No "I" in "TEAM"

Scripture: Exodus 17:3 "And the [Israelites] thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, "Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst."

Observation: This is almost verbatim the complaint that the people had against Moses in Chapter 16, verse 3 about the lack of food. The complaint was from the followers against the leader(s).

Application:
1. There is no honoring of God in backbiting and attacking authorities in my life. If God has placed all authorities in their positions (Romans 13), then, even though I need to implore those leaders to be righteous, I should trust and not complain or gossip.

2. The above point is applicable to leaders at all levels, but there is more application to those leaders that are geographically, spiritually, and relationally nearer to me. In those instances, (e.g. work, family, and the church) first I should think, "We are on the same team." Second, those leaders are earnestly trying to follow the Lord, and my present needs and desires are rarely most important. I need to think humbly and, with servant eyes, inquire about what I can do for them.

3. Trust God in all things (Matthew 6). Seek him consistently to walk closer with him and all will be well. Even if not is "all well," to have God is to have everything.

Prayer: Father, your word humbles me every time I read it humbly. I love you and need you to teach me to be like Christ. Holy Spirit, please sanctify this broken man, work in me, and speak to me in all my times of need. Jesus, I'm yours because you have given yourself entirely for me and to me. Who could imagine a God who serves and reigns at the same time?! I love you and need you. Amen.

Missing The Point and Missing The End

Scripture: Exodus 14:12 "Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, 'Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness."

Observation: The Israelites' attitude raise questions for me.

1. What would it take to desire death more than slavery? What would my thoughts on slavery to sin need to include for me to choose death in freedom over life in shackles?

2. The larger story of the Exodus obviously means for the attitudes of the Israelites to be viewed as unfaithful to God and as wrong. What did these people know about God? What did they not know about him that would cause them to doubt his love, care and protection?

3. Faith in God can in large part be defined as trusting God at his word. In this the Exodus generation failed, with few exceptions, and therefore failed to inherit the promised land and the eternal promise of life. Can we possibly call our doubt and complaining against God and our disobedience to his written word and will "faith" and expect to inherit eternal life?

Application: I often look at the "bigger" and, in a way, easier visible accomplishments with pride and consider myself faithful to God. In truth, I focus on those things and ignore or gloss over the simple but more necessary commands of daily life like mercy, patience, love, kindness, self-control, self-sacrifice, abstinence from evil, etc. Which does God emphasize? Proverbs 21:3 tells me.

Prayer: I can only ask for mercy and grace. Holy Spirit, transform me to the image of Christ. Make me humble and obedient to you. I love you, God. Amen.

It's Not That I Hope There Is No God! I Don't Want There To Be A God.

Some of you may know that I recently started down the road toward another degree and a lot of the courses will be about philosophy, logic, and dead guys. As I spent more time with these things (I'm not spending time with dead guys, though), I've come to the conclusion that not being a Christian is illogical.

Now, lots of people disagree with me on this point. But then that doesn't necessarily make me wrong. Popularity doesn't establish rightness... just look at skinny jeans. No, in order to prove that I'm wrong about that someone would have to provide some evidence to demonstrate that it is a sound application of logic to entirely deny God's existence and to deny the fact that Jesus was God's son and that Jesus lived and died and rose again from the dead.

A lot of people, even people that share the same faith as me, would say that such things cannot be proven and that they are simply to be addressed with faith. I agree, but only a smidgen. People believe things day in and day out without consciously thinking, "I'm choosing to believe this or that." Are they nuts? No, they are not, because they have evidence that supports what they think and it is logical, based on that evidence, to believe what they believe.

So it is with belief in theism in general and Christianity in specific. My faith is in God through Jesus Christ. My faith is on evidence that such belief is logical. My daughter and I have a disagreement over whether fairies are real. I don't think it's logical to believe in them. There are many other things that I don't believe in because they don't have substantial evidence to demonstrate the truth of them (like the existence of aliens, for example - no evidence...anywhere).

Anyway, great books have already been written on these subjects so I won't write one here. But here's an interesting quote along the lines of the topic:

“I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that. My guess is that this cosmic authority problem is not a rare condition and that it is responsible for much of the scientism and reductionism of our time. One of the tendencies it supports is the ludicrous overuse of evolutionary biology to explain everything about human life, including everything about the human mind …. This is a somewhat ridiculous situation …. [I]t is just as irrational to be influenced in one’s beliefs by the hope that God does not exist as by the hope that God does exist.”

