As part of my writing for www.examiner.com/peoria I thought it would be a good idea to read and review some recently published Christian books. Now, I don't normally read a lot of nonfiction, but I want to get into the habit because there is some good stuff out there. So I wandered over to the nonfiction section where religios books are, expecting to find Bible commentaries and Christian books, as well as books from other religions, it being the 'religion' section and all.
Intermixed with all of the religous books--Christian, Taosit, Buddhist, Muslim--I saw something that completely surprised me. Self help books, books about how to be happy, how to be stress-free, how to live life to the fullest without any real religious background were mixed in with the rest.
It didn't make any sense to me. Religion is about seeking after truth, trying to understand the universe and our place in it, seeking to get to know the God who created us and do His will. It's about Him, about leaving self behind. So why all the self-improvement books?
Because that is how many people see religion and spirituality. It is a way to make yourself feel good, a way to make yourself feel secure in the universe and deal with all of the trauma life has thrown at you. Most people don't come to religion, dont' look for God, because they want the truth. They come because they want comfort. They want the magic formula that will eliminate stress, help them deal with their inadequacy and their pain, make life better. They want to be helped, and so these things that have nothing to do with God and truth get added to the mix.
Distressingly, many "Christian" books are also self-help books. They take a person through the steps to improve their life, to be a better me, to pick yourself up and put yourself back on the right track. Many Christian books are just like the secular books in their approach. Yeah, they mention God, but if you look beneath the religious cover, you'll see that they're all the same.
Because God isn't about self-help. God is about self-denial. You can't pick yourself up and put yourself back on the right path. You can't ensure that your life will be stress-free and pain-free. You can't survive on coping mechanisms and ten-step strategies. We can only survive on God, by relying on him.
Yes, God wants to help us do everything those self-help books steer you toward. He wants to see us smile, wants to see us laugh off the stress, wants to put our grief away and place us on the right path. But that's not the end of it. Self-help books are self-centered, and that's the problem with them. God wants us to go beyond that. He will put us on the right path, and then we must go and do likewise, we must go help others, serve others, give. We can't choose our path, we can't strategize to get everything we want. We need to listen to what God wants. Self-help tells us to listen to ourselves, our inner needs and wants, our hopes and dreams. God tells us to set those aside, and that's not a popular statement.
Which is why popular Christianity has become a self-help religion, and that is why the church is failing, crumbling, losing morality and power. We've taken the focus off of God and turned it back to ourselves. This is not the way it should be. When we focus on God, he gives us everything the self-help books offer and more.
September 28, 2010
September 24, 2010
Touch
Take off your shoes, this is holy ground.
Dagon falls face down.
Angels are all around in the place where you are found.
Waters part, walls fall.
The earth shakes and armies crawl
Away in shame from the fame
Of your presence, your holy name.
We can’t touch you
We can’t see you
We can’t touch you
Can we know you?
Dagon falls face down.
Angels are all around in the place where you are found.
Waters part, walls fall.
The earth shakes and armies crawl
Away in shame from the fame
Of your presence, your holy name.
We can’t touch you
We can’t see you
We can’t touch you
Can we know you?
Luxury is Oppression
The more wealth exists in the world, the more oppression and poverty also grow. One cannot exist without the other. There can be no prosperity without oppression. Economics textbooks say that resources are limited, and must be distributed according to certain rules of supply and demand. Ability to obtain resources dictates how much someone can have. The scarcity or availability of certain resources determines how much they are worth. Since not everyone can have everything, we develop systems through which some people get stuff, and others don‘t.
This is a poor excuse for the oppression of many while a select few sit back and accumulate wealth. It is not the way the world should work, nor the way the world must work. If Jesus believed in capitalism, he wouldn’t have told his disciples to leave their boats, that is, their small businesses, to follow him.
Luxury creats oppression two ways. First, when we buy products produced through oppressive means. Slave labor was used to make sugar for over a hundred years. Everyone who bought slave-made sugar helped slave owners and slave traders make profit and gave them reason to continue enslaving millions. The British bought tea from China, but they wanted the tea to be cheaper so they sold the Chinese opium, addicting thousands. Everyone who bought that tea contributed to the opium trade.
These examples are from history, but the problem is still rampant today. Would you buy sugar made by slaves? Do you buy clothes made in sweatshops? Do you eat at fast food places where the cashier and the person assembling your burger only make minimum wage? Do you shop at stores like Wal-Mart, where workers aren’t allowed to form unions?
