Strength through gentleness

Bitterness, loneliness, hatred, retribution, anger or even rage are emotions that infect and break down the character into such a shattering, destructive way, that people who experience such emotions often reach a point of breaking.  It is at that point that they begin their wrestle with God.

Joni Eareckson Tada is a lady who is internationally known for her devotion to God.  At a young age she dove into a lake where she suffered an injury that left her confined to a wheelchair as a quadriplegic that has prevented her from walking or moving her arms for most of her life.  Her condition has not prevented her from excelling in almost everything she has ventured.  For years she has hosted a radio show called Joni and Friends, she has achieved honors and celebrity through her paintings.  Yet there was a time when she experienced bitterness and anger toward God.

This is interesting that Joni experienced this type of bitterness.  Her experience where she voiced her confrontation with God reminded me of something in my own studies.  She said, “It was as if God were holding my anger up before my face and saying lovingly but firmly, ‘Stop turning your head and looking the other way.  This bitterness has got to go.  What are you going to do about it?’"

A psychologist named John McGee has developed the procedure of Gentle Teaching.  It was very popular during the 1980’s and can be very powerful.  Gentle Teaching does not focus on compliance or obedience, but focuses on teaching Individuals to feel safe with others. In order for this to happen, we must look at ourselves as caregivers. Looking at ourselves is assessing how we use our Tools (our hands, eyes, words and presence) to facilitate an understanding of safety with those we work with. We learn best when we feel safe. If the Individuals we work with do not feel safe, the learning environment is non-existent.

Gentle Teaching uses the relationship between the Individual and the Caregiver as the foundation for teaching. This relationship requires a feeling of companionship. But some Individuals with cognitive impairments or challenging behaviors such as what Joni was experiencing do not develop effective strategies to experience a feeling of companionship. As a result, they may not feel safe. By trying to teach and provide a feeling of safety, we improve their quality of life.

It seems amazing to me that people like John McGee can stumble on a method of helping people by having the Therapist take the role of strength with gentleness with the person.  It seems like just the thing Joni said that God did with her.

We need to understand that God is the author of all gentleness.  His Grace is sufficient not only to lift us from ourselves, but to provide the true gift of relationship with Him.  As good as all man discovered "self-help" methods can be to console the grieving heart, it can never touch the reality of the loving God who loved us so much that He sent His only Son to offer Himself a sacrifice so that we may be lifted to Him and experience His wonderful Grace.

Don’t you know that God smiles at us as we “discover” things that He has already created and just placed here for us to find?

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Poor performance of public schools

Would you believe that in some parts of the country the rate of high school dropouts from the public school system is reaching 50 percent.  There are more honor students in China than there are students in America.  With the national "No Child Left Behind" law teachers throughout the country spend three/fourths of their teaching time, which is still only 180 days per school year, teaching to the test the students take toward the end of the school year.  Even among the students who do graduate from high school in America barley half read above the 5th grade level.  The greatest fear among teachers in most inner city schools is the fear of being beat up by students.  In most public high schools in America, as well as most public schools from the 5th grade forward, the administration will not fail a student the teacher says needs to fail if the parent does not want their child to fail.  In America it is virtually impossible to fire a tenured teacher even if it is proven they are incompetent to teach.

In community after community you can talk to teachers who will tell stories of students who openly challenge the authority of the teacher.  A student will curse, even using the so-called "F" bomb to scare, intimidate and outright defy authority.  When the student is sent to the office for misbehavior or disrupting the class room, the administration is gripped with fear to do anything punitive to the student because of the threat of lawsuits from parents against the school district.

More money is being spent on education every year; politicians campaign on more money for education, taxing the property owners or offering up referendums for general tax increases earmarked for some educational need.  It just does not seem to help the quality of education when it is thought that more money will increase test scores; it does not.  We continue to build multi-million dollar buildings in communities across the nation, but classrooms are still being ravaged by a contingent of rabble students who use violence and intimidation to control the teacher and other students in the class.

