It’s easier to feel shame if those guilty [ones] are centuries dead, especially when such discrediting, by default, confers upon yourself a higher moral standard without having [had to] stand the test in the true environment of the time.
Mother Confessor Kahlan Amnell
Soul of the Fire, by Terry Goodkind; p. 380
Deuteronomy 8 was the public scripture reading at church this past Sunday. What a convicting passage of scripture this is!
Remember every road that God led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don’t live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God’s mouth.
Deuteronomy 8 is an encouragement to not allow ourselves to think that we have arrived. We should not look at our successes and puff out our chests with pride saying, “Look what I have done.” I must admit that I have difficulty with this.
It seems that when things are going a little bit rough I turn to God in prayer and plead, “Please help me!” But when I’m doing well I begin to brag to others about my accomplishments and my perceived successes. I have even found myself belittling others at times like these—belittling them because they are not at that particular moment enjoying as much success as I am.
But this is not the way God wants me to act.
The beginning of Deuteronomy 8 reminds Israel that although they went through difficult times while they were enslaved in Egypt, God brought them out to a fertile land and prospered them greatly. Then the passage continues:
“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
God obviously does not take our braggadocio or bravado lightly. I need to make sure that I refrain from taking the credit for God’s work.
My wife used to facilitate adoption support group meetings for United Methodist Family Services’ Adoptive Family Preservation—a Faith Based Initiatives non-profit group. They were a wonderful organization and it gave my wife the opportunity to provide some much needed help to other adoptive families.
The parent organization sponsored a training seminar at the Natural Bridge Hotel in Natural Bridge, Virginia. The hotel is amazing, with out-cottages placed among the hills. And the scenery, including the huge stone "natural bridge" is awe-inspiring.
I took this photo on the very foggy morning of our second day at the Natural Bridge Hotel. I love the eerie feel the fog gives to the stately hotel.
n Good Friday, our choir and orchestra presented selections from The Messiah. Then on Palm Sunday, our pastor preached on the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus. On Easter Sunday, the following video was played at the beginning of the service. The original sermon was convicting enough, but melded with excerpts from Handel’s Messiah, it was bone chilling. I’d like to share this video with our readers.
ur nation has become increasingly polarized. At times it seems to be too large a divide to repair the rift. But as a word-nerd, I have taken a look at the whole situation from the perspective of an editor. And as a lifelong Washingtonian, I have consider it all from the perspective of a consultant. And I believe combining those two perspectives has helped me to gain an insight into how we might be able to bridge the current political gap—we need to develop empathy.
And often empathy is simply a matter of understanding our perceived opponent in context. Or, more accurately, of seeing the world as the other person sees it. This allows us to better understand that person’s point of view. That understanding will encourage empathy in us. And maybe, as the wise sage Rodney King once encouraged, we will be able to learn how to “all just get along,”
The following observations and suggestions are proferred to that end. Can’t we all just get along?
The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is simply a matter of understanding the unique difficulties of the people who work in courthouses—lawyers, judges, and politicians. Carefully consider what the Ten Commandments encourages and then think about how that might seem to people in those professions.
The Ten Commandments include Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not commit adultery, and Thou shalt not lie.
We may not post the Ten Commandments in a courthouse full of lawyers, judges and politicians because it creates a hostile work environment.
See. That wasn’t too difficult, was it? Let’s try some more.
The allied forces that helped to liberate Iraq from Saddam Hussein have made much bluster about helping Iraq set up a constitutional democracy and helping them draft a constitution.
Why don’t we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for more than 200 years, and we’re not using it anymore.
Problem 2 solved.
This one requires a little bit more thought. But consider this: During the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow born in Canada almost three years earlier right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington. And they traced her claves to their stalls.
But our government is unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country.
Maybe we should just give each of them a cow.
See how much help a small degree of empathy provides?
I took this photo at Disneyworld during our family vacation a couple years ago. I love the scenery at Disney. If you could see the full original photograph, you’d be able to see Mt. Everest in the background. This is part of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which is our least favorite of the four Disney theme parks, but still a great park with loads of fantastic rides. And the roller coaster inside Mt. Everest is phenomenal.
I love history. And I love to read. So it is particularly sweet when I find a free history book to read—and when the book itself is historic.
I recently found Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons) by Nennius. This history was published in 796 A.D. and it is fascinating. It actually attempts to show the history of Britain and Scotland beginning with Adam. And does quite a good job of it.
Anyway, reading about the settlements of Britain during the centuries prior to the advent of Jesus Christ has given me a thirst for more of that time period. So I turned to our DVDs to find something to assuage that thirst and I came across the phenomenal movie Tristan and Isolde. This is a fantastic movie and well worth your time, especially if you like period films. This would be a great one to rent this weekend and watch with your sweetheart after you have put the kids to bed.
I’ve heard stories that tug on the heartstrings before—stories of pain, stories of loss, stories of abandonment—but never in my life have I heard a story as heart-wrenchingly awful as this. Pull out your tissue box. You’re going to need it.
Imagine having to use dial-up because you can’t afford broadband! The horror of it all!
Today’s blog header is a photo I took of my son peaking through a plastic sculpture in front of our local Target store. Of course Target’s color is red, so I obviously adjusted the color of the sculpture from red to the vivid electric green you see in this photo. But I kind of liked the way it turned out along with the graffiti effect of the blog title on the brick wall in the background.
