If You Believe

 A scientist placed a number of fleas in a jar and they immediately jumped out. He then placed a clear glass plate over the top of the jar.  The fleas continued to jump, smashing their heads into the invisible barrier.  They kept this up for some time, jumping with all their might, crashing into the glass and falling back.  They slowly adjusted the height of their jump to avoid crashing into the invisible lid.  The scientist then removed the glass lid, and the fleas remained in the jar, jumping just short of where the lid had been, unable to clear the lip of the jar and escape.

 The jumping fleas are a parable of how we adjust our expectations.  Like the fleas, we become conditioned to limitations imposed by others and, sometimes, imposed by ourselves.  We no longer try to extend beyond the comfort of what we have done before and we remain trapped by traditions and learned behavior.

 Wilbur and Orville Wright were sons of an itinerant preacher, a Bishop in the United Brethren Church. Like their father, they were gentlemen who neither smoked, drank nor gambled.  But they learned to dream.

 When the Wright brothers arrived at Kitty Hawk, NC, they found an almost deserted island with constant winds, lots of sand and about fifty homes, mostly occupied by descendants of shipwrecked sailors.  The residents wore hand sewn clothes and lived in homes with scarce furniture and bare floors scrubbed white with sand.

 Wilbur boarded with the William Tate family and set to work assembling his “darn fool contraption,” as the locals called it.  Tate later said, “We believed in God, a bad Devil and a hot Hell, and more than anything else we believed that same God did not intend man should ever fly.” 

 The Wright brothers became fast friends with the Tate family and the outer banks people, who helped them immensely. Within 3 years, on December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers lifted into the air. Six years later,   Orville Wright circled the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor and the Wright plane flew over the Eifel Tower in Paris. Aviation was born.  The world has never been the same.

 Jesus was constantly urging his disciples to think beyond their limited expectations.  Often He referred to the twelve disciples as “you of little faith.”  He challenged them, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.”  (Matthew 17:20).

 Jesus chose twelve of the most unlikely men to follow Him.  They were common fishermen, common laborers and a tax collector. Without Jesus they would have lived out their lives in their small villages unnoticed.  History would have taken no note.  But Jesus taught them to believe beyond the limitations of their day.   Armed with faith, confident in the power that raised Jesus from the dead, they turned the world upside down and changed the course of human history.

 “Nothing,” Jesus said, “is impossible with God.” 

Halloween

 Next Friday miniature ghosts, goblins and superheroes will emerge at dusk to comb the streets in search of candy.  It is a long tradition in America, one I grew up with as a child and one I enjoyed as a parent. It is, perhaps, one of the few traditions we still celebrate outside with our neighbors. Manicured lawns are transformed into a mystical world of floating cobwebs, jack-o-lanterns and tombstones.

 Watchful parents huddle at the curb and visit while their little ghouls cheerfully threaten their neighbors with tricks for treats. Expectant children hold open hopeful bags and peer into their dark recesses trying to determine what luck they might have had at the door. 

 I always enjoyed taking our kids trick-or-treating. We had fun dressing them up and entering, at least for a night, into their fantasy world.  I liked watching them celebrate their growing assortment of candy gathered from well-wishing neighbors, until a costumed spook jumped from the bushes and convinced our five year old he had enough candy for one night. 

 I still look forward to answering our door bell on Halloween.  I enjoy trying to guess who is hiding behind the princess mask, what little boy is growling in the Ninja Turtle costume.  I like it when ET and Yoda drop by for a visit with their pet ghost-dog. They are polite ghosts and witches and extra-terrestrials. They almost always say, “Thank you.” 

 

Halloween, of course, has its dark side. Our nightly news reports of abducted children and maps dotted with sexual predators have erased the naïve world of Halloween past.  We are more aware that we live in a dangerous world where evil is real and present.   

 

Many churches are more than a little uncomfortable with Halloween.  On the one hand, it is enjoyable to celebrate community with imagination, fantasy and neighborly generosity.   On the other hand, there are demonic and destructive forces at work in the world that kill and destroy.  It is one thing to celebrate fall and indulge in imagination.  It is another to celebrate the occult, witchcraft, the devil and demons.

 Many struggle with addictions and impulses they seem unable to control.  They find themselves on a collision course with destruction.  Our world needs deliverance from evil.

 Jesus once met a man filled with destructive demons.  He lived among the tombs of the dead, often cutting himself with sharp stones.  Local citizens tried to control him by putting him in chains, but he broke the chains and escaped back to his home among the graves.  When Jesus ordered the demons that were destroying the man to leave him the demons entered a nearby herd of swine that immediately rushed into the sea and were drowned.  The man was healed.  When his neighbors found him, he was in his right mind, sitting with Jesus, no longer a threat to himself or to them. But it scared them. They asked Jesus to leave their country and not to come back.  (Mark 5:1-20). Forces that we cannot understand or control always scare us.

 This Halloween we will celebrate an occasion to enjoy our children and their imagination. We will celebrate the turning leaves, dry corn, pumpkins and harvest. And we will celebrate that we have a deliverer who can conquer evil in our hearts and in the world.

Celebrities and Mortality

The list of celebrities who have died this year is growing long.  February 18 Gene Hackman died in his New Mexico home.   April 1, Val Kilmer died.  August 7, astronaut James Lovell, commander of Apollo 13; September 16, Robert Redford died peacefully at his home in Utah. And October 11, Diane Keaton succumbed to pneumonia in Santa Monica.

 

Somehow we don’t think of celebrities as mortal.  Their images on the screen make them bigger than life:  Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, Little Bill in Unforgiven; Doc Holiday in Tombstone; Tom Hanks portrayal of Lovell in Apollo 13; the Sundance Kid, Roy Hobbs in The Natural; Louise Bryant in Reds, Nina Banks in Father of the Bride.Their cinema performances made them seen immortal.  But, they weren’t.    

 

The truth of Scripture appears stark.  “The days of our lives are but 70 years, or if by strength, 80, for soon they are gone and we fly away,” (Psalm 90).  “For the Lord God knows our estate that we are but dust.  For man is like the grass of the field that flourishes as a flower, and after the wind passes it is no more and its place remembers it no longer,”(Psalm 103).     

 

My grandchildren have no recognition or remembrance of some of the icons who shaped the world in my youth.  Paul Newman. (Did he have something to do with coffee?)  Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Ricky Nelson, Annette Funicello.  I’m not sure they even know who John Wayne was.  “… After the wind blows …”

 There is One who lived who remains. James Allen Francis captured his significance in a sermon in 1926: "He was born in an obscure village, a child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty.  Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.  He never had a family.  Or owned a home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place he was born.  He never wrote a book or held an office.  He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. While he was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him.  His friends deserted him.

