The Road Not Taken

I was exhausted.  It had been a six day workweek.  I was tired of performing for people, tired of talking, and had a long “to do” list staring me in the face.  Friends asked me if I would like to hike a new road, a “fire trail” up into the mountains.  I declined.  I just felt too tired and too overwhelmed by my “to do” list.  Later, they showed me pictures of their hike.  It was exquisite scenery, with lovely autumn trees, wildlife, and mountain scenery of the valley below.  I was immediately saddened at what I had missed.  Pictures didn’t begin to do this afternoon justice, I knew.  I wondered what would have happened if I had taken the hike.  I would have probably had to do laundry until late in the night.  Now, I think that would have been worth it.

Fixing Things

A lot of us are just born activists.  We feel compelled to fix everything that annoys us.  Fixing things is fine, whether they squeak, grind, sputter or drip.  Its fixing people that gets us into trouble.  I should say attempting to fix people, for none of us can change another.  Many of the things about people that annoy us say more about us than about them.  A lot of things tone down as we get to know people and really understand them.  Some of the irritations are barely noticeable as our compassion increases.  Other faults and shortcomings tend to disappear with time and maturity.  We needn’t correct every one, as the Lord does that in the lives of those who love Him, and He doesn’t need our help.  Arguments and fits of temper often die down as a person’s mood and circumstances change.  They may not even remember the argument or blowup after time goes by.  Trying to make everything smooth for everyone else, or attempting to fix every disagreement may actually blow up in our faces, as new issues may be raised in the process.  Sometimes its best not to try to put out a fire that will burn itself out in time anyway.  “Biding our time” was the advice in the old days.  It may have been very wise advice for our time too.

Prayer

Lord,

I appreciate you so much.  I so love being alive.  If you had never made me, I never would have experienced the beauty of life.  If you had never searched for me, I would never have experienced the wondrous joy of knowing You and having sweet communion with You.

I believe what You tell me in Your Word.  I trust Your promises.  Help me trust You even more.  I love You.  Help me love You even more.  Help me love You as You deserve to be loved.  Help me love You to the height and depth it is possible for a human to love You.

Let me serve You.  Please enlarge my sphere of service.  I will do whatever You ask.  Help me serve You to the best of the ability You gave me.  Then give me  more ability to serve You better.  Let me always give You my very best.  Let Your home in my heart be that of an honored guest.  No leftovers for my Lord.  And at the end of my life may You look at my history and say I used every bit of everything You gave me for Your glory.  I want to be that good and faithful servent who invested your talents well and produced fruit You love in generous proportions.

How Humble am I

Its been said if I think about how humble I am its a sure sign I’m not humble.  Humble people seldom think about themselves at all.  so lets assume we’re proud people who desire to be humble.  The following questions may help us find our way:

1.  Do I count my blessings and thank God for them?  If I count my misfortunes I may have an attitude of thinking I deserve better.  Or I may have the attitude that I’m a victim and somehow a victim is more deserving than most people.

2.  Do I trust myself only or do I trust others and God?  Pride has an attitude of “only I can do things right”

3.  Do I encourage people to be all they can be, or do I nag and manipulate them to be all I want them to be?

4.  Do I mind interruptions?  Do I value others needs or do mine always have priority?  Pride considers my priorities of greater value than other people.

5.  Do I forgive?  Pride won’t forgive till the other person kneels before my throne.

6.  Am I a positive person?  Do I see good in people and situations?  Pride is critical and considers self too good for whats dealt to it .

7.  How do I treat the elderly, children and the disabled?  Am I patient and compassionate?  Do I find “they” get in my way when I have “important” missions to accomplish?

8.  Do I seek to serve others or to direct them?

9.  Is it all about me or all about something bigger than me?

10.  A humble person can state their truth without demanding agreement.  Can I?

Seeking change in my attitudes in order to be more grateful to God and more loving toward others is the first step toward becoming a humble person.

