The Sun and the Storm

What do you hold in your hand?

2011-01-23T20:24:00.000-08:00

Moses. Adopted and raised in the family of the Pharaoh of Egypt, surrounded by opulence & power became a runaway, in trouble with the law and reduced to being a shepherd in some backwater hill country. Imagine his surprise at finding a bush, that was burning yet not consumed! He hears what can only be the voice of God telling him that he is on holy ground and to remove his shoes. In my imagination, the conversation basically runs like this:

"Moses, I want you to go back to Egypt and free my people."

Looking around Moses says "Lord God of the Universe! Maker of Heaven & Earth! King of all Creation! You ... have ... got the WRONG GUY!" Moses drops his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "Don't you know that I'm a wanted man by Egyptian authorities? Not to mention I'm also hated by YOUR people." Now his voice raises a bit, getting agitated. "No one's going to hear me and no one's going to believe me. You want them freed? You go! Or better yet, find someone else to do your dirty-work."

Moses now starts looking around frantically for a way of escape. Running away worked once, it's worth a try again. "Besides," he wheedles, edging along the canyon wall, "I don't speak so good, and you need a great speaker for such an important task. The one YOU want is ... uh ... my ... my BROther, Aaron!" By now, he's wondering if the bush will chase after him if he runs, "Yeah THAT's the guy YOU want. Man, he can sing like an angel and talk like a preacher." Relief flooding his voice Moses boldly contines, "Yeah, Aaron! (under his breath) never liked him that much anyway... You should send HIM on your little journey of DEATH! Not me. Hey, I don't even listen to mySELF when I talk and when I sing? The SHEEP even run away. Besides, what makes you think anyone will believe me when I tell them You sent me?"

"Moses? What do you have in your hand?"

"uuhhh, nothin' ..."

"The OTHER hand, Moses."

"Oh! This old thing? It's just a rod. Yep. A plain old rod... Nope, nothin' special about this beat up stick of wood..."

"Well, throw it down Moses."

"um... do you mean like on the ground?"

"Yes. Throw it down, Moses... as you say... on the ground."

"You know, a rod's a pretty useful thing to have around. If I throw this away, well, You know, no one wants to be caught rod-less!"

"Throw it down, Moses."

"I raised this rod from a twig..."

"Throw it DOWN."

"OK! There, you happy... WHOA!" Imagine Moses' surprise to see this rod--something he'd probably made himself, something that kept him safe, something he had come to trust and lean on--turn into a snake! A desert viper, perhaps. Venemous & crafty. Something one could not trust. Something that hides waiting to ambush unsuspecting prey. Something that strikes with no warning; no mercy.

Moses sense of loss, fear and revulsion may have been acute and shocking but his reaction would have been mild compared to his response at what God said next, "Now Moses, pick it up... by the tail."

"Uummm, Lord? I realize You may not have been here in the desert very long so I want to explain something to you. Only Steve Urwin the Crocodile Hunter picks up a snake by the tail! I mean you grab a snake by the tail and he'll WHIP around and..."

"Pick it UP, Moses."

Muttering, "Wasn't it one of these that got us kicked out of the Garden?"

"PICK IT UP, Moses!"

"Ok! Ok!" As Moses bent to pick up the rod-become-snake his life may have flashed before his eyes. As his fingers closed around the scaly tail, eyes tightly shut waiting for the moment of pain that would mark the beginning of the end of his life, imagine his surprise once more to find he held... a rod in his hand. It was the same rod... but ... NOT the same. He may have thrown down the rod of Moses... but he picked up the rod of God.

That precious thing that Moses threw to the ground, yielded his rights to, and gave to God became something that God could use to do things Moses could never have accomplished before. With the Rod of God, he would strike the rock and bring forth water. With the Rod of God, he would part the waters of the Red Sea. With the Rod of God, Moses set God's people free.

Bob Pierce was a missionary to Asia more than 50 years ago. He was invited to address the children of a series of Dutch missionary schools. For a week, he spoke to 600 children many of whom gave their hearts to God. "Now, you must go home and tell your parents. Tell them you are Christians now and will only worship the one true God." Satisfied that he had fulfilled his calling in that place, he prepared to return home.

As he left, he wanted to stop by the Dutch missionary's home & say goodbye but was surprised to find her standing outside her home holding a child. As he got nearer, he saw that the child's dress was torn, and her back bleeding. Bob ran to the missionary and asked what had happened, who was responsible for this?

"You," she said. "This child did exactly what you told her to. She went home, told her parents she was a Christian and would only serve the one true God. Her father screamed at her, beat her and threw her out of the house saying that she had defiled her ancestors and that she was now dead to him." The missionary stepped forward and placed the child in Bob's arms. "What will you do about it? I cannot take her in. I already have 6 children eating out of my rice bowl."

Stunned, Bob fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a $5 bill. "This is all I have" he said.

The missionary took it and said, "This will buy her rice, some cloth to make a new dress, and a slate for her to attend school. You will send me this same amount every month and I will find a warm place for her to sleep and see that she is safe and educated." He never forgot that event.

Five years later, Bob Pierce stood before a large group of Chinese pastors and told this story. Afterwards, he prayed this simple prayer. "May my heart be broken, by the things that break the heart of God." He urged the pastors to do the same thing he had been doing for the last 5 years for the child he had held in his arms. Her name was White Jade and she was the 1st child to be sponsored by the organization that came to be known as World Vision.

That was more than 50 years ago. Today, World Vision is one of the largest children's relief organizations in the world giving hope to more than 3 million of the smallest, weakest, and most vulnerable segment of the world's population.

Charlotte Elliott was a vivacious and active young woman in England more than 200 years ago. Known for writing poetry, and her artwork, her father was known for taking in traveling ministers as they passed through town. Charlotte was struck down at an early age with what we now feel may have been Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which eventually left here nearly bedridden, with no energy to do more than move about a bit. She began to become bitter and cynical in response to her illness and felt unworthy to be used by God. She would broach the subject with many of the ministers as they ate meals with the family.

"How is it," she would say, "that God could use me? How am I to approach Him?" Most ministers would recite platitudes such as "Pray more" or "Read the Bible more" or "Resolve to do better." none of which helped her at all to cope with her condition. Then one day, a minister named Dr. Cesar Malan came to stay with them. When Charlotte again, asked the question she finally got an answer she did not expect.

"How are you to approach God, Miss Elliott? Why, just as you are."

Charlotte was stunned by the simple answer for only a moment. "Why, Dr. Malan, should I not pray more? Read the Bible more? Resolve to do better?"

"You may, if you like Miss Elliott..." Cesar responded. "However, do you honestly believe that you have anything of value that you could possibly bring before an all-mighty God? That you could do anything to impress Him? There is nothing you can fail at that will make Him love you less, and nothing you can do to make Him love you more. You must come to him, just as you are." The conversation had a profound impact on Charlotte's life and was instrumental in her making a decision to accept the Lord as her personal Savior.

