Achievement

Today marks 40 years since the first human stepped on the moon. I remember watching the event unfold on television. I loved watching all the space coverage, even though I did not know how earth shaking it really was.

Looking back with the eyes of an adult through the lens of history, I can see how extraordinary this achievement really was. Kennedy announced this initiative on May 25, 1961. Less than ten years later, it was accomplished. The project brought the nation together in a way that seems impossible today. Perhaps the assassination of the president in 1963 gave Americans the will to make the moon landing possible. Certainly there were huge obstacles to overcome. And overcome them we did.

I wonder if we will ever find a similar goal, one untainted by political fighting, one on which we can truly work together. I have some suggestions for similar goals, but I doubt that we have the unity to pull it off. If any event would bring us together, one would think that the 9/11 bombings would have done so. In the short run we did come together. But now, nearly 8 years later, we are fighting petty political wars at home, rather than identifying the real enemy.

A unified people is a powerful force.

Making nothing happen

OK, I am starting to get the message from God. Yesterday I read the end of 2 Chronicles, as it recounts the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The Jews were taken to exile by the Babylonians. That is, they were removed from their land. Part of the reason for this, the Bible says, is so that the land could experience all the Sabbaths years that the Jews had ignored. Every seventh year they were supposed to leave the land fallow, and live on whatever crops grew on their own. That's takes a lot more trust than any farmers today seem to have.

Anyway, God makes the point in his word that he can create Sabbath for us even if we don't choose to rest. I remember a man named Fred whom I knew about 20 years ago. He prayed that God would give him more time with his family, especially his two teenage daughters. To hear him tell the story, it sounded like he did not do anything to help that happen. Then he had an accident at work. A huge, inch-thick, piece of sheet metal fell on him at the boiler factory where he worked. It nearly cut off his leg, and it did break both of his lower leg bones. I knew him for about two years, and he had plenty of time with his family. I guess that the bones eventually healed.

So, here's my point. I want to be obedient to God concerning Sabbath. I want to rest. I want to take at least one day a week to do nothing. I want to consider work off limits. I would like to honor him with resting, even as counter-cultural as that may be. I want to rest, even if I feel guilty about it, because I need to get over it. I know that I don't deserve to rest, but then, that's the point. God gives us what we don't deserve.

So, here's my plan. I'm taking tomorrow as a Sabbath. And I've got lots of work to do today to make that happen!

I don't deserve it

I have been reflecting on the importance of Sabbath. My problem is that I want to take a break from everything when I am finished with everything. The only problem is that I'm never finished with everything. I never feel like I deserve a break.

That's true. I don't ever deserve a break. The amazing thing is that God wants to give me what I don't deserve. He loves me so much that he wants to give me a break, even when there is more work to do.

The Sabbath was made for man. It is God's gift to his people. We don't earn gifts. They are free. Just as I don't deserve a relationship with God, I don't deserve a break. But God is so good, he allows us to have one anyway. In fact, he commands us to take a break. Maybe he knew that many of us would be so hardheaded that we would not take an optional break.

Now I realize that I can be disobedient and relentlessly pursue the vision God has given me; or I can be obedient and take a break from that relentless pursuit. The work is not going anywhere. Rest is really acknowledging that God can handle the world without my effort.

Yeah, yeah. I have known all that for sometime. But now I need to get serious about letting go every week. Just for a day. It will be more than OK. It will be what God wants.

Sabbath

I'm taking a few days off at the beach. Sometimes I need to do some detox from adrenaline. Actually, I need to do that about once a week. Seems like God had some guidance on that. Somehow I can't quite get that commandment worked into the way I live.

I find that failure to rest makes my thinking more fuzzy. It also makes my connection with God much weaker. And I think I can get away with staying busy all the time.

How foolish. And when I do something about it?

Public Honor

I thought there was something strange about the news last week that the SC governor had taken a hike on the Appalachian Trail. I wondered why it made headlines. Obviously there was something fishy about his story, and the press was all over it. Then it turns out that he was in Argentina, indulging an adulterous affair.

I have to wonder what he was thinking. His wife already knew about the affair. How could he expect to keep it a secret? Why would he make such foolish decisions about being away from his responsibilities?

A friend remarked that his attitudes are part of what it takes to hold high office: an attitude of seeking power, and being above the law. What a shame.

Someone said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Knowing this, our founding fathers set up government in which no one had absolute power. George Washington was offered this absolute power after the American Revolution. They offered to make him king, but he refused. What a wise man. What restraint!

Just a few years later, in 1789, the U.S. Constitution was ratified, and soon after, Washington was elected president. He knew the meaning of honor and service. He knew the power of temptation and the high calling of public service.

We need men and women today who will serve the public with that same sober sense of responsibility and humility. We've had enough of people who seek fame and power, believing they are above the law. May we ask God to give us such leaders.

Kindle

Sometimes you hear about something once, for the first time, and then you seem to hear about it everywhere.  My neighbor told me last night that she had bought a "Kindle" for her 13-year-old son.  A what?  She explained it to me in general terms.

Then I got a junk email today saying that I could win a free Kindle.  OK.  Now I need to find out about this.  I found on Amazon some descriptions of it.  One commenter on the video description said that the Kindle is to books what the iPod is to music.  Now you can take it anywhere, any time.  

With this electronic device, you can buy any book on Amazon, instantly, from anywhere.  No Wi Fi needed.  No monthly subscription fees at all.  Just buy books.  It reads, they say, like a real book with ink on paper.  The screen has no backlighting.  

You can subscribe to newspapers with the device, too.  Pretty amazing.  I am looking forward to getting one of these puppies.  But I'm counting on the price coming down from $285 to something cheaper.

I could get more books without needing more bookshelf space.  That sounds really good.  But can I underline and make notes on the pages?

Wise words on Friendship

Since I have begun accounts on Facebook and Twitter, I was intrigued with the title of a letter written by Nathan Hatch to the Wake Forest University class of 2009.    As an alumnus, class of ’84, I get the college’s email newsletter, and occasionally I click to read full articles.

 You can read the article called “Friendship means more than Facebook” at http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columns/story/1557438.html.  To sum it up, Hatch says that on-line networking is valuable, but it can never replace real friendship.  I was glad to hear that Wake’s president values friendship so much, and that he has the courage to share his counter-cultural insights with today’s college graduates.

 I am reminded that connections with dozens of people can be good, but that we all need a few close friends.  Friendship takes time, and I need to keep making the investment.