Reminder to PRAY for our country and the election tonight, Nov 4th!
When: 7p
Where: Fellowship Bible Church, 6108 Bush River Road, Columbia SC, 29212
All are welcome
Good Reasons to Vote, even if the choice is hard
Millions of evangelicals and Catholics may decide this very tight election simply by…not voting. Please don’t be one of them.
People long to be well led, and for people of faith, character, morals, and values matter. It’s so demotivating when both choices rankle. As Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “The race is deadlocked with [three] weeks to go and if you’re an undecided, unsure or wavering voter it looks like Awful vs. Empty.” Actually, I would add that Kamala is far more Awful than Trump. But first, on the Empty issue…
In the article, Noonan tried to make sense of Kamala’s decisions not to take many substantive media interviews and to respond to probing questions with “I grew up in a middle-class family” word salads. Noonan asks, “Why does she dodge away from clarity? Why doesn’t she take opportunities to deepen public understanding of her thinking?…
Noonan offers a couple of possibilities (“Because she’ll figure it out later,” “Because she’s just not that into policy”) before landing on the one that makes the most sense to me: “Because she doesn’t want you to understand where she stands. Because she’s more progressive than she admits, and there’s no gain in telling you now.”
Noonan continues, “Failing to speak plainly and deeply now about illegal immigration [or taxing, spending, regulation, or faith-based issues] is political malpractice on a grand scale…She owes us these answers. It is wrong that she can’t or won’t address them. It is disrespectful to the electorate.”
Or is it intentional deception on a very large scale?
Fidelity Month: Lincoln and Schaeffer on Freedom and Sacrifice
"When freedom destroys order the yearning for order will destroy freedom."
Courtesy StoryBlocks
Two of the most majestic, heart-piercing places to visit in Washington DC are the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. Our images of both, taken during a cherry blossom-time trip, serve as a perfect backdrop to this tribute to Fidelity Month and all those who have given their lives to protect ours.
(In case you are not familiar with Fidelity Month, it is a new
movement to celebrate the virtue of faithfulness in June by renewing our commitments to God, our spouses, our country and our communities. Please check it out and perhaps join me in using its promotional headers and memes on social media to focus on a movement that prompts us to draw closer to God, work to strengthen our families and heal divisions in our country.)
Surely one of the greatest inspirations for fidelity to our country is to remember the sacrifices given to protect and nurture America–the theme of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. Back in high school our chorale memorized Lincoln’s address set to beautiful music. I sang it softly as I read the entire address engraved on the south wall of Lincoln’s memorial. I’m so grateful to him for wrapping such beautiful words around the sacrifice of the fallen, calling us to give thanks and take courage as we rise to protect our freedoms in our civil war of worldviews and values. Please join me in remembering…
The Gettysburg Address:
Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.
We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
Step into the Easter Story as Foretold by Isaiah and Fulfilled in the Four Gospels
Jesus set his face like a flint for Jerusalem. His hour had come. Almost 700 years before, the prophet Isaiah described what would unfold in surprising detail, and what it would mean for all humankind. I invite you to read Isaiah’s version (before Sunday) that focuses more on the physical, emotional and spiritual suffering of Jesus and the reasons why God was willing to “crush” his Son. Let it take you deeper into the arrest, trial and crucifixion of “the greatest story ever told.” And worship the One who loves us and sacrificed himself for us.
All the texts are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version except for my comments in italics.
***Isaiah 53:1-3 Betrayal, abandonment, denial, rejection***
Giotto: Jesus betrayed by Judas, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy; @1305
Isaiah: Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?…He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Matthew: And [in the garden of Gethsemane, Judas] came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” (26:49)
Then all the disciples left him and fled. (26:56)
6 Reasons Why This Evangelical Christian is Voting for Nikki Haley
(My evangelical bonafides: I grew up in a non-denominational evangelical church and married my husband while he was in an evangelical seminary. He has pastored two evangelical churches for a total of almost 30 years. I have authored four books with evangelical publishers, including Harper Collins/Zondervan.)
Haley at her rally in our Columbia, SC suburb last Saturday
This is not a rant against Donald Trump or the people who support him, who include many of my friends. I respect their choices. As with the tensions surrounding our beliefs about where God’s sovereignty ends and free will begins or how God created the earth—young or old earth, theistic evolution or intelligent design—godly people with a high view of Scripture disagree. And we can still treat one another with gentleness and respect in the spirit of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, “…bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
We each give account to God for the stewardship of our citizenship and vote.
