Tiger and Priorities 12-15-2009

After weeks of spiraling rumors and speculation about infidelities and marital conflict Tiger Woods has made a decision. He will step away from golf and work on” becoming a better husband, father and person.”

No professional athlete has ever burst on the scene with greater talent and more success than Tiger Woods. No one has risen to such heights in such a short time, the world’s first $1 billion athlete. And perhaps none has fallen further faster than Tiger has fallen in the last three weeks. In that short time, Woods has gone from the pinnacle of sports with a pristine image to the butt of late night jokes and the number one subject for tabloids and gossip columns.

I have watched Tiger from the beginning of his professional career. I have been awed by his talent and skill, and, like millions of others, my interest in watching golf wanes when Tiger isn’t in the hunt. But I am glad to hear of his decision to step away from professional golf to work on his priorities.

No trophy, no professional accomplishment, no amount of wealth or fame is as important as nurturing the soul to be a better person. Life is ultimately about relationships, with God, our family, our friends and ourselves. And, for those relationships to be healthy, we must get our priorities straight. Jesus said, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?”

When Tom Landry was hired to coach the hapless Dallas Cowboys, a 1961 expansion team in the NFL with little hope of winning, he introduced himself to the team by telling them his priorities. He said he would put God first, family second, and then football. Bob Lilly, the all American recruit from TCU and the first draft pick in Cowboy franchise history, listened to Landry’s list of priorities and said to himself, “We will never win.” Years later, when Landry ended his career with 13 Divisional titles, 5 NFC titles and 2 Super Bowl rings, Lilly and others realized Landry had his priorities right. And, throughout his career, he helped others get their priorities right.

When our oldest son was struggling with how to find his way in the world, I reminded him that if he would put God first, everything else would come into focus. Fortunately he chose to do that. God has blessed him with a loving wife, three beautiful children and a Christian home.

Millions of marriages are in trouble. Many are walking away from responsibilities at home. Millions are sacrificing family relationships and responsibilities for career advancement and wealth. I am praying for Tiger Woods and his family. I am praying he will emerge from this tragic moral failure and set an example of recovery for others who are struggling with greater issues than how to play golf. I would like to see Tiger Woods play professional golf again and I expect he will. But I am more concerned that he, like all the rest of us, discovers the priorities that will last a lifetime and more.

Christmas Blind Side 12-9-2009

I like going to the movies. I like sitting in the front row of the upper section, my wife’s favorite spot. We prop our feet on the rails in front of us, sit back buried in surround sound and share a box of popcorn and a diet coke. I especially like movies that are based on true stories: Akeela and the Bee, The Great Debaters, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Chariots of Fire, The Soloist. They capture faith, hope and courage greater than any fiction: Last week, for my birthday, we went to see The Blind Side. I will have to add it to the list.

The movie opens with the actual footage from Joe Theisman’s career ending injury. I watched it live when it happened. It still makes me cringe. The offensive tackle’s job in football is to protect the quarterback and keep that from happening. The title of the movie comes from the role of the left tackle who protects the quarterback’s blind side.

The movie is based Michael Oher’s true story. A homeless youth who wandered the streets of Memphis, Oher was befriended by a well-to-do Memphis family who took him in. Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy made him part of their family, paid for his education, encouraged and befriended him. Oher is now the rookie offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens. He played the entire game last Monday night against Green Bay.

All of us have a blind side just as we all have blind spots. Our eyes have blind spots created by the optic nerve head. Our brain fills in the picture so we don’t realize it. But the blind spots in our field of vision are very real. (To check out your blind spot go to www.blindspottest.com) When something, or someone, is outside our peripheral view or in our blind spot, we can be “blind sided.”

The title of the movie, “The Blind Side,” could stand for those moments in life when God blindsides us with an opportunity to be transformed by making a remarkable difference. Leigh Anne and Sean Touhy were, quite literally, blind sided by a homeless black youth named Michael who gave them the opportunity to make a difference. When commended by a friend for changing Michael’s life, Leigh Anne responded, “No, he is changing me.”

