On the Mountain

"I want to build a house upon this mountain,

Way up high, where the peaceful waters flow,

To quench my thirsty soul,

Up on the mountain"

The past weekend, I headed to an "outside of the box" moment and went to the Red Plains Monastery in Piedmont, Oklahoma. My search took me there so I could get out of a perceived rut that I was in spiritually. Circumstances invaded my life over the last few weeks that have not provided the kind of intimacy and warmth in my relationships with God and others that I normally sense.
As I spent the weekend among those Benedictine sisters, I was able to remove myself from the flow of life. I went without television, went without texting, went without the Internet. It was refreshing. I even went to bed before 9:00 p.m. much to the surprise of the Sisters! Yet, the serenity of the grounds were much needed.

"You bring me up here on this mountain,

For me to rest and learn and grow.

I see the truth up on the mountain.

And I carry it to the world far below"

The beauty of it all was the rest and the peace that I was able to experience there. I did learn some things about myself and about different ways to grow my relationship with God. I do not know if I will share those here, but I am excited to meditate, study, and apply those things learned from the experience.

I am reminded, too, of Elijah's experience with God in 1 Kings 19 after he had practiced what Pastor Rick Thompson called, "Redneck Apologetics". While on Mount Horeb after fleeing from Mount Carmel, Elijah learns an important lesson--how to listen. He looked for God in big moments--an earthquake, fire, and a windstorm. Yet, as scripture teaches, the LORD was not in any of those things. Finally, the still small voice called out to Elijah and he heard it. Why? Because he finally had moved away from those things which caused him to lose focus, especially his own ego. That is the beginning of the journey from the weekend's experience for me.

"So as I go down to the valley

Knowing that You will go with me

This is my prayer, Lord

Help me to remember what You've shown me

Up on the mountain"

Thoughts on Living A Disciplined Life

When I think of the word "discipline" my mind runs to the notion of, "I have to do this."  I think of drudgery, not delight.  I think of listlessness instead of life.  When my thoughts--when our thoughts--move this way, we begin to restrict God from the very thing he desires to do when live a disciplined life.  Everywhere we look, scripturally, we see that we get a new life when we commence a relationship with Christ.  To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, we become more of who we are when beginning to imitate Christ.

Yet, this paradigm of abiding in Christ, this practice of righteousness, does suggest a practical meaning.  We must become disciplined.  More importantly, if we going to not become castaways in the eyes of the world, we must immerse ourselves in a disciplined lifestyle just as Paul did. Ultimately, we have to live the disciplined life because Jesus did.

"Okay, I know I have to be disciplined," you say, "I know that I have to do certain things for consideration to be disciplined, right?"  Well, yes, Reader, you're right.  However let's not look at these things as a checklist or drudgery.  Let's not even look at the disciplines as, "this is how I get my wings."  Rather, together let us consider a different way of thinking about this practice of righteousness.  Let's look at the practice of righteousness as something that frees up space to invite God into all areas of our lives; Let's look at it as something that will lead us to greater intimacy with God; Let's look at this as a way to come together as believers because we learn our journey is not a solo act.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I loved this!

He Knows Me By Name

When You Spoke My Name

When I first spoke Your name
I used it like a blade
Cutting sharp a mask to hide the pain
When I first spoke Your name

When I next spoke Your name
I could no longer bear the weight
Of years hiding behind the ache
When I next spoke Your name

But when You spoke my name
Oh I swear the angels sang
Peace came and stole my shame
When You spoke my name

Now when I speak Your name
I sing it like a sweet refrain
I have found a peace I can’t explain
When I speak Your name

Chorus

I can hardly speak
Knowing You know me
Thank God I’m free
Now my world has completely come undone
For I can hear the Son
Calling out to me

Chorus (repeat)

Written by MercyMe and Peter Kipley© 2004 Simpleville Music (ASCAP), Wet As A Fish Music (ASCAP) and Wordspring Music / Songs From The Indigo Room (SESAC)

