Dear Wormwood

My Dearest Wormwood,

I must commend you for the work you are doing. You've distracted many from some of Our Father Below's greatest work. Now they are grumbling about "why" this so called tragedy has occurred. They are arguing amongst themselves, searching for places to put the blame. They blame their government, their laws, their entertainment, their family units, and even the makeup of their minds. And many have now lost sight of Our Father's activity almost entirely. Unfortunately I have also seen many turn to the enemy for mere comfort, and some actually believe they are receiving it. This cannot happen, Wormwood. Shame on you.

That said, you are recovering well as you have refocused many to this holiday season and its crowds, spending, and gift hoarding, instead of the celebration of our enemy's coming in this laughingly human form to supposedly save them. Those you've refocused away from the "tragedy" will easily fall into your plan of laziness and selfish inactivity.

I must forewarn you however that there will be some of their leaders in the buildings in which they meet who will claim the untruth of this silly savior. Be sure and occupy the congregants minds on visiting relatives, the gifts which help them to better their neighbors, and feeling bad about the drunken behavior they displayed at their holiday get-togethers. I'd rather them feel guilty, than special in this season.

In addition, be sure you continue to fuel the ongoing argument many have as to the existence of our enemy. This is a powerful discussion to leverage as many will be distracted to feel they must defend their beliefs rather than stand firm in them.

Don't mess this up, Wormwood. Our Father would not be pleased. These are important times.

Your Deviant Uncle, Screwtape



NOTE: This evil which reared its horrible face in Newtown on December 14th caused me to consider CS Lewis' Screwtape Letters. Its been a while since I've read it, but a lot of the conversation surrounding the Sandy Hook killings brought Screwtape's letters to mind. And how he may have written his nephew. I hope I've done it justice. My apologies to CS. May we continue to pray for the community of Newtown and the family and friends of all affected.

Stay Encouraged

Recently, a verse was placed in my heart and mind. Admittedly, I can't quote chapter and verse, so had to Google the actuals. So here goes:

Proverbs 16:9 states "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."

Some recent activities in my life have brought me some clarity to "why this verse". Without getting into details, I've seen heart-of man-plans, and I have seen Lord-determined-steps lead to an unforeseen bend in a road.

Pastor Bob Vann with the Atlanta Mission shared this statement a while back, and I found it befitting and encouraging. "A bend in the road is not the end of the road. Unless you fail to make the turn. God did not promise smooth sailing, but He did promise a safe arrival. We give our problems sovereignty—God is sovereign! Adversity is a purifying agent. Be gracious under attack. Not everybody likes you. Not everyone can handle God's blessing and favor on your life. What has been taken from you may be God's way of giving to you. Let God comfort you. God didn't promise you that he wouldn't let you go through what you're going through. Yet, He WILL comfort you. Let your life speak for you—just keep following the Savior"

Or as my Pastor, Crawford Loritts puts it. "Let God do what He does."

Stay encouraged...

Our Christmas Carol

Yesterday was the mass killing in a Newtown, CT elementary school.

Last night I saw my second born perform in the role of Scrooge's nephew in a local adaptation of A Christmas Carol. The director is a 5th grade teacher here in town. I can't imagine how the day's tragedy played through his heart and mind. He loves kids. He teaches kids.

So the lens of the day had Scrooge's Christmas Past, Present, and Future ghosts loom a little differently in my mind and caused me think about our future. Based on our present. Stemmed from our past. We are a crazy country, in a crazy world, at a crazy time. And we all want everything to be "fine". The problem is the methods we use to make it fine. We typically wait, blame, apply solely reason, legislate, excuse-make, suppress, or just sit on our behinds and complain. Rarely do we take action. All too often, we don't see love.

This past election season was a tough one for me. I've spent the past year volunteering once a week at The Atlanta Mission, a homeless shelter in downtown Atlanta. And in doing so, I have learned a lot about myself, my Faith, my culture, and my socio-economic acumen. In addition, I've seen other perspectives, lifestyles, social and cultural realities, and societal inequalities. A revisited perspective caused me to really wrestle with my vote. My desire to truly do the right thing. I wrestled, tossed and turned, wanting to make a difference. I was for one guy, then the other. Then I decided to just vote for the one guy who hit on a couple core things I believed in. Then I voted. 

I tuned in to the election coverage for a few hours that night, and watched the networks use there cool charts, touch screens, and exit polling. Then I got tired. Went to bed. Woke up later that night and turned on the TV to see if there was some sort of conclusion. I heard Stevie singing Signed, Sealed, Delivered. Then turned it off, rolled over, and went back to bed. 

I learned that God's love, my love, my life, my activities, my words, cast more opportunity for impact than my cast vote.

There have been a lot of "hug your kids a little tighter" comments all over the broadcast and social medias. And I understand that. And surely we should. And maybe this is a right season for just that. We need to mourn*. But, we can't remain hunkered down in our own safe zone. There is a world out there that needs our love, our prayer, our activity.

