Self-sufficiency and the embrace of Jesus

My youngest daughter is two months shy of her first birthday. This means, of course, that she's at the age when it is all but impossible for her to sit still for any length of time. Somewhere in the recesses of her little mind, she realizes, perhaps subconsciously, that the world is about to open up in the most marvelous of ways. Self-sufficiency, she's beginning to understand, is infinitely preferable to life lying down.


But, oh how I loved those early days of her life. Perhaps more than any other child I've ever known, Lilly was born with a sweet spirit, a gentleness that you can sense will follow her the rest of her life. As such, she loved simply being held.


And those moments, for me, are cherished memories. I would hold her and she'd make these terribly beautiful chirping noises as she buried her face into my chest. Then, she'd smile in a toothless work of art, and my heart would melt like a snowball in a skillet.


I can only imagine her joy at those moments as well. To feel completely loved, I would imagine, for her was equal to my own, different kind of bliss. And I think that feeling is one of the reasons our generation should be so quick to realize how wonderful it is to know Jesus.

It's not the common belief, but it is true nonetheless that my generation -- so-called Generation X -- had self-sufficiency forced upon it. Now, maybe we weren't particularly good at it, but the fact remains that divorce, a high rate of attrition in college, the explosion of the number of children growing up without fathers ... all of these were particularly heaped upon our generation in percentages likely larger than any before.

Because of all that, one of the defining characteristics of our generation is this sense of something being wrong, of always feeling a general sense of malaise. It's the idea, immortalized in the movie "Reality Bites," when Winona Ryder's character talks about being proud of Baby Boomers' sense of social justice, civil disobedience and a pure sense of right and wrong. But, her character says, "they sold out their revolution for a pair of running shoes." What, then, did we have to cling to, socially? Video games? The Cold War? Our culture didn't exactly inspire us.

(Of course, many of us have grown up now, put away the Nirvana records and bought SUVs. The lesson? That every generation puts aside its nonsense in the name of taxes, child rearing and two vacations a year.)

But what I find in Jesus is the very thing many of us, through the course of our lives, long for: He is a place of refuge, a place to hide and bury fears, sadness and uncertainty.

What would you, Generation Xer, give, in the hustle and bustle of a way of life that was perhaps forced upon you, to just once be gently rocked to sleep, to be sung a song, to worry about nothing? That smile on my daughter's face? It's the smile of someone totally at peace, of a mind purely and securely at rest without any hint of knowledge of fear.

That's the embrace I gave my daughter -- and that Jesus gives me.

Forgive my meandering diatribe that may or may not embarrass me in a couple of weeks when I go back and read this. (I'm betting it will). It was written over the course of two days, the bulk of which came at, oh, 2 a.m. or so on a worknight. (See? We Xers are respectable ... I worry about bedtimes.)

But if you got nothing out of this, wrap your mind around the central metaphor here: that all of us, at one point or another, just needs held like a baby, sung a lullaby and kissed on the cheek.

And if you've never experienced the love of Jesus, it's hard to relate how truly wonderful knowing Him can be. It's not all wine and roses. Heck, it's not all beer and dandelions. The great wheel of life still goes 'round and 'round, and every once in awhile it lands on Lose Your Turn.

But when it does, there's always someone there -- The Someone -- who knows just what happens when it's time to spin again.

(copyright andrew j. beckner, 2007. all rights under copyright reserved worldwide. e-mail ephesians514@gmail.com for reprinting information.)

"Hold me tightly in your arms and never let me go ..."

Take a listen to this song, and I'll be back tomorrow with a little something I've been writing about what should be our generation's joy at being embraced by God.

AV Monday

This would be funny ... if it weren't so true. 

Coming soon ...

We'll be resuming our regularly scheduled program after my latest -- and, thus far, longest --hiatus.

I'll resume writing two original posts per week, along with AV Monday, Links Wednesday, Potpourri Thursday and, on Sunday, News of the Week.

So there.

Grace and peace ...

Yep, another hiatus

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. If that's true, then I must be doggone adorable right about now.

(You can always chart the ebbs and flows of my Christian walk by how prolific I am in updating the blog, by the way. Just trying to be candid, you understand.)