--- Prof. Thomas Nagel, NYU; "The Last Word"

Time For Chuck E. Cheese's

We took a strongly needed family fun trip to Lawton last Sunday. As some of you may know, we are moving to Oklahoma City in the next couple months. I say "some" may know because for some reason I have failed to tell pretty much everyone. My wife knows; that's where the notifications pretty much stopped.

When we're in Lawton, my wife and I usually like to hit Olive Garden, Chick-fil-A, or McAlister's Deli. We went a different route this time, namely, cardboard-tasting pizza, pointless games, and giant mice.

It was basically what we expected it to be. We had a great time just relaxing and spending 25¢ tokens for 1¢ tickets that eventually were cumulatively spent on three giant suckers. If my math is right, those suckers cost $10 a piece.

The only rain cloud on the sunny day was when a older woman began to yell at her kid because he picked a briefcase that she didn't want him on the I'll-trade-your-fake-money-for-this-pretend-briefcase-so-you-can-get-25-tickets-worth-up-to-and-including-1¢ game. The snarl on her face and words, "See! You just wasted the whole thing!" will forever be burned into my memory.

The smiles and fellowship that we had was worth it. Here are some pictures of the stop.

Pilot and ATC Humor

Here's a few jokes of the air traffic control and pilot kind that people outside of those professions will also mostly find funny. If you find yourself not laughing, just know there is an entire subculture in the world that giggles at these.

Oldies but goodies:

British Airways flight asks for push back clearance from terminal.
Control Tower: 'And where is the world's most experienced airline going today without filing a flight plan?'
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ATC: "Al Italia 345 continue taxi to 26L South via Tango - check for workers along taxiway."
Al Italia 345: "Roger, Taxi 26 Left via Tango. Workers checked - all are working"
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Nova 851: "Halifax Terminal, Nova 851 with you out of 13,000 for 10,000, requesting runway 15."
Halifax Terminal (female): "Nova 851, Halifax, the last time I gave a pilot what he wanted I was on penicillin for three weeks. Expect runway 06."
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Lost student pilot: "Unknown airport with Cessna 150 circling overhead, please identify yourself."
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Tower: Have you got enough fuel or not?
Pilot: Yes.
Tower: Yes what?
Pilot: Yes SIR!
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Frankfurt Control: 'AF1733, You are on an eight mile final for 27R. You have a UH-1 three miles ahead of you on final; reduce speed to 130 knots.'
Pilot: 'Roger, Frankfurt. We're bringing this big bird back to 130 fer ya.'
Control: (a few moments later): 'AF33, helicopter traffic at 90 knots now 11/2 miles ahead of you; reduce speed further to 110 knots.'
Pilot: 'AF 33 reining this here bird back further to 110 knots.'
Control: 'AF33, you are three miles to touchdown, helicopter traffic now one mile ahead of you; reduce speed to 90 knots'
Pilot (miffed): 'Sir, do you know what the stall speed of this here C-130 is?'
Control: 'No, but if you ask your co-pilot, he can probably tell you.'
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ATC: 'Cessna 123, what are your intentions?
Cessna: 'To get my Commercial Pilot's License and Instrument Rating.'
ATC: 'I meant in the next five minutes, not years.'
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Controller: AF123, say call sign of your wingman.
Pilot: Uh . . . Approach, we're a single ship.
Controller: Oh . . . oh, no! You have traffic!
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O'Hare Approach: USA212, cleared ILS runway 32L approach, maintain 250 knots.
USA212: Roger approach, how long do you need me to maintain that speed?
O'Hare Approach: All the way to the gate if you can.
USA212: Ah, OK, but you better warn ground control.
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ATC: Pan Am 1, descend to 3,000 ft on QNH, altimeter 1019.
Pan AM 1: Could you give that to me in inches?
ATC: Pan Am 1, descend to 36,000 inches on QNH, altimeter 1019
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Cessna 152: 'Flight Level Three Thousand, Seven Hundred'
Controller: 'Roger, contact Houston Space Center.'
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Beech Baron: Uh, ATC, verify you want me to taxi in front of the 747.
ATC: Yeah, it's OK. He's not hungry.
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Student Pilot: 'I'm lost; I'm over a big lake and heading toward the big "E".
Controller: 'Make several 90 degree turns so I can identify you on radar.' (short pause)...
Controller: 'Okay then. That big lake is the Atlantic Ocean. Suggest you turn to the big "W" immediately...'
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Pilot: 'Approach, Acme Flt 202, with you at 12,000' and 40 DME.'
Approach: 'Acme 202, cross 30 DME at and maintain 8000'.'
Pilot: 'Approach, 202's unable to make that descent rate.'
Approach: 'What's the matter 202? Don't you have speed brakes?'
Pilot: 'Yup. But they're for my mistakes, not yours.'
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Tower: 'American 123, and for your information, you were slightly to the left of the centerline on that approach.'
American 123: 'That's correct; and, my First Officer was slightly to the right.'
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Controller: 'USA353 contact Cleveland Center 135.60. (pause)
Controller: 'USA353 contact Cleveland Center 135.60!' (pause)
Controller: 'USA353 you're just like my wife you never listen!'
Pilot: 'Center, this is USA553, maybe if you called her by the right name you'd get a better response!'
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BB: 'Barnburner 123, Request 8300 feet.'
Bay Approach: 'Barnburner 123, say reason for requested altitude.'
BB: 'Because the last two times I've been at 8500, I've nearly been run over by some bozo at 8500 feet going the wrong way!'
Bay Approach: 'That's a good reason. 8300 approved.'
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Controller: 'FAR1234 confirm your type of aircraft. Are you an Airbus 330 or 340?'
French pilot: 'A 340, of course!'
Controller: 'Then would you mind switching on the two other engines and give me 1000 feet per minute, please?'
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Tower: 'Cessna 123, turn right now and report your heading.'
Pilot: 'Wilco. 341, 342, 343, 344, 345...'
---------------------------------
Foreign Pilot Trainee: 'Tower, please speak slowly, I am a baby in English and lonely in the cockpit.'
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Controller: 'CRX600, are you on course to SUL?'
Pilot: 'More or less.'
Controller: 'So proceed a little bit more to SUL.'
----------------------------
Pilot: 'Good morning, Frankfurt ground, KLM 242 request start up and push back, please.'
Tower: 'KLM 242 expect start up in two hours.'
Pilot: 'Please confirm: two hours delay?'
Tower: 'Affirmative.'
Pilot: 'In that case, cancel the good morning!'