Several years ago a man was recognized in Paterson, NJ at Eastside High School for bringing order to a school that had been lost to violence, drug pushers and students inside the school who practiced fighting, vandalism and abuse of teachers and students.  In his biography we read,

"In September 1982, during the first day of class at Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey, a student was stabbed. In 1983, things would be different. The school's new principal, Joe Clark, would be the reason why."

"Clark thwarts those who believe that the learning process is disrupted by tough discipline. Instead of offering sympathy, Clark held high expectations for students, challenging them to develop habits for success and confronting them when they failed to perform. On a single day during his first week at Eastside, Clark expelled 300 students for fighting, vandalism, drug possession, profanity or abusing teachers. He explains, 'If there is no discipline, there is anarchy. Good citizenship demands attention to responsibilities as well as rights.'" (Both of these statements can be found at the following link:   

http://www.joeclarkspeaker.com/biography.htm)

Perhaps it is time for Americans to turn back the clock and see why educators were more successful in years past.

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If you died tonight

"So, if you died tonight, would you go to heaven?"  That was a question I asked my friend. 

His response:  "Of course, God has too much grace to leave me behind." 

I continued, "But you are living like you don't even believe in God.  You drink too much, you never attend any church service, and I have never known you to pray."

After a bit of silence, my friend said, "Yeah, but God doesn't expect us to live some kind of 'holier than thou' kind of life.  He expects us to enjoy life and have fun."  "Besides," he continued, "I don't do anything really bad; I've never killed anyone, I don't rob banks or liquor stores."  "In fact," he went on, "I am better than a lot of people I know."

"That may be true," I responded, "but are you better than Jesus?"  "Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?"

He lowered his head, shuffled his feet and seemed a bit embarrassed, and said, "You know I don't talk about all that religious stuff like Jesus and angels and sheep; I am just part of the whole outdoors.  I can worship in the woods while I hunt for deer, or at the lake where I can fish for my dinner."

"But," I started to say.

"No," he interjected, "you believe all that stuff about God and Jesus, but I'm not sure I believe all of it."  "I mean after all, who says that there is a heaven, or a hell for that matter?"

Silence hung for a minute or two and he raised his head and looked at me square in the eyes and said, "Do you believe all that?"

"Yes," I whispered.  I told him I believed in God the Creator and told him the account recorded in the Bible about God and the fall of mankind, Adam and Eve.  I then went through some of the Scriptures that foretold about the coming of the Christ, how Abraham was chosen by God to form a nation.  About the nation of Israel being God's nation through which the Son of God would be born.  We reviewed the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to read about the birth of Jesus and His working on this earth.

I then said to my friend, "It really does make a difference to me.  My life is built on the foundation that God is real, He has communicated with me through His Word, the Bible, and He has said to me that to be with Him forever I need to have faith in Him, submit to Him and take Jesus as my Lord and Savior." 

Finally, I said to my friend, "What if I die tomorrow and on the other side of this life there is absolutely nothing.  I am gone completely, death is absolute and there is no hereafter.  Then it really didn't make any difference what I believed, I would not be facing anyone, I would be dead."

"Yeah," he said, "so then what was the difference."

"Suppose on the other hand," I continued, "You die tomorrow and what you believe about death being the end is not really true, in fact at that moment you find out there is a God waiting for you on the other side, and everything the Bible says is true."  "Will it make a difference to you as you stand in judgment in front of God's Throne?"

"So how do I defend myself?" he asked. 

"You don't; there is no way to defend yourself, if you are covered with sin you are guilty."  "You pay the price of sin, and that price is eternal separation from God in a place of eternal torment." 

"However," I continued, "In the same situation I will not have to defend myself because I have yielded to Jesus and He has become my Advocate, my Lawyer if you will."  "When I stand before the Throne of God it will be Jesus Who will argue my case.  Sin will try to condemn me, but Jesus will have covered me with His blood that He shed on the cross.  Because of that blood God will not even see my sin.  Because of my Advocate Who covered me with His blood, God will declare me no longer guilty and confirm that I was redeemed by the Blood of Jesus."
 