Over the years, Charlotte continued to be plagued by Chronic Fatigue, unable to do the simplest things. When her brother, Rev. Henry V. Elliott, began a fund-raising campaign to start a school for the daughters of Ministers (at that time only boys enjoyed rudimentary education) she was deeply troubled that she could not help, as she expressed one day during his routine visits.

"Morning, old thing!" Henry said as he popped into her room and flopped into a chair near her bed. "Do you know what I've been doing all day? I've been preparing for tomorrow's bazaar! Arranging all the booths, spreading out clothing & the other donations so things look nice and people will buy loads. We are very much hopeful of bringing in the money we need to get St. Mary's school going. And we... Charlotte? What's wrong?"

Charlotte's eyes had fallen to the seemingly useless hands in her lap. "Oh Henry," she said, "I feel so... useless. I can't even get out of bed to help with the Bazaar."

"Oh, posh old thing! We've got in well in hand." Casting about for something to change the subject his eyes fell on a piece of paper on her bed side table. "What ho! What have we here? The famous Miss Charlotte has been composing again, I see."

"What? That? Phaw! That's nothing. I wrote it last night thinking about how little I could do to help and how greatly God still loves me despite the fact. I remembered something that Dr. Malan said many years ago. Do you remember him?"

"Remember him?" Henry said, "How could I forget the one that finally brought you to the feet of our Lord? Yes, I remember him well enough." As he read through the lines on the page, his eyes welled and his voice cracked a bit. "Charlotte... do you mind if I take this? Show it to some people?"

"That? Take it. I shouldn't think much will come of it." Charlotte could not have been more wrong. They printed that poem, and sold it and my understanding is that the proceeds from the sale of that poem brought in more than the entire bazaar. Even beyond that, what she had written on that piece of paper would one day be set to music and become one of the most recognizable hymns in history.

"Just as I am, without one plea,
but that thy blood was shed for me,
and that thou bidst me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come."

It found its way into nearly every major hymnal, and became a hallmark of many great preachers including the call to altar song for Billy Graham crusades. This story has a particular and personal meaning for me. I first heard it when I was 6 years old, watching a televised Billy Graham Crusade and praying the sinner's prayer along with Billy.

God never asked Charlotte Elliott to write a hymn that would touch the lives of millions of people. God never asked Bob Pierce to found an organization that would give hope to over 3 million children around the world. He only asked them to lay down what they had in their hands... just as he did with Moses.

So, what is it that you hold in your hands? In what do you place your trust? Your security? Your hope? God wants you to lay that down and see it for what it is; and imperfect reflection of what you could be. He also wants you to lay it down so He can ask you to pick it up again as something He can use through you. With our own talents, we can do little. With talents, given to God and returned to us there's little we cannot do.

How far would you go... or NOT go?

2010-12-01T16:56:00.000-08:00

Well, that preacher has some tough choices ahead of him. It does raise an interesting question, though doesn't it? A pastor has to choose weekly what to share with his congregation. I'm sure that they must wrestle with questions like what do they need to hear right now, will some be offended, is it alright to offend on this or that topic, etc. What are the thought processes that go along with these decisions? Are some topics worth the possibility of being a bit offensive? Even though the Christian community may be split on the question of Harry Potter and movies about vampires, does one take a stand, and if so how strongly? Is it truly necessary to tackle the issue? Is the evidence compelling in either way? Will it bring people in to the church or drive them away? Are these even fair questions?

Pastors must walk a fine line, discerning what their flock needs irregardless of whether it's "offensive" or not. Majoring on the "majors" and minoring on the "minors" so to speak. Some avoid the question altogether and concentrate on only the positives of the Gospel. God is love, He gave His only begotten Son, etc. Others address the "tough" questions head on, unequivocally stating their opinions and letting the chips fall where they may.

What topics do you feel are "worth the risk?" And how far would you go to push your point?

What do I want to be when I grow up?

2010-11-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

It seemed to sneak up on me. Quietly, stealthily, without my realizing it had been stalking me through the years just biding it's time. The question "What do I want to be when I grow up?" has been just waiting for the moment when it gets to jump out of the bushes, wave it's arms in the air and yell in my face, "HA! You ARE up! So, what are you going to be?!" And now, nearer to the end of my professional life than the beginning, I must, once again grapple with it. Like Jacob, grappling with the Angel in Genesis, and not willing to let go until he is blessed with a new name... or in my case, a new career.

What has prompted this life-changing consideration? My back hurts. You're probably saying "So what? So does mine." Many, perhaps most people as they advance in age suffer from acute (lasting for less than 3 months) back pain from muscles strained or from spasm-twisted vertebrae. But it's not just my back, portions of my legs and feet are also numb and/or tingling and my condition is chronic having lasted more than 3 months (like 15 years or so more). I believe the medical term is Cauda Equina Syndrome caused by intervertebral disc herniation between L4 and L5. Simply put, the discs between the vertebrae in one's back are like jelly donuts with the spinal column running through the hole in the center. As they age, the donut part of the disc weakens and sometimes allows the jelly to form a bulge. When this bulge occurs on the inside of the hole and impacts the spinal column, pain results and if left too long untreated, permanent nerve damage.

So, I cannot sit, stand, or lie down for extended periods but must shift my position many times throughout a normal day. Daily chores and other activities most people do without thinking, I can only do occassionally with periods of rest between. Bending, crouching, kneeling, etc. is difficult as well. Much of the work I have done in the past, Computer Support, Web Page Design, and Acting requires physical abilities I find at best difficult, at worst, debilitating. Perhaps there is another profession I can attempt, even at my age. This is my current quest: to find such a new career.

Of course it is in the "professional" realm that I am speaking. Many other questions in other areas of my life have been settled and I have, in due course, reaped the fruits (or consequences) of those choices. Questions such as:

"Whom shall I marry?"
"How should I raise my kids?"
"Should I wear Hawaiian shirts in Winter?"

Such questions guide us through the process that makes us the people we become. They form & shape our lives and personalities. Now I look forward to an opportunity to answer one of the most important of those life-questions... all over again.

If you have gone through a similar life-changing period of your life, perhaps you'd like to share what you went through, and possibly what helped you cope with the enormity of the task.

The Lion and the Lamb

2010-08-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

Christ is referred to as "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah" in Rev. 5:4 and he is called "The Lamb of God" by John in his Gospel, chapter 1, verse 29. Now, these two animals are about as far apart on just about any "animal scale" you care to imagine. So I guess this is saying that Jesus can be the Lion or the Lamb as the situation requires...

This makes me think of other extremes, the ones that influence our lives. When I wrote this, I was sitting in a hospital room with my 22 year-old daughter who was under going a several-days-long series of tests to see if they could better determine the cause of her seizures. Caryn has had night-related seizures since she was about 6. They've never been completely under control; not by drugs, not even by a Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) implanted in her chest. Because of this, the next thing to consider, unfortunately, could be brain surgery. Scary. Very... rock-like in appearance.

These are the times we want The Lion to come roaring out of the jungle & scare away all the things that scare us. So... where is this lion? When WE think we need him most, sometimes He's just not there. It's the most puzzling thing about Him; why sometimes when we pray we don't get the answer we expect. This life is full of things bigger than we are, things we can't control, accidents, illness, seizures, death; scary things. Things that seem to need a Lion to take care of them. But... where is this lion when these "rocks" fall in our laps?