The second way luxury creates oppression is the way we divide our resources. When we buy things we don’t need, we give money to big companies that pay CEOs huge amounts of money to sit in fancy offices wearing suits that cost what some people make in a year. We feed their luxury with our own. When we spend our time at the movies or lounging around, we take volunteer time away from people who need help.
Free market capitalism says make as much money as you can, any way you can. Jesus says give, give everything you have away. The early church combined their resources. No one owned personal property. Those who entered the church with wealth became poor, but no one was in need.
Every time to take more than you need, you participate in oppression. Every penny a girl spends on extra clothes or shoes at the mall is a penny that could go to putting food in a hungry belly. Every dollar a boy spends to fix up that cool car could go to building homes for people without a place to stay. Every hamburger, milkshake, ice cream cone, could be put to better use than simply pleasing our taste buds.
We are not entitled to luxury until every mouth in the world is fed, every body clothed, every orphan given a home. Every resource--time, money, energy--spent on personal luxury is part of the cycle of oppression that fills this world. It won’t be fixed until we stop living for pleasure and start loving. Giving.
I’m not saying you should go around in rags and starve yourself. I’m not saying you can’t enjoy a treat now and then. But how much of what you have do you really need?
How much of it could truly benefit someone else?
How much would you really lose if you gave it away?
As Jesus said to the rich young man, go sell all your possessions, give your money to the poor, and then you can follow me. Many preachers say that everyone doesn’t have to do that. This lesson was for the rich young man. It is about not fixing your hope in wealth, not being too attached to material things.
I think those preachers are wrong. The truth isn’t popular, and it isn’t easy. It could get you booted out of the pulpit.
Jesus meant those words for each one of us. If you want to follow him, really follow him, you’ve got to give up your luxuries. Because Jesus was all about freedom from oppression. Luxury creates oppression. Therefore, we sould not strive for personal wealth. We strive to help others.
This is a poor excuse for the oppression of many while a select few sit back and accumulate wealth. It is not the way the world should work, nor the way the world must work. If Jesus believed in capitalism, he wouldn’t have told his disciples to leave their boats, that is, their small businesses, to follow him.
Luxury creats oppression two ways. First, when we buy products produced through oppressive means. Slave labor was used to make sugar for over a hundred years. Everyone who bought slave-made sugar helped slave owners and slave traders make profit and gave them reason to continue enslaving millions. The British bought tea from China, but they wanted the tea to be cheaper so they sold the Chinese opium, addicting thousands. Everyone who bought that tea contributed to the opium trade.
These examples are from history, but the problem is still rampant today. Would you buy sugar made by slaves? Do you buy clothes made in sweatshops? Do you eat at fast food places where the cashier and the person assembling your burger only make minimum wage? Do you shop at stores like Wal-Mart, where workers aren’t allowed to form unions?
The second way luxury creates oppression is the way we divide our resources. When we buy things we don’t need, we give money to big companies that pay CEOs huge amounts of money to sit in fancy offices wearing suits that cost what some people make in a year. We feed their luxury with our own. When we spend our time at the movies or lounging around, we take volunteer time away from people who need help.
Free market capitalism says make as much money as you can, any way you can. Jesus says give, give everything you have away. The early church combined their resources. No one owned personal property. Those who entered the church with wealth became poor, but no one was in need.
Every time to take more than you need, you participate in oppression. Every penny a girl spends on extra clothes or shoes at the mall is a penny that could go to putting food in a hungry belly. Every dollar a boy spends to fix up that cool car could go to building homes for people without a place to stay. Every hamburger, milkshake, ice cream cone, could be put to better use than simply pleasing our taste buds.
We are not entitled to luxury until every mouth in the world is fed, every body clothed, every orphan given a home. Every resource--time, money, energy--spent on personal luxury is part of the cycle of oppression that fills this world. It won’t be fixed until we stop living for pleasure and start loving. Giving.
I’m not saying you should go around in rags and starve yourself. I’m not saying you can’t enjoy a treat now and then. But how much of what you have do you really need?
How much of it could truly benefit someone else?
How much would you really lose if you gave it away?
As Jesus said to the rich young man, go sell all your possessions, give your money to the poor, and then you can follow me. Many preachers say that everyone doesn’t have to do that. This lesson was for the rich young man. It is about not fixing your hope in wealth, not being too attached to material things.
