Passions of the Soul

Satire: Art Imitating Life?

No, I know satire is not an imitation of life; more of a caricature, perhaps. But I was taken in by a satirical article, yesterday; what made that a bit embarrassing was that I posted the article on Facebook, with comment. The article was about Black Friday shoppers who had killed other shoppers over whatever item it was that they weren't about to give up.

The reason I found the story so easy to believe is not that I am so gullible; I just know that there are people in this country who have no regard for the property or the life of any person they don't care about. I once had a student at our community college who was aghast that a family member had turned in Ted Kaczynski, now forever known as the Unabomer. For 17 years, this man had mailed homemade bombs to universities, airlines and stores that sold computers, killing three people and injuring 23 others. His brother finally went to the FBI to share his suspicions about his brother, who suffered from mental illness.

My student wasn't lacking all morals; for a person to turn in a family member for any crime went against all cultural norms, for her, and she said no one in her family would ever have ratted on another family member. Even when I pointed out that the man had killed three people and maimed many others, and that he had other bombs in progress at the time of his arrest, she insisted the family tie was stronger and should not have been broken.

The news these days is too full of reports about people who shot and killed one or more others, because "He dissed me," or because they'd been in a shouting/shoving/punching brawl, and one person got a gun. I also remember that, back in the Michael Jordan years, a teenaged boy killed another boy who was wearing a new pair of Air Jordan shoes that he wasn't willing to give up.

I haven't lost all faith in humanity, but I know the potential for good, for nobility, for compassion, self-sacrifice and love are sometimes outdone by the potential for greed, selfishness, a sense of entitlement, a total lack of tolerance for disagreement or resistance, and downright evil. The poverty of spirit is different, in this country, than in many other countries, but it is here.

So I am left with the ability to believe (often in awe) in the good that is expressed by the many who give of themselves, even when it means great sacrifice, even their own death; and in the evil perpetrated by humanity, against humanity. What scares me is that the latter seems to be growing so much worse that I would have been taken in by that article.* Sigh. We are still in the between times--between Christ's coming and His return. Even so, Lord, come quickly!

*Yes, knowing the nature of The Daily Currant would have helped me.

Reaction to a Horror

Life News carries a story today about the growth of sex-selection abortions. Here is my response, from my heart and my gut.

This particular strategy of misogynists was practiced long, long before Margaret Sanger, Gloria Steinem and other champions and leaders of the Women's Lib' movement were ever conceived. Long before their parents, grandparents, and long strings of their antecedents--or ours--were conceived.

That it still happens is a curse on "civilization" and "civilized" people everywhere. That it happens now, in the U.S., is a horror upon and an outgrowth of the fundamental horror that is abortion, that is partial-birth abortion, that is "after-birth" abortion.

I wonder. After the killing of baby girls who never get to grow up, to follow their God-ordained paths to fulfillment and contributions to science, literature, the arts, or to raising children to honor God and all of His creation; and to contribute their time, gifts, talents and other resources to all that makes humanity bearable--after sex-selection abortion has become the norm, what is next? Sex-selection hiring? (Isn't that one of the issues that generated Women's Lib' in the first place?) Even more-rampant growth of female sex slavery, regardless of age, without (social, political or legal) condemnation or consequence, even in America? Free killing of women of any age?

Oh, well. I'm being dramatic, here. Those things will never happen. Right? After all, the SCOTUS sitting in 1973 deemed that abortion was a private matter protected by the U.S. Constitution in order to make life better for women. How could it possibly hurt us . . . more than it has? How about higher rates of depression, drug and alcohol abuse and addiction, cancer, and suicide? How about more murders of girls and women who get pregnant by men who do not love them and take the quickest way out of a "problem"? How about more coerced or forced abortions of girls and women who have been forced into prostitution and taken by their pimps to abortion mills?

No, I am not being dramatic, here. Check out the statistics, and if you can't find good sources, let me know; I've written about them, before, and I'll find the link or links.

A spiritual poverty continues to move through our land like a rising mist of death, reaching further and further into the life and fabric of our nation.* Those who value life and the  guarantee of the right to life by our Founders had better pull together and make a lot more noise. And if members of Congress who value life want to preserve it--or more accurately, who want to restore the right to life--they had better stiffen their spines and stop going along. Their wives, daughters, granddaughters, sisters and nieces, are not invulnerable.

There is One who can rescue us and dispel this mist. We call him Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, God the Son (second Person of the Trinity), Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and His reign will never end.** If you don't know Him, perhaps only know of Him, please let me know. I and many of my friends would like nothing better than to point you to Him; but be aware, following Him will cost you everything.

^* "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8)

^** "They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers” (Revelation 17:14)

An Inconvenient and "Outrageous" Truth

The following is in response to Mike Huckabee's allegedly "outrageous comments" regarding the mass murder of children and several adults in Newton, Connecticut.

