The Arc of History ...

A quote from the late Dr. Martin Luther King has become much popularized again in the last twenty-four hours when he said:  “The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, but It Bends Toward Justice.”  It is a quote I have heard many times on my sixty five year arc so I feel at least chronologically qualified to make a few comments.  My comments, no doubt, will be met by those that will praise the thoughts and a few that will probably raise the racist moniker yet again but I wish to put my heart in 2013 to words. 

 

In the last two days, forty eight hours, two landmark decisions by the United State Supreme Court have thrown on Scriptural doctrine on the definition of marriage that dates back  a few thousand years and the Voting Rights Act is overturned eradicating a much heralded and painful era in which I lived my teen age years in, yes, Alabama.  Two major democratically and theomatically doctrined bodies of law cast aside by basically five men in two days.  There just seems to be something wrong with that as I have pondered and sought to gain a degree of understanding of these forces.

 

One of the things I came to realize in graduate school years ago was really eyeopening for me as to the learning I thought I knew from civics class in high school.  There are three arms of our Government: Congress that makes laws, Executive that manages the organizations these laws create and a Judicial that gives the citizens the Constitutional means to right wrongs by other citizens. That was hard to put into my brain at an early age but I finally figured it out. But then a strange thing happened one day when I realized the Congress is not the only branch of Government that can make laws for law is created when the Supreme Court rules on a Congressionally legislated law.  I found that most interesting. In light of the last forty eight years I find it downright frightening.

 

Our Founders, as I understand their mindset, was to use the prism of Checks-and-Balances as the three arms of Government were put into structure and operationalized.  So here we are since 1776, still a relatively young nation by the way, struggling with: “The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, but It Bends Toward Justice” --- Martin Luther King Jr. 

 

Some of us remember well the Freedom Riders. the Selma Marches, marches in our hometowns, the dogs in Birmingham. Some of us remember Leroy Gray, a young 17 year old black man forced to attend my high school in the graduating class of 1966 so our 265 graduating group would have one black; 264 plus 1.  It seemed sto wrong then and I grew to really like Leroy and hurt to see his plight. I could not begin to imagine what he felt each day in getting up knowing what faced him as his sun rose in a sea of angry white kids.  He passed away several years ago as I understand but I never had the chance to sit with him years after that chaotic year for ALL OF US to hear his thoughts on the world of the late 1960s.

 

Some of us remember clearly the White and Colored bathrooms and water fountains, back entrances to doctor and dentist offices that I, as a white man, never thought twice about for that was our culture. It sickens me when I think of that clouded, dulled time of my life as I view it through the rear view mirror of my life.  I can see it oh so clearly even now! 

 

So well do I remember playing basketball in high school against the first black high school player in Alabama, Danny Treadwell.  I can see now him playing in the State basketball tournament as the first black player and being so rattled that the first foul shot he took sailed completely over the backboard. My heart ached for him; but then I had to guard him the next day. I knew that next day that the world of white basketball in Alabama had changed forever. I was right!

 

It is not my intention to create a litany of Civil Right memories but until yesterday with the throwing out of the Voting Rights Act did I actually register on the term "Civil RIGHTS" and even more so, "Voting RIGHTS."  I well remember wrestling with the events of my decade of the 1960s most of which none of us really understood. Oh yes, we were seeing our friends go off to somewhere called Viet Nam and some not coming home and those that came home were not those that left; they had changed.

 

This week I have found myself deeply troubled by the "Arc of the Moral Universe" King spoke about for it is my assessment, today, that that Arc has somehow fallen into the ocean of rationalization.  See, I learned from a great mentor that what sets Man apart from the animals is that Man can rationalize and animals cannot. It is psychologically called Cognitive Dissonance Reduction. I call it rationalizing away any semblance of absolutes.