Changes are afoot -- new job on the horizon, new ministry opportunities that's been taking up some time, challenges at home, stuff like that. It's conspired to keep me from bloggin', for good or ill. I've missed it. I'm praying things will sort of settle down pretty soon. If you think about it, maybe send a prayer or two upstairs and throw my name in the subject line. Jesus will know who you're talking about.

Also, I'm compiling some stuff I've had lying around and doing some more writing on my own that I'm not posting here -- the plan is to compile it all together in book form and then shop it around. Suffice to say there's not a big market for books written by a 30-something one-time borderline alcoholic who doesn't make his living behind the pulpit of a mega-church and who has some often-unflattering things to say about the state of the modern church. Go figure.

Anywho, I'm sittin' at my soon-to-be old job and trying to look busy, so here you go.

I promise to my four loyal readers I'll have something new up pretty soon.

Grace and peace ...

Worth reading

Environmental stewardship from a Biblical perspective ... taking care of the earth is not un-Godly, nor is it reserved for "tree-huggers."

Our Daily Bread for June 18:

Southern Baptists at a crossroads

Link: Southern Baptists urged to end infighting

Why in the world Southern Baptists are arguing over biblical infallibilty is beyond me. My great-grandfathers would roll over in their graves if they weren't too busy hanging out with Jesus and the Saints (kinda sounds like a rock-n-roll band.)

But arguing over speaking in tongues? Now there's an issue. It's my understanding that the SBC essentially encourages its pastoral candidates to lie prior to placement, if said pastoral candidate does, in fact, have a "private prayer language."

Candidates (or so I've heard) are asked if they have a private prayer language. If they answer yes -- again, we're talking private here -- they are unable to serve as an SBC pastor. Most know this going in, of course, and could embellish the truth if they feel it is in the greater interests of their calling to do so.

The merits of the SBC's stance are debatable. The problem is that pastoral candidates -- again, or so I've heard -- are told the issue can be smoothed over so long as they renounce the practice.

Therefore, if an SBC pastoral candidate truly believes a private prayer language is a gift of the spirit, then that candidate is told he cannot use a gift he believes is divinely given him by God. That's problematic.

(Sorry for the absence. We're all getting back to normal here.)

Don't gamble on gambling

The public vote to legalize table games here in Kanawha County, W.Va., was originally scheduled for this Saturday. Thankfully, it was pushed back due to a clerical error ... now, there's a better chance opponents (like me, and like you, hopefully) can take steps to fight it.

The West Virginia Council of Churches is involved, as is the West Virginia Family Foundation. Both are facing an uphill battle. Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center (read: the Cross Lanes casino) is bankrolling a massive public relations effort, and local officials are on board. Some police officers are actually appearing in ads in their uniforms. Which is probably illegal or, at the very least, unethical.

(Quick sidebar: I'm not issuing a blanket endorsement of any and everything the Council of Churches of the Family Foundation stand for. I haven't read all their materials, so I can't unequivocally lend my support to all that they do, even if I were to agree once I became more familiar. It's on the to-do list. At any rate, they happen to be right on this issue.)

Anyway, the annual West Virginia Methodist Convention is, during their annual meetings in Buckhannon, taking a stand on the issue. Kudos to them for realinzing "Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic and spiritual life, and destructive of good government." Here, here. (Check out the full story here.)

So, those of you in Kanawha County, W.Va. -- where polls show we actually have a chance of beating this thing -- get out and get active.

Why do miracles at all? (Prologue -- The Angry Man)

"At least I have a place to live," The Angry Man thought. "If you call this living."

It wasn't more than a hole, hewn out of the rock by one of his ancestors. He didn't remember which. It hardly mattered, anyway. If he had one complaint -- and he had a lot more than just one -- about where he lived, it was the gnarled and twisted olive tree that stood a few paces from the opening to his home. He hated that tree. It reminded him of his legs.

The Angry Man hated a lot of things.

He looked down at his legs, then back at the tree, just as he had done thousands of times since he was struck by the mysterious illness that confined him to the cave. His knee joints were large, knotted and misshapen below thighs whose muscles had atrophied to the point that, really, they were no longer there. The bottom half of his legs stuck out in awkward angles from those knee caps, just like the branches of the olive tree that mocked him every day.

