The Olympics

 All eyes are focused on Paris for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2024 Summer Games next Friday, July 26.   The best athletes of the world will compete to the limit of their talent and determination.  Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, will again compete for the gold in women’s gymnastics.  LeBron James, 39, competed in his first Olympics 20 years ago.  He will return to lead the U.S. in its search for another gold.

 The Olympic Games date back to 776 BC and were expanded in the first century by Augustus Caesar, the Emperor of record at Jesus’ birth.  Writing to Greeks in the first century, the Apostle Paul drew on Olympic metaphors to help them understand how to live the Christian life: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.” (1 Corinthians 9:24).

 Christianity is not a spectator religion. We all must run!  Our churches are arranged so that most of us appear to be spectators watching a few performers on the stage. The truth is that we all must compete in the race every day. Sunday services are more like team meetings in the locker room, or a pep rally before the big game, preparing us for the main event that starts on Monday. 

 The Academy Award winning movie “Chariots of Fire” was based on the 1924 Olympic competition between Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, the two fastest men of their day.  Abrahams had never lost a race until Eric Liddell beat him in the 100-meter dash by a single step.  Mortified by the loss, he later sat in the empty stands with his fiancé.  She kept trying to encourage him, but he finally snapped at her, “You don’t understand.  If I can’t win, I won’t run.”  Stunned, she paused for a moment then responded with typical feminine insight. “If you don’t run,” she said, “you can’t win!” That is the Apostle’s point.  If we don’t run, we can’t win.  We must all live out our faith in Christ in such a way that we “run to win!”

 This requires discipline. Paul continues, “Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.(1 Cor. 9:25). The athletes we are watching in Paris must exercise great discipline in diet and training. Only by imposing discipline upon their bodies can they compete for the gold. 

Too many Christians think that once they accept Christ by faith and receive the assurance of heaven that they can live however they wish. They are like someone who has been accepted to the Olympics and prepares for their event by eating Blue Bell ice cream and watching others practice. They might be at the Olympics, but they won’t win. The Apostle concludes, “I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” (1 Cor. 9:27).

the Assassination Attempt

 The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has shocked and, hopefully, sobered our nation.  For too long our national politicians have indulged in violent and acerbic rhetoric.  An entire generation has come into their adult years listening to Presidential candidates characterizing one another as dangerous extremists. 

 Fortunately, the would-be-assassin’s bullet missed its mark by a fraction of an inch and Donald Trump was spared.  Tragically the other bullets he fired took a heroic father’s life and left two others seriously wounded.  Hopefully the shock of the scene will cause everyone to rachet down their assumptions and accusations, both in public discourse and in private.

 Some of us, who are a dwindling number, remember the 1960’s: the paralyzing report that President Kennedy had been killed on the streets of Dallas November 22,1963;  Martin Luther King, Jr. shot down by a sniper’s bullet at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, April 4, 1968;  and Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy dying in a pool of blood at the hands of an assassin in  the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, June 5, 1968.  Emotions were high.  Thousands were dying in Vietnam.  Protesting students were gunned down at Kent State.   Those were tragic times we hoped would never be repeated.

 Words matter.  Jesus was clear in His instructions and warnings.  “You have heard it said, you shall not murder, but I say to you everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court, and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good for nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell,” (Matthew 5:21-22).

 A 20-year-old young man fired the bullets that killed one and wounded others, including former President Trump, but everyone who has engaged in denigration of opposing candidates in both parties had their finger on the trigger.  We must do better.

 Our politicians and journalists must lead the way, treating one another with courtesy and respect.  Listening with consideration rather than shouting and dismissing.  Again, as Jesus instructed, “There is a saying, ‘Love your friends and hate your enemies.’ But I say: Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!  … If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even scoundrels do that much. If you are friendly only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even the heathen do that,” (Matthew 5:43-48 Living Bible.)

Flying Upside Down

 Twenty-five years ago, July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jr. took off on his fateful flight from Essex County Airport, New Jersey.  Heir to the legendary Kennedy good looks, charm and fortune, the young Kennedy possessed unlimited potential for political and commercial fame.  But, in less than two hours, his young life would be cut short along with his wife and sister-in-law who were passengers.

 Flying at night without instrument ratings, the young Kennedy was dependent upon visual contact with the ground in order to land the Piper Saratoga safely at Martha’s Vineyard Airport two hundred miles away. Unknown to Kennedy, he was flying into a night fog.  Choosing to fly over open water, he became disoriented with no visual horizon, and apparently pulled the plane into a deadly spiral. Their bodies were discovered in the wreckage eight miles off the coast of Massachusetts. 