The Three Pillars

In earlier times, and not so long ago, our well-being depended upon three pillars:  family, church and community.  When misfortune befell a person, family would help.  “Thats what families are for” is certainly a saying I heard often.  When troubles were too big for family, the church would help.  When someone was sick, church members brought meals, tended children, mowed lawns and filled the hospital waiting room with support and prayer.  When the problem was bigger still, the whole community got involved.  They helped burned out families, laid off bread winners, widows and orphans.  The scope was small, the help was real help and the whole enterprise was personal.  If the town helped you, it could expect your help tomorrow.  Conversely, when you helped someone, you knew you could be in need yourself the next time.

Now all three pillars are wobbly, and there could be many articles written on the reasons why.  But we didn’t keep our foundations repaired.  Now when we’re in trouble and want a safety net, about all thats left for many of us is the government.  Government help is less helpful in many ways because it is uncaring and impersonal.  Better to have the help of those who know you, understand your needs and care about you.

Useless Input Around the Clock

We see it everywhere we go.  Couples on a date, both on their cell phones.  Parent and child together and both are text messaging.  People come from great distances for a conference and spend their breaks on a laptop.  People watch the news around the clock, but don’t know their neighbors.  Are we having the right conversations?  Isn’t face to face conversation the most valuable?  Don’t we need voice, facial expressions and touch?  Don’t we need to take time for face to face interactions with spouses, children, friends and neighbors.  The news we watch usually concerns far away places we can’t help or influence.  Yes, we should be informed, but how much do we know about the issues in our own communities where we can make a difference.  And, so it goes.  Year by year we are more plugged in and more tuned out.  And so our marriages die, our kids drift and our communities grow cold.

Mercy Ships

She was a young nurse just back from serving on board the Africa Mercy in Benin, West Africa.  She had left her job and home in the UK to travel to Africa earlier this year, and spent several weeks as a pediatric nurse on the ship.  She paid her own way to Africa, and paid crew fees (room and board) while serving.  What was her reward?  She saw young children with cleft lips and palates, children who are ostracized in their community, receive a new start in life.  She saw people with huge facial tumors receive the plastic surgery that would not only save them from a death by suffocation or starvation, but give them a new face and a new lease on life.  She saw those blinded by cataracts, either acquired or present from birth, receive sight.  Although she worked harder than ever before, and lived in crowded accommodations offering little privacy, she was so moved by what had happened during her tour of service, she is going back.  When I met her, she was taking further training and planning on serving an additional two years beginning with an outreach to Togo next year.  To see some remarkable pictures and read further stories, visit www.mercyships.org

Ted Kennedy

Someone sent me the following article today, and it stopped me in my tracks.

CHAPPAQUIDDICK: TED KENNEDY’S JUDGMENT DAY

J. Grant Swank, Jr.

I often thought down through the years as to what Ted Kennedy would do with Jesus and Judgment Day when Kennedy breathed his last. I thought specifically of Chappaquiddick’s cover-up.

Now Kennedy has breathed his last.

He has appeared at the Judgment Seat of Christ. What happened?

One thing for certain is that truth won out. It has to for the Judgment Seat of Christ is confronting Truth in that Jesus named Himself as “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

One does not escape Truth when at death providing an account of one’s earthly stay. Truth is the very core of that encounter upon exiting this sphere.

Kennedy was in the same vehicle as Mary Jo Kopechne. Mary Jo died in that vehicle at 29 years of age. It occurred at Chappaquiddick on Martha’s Vineyard.

Kennedy name and money covered up the full actual detail so that Kennedy continued on with his earthly journey. A young adult female did not. Her family was paid off to keep mum.

The secret was sealed after her death in July 1969—until the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Having partied with political campaign workers, Kennedy and Kopechne left together, not realizing that their car was headed for underwater. Kennedy swam to shore and went to bed. The next morning Kennedy did not report to authorities anything about the accident. Nothing reported.

