The Road We Travel

Kenny Chesney sings a song I like called "Don't Blink". In the song he describes a meeting with a 100 year old man who when asked his advice about life said simply, "Don't blink..."

We were having dinner the other night with some very close friends that I have known since High School when someone in the crowd mentioned they were turning 50 next year. Although I will not reach that milestone for a couple of years, the sound of it in that moment was kind of shocking. Now I know that that age (the one with the 5 followed by the 0) is coming and has been coming, one year at time, for some time now. And I don't really think of myself as being old, but I do distinctively remember my much younger past self thinking that 50 something was way on the other side of over the hill.

Boy... was my much younger past self ever mistaken! I mean, good grief, I'm not even close to being old. I like what Yogi Berra once asked, "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?" Old is always about 20 years older than what you are right now, I've learned.

I have learned existentially what I have always only partially known in theory- and that is that life on earth goes quickly. Truly, it is a "vapor of smoke". Chesney is right- we can't blink or we'll miss it.

James Orchard Halliwell wrote in 1842:

Solomon Grundy,

Born on a Monday,

Christened on Tuesday,

Married on Wednesday,

Took ill on Thursday,

Grew worse on Friday,

Died on Saturday,

Buried on Sunday.

This is the end

Of Solomon Grundy

Yep. Life is short.

But it is ordained by God to be that way. In His providence and goodness He has numbered our days on earth. Every single one of us is given as much time, no more and no less, to accomplish His good purposes and it is in those purposes that we find true meaning and joy and happiness.
And so, this being true, it stands to reason that if we complain about the shortness of our days we are in a sense committeing a form of blasphemy- we are telling God He's gotten it wrong. But truly, God knows what He is doing and each of us has been assigned exactly the right number of days for His providential plan.

God has a purpose for my life and He has given me all I need to accomplish it.

There is nothing more important than that. That was true for me at 18 and it is still true at 48.

A few years ago, scientists at John Hopkins University surveyed nearly 8,000 college students at forty-eight universities and asked what they considered “very important” to them. What would you guess was most important? Make a lot of money? Get married? Get a job? Buy a home?

Surprisingly, only 16 percent answered “making a lot of money.”

But a whopping 75 percent said that their first goal was “finding a purpose and meaning to my life".

It just goes to show that most college students today and most people know instinctively what is most important- but it doesn't mean they will actually act on what they know to be true. My experience tells me that most people do not believe they have yet discovered their purpose. The key is to find it, embrace it, and to give your life to it.

But don't blink.

Yesterday during our all important Sunday afternoon nap I was shaken out of my slumbering bliss by the rude sound of our doorbell going off- and not just once, but three, four times. It was the trademark inquiry of my little nephew Steven who lives down the street.

I am thinking to myself as I rush toward the front door, "I'm gonna have to teach little Steven about the Sunday afternoon 'no doorbell' rule".

I throw the door open and sure enough there he is in his 7 year old glory, toe-headed and toothy grin flanked by a few of his best neighborhood buddies. They stand there staring at me, rip sticks in hand.

"Hello Boys", I say

"Hello Steven."

Before I can get my prepared speech out of my mouth, Steven says

"Hey Uncle Rick, I brought a few of my friends over so that you could tell them the story of how Jesus came into my life at VBS and how Jesus can come into their life too."

Funny how your perspective changes in a time like that. Sunday afternoon naps will come and go- but this is a moment for the ages.

Later in the day Teri asked me about the doorbell rings during the sacred Sunday afternoon "no fly zone". I told her, "Wait till you here the story..."

"Oh man!" She said- "That's definitely worthy of nap interruption!"

Steven and his entourage swept past me as the erstwhile neighborhood evangelist led them up the stairs to the family room like a mother goose shews her goslings to the grain seed. Once upstairs, he directs them to all sit on the couch -

"Guys- sit here- sit by me- Uncle Rick is going to tell you the story!".

So, there I was, fresh out of my nap, preaching my third sermon of the day- but this to an audience of 7 years old boys who had been redirected from their usual Sunday afternoon neighborhood romp by the missionary to Carlton Lakes.

