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| TiVo in my head . . .I don’t have TiVo. At the moment I don’t plan to have TiVo. Many of my friends and family do have one and love it. It allows them to record their favorite TV shows and then watch them at their convenience. The reason I don’t think I’ll get TiVo is that I really don’t have any favorite TV shows. I like the spontaneity of the remote control, starting at channel 99 and working backwards to channel 2. Seldom do I watch a whole show – too much fun to surf. But I do believe we all come wired with some type of mental TiVo. Have you ever noticed that you can hear a song one time and then have it bouncing around your brain all week? Has to be some kind of build in TiVo – only way I can explain it. Yesterday, my son Tom and IBC’s Revolution Band led worship and one of the songs had a chorus that simply went: Your grace is enough, your grace is enough, Your grace is enough for me. Tooling down the highway today on my Harley, that song kept popping up in my brain. No matter what I was doing at the time or where I was, "Your grace is enough for me." Almost like that mental TiVo simply takes over. This fascinates me. We sang quite a few songs yesterday and while out in my Jeep I listened to my Ipod hooked to the radio. So I did manage to fill my brain with quite a lot of music. Why this song? Why this song 24 hours later? Why this song and not one of the other songs? They were all good. I’m forced to come up with a theory. It may be completely wrong but what good is a blog if you can’t theorize once in awhile. My theory is that we have a layered TiVo filter in our brains. One layer is personality and another layer is music preference. Still another layer is theology and the next layer is the circumstances and mood of our life at the time. There’s a layer that gives certain singers preference over other singers and a layer that even is impacted by the weather. Every once in awhile a song manages to tumble through all those layers and is put on a looping TiVo tape that begins to play in our head. I haven’t figured out what triggers it, but once it is triggered it might play for days. And you can’t stop it. And most of the time we don’t want to. So that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it. | | |
| I don't like it . . .Something is happening today and I’m not very happy about it. In fact, I take great offense to it. Something needs to be done about it but in all honesty, I don’t have a clue at how to fix it. And I fear that it is going to get worse and worse as days go by. It really should not bother me, but the fact that I am blogging about it betrays that it does. What can this great evil be? Simple – when today, June 30th, is through, 2009 will be half gone. If I’m not mistaken, 2009 just started . . . like . . . yesterday. (Pardon the adolescent vocabulary.) As a matter of fact, 2008 doesn’t sound that old, and 2005 just barely passed. Wasn’t just "yesterday" that we were worried about Y2K? And now the last year with two zeroes next to each other (at least until the year 3000 comes, if it does) is half over already. I’m quite mystified how this is happening so fast. I’d like to fix it if I could – at least slow it down so that it’s manageable. But I’m quite sure that’s lost cause. As a student of the Scriptures, I’m quite aware that it addresses the phenomena: James 4:14b What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Psalm 39:5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath. Job 9:25 "My days are swifter than a runner . . ." So I’m not surprised. But I’d sure like to do something about it. Maybe if I lost some weight - nope, that would probably speed things up . . . maybe if I only walked against the earth’s rotation . . . maybe if I spent my winters in South America and my summers in Kenosha . . . maybe if I sold my car and only drove my Harley (time seems to slow down when I’m on my Sportster) . . . maybe if I only did incredibly boring things . . . maybe if I really did chew my food 20 times before swallowing . . . maybe if I only watched the Home Shopping Network – nope, I’d rather speed things up . . . maybe if I’d listen to a Joe Bidden speech every day . . . It’s probably no use. Time will continue to fly by. Good thing I’ve got eternity covered. | | |
| How much rain is too much rain? . . .[Latest segment of the Harley meditations.]
Last Friday night Kenosha got more rain than we’ve seen in a long, long time. In just under 25 minutes, 7 inches of rain fell. That’s lot of rain in a short period of time. The TV weathermen guessed that it was coming down at 18 inches per hour. It’s hard to imagine what Kenosha would have been like had the rain lasted one hour.
As it was, hundreds of basements were flooded. Homes that had two sump pumps found it was not enough. So much water came down that two sump pumps, and obviously those with just one, were overwhelmed. In a matter of minutes dry basement floors had 2-4 inches of water. Streets that have never had standing water were now impassable. Holding ponds became lakes that gave way and sent rivers of water down streets. Drivers soon found out that driving through high standing water is not good for a car – and dozens of those who tried were left by the side of the road waiting for a tow truck. In the county, fields became lakes. Fours days later there are still large pools of water which have really begun to stink. Our church ended up with water at two ends, but from the roof – it held well – but from the streams of water that rose up against the outside walls and doors.
