Testimonies Pt. I

This past summer at Youth Camp, after a testimony service I had a thought: “Is there any time when someone gets too ‘graphic’ in sharing their testimony?” I was staggered at the number of teens who had made multiple suicide attempts, that night there were at least five. (Reminds me of the old teen movie Heathers… “teenage suicide… Don’t do it!”) One began to wonder who should have been getting the attention, who were the testimonies pointing to?

It got to the point where it seemed to be a competition of who had the most catastrophic life before their conversion.

So, let me ask you…

When does someone cross the line in giving a testimony? How graphic and descriptive can someone be before they have taken the focus off of themselves etc…Furthermore, how much of our past should we discuss when talking about what God has done for us?

Rev.

PS:
If you are ever up for a high context story about the value of a father's love, rent a movie called "The Winslow Boy". It is very, very good. On the other hand, you could go your whole life without ever seeing Hallmark's bastardization of George Orwell's Animal Farm.

THE TYGER : William Blake

THE TYGER (from Songs Of Experience)

By William Blake

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

1794

#@%^!

#@%^! #@%^! #@%^! #@%^! #@%^!

Pray for me to control my anger.

And not to say stupid things that I do not mean.

Rev.

A Hearty Guffaw

Tears for Tobey Ticks Me Off…

Not long ago Tobey had a very bad day, his last day in fact. If you are into grisly details you can read about them here. The kids who did this are looking at ten years if convicted, and the outcry is literally world-wide, inspiring (?) a British crooner to pen a song for the mortified mutt. And there should be public outcry, and there should be consequences… but you know…

Not long ago, Scott Peterson murders his pregnant wife and was convicted of “double homicide” for the death of his wife and her “fetus”. More recently, Bobby Cutts Jr. was arrested and charged with the murder of his pregnant wife; and the charges against him? Lets say it together, “double homicide” for the death of his wife and her “fetus”. Finally, and less famously, this story of a man stomping on his girlfriend’s womb (at her request, no less) who was found guilty of homicide… or is it practicing “medicine” without a license?

Point number one: in a court of law, killing a pregnant woman=double homicide. Point number two: killing a “fetus” = murder… UNLESS you went to medical school. Point number three: People seem more upset that someone kills a dog than that someone murders an unborn child.

Vick’s mea culpa, gives us some hope. But the picketing of Vick’s appearances and the subsequent days of tickers brandishing wanton cruelty to animals all over the world (and St. Reznor of PETA) would have you believe that this was a global crisis. People were going insane, malnourished, beating, exposing, or out right killing pets at will. And the outrage! The out cry! The… now wait just a minute! What about the “fetuses”!?

Planned Parenthood alone recorded nearly 260,000 abortions in 2006. (Let that sink in… two-hundred-and-sixty-THOUSAND.) As I have stated before, and will again, I am staggered by how the death of a woman’s “fetus” is grounds for murder while a convenience abortion is considered a legitimate medical procedure. (And don’t get me started on the “my body, my choice” bit.) My point is, a fetus is a baby. An unborn person, not simply a collection of cells. As the old axiom goes, “A Child, Not A Choice.” And I am tired of people protecting the lives of animals more passionately than the lives of the most defenseless among us, namely the unborn.

As I reflect on this, I am reminded of the words of the ancient king Lemuel:

⁸ "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
⁹ Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy."

Proverbs 31:8-9 (NIV)

Being pro-life is holistic. It is more than being anti-abortion, but this is currently my battlefield. You can count on me speaking out on this issue until it is resolved, or until I die.

End of line.

Rev.

Word to the Wise

If your supervisor asks you to do something and you are unclear on the details, just do what you understand you should do until you are able to clarify or until you hear different.

Rev.

Bearing Burdens

I stumbled across this a while back. It really resonated with me then and continues to do so...
************

For many years I worked in New York City and counseled at my office any number of people who were wrestling with this yes-or-no decision. Often I would suggest they walk with me from my office down to the RCA Building on Fifth Avenue. In the entrance of that building is a gigantic statue of Atlas, a beautifully proportioned man who, with all his muscles straining, is holding the world upon his shoulders. There he is, the most powerfully built man in the world, and he can barely stand up under this burden. ‘Now that’s one way to live,’ I would point out to my companion, ‘trying to carry the world on your shoulders. But now come across the street with me.’

On the other side of Fifth Avenue is Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, and there behind the high altar is a little shrine of the boy Jesus, perhaps eight or nine years old, and with no effort he is holding the world in one hand. My point was illustrated graphically.

We have a choice. We can carry the world on our shoulders, or we can say, ‘I give up, Lord; here’s my life. I give you my world, the whole world.’”

- Richard A. Hasler

Bruce Larson, Believe and Belong