Mostly he hated it because it lived in the sun.

The Angry Man rarely saw daylight overhead, except when four men from the local synagogue came to visit. They came every week to carry him out to sunbathe by a nearby creek. Most of the time he wished they wouldn't bother. Many times, he'd curse their efforts, and not always quietly.

After all, didn't he have to lie on a wooden plank they'd built -- it was terribly uncomfortable -- and be further mocked because he couldn't walk himself? He never let on that, in the end, it was more than worth it, just to feel the breeze, smell the water, hear the trickle of it across smooth stones.

There, just past the tree. The Angry Man squinted as they approached. His "friends."

He didn't expect them for several more days, yet here they were. He'd get to see the creek today, that was true. But he didn't like surprises.

The Angry Man tried to ignore the olive tree.

They were approaching fast. They weren't smiling, as usual. Well, maybe they were a little. But they were strange smiles -- condescending, if you want to know the truth -- and he didn't like it at all.

The fat one stepped through the door first.

"Just go away," The Angry Man said. "Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?"

"Oh, you'll want to be awake for this," the man said. "Jesus has come home."

The Angry Man remembered the name. The man was a prophet, some said. Elijah, come back from heaven. Others went so far as to claim Jesus was the Son of David, the Messiah. The Angry Man knew the type. Capernaum had seen its share of fools claiming this and that, making promises they couldn't keep. Jesus was nothing more than another charlatan, a simple fraud.

Still ...

"We'd like to take you to see Him," one of the men said. "He's speaking at a house not far from here. We brought your bed. Will you come with us?"

The Angry Man did not want to go. He'd have to listen to their incessant optimism. They clearly bought whatever Jesus was selling. This could benefit The Angry Man, of course. The fools could believe whatever they wished. If they had to suffer the disappointment of knowing their messiah was a fraud, that was their problem. At least he could get a free trip out of this God-forsaken cave and, just maybe, he could con a meal out of his four "friends." They were gullible enough to fall for it. They always were.

"I'll go with you," The Angry Man said, "if you'll take me to the creek after we're done."

They all smiled.

"My friend," one said, "when we're done, you can go yourself."

(To be continued)


(copyright 2006, andrew j. beckner. all rights under copyright reserved.)

Potpourri -- "If Our Hearts Fail Us"

My good friend and cousin Robert wrote this in his Myspace blog -- you can find it here -- and I asked him about reprinting it here. It did my heart good to read it.

Enjoy:


"Several places in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, it says that God looks on the heart. Jesus even says "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." He also taught that we have to keep the law in our hearts. Examples: He said that if you are angry at your brother without cause, then it is sin; also if you look at a woman to lust after her, you have committed adultery with her in your heart.

This worried me in the past, especially when I was a teenager because I had desires that weren't spiritual, they were fleshly (I still struggle at times with lust and pride (among other things)). I took this to mean that sin was in my heart. I also thought that your actions were less important than your intentions. This was especially worrisome because I've always found my actions alot easier to control and direct than the thoughts of my mind or the attitude/desires/feelings (whatever you want to call it) of my heart. I know through prayer the Holy Spirit can create in me a pure and clean heart but with my stubborness and prided it is a long process.

Here is the most wonderful verse you may have never heard of, it's in 1 John (not St. John) 3:18-20:

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things."

Now getting back to what Jesus said about keeping the law in our hearts. I believe he said this to show that actions (works) aren't enough. That none of us can keep the intent of the law completely (we know that all the law rests on 1) love God with all your heart, mind, and spirit, and 2) love your neighbor as yourself). So, that means that none of us our good enough and all of us need a savior. Okay, that being said...

To me it all boils down to faith. With faith being a little part belief (a little but important part) and a big part action and trust. I say a little part belief because the Bible says that even Satan believes in God but does that mean that he's saved? Now don't get me wrong, we are saved by faith, not by works, but James said to show me your faith without works and I'll show you my faith by my works.