Giving thanks

"I thank my God every time I remember you." Philippians 1:3


So, I haven't posted in a while. As I was driving home last night, I began to think about who are some of the influencers in my life. So, please indulge me for a minute, as I need to publicly thank a few people. Actually, this may be more than one posting because there are so many. So, here's my first attempt at this:


Mom and Dad: My parents have been a great source of support and encouragment lately. Through my purchase of a new home and new car, I couldn't have asked for a more calming influences. I find that, daily, they unconditionally love and support me to the fullest extent. My mother has been my interior decorator for most of my house. But, more than that, she's been that ever-present smile and ear that I have needed over the last few months. My Dad has been a great help, too. The lawn at my house has been a battle, but my Dad faithfully comes to help run an edger or the lawn mower. He has supplied me with a refrigerator, lawn mower, ladders, tools--you name it, he's sacrificially given of his time and money to help with things that I wouldn't consider because of my inexperience as a homeowner.

Crosstown Church: Sister Sledge's song, "We Are Family" rings true here. Yet, I've got more than just my sisters. I have brothers, too. What a blessing to be a part of a church where people desire to live life authentically and without reservation. Ben and Mindy Janssen have been a source of love, acceptance, and, most importantly, "family" to me over the last few months. To be "known" and still be "accepted" helps to drive any fears about real relationship. Matt and Tammy Gregory have shown me what means to truly accept people no matter what their circumstances. One of the best compliments I've heard in a while is from Ben, and it fits the Gregory's. With pride, I can definitely declare that I, "can see Christ being formed" in the Gregory's. Their honesty and dry wit are refreshing. I am blessed to have had some familiarity when starting this church since Bridget Robertson and the Harrises have started coming. It is always good to see the Vineyards and the Reeds, too.

God, you have truly blessed me with these gifts. I hope that I am found to be a worthy steward.

Welcome to My Mouth, Despida Dos

"Oh be careful little mouth what you say...."

Okay, so I called my friend. Things were fixed. Yet, it saddens me that I let my mouth run wild. As we grow together, I know that offensive things will be said. However, I need not be so cavalier with my words.

Look at this scripture:

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and
its fruit bad,for the tree is known by its fruit.You brood of vipers! How
can you speak good, when you are evil?For out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings
forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every
careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by
your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:33-36 (ESV)

The tough thing here is that, for me, if I don't recognize the problem now, what will I say later? What do "idle words" look or sound like? While I can flippantly (I really like this word--flippantly) say, "It's about my motivation", what about times when I've said I would pray for someone and never did? What about those times that I've actually used God, through my words, as a means to accomplish a purely selfish end? What about those times I said nothing when a statement demanded to flow from my lips?

I can either glorify God with my words or I can be selfish. What a responsibility. Yet, the blessed thing about all of this is that I have a growing community who lovingly allow me to fail and are there to give me a hand when my stupid mouth says too much.

Father, thank you for community. Thank you for your word, despite the times it corrects me. I am reminded that I will be accountable for each word out of my mouth. I pray that I remember to use my words to glorify you at all times.

Welcome to My Mouth

"My stupid mouth
Has Got Me in Trouble
I Said Too Much Again"--John Mayer

Honestly, I do not have enough fingers and toes to count how many times over the years I have suffered from "Foot-in mouth-disease". There are times that I lack a filter. Sometimes I am bothered by it, other days I'm not.

However, as the challenge to become more intentional about my relationship with God and others, I find that my sensitivity to my words has become greater. As a matter of fact, I really need to stop blogging and call a friend of mine to apologize. Let me get back with you....

Jerry Reed's wisdom

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'
We're gonna do what they say can't be done.

We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there.
I'm east bound, just watch ol' "Bandit" run

Shockingly, Jerry Reed sounded good to me at this moment.

Opening up a few weeks ago about needing to practice humility and learning that I really lack gentleness and patience was cathartic. Yet, exposing some of the dark places in my life to people that I do not know well is scary. It has also been trying. Submission is a topic that has pervaded my mind over the last few days, too. Consequently, I went to New York last week with a bunch of strangers, and I learned that skin is much thinner that I thought, and that control is something I horde. It is disturbing.

