Buying Back My Wrongs?

I ride a bicycle to work almost every day. One day of the week I have an early breakfast meeting and it just isn't practical. I leave my car at the church every day except that one so that I can still go to the hospitals or meet any emergency.

Some days the car is never started. It burns no gas this way. It emits no harmful emissions. It saves money. I get exercise. I have lost ten pounds doing this. I think everyone has benefited.

I hear that some people use a great deal of energy and somehow buy back "green points" or something like that. This solution to our energy and environment problems gives those who are wealthy an opportunity to keep their lifestyles as they would like. Then, they can demand that the rest of us be as "green" conscious as they are. Who are they kidding?

This sounds like I can do anything that I want to as long as I have some method of buying back my wrong decisions. I can't imagine telling the police, "Yes, Officer, I did just run that red light but I promise I will stop twice at the next one." Surely, this will make everything alright?

The better decision is to not do the wrong things in the first place. I can't buy back my wrongs anyway. I can pretend that this makes a difference but it does not take these wrongs away. It just makes me feel better about myself. However, this is a false absolution. The effect of the wrong is still there.

Maybe we get the idea from our faith. Do people think that they can do anything they want to if they follow it up with a lot of good things? I certainly don't think so.

The Problems with Politics

I hate politics. It seems a guaranteed way to make a lot of people unhappy.

I appreciate the democracy we live in. We have the ability to elect our officials. This is a great privilege given to us by those who have fought for it. I just don't like politics.

Politics generally avoid the issues at hand. If you are the incumbent, your message is that everything is alright. If you are the challenger, we shall soon be in too bad of a shape to do anything about it.

I especially dislike politicians trying to get the advantage of one another. They live on sound bites and seldom have anything of substance to say. They are afraid of saying something that will turn the tide the other way. So, they generally say nothing.

Many people are passionate for their candidate. I like that. I don't like it when they think you must be an idiot if you are for someone else. I think you can be passionate without being destructive of someone's character.

I hate the political ads. Do they really make someone want to vote for that candidate? I would rather have a candidate who tells me what he or she would do in office without saying anything about the other candidate.

I don't like it when people are divided over politics. I think that most of us want the same things for our country. We want to be able to pursue our dreams. We want a strong country. People have different ways they believe will accomplish that.

I don't believe that most politicians read history. At least, they don't interpret it. We keep doing the same things that don't work. Is there a politician who can explain why he or she isn't for these things.

Most politicians seem to use religion rather than have a true relationship with Christ. I am glad that it is still important that they feel they must identify with Him but I wish I could believe they really meant what they said.

I wish I could say that it will all be over in a few months. That's just the general election. The politics goes on and on.

What I Didn't Want to Learn from Back Pain

I haven't blogged for nearly two months. I haven't felt like it.

Part of the problem has been my back pain. Feeling bad is frustrating. However, it has made me learn some things that I didn't want to learn.

I didn't want to learn that I needed others. I needed people to take me to a procedure I had recently. I had to have someone drive me home. I don't like imposing on people. I always feel like that's what I am doing. I found that people look forward to times when they can help. That is their ministry. My stubborn independence was keeping them from doing things that were a blessing for both of us.

I didn't want to learn that I couldn't do all the things I have always done. I have always moved all my furniture, mowed my own grass, repaired the house, etc. The time has come when I no longer can. Sure, I will do these things when possible but this is a fact of life all people have to face. There will come a day when I will no longer be able to drive--of course, I would like to say that day won't come until I am at least 100 but I know it will come. I don't need to have my children take away the keys. I need to give them the keys before that day comes. My back pain has ushered some of the things I can't do now but someday it will just be age that causes me to give up what I have always done.

I didn't want to learn that I was mortal. Like most people I believed I was invulnerable. Nothing could really hurt me. Now that I have experienced real pain I realize how fragile I really am. I think it will make me more careful in the future. The deterioration of this body is God's way of telling me when it is time to go home to Him. The preservation of this body is my answer for doing His ministry. If I stay in the best shape I can, God can use me to the fullest. Then, when He is ready for me to come home, I will eject from this worn out husk that was never intended to be permanent.

I guess every cloud does have a silver lining. Or, maybe God uses painful experiences for good too.

