Have You Set Foot: Guest Post by Vance Havner

Vance Havner (1901-1986) began preaching when he was 11, and by all accounts preached all of seventy years. He was a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute and in SBC circles was one of the most respected preachers of the 20th century. He also was the mentor of Michael Catt, pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church, the home of Sherwood Pictures, producers of FireProof, Courageous, and Facing the Giants.

In the following reading, Havner corrects some misunderstandings about the Promised Land. I hope it blesses you as much as it did me.

You can hear more about Havner from his own heart here:

http://vancehavner.com/?page_id=78

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Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours... Deut 11:24

You will observe that the Israelites were not assured as much land as they merely looked at or wished for, but as much as they set foot upon. Plenty of Christians "stand on Jordan's stormy banks and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where their possessions lie." If singing about it were equivalent to possession, we should have had it long ago. It is not our be wishful longing.
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When these dear souls sing of Jordan and Canaan they confuse the one with death and the other with heaven and so postpone possession until the hereafter. But God brought us out to bring us in, and we enter into that rest in this present life. But we enter when we believe it enough and trust out Joshua resolutely enough to march into it and tread upon it with our feet.

There will be battles to fight. It is not a Sunday School picnic. There may be some defeats. There will be walled cities and giants of Anak. One generation of Israelites failed to possess the land and wandered in the wilderness. Many Christians encamp around Kadesh-barnea all their days and live on a few samples that braver souls bring back from the land. They read books about and revel in an occasional prospectus explained by victorious life teachers. But they never "set foot". We are now fascinated by those who would explore space. Most of the church still lives on the edge of a realm far greater, busy with lesser enterprises, singing about but never setting foot upon the Promised Land.

Crying Out at the Gate

I read today that the wife of Pastor Saeed Abendini is crying out at the gates of the White House for her husband to be released.

Saeed, a dual American and Iranian citizen, has been imprisoned in Iran for the past two years. He is accused of being a threat to Iranian national security, but it is common knowledge that his imprisonment stems from his conversion from Islam to Christianity and subsequent missionary work, including work with orphans and the establishment of around 100 house churches. InnIran, Christianity is all but outlawed, and apostasy (conversion from Islam to another religion) is a capital offense.

Surely, the preaching of the Gospel is a threat to the national security of an Islamic Theocracy which, among other things; denies the Holocaust. A true believer in Christ could not support the sort of human rights abuses documented in Iran. Public hangings of homosexuals, private hangings of political dissidents, stoning of women, and more than we care to repeat. We once wondered if these were urban legends but we can now see the truth.

Imagine for a moment that you are asleep and hear a knock at the door. It is one of the deacons from your church there to inform you that your pastor has just been picked up by plain clothes police and is headed to an incredibly dangerous prison, one known for being a de facto death sentence. What would you do?

Imagine you were the wife of that pastor, calling out at the gate like the widow imploring the unjust judge. The children of that pastor, never knowing if they will see their daddy again. Imagine now that you are the pastor himself. What would you want someone to do for you?

Can you take a few moments today to lift up pastor Saeed, his wife Naghmeh, and their two children? Ask the Lord to open the gates of Evin Prison as he did for Paul and Silas. Ask God to open the hearts of those who have imprisoned and persecuted him for righteousness sake. Also, remember that there are dozens if not hundreds of other believers in prison throughout the world for the simple crime of wearing the Name of Jesus. Let us remember those in chains for the Gospel.  

Finally, pray that God will be glorified through this trial, and that the faith of those who have suffered such adversity for the Gospel in closed countries will motivate those of us who live in complete freedom to share Christ where the doors are wide open.

Lastly, make a point today to learn more about the persecuted church around the world.  Sites such as the Voice of the Martyrs (www.persecution.net) , or Radical (www.radical.net),  www.Elam.com, and www.beheardproject.com, are good starting points.

Thank you for your time friends.

 

 

The Tears of A Clown

Dear Alex,

It has been about twenty years since we cut class.

Man, was that ever a fun time. Running free. Hearts racing, hoping we didn’t get caught. Sure the Highway patrol was on the lookout for two truants.

Guitar shopping. Blasting punk rock on that old Emerson boom box. Checking out the Concert Express catalog. Taco (sort-of) Bueno.