I Do Not Fear Death by Roger Ebert

Some time ago I read the below article written by Roger Ebert and grew very sad. He lived with cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands from 2002 on that required treatments necessitating the removal of his lower jaw, which cost him the ability to speak or eat normally. He died April 4, 2013.

 

While all suffering weighs on my heart, that is not what saddened me. I was and am sad that Mr. Ebert, who clearly has the ability to reason, had determined to do it so poorly. Based on the comments below the article on the website, he inspired people. That also makes me sad, because they also failed to see the illogical things he espoused brought him comfort.

He wrote some wise things concerning how we ought to care for others. Those words are wonderful. However, there is simply no excuse for someone with the ability to think to refuse a God who makes himself so clear and yet to cling to fairy tales for an afterlife.

Many will likely be annoyed by my taking the time to critique the words of someone who has recently died. It's a cheap shot. Perhaps it appears that way, but words have impact in the world and foolish words must be called what they are. Simply stated, at every point that Roger Ebert has considered post-death events he has simply turned off the thought process and then dressed his foolishness in the nicest clothes he could find.

The Bible says that only a fool says, "There is no God." That is not because it is a sin to have doubts about how God operates or questions about who God is or what He expects of us. It is the doubts and questions that drive us to know him better, for he loves everyone that seeks the truth and does not stop to accept a good imagination as a suitable substitute for evidenced-based faith in him.

I've italicized everything that he wrote that bares zero reasonable evidence for believing, or that there is reasonable evidence that refutes it, and yet he went on believing it.

I do not fear death
Roger Ebert

I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear. I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. I am grateful for the gifts of intelligence, love, wonder and laughter. You can’t say it wasn’t interesting. My lifetime’s memories are what I have brought home from the trip. I will require them for eternity no more than that little souvenir of the Eiffel Tower I brought home from Paris.