Is "I Don't Know" a Good Enough Answer?

I sat the with a couple as they held a newborn baby in their hands. They had waited for this child for months. They weren't physically able to have children. They had found the child's mother months before and had an agreement with her that they would adopt the child. Her life had not been pretty. Drugs, promiscuity and lack of direction had gotten her in this condition. She was very young and without much support to raise a child. Adoption seemed like a logical option.

Everything looked like an answer from God on the surface. . . but that's the surface. The child did not have a large portion of her brain. Her heart had only two valves.  There were other medical problems. She wasn't expected to live more than a couple of hours. This couple held the child with great care. I watched their hearts break for this little one who would be with us for only a few hours.

We prayed and I thought, "Why, why, why God?" Surely this child was not conceived under the best circumstances but I felt sure that this couple would raise her with love. I felt this child would fill a hole in this couple's life. Now, it seemed that the hole had just gotten bigger.

Why does this happen? I don't know. Is that answer good enough? I don't know. Its the only answer I have. 

I know that God loves us all. He doesn't love this child any less. I don't think the child's condition was punishment for the physical parent's lifestyle. The drug may have been the reason but it wasn't God's punishment.

Have you ever had those moments when you knew God was so close that you could speak to Him and almost hear Him audibly? Then, there are those times that you cry out and you only hear your own voice echo . . . after that, its just silence.

I have heard that God gives silence to those whom He can trust. I suppose that is where faith comes in.  I have to keep believing during the silence.

When asked why bad things happen to good people my answer is consistent: I don't know. Is that good enough? I don't know. Its still the only answer I have.

Is God as Sly as People Say He Is?

I hear people tell me about God all the time. (That shouldn't surprise you since I am a preacher.) They will tell me what He has done, is doing and will do in their lives. Unfortunately, what they are calling God isn't the same as I have understood Him.

Some people think that the reason they are having problems is because there is something that they haven't done. They don't know what it is but when they find out they are going to do that thing so they can get back on God's good side. 

They say things like, "God, tell me what I am doing wrong because I don't want bad things to keep happening to me." I wonder if they see life like a game show. You know, "If I can guess the right answers, I can get everything I have ever wanted." 

Do you really think that God wouldn't tell you what you were doing wrong if He was making bad things happen to you? He sounds more like Batman's the Riddler rather than God. "Come on, Batman, if you get the answer to my riddle right, you can save the girl!"

I really don't have to worry about the things I am not doing right. I know what they are. I sometimes choose to do them anyway and I do have consequences. God doesn't hide them from me. They are very plain no matter how hard I try to hide them. Sometimes I say, "God, don't look in the closet. You know there's nothing in the closet you wouldn't like." But God knows and He knows I know too.

Sometimes I try to surround myself with activity so I won't be caught all alone with God. If I am very busy and envelope myself with others who are doing the wrong things too I don't seem to notice what I am doing wrong. If I get alone with God, I always know.

It isn't like God hits me with lightning or anything. He doesn't even beat me up with words. He just lets me go as far as I would like from Him. When I get sick and tired of being sick and tired I come home.

The amazing thing is that the light is always on when I get there. He seems to say, "I knew you would come home eventually. I was waiting for you."

Some people are so afraid of coming home. I think they believe God will really get on their case if they did. That doesn't even make sense when you think about it. Coming home was the first right thing you have done for a long time. Why would God beat you for doing a right thing?

There really isn't much mystery here. If you want to leave God, He will let you. If you want to sin, He will let you. If you want to struggle, He will let you. If you want to come home, He will welcome you.

Does that mean all good things will start happening then? No. I think of the woman caught in the act of adultery. No one stoned her. Jesus did not condemn her. Yet, He told her to go and sin no more. I wonder what it was like when her husband came home and the whole town was talking about she had done. (They understood that only a married woman could commit adultery.) I don't know but I bet it wasn't real pretty.

I don't think God is sly at all. I know Him to be very plain. 

When The Church Takes Steroids

I have back problems. Recently I  was referred to a pain management doctor who gave me steroid shots in my back. O, what a wonderful thing!

The pain in my knees and hip also went away. I felt younger. I started jogging again even though my doctors told me that years ago to stop. I know why athletes take this stuff. It turns back the clock. It makes you stronger, faster and able to build muscle quickly.

