Servant Leadership at Its Best

 This morning we watched the worship service from The Village Church at Shell Point Retirement Community.  The residents who participated by reading scripture and offering the pastoral prayer were Jerry and Peter Nanfelt.  Dr. Peter Nanfelt was president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance from 1998 to 2005.  Jerry is his lovely wife.

During the era of Dr. Nanfelt’s presidency, we attended the C&MA National Council on a yearly basis.  Because our son was the only child still at home and was homeschooled, he attended this national meeting with us.  There were always activities in which he enjoyed participating, but he was also tolerant of being dragged along on adult events.  One year when he was a preteen, we were invited to a luncheon attended by about 30-40  others.  We were among the last to arrive and ended up toward the end of a long table with empty seats next to us.  We sat down with our son between us, but he quickly analyzed the situation and offered to trade places with me so that he was next to the empty chair, and I could more easily talk to people across the table from us.

The program and meal were almost ready to begin when Peter Nanfelt walked in.  His attendance at this event had not been announced.  No special place had been saved for him, so he sat down next to the young boy.  I was laughing inwardly as I thought of all the people at that council who had agendas, and who would have loved to have the ear of the president during lunch.  So, what did the president of this national organization and our son discuss during the meal.  Well, of course, it was baseball.  At one point, I looked over and saw Peter sketching out a play on a paper napkin.

The incident was a lovely example of a gracious and humble leader in action, but there was more to come.

A few years later, our son was a teenager and attended Life, which is a nationwide youth conference the C&MA holds every 3 years.  One evening, he called me with delight in his voice.  His comments went something like this:

“Mom, you won’t believe what I just saw.  Dr Nanfelt and his wife were directing traffic in the dining hall.  He was not on the platform telling us he was the C&MA president.  He was in the dining hall helping kids find their way.  And I am one of the few people who even realize who he is.”

Our son learned more about servant leadership that day than he ever could have listening to a lecture, reading a book or attending a conference on that topic.

I am a grateful mother.

The Puzzle of Life

A bit of logic,

Some intuition,

Researching foreign words,

And the crossword puzzle is solved.

 

The picture on the box,

Attention to color,

An eye for detail,

And the jigsaw puzzle is solved.

 

And then there is the puzzle of life.

 

Logic

Intuition

Research

Comparison

Attention

Observation

The pieces are still scattered.

 

How does one make sense of competing ideas?

Find clarity among the clamor of voices?

Escape from pressure on all sides?

Come up with a cohesive world view?

 

Jesus…

I hide in the shadow of your wings,

I rest in your sheltering arms,

I listen to the beat of your heart.

 

Peace instead of pieces.

 

Quarantine

Having driven from Florida to New York, we are now on our 3^rd day of mandated quarantine.  We have received an official document laying out all of the whereases and therefores, we have had multiple calls from the contact tracing department, and we have been told some contradictory things.

There is a $10,000 fine for violating the quarantine, but supposedly no one is checking up on us except for daily texts.  I have been told that we cannot leave the confines of our apartment, which affords no opportunity for exercise.  It has also been suggested…off the record, of course…that I could get away with a walk at 6 AM.  However, we live in an apartment complex and we have a car with Florida plates, so I think we are obvious, and I don’t want to risk any “good citizen” reporting us.

One of my daughters has been delivering groceries, so that is taken care of.  The contact tracer asked me if the washer and dryer were in the apartment.  No….they are in a common area.  The area is only available to 6 apartments, two of which are vacant.  Most of the folks here work, so I could sneak down to the laundry when no one was around during the workday.  One contact tracer told me that would be OK if I sanitized the equipment after I used it.  Another one said, “No….you can’t do that. Don’t you have a friend who could do it?”

Ummm….gee, lady…I am 75 and most of my friends are my age.  I’m not asking another old lady to do my laundry!

I have a teenage granddaughter who can do it, but her family does not have a vehicle.  She is in walking distance of our apartment and a laundromat, but she would have to carry the laundry and detergent, etc.  I finally thought this morning about putting the laundry in a rolling suitcase.  That should be doable.  Of course, the laundry detergent is in the storage closet in a common area, and there is a combination lock on the door.  I guess one of us will have to sneak down there avoiding other tenants.

I was also informed since there are two of us in the apartment and there is only one bathroom, we should be sanitizing the room after each use.  Good grief!  We sleep together and routinely snuggle up doing it.  We kiss (gasp!).  Sanitizing the bathroom between uses is a ridiculous waste of time and Lysol.

But, my main complaint is the lack of exercise.  In our community in Florida, I swim nearly every day, and when it isn’t too hot to do so, we walk around the island every day.  Combined with trips to the pool and the garden, I typically walk at least 2 miles a day.  So now, I am pacing the floor in my itsy bitsy apartment.  The Y pool is about a block away, but of course, I can’t go there until I’m out of quarantine.

Hey…at least I’m alive, and the sun is shining, and we have a little balcony I can sit on…AND…my fellow inmate is a very pleasant guy.

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!