Dear Readers,
My wife’s a writer and she sometimes talks about “writer’s block”. She explains it as a barrier that she has where she cannot think how to complete a story line. Merriam Webster dictionary defines it as “a psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece of writing”.
Do you ever feel a shadow, writer’s block if you will, over you to the point where you feel you cannot move forward in life? You want good things to happen in your life and to have good friends, but you come to the realization that you can’t make them happen on your own? You feel subject to a “humdrum” existence.
I like the analogy that when we feel this way perhaps it is God trying to get our attention. When we are an “open slate” with nothing on it, when we have no alternatives but Him to turn to, perhaps only then can He complete our story line and make it into an exciting novel.
…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith… Hebrews 12:1-2
See you next time,
Arlen
Dear Readers,
I just spent the evening watching two very interesting talk show hosts. One was Tavis Smiley, and the other was Charlie Rose, both PBS long-timers.
I don’t usually watch talk shows like this, but they had a variety of guests that piqued my interest. Mr. Smiley had 76 year old Marlo Thomas, who now is a children’s advocate with St. Jude Research Hospital. She also became interested in women’s causes after being a young female television star on the “That Girl” hit show from 1966 to 1971 when she received letters from a variety of women experiencing troubled lives. Ms. Thomas is the wife of talk show legend Phil Donahue, and the daughter of the beloved Danny Thomas, a singer and television star in his own right. She recently wrote a book entitled, “It Ain’t Over…Till It’s Over: Reinventing Your Life - - and Realizing Your Dreams - - Anytime, at Any Age”.
Mr. Rose had two guests, Ruswana Bashir, the 31 year old Co-Founder and CEO of Peek, an engaging entrepreneur, and Edward O. Wilson, an 85 year old American biologist, researcher, and author. Ms. Bashir talked enthusiastically about Peek, a travel company she helped co-found which takes booking “activities” around the globe to a new level and focuses on the experience and not just the reservation aspects of travel. E. O. Wilson, was interesting as he talked about his travels to Gorongosa National Park, and being part of a movement of trying to revive the huge Mozambique park that was devastated by a civil war.
My question for each person was this, “How did you get to become a “mover & shaker” in today’s world?" I don’t agree with Mr. Wilson’s suppositions about evolution and that global warming will bring us to a catastrophic end. I also worry about his soul, being an 85 year old nearing the end of his life. But he shared a passion for his belief systems that younger men like me could envy.
I was always a Danny Thomas and Marlo Thomas fan. They were always funny and fun. I don’t know about her belief systems, but I do like the focus of Ms. Thomas’s book at considering what exciting direction a person can take at any age of his or her life.
Lastly, I’m always intrigued by a person who is entrepreneurial, and whose passions lead them to think about the possibilities rather than the barriers of an endeavor. Ms. Bashir shared that she has learned a lot in her quest to build a “billion dollar” business. While one might question her motives in her “billion dollar” statement and the fact that she truly wants to be a “have” in a “have and have not” society, I think our world definitely needs to have dreamers who want to take their dreams to the next level, and create jobs and futures for many others along the way.
I pray for the souls of each of the persons I watched tonight, including Mr. Smiley and Mr. Rose. They were an interesting mix of personalities who are “movers & shakers” in our world. The next question is, “Can you and I become a “mover & shaker” in our respective worlds?"
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21
See you next time,
Arlen
Dear Readers,
Dr. Martin Ellingham was an accomplished London surgeon until he developed a phobia to blood. He was forced to make a career shift, so he became a general practitioner in the beautiful town of Portwenn, England.
The scenery of the BBC comedy is stunning, but there is an inevitable clash between a brilliant doctor and the quirky townspeople. The people cannot understand the Doc’s brusque manner, and the doctor cannot tolerate the inane way they deal with medical and life problems.
Doc Martin’s major downfall is his
offensive brutal honesty. He says what he thinks, and he doesn’t mince
words with anyone, even Louisa. Then he looks puzzled when they become
offended.
The people put up with Doc Martin because in many instances he saves their lives. And Doc Martin puts up with them because he has nowhere else to go, and he has an attraction to Louisa, the school headmistress.
We had Steve Hunter, a Gideon Bible Missionary, preach in our little Nazarene church this morning. He said that we should pray to be offensive toward others. Steve shared an experience about Wayne, an 83 year old neighbor, who visited him frequently, and Steve shared the gospel with the Wayne on most visits.
Wayne was craving some “man time”, and Mr. Hunter obliged and grew tender toward the elderly gentleman. Wayne, however, questioned why Steve was so “offensive” toward him, and always had to bring up the subject of God and Jesus, God’s son. Weren’t there many ways to reach God?
