I think we often sell ourselves short because we act like memories are only for the aged. Our post modern culture lives so fast, "in the now", and future focused that I fear we may be neglecting a beautiful and natural human process, the establishment of memorials.
As you drive around our country, and even our world, you can find monuments, plaques, signs, buildings, grounds and even highways that are dedicated to the preservation of the memory of an event or a person from the past that has had a significant impact in shaping the culture of the given area. Quite simply these memorials give the culture its foundation and sustenance because it gives it a picture of the struggles and successes of the past, therefore, promoting faith in the hope of surviving the struggles and enjoying the successes of the future.
In our own personal lives and in the lives of our families we need to be sure to build memorials. Remember those difficult things you have survived, those successes you have enjoyed and those blessings God has given you. It is a good idea to have something tangible like a photograph, a plaque or some other physical memento that can help us to remember.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Insanity in the face of reality
I don't want to sound whiny nor do I want to seem overly pessimistic. However, at the moment I am at best greatly saddened for the condition of our fallen world and, at worst, deeply depressed for the blindness of men’s hearts. Due to a car accident I was unable to make it to Des Moines this morning to participate in some level of the Judiciary process that could relieve the current restrictions of same sex couples when it comes to marriage. I was however able to get back home in time to watch the last couple of hours of the hearing.
There was nothing that I heard that gave me much hope. The Justices seemed, to me anyway, far more pointed toward the conservative arguments than they did with the plaintiff. This could have been a process of playing devil’s advocate in order to force the attorney to flesh out his position but I found it to seem a little more like a way of tripping him up in his arguments and to some degree I think they may have been successful. The Plaintiff did a great job of playing the victim card. He did irritate me quite a bit when he matter of factly included “we have a separation of church and state” and tore down the credibility of the conservative experts because they have had some brush with religion in their past. He went on to build his argument based on how allowing same sex couples to marry would in no way affect his own heterosexual marriage so there would be no problem for the rest of society. It was almost surreal to see this actually taking place other than just something we have heard about.
How have we come to this point? How have we come to the place, again, without learning from the past, where we challenge the very fundamentals of creation? To answer I think I may give the plaintiffs part of their argument in agreement. They are exactly right. They are victims. However, they are not victims of society, prejudice, bigotry or cruelty as they have asserted around the country and have duped half the world into believing. They are, just as we all are, at least at one time, victims of a sinful nature. I am no attorney so I don’t know how you can combat this stance on the bench but I think that goes to prove the point that this is not an argument that should be argued in the court room or even the legislature. Of course I want either DOMA or a Marriage Amendment that defines marriage as the sacred union between God, one man and one woman, that will protect, or at least slow the downward spiral of, society. But these must never be interpreted as the solution to the problem. If it is considered in this way we can rest assured that one day in the future it will be contested again by an even more liberal society and it will be passed at that time.
So what is the answer? I think the first part of the answer comes with a chastisement of the Church in North America. Shame on us. Shame on the Church of the last three or four generations who have slowly and ever so lazily allowed the morality of our being to slip through cracks. I place blame on the generation of power in the 50’s who after the Great Depression and the challenges of World War II opted to build their American dream based in technology and dollar signs rather than to rebuild the moral compass of the nation. Maybe they won great victories in Europe and the Pacific but I think they lost part of the war at home that was only beginning to rear its head. I believe it was probably done innocently but many of the men of this generation, I believe hardened by the ravages of war, enforced a society of rule without heart to the extent that they begat the generation of the Hippy.
I blame the Hippy generation who chose to rebel against the morality of the previous generations opting for free expressions of love and self gratification. This boomer generation has lived their existence in such a way as to challenge every precept of society. Some of this has been good, such as when it comes to allowing the expression of women and people of non-white races. However this generation has also dealt a blow to the world by allowing and promoting the slaughter of unborn children, beginning the process of weakening the influence of God in culture by touting the insanity of a “separation of Church and State”, and by placing the god of self above the God of the universe in nearly every moral and societal issue to come before them for a decision.
