The portrait

"Now, there was one other thing that I got for your grandmother when I was in Germany. There was this guy in my unit who liked to paint."

Grandpa takes me over to a portrait that has hung in his bedroom for as long as I can remember. I used to stare at it while I was supposed to be sleeping in his room. It took me years to realize that it's a picture of my grandmother, when she was younger.

"I liked his paintings, and I wanted a painting of my wife. There was this one night, that he went to visit this old german officer. The officer had been part of capturing some russians during WW2, and this officer had done a charcoal drawing of one of the prisoners next to their campfire. This guy from my unit, he asks the old German how much for the drawing, and the guy says that it's not for sale. Now, my friend, he was disappointed, but what can he do, so we head for the door. We're out in the street, walking back to the base, when the German's daughter catches up to us. She says that her father is a proud man, but that he needs the money, and so he'll sell the drawing. Anyway, I liked my friend's work, so I asked him if he'd paint a picture of my wife. He took a photograph of your grandmother that I had with me, and painted the portrait from that."

"Another friend, from my unit, the fella who was into the cameras, he did this for me."

My grandfather pulls out an 8x10 photograph. It shows a 20 year old version of him, sitting under a tree smoking a pipe. The pipe smoke drifts up, becoming cartoonish clouds or thought bubbles, the last of them has my grandmother's face.

"I had no idea you smoked a pipe," I say.

"Yeah, I used to when I was in the service, then I switched to cigarettes when I got home from the war, then, when you were young, you pestered me so much about the cigarettes that I quit, but that's another story.

Mark 9, Part 3:

So, I had totally planned a great section here dealing with Mark 9, but sadly, I've run out of steam, and moved on. Moreover, the bit that I had been planning to write really is a bit too complex to be explained/exposited in a blog post. So, instead, I'll encourage you to check out Mark 9 all on your own, drawing your own points from the text.

I am enraged

"But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother, but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolator or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man, do not even eat." 1 Corinthians 5:11

A few months ago, I was having dinner with my friend Thomas, and this verse came up. Thomas asked me where I draw that line, under what circumstances is a person's sin grievous enough that I would cut off fellowship with him. I talked through that question with Thomas, and I've continued to think it over, but I still don't have a firm line. I'm not sure where the line is that I would cut off fellowship with someone who is a drunkard, or an idolator. I think that for me, it is in the struggle. If someone is struggling with a sin, I think that it's my responsibility to support them, to help them deal with that. As one example, a friend asked me for help in quitting smoking, he came to live at my house for a week, so that he would be away from anywhere he was used to smoking. He wanted my supervision and support, and I was happy to give it.

This doesn't seem like the situation that Paul is describing in this passage. Paul seems to be talking about someone who is unrepentant in these behaviors, someone who calls himself a brother (a member of the church) and also who purposefully lives in this way. I have a hard time thinking that Paul would have someone thrown out of fellowship who is trying to stop doing something on this list. I certainly have no intention of ending my contact with anyone struggling with these behaviors. I think that the issue is in the struggle, it's one thing to sin, but be trying to stop, it's another thing entirely to embrace the sin.

I don't know exactly where the line is for me, though I do have a problem with teaching others that sin is acceptable. I would have a very hard time continuing to fellowship with someone who taught others to sin. The Bible is pretty clear that we're to support our brothers and sisters in righteousness, not cause them to stumble.

God says: "'But you have turned from the way, and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,' says the Lord Almighty" Malachi 2:8

Jesus says: "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." Matthew 18:6

Last night, I heard of something which is far past the line. The Conservative Bible Project is a project to re-write scripture in order to remove the liberal bias, in order to emphasize Jesus free-market principles, which apparently weren't emphasized enough in the parables. The idea of remaking scripture to fit a political ideology fills me with rage. The correct response when we believe in an ideology, be that conservatism, liberalism, communism, libertarianism, or any other ism a person can come up with, the way to handle that is to compare your ideology to scripture. If parts of it don't jive with scripture, if there are parts that conflict with God's word, you change the ideology. You change your beliefs to fit scripture, you do not attempt to change scripture to fit your beliefs.

God has some things to say about changing the Bible. The Bible ends with the book of revelation, which is a prophesy about the end of the world. Revelation ends with:

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." Revelation 22:18-19

The idea of changing scripture to fit something created by man upsets me, and I feel confident that I am in agreement with God on this. I urge you not to support any change to the content of scripture, I urge you to read the Bible, and ask God to work to conform you to His will. Peace, joy and purpose in my life flow entirely from God, and I assure you, can be part of your life as well.

Mark 9, Part 2: Quick to speak, slow to listen

As I said yesterday, I recently read Mark 9, and today's post will be about Peter's response to Jesus being transfigured. First, the context, Jesus has climbed a mountain outside the city, as I noted yesterday, this was  a mountain covered with symbolism. People would place their idol on the mountain, and the higher the idol was placed, the higher the god was symbolically higher than the gods below. Jesus goes to the top of the mountain, and appears in his Glory.


After six days, Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up to a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than anyone could bleach them. And there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, who were talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here, let us put up three shelters - one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah" (He did not know what to say, he was so frightened.)

Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud, "This is my son, whom I love. Listen to him." Mark 9:2-7


So, to recap, Jesus is suddenly shining with Glory, the great fathers of the faith have suddenly shown up to have a chat with Jesus, and Peter, who is understandably scared, offers to start construction. Now, it may be that Peter wanted to shelter these men from the elements, it may be that he was thinking that they could start a religious institution right there, or perhaps have a little show, and charge admission, but in any case, Peter takes this opportunity to offer up his opinion. In response to Peter, who when he doesn't know what to say, says whatever pops into his head, God, in the form of a cloud, envelops the whole group. God says to Peter, "Listen".