If we are lucky, at some point we come to the conclusion that it is a fact that He's not always what we expect him to be, is he? Some of the disciples expected him to be the Lion of Judah and become King of Israel & drive out the Romans but instead he was the Lamb of God, sacrificed to restore us to right relationship with the Father. Nobody saw that coming, it wasn't what anyone thought was needed at the time but He saw from a different perspective. But how are we supposed to handle that? By Faith. Faith bridges the gap between what we see and what we need.

In Matt 7:9 the question is asked how many fathers would give their sons a stone if they ask for bread? It's a silly question, isn't it. Oh, we might slip a rock on to a child's plate and tell him it's bread just to see him try to chew it, but when push comes to shove and our kids need bread... they get bread. Now, I've seen some pretty rustic bread in my time. Dark brown, heavy, rough crusted, and hard to chew but wonderfully delicious bread. So I know that what can look like a rock, maybe even feel a bit like a rock can actually be life-giving bread.

When you have need in your life, when what you see is looking nothing like bread, stop. Take a deep breath and remember you don't see what the Father sees. Have Faith that He will not give you a rock.

Divorce. Whose Side Are YOU On?

2010-08-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's a touchy subject. Divorce. With half of all marriages ending in divorce, I'm pretty sure that just about everyone reading this has been touched one way or another by someone's... or their own divorce. I'm not here to debate the legitimacy of it, or discuss the circumstances under which it's "ok" to divorce. Let's not even get into the idea that one side is "wrong" and the other is "right" 'cause we're all Human, and that means that, in all fairness chances are that neither side is totally "right" and neither is totally "wrong" either.

My purpose here to day is to start a dialog on an important, but not well discussed aspect of it. Whose side do you take? Family, friends, and unfortunately, children are often asked to chose one "camp" or the other. So, how does one make the choice? Do you listen carefully to each side's position? "She did to me..." "He did to me..." Then carefully weigh the evidence and try to come up with your own judgment of which side was "more wrong"?

Or perhaps you just pick the side you're most closely related to? "He's my brother, so ..." "But she's been my friend for ages..." Is that a better rule of thumb? I mean, "Blood is thicker than water" right? Isn't it true that if your sibling gets divorced, doesn't that mean that your sibling-in-law is now a "sibling-out-law"? No longer related to you at all? Years of relationship, parenting of nieces & nephews, none of that matters any longer?

I'm sure there are people out there that have gone through a divorce, be it a nasty or civil, that are saying "Yep. That's right. If they're not related to me any longer, they shouldn't be related to you!" But maybe some of you had to watch loved ones go through the experience and are now faced with the ... expectation? of having to choose sides that are saying, "But I still love both people." And that's the key, isn't it? People. Not "sides" but people. Hurting people.

So, now it's your turn... We all want to hear from you. You've gone through a divorce, or seen loved one go through it. What do you think? Do we all have to go through a divorce too? Do we all have to choose sides?

I Wish I Could Buy God a Watch...

2010-08-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this is only true for me. None of you out there struggle with this like I do. My life has ... challenges. Financial, spiritual, physical, etc. but I have to say that God has been faithful. A number of times, we have met our landlords on the courthouse steps and was able to hand them a check for the rent as they were going inside to begin eviction proceedings. One might think "Wow, how cool God came through for you... AGAIN!" However, I am somewhat ashamed to admit that what went through the back of my mind just before rent money came in was "God didn't come through for me this time."

I'm sure we all have challenges we've gone through. Has God met them for you as he has for me? Then why do we not just thunder through life knowing God is going to come through for us, every time? If you are like me in this, you should know that we are in "good" company. The Children of Israel had just seen God change the mind of the most powerful man in the world with miraculous plagues & disasters and yet as they stood on the shore of the Red Sea and saw the Egyptian army approaching what did they do? They started yelling at Moses! They weren't singing God's praises because he was going to save them ... AGAIN! Even after the parting of the sea, did they have faith that God would feed them? No. After all God did for them, repeatedly saving them miraculously time after time they still wind up complaining, doubting, even replacing God with a golden cow.

I've thought a lot about this. I may have come to a conclusion that could explain some of this. It makes me feel better about it anyway... God doesn't own a watch.

He doesn't see time like we do. His perspective is beyond the minute to minute, hour by hour existence we must survive. To him, parting the red sea seconds before the first spear is thrown is no different than having everything printed out in an Itinerary weeks before the event. There are no surprises for God. To him it's as if everything has already happened. He can sit back and relax, 'cause it's all over for him. As we fuss & fret over some impending deadline, he can see that it's already been taken care of.

This is where the apologists & theologians will step in and talk about how the stress builds character & faith. I'm sure they're right. So what? That doesn't make things any easier for us, does it? Or does it?

Do YOU take comfort in knowing that God knows how things will turn out? I like to think I do, but I still go through the character-building, heart-pounding, stress routine just about every time. And just about every time I feel silly afterwards.

What about you? Do you sail through life, laughing at problems knowing God's got your back? Or do you fret & fuss every time life throws you a curve? Or, are you somewhere in the middle? I'd like to know...

Christians are becoming lazier every day.

2010-08-11T23:14:00.000-07:00

Christians are lazy. There I said it. Most of us know it, few of us want to admit it out loud in church, and none of us really want to believe it's true of ourselves. But for the majority of Christians in America, I'm afraid it may very well be true and it's evidenced by a growing willingness to let others do our thinking for us. It seems more and more I hear things like "You have GOT to read So-n-so's book..." or "What's-his-name prophesied about..." or "Download Who-ya-call-um's sermon from the internet..." or "You should read Scott's blog about..." So, ok so that last one's not so bad but the rest begin to show a trend that is rather disturbing to me personally.

Of course as Christians we want to believe that all other Christians have the same sense of "Truth" that we do and no one has their own "axe to grind." We have this feeling like "But they're Christians too. Surely they won't try to tell us something that's not Biblically true." And "I trust him because I like the way he uses funny anecdotes, slick power point presentations, & never wears a tie." But the fact of the matter is that even in the best of circumstances it is possible that well-intentioned teachers could be teaching "logical Biblical extrapolation" instead of the simplicity of the Word.

Now before you jump to the bottom of this story & begin leaving me a message telling me how wrong I am, I ask you to read on; hear me out. I know that there are extraordinary Bible teachers out there, I've met many of them and my life has been impacted by them in many ways. I'm also sure you have a favorite teacher or two at your church (I know I do) and you may routinely listen to the head of a mega-church somewhere, or well-known radio or television expositor and there is nothing wrong with that. I know that they are not ultimately responsible for our "Christian Cholesterol Consumption" ... we are.

