Lost & Found.

Christmas is, for many, a difficult passage at the end of each year. Because our memories are so strong, and so many memories are surfaced by this blessed time of year, those who have experienced loss, feel it most acutely over the six weeks from Thanksgiving to the New Year. I'm reposting a blog I first wrote four years ago about the mystery and paradox we call "loss."  Laura and I, our family,  find ourselves again at this intersection called "loss."  Our 14 year old grandson battles for his life, fighting Cancer, as I repost these words. He and his family have suffered so much, lost so much.  For those in pain today...

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, failure...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 faithful love of the Lord never ends!

His mercies never cease.

23 Great is His faithfulness;

His mercies begin afresh each morning. 

24 I say to myself, 'The Lord is my inheritance; 

therefore, I will hope in Him!'” 

Lamentations 3.22,23 NLT

I will Hope.

bN tGit

Art & Power

Jon Meacham's book Thomas Jefferson: the Art of Power is a GREAT read.   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 2016 with our current administration of shared power in WDC  and a Presidential election less than a year on the horizon.

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

bN tGit

Best hope.

December 1, 1862 Abraham Linclon reminded the nation: 

"America is the last best hope of the earth."   

Though often reviled around the world, I believe that President Lincoln's premise has been demonstrated time after time over the past 153 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.  Through Christ, let it be. 

A city set on a hill, cannot be hidden.

bN tGit

WE are the reason for the season!!

WE are the reason for the season.  It was rescue mission.

"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..." Rom 5.6, 8 NLT

Christmas is joyous because God's love never fails.  

Shalom L'Chaim, through Christ.   Let it be.

bN tGit 

Can I get a witness?

"Reason and morality cannot show us a good and gracious God.  For that, we need the incarnation...The God revealed in Christ does what reason and morality cannot do....Many people today act like someone has created a peace treaty between reason and faith, after reason won the war...Special revelation, especially the incarnation, is precisely where the Christian faith breaks down the wall our culture has erected between faith and reason...The gospel creates not speculative pundits, spiritual gurus, or moralists but witnesses."

Excerpts from "The God Who Came Down" 

by Michael Horton

Christianity  Today December 2011

Can I get a witness?

bN tGit

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

NOT beaten.

Several years ago, I made my first sojourn to New York City. Impressive. Lot's of very tall buildings. Human kind is certainly...resourceful; take, for instance, the Tower of Babel chronicled in Genesis, the opening book of the Older Testament.

Over the years I've always attempted to find "dynamic equivalents" in the culture around me to help people understand a deeper principle from the Scriptures. The Tower of course was the ultimate expression of hubris on the part of humankind; our effort to shake a collective fist at God and say "See, you aren't so transcendent after all." Foolish pride led to an inflated opinion of who we were; God breathed, language changed and chaos ensued. We discovered we were no match for the transcendent God.

Fast forward to modern culture: God, in his grace, has allowed mankind to apply his intellect and ingenuity, these also graciously granted by God, to "discover" thousands of things that insulate us from the ill-effects of the fall: drugs, asphalt, steel, plastic, roads, air conditioning, engines, automation--the list is endless. We in turn, tainted by sin and swelled with pride, believeing ourselves to be wise, shake our fists at God and say, "You see, the Scriptures are myth; there was a big-bang and then there was mankind and look at how we have evolved...we have the power to give and take life. We don't need myths to prop us up anymore. We are God."

In reality, everything we touch we corrupt. Look at what we call our system of Justice.  We condition the air at the same time we poison it with hydro-carbons. We pollute the planet, poison our bodies, can't beat cancer or aids and when/if we do, something else always emerges. Regardless of how effective we are at blunting the effect of sin on life and the planet, sin always trumps our best efforts...and God allows it, to point us to our need for a Savior and His gracious provision for our redemption.

The farther evolved civilization becomes the further it devolves into moral and spiritual chaos--abortion, failed economies, addiction, violence, corrupt governments, greed, broken relationships, idolotry, shaminism, social injustice. Think about it, in 1965 LBJ gave us the Great Society. These unfunded mandates have done nothing to enlighten culture and end poverty--but they have driven us to edge of bankruptcy and destroyed families while perpetrating genocide on the poorest of the poor. The smarter we get, the dumber we are. We can run from God, but we can't hide.

So then, civilization as we have fashioned it, has become mankind's most recent "Tower of Babel;" the work of our-hands which demonstrates our independence, our ability to get it done without God. We set out to be like God, and in a final irony, we create the very modality that could be the end of life as we know it. We can destroy it, but we can't fix it..."and all the king's horses, and all the king's men, couldn't put humpty-dumpty back together again."

The lie that deceived Eve, continues to vex us; but we aren't beaten. This Truth has set us free...

"When we were utterly helpless...God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."  Romans 5.6a,8

Hallelujah, what a Savior! Givingthanks.


bN tGit

Thanks Giving.

The harvest is nearly complete.  It's Friday,  six days to 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, profound blessing in being alive; a kind touch, a gentle word, a thoughtful deed, a smile, a poignant moment. Use us as instruments that produce a concert of joy wherever this week takes us; where any week takes us. Through Christ, let it be."

Make this a happy thanks GIVING.

bN tGit