Bison attacks woman

But they're so cute ...

How hard is Faith?

This post is already in trouble because the word Faith means so many different things to different people.

Among believers, more than a handful use Faith to describe their belief in God. Some others treat Faith as a system of religious doctrines and standards, accompanied by an obligation and demonstration of loyalty and respect. Then there's the folks for whom Faith means the belief in something that cannot be proven.

Next are the believers who see Faith as the observance of their religious obligation, and the last group are those believers for whom Faith encompasses their trust in God and His promises revealed through Christ.

The last meaning's the one that matters most.

--

After Christ's appearance on the road to Damascus, the Apostle Paul didn't rise from his knees, scratch his chin and start nodding, "Wow! I didn't a minute ago, but now I believe in God and everything's gonna be great for the rest of my life!"

Paul didn't jump up, stick out his chin and announce, "Starting next Sunday, I'm walking backwards to church with a pro-Christian bumper sticker on my forehead to prove my loyalty and respect, and God will reward me for always being right."

Paul didn't choose to start writing a telephone book-thick scroll citing the intellectual arguments in favor of God's existence or take out pro-Christian ads in the Damascus Daily Tribune. Nor did Paul storm into Damascus and start looking for a church devoted to "meaningful applied Bible study and getting deeper into the word."

After Christ's one-on-one appearance left him blinded and helpless beside the road, what did Paul do?

Paul's sudden new Faith came from complete surrender and total obedience, and that meant putting himself aside to trust and follow everything Christ said.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.

After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

- 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

Trading Places at Relationship Ball Park (updated)

I've got single friends of both sexes, aging from 20-somethings to 50-somethings. When it comes to Relationships and What's Wrong With Relationships, despite the age differences, women seem to agree with each other on the same things, just as men tend to agree on the same things.

What are those things?

Generally the women wish men would be more like Men, and take charge when it's time to Take Charge. Women say they want a man who's not indecisive, who's not a little boy waiting to grow up and who doesn't need to be "Mommied" 24x7. They want a man with some Spine.

Men tend to agree with each other, too. But men grumble that "What's wrong with women is they're too bossy and trying too hard to prove they're men."

Well then. How can we make sense of that?

---

When men stopped being Men (and started buying pedicures and hair products instead of power tools and socket sets), the relationships' loss of a Man created a Role Vacuum. Who else was around to step in and fill the vacancy created by the Man's departure, but the woman?

When the home team's trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and runners on first and second, the batter's wife isn't hoping for a short pop fly to center. And she definitely isn't hoping he'll be the last out with three called strikes so she can listen to him whine for the rest of the season about how unfair the umpire is.

Women need to know that when their man's at the plate, he's ready to blast the next pitch over the left field bleachers' roof.

---

Men should stop wasting their time in the Minor Leagues and commit to rejoining the Majors.

I'm not talking about men subordinating or browbeating women according to their whims. I'm not talking about the Man being superior, the boss, the woman's new father or the man being the Final Authority On Everything. I'm talking about Men becoming co-equals again. With boldness. With Spine and with Love.

I'm saying men need to quit pacing back and forth in the dugout, wondering what's wrong with their game. Men ought to stop expecting women to be interested in hearing for the 100th time about what went wrong the last time they struck out at the plate.

I'm saying men need to quit retying their shoe laces, stop scratching and stop taking practice swings in the on deck circle. If you're wearing the uniform and you've got a bat, step up to the plate and face down the pitcher.

Does that sound hard?

It's gotta be even harder hitting Home Runs from the dugout.

Because of your mercy ...

the stranger at the playground

Several years ago I watched a disturbing episode on a nationally televised TV news program.

The segment began with the show's anchor briefly interviewing a dozen or so mothers of young children, asking what they thought the chances were that their child would voluntarily help a total stranger "Help look look for his puppy" at a mall or public playground ... despite a lifetime of hearing Mommy preach Don't Talk to Strangers and Never Ever Get into a Car with a Stranger!

Every Mom on the show was firm and indicated the chances were an emphatic ZERO: there was absolutely No Way their child would ignore all the warnings they'd been taught and intentionally disobey what Mommy'd said.