But steroids have their downsides too. The problems associated with them do not justify their use. When stopped, the person taking steroids becomes the incredible shrinking man. Not only is all lost but things are much worse. So, what does this have to do with the church? I think that some churches are trying steroids like gimmicks to get people to come. 

Sure, churches have always used gimmicks. I have heard it quoted so many times "be as innocent as doves but as shrewd as serpents" many times in the church. Now, I think we are using the shrewd part a little too much.

One church gave $10,000 to some lucky person who came to their church on Easter. They advertised and, yes, they had a huge crowd. Another church gave $300 gift cards to a local mall as door prizes to a youth gathering. 

So, what's wrong with this? Aren't these churches growing? Are they not growing faster than any of the other churches in their areas? Yes, they are growing rapidly. They are baptizing people at at a phenomenal rate. Others are saying they are the poster children for church growth . . . just like people have said of athletes who could out perform their peers because they were on steroids.

This practice brings up many questions for me. Is the gospel not good enough to bring people to its message? What about the encore problems this practice creates. If you give out $300 gift cards, won't it take more and more of this to get the same or greater crowds? Eventually you will have to give away cars! Doesn't this do damage to the churches who are not using this tactic? Doesn't this pervert the gospel? Where will we be twenty years from now?

I don't know the answers to these questions. Maybe I am concerned about nothing.

Does BCS Stand for Bad, Crazy and Stupid?

There are many sports that take a great deal of skill in which winners are chosen by judges. I do not know much about these sports. I know that it's bad when a skater landing from a jump falls but I do not know how these sports are judged. There is no basket, goal line, finish line or goal post that clearly indicate a score. Football is not like one of these sports.

Sure, there are ref calls which are clearly wrong (Yes, Oklahoma, I am thinking of you!) but the larger part of the game is getting the football over the goal line. Scores are accumulated and the team with the most points wins. Overtime was created so that we could clearly say which team was the winner.

Then comes the BCS. I am not sure that I understand it. It combines votes from coaches, team records against ranked teams and how the wind blows that day to determine the ranking of each team. There is a computer involved in this somewhere . . .and maybe a oiji board. In the end, you have a very dubious National Champion.

Is Division 1 college football the only team sport that doesn't have a legitimate playoff? It would seem simple enough to accomplish. It is done at other levels of College Football. Why not at this one?

I have heard that the college presidents don't want it because it will interfere with the student-athletes ability to be a student. Get real! If this is the argument, the school should drop the rest of the season. Yes, it interferes with their ability to be a student- just like the two jobs I maintained while I was in college interfered in my ability to completely focus. (Yes, I know it's not the same to be a bank teller and youth minister with the same intensity as playing Michigan this next week but other activities do have an affect.) If you want the degree, you have to pay for it someway. Playing college football is a legitimate way to do so.

I have also heard that there is too much money in the bowl games to have a playoff. I don't understand this argument since I see many seats in many of the games empty. Sponsors seem to be losing their shirts. Many of the games are not televised nationally.

I propose another system. Why not use the bowls for the playoffs? Thirty-two teams would be chosen to compete for the National Championship. Each conference winner and at-large bids would make us the selection. The number one seed would play the number thirty-two and so on just like in basketball. This would ensure that each game meant something. The bowls could bid to determine which level of play they would receive. This would would even give the Music City bowl some meaning! The highest bid gets the National Championship game. Lower bids get relatively lower ranks of the playoffs.

This means the season must start the last week of August. The regular season would end the third week in November and give an opportunity for each team to have a week off and for conferences who have a championship game to play theirs. Playoffs would begin the second week in December. This two week break between games allows the student-athlete to study and take final exams. The playoff will last five weeks. The championship game would be the second week in January. Yes, it will compete with the professional playoffs but do you really think that's going to make a difference? It isn't like we only have three networks to watch football any more!

I may be a little ahead of the curve as I prepare for the fall football season. I just want a clear winner. If not, I think we should need some judges who say, "Was that a double axle, camelback triple spin that he scored with, Chuck?"

"Yes," comes the excited reply, "And didn't he nail it with the landing?! We clearly have a national champion here!"