“He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.  While he was dying his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had, his coat. When he was dead, he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave.  Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he is still the central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, All the navies that ever sailed and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned put together
have not affect the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as this One Solitary Life.

 Job asked the question, “If a man die, shall he live again?”  After a long ordeal of sorrow, disappointment, doubt and despair he arrived at his answer, “Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, He will take His stand on the earth.  Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God, whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself, and whom my eyes will see, and not another,” (Job 19:25-27).

Practicing Kindness and Compassion

 I like to read. Always have. As a kid I rode my bike to our local library with my friends to browse and check out books. When I met my wife, we spent our evenings together in the library at Baylor University and, across the years, libraries have remained one of our favorite places to visit on our “dates.”

  Once in awhile, a book sticks with me. Same Kind of Different as Me is one of those books that stuck. Based on a true story, the book was made into a movie in 2017 starring Renee Zellweger.

Same Kind of Different As Me is two stories. One, the story of an illiterate black man named Denver who was raised in the cotton fields of Louisiana and ended up homeless on the streets of Fort Worth. The other, an upwardly mobile white man named Ron Hall who graduated from TCU and made a fortune in the art world. They each tell their story, and the remarkable intersection of their journeys.

Maybe I was drawn to the book because Ron Hall spent his childhood summers on a farm near my boyhood home of Corsicana. His descriptions of Corsicana resonated with my memories growing up on Collin Street, one of the signature brick streets that reflect the glory days when the city boasted more millionaires per capita than any other town in Texas. Maybe I was drawn to the book because Ron and Denver intersect in the slums of Fort Worth east of downtown where my wife started her teaching career fifty years ago.

But the true stories of Ron Hall and Denver Moore are not the main stories in the book. They represent other stories: the story of our country and its culture. Ron represents those who rise from middle class with professional opportunities that can lead to great wealth. He also represents the dangers of that path that include temptations for greed, materialism, shallow and broken relationships. Denver represents the alarmingly huge segment of our population that falls between the cracks, victims of prejudice, oppression, injustice and neglect. He also represents the dangers of that downward spiral that includes temptations of bitterness, anger, isolation and despair.

The greatest story underlying and connecting all of these is God’s story. Ron’s wife, Deborah is the entry point for His work, one person who was open, willing and obedient who became the catalyst for connecting these two broken men from different ends of the social spectrum.

In a day when many look to government to heal our wounds and solve our social problems, Same Kind of Different As Me serves as a reminder that the real solution to our personal and social problems lies within us. It is often buried beneath our own prejudices and fears, but it can be unlocked and released with the keys of acceptance, trust, faith and love, all the things Jesus demonstrated and talked about.

God wants to use each of us, whatever our race, whatever our circumstance, whatever our background to make a difference in the world. “Thus has the Lord of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice, and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another,” (Zechariah 7:8-10).

How Immense Is God?

In the 1960s J. B. Phillips wrote a book entitled, Your God is Too Small. The title can apply to all of us.  Our understanding of God is always too small.  Our finite minds have limited comprehension of the infinite power and presence of God. In his introduction Phillips wrote, “God is immeasurably ‘bigger’ than our forefathers imagined, and modern scientific discovery only confirms their belief that man has only just begun to comprehend the complex Being who is behind what we call ‘life.’”

 Once in awhile science gives us a hint.   Voyager 1’s almost 50-year-old journey to the edge of the Solar System does just that.  Next year, November 2026, Voyager 1 will achieve a literal “milestone.”  Launched in 1977, traveling at 38,025 mph, Voyager 1 will reach 1 light day from earth, the distance light travels in one day.  50 years and it is just now on the doorstep of interstellar space.  Of course, one light year requires 365 light days.  So, it will take another 17,500 years for Voyager to travel one light year from earth. 

 The nearest star to earth is Proxima Centauri, 4.25 light years away.  Since Voyager 1 has already been traveling 50 years, it should reach Proxima Centauri in another 74,325 years. The most distant star from earth, that we know of, is 28 billion light years away.  Our universe is incredibly immense.  That being the case, consider how immense the Creator is.  This is why the Bible says God is “from everlasting to everlasting.”  To God “1,000 years is like yesterday when it passes,” (Psalm 90). 

 In his book, Rumors of Another World, Philip Yancey wrote, “I find more of a spirit of reverence among secular science writers than in some theologians.  The wisest among them admit that all our widening knowledge merely expresses our more-widening pool of ignorance.”

 Albert Einstein stated, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.  He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

 C. S. Lewis cited the source of intelligence as his turning point from atheism to faith, and eventually Christianity.  The intelligent source of all creation wrote himself into His own creation when “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”

 John expressed the immense mystery of God and incarnation in this way, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind.  And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not ^[grasp it,” (John 1:1-5).

What's In It For Me?

 October baseball is here.  Major League teams have played 162 games over six months for this moment.  Stadiums are packed with hopeful fans. The Blue Jays and Yankees finished with identical won-loss records, but the Blue Jays win the tiebreaker based on their head-to-head record.  The Yankees will have to get past Boston to play the Blue Jays again.  Detroit will have to get past Cleveland to play Seattle. In the National League, LA must win over Cincinnatti to Play the Phillies.  The Cubs and San Diego fight it out to play the Brewers.  There is nothing quite like baseball.

 The 1989 movie, Field of Dreams is rated number five among the favorite baseball movies of all time. In the story, Ray Kinsella responds to a “voice” that urges him to build a baseball diamond, complete with lights, in the middle of his Iowa corn field.  After doing everything the “voice” commands him to do, Ray is stunned to see Shoeless Joe Jackson and some of the greats of the game emerge from his cornfield to play the game as they did in their youth.

 The story climaxes with an invitation from Shoeless Joe to join them in the cornfield, a dimension beyond the edges of this world. But Ray, who has risked everything to build the field, is not invited. Instead, Jackson invites the cynical 1960s writer, Terrence Mann.  Ray explodes in a fit of frustration demanding, “What’s in it for me?”  To which Shoeless Joe asks, “Is that why you did this Ray, for what’s in it for you?”                                                       

It is a good question.  According to experts in marketing, it is the question we all ask when we consider purchasing any product or joining any organization. In our age of seeker-sensitive churches, it seems to be the dominant question asked by anyone considering a church. “What’s in it for me?” But, is it the right question?