Then the anchor showed the Moms previously recorded videos of their kids doing exactly what Mommy had warned them ten million times to never ever do.

More than 75% of the kids happily ignored Mom's instructions and wandered off with a stranger to "help look for his puppy" without any hesitation whatsoever.

Of that seventy-five percent, 100% of their mothers were shocked speechless by what they saw their child doing. How could their child completely ignore everything that was meant to keep them safe and out of danger?

Could be because the stranger with the lost puppy at playground didn't look or sound anything at all like the Bogey Man who Mommy warned them about: that nice man at the playground didn't look or sound scary at all.

Her child might, but mine never would.

--

I watched a DVD interview with a fragile-looking college professor who'd moved to the US after surviving years of confinement at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. As part of the liberal arts curriculum, the professor had his students watch films of Hitler's speeches and afterward, he always tried engaging them in discussions about what they'd just seen.

He was troubled by how often his students began snickering and laughing during the films, as though Hitler was nothing more than a caricature of a madman. The professor was also dismayed that so many intelligent, supposedly open-minded college students would shake their heads and ask him, "How could the German people be so stupid to fall for that clown?"

The old professor's backbone must have been made of titanium because his answer was always the same: "Are you so stupid that you believe the next Hitler will come goose-stepping down the street wearing swastikas and a tiny mustache? No, you simpletons! The next Hitler will appear from nowhere and gain attention by promising he has all the solutions necessary to fix everything that's wrong with the country.

"Once his words excite the people's hopes, from that point on he'll tell them exactly what they want to hear. He'll promise that victory is within reach. He'll assure them that every problem can be solved ... if only the people will stand behind him and give him the power necessary to take the necessary and appropriate action." That's how dictators are made.

The wise old professor went on to say that in all his years of teaching, practically none of his students believed they could ever be so gullible or so easily manipulated. Which of course, he said sadly, is the mindset that makes the ascension of a monster like Hitler possible.

That other guy is a fool, but not me.

--

Satan must not be much intimidated or feel too threatened about me, because in my entire life he's never shown up or appeared to me in person and said, "Hey Joe ... doesn't a little sin sound like FUN right now?"

Not only that, but I've never even had a demon grab me by the arm and whisper "Hey buddy, let's go out and get ourselves sinned up real good" nor have I ever met anybody who had horns, or anybody who concealed their clove hooves in shoes, or anybody who carried a pitch fork nor anybody who wore a red satin body suit around town. Not one time. Ever.

So what's preventing me from living a completely sin-free life?

The other guy's obviously a sinner, but not me.

--

The world would likely shake its head an announce, "Aha! You yourself said you've never seen the devil so obviously you're not being targeted by demons or evil spirits. Thus your own words prove the devil doesn't exist."

I didn't say that at all, but that argument makes my point: the stranger at the playground doesn't show up wearing bloody overalls or carrying a chain saw. The stranger at the mall who talks a child into following him out the door wouldn't dare tell that child what's on his mind or what's about to happen.

Nor would the stranger who rings the front doorbell to ask a child "Is your Mommy home?" show up wearing a scary mask or dress himself as the bogey man. Instead he'll put on his best face and try his hardest to be pleasant and reassuring ... because he wants the child to feel comfortable and actually eager to unlatch the door and let him inside.

No matter how many times Mommy and Daddy told them not to ever, ever do it.

--

God is our Father. And because God loves us far more than we can imagine, God also wants to protect and keep us from harm even more than we can imagine.

Put simply, because none of us were born knowing everything about anything and will never know anything about everything, God gave us His commandments to keep us out of trouble in every thing.

Not to keep us from having fun. Not to keep us from "discovering our true selves." Not to keep us chained to man-made authorities or institutions. But to keep us close to him ... and to protect us from that poor man at life's playground who's just lost his puppy.

I slept through it, sorry

3.6-magnitude earthquake wakes Md. residents

Temblor centered in Gaithersburg felt by as many as 3 million people in Mid-Atlantic region

A 3.6-magnitude earthquake with a center near Gaithersburg was reported around 5 a.m. Friday, and felt by as many as 3 million people in the Mid-Atlantic region, according to the United States Geological Survey.