This isn't the only time that scripture counsels listening. "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." James 1:19 This also makes me think of another blog I read this morning. I would like to highly recommend, Not the Religious type, which is written by Dave Schmelzer, a pastor in Boston. The post I linked to talks more about the idea of being slow to speak and quick to listen.

Mark 9, part 1

So, I was reading Mark this morning. By this morning, I mean at three this morning, when I woke up and couldn't sleep. So I was reading Mark 9. The next three posts will be about Mark 9, but today's is about Jesus being transfigured on the mount. Transfiguration in this case refers to Jesus appearing to the disciples not as "human-Jesus" but as God, in all of his shining glory. Jesus presence on this mountain was no accident, in fact, it was a statement about God's supremacy over the idols popular at the time.

The mountain was no ordinary mountain. The people of the region would climb this mountain, and place an idol of their god on the mountain. The higher the idol was placed, the symbolically higher the person thought their god was than the others. Jesus goes up on this mountain. Jesus goes to the top of this mountain. Jesus is saying symbolically that he is superior to all of the idols on this mountain.

Jesus goes on to do something none of the idols are capable of. Jesus reveals his glory on this mountain. Jesus isn't just saying that he is superior to the "gods" on this mountain, he proves it. None of the stone, wood, or metal carvings on the mountain have shone with God's glory, yet Jesus does. Jesus is making a statement.

I am struck by Your compassion

I was reading this morning in Matthew. Matthew 14 opens with John the Baptist being beheaded by Herod. John was in prison because he had told Herod that he shouldn't have married his brother Philip's wife. This very same wife arranges for John to be beheaded. After the execution, John's disciples retrieve his body, and bury it. They then go and tell Jesus. The pivotal verse in my opinion is:

"When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the nearby towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, and healed their sick." Matthew 8:13-14

Jesus has just heard that his cousin John has been killed. Jesus decides to go off somewhere alone. We see a few verses later that Jesus spends the evening alone, sending away even the disciples, praying. It looks ot me like Jesus wanted a few minutes with God, like Jesus wanted a few minutes of solitary time to mourn for John, yet when he gets somewhere solitary, he is met by a crowd of people who need him. A crowd of people who want to be healed.

Jesus cared for John. Jesus liked John. "I tell you the truth, among those born of women, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." Matthew 11:11 John's death was enough to cause Jesus to withdraw to a solitary place for some quiet time. I take two lessons from this. First, note what Jesus does when something bad happens, he steps away to pray. Second, when Jesus sees a crowd, impinging on his prayer time, he has compassion on them, he cares for their needs first, then takes care of himself. While I don't think that I can always do this, I am struck by the fact that Jesus sublimates his own needs in favor of ours.

Scripture records no sermon to the people who awaited Jesus. Scripture records only that Jesus healed their sick. I think that I can safely say that Jesus was not in an emotional state to preach, but that even in the midst of fresh grief, he cared enough for the crowd to take compassion on them.

A gift for my wife: Part 2

"So, I ordered the china for grandma, and I went to pick it up. They had packed it up for shipping, in these two big crates. I was waiting for the bus to go back to the base, I had to mail it from the base. So, I was waiting for the bus, and a guy pulled up in a staff car.

Now, a staff car is only for the officers, and this one had a flag on the front of it, which meant that it was a General's car. The driver pulls up, and he sees me with the two crates, and he asks me if I want a ride. I said to the guy, thanks for the offer, but you know, these boxes have all the seltzer coming out of them."

"Seltzer?" I asked.

"Yeah, seltzer, it's this material that they packed the china in, it's frilly, and it gets everywhere. It was coming out of all the seams of the boxes. I told the guy no, because I didn't want to get the stuff all over the general's car. He said to me, don't worry about it, and he gave me a ride back to the base. When we got to the Post Office on the base, I said to him, 'Let me clean all this stuff out for you, the least I can do after the ride.' But he told me that he'd just take the car down to the motor pool, and that the guys there would take care of it.

When the china got to your grandmother, she was so happy, but she wanted to be able to open it with me. She took out one plate, so she could see if it had broken during the shipping. It was ok, so she left the rest until I got home from the war."

Personal Effects: [Redacted]'s Marriage

I was in a wedding recently. The Bride and Groom both put huge stock, and took great comfort from their families, and wanted to make their family a big part of the wedding. So, as part of the ceremony, the couple’s parents stood up and offered some public advice to both of them. The groom’s father had an interesting thought, and know that I’m paraphrasing this.

He said, “My generation was the instant generation. We had instant everything, instant coffee, instant tea, instant soup, instant dinner. We started to expect that everything would be instant. Your generation seems to be the disposable generation. There isn’t any expectation of permanence. There are no more repair shops, when something breaks, you throw it away, and buy another. Everything is disposable. Neither of these concepts has any place in your marriage. Nothing in a relationship is instant, and expecting something to happen instantly is setting your partner up to fail. Your marriage is not disposable. There is no second chance, you cannot go out and get another one. When things aren’t working in your relationship, you have to work to fix them.”

I love this thought. I love the advice that marriages are for the long haul, that they’re not instant, that they’re not disposable.

Personal Effects: Family

I come from a proud family. One of the enduring ethics of my family is hard work, the other is that when things are hard, you do what must be done. The mark of our family for several generations has been that despite injury, and despite poverty. Despite lack of education, we did what needed to be done. When my mother died, my father continued to raise three children, continued to work, continued to be involved in our church, in our extra-curricular activities, in our school, because that is what needed to be done. when my great grandfather was injured, he still rode the train home to his wife, knowing that if he didn't arrive home, she would worry. That was what needed to be done.