We must have been a sight. Sitting there in Southwest Oklahoma circa 1996. You with the orange mohawk. 

Me with the gothy, punky, headbangery, grungy, someone accept me cause I am socially schizophrenic look.

Then you looked at me and asked that question, “Do you think that God would forgive you if you killed yourself?”

I had no idea what to say. After all, we were just kids. And spiritually, I was a nursing baby.

“I don’t think that is ever God’s plan for someone’s life.”

“Okay.” I think you said, then, we went back to our terrible Mexican fast food, and our fantasy wardrobe of indie punk t-shirts that we knew our parents would never let us wear out of the house even if we had the money to get them.

I wish I had known.

I wish I had known that you had tried before to end your life.

I wish I had known who to turn to for help.

I wish I had known that you were not asking a random, reflective question like adolescents often do.

Why didn’t you just tell me?

You didn’t feel like you fit in anywhere.

You didn’t feel like you could break free from whatever prison you were in.

You didn’t even tell your best friend.

Friday was awesome. Then Monday came.

I saw you trudging back to the car. We were busted. Well, you were busted. I had cover.

Thankfully I can’t remember whose idea it was to cut class, because if it was mine, I am not sure if I would ever forgive myself.

I just knew I would see you again. You were headed home to face the music, I was headed to class. When you are 17, you live forever. Unless you take your life.

Tuesday, “Has anyone seen Alex?” Wednesday, “Man, I wonder where he went?” Thursday, “If we don’t 

hear from him soon, I bet he’s dead or something…” What a terribly accurate assessment.

I got home from work, and there was the call on my answering machine. “JP, this is [Alex’s mom], we have some news about Alex.”

You know it is bad news when they don’t leave any more details.

I prayed, and I asked for God to help me take the blow.

“They found him. He’s gone.” She wept. I kept my composure, hung up the phone, and fell apart.

Your funeral was very difficult. We walked from the school to the church. It was a longer walk than normal. I got to hang out with that cute girl with the lazy eye, and she looked great in her funeral dress. At least I was mature enough to have my mind in the right place.

I decided on the way back that I would quit smoking, you always hated that I smoked. That was my memorial tribute to you, even though it took me until New Year’s Eve ’98 to finally put them down.  

You may have thought you solved your problems, but you didn’t. You ran from them. Suicide is selfish, and unforgiving. It is permanent solution to temporary problems. I have to confess that I am still pretty angry at you, but who am I kidding, I can’t be mad at you...  but it hurt others, and it still hurts.

Somewhere I have some of your artwork. Your dog collar. Your bass guitar is on permanent loan to a kid you never knew. Sometimes I find stuff in my garage or whatever, and usually it stops me. I shed a tear. I move on.

The thing that hurts the most is that you never talked to me. You never told me.

What if you had? Maybe we could be laughing about the time we cut class and you got busted. You would have loved the new Supertones record, and Squad 5-0 broke big right after you…

We could have talked to our youth pastor, or the school counselor, the art teacher, anyone.

But no. You didn’t talk to us. You ran.

About a year later, your mom got to where she couldn’t bear the pain. Your dad took her to an inpatient mental facility. On the way home, he pulled over to the side of the road to take a nap and was killed by an 18 wheeler.

Did you know that you would do that to her? To him?

How could you have ever known how much you would hurt others? If you'd known, you never would have.

It doesn’t end the pain. At least not for us.

God has helped me work through most of this. But man, if I could see you again, I would just grab you, and hold you, and tell you that whatever it was that we could have worked it out. We could have fought it together. We could have won, I know it.

So maybe someone will read this. And they will think, “Man… I don’t want to do that to someone. I don’t want my best friend to be aching inside twenty years later.” That’s why I am writing to you. So that you, and maybe others can see.

It’s just terrible when you aren’t taken, but when you take your own life.

I hope that my understanding of God’s grace is right. And that one day, we will meet again.

If they allow mohawks in Heaven, I will know how to find you.

Love forever.

JP.

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This is pretty raw, I posted it before I could talk myself out of it. When I was in High School, my best friend took his life. That was 20 years ago, and it still hurts today. Maybe this can help someone. Writing it helped me.

