2013: a "Big Ben" year...

Four big milestones in 2013. 

• Celebrate 40 years married to Laura January 5.  
• Watch the Irish make it 12 National titles on January 7.  
• Mark entrance into my 6th decade on March 14, my 60th birthday.
• Blessed to have had 45 yeas "in Christ" December 28.

It's been a good life.

#59...

Christmas #59 is in the books.  

Some random thoughts...

• Had a great celebration...but with some missing parts; family in CA, NJ, NC, CO...wish we could all be together.
• Erin hosted again on XmsEve...Laura on XmsDay. (I am keeping Christ in Christmas..."X" is the ancient symbol for Christ. Greek letter Chi "X" is the first letter of Greek "Xristos" or Christ...nuf' said.) They did such a wonderful job making us all feel at home and feeding us very well.
• One member of the family was just recovering from the flu, so glad she felt just well enough to join us...so much appreciate the effort it took.
• Grand sons are growing up too fast.
• Movie selection this year "Trouble with a Curve Ball."

But this year there was an undercurrent of sadness and concern; it was buried inside us, but it was there.  Why wouldn't it be?  Grief over the senseless murders of people in Oregon and Connecticut, an ambush/murder of two first responders in New York state, bitter division that still plagues our government, a population unwilling to celebrate our diversity and unable settle on what constitutes our "core values," uncertainty about the economy and a health-care system, a school system sabotaged by politicians which is exhausting the people charged with the task of education (4 in my family), 10+ years of war, a future for our children, grandchildren...our Nation.

These are disquieting times.  The conclusion to President Abraham Lincoln's 2nd inagural address seems so appropriate to these days we're living in...

"...With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."

Lincoln saved the Nation once.  Perhaps his wisdom might point the way again.

God's love never fails...

We are the reason for the season...

"When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners...God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us..."

Christmas is joyous because God's love never fails.

Shalom L'Chaim, in Christ.

Blog, blah, blah...

Someone asked me recently "why do you blog?  Nobody reads it, what's the point?" 

It's not the "reading" that's the magic. 

For now...it's the writing; great therapy, keeps me engaged, demands rigorous thought and teaches me a great deal as I work through the process.

For later...I'm leaving a cyber "paper trail" that my friends, family...especially my kids and grandkids...can log onto and "hear" me, remember me; who I was, what my passions in life were, how I thought and what I valued. I pray it just might make a difference in their lives someday...can you spell l-e-g-a-c-y?

Grateful to live in an era that has empowered me "go on the record" and leave something of what makes me unique behind.  I can't live forever, but the words I leave behind, they can.

A city, set on a hill...

December 1, 1862 Abraham Linclon reminded the nation: America is "the last best hope of the earth."    Though often reviled around the world, at times with good reason, I believe that President Lincoln's premise has been demonstrated repeatedly over the past 150 years.  

May God contine to bless America; may He empower us to be people of character and good will; with generous hearts, brilliant minds and dynamic vision...for making tHis world a better place.

A city set on a hill, cannot be hidden.

Goof proof...

"The Incarnation of Christ serves as a glorious reminder that God’s willingness to clean things up is infinitely bigger than our willingness to mess things up."

TULLIAN TCHIVIDJIAN

Final solution...

It's a FB day.  Checking in from time to time, with special attention to what friends are posting in the wake of Oregon and Connecticut.  Some talk about "arming teachers."  Makes me wonder, what are you thinking?

Arming teachers and asking them to act in yet one more enormous role is NOT the answer.  This knee-jerk reaction (arming teachers) is part of the larger problem facing us this morning.  Too many people have bagged on their responsibilities for creating a "user-friendly" culture--this would of course be true of SOME teachers; BUT it's a big tent filled with parents, extended family members, the Church, politicians, the entertainment icons and their handlers, the culture of our Colleges and Universities and corporate profits--seems a good start on a long list.

In the name of freedom we have acted in ways that have produced unintended consequences.  We have come to believe that because we have the protection under law to do something, produce something, say something--we can.  The irony is that liberty in that context is license--and license leads, too often, to lawlessness.  One of the most important lessons I learned at home was this; just because I CAN do something, doesn't not mean I SHOULD do it. 

If we as a culture, can get back to this simple lesson and apply it with consistency to the way we LIVE our lives, run our companies, invest our money, lead our homes, churches, communities and our nation, THEN I believe we will have taken a FIRST-STEP toward restoring sanity to our decision making process and rebuilding the ramparts that protect our culture from evil and devolution toward certain destruction.

