TENDERNESS

The other day as I was going into one of our local stores I happened on a scene that brought tears to my eyes.  A young mother and father were going in as I was getting out of my truck.  The mother had a newborn she was carrying in her arms, and the father was holding the hand of his little toddler daughter.  The little girl seemed happy and full of joy as she reached out for her mother.  With her arms full, there was no way the mother could scoop up her daughter, at which point the little girl began to cry. The father quickly scooped up his daughter and swung her up onto his shoulders, at which I could hear her cry turn into giggles.
Tenderness, plain and simple.
The reason it brought tears to my eyes is because even in my best moments I don't remember being that tender with my own children.  I'm not saying I wasn't ever tender, but it wasn't as natural as I saw with that young father.
If you look up the term 'tenderness' it means gentleness, and kindness.  God's own description of His nature is that he is gentle, and compassionate.  Gentleness and tenderness implies that the one showing tenderness is able or capable of being hard and callous to others.  It also implies that the one being treated with tenderness is physically smaller, or weaker than the one demonstrating tenderness.  God in his immense power and strength is tender, compassionate, and infinitely kind to those he created.  It was and still is in His power to completely obliterate or manipulate our fragile lives.  Instead he holds us tenderly and gently in his hand.  When we are old enough to walk on our own He holds our hands until we reach too far or want something that could destroy us.  Then He throws us onto His shoulders.
This relationship with the creator of the universe has become clearer the older I've become.  Like adolescents and teenagers, we can rebel and move far away from our loving, tender, Father, but it doesn't change His love.  He will always be there waiting and willing to scoop us up when we decide to come back to Him.
I know God loves me because he gives me a choice to love him back.  The power of choice is His greatest gift of love to us. It is proof of His tenderness that he gives us the choices we have.  He's not afraid of our choices, and at the same time He tries to help us make good ones. 
I've had people try to tell me how cruel God is because He lets people die, or go through horrifying experiences.  They'll throw out some terrible cruelty done by people to other people and ask me how He could allow that to happen.  My question is usually; "How do you suggest He take care of it?"  What would you do?   We don't have the benefit of seeing time from one end to the other.  We don't know who would be a monster, or who would be a saint.  Yet, in His immense love, the choice is there.  I don't want to be God, because I know my flaws and my nature.  It would be easy to say 'kill the Hitlers of the world before they are even born.  How many people would you be willing to snuff out of existence simply because they would later be monsters.  Eventually, you would become as monstrous as the ones you were trying to prevent from becoming monsters.  If you were God, would you tap their mind and make them 'good' people before they become 'evil?'  When would you stop allowing choice?  There is a tendency today to try to control how people think, what they can say, and what they can do, all in the name of safety.  It is an experiment that will end in disaster.  What constitutes a criminal act?  We really don't know what someone is until they do an evil act.  Till then we must be tenderhearted, and learn from the creator how to step back from the precipice of judgment.
Tenderness is the control of great strength, and the ability to keep your strength from hurting someone.  I always love to watch big muscled men pick up a little baby.  You know that these hulking strong men could crush the little life in their hands, but instead they tenderly cradle the little life in their arms.  To me, this is the definition of the tenderness of God.  Tenderness defines God. 
Outside in my yard, fragile sparrows are beginning to do their usual morning ritual.  They know a loving, tender, creator who's heart is ever concerned.  Jesus said not even one sparrow can fall to the ground without the Father knowing.  If He cares so much for the sparrows, how much more does He care for us.  If we trust him as the sparrows do, we'll see His tenderness as we swing gleefully onto His broad shoulders. We'll feel his unfailing compassion when we are cradled in his love.  Help us all to be tenderhearted toward one another.

