01.09.2021 - week 87
what-about-ism doesn’t help
my boys are the kings of what-about-ism. when brother #1 is caught stealing brother #2’s cookies .. his inevitable complaint. but what about when he stole my socks ???? it’s a cycle of blame where un-defendable behavior is justified by the complaint that my opponent is worse.
in partisan politics and struggling marriages and most any type of rivalry, there is a temptation this strategy. the ‘other side’ does it too or does it worse.
did i flirt with a guy at work? well did you know what i found in my husbands browser history?
those guys at the capitol building? well did they say anything when cities and buildings were being burned down?
did i cut corners on my taxes? well did you know what my neighbor did?
this is simply not useful and not helpful. we think we are justifying our position by the eloquence of our argument against the other side, but to a discerning person, we are revealing that our thinking is not based on moral conviction but pragmatic expedience. said more simply, if my reason what i did is ok is nothing more than my ability to convey how bad they are, i have already admitted to not loving my neighbor as myself.
laying down my rights and being willing to wronged without responding in kind is at the heart of what Jesus taught and practiced. the race to the bottom that was on display this week in so many places simply didn’t help make anything better. this year has been full of them … it isn’t that the hypocrisies aren’t real.
prohibition on public gatherings UNLESS they are racial protests / one guy did something wrong in ukraine but the other guy didn’t / schools aren’t safe to open, but go ahead and fly on a plane / when they protested it was GOOD, but when we do its BAD? etc etc etc etc
that feeling so many people have that someone is getting away with something isn’t inherently wrong, it’s the belief that once i have that belief my poor behavior is justified that is problematic.
it’s never right to do the right thing. it’s never holy to be vicious to one of god’s children. it’s never righteous to destroy something that isn’t yours / if you are wrong in the way you express your rightness you are still wrong
let’s call a truce and end ‘what-about-ism’ once and for all. it’s making things worse.
KG Korner
(a few wise words from lady kristen macdonald)
May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth!” Psalm 72:6
Many times this week I have just stopped in my tracks and prayed out loud; not for some grand solution I have thought of but for God to work and move as only he can.I don’t know if we will ever completely understand how prayer works but the combination of our invitation desiring him to come, to comfort and to move with his presence does something nothing else can. Watching the news this week has pushed me toward this, hearing of someone’s unexpected passing pushed me toward this, sending my kids to a new school has pushed me toward this, and all the plans of starting a new church has pushed me to more and more prayer. That’s just the beginning of my prayer list, what is on yours?!
If you have ever walked through mown grass after it has rained you don’t question if it has rained at all. You have evidence on your shoes and chances are that the water has soaked through to your socks and possibly your feet as well. But so often as Christians we believe in our heads that God is everywhere but when we personally can’t feel him we begin to question in our hearts his presence everywhere. I think everyone agrees that we need his presence now more than ever but a few more verses promising continual presence can’t hurt.
Hebrews 13:5 promises his presence with the words, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Psalm 139 flat out asks the question of where can a person go from the holy spirit or flee from His presence. Verses 8-10 affirm God’s omnipresence. “If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”
Matthew 1:23 talks about Jesus being named Immanuel which means God with us.
Maybe today you need to read each of these verses aloud to remind yourself of His presence. It could be that you need to just pause and sit in his presence to listen for what he wants you to hear. Quite possibly in his presence you will be reminded of something you need to repent of or a person he wants you to reach out to. I believe with all my heart that God’s presence is always available to us but sometimes we forget to invite him in.
A huge answer to prayer this week was that our boys got to start IN person learning again for the first time since March (can you hear me singing hallelujah;)! It seems as though it’s off to a great start but one of them has expressed the feeling of difficulty in finding friends. I have no doubt that the Lord will provide but as he waits the best thing I can pray for him is that he would feel the Lord’s presence as he is there in the midst of his loneliness. Although a tangible person sometimes feels better than the one you can’t see, I know that the comfort and peace and love of the one who sees all is doing something bigger in the midst of it all.
I pray that His presence in your life would “be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth!” May you invite him in today and see him work as only he can.
leadership thought
leak not lack
this was written at a time a year ago where i had to accept that my problems couldn’t be solved by more. reflecting on that this week brought my heart great joy as i’m not here right now .. but probably will be again …
i have a leak, not a lack. my bills are (mostly) paid. i enjoy the people i am ministering with. i have some new friends who really speak life into me. my family and i are healthy. my knucklehead sons make me laugh constantly. my daughter is finally starting to like me. my wife is more beautiful inside and out than ever. i have lost weight, its march madness season (it was when I wrote the first draft :), i have books galore BUT it’s not enough.
my cup of courage has a little hole in the bottom. so no matter how much i and others pour into it each day, it’s still empty when i wake up tomorrow. lots of people have this problem. for some it’s a mental health thing. for others unhealed trauma. for others a consequence of lots of bad choices. for some, it lasts a week at the end of winter when it won’t just finally be spring.
for me, it’s some of that stuff, but also some stuff I’m holding that I have to release. some unforgiveness i have let fester a bit. some jealousies that weren’t snuffed out as quickly as they should have been. some things unresolved that i have no path to resolve at this moment. in my current state (which i am working thru and will get past), MORE won’t help. more bible reading or prayer or encouragement or opportunity or money or sex or sunshine or laughter or or or … until the rip in the bottom is patched, i will keep leaking.
if you have been stuck for a bit, maybe consider that more might X not be the antidote, you might have a leak not a lack. a leak can only solved by turning backwards and seeing what happened and how it can be solved.
book review
a promised land - barack obama
i really enjoyed this book. whether you voted for him or not, i think pondering recent history through the eyes of a president is a good use of time. i was struck by how often president obama was forced to make decisions about afghanistan or back at the beginning of the financial crisis or in the passing of the affordable care act (obamacare) that were pretty different than his personal preferences. we tend to think that the more power you have, the more things go the way you want: and that’s true to a degree, but it’s also true that leadership always requires compromises. the book is long, best suited to read a bit at a time. the more right leaning politically you are, the more i think you might like this book.
super christian guy
stuff for you to click on
this week my friend jgriff and i are launching a new component to good news weekly … a youtube version. if you haven’t subscribed to my page, i think you are going to like the flavor we put on things.
this new tauren wells song is a monster. it captures the heart of an issue close to the heart of god in a beautiful way.