I think those preachers are wrong. The truth isn’t popular, and it isn’t easy. It could get you booted out of the pulpit.
Jesus meant those words for each one of us. If you want to follow him, really follow him, you’ve got to give up your luxuries. Because Jesus was all about freedom from oppression. Luxury creates oppression. Therefore, we sould not strive for personal wealth. We strive to help others.
September 21, 2010
Firefly
Fireflies bob across the grass
Summer’s mystic twilight dance.
Lights flicker, glow for a breath
Then wink out, there’s nothing left.
In your life, how do you shine?
Are you like these fireflies?
Do some good when it feels right,
Then turn and blend in with the night?
Now see the stars burning bright.
Steady light shines every night.
They endure while fireflies die.
How will it be in your life?
To flicker for a moment
Stuck in a world lost to sleep,
Or high in heaven’s ceiling
Shine with the angles for all time.
Summer’s mystic twilight dance.
Lights flicker, glow for a breath
Then wink out, there’s nothing left.
In your life, how do you shine?
Are you like these fireflies?
Do some good when it feels right,
Then turn and blend in with the night?
Now see the stars burning bright.
Steady light shines every night.
They endure while fireflies die.
How will it be in your life?
To flicker for a moment
Stuck in a world lost to sleep,
Or high in heaven’s ceiling
Shine with the angles for all time.
Can't be in control
‘Out of Control’ was the topic of a post last week, but I think that the issue deserves an even closer look. It is one of the most important things we must learn when following Jesus, and it is a lesson shown over and over again in the Bible.
Let’s look at a few examples.
This was one of King Saul’s problems. Time and again he didn’t wait for instruction from God, he did things his own way. Instead of sacrificing all of his plunder to God, he let his soldiers keep some. Instead of waiting for Samuel to perform a sacrifice, Saul did it himself. He was afraid that a man more popular than him would take his throne, and didn’t trust God to protect the crown He had given him.
But Saul is easy to speak badly of, he is famous for his failure. Even David, the man after God’s own heart, unanimously voted best king of Israel and the guy God gave a promise to for an everlasting kingdom, even David had trouble learning this lesson.
David didn‘t have any problems letting God take control in the beginning; he didn’t have that much to loose when it was just him against Goliath. He trusted God and followed God’s plan. When he was running from Saul and hiding out in the wilderness, he couldn’t do much besides trust God to handle things. It’s when he becomes king, when he gets old and has all sorts of responsibilities and people looking up to him that David seems to forget this important precept.
He orders a census taken. Now, our modern minds think of a census as a good thing. It is an important component of any large civilization. A government needs to know how many people there are to tax them, and to spend the taxes properly. David wanted to know how many fighting men were in his country. God got mad, because David wasn’t relying on HIM to protect Israel anymore, he was relying on the size of his army.
David tried to take control of the situation, and God punished him for it. But Jephthah fared even worse. He tried to bargain with God, strike a deal; victory in battle for a sacrifice. The sacrifice turned out to be his own daughter. Jephthah didn’t trust God to take care of him and his people, he thought he had to find a way to control the situation. It cost him his family.
Rich Mullins is one of my favorite songwriters. He has a way to striking at the heart of an issue, particularly in his song, “Alright. Okay. Uhuh. Amen.” This is what we should be saying to God all the time. Yes, I’ll do what you want, the way you want it. When we try to do things any other way, we fail. The song goes, “I’d rather fight you for something I don’t really want than take what you give that I need.”
Jesus said, ‘Don’t worry,” and he meant it. When we worry, we show God that we don’t trust him. When we worry, we try to take matters into our own hands. We forget that the God who made the universe can and will do whatever he wants. We also forget that, “In all things we works for the good of those who love Him.”
“Those to find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Give God the steering wheel, because it’s the only way to survive.
Let’s look at a few examples.
This was one of King Saul’s problems. Time and again he didn’t wait for instruction from God, he did things his own way. Instead of sacrificing all of his plunder to God, he let his soldiers keep some. Instead of waiting for Samuel to perform a sacrifice, Saul did it himself. He was afraid that a man more popular than him would take his throne, and didn’t trust God to protect the crown He had given him.
But Saul is easy to speak badly of, he is famous for his failure. Even David, the man after God’s own heart, unanimously voted best king of Israel and the guy God gave a promise to for an everlasting kingdom, even David had trouble learning this lesson.
