Many of my friends believe that pets are humans in fur or feathers. Each has its own personality, its own way of communicating. Dodo videos show cuddly possums and squirrels who use their owner as a favorite climbing tree. The rescues and stories of relationship are all over the media, each animal with its own response to rescue and rescuers. Animals sometimes trigger the compassion in humans that other humans don’t trigger. I wonder why?

Recently Gabby, my son’s aging black lab, gave me an educational moment. I had the bad judgement in treating her like a dog. Gabby knew that wasn’t right. I was the Dursleys, and she was Harry Potter under the staircase. We were dog sitting at our house. Gabby and Chunk, the other dog, came for a week long visit. We were willing and have a fenced back yard and an easy-to-clean house.

The dogs know their routine and can clearly communicate it. They become highly animated twice a day and go in and out of the house thinking that going in and out triggers the magic. The magic is feeding time. They go out, turn right around, return, and search the house for the food bowls. They will repeat the process until someone takes the hint. Neither dog is happy during thunderstorms. They will crawl in laps if they can or bed if you don’t stop them, crying and talking actively the entire time. I kept the dogs off the bed, off my lap, and left them outside for extended times. It was an inconsiderate way to treat family.

Three days into the week, Gabby quit going to the bathroom outside and started using the floor, sometimes multiple times a night. This is completely outside her routine. I began to examine the situation and realized that Gabby was missing the constant affection she received from my son and his wife. I took the cue and changed my behavior. The accidents immediately stopped. I had been told and heard.

Gabby is a dog, but she has a better sense of family than some humans I know. The Lord is not opposed to using anything in our environment to teach us about living and loving and being the kind of people He wants us to be. Gabby reminded me that I had become self absorbed, and she was right. The media shows us animals that example how humans should treat each other all the time, always ready to rescue, always ready to help, always ready to go the distance for someone or some creature who is hurt or hurting.

Being self absorbed is a curse. It injures all persons and creatures in its environment. It destroys any relationship with any person or thing. The weakest among us tend to suffer the injury first and worst. Gabby reminds me that I should be full of compassion because of the compassion I have received. I want to forgive as quickly and enthusiastically as I was forgiven, want to help others as faithfully as I have been helped. The Lord is the greatest example, and He isn’t embarrassed by using the lowly things in this world to teach about His higher calling. Thanks Gabby. I’ll work on being better.

High school students tend to believe they are invisible when they write essays. They don’t realize that, even in the simplest essays, they reveal themselves to the reader. I recently tagged a student who did the best she could to do the least possible for a class assignment. She laughed when I caught her. She was surprised to see that she was so readily transparent.

The teacher assigned an essay about overcoming adversity. The point was to prepare students to write for scholarships because they are seniors. The teacher knew her students and me when she assigned the task. The outcome was stunning. I was somewhat prepared because I taught students in the public school system for thirty-three years. The common outlook is that these are just kids. What kind of issues can they have. The truth is that they are fighting wars that would daunt and overcome many adults.

You might expect to see health issues, broken family issues, and peer pressure issues to name a few. You would not be prepared for the depth of the pain or the harshness of the suffering or the extent of the dilemmas. It is most important for me to see the person inside the dilemmas they face. These are precious people, children the Lord has created, people who did not choose the hand they were dealt, youth who are discovering the rules of engagement and the strategies of battle. They are young, but they are warriors. I’m very impressed with them.

I am learning to see the Lord everywhere and in everything. I am learning to listen to others and spot the Lord where they are in their lives instead of just telling them what I think or feel. I could see the Lord in these young people, in their courage, in their determination, in their hunger for something better than they were given or even knew was possible for them. They were reaching up, beyond their experience, beyond their environment to something they believed was better. All their hunger was a call of God for them to come to Him for what He wanted them to have – love and a future with Him.

I have fought and walked out of addiction to alcohol. Stopping the drink is the easiest part of the challenge. The hard challenge is facing yourself, day after day, forcing yourself to get up and fight again, against your own habits, your peers, your influences, and all the structures in your life that make it easy to fail. These young essayists had that vision, that courage, that every day determination to face and fight. The Lord has given them a hunger for success, a drive to go forward, a vision of life beyond what they have been given. He is alive in them fighting for their freedom and teaching them how to get it and maintain it.

I see the Lord in them and their testimony. I see them in their moving toward His call. I am impressed and find my heart cheering and screaming from the sidelines because I see the greatness being birthed in them. The Lord is alive and well, dwelling in the hearts of all who will hear His voice calling them out of the pain of this world and into His plan and presence.

There are movie dragons, but even more cruel and destructive are the dragons in the world around us. Lies are the heart of the dragon. The ingenious use of appearance can confound even the most discerning. The little truth which hides the bigger lie behind it becomes a shelter for the deceitful and the downfall of the gullible. Who isn’t gullible in this day and age in which deceit is wielded with such craft that even the cagy entrepreneur is taken by the white collar criminals who are finding new lies or creative ways to update old lies to make wealth seem imminent when it is really slipping from your grasp.