With a very heavy heart I would possibly vote for Trump in November, but could only do that in good conscience before God if I did whatever I could now to get someone else on the ballot instead. Here in South Carolina our early primary votes carry extra weight in shaping the presidential race. So we have donated to Nikki Haley’s campaign, have her sign in our yard, and I am writing this post
Why Haley?
The joy of trusting God like Shadrach, not Jacob
Long ago, these were my hands…until they were wrecked by rheumatoid arthritis. Thirty+ years ago I had three joints replaced, two ruptured tendons repaired, and one large nodule removed. Yesterday I had a second surgery on my right hand. The nodule has grown back and was removed again. The middle joint of my thumb underneath it has been destroyed, so it was stabilized by drilling a hole and inserting a pin. Recovering the use of my right hand may take three months (for the bone to strengthen).
The problems in my hand are not very painful, but it is getting harder and harder to grasp things with my right, dominant hand. The nodule may grow back. So the prospect of big gain is iffy. But my doctors are recommending this surgery, so I am trusting them and am all set to do it.
I am also trusting God for the gain of function we are hoping the surgery delivers.
When I told all this to a friend yesterday, she responded, “Well, you have an army of people praying for you.” I smiled and thanked her. It’s true. And if any of you reading this would like to volunteer, I’d be grateful. We have so many nerves in our hands.
A Prayer for the Hostages. And for us.
photo courtesy Storyblocks
A nephew of one of the Hamas hostages said his aunt “’had to adjust to the sunlight’ because she had been in darkness for weeks. ‘She was in complete darkness,…completely cut off from the outside world.”
Imagine living in total darkness, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 7 weeks—50 days for the now-released hostages, 105 days and counting for those still in captivity. Think what you were doing on October 7th. Now think of erasing all you’ve done since then. All that work, vacation, time with family and friends, church fellowship, football, Thanksgiving, Christmas prep–all those moments you’ve held dear.
Imagine instead sitting and sleeping in plastic chairs or benches. In the dark. All that time. In some cases alone. In others, crowded together with strangers and ordered to keep quiet. One meal of rice and bread a day. Knocking on the door when you need to go to the restroom. Waiting hours until you are taken.
Isolation. Darkness. Deprivation.
I think about the hostages often. Grieve for them. Plead to God for their release. And for their spiritual deliverance.
“The people living in darkness have seen a great light.” We can pray for God to shine his light in the hostages’ darkness.
Smart, fun, generous…and difficult—my mom died a year ago today
How God is way ahead of us and with us in the Valley of the Shadow
It’s been a year since I’ve regularly posted here. After Mom’s death I needed time to process. Grieve. Reflect. Rest. I didn’t intend to pull back this long. One thing that has drawn me back: I’ve wanted to tell the story of how amazingly God provided for us during her final three years fraught with vascular dementia.
I’ve also wanted to encourage others on an all-too-common yet nearly impossible journey. Nothing really prepares you for the unimaginable twists and turns of caring for someone who has always been so sharp and fiercely independent, who begins to need help doing her laundry, and even taking her medicines. Especially when they insist on remaining a thousand miles away.
Just when you’ve figured out how to respond to hallucinations or accusations of stealing, another unthinkable challenge comes up. But let me tell you how God shepherded us through the Valley of the Shadow…
The last 20 months have been a tale of two cities for us—”the best of times and the worst of times.”
Nancy Pearcey’s New Book Flips the Script on Toxic Masculinity
This book has the potential to revolutionize our vision of what it means to be a man in today’s culture–how to lift up the beauty of God’s design for men (in pulpits, schools and men’s ministries), how to raise a good man, what to look for in a good husband, and how to heal many of the broken relationships in our families and churches. Read on to see why this could be one of the most family-and-culture transforming books you might ever read.
From my newsfeed recently: “…straight white men are abusive, [they] are serial killers…[they] are the ones shooting up schools, right?” The narrative that masculinity is toxic is pounded into men and boys daily. For such a time as this, Nancy Pearcey’s new book, The Toxic War on Masculinity, flips the script, showing that masculinity is not inherently toxic, but the war on masculinity certainly is.
Yes, Nancy writes, “men are typically larger, stronger, and faster than women. In general, they are also more physical, more competitive, and more risk-taking.” And while it’s true that the American Psychological Association notes that “most mass shooters are male, they overlook the controlled power and aggression used by the heroic men who have stopped mass murderers.” On 9-11 we were proud and grateful to mostly all men who ran into the burning buildings and searched the wreckage for survivors. That is what good men do. They protect and rescue. They show courage and aggression under control. And good moral character.
But Nancy exposes today’s competing script for masculinity: “Men everywhere seem to experience the tension between what they define as the “good man” and the way our culture pressures them to be a “real man”—‘be tough, be strong, never show weakness, win at all costs…get rich, get laid.’”