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Celebration or relief

If a strong man attacks a village with murder and pillage, and the villagers plead with him to stop, but he keeps right on plundering and murdering at will, is it a human response to seek revenge?  If the strong man continues his attacks for years without remorse, but rather celebrates at the greater number of killings, is it a Christian response for the villagers to "turn the other cheek?" 

If finally the village manages to stop the strong man and he dies in the process, would the villagers, through their human side, seek release through celebration, or through their relationship with God in them as Christians simply feel relief?  I think we see that full range of response; but even though each and every one of us who live on this earth are totally human, not many are experiencing the strength of God's Holy Spirit by being Christian. 

I wonder if the celebration is from the result of the chase, while the relief is knowing the strong man is now absent and God's judgment can finally prevail.

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Memory lane

Here is a copy of a message I sent to my sisters and brother on my Dad's birthday this year; February 1 would have been my Dad's 100 year old birthday. He was born February 1, 1911 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Of course my memories of yesteryear must always include my life with my Dad and Mom, brother and sisters. I know it is the same for many who have fond memories of growing up in their own family. Really, when you think of it, memories are really great...but I do love to look forward too.
 

Just for a couple of minutes however, take a walk down memory lane; so many people alive in America right now have experienced these very decades.  Perhaps that is why they were called by Tom Brokaw "The Greatest Generation."

Message follows:

Just a note to say Happy Birthday to Dad who would have been 100 years old today. He worked hard all his life even though the times in which he lived dealt him a weak hand. Think of the decades of his life. Born in 1911 just four years after Oklahoma moved from being Indian Territory to a state, Oklahoma. It was still rough around the edges with people still living in the wilderness of the un-tamed West. The horse and wagon was still the primary means of local transportation with the car becoming into its own during Dad's first decade.

By the time he was 10 years old in 1921 the "War to End all Wars" had been fought from 1914 to 1919. WWI had been the bloodiest war to date with over nine million people dead. I'm sure that he heard stories from his Dad and Mom about the war and the people fighting it. I am sure it must have had a lasting effect on his life. But as he entered his tenth year he was also entering the decade of the 1920's which was a time of growth in America with Speakeasies and gangsters headlining the radio stations. In fact, the decade was labeled as the "Roaring Twenties" with post-war growth and some prosperity. I believe I remember that Granddad owned a little gas station during that time. I can almost see Dad puttering around the station, not doing much work with his two left hands, but kicking the can across the parking lot as Granddad waited on customers.

Even though he perhaps came of age during that second decade, the first flawed hand had already been dealt. In 1929 the banks in America and around the world fell with the crash of the stock market. By the time he was 20 years old in February 1931 he had already experienced a taste of the world-wide depression. For that decade he found little work, even though he managed to get married to Mom and had a “ready-made” family. With promises of work in Iowa he migrated toward a promise. But as depressions go, this one had very little hope. Being called back to Muskogee I remember some of his stories about the time when he set bowling pins for a day’s work just to earn 12 cents for his efforts.

Just as he might have been rising from his knees to his feet from the drag of his third decade and the depression that made such a mark on him, the Japanese decided to make his next decade a memorable one. In 1941 with their attack on Pearl Harbor the world again plunged into a second world war. Like so many others he left home and went to Germany where he served in the army as that war was fought.

I often wondered why he liked Ike so much. But in his next decade of life, now in his forties, he liked Ike because by 1952 when Eisenhower was elected to his first term, Dad was finally beginning to see the light. This was the first real decade of his life that held a hope for the future; one with peace and possible prosperity. For that decade he saw a lasting peace (notwithstanding Korea), at least for him anyway. He saw his kids growing and moving into their own lives. My sister going off to college, the first child to go to college, get married; the other kids in school thriving the advent of television and the benefits of the newly found military-industrial revolution that brought a variety of modern conveniences. Even though he lost his own Dad during that decade, he had a family, a steady job, a strong foundation of church life, and the prospects of an extended security.