Alex is obviously not my friend's name, but might be. You're always supposed to change names when you write these sort of things.

He was a clown for a living, and an aspiring artist and musician. A quite a ladies man. The death of Robin Williams triggered a flood in me and this is what came of it. It is odd how so many people who make a living making us laugh seem to die of sadness. 

There are some hopeful and awesome things that come out of this story, but that is not the focus today. 

Please, if you read this and are contemplating suicide, or self-harm of any kind; reach out to a teacher, a pastor, a friend, even a stranger. Anyone. Most problems in life are temporary. Suicide is permanent. There is so much more to life than what you are going through, so don’t take it.

Nine: Watch Your Steps

http://www.esvbible.org/Ecclesiastes+5/

Louie Giglio's little book, “The Air I Breathe” made an impression on me. The book is a discussion of worship, and at the heart of worship is attitude. Early on Louie notes how casually we go about coming to a worship service. More often than not, a stop at the church is sandwiched in between any number of other commitments from a stop at the café, to a post church lunch or brunch, then to the mall, the movies, or the ballfield. These additional stops are issues of conscience. If you can conscience a stop at Barnes and Noble on the way home from church, then more power to you. But if you are sitting through service, wondering if they have any cool new Doctor Who stuff since the last time you were there, you should be paying attention to the service! And that is part of the problem nowadays. We sort of cram church in to our already distracted schedule.

I am well aware of dangers of equating church attendance with spiritual maturity and devotion, what we are talking about here is something more.

When you are in worship, are you there?

How did you prepare before you get there?

If you are not there, invested, the question becomes, “Why did you come?” We should try to make the best of that time.

Guard your steps, as in, don’t just run in talking away on your mobile or whatever. Take a breath, put your device and you on airplane mode, and head in to worship and revere God. While I am on the subject, I wonder if some times, we spend too much time talking to one another at church and not enough time talking to God.

If we come to God, to make a request, or a vow, etc. even though he knows our thoughts, we should think the thing through, and bring it to God in a manner worthy of Him. God will hear a “quick prayer” as we call it where I live, typically full of fillers like, “Um” and “Lord God”, but shouldn’t we give more consideration as we approach the Creator? 

And I am just as guilty, certainly talking to myself here, and using too many words to do so!

Our society prizes people who spew like a fire hydrant without the cap on. God wishes for us to reason out what we are going to say, to one another, to him, and to be careful to recall that “where there are many words, transgression is unavoidable.”

When you do make a vow, keep it. Even if it is difficult to keep. I would hope that very few times in my life have I renegotiated or left a vow unfulfilled. God help me if it was to Him. But we so often do vow to God, or to our church, or to others. When you make a vow, keep it. It is better to not vow, than to vow and not pay; otherwise there will be consequences.

Verses 3 and 7 are linked. There are more than a few daydreamers out there. They hope that their dreaming will bring about what they want more than work. Talk, and dream all you want, but it is work and God’s blessing that bring reward.

Better Unborn?

Start here: http://biblehub.com/nasb/ecclesiastes/4.htm

Could it be that it is better to be dead than alive? If that is the case, could it be even better if you had never been born? Solomon seems to think so. There is corruption in the courthouse, and in the church house, and in the school house, and as such, the cry of the oppressed is faintly heard if at all, and often ignored. 

For us who have to go about the business of living, it is going to be difficult. We’re going to work, and it going to be hard. Some people are going to do nothing, but they will reap the consequences of that (eventually). Then there is the wisdom that being poor, and living a quiet life might not be so bad. Many wealthy people wish their life was as simple one. I think about Johnny Cash’s song, “Country Boy”.

There is also this single guy, and he works harder than anyone, and for what reason? In the end, who is he going to leave it to?

It is better to work hand in hand with someone else; you will stay warmer, and if you ever get in a fight, you will win.

And in the end, a young wise man is better than an old fool, but still, whatever he does he will be forgotten eventually. (I find this amusing because Solomon may well have been talking about himself.) 

Now, go get em…

Or maybe that is not all.

Who will cry out for the poor? And who is it that will lead wisely? And who will be the faithful friend?