I don’t expect to die anytime soon. But it could happen this moment, while I am writing. I was talking the other day with Jim Toback, a friend of 35 years, and the conversation turned to our deaths, as it always does. “Ask someone how they feel about death,” he said, “and they’ll tell you everyone’s gonna die. Ask them, In the next 30 seconds? No, no, no, that’s not gonna happen. How about this afternoon? No. What you’re really asking them to admit is, Oh my God, I don’t really exist. I might be gone at any given second.”

Me too, but I hope not. I have plans. Still, illness led me resolutely toward the contemplation of death. That led me to the subject of evolution, that most consoling of all the sciences, and I became engulfed on my blog in unforeseen discussions about God, the afterlife, religion, theory of evolution, intelligent design, reincarnation, the nature of reality, what came before the big bang, what waits after the end, the nature of intelligence, the reality of the self, death, death, death.

Many readers have informed me that it is a tragic and dreary business to go into death without faith. I don’t feel that way. “Faith” is neutral. All depends on what is believed in. I have no desire to live forever. The concept frightens me. I am 69, have had cancer, will die sooner than most of those reading this. That is in the nature of things. In my plans for life after death, I say, again with Whitman:
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

And with Will, the brother in Saul Bellow’s “Herzog,” I say, “Look for me in the weather reports.”
Raised as a Roman Catholic, I internalized the social values of that faith and still hold most of them, even though its theology no longer persuades me. I have no quarrel with what anyone else subscribes to; everyone deals with these things in his own way, and I have no truths to impart. All I require of a religion is that it be tolerant of those who do not agree with it. I know a priest whose eyes twinkle when he says, “You go about God’s work in your way, and I’ll go about it in His.”

What I expect to happen is that my body will fail, my mind will cease to function and that will be that. My genes will not live on, because I have had no children. I am comforted by Richard Dawkins’ theory of memes. Those are mental units: thoughts, ideas, gestures, notions, songs, beliefs, rhymes, ideals, teachings, sayings, phrases, clichés that move from mind to mind as genes move from body to body. After a lifetime of writing, teaching, broadcasting and telling too many jokes, I will leave behind more memes than many. They will all also eventually die, but so it goes.

O’Rourke’s had a photograph of Brendan Behan on the wall, and under it this quotation, which I memorized:
I respect kindness in human beings first of all, and kindness to animals. I don’t respect the law; I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.

That does a pretty good job of summing it up. “Kindness” covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.

One of these days I will encounter what Henry James called on his deathbed “the distinguished thing.” I will not be conscious of the moment of passing. In this life I have already been declared dead. It wasn’t so bad. After the first ruptured artery, the doctors thought I was finished. My wife, Chaz, said she sensed that I was still alive and was communicating to her that I wasn’t finished yet. She said our hearts were beating in unison, although my heartbeat couldn’t be discovered. She told the doctors I was alive, they did what doctors do, and here I am, alive.

Do I believe her? Absolutely. I believe her literally — not symbolically, figuratively or spiritually. I believe she was actually aware of my call and that she sensed my heartbeat. I believe she did it in the real, physical world I have described, the one that I share with my wristwatch. I see no reason why such communication could not take place. I’m not talking about telepathy, psychic phenomenon or a miracle. The only miracle is that she was there when it happened, as she was for many long days and nights. I’m talking about her standing there and knowing something. Haven’t many of us experienced that? Come on, haven’t you? What goes on happens at a level not accessible to scientists, theologians, mystics, physicists, philosophers or psychiatrists. It’s a human kind of a thing.

Someday I will no longer call out, and there will be no heartbeat. I will be dead. What happens then? From my point of view, nothing. Absolutely nothing. All the same, as I wrote to Monica Eng, whom I have known since she was six, “You’d better cry at my memorial service.” I correspond with a dear friend, the wise and gentle Australian director Paul Cox. Our subject sometimes turns to death. In 2010 he came very close to dying before receiving a liver transplant. In 1988 he made a documentary named “Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent van Gogh.” Paul wrote me that in his Arles days, van Gogh called himself “a simple worshiper of the external Buddha.” Paul told me that in those days, Vincent wrote:
Looking at the stars always makes me dream, as simply as I dream over the black dots representing towns and villages on a map.