Jesus was the master of the blindside. He never missed an opportunity to make a difference. When others tried to silence a blind beggar by the road, Jesus called for him and gave him sight. When his followers urged him to ignore a woman who timidly touched the hem of his garment, Jesus stopped and healed her twelve-year hemorrhage. When the citizens of Jericho rebuked the despised tax-collector, Zacchaus, Jesus visited him in his home. When He encountered a crowd of men about to stone a woman caught in the act of adultery, he exposed their hypocrisy and forgave her.
Christmas is, of course, about being blindsided. The whole world was blindsided by the birth of the babe at Bethlehem. Few took note, and those who did totally misunderstood. Most just didn’t see it. Maybe this Christmas God wants to blindside us with an opportunity that will change us and make a difference in someone else’s life. Sean Tuohy said regarding Michael Oher, "We think God sent him to us. Earthly explanations don't make sense."

Clues From Islam 12-2-2009

While millions stormed the stores last week in search of bargains on Black Friday, twenty thousand Muslims filed quietly into the Dallas Convention Center for prayer. The occasion? Eid-al-Adha, “the day of sacrifice,” one of the holiest days in Islam. Some refer to it as the “Muslim Christmas.” The day is set aside to commemorate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son.

The Old Testament story is familiar to students of the Bible. Abraham had obeyed God, launching out into an unfamiliar land with his wife who, in her old age gave birth to a son of promise. Like most fathers, Abraham doted upon his cherished child of promise until his faith in God was tested. Would he be willing to offer his son as a sacrifice to God? In ultimate obedience, Abraham prepared for the sad climb to the mountain’s peak, loading the wood for the sacrificial fire on his son’s back.

At the last moment, with the child laid upon the sacrificial pyre and his hand grasping the knife, God stopped him dead in his tracks and provided a ram for the sacrifice. Eid –al-Adha celebrates God sparing the son for a sacrificial ram instead. Abraham called the place “The Lord Will Provide” because God provided his own sacrifice. (Genesis 22:13).

Abraham’s experience changed our understanding of God. Instead of seeking sacrifices from us, God pays the penalty of our sin with His own sacrifice. When the prophets looked forward to the coming Messiah, they described Him as the One who would become the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Isaiah wrote, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:6-7). The Psalmist described this sacrifice saying, “They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” (Psalm 22). John introduced Jesus to his future followers by saying, “Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29).

Islam has always recognized Jesus as a prophet. Increasingly, Muslims are discovering clues within their own religion that indicate Jesus, or Isa as he is called in the Koran, is more than a prophet. He is God’s gift to us in order that our sins might be forgiven and we might have eternal life. By some estimates, sixteen thousand Muslims turn to Christ every day in Africa alone. Many cite a growing movement in Islam to embrace Jesus as the Savior.

No amount of sacrifice on our part can pay for our sins, but God provided the perfect sacrifice in His Son, as the Scripture says, “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.” God desires that we accept His amazing gift in Jesus and live lives that honor Him. What better way to begin the Christmas season than accepting God’s life transforming gift in Jesus.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday 11-25-2009

I like Thanksgiving. I think it is my favorite holiday because it has not been hijacked by commercialism. I like the sounds of family and friends laughing around the table. I like the fall leaves scattered about the lawn, the crisp mornings and the smell of turkey baking in the oven. I like what goes with it: cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad and pie (any kind of pie). And, most of all, I like dressing, the one thing that still divides the north from the south. Those from the north prepare bread dressing. Those with southern roots cook corn bread dressing. Turkeys come and turkeys go, but my wife’s corn bread dressing is to die for. She learned the recipe from her mother: corn bread, celery, onions, chopped boiled eggs, broth, butter and other ingredients I will never figure out. With giblet gravy, it is a meal in itself.

