A work in progress

End of construction. Thank you for your patience.

Ruth Bell Graham saw that on a road sign once, and liked it so much she had it engraved on her tombstone. She thought it was a great summary of her life.

What did she mean by it?

She was married to Billy Graham, the evangelist who traveled the world preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, helping people find a saving faith in large stadiums and small gatherings.

Life change

As strong believers, they knew they had a truth that had to be shared. Jesus is for all people, in all cultures, for all time.

But they also knew that faith was (and is) more than just a one-time decision. That decision, to follow Christ for life, means just that: a life change.

Hence, “end of construction.” Our lives are like a road construction zone. Under repair, yet being improved.

Roads are never perfect. The materials wear out over time. They get slippery when wet, or frozen.

But we still use them, flawed as they are. They help us reach our destination.

I think that’s what Ruth Bell Graham was getting at.

When she died, the construction that kept improving her life ended. She was a work in progress until her last breath.

I hope my life follows that path, too.

Billy’s purpose

My paid professional career has ended, but my service to Jesus as a Christian will never stop. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).

Her husband, Billy Graham, was one of the first evangelists to take advantage of media – radio and television, in his day, and later film and the Internet. He interviewed with Johnny Carson, Woody Allen, Phil Donahue, Larry King and many others.

He stayed true to his Gospel message, even in secular settings. And he did it respectfully.

He met with numerous U.S. presidents and world leaders.

He said many of his most meaningful interactions were with common, ordinary people, like you and me. People who aren’t famous or in the public spotlight.

But who are just as important to the living God as any world leader is.

My family got a taste of the Grahams’ ministry when we visited their museum in Charlotte, N.C., recently. We were in town to celebrate my aunt’s 90^th birthday with extended family. We went down a couple of days early to do some sightseeing – which included the Billy Graham Museum. Ruth and Billy’s gravesites are there, too.

Including Ruth’s epitaph.

A bumpy road

I’ve been a Christian for a long time, but I know better than anyone that my road is full of potholes and other bumps and fissures. I am under construction, for sure.

Hopefully the road of my life looks better than it did 40 years ago, but that’s not for me to say.

If I had to write the story of my own life, I would have written it very differently than God has written it. My road is not straight.

It has some smooth parts, but the road was weakening underneath me even as I traveled it. We raised our three sons in one community, but the job I had there didn’t last. The company I worked for used to give a nice gift for 25 years of service, and I came up short by one year.

My road took a few bumpy, sometimes perilous, turns over the next few years. It’s smoothed out a little bit – we’ve been in the same community for 10 years – but that doesn’t mean it’s been smooth sailing.

Maybe it’s easy to be a Christian if your faith is never challenged. In my early 20s, I was told I could believe in Jesus if I like, but I should be able to explain why. That’s one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received.

In the past few years, I’ve found my faith tested repeatedly. On many fronts. By family. On social media, by people I know and a few I don’t. By accepting a couple of leadership roles (leaders, by definition, are on the front lines of issues. Again, I am very much under construction). In politics. In church dogma. In relationships, or lack thereof.

How well do I pass the tests? Again, that’s not for me to say. We are very good at judging other people, and not so good at judging ourselves. I try to be careful when I pass judgment on others. I cross the line sometimes and have gotten called out for it – rightly so.

I learn. I grow. I’m under construction.

Sometimes, I’ll stick to my defenses. I won’t back down.                                   

I’ve lost some friends because of that.

Accountability matters

But my goal is to follow Jesus, not the world. Or what the world thinks Jesus is. That’s a big one. Some Christians misrepresent Jesus.

I worshipped in the United Methodist Church for 30 years, and still have many friends there. They just voted to legalize gay and lesbian pastors. The Holy Scriptures speak clearly about this. We are to submit to the living God and His directives, not try to justify ourselves before Him.

I will not judge the United Methodist Church. But God Himself will.

As He will me.

There’s a reason the mainline denominations in the United States – all of them – are basically irrelevant now. They have forsaken their true love, the one love that lasts for all time.

Independent churches are growing. This scares me a little, because with no oversight, independent churches can preach whatever they want with no accountability, except self-accountabilty – which I don’t think counts for much.

But that’s where we are. And that’s why the Church, big “C,” is struggling in the United States. We are not a Christian nation by any definition.

Ruth and Billy Graham knew how to make the church strong. One person at a time. A changed heart. Then, connect to a local Bible-believing church where the new Christian could gain roots and grow.

Those churches are out there.

Local churches are construction zones. It’s where we learn to succeed and fail.

I’m connected to one. I’m still a work in progress. Thanks for your patience.

Finding treasure

Jesus gave everything for us. Even the clothes off his shredded, bloody back.

He died on the cross with literally no earthly possessions.

No inheritance. No house. No land. No income.

The clothes he wore were the only possessions he could call his own. Four soldiers divided those up while he hung on the cross. His tunic, probably his most prized possession, was given to the one soldier who won the “lottery” – they cast lots for it.

Pilate thought he won

We traditionally focus on the physical pain and suffering he endured on the cross on our behalf, and rightly so. I can’t even imagine what that felt like.

Then, separation from the best relationship he ever had, with his father. When that happened, he said, “It is finished.”

Even his family and closest friends deserted him, except for a very few.

Jesus died with nothing.

Nothing earthly, that is.

Pilate, who sentenced him to crucifixion, understood power, wealth, position and politics.

Jesus came to him with meekness, self-control, love, mercy and forgiveness.

Earth doesn’t live with those things. That’s why Christians, true Christians, are misunderstood.

Because our home isn’t here.

Our inheritance isn’t here. Some of us do have investments to live in retirement with, or to pass on to our heirs. But that won’t go on forever.

My worldly possessions? They wear out. I take pride in old things I own. I bought my lawn mower in 1988, and it still works. The bicycle my parents bought for me as a young boy sits in my garage. I keep my cars for 15 years, give or take.

Their time will end. I know that.

