Modern Mondays – Inspiration from the Bible

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bible, christianity, life and religion, philosophy, writing, writing process

So, I was thinking about one of my favorite Bible stories the other day (are you on the right blog?  Yes, I have mentioned before that I am a Christian who stays busy teaching Bible classes and occasionally preaching).  I know, some folks reading this may not have my appreciation for the Bible, but please bear with me here.

So, I was thinking about a story in the book of 1 Kings.  Let me recap it briefly.  Elijah, a great prophet, had just stood up for God and won a great victory which involved God showing His power very directly to the people.  After this great victory, the queen threatens Elijah, who is terrified and runs away.  He is upset and scared and says he wishes he was dead (1 Kings 19:4).  God takes several steps to strengthen and encourage him, and finally tells Elijah that He is going to appear to Him.  A great wind comes, but God is not in the wind.  An earthquake comes, but God is not in the earthquake.  A fire comes, but God is not there either.  Finally, Elijah hears a gentle whisper, and finds that the Lord has come to talk to him.

The point of this story that any of you who are secular writers might take is that often times, the really important things are in the gentle whisper, not the tornado, earthquake, or fire.  Often times as writers, we want to “go for the gusto” with the dramatic, the edgy, or the silly.  We forget that we need to connect with our readers through simple things.

What would Kal-El be on a world full of Kryptonians?  Average.  What is he when surrounded by everyday folks like you and me?  Superman.  If you have a terribly interesting character and/or an amazing plot twist to surprise everyone with, but you turn your readers off with your confusing grammar and writing style before they finish chapter one, where are you?  If you are writing non-fiction and have the most insightful views into human nature since The Prince but folks can’t stay awake through your thoughts, what good will it do?

In advertising, they used to say “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.”  I’m here to remind you that in writing (and in life), without the steak, there is no sizzle.  Don’t ignore the basic essentials when working your craft.  Listen to the whispers, and don’t let the wind, earthquake, and fire drown them out.

“Synchroblog” post

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bible, christianity, church, life and religion, philosophy, reading, religion

The following exercise is from the synchroblog at http://frankviola.org/2012/07/09/gospelforthemiddle

I thought it sounded like an interesting joint and hypothetical approach to problem solving, so I decided to participate.

Here is the scenario being discussed:

Fielding Melish and his wife Felicia have two children, ages 10 and 6. They live in a very remote part of Maine, USA. They are surrounded by extended family, none of whom are Christians. The nearest churches are one hour away, and by all evangelical standards, none of them are good. These churches are either highly legalistic, highly libertine, or just flat-out flaky.

One of Fielding’s cousins is a practicing Christian. They see each other once a year. Fielding’s cousin has shared Christ with Fielding many times over the years. Whenever they’ve talked about spiritual things, Fielding shows interest.

Felicia grew up in a Christian home. She’s received Christ, but she isn’t evangelistic and is overwhelmed with working long hours and raising two small children. She would love to find a church nearby for the spiritual support and instruction, but none exist.

Fielding has no college education. While he is capable of reading, he is not a reader. He doesn’t use the Web either. He’s a man who works with his hands, both for his career and for recreation. He’s an “outdoorsman.” He hunts, he builds, he does manual labor, etc. In his spare time, he helps his elderly parents with various building projects.

Fielding is not an atheist. Neither is he an agnostic. He believes in God. He believes Jesus is the Savior of the world who died for our sins and rose again from the dead. He hasn’t fully surrendered his life to Christ, but he is not sure what that looks like exactly. His children know a little about the Lord, mostly because of what their mother has taught them.

Recently Fielding asked this question:

When I’m with my cousin once a year, I want to learn more about God. But when I come back home, and I’m around everyone else, my mind is off of God, and I am back to working, raising my kids, and helping my parents. Someone needs to come up with a solution for people like me . . . people who are in the middle. (By “in the middle,” Fielding means someone who believes in Jesus, but who isn’t fully absorbed in the faith yet either. They simply don’t know enough nor do they have any spiritual support system around them.)

