this life. Only when the creation has been set free from the bondage of sin and death (Romans 8:20-22) will we no longer suffer from sin and its effects. I’m looking forward to that time.

Lord, Forgive Us

This weekend has been a kind of a roller coaster for me. Normally, I’m rather even-keeled, at least to the casual observer. However, some things have happened to upset my cart.
I visited a friend who now is in the nursing home, and is not expected to live long. She has taken a rather sudden turn downward, and the spiral has just continued on. She and her husband were members of our church, but joined with another church in the community a few years ago. Seeing someone decline in this manner brings time for pause in one’s own life.
In reading the obituaries in the newspaper over the weekend, I learned of the passing of a friend and relative by marriage. Barbara was a compassionate person, and although she had her share of pain in life, always had a smile and kind greeting. The world was a better place in Barb’s circle of influence. We will attend the funeral later today.
One of our life group loved-ones had surgery a week or so ago. Last night he had emergency surgery to repair a “leak” in the internal suture site and to clean out the abdominal cavity. He is very ill and recovery will be a long, arduous process.
All of these things and more continually remind us of the brevity of life and the fragility of our health and well-being. I fail to understand why anyone would think they have the world by the tail when they are literally seconds from a cardio-vascular event, tragic accident, or debilitating personal setback.
The passage in Hebrews which says that Jesus Christ “upholds all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3) is probably a little more literal for me than for many. I take that to mean that in the course of events, it is Jesus who enables me to “live and move and have my being” as a Godly elder often used to say in prayer in the small church where we worshipped for many years. I think he was on to something in that we exist as we are because it is Jesus Christ who enables that…a conscious, active working in the creation (and in our lives) to make it (and us) what He wants it (and us) to be. And that without this active effort on the part of Christ, we would not even live, let alone “move and have our being”.
These things kind of put everything into perspective, again, for those of us who tend to lose sight of the truly important things in life. When we become much more concerned about the guy who cut us off in traffic, or the winner of the latest reality TV show, or whether we’ll get to see the latest blockbuster movie before it comes out on DVD than we are about love for God and loving our neighbor as we do ourselves, we’ve lost our perspective.
Lord God, forgive us of our selfishness and conceit. Teach us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with you.

Well-Used

I came to work a little early today. I told Rick (one of the ministers) who was already here that I wanted to see what 8am looked like. I knew he would already be here. What I didn’t know was that there was a group of women meeting in our fellowship hall this morning. When I asked our secretary who the women were, she explained that they were a group of downtown business women who meet here every Tuesday morning from 7:30 to 8:30am to discuss items of mutual interest.
We seem to have this kind of thing go on at our building a lot. Oh, we’re not crammed with people wanting to use the building for meetings, etc., but compared to churches I’ve worshipped with in the past, this building is busy. We have Toastmasters regularly. We have a grief support group that meets regularly. Our seniors come on Thursdays for cards and fellowship. Even the school system uses our building from time to time for meetings and events, and we have another church group that uses our parking lot out back to serve the homeless regularly (We also serve the homeless, by the way. I didn’t want you to think we had someone else do our work on our behalf.) Families use the building for dinners, receptions, weddings, funerals. Some of those families are not church families. It is sometimes a rather busy place.
And that’s good. I know the building doesn’t make the church, but if the building seems a welcoming place to those who don’t regularly attend, and if in coming to meetings and events, visitors can interact with some of our staff and members, those are just additional opportunities for service and demonstrating the love of God in a broken world.
Yes, it wears the carpet. Yes, we have higher electric and fuel bills. No, we don’t charge non-profit groups or members. And yes, we like it this way. The more, the better. God expects us to be good stewards of what He has given us. And if we can take anything from the parable of the talents, he expects us to use those resources, not hoard and save them.
Churches that are silent and empty seem to be sad places to me. There is no movement; no noise; no life. That’s not what we’re about. Jesus said he came to give life, and to give it abundantly. The Bible says that “the life” is in Jesus Christ. I know a building is not the church, but I think a building can manifest the church that meets within it. A living, useful, and well-used building, in my view, reveals a church that is also alive, useful, and well-used. And that’s the way it should be.