By Friday the tryptophan and carbohydrates have worn off. After missing the third quarter of the Thanksgiving ball game we regained consciousness enough to stumble into the kitchen for leftovers. Loaded up again, and slept the sound sleep of a thankful soul. And now we are ready to get on with the real business of the American holiday season: shopping!

Lines form in front of Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target long before the first gray light of day. A few spend the night there, camped out in tents on concrete sidewalks, huddled in parkas against brick walls, fulfilling a holiday tradition. Our pilgrim fathers knew nothing of this. They hunted and harvested and cleaned and cooked, but they never stood in lines in front of glass doors waiting for the opening bell. They never rushed through aisles searching for treasures that were sure to disappear. They never stood in check out lines that stretched to the back of the store. They had it easy.

Fifty years ago we eased into Christmas. No one had heard of Black Friday. We used Friday to digest the Thanksgiving feast. It was a quiet day, the day after we gathered at grandma’s with cousins and kin. Christmas decorations were not yet up, not even thought of. We savored the season. But today, we are jolted from Thanksgiving into Christmas.

Black Friday seems to symbolize our rush through life, our efforts to get the best deal, to be first in line. It seems to represent the commercialization of Christmas and threatens to turn Thanksgiving into a season of “thanks getting.” Don’t get me wrong. I like a good deal and deep discounts. I want the American economy to thrive. But, along the way, I hope we cultivate a thankful heart and grateful spirit that is not measured by the sum of what we can get at the cheapest price. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15).

Ants 11-18-2009

We have ants. We have kept them at bay inside the house, but outside, that is a different matter. A single dropped crumb on the patio and the next morning a stream of ants appear, hundreds of them in a neatly organized operation to dismantle the discarded food and store it in bits and bites for later use.

How do they do this? Do the wandering scout-ants have cell phones? When they make a discovery do they place a call back to home base and say, “Send the troops. We have food!” Who organizes the operation? Who tells these worker ants to answer the call, and who plots the route, usually the shortest and least obstructed line to the treasure?

If they were humans, the searchers who discovered the food supply would immediately stake a claim, lay title to it and horde it so that they could be wealthier than all the other ants. They would let the weaker ants in the colony starve. And, they would probably spend most of their time in “ant court” defending the right to their possessions. “Ant lawyers” would probably claim the greatest portion of the wealth.

Why can’t we learn from these little creatures? Every year a billion people on the earth die of starvation. Every day 25,000 children, world wide, whose stomachs are bloated and empty draw their last breath. They die in remote villages far from public scrutiny. Over half the world’s population, three billion people, live on less than $2.50 per day.

I have to admit this convicts and alarms me. I need to be more like the little critters who invade my patio. I need to sound the alarm, send out the signal, marshal others and join them in distributing food and resources to those who need it. But how do we do this? How do we know that our gifts get to the people and places where they are needed? There is so much graft and corruption in the world that charitable gifts are often routed into the pockets of the greedy.

I guess the best thing is to be alert to opportunities. When a beggar approached me on a parking lot in downtown Dallas, I took him across the street to Subway and bought him a sandwich. Unfortunately, as I listened to him, his story seemed to unravel and I am not sure it was the best thing to do. But it was something. When one of our church members returned from Kenya and made an appeal for people she knows who are starving, I sent a check. When I visited Tillie Bergin at Mission Arlington and saw the difference she was making among the poor in the inner city, I sent a gift. It’s not much. But, for me it is a start. If all of us gave more generously we could make a difference, like the ant.

Proverbs says, “Go to the ant … consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” (Prov. 6:6-8). John, describing true repentance and faith, said, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” (Luke 3:11)

Fort Hood 11-10-2009

Two weeks from now we will gather with family and friends for Thanksgiving, a peculiar American tradition, peculiar because it is unique to our country and its history. As we have done many times before, we will do so against the backdrop of a tragic evil. Looming in the backs of our minds will be images of Fort Hood and the innocent men and women who were slain.

