The rustling leaves...

Heard from my friend this morning...

"C. S. Lewis wrote, 'At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of the morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some 'day, God willing, we shall get in.'  Last night at 8:30 p.m. my father got in."

Lloyd slipped into eternity and the everlasting arms of God.


(See the prelude to this conclusion, date: October 22, 2011 "Check-Mate!)

Check-Mate!

Today I received a note from a good friend..."my dad's cancer is progressing. His time here is probably down to days..."  Lloyd has been ill for some time; he is a shadow of the man we knew when he was healthy. When I read my friends words I was transported back to the last time I was with his dad. It was years ago. I am saddened by this news, concerned for the grief this final act of life will introduce to my friend and his family...and not.

Lloyd will lose his life; but not once has he been in danger of losing his hope: the certain promise that he, as a believer in Jesus Christ, will finally be transported into the presence of His Lord and Savior, there to enjoy life as HE designed it to be.

Thanks be to God for the hope we have in Christ, and the healing death brings for those who have embraced Christ through saving faith.  For these death is not something to be feared; it is a gracious provision that carries us back into a "face to face" real-time relationship with God. Without death, we become eternal beings, like Lucifer and the legion of angels which were cast out of heaven because of their rebellion...eternally separated from God, without hope of redemption.

Death became the modality that God uses to foil Satan's attempt to co-opt God's crowning creative act, the human race.  So then, death is the definitive "check-mate" and demonstrates God's mastery; always steps ahead of evil and the chaos of sin. Genesis 3 describes the event that initiated the rebellion of Adam and Eve to sin and it's necessary result, death; it's also here that we learn that death is part of God's bigger plan for hope and the redemption of human-kind.

The rest, is history...1 John 4.9,10 "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

Lloyd knows that love is a four letter word, spelled H-O-P-E; more importantly, he knows that death simply marks the first day of the rest of his life...

Maranatha...

(Continued in "The rustling leaves..." October 27, 2011)

Politics as industry...

Father in  heaven...

Politics has become a growth industry in America, this is a problem; too much ambition and too little service.  It didn't start this way.  The noble has become ignoble.

Regardless of party affiliation, the pursuit of power, wealth, celebrity too, has become the focus of many elected to serve "the people" in Washington.  Congress has been sullied by gridlock, the "love of money", sexual scandal, graft and abuse of privilege.

I pray this election cycle breaks toward leaders willing to make tough decisions, without regard for how those decisions poll: that, will be patriotism.

...Deliver us from evil.

Hast, while the sun shines!

We spring into summer, but alas, tomorrow we FALL into winter.

Smarter than the average bear...

"Pass this jobs bill, right away..." (Friends the devil is in the details.  I'm all in on tax reform--can you say flat-tax?  It's the $400 billion in additional spending, with "I'll get back to you in 10 days on how I intend to pay for it"  that leaves me convinced that my President just doesn't think I'm very smart)"...because I need to save my job." 

the post-racial President...one has to wonder.

So much for "the first post-racial President in our history;" sounded hopeful...sort of like "hope and change" and "change we can believe in."  This Presidency certainly will not be described as post-racial by any perspective of history.  Not because it couldn't have been.

You see, the "we think it's cool" crowd doomed that possibility almost from that night in Chicago, when a sea of well-wishers gathered to celebrate this President's election.  That certainly was a moment in history.  But it didn't produce a post-racial result.  You see, from that "moment" almost anyone who dared question this President's intelligence, fitness for office, ability to lead or wisdom in approaching the challenges facing the nation--has been tarred as a racist puppet of the Aryan Nation.

As I reflect back, all the (white) Presidents during my lifetime have been the subject of a national pastime geared toward laughing at their quirks, questioning their intelligence, reviling their politics and counting the days till the next election cycle.  In this modern era, virtually nothing has been out of bounds.  (Now, let me state for the record, I don't believe what we subject our Presidents to is good for the nation; that said, it's become the norm, not the exception.  It's mean, but it's not racist.)

So, when this President stepped up to become the focus of the electorates ire, it's decried as racism.  That is non-sense.  Are there racists in America?  Certainly.  Is some the what we hear about this President racist?  Certainly; just like some of what we heard about George Bush was hate speech.

This is America.  We need to be able to speak our minds, thoughtful or otherwise, because that's a treasured right here.  It's part of what makes us, us.  My concern as we move into the the next Presidential election cycle, is that we'll forget who we are and what makes this nation great.  I pray for a civil discourse.  But I also expect it to be a spirited and opinionated discourse--as it should be.  "Ideas" do that to people.  People must feel safe stating what they think about this President and believe to be the best course for the nation...regardless of their agenda.  

We make judgments about the ideas placed before us by politicians and the people that support them.  This election cycle should be no different than those that came before it...but some would seek to prevent this process from playing out that way.

It's here that we see a tragic irony.  The very people who anointed this administration as "post-racial" are the ones who continually play the race card to intimidate citizens; attempting to prevent them from engaging in a critical examination of the record this administration has produced.  That is their end-game.   If one cannot win on the facts, then win any way one can. 

I am concerned that the election to determine the next President will be characterized by class warfare, race-baiting, vitriol and a "take no prisoners" commitment to win at any cost.  Now is the time to brace for just such an election.  Prepare now to be driven to a decision by the facts and your conviction about what you believe is the best course for our nation going forward.  How can one do that?

