It's all Israel's fault??!!

Local media tonight ran a story about an American family that lived near Cleveland. The family had been visiting Lebanon when the current situation was set off. The husband told how he was shocked that the Israeli response had been so severe when their two soldiers were kidnapped. I believe he said the response was out of proportion for two kidnappings?

Really?

Well what is proportionate? I mean how do we judge that? Even more pertinent, how proportionate do you think it would be if it was your son that was kidnapped by a terrorist group?

I became more and more annoyed, to the point of outright anger even, as I watched the family being interviewed. They talked as if the reaction from Israel was completely unwarranted, like it would be if some one bumped into you on the sidewalk and you ran them over with your car.

I hate people like that. Hate is a strong word, I know. Okay, I can't stand people that are passive aggressive little ninnies, people that do something that is completely inconsiderate and then wrinkle their lips at you when you respond unfavorably.

As I sat there and watched this family, I saw a lot of wrinkled lips.

When are these people going to learn? Will they ever learn? Israel does not play games. They are very patient for long periods of time, but eventually, after enough bombs have gone off and enough blood is spread in the streets, they retaliate. Make no mistake about it, this is not (as the media likes to call it) a cycle of violence.

This is one country that is constantly tormented by a group of people that lack all civility and who are forced to respond with force because of it. I just don't like the way the media uses the "cycle of violence" phrase to describe the situation, because that infers that Israel is equally responsible for the situation, and that isn't the case.

So this family droned on and on to the oh-so-concerned reporter about how terrible the conditions there were, and pointed their accusatory fingers right at Israel. Here's the thing though. You people that want Israel to stop acting with force in the Middle East....get the stinking terrorists to stop blowing people up, kidnapping soldiers, renegging on peace agreements, etc.

The problem doesn't lie with Israel's response you fools, it lies with what they are responding to.

And as for this family and the rest of you that like to point your fingers in Israels direction....

One hundred rockets were fired into Israel today. Most news reports I saw were filmed in Lebanon and told the story of how unfortunate the citizens there were,and the plight of foreigners that still remained there. I didn't see any stories about Israeli citizens. I guess their plight doesn't matter....

VBS Lessons

I started writing this last week during VBS, but never got the chance to finish it. Then I finally did and added all of two paragraphs.....lol.



I'm helping to teach the lessons this year in VBS. I'm very honored to have been chosen for this responsibility, as this is the lynchpin to everything else that occurs each night at Vacation Bible School.

Tonight the lesson was from Mark 2 and the story of the paralyzed man. Tonight I was responsible for the behind the scenes portion of the lesson, and while I was busy doing my tasks I was thinking about the story.

In case the rest of my blogging hasn't given it away, I am a very empathetic person. When I study the Bible then, it is only natural for me to think about what a person might have been thinking and feeling when certain events were taking place. So tonight, I was thinking about those friends that cut the hole in the roof.

Work with me here and imagine your four closest friends. Imagine that tomorrow, you go out and suffer a horrific accident and you are left completely paralyzed. Now, imagine that you live in a 3rd world country, and there is no hope of physical therapy, or disability payments. Your friends, who are all fishermen and tradesmen, struggle enough to feed themselves and their own families.

Now, think of the hope they have as they hear of this great teacher who has the ability to heal people of even the most dire physical infirmities.

Actually, how much hope do you think they would have? How much hope would you have if you heard about a man such as that? Honestly? I probably wouldn't have a lot to be honest. Sounds like a scam to me.

So the first obstacle then is to even bring your paralytic friend to see Jesus in the first place, although I suppose we can assume that since the whole house was packed that there had been enough reliable testimony to give the four friends genuine hope.

In all reality, there were probably varying degrees of skepticism amongst the friends, but that's not neccesarily important to me right now.

What I was considering tonight during the lesson was how these four friend would have felt once they had taken the effort to hack through that roof and lower their friend into the room where Jesus was sitting and speaking. What I was considering was how these four friend would have felt once all of that had happened and they were witness to Jesus telling their friend to get up and walk....and he did...

Think of yourself as one of the friends.

Now think of how you would have felt about your friends if you were the guy on the mat.

I think there is another lesson here too beneath the surface. It's an extrapolation beyond the point Jesus was teaching, but I wonder if it isn't important nonetheless. Maybe it's even too simple, but I'll tell you anyway.

I think it's important to note that it took four friends.

Forgiveness

I went way off the reservation last year.

I'm trying to tell you that I fell into sin, (and dove in and didn't come up for air is more like it) but I'm trying to convey that I fell far and hard without shocking you with the details.

There are a number of painful anniversaries that occur for me in the first half of the year.

Every year.