So will mine.

I enjoy them while I have them, and that’s a good thing. But they aren’t an end in themselves.

I kept my first car for 18 years. When I finally sold it and watched the new owner drive it away, I felt sad. I didn’t cry, though. That chapter of life ended, and another began with a different vehicle.

Jesus played a different game

Material possessions. How much are they really worth?

Jesus didn’t keep any. He was a nomad. He learned carpentry as a child from his dad, so he provided for himself until his ministry began about age 30. When he was baptized and began teaching and preaching, he depended on the mercy of others for sustenance. Several of his disciples were fishermen, so he wouldn’t starve.

He died with nothing.

Except meekness, self-control, love, mercy and forgiveness.

He died as the most powerful man in the world.

Because of those intangibles, which no one saw in the heat of the moment.

But that’s why we celebrate Easter, and will as long as life endures.

Jesus’ legacy lives on.

Not in material possessions, but in the hearts of those who believe in the meekness, self-control, love, mercy and forgiveness that he lived out on our behalf.

Now, it’s our turn

America is all about material wealth. Gasoline prices. The stock market. The price of bread and milk.

This is how we live our lives. We can’t get beyond it.

We base our spiritual lives on our physical success, don’t we? We want the power and influence that politics in government offers. It lures us, especially this year in a presidential election cycle. It’s what we talk about, think about, argue about.

Meekness, self-control, love, mercy and forgiveness?

Um, no. Those don’t pay the bills.

And that’s all we care about.

My campus pastor is leading us through the Psalms in 40 days of devotions before Easter, since Jesus would have known and understood them – and lived them out. We read Psalm 42 the other day.

This section touched me:

These things I remember,

as I pour out my soul:

how I went with the throng,

and led them in procession to the house of God,

with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,

a multitude keeping festival.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my help and my God.

Psalm 42:4-5

This could have been Jesus’ heart on Palm Sunday. The parade into Jerusalem, a great celebration. And yet he knew what would happen later that week, in just a few days.

He would lose everything the world had to offer.

I’m sure his soul was troubled. Beyond troubled.

His response? “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him …”

I understand this disconnect. I wouldn’t be surprised if you do, too.

My church had a Wednesday night worship time this week, instead of the regular weekly Bible lesson. They do that every so often.

I sang worship songs with several dozen others who were there. It was meaningful, and beautiful.

But I have a heavy heart. My parents are not well, and their time on Earth is nearing its end. Perhaps for both of them.

They live a 2.5-hour drive away. As their oldest child, I’m dealing with end-of-life issues that many of you are very familiar with, often by phone. We visit as often as we can.

They are downsizing, letting many material possessions go. A few, they can’t let go of.

This process is hard.

When we die, material possessions won’t matter anymore.

We are left with meekness, self-control, love, mercy and forgiveness.

Hopefully. If we have cultivated them.

That’s the message of Easter, the cross and resurrection.

Where is our treasure?

Is it in the bank account or politics?

Or is it in the things of the heart?

Jesus tried to prepare us for this moment.

Mom and Dad are there.

Tomorrow is not promised to you or me, either. We might live a long time yet, or we may not.

A couple of my high school classmates died recently. The older I get, the more often this happens.

Jesus was in his mid-30s when he was murdered.

He died with nothing.

He died with everything.

Unity hard to find

Jesus knows our trouble spots.

The night before he was crucified, after teaching his disciples many things, Jesus prayed. For them, and for us.

His prayer was not generic, or soft. He knew, and still knows, where we need help the most.

Jesus asked his Father for three things on our behalf:

• Protection. “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one … I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:11,15)
• Sanctification: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
• Unity: “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. … so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:21-23)

Protection

Earth is “the evil one’s” playground. He rules it. We don’t have to look hard to see this. Big stuff like wars, murder, rape, disease … Other things like selfishness, racism, anger … death.

God wants to protect us from all of that. Eventually, all that stuff will go away, but in the meantime, we live among it.

As Christians, we don’t have to participate in any of this. We know better. Yet we are prone to sin, so we become part of the problem.

We need each other to help avoid the evil one’s wiles. By learning how to get along with each other – as Christians, who should all have the same big-picture outlook on life – we can become one in spirit, and one with God and with each other.

This is how we overcome sinful passions, desires and actions.

We need God’s protection, in the middle of an otherwise evil world. We are different. We are one with God, not with the world.

Sanctification

This is a Christian jargon word which means that over time, we should think and live more like Jesus did, growing more like Jesus every day – or at least every year.

We do this by learning and living “the truth; your word is truth.”

The “word” is the Bible, where God explains how to live like he wants us to.

Sanctification means we are set apart, different than the world. We think differently, we talk differently, we act differently. Or, we should.

It’s a process. We shouldn’t judge each other for not measuring up to God’s standards, because we are all in a different place.

Again, if we are one, we as Christians can – and should – support each other as we grow ever closer to the living God.

Unity

For his 11 disciples (Judas had already left the room to betray him), Jesus prayed for protection and sanctification. He then turned his attention to future believers – that’s us – and on our behalf, he prayed for unity.

Oh, how we need it.

We have taken our eyes off of him and his word, and have become divisive.

Some of us use the Bible to justify our sinful behaviors. God is love, we say; this means that God loves homosexuals, those who support abortion in all situations, promiscuity, anger and things like that.

Using similar logic, others of us say that it’s okay to stockpile guns, keep unwanted people out of our country, ignore world wars and other issues on a global scale, and things like that.

Each group points judgmental, accusatory fingers at the other group.

Unity? It’s not on the radar screen.

I’m talking about Christians here.

I know folks who call themselves Christians who attend churches that support homosexuality and make fighting injustice the cornerstone of their faith.

I know others who call themselves Christians who think our government is itself evil, immigration is evil and abortion is outlawed in the Bible.

Unity? Where? How?

How does the world know that Jesus Christ is the king of the world?

Are we truly one with the Father, with Jesus and with each other?

