Hurricane Harvey Reveals Our Better Angels

The entire nation has been galvanized by the reports of Hurricane Harvey, an unexpected disaster of unprecedented proportions.  The fourth largest city in the United States drowning under an endless deluge of rain that buried neighborhoods, streets and thoroughfares under water. 

But greater than the torrential downpour that drove families to their attics and rooftops was the outpouring of sacrifice by thousands seeking to help.  An entire “navy” of volunteer boats immediately came to the aid of those in greatest danger.  The Galveston Daily News posted phone numbers for owners of flat-bottomed boats to call in order to volunteer.  Boats normally outfitted for fishing in the marshes that surround the island wandered the flooded streets of the greater Houston area searching for stranded neighbors.

Police, Firefighters and others worked around the clock, many of them hampered by the flood waters that threatened their headquarters.  They were not enough.  The greatest aid in the immediate threat were volunteers, often uncoordinated and spontaneous.  Neighbors helping neighbors without regard to race, ethnicity or faith.

On Sunday, the Houston news station KHOU was evacuated due to flooding, but their reporter, Brandi Smith, continued her reporting on site at Beltway 8 and the Hardy toll road.  She saw an 18 wheeler trapped in flood waters on the service road, flagged down a sheriff’s truck and helped rescue the driver.

Raul Njobi, begging for help, shouted to a group of volunteers launching their flat-bottom boat into the flood waters.  His sister was trapped in a Ford Fiesta not far away.  Just before her cell phone died she reported water was seeping into the car. Without hesitation they headed in the direction Mr. Njobi indicated searching for his sister.

 Across the nation Disaster Relief units scrambled to send volunteers to the coastal regions of Texas knowing the recovery will be long term.

In spite of the devastation to the Texas coast, especially the Coastal Bend where Harvey made landfall, there was something hopeful.  In the end it is not the depth of the floodwaters that will define us, but the depth of human kindness.

For months we have been bombarded by reports of terrorism, racism, hatred, anger and violence, (usually perpetrated by a few individuals).  The hurricane that hovered over Houston and sent the swollen creeks, rivers and bayous into record flood levels, brought to the surface the sacrifice that best characterizes our human spirit.

Down deep we remember the lessons Jesus taught about the Good Samaritan: to put ourselves at risk to care for strangers in need, to carry them to safety, to provide food and shelter, to bind up their wounds and to care for their recovery. (Luke 10:30-37).  Perhaps it has taken Hurricane Harvey to remind us what truly makes a nation great:  “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love your neighbors as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39).

Lessons from Buddy: God is no respecter of persons

At least once a year I write a column about my dog, Buddy, a tri-color Corgi.  Buddy found me eight years ago.  He had to spend some time wandering the streets as a stray and endure the indignities of animal control and Corgi rescue to do it. But he succeeded.  They called him “Tex.”  But he soon made it clear that his name was “Buddy.” 

When I go for a walk without Buddy, I am invisible. Few people notice me or speak.  But when Buddy takes me for a walk, we are celebrities.  Children stop what they are doing and run to us, asking if they can pet him.  Some adults do the same.

Buddy never seems to meet a stranger.  He doesn’t care what people look like, what color their skin, what kind of tattoos they might have. They can be gay, straight, male, female, old or young, rich or poor, educated or disabled.  He loves them all and they all seem to love him. And they all seem to feel better after they pet him.

It’s a lesson I am still working on, a lesson Buddy is still trying to teach me.  It is a lesson Jesus taught and one that Peter struggled to learn.  Jesus intentionally led his followers through Samaria, a region Jews refused to visit, and introduced them to a woman who had five husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband. He incensed his hometown authorities when he pointed out that God used Elisha to heal a Syrian rather than a Jew.  He embraced lepers who were outcast from their families. He healed the sick, the blind and the lame.  He dined with despised tax collectors. This was not the journey Peter and his companions expected. 

It was only later when the Holy Spirit led him to enter the home of a Roman Centurion that Peter seemed to understand.  Upon entering the home, Peter said, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.” (Acts 10).