Remember that the message of Ecclesiastes in part is that what we see around us is futile. Because of this, we hanker for Heaven. We have a sense of homelessness that leads us to home.

From this hopelessness can spring hope. Sometimes it is only in seeing the impermanence of what we desire that we can finally long for God. 

Maybe Solomon was not saying any the above, but I suspect that he was. 

The Joy of Work

“So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him.”

What is the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer? One set the temperature, and the other just reads it.

Another thought on work. If we are little more than beasts of burden, let us at least rejoice in what we have. The roof above your head, the food in your stomach, the clothes on your back, the shoes on your feet. As Pollyanna (or perhaps today, as Unikitty) as it sounds, think about what you do have, not what you do not have.

If you have gotten to choose what to eat today, you are doing better than a lot of people throughout the world. If you get your water from a tap, and it doesn’t put you on a sick bed, you should be very thankful. Did you take a Tylenol? Someone, somewhere, would give you a king’s ransom for one if they could.  

Beyond this though, you have work to do. Since the later part of the last decade, this is far from a given. If you have a place, a function, you have something to rejoice in.

You cannot see the future. Kevin DeYoung aptly said that “Worry is trying to live tomorrow before it happens.” So instead of trying to live in tomorrow, or perhaps in yesterday, live in today. Be where you are, and be joyful for however long you have. One day you will return to the dust from whence you came.

In the meantime, if you choose joy, you might just reset the temperature. 

Try it along with me today. 

Unjust Judges and Unrighteous Preachers

"Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there."

What can be said?

We live in a world where the places where we should feel most safe have become most suspect.

Confidence in the government is at an all-time low in our nation. We are more like Rome than ever in that the wheels of justice and administration seem to be greased by money as opposed to virtue. It’s like finding a statesmen in a politician stack. Few and far between is the lawmaker who lives within the law of God or man.

Even in houses of worship, it is hard to find one who is the same in private as they are in public. If Ezekiel’s vision were to come true today, would the angels still begin at the Temple, their slaughtering weapon in their hand? Mercy, Lord. Where we should find the greatest safety we do not, and some fear the harm that may befall them even in the house of God. Fearing they may be the fleece that is fleeced.  

We can identify with The Preacher. He is cries out like a prophet, “Where is just judgment? Where is true righteousness?”

God will judge the righteous and the wicked. It is a comfort for the righteous, a clarion call to the wicked. Hold fast, you righteous. Act fast, you wicked. We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and in that day, we will have only Christ to stand upon.

Hold out hope, for the hope that Solomon could not have known, that in due time Christ the Righteous Judge will come to hold account the quick and the dead. This is not a message of fear, but of hope. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus.

Until then, let us be the change we long to see in the world.

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Two days after this blog was posted, this hit the news:

http://fox4kc.com/2014/06/24/former-it-director-of-warrensburg-school-district-charged-with-sex-crimes-against-girl/

Work

Start here: www.biblehub.com/nasb/ecclesiastes/3.htm

Work gets a bad rap. We often think of work as being a consequence of The Fall (Gen 3), and while there are consequences from the curse associated with work; there was work before the Fall, and it was “good”.

We spend much of lives complaining about work, avoiding work, and looking forward to one day we can stop working altogether. Indeed there will be a Heavenly rest for those in Christ; but it is not as if we will sleep for all eternity; there will be work to be done even in eternity. 

Our grandmothers were on to something when they admonished us about idle hands being the Devil’s workshop, because they absolutely are. If you are busy, particularly doing what you ought to be doing, it sure helps one to stay out of trouble. Yet so much of our effort is expended on not expending effort.

God created us to work, and to do his work.

I suspect that one of the root causes of the disaffection we have in modern life comes from the absence of real physical labor. There is something uniquely satisfying about seeing something that you built with your own hands, eating something that you planted with your own hands, and so forth. Modern work often has such delayed or abstract gratification. People were not made for cubicles.

So Solomon exhorts us to be joyful, to enjoy the fruit of our labors, recognize that that fruit is reward from God and ultimately recognize that all we have is from the hand of God.

What God does is permanent, but what man does is impermanent, so we can see how great God is. 

God is the one who determines whose work will be rewarded and how, in both the here and now and in the hereafter. He will judge us for all that we do. God is testing us, in part through our work.

