My Christmas Wish List.

You may be familiar with the list of 7 modern sins--or not; the conditions it describes are infamously familiar to us all: 

• Wealth without work
• Industry without morality
• Worship without sacrifice
• Politics without principles
• Science without humanity
• Knowledge without character
• Pleasure without conscience...

This, then, is my Christmas wish list for America in 2015: Work, morality, sacrifice, principles, humanity, character and conscience. 

My prayer for  2016 and beyond:

"Father create in us a hunger for what is right and just. Help us to understand that...

• ...Wealth driven by lust for money is evil and work is an honorable endeavor that gives us meaning and purpose. 
• ...Industry must produce access to opportunity for all.
• ...Worship demands a values-centered life and requires sacrifice.
• ...Politics is the business of the people and is a noble and self-sacrificing life-call.
• ...Science can create in us a deeper spiritual hunger. 
• ...Knowledge is a path to humility. 
• ...Pleasure is the by-product of good character.

 May we be given the clarity to "Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God."

bN tGit

The Fingerprints of God

In my time zone, the clock says we're 3 minutes away from Thanksgiving Day 2015.  I am blessed.  Not because life hasn't taken anything away from me, or disappointed me.  Not because every dream I ever had for my life has played out in spades.  I'm blessed because the older I get, the more acutely aware I am that life is hard, harsh--unfair and random.  Yet in spite of that, as I look back I see the fingerprints of God all over my life.

I'm thankful for my family of origin.  It was a perfectly normal not-perfect home; but we were loved, and the provision was so sacrificial.  I remember Hody's Drive-in, singing the the family station wagon, Christmas mornings, baseball card collections, my parents trusting me.  Back yard bar-b-q's.  Working in the family business.  They gave me my foundational values and showed me what it means to be a responsible adult.

I'm grateful for my brother and sister, Brad and Tamara.  I was the proud younger brother to Brad and the protective older brother to Tamara.  I love them both and appreciate all we share and their part in making me, me.

I'm thankful for my Grandma Blankenship and my Aunt Carolyn who stood in the gap for me, prayed for me and lovingly intervined on my behalf when I desperately needed an advocate...for my cousin Patty who was like a big sister to me.

I'm thankful for friends made a life-time ago that have come back into my life through social-media.  The memories we share form a strong bond and a rich tapestry woven from the community we shared together growing up in a little town North-West of LA called Thousand Oaks.  These people helped give me a good start.

I'm thankful for Mark who showed me what effective faith consisted of and then mentored me in the early years of my walk with Messiah Jesus.

I'm thankful for the years I spent a Duke University--an opportunity that wasn't even on the radar when I finally sat down to consider where I might pursue my college ambitions--yet when the time was right, God delivered me to that place--and a paid-in-full promise.

I'm thankful for my Talbot Seminary experience.  The timing was all wrong, but so right.  This was such a formative time in my life.  

I'm thankful for Laura, my wife.  We will celebrate 43 years of marriage on January 5, 2016.  She is my very best friend.  She has worked along side me, loved me, made our home a place of nurture for our children, supported us all in the pursuit of our dreams.  She has stood by me through some very deep water, I'm so grateful.

I'm thankful for Laura's parents, Gene and Janice.  They loved us well and were generous with their love, wisdom and support.  They left such a legacy of Godliness and service.

I'm thankful for my kids, Erin and Joseph.  They have become such good citizens, parents and are raising their kids with love, grace and sacrifice.  They are my friends; intelligent and stimulating, opinionated and articulate.  They have such passion for the ideas they believe in.

I'm thankful for Matthew and Miranda, my son and daughter-in law.  They are talented, compassionate people, love my kids well and are wonderful parents.  You pray from even before your children are born for that person they may eventually share their lives and dreams with.  God did good.

I'm thankful for our four gandchildren, Braden, Kellen, Gabriella and Grayson.  Grandchildren are everything that's right about life.  Pure joy, delight, potential.

I'm thankful our youngest, Grayson Joseph, arrived safely November 2, 2015 and is thriving in this first month of life.

I'm thankful for our faithful family pets who have shared life with us and made our lives better in ways we could not have expected...Max 13 years, Barley 15 years, Kate 15 years, Lily  7 years in progress and Chance 3 years in progress.

I'm thankful for 26 years we invested in ministry, the good, the bad and the heart-break.

I'm thankful for my last 15 years with State Farm.  A great opportunity to pursue another side of my gift-mix.  It's given us security we never anticipated we would enjoy.  It has been a wonderful platform from which to make hard-lives easier--a market-place ministry.

I'm thankful for physicians who have done an amazing job over the last 24 years in controlling my diabetes--all my organs are healthy and I still have all my fingers and toes; and most recently in giving me a shot at putting the disease into remission by making it possible for me to lose 118 pounds since last Thanksgiving.  Doctors Knight and Knapp are great healers.

I'm thankful that our oldest grandson Braden, is alive and beating Cancer.  He was diagnosed in February and it has been such a difficult journey--a journey God has made with us.  We have seen such goodness and generosity from people, many who were strangers before this disease brought is together--many remain strangers today, but generous benefactors none-the-less.  It's humbling.  It's transformative.

So much to be thankful for, so little space and a memory dimmed by 62 years.  That said..."Praise God from how all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below, praise Him above  ye heavenly hosts, praise Father Son and Holy Ghost."

bN tGit

The MAIN Thing.

On December 28, 1968 (age 15) I said "yes" to Jesus, and in that moment my life was transformed. Forty-seven years since then is...a few.  My life has a not always been a clear reflection of His presence, but it has for the most part been, by His grace, a slow and steady "long obedience in the same direction."

The dynamics of our culture, over my lifetime, could be described as a devolution from "conscience" and evolution to "relevance" as our moral compass.  It's ironic that the most extreme expression of the conservative mind, libertarianism, is in many ways the penultimate form of liberalism.  My point is that "systems of thought," even theological systems of thought, can't change the trajectory of the human spirit. God does that one person, one decision, at a time. We just don't have the temperament to pull that off.  History is filled with movements which morphed into extremism that marginalized human beings, in the name of a "greater-good," producing tyranny and crimes against humankind.

It's not my job to save my culture from itself.  The part I have been given, as a Christ-follower, is to point the people in my sphere of influence to God, who can. This is "the main thing" for me.  I'm not called to point them to "systems" or movements that will save the day, but to the God of eternity who loves human beings with an everlasting and long suffering love, a transformative love.  He does the formative work in transforming people that can change culture.

So then, how can I "keep the main thing," the main thing?

• Be humble. 
• Love my spouse. 
• Act as an agent of peace. 
• Trust in the power of God. 
• See people the way God sees them. 
• Focus on walking close to God on a daily basis. 
• Empower my kids and grandkids with a legacy of godliness. 
• Declare the principles and precepts of God in a loving, inclusive way. 
• Love unconditionally my enemies and those who might seek to hurt me. 
• Pray for those raised up as leaders in my church, community and nation.

All this said... "12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us (me)."   Philippians 3.12-14 NLT

Systems and movements, by their very nature, devolve.  God, "is the same yesterday, today and forever."  

I choose God.  He produces change which gives me, gives us all...HOPE.

Press on...


bN tGit