Of All Men Most Miserable

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.   I Corinthians 15:19

This verse is puzzling to me if it is quoted outside of the context of the chapter.  When it stands alone, I don’t agree with it.

If after death, all I had to look forward to was hell, then I would definitely agree.  But, if after death, there was oblivion…nothingness, the end of existence, I would not be of all men most miserable.

I do believe in and totally expect to end up in heaven when I die, but if death was THE END, having Christ in this life would still have been worth the commitment.  I did not accept Christ as my personal Savior to escape Hell.  I accepted Him as my Savior to embark on a life-long relationship.  By God’s grace that is what I have had.  I look for guidance through His Word and praying, not just aloud and formally, but within my own mind and spirit on a more than daily basis….”Lord, what do you want me to do next?  Help me set my priorities for day.  What can I say to this person to whom I’m talking?  What should I do about the situation which has just presented itself?  Please help me not to do anything stupid that is harmful to someone else.”  I am able to cope with challenges, because I do not feel alone.  I feel the peace and strength that comes from knowing that I live and move and have my being in His love.  (Acts 17:28)

Of course, if we look at I Corinthians 15:19 in the context of the surrounding verses, Paul’s point is that if Christ has been raised from the dead, He has conquered death, and that is why we have the hope of living forever.  He has conquered death for us too.  If we have hope only in this life, it is because He was not raised and our whole faith comes in to question.  It all hinges on His resurrection.  He is alive!  If it were not so, we would be miserable!

Relationship in this life and hope for the next life are part of an integral package.  I am grateful for the reality of His presence now and overwhelmed by the prospect of an eternity with Him.

Big Decision-Little Decision

A teenager of my acquaintance recently declared his unwillingness to discuss with anyone what he is deciding regarding his life.  He does not want to be asked if he is planning to finish high school or get his GED or just drop out completely.  He figures it is his choice.

There are two things wrong with his thinking….

1.        He doesn’t realize it, but he has already made his decision to drop out.  He hasn’t attended school in about six weeks.  He did not make the BIG decision to drop out.  He made many LITTLE decisions that added up to the big one.  He repeatedly stayed out most of the night and decided not to get up in the morning.  No individual morning sleep-in caused him to drop out, but the combination certainly did.  He has missed sufficient school at this point, that the academic year is irretrievable.

2.       He mistakenly thinks that his decisions impact only him.  This is a pretty common misconception among teenagers and young people in their early twenties.  They do not understand that the day will come when they are really in a mess, and then they will turn to their family.  Their flippant and self-centered decisions will “cost” their family in some way….time, money, stress.  In fact, it is already costing his family as he sits around playing video games and making no tangible contribution to the household.

I do not believe I have ever made a major decision.  By the time I reached the point where I had to declare myself one way or another, I had made a series of minor decision which led me to a point of inevitability.  Education, career, marriage partner, job changes, living situations….all may seem like big choices, but it is easy to slide into any one of them based on little every day choices.  That is why we need to learn to seek guidance from Someone who sees the big picture.  As a Christian, I believe in a daily recommitment of myself to live by principles found in the Bible.

Important among these principles are the notion of honoring ones parents and loving ones neighbor as oneself.  This eliminates many poor choices.  If I keep this in mind, I will not think that my decisions only affect me.  I will avoid paths which are selfish and which will be costly or harmful to others.

How I wish there was a way to impart this wisdom!  It is painful to watch a young person in self-destruct mode.  I think back to another young person to whom I said, “I am jumping up and down and screaming at you, ‘The bridge is out!  The bridge is out!’  But you have your foot on the accelerator and are roaring past me toward the edge of the cliff.”

It has been painful and costly in multiple ways.

Memories of My Mother

Fourteen years ago today,

My dear, dear Mother slipped away.

The color draining from her cheeks,

Her body silent ‘neath the sheets.

I knew that the day was near,

I knew I could not keep her here,

I tried so hard to ease her pain,

I knew my efforts were in vain.

I was grateful for the sweet release,

Her weary face at last at peace.

But, from her bed, I saw the tree,

Wondered, “What would Christmas be?”

Outside the ground was cold, but green,

No white Christmas, it would seem,

Yet  as I watched her body die,

White flakes descended from the sky.

A final gift of wintery white,

As her spirit took its flight,

These the memories I recall,

Each year when Christmas snowflakes fall.

I Went to Jail This Morning

I sat there alone for some time in the jail reception area with no particular desire to converse with the other folks waiting.  It’s not that I felt superior to the rest of the visitors, but I didn’t have much in common with some of the attitudes being expressed.  Two women who apparently were there to see the same man talked with each other, and the air was electric with their contempt for one other.  My guess is that one was the mother and the other the girlfriend.  Eventually the younger woman stalked out.  The older woman said aloud to no one in particular, “Can you guess I don’t like her?  If she dropped dead right here, I wouldn’t give her CPR.” 

When the reception window opened, we all went up to sign in, surrender our IDs and receive a badge to wear during the visit.  I returned to my previous seat and found it had been taken by an attractive and dressed-better-than-most, forty-ish woman.  I sat down next to her.  She was there to visit her son.  I was there to visit my granddaughter’s boyfriend.  I’m not even sure how the conversation began.