David didn‘t have any problems letting God take control in the beginning; he didn’t have that much to loose when it was just him against Goliath. He trusted God and followed God’s plan. When he was running from Saul and hiding out in the wilderness, he couldn’t do much besides trust God to handle things. It’s when he becomes king, when he gets old and has all sorts of responsibilities and people looking up to him that David seems to forget this important precept.
He orders a census taken. Now, our modern minds think of a census as a good thing. It is an important component of any large civilization. A government needs to know how many people there are to tax them, and to spend the taxes properly. David wanted to know how many fighting men were in his country. God got mad, because David wasn’t relying on HIM to protect Israel anymore, he was relying on the size of his army.
David tried to take control of the situation, and God punished him for it. But Jephthah fared even worse. He tried to bargain with God, strike a deal; victory in battle for a sacrifice. The sacrifice turned out to be his own daughter. Jephthah didn’t trust God to take care of him and his people, he thought he had to find a way to control the situation. It cost him his family.
Rich Mullins is one of my favorite songwriters. He has a way to striking at the heart of an issue, particularly in his song, “Alright. Okay. Uhuh. Amen.” This is what we should be saying to God all the time. Yes, I’ll do what you want, the way you want it. When we try to do things any other way, we fail. The song goes, “I’d rather fight you for something I don’t really want than take what you give that I need.”
Jesus said, ‘Don’t worry,” and he meant it. When we worry, we show God that we don’t trust him. When we worry, we try to take matters into our own hands. We forget that the God who made the universe can and will do whatever he wants. We also forget that, “In all things we works for the good of those who love Him.”
“Those to find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Give God the steering wheel, because it’s the only way to survive.
September 18, 2010
Mute
There are tons of healing stories in the Bible. Jesus healed all sorts of people. Sometimes that’s just the tagline. “And he healed the sick and cast out demons.” Sometimes the story goes into more detail. They can all blur together after a while, though. We get the picture, Jesus healed people. A good thing, to be sure, but after years of Sunday School and Sunday sermons, weekly Bible studies and daily Bible readings, it is easy to gloss over these stories. I’ve heard them all before.
So it always surprises me when something new jumps off the page. It shouldn’t--God’s word is living and active as any double-edged sword. It is always powerful. Still, noticing new things in old stories never ceases to amaze me.
In Matthew 9, there are several healing stories one after the other. A woman touched his cloak and was healed, a ruler’s daughter is raised from the dead. Then a mute man is brought before Jesus, who casts out the demon and the man speaks. Then, in chapter 10, Jesus sends his disciples out to preach the Kingdom.
Wow. Slow down and think about that. Jesus opens the mouth of a man who could not speak, and then sends his disciples out to speak for him. In a way, the disciples were once mute as well--they didn’t know anything about Jesus and his kingdom and so couldn’t speak a word about it. Then they went around the entire country, and the entire known world, proclaiming His message.
How many of us are mute, holding the love of Jesus tight in our hearts but not getting out and sharing it? I know I have been. It took a lot for me to start posting blogs for the public to see. I feel like, little by little, God is opening my mouth. I am mute, and he is helping me learn to speak.
I know that many of you are strong speakers, teachers, leaders who speak unafraid and unashamed of the salvation that you know. That is wonderful! But I also know that many people are like me, who believe in Jesus but don’t quite know how to talk about it. Who know love, but aren’t quite sure how to share it.
Jesus does not want us to be mute. Let him loosen your tongue and open your mouth. He did it for twelve humble men, and he can do it for you. Again and again Jesus says that he heals according to the person’s faith. “Go, your faith has made you well.”
Everyone has an area of their life where they know there is more they should be doing, but something is holding them back. Trust Jesus and go do it. The mute man would never know he was healed if he didn’t try to speak. Whatever it is you need to heal, fix or change in your life, give it a try. Don’t hold back anymore. Open up your mouth and babble until Jesus makes your words intelligible.
So it always surprises me when something new jumps off the page. It shouldn’t--God’s word is living and active as any double-edged sword. It is always powerful. Still, noticing new things in old stories never ceases to amaze me.
In Matthew 9, there are several healing stories one after the other. A woman touched his cloak and was healed, a ruler’s daughter is raised from the dead. Then a mute man is brought before Jesus, who casts out the demon and the man speaks. Then, in chapter 10, Jesus sends his disciples out to preach the Kingdom.
