"Unprecendented Times"

Yesterday I read yet another article on Google News predicting the end of the United State's position as the #1 economy.  That followed an article about how close we are as a nation to defaulting on our debt.  Near that was an article about how when people travel to the United States, they are likely disappointed by what they see (especially, the article asserted, when they turn on the television).  Everything I read states how we are, in the mind of the author, in the worst times in the history of the country.  I have two responses to that:  1) as compared to what? and 2) are you serious?  Here are my thoughts on this:

Currency - The value of the dollar has dropped.  Because of the fear of what may happen, people are investing in commodities.  OK.  What other currency will everyone agree on?  Prior to the devastating earthquake and Tsunami that occurred in March, I had heard that the Yen might be the new currency.  Look at how quickly that changed.  China is an emerging threat, but the Euro is established and agreed to by a majority of Europe.  Also, I cannot imagine the Arab countries agreeing to use another "Western" standard.  The U.S. Dollar emerged in the mid-20th century as the standard and it stuck.  Changing standards is difficult and introduces uncertainty.  The global economy is not excited about uncertainty, as demonstrated by the markets.  Seems to me that people moving towards commodities indicates that they are hesitant to invest in another currency and rather distrust anything not tangible.  Our dollar used to be backed by gold and silver - perhaps it will return. 

U.S. Debt - I'm reading that we are close to defaulting on our national debt.  Standard & Poors downgraded the U.S.  To me, that's a dumb move because that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  News reports that financial markets or a particular institution is weak tends to just make that problem worse because what confidence was left is shattered.  During WWII, there were posters that said "loose lips sink ships".  I'd argue that playing fast and loose with announcements ruins economies.  But that doesn't make for a nice poster and the news media has effectively destroyed patriotism.  By the way - this isn't the first time the U.S. has been close to a default.  It happened most recently in 1995.  How quickly we forget.  If you don't believe me - see this article:  http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/25/what-would-clinton-do/.  Amazingly, if you look at the current developments, the Congress is going back to some of the tools that were used to diffuse the last situation.  At least someone is paying attention to history.  Finally, I'll share some insight from my Economics professor at DU - whose class I took in 1995 when this issue was in the forefront.  He said "if the U.S. was a person who was walking along and dropped a trillion dollar bill on the street, he wouldn't bend over to pick it up."  We all sat there looking at this guy like he was crazy.  Then he explained.  He had served as a consultant to one office in one building on one military base.  There were 5 people in the office and they had a billion dollar budget for the year - 5 people had one billion of the federal budget to spend.  Having been a public auditor now for 13 years, I can corroborate his experience.  I have seen small governmental agencies whose audit materiality (what we would consider important enough to change our audit opinion) for a single year's audit was in the millions.  The threshold beneath which we would even consider it worth our time to test an asset was more than most Americans will see in a decade.  The size of the U.S. economy is massive.  I'm not saying I like the current debt levels, but we are not in danger of a massive financial collapse that will end up with all of us standing in line for bread anytime soon.  That leads me to the next item...

Food supply - I recently saw a commercial saying that 1 in 4 children in the U.S. are facing hunger.  I'd like to know what "facing hunger" means.  Does it mean that they really don't have enough food?  If so, say that.  My guess is, however, that the situation is that by some statistic, they don't meet a certain standard.  I've been hungry before - my Mom and I were broke from 1980 to 1986.  We worked two extra jobs to make ends meet.  But we were hungry by U.S. standards.  I was still on the growth charts, just skinny.  And I was not facing health issues.  Our grandparents told us more accurate stories of true hunger during the Great Depression.  They ate lard sandwiches.  I have never had to stoop to eating lard sandwiches.  A recent Qwest commercial shows a family having to choose between internet and cable services because of the hard times.  Boo hoo.  At least it's not a choice between who amongst the family gets to eat today.  I challenge the U.S. hungry to be compared to the hungry in Africa or India.  We have how many shows on TV about the obesity problems in the U.S.?  Our access to food is unlike so many other nations.  And the "Extreme Couponing" shows on TV demonstrate that you can feed a family of 5 for less than $160 a month!  The tools exist in this country.  Our access to clean water is also unprecendented.  We all take for granted that our water supply is just here.  Again, travel to areas of South America where U.S. teams come with supplies to teach them how to take their horrible water supplies and make it clean.  We just have to turn on a faucet.  Heck, we play in it!  Waterworld and Elitches's water park have remained open during our "Crisis".  Finally, I urge folks to do research on how many farming families get paid NOT TO GROW a certain crop (Federal subsidies used to manipulate the price of agricultural commodities).  I credit my husband's small town upbringing for enlightening me to this.  If a crisis really materializes in the U.S., those folks can start growing! 

