Peggy Noonan, writing for The Wall Street Journal, comments on a scene in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. The movie is about the Battle of the Bakara Market in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993. In this particular scene, the actor Tom Sizemore, in the role of a hard-bitten, hard-core U.S. Army Ranger colonel, is in command of a small convoy of Humvees trying to get back to base with mortar and rocket fire exploding all round. In this violent vortex, the colonel guy stops the convoy, brings some wounded on board, throws a dead driver out of the driver's seat and yells at a bleeding sergeant who's standing in shock nearby:  

Colonel: Get into that truck and drive.

            Sergeant: But I'm shot, Colonel.

Colonel: Everybody's shot, get in and drive. 

The words, “Everybody’s shot,” struck Noonan. They suggest a metaphor for life. Everyone has taken a hit; everyone has been hurt. We are all walking wounded.

A statement by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow gives me pause. 

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

She goes on to cite the case of Rosie O'Donnell, who more often than not is likely to be referring again to the fact that she lost her mother when she was a child.  

"This of course is very sad, and Rosie has spoken of its sadness very often, and with a great whoosh of self-regard. Her sympathy for her loss made me think the other day: She doesn't really know that other people lost their mothers when they were young. She doesn't really know that some people never even had mothers. She doesn't know everybody's been shot." 

The apostle Paul affirms the same truth. Everyone suffers, but, he adds, the sufferings "of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us" (8:18). He even argues that inanimate creation "groans," waiting that day of future redemption.

For Norman Sleep, a professor of geophysics at Stanford, who has presented his theory to the American Geophysical Union, the travail of creation is very real. The Stanford University scientist says that the Earth may have been repeatedly pummeled by asteroids between 3.5 and 4.5 billion years ago, snuffing out all early life. He argues that there may have been long periods during which life repeatedly spread across the globe, only to be nearly annihilated by the impact of large asteroids.

Just when your life-form is beginning to make some progress -- BAM! -- an asteroid knocks you back to the first chapter of Genesis.

The early Earth, Sleep says, may have been "an interrupted Eden" -- a planet where life repeatedly evolved and diversified, only to be sent back to square one by asteroids 10 or 20 times wider than the one that hastened the dinosaurs' demise. When the surface of the Earth finally became inhabitable again, thousands of years after each asteroid impact, the survivors would have emerged from their hiding places and spread across the planet --- until another asteroid struck and the whole cycle was repeated.

Bummer.

It is just a theory, granted. Nevertheless, it is a reminder that it is tough to live a meaningful life when you are shot, or when you live in an interrupted Eden -- that is, a place where you know that at any time a catastrophic event might knock you back to square one.

No Pain No Gain

So you finally get it together and decide to begin an exercise program. It almost does not matter whether it is walking, jogging, swimming, practicing yoga or step aerobics, weight-training or following some other plan. As long as it has gotten you off the couch and onto your feet in some active way, it is a good thing.

Perhaps this time, you really get into the program and stay with it for a while. Your muscle tone and overall fitness improve, your cholesterol numbers head in the right direction, your pulse slows, your weight goes down while your energy goes up, your self-image improves and your sense of well-being becomes cheerful. You may even feel as though you can keep going like that for years to come.

Then something happens that, at least temporarily, derails your plan. It could be an injury that forces you to put your program aside for a while. It could be a death or crisis in the family that not only disrupts your routine but also so demoralizes you that you have no heart for the physical activity. It could be the arrival of the Thanksgiving-to-New Year's holiday season, with all the parties and the abundance of rich food in the house. If your exercise program is an outdoor one - such as cross-country skiing - the arrival of warmer weather can force a halt. If you are like me, I am a fair weather runner. When the cold starts, I stop. It could even be a happy family event, such as a wedding, that requires a lot of your time and causes you to set aside your fitness plan for a while.

Whatever the case, in a very short time, all those physiological and fitness gains start to reverse. A cyclist says he finds regular cycling good for his body, mind and spirit. He also says it takes only about two weeks off the bike before he starts turning back into a "slug." That is why, during the cold months, most serious cyclists either switch to a winter activity such as skiing or spinning, head south and keep riding, or learn how to dress for the weather and ride through the winter. 

What the biker calls "turning into a slug," can also be described as the process of decay, which is a natural phenomenon. Most things, it seems, do not stay the same; if they are not improving, they are decaying. In the vocabulary of sports and fitness training, that is often expressed as "no pain/no gain," but the truth is, it is also no pain/no maintain. As bodybuilder Tom Venuto puts it, "The ultimate truth is, you are either moving forward or moving backward; growing or dying. There's no such thing as comfortably maintaining."