I must admit that this crime has raised deeper feelings of anger and resentment in me than most. Perhaps it is because the crime was committed by one who wore the uniform of our country and was perpetrated against young men and women who had volunteered to place their lives in harms way for the rest of us. Perhaps it is because he was a trained psychiatrist who was supposed to identify and prevent this kind of insanity. Or perhaps it is because it could reflect a radical religious element that somehow celebrates innocent bloodshed and slaughter as something heroic. If it is the latter, we must remind ourselves it is the twisted tenets of this radical element that we are to abhor and hate, not the person or the people.

As Thanksgiving approaches, I have decided to focus on those who are truly heroic rather than the perpetrator of this crime. I will focus on Kimberly Munley, the Fort Hood police officer who sought out the killer and stood her ground exchanging gunfire with him to end the slaughter. I will focus upon nineteen year old Amber Bahr from Wisconsin who, after being shot herself helped drag her buddies to safety and tore up her jacket as a makeshift tourniquet to save a fellow soldier. These women are truly heroic because their first thoughts were for the safety and welfare of others. They are heroic because they were willing to lay down their lives that others might live. I will focus upon the thirteen who gave their lives, the twenty-nine who were wounded and the thousands, both military and civilian, whose bravery and unselfish sacrifice go unknown and unreported every day, those who choose goodness and grace in obscure places without thought of reward.
I will choose to believe the Bible’s promise that goodness and grace ultimately overcome hatred and violence. I will believe this because God has not only declared it to be true; He has demonstrated it by the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. As the Scripture says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know … what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” (Ephesians 1:18-21). Because of this, I will seek to follow His instruction, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:20). And, when we gather with family and friends in a couple of weeks, I will give thanks.

Understanding the Bible 11-1-2009

My wife and I took Saturday off for a quick trip to southwest Arkansas, a chance to see the changing leaves in the Ozarks. The hills were ablaze. The change in scenery was invigorating. We celebrated the zenith of our trip eating dinner at Queen Wilhelmina State Park with a view of the Ozark hills in the distance.

We struck up a conversation with a couple from Oklahoma. He was a semi-retired math teacher. When I mentioned I was a minister, the conversation changed. I have seen this happen many times. But this one was a bit different. Fire entered his eyes as he told me of his recently purchased assault rifle, his membership in the NRA and his commitment to the right to bear arms. He then proceeded to explain how Jesus identified Barack Obama as the Anti-Christ. His reasoning was based on an interpretation of Jesus’ statement in Luke 10, that He saw Satan fall like lightening from Heaven. He had seen a wildly popular video on youtube and was convinced.

“If you read it in Hebrew, the original language,” he said, “you will find that the words Barack and Obama are the words he used.” I listened to him waxing eloquent about the evils of our President for a few moments, as if he were rallying recruits for a revolution to reclaim our government, before informing him that the passage he quoted was written in Greek, not Hebrew. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. The New Testament was written in Greek.

The wind had been robbed from his sails and the fire in his eyes dimmed a little. But his mind was made up, and something as trivial as a mistake about the language wasn’t going to dissuade him. After all, he explained, he had read Strong’s Concordance. After I got home I looked it up. The video he had seen admits the text was written in Greek, but does some fancy foot work mixed with a little imagination to reconstruct Jesus saying, “I saw Satan as baraq ubamaw.”

It was a reminder to me that we get ourselves in trouble when we build our beliefs on obscure and questionable interpretations of the Bible, especially when we go to great lengths to make the Bible say what we want it to say. Whole denominations, sects and cults have been created around disputed passages. We need to build our faith on the clear and plain sections of Scripture. The most obvious and apparent meaning is almost always the right one. The Bible was not meant to be a puzzle or an obscure book that only the most educated or imaginative could figure out. The Bible was given to us so we could discover the important answers to the meaning and purpose of life, and, most importantly, so we could have a relationship with God that changes us to reflect His character. If we want to know what the character of God looks like, we need only look at Jesus without trying to reinterpret what He said.