We have such full lives, don't we? We work our jobs, come home and play with our toys, watch our TV, spruce up our MySpaces, Facebooks, and MySpaceBooks (which may include planting our crops, managing our restaurants, and/or attempting to take over the world). It's not easy to make time to do mundane things such as read the Bible, is it? It takes time and effort and must be fit into our schedules around so many other "important" things. And why do it when so many others are obviously so much better at it than we are? Why not let them read the Bible, study what it says then feed it to us in watered down, sugary, milky little 20 minute sound bites? We have to go to church this Sunday anyway, don't we?

Sounds both reasonable and easy, doesn't it? The problem is that in order to sound relevant, or up-to-date it seems we can no longer stick to the "boring" simplicity of the Bible's message: love. We have to expound on the "old" ideas, illustrate with heart-touching stories, and extrapolate new ideas based on what logically makes sense. Like Paul warned Timothy in I Tim 1:4:

"Apparently some people have been introducing fantasy stories and fanciful family trees that digress into silliness instead of pulling the people back into the center, deepening faith and obedience."
-- The Message

Paul wanted Christians to know that "The whole point of what we're urging is simply love-love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God" (vs. 5). But how will we know that's what we're getting if we don't know enough of the Word for ourselves? If we must take someone else's word for it?

Since Paul's day we are meant to have teachers, preachers and the rest. They play an important role in our Christian lives and carry a great responsibility to share the Word of God with us and the World. But today is not like Paul's day when "The Word" referred to a scroll of the Torah locked away in a Synagogue to be read out loud once a week. Today, most Christians own at least 1 or more Bibles in a variety of versions and some even have a study reference or two from their Bible college days. I even have "The Message" on my cell phone. So, even though I listen to them, respect them, and even submit to some of them, I have less need of those teachers and preachers than the Christians of Paul's day did. I can, for the most part, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, determine what the Bible is telling me for myself.

So, having said all this you should know that I am in no way trying to encourage you to NOT read Christian books, listen to your favorite Bible teacher, or watch that tele-evangelist you love so much. What I AM encouraging you to do is read the passages of Scripture they quote to you and determine for yourself if it really supports the message they are bringing you.

We had some "Bible teachers" come through our church in years past teaching an all-day seminar on a somewhat... controversial subject. I decided to attend to see what they had to say. The first half of the all-day seminar was amazing! Life changing exposition of scriptures I'd hardly ever read and didn't fully understand. I followed, each verse closely, and eagerly listened to what they had to say and by the end of the morning some of what they said changed the way I pray to this day. Each point was clearly supported by scripture references.

At the mid-day break, they announced the upcoming topic, which was part of the controversial subject matter. I turned to my wife and said "Watch, the Bible references will dry up and they'll begin relying on anecdotal evidence." After about 20 minutes or so of the afternoon session, my wife turned to me with eyes wide and said, "You were right! I never realized..."

So the moral of this Blog is "Listen to teachers you trust but don't just take what they tell you as truth." We must all understand that just because someone says "As it says in Matthew 24..." that doesn't mean that's what it says. You are ultimately responsible for what you believe. Make sure you believe it because that's what it says in the Bible, not just because someone told you.

Rise of the Consumer?

2010-08-10T22:47:00.000-07:00

Did anyone out there watch "The Happening" by M. Night Shyamalan? Anyone out there remember watching "The Happening" by M. Night Shyamalan? I'm pretty sure I did and I think the storyline went something like this.

By the way, I'd warn you that what I'm about to reveal could be considered a "spoiler" but if you haven't seen the film by now, you can pick one up used at Amazon.com for less than the price of a postage stamp. But the plot goes like this: the world's plants are pissed at us Humans and have had it with our constant mowing, harvesting, and just plain getting all emotional around them. As a means of self-defense they've finally learned how to emit a gas that makes people go crazy & indulge in self-destructive behaviors; which in this case means various methods of suicide.

Oddly enough, this seems to be eerily coming true today, but not with plants, with consumers. On a JetBlue flight, a passenger tries to retrieve her bag from at overhead compartment while the plane was still moving. An attendant asks the passenger to put the bag back in the compartment & return to her seat. The attendant gets verbally abused then clocked in the head by the overhead compartment door for his trouble. But when the attendant doesn't get an apology, he sort of goes crazy... overcome by this strange urge to self-destruct. He curses out the passenger, grabs a beer, pops open the emergency door and extends the inflatable slide & glides his way to the tarmac... and then into a jail cell with federal charges on his head.

The "oddly" does not stop there, however as public opinion seems to be siding with him. A large portion of the comments about this incident have been in support of the attendant's behavior. Which I find strange since most of them have presumably been passengers far more often than they've been attendants and should be more sympathetic to the plights of the passenger than those of the attendant. But they seem to be almost hypnotized by the attendant's self-destructive proclivities. They're even calling him a hero.

And the madness doesn't seem to be limited to the airline industry but has begun to spread to other businesses closer to home. I watched a video of a 25 year old woman punching a MacDonald's employee in the face because she was denied Chicken McNuggets. Apparently the woman was unaware that the juicy, tender chicken-like lumps of meat are not suitable for breakfast and therefore not available at the time she wanted them. Denied her fast-food choice, the customer goes berserk, jumps out of her car and assaults the drive-up window, breaking it with a beer bottle she pulled from her car (hmmm, think about that for a second). But the thing that surprises me the most is that the employee's response was to exhibit self-destructive behavior similar to that of the JetBlue flight attendant by approaching the crazed consumer essentially inviting more face punches.

Perhaps it is time for us all as consumers to reconsider our expectations despite the fact that beer was involved in BOTH incidents. When flying coach or business perhaps we shouldn't expect to be able to remove our bags from overhead compartments while the plane is still moving... or be allowed to smack the flight attendants around forcing them to grab a beer and incur federal felony charges. Perhaps we shouldn't expect MacDonald's to sell ALL the items on their menu at ALL hours of the day... or be allowed to smack the employees around with open containers of beer.

If there's any truth to Shaymalan's movie at all (and there really isn't), it would be this: we must stop this demanding & aggressive consumerist behavior before we drive ALL flight attendants, & fast-food employees mad and force them into self-destructive behaviors that will not only threaten their careers, but our ability to fly across the country, eating processed, breaded chicken chunks.

It's not too late. You can stop the madness. You can make a difference.

Uganda 2010: It's not about me... well, maybe a little.

2010-01-25T10:01:00.000-08:00

"May my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God"

--Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision

As an actor, I perform one-man plays in churches across the United States. After a performance I invite the audience to consider child sponsorship through World Vision. I begin most every appeal with this prayer by Bob Pierce and as an actor, I am able to deliver the line with just the right vocal inflection and pitch to convey the sincerity & conviction I honestly feel. I believe in child sponsorship. I believe in World Vision.

I was invited by Chuck Neighbors and World Vision to go on a trip to Uganda in West Africa in mid-January, 2010. The trip was to show first-hand how World Vision is changing lives there through their child sponsorships. Imagine my surprise when what I saw there changed my life. This will be the first in a series of blogs on that trip and probably the hardest for me to write. Because while the trip was not about me, there were things about it that were about me and I want to start with those.

I have been with World Vision through Master's Image Productions and now on my own for around 9 years or so. Getting kids sponsored is important to me. It makes me feel that I am doing something to help. When I was offered the trip to Uganda, I really didn't know what to expect.