 When Jesus invited Peter, James and John to leave their home, their families and their boats, I wonder how He would have responded if they had asked, “What’s in it for me?” Perhaps He would have responded as He did when the young man with great possessions refused to give up his wealth.  How much do we miss of what God has for us because we are so focused on “What’s in it for me?”

Jesus’ invitation to join Him on life’s eternal journey sounds strangely different than our twenty-first century marketing plans.  Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25). 

Perhaps what is “in it” for us is the same thing that was “in it” for Jesus: the pleasure that comes from obedience to the Father. “My food,” Jesus said, “is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (John  4:34).  When the Apostle Paul reached the end of his journey, he measured it in this way, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;” (2 Timothy 4:7). “I did not prove disobedient to the Heavenly vision.” (Acts 26:19).

What Does God Want

 When I listen to myself pray, and when I listen to others pray, it seems that most of what we say to God revolves around what we want.  Sometimes our lists are heart-rending.  We desire healing from a deadly disease, comfort from the loss of someone we love, a job and a paycheck. More often, our prayers are day-to-day: a passing grade on the exam, strength to get through another day at work, safe travel.  Sometimes they are trivial:  a victory on the football field, our favorite team in the playoffs.  Most of our prayers are filled with the things that we want God to do for us.

 But sometimes I wonder, what does God want?

 Maybe he wants a great cathedral constructed in His honor, a building that rises out of the concrete and towers over the city with majestic spires and stained glass windows. Perhaps he wants a more modern structure that resembles the headquarters of a major corporation or a shopping mall. Something designed to make a statement to the world that God is important.

 Maybe He wants music. Perhaps God wants classical music like Ode to Joy, or Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring.  Or, maybe he prefers contemporary music: amplifiers, electric guitars, drums, drums and more drums.  Maybe God prefers Blue Grass or Country.  Who knows?  I sometimes wonder what we will sing in Heaven.

Maybe God likes His own sounds: thunder in the heavens, the whisper of wind in the wings of a bird, echoes in a canyon, a babbling brook or the powerful rush of Niagara Falls.

 The Bible gives some pretty good clues about what God wants. 

 In Isaiah’s day, God made it clear that He was fed up with efforts to impress Him with religious behavior. He said, “When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you this trampling of My courts?

Bring your worthless offerings no longer. … Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.  Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson,
they will be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:12-18).

 When I think about how I feel as a parent, this makes perfect sense.  I am happiest as a parent when my children are together, when I hear them laughing, when they enjoy one another and go out of their way to help each other.  Of course, I want them to love me.  But somehow I feel like they love me best when they are loving each other.

 Many people assume that God measures our love for Him by how religious we become.  But John set us straight when he wrote, “One who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”  (1 John 4:20).

 The bottom line is this:  God wants us to get along with each other.  He wants people to be kind to each other, to do good things and help each other. Jesus said,  “If you love me you will keep my commandments.  … This is my commandment.  That you love one another, just as I have loved you.”  (John 14:15; 15:12).

Remembering Buddy

 I stumbled across an old prayer:  “Lord, help me to be the man my dog thinks I am.” Anyone who has a dog will understand that prayer.  It took almost a year for me to convince my wife I should have a dog.  We had dogs when we were raising the kids, but they weren’t my dog.  They belonged to the kids and the family.  After the kids grew up, I decided I wanted my own dog, and she finally gave in, as long as I promised to take care of him. She grew to love him as much as I did and made sure he was cared for.

 My dog’s name was Buddy, a tri-color corgi who was with me most of his life.  We adopted him 16 years ago from Corgi rescue.  He had been picked up off the streets, skinny, sick and lost.  We bonded.  He wanted to be wherever I was and go wherever I went.  I usually get up about 6:30 in the morning, brew a cup of coffee and go outside on our deck to watch the sunrise, meditate and pray.  Buddy went with me. He sat nearby, sniffed the air and thought his “dog” thoughts.

 After breakfast Buddy went to my study, found his spot under my desk, and started the day’s work, napping while I wrote.  If I went downstairs to watch a ball game, Buddy stood at the top of the stairs and waited to be invited.  If I didn’t invite him, he eventually came anyway. 

 We used to go on long walks every day, usually two miles.  We had several routes which he marked on trees, fire hydrants and bushes. He always checked for “pee-mail” left by other dogs. In his later years Buddy developed arthritis in his right front leg.  Walks of a half mile or more left him limping.  Sometimes he was unable to put weight on the leg for a day or more. So, we stopped taking walks other than poop and pee walks.  The vet continued to say he was a “healthy geriatric.”  My grandchildren calculated his age in “dog years” and informed me that he is 90 years old.

 Buddy apparently thought a lot of me, even when I didn’t think much of myself. When I returned from a trip, he was beside himself. He whimpered, danced and barked like a puppy, overjoyed to see me.  When I was in a foul mood, he wasn’t.  He just waited for me to feel better.  Once, when I was overcome with grief, he jumped into my lap to comfort me.

 Across the years Buddy taught me many lessons:  patience, forgiveness, trust, acceptance.  Finally, he taught me how to grow old. Buddy never complained, had no regrets and woke up happy to greet the morning. Unfortunately, a Corgi’s life expectancy is 12 to 13 years.  Buddy made it to 14.  We had to “let him go” in January of 2022. 

 Now that I am growing old in human years, thoughts of Buddy remind me of God’s promise.  “Listen to me … you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born.  Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.  I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and rescue you” (Isaiah 46:3-5).   “Bless the Lord O my soul … who satisfies your years with good things so that your youth is renewed as the eagle.” 

Bill Tinsley's chilcren's book, Buddy the Floppy Ear Corgi, is FREE on Amazon September 13-17 as an eBook. 

Acts of Kindness

 Sully Sullenberger, the captain who skillfully landed US Airways flight 1549 on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009, became a household name.  After striking a flock of geese that disabled the engines, Sullenberger flew the plane like a giant glider and landed safely on the Hudson River saving the lives of 155 people on board.  For thirty years Sullenberger flew airplanes in an uneventful career.  This one act made him a national hero. The event was captured in the movie, Sully, starring Tom Hanks.

 Unlike Sullenberger, few took notice of Julien Duret, a French tourist who plunged into New York’s East River to save a two-year-old child. When Julien Duret saw Bridget Sheridan slip through the guard rail and fall into the river, he did not hesitate.  He immediately jumped into the river to save her. Later, amid all the commotion, he took a taxi and disappeared without waiting to be thanked. Like most heroes, he did not consider himself heroic.

  Few of us will be given such significant opportunities to perform heroic feats that make the news.  And even if the heroic opportunity were given to us, we might miss it. 