Last week I stopped to get a haircut. A young woman in her 30s cut my hair. She had piercings in her nose, tongue and chin and tattoos covering her arms. We struck up a conversation. She has three little girls, 11, 7 and 5 who live with her ex-mother-in-law. She miscarried a baby boy. A few years ago, she “came out of the closet.”  I asked her what this meant and she told me she is gay. She said people thought she wanted to abandon her children, but this was not the case. She was simply tired of being depressed and suicidal. She is committed to caring for her children as much as the courts will allow her.  I told her I hoped she found a church that loved her. She said she always loved going to church but she was afraid of being judged.

I think Buddy would love this young mother and she would love him.  I am sure God loves her.  I wonder, after Charlottesville, when we will ever learn the lesson God built into Buddy, the lessons Jesus taught when He was here.

Water of Life

Perhaps somewhere out there some extraterrestrials are listening to Jimmy Carter’s greetings and Chuck Berry singing, Johnny Be Good on the recordings launched into space aboard Voyager in 1977. Voyager has left the solar system and is in interstellar space.  Or, maybe someday we will pick up alien radio messages like Jodie Foster in Contact. But, so far, the evidence indicates that life in the universe is precious.  Quite possibly, we are it. Although I have to agree that it makes sense there should be life somewhere out there.  Surely in God’s economy He would not create this vast expanse of universe and only create life on our small pebble.

Scientists are searching for water again.  Not on earth, but in far-flung places in our solar system and the universe.  In their search for life on other planets they know that water is the key.  Where there is water, there could be life. They have ruled out Mars. No water there.  Perhaps once upon a time, but the water is gone, and with it, the prospects of life.  But they have found water on Titan, one of Saturn’s moons.  Even though the average temperature, on a good day is 270 degrees below zero. They think there is an entire ocean of water beneath the surface.  How the space probe Cassini can determine this, I have no idea. 

Whenever scientists search for life in the universe they search first for water.  Ellen Stofan, chief scientist for NASA said, “NASA science activities have provided a wave of amazing findings related to water in recent years that inspire us to continue investigating our origins and the fascinating possibilities of other worlds, and life, in the universe.” Water is the essence of life as we know it. Without it, life cannot exist.

Most of us think little about water. We are more focused on beverages that tease our taste and promise a lift.  We take water for granted.  But water is the essential element for life. Most scientists agree that humans can live up to eight weeks without food as long as they have water.  But living without water is another story. Some people could live for a week without water.  In some cases only two or three days.

Jesus knew this when He spoke about water.  He said, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

As important as water is to the existence of life and to our own physical well-being, there is another element even more important to the life of our soul.  Millions who have access to food, shelter, water and wealth are dying every day for lack of the spiritual water of faith that can nourish their soul. 

“Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you,
…  ‘For I will pour out water on^]the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring  and My blessing on your descendants;  and they will spring up ^]among the grass like poplars by streams of water.’

Intersections

We have all seen the evidence: shattered glass on the pavement, cars with smashed fenders and bent bumpers pulled over to the side of the road, passengers standing around wringing their hands, sometimes in tears, red and blue lights flashing in the night.

State Farm recently released its list of the top 10 most dangerous intersections in the United States.  The most dangerous is in Florida, just north of Miami. Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tulsa, OK each had two intersections on the list.  Frisco, TX, Metairie, LA and Sacramento, CA each had one.  Each year the Federal Highway Administration reports approximately 2.5 million accidents at intersections. 40% of all traffic accidents occur at intersections and almost 1,000 people a year die in these accidents. Intersections are dangerous.

As in driving so in life.  We all must go through intersections that raise the level of risk. They are moments built into life that challenge our best judgement and call on our best resources.  Many families will encounter one of those intersections in the next few weeks:  College.  For the freshman leaving home it can be a dramatic confluence of emotion: excitement, freedom and fear.  You can find them walking among the imposing buildings on campus, sometimes accompanied with anxious parents, sometimes alone, gazing at the pillared buildings wondering how they will find their way.