Would I have said, "We shouldn't be surprised"? No, because most of us are civilized and don't think of shooting people as a way to deal with our anger, hurt, rage, etc. Well, we might occasionally be so ticked off that we think something like, "If I had a gun, I'd pop'im one!" But we don't live there. We don't mean it. We don't plan for it. We don't do it. And we don't expect other people to do it, either.

But I do agree with Huck' that we don't need to look far for the reason, when such things happen. Oh, there will be analyses as to the shooter's mental state and/or motives, but we need to shoulder some responsibility for having allowed our society to slide further and further from any measure of reverence, of respect, for God's moral laws, one of which is, "Don't commit murder" (my paraphrase).

Still, the horror of these events shocks us to our core. The massacre of innocent children; the depth of grief experienced by the families and other loved ones of those who are killed, both children and adults; the awareness that first responders walk into scenes they will never, ever forget, though some will try in some unhealthy ways; these things and so much more bombard our minds even as members of the media bombard us with information, speculation, rumors, hearsay, occasional misinformation, and interviews, all in the name of bringing us the news. And we stay tuned, if we're able, because we crave more information, perhaps in the hope of hearing some one thing that will make all of the pieces fall into place, so that we can sit back, take a deep breath, and say, "Oh, okay. That's why. It's still horrid, but now I understand."

Many of us turn to God in the hope that He will make sense of it for us, but He already did that, long before He provided the means of our redemption through Christ Jesus, our Lord. And our hearts cry out, "Come, Lord Jesus!"

Hope

Have you ever noticed how often sports figures use the word hopefully, before a game begins? The interviewer asks a question about the athlete's expectations for the game, and the athlete typically says, "Well, hopefully, we're going to yada, yada, yada."

Tomorrow is midterm election day, in our nation. Everyone who pays much attention to what's happening in Congress, in our States and in our culture--not to mention the rest of the world--has hopes for the outcome of this election. Some people are confident in their hope, others not so confident, but no matter what side we're on, on any issue or with regard to any candidate, we all hope things are going to get better, somehow. 

One of the NIV study notes in I Peter 1 says that, "In the Bible, hope is not wishful thinking, but a firm conviction." In what, or in whom, are we to put our hope? Anyone who has spent much time in church and/or in the Bible can answer that, as if it were a question in the catechism: Our hope is in Jesus Christ; our hope is in God.

Under a sectional sub-heading, "Be Holy," Peter wrote in 1:13:

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

I'm not a preacher, and I'm not trying to preach any of the several sermons I think could be based on this one verse. I'm just sharing the way this struck me, as I read it, this morning.

    "Set your hope" - It is my choice and within my power to choose to hope, and to choose the source or basis of my hope.

    "Set your hope fully on the grace...." - I dare not forget the grace that God has shown and continues to show me. His grace covers all my sin.

    "Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." - Here, and here only, is the foundation and the source of my hope for today, tomorrow, and for the future. I dare not, and I do not, place my hope in our elected leaders, even if all of my candidates of choice win, tomorrow. They are as broken as I. My hope is in Jesus, because He holds today and all the tomorrows in His hands.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' Name.

On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand."

 

Trusting God with Reality

Bruce began his own land survey business 10 years and three weeks ago, and it took off like a dog that's been trembling, eyes on the bunny rabbit, waiting obediently for the "Okay!" It never did actually level off, either; it just kept growing, each year's gross receipts significantly greater than the year before, right through 2007. After the first six months, Bruce told me I could quit teaching, anytime I wanted to. I taught one more semester, and that was it. At that point, his business became our business, and we have worked together, ever since.

The incredible success of our business paid off in several ways:
    - We got out of debt. Entirely. We paid off our house four or five years ago.
    - We began sponsoring children through Compassion International, which blesses us at least as much as it does the children.
    - We also enjoyed vacations in places we love to visit--tho' not "across the pond," as we often talked about.

The idea is simply that we were enjoying life, not in an extravagant way, but in ways that gave us the relaxation that Bruce desperately needed, because he worked so very hard; it also gave us the inner satisfaction of knowing we were contributing in some important areas.

In 2008 our gross receipts drop by 45%, but it was still a good year; nerve-wracking, but a year we would have died for, ten years earlier. And then we endured 2009. In my end-of-year tax-planning session with our accountant, last fall, after feeding in numbers, he said he'd "try to bring [us] up to minimum wage." It was a bad year, business-wise, because of the severity of the recession and continuing instability of the economy.

This year has been worse. The really bad part has been the anxiety I've had. I've prayed, often, acknowledging that God knows exactly what our needs are--which, if we were really talking about just our own needs, are really minimal. But I've faithfully "advised" Him of the state of affairs.  But we're still cutting more and more. This is not a bad thing.