 Celebrated heroic actions make a difference.  They burst upon us like a torrential downpour that sweeps us off our feet. But it is the little-known acts of kindness that often make the greatest difference.  They are like the raindrops that pool into freshwater lakes and nourish the earth.  

 Jesus recognized the importance of heroic and sacrificial actions.  He said, “Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friend.”  Of course, this is what He did when He went to the cross and laid his life down for us. But He also taught the importance of little acts of kindness.  In fact, it might very well be that the little acts of kindness we choose to do every day have a far greater impact in transforming the world than a few famous acts of heroism.

 All of us have opportunity every day to perform little acts of kindness.  We all have opportunity to let someone else in line before us, to hold a door open for a stranger, to speak a kind and encouraging word to the cashier who wearily scans countless items at the checkout counter.  We can all be kind to a waitress who works for a minimum wage to support her child, or a student working nights to pay for college. 

 A friend recounted his visit to Arby’s.  Completing a cell phone call, he watched from his car as a large woman frantically searched the back seat of her car. He asked if there was a problem. She told him she had a roll of quarters she was going to use to buy lunch, but she could not find them.  He pulled out a $10 bill and asked, “Will this help?”  She refused.  He insisted.  Inside he stood behind the rattled woman as she thanked him profusely.  She said, “God sent you, you know.”   When the cashier delivered his order she said, “The manager was watching and he went ahead and gave you a free sandwich.” 

 Little acts of kindness add up. All put together, they can change the world. Jesus said, “In that you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to Me” (Matthew 25:40).

Tinsley's novel, We Beheld His Glory is free as an eBook on Amazon September 9-11.

Importance of Character and Decency

 It has been seven years since John McCain died.   I always admired the Senator for his courage and heroism as a Vietnam POW.  I admired him even more for his character as an elected official and candidate for President.

 He provided his own assessments regarding himself and his life: his 1991 memoirs, Faith of My Fathers and the book written just before his death, The Restless Wave.  Both books are well written, engaging, inspiring and, in some cases, prophetic.

 The first book opens with words from the hymn, “Faith of Our Fathers.”  In the second he states,  “What God and good luck provide we must accept with gratitude. Our time is our time. It’s up to us to make the most of it, make it amount to more than the sum of our days.” 

 What stands out in my mind regarding John McCain is his decency, his respect for other people, even his adversaries.  On Memorial Day 1993, he returned to Hanoi, the place where he had been imprisoned and tortured.  Over the next two years he gave leadership that resulted in normalized relations with Vietnam. Vietnam’s foreign minister said, “It was he who took the lead to significantly heal the wounds of war.”

 I remember the moment during his 2008 campaign for the Presidency.  He was speaking in a high school near Minneapolis, taking questions from the audience.  A woman was handed the microphone.  She said, “I do not believe in, I can’t trust Obama.  I’ve read about him and he’s not a … he’s an Arab.” 

 McCain quickly reached for the mike and corrected her. “No ma’am.” He said, “He’s a decent family man and citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with.”  When others tried to label Obama as a terrorist and a Muslim, McCain stated, “He is a decent person and a person you don’t have to be scared of as President of the United States.” 

 At Senator McCain’s request, Presidents Obama and George W. Bush were scheduled to speak at his funeral.

 Even more than his legendary heroism as a POW for 5 years in Vietnam, McCain’s most important legacy might well be his commitment to decency, respect, honesty, integrity and humility, character qualities that can guide us to a better future.

 These are the Christian qualities demonstrated by Jesus toward the poor, the outcast and His own accusers, including the very soldiers who crucified Him.  They are the qualities exhorted by the Apostle Paul who challenged believers “to be ready for every good deed; to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.” (Titus 3:1-2).

How Can You Go To Heaven

 Several major news sources, including the New York Times and USA Today, reported President Trump’s August 19 comments on Fox & Friends regarding his hopes of going to heaven.  In the interview, speaking of his efforts for peace in Ukraine, President Trump reportedly said, "I wanna try and get to heaven if possible. I'm hearing I'm not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons."

 It is a good thing to want to create peace.  And it is a good thing to want to go to heaven.  Almost everyone shares that desire.  We should pray for President Trump on both counts. But this raises a question.  How does anyone get to heaven?

 Mother Teresa said, “I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, He will not ask, ‘How many good things have you done in your life?’”   “My key to heaven is that I loved Jesus in the night.”

 Billy Graham said, “I am not going to heaven because I am a preacher. I am going to heaven entirely on the merit of the work of Christ.” 

 The Bible is clear  that none of us can achieve a level of goodness to deserve heaven.  Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” 

 Paul put it like this: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast,” (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is only by God’s grace through faith that any of us enter heaven, and that faith must be more than lip service or hypocrisy.  James stated, “But someone may say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

 Peter summed it up, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, (1 Peter 1:3-5).

What If?

 It is one of the tiniest words:  two letters, one syllable.  But it is filled with enormous consequence and limitless potential. “If.” 

 Rudyard Kipling caught the limitless potential of “if” in his poem:

 If you can keep your head when all about you

 Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
  But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
  Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
  And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: ...

You probably know the rest of the poem.  Most of us memorized it in school.

 We are at one of those “if” moments in our nation. The racial prejudice and unrest spilling into our streets challenge us with “if.”

 James A. Michener commented on the power of this little word in his classic novel, Centennial.  He wrote, “If is a word of infinite intellectual significance, for it indicates actions not yet completed but with the possibility of alternate outcomes.”

 We face “if” moments every day of our life.  I met a stranger at a Brat Fest in Estes Park, Colorado.  We struck up a conversation about faith.  He told me his father died when he was 15 and he spent many years mad at God.  He wasted his life with drugs, alcohol and sex until 2003 when he gave his life to Christ.  Faith in Christ set him free from his addictions.

The word “if” implies we are no longer prisoners to previous patterns.  We have options. Jesus said, “If the son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36).

Every day we measure the consequences of “if.”   If a certain thing happens, then “this” will occur.  But, if something else takes place, then “that” will occur.  If I choose this path or this action, then “this” will be my destination and the result.  A thousand times in the smallest moments, we measure the consequence of “if.”  And, occasionally, we are faced with choices that will determine our destiny.  

 The Bible challenges us with this tiny but powerful word: 

 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  (2 Chronicles, 7:14)

 “But if you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.  When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him.  For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.” (Deuteronomy 4:29-31).

Overcoming Fear

 We all know that sex sells. Companies have used sex to sell everything from cars to cabbage. But sex seems to be yielding its throne in the marketplace. Fear may be surpassing sex as the emotion of choice for marketers who want to control commerce and politics.