Socially - Socially we have some ills.  I think anytime people live together, they'll be present.  But I think of the very recent history of this country.  The powder keg of 1968 (be it race, riots, etc.) is worse than what we see now.  There's also a lot of discussion about the gap between the rich and the poor and how big it's grown.  Grown?  Does anyone read history?  Explain the difference between the poor and John Jacob Astor in 1911 and how that isn't the exact same as now.  The difference in wealth disbursement in September of 1929 was way out of control.  Colorado in the late 1800s was a place where you needed a gun.  Not true now.  France is arresting women who are wearing veils over their face.  The U.S. is not.  Many countries deny women the right to hold public offices or have careers of their own outside of the home.  I read a statistic the other day that there are more women graduating college than men in the U.S.  Women are taking leadership roles in companies across the U.S. in record numbers.  Funny that 100 years ago, women weren't allowed to vote.  50 years ago, blacks and whites were seggregated.  Seems like we're better off now.

Healthcare - This one really gets me.  A fellow high-schoool graduate who is an endocrinologist can tell you how much better things are in the U.S. than most any other country.  Another article I read yesterday said that an inmate in a NY prison could have received a life-saving heart transplant at the taxpayers expense, but he declined it.  He's in prison because he sexually assaulted a child.  Don't tell me that we deny medical treatment to people in the U.S. when we will give a heart transplant to a convicted felon.  Some friends of ours went through a medical issue this past winter and they were having troubles with their insurance company.  Children's Hospital was ready to set them up on Child Health Plan Plus in a minute to pay their expenses and negotiate costs down.  St. Jude's doesn't charge patients if they can't pay.  If you don't have adequate access to care in the U.S., you're not looking in the right place.  Our church alone (1800 people in Castle Rock) gave out almost $200k in one year to families in need.  All people need to do is ask.  Routine vaccinations have eliminated many of the major killers of children in just the last 50 years.  But now, fear in the media has people afraid to vaccinate their children.  My pediatrician put it to us this way, "What's worse, side effects or death from a cured disease?"

Reality -  The reality is this - our country is not perfect.  Nor will it ever be.  We'll keep finding ways to improve but that is not a criticism, it's a strength.  Our Constitution and government is flexible enough to change when it needs to.  We don't get content with the status quo - we seek what's better.  I like that.  We have a massive country that has massive resources.  We have technologies that can turn old abandoned coal mines into sources of new fuel just by adding water!  Silicon Valley is still the center of major IT advances and many of us have the resources to keep consuming their ever-changing products.  The amount of land available in the U.S. is incredible!  You don't believe me?  Come visit me in Castle Rock, we'll take a short drive and show you.  Or better - head out east on I-80 and tell me how much open land you see.  We also have an incredible population that is educated (whether or not we think it's the best, we can read and write and get jobs).  If the U.S. needed to stop importing, we have the infrastructure to replace the supply.  Because of the work of labor unions and OSHA, we also work safely.  And, unlike 100 years ago, we don't have to put our kids to work.

The truth is, we are all fearful and that fear makes us do crazy things.  We need to cut off the fear.  FDR said "we have nothing to fear but fear itself."  Agree.  Our fear is making us forget history.  Every Christmas I watch "It's a Wonderful Life".  And every Christmas I'm amazed that I know someone who has never seen it.  That explains how in 2008, less than 80 years after 1929, people were again making runs on the bank.  We learned nothing.  Thankfully, not relying on the people to learn, the U.S. government learned and all of us had the pleasure (thanks to the FDIC) to just be annoyed when our bank changed ownership rather than losing all of our money.  I urge folks to watch George talk people out of their fear and stop the run on his bank, which saved it.  What was George's argument?  If you act out of fear, you'll end up having the richest and most ruthless bail you out and then you'll be owned by him.  Hmm - amazingly applicable to today. 