In fact, Venuto also applies the no pain/no gain philosophy to endeavors beyond physical. He says,  

"To grow, you must step above past achievements; beyond your perceived boundaries and limits. That means stepping out of the known, into the unknown; out of the familiar and into the unfamiliar; out of the comfortable into the uncomfortable. You must get out of your comfort zone." 

Do you think such a statement is true? 

If there is no pain, is there really no gain? 

Yeah, it really is. Of course, you can find studies online proclaiming the contrary, saying that the no pain/no gain idea is a "myth." Usually, however, the people making this claim also want you to buy their program that supposedly will make you fit with little or no effort - all for only three easy payments of $59.99.

The life-journey of every human being involves pain. We may wonder why. We may rebel against it. However, the harsh reality is that living things struggle and suffer to maintain life. Often, such pain deepens the experience and appreciation of life.

A statement by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow gives me pause. 

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. 

Paul, beginning in Romans 8:17, says that we are heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, but only if we suffer with him so that God might bring us glory with Christ. He will stress that what we suffer now is not worth comparing to the glory that shall be. In fact, creation suffers and groans, awaiting the redemption of humanity. Every part of the created order experiences decay. The destiny of creation is life with God and fellowship with God. Paul challenges his readers to expand their conceptual horizons and place chronological time and personal experience within the context of eternity. Paul invites his readers to catch a glimpse of the "big picture." God, through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, has freed humanity. God, through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, is also effecting the liberation and redemption of the entire created order. Not only are persons enslaved, but the whole creation. Suffering unites all of creation. Human beings are to have dominion, yes, but they are to do so recognizing this bond they have all creation.

I am not trying to explain suffering. I am saying that suffering and pain in life is part of the training we experience that will reveal who we are. Does pain deepen our character, help us appreciate life, and even go deeper with God?

Lesson from tennis

When I was around twenty years old, while attending college at Indiana Wesleyan, someone introduced me to tennis. I fell in love with the game immediately. However, I struggled because I did not immediately hit the ball with top spin. One day, after some instruction, it happened. I hit the ball with top spin, and experienced what it was like to do so. From then on, my game improved. I needed to take another major step with the serve, of course, but it was all much fun.

            Among the aspects of the game to which I had to become used to were unforced errors. By that, tennis players mean points your opponent receives, not because he or she made a good play, but because you missed a relatively easy shot. The unforced error in tennis admits that the opponent does not always make a good shot in winning the point. Sometimes, the reason for failure to make the point is in us. When I play tennis, I have to accept that I will make plenty of errors like that.

            Of course, tennis professionals do not make many such errors. They make so few unforced errors that they can count them.

            Jana Novotna, of the Czech Republic, a player who at one time was ranked second in the world and who would — before her career was over — earn more than $11 million on the circuit, was just five points away from history. Leading 4-1 in the final set of the 1993 Wimbledon women’s championship, she was about to upset the legendary Steffi Graf.

            Novotna seemed confident — playing smart and aggressive in front of the center court crowd with members of the British royal family looking on. She had just hit a wicked backhand that skimmed the top of the net and fell short on Graf’s side, catching Steffi flat-footed. 40-30. Leading in the third and decisive set, 4-1, and one point away from taking the game, one game away from taking the set, one point from taking the match — thereby capturing the holy grail of tennis.

            Then it happened.

            Her serve for game point went straight into the net. The next toss and strangely halfhearted serve had the same result. Double fault.

            On the next point, she reacted slowly to a high shot from Graf and shanked the return. The next shot again went straight into the net. Suddenly, the set was at 4-3. Then 4-4. Then 4-5. Novotna began to crumble. Minutes before, she was a world-beater, and now she was playing more and more like a beginner with every shot. At match point for Graf, Novotna hit a low, cautious, shallow lob that Graf smashed for the winner. Game, set, match.

            At the awards ceremony, Novotna leaned over to the Duchess of Kent to receive the runner-up trophy and the white-haired royal whispered something into the devastated tennis player’s ear. Then, in a moment of compassion, the Duchess pulled Novotna’s head down on to her delicate shoulder and the young player began to sob.

            What happened? Officially, Novotna’s collapse had to do with what tennis statisticians officially deem as “unforced errors.” Throughout sports, we have the phenomenon of the choke. Something happens mentally, and the mind takes the body down the path toward failure.

