"Spelunking.........................."

“A thing is not high if one can reach it; it is not great if one can reason about it; it is not deep if one can see its bottom.” ….Peter Keating in Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead”

Having just finished the above novel, my second perusal of the author’s personal opinions put forth in a fictional outreach, I find myself once again mentally chewing on the bits and pieces of her recipe for what she calls “Objectivism”. She breaks it down into four mandates, the first three of which are as follows: (a) reality, in so far as facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, hopes or fears; (b) reason, as being a man’s only means of perceiving reality; and (c) self-interest, since every man is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. Some, I suppose, might wonder why a fellow with a forty year experience in Christianity would be reading anything an atheist has to say; but, in truth, some of her viewpoints give me more food for thought than did a lot of the sermons preached to me in this journey. That, in no way, is meant to suggest a lack of faith in Biblical authority, only that it was long ago proven to me humanity remains humanity on either side of the pulpit, God teaching us as we go, speaking to us out of more than just the Book. At one place in the above story, for example, the author writes of a young man trying to decide if life was worth living, looking to find meaning to life, a joy not yet gained, and feeling a sense of discovering it in a secluded wilderness, but realizing, at the same time, it would be lost to him upon his return to society. Her answer for his longing does not match what I would say to him. The predicament, itself, though, is one my group addresses each time we visit the Detention Center. The character quote above was probably intended, by the writer, to frame success. To me, however, it’s a pretty good description of God being beyond our ability to access other than through that connection He gives us in Christ. Such genre is not my normal pursuit and I wouldn’t recommend it as anywhere to consistently swim without the “anchor-line”; but every now and then, as He permits, a venture into other waters hasn’t hurt me yet……

"Seniority............................."

Beth and I drove over to a car dealership yesterday evening to conduct the final transaction on our purchasing the first new automobile we’ve bought in nearly thirty years. The experience has changed somewhat in the interim. Human nature has not. When it came down to the nitty-gritty of putting our signatures on the dotted line, the fellow in front of us “was prepared”, as he put it, to offer us an extended warranty for only fifteen hundred dollars. When I replied in the negative, he immediately reduced his price to twelve. “No,” I countered again; and he asked me to make him an offer. Another decline on my part brought him to under a thousand. Finally the fellow was convinced of my reluctance to accept his generosity. In getting there, however, all he gained was my opinion of his character, having just tried to smooth-talk me out of that much money… A few years back, Jodie Foster starred in “Contact”, a story about man’s search for other life in the universe and finally being successful in the attempt (if one considers finding “heaven” to be no more than another planet out there as having fulfilled the mission at hand). For me, as a fan of science fiction, it was entertaining until the woman steps out of the spaceship and is greeted by her deceased father. It was a bit of a stretch for me at that point. What has stayed with me about the movie, mostly, is its choice for a title. I like the word, believing it does indeed express what at least a part of what faith is all about, a piece of what Christianity embraces and yet what many who profess membership therein have left out of the contract. The Creator of all that there is has taken up residence in me. That connection holds my life and without it I am dead. While it does not ensure my walk, decisions yet mine to make, yet that “knot in my belly” tying me to Him, is the most important part of who I am no matter where I am or what I am doing. “Business” may be “business” and “church” may be “church”, but “born-again” is also “born-again” and ought to trump the other two……

"Navigation.........................."

I read an interview yesterday that Ken Meyers, the founder and host of Mars Hill Audio journal, gave to “The Christian Post” wherein he talked of the biggest challenge facing the Church today being “the culture within the church”. He spoke of our having reduced the Gospel to an abstract message of salvation that requires no necessary consequences for how we live. “Redemption”, he said, “is not just a restoration of our status before God”, nor only “of one invisible aspect of our being (our soul)”, but is “our life as lived out in relationship with our Creator”. When asked as to how believers have been influenced society around us, he gave four examples: (a) the dominant role of technology promoting a deep assumption that we can fix anything; (b) the proliferating mechanisms of convenience eroding our virtues of patience and longsuffering; (c) an elimination of public propriety standards and manners undermining our assumptions about the legitimacy of authority and our deference to the needs of others; and (d) the high prestige we give to celebrities creating the conviction that every experience should be entertaining. It’s a blanket coverage he throws over us, of course, yet one wherein it seems to me that it would benefit us all to at least consider concerning ourselves. It is not so much “the evils” outside our door that we must guard against, but those familiarities which we allow to enter our homes, those which slowly “swallow us up from the inside out”. When Christ becomes no more than a product we have formed out of chapter and verse, instead of a Reality who indwells us, all we possess is religion. He, alone, is our best defense against our own humanity……

"All Things........................."