That’s how Jesus prayed.

Instead, we have let the world define our faith.

By doing that, we’ve lost our witness.

The world doesn’t know.

Because we’d rather fight for our rights, or our principles, than show them what “truth” really is.

The solution

“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:25-26)

This is how Jesus ended his defining prayer.

What’s the key? Knowing Jesus. The real Jesus. Not our version of Jesus, or what we want him to be. Who he is.

To do that, we must read the Bible with an open mind. Not with preconceived notions. Not with a worldly mindset. To use another Christian jargon word, with “surrender.” Humilty. On our knees. Inquisitive. Seeking. Trying to understand.

We can’t pull verses or ideas out of context. We must understand the culture of the times the Scriptures were written in. We must read the paragraphs around the verses we want to quote, to make sure we understand what the writer is truly saying – not what we want the writer to say.

If we read the Bible like this, God will protect us from the desires of the evil one, because his evil desires are exposed in its pages. As are God’s answers.

The more we read and learn, the closer we get to the living God. This is how sanctification works.

And the more unified we will be.

This doesn’t mean we all will think alike or live the same way. God has wired each of us differently, and given us different situations in life.

But all of us – men and women, of all races and cultures across the world, and across time – worship the same God.

The Bible calls us brothers and sisters in Christ. That means all of us who take on the name of Christ are related. We are family, in the very best sense of the word.

Let’s act like it.

Heart change matters

The He Gets Us ad campaign during the Super Bowl has generated plenty of discussion.

That was the point, so I suppose it worked.

My pastor recently preached a sermon titled, “The Struggle to Love Well.” He referenced Luke 6:27-36, where Jesus charged his listeners to love their enemies. Everyone loves their friends and supporters, Jesus said, but to love those who hate you takes an other-worldly kind of love.

That’s what the He Gets Us campaign was all about.

One of the ads featured a police officer washing the feet of a black man, a woman getting her feet washed outside a family planning clinic, and a Muslim getting her feet washed, among others.

Loving our enemies

My pastor referenced four love commands of Jesus: to love the Lord your God, your neighbor, your enemies and one another.

Everyone has someone we struggle to love, he said.

We need to find the balance between grace and truth: forgiving others and loving those not like us, and promoting truths such as Jesus is the only source of salvation and Jesus is our only connection with the living God.

That balance is not always easy to find.

My pastor ended his sermon by saying we will often be misunderstood when we love like Jesus does.

The discussion surrounding the He Gets Us campaign proves that right.

A columnist friend of mine said the donors behind the ad campaign “want to avoid our current culture wars, without revealing their efforts to stoke those very movements.”

‘Branding’ Jesus?

She also said that instead of spending $14 million on the two Super Bowl ads, the donors could have spent that money in ways that actually help people, and done some significant things with it.

That thought took me to John 12, where a woman poured an expensive jar of perfume on Jesus’ feet. Judas responded with this: “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii (a year’s wages) and the money given to the poor (John 12:5)?”

Jesus said, “Leave her alone … You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me (John 12:7-8).”

Jesus wasn’t saying we should ignore the poor. Far from it. It’s about priorities. And timing. Jesus was nearing his death, and the woman was preparing him for it.

Like my pastor said, Jesus Himself was often misunderstood – so His followers should expect the same.

When my friend posted her column on social media, I commented that Christians “serve the needy more than any other group of people do.” And that many people in this country, including many of us who call ourselves Christians, don’t know the Bible well – so proper “branding” of Jesus is necessary.

Heart change

That generated quite a response. Several people questioned my claim about Christian generosity, pointing to many service organizations that aren’t necessarily Christian that serve the needy in many ways.

True that.

But where does the heart to serve come from? It comes from God, even in people who don’t recognize it.

The columnist referenced loving one another, and said we in America don’t need “rebranding” for that. I quoted John 8:11, where Jesus told a woman caught in adultery: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Forgiveness and repentance. Loving one another requires both.

Balance, as my pastor preached.

The columnist and her friends missed that. Why was sin even brought into the conversation, she asked. (Another person mentioned sin in another thread, by the way.)

Then, the conversation turned interesting. Another friend – whom I have met – referred to John 4, the woman at the well, who had five husbands and was living with yet another out of wedlock. This friend said: ”For all we know, she continues to live with number “6” or maybe the number is higher, who knows. But I think it’s imperative here that Jesus makes absolutely no mention of sin … nada.”

My response: “The reason the woman in John 4 became an instant evangelist is because Jesus changed her heart. …”

He replied: “FYI “heart” appears nowhere in the Greek of John 4.”

This friend pastors a church in the city where I live. He is a spiritual leader, preaching from the Bible, and missed the point of sin and heart.

No mention of “heart?” That’s the reason Jesus came to Earth: relationship with his Father, through a changed heart.

“And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said, ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not look with their eyes, and understand with their heart and turn – and I would heal them.’ (John 12:40)”

Even Old Testament writers understood heart change: “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you … (Ezekiel 36:26)”

Remember John the Baptist? “He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah (Luke 3:3-4) …”

According to gotquestions.org, repentance in the Bible literally means “the act of changing one’s mind. … Eerdmans Bible Dictionary includes this definition of repentance: “In its fullest sense it is a term for a complete change of orientation involving a judgment upon the past and a deliberate redirection for the future.”

Lifestyle change. Mind and heart. That’s what repentance is.

Understanding the real Jesus

We do need a “rebranding” of Jesus in America. We’ve misunderstood Him. Jesus washes feet. We’d rather judge.

It’s easy to find fault with others. I do it more than I care to admit.

If we won’t take the time to read the Bible for ourselves, we can’t know who the Jesus of the Bible is. When the real Jesus shows up in society, do we even see Him?

We don’t have to follow Jesus to serve in a food pantry, for example. I run a food pantry, so I know that’s true. But it helps.

Only Jesus himself knows our motivation, our heart. And yes, heart matters. The people we serve will know, too.