Life insurance, annuities, real estate, technology and political candidates are all marketed through the advertising of fear. Fear sells. Marketers call it “shockvertising.” It is sometimes referred to as “fear mongering.” Companies know that FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is one of the most powerful motivators for purchase of their products.   Politicians portray their adversaries as the devil and warn the world will sink into the apocalypse if we aren’t careful.  

We have always lived with fear. Those of us who grew up in the 1950s learned to “duck and cover” beneath our desks in the event of a nuclear attack. (How much protection that would have provided, I don’t know.) Many of us lived through the cold war, the Star Wars arms race, Y2k hysteria, 9-11 and Covid. Adults under 30 have no memory of walking freely into an airport terminal without TSA security.

 Every generation of every age has had reason to fear.  But, like those who have gone before us, we must not surrender.  We must live our lives with courage, confidence and hope.

God does not desire that we live in fear. In Isaiah He says, “Do not fear, for I am with you.  Do not look anxiously about you, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you; I will help you.  Surely, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand,” (Isaiah 41:10-11).

 Jesus spoke a great deal about fear and how to overcome it. Speaking to his disciples, Jesus said, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? … Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12). When the disciples were on the sea, struggling against the wind in the dark, Jesus came to them and said. “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

 The Apostle Paul wrote, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7).

It is important that we not fall victim to the fear tactics of market manipulators and politicians. It is important that we find faith that frees us from the paralyzing fears that can rob us of power and love and a sound mind. 

Listen Up!

 My wife is a great listener.  That is one of the reasons I married her.  She listens intently, not just to me, but also to anyone speaking to her. I once watched a total stranger stop her on the street in New York and spill out their life story.  I have witnessed the same thing on subways, in train stations and shopping centers in the U.S. and Europe.  You can see it in her eyes.  She focuses.  She doesn’t glance around the room wondering if there is someone else she should speak to. She doesn’t look beyond you.  Her eyes don’t glaze over in a fixed stare that pretends to listen while she thinks about something else. 

 I lose focus.  One word can trigger any number of divergent thoughts causing my mind to race off in pursuit like a dog chasing cats.  At other times I leap ahead, thinking about what I want to say rather than listening to what is being said.  I have to discipline myself to re-focus on what is being said, sometimes scrambling to piece together the gaps that I missed during my mental lapses. 

 My wife knows this. She can see it in my eyes.  Sometimes she will stop talking and the silence will awaken me from my temporary daydream.  “You’re not listening,” she says.  Of course she is right.  But occasionally I am lucky enough to be able to repeat the last sentence that she spoke, retrieving it from some kind of digital recording in my head, even though its meaning was not being registered in my brain.

 Listening is a powerful gift. It is transformational. When someone listens to us without judgment or accusation, we hear and see ourselves differently. Somehow the act of having someone truly listen enables us to sort through our emotions and confusions to reach better conclusions.  Feelings of isolation and loneliness dissolve and melt away when someone listens to us. The listener, by listening, has the ability to heal.

 Most of us are far more intent on being heard than hearing. When we pretend to listen, we are, more often simply waiting for a gap, a chance in the conversation to insert our already preconceived conclusions. We interrupt one another with conversations that often are running on different tracks.

 How many times have we injured someone, or simply failed to help someone, because we were too quick to speak?  How different our world would be if parents listened to their children; if bosses listened to their employees; if businesses listened to their customers; if politicians listened to the people; if persons in power listened to each other?  Maybe if we were better at listening to one another, we might be better at listening to God.

 The Bible says, “Everyone must be quick to hear and slow to speak.”  (James 1:19).  God says, “Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live” (Isaiah 55:2-3).

Crisis of Truth

 There was a day when we felt we could trust the elected officials who led us and the journalists who interpreted the news.  We believed Washington “could not tell a lie.”  Lincoln was known for his honesty.  We always knew we could trust Walter Cronkite, whether he was reporting the assassination of JFK or describing the first lunar landing. But those days seem naive and far away. 

 The world has become much more complex.  The truth is far more difficult to discern.  Nixon’s claim that he was no crook and Clinton’s assertion that he “never had sex with that woman,” eroded our trust in the Presidency.  Today we feel caught between “fake news” and “alternate realities.”  Matt Lauer left us disillusioned with journalists.  We hardly know who to believe.

 A recent article in Psychology Today stated, “Despite all the barriers that exist in our way – social media, lying politicians, a decaying journalistic culture, and even human psychology—citizens in a democracy must find ways to distinguish what’s true from what’s false. Democracy is at stake.”

 NBC News reporter Andrew Rafferty said, “We live in a world where lying has become an art.  Politicians, celebrities, characters on the screen, all lie.  They do so convincingly and without remorse.  And technology has moved prevarication into a whole new realm.  The world where ‘seeing is believing’ has vanished.”

 The ninth commandment is essential to personal, relational and societal health. “You must not lie.” (Exodus 20:16 Living Bible).

 When we ignore God’s instructions on truthfulness and honesty, we sow the seeds of our own misery and destruction. Whether marriage, family, business or politics; in the home, the school, the work place and the world.  

 So, what should we do?  First, we must practice telling the truth to our children, to one another, in business and personal relationships.  Above all, we must be known to be honest. We must not lie.

 Second, we must practice discernment. We cannot believe everything we hear and see at face value, especially social media that has little or no accountability. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world,” (1 John 4:1).   

 Third, we must place our trust in the One who alone is truthful, honest and above reproach.  We must trust God, confident that He knows our hearts, our secret thoughts and every word we speak.  “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar.” (Romans 3:4).  “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.  He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice, and He watches over the way of His godly ones.  Then you will discern righteousness, justice, and integrity, and every good path.  For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be delightful to your soul; discretion will watch over you,” (Proverbs 2:6-11).

Spiritual Awakening

 In the early 1740s a young printer in Philadelphia reached an agreement with an itinerant preacher from England to print his sermons and journals. With Benjamin Franklin’s assistance in the printed word, George Whitefield’s preaching sparked a spiritual flame that ignited Colonial America.  In his autobiography, Franklin noted he could not walk down the streets of Philadelphia in the evening without hearing families singing Christian hymns. Whitefield joined John and Charles Wesley as leaders of the Great Awakening.