 

One of my guiding principles is that "if you do not stand for something you will fall for anything."  My pastor, rightly, holds his Bible up during sermons to exclaim that the Bible is the only absolute today. I say, AMEN. In saying AMEN I am saying that the principles and teachings create a fundamental body of knowledge within which Man must and can exist with each other. When those absolutes are rationalized away, then we will fall for the next snake oil product being peddled.

 

THAT, simply, is my greatest, heart felt concern for my children and my grandchildren and their children's children.  I knew in 1965 that what the black people faced was horrific but like most other white kids chose to ignore or it was just too big to attack. So we rationalized the wrong into a morphed sense of just not worry about it.  The marriage debacle of this week, for me wreaks of the same odor of rationalization.  Many have heard me say and read my words that Right is Right and Wrong is Wrong and no amount of Wrong will ever, EVER, make a Wrong, Right.

 

This week I feel we have taken a multi-generational step backwards that I will not see regained in my lifetime if ever. When I realize that there are more years behind me that there are in front of me, then the gravity of all of this takes on new meaning.  As a Christian man, I feel a sense of gut level concern about the tomorrows. But I also follow my Arc of History and believe by faith that my Heavenly Father is fully aware of all of this and therefore all of this is part of a grand plan only He can execute. I say, YESSSSSSSSSSSSS for that takes much of the angst from my intestines in realizing that all I have to do is stand on His principles He gave us clearly in the Bible and He will take care of the rest. It really is that simple. Thank you, God!

 

It is my hope that my words penned from my heart will find a place of solace for some that are agitated by the historical rumblings of our current times.  The IRS debacle was, for me, a metaphor for our government and its leadership in 2013.  Hands off, arrogant, pompous, corrupt and aimless with no accountability.  How could any organization have order with those tenets not nailed into place I ask?

 

We the People must focus on the principles given clearly in the Bible. I will take my stand on that absolute and that stand will be immovable.

Leading and Creating -- the twin Columns of Leadership

Earlier this week I found myself with this strange since of being a bit bored.  Boredom is a most interesting sense for it can do strange things to your sense of worth, well being, joy and a few other things.  All day I had felt just, well, under-stretched deeply inside and I did not like that sense.  I began to inventory all the things I am involved and invested with and even with all those balls in the air, I could not escape this strange sense of being bored.

 

Now mind you if I had expressed that to my wife, it would have been a rather short conversation for there would have been a significant laundry list, including laundry, that would quickly fill all my life for weeks yet to come. Enough on that but you get my point I believe! 

 

That afternoon my son came over and we were sitting outside watching the grand kids; always a joy.  In that conversation I expressed to Taylor that sense of being somewhat bored to which he summoned up simply, and correctly with, "dad, leaders, if they are not leading or creating, are always bored."   It was one of those moments where I found myself thinking about so many things one of which was realizing just how true and pertinent and well targeted his words were!

 

So you can know, with that brief but potent conversation, my spirits lifted and that cloud moved on out that was dulling my senses that whole day.  I do love to lead which means to plan, organize, direct, coordinate and control; the Principles of Management.  I believe in the definition of Leadership as the process of influencing an organized group towards its goal setting and its goal accomplishment for Leading is about serving and is therefore about partnering for performance!  So many hundreds of my students have experienced that first hand during my teaching decade but to be reminded of the vital nature of leading was profound and felt so good to me.

 

I realize there are many people that really do not want to lead, to give direction, to assume responsibility thus avoid any semblance of conflict or confrontation.  For whatever the reason, I do enjoy leading immensely.  I realize that leaders will at times make others want to climb rocks or wish the leader would fall off a few but one thing is for sure; nothing happens without leading.  I love to study effective leaders and get very frustrated when I see evidence of weak or non-existent or even worse, misdirected leadership.  Yes, there are many examples of each category around to view if you choose to view for the evidence resides not with the leader but with the corporate gathering of those being led.