Last year, sometime in the middle of January, I felt my grasp beginning to loosen and that was the beginning of a downward slide that was cut short only by the near-death experience you can read about elsewhere in this blog.

Almost dying had an effect on me though, more profound than I feel adequately capable of expressing. The realization of how I had wasted so many of the past thirty-something years, and how little time I might really have left, caught me up short and made me re-evaluate everything.

I changed. I knew then that it was something that was going to have a lasting effect on me, and after a year I can say that it truly has.

I'm not sure everyone feels that way.

See, some of the things I got involved in came to light, and I know a number of people around me found out some, or even all, of the details. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that a few people found out the details because they either came to me and asked, or I confided in them at one point or another. Other people got information which I am not sure was entirely factual.

Frankly, I'm glad the things that came out did come out. God blessed me, because not having to worry about when that information would come out is a huge relief.

Thing is though, I know one way or another, people got information because there was a behavior change.


The "room" became cooler.

And now we're a year beyond all that, and I find it to be a little upsetting. I'm not angry upset. Honestly, it all makes me a little sad, and I even feel compassion for these people.

Jesus said:

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another"

I know Jesus loves me. I know that Jesus has accepted my repentance as real. I know that if Jesus came to my church, he would talk to me and hang out with me, because that's how Jesus loves.

I have also come to learn over the last year what it means to love like Jesus. Don't get me wrong, I'm still eons away from attaining perfection. I still get angry, I still lust, I could be a better steward in many ways...there are a number of things that I am working on.

There are some things that I have done that were right over the last year too though. I know that I am learning to love like Jesus because I have done things over the last year that went against my better interests, or even in spite of the fact that I had been slighted.

I called my Dad and invited him to visit. I remember the reasons I have to be angry with him, but when I think of him coming to visit I get tears in my eyes. He's my Dad. I have valid reasons to be angry, but I want my father to be impacted for Christ, and so I have to let the Spirit work through me.

Mostly though, I feel like I am learning to love like Jesus because I am modeling it for you as best I can when you look at me with that condescension and judgement written all over your face.

When you fillet me with your eyes and give me that tight little grin, I will always smile and act as if nothing has changed in our relationship. Because for me, nothing has.

I still love you and I still think you are wonderful.

Way Funny

I needed this today.

Praise God for Rainy Mornings

Okay, I happen to really like waking up on morning with the windows open to the sound of rain falling. It's very peaceful.

That's not what this is about though, I was just feeling sentimental.

Here's what this is about.

Last year two planes collided at Minneapolis/St. Paul International on the tarmac. Jet fuel spilled all over the runway, and there certainly was the potential for a good number of injuries and fatalities, but ultimately nobody was hurt. Reason? There was no spark created. If you watch the video here you'll see that it was a rainy morning, and I'm sure that had something to do with it.

On another note, how about the brave airport workers that you see in the video helping get the passengers off of both planes. I think I'm going to start an "unsung heroes" website so people can write in and tell about the nice/generous/heroic things others have done for them which went unnoted.

New Song - Sometimes

Lyrics to the new song I wrote at 2 Am this morning:

Sometimes, I'm Happy. Sometimes, I'm not.
Sometimes, it takes a little. Sometimes, it takes a lot.

Sometimes, I'm forgiven. Sometimes, I forgive
Sometimes, I struggle, with why I'm livin the life I live.

Yeah, Searchin for the finer things.
Yeah, Taking what my life brings
Yeah, Hoping to find that one sunrise
That lasts a lifetime long

Sometimes, it's a minute. Sometimes, the whole day long.
Sometimes, you can't sing it, unless you've lived the song.

Sometimes, all in color. Sometimes, black and white.
Sometimes, I wonder if I'll, ever get this thing right.

Yeah, searchin for the finer things.
Yeah, taking what my life brings.
Yeah, hoping to find that one sunrise,
That last a lifetime long. (2x)

You can download it here and listen if you want. It's not perfect, it was recorded at 2 AM!!
Sometimes quickdump is a pain, but if you retry a few times it usually works.


EDIT- This song has already been rerecorded and you can listen to it here streaming so I disabled the first link.

Hunter needs prayer. You can help.

I get about two lines into this everytime I read it and my eyes fill up with tears.

This little guy needs your faithful and fervent prayers.


Hunter's Story


And so do his parents. I burned my leg when I was 12, and spent a month in the hospital with 3rd degree burns. It was horrible, because due to how I burned my leg they weren't able to do skin grafts for over a week. Three times a day they would come in and "clean" my leg with a brush. They had to bring a team of nurses to hold me down. I'll never forget the looks of helplessness on the faces of my family.

