If You Don't Believe in God...

If you don’t believe in God…

To whom do you offer praise,

When your breath is taken away by the colors in a sunset,

When your heart swells with joy at the cry of a newborn,

When you realize you have escaped a tragedy?

From whom do you seek comfort,

When your breathing comes with excruciating pain,

When your heart is breaking with sorrow,

When you realize a dear friend has betrayed you?

Of whom do you stand in awe,

When you breathe in the fresh air after a thunderstorm,

When your heart is filled with the ecstasy of love,

When you realize how tiny you are in the universe?

In whom do you trust,

When you breathe your final breath,

When your heart trembles out its last beat,

When you realize you are stepping into eternity?

By whom do we acquire salvation,

When we realize our wretchedness,

When our heart needs to be cleansed,

When breathing in His Spirit is our greatest need?

Why Would Anyone Refuse to Wear a Mask?

It is absolutely incredible to me that anyone would refuse to wear a mask and would see this as an eroding of their personal liberties.  How have we gotten to this place in our society, that seemingly intelligent individuals ignore the basic science of the situation and react with such emotion to such a small inconvenience?

I don’t expect this to do any good but…

Wearing a mask prevents those around you from inhaling the small droplets of moisture that you expel when you cough, sneeze, sing, whistle or even just exhale.  Those small droplets are a primary means by which viruses and bacteria are spread to others.  If everyone wore a mask, the spread would be very minimal.  This is truth!  

A mask may inconvenience you, but it doesn’t hurt you.  Reliable studies have shown that it doesn’t significantly reduce your oxygen intake.  Oxygen exists in the air in the form of a molecule which combines two oxygen atoms the size of which is much smaller than that of the moisture droplets the mask screens out.  Oxygen can pass through the mask fibers, and carbon dioxide (3 atoms in that molecule) can get out.  A virus is about 1000 times bigger than an atom.

Seeing the encouragement to wear a mask or the order to do so as an infringement of your rights is absurd.  We cheerfully do all sorts of other things for the safety of ourselves and others.  Many of these things we do without the need for a law.  We don’t insist on our right to drive through red lights.  We don’t let toddlers play with guns.  We wear seatbelts in cars and on planes.

Throwing a temper tantrum about wearing a mask is just plain immature behavior.  It demonstrates the most basic way in which humans display their sinful nature.  “I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it, and no one is going to stop me!”  That attitude is as old as the Garden of Eden or at least as old as Cain and Abel.

I am particularly troubled by Christians with a negative attitude about masks.  As believers we are obligated to put the needs of others before our own needs. I shouldn’t even have to say that!  We are also obligated to be obedient to those in authority over us.  If our government says we should wear a mask, we have Christ’s directive to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”  He said this specifically in regard to paying taxes, but wearing a mask is obviously just another regulation from “Caesar.”  I know of no scripture that says, “no matter what…don’t wear a mask!”  It is NOT the mark of the beast.

You may think you have a right NOT to wear a mask.  I won’t argue with you in public.  I will smile at you (behind my mask) and speak kindly to you, but don’t mistakenly think I respect your rights in this regard.  

In my mind, I will see you as a toddler laying down on the floor and pitching a fit.

Jesus Wept

Jesus wept…

Even though He knew He would raise Lazarus from the dead, He wept outside his tomb.

He wept over Jerusalem knowing the consequences of its rejection.

He must weep now.

Our country is not His chosen in the sense that the Jewish people are.

But, our country has experienced His guidance and blessing for over 200 years.

Now we as a nation reject Him and His truth.

We are hateful towards each other.

We abort our babies before birth, and many are abused after birth.

We call what is evil good.  We encourage perversion. 

In the name of tolerance and pluralism, we are open to everything.  We are proud of it and of our ever-accepting mindset.

There was a time when even those who did not call themselves “Christian” held to its core principles.  Now those values are rejected and mocked.

We fill our minds with sex and violence and filthy language in the name of entertainment.

We have tried to think Him out of existence…as if that were even possible.

We have become so wise in our own eyes that we believe we can solve all problems through our own will and the technology we have developed.

We don’t know that we are poor and naked and blind.

We don’t see that we are teetering on the edge of the abyss, and that only His hand of compassion prevents our falling irretrievably into it.

And as He holds back our inevitable judgment…

He weeps.

Black Lives Matter vs the BLM Movement

I believe that Black Lives Matter, but I do not support the Black Lives Matter organized movement.  I have been to their webpage and read their mission statement.  Although they say lots of non-specific things about opposition to violence against blacks and support of black causes, there are some glaring omissions and some troubling specifics.

One would think this organization was primarily about supporting black individuals, but when specifics are stated, the support is for LBGTQ blacks.  This is mentioned in four paragraphs of the mission statement.  No other specific is mentioned that many times.  I believe LBGTQ lives matter, because ALL lives matter, but this overemphasis changes the thrust of the organization’s intent.

The other troubling specific is that they advocate the disruption of the nuclear family structure and the promotion of collective care of children.  I thought one of the horrible wrongs of slavery was disruption of the family unit, and the fact that black women became nannies to white children to the detriment of their own children.  Promoting collective care over the family unit as the source of childcare seems to be a step in the wrong direction.

Not mentioned at all in the mission statement:

*decreasing the abortion of black babies

*support of black owned businesses

*support of local law enforcement individuals many of whom are black

*retraining of law enforcement to promote fair practices

*efforts to decrease black on black violence

*they mention peace but do not specifically promote change through non-violent means (i.e. without burning and looting) as Martin Luther King did.

There is a special plea on the webpage for the organization to be informed about “disinformation” about their cause.  I am not here spreading disinformation.  I am relating information from their own webpage.