 

I did not intend to blog about leadership today but the brief conversation with my son earlier has remained with me so I must but assume that God had a purpose for me needing to put words to it via my blog.  Leading is a gift for it is founded on the touchstone of respect. There is no leading without  respect and importantly, respect is normally the gift provided by those being led. Leaders must earn the right for the responsibility.

 

I hope this means something special to someone reading this today!  Thank you Taylor; my wise son!!

Lost Faith in my Government

As I have now watched the hearings on the IRS, the continuing smoke generation on Benghazi, the now brought to light government over reaching of personal phone and data information I am simply appalled.  Then to see POTUS appoint an already publicly disgraced Susan Rice to head the NSA in the midst of all of this garbage was, for me, the capper.  My faith in our government has now plummeted to an all time low and I am the eternal optimist.

I have sought to trust the Administration for that is what my Bible tells me I am to do. I have prayed for my leaders and for their wisdom.  I have fought the convulsive anger welling inside me about the breadth of how bad all this really is and tried to rationalize that the issues are just news fodder and that we will all be alright.  That bubble of belief is for me shattered irrevocably.

My trust in this President and his henchmen is gone.  This all hearkens to the Kremlin or Gestapo abuses and misdeeds that none of us could ever have imagined, me at least, would in fact be part of my very own nation's leadership reality.  We anger at Wall Street and the bailouts or the billions given to Chrysler and GM while the big bankers were bailed out and then billions in bonuses paid for poor leadership.  All of that pales to the breadth of the poison, corruption and downright lying we the citizens and taxpayers of this nation are seeing exposed now daily.

Now there will be those, friends of mine, that no doubt view my words through the lens of racism because everything sense this man Obama has been in office, any opposing views have been countered by the stench of racism.  I may be called many things but a racist is certainly not one of them.  It is my now confirm belief that this man is vile, dangerous, demonic and with a socialization agenda that surpasses our worst nightmares for the facts are becoming blatant with these ever increasing revelations.  That is the good news for the bad is that I am convinced there are much and many more yet to be made public; but the depth of this debacle of a POTUS will come to light I am now convinced for the truth will, in fact, set you free.

For me, this POTUS is in a class far worse than Nixon ever could have been.  I realized as I sit here this morning and my anger is not anger at all but rather a final resolve that this man and his circle of truly vile and malcontents bent on some vision for this nation totally not conceived by our Founders.  My perspective on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dempsey, is more of a crony and less of a countervailing force to a POTUS bent on structurally changing this nation.  Nations need the military leadership to serve as a backboard to bring logic to an irreverent or aberrant political machine.  A great nation needs both meaning strong, clear, forward focused political and military leadership to create a balance. I see no evidence of balance, frankly. That is scary!

I will close with my belief that any American in any way watching the morass unfold undeniably feels fear.  The IRS is in and of itself an agency of fear.  To see how mismanaged and arrogant the leadership blatantly is sickens us all.  To know our government openly lies to we the people on murders of our Ambassadorial staffs or stiff arms commercial enterprises to give over we the peoples' personal information is beyond the horizon of fear.  In my lifetime, never have I felt such disdain for a POTUS personally and professionally as this POTUS has managed to elicit so deeply inside me.

All of that is the good news for I am convinced that bad news is yet to see the light of day.  This Inspector General George has been stellar in his calm fact-based responses. The Congress via the hearings has actually restored a long lost sense of pride, especially Mr. Issa, that the process can and does work.  But the scorecard must read when it is all done, simply, okay, now what will be different? With this national leadership example, I think the workings will only be more dismaying and frightful and please know how badly I hate seeing those words come from me!

Our nation has lost its political, ethical footing; that alone is really sad.  But the complicity on a grand scale is appalling to me.  Having worked a nearly four decade career in a Fortune 100 company and the tough decisions that have to be made and actually implemented with measurable results and to see this lack of credible management systems and accountability on such a daunting scale is atrocious.  What I have witnessed via  CSPAN makes me angry and utterly sick to my stomach.  To see the fundamental lessons of Civics and American Government taught our children dashed to badly and so publicly is beyond reproach and a punishment commensurate to this arrogance should be exacted as example for future generations. But, alas, that will not happen.