I blame my own generation for not opening their eyes and seeing the failure of society around them. I blame us for being too lazy to challenge the current culture and thereby rebuilding the society of morality that works and was intended. I blame us for drinking in false teaching, psychological noise and cultural chatter to the extent of ignoring sound reasoning and logic. Folks we are smarter than this. We have allowed Satan to keep our attention and we enjoy it.
I blame every person who has ever occupied a pew, called themselves by the name of the precious Son of God but has failed to be a Christian in their world. Those who have failed to let their light shine, have failed to train their children in the way of the Lord and have sat back and allowed society to “happen” around them without actively working to take charge of it. I blame every Christian, including myself for I am the worst, who has fired from the mouth but lacks callous on the knee.
We must be people of prayer. This is God’s issue, God’s battle and he must be invited and allowed to fight it.
God’s laws are not man’s laws and, therefore, I doubt they can be legitimately argued in court. So the question is, “What are we going to do to win…outside the courtroom…in the real world?” First I believe we must ask for forgiveness for our neglect and laziness. Secondly I think we must make a priority to raise Godly children. And lastly we must give up ourselves to win back our nation. If we do not do this, the next generation will meet with the final demise. America, I believe will cease to exist in the next three generations. Our children will be lost and hopeless. It is our fault. What are you going to do about it?
There was nothing that I heard that gave me much hope. The Justices seemed, to me anyway, far more pointed toward the conservative arguments than they did with the plaintiff. This could have been a process of playing devil’s advocate in order to force the attorney to flesh out his position but I found it to seem a little more like a way of tripping him up in his arguments and to some degree I think they may have been successful. The Plaintiff did a great job of playing the victim card. He did irritate me quite a bit when he matter of factly included “we have a separation of church and state” and tore down the credibility of the conservative experts because they have had some brush with religion in their past. He went on to build his argument based on how allowing same sex couples to marry would in no way affect his own heterosexual marriage so there would be no problem for the rest of society. It was almost surreal to see this actually taking place other than just something we have heard about.
How have we come to this point? How have we come to the place, again, without learning from the past, where we challenge the very fundamentals of creation? To answer I think I may give the plaintiffs part of their argument in agreement. They are exactly right. They are victims. However, they are not victims of society, prejudice, bigotry or cruelty as they have asserted around the country and have duped half the world into believing. They are, just as we all are, at least at one time, victims of a sinful nature. I am no attorney so I don’t know how you can combat this stance on the bench but I think that goes to prove the point that this is not an argument that should be argued in the court room or even the legislature. Of course I want either DOMA or a Marriage Amendment that defines marriage as the sacred union between God, one man and one woman, that will protect, or at least slow the downward spiral of, society. But these must never be interpreted as the solution to the problem. If it is considered in this way we can rest assured that one day in the future it will be contested again by an even more liberal society and it will be passed at that time.
So what is the answer? I think the first part of the answer comes with a chastisement of the Church in North America. Shame on us. Shame on the Church of the last three or four generations who have slowly and ever so lazily allowed the morality of our being to slip through cracks. I place blame on the generation of power in the 50’s who after the Great Depression and the challenges of World War II opted to build their American dream based in technology and dollar signs rather than to rebuild the moral compass of the nation. Maybe they won great victories in Europe and the Pacific but I think they lost part of the war at home that was only beginning to rear its head. I believe it was probably done innocently but many of the men of this generation, I believe hardened by the ravages of war, enforced a society of rule without heart to the extent that they begat the generation of the Hippy.
I blame the Hippy generation who chose to rebel against the morality of the previous generations opting for free expressions of love and self gratification. This boomer generation has lived their existence in such a way as to challenge every precept of society. Some of this has been good, such as when it comes to allowing the expression of women and people of non-white races. However this generation has also dealt a blow to the world by allowing and promoting the slaughter of unborn children, beginning the process of weakening the influence of God in culture by touting the insanity of a “separation of Church and State”, and by placing the god of self above the God of the universe in nearly every moral and societal issue to come before them for a decision.