Wow. Slow down and think about that. Jesus opens the mouth of a man who could not speak, and then sends his disciples out to speak for him. In a way, the disciples were once mute as well--they didn’t know anything about Jesus and his kingdom and so couldn’t speak a word about it. Then they went around the entire country, and the entire known world, proclaiming His message.
How many of us are mute, holding the love of Jesus tight in our hearts but not getting out and sharing it? I know I have been. It took a lot for me to start posting blogs for the public to see. I feel like, little by little, God is opening my mouth. I am mute, and he is helping me learn to speak.
I know that many of you are strong speakers, teachers, leaders who speak unafraid and unashamed of the salvation that you know. That is wonderful! But I also know that many people are like me, who believe in Jesus but don’t quite know how to talk about it. Who know love, but aren’t quite sure how to share it.
Jesus does not want us to be mute. Let him loosen your tongue and open your mouth. He did it for twelve humble men, and he can do it for you. Again and again Jesus says that he heals according to the person’s faith. “Go, your faith has made you well.”
Everyone has an area of their life where they know there is more they should be doing, but something is holding them back. Trust Jesus and go do it. The mute man would never know he was healed if he didn’t try to speak. Whatever it is you need to heal, fix or change in your life, give it a try. Don’t hold back anymore. Open up your mouth and babble until Jesus makes your words intelligible.
September 15, 2010
Out of Control
What were pagan religions all about? What was the point, the purpose behind all of the sacrifices and prayers? Why was magic such a big part of Egyptian religion?
It was all about control. People brought sacrifices to different gods in order to get something from them. The sacrifice was like a bribe to get the god to send rain or warm weather, to help the fields grow or to bring in a good harvest. In a harsh and unpredictable world, religion offered a way to try to affect the future.
Religion isn’t just about explaining how the world exists and our purpose in it, it is about controlling your fate. At least, most religions are.
God sent Jesus with a different message. “Do not worry about what you will eat or what you will wear. The Gentiles strive after these things.” God knows what we need, and he is in control.
We don’t need to offer sacrifices to bring the rain, we don’t need to chant magical prayers to bring healing. We only need to trust Him. Our sacrifices are not sacrifices that attempt to control God or bribe him into doing what we want. Our sacrifices are marks of thanks for what God has done, and what he will do.
How often do we treat prayer and God just the opposite? We ask for what we want, not for his will to be done. We strive for what we need, and do God’s work in our free time. We have turned things around, and are back exactly where we started. This is not how God wants us to live, trying to control our lives.
Other religions are about control, about getting what you need and satisfying yourself. Our life with God should not be like that; we must deny self. We must banish the fiction that we can control anything. We never have been able to, and we never will. It is when our lives are completely and totally out of control that we can fully live for God.
My aunt has a sign on her fridge, one that I will never forget. “Good Morning. This is GOD. I will be handing ALL of your problems today. You don’t need to do a THING. So have a nice day.”
You can’t control anything except yourself; how you live, how you act, your relationship with God. Worry about where you stand with Him and what He wants you to do. Food, clothes, money, all of that will sort itself out. If you try to change it, you’ll just frustrate yourself.
So be out of control. It’s okay. That’s God’s job. Yours is a lot simpler. Just do as your told. Seek the lord with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind, and he will make your paths straight.
It was all about control. People brought sacrifices to different gods in order to get something from them. The sacrifice was like a bribe to get the god to send rain or warm weather, to help the fields grow or to bring in a good harvest. In a harsh and unpredictable world, religion offered a way to try to affect the future.
Religion isn’t just about explaining how the world exists and our purpose in it, it is about controlling your fate. At least, most religions are.
God sent Jesus with a different message. “Do not worry about what you will eat or what you will wear. The Gentiles strive after these things.” God knows what we need, and he is in control.
We don’t need to offer sacrifices to bring the rain, we don’t need to chant magical prayers to bring healing. We only need to trust Him. Our sacrifices are not sacrifices that attempt to control God or bribe him into doing what we want. Our sacrifices are marks of thanks for what God has done, and what he will do.
How often do we treat prayer and God just the opposite? We ask for what we want, not for his will to be done. We strive for what we need, and do God’s work in our free time. We have turned things around, and are back exactly where we started. This is not how God wants us to live, trying to control our lives.
Other religions are about control, about getting what you need and satisfying yourself. Our life with God should not be like that; we must deny self. We must banish the fiction that we can control anything. We never have been able to, and we never will. It is when our lives are completely and totally out of control that we can fully live for God.