An ad campaign won’t change hearts by itself. But if it inspires us to pursue heart change, then it worked.

Blessings from God

Jacob offered a blessing to each of his 12 sons in Genesis 49. Because Jacob (renamed Israel) received these blessings from the living God, we know they came true.

According to gotquestions.org, Jacob’s blessings and predictions provide evidence of God’s supernatural power to foretell the future of His people and to reveal it to whom He desires. I have listed its responses to each blessing in italic.

Do these blessings have applications today? I offer a suggestion or two in standard type.

³ Reuben, you are my firstborn,
    my might, the first sign of my strength,
    excelling in honor, excelling in power.
⁴ Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,
    for you went up onto your father’s bed,
    onto my couch and defiled it.

He was the firstborn, but he gave up his birthright by an evil action. The birthright then moved to Joseph, who received a double portion as the oldest son of Jacob’s wife Rachel.

With leadership comes responsibility. There are consequences for our actions – good or bad.

⁵ Simeon and Levi are brothers —
    their swords are weapons of violence.
⁶ Let me not enter their council,
    let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
    and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
⁷ Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
    and their fury, so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob
    and disperse them in Israel.

These two brothers were mentioned together as being violent. Their land would be divided. This did occur later, as Simeon was given only a few cities in Israel, and the Levites were the priestly tribe that received no land inheritance.

The story of their violence is one of revenge. This is not God’s plan for our lives.

⁸ Judah, your brothers will praise you;
    your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
    your father’s sons will bow down to you.
⁹ You are a lion’s cub, Judah;
    you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
    like a lioness — who dares to rouse him?
¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
    and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
¹¹ He will tether his donkey to a vine,
    his colt to the choicest branch;
he will wash his garments in wine,
    his robes in the blood of grapes.
¹² His eyes will be darker than wine,
    his teeth whiter than milk.

Judah was like a lion and would be a leader of the other tribes. His tribe would later produce a line of kings, beginning with King David and, much later, Jesus Christ.

The fourth son would lead the rest. God rewards faithfulness, even if it doesn’t come from a position of honor.

¹³ Zebulun will live by the seashore
    and become a haven for ships;
    his border will extend toward Sidon.

This son would later be given the land between the Mediterranean Sea and Sea of Galilee. Zebulun will also have land that extends to the sea in the future Millennial Kingdom (Ezekiel 48:1–8, 23–27).

Everyone has a role to play in God’s kingdom. Zebulun served “by the seashore” and on the water. People flock to seashores. God needs His people there.

¹⁴ Issachar is a rawboned donkey
    lying down among the sheep pens.

¹⁵ When he sees how good is his resting place
    and how pleasant is his land,
he will bend his shoulder to the burden
    and submit to forced labor.

Verses 14–15 state Issachar’s land would be agricultural. True to the prophecy, his tribe later inherited the rich farmland of the Valley of Jezreel in Galilee.

God also needs witnesses in agricultural and rural areas. These people work hard. God honors that.

¹⁶ Dan will provide justice for his people
    as one of the tribes of Israel.
¹⁷ Dan will be a snake by the roadside,
    a viper along the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
    so that its rider tumbles backward.

¹⁸ I look for your deliverance, Lord.

Verses 16–18 note Dan would become a judge in Israel. Samson, one of the greatest judges, came from this tribe. Yet many of Dan’s leaders worshiped idols (as in Judges 18) and brought God’s judgment.

Our country – and all nations, for that matter – need judges who understand God’s laws of justice and righteousness. Nations fall apart, and people suffer, when injustice is allowed to thrive.

¹⁹ Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders,
    but he will attack them at their heels.

Verse 19 simply notes Gad would be effective in military struggles. It is difficult to link this to any direct fulfillment due to the brevity of the prophecy. Some have seen a fulfillment of this prediction in the great number of troops who served King David from the tribe of Gad (1 Chronicles 12).

A strong military can help keep peace, and bring justice where peace does not reign – if God’s justice is the goal.

²⁰ Asher’s food will be rich;
    he will provide delicacies fit for a king.

Verse 20 states Asher would enjoy good soil. Asher’s tribe later inherited the very fertile land of Carmel along the seacoast.

Farming is an honorable profession. We should not take our food sources for granted.

²¹ Naphtali is a doe set free
    that bears beautiful fawns.

Verse 21 mentions that the other tribes would admire him. The meaning of this prophecy is unclear, though it may indicate his tribe would have an easier life than the other tribes.

We should not compare our fortunes to that of others. Some have an easier life than we do, many do not. Those of us who live in the United States generally have a higher standard of living than most of the world’s people do. Again, we should not take this for granted.

²² Joseph is a fruitful vine,
    a fruitful vine near a spring,
    whose branches climb over a wall.
²³ With bitterness archers attacked him;
    they shot at him with hostility.
²⁴ But his bow remained steady,
    his strong arms stayed limber,
because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
    because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
²⁵ because of your father’s God, who helps you,
    because of the Almighty^] who blesses you
with blessings of the skies above,
    blessings of the deep springs below,
    blessings of the breast and womb.
²⁶ Your father’s blessings are greater
    than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
    than the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
    on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

Joseph received many blessings in verses 22–26, including a double portion. His two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, each became the founder of a tribe of Israel.

Joseph understood injustice, yet remained faithful to the living God. He and his descendants were rewarded abundantly for this.

²⁷ Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
    in the morning he devours the prey,
    in the evening he divides the plunder.

Jacob’s youngest son would be a warrior, producing many of Israel’s military leaders, such as Ehud, Saul, and Jonathan. His tribe would be known for its warring characteristics (Judges 5:14; 20:16; 1 Chronicles 8:40).

When war is done in the proper context, it furthers the kingdom of God. Saul, in particular, often ignored God and fought battles for his own glory. Saul’s line did not last; David, and not his son Jonathan, followed him as Israel’s king. Our passions need the discipline of God’s justice and mercy to succeed.