We the Citizens are getting what we deserve unfortunately.  We the Citizens need to return to the principles of our God-inspired Founders wisdom and eradicate those that would choose to grow fat on our tax dollars and display complete uncaring for the citizenry of this once great nation.  Our legacy of greatness as a nation and calmer of the world is tarnished and not sure if this stain will be permanent or not. It is we that will determine that reality!

Heaven Will Surely Be Worth it All!

One of the great classics in Southern Gospel music was penned many years ago by Dad Speer with that title. Many of us have heard it and have sung it many times and I still love the song.  A few minutes ago I came across a YouTube video of Eldredge Fox, now deceased, that owned the Kingsmen Quartet and sang baritone for them for many years.  In that video, Mr. Fox and the Quartet sung this classic song very sweetly and I found myself melted into tears listening, really listening to the message of that song.   Please watch this video before reading further:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBnm8k-n-fQ

 

As our Sunday morning begins to unfold in a cloudy, rainy day, reflection again seems to visit me.  This week God has allowed me to view into some things in other's lives both inside a jail of bars and inside a "jail" of worries and fears about what the days ahead will bring.  I got to spend time with my grandchildren and watched my eldest play a baseball game yesterday afternoon. I love how he continues to improve and develop a real love for the game.  This week has been filled with singing, meeting new people, warming of talks of our history with old friends, seeing new life after high school begin via graduation, learned some new music; a busy week but a great week.

 

Someone asked me the other day how I was doing and my quick retort was that I got up this morning, did not ache and can still think pretty well.  That was such a short view answer to such a great question and I apologize to that person that asked me the question for she deserved much better.  So how am I doing, really?  That answer resides in that great song for with all the trials and tribulations, hurts and worries, pains and losses, wins and defeats of this life, I know little but I know for sure that Heaven surely will be worth all of this down here; I KNOW THAT!  In that knowledge I find refuge and strength daily and so easily take that for granted.

 

I know I at times I drive my wife crazy with my world of music but she knows how much I love it. But the real question I find myself asking myself is why does music escalate in my heart and my love for my Lord as life's days pass oh so quickly?  As I grow older and hopefully more mature, I find through seeing in the lives of others the touch of the Master's Hand through a song on a life hurting, in the flames of anger and distress or in a destroyed friendship bring calm and tears of joy and release.  For me it is less about the music per se but the music is more and more the medium to a hurting heart. So for me to be able to sing toward that end is, well, simply beyond measure in trying to understand. See, it is not for me to understand for it is but for me to do!

 

I love to study my Bible. I love to hear the array of sermons I hear at my church and in the jail work for each touch me in a most unique way as a artist brushstrokes on the canvas of my life.  I have used that analogy many times but that power of the reality grows daily and I love the growth.  So as we ponder the meaning of the fact that this life is made for trouble and strife, also the greater fact is that Heaven is very real and it will surely be worth all the strife of this life. On that I can reside for the rest of my days to be the best God would have me to be.

 

This is the day that the Lord has made so let us rejoice and be glad in it ... how long has it been since you rejoiced unabashedly, undeniably and with absolute release?  Let this day be the day you re-find the phenomenal sense of release that only sincere rejoicing can bring.  And remember, for we Christians, Heaven will surely be worth all of this travail on this journey!

Honoring Our Dead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWReeTeXfxA

As we move to the hallowed ceremony in honoring our soldiers that have fallen or left us on earth to remember them, my heart rate always quickens for it is a wonderful time to reflect.  The link is the changing of the guard at Arlington which bring chills each time I stand and watch that.  In 2013, I find myself growingly concerned that fewer Americans feel that swell of passion for patriotism that wrapped us as children as we pledged the flag. 

