I Don't Speak Legalese!

This week in the mail our office received our updated insurance policy for the association covering vehicles. For the first time, I have to admit, I went through every page, more than 25 of them in the document, printed front and back. I fell asleep at least twice. I had to get a mug full of the most caffeinated stuff in the frig. I took a tour of the hallway. Finally I finished the thing.

Our vehicular policy covers a trailer. We don't have a van or bus. We don't have a fleet of cars. We have a trailer, one twelve-foot trailer. Yet our laws require that all this legalese be in writing to protect us or the insurance company or somebody somewhere. A lot of the language faintly resembled studies in my Hebrew classes or perhaps systematic theology. I fell asleep with those as well.

While buying our home, I asked the attendant real estate lawyer was it really necessary to have to sign a stack of papers approaching five inches think. She said yes. Her explanation should have come as no surprise.

Every paragraph in the stack of documents was there because at some time someone somewhere had tried to beat the system and get the benefit at the expense of someone else. The paragraphs represented attempts to protect the innocent, the gullible, the ignorant, and people like me who just don't like taking the time to read all the fine print. We have to include the legalese to provide order.

I don't speak legalese. I have no interest in learning legalese. I am quite content to allow someone I trust to speak the language for me while I speak a language that comes more easily to the workings of my mental gifts. Yet I cannot escape the presence of legalese in my culture and context.

Jesus had the same problem. He knew the Old Testament Law was there for a reason. He knew it revealed the holiness of the Creator. He knew that it helped define the relationship that was required between Creator and creature. He just didn't stop with saying that is all there was.

The laws are on the books because someone tried to get the best of someone else to their own benefit with no regard for the cost to the other. To keep order we pass laws, lots of laws. The laws serve a purpose. Yet believers in Christ are called to go a step farther. We are called to go beyond the basic statement of mutual respectful treatment and move to the place of the divine nature.

Jesus lumped all those Old Testament laws under two commands, love God with your total being and love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:34-40) If we are obedient to these two laws, then all the others will be fulfilled. All those paragraphs talking about consideration for others will be fulfilled. All those statements about protection of rights and respecting the needs of others will be fulfilled. All the laws of the land will be satisfied as we love God with all that we are and love our neighbors as we would wish to be loved.

I don't speak legalese. I don't like legalese. Even though he knew every jot and tittle of the Law perfectly, I get the idea that Jesus didn't care much for the language either.

Thanks for the Problem

"You don't have a problem. You have an opportunity!" That sounds so positive until you see it in the context of a person in a boat sinking in shark infested waters. Yet the truth of the matter is many of the problems we confront each day do offer us an opportunity to show our best, move ahead toward our goals, or be strengthened to face whatever lies in the future.

These thoughts have been prompted by the recent post by Michael Hyatt, someone who has become one of my favorite bloggers. On August 20 he discussed how our problems can be assets waiting to be used in positive ways to move us forward in life. Sure, many times we feel like we're drowning, but a lot of that is because of the attitude and perspective we bring with us into the problematic situation. If we look for the opportunities for growth rather than the possibilities for failure, our chances for positive outcomes increase dramatically.

The problem you face may well be the precursor to more challenges. Moving through the grades of school is a good example. Most of us couldn't have tackled the requirements of the third grade without having gone through the first grade. How many times did you have to wait to take a preferred course in high school or college because there was that inevitable prerequisite class? The accumulation of knowledge is measured in steps. The same can be said for wisdom.

Frustrations can arrive fast and furious in the process of dealing with people. A local business recently closed due to the inability to get and keep quality employees. A long time friend from college days confesses that the most difficult part of his business is finding and keeping competent help. Such frustrations can lead to closing a business or the option of seeking innovative ways to develop the personnel that are essential. Therein lies the possibility for growth.

Jesus did not recruit his disciples by telling them, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Go tell everybody and I'll check back with you after I have been resurrected from the dead." His preparation with them was a bit more extensive. They were a challenge and a source of real frustration at times. Jesus, however, saw what they could be and knew what preparation was needed to turn them into people who could fish for people even better than they could catch fish.

Seeing possibilities rather than problems allows for the use of such skills as improved listening, seeing hidden potential, and being able to deal with situations with greater flexibility. Seeing possibilities offers people a second chance, the benefit of the doubt, and a way to move beyond mistakes. Seeing possibilities instead of problems gives others a chance to reevaluate their own worth in the bigger context and come out better than they were before.

As churches depend more upon the Holy Spirit in their midst, problems become opportunities for the power of God to be revealed. It was not just for the Apostle Paul's benefit that God said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (II Corinthians 12:9). Challenging times are opportunities for God's power to be revealed and his glory to shine through the fog. Challenging times are opportunities for congregations to step back and say, "It is not up to us. It has always been in the hands of God."