This ethos has sustained me through some difficult times. The simple knowledge that I come from a line of strong, tough, stubborn people can sometimes be the motivation that I need to get out of bed. Yesterday's post dealt with the idea that as Christians, we are each the latest in a long, proud line of christ-followers. In that same vein, I'm the latest in a long line of Lakes, and I don't want to let down my predecessors by being the generation that can't get through the tough times.

This morning, I read Jesus accusing his countrymen. They were asking for a sign from heaven (incidentally, they were asking for this sign immediately after he had driven out a demon). They needed a sign from heaven. Jesus says, "The people of Ninevah will stand up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now one greater than Jonah is here." Luke 11:32

Just as I don't want to be accused by generations of my family, of screwing up the legacy for toughness, for getting through the hard times. I don't want to be accused by the residents of Ninevah that they didn't have the entirety of God's plan written out in front of them, and they believed. I do have the entirety of God's plan in the Bible, and sometimes I have trouble believing. I continue to work hard to do better than that for Jesus.

Trinity Church Boston

Tonight I was feeling a little down, I was picking up my friend Heather in Copley square, and I had a few minutes to kill, so I decided to get out and walk around the square for a few minutes. Trinity Church in Copley Square in Boston has these beautiful relief sculptures. They're breathtaking. They are of the fathers of the faith. Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Matthew and Mark. Paul is up there, as is Augustine. But the last one in the row is of one of the former ministers of Trinity Church.

At first, I was taken aback. At first I was bothered. How could any man put himself into that company. How could you have your image carved next to Paul? Next to Augustine? Next to Abraham. The Bible says that Abraham was a man of faith. The Bible doesn't say anything about you. (I know, it also doesn't mention Augustine, but you get my drift).

But once I thought more about it, I like the fact that he's up there. I like it because it reminds me that I'm not the first man to follow Jesus. I'm not the first generation to follow the Lord. I'm also not the only one to screw things up. Abraham spends several years wandering from town to town almost pimping out his wife, lying about who he is, and getting the town into trouble with God. Moses killed a guy, then ran from the law. 40 years later, when the Lord wants Moses to go back to Israel, Moses finds every excuse except that he has to wash his hair, trying to avoid going back. Paul started out by persecuting the church. Matthew was a tax collector, working for the roman oppressors before Jesus bent over, and said, "Follow me" to him.

It's comforting to me to know that I'm not the first one to follow Jesus. It's comforting to me to know that other fallible men have followed Christ, that other men have stumbled, yet still been called "A man of faith". I like knowing that even though John ran away in the garden of gethsemane, he is still called "The disciple who Jesus loved." It helps me to remember that God isn't looking for perfect people, he's looking for willing people. I can't manage perfection. I can do willing.

A gift for my wife: Part 1

"Now, when I was in the army, I was stationed in Germany. Another guy in my unit, his father owned a camera shop in New York, and he started buying german cameras and sending them back to his father to sell in the shop. He told me that they were making all kinds of money, because they couldn't get those german cameras in the states.

I was stationed in Germany, which was pretty good. It was the Korean war, and all the fighting was several thousand miles away. I was in Germany, in Army Intelligence. I was in the signal corps, which is part of intelligence. I liked being there, because it was safe. I'll tell you, Grandma liked me being there too.

So, my buddy in my unit, he told me that I ought to send some stuff home to my wife, and I asked him what I should send, and he told me to get some china. So, I went down to this shop, and they had all kinds of china. So, I got the brochure, and I sent it home to your grandmother. She picked out the pattern that she liked, and I went and bought it for her."

The faith of the centurion

In Matthew 8:5-13, we find the story of a roman centurion who asks Jesus to heal his servant. We find this story among many stories of Jesus healing people, yet Jesus commends the centurion for his request. There's a lot to say about this story, there's the part about the relationship of the Jews with the roman occupiers. There's the relationship of the Jews with the gentiles. There's the dilemma of being a solider occupying a foreign country, not wanted, but desiring to do good. All of these points are worthy of study, but also lie outside of my point tonight. I want to highlight something that the centurion says.

"The Centurion replied, 'Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one 'Go' and he goes; and that one 'come' and he comes. I say to my servant 'Do this' and he does it.'" Matthew 8:8-9.

Jesus commends the centurion for his faith. Reading this in the past, I always saw this as Jesus being impressed that the guy got that Jesus doesn't have to be in the room to have power. That Jesus doesn't have a magic wand, that he has real power, and can affect the world from wherever he sits. I always saw that the centurion got that Jesus literally doesn't have to get out of bed in the morning, and can still perform miracles across town, or across the nation. This time reading through, I saw something different.

Look at what the centurion says, "I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me." He acknowledges that Jesus is humble. He acknowledges that Jesus is also under God's authority. The centurion gets that while Jesus is God, he is also working under the guidance of God the Father, giving glory to God throughout his ministry. The centurion says that he is part of a chain of command, he understands taking orders, and he understands giving them. He asks Jesus, who he knows is used to taking orders from God, and giving orders to creation, to please give the order to have his servant healed. I never noticed that before. This is one of the reasons that I think we have to study scripture. As I mature, I find new insights every day in scripture that I've read over a hundred times before.

Personal Effects: Boston

I’m going to start a new series of posts, “Personal Effects: [topic]” These are going to be posts that have info about who I am, and what I want to be. I realized that I don’t want to sound preachy, but the blog is devoted to my heros, Jesus and Grandpa. I figured that it might be good to say what kind of guy I am. A bit of context you know. Today's post will be about Boston.