So how do you expose the falseness of a widely embraced cultural narrative?
Is CRT in our schools? A response
On September 10th local teacher Sarah Ostergaard tackled the difficult issue of Critical Race Theory in our local paper–a hot button issue in our Columbia, SC suburb and the nation. She posed this question and answered it by explaining that critical race theory is not in our schools because technically and historically CRT is “a theoretical framework involving the history of US laws, systems, and organizations that focus on “the nuances of the rights protected by the 1st Amendment vs. the 14th Amendment, the history of voting rights, or the quantitative effects of public policies. It is not a k-12 curriculum.”
Memorial Day–Come with me to Arlington Cemetery
It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Ecclesiastes 7:2
Just weeks ago, as pinkish-white cherry blossoms graced the grayish-white marble headstones of the dead who served our country, we walked and rode through Arlington Cemetery. The delicacy of the blossoms’ beauty and the massive orchestration of rows upon rows of markers belie the horror and chaos of the wars that have sent the bodies of so many men and women to rest in these forested hills overlooking Washington D.C.
A Deep Dive into the New Reality Marching towards Ukraine
What will daily life be like for Ukrainian leaders, Christians, and families? Insight from Alexander Solzhenitsyn and James Michener
To listen to some news reports today, most of our leaders are resigned to the probability that within two weeks Russia will have captured Kyiv and set up a new government in Ukraine, one loyal to Russia. They are hopeful that most of the invading Russian military will withdraw, and things will “calm down.” Any spike in gas or food prices for Americans will return to more normally (inflated) levels, and the stock market will bounce back to pre-invasion numbers.
But the nightmare will only be beginning for the people of Ukraine–loss of Western freedoms and the expansion of Russia’s FSB security service that will surveil and punish any who resist will be the new daily reality. What will this mean for the Ukrainian leaders, Christians and families? How can we pray for them?
What will a new government mean for Ukrainian leaders?
MLK Day: In the time of BLM and critical race theory, how can it be relevant, encouraging, or even fair to be a “chosen race”?
MLK Memorial, ht Flickr
We live in times when the very idea of a “chosen race” is offensive.
And yet, God was not hesitant in the least to tell Moses, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel” (Exodus 19:5-6).
Having just delivered Israel from bondage to the Egyptians, God leads them to Mt. Sinai and, upon arrival, this is the very first thing he tells Moses to tell them. He is giving them a new identity: his chosen people. His treasured possession.
He wants them to know that “all the earth is mine,” and out of “all peoples” Israel will have a special relationship with him and a unique identity. “If you obey my voice and keep my covenant,” you will be a “holy nation.” A “holy” nation is a nation “set apart” from all other nations. You will be a kingdom of priests endowed with royal authority to bring people to me.
This is so foreign to our deeply democratic sensibilities. “We the people” choose our own leaders. We believe in equality. One citizen, one vote. What made Israel so special? And how can being a “chosen race” be a source of deep encouragement and challenge or even fair in today’s world?
Critical Race Theory: Good resources (Part 2)
In my last post I discussed the “definitional mess” that is Critical Race Theory and offered a worldview critique. Job one in our racially charged culture is to seek to understand, What do we really mean by “Critical Race Theory”? And then, seek to understand the longings for justice in the hearts of our Black neighbors and friends.
We can agree with the CRT experts that understanding and pursuing justice for the poor and oppressed should be a high priority for us. The Bible speaks more about that than about freedom from high taxation, forbidding gay marriage or many other conservative political and social goals.
Paul tells us we are called to be ministers of reconciliation between God and man. The Bible, especially Amos and the other prophets, call us to be ministers of reconciliation between man and man, especially unjust practices that trample on the oppressed. So how can we best pursue understanding and justice across the racial divide?
Critical Race Theory: A worldview critique (part one)
How can we speak the truth in love about CRT?
image courtesy Storyblocks
Critical Race Theory is in a definitional mess. When President Biden’s press secretary Jen Pasaki was asked what her boss thought about it recently, she responded, “The president believes that in our history, there are so many dark moments, and there is not just slavery and racism in our history. There is systemic racism that is still impacting society today…And he believes, as I believe as a parent of children, that kids should learn about our history.”
The message from the White House is that Critical Race Theory (CRT) is mainly about teaching the hard truth about slavery in our schools. But this is only one small aspect of of CRT. Other aspects of CRT are far more concerning.
What do our educators think about CRT?
What are we to make of the fact that the National Education Association convened recently and approved resolutions to “oppose attempts to ban critical race theory”? To help them do that they also voted to jumpstart a study that “critiques empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society.”