Why, I ask myself, shouldn’t the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France?

Just as we take a train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star. We cannot get to a star while we are alive any more than we can take the train when we are dead. So to me it seems possible that cholera, tuberculosis and cancer are the celestial means of locomotion. Just as steamboats, buses and railways are the terrestrial means.

To die quietly of old age would be to go there on foot.

That is a lovely thing to read, and a relief to find I will probably take the celestial locomotive. Or, as his little dog, Milou, says whenever Tintin proposes a journey, “Not by foot, I hope!”

The Scariness of Hope

Scripture: Exodus 12:12, 13 "For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."

Observation: There's an obvious parallel between the pending judgment on Egypt and the blood on the Hebrew's homes with the future Great White Throne judgment and those that have the blood of the Lamb of God (detailed in Revelation 20:11-15), but I'm not sure that I have the wisdom to draw it out very well.

It may be better to contrast than to compare:
1. At the heavenly judgment, God won't be coming to us to visit wrath on us; we will go to him (Rev. 20:12).

2. At the White Throne judgment I won't be responsible for killing the Lamb that will save me from my just punishment; God has already done that. He did it for His purposes and for our good.

3. I won't be responsible for spreading the blood on the doorpost; God already marked with the Lamb's blood those who will be passed over.

4. The first judgment was limited to the first born; the second will come upon everyone.

5. The earthly Passover brought physical, temporal relief and joy; the heavenly Passover brings spiritual, permanent grace and joy. It will last forever and it will be beyond our imagination.

You see, God really is for us. Many have a difficult time even thinking about the judgment that God enacted in Biblical narratives. The rejections of it I've most often heard have most to do with fairness or justness. By rejecting God for that reason, a person is making a couple assertions: (1) God has a responsibility to respect the person's "right" to understand God's motivations and purposes, and (2) that person claims, at least if it a rationalization for rejection of God, to be judge over God. "God, you better explain yourself to my satisfaction, or I cannot and will not serve you."

But all the while, that person has missed the open hand of God. Because of those assertions, he or she has been blinded to the true points of the narratives: God's grace, God's forgiveness, hope for lasting satisfaction. Choosing to trust in God doesn't require a ton of goodness, or intelligence, or money, or success, or talent, or experience, or work . . . it only requires humility--recognition of one's position before a God that we aren't even equipped to comprehend.

Application:
Be okay with not understanding everything, and be satisfied with understanding that God is for me. I can continue to pursue answers, but I don't need them all now in order to grasp that my sin is insurmountable and at the second judgment, I will be in need of the blood of Jesus on my doorpost.

Place my confidence entirely on the hope that God has promised, namely, heaven. If I chose to get my reward here and now, I will have done so at the sacrifice of any reward there and later. "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39)  And my priority list reflects my treasure. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21)

Prayer: . . .

He Is On Display

Scripture: Exodus 8:9 "And Moses said to Pharaoh, "Accept the honor of saying when I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people to destroy the frogs from you and from your houses, that they may remain in the river only."

Observation: God did everything that he could have to prove to Pharaoh, and everyone else observing, that he has all power.

He also proved the extent to which people are rebellious and selfish. Pharaoh was given a chance to say, "Take the frogs from my people now!" but instead he tried to test Moses and God by waiting until the next day.

This situation also proved the blindness of the lost. They do not want to see, but they also cannot see the truth of God (1 Cor. 2:13, 14). Everyone had ample evidence to repent and turn to God. Israel should not have needed to leave Egypt. The Egyptians should have become Israelites! They were willing to spend decades building shrine after shrine to the gods that they had imagined or invented, but they refused to surrender themselves to the God who was proving his existence and power before their eyes. No, the Egyptians (some anyway... see 9:19-21) remained in rebellion.

Application: Don't witness to the lost of the greatness of God and the hope that he brings because all will respond. Do it because I have been told to do so and because I don't know who will respond! That is God's decision. Mine is to glorify him
. If I will not glorify him, then what use am I to God now? Do I want to be a demonstration of his wrath or his goodness?

Prayer: Father, thank you for revealing your great power to me. Teach me to herald it. Make me an ever-speaking witness. Keep me always on mission; the stakes are too high to not be. I love you. Amen.