It was a short sermon to be sure- a story really- a story of how Steven had taken his first precious steps toward Christ a few days earlier made possible by His grace because of the joy and excitement and the beauty of Christian community packed into an event filled week that we call Vacation Bible School.

I'm thanking God today for VBS- and for all those who worked so hard to make it happen.

I'm thanking God for the glorious opportunity to share in Steven's first missionary journey.

I'm thanking Him for interruptions.

And I'm saving that speech for another day.

I just finished listening to the speech that President Obama gave at Cairo University. While I do not agree with some of what our president said, for the most part I was impressed with his delivery and content. I am especially pleased that in his discussion of the plight of the Palestinian people, he included Palestinian Christians as a group that has suffered in recent years as a result of the turmoil in the Middle East. So often, this group is completely left out of the discussion, although the population of Palestinian Christians in Israel especially has dramatically decreased and because they are caught in the middle of the conflict, have suffered the most in terms of percentage loss.

I also would have liked to hear stronger language when it comes to religious freedom in Islamic majority countries. One of the reasons I believe that radical Islamic terrorism takes hold in so many of these countries in the Middle East is because there is an official intoleration to other faith expressions.

I couldn't help but think that in a setting such as this, it was good for the president to claim the moral high ground when it comes to human rights. But moral high ground can only be claimed if one has a moral authority higher than himself to stake the ground. Of course, President Obama has frequently pointed to his own Christian faith and to scripture to make this point and indeed he pointed to his own Christianity in this speech.

As Christians, we respect human life and dignity because these things have been "endowed" by our creator and He has called them "good" and sacred because we were created in His image. Life is sacred and holy because it was given to us by God.

Obama's use of Koranic versus to claim that ground was obviously well received in that context there in Cairo. It was necessary for him to point to the spiritual authority of the audience he was trying to convince. But the theology of the Koran is not the same as the theology of Christianity, and therefore it is not exactly correct to say that we are all "children of Abraham". The same Koran that says "when you kill an innocent person you kill all humanity" also says "Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you." (Koran 9:123) The moral high ground there is pretty shaky.

As Christians we can see that the seed of Abraham was Christ and that the blessing to the nations prophesied in the Abrahamic covenant was that Christ would come, born as a Jew in the city of David from the tribe of Benjamin, and that He would lay down His life as a sheep before His shearers as a ransom and atonement for our sinful condition, becoming the covenant curse so that we could become the covenant blessing. He was torn to pieces in fulfillment of the covenant so that we wouldn't have to be. That is the only way that any of us are truly "children of Abraham".

I also could not help but think that if our president wishes to claim this moral high ground that can only be given to us by a higher authority, then he must be consistent. This was the statement the president issued on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade on January 23:

“On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters."

Last year over 1 million babies were killed in abortions in the United States. That's the equivalent of 350 world trade center bombings every single year.

I cannot say it better than John Piper in this video:



If the president will say out of one side of his mouth that we cannot stand for the murder of innocent men women and children in acts of terrorism and then out of his other side say "we should not intrude on our most private family matters" even if that lack of intrusion involves the murder of innocent babies in the womb, he has forfeited the high moral ground that is so important to the thesis of his argument so masterfully articulated in Cairo today.

Last week the superintendent of the Putnam City School District, Dr. Paul Hurst, received a letter from an organization called "Freedom From Religion Foundation" out of Madison Wisconsin. The subject of the letter was their objection to the baccalaureates of Putnam City West High School and Putnam City North High Schools respectively. This is a radical left wing Atheist organization (with a staff of only 7 people!) whose mission is to eradicate religion from the public square. The letter threatened a law suit because of the implication that these two events, neither of which were actually sponsored by the schools, were a violation of the principles of "separation of church and state" in the U.S. constitution.

It was somewhat ironic that Chris Wall was the guest speaker at P.C. West and I was the guest speaker at the P.C. North baccalaureate. A further irony was that the subject of my talk that night was the etymology of the word "baccalaureate" in the English language and in Western civilization. Despite what many secular humanists might think, the history and meaning of this event goes back into antiquity- even predating the advent of the most historic educational institutions. It is an old Latin word that means in essence "bequeathing authority to teach".