SOMEDAY IS HERE

There are two places I can never be, the past, and the future.  Yet, these two places rule our lives.  As I'm typing this, the NOW is unfolding with each keystroke, even as I attempt to frame the future of my words.  My written sentences, are nothing more than my fingers trying to keep up with the future my brain is speaking.  Somewhere in between the minute measurable moments, is the immeasurable NOW.  Living in the moment is what God intended for us at creation.  I know a lot of people point to the fairy tale idea of the Garden of Eden as being a time of naive existence without fear of death. Nothing is further from the truth.  Our first recorded human conversation proves that there was already knowledge of death.  Satan asks the woman; Did God say you could eat of every tree in the garden?
The woman replies; No, we can't eat of the one I'm looking at right now. If I do, I will die.  (David's paraphrase)  Satan didn't inform her of death (the future) and she understood what God had said, (the past).  The past is remembered for a purpose, to inform the now, and to shape the future.  Without the past, (our memories) we can't safely negotiate the now.  Someday (the future) beckons us forward, while at the same time, the past shapes our path to someday.  Because our days are numbered and our opportunities to affect change are limited by time, we often spend that time trying to live in the two places we can't be. 
Why am I saying all of this?   Because of the conflict I wrote about in my last blog.  As I go through this process, I'm trying to discover how to live in the now.  The situation I'm in was not of my creation.  I simply stepped into the echoes of the past.  That past, not of my own creation, holds the power to affect my future in a powerful way.  God placed that past in my hands, and inexorably the lives and loves of a great deal of people. That past threatens the future of many of those I love.  Finding the key to binding up the power of the past has been my struggle over the past few months.  Every day I ask God to help the people affected by this situation to find peace and enjoy love.  I stand outside the situation, but at the same time I'm like a little boat in the eye of a hurricane.  I can see the possibility of devastation, but seem to be in this place where all is calm.  Notice I didn't say I'm at peace.  The peace of God, is a place I have to stand in regardless of the storms around me.  I have to be like the writer of the song; "It is well."  Even though the waves are rolling and my little ship is being tossed, I can look out over the scene of my life and say; It is well.  At the same time, that little word IF is trying to control my future in a way I can't discern.  So, I choose to live in the now.  That place of peace where even though I can see the storm around me, it doesn't cause me to fear. 
The future is filled with 'if' and the past is filled with the residue of past choices, as well as the collisions with other people's choices.  I heard a person preach a sermon about consequences, and the power of our choices.  The tone of the message was entirely judgmental, and unforgiving.  Our choices, good or bad, do have consequences, but some bad choices can also lead to good things.  (I know that sounds almost heretical.)  Remember the story of Joseph?  His brothers planned to kill him, but sold him into slavery instead. (Bad choice.) They lied to their father and said Joseph was killed by an animal. (Bad choice.)  Through many trials and a lot of Godly intervention, Joseph eventually became the salvation of Egypt, and his brothers.  His statement to them is one of my favorite passages.  'What was meant for evil has been for good.'
The past doesn't always inform the future.  That is the secret of God's redemption and forgiveness.  What I've learned this week, that is different from my last blog, is that I was given this moment, this NOW, to live in regardless of the past, and without fear of the future.  What I am responsible for is doing the right thing, the good thing, even if it appears bad to others.  There are moments when doing the right thing will injure others, or cause them pain.  That is why God didn't want us to know the knowledge of good and evil.  We've made His laws and commandments about us, when the truth is the complete opposite.  The knowledge of good and evil is how we treat one another, and how we view the past and future. That is where GRACE comes in.  Grace is the doorway to peace.  Paul would often open or close his letters to the churches with the salutation of 'grace and peace be with you.'   Notice that grace had to come before peace.  God's grace, the ability to overcome in any situation, is sufficient for me.  Live RIGHT now, and neither the past nor the future can bind you. 