That Wonderful Thing Called Technology

My cousin and her hubby are spending some well-earned time down in Mexico in a little place called Yelapa, Jalisco. It’s on the west coast in a small bay that is part of a much larger bay, the Banderas Bay. On Google Maps, it looks like a relatively out-of-the-way location that might be perfect to get away for awhile. Although such trips aren’t for me (I’m good with a few days in Branson), I’m glad she’s able to make this trip and do the things they are doing there.
And that brings me to the real gist of this blog. I saw her posting on Facebook today of several photos she took of the area…of them, the sunset, etc. Looks like a great place to spend some time. But the really cool thing was that I posted a short reply to her, and in just a few minutes, she re-posted a reply to me. Now, you might not think much of this, but for me, this is a magical and wonderful thing. I know I’ve posted about the wonders of technology before, but this came to the forefront again today as I posted in my prior blog about raising chickens, hunting game for food, etc. I can scarcely imagine, even today, communicating instantly with someone laying on a beach hundreds of miles away in a foreign land. And to add to that, I’m communicating with someone by use of what we used to call a telephone that now goes by Android, I-Phone, or whatever other names have been attached to the lowly telephone over the past few months or years.
Carrying a dial tone around on one’s hip is so…1990’s anymore. Now we carry instant Internet, our calendars, photos, access to financial accounts, maps, and hundreds upon hundreds of other forms of communication or information in a device that measures about 2 ½ by 4 ½ by ½ inch. And this device works virtually anywhere in the world and connects us with virtually anyone else in the world who has a similar device (or a laptop, or heavens…a PC).
I’ve said it before. Back in the day, carrying a dial tone on one’s hip would have been the pinnacle of desire, and would have been equally impossible. Instead, we made do with public telephones, citizens band or business band radios, or first class mail. Now, many of us seldom use that dial tone. Instead, we message, tweet, or otherwise communicate in ways not even thought of just a few years ago. So it is. The world has shrunk exponentially in the last few years. And it’s a privilege for me to be witness to it. Although I’m a little concerned about what may be coming, it truly is an exciting time to be alive. Thanks be to God for His wonderful blessings!

The Sooner, The Better

I had a conversation with our custodian here at the church this morning regarding our tossing a lot of VCR’s that have accumulated over the years. Many of them are some kind of teaching or seminar-type tapes, and some are children’s tapes. We put them out for the congregation to pick through, and several were taken. But there were a lot that were not, and we no longer have room to store them, so they go out the back door.
As I was loading up a box to take out to the back, Bob remarked about how people, especially older people, tend to save anything and everything. He talked of a time when they had to clean out the house of a family member. There was stuff in the attic. There was stuff in the garage. There was stuff on shelves. There was stuff everywhere; most of it was not serviceable, such as some umbrellas that were stored in an attic that had no fabric on them. They ended up throwing away just about everything that was there, save about 12 cubic feet of things that easily could fit just about anywhere.
As he was talking, I was recalling cleaning out the home place when Dad passed away some 26 years ago. The trash man brought a dumpster, but it quickly filled. He should have brought one of those 30 yard containers instead. There was stuff in the house. The attic. The cellar. The garage “storage” (don’t ask). There was stuff in the paper house (again, don’t ask). The paper house lean-to. The paper house attic. The paper house bustle. There was stuff in the shop. The shop attic. The shop lean-to. And of course there was stuff piled in piles outside. The iron pile. The wood pile. The brass/copper pile. The pipe pile (The pipe pile was in the shop lean-to). The wire pile. Etc. Etc. Etc. If we would have still had the chicken house and the barn, there would have been stuff in them (probably along with chickens and maybe a steer or heifer).
I’m surprised we didn’t have stuff in a tree house somewhere. There was stuff parked in the cedar tree row that lined the old rail right of way. There was stuff parked in the patch out back. There was stuff inside of stuff. And it all had to be gone through, because older folks tend to squirrel away c-notes and sawbucks in weird places. Of course, this all was a product of a family that had lived there since 1939. A family that was a product of the Great Depression and WWII. A family that always had enough, but never had an over-abundance. Where the bread-winner was all too familiar with a teetering “on the edge” of poverty for most of his child-rearing days. Where work was hard and reward was sometimes elusive. A family where Mom and Dad were acutely aware of God’s provision and blessings during those days. Where prayer was a staple just as much as cornmeal, fresh eggs from the chicken house, or garden green beans.
We live in a different era, it seems. Gone (mostly) are the chicken houses, the garden green beans, beets, peas, and potatoes, the days of pressure canning, of picking wild berries and fruit to help with nutritional needs, raising beef to butcher (or hunting game to fill hungry stomachs), and of raising broiler chickens to sell for a few extra dollars, or taking in sewing or ironing or selling eggs for 25 cents a dozen. Gone are the outdoor showers that used water heated naturally by the sun, the privies, and using phone books or catalogs for toilet paper.
No, I don’t want to go back to the “good old days”. But I do think we can bring some lessons forward into today’s world that just might ground us a little more into the ideas and notions that we aren’t the end-all and be-all of this universe. That we still, whether we know it and admit it or not, depend entirely on the God of the universe for our daily bread, health, and being. And the sooner we get on our knees and thank God for His care and love, the better.