 

Having worn the Uniform for several years and having lost many friends during that time, my heart swells with pride when my mind goes back to those days.  We will honor the dead at our church Sunday and I will cry even trying not to but each tear is a tribute to the many I knew and those I did not know. We will have many WWII veterans in attendance Sunday and I will try to shake every hand and salute each one thanking them.  I do that now routinely anywhere I am with whoever I am with for it is a blessing to me.

 

Do we respect our nation enough to honor it and its uniformed warriors?  Yes but I cannot help but believe that proportion of the population is now much lower than just a few years ago.  I am still a strong proponent of a mandatory military draft that should every American young person, male or female, to serve out nation in uniform for two or three years. The all volunteer military is a great thing but I believe those that enjoy the treasure of our nation should have to serve that nation in some way.

 

As we see the flags Sunday, see the old guys wearing uniforms now too small; thank each of them. I wish, now, I could have known more about my father and his service so I could have appreciated his service more and thanked him.  For those of you that still have your fathers or grand fathers that served, talk to them, question them, get this to talk about it. I love to sit with the old veterans and chat for they now love to talk about the days as they remember them. What a blessing!

 

Find a veteran and honor him or her!

The Joy of Summer

I love my home for I get to look through a whole back wall of glass to see into a wetland and witness the amazing shifts in growth and coloration of God's creation.  Barren in Winter, shoots of buds and greens in the Spring, beautiful colors of orange and red in the Fall and full greens and whites in the Summer. I am simply amazed at the level of enjoyment I find myself basking in as I read my Bible each morning to look up and see what portrait has been painted for me. And then at times a bonus of squirrels or deer grazing and armies of cardinals and robins stopping by the Williams Bird Feeder Restaurant is only condiment to the beauty of God's Creation.  It is breathtaking and I realize that I have rarely ever taken the time to ingest the beauty of our world.

 

But then reality returns as I click on CNN, read my Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time and the Economist and then pick up the local newspaper and read all the not good stuff that tarnishes the natural beauty I have been bathed in.  Killings, robberies, home invasions, rapes, drug overdose, corruption, divorce, abortion seem to flood over the awe inspiring beauty of my early morning time with God and His Creation.  So then comes the crossroad for the day; dull, dank news that concerns me all day long or casting off the chains of that bad and enjoying the joy of this thing called life. Which road do I take?  You know, life really is boiled down to that decision isn't it?

 

This is a been a beautiful, busy, wonderful weekend as we are getting to keep our son's three children for a few days.  It is my son I wish to focus on this morning in my blog. My son, Taylor, reminds me so much of myself in his drive, focus and leadership and yet he is colored by his mother's sensitivities and servant heart.  As a pastor of a growing church, young family, husband, actively involved in his neighborhood and community, has been additional embarked on earning his PhD as well as serving as a mentor to young pastors at a national level.  Yes, like his dad, always a very busy, event filled life.

 

Tomorrow is a major milestone in Taylor's life, thus all our lives, as he sits to defend his dissertation for his doctorate. We have all been invested in this work for months as he has worked tirelessly to bring it together via research, assessments, interviews, writes and rewrites. It is a good paper! But reality is that it is not our thoughts that matter but the board of professors that he will sit with to be prepared to parry with the board on the logic and context of the paper and the strategies for the writing and a clear articulation of the meaning and implication of his dissertation.  I realize, as well, it is quite normal in academia for a rejection in this earlier stage gate of the dissertation process and thus the ever present concern of rejection, rework, etc. 

 

As you read this I am asking that you commit at 10 am tomorrow, Tuesday, May 21, to pray for God's  Will to be done as Taylor puts to words and thought his heart and his passion for young pastors integrated into his research and work. We are praying not for the time to be easy but that God would give him confidence, calm and a sense of joy as he explains his heart mirrored in his written work. I remember so very well going through that same process for my MBA for four hours and even though it went well, I completely ruined a brand new suit with sweat from nerves; quite normal!  This tomorrow is a big deal in our family for so many in my son's life and family have been invested in this journey with Taylor.  I want to thank you in advance for remembering this time tomorrow, please.