You can certainly learn a great deal about someone from their work.

Eturnity

Start here: http://biblehub.com/nasb/ecclesiastes/3.htm

There can be little doubt that this is the most well-known passage in Ecclesiastes. Much of the credit for its endurance in pop culture goes to The Byrds for their folk rock version of this passage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ga_M5Zdn4

Stylistically, there seem to be pairings: birth and planting, kill and tear down, weep and mourn, etc. each of these is contrasted with either the end result (plant à uproot) or a direct contrast (kill à heal). The message is simple: Just as there are seasons in the year, there are seasons in our lives. Some seasons are times of creativity, and wonder; others of turmoil and trouble. Again, there is an invitation to consider the big picture, the full spectrum of life.

While there is a time for planting, eventually you will reap what you sow. At times we scatter, other times we build. Some days we dance (as long as we are not Baptists) and other days we weep. While there is a time for embracing, there is a time for “personal space” or even to avoid someone altogether.

Perhaps the final words, “a time for war, and a time for peace” are the most difficult for Christians to accept, yet, the message here rings true (contrary to the final message The Byrds insert into the poem). There may be a time for peace, but in the fallen world we live in, there may not be a chance for it.

It seems to me that verses 9-11 are the ending of this section, at least conceptually; the message being, “What profit is there? All things are made appropriate (NASB) or beautiful (ESV/NLT) in their time, concluding the thought of 3:1, “there is a time for everything…”). Somehow all the good and bad, the planting, uprooting, silence and speaking, and so forth contribute to the appointed time, the purpose or “work” (NASB) that God is doing “under Heaven” in and around us.

The highlight of this passage for me has always been the thought that “He has set eternity in our heart…” as if there is a seed of longing (think C.S. Lewis and senhsucht). That is why in the end, all things are meaningless, repetitive, seemingly vain under the sun, but in Heaven, all things have a perfect purpose; including that sense of dissatisfaction. This discontent, or disassociation that we feel at times with the world around us has divine purpose, to cause us to long for the eternal. In that sense, the meaningless we trudge through here makes us hanker for the hereafter, and this is a very good thing.   

Sorrow and Steaks

Start here: http://biblehub.com/nasb/ecclesiastes/2.htm

At times, Solomon must be venting. Why else would the one who compiled the Proverbs turn to us and say, “Living wisely is better than living foolishly, but in the end, we all end up the same.” The wise dies like the fool, there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool.

Compounding this is his assessment about his heir (v.12, 18&ff). He will work his entire life, and leave all that he has worked for, all that God has entrusted to him, to one who did not work for it, and who may squander it through foolishness. We’ve all seen that. A hardworking father who labors to build a business, a reputation, who hands it over to a son that runs it into the ground. Life is just not fair.

The wise die. The hardworking die. All we’ve worked for may evaporate, and the name will one day wear off our tomb stone… So, what are we to do?

Go have a steak.

No seriously, that is exactly what he says.

God has given you only so long to live; so live a little. That is your reward, when you sit down to a meal, when you embrace your children, when you watch a great show on TV, or read a good book, when you have a glass of tea on the porch, when you reap the fruits of your labor, thank God for what has been given by relishing in what you have; with what time you have.

Because you only have so much time left.

Postscript:

Lastly, be careful with v.26. It could easily inject you with pride, and cause you to embrace some serious errors about the value of others. One can see how this text could be contorted in support of any number of injustices. Don’t think God loves you more because you have more than someone else.

Nothing Novel

Start here: http://biblehub.com/nasb/ecclesiastes/2.htm

Most people outside of the upper Midwest seem to have never heard of Faygo. Then, all at once it began to show up at the convenience store a town over from home. I had never seen it outside of Michigan and Ohio, so the last time we were in Michigan we stocked up before we came home. At first this was super exciting. I’d grab a can from the fridge and sit and think about being a kid, and fishing with my dad, and other happy associations. I think that red pop tastes awesome. But, when it was so easily within reach, the novelty expired.

For Solomon, there is nothing beyond his reach. But in the quiet moments; or perhaps even in the midst of the party, where every man thinks he would be most at peace with himself and with the world everything comes into perfect focus.