Pet Blessings

Tonight I want to write about a subject that has come up in our family recently. The topic is pets…dogs, cats, hamsters, fish, and even snakes. And the subject at hand is the question of what to do with pets when they create issues for the family. Let me explain further.
Sometimes, things happen in families that make pet ownership very difficult. Financial reversals, health issues (either for humans or pets), food costs, cleanliness of living areas, having a place to live, etc. all are real issues that can be made worse by having pets.
Financial reversals, job losses, etc. may make it very difficult to provide a pet with the food, shelter, and health care it needs to be healthy and happy. Humans can be allergic to pets or the pets themselves can have health issues that affect the well-being of humans. Pet food isn’t as cheap as it used to be, and if an animal needs a special diet due to a health issue, the costs skyrocket. Living areas can smell and have the products of having a pet indoors, even with the best housekeeping. And if one is renting, few landlords will allow pets in their homes, and those that do probably have houses that aren’t fit to live in in the first place.
But what to do if one has a pet that is part of the family. And pets certainly can be part of the family and good for the well-being of one or more family members. Pets are the one constant in a sometimes confusing and jumbled world. It isn’t easy to give up a pet.
Now, before you read what follows and berate me for being callous and uncaring, stop. You have not a clue how I felt when I made the decision to put down Dynamite instead of spend money we didn’t have on a surgery that might or might not work. You don’t know the angst, heartbreak, and tears shed (to say nothing of the nightmares), when we had to give up our beloved Susie. And you weren’t there when I accidently ran over Purry and found Tom run over out in the street, and I had to dig the hole myself, scoop them up with a shovel, and bury them.
There comes a time when, if the question is whether to provide decent food and shelter for the humans, or keep a pet, the humans are the correct answer. Always. Every time. Each time. Pets, even beloved family pets, play second fiddle to the needs and well-being of the humans every time. To do otherwise is to cheapen, I think, the human soul and spirit and elevate animals to the level of people, which is not only unbiblical in a religious sense, but goes against everything we know about the human family and human relationships.
I would like to think that Dynamite, had she been able to process the situation, would have gladly sacrificed herself for our family’s well-being. I’d like to think that Susie, had she been able to understand the importance of our working with abused and neglected teen girls, would have been first in line to volunteer to step out of the way.
I have had a pet (usually a dog) for most of my life, beginning before I can even remember. I don’t have one now and don’t plan to get one primarily because I don’t want to go through the separation and grief process yet again. It will be difficult enough for me when my sister’s dog has to go, as I’ve grown quite fond of Lydia the stray that we found out at our house some years ago.
We need to thank God for the time we were blessed with a pet, cherish the memories and count the blessings; then go on and live life as His beloved children. Easier said than done, but so necessary. May God bless all who lovingly care for a part of His creation, and bless those animals that are held in the hollow of His hand.

Short Supply

I have been reading recently about the lack of the ability of ordinary Americans to petition government for redress due to “security” concerns. The writers or speakers usually rue the death of the protest and petition and long for the days of old when people could more easily command a street for a march, a park for a rally, or the steps of a government building for a speech. By extension, these people also long for the 24 hour news spotlight that comes with this kind of protest.
I agree that the petitioning process has changed over the years. I also agree that security concerns are greater, and that necessarily means that those being “secured” are more insulated from ordinary society. However, I do not believe that these people cannot be reached with the messages of ordinary Americans. We may have to change our methods, but I think we can still have an impact.
I have spoken, in my career, face to face with Sen. Bob Dole when he was majority leader of the Senate, Sen. Jerry Moran when he represented the 1st District of Kansas (I had almost two hours with Jerry), and Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas. I have also had lunch with Dan Glickman when he represented the 4th district of Kansas (I and three others…it was a small group; we met in a local restaurant), have email contact with (complete with personal replies) and met for an hour one-on-one with my state Senator Dick Kelsey of Goddard, and have visited on a first-name basis with the late state Senator Stan Clark of Oakley and then state Rep. Ralph Ostmeyer from that area.
I had opportunity to visit extensively with and personally know a former state representative from the Oakley area (Virginia Beamer), and have email contact with state Sen. Vicki Schmidt, the current assistant Majority Leader, of Topeka. Years ago, I knew, visited with, and encouraged both Rep. John Long and Rep. Dick Alldritt from Harper County. Additionally, I have visited more than once the offices of Sen. Roberts, Sen. Moran, and Rep. Pompeo here in Wichita and have received a good reception and extensive time with those who have the ear of those politicians.
On a more local level, I’ve known several county commissioners, mayors, councilpersons, school board members, hospital trustees, etc. And I’ve served on a city council (Harper). I know what that is like.
I believe for the most part these people really listened and had interest in my opinions. Many times they have asked questions which were meant to elicit more specific responses, but those questions also indicated to me that they were engaged and interested. In most of these circumstances, I went to these meetings, not with innuendo, sound bytes, and unproven allegations, but with information, questions, and suggestions. My questions and suggestions were specific, and I also came armed with knowledge of any pending legislation that I could find that may have to do with the issue we were discussing. In short, I came prepared.
I get frustrated like everyone else. I sometimes think people don’t hear and don’t want to hear. But I know politics is a tough job. I know that just because someone doesn’t agree with me does NOT mean that they aren’t listening. And that’s all I can ask…that they listen to my viewpoint. I can’t ask or expect that they agree with me, because if everyone did that, it would be a total impossibility. And I must be aware that my opinion is only that…my opinion. Good and honest people that these folks represent have differing opinions that run the spectrum, and I must respect that.
It’s relatively easy to yell on a street corner. It’s not very difficult to picket. It’s easy to disrupt a meeting and cause a ruckus where a politician is speaking. It’s not hard to get press coverage. However, taking the time to cultivate a relationship, look at both sides of an issue, prepare a specific opinion/question/thought, and rationally and with respect explain one’s view takes time, work, intelligence, good will,and energy. Unfortunately, at least some of those things seem to be in short supply nowadays.