            Greg Norman, “The Shark,” had a seemingly insurmountable six-stroke lead over Nick Faldo going into the final round of the 1996 Masters Golf tournament. A short shot on the unforgiving ninth hole at Augusta caused something in Norman to snap. He began to hit shots into the water, missed short putts, and shot bogey golf for the rest of the round. By the time he and Faldo walked up to the 18th hole, Nick had a four-stroke lead. When it was over, mercifully, the victorious Faldo embraced Norman in a gesture of compassion. “I don’t know what to say ... I feel horrible about what happened. I’m so sorry — I just want to give you a hug.” With that, both men began to cry.

            The 2004 New York Yankees: Up three games to none in the AL Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox and going home for game number 4. However, they lose. Boston wins, and then goes on to win the series against St. Louis for their first World Series title in over 80 years.

            Consider an industry where perfection is critical. None of us would want to be on the receiving end of an unforced error by a pharmacist. Many companies pay the same bill twice. Insurance companies often misrate drivers. Companies lose customers all the time because of little mistakes.

            In the sports world, examples abound where good players suddenly go bad. The stakes might be high on the court or on the field; however, unforced errors can have even more serious consequences in business and in other areas of life.

            The unforced error in tennis is a way of saying something like, “My bad.” It was my fault. We need that type of instinct in us spiritually as well. Of course, we can always find reasons we have done something wrong. Yet, spiritually, we need to take responsibility for who we are and the decisions we have made. Romans 8:1-11 uses the language of responsibility, where we set our minds on the things of the flesh, which leads to death, or the Spirit, which leads to life and peace. Paul refuses to let us off the hook when it comes to the fruit of our lives.

            I still love tennis, even if I do not play as much as I did when younger. I love tennis, even when I often have unforced errors. Even the unforced errors are part of the process of learning to play tennis well. We need to have enough insight, however, to know if our choices in the game of life are leading to death or to life. What fruit is coming into your life as a result of the decisions you have made?

Stewards in Saint Mark's Square

If you ever get to Venice, one of the places to see is Saint Mark’s Square, the spot Napoleon called “the drawing room of Europe.” Nevertheless, if you go there, make sure your belly is covered up. They do not have a dress code, but they do expect decorum.

Venice had 20 million visitors last year, so at any given time, there can be thousands of people in this famous square, which is surrounded by great architecture and sites of historic importance. Nevertheless, some people just do not get it, and they are not above wandering onto the square bare-chested or with their midriff exposed. Some carelessly drop litter and others try to set out picnic lunches on the square. Still others treat the nearby Grand Canal as if it were a beach.

The city leaders view these behaviors as disrespectful of the place. City council member Augusto Salvadori, who is in charge of tourism and the city’s image, explains, “Venice is a city of art and a city that belongs to the world. Guests are welcome — but Venice has to be respected.”

Indeed, the city leaders have no interest in keeping tourists away, but they do want people to observe the niceties. So recently, in addition to posting signs naming the prohibitions, they have started employing a squad of women as stewards of the square to make sure tourists are not taking unwarranted liberties.

These stewards, several of whom can speak more than one language to deal with foreign tourists, patrol the square and are ready to intervene at the first sign of unacceptable behavior. They wear special T-shirts to identify their role, and they try to do their work in a friendly way. For example, if a family starts to lay out a picnic, a steward will direct them to a location where the city permits such activity. Most visitors whom a steward corrects respond positively. However, when tourists turn belligerent, the women are able to call in police backup who can hand out fines ranging from 25 to 500 euros.

Actually, the stewards are not there to stop people from enjoying themselves, but to remind them of the importance of conducting themselves in a way that recognizes the specialness of the place.

Most local people agree with the idea of stewards in the square. They appreciate that the city is imposing some standards.

Venice is not alone in its efforts to hold the line. You cannot go into St. Peter’s in Rome in shorts or sleeveless blouses, and several other significant tourist spots have certain standards.

What is more, most of us can think of some places where some standards stewards might be useful. The attire of some people at funerals might be an example.

The point is not attire and manners. The point is that on occasion, we need a steward to direct us in how to be in the public square of life. That can be hard to hear in our individualist, don’t-fence-me-in society, but it is true nonetheless.

Paul will say in Romans 8:1-11 that all of us struggle between the demands of the flesh and the aspirations of the human spirit. The first leads to death and the latter to life and peace. His point is that the Holy Spirit can help us pay attention to the things that lead to life. Granted, sometimes the decision is “easy,” in the sense that we know the difference. On some occasions, the decisions are not quite so obvious. In either case, the Holy Spirit can be our guide, our steward, who helps makes the choices that lead to life.