Those who take to psychoanalyzing Solomon say he has a classic case of depression, perhaps a bit of anxiety. He’s just overthinking. He should just relax and enjoy what he has. But those of us who have had similar experiences know this is not true. Solomon is on to something.

Ironically, pleasure can be like guilt. It is transitory. One day you are the life of the party, not long after, people are checking the list for your name because they don’t recognize you.

I think it is important to note too that Solomon is not simply speaking about his old
“party days”, he is clear in stating that he carefully tested the limits. Furthermore, it was not only pleasure that he tested, but also prestige, and plenty. In the end, all came up short. They added nothing to his life here under the sun.

So then, what matters? We have to wait a while before we find that out, so stay tuned, and in the meantime, don’t spend your life on that which is temporary, instead invest it in the eternal.

The Cost of Knowledge

Start here: http://biblehub.com/nasb/ecclesiastes/1.htm

For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Ecc 1:18 ESV

Is ignorance bliss? The Preacher warns us about the dangers and limitations of wisdom and knowledge (12:12, 1:12-13&18; 2:12-15, 7:16-17, etc.). Knowing can be a burden. One symptom of our connected society is an exponentiated level of “awareness”. A few years ago many of us experienced the #Kony2012 phenomenon. Sam Sanders of NPR reported this week that Kony2012 was the video heard around the world with nearly 120,000,000 views within one week or nearly 600,000 views per day. 

Let that sink in. 

It can be overwhelming, wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines… and noble as the causes may be so much of it seems out of reach. It doesn’t help that most of these initiatives are built on guilt. “Hey you! How can you just sit there playing Angry Birds when there is someone dying of bird flu!”

While we recognize that if we are unaware, we are unable to effect change, we must also recognize that awareness is not understanding. Knowledge can bring with it a sense of dysphoria, and even a sense of helplessness. What can I really do to help? I can’t catch Kony, I cannot dig enough wells, or buy enough of Tom’s shoes, mosquito nets, retroviral drugs, and so on. Sure, I can help a bit, but there is so much more to be done.

The truth is most often in the tension between truths. If we were unaware of starving children, and civil wars, life could go on in monotonous bliss; but in time, the darkness would creep over us and destroy us as well. So then, maybe we know too much? And even then, perhaps are not 

able to adequately process what we are informed about.

Go look at your kids’ soccer ball. Some years ago while in an economics class we learned that in upwards of 90% of all soccer balls come from Pakistan. No real problem there for me, global village and all. But what stuck was the news that the majority of those making these soccer balls were children, and young ones at that. Kids who from our vantage point should have been in school, reading, playing, etc. Our class was enraged. “I’m never buying a soccer ball from Pakistan again until they stop child labor!” Then, the other cleat dropped. Turns out that in Pakistan, the economy is such that all members of the household have to contribute in some way financially to survive. If these children were in school and not making soccer balls they may not have enough to eat. This naturally leads into a plethora of discussions about our unwillingness as consumers to pay more for goods, which drives prices down, which drives production costs down, which drives wages down, etc. etc. all of which is enough to keep  you up at night thinking, “How can we get these kids to school, and get cheap soccer gear?”

Perhaps it was better not to know at all?

Well, Solomon didn’t say it was better to know nothing now, did he? But we should realize that there is cost associated with knowledge. There is a spiritual cost in that if we know that good that we ought to do and do not do it, we are sinning (Jas 4:17). There is an emotional cost, in my case, it comes on me every time I step into a sporting goods store, or nearly any department store for that matter. And then, there is the cost of ignorance. Perhaps the question is this, “Which costs more in the end, knowing, or not knowing?” And for now, my answer is, “I don’t know” and Solomon’s answer seems to be not so much “do not know”, but “know that with knowledge comes sorrow.” This is the economy of knowledge. 

Good Morning, Everything is Meaningless. . .

Everything is Meaningless: Ecc 1:1-11 

Go ahead and start here: http://biblehub.com/nasb/ecclesiastes/1.htm

Vanity of vanities… All is vanity.

