Soft Intensity

It's early Sunday morning; the sun is creeping its way up shedding light on an incredible landscape. The snow blankets the ground, branches, and needles like a protective coating from the harsh reality of the strong winter winds.

The squirrels romp, the birds seem to be enjoying ariel maneuvres as the vast Northwoods displays God's creativity and care. This is a moment in time, a moment God gives us to slow down and absorb the beauty.

An artist could try and capture the moment, but only God could create such beauty. Words are inadequate and human understanding quite limited.

Everything about this moment silently displays the soft intensity of God, my Father who has given us such beautiful gifts for our pleasure.
So often the business of life robs us of this beautiful soft intensity that God displays on a regular basis.

Perhaps we all need to hit the pause button, sit with a cup of coffee/tea and enjoy the moment before going on to our ordinarily distracted lives. Those who take time to consider God, appreciate God and those who do not experience God have not taken the time to know Him or acknowledge what He has done and is doing.

God's soft intensity is a bold statement of fact. I hope your paying attention.

A Cry For Help

Our nation’s students are crying out for help. Their cry tugs at our heartstrings like that of a baby crying. We want to help, but, at times, feel helpless. As a baby is demanding something from the “old” people around them, the students are demanding something in hopes that the “old” people around them can and will do something. 

There is not a sane adult in the nation who is not moved by their cry. However, marching and making this demand is like demanding tornados to stop, hurricanes to cease, and flood waters to recede. 

If I beat my head on a rock, and then march to make the process of banging my head on a rock painless, I could have sympathy nods and agreement that I should live a pain-free life.  Someone would need to step up and tell me that the pain I am feeling is normal for someone who beats their head on a rock. 

There is a reason for the shootings in our nation’s schools, and it will not be solved by controlling guns, posting guards, or locking doors. 

If you flip through the television channels any given evening, you will see several programs focused on violence, demeaning women, and sexual confusion. Young people spend hours playing video games, viewing pornography, and investing in social media “relationships.” This generation has spent so much time in the pretend world that the real world becomes a scary and unknown place. 

In many cases, they want to hit the off switch or the reset button, but there is none. 

There is no possible way to spend many hours absorbing such things and have peace, love, hope, and more come from your life. In fact, the opposite is happening. 

This generation has learned this self-centered pretend life from the generation that went before them. The parents of today have grown up absorbing the pretend while ignoring the reality. They can spend time at home, together, and not be together. Relationships are being built on physical presence, while the mental and emotional presence is elsewhere. 

This relational disconnect is what should be protested, and it can be something that is corrected. Perhaps we should outlaw absent fathers, which seems to be a common denominator to many of the shooters. Maybe our children should march demanding that their parents invest more real time with them, rather than just physically being there and providing for their transportation, housing, food, and laundry services. 

As a former teacher, I can positively state that there is a correlation between well-balanced, confident, contributing students, and parental involvement. It is the single most crucial factor in the growth and development of a child. 

We need more teachers to demand parent-teacher conferences, and to talk to the parents about how they are doing, rather than how their students are progressing. 

Adults are consistently behaving in a way that has adverse effects on children. Our prisons are full of people who were drunk while committing a crime. Our health system is overwhelmed with people who are dealing with effects of alcohol or other drug addictions. We have a problem with obesity in our nation, and our social service servants are overwhelmed with parents who decide that drug usage trumps being with their children. 

In our nation, political correctness is king, so everyone needs to act as if we can do something, in the school, to solve the school’s problems, when the real problem has never been the school, but the home. 

We need to get back to a dad and mom (male and female) committed to God and to each other who lead our nation’s families. We need to get back to a country that is one nation, under God, instead of one nation composed of many who want to be God. 

We need to limit the pretend, and maximize reality, or we will be in danger of living in a fantasy world of our own making, and we will miss out on the reality God for which intended and equipped us. 

There is no possible way for our nation to experience positive change without change. It is time to change, and the change needs to start with every adult who has contributed to this mess in which we find ourselves.

Why Do We Need To Know?

Everyone has a private life that indeed should remain private. The idea of living lives that are entirely transparent sounds progressive, but ends up being manipulative. We want people to affirm us, and if they don’t, we shame them into it. We want God to affirm us, and if He doesn’t, we shame Him, or declare that He does not exist. We work at creating a majority opinion, and consider the majority opinion affirmation of our decisions, even though the majority’s opinion has no bearing on what is right or wrong. 

Those who worship transparency do so on the pylon of tolerance, yet they destroy the idea of tolerance by the constant casting of shame on those who disagree with them. 