Questions and Romans 7

People have accused me of asking too many questions. Sometimes, when Suzanne asks me to do so something, and the reason does not seem obvious to me, my question is, “Why?” It frustrates because usually she is on a mission and just wants me to do it. The other is that it reminds her of the questions asked by her children when they were young.

Learning to ask good questions is important as we read the Bible. In fact, life itself should stimulate some questions.

Are you ready for some humorous questions? Not important questions, but questions nonetheless:

Why do snooze buttons only give you nine more minutes of sleep?

Why can you not tickle yourself?

Those big clocks in the hall way or sometimes in large rooms — why do we call them “grandfather clocks?”

It is unlikely that these questions have crossed your mind, but they have crossed someone’s mind. The editors at Mental_Floss, a trivia magazine, have even included them in an article called “The 25 most important questions in the history of the universe” (November-December 2004).

Tongue firmly planted in cheek.

More of Life's Unanswered Questions:

 

* If pro is the opposite of con, is progress the opposite of Congress?

* If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2? 

* If the cops arrest a mime, do they have to tell him he has the right to remain silent?

* If the Energizer Bunny attacks someone, is it charged with battery?

* Why does Hawaii have Interstate highways?

* If you spend your day doing nothing, how do you know when you are done?

* Should vegetarians eat animal crackers?

* Why are there Braille signs on drive-up ATMs?

--Life's Unanswered Questions, Bored.com/questions.htm.

 

Such questions are kind of like riddles. They do not intend to bring an answer. They just intend to make us puzzle and humor us.

How do rabbits travel? By hareplane.

What did the sock say to the foot? You’re putting me on.

What do whales like to chew? Blubber gum.

 

Questions intrigue us, even if they are trivial or humorous in a grade-school sort of way.

Questions are how we learn as human beings.

Questions are how we grow in our faith.

Then sometimes we are hit with questions that stop us in our tracks, conundrums that confuse us and paradoxes that perplex. Like the dilemma the apostle Paul poses in Romans 7:  “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (7:15). He repeats himself in verse 19: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”

Some people want to read this in a psychological way. All of us wrestle at times with the difference between who we are and what we desire to be. When we see the difference – that was not me, we say, when we know it really was part of us – it causes us to ask questions. All of that is true.

Yet, I think Paul is wrestling with another matter. He has been writing about the universal nature of sin, its turn away from God. Yet, God has turned toward us to redeem us in Jesus Christ. He has also wrestled with the Jewish Law, for it promised to bring redemption as well, especially through its ethical guidance, as well as its purity legislation (mostly related to foods and Sabbath observance) and its various sacrifices. His point is that as long as you are trying to obey the Law, you will never have the peace with God for which you long.

I would like to extend the argument a bit. Today, we often hear the distinction between religion and relationship. In this chapter, that distinction works well. Religion becomes your best effort to get right with God. Frankly, I wish more people today would at least make that effort. Many people could care less today. Yet, the speaker at the Indiana Annual Conference in 2014, the writer of Renovate or Die, noted that the biggest mistake he made was to make sure his children had a relationship with the church. He was not so good about making sure they had a relationship with Jesus Christ. You see, I think many people in our churches are trying to get the church thing right. Yet, we are not following a church. We as a community are people who seek to make disciples of Jesus who will then transform the world.

When I read this passage, the question that comes to my mind is how can I move from being a religious person to being a person who abides in Jesus Christ?

Paul may put it better. All the Law and religion can do is show me that I am a sinner, for I am locked in this dilemma of not performing what the Law tells me. His question, then, is, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” His answer comes next: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Let that be our answer as well.

Independence Day and Freedom

Article on Freedom

This nation is unique in world history.  The world has had dominant world powers in the past.  However, they have only been over areas of the world, such as Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe.  Today, America is the only recognized superpower in the world.  With that power comes a great responsibility.

The words of Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence still sound sweet to our freedom-loving ears. 

 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among us, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. 

 

Signed on the evening of July 4, 1776, that powerful dream is still frightening tyrants around the world and giving hope to the people.

A movie about the Scottish fight for independence from the English, "Braveheart," is the story about Sir William Wallace.  At the end of the movie, as he is about to be executed, he is offered the chance to pledge his allegiance to the English king.  After being beaten and tortured, he struggles to shout out one word: "Freedom!"  Freedom.  I have to admit that the word still sounds good to this American.  The movie “Amistad,” which is about slavery in America, has the same theme.  When the African learned his first few words in English, they were, “Give me freedom.” 

The order in our constitution of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” may seem obvious. Yet, if we switch order, putting liberty or happiness before life, we run the risk of moral poverty. John Adams put it this way:

 

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

 

            Augustine defined the freedom to choose as a minor freedom.  The primary freedom is to choose rightly and virtuously, to be whom God created us to be.