When we pulled into the hotel in Entebbe, Uganda it was late night and my first few thoughts were "where do I plug in my iPhone?" and "how fast is the internet connection here?" and so forth. The next morning I ate breakfast of mostly pineapple, toast, and some mild sausage and although the coffee was wonderful for the most part I was unimpressed. I wandered the grounds, took some pictures, and sweated. Later we walked as a group to the Uganda Wildlife Museum. After the museum, my legs & back were beginning to protest.

Then we got on a long boat and headed out onto Lake Victoria, visited an island covered with these tiny lake flies and very little shade, saw some temporary fisherman's housing that looked like it had been used in Kevin Costner's "Waterworld" but all the while I was anxious to get back to my room so I could get back to the relative luxury of air conditioning and internet access. By now, I was beginning to feel a little sorry for myself. Having to put up with the heat, humidity, walking, unappealing food, slow internet, etc.

In the morning we were scheduled to take a short flight to Gulu, Uganda to visit the Children of War Rehabilitation Centre and some of World Vision's ADPs (Area Development Projects) there. When we arrived at the center we met the obviously caring & dedicated staff. We were told stories of the atrocities perpetrated on the people of Northern Uganda--especially the children--by a group of rebels know as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The rebels would enter a village, burn, pillage, and generally destroy everything. Then take the people into the jungle, some would escape, some would be let go, some were killed sometimes right in front of their children. Then most of the frightened & utterly powerless children would be taken. Over the last 20 years or so, approximately 60,000 children have been abducted by the LRA. World Vision has reintroduced around 14,000 of them.

Children, it seems, were useful to the rebels in a number of ways: as workers, for sex, and after indoctrination/brainwashing, as soldiers. As the rebels traveled from place to place, the children would be tied together in a long line making it impossible for them to escape. In the event of a gov't attack, the rebels would hide behind the tied up children, using them as shields. From time to time, during such an attack, the rebels would be killed or run away leaving the children behind. These "fortunate" children then fell into the hands of the army sometimes suffering the same sexual abuse from their "rescuers" as they did from their abductors.

In 1995 and in collaboration with the Ugandan Gov't, World Vision opened the Children of War Rehabilitation Centre where rescued children could be rehabilitated for reintegration into Ugandan society. Although many of these horribly traumatized children were unable to speak about their ordeals they were able to draw pictures about it. The pictures they drew of soldiers shooting children, or cutting off their heads were, to say the least, disturbing. Using the pictures, counseling, and interviews, World Vision staff began returning these children to their families or villages when possible or reintegrating them into Ugandan society.

To be honest, writing this is particularly difficult for me on a personal level. I listened to the staff, heard the triumphant stories of children enduring overwhelming loss, hardships, and wounds, and met some of the courageous children themselves. My own self-absorbed condition was thrown into sharp relief by the children's stories of overcoming hardship and loss.

We then drove out into the jungle and visited a group of people who are benefitting from World Vision's programs. They greeted us with music, dancing, and smiles. These people work harder than any I have ever met, and yet the joy of hope was evident in every handshake, every smile.

Throughout the trip, I became more and more ashamed of my own preoccupation with my personal comfort. I sat at the back of the van, trailed along behind the rest of the team, and wrestled with the changes I was going through. I came to dislike the person I was who arrived at the hotel complaining about food, heat, and poor internet access. Fortunately, after much soul searching, introspection, and repentance the person I was when I arrived in Uganda is not the person who returned home. Sometimes it IS about "me" if only just a little. And sometimes it's not what you bring home from a trip like this that counts... it's what you leave behind.

I have decided that I will open my child sponsorship appeal differently than I used to. I think I will begin it with...

May my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.

If you want your life to be changed in ways you can't imagine, consider sponsoring a child through World Vision. Feel free to contact me at scott@scottbettis.com for more information or you may Sponsor Online.

A Sad Trend in Entertainment Mirrored in the Church.

2009-12-21T10:01:00.000-08:00

I see a lot of movies. Not as many as some, but probably more than most. I saw my first movie in a movie theater with my 4th or 5th grade class. "The Sound of Music" was most likely responsible for my love of entertainment. This movie "had it all"--beauty, song, adventure, the heights of the Human spirit, and the evil of the Human heart, and the confused and timid Human souls caught between. A few years later, I saw my first movie alone... "Captain Nemo and the Underwater City" which was playing as a double feature with another movie I can't remember. The marriage of science and fiction also helped to expand my imagination and broaden my experience to include this new genre.

Now, please understand that I don't just go to see ANY movie, I do have SOME standards. The "Halloween", "Friday the 13th", and "Saw" franchises are right off my list and I wish some of that genre had never been made. But I have seen SOME monster/horror films. The second "Aliens" film (which I saw over at the youth pastor's house) remains one of my favorite films as does the 2nd in the "Terminator" series. My first "horror" film was "Jaws" which I saw back when I was in Bible College. My girlfriend's sister took us to go see it. It was scary and a little gory, but came with a message: the indomitable nature of the Human spirit. That movie opened my eyes to the possibility that "horror" wasn't in and of itself a bad movie genre.

And of course I also love comedies! I took my girlfriend to see "Blazing Saddles" also when we were in Bible College. It was the first R-rated movie she had ever seen. She was appalled. Not too appalled, however, 'cause a few years later she married me anyway. Now that I was married, I realized that I had to nurture a taste for romantic comedies as well. The Princess Bride, Music & Lyrics, and Hitch have also found their way onto my movie shelf. And let's not forget about the animated films that have meant so much to my family. Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Cars, Wall-E have all touched our lives & to some extent shaped the people we have become.

Anyone who has been around long enough to have seen movies released over the last 30 or more years ago will probably agree on a couple of things. The special effects for the King Kong released in 1933 doesn't hold a candle to the realism of the one released in 2005. And yet back in '33, people were fainting in the theater from fright watching the stop-action claymation Kong battle claymation dinosaurs. Another thing most will agree on is that we've lost (or at least are losing) something in movies today. The King Kong of 1933 was a story of Humanity and the depths to which it will sink in the name of exploitation for profit. It was a story of the heights to which Humanity will go-what horrors it will face-to protect the ones we love. The one from 2005 pretty much just shows how much damage a big, PO'd 50-foot ape could cause in a populated area.

I know some will debate the issue, but one can't deny the trend away from Story and towards Distraction. A story draws you in, makes you care, makes you think & consider, makes you vicariously decide what you would do in the same situation. Distraction just holds your attention to the exclusion of all else.

I saw the movie "Avatar" recently. Visually the most impressive movie I have ever seen. The realism of that alien world was amazing. The similarity of the alien culture to our own "primitive" tribal cultures is undeniable. Story? It was there. Simple, classic "Advanced-culture greed vs. primitive-culture naturalism" conflict one can find in many other movies such as "Dances With Wolves" and even "Star Wars: Episode VI-Return of the Jedi." And I must say, it was not badly told. Emotions played by the actors (translated by the animators) were believable and moving, and pretty obviously there just to give animators an excuse to create an unbelievably real, alien world.

