Blogging

One of the joys of having your own blog, or vlog if you so choose, is that you can post your ideas, your thoughts, your joys and sorrows to the world for the world to see, and comment on.  One of the downsides of having a blog is that often you feel obligated to blog, when you really don't want to, or really have nothing of earth-shattering importance to say.

This is one of those times.

It has, however, always baffled me why we hold law enforcement accountable when some despicable crime occurs, and, in hindsight, we discover the perpetrator had blogged about the crime only weeks before.  So ask yourself just how many blogs you follow?  How often do you search cyberspace for suspicious words or phrases that could lead to something dastardly? Or better yet, just how much more money are you willing to pour into law enforcement to give them the manpower and technology they need to patrol cyberspace, when we don't give them what they need to patrol the highways?

A recent Google of the word "hate" resulted in 722 million hits, neo-nazi - 3,800,000 (make that 3,800,001 after I post this), racist - nearly 68 million. How would you manage this? How would you want your Presidential candidate of choice this next year to address this?

Well, so much for my fifteen minutes of nothingness...

Until next time...

Here is a short video I would like you to watch:

This video captures the essence of everything Jesus was trying to tell people while He was walking among us.  When asked by the Scribe what was the greatest commandment, He gave two – To love the Lord with all your heart, with all your might, and with all your soul; and to love your neighbor as yourself. The bottom line is that as Christians, we are a part of the family of God.  As part of His family, we all have chores to do, and those chores are to reach out to others, both family members and non-family members with the same love, tolerance, and forbearance that Jesus Himself would show, and did show while He was here.

When we see something we think of as awful and ask God why He doesn’t do something about it, His only answer is, “I did – I put you there to help.” The video you just watched highlighted this exactly.  The truly Godly man on the island was the one who prayed, “Please answer all the prayers of the other man.” Jesus told us that our Father in heaven knows what we need, so if we have faith in that one thing, we can give ourselves to praying for others and reaching out to others.

Remember, when you are at your lowest, reach down, because God has placed you there to help someone who is lower than you.  Once you reach down to help that person, your Father will place His arm about your waist and lift you both up.

It is what it is

One of the things we have been hearing a lot lately is, "It is what it is". At first glance this seems to be a way of saying, "This is something we can not control or change, so it is not worth getting upset about". Okay, that would make sense, but it is not the end of it. "It is what it is" becomes an attitude all too quickly. Once it becomes an attitude, it saps your vitality, your energy, and your willingness to change - yourself and your world. At it's worse, "It is what it is" is a self-pitying, deprecating, piece of post-modern trash that tells you, "You don't matter; you can not effect change; you have no importance in your own life".

I have decided to reject this attitude at every level. The old prayer, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference" includes not beating your head against a stone wall, but it also includes accepting the challenge to dig under, climb over, or go around that stone wall; not to just sit on the ground moaning, "It is what it is".

Starting today I am standing in the gap against IIWII, and I am inviting you to join me in prayer to stand in this gap as well.
GS

Anoint your sword...

About two months ago, while attending Sunday morning services, the Lord spoke to me and said, "Anoint your sword for battle." That was it, no elaboration, no explanation, no further instructions. But perhaps it would be good to let you know that I do own a hand-and-a-half, battle-ready, broadsword. When I decided to purchase a blade, the options were pretty obvious. There were historical blades, replicas, display pieces, fantasy swords, you name it. But the more expensive blades were the ones marked "battle ready". Mine is hand forged and oil quenched and sharpened to a fine edge on both sides. It is truly "battle ready".

So when the Lord told me to "anoint my sword..." I took it literally, but did nothing.

The next Sunday while in service, the Lord spoke to me again. "Anoint your sword for battle." That was it - no further elaboration, explanation, or instruction. And believe me I certainly asked. Again I took no action. About mid-week, while driving to work and pondering these words, the Lord again spoke saying, "I will speak yet once again on Sunday. Pay attention because I am not going to say it again." Okay, that sounded pretty plain, so I thought I would get some further explanation.

The next Sunday - "Anoint your sword for battle." End of story. On the drive home I told my lovely bride about all this and her response was, "So what are you going to do?". Well, I got home, went into the library, took out my blade and my anointing oil, got on my knees in prayer, and anointed my sword.

The next week we were having lunch with a missionary friend of ours and I related the story to him. His response was that he wished he could see what was taking place in the heavenlies as I anointed my sword. I have received further instruction - that I was to mark my blade with my name and the Lord's word. So my blade is at the engravers being marked with "GapStander" and "Ezek. 22:30". After that I will find a time at the church when I can enter the sanctuary and present my blade and my self to my Lord and my King.

Not sure what will happen next, but it is sure to be an "E" ticket!