We human beings have a tendency to abuse our freedom and independence. Among the most important ways the church can be a healing influence in American society is to help people use their freedom well.

 

Lessons from Dangerous Computer Domains

"The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, a man is lucky to get out of it alive." – W. C. Fields

The author of that joke lived a long time ago, but the world is still a dangerous place. You can lead a life that brings you down the path of death, or a path that leads you toward life.

Let me see if an analogy from technology can help us. To re-phrase W. C. Fields, "The Internet is getting to be such a dangerous place, a computer is lucky to get out alive." The constant threat of a virus, malware, can kill them.

It has been said many times in our wired world that the Internet has created a global society - an environment where people from many different countries and cultures connect as neighbors, conduct business and explore the myriad ways in which humans live and work in the world. Thirty years ago, few people would have thought it possible to sit in your house and have the world readily available, traveling across the globe with just a few clicks of what would become known as a "mouse."

However, although the advent of the 'Net has revolutionized the way we live, work and do business, it has also brought to light some of the seamier aspects of human life. Because nobody really "runs" or controls the Internet, it is a wide-open smorgasbord of the sublime, the ridiculous and, most disturbingly, the salacious and the downright scary. Little did we know that little mouse would lead us down a rabbit hole of both wonder and wickedness.

Like any big city, or even like the countries of the globe, the Internet has some good and bad neighborhoods, each of which is known by its "domain." For the nontechnical person, the domain is the dot-whatever you type in when entering a Web address (.com, .net, .edu, .gov, etc.). The domain is the realm and designation of the Web site's type and/or origin, and different countries often have different domains (.us for U.S. government sites, .ca for Canada, .ru for Russia and the like). Like different neighborhoods, cities and countries, however, different domains can get different reputations based on the character of the people who "populate" them. Some domains are delightful, and some are downright devilish.

I try to keep up with this stuff. I got caught once when a harmless site for free wall paper and backgrounds got bought out by some pornography group. That was just odd. On Facebook, you get caught by clicking on something that appears relatively harmless and interesting, and suddenly there is a shot of someone or something that you would not want.

The point is, it is dangerous out there for you and for your computer.

Such dangers for our computers have also led companies to help us in protecting them. McAfee, a leading provider of Internet security for personal computers, recently released its list of the most dangerous domains on the Internet. The report was titled "Mapping the Mal Web" ("mal," of course, being shorthand for malicious, or the Spanish word for "bad" - you get the point). Spending too much time clicking around a dangerous domain can be bad for your computer - what with all the viruses, malware and spyware out there.

Some domains are unavoidable and are rated bad because of sheer volume. McAfee's number-one dangerous domain, for example, is the .com family of sites. It is by far the most prevalent domain, so it is the most likely to mess up your machine if you are not careful. Second is the .info (information) domain. This one might seem to be misplaced, but it may be a classic example of the adage, "Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it." Rounding out the top five are the domains of three Third World countries: .vn (Vietnam), .cm (Cameroon) and .am (Armenia). A good rule of thumb is that places you would not think of as a vacation spot are probably places you should avoid on the Internet, as well.

By contrast, the five safest domains are places you would probably like to go. The safest is .travel (used by travel-industry sites), followed by .edu (education), which is used by colleges and universities. The others are all seemingly nice countries: .jp (Japan), .cat (Catalan - a region of Spain) and .gg (Guernsey - an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy, France, that is a possession of the United Kingdom).

In other words, the computer on the Internet is kind of like a human life, which has plenty of dangerous paths down which to travel. Human life needs some “anti-virus” and “mal-ware” protection for it.

It is not only your computer that can be affected by the disreputable activity of a dangerous domain. Perhaps even more insidious is the effect it can have on the person viewing what the domain is trying to push. Pornography sites, gambling sites, get-rich-quick sites, certain chat rooms and social-networking sites - all these are likely sources for both computer viruses and sickness of the soul. Addictions to these soul-crushing images and activities are a form of slavery to the real masters of the domain: evil, sin and spiritual death.

This reflection on “domains” makes me think of Paul, in his discussion of just two domains. We find it in Romans 6:12-23. We learn that Paul also had a concern for dangerous domains, long before McAfee ever hit the scene. His concern was for the realm or domain of sin and its ability to enslave us to its power. He invites us to live in another domain, one that is life-giving. As we learn with Paul, the point is not so much to “try,” but to abide “in Christ,” thereby letting the fruit of such abiding come forth in our lives.