By the time 1961 came around I lingered until graduation but then left the nest. I didn't live around him too much after that, but I know that those last decades were happier ones for him. He had been to weddings, graduations, flourishing grandchildren and finally seemed to have enough money to be comfortable.

He sometimes told me that he thought his life had been a failure. I don't think he believed that in his later years because he realized that things had really turned for him after he left the army in 1945. I saw a lot of days where his pride came alive and he felt good about things, especially the accomplishments of his kids. So here we are, a hundred years later, the four of us who are left, and I say for my part I believe Dad had a wonderful life, accomplished a great deal, has a great heritage, and I remember him fondly.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

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Changing society

When I was younger I studied television and electronics.  One of the things I learned about the old black and white television sets was that the picture was made with a stream of electron beams shot from a cathode ray tube (CRT) commonly called the picture tube.  On the neck of the picture tube was a "yoke" that was electromagnetic that pulsated an electric current that "pulled" the electron beam produced in straight-line form from the left to the right and down creating a line across the screen.  The actual picture was made by pulling this beam so rapidly that it created 525 lines on the screen that were so close together they appeared as the picture.  Of course sitting back from the television set the human eye was incapable of distinguishing the 525 separate lines, but merged them into a solid picture. 

As the television set aged the lines in the picture became dimmer.  The picture began to fade and became more difficult to see.  The television set usually had a control knob somewhere in the front or the back that allowed the viewer to "brighten" or "darken" the picture.  There was also a "contrast" knob that also allowed the viewer to adjust the sharpness between the dark and light so the picture became sharper.  But as the set was on for many hours each day, and the viewer watched it day after day, soon many years passed and the picture had become so dull that it could hardly be seen.

The funny thing about that early television set was that as we watched it month after month, we did not see the gradual fading that was occurring within the set resulting in making the picture more difficult to see.  Now if we had a new television set sitting right beside the old one, it was easy to see how the old set had faded over the years.  But the truth is, we do not usually compare the picture with a new set; we compare the picture of today with the picture we had seen yesterday.  There was such a small variation between the pictures from one day to the next, we just did not notice it.

Societal Change

I believe our society changes in a similar fashion.  We only compare today with what we experienced yesterday.  The change is just not significant enough for us to perceive a difference.  There has been a difference, however.  Let me give an example.

Recently, the day after Easter I had the opportunity to visit a preschool educational class that contained a group of four and five-year-olds.  The children were happy and playing with the toys and other materials in the classroom.  The Teacher was in good control of the activities and the children responded very well.  Gathered on a carpet, sitting in their respective places, with the Teacher situated in the front, the group of children looked up at the Teacher and listened to the questions.  The primary question for discussion was, "What did you do yesterday on Easter Sunday?"

The answers to that question were relatively compacted in responses that focused entirely on Easter egg hunts, color of the eggs used, opening presents received, receiving a gift of Easter bunnies, eating candy shaped like chickens or rabbits, having new clothes and eating a nice lunch.

It struck me as odd that not one child even remotely mentioned anything connected to Jesus.  Nothing about visiting church, Sunday school, attending Mass, or a symbol of the cross.  Keep in mind this school was federally funded so the Teacher could not prompt anything that even obliquely favored a "religious" response.  But the children, who were only four and five years of age, really did not know anything about the separation of church and state.  One would think that at least one comment would have landed on the real reason for the celebration of Easter.  The conclusion that I reached was that even with the mention of the word Easter and the activities associated with that event, in our modern age it is not even "obliquely" associated with the sacrifice of Christ.