I read a passage in the book, Spiritual Classics on the plane last week from A.W. Tozer on submission. He used Genesis 22:1-19 when God tested Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac. The blessing in this passage was when Tozer discussed that God brought Abraham to the point where he knew Abraham had submitted and there would be no retreat. Sadly, I do not if I'm completely there yet. Oh, that God finds me completely surrendered. I can state emphatically that is the desire of my heart to hear God say, "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God...." It is amazing that this declaration is made because Abraham did not withhold his son from sacrifice. What "sons" do I need to sacrifice? There are many.

So, what does Jerry Reed have to do with this? I have a long way to go, and "this life is but a span". Meaning, I have a short time to get there, and a sense of urgency overwhelms me to the point of depression and guilt sometimes. Yet, I am Eastbound, so keep watching this "'ol Bandit run"!

June 5, 1968

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. His campaign in 1968 was filled with hope, urgency, and charisma for change. Senator Kennedy was shot on June 5, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California shortly after claiming victory in that state's crucial Democratic primary. He died in the early hours of June 6, 1968 at the age of 42 years old.

In a speech on the Day of Affirmation in Cape Town, South Africa, Senator Kennedy spoke of hope and urgency for young people globally. The text of that speech is below:

Mr. Chancellor, Mr. Vice Chancellor, Professor Robertson, Mr. Diamond, Mr. Daniel, and Ladies and Gentlemen:

I come here this evening because of my deep interest and affection for a land settled by the Dutch in the mid-seventeenth century, then taken over by the British, and at last independent; a land in which the native inhabitants were at first subdued, but relations with whom remain a problem to this day; a land which defined itself on a hostile frontier; a land which has tamed rich natural resources through the energetic application of modern technology; a land which once the importer of slaves, and now must struggle to wipe out the last traces of that former bondage. I refer, of course, to the United States of America.

But I am glad to come here -- and my wife and I and all of our party are glad to come here to South Africa, and we're glad to come to Cape Town. I am already greatly enjoying my stay and my visit here. I am making an effort to meet and exchange views with people of all walks of life, and all segments of South African opinion, including those who represent the views of the government.

Today I am glad to meet with the National Union of South African Students. For a decade, NUSAS has stood and worked for the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- principles which embody the collective hopes of men of good will all around the globe. Your work at home and in international student affairs has brought great credit to yourselves and to your country. I know the National Student Association in the United States feels a particularly close relationship with this organization.

And I wish to thank especially Mr. Ian Robertson, who first extended the invitation on behalf of NUSAS. I wish to thank him for his kindness to me in inviting me. I am very sorry that he can not be with us here this evening. I was happy to have had the opportunity to meet and speak with him earlier this evening. And I presented him with a copy of Profiles in Courage which was a book that was written by President John Kennedy and was signed to him by President Kennedy's widow, Mrs. John Kennedy.

This is a Day of Affirmation, a celebration of liberty. We stand here in the name of freedom. At the heart of that Western freedom and democracy is the belief that the individual man, the child of God, is the touchstone of value, and all society, all groups and states exist for that person's benefit. Therefore, the enlargement of liberty for individual human beings must be the supreme goal and the abiding practice of any Western society.

The first element of this individual liberty is the freedom of speech: the right to express and communicate ideas, to set oneself apart from the dumb beasts of field and forest; the right to recall governments to their duties and to their obligations; above all, the right to affirm one's membership and allegiance to the body politic -- to society -- to the men with whom we share our land, our heritage, and our children's future.

Hand in hand with freedom of speech goes the power to be heard, to share in the decisions of government which shape men's lives. Everything that makes man's life worthwhile -- family, work, education, a place to rear one's children and a place to rest one's head -- all this depends on the decisions of government; all can be swept away by a government which does not heed the demands of its people, and I mean all of its people. Therefore, the essential humanity of man can be protected and preserved only where government must answer -- not just to the wealthy, not just to those of a particular religion, not just to those of a particular race, but to all of the people.