I also saw "A Christmas Carol" put out by Disney a month earlier and starring the voice of Jim Carrey as Scrooge (as well as all three Christmas ghosts). Astounding graphics. Realism beyond anything to date, even considering the cartoonish shapes real actors faces were slapped on it had a feeling of real life. But here, we have a slightly different situation... an amazing story. A story written more than a hundred years ago by a master of story-telling: Charles Dickens.

Unfortunately, for the most part story seems to be disposable today. If your movie is visually impressive enough, a simple story will do to give the animators an excuse to blow our minds with scene after scene of realistic yet impossible vistas. Helicopter-like lizards, floating mountains, flying dragons, six-legged horses. Distractions.

It's not just movies either. "Online Environments" such as Second Life, and MMORPGs (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) routinely allow 10's of 1000's of people from anywhere around the world to interact with one another in virtual environments "safely" exploring any and every aspect of the human condition.

So, here we are as Christians. Faced with multitudes of very effective distractions in this world, we must find a way to compete. Some churches have attempted to adopt the same strategies to get their message out. They maintain rigid time-schedules cutting back on worship songs and sermon content in favor of short videos depicting Sacred Truths in commercial-like time frames.

Others have rigidly "stuck to their guns" and pushed the effectiveness of story-telling eschewing advances in technology. And there are those that just ignore the entire issue and just keep preaching. But, which of these positions is "right" ? Which will prove most effective in doing what we are called to do: Tell EVERYONE the Good News that God has bridged the gap between us and Him? The answer is "All of the above"

The church has always been a repository and sactuary of the arts. The first plays were religious in nature, the art & culture of the Renaissance were infused with the religious imagery of the time. And so it should be. Not only should we support the arts, but as Christians we cannot afford to ignore the "tools of the trade" that are made available to us.

Websites such as SermonSpice.com and even Mastersimage.com are selling short, 2-5 minute videos and presentations that are direct and to the point. Use them, but don't neglect live storytelling. A live performance with a talented actor draws people in in ways short videos can't. A person not just reading the Bible out loud, but someone speaking the Word is sharing it the way it was meant to be shared: verbally.

Don't neglect what has worked in the past, but embrace new opportunities as well. And don't neglect the hidden gems in you own congregations! Find those you worship with that are the storytellers, find those that are technologically literate, find those that are artistically endowed. Find them... and put them to work.

2009-09-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week a musical artist named Kayne West interrupted another musical artist Taylor Swift as she was accepting a VMA award for Best Female Video. He apologized and assured Ms. Swift he would let her finish then turned to the audience and announced that Beyonce had "one of the best videos of all time."

Of course the behavior was denounced by all but a few loyal West fans and comments came from all the way up to the White House. President Obama said the incident was "totally inappropriate" and said of Mr. West "He's a jackass."

And also of course the White racists started hollering about "ignorant Black rappers" and the Black racists yelled back about "rap getting no respect as a musical art form", Liberals started hollering about how it wouldn't have happened if African-Americans had been given equal opportunity and Conservatives yelled back about how Blacks should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and comedians are saying that Kayne West interrupted Patrick Swayze's death to say that Michael Jackson's was the best death of all time... etc. etc. etc.

As usual in this country, everyone's out trying to make political hay while the sun shines down on this sad event. Everyone has an axe to grind and a finger to point. What amazes me is that so few people are pointing their finger at the REAL culprits... us.

You see, in my opinion this is not a "race" issue. It's not an "opportunity" issue. It's not even "character" issue (well, not entirely). It's a "Frankenstein" issue: we've created yet another monster and let it loose to roam the countryside destroying villages & razing crops. We've all seen this happen with sports stars, child actors, musicians, singers, politicians... They do something well, become popular, then more popular and begin to surround themselves with "fans" not friends.

Sports figures ask for obscene amounts of money to play a game, and we give it to them. Singers ask for obscene amounts of money to do what they'd do for free in their own garages or churches, and we give it to them. Actors that used to wait tables or park cars while they acted in community theaters ask for obscene amounts of money so we can escape our troubles for an hour or three, and we give it to them. Politicians accept obscene amounts of money from corporations then ask us for obscene amounts of money to fund those same corporation's pet projects... and we give it to them.

Soon, where there used to be a human being striving to express themselves in their music, or achieve excellence in their sport, or make the world a better place stands a monster, driven by greed & need & the belief that the world loves them (or owes them) so much that they can do what they want and nothing will come of it. And we let them get away with it because we need their music, or the excitement of watching their sport, or the escape their movies bring us, or the influence they wield on our behalf.

As money & popularity & "power" & drugs & alcohol slam into their lives in ever-increasing doses it can completely overwhelm the "good human" behaviors we all use when we want to get along with others and reveal the "dark" nature we all try to hide. Then hubris takes over and they begin to feel that they got there on their own and they don't need anyone else which is the fatal lie. What these people really need are TRUE friends that are not afraid to look at them and say "You're an ass. Stop it."

We have lost something in this country. We no longer know what it means to be a success. We look at those who have achieved noteriety in their field and think they are successful because they have money or power, etc. Rich people get to buy or do what they want. Rich people suffer no consequences. Rich people are therefore successful. How sad.

I'm afraid that I tend to agree with Ralph Waldo Emerson on the subject. "Success: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!"

The saddest thing of all is that it's very likely not going to change. The same Human nature that causes some of our celebrities to act like asses is the same Human nature that causes some of us to idolize them. Oh, we tolerate their dark side until it boils over and burns us. Then we rise up out of righteous indignation and depose the corrupt in power, boycott artists that exhibit crappy behavior, refuse to watch bloated sports celebrities. But eventually our ire will recede, we'll step off our soapboxes and in the end, all that will happen is that, at best a new human will rise to slip into the vacated position and at worst the same one will seem repentant and be forgiven and the cycle will repeat. As long as our nature remains the same, the cycle will remain the same and for some reason... that seems to be the way we want it.

Parental Expectations

2009-09-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

When the parent-birds gently coax their baby-birds out of the nest, they hope they will begin flying before they hit the ground, but I'm sure that some part of them expects to have to swoop in through the trees and rescue them. So, when my youngest daughter, Caryn moved out a few months ago, it was with great relief to my wife and I to see her wings stretch out, catch the wind and lift her into the sky. We did not however expect to see 2 little jets pop out of her shoes or the pilot's goggles that she lowered over her eyes as she came to hover like a harrier jet before us, salute & blast off to face the world. She has been kind enough to stay close to our little tree and we see a Caryn-shaped blur swoop past our field of vision every once in so often and smile.

Caryn has taught us many things over the last 21 years. Apparently important lessons like: Food coloring turns black when more than 3 colors are mixed together and is difficult to remove from floors and walls even when NOT in the shape of tiny hands & feet. One can make music with one's belly-button. That between herbivores and carnivores betrayal is as sudden as it is inevitable. That a child doesn't have to be 1/8th alien to do amazing things. And no matter how motivated they may be, hamsters cannot fly. As a parent I have been constantly amazed by the things my children have thought I needed to know, and Caryn has been teaching me these things since she began finishing my sentences for me at the age of 6.