She didn’t want to be there, but felt obligated to come.  Her son would always be her son, in spite of his poor choices.  She had raised him until he was 12, and then he had gone to live with her ex-husband.  She remarried and has daughters who are good students and cause no trouble.  Her son has been in jail before.  Recently they helped him get set up in an apartment.  He got a job.  They thought this was the time he would be successful.  But, here she was visiting him in jail….again.  She never did tell me exactly what he had done.

I didn’t want to be there, but felt obligated to come.  The biological and adoptive family members of my granddaughter’s boyfriend do not visit him.  My granddaughter can’t visit him, because there is a “stay-away” order.  I couldn’t think of anyone else who would visit him, so I figured it was my job.  But, it isn’t fun to visit someone in jail.

I have been in jails many times in my life.  From childhood through my teen years, I attended a church which held monthly services at a local prison.  I went frequently.  I sang solos there.  Later as a professional person, I visited jails to offer health services and information to staff.  Of course, I went through metal detectors and listened to the doors lock behind me, but that was not as dehumanizing as going to visit a prisoner.  You are required to be there 30 minutes before the visit begins or you are turned away.  After signing in and surrendering your ID, you wait.  You are then herded into an entry room and the door locked behind you.  From there, you go into a locker room.  All of your personal items must be placed in a locker.  You take nothing with you from that room but the clothes on your back and the locker key.  Next are the metal detector, and another room and another locked door.  Finally, you enter the visit room.  The prisoners are already seated at small tables.  You are allowed a brief hug and then you sit opposite the person you are visiting for one hour.  You cannot leave early or wander about the room.  A guard sits at an elevated desk constantly observing.

The visit is over.  I smile at the lady I talked with earlier and ask if her visit went OK.  She nods with a bit of a smile playing on her lips but sorrow in her eyes. 

We never even exchanged names.  I suppose we each like our anonymity, but we share a sad and heavy common bond.

Broken World

Broken world,

Broken lives.

Scattered fragmented pieces,

Rather than beauty and wholeness.

Violent thoughts,

Violent deeds,

Actions filled with hatred,

In the place of comfort and love.

Babe in a manager,

Savior on a cross,

Your purpose was healing.

We are guilty of wounding.

Our fractured world,

Our broken land,

Our sinful hearts cry out,

Only you can make us whole.

All creation groans,

 In anticipation,

Make the crooked straight,

Make the rough places plain.

You came once humbly,

Come now in power.

May every knee bow to you alone,

Creator, Sustainer, Sovereign Lord.

Merciful Father,

Hear our cry!

Evolution and Despair

I just watched a clip on "Through the Wormhole" about "Directed Evolution."  The premise is that as humans advance in genetic technology, we will be able to control our own evolution, and that if we want to continue to "evolve," we must do so.

There are some things in this piece that leave me scratching my head in wonder.

The statement is made that "evolution is a random process that usually leads to dead ends."  Hey!  I believe that, and it is exactly why I believe in an intelligent Creator bringing about the world and everything in it.  The odds are astronomically against complex organisms developing by chance. Evolutionists supposedly think we (creationists and intelligent designers) are silly to believe this, but now here is an argument by an evolutionist that what we have said all along is true.  So, now since evolution doesn't work all that well on its own, we must tinker with our genes to continue improving our species.

I don't think we are yet anywhere near wise enough or knowledgeable enough to begin this tinkering.  We are not much past the now debunked belief that our DNA contains lots of "junk" that has no purpose.  Until we know the ramifications of our tinkering, we need to proceed with excessive precautions, lest we alter something we think has no purpose and discover we were mistaken.

The psychological impact of these beliefs is enormous.  It we are just the product of chance and need to start directing our own genetics to improve, we are subject to despair.  I am an accident.  I have no intrinsic worth.  My offspring will be as bad off as I am unless I figure out how to improve my own genes.  But if I don't know how to go about this or don't have the money to pay for it, my children are doomed to be as bad off as I am. What is the point?

Contrast this with:  I am a unique creation of a loving God.  He planned for my existence.  He desires to know me and help me to live a meaningful life.  My life and that of my offspring can be trusted to Him.

I am horrified by the number of teens and young adults I meet who believe that they are without value and that their lives are meaningless. Believing in our random evolution has consequences for emotional health.  Not only is it intellectually dishonest, it is foolish, emotional suicide.

Advent Wreath

The church I currently attend generally has an Advent Wreath for the Sundays leading up to Christmas.  Finding a pink candle is sometimes a problem.  This year I volunteered to put the wreath together.  I was really proud of myself for finding a pink candle, until I remembered that the only one I could find was scented, and one of the members of our congregation has allergies which might be triggered by the wafting aroma.

So...I decided to solve the problem permanently.  I purchased a 12 inch square piece of craft plywood, 5 electric candles and a piece of Christmas garland.  I knew I had colored cellophane at home.  

I painted the wooden square green.  While  it was drying, I wrapped 3 candles in purple cellophane and one in pink cellophane, gluing the overlap of the paper.  When the paint and glue were dry, I glued the five candles in place.  The white one in the center and the other four set in a bit from each of the corners. 

 I flattened the cords against the board and used a staple gun to secure the cords to the board positioning them so that they all came off the same side (what would be the back side) close together.  I wrapped the cords together with duct tape to make them easier to manage.  I marked the switches in sequence 1 through 5.  I then arranged the garland around the candles.

I now have an Advent Wreath that won't burn the church down or cause an allergic reaction.
Also...I won't have to go on a quest for a pink candle again next year.