My aunt has a sign on her fridge, one that I will never forget. “Good Morning. This is GOD. I will be handing ALL of your problems today. You don’t need to do a THING. So have a nice day.”
You can’t control anything except yourself; how you live, how you act, your relationship with God. Worry about where you stand with Him and what He wants you to do. Food, clothes, money, all of that will sort itself out. If you try to change it, you’ll just frustrate yourself.
So be out of control. It’s okay. That’s God’s job. Yours is a lot simpler. Just do as your told. Seek the lord with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind, and he will make your paths straight.
September 10, 2010
Calling all men
It is a big white sign with black lettering on Main Street. I have driven past it at least once a week for as long as I can remember. And for as long as I remember, the numbers remain depressingly similar.
Big sisters needed: 20 (or less, I've seen it get as low as 0)
Big brothers needed: 200 (sometimes more)
It is a sad statement about our society. It is a sad fact many young boys face.
The lack of good father figures or male role models is a problem that continues to feed itself. An absent father leaves a boy without anyone to show him how to be a man, how to be strong and stand against the pressures of this world. A man can teach a boy things that a woman can't, because as much as some people might try to deny it, men and women ARE different. Boys need fathers, or at the very least, big brothers.
But as this sign on Main Street shows, very few men are willing to step up to the job.
Women are known as nurturers. Society views them this way, their genetics predispose them to be nurturing (not all women, but the vast majority). Men have a different role to fill, at least, that is what society says.
Yet it is every bit as important, perhaps even more important, for men to spend time with young boys, to help them grow up, to teach them and simply be there, to show them how to be good men.
Our culture does not place value on men who stay at home, who take care of children, who help nurture the next generation. But it should, because every generation without male role models, every fatherless boy, is far more likely to commit crime and be a burden to society than a boy who had a father, uncle, or big brother.
Men, where are you? What are you doing with your time, your energy? How often do you go out to a movie, play sports, watch TV, work on a hobby? You could be a 'big brother' and invite a boy to join you in any of these activities. Why are you neglecting the most important job God gave you?
There is a radio advertisement which attempts to recruit foster parents by showing people how simple the job is. It is not complicated, and anyone can do it. The advertisement is about a boy asking his foster dad to get the ketchup out of the bottle, and the dad shows him how to dislodge stuck ketchup so the boy can do it himself in the future.
Will you teach a kid how to get ketchup out of the bottle? Will you help a boy become a self-sufficient adult? There are far more adults than children, so why don't children have enough care?
I want to challenge every man to find at least one boy to mentor. If every man who doesn't have a son of his own would mentor just one boy who needed a role model, this problem would be solved.
Step up. We need you.
Big sisters needed: 20 (or less, I've seen it get as low as 0)
Big brothers needed: 200 (sometimes more)
It is a sad statement about our society. It is a sad fact many young boys face.
The lack of good father figures or male role models is a problem that continues to feed itself. An absent father leaves a boy without anyone to show him how to be a man, how to be strong and stand against the pressures of this world. A man can teach a boy things that a woman can't, because as much as some people might try to deny it, men and women ARE different. Boys need fathers, or at the very least, big brothers.
But as this sign on Main Street shows, very few men are willing to step up to the job.
Women are known as nurturers. Society views them this way, their genetics predispose them to be nurturing (not all women, but the vast majority). Men have a different role to fill, at least, that is what society says.
Yet it is every bit as important, perhaps even more important, for men to spend time with young boys, to help them grow up, to teach them and simply be there, to show them how to be good men.
Our culture does not place value on men who stay at home, who take care of children, who help nurture the next generation. But it should, because every generation without male role models, every fatherless boy, is far more likely to commit crime and be a burden to society than a boy who had a father, uncle, or big brother.
Men, where are you? What are you doing with your time, your energy? How often do you go out to a movie, play sports, watch TV, work on a hobby? You could be a 'big brother' and invite a boy to join you in any of these activities. Why are you neglecting the most important job God gave you?
There is a radio advertisement which attempts to recruit foster parents by showing people how simple the job is. It is not complicated, and anyone can do it. The advertisement is about a boy asking his foster dad to get the ketchup out of the bottle, and the dad shows him how to dislodge stuck ketchup so the boy can do it himself in the future.