FINDING lOVE

This is a first for me.  I cut my index finger and can't type, so I'm using my speech to text function and I'm surprised at how well it's going.  When I write, I'm a stream of consciousness style of writer, but I discovered that most speech to text editors don't like my breaks in thought.  Admit it, we very rarely talk like we write. 
It's important that I put down into words how I'm feeling right now, because I want to express my heart in the midst of the battle.  Often times we find ourselves looking back at a situation and putting a positive spin on what we went through.  We often forget how we felt in the midst of it. I've been going through a situation in my life that I don't have a lot of spiritual guidance in.  When I've asked spiritual people for input, I rarely get an answer that jives with my heart and spirit.  At the same time I don't have a path to follow, I just know that when others give me a direction it doesn't feel right.  I know what I want to do, but then I also know it has the potential to destroy lives I care deeply about.  On the other hand, there are others who will be equally destroyed and left empty if I go the other way in defense of those I love.  There isn't an easy answer. Right now, I envy the little sparrows bouncing up and down in the dew covered grass as they look for bugs.     
In the midst of this situation, I can tell you, love isn't always easy.  I feel as if I'm in a lifeboat with a handful of people and I have to decide who to throw overboard in order to stay afloat.  I can't save everyone, but I want to.  Truths I've been taught all my life don't seem to apply.  People who taught me everything I believe aren't behaving as they taught me, and there is no moral absolute.  There isn't an easy answer.  Oh I think I've already said that.
For someone who values peace, I am in turmoil over what to do.  You would think that at my age I would have run up against this situation sometime in my past.  I haven't.  I can't even share the specifics in this blog because it would cause so much damage.  Yet, it came about by accident, actually just in a desire to know something fun and good. 
So, like I said, I'm in a quandary.
One thing I've learned though, is that you can't always protect the people you love.  You can't always protect love.  There are times you look at a situation and there isn't a path of least resistance.  There may not be a happy ever after.  Goodness is on the other side of a huge mountain of unknowns. 
The end of this situation doesn't look good for me, or anyone.  Someone is going to walk away broken hearted, and I'll be the bad guy no matter what I do. 
With all of that said, and everyone knowing how I am feeling in the midst of this situation, let me declare what my heart believes: People want, and need love, and sometimes it runs away from us just as fast as we can chase it. Good people can do bad things for good reasons, bad people can do good things. The past should never be our prison, and fear be the warden.  Like I said in my last blog, truth will set you free, but you have to be able to tell it in such a way as to gain forgiveness for your mistakes. 
Forgiveness is the crux of the situation I'm in.  The truth can cut the people I know and love to the heart, forgiveness can change the situation from potential disaster to amazing joy.  This is why I'm glad God didn't give us the ability to read minds.  That is why God is extraordinary.  He created us knowing full well what we would do to Him even before He uttered a word at the dawn of time. Yet, he loved us.  You can't love, or be love as in 'God is love' without being forgiving.  It's impossible.  Truly impossible.  That doesn't mean everyone I love and those that say they love Christ can be forgiving.  I know, I wrestled with unforgiveness for most of my life. 
You see, I believed in Jesus, and in God, but I didn't find their love for me until I found their forgiveness.  Finding love, means giving forgiveness.  I can only hope that those I love can have forgiveness.   

TRUTH

It's a wonderful Wednesday morning, and for those who know me well, Wednesday is like Friday in most peoples lives.  I look forward to Wednesday night services, because they are usually populated with people seeking to worship and grow in spiritual knowledge.  So, for that reason alone, I'm feeling excited about this day.   It's five in the morning, I'm sitting with my laptop in my recliner.  Glenda has left for work, and I have the house to myself.  This is my quiet time for writing emails, blogs, or editing my book I'm writing.  It's that wonderful time of year when I can open a window or a door and let the cool crisp air flow in from the outside.  It's just a little muggier than I like, but getting the stuffiness out of the room feels good.  

Sadly, the sparrows haven't awakened yet.  It's peaceful and calm outside.  

I don't usually use this blog to comment on political matters, because they are usually filled with the strife of people trying to exert influence over others through whatever means necessary.  Politics is the arena of human nature.  It is a place where peace rarely rests its hat.  Within the United States the two political forces can be summed up in simple ideology.  Those who claim to be liberal, want everyone to believe that all people are inherently good and that everyone has worth.  If you don't agree with their view, you are inherently evil, and have no worth.  They cling to a view that everyone will eventually grow into a cosmic whole of love, peace, and unity of purpose.  They (the left) are convinced that if we would all come to accept and believe what they believe, the world would be a better place. If you don't agree with that view, you are unworthy of human status.  

On the other end of that spectrum is the view that everything has to stay as it is, without question, without variation, without a hint of change.  Nothing changes, all is as it was, and people who want to change are frightening.  The radical right is defined by castes, cliques, and clubs.  If you don't agree with us, you are subversive, and destructive.  It is predicated upon the view that all people are incapable of making proper choices and should be directed into purpose as they define it.  