And there were other lessons, too. A young girl's fascination with swords can turn out to be prophetic of future Spiritual Warfare. That the character attributes of compassion and strength can develop in response to Life's hardship and handicap. That no matter how many mistakes a parent can make... kids can still grow up to be mighty warriors.

We are proud of Caryn. Proud of all our children. They are all growing into their gifts, learning, exploring and taking ground for the Kingdom in their own unique ways. That's also something, as a parent I hadn't "expected"... that may not be the right word... You see, in the middle of raising my children, it was as much as I could hope for that they would just survive. That they'd get through grade school, middle school, puberty, junior high and high school without getting into a fatal accident, hooked on drugs or prematurely making my wife a grandmother. I became focused on just getting them through the next grade, the next phase intact & relatively healthy. Then one day, I turned around... and they were all gone. They weren't hard to find, they all stayed close. We see them quite a bit, marvel at what happens in their lives. Sometimes my wife & I smile and wink at each other 'cause we know what comes next; sometimes we cry for the same reason.

And now, Caryn-our baby-is an adult. Out in the world, standing on her own, sword in hand scanning the horizon for "new targets." Like The Lord of the Rings' Eowyn, standing between the forces of darkness and the people she loves... and watching the darkness tremble.

The Path

2009-08-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

The Path

by R. Scott Bettis

I was walking along a wide Avenue. A magnificent road, paved with beautiful stones and lined with impressive columns and bubbling fountains. The sound of bubbling water echoed in my ears. I wanted to stop for a drink but did not... but couldn't remember why I didn't.

My eyes wandered once again to the warm glow on the horizon. There was my goal, my hope, my reward. My determination renewed, I trudged along step by step, inch by inch. I came to an intersection; a small path angled off to the right. Small and insignificant It had not the size & grandeur of the Avenue. No columns or fountains adorned it's length. No bright stones paved the way. With a snort of contempt I began to turn away from the unimportant path.

On a rock by the path there sat a man. "You look thirsty" the man said. "turn aside from this dry, dusty road."

"Are you kidding?" I laughed, "Leave my Avenue? Hey, I'm going somewhere. I have a goal. See that glow?" I pointed to the horizon, "That's my reward. Everything I've ever wanted lies at the end of that road" Looking at the tiny path I said "your path is small. What good could come from THAT path?"

The man shrugged, "Life." he said simply. "Would you like to see your 'Avenue' more clearly?"

"What do you mean?" I said

"I have a Book... through it all things are revealed for what they truly are." He took a book out of his bag, opened it and held it out to me.

Hesitantly, I took it, held it up and peered through it down the grandiose lane. The pages were clear and I could see the avenue through them. What I saw made me gasp. A desolate road, cracked & burnt, columns fallen, fountains dry, and fire sparking up through the gaps in the paving stones.

"Lies!" I screamed. I threw the book down. Once again I was surrounded by tall columns & bubbling fountains... but the sound of water was a hollow echo now.

"You know its true." the man said, looking at me with gentle eyes of compassion. "But you didn't look at you goal." he said quietly.

I looked at the book lying at my feet. Then up at the warm glow on the horizon. I felt the comfort flowing from it, warming me, reassuring me... but now something else too... Menace? Falsehood? I had to know. Slowly I bent to pick up the book, faced the horizon of my dreams, and slowly, raised the pages to eye level, and opened my eyes.

For a moment nothing changed. My heart leaped in exultation for there was the glow the way I'd always seen it; the way I'd always remembered it. But then in a moment's time the scene changed, rushing forward as if I were flying down the road at a hundred miles an hour. Broken pillars and cracked fountains whizzing past. Then it stopped. There was the glow, the same as it always had been. I felt smugness rising up in me... until I looked closer.

I could see people walking along the avenue towards the glow, some with arms outstretched in longing , some running with anticipation. But then horribly, the scene became clearer. My viewpoint raised and pointed downward. I could see down into a great fit of fire. That's what caused the glow!

People were walking up to the edge, hesitating a moment as if coming to the realization that they had made a choice and could not go back. With looks of resignation, they stepped off the edge and, tumbling in slow motion, passed into their "goal," their "reward."

I closed the book, devastated by what I had seen. I turned to the man sitting there, smiling gently at me from the rock.

"So," he said, "you've seen the truth of your Avenue, your goal, your reward. What will you do now?"

"What can I do?" I said, "Can I return to that way having seen what I've seen?"

"Some do." the main said as he rose, laying both hands on my shoulders. "... but not all." He smiled, "Some turn aside down this path." He waved down the small winding path leading off in a completely different direction.

Looking over his shoulder I asked, "What is down there?"

The man laughed. The sound was like water tumbling over rocks or of a thousand birds exploding into flight. "Life!" he said simply.

...

I walked briskly along a narrow pathway. Reaching up, I grabbed a fruit off an over-hanging branch, hopped over a small babbling brook and stopped for a quick drink. I stood up and looked up to the horizon, marveling at the bright sparkling light that was my new goal. I pulled out my own copy of the Book, held it up, and looked to the horizon. Again, my vision went flying down the path as the sight swooped into view. There, bright as the sun, surrounded by multitudes praising & worshiping was the One on the throne.

As I put the book away, my eye caught another path. I turned aside and followed the path. As I walked along, the surroundings changed to a burnt, blasted landscape. Soon I came to a stone near an intersection with a wide, broken avenue lined with fallen columns and dry fountains. I sat for a moment and waited as a woman walked by.

"You look thirsty" I said...

Copyright © 2009, R. Scott Bettis

What Kind of People Does God Use, Anyways?

2009-08-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

I perform a 1-man play entitled "Traveling Light" written by Larry (Max) Enscoe. I've been doing this play for around 2 years and have gotten pretty familiar with the "characters" in it. Probably the thing I like best about it is that it puts "faces" on the names in the stories. Which helps us to remember that these were real people that went about their real lives. They probably smelled bad sometimes, and had bad breath. They burped and farted. They said stupid things. In short, they were just like you and me.

Traveling Light has even inspired me to write a new play of my own about the kind of people God uses to do his work. As I began looking over candidates for my own play, I tried to see these people in a new light and what I saw was somewhat of a shock. The phrase "God is no respecter of persons" used in Acts 10:34 is WAY more true than I had realized. I began to see that it was not just the Philips ("in whom is no guile") and Stephens ("full of faith and power") whom God used but all manner of failures, misfits, and worse.

Just off the top of my head the kinds of people that God has used to propagate His great and holy will on this world are murderers, a coward, a forgotten boy, prostitutes, a drunkard, a lying cheater, a bully, a narcissistic womanizer, self-righteous bigot, loud mouthed know-it-all, a miser, lousy parents, and a homeless social outcast. Those are just the ones that come to mind AND that we KNOW about.

God certainly has NO TASTE in friends whatsoever. "God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you're from. If you want God and are ready to do as He says, the door is open. The Message He sent to the children of Israel-that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together agan-well, He's doing it everywhere among everyone." Acts 10:34-36. If you notice, it was Simon Peter (the "loud-mouthed know-it-all" mentioned above) that said that.