Will you teach a kid how to get ketchup out of the bottle? Will you help a boy become a self-sufficient adult? There are far more adults than children, so why don't children have enough care?
I want to challenge every man to find at least one boy to mentor. If every man who doesn't have a son of his own would mentor just one boy who needed a role model, this problem would be solved.
Step up. We need you.
September 8, 2010
Too many things
Moving is a huge job. You have to pack everything up in boxes, make sure the fragile things are cushioned, find a spot for every item you own. It's an interesting way to find out what you have. How much stuff we Americans pile up in closets and drawers, how many things we keep lying around that we don't need, or even really want.
People say that we are a consumer culture, we just keep getting and getting and getting new things. Looking at the pile of boxes and bags of things, I realized that I am no different from anyone else. I collect stuff.
My wardrobe, for example, fills several large duffel bags. T-shirts for casual, dress shirts for church and work, jeans and slacks and accessories. We have sweaters for winter and shorts for summer, a separate wardrobe for each season and each situation. How much of that do I really need? Looking at my clothes, I probably only wear half of it more than once or twice a year. So why did I pick it up and move it across four states?
In the process of packing and unpacking, I have been without many of the things I own for several weeks, even a month. They sit around in boxes and I don't have access to them. And I have discovered that I don't really miss them.
We think we need all of this stuff. It's just the way we live, what we are used to. But so many people in the world don't have enough stuff, and I'm sitting here with things I can't even remember I had.
Who could use that cute sweater and bought and only wore once? Who would love to have an extra cooking pot that I keep around just in case I decide to make a fancy meal? It makes no sense that my closets are full and other people--many people--millions of people--don't even have closets to fill.
The worst part is, I don't know what to do about it. Sure, I can toss my extra things in the trunk and take them to Goodwill. A charitable group will earn money off the sale and people in need will have second-hand clothes and things for a low price. But that doesn't seem like enough. That's not really doing anything to help, to stop the cycle.
Because as soon as my closet has a little extra space, I'll start filling it again.
When all some people want is a little extra space--a simple roof over their head.
We can't just pile our things in the trunk and do a little good deed. We need to do so much more than that. We need to change the way we live so that people in need get more than just our leftovers, the second-hand things that we are tired of. Instead of buying something new for me, I need to buy it for someone else. Instead of filling my empty spaces with things I don't need and don't even want to keep, I need to fill it with something of value, something that will endure.
This is what Jesus was talking about when he said to store up treasures in heaven. Get rid of your stuff, empty your space, so you can begin again with something better. Something eternal.
People say that we are a consumer culture, we just keep getting and getting and getting new things. Looking at the pile of boxes and bags of things, I realized that I am no different from anyone else. I collect stuff.
My wardrobe, for example, fills several large duffel bags. T-shirts for casual, dress shirts for church and work, jeans and slacks and accessories. We have sweaters for winter and shorts for summer, a separate wardrobe for each season and each situation. How much of that do I really need? Looking at my clothes, I probably only wear half of it more than once or twice a year. So why did I pick it up and move it across four states?
In the process of packing and unpacking, I have been without many of the things I own for several weeks, even a month. They sit around in boxes and I don't have access to them. And I have discovered that I don't really miss them.
We think we need all of this stuff. It's just the way we live, what we are used to. But so many people in the world don't have enough stuff, and I'm sitting here with things I can't even remember I had.
Who could use that cute sweater and bought and only wore once? Who would love to have an extra cooking pot that I keep around just in case I decide to make a fancy meal? It makes no sense that my closets are full and other people--many people--millions of people--don't even have closets to fill.
The worst part is, I don't know what to do about it. Sure, I can toss my extra things in the trunk and take them to Goodwill. A charitable group will earn money off the sale and people in need will have second-hand clothes and things for a low price. But that doesn't seem like enough. That's not really doing anything to help, to stop the cycle.
Because as soon as my closet has a little extra space, I'll start filling it again.
When all some people want is a little extra space--a simple roof over their head.
We can't just pile our things in the trunk and do a little good deed. We need to do so much more than that. We need to change the way we live so that people in need get more than just our leftovers, the second-hand things that we are tired of. Instead of buying something new for me, I need to buy it for someone else. Instead of filling my empty spaces with things I don't need and don't even want to keep, I need to fill it with something of value, something that will endure.
This is what Jesus was talking about when he said to store up treasures in heaven. Get rid of your stuff, empty your space, so you can begin again with something better. Something eternal.
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