Both extremes of the political spectrum have committed evil in the propagation of their beliefs.  

With that said, I'm going to dip my toe into the political firestorm of the Judge Kavanaugh affair.  I hope this will be the first and last time I do something like this with this blog.  Why?  Because, there is a need for something more valuable than political purposes here. With a view to transparency (Is there any really needed here?) I am an evangelical conservative Christian.  For me, Judge Kavanaugh is someone I can support.  Although, he is Catholic, his conservative views are in line with what I hold.  Yet, there is one value yet to be validated.  Truth!

As anyone who has read my blogs knows, I am all about peace.  Not peace as men know it, but peace as given by a loving creator.  That peace transcends spiritual matters into the affairs of men.  I could go through a long list of spiritual matters that will not transcend into human affairs, because without a relationship with God, they hold no import.  However, TRUTH is one of those things that determine justice, and in turn affects peace.  Without truth, their is conflict in every aspect of life.  I realize some cultures value cunning, and deception.  Without deception of one kind or another, I truly believe humans would obliterate one another.  As humans, we withhold truth in order to maintain relationship, and we believe we have peace.  At a personal level, if we knew what people really believed about us, we would become murderous, and isolated.  Perhaps, that is why God didn't give us His ability to know what another person is thinking.  So, when I say truth brings peace, I am saying truth in as far as people resolving conflict.

So, what do we as Christians do when we are confronted with what we see in the current state of affairs between a nominated Judge, and an accusing woman.  WE SEEK TRUTH.  

For one thing, we don't know what happened 36 years ago.  We don't know who is telling the truth.  I hate to say it, but just because the accuser is a woman, doesn't mean she deserves to be believed.  Just because she may not have a reason to falsely accuse Judge Kavanaugh doesn't mean she should be believed.  On the other hand, just because Judge Kavanaugh has led an exemplary adult life, doesn't mean he didn't do what he is accused of doing.  Somewhere in the midst of this struggle that is outside the arena of this present truth, there is another struggle going on that makes the truth of greater import.  

I want Judge Kavanaugh to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, but not at the expense of the truth.  If I am willing to sacrifice the truth for an expedient end, I am no better than those who distort the truth in both sides of the media circus surrounding this story.  So as a Christian what do I do?  

Answer, I will choose to cherish truth.  I will cry out to my loving creator to bring truth to the forefront.

I don't fear the mid-term elections, or a hypothetical outcome I can't see.  I don't sacrifice truth in the rush to put someone into a seat of power that God may not want them in.  If I can't trust God with the day to day existence of my life human life, then I should stop serving him completely.  He knows the truth, and as the Bible says, the truth will set you free.  Christians shouldn't become part of the feeding frenzy that is this current political battle.  We should be the calming voice calling for truth.  At the same time, the truth doesn't take forever.  IF it is the truth, Perhaps, nearly 36 years ago a little 15 year old girl should have told her parents that she'd gone to a party with older kids and in their drunken stupor she'd almost been raped. We're told by her own account that she feared her parents reactions. Now, the truth may be forever marred by human opinion.  That is the price of secrecy.  The truth is already compromised by fear. Courage is the bosom buddy of truth.  

I often tell the men I pastor of a time in my childhood when I was a serial liar.  As a toddler my Dad caught me with my hand in the cookie jar and I still declared 'I didn't do it.'  Throughout my adolescence I would lie all the time.  Then one day, my brother used one of my dad's tools to repair his bicycle and left it outside to be rained on.  Dad found it in the yard and immediately blamed me.  I denied it vehemently, but it was of no avail, in his mind I was a liar, and I was lying then.  I received one of the worst whippings of my childhood, not because of its severity, but because as each stroke of the belt fell on my body, I knew I hadn't done what I was accused of.  I was innocent of the crime.  As I sat in my room crying a truth hit me that affected the course of my life forever.  I would tell the truth to my dad no matter what.  If it meant I would be punished, at least I would be punished for what I did.  I would tell him when I'd violated his personal spaces, strayed beyond decency, and experimented with my growing sexual urges.  In short, he and my mother would be privy to the truth of my life, even in the embarrassing stuff.  Because of that, my father eventually began to trust me when I made my declination of events I didn't do. Since that time I haven't always told the truth, and I haven't always revealed my deepest darkest secrets.  I've done things I'm ashamed of to this day, and I believe they are better locked away in the past.  To many people, those 'crimes' would be laughable.  At the same time to others they would be horrifying. If asked, however, I would tell the truth.  I have to believe that Judge Kavanaugh has learned the same lessons as myself, or I would not want him on the highest court in our land.  

