Lecture Detector

     I am looking forward to many teachable moments with my grandchildren as they get older, times when they ask questions and I can share how Jesus transforms my life. But I am worried about lapsing from teaching to preaching. I heard one brave speaker on the radio say he gave his children permission to call him out if he preached more than 90 seconds--which he noticed was the point at which they stopped listening anyway. I did not need to tell my children. They came equipped with lecture detectors. If I did not notice they were no longer listening, I could not fail to notice the eye rolling, which was so pronounced, I thought they might dislodge an eyeball. (Admittedly, the thought gave me a little pleasure.) But my grandchildren might be more polite than my children, I sincerely hope they are, so I am thinking of making a Lecture Detector Checklist. 

   1. Am I the only one talking? Even if I'm not lecturing, I'm monopolizing the conversation. People who are interested, join in--if I let them.
   2. Am I saying you more than I'm saying me or we? Especially if you is followed by should. It is infinitely better to share how I learned to apply God's Word in my real life situations than how I think they should in theirs theoretically.
   3. Check the body language. Does the other person look bored? at their phone? at the exit? Eyeballs rolling on the floor? Are their arms crossed? (When my husband's arms are crossed, they function like the deflector shields on "Star Trek", I might as well stop talking.)
   4. Am I listening to learn more about them or gather material for my next sermon? I did this to my children and, sometimes, still do to my husband. Also, am I listening just enough to springboard back to what I was saying? (See monopolizing above.)
   5. Am I asking questions to understand their viewpoint or to defend mine? Ouch! (See long suffering husband above.)

    Of course, not lecturing is easy when my grandchildren are two, and yet to be born. "No, no Brie!" is about as long a conversation as she can take in. My wisdom, such as it is, will not benefit them if it is not in a form they can take in. If wisdom from above is spoken in love, it should not set off their Lecture Detectors.

Sponsored, In Part, By . . .

     I attended a wonderful ladies retreat this weekend and deeply enjoyed the intimate fellowship with other women from my church. I love reading books but find, when people open up, their stories are far more fascinating than anything I have found between the covers of a book. After all, life stories are written by God. But what I have been thinking about today, is something that the speaker shared briefly about helping the poor, like the ones you see standing next to the road with a cardboard sign. She said she often gives them a gift card to a fast food restaurant along with a tract. I have considered that. I take feeding people very seriously. If Kim Jong Un came to my door asking for food, I would probably feed him--especially if he had fatal food allergies or I had rat poison on hand.
    But Family Week at Rimrock reinforced that addicts can sell anything to fuel their addictions. In one example, a mother would visit her daughter, buy her bags of groceries so there would be something in the house to eat, and as soon as her mother left, the daughter would sell the groceries to buy drugs and alcohol. Even though I have no control over what someone does with a fast food gift card, giving them one would essentially be aiding and abetting their addiction--sponsoring their sin.
     But how about the poor that are not addicts? (Although, almost all are if you count smoking.) The problem I have with those is that, from the street corners where they are holding "Anything Helps" signs, in every direction you look there are businesses displaying "Help Wanted" signs. From outward appearances, many of those begging for a living are perfectly capable of working for a living. Most have all their limbs and the ability to stand for long periods of time, even in inclement weather. And although I often see mentally ill people on the streets, they are seldom the ones begging. Some of these are capable of performing jobs, but not getting or keeping them because they lack the social skills necessary for the workplace. Thankfully, there are community resources available in our county. And some mentally ill, as well as an increasing number of physically disabled people, are working the fast food jobs so many healthy young people are unwilling to. These job opportunities are one positive benefit of millennial malingering.
     One of our friends has a neighbor who was an electrician. When he became unemployed during the financial collapse of '08, he tried his hand at pan handling. It was so much easier and more lucrative than working, he took it up as a career. He even commuted to Missoula in his nice pickup, because the "free thinkers" there were more generous toward "free drinkers". So, even if giving to beggars is not sponsoring their sin of addiction, it is sponsoring their sin of laziness. Working to support yourself is not just God's command to Christians, it is His expectation for all people. I will have enough of my own laziness to answer to God for, without adding strangers to the list. And I certainly don't want the back of those, "Anything Helps" signs to read, "Sponsored, in part, by Connie Lamb".
   