So, now seeing this you have no excuse. Why have you not used the gift that God has given you? It certainly ISN'T because you're not "good enough" that's for sure. :) Think about it...

The Sun and the Storm

2009-07-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, I guess I should give some small explanation for why "The Sun and the Storm." The name of my ministry is SunStorm Productions. The name came to me like this...

One day many years ago when my children were very young, I was driving with my daughter Caryn; at that time she was about 5-6 years old. It was heavily raining and I commented "Wow! Some rainstorm, huh?" Being in Oregon the old adage "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes" does actually hold true and after a few minutes of thunder & rain & dark clouds the thunder quieted, the rain dribbled off, and the dark clouds parted to reveal a bright blue sky with a brighter yellow sun blazing down on us. I reached up and pulled down my sun-visor then looked at my daughter, who was squirming under the solar onslaught and still too small to reach the visor on her side. I reached over and pulled down her visor but alas, she was also too small to realize any benefit from its sun-shading properties and hid, squinting, behind her up-held hands. After just a few seconds she said "Dad? Is this a Sun Storm?"

Of course at the time I laughed at the innocence and child-like perspective of the comment but for some reason, that phrase, "SunStorm" sort of stuck with me. I thought about it often over the next few days about how different the words were. The Sun and the Storm. Light & Dark. The Good times and the Hard times. Times of Blessing, Times of Want. Times of Clarity, Times of Confusion. The cycles of life, ups & downs, good & bad, yin & yang.

Think about the oppositeness of their natures. The Sun, with it's life-giving warmth & brilliance always speaks to me of summer days out-of-doors, laughter of children playing in sprinklers and chasing one another. Of picnic tables spread with picnic food, friends and family gathered around, telling stories, laughing. It also speaks to me in other terms. It speaks to me of spiritual and financial blessing, times of rest & ease. Times of confidence, in knowing you are where you belong, doing what you should be doing. Times of Peace.

It also brings back memories from my own childhood. Memories of a young lad, flying along on his golden Schwinn butterfly handle-barred, banana-seated bicycle; resplendent in the exultation of his youth, his power, his freedom. Aahhh... give me a moment if you will ...

Ok, I'm back.

And of course the Storm also has it's personal connotations. When I was very young, I was scared quite badly by a thunder storm and absolutely terrified by a flash of lightning that I can, to this day, close my eyes and still see fracturing the dark sky with its awesome, irresistible power and like a impossibly huge invisible beast, shredding the clouds with it's explosion of thunderous, concussive roars.

To me the Storm speaks of the "hard times," the scary times when things aren't going so well and you feel small, alone and abandoned. When finances and relationships are both strained. When the path that was sooo clear in the Summer Sunlight becomes grey-smudged and vague in the darkness & gloom of the Winter Storm. When one is no longer totally assured that one is traveling the path; doing the work.

We've all had "hard times" but does that mean we were all wandering off the path during the storm? I don't think so. Even as your heart pumps, cycling blood through you body, Life also pumps, cycling good times & bad through your soul. C. S. Lewis' wife, Joy Gresham put it this way: "The pain now is part of the happiness then-that's the deal." The Good and the Bad weave together to create the fabric of your life and we all influence how that fabric is made by the choices we make. Lewis said that as we mature and come to understand this cycle, this balance it alters our choices. "The boy chooses safety. The man chooses suffering." We need to embrace the Storm as well as the Sun. The Storm can be a time of testing... not to show God what we're made of but to show US.

Like Job, losing everything except his faith in God, sometimes the Storm shows us that we CAN stand through the tempest.

Like Peter, walking across the pitching water and distracted by his circumstances, losing sight of his goal, sometimes the Storm reveals to us not what is truly important, but what is truly important to us.

Like Joseph, having been repeatedly thrown into slavery & captivity and yet coming out the other side with forgiveness & compassion for his brothers, sometimes the Storms we survive give us a unique compassion for those that are currently IN Storms of their own.

So, what is it that carries one through the storm? What is it that helps one to stand firm in the face of adversity? What gives one the power to lean into the storm and say "I will NOT be moved" ?

It is not my MIND. Logically "The Blessing" should follow those who are called. "God's will, God's bill" right? I mean if finances fail, one MUST be doing something wrong or going in the wrong direction. What other reason could there be? Either this man sinned or his parents did...

I don't believe it is my WILL either. That brute strength, stand up and take it like a man, come hell or high water determination will only carry us so far. After that the weariness sinks in; seeps into our bones. Turns them to water. One can only stand up against the pressure for so long.

It is certainly not my emotions. I don't know about you, but MY feelings begin whining in times of trouble. "But I haven't done anything WRONG! Why is this happening TO ME, Lord? Why are YOU doing this TO ME?"

So what is it keeps us in the air when we should fall?

Faith.

The kind of Faith that can reconcile the existence of a loving God with the suffering that abounds in the world He created. The kind of Faith that can give breath to the facts that the mind knows: that God is love and everything He does is motivated by love and is for our good... regardless of how it may appear. The kind of Faith that can take our will by the lapels, point it in the right direction, and shove it up against what our mind knows to be true forming a shield against the Storm. The kind of Faith that gently guides our emotions into that place of shelter and shows us how much He must love us to put us through the Storm for our good.

I've heard it said that Christianity is just a crutch. You lean on it when you don't understand. To those people I've said "Yeah... you're right. So, when your leg is broken and you cannot move on your own what do YOU lean on? When you come up against a contradiction that you cannot understand, what do YOU turn to?" They make it sound like it's a bad thing, as though crutches are never needed, as though no one presupposed anything and I'm afraid that's just silly.

Decide what is true. Find your own set of core beliefs. Cling to them when you can't stand on your own. Make them simple enough that they can't be argued. Don't select silly things like "God is NOT an old black woman!" or "Only saying the name J-E-S-U-S will save you." Choose things that are simple, that cannot be argued. Things like "God is." "God is Love." "God loves ME." "Everything God does is motivated by Love for me." Then when you FEEL unloved tell you feelings that's not possible 'cause God Loves ME. When your circumstances lead you to believe that God is angry with you and punishing you, explain to your mind that Everything God does is motivated by LOVE for me.

Will we, as the Casting Crowns song says "Praise You in this storm" ? Get together with your Mind, Will, and Emotions and have a nice loooong chat. You might pick up a nice mocha or latte... you're gonna need it. :)

Scott Bettis
scottbettis.blogspot.com
www.scottbettis.com

I guess I'm "twittering" now...

2009-07-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well, that was easy. I managed to sign up for Twitter. Not only that, I signed up from my iPhone! not bad for an old guy, eh?

Yeah, I'm no spring chicken, but I have been in the technology industry since 1981 or so which gives me an edge over some of the rest of the "over 50" demographic. I'm familiar with computers, e-mail, my space, facebook, etc... and now Twitter. I'm not sure how much I'll be using it, or why/how it is better or different than facebook. but I do like the blog thing. So, buckle up pumpkin, here we go...

:)