 

Enjoy this day to the fullest.  Tonight we get to come together as a family at another grandson's baseball game which I will enjoy knowing the "herd" is together once more. Sure, there will be ice cream involved as  reward but what a blessing.  Thank you God for your blessings on me!

Life Moves Forward

Good morning after far too long.  I have been in email transition mode and it has not flowed smoothly but I am here on this rainy Saturday morning.  Much has unfolded just in the last two weeks with much more still before me over the next 72 hours; I love that if you know me! 

 

The world continues to illustrate the immeasurable depths of depravity that Man can find that leaves us in a state of disbelief and anger with the Cleveland kidnappings story as example. The Boston Bombings are almost now disappearing in the mist of history as more tasty morsels of awful are served up for the cameras.  When will it stop we find ourselves uttering but the answer, there is no stopping point less a relationship with God I have realized more and more as my years race by even more quickly.

 

Since my last blog there have been several deaths in my world from ages 32 to 92. During that time we have seen the Benghazi debacle come back to political life in each side of the aisle trying to attack the other while our nation continues its debt addiction.  We see the decay in our mores as our society seems daily to become less and less stable.  We watch in anguish at it all asking ourselves questions about why and how and how much. But with all of this garbage, songs continues to come to me that takes the stench away. Songs like .. I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today. I know that He is living, no matter when men may say. I see His Hand of mercy. I hear His Voice of cheer. And just the time I need Him, He is always near. He Lives, He Lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He Lives, He Live. You ask me how I know He Lives .... ready? He LIVES WITHIN MY HEART!

 

I think our world needs a great dose of clear, unabated knowledge and reminder that we do serve a God that loves us with a love not a single one of us deserves as evidenced by the headlines.  Never forget that what we are seeing in the news is many times only a coating of what is really going on. 

 

Last night during one of the jail services, this young inmate was distracting the process of the worship service for the others with argumentative-toned outpouring of questions about "what is the cross," or "how can Jesus be God's child and still be God Himself", etc, etc which was disrupting the sermon by our speaker.  I found myself tensing up and actually wanting to lash out at the interference but then realized, if they do not ask, then how will they ever know.  I felt, in retrospect of this morning, that the questions and the tone were coming from an inquisitive, totally unchurched, angry young man in jail from a crime I do know anything about, a life I know nothing about facing a future we cannot predict.  It is people like that that illustrate why we do jail ministry so I was lifted by the way the service ended as I sang THE OLD RUGGED CROSS with all the men gathered around me as we looked at the symbols of the cross on the wall behind me; it was a moment!

 

Today we go to the funeral of a great friend and one of our pastors. Our pastor's brother was killed last Saturday in a terrible crain accident and his brother, our pastor, will preach the funeral service today. Much prayer has been lifted for Pastor Jake and his family as most of his brother's family are not Christian facing the pain and horrors of such an unexpected death a few days ago. It is all just so tragic. But it amplifies the mandate to always be ready to leave this world to spend eternity in Heaven or Hell and yes, that is a choice each of us must make.

 

I will close by almost apologizing for the tone of my blog but please know, I am so very happy on the avenues of my life.  The health is good; a gift.  I had many former students graduate with their degree from Kent State last evening with many messages from them with some very kind and humbling remembrances of our time together; what a blessing to me! 

 

Please know I am glad to be back up operationally so we can communicate more routinely.  I covet your prayers as there is much singing today, tomorrow and Monday as I sing for the funeral of a dear friend now resting with the Lord. Pray for his two daughters as they wrestle with losing their dad that loved them both so very much. Dave Smith was a great friend and a man I grew to love dearly and am so honored to get to be part of his funeral.

 

Thank you for your friendship; I have our linkage electronically.  God just keeps getting better I find!!!