With years of life’s ups and downs comes wisdom. Wisdom births a knowingness based on observation, prayer, intuition and faith as to what God does and what God doesn’t do. As lay people, sometimes we get those two things mixed up.
As a pastor I’m frequently asked: Why would God allow this to happen? The tornadoes in central Florida this past week serve as just such an example. A news reporter asks one survivor why her house was spared, while the house on either side of her was demolished. “God just decided to bless us and allowed our things to be alright.”
While the comment might have generated a collective “ah isn’t that nice” from the viewers at home, I’m sure the neighbor’s living on either side of her, felt a bit perplexed What did God have against them? Were they bad people? Was God punishing them for that bender they went on last Saturday night — I think not. That’s not what God does.
As much as some will not want to hear it, God did not favor the Indianapolis Colts over the Chicago Bears in last week’s Super Bowl. God does not have a favorite team.
I’m sure every parent can conjure up a memory of watching their child struggle with a homework assignment. You see the pulling of hair, the tapping of the pencil even those deep sad eyes looking up at you — hoping that you’ll just cave it and give the answer. But you don’t. It’s your job to be the parent, so you allow them to struggle, hoping that they will learn the bigger lesson. Yes, you want them to get the answer, but more importantly, you want them to learn how to find their own answers. — That’s what God does.
You see God gives us free will. God inspires us to use our brain, our talents our gifts to do all the things we want Him to do for us, but because we have this “free will” we get do it all on our own.
God knows we shouldn’t build our houses on a flood zone, but we do anyway. Then the flood comes and we’re mystified that God would allow such a tragedy to happen. “God must be punishing us!” No he isn’t. God doesn’t do that.
God knows we should protect our planet. We have the brain power to eradicate carbon emissions, but our egos like those big SUVs, so we do it anyway. Then when we develop lung disease, asthma and other environmentally developed diseases we once again look to the heavens and say “God why did you allow this to happen?” God didn’t create it, we did.
God didn’t inspire car designers to build beautiful cars that can go from 0 to 60 in 20 seconds because he wanted our children to die driving them. Man did. We took that inspiration and built fast cars because we like excitement. We like the adrenalin rush – we like to have fun….We like this gift of free will — even if it can hurt us.
So we’re clear on what God doesn’t do, so what is it that God does do?
God like that dutiful parent listens with compassion when we pray; “God we do not understand why this accident has happened. There seems to be no sense in the ending of this life — please tell us why?” God does not immediately answer but. . .
God understands that we are puzzled and we are distressed as we come to understand that while we may never know “why” we at least hope and we pray: “God we know of your promise to love all your children, help us to know that your love was never withdrawn form this child that you called home.”
Then in our sorrow we see God in action, we see what God does. God’s inspired word comes to us from clergy, friends, family and others who are there to surround us with love, to help us through. We experience acts of charity in measures that we never dreamed possible. And it’s this demonstration that helps us to realize that there is nothing more powerful than God’s love for our lost child and we know that God was indeed at their side, at there time of transition, even if we couldn’t be there. That’s what God does.
While we understand that God may not give us answers, We trust that He will be there, with us, as we navigate a future without our loved one.
God owns his rightful parental role and listens as we thank Him for the good things in our life and ask forgiveness for those times when we let our loved ones down.
Our healing evolves as we watch God take what has happened and somehow weave it into some loving purpose, so that as a parent that has lost a child we gain the wisdom to know that this child has not lived or died in vain. That’s what God does.
As the sun sets tonight, we are reminded that the darkness does not represent the end, but the beginning of a new day…That’s what God does.
Tag: Rev. Jack Elliott is the Sr. Pastor of Gateway To Hope Christian Church. To reach him about this column, write him at gatewayccpastor@yahoo.com or respond to this blog.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
The Noise Has To Stop!
Larry Burkhart is the father of Anna Nicole’s baby. Howard K. Stern is not. That’s what I believe. However, that’s what I believed 10 days ago when news of Anna Nicole’s death broke. Now over 10,000 news articles and celebrity updates later — I haven’t changed my belief. Why is America obsessed with this story? Do we need another Marilyn Monroe? Did Britney really shave her head because the Anna Nicole story stole the headlines away from her? I can’t take the noise any more — this news junkie has find another way.
I long for the day when I would go to sleep with Anderson Cooper reading the news to me on ABC’s World News Overnight. When Sunday morning offered the anticipation of the intoxicating aroma of Peet’s Coffee brewing and a bagel toasting. Reading my New York Times while watching David Blum and Soledad O’Brian on the Weekend Today Show was my own personal briefing on what was going on in my world. Meet the Press and follow up with a dose of This Week with George Stephanopoulos completed my weekly ritual. Now, local demographics have shifted things around and while I enjoy Lester Holt and Campbell Brown, my local affiliate believes 5:00 a.m. is a better time slot for their show and Meet the Press is best aired at 4:00 p.m.