Not the Sharpest Knife in the Drawer

     For many years I looked forward to hunting season, not because I hunt. I don't. I don't even particularly like wild meat. I looked forward to hunting season because it was the only time I could count on getting my knives sharpened. A sharp knife is not only handy for hunting, but essential for butchering, so while Reed was sharpening his knives, he would sharpen mine. Will gave me a couple types of knife sharpeners when he lived at home but, though I followed the directions, I didn't seem to get the point.
     When Reed brought home an electric knife sharpener from Cabela's, I hoped it would be user friendly enough for even me. How different could it be from a kitchen appliance? And the desire to have sharp knives whenever I wanted was keenly felt. I could not get as good an edge on a blade as Reed does with it, but at least I could make the sharp side cut better than the dull side. This time Will wanted to borrow my sharpener. He recently returned it so, while it was sitting on the counter, I skimmed the quick start guide and determined it was set up to sharpen scissors. My kitchen shears were getting dull, so I sharpened those along with five other pairs of scissors. But when I tried to open a bag of frozen vegetables for dinner, my newly sharpened kitchen shears could not cut through the plastic bag.
     As it turns out, I was one space off in the directions grid. I was "sharpening" shears using the wrong guide installed the wrong way and, probably, the wrong sanding belt. I had just dulled six pairs of scissors. It didn't strike me until much later that an intelligent person would have tested the sharpness of the first pair before moving on to five more. The next day, Reed managed to make them functional again without making any of the cutting remarks he was entitled to. I guess the only thing I should put to the grindstone is my nose. When it comes to honing, I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
              .

Unintended Consequences

     This is the first summer in recent years in which Kalispell had a non-smoking section. I could go outside, see blue sky, and breathe clean air, even in August. This is in spite of, not thanks to, environmental groups who have protested every timber sale for decades. But instead of losing millions of trees to logging, we lost millions of acres of trees to forest fires. The unintended consequences of protecting forests from human management were disastrous fires that not only burned the trees and animals activists wanted to protect, but later caused landslides that destroyed homes and polluted rivers, killing even more creatures. Although groups still sue to stop timber sales, I'm sure their member's enthusiasm cooled when many of the houses that burned were their own. The methods they now teach those who live in the woods to mitigate the danger of forest fires is what used to be called--logging. And the protect by neglect movement is gradually burning out.
     But there are worse consequences than forest fires. For most of my six decades, American culture has been protesting the validity of objective truth or standards, not to mention the God who established them. We want the right to determine for ourselves what is right and wrong. The unintended consequence of doing what is right in our own eyes is that some people have really dirty lenses. They see nothing wrong with things as abhorrent as pedophilia and mass murder. After a shooting, there is a national outcry--How could anyone do that? We already have the answer, but we don't want to hear it. Without objective standards, or a God to answer to, the shooter's viewpoint is as valid as anyone else's.
    Human culture is subject to the same principles as the natural world--intentional or unintentional, all actions have consequences.Whether we are choking on smoke or gunpowder, something precious and irretrievable is going up in flames.

A Blessing From Grandma

    I just realized I almost passed up an opportunity for an easy blog post and a way to get double mileage out of a poem I wrote for my soon-to-be granddaughter. I did not want to post it until after Emily's baby shower, which was silly since only one person there reads my blog, but made sense to me at the time. Now it makes sense to break my blogging dry spell with a poem I wrote in a writing monsoon.

A Blessing from Grandma              

Jesus, give this little lamb

The strength to grow and play and run

And many long years in the sun.

Savior, guard this little one

From hate and hurt and sorrow.

Give hope for each tomorrow.

Jesus, help this little child

To dream, and learn, and read

And follow where you lead.