 Kennedy’s tragic death underlines the dangers of spatial disorientation in flight, something commonly referred to as “flying upside down.”  The pilot thinks he is flying right-side up, but is, in fact, “flying upside down,” so that when he thinks he is pulling up, he is instead flying into the ground. Dallas Willard used this metaphor to introduce his book, The Divine Conspiracy drawing the conclusion that Jesus was the only person who ever lived who knew how to fly right-side up. The rest of us, left to our own devices, inevitably fly upside down. 

This is the reason Jesus’ instructions sound so counter intuitive.  “Give and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down and running over.”  “Whoever would save his shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”  “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. … If you love those who love you what reward do you have?” “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.  Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” “Do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also”

Jesus’ instructions sound incredulous in a world that operates on systems of revenge and retaliation, of greed and self-interest.  Perhaps that is the reason our world seems to be out of control, gripped in a death spiral destined for destruction. Only when we learn to trust the One who alone can see the horizon are we able to “right our plane” and fly right-side up.

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You Are Better Than You Think

 This last weekend was one of those weekends we live for.  At 77 I taught my 7-year-old grandson to ride a bike.  He has been unwilling to try, convinced it was something he could not do, paralyzed with self-doubt.  But the time had come.  He needed to learn. We used his sister’s hand-me-down bike, pink with pink pedals. 

 I told him to stand on one foot, while I did the same.  His balance was much better than mine.  I explained that no-one can balance on a bike standing still.  We started at the top of a moderate hill so he could learn to balance without pedaling.  The pedals got in the way, so, I removed them.  I lowered the seat so he could place his feet on the ground while seated to steady himself and to stop. At first it was only a few feet, then a few more, by the end of the day he was able to balance the bike all the way to the bottom of the hill.  That was enough.

 The following day, I added the pedals.  I told him how my dad taught me to ride a bike when I was his age.  I loved it then and still do, even at 77.  We went to a school parking lot.  He learned to position the pedal at the top of a downward stroke to launch himself into motion.  He wobbled.  He didn’t go far.  I took his face in my hands, looked into his eyes and said, “You are better than you think you are.”   By the end of the day he was riding wherever he wanted to ride.  When he demonstrated his newfound skill to his parents they were thrilled.  He said, “Tomorrow, you can buy me my own bike!”  They did.

 That experience reminded me of a lesson we all must continually learn.  We all have moments when we struggle with self-doubt.  We feel like Charlie Brown in Peanuts, “One step on the stage of life and we feel that we are not right for the part.”  It is as if God is constantly whispering into our ear the words I said to my grandson, “You are better than you think you are.”

 Read God’s conversation with Moses on the back side of the desert in Exodus 3.  Moses continually argues that he is unable to do what God is asking him to do.  He is not articulate.  No one will believe him. The people will not follow. 

 Listen to Isaiah in the temple, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips,” (Isaiah 6).  Or Peter when He met Jesus, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”  Jesus responded, “I will make you fishers of men.”

 Whatever your weakness, whatever your failing, whatever your fear.  You are better than you think you are.  God sees it in you!  He will forgive you, cleanse you and make you better than you believed you could be. (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Faith and Freedom

 Next week we will celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence with its famous words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The Civil War with Lincoln’s Gettysburg address was inspired by these words.

 In his book, Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind, (one of Bill Gates’ favorite books) Yuval Noah Harari argues that the Declaration of Independence would look starkly different if it were re-written to reflect secular science. According to Harari, if we stripped the foundations of the Christian faith from its wording, and replaced them with evolutionary science, it would read like this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men evolved differently, that they are born with certain mutable characteristics, and that among them are life and the pursuit of pleasure.”

 Without God, we cannot be “created.”  Neither can we be “endowed by our Creator,” since there is no Creator to endow us with self-worth. We are left with an accidental existence unrelated to value.  Human beings could have no more inherent worth than the spider or the ape.

 And regarding liberty, “There is no such thing in biology,” Herari contends, “liberty is something that people invented and exists only in their imagination. From a biological viewpoint, it is meaningless to say that humans in democratic societies are free.”  Since science has not been able to define happiness, we will have to settle with the “pursuit of pleasure.” 

 Unless we recapture the “faith of our fathers,” our future may look like the forbidding landscape of science fiction movies with human beings consigned to violence and anarchy.  Without faith, we could return to a “survival of the strongest.”  

 Where would we be without the statements of Jesus? “The very hairs of your head are numbered. Love one another as I have loved you.  In that you have done it to the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me.”

 Hitler followed secular science to its logical conclusion and implemented a policy of eugenics that eliminated the weak and infirm as “life unworthy of life.” Over 400,000 were sterilized against their will. Millions were exterminated.  Marriage was strictly controlled to foster eugenic purity.

 Others, like Mother Theresa, Corrie Ten Boom, William Wilberforce and Abraham Lincoln followed a faith that compelled them to care for the poorest of the poor, to set the captive free, to bind up the nation’s wounds.