No doubt some local demographic survey demonstrated that the locals — long for “all things local”. Now, I must endure canned blah blah blah repeated every half hour on the half hour, using the same words to describe the story as they did last night at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. I’m forced to watch traffic traveling down a deserted freeway because they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on “big-brother” cameras to give me travel updates on a road I seldom travel. Any yes, even more noise. Their animated little maps come with honking horns and simulated sirens to enhance “the experience”. The noise has to stop.
So I did something today I thought I’d never do. I turned off the noise. I’m alone with the silence in my house. The master-bedroom TV is silent. The 13-inch TV next to the coffee maker was on only for 15 minutes this morning. The TV in the den which typically informs me while checking morning email remained silent. The addiction has subsided.
I used to subscribe to 4 newspapers. Then as they are began to report the same AP stories and run the same wire photos, I cut it down to one. I no longer subscribe to the East Coast Papers – because they lost their East Coast “feel”. They all morphed into something known as “west coast editions”. Their pages became filled with “local” ads; local sports and weather and local noise.
I want to know how things really are in the Middle East. I want to more fully understand the wars within the war in Iraq. I want to hear about the relief effort in Darfur. I’m not all that concerned about Kenny Chesney’s sexuality and I’m perplexed as to why 60 minutes might be.
I’ll morn a little bit more for the way things used to be and then embrace the new technology that will give me the info I seem to think I need. I’ll join the younger generation and go directly to Google and type in “relief effort in Darfur” to find out what’s going on. Or when I receive a CNN news alert to my email, if it’s something I really feel I need to know I’ll immediately zip over to CNN.com. After all its still Anderson Cooper….
I long for the day when I would go to sleep with Anderson Cooper reading the news to me on ABC’s World News Overnight. When Sunday morning offered the anticipation of the intoxicating aroma of Peet’s Coffee brewing and a bagel toasting. Reading my New York Times while watching David Blum and Soledad O’Brian on the Weekend Today Show was my own personal briefing on what was going on in my world. Meet the Press and follow up with a dose of This Week with George Stephanopoulos completed my weekly ritual. Now, local demographics have shifted things around and while I enjoy Lester Holt and Campbell Brown, my local affiliate believes 5:00 a.m. is a better time slot for their show and Meet the Press is best aired at 4:00 p.m.
No doubt some local demographic survey demonstrated that the locals — long for “all things local”. Now, I must endure canned blah blah blah repeated every half hour on the half hour, using the same words to describe the story as they did last night at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. I’m forced to watch traffic traveling down a deserted freeway because they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on “big-brother” cameras to give me travel updates on a road I seldom travel. Any yes, even more noise. Their animated little maps come with honking horns and simulated sirens to enhance “the experience”. The noise has to stop.
So I did something today I thought I’d never do. I turned off the noise. I’m alone with the silence in my house. The master-bedroom TV is silent. The 13-inch TV next to the coffee maker was on only for 15 minutes this morning. The TV in the den which typically informs me while checking morning email remained silent. The addiction has subsided.
I used to subscribe to 4 newspapers. Then as they are began to report the same AP stories and run the same wire photos, I cut it down to one. I no longer subscribe to the East Coast Papers – because they lost their East Coast “feel”. They all morphed into something known as “west coast editions”. Their pages became filled with “local” ads; local sports and weather and local noise.
I want to know how things really are in the Middle East. I want to more fully understand the wars within the war in Iraq. I want to hear about the relief effort in Darfur. I’m not all that concerned about Kenny Chesney’s sexuality and I’m perplexed as to why 60 minutes might be.
I’ll morn a little bit more for the way things used to be and then embrace the new technology that will give me the info I seem to think I need. I’ll join the younger generation and go directly to Google and type in “relief effort in Darfur” to find out what’s going on. Or when I receive a CNN news alert to my email, if it’s something I really feel I need to know I’ll immediately zip over to CNN.com. After all its still Anderson Cooper….
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Do you want to know a secret?
I have always been an optimist. It’s how I’m wired. It’s deep with in my DNA.
I don’t recall making a commitment or entering into any special or secret covenant to be an optimist — it’s a way of life that works for me.
More than once I’ve heard: – “You see the glass half full – I see it half empty.” I do. Guilty as charged. I see the potential in everything and everyone.
Recently friends called, emailed and otherwise sent up various smoke signals to tell me that they’d just watched a Oprah episode called “The Secret” “Oh my gosh – it was if the guests on the show were talking about you!” “You could have been on that panel!” “It was so Jack!”