A few last minute cancellations reduced the Youth Detention Center ministry group to five people Sunday morning. For the most part, we were “one”, however, sharing a theme of how salvation isn’t about how successful we are in changing ourselves, but about Him being willing to walk with us as we go. Change is a process wherein He helps us to grow as we commit exactly who and what we are unto Him. The Spirit was, I believe, in the room and working in our midst, yet without any “heavy” manifestation serving notice of the fact. The kids were “with” us; but, when we dismissed in prayer, though the rear row along the wall was somewhat cramped with nearly a dozen girls, on this occasion there was no request for our two women to accompany them into the adjoining unit for further word and worship. The boys thanked us for coming even as they were quickly gathered up returned to their cells. It could be that the guards were experiencing discipline problems of some sort beforehand. We had arrived early; but, while we are usually admitted no more than we enter the outer foyer, this time we had to wait twenty minutes before someone came to get us. In truth, though, this isn’t “church”. It’s not to be expected. If God’s presence ever fully filled such a place, it would scare the powers that be. Whatever bunch visiting that day would no doubt be counted as fanatics and dismissed from the program. The Holy Ghost, therefore, is going to move with wisdom, here and there in the hearts and minds of those who will receive Him, and the work accomplished will be no less, whether individually or corporately. If we leave disappointed, it is always with ourselves, not with any feeling that He could have done more. Each and every visit is its own event. Seed is sown. He remains long after we are gone……

"Lifeless....................."

Our substitute teacher Friday is a professor at one of our smaller nearby colleges, teaching in the evenings and accepting daytime vacancies through the week at various levels. He is, obviously, a single, young (compared to this old man), and great with the kids in our Special-Ed unit. We were in the middle of our afternoon craft session when we got into a discussion concerning the moral state of society, not so much from a religious viewpoint, but most certainly from the perspective of our thinking being a learned process that the “system”, itself, imprints upon us and an existence that seems to deteriorate as it goes. We are a people who not only can no longer make change at a cash register, see nothing wrong with cheating if it benefits our cause at the time, and don’t know how to entertain ourselves with a book or a walk, but who can also accurately declare that we are no more than a product of what life has brought unto us. As I suggested to the scholar, my personal choice of whom or what to blame for the condition is the Church in general, admittedly my membership therein making me as guilty as anybody else. It does seem to me, though, that the Body has failed, for the most part, to be that agent of leavening, that light upon a hill, that vessel through which the world might see Christ alive and in our midst. Faith has become but a doctrinal tenet rather than a Reality who lives within us and, while it will always be a stagger down the path, for the individual, for the institution, for humanity as a whole, to work, who we are and what we believe has to flow from the Creator, Himself, not just a cut and paste image we have formed to appease our own sense of security………

"Stagger....................."

This weekend another opportunity to minister to the kids at the Detention Center is there for me, only because of an invitation from a friend, the fellow who holds a place on the schedule with his own group. Whether there will be an opening for me to share anything depends on his discretion and the leading of the Holy Ghost. That means a few minutes toward the end of the service and no need for me to concern myself with possibly having to fill a half hour or so. One of the girls last Sunday wanted to hear “Just As I Am” again. That will probably come to pass. Picking up my Bible the other night, though, a verse in Jeremiah came to me and, in looking at that one, it lead me to another a couple of chapters back. “Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man to direct his steps” the prophet declares in 10:23. Then, as if extending the fact of our inability to walk a straight path, in 13:23, he adds: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.” We’ll see. If the Spirit should so appoint space, it seems to me that such thought can tie into the lyrics of my song, pointing well to our need of Christ and His grace, especially with an illustration. It was not a great moment for me yesterday at school. A co-worker and I took two of our children, by bus, over to acquaint them with the surroundings where they’ll be going to school next year. The old man managed to miss packing extra clothing for the fellow I took, and then, upon our return, discovered he had left his ball-cap and some important papers at the other facility. No big deal. We go back again this coming Tuesday. Some might point to my age; but I’m inclined to think it’s just who humanity is as a whole, missing the mark from beginning to end, some days worse than others……

"Sticking My Neck Out........."

Ever since the new teacher assumed the helm in our unit for the rest of this year, two or three times a day we find ourselves involved in some sort of craft, creating flowers, animals, whatever might just be appropriate for the theme at hand, material merely a matter of using one’s imagination. Glue is a necessity most of the time in one form or another. Construction paper, crayons, paint, bingo daubers, and markers are standards. From there, however, it all depends on how deeply into fantasy your brain is still willing to go. For some of us, childhood and Never-Never Land is yet not all that far to reach. In fact, I’ve found it a nice place to visit on a regular basis as long as you don’t decide to stay there any longer than the job requires. It’s fun to create caterpillars out of egg cartons and frogs from picnic plates. It’s amazing what the mind can see if it looks beyond the normal use of any number of things: the inner cardboard cylinder of a roll of toilet paper, for example; a bag of miniature marshmallows; or even an ordinary drinking straw. Knowing she would not be with us yesterday, our leader handed me a large container of the latter before she left school Friday and told me to do whatever came to me in so far as to positioning them above some shredded green “grass” she had already attached to the bottom of a few purple sheets. Searching on the internet over the weekend provided me with nothing in the way of inspiration. Sunday evening, just before drifting into dreamland, it hit me. Why not cut the tube right down the middle, measure off proper lengths for each physical position, and, with a bit of yellow circles, make our current animal of observation: the giraffe! It’s certainly no Picasso nor Van Gogh, but it came together pretty well, I think. Tomorrow maybe we’ll try a rhinoceros shaped out of dried mushrooms and rubberbands……