That Tuesday feel

Tuesday was a special day of the week for Mitch Albom, the newspaper columnist and author, who re-connected with his mentor and met with him on Tuesdays. I read “Tuesdays with Morrie” several years ago, and I need to read it again.

My life also has a Tuesday feel, and has throughout my adulthood.

In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

I worked for the St. Ignace (Mich.) News in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula fresh out of college. As the Cedarville-based employee of the paper, I wrote articles, took photos, sold ads, and delivered the finished product to newsstands.

On Tuesdays, the entire staff would gather at the central office in St. Ignace. That’s where I received most of my mentoring and coaching during the three years I worked there. I learned lessons on those Tuesdays that I carry with me to this day.

The paper was owned and operated by a father-son duo (the son still runs the paper, more than 40 years later). The son, Wes Jr., was the nuts and bolts of the operation. He introduced me to people and showed me the darkroom where I developed prints on Tuesdays.

The father, Wes Sr., was a retired University of Michigan professor whose gift was teaching. At one point, he learned that I was (and still am) a Christian. He was not.

“Very well,” he told me. “Tell me why you believe what you believe.”

That’s one of the best life lessons I’ve ever learned. Ask why. Get to the root of the matter. Defend myself. Have reasons for what I stand for.

Also on Tuesdays, we designed and laid out the paper, using film and razor blades (I cut myself to the point of bleeding more than once). Yes, I’m that old.

Tuesday was my favorite day of the week. I discovered that of all the parts of newspaper work, I enjoyed design and layout the most – despite the blood I shed doing it. After I married and we moved downstate, I turned that into a career.

In Saginaw

In Saginaw, Tuesdays were election days (as they still are). Back when newspapers mattered, the reporters would work all-nighters, especially for a presidential election, and the editors would arrive in the wee hours on Wednesday to edit and lay out twice the number of normal pages – and meet our late-morning deadlines (we were an afternoon paper). We were exhausted but proud of our work.

I was reminded recently that 9/11 took place on a Tuesday. I remember that day vividly, as I imagine you do as well.

We were on deadline in the newsroom when the planes hit the towers in New York City. The news happened so fast, we published six editions that day. Talk about stop the presses. We did, on that Tuesday.

In Ohio

Eventually, I ended up at The Chronicle-Telegram in Elyria, Ohio. I worked four consecutive 10-hour shifts, alternating shifts each month.

The overlap day? Tuesday, of course. I worked every Tuesday.

Eventually, I began volunteering at a food pantry near here, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, we downshifted to one afternoon a week.

Tuesday.

At the pantry, I was taught the computer system to register individuals and families who came for food. We had to type in every adult and child’s name and birthdate. I was amazed how many people (grandparents, mostly) couldn’t remember birthdates. Children and their families moved in, then moved out with startling regularity. Family sizes changed all the time. People in poverty live differently than the rest of us do.

The church we attend opened a new campus in February 2020. A group of us began praying outside the building, even before the church bought it, in August 2018. On Tuesdays.

Five years later, we still gather for prayer on Tuesday mornings. We met at a local coffee shop for a couple of years, and we recently began rotating among several coffee shops and restaurants in the city in an effort to support them. We pray for the city as well as for those in our church.

I was invited to attend a weekly interdenominational Bible study several years ago. After attending the study for two years, I was asked to be a group leader, which I’m in my fourth year doing.

Until this year, the study met on Tuesday evenings. (The church where we meet began another program on Tuesdays this fall and didn’t have room for us, so now we meet on Thursdays.)

For several years, on Tuesdays I left home about 7:45 a.m. for prayer, went from there to the food pantry, drove home for a quick bite of dinner, then headed to Bible study and got home about 9 p.m.

So much for the leisurely retired life, right?

Especially on Tuesdays. Wednesday is recovery day.

In my heart

Tuesday has a definite feel for me. It’s a busy day, a good day, and has been for a long time. I enjoy Tuesdays. I look forward to them.

It’s not hump day, it’s not a weekend day, it’s just … Tuesday.

Each day is what we make it. Bring on Tuesday.

It’s when I pray in public with a group of like-minded friends. We pray with feeling and passion at times. We aren’t there to make a spectacle, but we aren’t hiding our faith either.

It’s when I engage with Lorain, with the other volunteers in the food pantry, working hard to fill food boxes and serve those who need us. I’m tired by 5 p.m., but it’s a good tired. We accomplish something every week.

I rest on Tuesday evenings now, but for several years on Tuesdays I led a Bible study with a group of eight to 10 men. We engaged with the Bible and with each other. We told stories. We encouraged each other.

We do those things on Thursdays now. Tuesday has been replaced.

It’s still a special day, one I look forward to. As long as I am able.

Turning this country around

During the January of the previous two presidential election years, I have profiled the candidates each party put forth as our possible next leader. I remember profiling (by using each candidate’s platform) at least 13 Republicans in 2016, one of whom was Donald Trump, who won the nomination and eventually the election.

I’m not doing that this year. Both parties have turned the 2024 presidential election into a farce.

The second definition of farce, according to Merriam-Webster, is “an empty or patently ridiculous act, proceeding or situation.”

Is that too strong for what is happening to our political leadership?

I don’t think so.

Both parties are guilty.

I have a word for each political party. This is how I see you.

You probably don’t see yourself this way.

And that’s my point. I don’t connect with you anymore.

I wish we would. I wish you would care enough to even try.

Democrats: chameleon

Chameleon: a person who often changes his or her beliefs or behavior in order to please others or to succeed, Merriam-Webster says.

Transgender? Sure, if it makes you feel good. With children? It doesn’t matter. Their brains aren’t developed enough to even understand such a concept, yet you encourage that kind of thinking anyway.

Don’t try to change me, you say, even though the definition of transgenderism is trying to change the body’s sex.

Truth? It’s whatever you want it to be. If “my truth” is different than “your truth,” that’s OK. There’s no such thing as a universal truth that every human being must follow.