Then I thought, "What if instead of this being 2011, it was 1911, just one hundred years ago."  I wonder if that would have made a difference.  I believe it would have.  I believe if the same age group had been asked the same question on Monday, "What did you do yesterday on Easter Sunday?" the answers would have included words like, "pray, learned about Jesus, baptism, sacrifice, Jesus on the cross, dinner with family and church."

We live in a world of incremental change.  We can compare today with yesterday and it will not seem too different.  But if we compare today with one hundred years ago we will see a vast difference.  In this case, the change is the elimination of God in our society.  Where will we be at the end of the next one hundred years?

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Jesus was not murdered

The other day I heard a preacher talking about the crucifixion of Jesus and the events surrounding the resurrection of Jesus and his "murder."  Although it might have been just a slip of the tongue and perhaps not even something the preacher believed, nevertheless it was spoken in the context of Jesus having lost his life at the hands of others in a premeditated or spontaneous way.  Over the years I have heard that before, that Jesus was murdered and died at the will of others.

Perhaps I am just splitting straws, but I believe that Jesus willingly gave His life as a sacrifice because God had demanded it.  His life was not taken from him in the form of intended homicide or unintended, spontaneous manslaughter.  From His earliest life for which we have an account it appears that Jesus was aware of His mission on earth.  Even before His appearance on earth there was a hint of His mission.

Joseph, who was engaged to marry Jesus' mother, Mary, was considering breaking off the engagement since it appeared that she was pregnant.  But an angle of the Lord appeared to him in a dream telling him, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."  (Matthew 1:20-21)

When Jesus was twelve years old he and his family visited the Temple in Jerusalem for the Jewish Feast of the Passover.  When the Passover was completed the family started their journey home.  Jesus stayed behind and was not missed before the completion of a full day's journey.  When Mary and Joseph returned to find him talking to the leaders in the Temple who were amazed at the maturity and knowledge he possessed, his parents seemed to chastise him by saying, "Son, why have you treated us like this?  Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."  (Luke 2:48)  Jesus answered them, "Why were you searching for me?  Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"  (Luke 2:49)

Some believe that this verse in Luke could be rendered, "Don't you know that I should be about my Father's business?"  Even at a young age of twelve years old Jesus had a sense that he was doing his Father's business and needed to learn all he could to carry out the Father's will.  The Apostle Paul picks up on this theme when he recites what some believe to be a poem or song, "And being found in appearance as a man, he [Jesus]humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!"  (Philippians 2:8)

Deep into his ministry Jesus had entered the region of Caesarea Philippi where he asked his Disciples who people thought he was.  When they answered that some thought he was one prophet or another, Jesus asked them who they thought he was.  It was at that time that Peter confessed Jesus to be the Christ, "the son of the living God."  (Matthew 16:16)  Matthew continued, "From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teacher of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."  (Matthew 16:21)

Jesus knew he would die, but he also knew that it was a journey that he had to finish; it was his desire to follow the will of God.  He proceeded on toward Jerusalem with his twelve disciples in tow.  On the way again he said, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.  They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified.  On the third day he will be raised to life!" (Matthew 20:17-19)

Finally, at the eleventh hour, having known for years what his mission was on earth, Jesus arrived in another garden far from the Garden of Eden, the Garden at Gethsemane.  He said to his disciples, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with me."  Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.'"  (Matthew 26:38-39)

Jesus was on a mission and had to complete every prophecy from God in order to be the perfect sacrifice that would be acceptable to God.  His life was always in his hands alone, if people wanted to take his life prematurely he would "walk through their midst."  He did not walk unknown into a trap cleverly set by the powers that be, he knew from the very beginning what he had to do.  So as he hung between heaven and earth on the instrument of death used in crucifixion, the seventh, and last statement uttered by Jesus was, "It is finished."  "With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."  (John 19:30)

The Jews did not murder Jesus; the Romans did not murder Jesus; no ethnic group or individual murdered Jesus.  Jesus laid down his life as a sacrifice willingly because it was the Will of God to be an acceptable sacrifice for the redemption of lost people everywhere.    

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