And even government by the consent of the governed, as in our own Constitution, must be limited in its power to act against its people, so that there may be no interference with the right to worship, but also no interference with the security of the home; no arbitrary imposition of pains or penalties on an ordinary citizen by officials high or low; no restriction on the freedom of men to seek education, or to seek work or opportunity of any kind, so that each man may become all that he is capable of becoming.

These -- These are the sacred rights of Western society. These were the essential differences between us and Nazi Germany, as they were between Athens and Persia.

They are the essence of our differences with communism today. I am unalterably opposed to communism because it exalts the State over the individual and over the family; and because its system contains a lack of freedom of speech, of protest, of religion, and of the press, which is characteristic of a totalitarian regime. The way of opposition to communism, however, is not to imitate its dictatorship, but to enlarge individual human freedoms. There are those in every land who would label as Communist every threat to their privilege. But may I say to you as I have seen on my travels in all sections of the world, reform is not communism. And the denial of freedom, in whatever name, only strengthens the very communism it claims to oppose.

Many nations have set forth their own definitions and declarations of these principles. And there have often been wide and tragic gaps between promise and performance, ideal and reality. Yet the great ideals have constantly recalled us to our own duties. And with painful slowness, we in the United States have extended and enlarged the meaning and the practice of freedom to all of our people.

For two centuries, my own country has struggled to overcome the self-imposed handicap of prejudice and discrimination based on nationality, on social class or race -- discrimination profoundly repugnant to the theory and to the command of our Constitution. Even as my father grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, signs told him: "No Irish Need Apply." Two generations later President Kennedy became the first Irish Catholic, and the first Catholic, to head the nation; but how many men of ability had, before 1961, been denied the opportunity to contribute to the nation's progress because they were Catholic or because they were of Irish extraction? How many sons of Italian or Jewish or Polish parents slumbered in the slums -- untaught, unlearned, their potential lost forever to our nation and to the human race? Even today, what price will we pay before we have assured full opportunity to millions of Negro Americans?

In the last five years we have done more to assure equality to our Negro citizens, and to help the deprived both white and black, than in the hundred years before that time. But much, much more remains to be done. For there are millions of Negroes untrained for the simplest of jobs, and thousands every day denied their full and equal rights under the law; and the violence of the disinherited, the insulted, the injured, looms over the streets of Harlem and of Watts and of the South Side Chicago.

But a Negro American trains now as an astronaut, one of mankind's first explorers into outer space; another is the chief barrister of the United States government, and dozens sit on the benches of our court; and another, Dr. Martin Luther King, is the second man of African descent to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent efforts for social justice between all of the races.
We have passed laws prohibiting -- We have passed laws prohibiting discrimination in education, in employment, in housing, but these laws alone cannot overcome the heritage of centuries -- of broken families and stunted children, and poverty and degradation and pain.

So the road toward equality of freedom is not easy, and great cost and danger march alongside all of us. We are committed to peaceful and nonviolent change, and that is important to all to understand -- though change is unsettling. Still, even in the turbulence of protest and struggle is greater hope for the future, as men learn to claim and achieve for themselves the rights formerly petitioned from others.

And most important of all, all of the panoply of government power has been committed to the goal of equality before the law, as we are now committing ourselves to the achievement of equal opportunity in fact. We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people before God, before the law, and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because the laws of God command it, although they do; not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do.

We recognize that there are problems and obstacles before the fulfillment of these ideals in the United States, as we recognize that other nations, in Latin America and in Asia and in Africa, have their own political, economic, and social problems, their unique barriers to the elimination of injustices.

In some, there is concern that change will submerge the rights of a minority, particularly where that minority is of a different race than that of the majority. We in the United States believe in the protection of minorities; we recognize the contributions that they can make and the leadership that they can provide; and we do not believe that any people -- whether majority or minority, or individual human beings -- are "expendable" in the cause of theory or of policy. We recognize also that justice between men and nations is imperfect, and the humanity sometimes progresses very slowly indeed.