Comforter, when this girl

Is happy, let her praise the Lord,

Is troubled, calm her with your Word.

Shepherd, seek her tender soul,

If she should go astray,

And help her find her way.

Lamb of God, who loves His sheep,

bless this Lamb, when she has grown,

With a family of her own.

6/11/19

Push, Pull, or Drag

     My blog has been nagging me to get back to word work, so I will develop this idea that came to me weeks ago through my Bible study in John. In years past, some of the local car lots would advertise a "push, pull or drag" sale.  Meaning your trade-in, even if it wouldn't start, would go a long way toward buying a new vehicle. We never took advantage of these offers, although we have had many cars in push, pull or drag condition, because if we had the money for a nicer car, we would not have been driving those junkers.
     I think we women sometimes use this approach for our loved ones' spiritual growth. We think if we can just push, pull, drag or nag them to the right service, video, book etc., they will emerge a nicer, newer model. While it is definitely God's will for our loved ones to come to Christ and grow in the Lord, He has elected the time and the method as well as the individual. Jesus' interactions with people are almost disappointing in terms of pressing for a commitment. Jesus led his conversations with people to the heart of the matter--their heart. He let them realize their need, but He did not give an altar call, hum "Just as I Am" or manipulate their emotions. He trusted the Holy Spirit to finish what He had begun.
    I know from personal experience that the Spirit is fully capable of pushing, pulling or dragging us to Christ. Yes, I was convicted by those altar calls at church, but I was convinced by the Spirit's voice hammering at me when I was alone with my thoughts in the comfort of my home, and the discomfort of my lost condition.
     Evangelism Jesus style is not nearly as satisfying to us wives and mothers as the push, pull, drag method, but ultimately we want more for our loved ones than outward compliance to Christian behaviors. We want inward, spiritual renewal, and only the Spirit can drive them to that place. We can pray for them, but we are unlikely to be the instrument God uses to change them. So I try to let my life and my words display my confidence in God to finish what He started in their lives. And then I pray for the Holy Spirit to push, pull, drag, even waterboard, them back to the Lord who loves them.  God managed to run the universe without my help before I came along, He will somehow muddle through after I am gone, so I might as well trust Him now to do what I cannot for those I love. No push. No pull. And it's a drag.

Why Doesn't It Work?

     I have often wondered about decisions that were entered into slowly and prayerfully but still do not seem to work out. Reed and I had many friends at Bible college who got married after knowing each other well, praying for direction, having premarital counseling, and with their family's approval. A few years later we found out many of them had divorced. We had taken those same steps, so I had to wonder why it didn't work? What did they do wrong? Would that happen to us?
    And then there were friends from our church, seemingly, a happily married couple. He was offered a new job. He and his wife prayed about it, went out of state to interview with the owner, felt that it was definitely God's will. A few months later, he had an affair with a coworker and divorced his wife. Obviously infidelity was not a job requirement, but why would God direct them to take a job that would destroy their marriage?
     Then there is the missionary couple who, at God's direction, adopted a baby while they were on the mission field, raised him with their children. He loved the Lord and served him as a child, but when he grew up, he walked away from his family and his God and has fallen into all kinds of sin. We all know, or have lived, similar stories. Health, businesses, and churches fail. People who are loved and very much needed die. Prayers seem to go unanswered. What happened?
     These events are not the end of the story. The couples who divorced moved on, some remarried, some prodigals came back to the Lord, some are still coming. People regain their health or income, people find other churches. God comforts the grieving. But these events still make us feel vulnerable. What good does it do to follow God's direction if it still leads to a bad road? The only answer I can find is that this life is not the one with guarantees. Heaven is where we are promised no pain, no sorrow, no tears.  And even if God's direction doesn't lead where we want it to, it is still the best map we have to work with.
    So we read God's Word, pray, seek wise counsel, look for confirming circumstances, and make the best decisions we can. Because wanting everything to go right will keep us from doing anything at all, and that is not an option.