Later..
GS

Megatrends

One of the research groups I follow is Barna. Over the years I have found their research both insightful and concise. Testing their research, I have conducted my own surveys (on a very limited scale) with pre-teens I was teaching at the time and verified everything the Barna group had found on a much broader scale.

Now Barna has release their "Six Megathemes" for 2010. They are:

1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.
2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.
3. Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.
4. Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.
5. The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.
6. The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.

Like most of Barna's work, this should serve as a wake-up call for the American Church, if it is not already too late.

Work cited

Barna Group. (2010). Six Megathemes Emerge From Barna Research Group for 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010, from The Barna Group: http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/462-six-megathemes-emerge-from-2010

Screaming

I am going to change my position from staunch Republican to “moderate”. This last election (2008) was a turning point in American politics. Without precedence, we have suffered through the vitriol and venom of the last two years. Now we have the Left screaming that we need more entitlements, the Right screaming we need less government and the Tea Party screaming that “incumbent” is a four-letter word. Everywhere we have people screaming, but nowhere is anyone speaking in moderation and trying to move us in the proper direction.

Perhaps the biggest fallacy of the twentieth century was the passage of the Social Security Act. When the government tries to establish a ‘safety net’ for people, it cripples them. What the Act actually did was tell people, “The government is better able to take care of your family than you are”. This led people to the logical conclusion, “If the government is going to take care of my family, then I don’t need to”. Herein lays the rub – the government should not be taking care of the people – that is not in the Constitution. Provide for the common defense – that is in the Constitution. Promote the general welfare – that is in the Constitution. Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility – those are in the Constitution. However, we cannot find, “provide a safety net for all people” in the Constitution.
Unbelievably, even the Federal Government can spend their way into the poor house. Just look at Greece, the cradle of democracy. When the government tries to take care of everyone, then no one has the incentive to take care of themselves. When the government tries to provide for everyone, then no one exists to pay for that provision, which is exactly what happened in Greece. The biggest fallacy of the twenty-first century (so far) is that everyone is entitled to health care. The best health care in the world consists of keeping yourself healthy so that you never need health care. I am not downplaying the marvels of modern medicine, but there comes a point when you have to say, “This is none of the government’s business”.

Last night the Congress voted to re-instate the Death Tax. This means that when you die, everything you own for which you previously paid taxes will be taxed again at the rate of 55%. This new tax takes effect on January 1, 2011. I hope that after the mid-term elections this year, everyone will stop screaming and some voice of reason can be heard.

Dad

Just before my father died in July 1990, he told me, “I have always lived my life according to what I thought a man should do”. That statement did not really hit home with me until just recently. My first analysis of that statement did not take place until after the year 2000 when I took it apart and focused on the word “thought”. It was not about what he felt, or what he considered himself called to do, but what he thought a man should do; how he thought a man should be. Just recently, while working on a piece by William Faulkner and trying to find a codified copy of a guide to Southern Gentlemen did I discover a deeper meaning. My father was telling me that he learned what he learned, not from his father who died in 1936 when my Dad was only ten, but from the culture around him. Having grown up in the company of merchant seaman, his path could have been radically different. Instead, he learned, and I do not know from whom he learned, to take the best from everyone and to discard the rest. From the merchant seamen he took loyalty and a hard work ethic. From his Mother he took dogged determination. In addition, he took myriad qualities from thousands of sources to form what he “thought” a man should do.

This is when I knew the oral tradition is alive and well in 21^st Century America; or at least in 20^th Century America. He passed his oral traditions of what he thought to my brother and me over countless encounters on seemingly trivial subjects. While shucking corn to put in the freezer for the winter – “It’s okay to give out, just don’t give up.” On States’ Rights during the Civil Rights movement – “When you’re on the job, then the job goes to the best man and color doesn’t matter; but I don’t want the Federal government telling me who I have to socialize with”. This little bit of wisdom I saw personally played out dozens of times when I had the opportunity to work with my Dad during summers while I was in college. One time in particular I remember sitting in his office at a stone quarry in Alabama when a suit walked in from the Federal government without knocking (rude behavior) and threw a list on my Dad’s desk, informing him that he had to meet those quotas of racial equality on the job site.  My Dad scanned the list and then looked up and asked, “Will you help me inform my men about this?” When the visitor looked flustered and said he would, my Dad informed him, “Because I am going to have to fire three black men and two spics and replace them with white guys.” The suit about dropped his teeth, grabbed his sheet of paper and walked away. As far as I know, they never came back to that plant, at least not as long as Dad was there.

Other things he used to tell us, “You can learn something from every person you meet, and you can teach something to every person you meet.” “Never do anything less than your best.” “You can break the laws of man and possibly get away with it, but you cannot break the laws of God without it catching up with you.” Moreover, other things that I remember when I am not trying to remember things that are important. This oral tradition was passed on to me, got confused with the times (the 60’s and 70’s) and did not really come to fruition until I was in my late 30’s through early 50’s.