All do not develop in the same manner and at the same pace. Nations, like men, often march to the beat of different drummers, and the precise solutions of the United States can neither be dictated nor transplanted to others -- and that is not our intention. What is important, however, is that all nations must march toward increasing freedom, toward justice for all, toward a society strong and flexible enough to meet the demands of all of its people -- whatever their race -- and the demands that the world of immense and dizzying change that face us all.

In a few hours, the plane that brought me to this country crossed over oceans and countries which have been a crucible of human history. In minutes we traced migrations of men over thousands of years; seconds, the briefest glimpse, and we passed battlefields on which millions of men once struggled and died. We could see no national boundaries, no vast gulfs or high walls dividing people from people; only nature and the works of man -- homes and factories and farms -- everywhere reflecting Man's common effort to enrich his life. Everywhere new technology and communications brings men and nations closer together, the concerns of one inevitably becomes the concerns of all. And our new closeness is stripping away the false masks, the illusion of differences which is the root of injustice and of hate and of war. Only earthbound man still clings to the dark and poisoning superstition that his world is bounded by the nearest hill, his universe ends at river shore, his common humanity is enclosed in the tight circle of those who share his town or his views and the color of his skin.

It is -- It is your job, the task of young people in this world, to strip the last remnants of that ancient, cruel belief from the civilization of man.

Each nation has different obstacles and different goals, shaped by the vagaries of history and of experience. Yet as I talk to young people around the world, I am impressed not by the diversity but by the closeness of their goals, their desires and their concerns and their hope for the future.

There is discrimination in New York, the racial inequality of apartheid in South Africa, and serfdom in the mountains of Peru. People starve to death in the streets of India; a former Prime Minister is summarily executed in the Congo; intellectuals go to jail in Russia, and thousands are slaughtered in Indonesia; wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere in the world.

These are different evils, but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfections of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, the defectiveness of our sensibility toward the sufferings of our fellows; they mark the limit of our ability to use knowledge for the well-being of our fellow human beings throughout the world. And therefore they call upon common qualities of conscience and indignation, a shared determination to wipe away the unnecessary sufferings of our fellow human beings at home and around the world.

It is these qualities which make of our youth today the only true international community. More than this, I think that we could agree on what kind of a world we would all want to build. It would be a world of independent nations, moving toward international community, each of which protected and respected the basic human freedoms. It would be a world which demanded of each government that it accept its responsibility to insure social justice. It would be a world of constantly accelerating economic progress -- not material welfare as an end in/of itself, but as a means to liberate the capacity of every human being to pursue his talents and to pursue his hopes. It would, in short, be a world that we would all be proud to have built.

Just to the north of here are lands of challenge and of opportunity, rich in natural resources -- land and minerals and people. Yet they are also lands confronted by the greatest odds -- overwhelming ignorance, internal tensions and strife, and great obstacles of climate and geography. Many of these nations, as colonies, were oppressed and were exploited. Yet they have not estranged themselves from the broad traditions of the West; they are hoping and they are gambling their progress and their stability on the chance that we will meet our responsibilities to them to help them overcome their poverty.

In the world we would like to build, South Africa could play an outstanding role, and a role of leadership in that effort. This country is without question a preeminent repository of the wealth and the knowledge and the skill of this continent. Here are the greater part of Africa's research scientists and steel production, most of its reservoirs of coal and of electric power. Many South Africans have made major contributions to African technical development and world science.

The names of some are known wherever men seek to eliminate the ravages of tropical disease and of pestilence. In your faculties and councils, here in this very audience, are hundreds and thousands of men and women who could transform the lives of millions for all time to come.

But the help and the leadership of South Africa or of the United States cannot be accepted if we, within our own country or in our relationships with others, deny individual integrity, human dignity, and the common humanity of man. If we would lead outside our own borders, if we would help those who need our assistance, if we would meet our responsibilities to mankind, we must first, all of us, demolish the borders which history has erected between men within our own nations -- barriers of race and religion, social class and ignorance.