Relocating is not an option for Fielding and his wife. Even if they wanted to relocate, they don’t see a way they could do it financially.

Remember: Fielding and his wife don’t personally know any Christians. None of their extended family or coworkers are believers either. And the nearest churches (which are an hour away) aren’t recommended.

Question: If you were Fielding’s cousin, how would you instruct him and his wife the next time you saw them?

My answer:  I would turn to the Scriptures.

You don’t have to be surrounded by Christians to be a Christian.  Jesus says in Matthew 18:20 that where two or three are gathered in His name, He is there also.  The eunuch in Acts 8 was likely going to be the only Christian around for a while, yet he went on his way rejoicing.

While you do have to have some basic knowledge of Christ to become a believer (because faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of God according to Romans 10:17), you must still continue learning after becoming a Christian.  Matthew 28:19-20 records Jesus telling the apostles to do the following 1) go 2) make disciples 3) baptize 4) teach.  Note that teaching is listed after someone is made a disciple or baptized.  1 Peter 2:2 says that we should crave the pure milk of the word as spiritual babes.

I guess my advice would essentially boil down to “don’t get discouraged and read your Bible for guidance and encouragement.”

Independence Day

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christianity, independence day, patriotism, philosophy, religion

Today is the 4th of July, and in America that means we celebrate “Independence Day”, the day that our nation declared their independence from the British Crown.  Most folks will enjoy the day off from work, cook some burgers on the grill, and watch some fireworks.  Where will I be?  In a little town called Pangburn, Arkansas.

I’ll be spending the day visiting with folks and handing out hundreds (thousands, really) of free bottles of water to thirsty people in the city park.  I’ll be joined by family and friends who are all willing to sacrifice some or in some cases all of their holiday so that others can enjoy their holiday more safely and more comfortably (and more affordably).  This is an allegory in some small way both of the sacrifices made by our forefathers to guarantee the freedom of our nation and its citizenry as well as the ultimate sacrifice made by Christ to purchase our freedom from sin.

As we celebrate our nation’s independence, stop and think about this:  What are you doing with the independence that others sacrificed to provide you, and what are you sacrificing to help others?

Coming Home

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bible, christianity, eschatology, homecoming, life and religion, philosophy, religion

Every year, schools all over the country celebrate “homecoming.”  I can honestly say that while I have attended several of my college homecoming festivities (we live in the same town, after all), I have not attended my high school’s celebrations since I graduated.  I could easily blame the confusion around St. Charles High School becoming St. Charles East and a new high school being added – St. Charles North (who came up with the idea of East and North as the differentiators anyway?  Why not East and West or North and South or even St. Charles Orange and St. Charles Black (reminiscent of the brief flirtation with Superman Red and Superman Blue that DC comics has had)?), but that wouldn’t really be accurate.

The truth is that a homecoming is when you come back to a place where you feel you belong.  I graduated at the age of 16 from a high school where I never really fit in to begin with.  I went away to a college (of my choosing) six hundred miles, two states, and one gigantic cultural leap away because I wanted to get away from everything.  Within two years I was spending breaks away from there and within three I was staying there for the summer.  I had moved on, and my “home” (family, friends, hometown) were left behind.

I found a wonderful woman to marry, and this necessitated returning home with her to introduce her to the family.  Being reintroduced to my former surroundings helped give me a new appreciation for the good parts and also helped remind me of the reasons I wanted to leave in the first place.  Since then, my family has made it a point to get together once or twice a year every year even though we are scattered (my 5 siblings and I live in 6 different states that aren’t even all contiguous).

Why did I even write this?  Well, every year the small congregation where I attend holds a homecoming and this year it happened yesterday.  The usual crowd of 30-40 swells to double or triple its normal size (it has on a few occasions topped 100).  People come from far and wide to “come home” to a place they felt like they belonged.