I met my wife in Boston. I got my first graduate degree in Boston. I fell in love with Brazilian food in Boston. I first heard of Boston as a child. I would sit in our family room, while my parents folded laundry, and watch M*A*S*H. Charles Emmerson Winchester III was from Boston, and talked fondly about his favorite city. I now see that he was named after the river, the famous writer, and a suburb, (or the gun, I'm not sure). I used to come to Boston with my family, we would go to the Museum of Science, and make a day of it. We'd also visit Quincy Market, where they have the biggest selection of food stalls I've ever seen. I think that for my parents, the difficulty of managing three children in the big crowd at the market was offset by not having any of us complain that we couldn't find something on the menu that we wanted.

I came to Boston to see A Christmas Carol when my cousin Richard the stage manager, after the show, we got to go backstage, before he went off to the cast party. I thought of going to college at Gordon, which is just north of Boston. All the while that my family would visit New York City, I always knew that if I was to live in a city, that I wanted to live in Boston. I liked the flow of Boston, the size, and the ease of getting around in Boston. I came to Grad School at Umass Boston, and studied Dispute Resolution. While there, I met my wife.

I'm back in Boston for a couple of days, though I'll be off to CT by the time this is posted. I love Boston, I love the restaurants, the people, the city. Though I now live in Cleveland, I was almost moved to tears when I got off the train here in Boston. The smell of fall in the air, the rustle of wind in the crisp leaves, the shriek of sirens, it all felt like home. I'm really happy to be here.

Boston gets ragged on for having bad drivers, and unfriendly people. Both of these are justified in my experience, though I would defend Boston on both of these points. Though the drivers here are bad, though they sometimes seem to be malicious, trying to run you off the road, they are very good at being bad drivers. For an entire city of bad drivers, in a region of bad drivers, there are incredibly few accidents. The accidents that do happen tend not to be bad, and not to turn into those ugly multi-car pile-ups. Bostonians are not an open, friendly people. Though, if you happen to be on the subway, looking confusedly at the map, you are likely to have several people offer you help of one sort or another. Being myself an immigrant to this city, I always tried to offer a stranger help with getting around, frequently, I was beaten to the punch by another helpful traveler. I have seen strangers go out of their way on their journeys to shepherd someone new to the city to their destination. Bostonians tend not to be friendly for a variety of reasons. However, one side effect of this cold presentation is that when you make a friend here in Boston, you can be sure that this person will be a real friend to you, that they will be there for you through thick and thin, that they are not going to abandon you when the going gets tough.

Boston is a city of history, one of my brother’s favorite bars here, “the Green Dragon” was frequented by Paul Revere, and John Adams. Boston holds a lot of good memories for me, and a lot of good friends. As I’ve said throughout this post, it’s been lovely to stay here, and I’ll be sad to leave.

Rules vs. People

I read John 5 today, and I was struck by the response of the religious leaders. The Pharisees get a lot of flack for being jerks. For being too stuck on the rules to see the person, and rightly so, but before I condemn them, I do want to defend them for a moment.

The Pharisees were the most observant of the religious sects in Judea at Jesus time. The Pharisees concerned themselves with following the law. Following the way God had told them to live. The roman occupation of Israel was intolerable to them. The romans were cruel overlords, and unclean under Jewish Law. The Jews knew that God had allowed the Romans to conquor them because the nation of Israel had not lived up to its commitment to God. God lays out in [insert passage about vomiting up from the land] that if the people fail to honor him as God, then the land will not allow them to stay. God promises his protection only so long as the Israelites remain his people, if they chose to ask a different God for protection, then they get to live with that choice. God is not going to force himself on this people. If a person didn’t care to live as a Jew, they were welcome to leave the society, they were not compelled to stay. If a the nation chooses not to live according to God’s promise, then God says that he will allow them to be conquered.

The Pharisees knew all of this. The Pharisees knew that it was their forefather’s failure to abide by the law that caused God to withdraw his protection. The Pharisees were, in a misguided way, trying to regain God’s favor, by following the very letter of the Law. In order to ensure that no one strayed outside the bounds of the law, the Pharisees tried to move the bounds inward, constricting the people to a more restrictive reginme than God had intended. Where God said you could not work on the Sabbath, the Pharisees defined work as carrying enough ink to write more than a single character. Yet, even here, the Pharisees went awry, they fell off the wagon by adding to God’s law, and by treating their religious authority as a means to social prominence. Rather than humbly, and quietly, loving and following God, the Pharisees were known for shouting about their piety in the public square. Jesus tells a parable about a pharisee and a tax collector who went up to the temple to pray. The pharisee exalts himself in front of everyone, turning his prayer into a sermon for the crowd, a sermon focused on how good a man he is. The tax collector meanwhile, stays a little distance away, he says, "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner." Jesus says that the tax collector goes home justified before God, while the Pharisee doesn't. Jesus ends by saying, "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14

So it is in this context that we find the Pharisees, or teachers of the Law, making another appearance in John. This passage exemplifies the commitment and focus of the Pharisees. The story is in John 5:1-14,

     Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

     The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

     But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "

     So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"

Now, here’s the relvent bit. Note that the Jewish Leaders don’t ask, “who made you well?” they ask, who told you to pick up your mat? The concern isn’t to find out who is going around healing, it’s not about finding out who this healer is, or where he comes from. It’s about finding out who is encouraging people to break the law, who is failing to closely follow the precepts set out in the Law. The problem with the Pharisees of the day was that they lost sight of people, and only saw the Law. Now, don’t get me wrong, Following the Law was the right thing. Following the Law is good, but only when done in a way that remembers that the Law was made for man, not man for the Law. (That’s a paraphrase of Jesus quote from yesterday). In Modern Day Christianity, I think that this is why the church chooses to concern itself so heavily with one sin over another. I think that Christians still lose sight of people in favor of the Law. Today, this is a worse offense, since the law today is summed up in two commands, “You shall have no other Gods before me.” And “Love you neighbor as yourself.” We Christians tend to forget these, in favor of getting hung up on our favorite pet sin. It’s a problem of mine. It’s a problem of the church’s. Is it a problem of yours?