Faith-based Charities

When former President G.W. Bush opened the door to faith-based charities and churches to received government funding, it sounded like a good thing. But it wasn't long before the Boy Scouts of America found itself in court because, the ACLU argued, BSA's policy prohibiting openly-homosexual persons from being leaders could not continue, as long as BSA accepted government funding. BSA prevailed in the High Court.

World Vision, long identified as a Christian-based humanitarian relief organization, is now on the ropes for accepting government funds. Again, the argument is that they cannot accept federal funding and continue to enforce their policy of employing only Christians, as WV (and many of us) define "Christians." Sued by three former employees who had presented themselves as devout Christians, but were ultimately fired because they deny the deity of Jesus Christ, WV will soon be making its case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals--a bastion of liberal thought and decision.

Any reader of this blog (all two or three of you) knows that I represent Compassion International as a volunteer child advocate. From a secular point of view, Compassion and World Vision would be considered "competitors," because both organizations offer opportunities for individuals, families, groups and churches to sponsor children and/or contribute in other ways. The two organizations differ in philosophy and practice, in the field, but neither has nor makes an exclusive claim to being the most godly. I volunteer for Compassion because their philosophy and approach make sense to me; I have friends who sponsor children through World Vision for the same reason.

One of the many facts about Compassion that I deeply respect is that the leaders wisely decided, some years back, not to apply for any government funds, because they could see that doing so would very possibly, sometime in the future, mean having to change some policies or practices. That is what BSA fought, and that is what World Vision is fighting, now. What makes me happy, in the article linked to above, is the statement that, if WV ultimately loses this fight, they will stop accepting government funds, rather than change their employment policies. If it comes to that, I do believe God will honor and bless them for it. Please keep WV in your prayers...and Compassion, too, as our Enemy has many ways to attack.

And if you would like to sponsor a child, why not search for him or her, now? Your $38 per month will mean not only a better life, now, but a future and a hope for your child. Release a child from poverty in Jesus' name!

"Why can't we all get along?"

I can think of several reasons why we can't all get along, but there are times - many times - when that haunting question comes to mind.

Whatever your opinion about the healthcare reform bill that was just passed, is there really any excuse for the kind of stuff that is apparently going on? Our own Congressional Representative's local office suffered some vandalism, two or three nights ago. Some guy several states away claimed some responsibility (that's something to be proud of?!?), because he has been using his blog to urge those who are unhappy about the bill that has now been signed into law to engage in such acts. Whether he also claims responsibility for death threats and ugly messages stopping short of death threats, I don't know. But is he raising the moral tone, or the civil tone, of our society? Not in my book.

Granted, I can get pretty biting when I'm roused to ire. My tone does not always drip with honey; my words are not always soft and sweet. And I am inclined, on someone else's blog, to make my position clear, even to the point of sarcasm.

But to call someone because I don't like the way he has done his job and express myself in gutter language? No. There might have been a time when I would have, but I hope that, as I get older, I am learning to fall back on more civil language.

At least two things have influenced me in that direction. The first is the memory of a biting message I sent (through a "Contact Us" link) to someone whose website I had just visited, several years ago. Given the nature of the business behind the website, I had some criticisms of what I saw, there, and I made myself clear.

Partly because I like to think of myself as a nice person, I was thoroughly embarrassed and chagrined to receive a very nice e-mail thanking me for my note and even asking me to help with further materials used in the business. Oh, my gosh. A real person read that!! Yes. Real people read letters of complaint and criticism, comments on blogs and media articles, and social networking sites. Most letters of complaint or criticism don't get a response - at least, not messages that are sarcastic, harshly stated, or full of name-calling and gutter language, which often overlap. Usually, when someone does respond to that kind of letter, note or other message, it is to escalate the level of vitriole or, to put it differently, it is to lower still more the level of social discourse.

The other factor in my on-going intent to express myself in civil language and tone (at least when I am addressing the target of my anger, disgust, or whatever) is what I later wrote to the person who thanked me for my not-so-nice note (after I had first apologized and thanked him for his reply): I am a follower of Jesus Christ and supposedly being transformed into His likeness. I don't want my words, which create my tone, to reflect badly on Him or on others who share my faith. And they often have and sometimes still do.

About two years ago, in a weekly Bible study at church, we were studying the letter of James, in the New Testament. I cringed and gulped pretty hard, when we reached this passage:

Oh, Toyota...

I drive a Toyota Camry (2002), so I've been pretty interested in developments as stories have come out. It seems to me that, when we hear that an auto maker--or maker of any other product for consumers--is having to recall products, the usual stance is to assume the company behind the product is the Big Bad Wolf who thought he could get away with producing products on the cheap. Certainly, that has been the case, too many times.