This is all a shadow of our ultimate homecoming.  At the end of our lives, we our bodies will return to the dust and our spirits will return to God who gave them (Ecclesiastes 12:7).  On that day, we will all ultimately end up going to a permanent home of our own choosing, based on the deeds we have done (Revelation 20:11-15, Matthew 25:31-46).  What kind of home are you preparing for yourself in that homecoming?

The Good Life

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bible, christianity, life and religion, philosophy, religion

Summer is a time when we take life easy.  We take vacations from work and school.  We go to the lake and lie in hammocks and sip tea and lemonade.  We watch parades and play horseshoes and cook burgers on the grill and generally try to enjoy life to the fullest.

The irony is that none if this is really what living life to the fullest is all about.  Jesus said in John 10:10 that He came that we may have life, and have it more abundantly.  Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 2:10 “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.” But he follows that up in verse 11 by saying “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all [was] vanity and grasping for the wind. [There was] no profit under the sun.”

It doesn’t matter how much fun you have this summer (or next summer, or any other time).  Everything on earth is temporary.  The summer will end and you will have to return to work or school.  Your youth will fade and you will have to deal with the fading health and vitality of old age.  Only by obeying God can we truly receive an abundant life.

Father’s Day

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bible, christian homeschooling, christianity, fatherhood, fathers day, life and religion, religion

(or is it Fathers’ Day?)

Either way, it is a time to reflect on parenthood and on the joy (and pain) that comes with the territory.  I love my children dearly, but they have been known to be a source of frustration, fear, confusion, and the occasional small bit of anger.  I think back on my childhood and realize that whatever negative emotions my children cause in me are nothing compared to the heartaches and headaches I gave my parents.  If you never got the fire department after you as a kid for silly, irresponsible actions involving open flames and a large apartment complex and you never got suspended from school for hitting a girl and you never got kicked out of Sunday School for insubordination and you never got arrested with your friends on the street late at night when you were supposed to be safely in one of their homes a half mile away, you might not quite understand the level of heartache/headache I caused.

I’m sure this is how God views His children.  He loves us dearly, and we cause Him so much frustration and anger by our willful disobedience that He occasionally wonders why He puts up with us at all.  When we stop and think about how much pain we are causing Him, how can we not want to change our lives for the better?  I know every time one of my kids does something frustrating it makes me re-evaluate my performance as a child of my parents and as a child of God.

Family Time

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christianity, family, life and religion, philosophy, time

As summer approached, my wife and I sat down and had a conversation.  We wanted our family to have lots of opportunities to spend quality time together.  To that end, I put in some extra time making sure the back yard was in better shape for the kids to play in (this doesn’t sound difficult, but the wooden swing/slide/fort had fallen into slight disrepair in the years between our purchasing our house and our first child being old enough to utilize it).  We also sat down and made some plans for things to do.

So far, we have gone camping, gone fishing, gone for a walk along a nature trail, played at local parks, and had a massive water fight this afternoon (and when Dad has the hose and the water gun reloading equipment, he ALWAYS wins – everybody ought to know that).  We’re thinking about catching the circus (you know, the Greatest Show on Earth) when it is in the Little Rock area next month, but most of our endeavors have required little or no money on our part.

That’s the thing people don’t realize – the most valuable commodity any of us have is time.  People can tell what you value by how you spend that precious commodity.  Do you spend your time with family and friends creating cherished memories?  Do you spend your time helping and serving others?  Do you spend your time trying to do something that will establish a lasting legacy for yourself?  Do you spend sixty hours a week at work and another fifty hours a week in front of the television?

Think about how you spend your time.  It’s the most valuable of commodities and the one you can never get back if you fritter it away.

Why?

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bible, christianity, religion

The small congregation where I attend has been handing out free bottles of water at their city’s 4^th of July celebration in the city park.  Since we started handing out bottles of water in 2009, many people have asked us “Why are you doing this?”  Quite frankly, most of what we do boils down to the two greatest commandments:  Love God and love your fellow man (Matthew 22:36-40; Mark 12:29-31; Luke 10:25-37).  Other passages clearly indicate that this love for our fellow man should be expressed through action (Matthew 25:31-46; Matthew 28:19-20; James 2:14-26; 1 John 3:16-17).  This is why over 80% of our funds are spent directly on seeing to people’s physical and (more importantly) spiritual needs.