Hurry Sundown

I was traveling down memory lane one day and thought of a song I heard some years ago called “Hurry Sundown” sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary. There was an Otto Preminger movie of about the same time by the same name, but those two really had nothing to do with each other. The flick was set in the late 1940’s in the South and was a rather forgettable thing, in my opinion. The song…was not.
I’ll not comment a lot on the lyrics. Nor do I know a lot about why the song was written or what any background “meaning” might be attached to the song. I just think it’s a compelling lyric and equally compelling tune sung by a very compelling three-voice trio that grabs and just won’t let go anytime soon.
I assume the song was written by one of the group, or perhaps all collaborated. I cannot find on the Internet any acknowledgement of the author(s) and composer(s) of the song. For my lack of giving proper credit below, I am sorry. I tried.
You can hear the song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_YDQ4Yyqx4


My seed is sown now, my field is plowed;
My flesh is bone now, my back is bowed.

Refrain:
So hurry, sundown, be on your way,
And hurry me a sun-up from this beat-up sundown day.
Hurry down, sundown, be on your way;
Weave me tomorrow out of today.

Tomorrow’s breeze now, blows clear and loud;
I’m off my knees now, I’m standing proud.

(refrain)

My sorrow’s song, now, just must break through,
That brave new dawn, now, long overdue.

(refrain)

Hurry down, sundown, get thee be gone,
Get lost in the sunrise, of a new dawn.
Hurry down, sundown, take the old day,
Wrap it in new dreams, send it my way!
Send it my way!
Send it my way!

The Discombobulation Fairy

Some nights, it just doesn’t pay to get into bed. You may well know those days…nights when you can’t get to sleep right away. Nights when you sleep for maybe a couple of hours and spend the rest of the night turning from one side to another. Nights when everything seems to hurt no matter how you lay. Nights when the pillow feels like Jacob’s rock.
So you get up at the really ungodly hour of 5am (ungodly at least for you), after running through your mind all the people who are up at that hour every day of the year to either go to work or start the day of their families.
Your eyes notice the lack of sleep, but don’t seem to want to close in any meaningful way. You wonder what the rest of the day will be like or even if you’ll make it the rest of the day without having to crash on the couch or in the recliner.
And to occupy your time in the early morning, since you don’t have a job to go to at 6am or a family to get up and around, you turn on the TV to the local news, look for the newspaper outside, and turn on the computer to send an email or two and blog about how you can’t sleep.
OK, by now I’m sure you know that this is what happened to me this morning. Normally I don’t blog at 6am. Normally I don’t even know when 6am passes by. But today is different. I just couldn’t get comfortable and couldn’t make my eyes close for any meaningful period of time.
As for crashing later today, we’ll see. I’ve done this before a few times and usually can make it through the day without a lot of hassle. Most of the time I’m struck with insomnia, however, it’s been in the middle of the night and I eventually can catch an hour or two toward the end of the night.
I’m not sure why our routines are upset sometimes by things such as this. I have to wonder if the “in my rut” fairy sometimes goes on vacation and the “discombobulation” fairy takes over for awhile. I dunno. But what I do know is that I’m up and at ‘em today a little sooner than normal. We’ll see how this goes.