Imagine opening a new piece of exercise equipment and seeing a note from the manufacturer which says, “Suggested garage sale price…”So begins the book of Ecclesiastes, easily the most misunderstood and under-appreciated volume of the Wisdom literature.

At best, what drives us today is a romantic, “carpe diem” approach to life, a Hawthornean mandate to “suck the marrow” out of life. At a more mundane level, there is the desire to pay the bills, to simply survive. This can manifest itself more selfishly as raw materialism, as conspicuous consumption (perhaps the great open sin of the Western church). From the first time we tell our preschool teacher that we want to be an astronaut, we want to “be somebody”.

Yet, instead of starting with “big dreams” or “vision casting”, Quoheleth (“the preacher”, traditionally king Solomon) gives what is arguably the most de-motivational speech of all time. “Your life? It will be hard. At times it will seem to drag on forever and when you die it will feel too short. And in the end it is extremely likely that no one will even know you were here.”

Is he trying to clip our wings? Let’s get this straight; life was never about making ourselves great. It is about making God’s name great. Stated another way, we are not here to make a name for ourselves, but to make great the name of God. Life is filled with joy and wonder; but also has a droning back beat of monotony that will not be overcome until the clock ticks for us from time in to eternity.

Some cannot receive this message and so simply refuse to read Ecclesiastes, asserting it is too bleak. Yet it was written to be read. If we turn to the Bible only hoping to sip some chicken soup for our soul, we will miss the soup for the noodle. Scripture is a wonderfully diverse library delving into the spectrum of human experience. Ecclesiastes, serves as a grand leveler, admonishing us to snap out of it, to see life in all its transience, see ourselves through that lens, and ultimately see ourselves in light of the intransient and eternal God who not only gives meaning, but perhaps is best understood as meaning.

But now we are getting ahead of ourselves.

For now, get your head out of the clouds, and your feet on the ground. And if we can read this right, knowing that we are not likely to be the link between epochs, it can actually take a bit of the pressure off.     

Unleashed

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were privileged to get new smartphones. I say privileged because we couldn't afford them, and God sent an unexpected financial blessing for us no more than a day before her phone gave up the ghost; mine waited until the day after I activated my new device; reminds you of those stories you hear about couples who die a few days apart. :)

Long story short; a few days ago, my phone started to sound like a land-line with a bad cord. Conversations became nearly impossible given the static. My wife; knowing that I was buried, had mercy on me, packed up the hobbits and headed to Verizon on the way her destination.

As a result, I have been without a phone for the last six hours or so, and while this morning I was worried about what that might do to my day, I have to tell you... it has been wonderful.

Perhaps I am only speaking for myself (I bet not...) that we seem so busy trying to do everything at once that we end up getting little to nothing done.

Don't kid yourself, even if you have ADHD (in HD), you can only do so many things at a time, and for the most part, by so many things I mean exactly one. Multi-tasking is, by-and-large, a myth. Anytime you give some of yourself to an en devour, you are giving less of yourself to another. For instance, if you are trying to skim this piece while watching YouTube, you are missing the point entirely...

Scientists, psychologists, sociologists, and clergymen are actually approaching collective agreement on something: the perks of mobile technology do not seem to counterbalance the pitfalls.Studies have demonstrated that the copious amounts of screen-time we imbibe are actually changing our brains, and could be contributing to a marked rise in insomnia and anxiety in users.We don't need Morgan Spurlock to check this one out for us, you know its true.

We pick up our phone to snap a picture of our kid's game, only to notice that someone has posted a new photo to social media, then see on there comment feed that it is raining tacos... next thing we know the crowd is on their feet because our kid made a goal... but man, wasn't that a funny video?

It goes beyond the office, or the field, to our very souls.

When is the last time that you gave undivided attention to someone? to your kids, or your spouse? to God? It is nigh impossible to get in any prayer or devotional time when we are consistently being pushed updates, emails, breaking news, snapchats (of which I do not partake) and text messages. Even if we disable these features on our devices, there is still that nagging, addictive draw, like a digital nicotine fit, urging us to check our phones just in case the most hilarious cat video in the universe was uploaded and we missed it. Or, how many people liked our selfie, or the photo of that awesome dessert, or if anyone liked our article about how we should spend less time on our devices?

I am going to get on my laptop and find out...