I blame my own generation for not opening their eyes and seeing the failure of society around them. I blame us for being too lazy to challenge the current culture and thereby rebuilding the society of morality that works and was intended. I blame us for drinking in false teaching, psychological noise and cultural chatter to the extent of ignoring sound reasoning and logic. Folks we are smarter than this. We have allowed Satan to keep our attention and we enjoy it.
I blame every person who has ever occupied a pew, called themselves by the name of the precious Son of God but has failed to be a Christian in their world. Those who have failed to let their light shine, have failed to train their children in the way of the Lord and have sat back and allowed society to “happen” around them without actively working to take charge of it. I blame every Christian, including myself for I am the worst, who has fired from the mouth but lacks callous on the knee.
We must be people of prayer. This is God’s issue, God’s battle and he must be invited and allowed to fight it.
God’s laws are not man’s laws and, therefore, I doubt they can be legitimately argued in court. So the question is, “What are we going to do to win…outside the courtroom…in the real world?” First I believe we must ask for forgiveness for our neglect and laziness. Secondly I think we must make a priority to raise Godly children. And lastly we must give up ourselves to win back our nation. If we do not do this, the next generation will meet with the final demise. America, I believe will cease to exist in the next three generations. Our children will be lost and hopeless. It is our fault. What are you going to do about it?
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Fulfilling one's purpose
One of my activities is to participate in a special government process. This is a CISM debriefing of National Guardsman who have returned from a deployment.
I once worked with a unit that had been deployed for a year in a "quieter" part of the world. They were still active duty, mind you, just not in the heat of things like they would be in Iraq or Afghanistan. Initially I thought this would indicate a "cakewalk". "Great, no big issues to work through." I thought this would indicate we would just have to go through our process and go home with no worries. However, the day proved me wrong. Many of these guardsman were furious. The reason was simple, they didn't feel they had fulfilled their purpose.
They felt their first duty was to their state. In the previous year their state had been hit over and over with natural disasters. They felt they should be home to take care of their state but instead they were abroad, "wasting time". As a second consideration they realize their training as soldiers and as such felt that if they had to be deployed then their duty was with their comrades in Iraq or Afghanistan. However, they were sent to a "quiet" place where they felt they were wasting their abilities, training and talents.
I realized the brunt of a lesson I thought I had already learned that day. We are designed for a purpose. When God created us and placed us in our mother's womb he had a plan for our life that would give us a future and a hope. When we operate in contrast to that plan we find ourselves miserable and wasted.
Hey maybe I should get paid the big bucks. I have the answer to the problems of every unhappy person in the world. It is quite simple really. It is this, "Contentment=following God's plan."
I once worked with a unit that had been deployed for a year in a "quieter" part of the world. They were still active duty, mind you, just not in the heat of things like they would be in Iraq or Afghanistan. Initially I thought this would indicate a "cakewalk". "Great, no big issues to work through." I thought this would indicate we would just have to go through our process and go home with no worries. However, the day proved me wrong. Many of these guardsman were furious. The reason was simple, they didn't feel they had fulfilled their purpose.
They felt their first duty was to their state. In the previous year their state had been hit over and over with natural disasters. They felt they should be home to take care of their state but instead they were abroad, "wasting time". As a second consideration they realize their training as soldiers and as such felt that if they had to be deployed then their duty was with their comrades in Iraq or Afghanistan. However, they were sent to a "quiet" place where they felt they were wasting their abilities, training and talents.
I realized the brunt of a lesson I thought I had already learned that day. We are designed for a purpose. When God created us and placed us in our mother's womb he had a plan for our life that would give us a future and a hope. When we operate in contrast to that plan we find ourselves miserable and wasted.
Hey maybe I should get paid the big bucks. I have the answer to the problems of every unhappy person in the world. It is quite simple really. It is this, "Contentment=following God's plan."