Let me give an example of what I'm trying to get at. Say I have an upcoming church related duty or event (or anything else that involves working for the Lord) but I really don't want to do it. In the past I would have said that I might as well not do it because in my heart I don't want to (my heart's not in it) and God looks on the heart. Today, however, I say to go ahead and do it because then I am working for God inspite of my desires. There is something greater than my heart at work here (refer back to 1 John 3). There is a decision that is born of faith. Maybe all this is just what Paul was talking about when he was discussing the war between the carnal (fleshly) man and the spritual man. Maybe it shows that my heart's true desire is to do God's will and work regardless of what I want.

Your actions show what your heart's desire really is."

Good stuff, huh? Anyone care to share their thoughts on the topic?

Potpourri -- Must've been some good chili sauce

MIAMI (AP) -- A Wendy's manager was shot several times in the arm early Tuesday trying to protect the restaurant's chili sauce, authorities said.

"I did not know I got shot," store manager Renal Frage told WTVJ-TV in Miami. "When I went back to the office, I saw blood pumping out of my arm, and I was shocked. I was checking myself out and couldn't believe I got shot over some chili sauce."

Frage added: "I got shot over chili sauce. I was trying to figure while in the hospital why someone would shoot me over some chili sauce."

Read the rest of the story here.

Potpourri -- Mickerline and Pamela

My wife's friend Dianna is a reporter for the Palm Beach Post, and just finished an amazing piece on two little girls from Haiti.

When I watched it, I was eating a popsicle. I felt guilty -- convicted, even -- for doing so.

Check it out and you'll see why.

(Click here, then click on the banner near the top of the page that says "WEB EXTRA: Walking with Angels.)

Potpourri -- The Gospel of Judas

Yeah, it's kinda old news at this point, but today's entry from RBC Ministries' Our Daily Bread devotional addresses the Gospel of Judas controversy from last year. It's worth reading, at least for me, because I've been studying the historical authenticity of the Bible as part of RBC's Christian Courses curriculum.

Check out the entry here.

Postcards from the wilderness

"But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;

the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;

and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

Who among all these does not know

that the hand of the LORD has done this?

In his hand is the life of every living thing

and the breath of all mankind."

(Job 12:7-10)

"Train up a child in the way he should go;

even when he is old he will not depart from it."

(Proverbs 22:6)

Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path

(Psalm 119:105)

"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary,

you have been grieved by various trials,

so that the tested genuineness of your faith

-- more precious than gold that perishes

though it is tested by fire --

may be found to result in praise and glory and honor

at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

(1 Peter 1:6,7)

Oh so happy

No telephone, no cell phone, no internet, no television ... man, I can't wait.

Heaven? No, not yet. I'm headed to almost heaven. It's Memorial Day weekend, and I'm packing up the wife and kids and headin' for the mountains. We're going here:

That's Pocahontas County, West Virginia, one of the top 10 most beautiful places on God's green earth. Just trust me on that one.

So, no posts this weekend. I'll be back at it on Tuesday. Maybe I'll post some pics of the trip to go along with whatever God reveals this weekend. The mountains are an inspirational place.

Until then, maybe you could say a prayer for my oldest daugher, who is having surgery to correct an eye condition on Tuesday.

It isn't serious, really ... but she's not even two years-old, and this is her mommy and daddy's first time seeing one of their kids going under the knife.

Until then, check out this site, courtesy of the wonderful folks at RBC Ministries.

Grace and peace ...

More potpourri, please ...

This couldn't wait until News of the Week on Sunday:

"A Christian Group known for slamming celebrities such as 50 Cent and Jessica Simpson plans to celebrate the Paris Hilton's jail sentence by trashing her CDs at Hilton Hotels around the country.

Mark Dice, founder of The Resistance, will speak at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on June 5 -- the day Hilton, 26, is due to start her 45-day sentence.

'The kinds of role models that have come to light recently in America are horrible role models,' Dice told the New York Daily News.

He called Hilton an 'extremely materialistic, uneducated' person who 'rose to prominence because of a homemade sex video.'

Dice is urging parents whose children own Hilton CDs or books to bring them along. The material will be thrown away." (New York Daily News)

Really? What, you folks have nothing better to do? I hear there are a lot of homeless in L.A. -- think maybe you could, oh, I don't know, hand out some sandwiches on street corners instead of ripping on Paris Hilton?