Since men have failed as leaders, women claim their own right to shape their lives. To some degree, this is good. But there’s little to no teamwork here, in your view. It’s us vs. them.

Women are not men, even though many are trying to be. Not in mindset, not in body.

Because women are taking on roles they were not created to take on, men – in general – have lost their purpose in life. We abdicate leadership at home, in society, everywhere.

Who are we, as men? That’s not a rhetorical question. I’m seriously asking.

If a woman can do literally everything a man does, what role does a man play?

When each individual is allowed to be his or her (not their – we are a singular person, every one of us) own god, this is where we end up.

No values. No community.

Chameleons. Doing our own thing, whatever we want to do.

How does one lead chameleons? Such people don’t respect any authority except themselves, and those with whom they agree.

There’s no conviction, no driving force in their lives. Except individualism. Do whatever feels good to you.

Politically, for every issue, throw money at it. Allow every surgery. Forgive every student loan. Pay every food bill.

Personal responsibility doesn’t matter. The government will defend you.

That’s not leadership.

Republicans: deceived

Deceived: to cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid, says Merriam-Webster.

Former President Trump lost the 2020 election, fair and square. And you still won’t accept that?

That’s on you, not on society.

Like Democrats, you also try to create your own truth. But you try to force your truth on everyone else, even when your truth isn’t.

You refuse even to talk with Democrats, much less work with them. Leadership is all about teamwork. You forgot what that is.

There’s just enough truth in what you say to make you dangerous. Abortion is murder, yes, but there are many root causes of abortion, and you don’t care about any of that. You even tried to call a miscarriage murder. Please.

You made the covid vaccines all about you, even though millions of your friends and family were suffering and dying – and still are, by the way (although, thankfully, not dying at the rate they were during the pandemic). You know little about compassion.

The vaccines worked. The evidence is overwhelming. But you don’t care. Still.

You often call yourselves evangelical Christians. If you actually read the Bible and did what Jesus did, you’d know what servant leadership is. It’s not what you’re doing.

One of your candidates tried to rewrite history books to fit his political views.

As with Democrats, there’s a bigger picture here that you refuse to see.

The solution

It’s not about you.

That’s it. That’s the answer.

Life does not revolve around you.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans understand this.

Some 330 million people live in this country. Here’s a revelation for you: Not everyone thinks the way you do. Deal with it.

But you won’t.

And that’s the issue.

Grow up. Learn to listen. Learn to get along with people who think differently than you do.

Here’s the big one: Learn again, as your leaders did in the past, to compromise.

Compromise is not a dirty word.

It’s a sign of respect.

Find the common ground. Agree to disagree when you have to.

Both parties need a new mindset.

If you truly cared about the United States of America, you’d work to make it better. Not divide it, or try to conquer it.

Pursue root causes. People do things for a reason. Ask why. Even if you disagree.

Earn their trust, and perhaps they will listen to you.

Make it work. Figure it out.

Be the solution, not the problem. Stop pointing fingers. You’re all guilty.

Your leadership is destroying this country, from the inside out.

Freedom of the press. Freedom of religion, not freedom from religion (which also includes freedom not to follow a religion). Voting rights. Women’s rights. Minority rights. Immigration rights. Men’s rights.

The United States is a unique country in the world. By welcoming a diverse population, we have diverse viewpoints on life.

That’s why we exist. That’s our strength.

We’ve lost that mindset.

We need it back.

I’m not advocating a return to the past, when Jim Crow laws ruled. It’s a new day.

Let’s look forward. Let’s figure it out.

Otherwise, we will die as a nation. Implode.

This is the ultimate truth we are living in now. Only we can change that narrative. Together.

I think Martin Luther King Jr. would approve this message.

Finding a reason to get up in the morning

I was born in Cleveland, moved to Bloomfield Hills, Mich., when I was 8, then lived near Pittsburgh during high school. After attending Michigan State University, I spent three years in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, then 27 years in Saginaw, Mich., before spending a little over a year west of Chicago, and the past 10 years in northeast Ohio.

I grew up Presbyterian, met my wife and married her in a Reformed Church in America church, was United Methodist for 30 years, joined an Evangelical Free church in Illinois, and now attend a non-denominational church.

All of that to say: I have no home on this earth. I hold all things loosely.

Digging in, then pulling out

I have trouble fitting in. If you have lived the same place all your life and kept the same friends all that time, I will remain an outsider to you.

I’m OK with that.

At the same time, I’m now comfortable in new spaces around people I don’t know. I’m not afraid to try new things, seek a new experience, attempt something different.

I mentor or tutor young people in several venues, one of which is new to me this fall. I’m in two men’s Bible study groups. As the director of a weekly food pantry, I’m around people in poverty all the time.

I hold onto all things loosely, and I dig roots at the same time.

I’ll get involved as long as I’m here.

I thought I would retire in Saginaw, but that didn’t happen. When we left, I had to leave several volunteer activities I had committed to.

When we moved to Rockford, Ill., I thought that job would take me to retirement as well. That didn’t happen either.

But in the year we lived there, I donated a gallon of blood, was a reading tutor in a Rockford elementary school, and joined a church. I planned to stay longer, but that’s the way life goes sometimes.

The pursuit of passion

God has wired me to serve. It’s a mindset that drives me. Not everyone has that drive, of course. Your passions in life most likely are different.

But you have them.

We need to discover what our passions are. It’s where we find meaning and purpose in life.

I don’t mean temporal passions that come and go. Those are self-centered, as opposed to others-centered.

Some of you are good at music, photography, theater, drawing or writing. The creative arts often take a back seat to more mundane skills, but creativity provides passion and enjoyment, even if it doesn’t pay well. They are worth pursuing.

Some of you have a gift for fixing things, or building things. Frankly, we need more of you. Who do I call if a spring on the garage door opener breaks on a Saturday? That happened to us recently.

Or, fixing a leak in a drain pipe. Or building a cabinet. Or … fill in the blank.

