Caring About People

I have two friends from long ago who are in an industry that is fading away. One is diametrically opposed to me in their politics. The other in their desire to engage problems.

I still care for them as people while I imagine their jobs being whittled away by the competition. What must that be doing to their outlook? Their self worth? Their future?

If we got to talking about the president we would be arguing deep into the night. Or just shutting down the conversation and the appointment. But my mind still drifts back to their life situation and I care about them.

Like I care about my kids and how they come out.

Like I care about my crusty former manager with the mean streak.

Like I care about the different people who have touched my life one way or another.

I believe God put those people in my life for a reason, and that he wanted me to see them as people, like he sees them. How Jesus, in essence same as the Father yet sharing life intimately with us, could take the hits and bruises of life without learning to hate is truly God-like. His words demonstrate the ability to separate the politics from the person: "forgive them, for they know not what they do."

This is an odd spot to be in, for hatred seems to be the emotion of the day. Hate is the emotional equivalent of trying to wall someone/thing out and away so you don't have to deal with it. It does not mean that you need to submit to someone who wants to hurt you. But hate is a cheap shortcut to understanding. The problem with hate comes at the point when you are totally walled in by your hatred. There is no way out. Hate consumes every vision of life.

Jesus knew that people wanted him dead. Jesus also knew he wasn't done with people. So instead of hate he taught, loved, modeled and encouraged everyone. Jesus was never walled in by hate.

My friends may think I'm a little wacko, but I still care for them as people, friends, those who God wanted in my life. Politics, local activism, past life experiences all fade as I remember my friends as Jesus would. People worth dying for.

Good News Bad News

Have you ever noticed:

Bad news moves at the speed of light

Good news barely moves at all

Why?

A job is lost, the community knows in minutes. It becomes a headline of focus.

A job is started, only to be compared with the one just lost.

We lament the bad.

We show no emotion for the good.

Why?

Is it because the world is tuned to evil because of the one who is the Prince of the Air? Satan himself? Our world is like a violin whose strings will vibrate to the frequency they are tuned. Evil moments make our world vibrate and we are compelled to know what it is that has set us off so. Thus, bad news travels fast because our world is tuned to receive it better.

Good news is like a message transmitted through static. It takes work to find the message. Or it takes a filter and amplifier to hear the message clearly. Jesus Christ is the filter, the Holy Spirit the amplifier to tune oneself to hear the messages of good in our world. When we trust Christ as Savior He first begins to tighten our "strings", our conscience, our soul, to respond to holiness rather than evil. He then highlights the difference between a signal of evil versus one of good. It is work, it is God's work, and it is good. Thus, good news, to have full effect on your soul, needs Christ and Spirit to fully absorb the message of grace. It travels slow if at all.

Today, be a messenger of good. As you help the good message travel you are a part of the redemption of this world.

Small Steps

No pictures today, instead a memory.

Every child that has learned to walk has had to learn the terrible reality of gravity. If you stand up you will fall down. Small steps are wee bits of courage that push the fear of falling away.

I see people everywhere that are stumbling as they take small steps and wonder why it is that the rule of gravity continues to exist. For example:

Why is it that someone dreams of another occupation, one they could do well, but never puts their resume in? Never asks for ideas, references or opportunities? Could it be fear of falling?

This is especially appropriate as kids are launched into the real world. I hear the phrase "this isn't the way I expected it to be" or "I'm looking for exactly the right position to come along." Both are stumble steps, they are attempts to say that gravity shouldn't apply, the ground should not be solid, I should be perfect and the world should fit me well.

I have been a lifeguard, a hand trucker, a truss maker, a reject dismantler, a primary care sales rep, an assistant pastor, youth pastor, senior pastor, and a specialty sales rep. I spent fifity years wondering where I fit, and realized I fit in my own skin. God has blessed me as me and given me chances to take in life. He has said come take a walk with me and I'll show you a world you didn't know existed. But, says my Lord, I'll show you on my terms, OK?

Ok Lord. You have been good to me, helping me to walk upright without falling (too often) and I pray that others in my care will launch with the same delight I now know.

Growing

Sometimes "No" is a reality moment.

Most of the time "No" is a terribly difficult word to say.

How much does our desire to be liked, admired, and in touch interfered with the need to say "No"? Way too often.

Today I said "No, I would prefer that that not happen." It meant I had to break an assumption about something as simple as storage.

Crap accumulates. Breeds. Flourishes in the absence of tragedy (such as pitching pieces that are obsolete, obnoxious, and unusable). Like "The Blob" it grows and takes things over. Like the garage.

I like a little clear space in the garage. Well, a lot of clean space. I build cabinets to store as much as possible out of sight. Check out the pick of what I expect things to look like, and then what happens just to one shelf when left alone...

Nope, I don't want 30 cubic feet of "that special find that I can use or sell sometime somewhere down the line." No, I don't want an extra transmission for a car you might want in the future. No, I don't want to store stuff. I don't want to buy stuff. I don't want to be the family garage holding tank. And I don't want to pay for a place to store the stuff either. No.

But... it stops the dreams and ideas of my child. He sees opportunity and I'm in his way. That kinda hurts, both of us.

Or does it define the need for him to have a life separate from the family, to truly be on his own. Is it a goad to prod him to grow, risk, try the very things that will be good for him in the future.

And that is why the "No" is important... even if it comes to something as simple as making room for a "find" in the garage.

There will be a time and place for him to accumulate the stuff. For now, I can't handle the crap and need him to follow through on the growing up before he can manage it on his own terms.

Tough, but I had to learn the same lesson with my 1978 era stereo with the big monster speakers at home and at college. How loud, where you gonna put that thing, seriously, don't play that thing so loud when I'm studying!

I'm smiling now, it's a good growing up moment.

Seriously

March 18th. Almost two months for our new President, Obama.

Is this what the American people really voted for?

That's enough of that.

Today, my second grandchild almost came into the world. I had some time with my eldest to just talk while she worked her way out of the hospital. She took a nap too, which proved again that she is very cute when she is sleeping!

The world is upside down for that little unborn grandchild of mine. He doesn't know it, and I hope he doesn't feel it with Momma's hormones cruisng through his vessels. She is a calm one so there is hope.

But how to pray for this soon to be newborn?

I pray for wisdom: slow down, read the signs and think clearly.
I pray for joy: Learn to find your "happy place" and live there
I pray for skill: Find your skill in the world and work it baby!
I pray for health: May his constitution be hale and hearty.
I pray for soul: Find God. Find Him everywhere. Find Him in Jesus.
I pray for family: May it stay together, grow fond with memories, and vibrant to continue.

And that's about enough of that too.
God bless you, Bennie.
Gumpy