AUGUST 2010 EDITION - CHRIST - THE REESESOURCE

I don’t know about you, but I have developed a love-hate relationship with technology!

Smart phones make you feel dumb. Computers become obsolete before you get them unpacked from the box. Computer programs that are designed to make life simpler end up driving you crazy because you mistyped (or should I say miskeyboarded) one letter or number or you had on black socks that day instead of blue ones! Who knows? Don’t get me started on D.V.R.’s that require a Ph.D. to operate. Battery dies on your car. You must have a secret code to get the radio operational again. Where do you get the secret code?
If it is not on the glove compartment wall, then you have to take the radio out and find the serial number. Did you ever try taking a radio out on a late model car? Good luck to you!
You have to practically dismantle the entire front end. E book, I Pod, I Phone, I Pad, I.T., I Give!

How did we ever survive without all the technological marvels we enjoy today? Do you remember when the pay phone was the lifeline for those of us who were in the field as salesmen? “Snail mail” was the only option. Face-to-face conversations (What a concept!) had not yet given way to texting and e-mails. The temptation of pornography was often forestalled by actually having to walk into a store and take it to the counter to pay for it, unlike now, where it can be accessed in seconds in the privacy of your home. Identity theft rarely occurred. The internet has made the world a smaller but, in some ways, a more dangerous place. Predators roam the internet searching for victims.

Do I want to go back to the “good old days”? Not on your life! I like my laborsaving devices and fun gadgets. There are things, however, that I do miss, though about the good old days. Those things are not related directly to the lack of the advancements in technology that we enjoy today. Rather, it is the apparent disregard for the things that made us a more civil society. I think of things such as manners and morals, values, and standards. I know things were not much better back then. There was not an open endorsement of things that are wrong. In another area of civility, I would ask, “Whatever happened to pants with knife edge creases, shirts that were pressed and tucked into your pants, and shined shoes?” I understand that it is a matter of style, but the lack of these things communicate that one doesn’t care about one’s appearance. What happened to
holding a chair for a woman, standing when a woman enters a room, opening a door for her? One rarely hears a “Yes, ma’am” or a “No, sir” It is “yeah” or “uh, un”! Where are the words, “Please” and “Thank You”? Does anyone write handwritten “Thank You” notes anymore? Do people ever promptly respond to R.S.V.P. ( or respond at all)?

I may be rambling on a bit, I realize, but I lament the coarsening of our culture. From where does this decline stem? I believe it comes from failing to take seriously the wisdom and charges given us in the Bible. (No, I don’t think the Bible says anything about knife-edge creases in pants.)

Let me give just a few illustrations of what I am speaking:

Phillipians 2:3,4 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility
consider others better than yourself. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others.” Think of what a difference that would make in our culture!

Think of the ramifications on our society of following the admonition of Scripture found in II Thessalonians 3:10, “If a man will not work (if he is able is implied), he will not eat.”

“Men love your wives just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.”
(Ephesians 5:25) Think of the effect this would have on marriages!

“Clothe yourself with humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:12, 13) This would have a great impact on interpersonal relationships.

Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your speech be seasoned with grace, seasoned with salt, that you would know how you would answer each one.” This verse is referring to speaking to others who do not have a personal relationship with Christ. This would make a tremendous a difference in evangelism.

Can we go back to a more civil time? I think so. We can if we will truly seek more and more to be guided by Scripture and less by the whims of a fickle culture.

Can we go back to pressed pants and shiny shoes? Maybe not, but I am not giving up my spit-shined Weejuns.

MINISTRY NEWS:

I need your help! Due to the extended downturn in the economy and other factors, our contributions have fallen to a critical level. In June and July, we were able to take a partial paycheck and now in August, we will not receive a paycheck at all.

In December, I will be eligible for Medicare and in January, Peggy will be eligible. Our health insurance premiums currently are $17,000.00 per year. That is with a $5,000.00 deductible! Obviously, Medicare and a Medicare supplement will reduce that expense drastically, if we can hang on that long.

I dislike crisis letters from ministries and would like to have avoided writing this, but the situation is critical.

Thanks for your understanding and prayers.

July 2010 Edition

I recently rented the movie,”Invictus”. This was a story about Nelson Mandela and the South African Rugby team starring Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as the captain of the Rugby team. I found it a very entertaining movie.

In one scene of the movie, Mandela quotes the Victorian-era, William Ernest Henley poem, from which the movie is titled. Here is that poem:

Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
In the third line of the poem, the author thanks “whatever gods may be”. This reminds me of what the Apostle Paul said as he wandered around Athens and saw objects of worship and one in particular marked “to an unknown god”. Henley seems to have a rather agnostic view of life. To him, Paul would have said what he said at the meeting of the Areopagus. “Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:23)
Also, I find the last two lines of the poem accurately express the feelings of today’s modern self- satisfied, self-absorbed, and self-possessed culture. In some ways, I understand the sentiment of the second-to-the-last line, “I am the master of my fate”. What I do, how hard I work and whom I know determines my fate in life. I am in control of my destiny. “Who else would be?” You might ask.
We admire successful people and refer to them as “self-made men or women”. Some of the more humble would say that they are where they are because they have “stood on the shoulders of giants”. I think, however, the author is missing a one, not so small, ingredient in anyone’s success. That is the fact that God is in control. As St. Paul goes on to say in verse 28 of chapter 17, “In Him we live, move, and have our being”. The famous evangelist, D.L. Moody would offer to these words of advice to the person who claims to be the master of his own fate, “Work like it all depends on you, and pray as though it all depends on God”.
As for the idea of anyone claiming to be “the captain of his soul”, he may have a rude surprise awaiting him one nanosecond after his demise. He may think he was in charge, but it was God who ordered his path. It is God who reveals Himself to man. As Scripture says in verses 44 and 65 of John Chapter 6, “No man comes to me unless the Father draws him.” (vs.44) and “That is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him”. (vs.65)
This is what Jim Reiman, Christian author, has to say about the issue of our eternal destiny, “Why is it many Christians believe they had something to do with their salvation? They may not state it that directly, but as we peel back the layers of their theology, we find they have a sense of acceptance due to something they did--which is works, not faith. They speak of "making a decision for Christ”, yet John said we have become God's children, not born "of human decision ... but born of God" (John 1:13). Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16). Paul said of becoming God's child, "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy" (Rom. 9:16). Finally Solomon, referring to God's sovereign control wrote, "Every decision is from the Lord" (Prov. 16:33).
In short, I think Henley’s poem shows misguided arrogance and self-centeredness in that he leaves God out of the equation. I had a sense of sadness when I read the poem. E-mail me with your thoughts at peggyandbuck@yahoo.com.

Note: After I wrote this newsletter a friend wrote:

"Also, if you remember, Timothy McVeigh quoted the last two lines of Invictus right before he was executed. Indeed, what a deep, dark, depressing, awful thought it is to ponder what he faced within seconds after his death!"