Ephesians 6:13-17

This passage is the familiar "armor of God" passage. When I learned about this passage in Sunday school, I never really gave any thought to why the author chose the pieces of armor that he did. For example, I figured the author had a list of things to convey and just randomly assigned armor pieces to it. Now, as an adult, I realize the purpose that is behind the pairings and I felt the need to cover that here:

1) The belt of truth - I was teaching a Sunday school class when this one came to me. Belts keep you from being caught with your pants around your ankles. Metaphorically - that phrase means it keeps you from being caught unprepared. So then, what is truth? Christ told Pilate that the reason He came into the world was to testify to the truth. There are many more passages in the Bible regarding truth. My paraphrase - study the Bible, know what you believe... that way you don't get caught with your pants around your ankles.

2) The breastplate of righteousness - The breastplate protects the heart. 1 Peter 3:16 speaks to this... "keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." If you live a righteous life, the false accusations don't make it through the protection.

3) Feet fitted with readiness ... from the Gospel of Peace - This one is particularly interesting to me. We have a gospel that preaches peace and goodwill. If we remembered that, we would be ready to share, ready to go, ready to act.

4) Shield of Faith - The Bible actually goes on to say that the shield of faith "extinguish[es] all the flaming arrows of the evil one." This verse acknowledges Satan's role in trying to undermine our belief in God. In the garden of Eden, he asked Eve "did God really say?" Del Tackett called this the "hiss of the snake". If we have faith - if we truly believe in the power and person of God, the accusations of the devil fall short.

5) The Helmet of Salvation - This one protects the mind. I think this one lends itself to the song we sing in Children's Church - "oh be careful little eyes what you see". Our minds are constantly bombarded with thoughts, sights, ideas, etc. that aren't necessarily in line with God's plan. How do we keep our mind clean? Salvation - offered through the redeeming blood of our Lord.

6) The Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God - Christ demonstrated this best for us in his temptation in the dessert. When Satan threw Bible verses at Him, He was prepared. And, 2 Corinthians 10:5 reminds us that "we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God..." Finally, Revelation 19:11-15 reminds us that Christ's name is "the Word of God" and out of his mouth comes a sword.

I'm sure someone else has written a better analysis of this, but these are my thoughts on a Tuesday night.

1 Peter 3:15-16

1 Peter 3:15-16 (New International Version)
15But in your hearts set
apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks
you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness
and respect, 16keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously
against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

I have been watching the news lately and am horrified at the people screaming at each other over the health care bill. I know there are folks who proclaim Christ as their Savior in that crowd but I wonder if they've considered the above verse? Christ himself modelled how we should respond to those who accuse us - in front of Pontius Pilate at his own trial. He could have struck down every single person in attendance if that were the right thing to do. He answered the questions asked of him with the truth. In fact, Peter actually had the kind of response we might have in the Garden at Christ's arrest. But, Christ showed Peter that this was not the way.

May I implore all of my fellow Christians to take a measured approach towards everything in life - the latest health care proposal included. Read the text of the bill. When someone brings up an argument/issue, ask for the page number. Read it for yourself and weigh it against their words. If they are inaccurate, gently show them why you think so. Why? Because, as written in 1 Peter, it shows the nation we have a hope that is worth explaining, it keeps our conscious clear and keeps people from having any reason for slandering us as Christians.

John 21

17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the
third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that
I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. 18 I tell you
the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted;
but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will
dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." 19Jesus said this to
indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to
him, "Follow me!"
20Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus
loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at
the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") 21When Peter saw
him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?"
22Jesus answered, "If I want
him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me."
23Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would
not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want
him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?"

I can't tell you how often I think of Christ's words... "If I want... what is that to you?" I can fill in whatever struggle I'm going through and if it's the Lord's will, what is that to me? What should it mean to me? So many questions come up. But - this very important walk on the beach with Peter has a lot to teach us - especially someone like me who is very much a Peter. Imagine what Peter has just gone through. He was a fisherman, he's called away to a different life, spends a few years with Christ, just to betray Him (in His hearing, no less). Then, Peter watches Christ's crucifixion, is in fear for his own life, and then witnesses Christ resurrected. Talk about struggles! And - where does Christ find him this day? Doing what he knows - returning to the way things were - fishing.