Parents will return home to suddenly silent houses. Stereos no longer echo from the upstairs bedroom. Meals are no longer gulped down in a rush to get the kids off to school and make the next practice session or performance. Schedules are disturbingly simple.

We encounter other intersections when we choose a career, find a partner for life and give birth to our children.  We encounter them when our preschoolers start first grade, when they reach puberty and struggle to grow up.  Promotions, layoffs, career changes, moves to a new house in a new city, aging and old age.  Life is filled with intersections.

We do best at these moments when we trust in God.  He knows the “traffic patterns.”  He has been there.  He knows the outcome.  He is willing to take us by the hand or “take the wheel” and guide us through to the other side.

He led Abraham to a foreign land he had never seen and multiplied his descendants like the sands of the sea.  He guided Isaac in search of a wife and blessed Jacob in a similar quest. He led Moses through the wilderness. He guided Mary and Joseph to Egypt and back after the birth of Jesus.  In every generation, God has been a comfort and a guide to those who trust Him.

“In your loving kindness you have led the people whom you have redeemed; in your strength you have guided them to your Holy habitation.” (Exodus 15:13).  “For you are my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake you will lead me and guide me.” (Psalm 31:3).  “And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.” (Isaiah 58:11). 

Kingdom Citizens - The Child Within

When we think of people who are religious, many conjure up images of old men with long gray beards, black capes and stooped shoulders. Some think of ascetic monks living in the desert.  Others picture nuns robed in their habits whispering prayers as they finger their rosaries. 

Jesus changed all our presumptions about what it means to be “religious” when he took a little child, stood him in front of his disciples and said, “Except you become as a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:1-2). When he wanted to forge an image in the mind of his followers Jesus chose a child. Why would he do this?

Jesus left the answer to that question up to us.  We can all speculate about the lesson he wanted to teach by choosing a child.  Here are a few characteristics that stand out to me when I think about children and the reason he chose a child to illustrate the nature God looks for in Kingdom people. 

Children live in the moment.  They are not worried about the future.  They are not burdened with guilt about the past. Watch children playing on a playground.  They have little awareness of time. They wear no watches.

Children become friends fast. Most children have not learned to be hesitant and shy.    They greet one another as if they have already met.  “Want to play?”  And the game is on.

Children laugh. I love listening to children on the school playground and in the park. Anywhere children gather, the air is filled with laughter.  It is their nature to laugh.

Children do not know prejudice.  I’m not sure when we learn racial and cultural prejudice, but young children have not learned this lesson.  They readily accept each other as equals regardless of skin color or clothing.  If they notice a difference between them, they ask about it.  And, once the difference is recognized they shrug their shoulders and move on.

Children trust.  When their father extends his arms and encourages them to jump they fling their bodies into open space fully confident they will be caught. 

Children are awed by God’s creation.   They are mesmerized by grasshoppers, caterpillars, butterflies and flowers. They stop and take time to watch an ant wrestle a crumb of bread across the ground.  They notice the spots on a lady bug.

Children have great imaginations. Give a child a sandbox, a stick, or a can and they can construct unbelievable creations. I watched children recently playing in the sand.  They were digging a hole.  When I asked what it was, they looked at me with a puzzled look, as if I was the only one who did not recognize the obvious.  They patiently explained that it was a grasshopper sanctuary.

This list isn’t complete.  You can add others, I am sure.  Somewhere within us all is buried the child we once were.  Perhaps if we could re-connect with the child-like simplicity within us, we might take our first steps toward becoming Kingdom citizens as Jesus described it.  

Senior Citizen

Someone, somewhere said, “Growing old isn’t for sissies!”

At age 79, Thomas Jefferson lamented to his friend John Adams, “It is at most but the life of a cabbage, surely not worth a wish. when all our faculties have left, or are leaving us, one by one, sight, hearing, memory, every avenue of pleasing sensation is closed, and debility and mal-aise left in their places, when the friends of our youth are all gone, and a generation is risen around us whom we know not,” (Monticello, June 1, 1822). 