Having missed the episode, I was first a washed with amazement as to how many of my friends were watching Oprah Winfrey, but secondly hoping that I did indeed live up to their hype I decided I better learn about this Secret and fast.
“You’ve got to bring “The Secret” to Tracy!”
After watching the episode, I had to smile. Yes, they were right. I could have been on that panel. After listening to the panelists like Jack Canfield, who wrote “Chicken Soup for the Soul” I had a sense of gratitude that – yeah people do get me. The key word here is – gratitude. I endeavor to live my life in a context of gratitude.
I’m grateful for the good things in my life. I’m blessed to serve a great God, have wonderful friends, a beautiful home, great jobs and a great community I call home.
You see – The Secret really isn’t a secret at all. Well maybe it is to you, but it isn’t to me. Let me explain:
The Secret is based on a philosophy known as the law of attraction. You know that same little Bible lesson we all learned in Sunday School, “Do unto others as you’d have them to do unto you.” Secular folks would say: “What you put out –you’re going to get back.” Nothing new there — no big secret.
Now let’s reveal why the Secret is so mysterious and why it’s touted as the hush-hush pathway to prosperity and happiness.
It’s all in the marketing…..Think De Vinci Code. For that matter think “Trim Spa”. People love secrets. They love clues, connecting the dots and finding hidden and forgotten treasures. We’re also a society that likes – easy answers. Give me that little green pill and I’ll lose 40 pounds. Never mind that small print saying diet and exercise must also be a part of your weight loss regiment. “Oh if I just won the lottery — I’d be so happy.”
Therefore if your invited to piece together “The Secret” of life,— as if you were watching an episode of CSI or Law and Order, intrigue will lead you to be invested in the outcome — you’ll be hooked. You’ll by the DVD, the book, workbook, calendar and all the accoutrements associated with multi-tier marketing. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
All things considered — The Secret is a good thing. Think of it as a divinely inspired philosophy for living in the 21st Century. The Secret tells us to “Ask, believe and receive.” Okay, Christians do that all the time. They pray (ask), have faith (believe) and know that God will answer their prayer (receive).
Ah, but what about you folks that see the glass half empty. What does “The Secret” offer you? Well, it offers you exactly the same thing. If you believe the world to be an awful place — well what you put out – you will receive.
“I always do horrible on a test”. If that’s you pronouncement then guess what. That’s your prayer (ask). When you used the word “always” it was a demonstration of your faith (believe). And since that was your request – you put it out there – you can not be surprised that you (receive) a low grade on your test.
The bottom line is this. If you put out negative – you get negative. If you put out good – you get good. This is exactly why your Mother use to say: “If you can’t say anything good – then don’t say anything at all.”
So my friends – I would be happy to bring the Secret to Tracy, but it’s already here. It always has been. In fact, it’s always been with you as well. Your attitude, who you hang with and what you value have all come together to give you the life you have today. But remember this, the life you have today is not “who you are” it’s the manifestation of “who you were”. Want to change it? You can. All you have to do is ask, believe and be willing to receive.
I don’t recall making a commitment or entering into any special or secret covenant to be an optimist — it’s a way of life that works for me.
More than once I’ve heard: – “You see the glass half full – I see it half empty.” I do. Guilty as charged. I see the potential in everything and everyone.
Recently friends called, emailed and otherwise sent up various smoke signals to tell me that they’d just watched a Oprah episode called “The Secret” “Oh my gosh – it was if the guests on the show were talking about you!” “You could have been on that panel!” “It was so Jack!”
Having missed the episode, I was first a washed with amazement as to how many of my friends were watching Oprah Winfrey, but secondly hoping that I did indeed live up to their hype I decided I better learn about this Secret and fast.
“You’ve got to bring “The Secret” to Tracy!”
After watching the episode, I had to smile. Yes, they were right. I could have been on that panel. After listening to the panelists like Jack Canfield, who wrote “Chicken Soup for the Soul” I had a sense of gratitude that – yeah people do get me. The key word here is – gratitude. I endeavor to live my life in a context of gratitude.
I’m grateful for the good things in my life. I’m blessed to serve a great God, have wonderful friends, a beautiful home, great jobs and a great community I call home.
You see – The Secret really isn’t a secret at all. Well maybe it is to you, but it isn’t to me. Let me explain:
The Secret is based on a philosophy known as the law of attraction. You know that same little Bible lesson we all learned in Sunday School, “Do unto others as you’d have them to do unto you.” Secular folks would say: “What you put out –you’re going to get back.” Nothing new there — no big secret.
Now let’s reveal why the Secret is so mysterious and why it’s touted as the hush-hush pathway to prosperity and happiness.