Problems are the opportunities for faith to rise to the top and lead people to grow in wisdom, in understanding, and in the skill of depending upon God to work through them in providing the necessary leadership and resources. Seeing problems as opportunities is the first step in moving from focusing on man's limitations toward the power of God-focused faithfulness. As one respondent to Hyatt's blog wrote, she had come to realize that she was "swamped with opportunities!"

The Sad Loss of Civility

Keeping a civil tongue in your head used to mean not saying something that would otherwise get you into big trouble. Now it would appear that a "civil tongue" is such a rare commodity that few take its absence as any great loss. Thankfully there are a few who have noticed and do raise the issue of "What ever happened to civility".

Several years ago a professor from the Kenan School of Business at UNC-Chapel Hill in an address to the leadership of the Baptist State Convention of NC made the point that the lack of civility would be one of the great challenges of the 21st century. Especially during this election year we have seen his words proven true.

In recent days an opinion piece has been in our local community newspaper, The Pilot, that decried the use of half truths and outright falsifications in the presidential campaigns. From both sides I might add. In his most recent blog posting, James Emery White chose a British slang term "snarky" to describe the tone and verbiage that has characterized much of our public speech. As he said, there is nothing like having a word that sounds just like what it describes.

In his blog White quotes several biblical passages that emphasize the positive of civil speech. Such communication has the power to calm, to heal, to restore, and to reconcile. It also has the power to save your hide from getting burned when you might have otherwise said something totally out of line. A favorite one-liner is "Make sure your words are always soft and sweet just in case you have to eat them."

Civility has its cousins, not only in its root word of "civil", but in the verb civilize and the companion adjective civilized and noun civilization. We have concrete images of what these words convey. We have equally graphic images of what their opposites convey. As we ponder these meanings, we need to make sure we do not confuse uncivilized with simple or primitive. Some of the most civil folks I've met are those who saw people from a very uncomplicated perspective.

A civilized person is noted for qualities such as self-respect and respect for others. A civilized person will have a sense of moral direction that allows for the freedom and moral development of others. A civil person will see her/himself as a part of a greater interdependent whole that functions best for all when all are seen as valued members of that society, or civilization if you will.

A civil person will treat others as he or she would want to be treated. That kind of treatment includes the aforementioned respect, willingness to give the benefit of the doubt and a second chance, and the desire to forgive when a wrong has been committed. A civil person sees the innate value in others and the potential for development that is good both for the individual and society.

Jesus was civil. He was honest, brutally at times. He served instead of demanding to be served. He saw the best in others. He encouraged others to be their best. He offered a way for others to be their best beyond the limitations of this world. Jesus revealed and exemplified a society, a civilization that exceeded the rules of human relationships. His civility created relationships with the Divine and could redeem willing souls for eternity.

Chasing That Little White Ball - Lessons from Golf

I have just finished three days of watching a group of ten-year olds chase the future. My job was to keep the coolers filled with ice water out on the golf course. There was purpose behind my work. Keep the players and their families hydrated. Keep tempers minimized by helping them keep towels and tongues cool. My coworkers and I succeeded rather well under the circumstances.

I wonder about the logic of the game of golf. You hit a small ball to move it along. You catch up with it only to hit again. You do your best to put it in a hole in the ground only to pick it up and hit it again. You are always chasing the ball and just when you catch up with it, you knock it out of sight once more. For these young lads and their often caddy-dads, there was at least the benefit of exercise. For most others that had carts, even the benefit of a good work out was absent.

Chasing the future is a phrase most fitting for these golf events. Many of the players know this is a short-lived interest. Others, however, dream of having their name inscribed someday on a silver cup as they win some notable tournament. They dream of the day when they will be on international television and have multimillion dollar sponsors. They are chasing the future.

As one modern proverb goes, "You are old when your regrets outnumber your dreams." Forgive my senior moments if I have quoted this before; it remains one of my favorites. To dream is to chase the future. You may catch up with it at times and find a dream has been realized, but there is always another tee from which to hit that ball, another green on which to putt, another hole into which you must drop that ball, and another dream waiting in which to lose yourself. You need to be chasing the future so that your dreams will always outnumber your regrets.

The golf course had multiple par three holes. Three young boys were good enough to have holes-in-one. The par fours and the par fives forced them to show their power and their consistency. Some caught their dreams and moved on. Others had experiences that resembled nightmares! All went to the next green determined to continue to chase their dream.

My dreams are like those various holes on the course. Some I have conquered with obvious divine intervention. Others have become nightmares that moved into the past with deep gratitude. Yet other dreams awaited. I was still chasing the future. I am still chasing the future. Though in my sixties, my regrets do not come close to outnumbering my dreams.