I am now a “senior citizen.” How did this happen?  I never intended to become one. I spent my life busy about making a living, raising kids, pursuing career goals, trying to serve God and others and, suddenly, I wake up and I am a “senior citizen.”

This was never my goal.  I never looked down the corridors of time and wished that someday I could become a senior citizen. It happened without my knowing.  I was assigned the title without my consent.

Part of it is my own fault.  I have sold out my pride for a few cents and asked for a “senior coffee,” a “senior menu,” or a “senior discount.”  Do I have no shame?

The first indicator was a card in the mail from AARP.  I did not ask for this.  It just came, about the time I turned 50.  And now I receive advertisements from the Neptune Society encouraging me to think about cremation. I don’t want to think about having my body burned, stuffed in a jar or  thrown to the wind.  I want to think about living.

 Little things remind me I am aging.  When I enter my birth year for a plane ticket on the computer, I have to page down four times to find the year.  When I check out at Walmart, the cashier calls me “Sweetie.”  When I go to the barber the floor is littered with white hair clippings.

We discipline ourselves in our youth in order to live a longer life. But, when we live long, we discover that it leads to “old age.”  What is this?  I want my youth back.  I want to run and feel the exhilaration of running; to get out of bed without aching, to fly up the stairs two at a time, and to run down them without a thought and without a limp.  I want to eat whatever I want without gaining weight.

But, if we are successful and live long lives, old age will come.

The Bible affirms God’s love for us as we age.

“You who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb;
even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you!
I have done it, and I will carry you; and I will bear you and I will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:3-4)

In every stage of life we pass through troubled times, challenges, setbacks, fears and anxieties. Pursuing an education, finding a job, getting married, having children, making ends meet, disappointments, layoffs, injury and disease. Memory tends to erase the difficulties of the past, but the journey has never been easy. 

In every stage of life, including the last one, God is sufficient and His love never ends.

The Reunion

 It is that time of year when families gather for the annual reunion: aunts, uncles and cousins, some twice removed.  They find familiar faces that frame the memories of their youth and tell stories passed down through the years, embellished with each cycle of telling.  “Do you remember when …?”  Laughter fills the air before the story can be told. Everyone in the circle has either heard it or told it countless times. 

Others hang back along the fringe, looking puzzled, trying to figure out who these people are and how they might be related to them. These are the young with their boyfriends and girlfriends and the new “in-laws.”  Sometimes they seek each other out to share a common amnesia regarding the inside jokes and familiar references to names not present.

The reunion has a strange mix of sorrow and laughter. Significant people are missing.  Voices that once echoed at the tables of past reunions are silent.  The same people who gather for the reunion gathered and wept at the funerals for those who no longer come.  Their memories are like the deep colors that form the background for vivid paintings or the rich bass tones of the cello and the French horn that enrich the orchestra.  These sorrows are offset by giggling children who appear like bright colors that dance on the canvass, whose laughter picks up future melodies like the flute.

We somehow have confidence that Heaven is about reunions. We all look forward to seeing those we loved and those who loved us when we get to Heaven. Somehow, this earthly reunion helps us look forward to that day.  We don’t know exactly how it will happen or how God could manage all the intertwined family relationships when we get to Heaven, but, somehow, family reunions portend the Heavenly event.  When I was a child we sang, “Will the circle be unbroken?”  It was a way to ask the question together and look forward to something more perfect that God has planned for us.

Jesus did not shy away from using this image to help us look forward to a more perfect day.  He said, “In my Father’s House are many mansions.  If it were not so, I would have told you.  I go and prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also.”  The book of Hebrews uses this metaphor to spur us on to better living: “Seeing that we are surrounded by so great a host of witnesses, let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the originator and the finisher of the race.”  It seems to me that God takes pleasure in our reunions, just as He takes pleasure in reuniting Himself with us through His Son.