I am very proud of our school district for not backing down to a very small radical fringe group from Wisconsin that has probably never even stepped foot in Oklahoma City and wouldn't know the difference between Council and Rockwell. Although there was a lot of chatter from the parents, teachers and administration about the letter, the events went on undeterred.

The two primary reasons I believe our community should never stop this very important milestone for high schools seniors are:

1. History. The reason these events have a somewhat religious meaning is that the very first institutions of learning in Western culture were Christian institutions. That is a fact that even the single-minded and passionate "Freedom from Religion" organization cannot deny. For our schools to stop the tradition of baccalaureates would mean that they would end a tradition that goes back not just to the beginning of public school systems in America, but to earliest centuries in Western culture.

In fact, there is a place in scripture in which the implication of this concept is clear. In Acts chapter 4 the disciples were challenged for their very effective and authoritative teaching that had resulted in thousands of conversions. The religious leaders and political authorities were not so much upset by what the disciples were teaching, but by the authority and swagger of their teaching.

"The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. ⁶Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. ⁷They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?""

They were in affect asking about their "baccaulareas"- their authority to teach- they wanted to know their credentials. How dare these uneducated men come into Jerusalem and teach with such authority!

The history of this event goes back much deeper into our culture than the concepts of school systems, school boards, and even democracy and the Bill of Rights. It is a sad day indeed when we as a people begin to deconstruct the very moorings upon which our philosophy of freedom and moral law have been carefully constructed.

2. The fallacy of their argument. A second reason I would object is that there is really no such thing as freedom from religion. Every human being is seeking meaning and purpose in something- whether it be the religion that is found in churches and synagogues and mosques or it is the religion that is found in an office building (ironically, a converted church building) in Madison Wisconsin that says its purpose is to promote Atheism. The issue at the center of the human heart is a need to find meaning and purpose - a person will look for that in God or in some substitute for God. In this case, this organization is passionately promoting their religion as aggressively as any evangelical church. They are not true atheists. Because a true atheist would be completely ambivalent about another persons belief and wouldn't care less whether a person attended a ceremony that just happens to have a tradition centuries old, regardless of the premise of the event. But they are not ambivelent- they are passionate and aggessive and are acting as if their very life (soul?) depends upon it. Thier behavior is the behavior of true religonists and believers. So if we truly seek freedom from religion it would mean that we would seek freedom from the Freedom from Religion Foundation and therefore we should not pay attention to their silly letter.

And that is exactly what I hope Putnam City Schools continues to do.

This morning I found an interesting article on msnbc.com called “Winning at all costs is for losers.”

In it, Bruce Weinstein from Business Week Magazine makes the following observations about good business leadership as he reflects on the current economic crisis:

1. What's good for the gander is good for the goose- If your cutting back on the compensation of your employees, then be prepared to cut back on your own compensation.

2. Know your product- Don’t sell something you don’t really know about- like bundled loans that turned out to be “toxic” investments.

3. Winning at all costs is for losers- It is unethical to try to make profits at the expense of the greater good.

4. Tell the truth.

5. Prevent harm- Don’t do something you know will cause harm no matter how much profit you might get in the short run.

6. Don't exploit- It is unethical and immoral to sell something to someone that will ultimately harm them.

7. Don't make promises you can't keep.

8. Take responsibility for your mistakes.

9. People, not profits- “For the good leader, this means that the ultimate goal in business — and life — is not hoarding riches but making things better for all, especially the neediest.”

10. Be kind, not king- “Yes, good leaders are enthusiastically devoted to accomplishing their mission, but this pursuit cannot be at the expense of the well being of others.”

What I found interesting about this article, coming from a secular website reprinted from a secular business magazine, is how closely these particular principles were related to the teaching of Christ on the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. Look closely, and you will find the teaching of the Ten Commandments as well.