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Extreme Marriage Makeover Weekend
This weekend my wife and I worked as marriage mentors for what is called the Extreme Marriage Makeover Weekend. This is a weekend hosted by the Iowa Family Policy Center's Marriage Matters department. The focus of this weekend is to invite married couples who are facing, and even intending divorce.
Actually, as a last minute switch, Jonda and I didn't actually mentor an individual couple but served as the "pastor on site" for the week. We worked to debrief the mentors and also as spiritual guides for each of the couples. We met with each couple after their mentor session to highlight what they were learning and experiencing. We also spent special time teaching the couples how to focus on including God in their marriages. We taught them how to pray for and with each other.
There were four things I learned from this weekend. These are four ingredients that led to the demise of the marriage.
1. These folks were normal people. Not one of them had any kind of wild and crazy event that forced them to this stage in life. Every one of them were going through life just as anyone else does and found themselves facing this kind of difficulty.
2. These folks had simply forgotten how to have fun together. A common thread among all of them was that they don't date anymore. Why do married folks feel like they don't need to date anymore? Why do they feel like after the wedding there is no more need to learn about the other person?
3. These folks had all forgotten how to communicate. Each of these couples felt as if their marriage problem was unique but we were able to quickly reduce the big problems to another common thread, the inability or the unwillingness to communicate.
4. Divorce was not the only answer. There were a few couples who had already filed for divorce. In fact one couple should have had their divorce finalized some time ago but their attorney asked them to go through this weekend. Lets just say they thought they were over but after taking some time to put things back into perspective they are moving back in with each other and making a go of it.
Why do so many folks default to the idea that when the going gets tough the tough get a divorce? I learned very clearly that folks can save their marriage if they are willing.
Actually, as a last minute switch, Jonda and I didn't actually mentor an individual couple but served as the "pastor on site" for the week. We worked to debrief the mentors and also as spiritual guides for each of the couples. We met with each couple after their mentor session to highlight what they were learning and experiencing. We also spent special time teaching the couples how to focus on including God in their marriages. We taught them how to pray for and with each other.
There were four things I learned from this weekend. These are four ingredients that led to the demise of the marriage.
1. These folks were normal people. Not one of them had any kind of wild and crazy event that forced them to this stage in life. Every one of them were going through life just as anyone else does and found themselves facing this kind of difficulty.
2. These folks had simply forgotten how to have fun together. A common thread among all of them was that they don't date anymore. Why do married folks feel like they don't need to date anymore? Why do they feel like after the wedding there is no more need to learn about the other person?
3. These folks had all forgotten how to communicate. Each of these couples felt as if their marriage problem was unique but we were able to quickly reduce the big problems to another common thread, the inability or the unwillingness to communicate.
4. Divorce was not the only answer. There were a few couples who had already filed for divorce. In fact one couple should have had their divorce finalized some time ago but their attorney asked them to go through this weekend. Lets just say they thought they were over but after taking some time to put things back into perspective they are moving back in with each other and making a go of it.
Why do so many folks default to the idea that when the going gets tough the tough get a divorce? I learned very clearly that folks can save their marriage if they are willing.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Parents....do your job
It always irritates me when I look around and see kids raising their parents. Have we in this day in age completely forgotten what it means to be a parent? Why do we think our kids are amazingly going to behave at age 15 when they can't even sit still at age 5?
I believe that perhaps the most important job we can do in ministry, apart from the practice of evangilism, is to teach men to be men and to teach women to be women. In doing this we teach men to be good husbands and women to be good wives. Incidentily, when they learn this lesson they will be well on their way to learning to be good dads and moms.
I believe that perhaps the most important job we can do in ministry, apart from the practice of evangilism, is to teach men to be men and to teach women to be women. In doing this we teach men to be good husbands and women to be good wives. Incidentily, when they learn this lesson they will be well on their way to learning to be good dads and moms.
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