Our answer is the world's hope: It is to rely on youth. The cruelties and the obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot be moved by those who cling to a present which is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger which comes with even the most peaceful progress.

This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease -- a man like the Chancellor of this University.

It is a revolutionary world that we all live in, and thus, as I have said in Latin America and in Asia and in Europe and in my own country, the United States, it is the young people who must take the lead. Thus, you, and your young compatriots everywhere, have had thrust upon you a greater burden of responsibility than any generation that has ever lived.

"There is," said an Italian philosopher, "nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the -- in the introduction of a new order of things." Yet this is the measure of the task of your generation, and the road is strewn with many dangers.

First, is the danger of futility: the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills -- against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant Reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32 year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that "all men are created equal."

"Give me a place to stand," said Archimedes, "and I will move the world." These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history, but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and then the total -- all of these acts -- will be written in the history of this generation.

Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference in the isolated villages and the city slums of dozens of countries. Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage such as these that the belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

"If Athens shall appear great to you," said Pericles, "consider then that her glories were purchased by valiant men, and by men who learned their duty." That is the source of all greatness in all societies, and it is the key to progress in our time.

The second danger is that of expediency: of those who say that hopes and beliefs must bend before immediate necessities. Of course, if we must act effectively we must deal with the world as it is. We must get things done. But if there was one thing that President Kennedy stood for that touched the most profound feeling of young people around the world, it was the belief that idealism, high aspirations, and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs -- that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities, no separation between the deepest desires of heart and of mind and the rational application of human effort to human problems. It is not realistic or hardheaded to solve problems and take action unguided by ultimate moral aims and values, although we all know some who claim that it is so. In my judgment, it is thoughtless folly. For it ignores the realities of human faith and of passion and of belief -- forces ultimately more powerful than all of the calculations of our economists or of our generals. Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.

It is this new idealism which is also, I believe, the common heritage of a generation which has learned that while efficiency can lead to the camps at Auschwitz, or the streets of Budapest, only the ideals of humanity and love can climb the hills of the Acropolis.

And a third danger is timidity. Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world -- which yields most painfully to change. Aristotle tells us: "At the Olympic games it is not the finest or the strongest men who are crowned, but those who enter the lists."

"So too in the life of the honorable and the good it is they who act rightly who win the prize."² I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the world.

For the fortunate amongst us, the fourth danger, my friends, is comfort, the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of an education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. There is a Chinese curse which says, "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind. And everyone here will ultimately be judged, will ultimately judge himself, on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.

So we part, I to my country and you to remain. We are, if a man of 40 can claim the privilege, fellow members of the world's largest younger generation. Each of us have our own work to do. I know at times you must feel very alone with your problems and with your difficulties. But I want to say how I -- impressed I am with the stand -- with what you stand for and for the effort that you are making; and I say this not just for myself, but men and women all over the world. And I hope you will often take heart from the knowledge that you are joined with your fellow young people in every land, they struggling with their problems and you with yours, but all joined in a common purpose; that, like the young people of my own country and of every country that I have visited, you are all in many ways more closely united to the brothers of your time than to the older generations in any of these nations. You're determined to build a better future.

President Kennedy was speaking to the young people of America, but beyond them to young people everywhere, when he said: "the energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it; and the glow from that fire can truly light the world." And, he added, "With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."

I thank you.

Food for thought

This is from a pastor of a church in Towson, Maryland. I thought this was rather profound:

costly
Forgiveness costs more than we are able to pay.

When we forgive someone, we tell them that they no longer have to repay the relational debt that has been incurred. But the debt must be paid for us to be whole. True forgiveness means that not only do we not ask for the payment but also that we don't keep the debt on the record books. Again, the debt must be paid for us to be whole. But we don't have the resources to pay the other person's debt in our lives. This is why followers of Jesus can truly forgive. We have received a payment that not only covers the debt of others but also our own. It was the perfect payment. It was the offering of a life. But not just a life - The Life. The Life in whom all other life exists. And it was given as a payment for our relational debt with God. But the payment was so huge that it overflows into other people's relational debt to us.