The nature of religion

Religion is man reaching out to God. Religion is finite man, attempting to grasp the infinite, the inconceivable. Religion has so many forms, because man has so little grasp of God. The history of religion is man trying to find, understand, hold, and control that whihci is greater than himself. It is in this context that we come to Christianity. Christianity is not the story of man reaching out to God. Christianity is the story of God reaching out to man. Christianity, far from having stories of men trying to grasp God, instead is full of stories of man running from God, fighting with God, and flaunting God. Only in Christianity do we find a God who has done things for the benefit of His people, rather than a people doing things for the benefit of God.

Animistic religions, and polytheistic religions tend to see their sacrifices either as meant to feed their god, or meant to illicit a specific response from their god. Thus we see that people keep bread before the shrines of their ancestors, so that the ancestors will have something to eat. Thus we see that people make sacrifices to the rain god, hoping for rain.

Our God doesn’t work this way. The sacrifices in the Bible are all described as making a sweet smell for God. God does not need a sweet smell. God does not benefit materially from a sweet smell, we gave to God something that he likes. Yet, we also see that the sacrifices are not what God desires from us.

"You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, Oh God, you will not despise." Psalm 51:16-17

"If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" Psalm 50:12-13

God set up Christianity for our benefit, at great cost to himself. God arranged his plan for our lives, and paid for us with his son’s blood. The greatest sacrifice in history was made not to God, but by God, for us.

This morning, I read in Mark, “Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’” Mark 2:27-28. Reading this reminded me that God set up his laws, his precepts not for his own benefit, but for mine. God gets nothing out of me taking a weekly day of rest, but I get a great deal out of rest. God made the Sabbath for me, he didn’t make me so that I could have a Sabbath.

Climbing telephone poles

"Now, when you're climbing a telephone pole, there are some things you need to remember."

I have no idea when I'll need this information, but Grandpa's stories are always worth listening to.

"First, you have to secure the spikes on your boots good, because if they come off, you'll fall. Second, you have to have a good climbing belt on, because you use it to shimmy up the pole. Last, if you start to fall, you have to not grab the pole with your hands, and keep your face away from it, because you'll get terrible splinters.

When I was in the army, we had to learn to climb the telephone poles to string wires. I was in the signal corps, and the signals all travel over telephone wire. So, I learned to climb poles. But, there was this one guy, who was climbing a pole one day, and he fell. He started to slide down, and he grabbed the pole with his hands to try to stop himself. The pole is all splinters because the spikes leave these big splinters and gouges in the pole. So, when he landed, his hands were all bloody. They had to take him off to the base hospital. I don't know what happened to him. I figure that he must have needed a lot of work to get back to normal. I figure that he didn't want to go up any telephone poles after that.

So, if you're climbing a telephone pole, you have to be sure not to fall, and if you do fall, don't use your bare hands to stay away from the pole, because you'll get hurt even worse."

This bothered me

I was driving to church today, and I passed another denomination's assembly. In front of the church, parked on the sidewalk, was a very new, shiny, mercedes s550. The car's vanity place was [redacted], which indicates that it was likely owned by one of the church's hierarchy. Now, I am not of the opinion that christians must avoid any show of wealth. I don't mind that a minister owns a nice car, or even that he owns a very nice car. I think that if a person is paid a salary by their church, that money belongs to them, and they are free to do with it as they see fit. Yet, there was something about this display that bothered me.

I took a few minutes when we got to church, to reflect on what got under my skin here. To review, the elements of the scene, we have a new, expensive car. A vanity plate denoting the car as owned by a church leader. The car parked in front of the church, on the sidewalk.

James has something to say about this situation. James says, "But if you show favoritism, you sin, and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers" James 2:9. This excerpt is taken from a passage where James is talking about showing favoritism to the rich. Jesus has a model for church leadership which flies in the face of honoring church leaders in the way we honor worldly leaders. Jesus says, "Sitting down, Jesus called the twelve, and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.'" Mark 9:35. Jesus himself showed this servant leader model when he washed the disciples feet after the last supper.

The problem with the mercedes was that it was parked on the sidewalk. I presume that the churchgoers had directed it to be parked there as a sign of respect for its driver. I presume that they did so, intending to spare him from finding a parking space, from having people park near, and possibly scratch his car. I presume that the car's owner accepted this honor, thinking that he was worthy of it. I wonder whether he did so, intending to make a fast getaway if things went badly in the church. But I'm bothered by the idea that a church leader should have a special privilege not accorded to the other church members. I'm bothered, thinking that perhaps there are handicapped members of this congregation, that there are people who could benefit from being able to use this section of sidewalk. I'm also bothered because, while I think that this person can use his money however he sees fit, it seems unseemly to ask people for donations while you drive such an ostentatious car. In addition, my wife Lyzz pointed out that this doesn't represent a commitment to storing up one's treasures in heaven. Anyway, it bothered me.

Sacrifice for the new Messiah

As I said in my last post, I'm following a chronological Bible reading plan. Right now, I'm going through the birth of Jesus. Today's bit that stuck out to me was the response of the Shepherds when they heard the good news.

"When the angels had left them, and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go to bethlehem, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'" Luke 2:15

Now, the shepherds were out in the fields, tending their flocks. That they decided to go into Bethlehem meant one of two sacrifices were going to be made. Either one of them was going to have to stay behind, tending to a now gigantic flock until his friends returned, or they were going to leave their flocks untended until their return.