Pretty amazing experience. 7 inches of water in 25 minutes. Imagine what Kenosha might have been like had the storm lasted 1 hour.
Better yet – imagine this kind of rain storm lasting 40 days and 40 nights. Are you a believer yet?
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| The road less traveled . . .Robert Frost’s great poem "The Road Not Taken" ends this way: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. That poem came to mind today on a 200 plus mile leisurely ride on my Harley. I found myself on roads I had never been on before, either on the bike or in a car. I went through towns I had never been in before. Part of the ride took me on the Kettle Morraine Scenic Road – leaning left and right on a snaking country road – you have to enjoy a motorcycle to enjoy that experience. I love taking roads I’ve never been on before to see where they take me. The risk is not that great anymore. In our modern time frame, every road will lead to another road which will eventually take us to a known point of reference. Unless one freaks out, it is almost impossible to get lost. Way too much civilization and infrastructure for that. But I got to thinking – what is it in us that makes most of us, if not all of us to some degree, step out in some direction into the unknown? Where do we get this sense of adventure? Where does the explorer urge come from? Now I admit that it is at varying levels in all of us – some of you might even respond that you are at a zero level. I’m not sure that is completely true. Our culture has certainly lulled us to sleep with routine and "the same old thing", but I think deep within the human heart is a longing at times to launch a new venture of some kind. And I thought about the early explorers of our world and our continent. Talk about adventurers! No roads. No maps. No idea what was in the next mile or so. And yet something within them propelled them forward and those explorers became discoverers. What I did today on the Harley was just a infinitely tiny example of their experience – might even call it a micro-experience. I wanted to know where the road went. They wanted to know where the ocean or the continent went. And I also wondered if that same deep longing for adventure and exploration might not be a God-given urge to thrust us toward Him. And once we found Him [and I do realize that He finds me first] it is that same urge that drives us deeper into that relationship with the invisible God and further out in the exercise of scary faith in Him. The Christian life can sometimes be a "Lewis and Clark" adventure with not a clue to what’s around the corner. Our only lifeline is a growing and maturing faith in the God who is leading us. And He seems to like to take us on the "road less traveled." | | |
| What do we do with "Jesus Christ"? . . .What are people who call themselves "Christians" to do with the name "Jesus Christ"? Increasingly, Christians are being encouraged in every arena to omit the words "Jesus Christ" from conversation, writings, speeches, or even public prayers. Curse if you must, but please don’t refer to Jesus in any sense which might infer that He is real. Strangely, those who cry the loudest are not offended by Buddha, Mohammed, or Krishna. Or by a variety of words that censors wrestle with. But watch out for "Jesus." Let it be said first of all that there is no such thing as a "Christian" apart from Jesus Christ. The word itself – "Christian" – means a follower or disciple of Jesus Christ. It occurs rather early in the history of the church as recorded in the Holy Scriptures. It was a name given to the followers of Jesus Christ when their behavior and character and boldness reflected that of Jesus Christ. At the deepest level, a "Christian" is connected through something called the "new birth" with the very real and living person of Jesus Christ. To separate the two words is illogical. Secondly, the message that every "Christian" is obligated to declare to the world is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The word "gospel" means "good news." And the simple good news is that Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and rose again for us. Coupled with that good news is the invitation to embrace Jesus Christ by faith for eternity. This is not just one message out of many – this is the main message. A "Christian" who does not faithfully declare the good news concerning Jesus Christ is nothing more than a disobedient Christian. His name must continually be in our communication. It is rather grievous to me to even have to blog something like this as a citizen of the United States of America, a country whose founding fathers gave us "freedom of speech." But "freedom of speech" does not mean what it once did. It now is qualified by the terms "political correct" and "culturally acceptable." The founding Fathers would be horrified that their majestically simple and clear phrase has so been muddied. But such is the day that we live in. And it would seem that no two words in the English language are so increasingly excluded from the freedom of speech than the words "Jesus Christ." So what are we to do? First, we re-educate the public concerning the words. Whenever we use "Jesus Christ" also include the reasons why we use the words. By all means, do not assume that people already know that. They used to. They don’t any more. Secondly, boldly and unashamedly declare the good news of Jesus Christ. Don’t be ashamed of that name. It is the name of God the Son through which we are saved and forgiven. It is the name through which God’s gracious gift of eternal life is given to those who deserve the very opposite. There’s a lot worse names than the name Jesus Christ. On the contrary, there’s none better. | | |
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