 At noon on September 23, 1857, a businessman named Jeremiah Lamphier waited for others to join him for prayer in a room on Fulton Street in New York.  Six people showed up. The next week, 20 came.  Then 40.  They started meeting daily. The crowd swelled to more than 3,000 following the financial panic of October 14.   In less than 6 months, 10,000 businessmen were attending daily prayer meetings in New York. More than 10,000 came to faith in Philadelphia, 5,000 in Boston. At its peak, 50,000 people a week were professing faith in Christ.  In Bethel, Conn. businesses closed for prayer.  Led by laity and crossing denominational lines, the movement swept more than one million people to faith in Christ leading up to the Civil War.

 During the Civil War a little-known shoe salesman from Chicago ministered among the Union troops.  Afterward, he gave up selling shoes to win souls.  In the last half of the 19^th century, Dwight L. Moody preached to over 100 million people in the United States and the U.K.   On one occasion more than 130,000 people assembled to hear him preach.

 A tent was erected in Los Angeles in 1947 following WWII and an unknown evangelist named Billy Graham was invited to preach. The three-week revival stretched into 8 and launched Graham’s career.  For the next 50 years Billy Graham preached to over 210 million people in more than 185 countries.  He became close friends with Martin Luther King, Jr in the 1950s and supported the Civil Rights movement.  Graham became a spiritual advisor and confidant to every President from Truman to Barak Obama.

 In the 20^th century the Christian faith exploded in the Southern Hemisphere.  The number of Christians in Africa grew from 9 million in 1900 to 350 million in 2000. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, “global Christianity is experiencing remarkable growth, defying expectations and surpassing population rates.”  According to studies at Boston University School of Theology “over the last 40 years, Christianity has grown faster in China than any other place in the world. It’s gone from approximately 1 million Christians to around 100 million.”

 But what about the 21^st century in the United States? In an era dominated by violence, prejudice, corruption, rising rates of suicide and addiction, this generation has been adrift without a moral compass. But there is hope. USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the Barna Group all indicate there is a growing interest in Jesus among the young, specifically among Gen Z men.  The American Bible Society “found an increase in Bible use and engagement.”  The New York Times reports that “Bible sales have spiked, driven largely by first time buyers.”

 When Jesus came, John preached to huge crowds calling for repentance.  Anna prayed (Luke 2:36-38), as did Simeon (Luke 2:25-35).  Each of us can encourage moral and spiritual renewal.  With every honest decision, with every generous action, every kindness, every act of forgiveness, with every prayer, with faith in Jesus we can see our world transformed.  

What Made America Great

 The America I grew up in was seen as the shining light on a hill.  We took pride in the inscription on the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

 Instead of decimating our enemies after World War II, we helped them rebuild.  Germany and Japan embraced freedom and prosperity and became two of our strongest allies.  

 We fought and died in the jungles of Vietnam, not for ourselves, but for others.  In its aftermath we welcomed Vietnamese and Hmong refugees who integrated into our cities.  Christian churches sprang up among various groups: Vietnamese, Chinese, Laotian, Thai, Korean, Liberian, Nigerian and many others.  Spanish speaking churches continued to thrive.  The Christian faith swept across South Korea until it became the second-most missionary sending nation in the world.

 When I visited Brazil I was welcomed as a celebrity because I was an American.  Children ran through the streets and people crowded in the windows to see someone from the United States. When I served briefly as pastor of an English-speaking church in Nuremburg Germany, older Germans often expressed their gratitude for GIs who helped them rebuild their nation.  We thought of ourselves as a generous and welcoming nation, blessed by God to bless the nations of the world.

 But all of that seems to be changing.  We are well down the road of putting “America first.”  The question is no longer, what is best for mankind, for the world and for posterity, but what is best for us.  We have transitioned into a “me first” mentality.

 Instead of asking, how can we help our neighbor nations fight the gang violence and corruption that causes families to flee to our borders, we ask only, “how can we keep these people out?” In our efforts to “make America great again” we seem to be losing the values that made America great in the first place.

 Our movies, our media and our politics often portray us as a covetous people.  We seem to have adopted Gordon Gekko’s maxim that “greed, for lack of a better word, is good.”  We have turned a deaf ear to the tenth commandment: “You shall not covet.” (Exodus 20:17).

 The Apostle Paul confessed that this commandment was his undoing. “I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’  But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting.’” Romans 7:7-8).

 When we start down this self-centered path we sow the seeds of future calamity in our communities, our nation and the world. “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet, but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.” (James 4:1-2).

 Paul’s conclusion is applicable for all of us: “The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” You shall not steal, “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Romans 13:9).

Guadalupe River Flood - When Disaster Strikes

 There are no words to express our grief over the loss of life in the Guadalupe River disaster in Texas. More than 100 people including at least 27 girls and counselors at Camp Mystic lost their lives in the flashflood. Many have commented on the faith and courage of the young women. Our own granddaughters, ages 14 and 12, are at camp this week in Colorado.  We can only imagine the profound pain for the mothers and fathers, family and friends whose daughters were swept away in the sudden surge.  Our hearts break for them. We constantly pray for them.

We have learned that our planet is subject to natural disasters that devastate human life: earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, wildfires. We have witnessed the destruction that can be leveled on human civilization when such things occur.

I stood on the shore at Banda Aceh, Indonesia following the 2004 tsunami and witnessed the devastation that laid waste that capital city. It claimed the lives of a quarter million people. My daughter and son-in-law volunteered in the recovery efforts after Haiti was decimated with similar loss of life. A single year saw twenty-two quakes measuring 7 or greater on the Richter scale. In one year earthquakes struck Chile, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Japan, Mexico, the Solomon Islands, Ecuador and New Zealand.

Natural disasters will occur.  Where and when they will strike and with what force, we never know, though meteorologists and geologists continue to search for clues.

Whenever disasters like this strike we are prone to ask questions that usually revolve around “Why?” Even though there are no answers to that question that can remove the pain or recover our loss.

 Jesus addressed this question on more than one occasion and gave us some insight into the answers. When he addressed a crowd regarding a recent building collapse he posed a rhetorical question: “Do you think that those who died when the tower at Siloam fell were more sinful than others?” And answered his own question clearly, “I tell you, no.” (Luke 13:4). 

When his disciples discovered a man blind from his birth they asked a similar question. “Why was this man born blind? Was it because of his sins or the sins of his parents that he was born blind?” Jesus answered them, “It was neither that this man sinned nor his parents. He was born blind that the works of God might be made manifest in him.” He then proceeded to heal the man so that he could see. (John 9).