Now, to be fair, this Dice guy did invite Hilton to his church "because she needs Jesus in her life," and that's true enough. But do you think she'd feel very welcomed if his crew were staging a book burning, er, I mean, a CD throw-away party before she got there?

I was reading Christ's Sermon on the Mount before I went to bed last night, and I came across this passage (from Matthew 6:1-4, ESV):

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Hmmm ... sounds familiar.

Swamped ...

Whew ... the work is piling up. You'd think it was the middle of basketball season or something.

It's just a bad week, man ... the terrible twos are in full bloom, health issues are rearing their ugly heads, our lawn looks like a rain forest it needs cut so badly, new responsibilities at the office. Must be one of those times that Peter talked about when he said, as followers of Christ, our faith will at times be refined by fire. Of course, I don't feel very golden these days.

I know. Boo hoo, right? One of the things I hate about blogs is that most of them are people who just want someone to complain to, even if it is a computer screen.

When I was in college, this girl I knew had an online journal, and she was all the time whining about this and that and, then, writing about it and telling everyone, 'Hey, I just wrote on my online journal! You should read it!" Yeah. Because that's what I want to do, read about your problems after I just heard yourself gripe about them in person for the last few minutes. Sounds very un-Christian, I know. Then, I wasn't really following Christ in those days, so it's OK, right?

So, just tell me to get over myself, and get over it. OK? OK. There. I feel better.

(Not really).

I'll be back to daily postings soon enough, probably by the end of the week. Hope you'll come back now, y'hear?

Grace and peace ...

More AV Monday ...

Sheesh ... now I feel terrible. I wonder if my daughter heard me raise my voice at my wife the other day.

Uh, yeah. She did. That's just great.

The Need for Cultural Immersion

Yes, it's audio-visual Monday ... which is, in many ways, my favorite blogging day of the week.

After all, not only is it easy to do, but I get to browse You Tube for interesting stuff.

Quick story: I'm browsing for videos, and I come across a whole slew of prank call videos. Man, that stuff breaks me up. It just does. Of course, I have the sense of humor of an eight-year old -- heck, I am an eight year-old -- but there are few things funnier than someone calling into a live CNN show and pulling a fast one. Someone falling down on ice. That's funnier. Like I said, I'm eight years old.

On to the video, with a little commentary to follow



More evidence of how evangelical thinking has changed in just one generation. When I was growing up, the concept of engaging culture wasn't favorably received. I think it's essential.

For week ending May 19 ...

Christian Football Player Benched Over 'Wedding Crashers' (Christian Post)

Hey, I can understand the guy's stance -- although I've seen (and laughed hysterically at) -- the movie.

But couldn't he have just plugged in the iPod, closed his eyes and taken a nap? Or, at the very least, used the experience to witness instead of coming across as a goody-two-shoes. I'm not sure this episode will help the guy's witness ... indeed, it probably made it worse.

16,000 Teens Battle Pop Culture (Christian Post)

Again, good idea, bad delivery. I'm sure there are more pressing social causes today's Christian teen can take up than mass protests of Victoria's Secret. Wonder if they considered buying some hot dogs at the nearby Dairy Queen and taking them out to the homeless instead?

Black Lesbian Activist Turned Evangelist (Christian Post)

Wow. That took some guts.

Interest in Religion Increases on College Campuses (Lifeway)

There's an opportunity here, and more people need to realize how important a mission field college campuses are.

Britney Spears Says Thank You For Prayers (Christian Today)

Hey, you! Put that tabloid down. It'll rot your brain.

Think it's strange to pray for a pop culture icon? It's not. I've said it before: people like this are miserable. They are searching for something to fill a void in their lives, and that leads to self-destructive behavior.

Sure, I'd rather have a nice root canal than listen to a Britney Spears album. But that doesn't give me the right to laugh at what sin has done to her life, does it?

(But it doesn't help her cause when the post on her website thanking people for their prayers features a picture of Spears pretty much nude. Come on, girl ... help me out here. I want to like you.)