A follower of Jesus Christ does not carry the burden of saving the world. There should be no regrets that all things for the individual are not possible. Salvation and miracles are in the hands of God. A follower of Christ has one great dream in this life: to honor God in thought, word, and deed. The greater dream that will extend beyond death is to hear the words of acceptance, "Well done, good and faithful servant...Enter into the joy of your master." (Matthew 25:21, 23) When the end of this course arrives, believers will move into the celebration of victory that will last for eternity. Any regrets will disappear and what had been a dream will become reality.

Believers are pilgrims on a glorious path leading to the fulfillment of a glorious dream. Regrets are forgiven. Dreams are strengthened. We chase the future. That future is laid out before us as we come to tees to launch our dreams, move boldly along fairways, and come to greens where we will see the culmination of our efforts even as we prepare to move on to the next field of endeavor.

Whatever your age may be, keep your eyes on the future. Let it pull you forward. Chase its promise with all your strength. Long to hear the words of blessing. Refuse to allow regrets turn your focus to the past. Chase the future, and let your dreams multiply.

Competition with Integrity

Sometimes I think it would be nice to sit in front of the television or computer screen and watch hours of Olympic contests. I am awed by the pageantry surrounding the athletes from the countries of the world as they compete in a wide variety of games. Each must feel the pressure as he or she gives the very best effort to make their families, friends, and country proud. Their best?

Two stories have come out in the last twenty-four hours that make the observer wonder about the integrity of some athletes. We have become accustomed to the doping scandals. This year we are hearing more about trying to decide just what is female and what is male. These two problems can be classified as cheating to gain an advantage over a competitor or simply biological hurdles that we must face as we learn more about the human body and its sometimes malfunction.

But what about those athletes who give less than their best to gain an advantage? In one day we see Michael Phelps push his body to the nth degree to break a long-standing record for the total number of medals won by one athlete. He succeeded by earning his nineteenth medal and now holds a new record replacing one that had stood for nearly fifty years. During the same day eight badminton players from three countries were disqualified for trying to LOSE their games in order to move into an easier bracket in their sport!

Some athletes feel they have to cheat to win. Here are athletes who felt they had to lose to have a chance at winning. Is there any wonder that they were booed by the spectators due to their lackluster and seemingly incompetent efforts? What else about integrity will be sacrificed to gain what some would feel is an advantage in the march to the gold?

We are always in some form of competition. Maybe it is a move ahead in our jobs. Perhaps it is a self-imposed competition such as the number of books we will read or the number of internet courses we can take. Perhaps we have set a goal in exercising or weight loss. In all such cases we are competing against something if only the idea of succeeding in reaching our personal goal.

Integrity in competition says that we know the rules that everyone is following and we will follow them as well. Competition with integrity says you give your very best without making use of materials that create an unfair advantage be it tactics, chemical, or genetic. (See the old syfy short story, "The Mickey Mouse Olympics")

Do we get into competition as Christians and churches? Do we see the need at times to try tactics that would put us in better light than our neighbor or neighbor's church? Have we decided that we are in competition with sister Christians to reach the wandering souls around us?

Integrity in competition says first of all you know who your opposition is. For the Christian it is not other Christians, but the evil of this world. Just like an Olympic relay race, there are multiple runners, but they are all on the same team. Integrity says we work together. We are on the same team. We give our very best with the abilities God has given us developed into the best we can make them. We don't try to succeed with the tools of the world. We don't try to outdo other Christians especially at the other's expense. We compete even against evil with integrity. We reflect the nation we represent, the Kingdom of God.

There can be no competition among followers of Christ. There can be no divergence from the rules God has given us. We support the same goals. We serve the same Master. As the old saying goes, "There is no competition between lighthouses."

Remember Me!

Periodically I make a journey across the mountains into Kentucky and Indiana to see extended family members. I watch the odometer to check distance between towns and so measure my progress. After many such trips I am also measuring my progress by the roadside crosses that I pass.

Most have a name, full or nickname. Some have a picture, some elaborate, some sketched, at least one imprinted on a now faded tee shirt. Many have flowers, usually artificial, but some are fresh and seem to be replaced on a regular basis. We know each represents some terrible tragedy that in the blink of an eye took a loved one or ones from a family.

Those crosses are placed so that others will remember and never forget.

During the most recent trip, my elder son and I spent some time in the Cave Hill Cemetery of Louisville, KY, taking pictures of designs and inscriptions. The newer sections resemble most others in our current trends. The older sections, however, reminded me of the pictures of cemeteries in London, England or our own New Orleans. The monuments to the deceased were elaborate, ornate, imaginative, and many were BIG!

Statements of love and compassion adorned many. Statues illustrated the heroic aspects of the human spirit. Mausoleums were designed to appear as churches or small homes. Wealth was turned into stone to express the grief or pride or both in the loss of husband or wife, son or daughter. One thirty-foot monument even had the last will and testament concerning the material possessions of the deceased cut into it to insure there would be no doubt about his intents after his death.