The relationship grew, and finally Wayne grew to appreciate Steve’s brutal honesty. One morning Wayne asked to pray to become a child of God. Steve said that three days later Wayne died.
In this case a man’s offensive brutal honesty, much like Doc Martin, saved the life of a man.
What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way. Luke 6:22-23
See you next time,
Arlen
Dear Readers,
Have you ever driven on a highway in a state and you never thought you would get through it? This happened twice to me, once while driving through Georgia, and another time driving through Kansas.
The problem was that my destination state in each case was just on the other side of the long, boring state. Warm, tropical Florida was just on the other side of Georgia. And, majestic, mountainous Colorado was just on the other side of Kansas. The highway in both cases seemed never-ending and I wondered if I would ever reach my goal.
Then it happened. I crossed the border of Georgia into Florida and I started seeing the tropical plants and palm trees. The warm air oozed onto my body as I turned the windows down. I felt like I was in another world after being several months in frigid Ohio air.
The same thing happened after crossing the border of Kansas into Colorado. I drove a short way yet in Kansas-like flatness. My anticipation of seeing the mountains, however, kept me enthralled and fully engaged. Then in the distance I finally saw them! The peaks in the morning light seemed majestic. They almost overwhelmed me, and I couldn’t take my eyes off them!
This is how life always seems to be. We travel and travel. We think we will never reach our destination, if we even have a destination. The state we are in seems never ending!
Then suddenly we reach the border of our destination state, and the beauty of newness reaches us, and the memory of the long tedious journey fades away.
So it is in our journey with God!
From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in glorious radiance. Psalm 50:2
See you next time,
Arlen
Dear Readers,
I have struggled from time to time with parts of the Bible where God takes vengeance on people. Like the time that God destroyed all the people, save Noah and his family, in the flood. Or the times that David and Joshua, at God’s command, killed everyone of the enemy force, sometimes even women and children.
And Jesus, although thought of as the bearer of a new, more peaceful approach, talked a number of times about people being sent to hell. In Revelation 21:8 John had a vision of Jesus saying, “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”
There’s a lot of talk these days about sexual orientation, atheism, abortion, and the origin of the universe, and people with religious beliefs being bullies or haters if they do not go along with certain standards. There is much pressure put to bear on people to conform, in the name of civil rights.
But I think there is a much deeper issue in play here. It is where people end up. If the Bible is true there is no amount of campaigning to make people conform to a certain standard that will thwart it.
My goal with this blog post is not to condemn anyone, and it’s my sincere desire to love everyone, as Jesus commanded. My conformation to a standard set by a group of people is not the main issue at stake here. Rather it is where people go at the end of their lives...not to mention what they experience here on earth. (“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10)
We can argue until the cows come home about whose standards are right, and what is God’s will. I only know that I have seen a fairly large number of family members and friends die in my sixty year lifespan, and it is hugely evident that life on this earth is finite.
This finiteness leads me to trying, to the best of my ability, to encourage as many family members and friends as possible, regardless of the orientation or cause they might have, to end up in an eternity with a God that loves them infinitely more than I ever will.
See you next time,
Arlen
Dear Readers,
I just watched the Creation Science versus Evolution debate. Ken Ham, the founder of the Creation Science Museum in the Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky area squared off against Bill Nye, longtime PBS television show host known as “Bill Nye, The Science Guy”.
I could expound on my feelings about the pros and cons of the debate, but I feel there is a more important issue at hand. Bill Nye questioned a number of times how could people be so led astray to follow the non-scientific, backward ways of creationism. But toward the end of the debate he brought up crux of the matter. It is the following: How can a loving God condemn well-meaning people to an eternity in hell?
I’ve struggled with that question as well. It seems a paradox that such a good man as Jesus could ever send anyone to hell with fire and eternal torment. Isn’t the mission of Jesus to bring joy and harmony to the universe?
Well, when we read the Bible Jesus didn’t circle around the edges of the topic of hell. He went right to the heart of the matter. I counted eleven times in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke where Jesus mentioned the word “hell”. Several other times he mentioned terms like “eternal punishment”.
Jesus indicated how serious the issue of hell is in Matthew 5:29-30 where he told us to “pluck” out our right eye, or “cut” off our right hand if either of them causes us to sin, “for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”
Wow! What a statement! Let’s take a deep breath and actually think about what he said. He meant that our entire life is in the balance, and we have a choice to make. It would be a gruesome sight to see a person pluck out their eyeball or cut off their hand. But it would be much better than ending up in a real hell.
See you next time,
Arlen
