BE the dew...wear the dew....

I've been working on a message for Sunday from Micah 5:5-15. Micah is a wonderful book - if a bit harsh at moments. There is a wealth of good stuff in there. I've been thinking about one small phrase found in this section, "...like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass...." Micah describes what the "remnant of Jacob" will be like using that phrase. The idea in my head is that we are to be like dew from the Lord and like showers on the grass. But how can we do that? Or better, how can we BE that? What does dew do? It refreshes and cleanses the world. There are few things more invigorating than to walk outside early in the morning and walk barefoot on the grass and feel the refreshing tingle of the dew on your toes! I love dew! It reminds me that a new day has dawned, that yesterday is over and there are challenges and joys to be experienced afresh today.

The only thing better than dew on your toes is the smell and feel of a rain shower when drought has been all you've experienced for the last several weeks. We recently had some rain showers come through here and oh what a relief! Rain smells so incredibly good, doesn't it? Both of these images share the idea of life and refreshment.

So, how do I BE dew? How do I BE a rain shower? I guess the easy answer is to be a person who refreshes others. What does this look like? I'm afraid to say - I'm afraid to realize that too often I am the drought rather than the shower. But, I'll take the risk and answer the question regardless:
1) I am a shower when I comfort you in your pain.
2) I am dew when I hold you harmless in your sin.
3) I refresh when I honor your diversity.
4) I renew when I allow your joy to run unhindered by my fear.

You may be asking - "You think you can do all of that, huh? All by yourself?" No, I am nothing but sere desert without the overarching rain of God's tender Spirit within me. The preamble to all of the above is - "When I am connected to God's mercy...." Too often, I add to another's pain or judge a person in sin or disrespect those different from me, or allow my fear to have it's way. I do that when I am connected to the darkness without rather than the light of God's grace within.

Why do we run from God's Spirit, when all He wants is to refresh and renew us? What is it within us that draws us away from God's mercy? Fear? Idolatry? Pain? And yet, in the dew of His presence, are not all of those taken away? Will God not replace fear with love, idolatry with His abiding presence, pain with comfort? Of course He will...and yet we run.

To be dew, I must be connected to God. Help me, Lord, in my disconnectedness!

What makes YOUR America great?

Thinking more about the generosity of a guy like Warren Buffet made me think that it takes a special person to do what he did. You may be envious of someone with that much wealth, but you have to admit his desire to help people is pretty incredible. It should draw us to look at ourselves to some degree and contemplate what we do that benefits others. Newsweek is coming out with an issue this week that lists 14 people who "Make America Great" and then they add quite a few others for the 15th spot. So, what do you do that makes America great? I'm sure (and Newsweek says it) that there are a lot more people doing things in small ways that make America great. Here's my list of people who make America great:

Sandy - my wife who is a fantastic teacher. She teaches more about life than just how to do arithmetic and spelling, although she does a great job there too. She is compassionate for her munchkins and is studying to be a principle so she can better the lives of teachers as well as kids.

Larry - my friend the radical left-wing Christian and political dude who takes on the religious right and the assumptions so many Christians have about being Christian in America. I don't agree with him on everything, but I'm glad he says what he says because it can serve to keep us honest and thinking responsibly about our lives.

Jacob and Daniel - they're just great kids!

Shelly - our youth leader/missions specialist who is also a teacher. She has influenced so many kids here over the last 12 years or so it is hard to imagine what things would be like without her.

Ted & Phyll - super friends if a little on the left side (at least Phyllis is)! What is this with having friends who hate Bush anyway...what is wrong with me? Ted and Phyllis are bringing the meaning of church back to church. Church was never meant to be this stuffy place where we rallied for the Republicans or avoided deeper issues that drive America with spiritual noone talk. Church was meant to be a place where Christians removed the masks and became real with one another - and loved one another deeply. It is way too politicized now. I enjoyed their "church" - they will hate me for calling it that! They have this cool small group that meets and really cares for one another. Oh to have one here!

Farmers - they are generally misunderstood. They work harder than 90% of the population and accomplish more in a day than most of us would even attempt in a week. They take more risks than a gambler in Las Vegas - and they don't even stop to consider it - it is just a fact of life that they have absolutely no control over (like the weather). They are grossly underpaid and unappreciated.

Sandy - not my wife - my secretary - who puts up with me and organizes my life and my day and my office. She does this gladly and at the same time contends with two kids who...well, are kids! Single moms in general need to be applauded - they are a bit like the farmers - underpaid and unappreciated for all they do.

There are many, many more I could mention - but I'm curious about who you would add to this list. For me America would be a lot less wonderful without these people and what they contribute to my life in particular as well as the country as a whole. So, go ahead - make up your list of people who make your life in America great - I give you permission!