Not only was Jesus clear that disasters would occur, He was also clear about how we should respond. “We must manifest the works of God.” We must pray for those who suffer loss and share their grief.  And we must give. My favorite organization for responding to disasters over the years has been Texans On Mission.  They have a long history of working effectively with local and global organizations to bring meaningful help where disasters strike. They are especially adept at providing clean water and clean up volunteers when needed. I know their leadership personally and have great confidence in them. Donations can be given for disaster relief at www.texansonmission.org.  There are many others

Dealing with Guilt

The Minnesota humorist, Garrison Keillor, once observed that people do bad, horrible, dirty, rotten and despicable things, then, instead of repenting, they just go into treatment.  “Whatever happened to guilt?” he lamented. “Guilt, is the gift that keeps on giving.”

 Keillor’s tongue in cheek appraisal of guilt belies the truth.  While there may be a few sociopaths who feel no remorse for their actions and show no capacity for guilt, most of us know the feelings of guilt only too well.

 Religious leaders sometimes revert to guilt as the trump card to keep church members and parishioners in line.  Parents use it with children.  Siblings, co-workers and even friends occasionally rely on it to get their way. When husbands and wives are unable to settle a heated argument, one or the other often reverts to guilt’s lethal weapon by recalling past offenses that were supposedly forgiven and forgotten.

 In its best moments, guilt can protect and guide us, much like the pain that teaches us to avoid a hot stove or sharp objects. When we respond to guilt with confession and repentance, we can move forward to live a better life on a higher plane.

 But guilt can be destructive and debilitating. Sometimes we feel guilt over clearly remembered wrongs we have done. At other times we may feel guilty and not know why.  We wake up with a feeling of unworthiness and shame with no specific deed to identify as the source. Our feelings of guilt are irrational, leaving us at a loss to identify the source or the solution.  Guilt can lock us in its prison and shackle us so that we feel helpless.  It robs us of energy and steals our joy.  Guilt can leave us smoldering in anger or suffocating in depression. 

 The good news is that Jesus came to set us free from guilt. When confronted with the woman caught in the act of adultery, he dismissed those who condemned her and said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and sin no more.” (John 8:1-11).

 We can live our lives free of guilt and self-recrimination. Paul wrote, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (Romans 8:1-2).  John wrote,  “We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.” (1 John 3:19-20).

 An interesting thing happens when God removes our guilt, and we know it. Not only can we live with greater joy and freedom, we no longer feel compelled to heap guilt upon others.

Was Jesus Right?

 Jesus is universally respected.  Even the followers of Islam claim him as a prophet.  Mahatma Ghandi was deeply impressed with Jesus and was inspired by the Sermon on the Mount. Millions who have no use for the church still like Jesus.  But the question remains, “Was Jesus right?”  “Did he know what he was talking about?”

 It is sometimes difficult to reconcile the attitude and actions of professing Christians with Jesus’ words and instructions.  When I was eighteen, I worked in a warehouse that shipped products to stores where they would be sold.  I worked with older workers who, like me, worked for minimum wage.  Some of my co-workers, who were professing Christians, heard that I planned to become a “preacher.”  They tried to be nice and encouraging. They told me it was a good thing for me to become a preacher but reminded me that those things “don’t work here.” 

 I interpreted their comments to mean that they believed in Jesus, but the teachings of Jesus were out of touch with the real world.  They were like many Christians I have encountered over the years.  Dallas Willard calls them “vampire Christians.”  They want a little of Jesus’ blood, just enough to forgive their sins and assure they are going to heaven, but they don’t think Jesus knew what he was talking about when it comes to everyday life. 

 Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Clearly, He thought he knew what he was talking about, and he expected that anyone who placed their faith in him would do everything they could to obey him.  It was apparently inconceivable to Jesus that someone could think they loved him, and, at the same time, ignore or disobey his instructions. 

 Either Jesus was the smartest person who ever lived and knew better than anyone else how life should be lived on this earth, or he was a delusional pretender who has misguided millions for more than two thousand years.  If Jesus’ instructions for living will not work in the courtroom, the schools, the factory and the family, neither will they work to get us to heaven. 

 In his final novel, Ressurection,  Leo Tolstoy examined class structures and social injustice in 19^th century Russa. He expressed his conclusion on the final page through the words of his protagonist:  “When he read the Sermon on the Mount, which had always touched him, he saw in it for the first time today, not beautiful abstract thoughts, setting forth for the most part exaggerated and impossible demands, but clear, practical, laws.”  …”He distinctly saw what life could be if men were brought up to obey these rules.”  … “if men will only fulfill these laws, the Kingdom of Heaven will be established on earth, and men will receive the greatest good that they can attain.”  

 Following Jesus’ instructions has nothing to do with earning our way to heaven.  It has everything to do with living a meaningful life. If you want to know what Jesus expects, you can find his instructions in Matthew chapters 5-7. 

Making Sense of It All

 I started writing this weekly column in 2009, reflecting on current events and life experience from a faith perspective.   During these fifteen years current event have included: the attack at Fort Hood, the AME church in Charleston where 9 members were gunned down, the bombing at the Boston Marathon, the massacre at Sutherland Springs, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, among many others.

 I anticipated last weekend with trepidation:  a massive display of military might in DC celebrating the 250^th anniversary for the U.S. army; “No Kings” protests, the conflict between Israel and Iran that started on Friday, June 13. All of this against the backdrop of economic fears and growing tension between the judiciary and executive branches of government.

 The military parade turned out to be a history display starting with the Revolutionary soldiers in colonial uniform and progressing through the wars that have shaped our nation and the world. It included multi-ethnic, male and female GIs. The “No Kings” protests drew over 5 million peaceful participants in more than 2,000 cities.  The great tragedy of the weekend was the assassination of Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman along with her husband by a gunman who was captured Monday.  He also attempted to kill state Senator John Hoffman and his wife.  The war between Israel and Iran continued to escalate.   

 Unfortunately, our president continues to sow words of suspicion, contempt, anger, fear, resentment and division. We need to hear the words of another President spoken 160 years ago: “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God give us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nations wounds.”

 Isaiah helped us rise above current events to see the big picture.  “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.  He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.  Scarcely have then been planted, scarcely have then been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble, (Isaiah 40:21-24).”  God is in control of history.  Not man.

 Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Ghandi taught us the power of peaceful non-violent protests. They both were students of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.  We must treat all men and women with respect, including our adversaries, immigrants and those of other faiths and languages”  Jesus said, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matthew 5:44-47). We must respect and seek the welfare of all persons of every creed and color. 

Is There Proof of Heaven?

 Eben Alexander was convinced that there is nothing beyond this life. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1976 and received his M.D. from Duke Medical School in 1980. After he completed a fellowship in cerebrovascular neurosurgery at Newcastle-Upon Tyne, he served for 15 years on the faculty at Harvard Medical School with specialization in neurosurgery. As a physician and a scientist, he concluded that when the brain dies all consciousness ends. The person ceases to exist.