It may have been the strongest measured tremor on record for the state. The Maryland Geological Survey's web site lists the strongest confirmed tremor centered in Maryland prior to this one was a 3.1 shaking recorded in Hancock in 1978.

The Friday morning earthquake was reported across the Baltimore area as well as in D.C. Virginia, Pennsylvania and Delaware. People in Columbia, Owings Mills, Carroll County and Odenton reported feeling the quake this morning, describing the movement as enough to rattle household items.

Odenton resident Paul Muirhead said the temblor woke him up around 5:05 a.m. "I was startled from my sleep as if being shaken," he wrote in an e-mail. "Though there was hardly any light by which to see, I could hear items of mine — large and small — rattling on glass shelves."

- source here

What keeps your battery charged? (updated)

Any car (or boat) battery will eventually lose its charge given a long enough period of time, even if the battery's brand new and left completely disconnected on a dealer's shelf. And asking a battery to start your car (or boat) engine, especially on a cold winter morning, day after day after day, consumes an amazing amount of available energy.

Thing is, no battery is self-recharging. So what puts energy back into the battery and keeps it recharged?

That's why your car (or boat) has an alternator: once the engine starts, it's the alternator's job to supply the voltage necessary to recharge your car (or boat) battery and replace what was lost from starting the engine.

Memo: It's a fact of life that if your car (or boat) battery loses its charge and won't start the engine, no amount of screaming, yelling, sarcasm or swearing about being two hours late for work will help put it back.

Hmmm.

--

We like to think we're more complex than a car (or boat) battery, but like it or not, human beings have something in common with car (and boat) batteries. The juice we expend in our day to day lives has gotta be replaced; otherwise we couldn't get started in the morning.

Since none of us were born with alternators bolted to our backs, what will we use instead to recharge our energy and keep us going?

--

Anger, rage, resentment, jealousy, pride, revenge, conceit, selfishness and suspicion are one way of keeping our batteries charged. All those things feel powerful and light up the internal indicator lights that assure us something's happening and getting done.

But remember, none of those emotions will recharge a dead car (or boat) battery. And as human beings, aren't we much more complex than any car (or boat) battery?

Right?

--

Isn't it funny how easily we'll remember and stay angry about the smallest things for months and months ... like somebody cutting us off in traffic, or somebody taking too long checking out at the grocery store or somebody gossiping behind our backs at work ... compared to how quickly we forget all the things we have to be truly grateful for?

Energy spent = Energy requiring replacement

So what's keeping your life's battery charged?

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?

Luke 6:45-46

When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.'

- Luke 11:24

pics fm TZ

I asked Vernon to email some pictures ...






Masai jumping, above.



New school building, above.


Worship Team.

Now I get it ... as best as I'm able

Tonight I listened to a woman describe what natural childbirth is like. She told me that "Natural" means no epidural, no Demerol, no aspirin, no nothing to ease or dull the pain.

A little while later, her newly born baby held in her arms for the first time, she explained that she'd felt such love for the child that she was overwhelmed beyond anything she thought possible ... because she realized This person is part of me. And because she knew then that nothing could change the attachment she felt to her child.

She summed up her feelings by saying no matter what her child did and regardless of what mistakes he made, she knew that it was impossible for her to ever stop loving him ... and neither could anything keep her from wanting to love and protect him.

Her words gave me just the slightest glimpse of what God's love for us must be like ... times a thousand billions, and more ... if it were possible for us to grasp and comprehend it.

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

- Genesis 1:27

We love because he first loved us.

-1 John 4:19

The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him.

This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

-1 John 2:4-6

"Jesus is mine and He Is Alive Forever"

From Tanzania, East Africa

2005

"It's half empty, I'm tellin' ya!"