 Jesus identified  Himself as the Messiah saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,” (Luke 4:18-19).

 Only faith can give us the framework for human dignity and worth. Only faith can safeguard our freedoms.

When Suicide Strikes

 I wrote my first column about suicide in 2010.  As painful as the subject is, I try to address it at least once a year because so many families suffer from the aftermath of its tragic effects.  In many cases, the memory of the person who takes their life is virtually erased.  Unlike other loved ones who die, few mention their name. Friends don’t know what to say.  Comfort is often elusive.

 A reader sent one of my early columns to friends whose son had taken his own life.  They responded, “Thank you.  No one other than our closest relatives, and there are very few left; has mentioned our son’s suicide in conversation or written word since it happened.”   Sadly, the number of families experiencing loss of loved ones to suicide is growing.

 A recent study by the Pentagon reported that the leading cause of death among American servicemen is suicide.  Studying the causes of death among U.S. soldiers between 2014 and 2019, the study concluded that enlisted men were nine times more likely to die from suicide than from enemy fire. During that time period, 883 servicemen committed suicide.

 According to further interviews, the suicide rate among active-duty soldiers has continued to climb since 2019. To date, 55 servicemen have died due to suicide in 2024.   While the military is attempting to stem the suicide trends among service personnel, they note that suicide has been increasing in the general population as a whole, up 37% since 2000. The American Psychological Association reports that more than 20% of youth have contemplated suicide. 

 In his book, A Confession, Leo Tolstoy described his struggle to avoid suicide.  After he had written War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and had skyrocketed to fame and fortune, he fell into deep depression.  Tolstoy wrote “All this befell me at a time when all around me I had what is considered complete good fortune. … in this situation I came to this – that I could not live, and, fearing death, had to employ cunning with myself to avoid taking my own life.”

 Having rejected all religion as a young man.  Tolstoy searched for an answer through the sciences, philosophy and world religions.  He wrote, “I was no longer in the position in which I had been in my youth, when all in life was clear; I had indeed come to faith because, apart from faith, I had found nothing, certainly nothing, except destruction.” 

 “I remembered that I only lived at those times when I believed in God. As it was before, so it was now; I need only be aware of God to live; I need only to forget Him, or disbelieve Him, and I died. … I should long ago have killed myself had I not had a dim hope of finding Him.  I live, really live, only when I feel Him and seek Him. … To know God and to live is one and the same thing.  God is life.”

 Tolstoy became a devout follower of Jesus Christ.  His commitment to follow Jesus in all things led to his later writings that strongly influenced such men as Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr.  He remained committed in his faith until his death at age 82.

Fathers and Our Future

 I have been reflecting on fathers as we approach Father’s Day next Sunday.  We live in a neighborhood with many young families.  Few sights bring me more pleasure than seeing fathers enjoying their children. Some on walks pushing strollers alongside their wives, the family dog on a leash; others playing catch or shooting hoops in their front yard; some on bikes leading their young families through the park and others splashing amid the squeals of laughter in our neighborhood pool.

 When we moved into our house six years ago, our neighbor directly across the street was a single young man in his twenties.  He had three other guys living with him. But, soon after he met a girl. We had them over for dinner.  They fell in love. The guys moved out and during Covid their wedding was the only public event we attended.  A year later they had a son, and, a year after that, another.  Now he is one of the proud fathers I watch pouring his life into his children.

 Another couple in their early thirties moved in.  The men joined me on our back deck for fellowship and prayer.  The older of the two shared with me that he and his wife had deep desire to for children but  struggled with infertility.  We began to pray.  We prayed for two years.  A year ago, she gave birth to one of the most beautiful baby girls I have ever seen.  Their abounding joy is contagious.  That baby girl has her father wrapped around her little finger.  He can’t stop grinning.

 Occasionally I scan the news: social media, the newspaper, an occasionally newscast on TV.  It is mostly depressing and confusing. But when I watch young families and listen to the laughter of children, my faith is renewed, hope abounds. 

 Last week I watched Scottie Scheffler claim the Memorial trophy at Jack Nicklaus’ signature golf tournament in Ohio.  After he sank his tournament winning putt, he was far more interested in finding his wife and his 1-month-old son than he was in receiving the trophy or shaking hands with the legendary Nicklaus. It was his first win as a father.

 When he launched his career with multiple wins, Scheffler said, “The reason why I play golf is I’m trying to glorify God and all that He’s done in my life. So, for me, my identity isn’t a golf score.” 

 The prophet Malachi foretold the coming of the “forerunner” who would prepare the way for the Messiah. “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.  He will ^[a]restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers,” (Malachi 4:5-6).

 Perhaps Jeremiah’s exhortation to the exiles expresses the hope of our generation and its future: “Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the ^]welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare,” (Jeremiah 29:5-7).