All that changed on November 10, 2008 when he suffered a severe attack of bacterial meningitis that left him on life support and, by every measurement, brain dead. After existing in this comatose condition for a week, Eben Alexander miraculously woke up. When he did, all his preconceived scientific assumptions about life and death were changed. The dramatic Near Death Experience (NDE) left him convinced that life beyond this physical existence is not only real, it is the greater reality.

He documented his experience in his book, Proof of Heaven. He writes, “The physical side of the universe is as a speck of dust compared to the invisible and spiritual part. In my past view, spiritual wasn’t a word that I would have employed during a scientific conversation. Now I believe it is a word that we cannot afford to leave out.”

 As impressive as Dr. Alexander’s near death experience may be, it pales in comparison to the historic death and resurrection of Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross, it was not a “near death experience.” A Roman soldier thrust a spear through his side releasing a final gush of blood and water to confirm that Jesus was truly dead. His lifeless body was buried in a borrowed grave, and, on the third day, to the shock and surprise of his closest followers, God raised him from the dead.

Luke, a first century physician, after conducting exhaustive research and extensive interviews wrote, “He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3). Paul, arguably one of the greatest minds in history, stated, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” (1 Cor. 15:3-8). Every other event in history is dated by that singular life that gave the world its greatest “proof of heaven.”

 Life after death becomes personal when those we love die. My wife and I have witnessed the death of our parents, her brothers and sister and my older brother, who died in March.  Confidence in eternal life makes all the difference.  Peter wrote, “Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance that is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you,” (1 Peter 1:3-4).  

How To Remain Positive In A Negative World

 Since this column reflects on current events and life experience, I am constantly searching the news for information.  It is a daunting task.  The headlines alone are depressing, let alone the blow-by-blow accounts of murder, theft, graft, rape, sexual abuse, prejudice, hatred, scams, suicide, mass shootings, political corruption and a looming recession.  Sometimes the news seems like a black hole that drags every ray of light into its dark abyss.  I spent some time this morning reading about the terrorist who set 12 peaceful protestors on fire with a flame thrower in Boulder, Colorado.

 It is difficult not to become a pessimist from this constant onslaught. But we must not give in.  We must resist the darkness and cling to the light.  We must not surrender to the pessimism that surrounds us.  But how do we remain optimistic in a world filled with pessimism? 

 It seems to me that we do so by looking for the moments that renew our faith in each other.  Like Carlos Alcaraz refusing to take credit for an incredible backhand against his good friend Ben Shelton at the French Open.  Instead, he confessed to the umpire he had thrown his racket at the ball, thereby surrendering the point.  Or Justin Thomas who called a one stroke penalty on himself in the RBC Heritage tournament at Hilton Head.  While removing a loose impediment he thought he saw his ball move. No one else had noticed. The former number 1 hadn’t won in over 3 years.  The penalty could have cost him the tournament. He went on to win in a playoff.

 We can remain optimistic by focusing on obscure moments like the first day of second grade reported by WIVB News in Wichita, Kansas. Eight-year-old Christian, who is African American, saw eight-year-old Conner, who is white, standing alone crying while they waited for school to open.  Quietly, Christian reached out and took Conner’s hand. Conner stopped crying and the two of them walked into their classroom together, hand-in-hand.  Conner is autistic.  

 We are surrounded by little acts of honesty and kindness; some demonstrated on the grand stage like Alcaraz and Thomas.  Others in obscure corners like Christian and Conner.   And we are sustained by a faith that overcomes darkness and despair.  Love overcomes hate. Forgiveness wipes away resentment and guilt. Resurrection conquers death.  Our God who is the Father of Lights is the source of all good things.

 The Bible is the most realistic and most optimistic book ever written. It clearly exposes man’s sin and consistently demonstrates God’s righteous redemption. It embraces the Cross with all of its pain and despair and proclaims the resurrection in all of its glory.

 The Bible always offsets our struggle with discouragement and despair with the hope of faith and the unchangeable goodness of God.  Three times the Scripture asks, “Why are you in despair O my soul? And why have you become disturbed in me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence” (Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5).

 Jesus said, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Download William Tinsley's book of poems, Sunrise Sunset, free eBook on Amazon June 3-6)

Center of the Universe

 For thousands of years we assumed the earth was the center of the universe. When Galileo advanced the proposition that the earth revolved around the sun and was, in fact, only one of many planets that did so, he was tried by the Inquisition and placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life.  More recent investigations, along with Voyager’s first foray beyond our solar system, have verified that the earth is a very small speck of dust in the galaxies -- nowhere near the center of the cosmic creation.

 This physical truth gives rise to a more personal question for each of us.  “What is the center of my universe?”  For most of us, the answer to that question is a very small two-letter word, “me.”  Everything revolves around us and our interests. This is the reason we are prone to become angry with God.  Sooner or later the evidence begins to pile up that, like planet earth in the cosmos, we are not the center.  Everything is not ordered for our personal gratification, pleasure and benefit. 

 Paul started his life like most of us, focused on his own ambitions.  He went so far as to arrest Christians, both men and women, and throw them into prison to advance his own agenda.  But, after he met Christ everything changed. He discovered that the Christ whom he persecuted was, in fact, the center of all creation.  ^”He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together,” (Colossians 1:15-17).

 Fifteen years ago billboards sprang up proclaiming, “I am second.”  They were part of a movement to proclaim what Paul discovered.  We are not number one.  God is.  And when we make Christ the center of our universe, everything else comes into focus.  According to the web site, “I Am Second is a movement meant to inspire people of all kinds to live for God and for others.”  I Am Second testimonies include people like Jason Witten, Colt McCoy, Chip and Joanna Gaines, Eric Metaxas, Tony Dungy, Joe Gibbs, Anne Rice and many others.  They include the rich and famous as well as those who have been addicted, abused, molested and imprisoned.  The number ultimately includes all of us. You can check it out at www.iamsecond.com.  

 When Jesus Christ becomes the center of our universe everything changes.  All the petty resentments and disappointments disappear.  Scripture begins to make sense. For instance, in an effort to comfort others, many people quote the Bible when tragedy strikes saying “All things work together for good.”  What the Bible actually says is, “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord, for those who are called according to His purpose.”  This is entirely different. All things don’t work together for my good when I am the center of my own universe.  They only work together for good when I recognize that God is the center of the universe and I am created for his glory.

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