A good friend of ours is a plumber. His schedule is full for several months out. It’s hard work but it pays well. Hopefully, jobs like his are worth the effort for some of you.

Some of you have a gift for working with senior citizens, or with disabled people. My parents are elderly and not in good health; those caring for their needs have to receive a special kind of grace from God.

If you are serving people with disabilities, you also are a very special person. It’s often hard, behind the scenes, sometimes messy, without a lot of encouragement or praise. God sees, and God knows. So do the people closest to those you are serving, hopefully.

Some of you have a gift for languages. I don’t know Spanish, but I’m grateful to be around several people who do, since at the food pantry we interact with a fair number of Puerto Ricans for whom English is not their first language.

Some of you mow the grass and plow snow for those of us who no longer can or wish to do those things. You work long hours, sometimes in the wee hours, and need the weather to cooperate to do your job.

Same with farmers, those ever-shrinking and often forgotten providers of our food.

Bridging the disconnect

Many of our passions revolve around the paycheck, don’t they?

Or, perhaps they don’t – and that’s the great disconnect this country is seeing right now.

We are not finding passion in the workplace. We must work, but we want more.

We want different.

And we don’t know where to find it.

The corporate culture is not healthy right now. Many businesses aren’t offering a living wage, and those that do (as well as those that don’t) are having a hard time finding qualified, passionate individuals to work for them.

It goes both ways. There’s a huge blame game going on, and we need a new mindset. All of us.

Even when I was working (I’m retired now), I volunteered in the community. I found passion there.

When I was about 30 years old, I read a book that influenced me greatly: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey. One of those habits is to “Begin with the end in mind.” In that chapter is a section on writing a personal mission statement. I took some time and wrote one out.

That helped me discover what my passions were – and weren’t.

Personal mission statements change over time as circumstances change, but that’s a good starting point.

Perhaps this is a good New Year’s resolution: Let’s discover our purpose in life, if we don’t already know it.

Find a reason or two to get up in the morning. Pursue your passions. That’s where you’ll find your life purpose.

The need keeps growing

“Can you bring me a food box?”

I get this call two or three times most weeks. I run a weekly food pantry in Lorain, Ohio, that’s a drive-up. Clients line up in the street in their vehicles, and when it’s their turn, they enter our driveway. We ask for a photo ID, ask them how many are in their household, then put the appropriate-size food box in their vehicle (assuming they made room for it, which they sometimes don’t).

As an all-volunteer agency, we don’t have the staff to make after-hours runs.

As the director, I often do it anyway.

They need me.

We were closed this week for the Christmas holiday, but I still delivered several boxes yesterday. I’ve been taking Kimberly a box to her family’s apartment not far from the pantry. She doesn’t have a vehicle, so it’s hard for her to come on her own.

Yesterday, I met her with a food box at the local homeless shelter.

Our clients frequently move. Last summer, I took a box to a man living with his wife and child in a tent behind an abandoned house near a convenience store. Later, he moved into an apartment building, then a room in a house. I haven’t heard from him in awhile. I hope he’s OK.

A busy year

In 2023, We Care We Share Ministries gave away food boxes to 7,585 households, an average of almost 152 boxes a week (we also were closed July 4). Our pantry is open for four hours on Tuesday afternoons, so that’s more than one box every two minutes that the pantry was open this year.

In those households, we served 27,713 individuals.

A year ago, we served 5,035 households (18,417 individuals), just under 100 boxes per week.

The need has skyrocketed, thanks to our economy.

Some of our clients work. Some are between jobs. Some have mental health issues. Some are playing the system, I’m sure.

We don’t care. We don’t judge anyone. If they come for a box, we serve them. If one or two are dishonest, that’s between them and God.

Do some take advantage of my willingness to deliver a food box? Probably.

There’s an apartment building 15 minutes away where I’ve delivered boxes to four or five single women, often at the same time. One of them in particular, Lori, is grateful every time I come. Another, Carolyn, feels entitled. She demands I come, and wants me to include or exclude certain food items (I can’t do that, since everyone gets the same box).

Most are grateful. In the drive-up line, people tell us all the time, “You have no idea how much this means to us.”

In the COVID years of 2021 and 2020, we gave away 3,824 (13,805 individuals) and 4,621 (16,809 individuals) boxes, respectively. We were closed for almost four months in 2020, mid-March to about July 4, during the height of the pandemic.

Changing gears

Before then, clients entered our pantry and shopped, choosing their bread, produce and other items. (We provided the frozen meat and dry goods.) We switched to a drive-up method when we reopened in 2020 to reduce physical contact and closeness.

The drive-up system also requires fewer volunteers – several of our regular helpers did not come back after COVID, which was a normal occurrence – so, we’ve kept that in place.

We also were open twice a week, but we didn’t have the traffic to maintain two open days. So, we consolidated to one.

In 2019, the last year before COVID when we were open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we served 8,915 households (32,411 individuals).

This year, we served nearly as many in just one day a week.

From walking to driving

I have always had a passion for serving hungry people, probably because I’ve never experienced it. I’ve never had to worry about where my next meal is coming from.

When we lived in Saginaw, Mich., my outlet for this passion was the CROP Hunger Walk, an annual 10-kilometer walk to raise money to fight hunger. One-quarter of the funds stayed locally (we divided that among four agencies that served Saginaw’s poorest) and the rest went to Church World Service, which used the funds for national and international emergencies and needs.

I found the local CROP Walk when we moved to Rockford, Ill. They had a wonderful group of leaders there, and I’m sure they still do.

In the northeast Ohio community where I live, the CROP Walk is a perfunctory exercise. There’s no passion in it. I wasn’t up for the effort to try to light a fire under people who didn’t have it, so I dropped out of that after one year.

A friend from church invited me to volunteer at We Care’s food pantry. I showed up one Tuesday unannounced (my friend was on vacation, so he wasn’t even there that day), and they let me stay for four hours.