I am also not buying into the argument I have seen promoted by some Christians, that we should say “Black lives matter” rather than “All lives matter.”  The rationale is that Jesus himself told the story of the shepherd leaving the 99 to seek out the one who had gone astray.  Blacks are 12 out of 100, not 1 out of 100. Blacks have been the focus of many social programs for decades attempting to bring “the lost” home to equality. They have been given advantages through Affirmative Action programs.  At one point, it was almost impossible for a white male to get into medical school, because people of color and women were being given priority.

At some point, everyone needs to be treated equally…not discriminated against, but also not given unfair advantage based on the same factors that might be used to discriminate against.  Many blacks are themselves saying that programs which have tried to help blacks have, in fact, crippled them and made them dependent.

If we can hold the world together long enough, it may be that one day it won’t matter, because intermarriage will make all of our descendants a mixture of “red and yellow, black and white….all our precious in His sight.”  That might solve the issue, but it might also make the world a less interesting place.  We need to be celebrating our unique differences not fighting over who is superior.

Meantime…the BLM Movement may not be what you think it is, and…

ALL LIVES MATTER!

Dolphin

Dolphin

Flash of quicksilver,

In the undulating green,

You propel yourself,

Unmindful of current.

Soon I see the graceful arch,

Of your back above the water.

The sound of your exhale,

Informing your presence.

I am awed by the swiftness

With which you change direction.

You pursue your prey

With lightning speed.

Are you aware of my presence?

Do you purposely entertain?

Does my fascination amuse you?

Do you know or care?

I recognize you,

As an artful creation,

Formed as a part of

A magnificent scheme.

Laura and the Soap Dispenser

I woke up this morning and lay in bed smiling to myself about a long-ago incident.  The kind of incident that only happens to the parent of an unusually impulsive child.  The “child” is now in her forties, and I don’t think the telling of this will upset her.

When Laura was in middle school, the phone rang one day.  I heard the school nurse’s sweet but somewhat hesitant voice.  “Mrs. Chapin… we don’t think there are going to be any bad outcomes from this, but the principal asked me to call you and tell you what happened today.  Laura got her arm stuck in a soap dispenser.  She doesn’t appear to be injured, but we did have to dismantle the soap dispenser to get her out.”

I was not the least bit upset by this, because there was already quite a history of “incidents.”  If an idea passed through Laura’s head, she was already doing it with no thought as to the consequences.  My friends used to say, “you could write a book!”  I didn’t ask the nurse any questions, because I figured I would get the detailed report from Laura herself.

I should probably set the scene for you.  When the school was built, the open concept idea was in vogue.  Each of the wings of the building, which had multiple classrooms, was built without dividing walls.  There were rows of low bookcases sectioning the large area into classrooms, but anyone standing up could see the entire wing of the building.  The lavatory stalls were in an enclosed area, but the sink was out in the open and visible.  It was a large round affair with water spurting out all 360 degrees.  The soap dispenser was in the middle of the sink and a bit raised.  It had a plastic lid with holes to allow air to enter and equalize pressure as soap was dispensed.  These holes were larger than they needed to be. Unfortunately, they were large enough for a child’s arm…specifically for Laura’s arm.

Laura reported that after using the lavatory, she went out to wash her hands.  Another little girl was standing there very distressed, because she had dropped her barrette into the soap dispenser and didn’t know how to get it out.  Laura often got herself in trouble in a genuine but misguided attempt to be helpful.  So, she plunged her arm through the hole to try to retrieve the barrette.  She couldn’t quite reach it and pushed her arm in further.  Eventually she realized her arm was stuck.

According to Laura, the first teacher who passed her just shrugged and said, “I’m going to leave you there.”  I suppose given the open classroom concept, every teacher in the wing knew her and figured as long as she was trapped, they at least knew where she was and what she was doing.

Others did, however, come to the rescue.  Before the incident was resolved, the principal, the assistant principal, the school nurse, and assorted maintenance men had gathered in the attempt to extract her.  They tried rubbing soap on her arm.  Then an attempt was made with Vaseline.  After the greasing and various contortions, a maintenance man finally went and got a hacksaw blade.  He carefully slid the blade in next to her arm and sawed outward releasing her arm but destroying the lid of the dispenser.

The arm was neither bruised nor scraped, so I figured that was the end of it.  I didn’t think the school would bill us for the cost of the soap dispenser.  However, Watertown is a small city and stories spread quickly.  I discovered on Sunday that the incident was now part of local legend, as a church friend approached me laughing.

At the time, Watertown hosted the Miss New York State pageant.  My friend had the prior week attended a luncheon for pageant hostesses.  One of the attendees sitting at her table was a middle school teacher, who told a hysterically funny story about a student getting her arm stuck in a soap dispenser.  My friend said, “As soon as she said the child’s name was Laura, I knew it had to be your Laura.”

Ah, yes.  If you manage to keep the kid alive, an impulsive child makes life very interesting, and when you are an old lady, you may find yourself chuckling.

Teetering on the Edge

The world has gone mad.

Mad as in insane, out of its mind.

Mad as in a red-hot rage.

Horrible vitriol pours out

From distorted faces,

Teeth bared and eyes ablaze.

Words are hurled like spears.

They sear our ears.

They pierce our souls.

It is impossible to hide,

From the maelstrom,

To find refuge from the whirlwind.

How can we protect our children,

Those who are mentally fragile,

The innocents among us?

Can we turn ourselves around,

Seek common ground,

Calm the stormy waters?

Or are we on the brink of a precipice,

Are we staring into the abyss,

Teetering on disaster’s edge?

Jesus whispers peace.

He is the only answer.

Will anyone believe that?

“When He comes,

Will He find faith

On the earth?”        Luke 18:8