Over the last 15 years or so, we have supported the preaching of the gospel in prisons in our home state, in several states around our nation, and in many foreign nations.  These are all fertile areas for the gospel and have borne much fruit.  Over the past couple of years we have focused more of our attention on our local area, because we love our neighbors in the area around our town just as much as we love our neighbors abroad.    We hope that we have more opportunities to interact with the members of our community and demonstrate what Christian love is truly about.

The Passover

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bible, christianity, passover, religion

I know, we are months past the Passover and months more away from the next one, but this is still an important lesson.

Galatians 3 explains that the Old Testament was given to teach us.  It’s amazing what you learn about New Testament concepts by studying the Old Testament.

Israel was in bondage for many years in Egypt.  When God freed them, he did so by killing the firstborn of every household that had not taken the steps necessary to identify themselves as belonging to God through participation in the Passover.  Exodus 12 goes into detail and explains that the only acceptable sacrifice was an unblemished male lamb.  Those who failed to follow God’s instructions put themselves and their households in jeopardy.  When the Israelites left Egypt, they were commanded to commemorate this Passover every year.

Jesus said in John 8:34 that all who sin are slaves to sin and Paul said in Romans 6 that we are enslaved by sin.  Paul also said in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death.  Because of this, God celebrated a new Passover.  He sent His son, the lamb of God without spot or blemish who “became our Passover” (1 Corinthians 5:7).  It is through His blood that we have salvation (Romans 5:9, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:20, Hebrews 10:19), and it is by participating in His death that we have a hope for eternal life in heaven (Romans 6:3-9).  In Matthew 26 Jesus established the way by which we commemorate this new Passover, and we continue to do so today through the Lord’s Supper.

First Fishing Trip

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christianity, fishing, going fishing, life and religion, philosophy

So, the state of Arkansas has several weekends a year when they allow everybody to fish without a license.  We decided that this weekend we would take advantage of that to take our kids fishing for the first time.  I have owned several different fishing poles over the years and I was relatively certain that I could find one of mine (I did).  We bought a smaller pole for our kids (aged 3 and 6) to share.

Both of the kids loved the idea (“We going fishing!” declared our three year old son), but in practice, only our six year old daughter could appreciate it.  Our son was willing to hold a pole and turn the crank a little, but he wanted to spend his time stomping through the mud with an occasional foray into the water (which resulted in a tumble that left him soaked and made my wife glad I had insisted we bring towels and leave them in the van).

Our six year old wanted to actually fish.  Never having fished before, she had a tough time learning how to cast.  I showed her a couple of times and then held her hand and helped her do it.  I then let her do it herself.  She failed miserably.  The timing of when to press the button with her thumb and when to release it escaped her.  She insisted that she would “never” learn how to do it and she just wanted me to cast it for her and she would reel it in.  I took her hand and helped her cast a couple of more times, and then let her go again.  Her next cast went sideways about ten feet, but it went.  A few more abortive attempts and she was consistently casting her line fifteen to twenty feet into the Little Red River and was thoroughly enjoying herself.

I guess both of our kids’ fishing experiences are metaphors for life and religion.  Some folks seem excited about whatever endeavor they are about to begin, but when confronted with the reality they would rather goof off than pursue their chosen course of action.  That was our son.  Other folks get excited and start down the path, but things are never quite as easy as they seemed when you were thinking about starting.  Frustration sets in and you want to give up as soon as you begin.  If we look to those around us for encouragement and guidance to help us along the way, we soon find that we can continue on the path we have set for ourselves.

Our daughter was disappointed that we didn’t catch anything and is already eagerly anticipating our next fishing trip.  Our son was just thrilled to be able to run around and yell “I fell in!”