Check the main page of the site for the updates and how you can pray specifically.

Here is the quote from the site which gets me every time. I wish I accepted hardships as well as he does:



I just want to say to you that Hunter is amazing. Not once in six years, NOT EVEN ONCE, has he ever complained about his disabilities. Even when he falls fifty times a day he is never upset. He just yells out “I’m OK” and gets right back up. When his legs won’t work at all he simply says “these crazy legs are at the beach today”. He always has a smile on his face and joy in his heart. He has an incredible sense of humor and a gift for touching people deep within their soul. He really is a miracle.

What did He write in the sand?

In John 8:1-11 we are told the story of the Pharisees and their attempt to beguile Jesus by bringing Him a woman that had comitted adultery. It is speculated that they were either trying to get Jesus to say she would not be stoned so that they could accuse Him of being an enemy of the Law, or to get Jesus to say she should be stoned and therefore accuse Him before the Romans.

Recently a friend of mine relayed to me a Bible study they were involved in regarding this passage. One of the questions that they had asked was what it was that Jesus could have been writing in the sand.

Wesley proposes that Jesus wrote in the sand to signify that He was not yet come to condemn the world, but to save it, and Calvin says that anyone that even conjectures about it misses the point. I think Calvin is wrong. I think trying to go one step deeper into the Bible (while remaining in context of course) is the only way to interpret the Bible. It's the only way I can make the story of a God that became man relevant to me. I need to think about what He must have felt like to walk among us, and what the moments were like that He did.

The Bible study I was talking about came up with a few different answers about what Jesus might have written in the sand, but I found one to be particularly enjoyable.

The Bible tells us that after Jesus was challenged by the Jews about what to do, that He rose from writing in the sand and said"

"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

Then he returned to writing in the sand. John then relates that beginning with the oldest, or probably more precisely, the most honored among them, they departed one by one until none were left. So was it just the wisdom of what He said that caused them to lose the wind in their sails? Maybe, but here is what the Bible study proposed.

What if Jesus was writing the names of the women (or men) that these particular Jews had commited adultery with? That would expain the eldest departing first as more time/power equals more opportunity. The most honored of the Sanhedrin would also have the most to lose. Imagine the looks on their faces if this were the case and He sqautted there, wrote a name, looked up at a specific man...

So maybe not, maybe this is the first recorded instance of the game of tic-tac-toe, I don't know. I just thought their proposal was funny as well as intruiging., and I love the way Jesus constantly put these guys in their places.

End of an Era. Thanks Andre Agassi.

For years when I was younger, my parents had a trailer at Sunsetview Campground in Monson, MA. They actually had two trailers there over the years. They bought the first from my grandparents and then bought a better one later on.

I spent so much time there in the summer that anytime I am outside in the summer and reminiscing about Massachusetts, I can't help but think of that place. I had my first kiss there, I hit my first homerun there, I played guitar on stage there for the the first time. I have so many stories I could tell, there are so many memories that I keep, so many people that I miss. Once I thought I would never forget the names, but so many of them have become just concepts now, even their faces are lost to me.

One of the things I did do every summer though was get up and watch Wimbledon. It became a tradition for me to lay on the couch during the morning all of the weekend of Independence Day and watch the semi-finals and finals of that great tournament.

Now, I'm not a huge tennis fan, but the allure of Wimbledon is not easily withstood. Of course, it doesn't hurt that in the beginning of this tradition I was watching players like Borg, Connors and a young man named John McEnroe compete against one another in epic matches. Even today replays of those matches are gripping.

I was reminded of those days earlier this week when I saw that Andre Aggasi had decided to retire and that this week would mark his last appearance at Wimbledon. He had finally succumbed to a nagging back injury, and in fact, today he was knocked out of the tourney for the very last time.

As I heard the news I sat and thought about those days when all I had to do was get up and watch tennis before I went and played softball. They seem so very far away now. With the retirement of Agassi, I suppose they are even further.

Still, for a few moments this week I was able to remember what it was like to lie there and watch tennis as my mother and father cooked breakfast and got the camp ready for the coming day. I can touch the security of my family which is gone now forever. I can smile smiles back at smiles I saw so long ago. And I can say a thank you to a man I watched upon that stage so many years ago.

Andre Agassi came onto the stage a brash long haired ball of fire. I didn't even like him that much at first honestly. Over the years though I couldn't help but respect the passion with which he played the game, and admire the skill and poise he displayed so many times.

Today's players seem so very vanilla to me, but Andre came along at a time when the shadows of Connors and McEnroe still dominated the American tennis world. He took over right where they left off, and I don't know that another American player will ever capture the majesty those men had.

Thank you Andre, for all those mornings.