But mark this, the final solution is a spiritual one.  The Older Testament prophet Micah lived in a truly evil world.  The theme of his prophetic letter stresses the integral relationship between true spirituality and righteous conduct.  Toward the end of his letter he turns to an axiomatic concern: Micah 6.6 "...with what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high?"   In today's vernacular it might sound something like this..."What kind of life will reflect and infuse truth in a world whose reality is based solely on pragmatism and driven by relativism?"  He reveals that answer to us in chapter 6, verse 8... 

"He has showed you O man, what is good.  To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."   Micah 6.8

Friends, it's not a fiscal cliff we see looming on the horizon.

Lost and found...

Loss. I've had my share over the years.

Two weeks after I graduated from High School, my father died, I was 17. In 1984, just after my 31st birthday, my mother died . I was 38 when I learned I had diabetes. I began a "rest of my life" battle with skin cancer in 1996, at age 43. Disappointment...oh my, where do I start. Failure--several crushing instances. Unrealized dreams, of course.

My story isn't unique. It's called, "being human." Loss is just a part of the "living experience." Life is hard, and, can be very harsh. Loss, though we all face it, is not simply a one size fits all process. For some, loss means never experiencing "what could have been." For others it's remembering "what was." For all of us it's losing people we love, to death. Life's "Harsh passages" include broken relationships, disease, tragic accidents, children "lost" in adolescence and never able to move on to productive adult lives, addiction, betrayal, unfaithful spouses and/or friends...have I described your "loss-story" yet?

Recently, an extended family member, and friend, facing a number of very difficult circumstances posted a comment about loss, she concluded, "Easy to be philiosophical...easy to be grateful too." As I paused to reflect on her words, I was struck by this profound insight.

"Easy to be grateful too..."  Really?  We can't, generally, control loss. Bad things happen to good (and bad) people. We can, however, control our attitude and our response to loss. We can ask "why me?" or we can declare "why NOT me!" That's the "philosophical" part.

The "grateful" part comes when, our pain notwithstanding, we aren't swallowed by bitterness; through the darkness of the moment, we still see the sunshine we've experienced over the years--as well as the expectation that the sun will shine again. Loss frames our perspective. It reminds us of the providence of God and the blessings we enjoy and have enjoyed through the ebb and flow of life. It's ironic, loss and gratitude are two sides of the same coin. Tennyson understood this when he penned "It's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all."

The sentiment that struck me as so profound was "easy." It just never occurred to my friend to not be grateful. The emotional and spiritual place that she "lives" made gratitude a logical extension, not of her pain, but of His promise. The Psalmist (42.5) said it this way..

"Why am I discouraged?

Why is my heart so sad?

I will put my hope in God!

I will praise him again—

my Savior and my God."

Loss isn't abandonment. It isn't the death of hope. It's an intersection of life where one can step back and see life not just for what it isn't, but for what it is; it's at that place, in that moment, we see the goodness of God, and it's easy to be grateful.

Lost and found. A fitting description.

The Art of Power...

I'm reading Jon Meacham's new book Thomas Jefferson: the Art of Power.   The election of 1800 required 32 elector ballots before Jefferson prevailed to become the nations 3rd President.

In his first inaugural address, March 4, 1801, President Thomas Jefferson made this remark.  

"All will bear in mind the sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable.  That the minority posses their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.  Let us then, fellow citizens, unite in one heart and one mind."  

These words, as with so many preserved and passed down from the Founders, have particular application as we move into 2013 with our current administration of shared power in WDC.

May God bless America with leadership who shall embrace this counsel from ages past, so relevant still, yet so elusive.

My Christmas wish list...

The 7 modern sins...

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

Work, morality, sacrifice, principles, humanity, character and conscience.  This is my Christmas wish list for America in 2012; my prayer for my nation in 2013 and beyond...

"Father create in us a hunger for what is right and just.  Help us to understand...that a love of money, is the root of all evil; that work is an honorable endeavor that shapes our character and gives us meaning and purpose; that industry must, in the end, produce social justice and opportunity for all; that politics is the business of the people, by the people and for the people and is the most noble and self-sacrificing life call a citizen can pursue; that we celebrate what science discovers in the context of enriching our appreciation for our uniqueness as humankind and creating in us a deeper spiritual hunger; that we seek knowledge as a path to humility; that pleasure be the by-product of good character, honest work and noble intention, and not an end in itself; that we understand that living a values-centered life does by definition require sacrifice...and may all this lead us to declare that 'You, are the awesome God.'"