This blogging thing....

I'm discovering how hard this blogging thing is to do. Trying to say something interesting, yet personal is hard. I lead a relatively boring life. I don't know famous people re: Phyllis (well, I don't think I do anyway).

But I did find it interesting that Warren Buffet is donating 1.5 BILLION DOLLARS to the Gates Foundation. Wow...what a concept. Oh, and that is not a one time gift...that is PER YEAR!!! All to seek cures in a variety of health issues. I think it's wonderful that he's doing it...makes me wonder what cure I could come up with given $1.5 BILLION. (How do you write that anyway...$1,500,000,000? That is very impressive.)

What would a person do with this kind of money? What would I do with it? After paying off my debt (a mere fraction of $1.5 BILLION) I think I would take my family on a very long vacation. Then I would invest some of it wisely. Next, I would invest some more of it unwisely...just for the heck of it! Then what? Find a cure for cancer? Pay for world peace? Nah, I think I'd buy a big mansion - make that two - and retire to read and play video games. Maybe I'd come down from the clouds for a bit to walk among the mere mortals and remind myself that once I was one of them.

You know, maybe it's a good thing I don't have $1.5 BILLION. What an egocentric little nerd I would be.

Father's Day

Today I want to talk about something that is painful, but perhaps necessary to talk about. I was reminded by my friend's blog (see Ted's Thots) about my dad. Dad passed away on June 2, 2005 after struggling with Alzheimer's for several years. Alzheimers is a terrible disease. It causes you to lose your loved one twice. Once as they slip away from you slowly over the years by loss of memory and personality and again when they die.

Dad was kind, very intelligent, opinionated (REALLY opinionated!), but loving. His grandkids loved to make him laugh just to watch his bald head turn red! It was funny! He and I disagreed on some things - and having inherited his stubbornness that meant we did our fair share of arguing. And being a bit emotional we argued loudly. But, we understood one another I think and respected each other enough that at the end, we still could laugh and talk together. Mom never understood this I think.

I was contemplating Micah 4:9-5:4 (today's message) and how this whole passage is about a variety of painful experiences that Israel will go through. But it is also about the hope that exists at the end of each of these experiences - but to get to the hopeful part, we have to go through the painful part. That bites.

As I contemplated this, I thought about the fact that so often we try to avoid pain by medicating ourselves. I'm struggling with gout and believe me I wish there was some powerful pain medication I could take to take away the pain! But, there isn't - or at least my doctor won't prescribe it for me. With Dad - watching him go through the hell of Alzheimers - there wasn't much to do for him regarding medication. And for us kids I think we tended to minimize it for a while and finally we had to all face the facts and accept that we were losing Dad. We never talked about it though...it was a bit of a taboo subject. Silence was our medication.

It was taboo that is until we had to put him into the nursing home. Mom had done her best to care for him and did a wonderful job caring for the man she had loved for 54 years. But it finally got to be too much for her. (I never knew how strong my mom was until this all happened.)

Well, to get back on track, it's Father's Day and I wanted to say this - we see that when someone dies of cancer, often in their obituary it says something like this, "after a courageous battle with cancer they passed away..." And that is true - battling cancer takes courage. Alzheimers seems different - we don't say someone battled courageously with Alzheimers because it doesn't appear to be a battle. They simply slide away. And yet...I know Dad battled with it in the only way he could - by asking hard questions of people he had known his entire life like, "Now what is your name again?" I know that bothered him. I know at one of his cousins funerals he was so depressed he did something I had never seen him do before - he went outside and cried. Eventually, of course, this too passed and after the anger stage he became this person who smiled all the time and had no opinions. That was the first time we lost him. For Dad, there was no medicating the loss of memory, there was only the knowledge dimly held that things were drifting away and there was nothing he could do about it.

He is through with all of that now and is at rest. I miss arguing with him. I miss his smile. I miss his red bald head!

Happy Father's Day, Dad.

Another blogger...?

Just what the blog-o-sphere needs...another blogger! Never thought I'd be doing this, but a lot of my friends blog and it looked fun. Besides I needed one more thing to do. I'm sitting here today listening to the rain lightly fall on our parched earth. What a beautiful sound and smell! We've had about 6 years of serious drought here so this is more than just welcome - this is life itself. The rain is too late for the wheat crop unfortunately, but it will help the pastures and the corn and soybeans. I'm sitting because I have endured a nasty gout attack...if you've ever had gout you will know how bad this feels. No fun whatsoever.

Anyway, let me say that I hope you will enjoy this blog and my ramblings. Please feel free to comment on anything said here. Not sure what will be said...or that it will be comment worthy, but hey even if you just visit and say "Hi!" that will be cool too.