Tomorrow, Judge Kavanaugh, and his accuser will both tell their stories to a nation in political turmoil.  In the wings of that chamber of human endeavors will be truth.  Believe me, there is truth out there, and that truth will win, no matter the outcome.  I can say that because I believe in a loving, and just God who judges above the will and and whims of humankind.  When this is all over with, the question for Christians isn't whether truth won out or not.  Truth doesn't always win out in the court of human affairs. My brother never got a whipping for leaving that wrench outside.  Everyday, innocent people die, the weak suffer, the poor get overridden, and despots continue to subdue. Yet, in the affairs of God, truth will be revealed.  All will be revealed.  When humans fail to believe that, the truth is of no value.  Without the truth, peace becomes elusive, and tyranny prevails.  These are things I know from my short 63 years on this earth.  I've seen the price of half-truths, outright lies, and hidden truth first hand.  I've seen what happens when we value secrecy more than transparency.  

So, I will try my hardest to watch the full Senate hearings, not the encapsulated reports of either side of the media.  I will pray that the truth prevails, no matter the political outcome, because I know a just judge is presiding over tomorrows proceedings.  I will ask Him to reveal the truth, because I know He values truth.  I will lay aside my anxious heart, my dubious musings, and my preconceptions for a moment of peace.  I will ask Holy Spirit to remove my prejudice and replace it with wisdom from His throne.  Like Solomon of old, I will ask for the means to know who is telling the truth.  I urge all of my Christian brothers and sisters to trust God and believe that He will reveal the truth.  Why?  

Because only the truth can bring peace.  

As a final word, the horizon is beginning to turn a beautiful deep blue as this world spins its daily course around our lovely sun.  I am beginning to hear the faint chirps of sparrows in the tree outside my eastern window.  They are waking up to a new day, unconcerned with the mess of human events, and the political wranglings I am focused on.  They will spend their day looking for food, seeking shelter, and living out their day trusting in the one who provides them with this awesome universe in which we live.  Tomorrow will come whether they live to see it or not.  Tomorrow will come, and that is all the truth they need to know.  

IF

There is a word in my vocabulary that isn't very big, but has an immense power beyond its size.  That word is 'IF'.  

Try going more than five minutes without using the word.  I doubt seriously any english speaking person can go that long.  I looked up the word 'if' in as many languages as I could and found out that it is a small word in almost all languages.  Yet, as small as the word is, it signifies a profound understanding of the universe around us.  'IF' forms the basis of most computational programs across the globe.  'IF' forms the basis of most of our decisions as humans.  It is common to almost all cultures, and people groups.  IF is also the basis for most religions across our globe.  As a Christian, though, the word IF has come to be a symbol of doubt.  Within the word IF you find uncertainty and to some degree ignorance.  This weekend I made a statement concerning an action I wished to occur and used the word IF.  I was immediately rebuked for doubting and expressing negativity.  After much thought, I came to accept the rebuke, but at the same time I hold the same thought in mind to measure the degree of uncertainty with which I do not know the will of God for the situation I was speaking about.  In other words, God's plan may not be my will.  That is the danger of 'Word of Faith.'  Even when we know God's expressed will about general things in this life, we are often confronted with instances where His plan circumvents or overrides his will.  The problem with 'if' is that it can be presumptuous or it can be fearful.  IF is always a question.  A question implies choices and sometimes we don't do choices well.  We especially don't do choices well when it comes to the will of God.   We know from scripture that it is not God's will that anyone should perish, but that all should come to eternal life.  We also know that there will be those that won't.  Every day people die without repenting or accepting the saving grace of God. This is not God's will, but it is the truth.  The reason for this, is that God loves us so much, He gives us choices.  It is a loving God that allows us to have free will, even when that will brings Him pain, and even when it ends in separation from Him.  God gave us the 'if' so we could be uniquely able to accept or reject Him.  Anyone who looks beyond the next moment is confronted with 'if'.  Our choices determine not only our future, but the future of those we touch everyday, as well as unborn generations to follow.  In my own life, I've come face to face with a bad choice made many years ago by someone I love greatly.  That choice now has the energy to bring great love, or great disaster  to our family.  It was not that person's desire, nor their intent at the time to do harm, but it can.  It also can bring great joy to all affected IF those affected by the decision choose to let go of fear.  That choice so many years ago brought a great goodness into this earth, but the cost could be inestimable if forgiveness isn't offered.  I've seen in my short 63 years upon this earth that when we make decisions or choices that were wrong at the moment, God affords us an opportunity to make it right somewhere along the line.  Giving someone the opportunity to be forgiven is what God is all about. IF can color our days with joy, or sadness.  IF can shade us with peace, or burn us with fear.  Eternity hangs on IF. 