A society that values good over right and tolerance over patience provides perfect conditions for evil to prosper. The word “good” needs a comparison to be understood, whereas God defines "right." The idea of tolerance means acceptance, whereas patience looks for signs of understanding, growth, and change. 

The current trend of having people declare their sexuality is a perfect example of this new manipulative norm. People feel compelled to talk in public about their personal lives and struggles. For decades, we did not ask and were not told about the sexual habits of an individual at work. If I was a welder, I needed to be able to weld and produce an appropriate product, or risk losing my job. The evaluation process was based on the work that I performed, and my respect for both the customer and those who supervised me. 

For years, I worked in a public school district that was mainly populated by Jewish teachers and students. I am a Swedish Christian. I lived my life, taught my students, helped make the other teachers around me successful, and was never threatened because of my personal life. I never walked into the school and declared that I was a Swedish Christian and demanded respect, even though I lived out what I believed. 

I do believe that Christ is the Messiah, the only way to God, and that those with whom I worked who practiced the Hebrew faith were close, but seriously mistaken. I am sure they felt the same towards me. 

We had civil discussions at times, honest inquiries, and mutual respect. I lived in a way that was consistent with what I believed, and I was ready to answer if questioned. I did not, however, run a campaign, demean my colleagues, or claim that I lacked respect because of some rather substantial disagreements. 

As a teacher, I used to ask my students what a majority opinion meant. As fifth graders, they knew that a majority opinion had nothing to do with right and wrong, even in America, but had to do with, well, the majority opinion. 

Believing something to be right has never made it right. Self-absorbed confused citizens will eventually populate a society that campaigns to make whatever an individual believes right or normal. 

Respect

I have read some news articles recently that refer to a statement that some women are making about being respected. It seems that the new buzz phrase among some is something like this: “We do not need to be modest to be respected.”

I may be old school on this, but I think that intentionally dressing immodestly and desiring respect for doing this is impossible. Respect, according to the dictionary, is “a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.” When a person decides to be immodest, it is not something to admire, indeed demonstrates no ability, lacks quality, and has nothing to do with achievement.

Our culture is struggling because we seem to insist on living lives that are guided by mutually exclusive ideas. We demand respect without cause, insist on being right because we “just believe” something, and make those who disagree with us unacceptable, all while preaching tolerance.

Our children are growing up in a time where confusion reigns.

As in all matters, we need to get to the heart of the statements made concerning respect. Indeed, all people, all ages, and all races should be shown kindness, and should be able to live in a world that would love them and not use them. God created us to be relational, to love Him, and to love others. He did not create us to use Him or to use others, and when we do that, we create a troubled society.

I believe that the ladies who want to be respected, even when they dress immodestly, are not using the right concept. In theory, regardless of what someone does, we need to do what we can to help them be the best they can be, not to position ourselves to take advantage or hurt them in any way.

Personal responsibility goes both ways. No matter what situation I encounter, I need to have what is best in mind for the person or people involved.

God’s Word addresses this issue by explicitly telling women they need to dress modestly. Those who choose not to do so are going against what God has expressly warned us against, and God has good reasons to say what He says.

Because people “wear” clothes differently, it is often difficult to define modesty, and, due to this difficulty, it is often not addressed, and when it is, there are rules and regulations put in place that turn it into some legalistic formula that causes many to search and find loopholes.

I think the definition of modesty is more straightforward than we want to make it.

If someone dresses in a way that screams “Look at my body or a specific body part,” it is immodest. If someone dresses to specifically attract the opposite gender’s eyes to get them to desire them, it is immodest.

If all women dressed modestly, there would still be lustful men, men who want to use them, and they could still be objectified. Immodesty is not the cause of lewd behavior, just as porn is not the cause of lust. However, immodest dress and pornography have similar effects on a person in that it fuels what is already there, sometimes making the fires entirely out of control. Any fireman would tell you that if you limit the fuel, you will limit the fire.

We so often want to assign blame to someone or something else when the problems in life are usually ourselves. Sin is a problem. Dressing in a way that says that I do not care if someone struggles with lust is irresponsible. Thinking of using others for our pleasure is equally irresponsible.

We cannot stop killing by limiting guns, curb obesity by outlawing sugar, or have people not want to use each other by dressing modestly.

If we want to solve the problem, we need to start by admitting that we are the problem, that sin is the problem, and that we are sinners.

Knowing that is the first step, and then understanding and responding to the love of God, as demonstrated through Jesus Christ, and adjusting our thinking and living to reflect life’s purpose will solve the problem.