Listed below are just a few of the parallels between the teaching of Christ and what Weinstein sees as important leadership principles:


1. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (5:5)

2. Let your light shine before men that they will see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (5:16)

3. You cannot serve both God and money (6;24)

4. Enter through the narrow gate, for broad is the way that leads to destruction. (7:13)

5. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy. (6:19)

6. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles (5:41)

7. Simply let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no”; anything beyond this comes from the Evil One. (5:33)

8. "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (5:23-24)

9. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. (5:12)

10. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (7:19)

All of this has made me think- could there be a parallel between our current economic crisis and the loss of a biblical worldview in American culture?

Of course it is certainly true that all of the issues we deal with in our lives have some kind of derivative from our fallen nature.

It is something to think about for sure.

After all, if you buy into the secular humanist Western Enlightenment concepts of atheism, existentialism and relativism, from where do you get your moral bearings and final moral authority when making business or employment decisions? Why not exploit the weak and look out for number one and go for the short term gain no matter what the long term cost?

I’m not saying that Christians are not susceptible to the same greed and immorality that many have fallen prey to and that has brought about our current economic crisis, I’m just making the point that a good healthy understanding of biblical content and Christian principles is somewhat indirectly being promoted here by a secular business writer as something that is desperately needed in strong leadership to get us through the perilous economic time we are in.

Maybe the Sermon on the Mount should be taught in business schools.

Maybe the Ten Commandments should be posted on the walls of corporate offices.

I’m just sayin…

Today I was reading Iain H. Murray's "Spurgeon V. Hypercalvinism" and found a story I had not heard before about the great English preacher. In October of 1856 during a Sunday morning service in which thousands of people were packed into the Metropolitan Tabernacle to hear the eloquant young preacher, someone in the crowd yelled "Fire!" The stampede from one of the balconies resulted in 7 deaths. The commotion was so far from Spurgeon that he continued preaching without knowing what had happened. When he was told later about the tragedy, he collapsed in his office and many feared it might be the end of his preaching ministry.

It was a passage of scripture that finally lifted him out of his depression:

⁹"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."

(Philippians 2:9-11)

The next time he preached, he told his congregation that it was because of these words that he was instantly lifted out of the clouds of his depression and able to go on- it was the knowledge that in spite of what kinds of tragedies we go through in this life- that Christ is still on his throne.

The account reminded me of a story I once heard about Dr. Robert G. Lee, the former pastor of Bellvue Baptist Church in Memphis Tennessee. A family in his church was overcome by the grief of losing a young child in a kind of freak accident at their home. The boy had fallen off their roof on to a picket fence and had been killed instantly. In anquish, the mother asked Lee, "Where was God when my boy fell off that roof?"

Lee comforted her by saying softly, "He was in the same place as He was when they pulled the lifeless body of His Son off that cross- He was on His throne."

There is no greater knowledge in good times or bad than the central truth of our own existence- that God is in control in spite of our circumstances. The greatest tragedy that has ever occurred in human history is also the greatest victory. This means that as Christians we can always see that no matter what our circumstances bring, all things work for His glory.

He is on His throne.

They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink."
Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?"

But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." (Exodus 17:2-5)

Last week I was talking to a friend of mine who is a financial adviser and estate planner. He was telling me that these days he spends a good part of his time trying to calm people down. "People need to know that their life isn't destroyed as the stock market goes down", he told me.

My friend could see that the key issue people deal with in a panicked financial environment is essentially a spiritual one. There is a reason that the first commandment was that we are to have no other gods before the Lord God- anything else at the center of our heart will ultimately crush us to the ground. In his greater catechism, Martin Luther observed that all the commandments essentially feed off the first one, and that the reason we struggle with issues of money, sex and power is because we have something else at the center of our lives besides the Lord God.

We learn in the Exodus event that the desert is the place where one comes to the understanding that one has no other resource available other than what is given by the grace and mercy of God.

The wilderness teaches me that until I know that God is all I have I will never know that God is all I need.

The desert is where all the other brooks dry up. But the reality is as long as I am drinking from any other source, I will never taste the sweetness of His fountain.

The desert is where God leads me to the hard places- the places where His abundant blessing flows. And as a believer I know this to be true because I can see that the ultimate hard place was the cross- and that Jesus is the rock struck.