Humankind has immortalized IF in so many ways.  "If only,"  "If he/she,"  "if they", "if I,"  and a host of other variations filled with regret.  We often couch our regrets in "if I could do it all over again," then we fill in the blanks.  The thing with regrets, is that they do nothing to change what happened.  "I'm sorry" is nice as a sentiment, but it reveals a failure to value the 'if' choice.  Sometimes our 'IF' choices result in the death of another, or great bodily injury to another, and the apology that follows rings small in comparison to the harm done.  There are also many 'if' choices that we'll never see the results of, but down the road will play out in future generations.  "I'm sorry," will not remove or ease the sting of those choices.  That is why God gave us two laws to 'live' by.  His commandments should guide us at that point where IF connects with action.  Living by the greater law of love moves us into a higher threshold of IF.  The law of love removes selfish consideration from the 'if/then' equation.  Once that happens, love conquers fear, and peace becomes the expression of that love.  Love makes our choices clearer and less cluttered with IF.  Love is the word of faith we should all live by.  That is why the Apostle Paul could say in 1st Corinthians 13: 13 (KJV)  and NOW abideth faith, hope, and charity (love), but the greatest of these is charity. 

Faith and hope are 'IF's, love is certain.  When you live LOVE, you solidify faith, and strengthen hope.  Without LOVE, faith and hope are empty vessels, heavy weights, and tormenting burdens.  It is LOVE that shapes peace.  

This is where we are greater than the sparrows.  As I'm writing this the eastern horizon is beginning to glow with the promise of the sunrise.  I can see thin clouds in the grey blue sky, but they can't hide the fact that above them the sun will shine whether I see it our not.  don't worry that the sun isn't shining on me, because I know that somewhere it is shining.  I may not live another day to see the sun shine again, but I know the sun will shine.  As long as I can awaken to God's grace, and love, I will not fear. In that way the sparrow has me beat.   I can hear a dog barking, and yes my gentle sparrows are already chirping and playing outside my office window.  As much as I enjoy the sparrows perch, there is one thing I know... they can't know the love I know in Christ Jesus.  This is the power of 'if' in my life.  When I fulfill the law of Christ, my regrets are fewer, I have less apologies to make, and IF doesn't rule my life.  I can then live in Peace.  

