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
• Pleasures without conscience...

This, then, is my Christmas wish list for America in 2014: Work, morality, sacrifice, principles, humanity, character and conscience. 

My prayer for my nation in 2015 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 social justice and 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 see, 'You, are the awesome God.'"

bN tGit

Don't be distracted.

Hope yours will be a THANKSgiving day filled with grace, peace and love. 

So much to distract us.  Refocus on issues that really matter: God's love and provision--undeserved and unconditional, our famlies--where life makes up its mind, friends and mentors--our "difference makers" who've been there for us, and liberty--the legions of America's best who've served and sacrificed to preserve it. 

Color me thankful.

bN tGit

Give thanks.

Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. 

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. 

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

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-six 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 of "conscience" and evolution of "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.

That said, 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.

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.


bN tGit

Thanks-Giving.

The harvest is nearly all in.

This is the first day of a week of Thanksgiving. These are times that challenge us all; but joy, real joy can't be touched and isn't determined by circumstance...

"Lord empower us to drill down deep and discover joy in simplicity, in 'being.'  A kind touch, a gentle word, a thoughtful deed, a smile, a poignant moment. Use us as instruments that produce a concert of joy in every context we find ourselves this week, and every week. Amen."

Make this a happy thanks GIVING.

bN tGit

Wrong War.

The "culture war" is the wrong campaign.  It's a battle for minds; people of faith are called to battle for hearts.  Bad hearts produce bad minds; surely we aren't shocked by the fact that minds have become utterly corrupt.  

In this process, we see how people of faith have been seduced too.  The culture war is self-serving. It's an attempt to preserve and re-create a world less hostile, less chaotic, less wrong-headed for our benefit.  It's about preserving our values, protecting our children, maintaining equilibrium and economy so we can live out our god-informed vision of what our lives should be like.  This is normal; it's also carnal...it's the way most humans think and act.

That's not the vision people of faith have been called to by God. We have been called to social justice, to selfless living, to compassionate action; to loving the unreached citizens of this world like God does.  When people of faith do that, people with no hope notice. They understand that this kind of concern is counter-intuitive.  It's not the way normal people live; they want to know "why?"   

Peter's first letter to the church contains instruction for us...
"...in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3.15 NIV

We win the world one heart at a time gently, respectfully.  It can't be done with legislation.  We don't win them with constitutional amendments.  The silver bullet isn't packing the courts with the "right kind of thinkers."  It's done by living alongside people who aren't like children of the King, who don't share His values and act in ways that reflect how radically confused people without effective faith are.

When people of faith insert themselves into culture in a transformative way hearts begin to change.  When hearts begin to change, minds begin to change.  When hearts and minds begin to change, culture begins to change.  When people with no hope begin to see faith, hope and love in their neighborhoods, schools, workplaces they pay attention!  They realize they are thirsty, hungry and without hope.  They realize there's more, and they want to know where they can embrace it...one heart at a time.

For too many people of faith, living this way just isn't something we want to do.  We're more comfortable on church properties that create space between the world without effective faith and our world of grace.  We shield our children from the world without effective faith in ways that create fear and contempt in their hearts. We forget what life without grace is like, and we become entrenched in a battle for minds using the least effective means available to us--the wisdom and power of the world system. 

Little wonder we seem befuddled, put-off, by those Jesus described as "sheep without a shepherd."  They aren't like us, they don't think or act like us.  They are driven by differnt values, often by different passions.  Yet, they carry the same godly imprint on their souls that people of faith reflect...we are all created in His image.  We are all loved with an unconditional love.  We all have access the same unmerited overflow of His grace.  We are all sinners in need of a Savior. 

These lost sheep, these lost souls, are not the enemy.  They are victims in Satan's attempt to foil the purpose of God in the redemption of all people.  That purpose begins with a battle for hearts...and minds will follow.  We win hearts when, in the power of the Spirit, we come along side these "unlovely" people and their messy lives and seek to serve them in compassion, with sacrifice through love. 

One heart, one mind... gently, respectfully, powerfully.  


bN  tGit

The Urgent threat.

"These are the times that try men's souls" wrote Thomas Paine in his pamphlet "The American Crisis" published Dec 23, 1776; the Colonies faced the almost certain prospect of defeat in their war for indpendence. Paine implored Americans "don't give up the fight."

As the curtain begins to drop on 2014: our economy is misfiring, the world is a more dangerous place than ever before, we face the prospect of a nuclear Iran, an ascendant China, a redo in Iraq--and bitter conflict between our political parties as well as brinksmanship by our most powerful political leaders...but the fact is that virtually every generation of Americans were forced to face down a crisis--and survived, thrived and grew strong on the idea of the American Dream.

We must remember to "keep the main thing," the main thing. The "idea of America" has been the fuel driving our resolve to be "one nation, under God, indivisable, with liberty and justice for all;" an idea those who traveled this way before us thought to be worth sacrificing, fighting and dying for. Indifference to this "big idea" is the real, the urgent threat to our liberty.

Resolve to do your part; work hard, make informed decisions, be a person of strong character, celebrate interdependence and respect people who disagree with you--but press them to think outside their "box" and you, think outside yours. Don't give in to fear or indifference--be strong and of good courage. Let's leave a legacy that will inspire a new generation.

bN tGit

Paradise Found.

Summer.

Deck brittle with age, surrounded by color, a wall.
Satin petals: Red, Pink, Ivory, Maize.
Thorns a reminder: look, don't touch.

Water droplets perfectly formed, wait to escape.
Bees busy, a harvest of nectar.
Woman sits, watches, filled with joy at the sight.



She labors with tender care.

Scarred by thorns, undaunted.
She plants, she feeds, she waters.

The full bloom of her effort,
a feast for the eyes
Delicious to smell.

Autum.
Sun's path plunges
colors blaze then fade.
Not an end; pause, to rest.

Winter.
In time she prepares for the deep white sleep.
Well covered. Glory there still, but not.
They wait.

Spring.
She prepares the soil, a feast.
They awake from slumber, race to come out.
Canes the channel of life, carry lovely crowns through voyage to summer.

Summer.
In full bloom they linger.
Celebrated, loved; a reminder,
In the begining God...

bN tGit

It's Enough

Today's predicted high: 26. "It's beginning to feel a lot like..." WINTER.

But that's just fine. 

Lawns are done for the season, the air is crisp and filled with the fragrance of fresh coffee; as the season changes and our pace slows down, a new perspective emerges. We glance back, we look ahead and we live, today; for that's all we have, it's all we need.

Thank God it's today.  It's enough.



bN tGit

tGit.

Today a gift; time, breath, life.  Now what?

Horizon indigo-blue dawn.

Sweet slumber, my retreat.

Moments with God, my hope.

Today wished away?

Sundance East.

Love's gentle touch, my confidence. 

Grand smiles, my delight.

Today mine to squander, make great?

Sun blazes zenith, Noon.

Disappointment, my challenge.

Sweet fragance, my respite.

Today spent, invested?

Moon reflects suns glory, sublime beauty.

Kind word, my comfort.

Quiet reflection, my strength.

Today, something of significance to last?

Here, gone.

All I have.
It's enough.

Thank God it's today...tGit

bN tGit