Maybe somehow this evil, tragic, horrific, non-sense, will cause pause to visit the importance of how we live in the world we live in. I said in my post yesterday, "I don't think we can shelter and escape it." I pray that we all decide to take action in love. Move from here in love. Scrooge had an opportunity to change a future. We do too.

"Do not merely listen to the word, and in so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" - James 1:22

--------

* Ecclesiastes 3:1-7

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
A time to be born and a time to die, 

a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak

Dumbfounded

Today 20 Children and 6 Adults were murdered by a gunman in a Newtown CT elementary school.

I can't get my head around this. Does God look at us and weep and say, "My Creation, My Creation. Look at what you have made of yourselves." Does God look at us and weep and say "My Children, I too know what it's like to have lost a Son." I try to imagine the mind of GOD.

Humanity looks to attribute a reason for this. Do we blame the person? Do we blame the mom? Do we say "Well she must have neglected her child."? Do we blame the guns? Do we look at the video games our kids play "shooting and not feeling." Has society and culture numbed us to the point that someone is influenced to the point of insanity and we want to make sense of it. I don't think we can shelter and escape it.

We want to rationalize evil. We want to legislate evil. We just want somewhere to look and say "THIS is why this happened."

It is just horrible.

I believe in God, His Son, and His Spirit. But right now, I can make no sense of it. But I trust Him.

Lord, somehow bring peace and comfort....

I Abstain

November 6, 2012. Election Day. I was 12th in line, and there were about 200 or so behind me when the polls open. Its a chilly, rainy day. We are a about a week removed from the "superstorm" Sandy, which has ravaged the northeast. I know many without power and vicariously some without homes. Yet the dialogue around the Presidential election has seemed omnipresent.

I remember hearing an older generation speak as to how their vote was "a matter of privacy". Politics really weren't discussed outside of the fringe. Now things are so public. Viewpoints are spewed. Statistics are skewed. Opinions are news. And the discussion seems to bring conclusions that the end of the world is upon us (or at least the good ol' USA).

So, the votes are cast. Then we move on about our way into our country's demise.

Well....I abstain.

• I abstain from not listening
• I abstain from not speaking
• I abstain from not doing
• I abstain from not serving
• I abstain from not considering
• I abstain from not caring
• I abstain from not being in relationship
• I abstain from not sharing the love of God

And I ask that you hold me accountable.

____________

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
____________

Abstain: to refrain deliberately and often with an effort of self-denial from an action or practice.

Left Not Right

We are in the heat of election season. Opinions and perspectives are aggressively high. Words like "they", "them", "my", "mine", "ours", take on venomous tone. Sides are taken. Debate seems to have taken a backseat. Facebook is a battleground state for the loyal. And status updates and comment chains are lengthy. Each "side" believing they are correct.

Those that lean Right often opine that the government (or in this year's case it's worded as "Obama") wants to take more money from the folks who have worked hard and earned it, and give it away to "those" who don't work and gladly want to stay in a lesser income, or poverty, and simply just take the handouts, and drink and have babies to get more.*

Those that lean Left see through a lens of social injustice and believe that the government should serve as a vehicle to help level the playing field because people in and of themselves won't. And that people like "Romney" are racist, homophobic, and want to force women to stay in the kitchen or at the very least, earn a lesser wage and not get breast cancer examinations—and certainly don't have a heart to help the less fortunate.*

I believe that this debate is a result of failure. Not the government's (although it is easy to question the application of some of its position and influence), but ours. The Church's. Mine.**

Maybe its John Lennon-like, but I believe that if we were less concerned about what was "ours" or "mine", or "theirs" and "not ours", we would live in a better world. What if we lived under the umbrella of words like hospitality, generosity, servitude, sacrifice and joy?***

Jesus said His Kingdom is not of this world. I want my focus to be out-of-THIS-world. Surely bigger than a position and a vote. I do know that I will fall short. Dreadfully short in some cases. But I want to set my heart toward this.

"And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them." - Luke 6:31

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" -  James 1:22

*Clearly these are generalizations, but a lot of folks vote through this lens. Of course, there are a lot of additional perspectives (like past success rates of government programs, or the reality of social inequalities) which form a voters decision making process. However, I think you know what I am talking about.

**I believe that our fallen, sin-influenced world is the primary impetus for this failure. So the failure of all else shouldn't be a surprise. But I do believe we have a responsibility here within it.

*** I guess some folks do. If you are one of them, thank you.

Gather No Moss

Sometimes I really think I am pretty smart. I've got over 44 years under my belt. Married. Two relatively teenaged boys. Worked for a while. Seen enough folk orate, status update and instigate that leads me to an all-to-often pious opinion of their matters. Surely with age and experience comes wisdom, but conceit, rigidity and narrow-focus can follow as well if we rest on laurels and "what we know."

Albert Einstein said, "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving."

Glad life continues to put road in front of me. Winding roads with turns, and even bumps in it. And family and friends continue to show me a more invigorating, more scenic, or more efficient route. Lord, help me keep the feet churning and the wheels turning. And not to just coast.