1. Critically consider your values and then ask, which set of ideas best represent those values. 
2. Become thoroughly familiar with who the candidates really are...not who they, or their handlers, simply say they are.
3. Go deeper than the talking points.  Think through policy and how it effects the nation going forward.
4. Engage big ideas.  Read, study, pray and reflect on the politics of the 21st century, then measure the ideas of those asking for your vote against your own understanding and perspective, born from that "due diligence."
5. Refuse to be an ideologue.
6. Measure twice and cut once.
7. Seek guidance from God; Seek His agenda.  Be willing to embrace it.
8. Exercise your right, privilege and responsibility to vote.

We missed an opportunity to get it right under the leadership of this administration, one has to wonder, what could have been?  The good news is, while we don't always get it right the first time, Americans keep working at it until we do.  No, this isn't the first post-racial Presidency, but it's taken us one step closer to that vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...Sweet dream(s).

The real genius of Coach K...

Just prior to the start of the 2010 NCAA tournament, a radio sports analyst was hating on Duke because, he said, "the dukies are an elitist program; they just have too many white faces."  The analyst just didn't get it; you see, skin color isn't the issue, education and development are.  Duke basketball is an example of what college athletics should be about.  Talented young men (in this case), black and white, who leverage their skills to earn a world class education and prepare for life as an adult.

The real genius of Coach K is that he's managed to "keep the main thing, the main thing."  The results of his unrivaled ability as a coach, mentor, teacher and motivator have enriched the lives of hundreds of players, thousands of students and tens of thousands of fans.  Just what is the main thing?  Helping his players become college graduates and good citizens...and in some cases, professional athletes.  He has built a dynastic program on this foundation.

These days we hear more and more voices decrying the exploitation of student athletes.  These commentators reason that it's time we begin to pay college athletes.  We do that now; we call them FULL scholarships.  Short term, they are worth thousands of dollars.  Long term, hundreds of thousands of dollars and more.  

That said, exploitation is an issue in college sports today. But it's not about financial justice for athletes.  It's about institutions, programs and coaches who build their endowments, reputations and careers on the skills of young athletes and fail to deliver on their commitment to educate and equip their athletes for the long road of life.  There is an exchange that must take place over the careers of student athletes; athletic skills are exchanged for life skills.

It's here that Coach K's genius shines through.  He understands that his mission is much bigger than building winning a program; it's about shaping young men to become husbands, fathers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, bankers, business professionals, social workers, pastors; LEADERS and contributors.  Men who will advance Coach K's legacy by leaving their world's a better place for them having been here.

Coach K has set the bar for his success very high.  The by-product of that standard, the most successful basketball program of this or perhaps any generation.  The measure of that success is not the wins v. loses.  It's lives changed; that, friends, is real genius. 

Wait just a minute!

I, like many Americans, believe that the time has come for the US to wind down our "boots on the ground" involvement in Afghanistan. I also believe that this fledgling democracy will need our assistance for years to come...technology, training, infra-structure, humanitarian aid, health-care support, education and aid for arming and deploying an effective security-military force with a cadre of leaders to inspire and train them.

That said, I am ashamed of many of my fellow-citizens.  Today, listening to one of NPR's afternoon programs as I made my way around my city, I heard one caller after another pummel our nation with vitriol I do not understand.  These citizens believed, no, reveled in the belief, that the US has been decisively beaten.  They asserted that any reasonable person, any honest person, would be incapable of identifying even one positive outcome from our heartbreaking sacrifice in this 10 year conflict.

These folk are flat-wrong.  Consider that...Ten years ago Afghanistan was a country ruled by one of history's cruelest regimes; today, it is governed by freely elected leaders.  Women, previously virtual prisoners in their homes, are serving in Parliament. Camps Al Qaeda has used to train, indoctrinate and dispatch terrorists to take innocent life around the globe, have been dismantled; their infra-structure ravaged and in disarray.  The Afghans have a growing security force of 79,000 soldiers who are warriors at heart, and now are receiving the training and equipment needed to sustain this young democracy in the perilous days ahead.  Afghanistan's economy has doubled in size.  School enrollment has risen from 900,000 to over 6,000,000; including over 2,000,000 girls. Access to health care has risen from 8% to 80% of the population.  In 2010, the Pentagon announced that geologists had discovered nearly $1,000,000,000,000 (one-trillion) dollars worth of mineral deposits, a potential wind-fall of wealth the Taliban never would have found.  Much remains to be done, but our efforts on behalf of the Afghan people, and the noble cause of liberty and self-determination have produced splendid results; the price has been profound--but history will be kind in its assessment of this investment of innocence, dreams, treasure and thousands of lives.

The free-world, soldiers from around the globe, have engaged the enemy in the field and prevailed.  For our part, we must refuse to allow those who would redact the reality of what has happened in Afghanistan by being well informed about the truth and assertive in our efforts to "pass the word" from neighborhood to neighborhood, business to business and generation to generation.

I am proud.  I am grateful.  I am humbled.  Now, let's bring our warriors home to the adulation they so richly deserve, and pray for that day when we turn swords into plowshares.

God bless America, "Annuit Coeptis."  

R.I.P

Time adds little perspective.
Death in a hostile place, a time not chosen.
Cities hard to pronounce; countries hard to find.
Cause, clarity; clouded, confused. Hard to recall.

Time dulls memory.
Pace pushes people on.
Space vacated, empty, gone.
Place dissolves, no trace, so it seems.

Taps begins to play.
This I remember.
Their laughter, their scent.
First date, first kiss, first love.
A Friday night, when life was simple.
The future a certain dream, bullet proof...not.

Tears flow freely now.
Pride in a life well lived.
Grief for a life given; invested and gone.
The loss, the pain; heart broken, shattered.

These are the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen...
Their last full-measure given; duty, honor, country.
May they rest in peace.

May we never forget.

What mom's do...

God makes the day.  Family makes the day a joy.  Mom's make the day a ministry.