SUFFERING WITH OTHERS

As a handyman, I'm often called out to inspect damage, and give estimates for fixing the situation.  Most of the time, I'm satisfied that what I tell the prospective customer is valid and affordable.  I tend to lean more toward the affordable solution than one that is costly.  I know what it is like to have something break down or stop working without having the funds to fix it.  So, I tend to be just a little sensitive to people's financial needs.  Sometimes I will have a customer tell me that money is not an issue, but you know it is. 
There are times I go out to look at a job and find myself wishing I'd never gone out to look at it.  Such was the case for me this last week.  I was asked to go make a bid for putting a deck up around a double wide modular home way out in the country.  The couple had bought the home and were in the process of getting it moved when the husband died from a massive heart attack.  AS anyone knows who's gone through the death of a loved one, it can take well over a year before you get your feet back on the ground.  Such was the case with this customer.  When I drove out to the location of the home, I discovered that the two halves of the home were never fully joined together and that the ridge cap on the roof was never installed.  In simple terms, the home had sat open to the elements for over a year.  The movers had brought over the decking and materials only to throw them in heaps. 
I grew up in the mobile home industry from the time I was six or seven years old, and I can tell you that double-wides left open to the elements rarely go back together well.  As I looked at the home in shambles, my heart broke for the woman who'd called me out to look at it.   I had nothing but bad news to give her, and she didn't have a husband to help her bear the brunt of the bad news.  Even putting up the deck would be a disaster, and cost much more than I'd 'primed' her for before I went out. 
So, you might be wondering what if anything this has to do with the Sparrow's Perch and the peace of God.  Let me tell you.
The peace of God is ours even in the midst of tragedy.  As this week has unfolded, I've watched with great sorrow the slow and methodical approach of hurricane Florence.  As I write this, I know it will slam North Carolina like a freight train.  It will be a miracle if no one is killed, and an even greater miracle if there is no great property damage.  Just the predicted rain amounts alone are catastrophic.  Sometime this week, someone will be faced with death and destruction.  What do you say to console, or offer comfort?  What do you do? 
This brought the situation with my customer into even greater focus.  I'm on point with the customer.  They are part of my faith family, and someone I want to bless.  Sadly, I don't have the means to bless them.  I will continue to worship with her, and will shake her hand every time she comes to church, but I'll also know that I could not do anything to change her situation.  It is in God's hands. 
And that is the purpose of this blog.  Being in God's hands means that we can face the discouragements and the joys with the same trust in God.  There is an old Hebrew tradition called two pockets.  In one pocket you carry a note that says: "The Universe was created for me."  In the other is the statement; "I am but dust."  It is the essence of finding peace in God.  I know that God's peace is found both in the joys and the sorrows of this life. 
There is another Hebrew story that says King Solomon was tasked to provide a statement that would be applicable in all situations of life.  Solomon had his craftsman forge a ring with the inscription "and this too shall pass away."  Whether we are overcome with great joy, giddy happiness, pride from great achievements, or just the fruits of our labors, we know that it will pass amidst the inevitability of death, sickness, disaster, and even failure.  What is true of these things is that the terrors that beset us by night will soon fade and pass away into greater joy, happiness, and yes, peace. 
The sparrows have already begun to sing outside in my front yard.  The majestic silver maple that had been their perch for many years was cut down last week because the ants had devoured it from the inside out.  They have now taken up residence in the smaller pin oak on the corner of my lot.  They didn't lose faith in God because the maple was gone, no, they moved on to another tree.  I felt sorry for them when I had to cut the tree down, but soon realized that they weren't destroyed by the situation. 
I grieved all last week for my beloved sister in the Lord because I knew that I didn't have a solution for her.  I wanted to make it better for her, but it isn't in my power to do so.  Just the materials alone are beyond my financial ability to repair her home.  Could she sue the people who left her home open to the elements?  I don't know.  Would that even help?   What is the answer?  I know I'm not.  I grieve with her, and feel compassion for her.  I was ready to try and get the men of our fellowship to help me put the house right, but it would be a process that would take weeks.  I cried when I told her how much I thought it would cost to fix the home.  She doesn't have it.  What will be the story after Florence hits North Carolina?  Will someone like me have to tell a customer that their home of many years is destroyed beyond repair.  Do we miss the entire point to this? 
At least you are alive to be told the bad news.  The good news is that this too shall pass. 