Either case presents a sacrifice made on behalf of the Messiah. In the first case, if one of the shepherds stays behind, he can be fairly sure that he'll miss seeing God's Messiah. The Messiah he had been waiting for all his life. The Messiah prophesied in his religion for the last thousand years. The promised one of God, the one his grandfather's grandfather had been hoping to see. The Messiah was promised to Abraham. The Messiah was promised to David. The Messiah was delivered to the Shepherds, and if this poor fellow stays behind, he does so knowing that he'll miss it. This shepherd stays behind to ensure that the flocks are safe, that he and his friends have a livelihood to return to, to ensure that they can all eat tomorrow. Personally, I think that no one stayed behind with the sheep. Certainly it's possible that one of them wasn't as impressed with the chorus of heavenly Angels, certainly it's possible that one of them loved his stomach, or his friends more than he wanted to see God's Provision. But I doubt it. I think that they all went.

If all the shepherds went to see Jesus, then they left their sheep untended. Sheep need tending. A lot of tending. Sheep have no defenses against predators. Sheep have little homing or herd instinct. The very reason for the shepherds being in the fields with their flocks was that the sheep couldn't be trusted to take care of themselves. The shepherds left their flocks knowing that the flocks might not be there upon their return. They left their flocks untended, at the mercy of predators, unguided in unfamiliar fields, at night. They made this sacrifice, because they wanted to see Jesus. They made this sacrifice because they wanted to see the promise fulfilled. They made this sacrifice, not knowing that in 33 years, Jesus would make a bigger sacrifice for them in return.

As I'm trying to live out my walk with God, as I'm trying to live, knowing that God paid a high price for me, I'm trying in large part to be the shepherd who leaves his flock, because God told me that something cool is happening in Bethlehem. I'm not always succeeding in loving God more than I love my security, more than I love my own stomach, but I'm trying.

Watering the trucks

"Now, we had to wash these big army trucks pretty often. The army likes to have things clean. So, you know, having to wash these trucks all the time got pretty boring. So what we'd do, is we'd fill up the tailpipe with water. Then, when we were ready to go, we'd get some poor sucker to go go back there. We'd tell him to check out the rear tires, or make sure that we picked up that one hose. We'd start up the truck, and all the water would rush back out of the tailpipe at once, and hit the guy. It was great fun. Now, there was this one day, it was real cold, and we'd washed the truck, and we're ready to go. So we tried to get somebody to go back there and check the tailpipe, but nobody would go, so we hopped in the truck to leave. Only, just as we're ready to start the truck up, this sergeant pulls into the stall next to ours. We can't tell him that we've been screwing around with the trucks, but he's right in the way of the water. So, we did the only thing we could. We all jumped into the cab, started the engine up, and drove off like nothing had happened. That poor guy got hit with the water right in the back, and I mean it was a cold day."

Two Reactions

I'm following a chronological reading plan for my daily bible reading right now. A few days ago, I read Luke 1, which has Mary and Zechariah both finding out that they're going to be parents. Now, you may be thinking, I thought it was Mary and Joseph, and you'd be right, but Zechariah is the father of John the Baptist, and in Luke 1, he finds out that his wife is going to have a baby boy. For Zechariah, this was pretty unbelievable news. Luke tells us that Zechariah wife Elizabeth was barren, and too old to have children besides. Luke goes on to say that Zechariah is a pretty old guy himself, and that, relying solely on nature, no baby is going to show up. Mary, on the other hand, is of child-bearing age, but also a virgin, which means that she's not going to get pregnant naturally either.

An angel appears to both of them, telling them almost the same news, that they're each going to have a baby boy. The thing that struck me was the difference between their reactions.

"Zechariah asked the Angel, 'How can I be sure of this? I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.'" Luke 1:18

"'How will this be,' Mary asked the Angel, 'Since I am a virgin?'" Luke 1:34

The difference between these responses was what struck me. Boiled down, their responses are, "How can I be sure I can trust you?" and "How will it work?" While Zechariah's response comes with some element of doubt, Mary's response implies that she believes it'll happen, and is confused about the mechanics.

Personally, I find that I want to be like Mary, I want to just start off by trusting God, and by knowing that God has it all in hand. I want my questions to God to be around, what should I be doing? How will it work? but I find that my questions are more toward the, "How can I be sure I can trust you?" God deserves better from me.

Backfiring the trucks

"Now, I was assigned to Army intelligence, in the signal corp. And before we shipped out, we had to learn how to drive in a convoy. We were sent down south, to Alabama, to do maneuvers. Why, I don't know, because we didn't do much actual driving in lines once we got to Germany, but maybe it's an army thing. Anyway, we were down there, in this big line of trucks, driving all over the south. When we'd get to a base, we'd have to set up a new signal outpost, for communications. On the way somewhere, it could get pretty boring. So, what we'd do was we'd backfire the trucks."

"What does that mean, backfire?" I ask.

"Well, when you're driving along the road, you turn off the truck engine, it builds up a charge, and when you turn the key back on, it makes a loud bang. So, we'd be going down the road, and up and down the column, whenever somebody got bored, they'd make their truck backfire. It made an awful racket. One day, we were going through this little town, and it's a big deal to see this many army trucks go bye, so a bunch of people were out on main street watching us. This little kid was there, he had his cap gun out, and he's shooting his cap gun at the trucks. So, the guy driving my truck, he turns off the key, builds up that charge you know, and backfire's the truck. The little kid fell down, he thought that he'd been shot, it was so loud."

What I did last summer...