The monuments were placed there so that others would remember and never forget.

One individual in the past made his memorial a living one. He expressed his desire not to be forsaken and forgotten while being crucified. He expressed his desire to the Son of God who was dying on the cross next to him. His cry of "Remember me" has lived down through the centuries as the cry of all of us as we turn our faces to God in our hours of greatest need (Luke 23).

"Remember me!" None of us want to believe that at our deaths our lives will become only as dust in the wind, blown away and never noticed again. We want someone somewhere to acknowledge that our lives had meaning and value, and that somehow something about this world is different because we lived. Did anyone notice that we passed by?

I believe that all such cries are remembered. Will our passing receive headlines? For most of us the answer is no. Few of us will ever be mentioned in a history book. Unless some future family member is big into genealogy, there is a good chance that your name will not be recognized by your own kin after about four generations. Yet our need to be remembered will not be ignored.

God doesn't forget anything (except our forgiven sins). In multiple passages in the Bible, we are reminded that God has taken steps to insure we are not forgotten. Yes, the Bible uses the very human terminology of books, but how else can we sinful mortals illustrate the fact that God will not forget us (Hosea 8; Malachi 4; Revelation 20)?

The response of Jesus to the thief on the cross is the answer we all long to hear. We will not be forgotten. We will not be ignored. We do not need to build huge monuments to ourselves to keep from being lost in history. "This day you will be with me in paradise." Such assurance need not be prophetic as to the time of our reunion with Christ. It is sufficient in that it reminds us that we will be united at some point. When is not important, only that we will be remembered.

Got Sweat?

In a recent marriage enrichment retreat, the keynote speaker emphasized how much work it took to create a healthy and growing marriage. After nearly 35 years of marriage myself, I can identify. Or at least I can imagine how much work it took for my wife to tolerate me all this time and refrain from making herself a widow. As one minister said to a young couple in the midst of premarital counseling, "When you wake up each morning and look at your wife in curlers, you have to tell yourself again you love her. She'll have to say the same thing each day as your stomach expands and your hairline retreats!" Love comes out of the commitment, and commitment takes work. Got sweat?

Marriage isn't the only thing that takes work to keep the commitment strong. Keeping a church on track in fulfilling its purpose and mission takes work. It takes cooperation. It takes personal sacrifice. It takes humility. It takes honest acknowledgement that the body of Christ is not made up of one part, but rather many parts, and they are all important (Romans 12; I Corinthians 12). Every contribution made by a church member in the name of Christ for the sake of the Kingdom of God is valuable and is to be honored.

Giving honor to others when you'd like some is work. Working when others get the honor takes humility, patience, and perseverance. Making the effort to get the job done regardless of whose responsibility it might be takes work. Doing all things for the glory of God and as if you were doing it for Christ himself may be rewarding, but it is still work. Making sure you are effective (that's doing the right thing) instead of being dominated by doing things right (that's being efficient) takes hard work. Yet it is the only way a congregation will find itself obedient before God.

The one supreme purpose of the people of God is give him glory and honor. Everything else that might be named is a method by which we can do that. The first and greatest commandment is to love God (Matthew 22). No one shows love by sitting on their anatomy all day. Ask any wife who has to look at her couch-potato husband. He could show a lot more love by mowing the yard and painting the house, or better yet, vacuuming the carpet and washing the clothes. That's love! It's also work.

The church honors and glorifies God best when it in obedience goes into the fields of the world where souls are ready to be harvested and loves those souls as God loves them (John 4). In those fields the church will work up a sweat feeding the hungry and providing a roof for the homeless. The church will visit the sick, the elderly, and the imprisoned. The church will offer a hand to the weak and friendship to the lonely. The church will provide hope to the hopeless and the path of salvation to those who are dying while trying to make it on their own (Matthew 25). The church will do it all in the name of Jesus Christ. That may be joyful, but it can turn into hard work.

You cannot exempt associations and conventions. They have responsibilities before God as well. They too will be held accountable for putting feet and hands to the love they are supposed to be showing their God. As they support the local church in its efforts to fulfill the Great Commission, they are doing the work for which they were created. As they provide resources which can only be provided as churches work together, they are accomplishing their purpose. Associations and conventions cannot be successful holding meetings and talking about the terrible condition of the world. They must be at work and that will create sweat.

It is the rare thing of value we find in this world that can be gained without work and personal investment. Most often they require a great deal of effort. They require personal sacrifice. Marriages, friendships, freedom, these require work and effort and sweat whether physical, emotional, or mental. One thing that stands out from all these is the love of God and the grace for eternal life we find in it. No amount of work can earn it. No amount of personal sacrifice will make us good enough to have it. It's free (Romans 6:23). The sweat we save for the life of obedience that says thank you.