It’s all in the marketing…..Think De Vinci Code. For that matter think “Trim Spa”. People love secrets. They love clues, connecting the dots and finding hidden and forgotten treasures. We’re also a society that likes – easy answers. Give me that little green pill and I’ll lose 40 pounds. Never mind that small print saying diet and exercise must also be a part of your weight loss regiment. “Oh if I just won the lottery — I’d be so happy.”
Therefore if your invited to piece together “The Secret” of life,— as if you were watching an episode of CSI or Law and Order, intrigue will lead you to be invested in the outcome — you’ll be hooked. You’ll by the DVD, the book, workbook, calendar and all the accoutrements associated with multi-tier marketing. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
All things considered — The Secret is a good thing. Think of it as a divinely inspired philosophy for living in the 21st Century. The Secret tells us to “Ask, believe and receive.” Okay, Christians do that all the time. They pray (ask), have faith (believe) and know that God will answer their prayer (receive).
Ah, but what about you folks that see the glass half empty. What does “The Secret” offer you? Well, it offers you exactly the same thing. If you believe the world to be an awful place — well what you put out – you will receive.
“I always do horrible on a test”. If that’s you pronouncement then guess what. That’s your prayer (ask). When you used the word “always” it was a demonstration of your faith (believe). And since that was your request – you put it out there – you can not be surprised that you (receive) a low grade on your test.
The bottom line is this. If you put out negative – you get negative. If you put out good – you get good. This is exactly why your Mother use to say: “If you can’t say anything good – then don’t say anything at all.”
So my friends – I would be happy to bring the Secret to Tracy, but it’s already here. It always has been. In fact, it’s always been with you as well. Your attitude, who you hang with and what you value have all come together to give you the life you have today. But remember this, the life you have today is not “who you are” it’s the manifestation of “who you were”. Want to change it? You can. All you have to do is ask, believe and be willing to receive.
The Jolt
The fire was about 1/2 between my house and the elementary school - but across the street.
I heard a huge "boom" and the house shook about 9:10 p.m. My first thought was, "Oh that must have been one of the earthquakes that's a jolt rather than a rumble." So I went outside to look see and notice a few folks walking north up Central. I really didn't see anything, but heard an alarm ringing and decided that it might be the school alarm. I went back inside to put on some shoes rather than slippers so I could walk up there — but by the time I got back outside the flames were about 8 stories high.
I don't know if I've been watching too many CSI shows or not; but the first thing I noticed was the apartment's kitchen stove laying next to the gutter. I deduced - gas explosion.
Yes there is a fire department is on the corner, but the first engines appeared to have come from downtown fire station. Regardless, where they came from, they were there in a matter of minutes.
The firemen did a terrific job. I'm sure for them it was both sad and exhilarating. I mean how often do you actually get to do - what you've been trained to do. What amazed me most is that they really had a plan, strategy if you will, and they went about executing on it as if it were a well choreographed dance.
Soon the newspaper photographers were there taking photos and the reporters were there interviewing the mayor, firefighters and witnessess.
The mayor did everything mayor's should do. He motivated the fire fighters, spoke with the families forced out of their homes and then stood back and offered words of encouragement whenever appropriate. I was happy to see so many being committed to be in service to others.
I offered friends and neighbors coffee and a use of the facilities should they need it and went back home and lit a candle and said a prayer. - Jack
I heard a huge "boom" and the house shook about 9:10 p.m. My first thought was, "Oh that must have been one of the earthquakes that's a jolt rather than a rumble." So I went outside to look see and notice a few folks walking north up Central. I really didn't see anything, but heard an alarm ringing and decided that it might be the school alarm. I went back inside to put on some shoes rather than slippers so I could walk up there — but by the time I got back outside the flames were about 8 stories high.
I don't know if I've been watching too many CSI shows or not; but the first thing I noticed was the apartment's kitchen stove laying next to the gutter. I deduced - gas explosion.
Yes there is a fire department is on the corner, but the first engines appeared to have come from downtown fire station. Regardless, where they came from, they were there in a matter of minutes.
The firemen did a terrific job. I'm sure for them it was both sad and exhilarating. I mean how often do you actually get to do - what you've been trained to do. What amazed me most is that they really had a plan, strategy if you will, and they went about executing on it as if it were a well choreographed dance.
Soon the newspaper photographers were there taking photos and the reporters were there interviewing the mayor, firefighters and witnessess.
The mayor did everything mayor's should do. He motivated the fire fighters, spoke with the families forced out of their homes and then stood back and offered words of encouragement whenever appropriate. I was happy to see so many being committed to be in service to others.
I offered friends and neighbors coffee and a use of the facilities should they need it and went back home and lit a candle and said a prayer. - Jack
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)