The list of needling questions surfaced and continued to bother those with sensitive consciences and logical brains. In time, the needling gave way to numbness and finally a footnote in history.

That is, until Kennedy’s last breath and his standing before the Judgment Seat of Christ.

The biblically knowledgeable realize that eternity will reveal the facts about Kennedy, Kopechne and Chappaquiddick.

Posted by: Grant on Aug 29, 09 | 6:40 am | Profile Permalink

May this be a sobering reminder to all of us who tend to spiff up our own autobiographies.  The light of God will cut through all the fog of our own making.  Lord, please help us be honest before you, and admit the truth about ourselves that we may be washed clean now.

Politics is a Temporary Thing

During these dark and worrisome days, it helps to remember politics is a temporary thing.  When we look at the state of our economy and the almost certain passage of a plan which will become a nationalized healthcare plan within a few years, there is a worst case scenario.  While not all the specifics are the same, its useful to look at Argentina.  It shows what happens when a country collapses under its debt.  We may not collapse for the same reasons, but the collapse will likely look similar.  Ironically, ours may be worse and last longer, because we are bigger, our load will be bigger, and the IMF will be less able to help us recover.  The likelihood is, we may go through the hardest times this country has ever seen.  In Argentina, about a quarter of the nation was jobless and homeless.  Here, I predict people will double and triple up in houses, and they will have to share everything to survive.  There will be more crime and unrest, and as services fail, some of us will die for lack of basic healthcare, electricity, and possibly even food and water.  However, most of us will survive.  As my grandmother would say “And what is this in the light of eternity?”  She was right, of course, for despite the long life I’ve lived, I can promise life passes quickly.  And we are all going to die sooner or later, of something or other.  The intervening years may be very tough, but we will take it a day at a time, and we will do whatever we must.  God always knew we would be foolish, and He has it covered.  He certainly never wastes a crisis, or anything else either.  So, while I can get all hot and bothered about how bad conditions were in the 1980s when I was living in England, and how we in the U.S. are now going merrily down the same path, God is in control.  And “What is this in the light of eternity?”  “This too, shall pass.”

Healthcare will always be a problem

I went to a healthcare town hall meeting today.  It was attended by  a couple hundred people.  There was probably a policeman for every 30 people at least.  While many questions were asked and comments made on both sides, it remained respectful, so I guess we won’t make news.

One of the comments made was about the Swedish model, so I decided to come home and do a couple hours research on healthcare in Sweden.  What they have is a public/private mix of providers with a federal/local mix of oversight and financing.  In American terms, everybody is on medicaid with the “better off” folks paying for it.  What is different in Sweden is the level of taxation.  Income tax rates are 31-57%.  Thats 31% for the lowest tax bracket.  In addition, there is a VAT (value added tax, or sales tax) of 25% on almost every purchase with some exceptions made for basic food etc.  This tax structure does buy a healthcare system where everyone is covered, and there is a very small co-payment.  What happened, though, was in a generation Sweden went from being the third richest nation in the world to being 22nd, behind most of the rest of Europe.  What also happened, despite the hefty taxes, was an increase in the deficit.  Sweden’s national debt in comparison to its gross domestic product is about twice ours.  The healthcare system Sweden got for the money has waiting lines.  Some of the waiting lines are life threatening, such as an 11 month wait for cardiac care.  Just google “Swedish Healthcare” and form your own opinion.  Also google “Swedish taxes”, “Swedish per capita income” and “Swedish national debt.”  Healthcare IS expensive, no matter what reforms are done. 

I agree with the Heritage Foundation  that what we really need to be asking is “What is the Value of what we are getting for our money?”  In our system, everyone who is truly sick gets cared for, and the cost of it gets settled eventually (a lot of charity write-offs etc).  In the Swedish system, at a high price to their country, everyone who is truly sick gets cared for—eventually, if they don’t die while on the waiting list.