Whose battle is this?

"'You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you."

2 Chronicles 20:17 (ESV)

When we concentrate on our ability to fight, we limit our ability to fight. When God fights for us, no one can stand against us. 

However, that means that He is fighting for us. To take on battles that are ours, not His, and hope He fights for us is not right. The battles that God fights are His battles, not ours. He is not "on call" waiting for us to give Him marching orders. He is the one at war, the one with the battle plan, and the one giving the orders. 

The battle is not ours; it is His. He will fight such a battle, and we, because we have yielded to Him, will win. 

This life is a war zone. We are at war whether we want to be or not. Only the dependent win, so stay dependent.

First World Culture

Abijah and his people struck them with great force, so there fell slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men. Thus the men of Israel were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers.

2 Chronicles 13:17-18 (ESV)

 

They did not prevail because they were strong, smart, or wise. They prevailed because they relied on the Lord.

 

In our first-world culture, we so often rely on anything but God, and, if we have to pray about it, we have hit rock bottom. Praying becomes something we do when in a crisis, when hope is gone, or when we have exhausted our alternatives.

 

The victor will always be the one who relies on God. The eventual losers rely on strategy, strength, plans, and skill.

 

This is not a condemnation on planning, strategy, strength, plans, and skill, but it is a warning to those who trust these things that were given to us in order to show the world who God is.

 

Those who trust the flesh must realize that the flesh is dependent upon circumstances they cannot control. It is always better to trust the one who can control the circumstances. 

Christian Camps: A Mighty Tool in the Hands of the Local Church

Sunday School teachers, parents and youth workers often talk to their children about the importance of learning to be a leader. We speak to them often about the need for them to be witnesses to their friends about the love of God and the good news of the Gospel.

The trouble is that we often speak, but seldom show them how it is done.

Christian camping gives us that unique tool, that special time in life when a significant adult relationship in the life of a young man our woman can mean the difference between abundant life now and forever, or just existing now, with no hope for the future.

Imagine a mom/dad or youth worker making each child an offer of going to camp and paying for them and any “non-Christian” friend they invite. Then, they could add to the offer by volunteering to be their counselor and would personally go and talk to the parents of their friend to encourage them to come to camp.

Beyond the obvious, imagine this adult recruiting a high school or college-aged young person from his/her church to be an assistant counselor with them for the week.

With kids, a camp like Silver Birch Ranch (silverbirchranch.org) is an easy sell. There is much to do from whitewater rafting, water-skiing, horses, climbing wall, zip lines, swimming, boating, and more. Yet, the true joy will come as each young person receives uninterrupted time with this adult, and at some time during the week, as he/she places his/her trust in Jesus as his/her Savior.

The adult has accomplished his/her responsibility to model Christianity. The Christian child has learned by example the importance of evangelism, and the young leader learned immense amounts by observing a real mom or dad in action. When they return back home at the end of the week, the guests will want to get involved in the youth group, the adult will begin to plan for the following summer various ways to attract and help more kids get to camp, and the leader-in-training will now think about a life of service to others, rather than to self.

Christian camping is suffering in some ways in that many Christians have lost the idea that founded so many camps, and instead, they have become “consumers” of camps. Often, the Christians arrive early to camp and fight for the best bunk, best cabin, and, well, the best of everything for their child. Camp has become about their pleasure and no longer is seen as a tool. This is tragic and has forced many camps to act in ways that attract consumers rather than challenge them.

At Silver Birch Ranch (silverbirchranch.org) we invite you to take another look at the purposes for Christian camping and encourage your family, children and church to become involved in something that gives real answers to the most pressing problems of our day. Imagine what could happen if groups would begin, once again, to see the power of the “disconnect” that camping affords.

Think of it. What would happen if a youth group challenged every clubber to invite an unsaved friend and made sure the friend was paid for and the counselors from the church were ready and trained? What would happen if a church put an ad in the paper inviting any single mom who had a camp age child a free week at camp, a week the church would pay for and provide a counselor for, and then would have a debriefing with them when the summer was over? What would happen if we made this summer camping thing about them instead of us?

We have a large list of young people who need sponsors, and there are many children in your neighborhood who need a friend who will love them and show them Jesus. Working a specific strategy for Christian camping may be the most significant thing you ever do. Call us at Silver Birch Ranch (715 484-2742) and let us walk you through how you can do this. (Or go to the web site at silverbirchranch.org and download the necessary information.)

We have the tool, but, as any tool, it is worthless unless it is in the hands of one who will wield it. We look forward to serving you this summer.