They invited me back. I went. And loved it.

When the founder and director – also named Bill – couldn’t handle the job anymore because of physical limitations, he turned it over to me.

So, here I am. Ordering food, keeping records, applying for grants, networking at local churches and other places for volunteers and funds (we have a strong board that helps with this, but we need more of them), and providing the energy on Tuesday afternoons.

Expanding the ministry

We Care We Share has two other ministries as well, a clothing closet that also is open on Tuesday afternoons and a home for young people aging out of the foster care system and/or facing homelessness, called My House. The food pantry is self-supporting; My House requires more effort and resources to run.

We are experiencing growing pains, but we make it work.

Ministry is messy. It’s hard. It has successes, but it has failures too. We can’t get discouraged. We learn, we move on. We can’t save everyone, but if we can save some, we’ve done our job.

At My House. At the closing closet. At the food pantry.

I wish we could go out of business because our services are no longer needed. That’s not going to happen anytime soon. Indeed, the needs keep growing.

Onward and upward, into the new year.

For more information on our ministry, visit www.wecareweshareministries.com, check out our Facebook page or call me at (440) 714-2690.

Cause and effect misses the point

When bad things happen, sometimes it’s my fault. Sometimes it’s not; God causes bad things. Other times, it’s random.

(OK, it’s not random. But it’s not anyone’s fault.)

Life happens. Most of us were born in one of the wealthiest countries on Earth. Even here, some of us are born in poverty. Some have physical or mental struggles.

Unexpected things happen to all of us: We lose a job because the company is run poorly or the economy sours. We get in a serious vehicle crash because someone else was foolish. We suffer from cancer.

These things aren’t your fault. Or mine. Or God’s.

They just are. Or just happen.

No one’s fault

I lost a job like that. I worked for the company for 24 years. It was enjoyable, and my salary allowed my wife to be a stay-at-home mom for our three sons. But the economy changed and the company did not adjust, so I and a host of others were let go.

Why, God?

I complain, but it’s not His fault. Or mine – I didn’t do anything awful to get myself downsized. It just happened.

My fault

Other times, we bring calamity on ourselves. We break the law and get arrested. Our anger gets the best of us and we burn bridges, costing us good jobs and/or good friends. We are the ones causing the traffic crash that injures someone else.

We try to blame God or other people, but deep down, we know we’re the guilty one. We may not want to face that reality, but we should.

My fault

Then, there are times when we hurt our own bodies. We ingest foreign substances, legal or not (from heroin to marijuana to cigarettes), then get sick. We eat foods that aren’t healthy for us. We don’t exercise. We drink to excess.

It’s not my fault, we say. I can’t help it.

So we blame God, or someone else for leading us astray.

God’s fault

There are times when God does cause difficult situations. We call severe storms “acts of God.” Floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, mudslides, bad thunderstorms. There’s no other explanation for these.

God creates us differently. Some of us are great athletes, some of us are disabled. Some of us have analytical minds, some of us struggle to put two concepts together.

Why?

We blame God, and this time we’re right.

Our response

All four of these scenarios are explained in Psalm 107.

In all four scenarios, the people mentioned in the psalm did not blame God for their struggles. Instead, “they cried to the Lord in their trouble” (verses 6, 13, 19 and 26).

How do we respond when bad things happen?

Do we blame God, or do we ask Him to help us – regardless of the situation and its cause?

The second half of verses 6, 13, 19 and 26 goes like this:

“… and he delivered/saved/saved/brought them out from their distress.”

Sometimes, God gives physical healing. But not always.

Saving us from our distress often refers to a spiritual healing. This is the bottom line of the entire Bible.

We die, every one of us. We won’t see physical perfection during this lifetime. Even if we live a full life to old age, our bodies will eventually deteriorate, slowly or quickly.

We know this. We may not want to face it, but we know it’s true.

There are physical healings, in both the Old and New testaments.

But not everyone gets healed. Physically.

Some rise out of poverty, but not everyone does. Jesus said the poor will always be with us (Mark 14:7).

God loves poor people; He made them.

God said riches often prevent us from reaching heaven (Mat. 19:24). Riches themselves are not bad; the love of money, not money itself, is the root of evil (1 Tim. 6:10).

It’s called stewardship – what we do with what we have, whether it’s a little or a lot.

That’s the spiritual answer to our physical situation: What do I do with my spiritual blessings and curses?

In all four scenarios in Psalm 107, the write responds with this thought:

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wonderful works to humankind.

Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31

What causes our situation misses the point. We’re here. We’re in it. We have to face it.

How?

That’s the question.

We love to point fingers and seek blame for our struggles.

Instead, we should seek solutions.

Even the religious leaders of Jesus’ day missed this. When Jesus encountered a blind man in John 9, his disciples echoed a common theme in those days by asking Him, “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (v. 2)

Jesus said, Neither; “he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” (v. 3)

God caused this man to be born blind. It wasn’t his fault; Jesus made that clear. It wasn’t random (it never is, is it?).

When Jesus healed him, He gave him sight physically and spiritually. The religious leaders, whose eyesight was perfect, were spiritually blind because they wouldn’t accept Jesus as the man’s healer. Only God can heal blindness; they understood that. They could not accept that Jesus was God. That required a spiritual insight that they didn’t have.

But the formerly blind man did have that insight.

And he believed (v. 38).

Life happens. All of us experience joys and heartaches, to varying degrees.

Are we thankful to be alive?

Are we grateful?

In the struggle, it’s hard. I get it.

We all get it. None of us is immune to struggle.

Where do we land? With God, or against Him?

God gives me strength to get through each day, even the hard ones. Without God, I’m not sure how I’d make it.

Another psalmist explains it this way:

I do not turn away from your ordinances,

for you have taught me.

How sweet are your words to my taste,

sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Psalm 119:102-103

God’s word is good. It’s true. It works. Spiritual life in Jesus is real life. And it’s sweet.

I hope you see this, too.