Then - Peter sees the Lord and is so excited to see him, he jumps off the boat to meet Him on the shore. The other disciples bring the boat in. The Lord speaks very bluntly with Peter, telling him what he needs to do, even how he will die. Then Peter does what so many of us do - compares his lot with another. The Lord isn't interested in how Peter is doing compared to John. The Lord is interested in how Peter is doing compared with what Peter can do. It's the same for you and me. We want to compare - be it personally, or with opinion polls, or what our friends are doing, etc. But - the Lord has a different measuring stick. Whenever you hear yourself saying, "But Lord, what about....?", remember his answer, "What is that to you?"

Finally, there is another thing the Lord told Peter - over and over again. "Feed my sheep." Very clear and concise. It was the thing Peter was to do. The Lord is likely telling us something very similar - clear and concise and in keeping with his will. Let's stop asking "But Lord, what about..." long enough to hear what he has to say.

I ran across this quote today that is a good summary:

"Forget your opponents; always play against par."
-- Sam Snead, professional golfer

Malachi 2:16

"I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith. (NIV)

On the same weekend that Jon and Kate Gosselin decided they would divorce, my Dad told me that he and his third wife (married 20+ years) are also divorcing. I know many are tired of Jon and Kate but that's not the topic - the topic is divorce and the Lord's opinion of it. I think Malachi 2:16 is very clear. "Hate" is not a contoversial word.

Why would HE hate it? For one - marriage is the model of the church's relationship with Christ. Why else would the Bible refer to the Church as "the bride of Christ" and to Christ as the "bridegroom"? Covenant relationships are very important to the LORD. It's a model of how he feels about us. He would never divorce us!

The second reason - it's lasting effect. I'm attaching below a personal rant that I included in an email message to a friend. It is how the child of divorce (now 3 divorces) feels...

"Pardon my rant about divorce but here's the issue: divorce is a
non-verbal (well, sometimes very verbal) statement that nothing is worth it any
more. The holidays, the vacations, the quiet nights spent watching a great
movie cuddled up in front of the TV - all of that is somehow less important than
the personal space and feelings of the person wanting the divorce. It is
the most selfish expression I can think of. It is a sentence that says "I
never want to _______ with you again". And anything that fills in the
blank applies. I cannot imagine [unnamed person] never wanting to see my daughter
again. Maybe I'm biased because I'm her mom but I could never imagine not
seeing [my friend's children] ever again - and I'm clearly not their mom. It's a
really rude thing to DECIDE to never see someone again.

And - to the effect on the kids. Kids are extremely perceptive.
EXTREMELY!!!! The "mom look" works because they are so perceptive.
They know. And - the worst part of divorce (at least in my 34 years of
life so far) is that it is a ticking time bomb with two triggers - one that
ruins your childhood - and then one that rears its ugly head when you've
established a family of your own. It's a great tool of the enemy that
makes you think "My dad couldn't deal with children and had to leave - is that
going to be me too?" That was the question I said out loud that had my mom rushing to our house to put an end to. And - that was the moment my husband called a counselor. Imagine what that could have done had I not had two loving people who knew what signs were bad!

And - it makes you wonder what was so wrong with you that people couldn't make it work - whether you're the spouse, the kids, the friends, etc. And - the fallout. There's no money anymore - everyone's broke. There's no happy holidays, they're all split. There's no more sane family get togethers. There's her side
and his side. Every graduation, every holiday, every party, every wedding,
every child's birthday, every time a normal family would get together - there's
a black cloud of unhappiness. There's random people acting like parents
who aren't your parents. The Bible mentions that nobody can serve two
masters - what about two fathers (real and step) or two moms? How about
two separate households with different rules? Forget it! There's no
way. As the Bible warns - you will love one and despise the other.
Beware Jon and Kate - the kids will choose because they will have
to.

And - all of these random people in and out and in and out make
you numb to them coming in and numb to them going out."

The LORD is not the only person who hates divorce. I hate it too!