I was listening to Prairie Home Companion a few weeks ago, and the advertisement for the Ketchup Advisory Board came on. Now, I'll let you look up that segment check wikipedia to find out all about it. In this installment, Barb comments that she is concerned that Heaven will be like the school reports where you had to tell the class what you did over the summer. She says something to the effect of, "all the other kids got to do fun, exciting things, and all I did was watch ants in my parent's front lawn." (the show can be listened to here: http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2009/07/18/)

What if Heaven will be like that? What if we get to Heaven, and God says to us, so, what did you do with your life? In God's eyes, my lifetime isn't nearly so long as a summer, and it's a reasonable question. God certainly will demand some sort of accounting for my years here. (Hebrews 9:27)

I started thinking about that, and talking a bit to my wife about it. Here's what I decided. I want to be able to say, well, I cared about people. I worked hard to follow God as best I could. I was there when it mattered. When the important stuff came up, I was ready, and I did what needed to be done.

I'm not going to want to say, "I had great health insurance, I had a killer 401K, I had a sportscar..." None of those things are going to sound right, and God is not impressed by any of it. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think that it's wrong to have heath insurance, I myself have health insurance, and recommend it to anyone else who can get it, but that's not what life is about. Nor is life about having a cool house, though I really want one of those.

Here's the thing, life is about God and people. In fact, those are the only permanent things. God is permanent, He is, was, and always shall be. People, being made in God's image, are also permanent. Humans were made to be eternal creatures. Jesus promises us that we will be given new, everlasting bodies, and can live forever in heaven with Him. I want my life to be about permanent things, I'm not opposed to having a cool house, but I want to be able to tell God about how I lived a life centered around Him, and around loving and caring for his children. The house can't come with me to heaven, the people can.

Best, Good, easy

This is what the Lord says, your redeemer, the Holy one of Israel: "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go." Isaiah 48:17

I interviewed for a job last week, and found out this week that they hired someone else. I was pretty disappointed yesterday. See, God's destination and mine are sometimes quite divergent. I tend to be going to what's easy. Far from being interested in even what's good for me, I want easy. I want to find the most efficient way to do things, and to live my life in the path of least resistance. At least, that's my first instinct.

My first instinct frequently gives way to my trying to do what's good. Good and easy are seldom the same, but I want to be a good man. I know that being a good man changes nothing about my relationship with God, it doesn't earn me God's love, it doesn't buy me God's favor. It doesn't in any way make me worthy of the grace God so freely pours out on my life. But, since I'm going to be some kind of man, I'd prefer to be a good one. I don't think that goodness is a state of mind, I think that it's the result of a lifetime of choices. Choices not to do the easy thing, but instead to follow the more noble course, to do, or be good. Now, in this case, I found myself yesterday saying to God, "Lord, I know that your plan must not have included this job, but c'mon, I want a job, a job is a good thing, and there was this job which looked like it might be fun."

God isn't after what's good. God is after what's best. God has entirely skipped over better. For definition purposes:

good= morally excellent, virtuous

better=the preferable between several options

best=the most desirable of all options

God's standard, the destination he's taking my life, isn't toward simply good. God doesn't describe himself as working toward my good, he says that he is teaching me what is "best" for me. What is most desirable among all possible options. Now, even in being disappointed yesterday, that's somewhere I want to go.

I'll keep posting about my job search here, understand that if I sound whiny, it's because I want what's easy, and sometimes, when I'm having a really good day, I manage to make it to wanting what's good. God is working on the best standard, and sometimes, because I'm sinful and broken, I find that hard to live with.

How I got to Germany

"Now, at the end of Basic training, my unit got together so they could read our assignments. It was the Korean war, and I don't think that any of us wanted to go to Korea. The Sergent announced that the A's-L's and part of the M's were going to Germany, and that the rest of us were going to Korea. Now, our last name's [redacted], so I was off the hook. There was no fighting in Germany, and I was pretty happy to stay away from the fighting."

Who I am hates who I've been...

Relient K has a song, Who I am hates who I've been. Sometimes, I find that I take this one step further. Sometimes, who I am hates who I am. I think sometimes this is why I fall into long confessory prayers. Certainly I am guilty of great sin, but that's not what I want to spend my prayer time focusing on.

I listened to a sermon recently from 707. The crux of it was that maybe we should stop telling God all about how bad we are. There were two reasons for this, first, it's not productive, but moreover, that's not the person God knows. When God looks at us, he sees Jesus. He doesn't see all the times that I've fallen, not that he's unaware of them, but it's not the part of me that he sees. It's not the part of me that he knows. It's certainly not the part of me that I want to be. The sermon's focus was that rather than telling God who I am, I should be asking God who I am. God knows everything about me, and seems to think that I'm worthwhile. I'd like to know that version of me. The version that God wanted to know. God is Holy. I am not. God who is Holy made a way, at great personal expense, to know me. He wanted this relationship, one which He had no need of, with me, and paid dearly for the privilege.

I've started praying lately that God would show me what he sees in me. A lot of times, when I look in the mirror, I don't see much of value. I've started asking God to show me what I'm missing.

Basic Training

"Well, now, I was drafted into the Korean War. We call it the Korean War, but of course, it was a police action." Grandpa sits across from me at his kitchen table. "So, they sent us off to basic training. Boy, that was a time. We had to get up early every day, and be ready to march in formation. They taught us to shoot a gun. Of course, I already knew how, but some guys got there, and they had never handled a rifle in their life, so they had to teach everybody the same way. We even got to try shooting the machine guns, they had targets set up down the range, but sometimes the instructor would say, 'pick a tree, and take it down' and we'd aim at a tree, and shoot it. We'd take turns on the gun until the tree finally came down.