Marvel Comics v. Jordan Peterson: One of the world’s most dangerous profs podcasts his journey to faith and draws heavy fire
Imagine if C.S. Lewis had podcast his journey to faith, and millions of unbelievers had listened in. Imagine if the forces of secular universities, progressive politics and media had targeted him to take him out before he could cross the line of faith and bring thousands with him.
A similar journey by a similarly brilliant academic may be taking place right now. In the last six weeks over a million and a half people have listened to his remarkable recent podcast discussing his wrestling with conscience, suffering, meaning, and is Jesus really the Son of God?
And last week Marvel Comics took the lead to destroy him. Why Marvel Comics? Because he has a vast following among young men.
According to Marvel, Jordan Peterson, clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at Harvard and now Toronto University, is more dangerous than a Nazi. More dangerous even than Hitler. Their newly released Marvel comic, written by progressive intellectual Ta-Nehisi Coates, casts Red Skull, the super Nazi who would go where Hitler wouldn’t dare, as quoting Peterson’s ideas as his own. (Only Captain America could take down Red Skull and his Hail Hydra organization.)
How exactly did Peterson, neither a conservative nor a Christian, earn the wrath of Marvel and Coates?
What do we see at the foot of the cross?
The pain Jesus suffered went far beyond the flogging, nails and suffocation
Storyblocks
Stand with me at the foot of the cross. Come close. So close that when we look up, all we can see is that face. The arms outstretched, the hands barely visible in our peripheral vision.
What do we see?
If you saw Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, you no doubt took away indelible images of the physical pain and agony of Jesus’ death on a Roman cross. In our imaginations we see the nails and the stretching, hanging, and suffocating, and we are astonished that anyone would willingly give up a throne to submit to such excruciating torture.
On the day he died, Jesus endured so much physical pain; yet the Scriptures say he didn’t open his mouth. Like a lamb going to the slaughter, he endured silently the scourging, mocking, spitting, slapping, nailing, the struggle to breathe.
But at the crucial juncture, Gibson’s movie could not show us, nor can we even imagine the greater pain of being cursed—being totally removed from the presence of God. Around noon something beyond all imagination began to happen.
The world went dark, and Christ became sin.
How can we be angry about culture or politics and not sin?
Raise your hand if you feel like you live in a time where people love empty words and seek after lies. Where the honor of seeking to follow Jesus and listen to his Word is turned to shame. That’s exactly how King David felt in Psalm 4. So he gives himself some good advice: “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.”
David urges himself to begin with deep reflection alone on his bed in silence. We can benefit from the same advice. Here’s a prompt for our reflection: What does it mean to be a person of truth and grace in a culture of lies?
The ninth commandment, “Do not bear false witness against your neighbor,” gives us a good place to begin: And the Westminster Catechism offers us a great little test to help us take the measure of our own commitment to truth. After all, we can’t do nearly as much about changing others as we can about changing ourselves:
- Are we committed to “preserving and promoting truth between man and man?
- Are we committed to “preserving and protecting the good name of our neighbor, as well as our own”? (What if our neighbor is on the other political side? What if we are engaged on social media?)
The Equality Act passes. Tough two weeks. Romantic Realism.
We’ve hit the post-2020 election wall of reality pretty hard lately— Amazon banned the thoughtful and science-based When Harry Became Sally, singer Demi Lovato declared that gender-reveal parties were transphobic, and Mr. Potato Head came out as gender fluid.
Even Dr. Suess’s books have been cancelled from their featured spotlight at Read Across America Day.
To cap it off, at the confirmation hearing for Biden’s nominee to be #2 at the Department of Health and Human Services, Sen. Rand Paul could not get him/her to admit that children should not be able to make their own decisions to make sex changes with hormone blockers or surgery without parental involvement.
The outrage has lit up social media.
Four Valentine Lessons on Love from Netflix’s Virgin River
Virgin River is a down comforter on a cold pandemic night kind of TV series that invites you to find a cozy spot and wrap the warmth and softness of its love story and small town around you.
Unlike a comforter, it has some serious edges and romantic tension, but nothing that seems headed over a cliff. Even so, as the Netflix writers take Robyn Carr’s 20+ book series and elevate it to be as appealing as possible to a general audience of non-romance readers, they inevitably enfold some of God’s greatest lessons about love into their script.
Some reviewers accuse the show of being too traditional and cliched–too “Hallmarky.” I disagree. Yes it’s kinda soapy, but still in a different class. And to my mind it’s success simply proves that Jesus has the best information on how to have good relationships. When the second season was released last November it zoomed to #1, displacing both The Crown and Queen’s Gambit.