AT PEACE WITH YOURSELF

I read a lot.  Not as much as I used to, (As a child, I used to read cereal boxes in the morning before heading out for the day).  Now, I read enough to stay current, and informed.  Being a reader makes it hard for me to take the time to write, even though I love to write.  I don't write as much as I used to, because my work schedule is not suited to it right now.  Now, if someone wanted to pay me to write....but, that could get old quick.
For those who've taken the time to read my past blogs, you know this blog is all about being at peace with God, others, and yourself.  Being at peace is something people have a hard time with right now.  Politically, socially, and even spiritually, people seem to be in turmoil.  People seem to be conflicted about their culture, gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, and a thousand things to which the media is able to spin you up about.  Some things make me snicker when I read them, and others make me shake my head in disbelief.  For example, I still haven't figured out what cultural appropriation is all about. I have a good friend whose home is decorated in minimalist Japanese style. Her husband was stationed in Japan during the late fifties and sixties, and she fell in love with the culture.  After her husband died, she decided to keep her home as it was in honor of his memory.  Why is that 'wrong'?  I also have another 'white' friend who loves blues music from the 20's and 30's.  Is it wrong to enjoy, collect, and submerge yourself in another culture?  Do you have to denounce your 'ethnicity' to enjoy the expressions of another race's culture?  Why is it offensive for 'white' people to enjoy the clothing, foods, and cultural trapping of another culture? These are questions I've been asking every time I read an article about 'white privilege.'  So, added to the many things we are in turmoil about, white people must now experience the angst of being 'white.'
I was saddened the other day by a headline in my news feed titled "Amy Schumer apologizes for being white."  Although the headline was misleading, (She actually was saying her last movie role would have been better suited to a woman of color), it is interesting that the subject was even broached.  It speaks to a deeper issue dealing with being comfortable in your own skin.  Now, of course this is easier said by a white male. 
Still, without being glib in any way, what are you going to do about who you are? 
YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE.  No matter what others might think of you, or what you think about yourself, you are what you see in the mirror. Actually, it is sad to think that the only way we can make ourselves feel important is by demeaning someone else.  It is equally sad to think that race or culture can be used to crush, subjugate, or hold back those who are different.  However, the dialogue doesn't begin by denouncing your genetics. 
This thought was driven home to me as I read an article about Christianity being a 'white' religion.  It seems as if our universities and high schools are on a crusade to begin purging the world of 'white heterosexual, males, and more specifically Christian males.'  If Amy Schumer can feel guilty about her role not going to a woman of color, think about the implication for white males. 
This problem of dissatisfaction with who you are is not bound up in education, the media, or any other manifestation of our cultural dis-functionalism, it is because we have lost touch with the creator who made us.  It is God who gives us our real identity, and it isn't just 'white.'  Real Christians realize this.  Is there a problem here?  Yes, we have many people who call themselves Christians who have hijacked the faith and used it for their hateful spiteful purposes. When you are a real christian you won't have to apologize for who or what you are.  You also won't feel superior about who you are.  A life changing faith in Jesus Christ makes it impossible to judge yourself as greater than anyone else.
Sadly, many universities and high schools are beginning to teach racism, and cultural elitism in an effort to lift minority peoples up to some invisible bar of equality. 
THERE IS NO EQUALITY!  As a vertically challenged, elderly, white male, I am here to tell you there is no equality without pulling exceptional people down.  My genetics made me a male, Caucasian, of less than average height.  It would be foolish of me to demand equality.  What part of my genetics am I going to change?  No matter how much I could protest, lobby, or push for equality, someone somewhere is going to be born taller, faster, stronger, smarter, quicker, or anything else better than I am by genetics. That is the greatest quality about true Christianity, you can be the image of God no matter your race, culture, gender, or even religion.  This one truth about the the Judaeo-Christian value system is twisted and turned around by those who don't know the Word of God.  God made us all, filled us with the breath we breathe, and gave us one simple command; Love God, and love others. If you do this with all your heart, you won't have room for privilege, hatred, or any other expression of superiority. 
At the same time, I won't feel guilty about being white, nor will I be or feel privileged for it.  I won't curse my parents for 'knowing' each other at the right time or temperature to make me male.  I also won't curse them for passing on my mother's family genome of being short. 
Like the little sparrows who are busy enjoying this lovely spring weather, I will simply rest in the knowledge that I am infinitely loved by an infinite creator who loves everyone with an undying love.  I'm truly saddened for those who don't know this.  Find God, and you will find peace.