One day, we were marching in formation, along a row of tents. The drill sergeant had to duck into a tent, so he yelled for a halt, and we were all supposed to stand there, and wait for him to say to go again. I was standing in the back, and I could do a fair impression of his voice, so I yelled, 'Forward March!' and the line of guys took off marching. When we got to the corner, I sent us to the right, down past some buildings, and on down the road. I stopped yelling orders when he finally caught up, but nobody would tell him it was me. We were all so sick of marching in formation that we liked the idea of him coming out of that tent, and finding his platoon all gone. Everybody got a good laugh out of that one."

Price vs. Worth

I was talking to my wife yesterday about Jesus dying on the cross for us. Now, I know all of the biblical points about sin leading to death, and that Jesus took our sin (and it's penalty) on himself, but I was struck by something. Jesus paid an incredibly high price for me.

"Every man has his price" is a terribly abused idiom in the movies. But, in a lot of ways, I'm convinced that it's true. I'm also convinced that my price is rather low. Now, I'm not talking about money. If you offered me money to do something despicable, I think I'd likely turn it down. My pride would prevent me from accepting that kind of thing. That's the problem though, God doesn't work with money. I wouldn't be willing to lie to friends and family for money, but I find that I do lie to the people around me to avoid embarrassment. My price therefore, seems to be my reputation. I sell my view of myself in order to preserve others view of me. That's my price.

My price comes in a lot of forms, I find that I'm quick to fall into sin to preserve my pride. Let me screw something up at work, and I'm quick to think of how I could manage the situation, cover my mistake, preserve my pride. I'm far too slow at thinking of how I can go to my supervisor and say, "I messed this up." Show me a pretty girl, and I'm quick to fall into lust. My price is a pretty face.

In light of all this, Jesus death on the cross seems to have had precious little to do with my price. It seems instead that God was saying, in a tangible way, "This is what you're worth". Jesus death paid the "price" for my sins, but also set my "worth" in God's eyes. It appears that God thinks I'm worth quite a bit.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about all of this, the idea of what God thinks I'm worth, and how that affects the way I see myself. Look for this in upcoming posts. Thanks.

Some Talk about Love

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails..." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

American society has a terrible habit of dulling words. For my parent's generation, saying, "You Suck" was a huge insult, on par with the four letter words we throw around today. This dilution of meaning has affected "Love", to the great detriment of our understanding.

I'm going to be writing several posts about Love. I'm going to be dissecting this and other passages about Love. But for openers, I thought that I'd share this. God's love is not the soft, squishy kind of love so often portrayed in bad movies. No, the sort of Love that Paul's talking about in this passage is not that kind of Love at all.

God's love is... different. God's love embodies all of these qualities, and as Christians, we're supposed to live a life which does the same. I'll be talking more about that in the days to come. But, in the mean time, I give you this. God is Love. The world is to know we belong to God because of our love. I know that I fail at love much of the time, but I'd like to be known as a man who kept trying.

Joining the Army

"Now, all of my brothers joined the Navy, so that was was what I was going to do too." Grandpa told me. "They were in the navy, and I figured that I would join the Navy, but first, I was going on a hunting trip up to Canada with my oldest brother. I went on this hunting trip, and had a grand time. I wasn't much of a hunter, but my brother bought me a rifle, and we visited our uncles in Canada and we went hunting. I had a good time of it too. Liked it. I came back home, and found a draft notice. For the Army. I had wanted to be in the Navy, but once you were drafted, well, they said, 'Go', and you went. So, that's how I ended up in the Army. I was the youngest, so I wasn't in World War 2, like my brothers, no I was in Korea."

George's War

"Now, I was the youngest of my brothers," Grandpa tells me. "And each of them was in the Navy during World War 2. My brother George started out the war as the deck gunner on a supply ship. His ship was carrying ammunition across the North Atlantic. Now, the German U-Boats were sinking ships all over there, so George was pretty eager to get off that boat. In fact, I remember that he wrote a story for my school's newspaper, titled 'Around the world on a Keg of Powder'. Well, George wanted off that boat bad. So, when they came to his unit, and said, 'We're putting together a new outfit. Anybody who volunteers will get 30 days leave, but we can't tell you what you'll be doing, or where you'll be.' well, George volunteered right away. He figured that he couldn't do worse than being on the Atlantic, on a ship that might explode without the Germans needing to help it. So, George went home and got married. He spent his 30 days with his wife, and went back to report for duty. George spent the rest of the war behind enemy lines in Burma, getting out information. He got malaria the first week he was there, but had to stay on for the rest of the war, malaria or no."

Geoff's note: I have no way to verify the accuracy of any of Grandpa's statements, and take no responsibility for their historical accuracy. The History Channel seems to only interrupt its war documentaries for the occasional episode of "Ice Road Trucker", and might be a better place for a history of WW2.

An Opening

Who am I?

Am I alone?

These are the questions asked by Michael Popper in the Animatrix. This is a pretty geeky way to start out a blog, which is a geeky endeavor, so let me explain. Fundamentally, Meat and Potatoes is about these two questions. Who I am is wrapped up in two people. First, who I am is expressed in, understood through, and determined by Jesus. Second though, who I am is related to my Grandfather. My Grandfather was my hero growing up. I decided to write this blog because his mind is faltering, and I wanted to be sure that the good parts of him aren't lost. So, lots of the posts will be about, or quotes from, Grandpa. At least as many posts will be about Jesus. Jesus is the Meat, and Grandpa can be the potatoes. (Hebrews 5:14)

The second question, Am I alone? I'll be spending untold lines of text in answering the question of whether I am alone. But, for a start, no, I am not alone. I am part of Christ, which means that I am never really alone. God says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5 referencing Deuteronomy 31:6).

So, here we have the two fundamental questions. Who am I? Am I alone? I promise to be tackling each of them in depth, in funny and heartfelt ways over the coming days.

Blessings be upon you.