My dear wormwood: Make sure the patient remains completely fixated on politics. Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis, 1942 Angst is a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general. Anger is a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility. Angst is defensive and general. Anger is offensive and specific. Angst sees the problem “out there.” Anger finds the solution inside. Angst inhabits cowardice. Anger motives courage. I don’t think Jesus ever felt angst. I know He was sometimes angry. I am moving from Angst to Anger and I think it’s a good thing. My angst is based on disgust with politics and disappointment with the church. I have long wondered how a nation couldn’t come up with two candidates better than what we have. I am beginning to realize that we are getting what we want and deserve. There’s a feeling of satisfaction in thinking that we are morally superior to our elected leaders. It’s an excuse for not being better. It’s like my attitude about the church. It’s easy to see that the church is not compassionate enough, involved enough, or doing enough. It’s harder to recognize […]
Election 2016 – For Children
I recently read an article giving advice on how to deal with this election with your children. It’s a great article. Then it dawned on me that most of us are being child like in our treatment of the election. The candidates are acting like children. I guess we shouldn’t expect to be any better. I am angry about the choice we have for President in November. I’m a Republican and my party rejected men with high moral standards and went with an egotistical, no class reality star. My Democratic friends couldn’t find anyone better than Hillary, who wouldn’t know the truth if it bit her and who believes that a child has no rights and can be murdered until the moment of birth and that I should have to pay for it. I realize that those are my issues and don’t project then on everyone else. It’s my anger and that’s what it’s based on. Maybe I need a perspective reset. Maybe we all do. 1. Fear Not. Most voters aren’t thrilled about their candidate, they are “afraid” of what will happen if the other candidate wins. I’m okay with having no faith in the government, but the […]
The Old Man in the Baseball cap
Don’t those old folks who drive around town 2o miles under the speed limit really irritate you. I have blown my horn at them. I have driven around them and given them the “You don’t own the road look.” It’s sometimes an old guy by himself. My wife and I noticed he always seems to be wearing a baseball cap. Often it’s some old lady who probably is on her way to Walmart for no good reason. Whether it’s a man or woman driving, they have both hands on the wheel and eyes cemented on the road ahead. Sometimes its a couple. Does it really take two of them to drive? I have summarized these types as the “old man in the baseball cap.” Recently, while trying to deal with my stress filled day, some jerk blew his horn at me. It was all I could not to shoot him “the bird.” Later some guy pulled along side of me and berated me for several seconds before speeding down the road. I imagined following him, pulling him out of his car and giving him the spanking his mother failed to do. That three hundred pound weight lifter is lucky I’m […]
Just Shut Up
If you can’t seem to hear from God, maybe you should just shut up. I know that sounds a bit rude, but you know you’ve been told nicely that you need to be quiet to hear from God and you just haven’t listened. It’s incredibly important, so, I believe, a little rudeness is completely justified. Don’t judge me. Just shut up. You can’t hear from God with your mouth open. Whatever you are saying isn’t as important as what God is trying to tell you. It’s the problem I have with fasting. Fasting becomes the topic of conversation. Folks talk about how hard it is, or how easy it is or how much they are getting out of it or how they have manipulated the “rules” to make it not really fasting at all. Fast and just shut up. Think about it this way. By your constant mouth movement, you are not just making too much noise for you to hear from God. You are causing the same problem for those around you. We feel obliged to at least pretend to be listening so it stops us from hearing from God as well. Bless us by your silence and […]
The Political Distraction
This election will be decided in a handful of states and mine is not one of them. Louisiana Christians in particular would be better off spending the time and energy promoting Jesus as the only solution to what ails us and preparing for the awful situation which will prevail in this country when the election is over. Going to the polls this November will be like going to a Saints game; we should be wearing bags over our heads to avoid being identified. A recent Fox News poll found that 57% of voters say that fear that the other candidate might win is behind their choice. In other words, most voters are voting against someone instead of for someone. It’s not just that we don’t like the opposition. We are actually fearful of what they will do. After the election, we will be more sharply divided than ever. We will have a President that most did not really wanted. More than a third of us will believe the new President isn’t honest or trustworthy. More than half of us will have a negative opinion of our new leader. Many of us will be in fear of what our government […]
Sue Didn’t Call
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8 There is no truth in Satan. It’s his nature. As Christians, we formerly had that nature, now we have the nature of Christ and all the truth that comes with it. But elements of untruth just seem to hang around and Satan clings to them to make, and keep, us useless. He drags untruth into every day life. Like this: If your friend Sue usually calls every day and on Tuesday doesn’t call, the truth is just a call was not made. That’s the only truth. It doesn’t mean Sue no longer loves you or that she has died in an accident. It doesn’t mean that she’s angry about something you said to her. It doesn’t mean she is no longer your friend. It doesn’t mean she is telling everyone what an awful person you are and that you are now friendless. It doesn’t mean, you never should have been her friend. It doesn’t mean, that you are the kind of person who can’t really […]
Objects in Mirror are Closer. . . and Uglier
The sad thing about self-pity is the “self” part. When we’re down, the cause is usually too much time looking in the mirror. It becomes all about me, my life, my pain, my problems, my situation. The problem with mirrors are that they seem to be accurate, but aren’t. Objects in the mirror are actually closer and uglier than they seem. The point is that we can’t trust the mirror that leads us to self-pity. In the mirror, the problems are never are distorted. They seem bigger, more insurmountable, unsolvable. Mirrors tend to focus our attention on details. We lose sight of the big picture. All we can see is the problem. We can’t see all that is good in our lives when gazing through the problem mirror. Mirrors have narrow focus. If we could just look around a bit we could see that our problems are nothing. We are the man with no shoes, forgetting about the man with no feet. We can’t afford what we want, forgetting about the millions who can’t afford to eat. We are ill in our bodies, forgetting those who are dead in sin. Instead of looking at mirrors, we need to gaze […]
In God’s Will and Time
Wouldn’t life be great, abundant even, if we could get in sync with God’s will and His timing? Much of the heresy in the church today arises from false teaching about God’s will and timing. We are told that God wants what’s best for His children. That’s true. He knows what is best; we don’t. What’s worse some believe that we can change His mind about what’s best or when things should happen. Much of our prayer time is spent explaining to God what He needs to do and when He needs to do it. God must smile and shake His head a lot. Abundant life isn’t a comfortable past and a “secure” future. It is the expectant joy in experiencing the surprising opportunities God presents us with each day. Life is exciting and satisfying not when God provides what we order up each day, but we experience what he supplies every day.