Whether Toyota is in trouble because the makers have knowingly cut corners, I've no idea. But here's what has troubled me, and it's just sort of nibbled away in the background of my mind.

What I don't know about Japanese culture must fill volumes. But one piece that I heard from two different missionaries has stuck with me for decades: the Japanese value the attitude of "saving face" for someone who is in the wrong. I did not understand this to mean that the one in the wrong is allowed to continue, unchecked, but that he must be allowed some way to save face. I would call it extending grace to your opponent or to the one who is wrong.

So when I caught a few minutes of the Congressional hearings, a week or so ago, with one of the honchos from Toyota in the hot seat in front of several esteemed Congressional representatives, I quickly saw and heard a total lack of grace from the U.S.  What I did see and hear was the puffed-up, arrogant grandstanding as the representatives literally and figuratively looked down on the gentlemen from Japan. As I caught a quick look at the face of the man in the hot seat, the thought flashed in neon lights across my brain: No wonder they saw our war with them in the Pacific as racial.

Our national arrogance runs rampant.

Haiti Earthquake Update

Haiti Earthquake Update - Very current, updated just this morning. Actually, anytime you click on the link, you will read the then most current update available.

The thing is, Haiti's earthquake and horrific devastation are old news, in the mainstream media (MSM). If you gauge the situation in Haiti by the amount of attention given to it by the MSM, you will forget about the people who are left to deal with the rebuilding, or with the losses of parents, children, siblings, co-workers and friends. You will forget about the people who live in tent cities now made far worse, since the rains began. Can you say mud flats?

But work is still going on, groups that have been ministering in Haiti for long years are still there, still serving and still working to come up with the best ways to help those in need...which covers a lot more people, now, than it did two months ago. And two months ago, Haiti was already the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.

If you've read this blog, before, you know that I am a volunteer advocate for children and the poor through Compassion International. You may know, already, that Compassion has been in Haiti for 40 years. What you may not know is that Compassion is partnering with other ministry groups, there, to help in the rebuilding--not only of structures, but of infrastructure and of faith.

Much has happened, in the past 6 weeks, that has not been widely told, as the MSM are not typically interested in chronic conditions and spiritual movements. In a nation whose leader three years ago led the Haitians in renewing their national commitment to voodoo, the current President has recently led the nation in committing themselves to worshipping the only true God, the Lord Most High, Jesus Christ. Reports have been confirmed of more than 100 now-former voodoo priests having accepted Jesus Christ and destroyed their voodoo implements and supplies.

Compassion and other ministry groups have earned credibility, in their years of service, and they are strategically placed to work, to serve, to encourage, to be the hands, feet, and voices of Jesus Christ. Our financial resources* and our continuing, fervent prayers on their behalf are needed, still, and will be needed for a long time. If you are in a position to give any amount on a monthly basis, that will help them tremendously.

*Other Compassion funds that feed into helping Haiti, but may also be needed elsewhere, include the Where Most Needed, Disaster Relief, and Help Highly Vulnerable Children Funds. If you are personally knowledgeable about other ministry groups serving in Haiti and know them to be good stewards of your money, they could also use your help. I highly recommend Compassion because I know this ministry and the people behind it, and because they have been awarded Charity Navigator's highest rating eight (8) years straight, for their financial integrity, consistency and transparency.

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A greater tragedy

Please read this post, the latest update from Compassion's medical team in Haiti. It just hurts.

Imagine the college or university nearest you. Imagine that your nation is so poor that an earthquake would flatten all of the buildings, killing 90%--that's not a typo--of the students, along with many professors.

Imagine that your country is so poor that it does not have the heavy equipment needed to move the chunks of buildings that trap people in the rubble; so poor that concrete is not reinforced with steel rebar.

Imagine that going to college had been an impossible dream for you or your children, were it not for an organization like Compassion, who made it possible; were it not for people who would help with their financial support, as well as with their love and encouragement through letters. And imagine that that dream appears to have died in the recent disaster.

Now, imagine that you live in a country that is filthy rich, by world standards, and that you have the means to help, even a little. It might take a sacrifice, on your part--putting aside $1.25 a day, buying one less St*bucks a week, putting off buying those DVDs you've been wanting, or whatever small adjustment you could make in order to give something.

Giving to Compassion's Help Haiti fund (see widget, right, or go here) is one way to help. Sponsoring a child in another of the countries where Compassion serves is another way. You may want to sponsor a child in Haiti, but right now, that means letting someone like me know to put your name on a waiting list, for when Compassion knows for sure which children are available...and which ones died.

But please...don't let the fickle news media and the superficiality of our culture cause you to forget the needs of those in desperate poverty in areas where there are no food stamps, no WIC, no government-based resources of any kind for them. Forgetting and moving on, as if everything that could be done, had been done--that is the greater tragedy, and we will all be held accountable for it.