Forgiveness costs more than we are able to pay.

Humility

I got notice of an acquaintance from my singles' group at church who died a few days ago. The man was not that old. It stupefied me to remember him as he sat at my table on a regular basis, and told of how his life was changed by God and by joining our Celebrate Recovery group. Each week he would proclaim the positive and profound impact that each had on his life. Each week, I would sit there and wonder, "Why on God's green earth is this man talking about this same thing over and over? Doesn't he have anything more to talk about?" Each week, he continued to tell how he built community with other men who encouraged him to follow hard after God and stay on the wagon. So, why did this guy, who, let's be honest, annoyed me talking about the same things repeatedly impact me today?


First, his death taught me that a life is valuable because God loves that life. God especially loves to see one repent of their sins and turn to him, which is what this person did. His former life that he led was not a "good life." He filled it with substance abuse and selfishness. Yet, when he surrendered to God's call, he found fulfillment. Like Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If any man is in Christ he is a new creation...." This man became a new creation, filled with the Holy Spirit and a desire to see more become disciples of God. When he became a part of Celebrate Recovery he lived a transformed life because he found people who were willing to be honest with him and he could trust them with those honest and hard things of life. What a testimony!

Second, his death taught me that I need humility. Why was I so annoyed? From where does this spirit of judgment come? It comes from ME. This man in my class declared, on a consistent basis, his need for God and his desire for other to join him in finding community, peace, and love in Christ. Me, I chose to look at him and get annoyed. How selfish! How utterly primitive and base. I was reminded last week, by a relative, about Philippians 2:1-11. Those principles are to consume me. The attitude of a servant begins in the mind and should permeate my whole being. Yet, I struggle daily with these sins of pride and arrogance.

God, help me to know that you love all of us as we are, not as we should be. Remind me daily that when I submit to pride, I deprive you of your glory by taking it for myself. Father, I am sorry.

40 Years Ago Today

From the Robert Kennedy Memorial Website:

Statement on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.Indianapolis, IndianaApril 4, 1968:

I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.
In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black--considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible--you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization--black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.

So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love--a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land.

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

Sense of Urgency

I was dumbstruck a couple of nights ago by the lack of a sense of urgency displayed by the hometown OU Sooner football team. The Sooner team appeared to be more talented and adept at winning in the Fiesta Bowl than the West Virginia Mountaineers did. The Sooners appeared to be the more stable team since their head coach had not left acrimoniously a couple of weeks earlier. For a long time, the head coach at Oklahoma was labeled as a "big game coach". Yet, that moniker seems to have diminished given the lackluster performances in the last few bowl games. What gives? How does this team rebound from such a lackluster effort in every facet of the game? Why do I care, since I'm not that much of a Sooner fan (much to the chagrin of my girlfriend)?

First, the coaching staff needs to engage in some serious reflection and introspection. How does a talent-laden team look so poorly prepared and unmotivated? Did the staff not believe in their players? Are the players heeding the messages of the staff? Should changes be made? I think so. The offensive staff did little to recognize momentum shifts within the game that could have turned the tide in their favor. Examples of this included a lack of timely play calling during stretches late in the second and third quarters where West Virginia was clearly on their heels. Additionally, the players seemed ill-prepared to handle the athleticism and the overall team speed of the Mountaineers. Pat White and Noel Devine ran roughshod over a defense that was one of the best against the run nationally all year. There was no excuse why this defense should have been that overmatched and the offense should not have looked that lost since there was more than enough time to prepare.

Second, the players must be held accountable, too. As John Maxwell puts it, "Everything rises and falls on leadership." Was anyone vocal on the sidelines? Why did the players look dejected and nonchalant during every look at the sideline? I know that Sam Bradford is a redshirt freshman, but, come on, he's been in a number of big games this year. The players seemed uninspired and ill-prepared.

Finally, I hope that this team is resilient. They are too talented and I respect Coach Stoops too much. Until next season....