Can't help noticing that when we're having a long-term, head to head disagreement with someone else, the words we use to describe that person often include:

Stubborn

Pig-headed

Selfish

Foolish

Crazy

But when we see someone else stand up for principles or convictions we agree with, the words we use to describe the same characteristics magically become:

Determined

Brave

Admirable

Heroic

Savvy

---

Is the glass actually half empty or half full? Culture teaches It Depends. It's all a matter of perspective. It's impossible to know if the glass is half empty or half full because there are no universal truths or absolutes.

But that's just plain wrong.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

-Psalm 23:5

Scenes

I was on a grocery store parking lot one hot afternoon a long time ago and watched a stocky middle-aged man with the build of a stevedore push a buggy (cart) to his car.

The buggy's load included not only the man's groceries but also what looked like a two or three year old girl seated on the mesh fold-down shelf intended to hold ladies' purses as they shopped. The child was facing the man and she was bawling her eyes out.

And each time she cried, the man reached back as he walked and slapped her across the face.

The little girl would stop crying for three or four seconds after she'd been hit, but then I suppose as the pain receptors kicked back in and each blow's impact registered as if for the first time that afternoon, she'd begin crying all over again.

Which brought another slap to her face and re-start the crying cycle.

The man kept on swatting the little girl as he walked, as casually as if he was slapping mosquitoes from his forearm. With total indifference, without even looking down to see what he was doing ... his mind was a million miles away from what he was doing ... as though he believed he could get away with slapping a three year old girl in the face, in public, without consequences whatsoever.

Because he was so much bigger. Because no adult came forward to stop him. Because he was convinced, on a Neanderthal level, that slapping the little girl was nobody's business but his .... because she belonged to him.

--

On a different afternoon I saw a haggard-looking woman in her late 60s wearing what looked like a greasy pillowcase stand beside a car and use a stick to reach the car's backseat and spank the children, most likely her grandchildren, inside.

I don't know how long this was going on before I got there but the children were already in tears. The woman continued angrily calling each one by name to "Git to this winder right now, you hear me?!" to make it easier for her to give that child its swats with her stick.

Then soon as the child jumped out of reach again she warned her bellowing target to "Stop that crying" and then called for the next one one to come close and get theirs.

I don't know how many times each child got a turn, but every one of them was screaming and running up and down, hopping back and forth over the backseat like scalded rabbits trying to stay away from her stick.

The woman was too worked up and emotionally involved, and the children dancing so hard to avoid her, that she stopped bothering to take aim at their backsides and began swinging wildly, blistering whatever part she could reach.

I'm sure enough time has passed for all the children in both those events to have children of their own. And maybe their children have children of their own, too. Because both incidents happened such a long time ago.

So long ago that the man who slapped the little girl and the grandma swinging away at a backseat full of screaming kids with her stick, if they aren't dead, surely have forgotten what they did. Come to think of it, I'm not sure either one of those adults would remember anything they'd done just a few hours after they'd done it.

They hadn't suffered any pain or endured any trauma: the man was just being a father and the woman was only doing what she thought best, too. Kids have to learn, for crying out loud. So why waste time over-analyzing long-ago events that never mattered much in the first place, especially when nobody remembers?

And after all this time, what's the point in wondering how those children may have been affected? Maybe those kids got exactly what they needed, learned a good lesson, and never acted up again ever, not even one time for the rest of the lives. Ever.

But I doubt it. Wonder what punishment they received the next time?

---

Not too long ago several new stories got major headlines after a handful of airline pilots, in separate incidents, found themselves arrested, detained in jail and facing felony charges for flying drunk. No kidding. Turns out that both passengers and ground crew had concerns after noticing the pilots' erratic behavior, and notified authorities.

Until they found themselves in handcuffs and locked up in jail, it could be that every one of those pilots believed that what they were doing was simply business as usual and that no one on-board would care or bother to notice.

Apparently some passengers and ticket personnel didn't quite see things the same way.

---

What do I know about raising kids, being a grandparent, flying commercial jets or blogging about the Gospel?

I don't have children and I've never been either a parent or a grandparent. I've never been an airline pilot or flown commercial jets. Nor have I ever preached a single sermon or started so much as a single church.

But that lack of apparent qualifications doesn't mean I can't see, or that I don't have a brain ... or that I'm too deaf to prayerfully listen and hear.