Public media is used as a favorite fishing (phishing) place where the deceitful angler baits his hook. “Hi. How are you? Have you heard?” is a favored Messenger refrain used by someone’s face that hides that it is not that person at all, just a hacked name on your connections list. Get rich schemes are a favorite, but don’t leave out beauty secrets, amazing health cures, weight loss, health diets, instant answers to deep and complicated issues, and spiritual cons among the long list of dragons, found and tamed just for you. All you have to do is have a want that seems beyond your reach, and some person will create a con which fits that desire, an easy, no struggle way to meet the need. There is someone out there who is willing to “take you for a ride,” as the old gangster movies offered.

“Casting off restraints” is a term indicating leaving wisdom and discipline to do things which will probably be devastating when it comes to a conclusion. We see this in the young and sometimes wonder how they live to be adults. Showing off to get acceptance creates opportunities for injuries that far outlast the moment. Peer pressure is the entry drug for all kinds of horrifying actions and addictions. It is the means that introduces the young to smoking, drinking, drugs, sex, and so much more. These things appeal to the wants and desires but don’t have the substance to fulfill. Do we get to any point in life where we, as humans, aren’t vulnerable to some kind of appeal that defies wisdom and discipline?

The real dragon is the undisciplined appetite. It is the hungry grocery shopper who fills their cart with snacks instead of healthy foods. It is the impulse buy that puts you in debt. It is the momentary mental or emotional derangement that excuses doing something which wisdom and discipline would refuse. It is the war humanity fights to find the easy way or comfort instead of the wisdom and discipline which leads to health and well being.

We, as humans, are part of and endure the dragons, but we are also dragon slayers. We are part of God’s solution for others. He has used the broken and infirm to create agencies of help like AA, MADD, and so many more. We grow through fights with the dragons of this world, through God’s grace and intervention, to become tools of healing for others. God knows how to turn a profit because He can turn the worst in us into the best someone else has ever experienced. I give my heartfelt thanks for all those saints who who allowed God to turn their hurts into healing and shared their lives with me.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts, — Shakespeare in “As You Like It”

I am a curious person. I wonder what others see when they look around. The world around me is an ocean of challenges, hardships, and possibilities. Each person responds to it individually as each is a unique creation, the only one of their kind. We are similar but unique, isolated but communal, selfish but occasionally selfless, adventurous but clinging to comfort and security. We are strange creatures filled with gifts, talents, and troubles. We live for ourselves, but our lives perform on the stage for others to see. What do we see, and what do our lives say in the grand performance of things?

I’ve heard frustrated people blame Christians and the Ten Commandments, and things like that, as the religion of “no’s” and “don’ts” and take offense. Yet, the world around them tells them “no” and has done so before the Ten Commandments were written down in concise form. Cultures around the world have been saying that stealing, adultery, and the like are wrong, long before, and ever since, the Exodus. One might be bold enough to say that it was written into creation and that all willing men can see it.

The proof is in the outcomes. What is the outcome of adultery? Good or bad? What is the outcome of theft? Good or bad? Why would someone be offended by a warning of their own impending harm? I think one answer is cruelty. The motive behind the warning might be the answer. My mother used to scold me for reading her feelings instead of listening to what she said. I think people feel the heart of the person warning them instead of the warning they offer. It could also be because people have a knack for being stubborn and unwilling to listen to an inconvenient truth until the inevitable hardship lands. I wish I had listened and obeyed my parents’ many warnings when they were fighting for my safety, and I was engaged in doing the ridiculous. One sometimes wonders how anyone outlives their youth.

The truth is right in front of us and all around us all the time. We can see in Hollywood that money, power, fame, and attractiveness aren’t any guarantee of happiness. People who win the lottery are often end up worse than they were before. We can see the price of selfishness. There is always a cost. At the very least selfishness isolates, victimizes relationships, and fails to see the benefits of loving and sharing with others. People tend to automatically sing the ballads of heroes, people who are courageous, caring, and sacrificial. That also seems to be written into the creation. They don’t create awards for the most selfish or narcissistic.

The evidence of the truth of the gospel is not in the Bible but written on the lives of all the people in the world and the creation we live in. The Bible is just the explanation for how and why it works. We can look at the sea of humanity and see that all God tells us in scripture is true and accurate, just like He said.

Reminders for health and well being.

Recently I’ve been involved in several different discussions with friends and family who were feeling overwhelmed. They had so much to do with so little time. The world is a pretty overwhelming place which is putting tremendous pressure on each person.

I ended up trying to find a short way to encourage them without adding to the sense of being overwhelmed. Here is a quick list. I know God is taking care of you and bringing you into a deeper relationship with Him. Sometimes it helps just to have a few reminders.

1. Remember who you are. Never allow all the pressures around you to cause you to lose yourself. At the end of the day, when all else is gone, you will still be with you. Make sure you can live with that. All the things you do are only a reflection or an artifact of who you are. Don’t give room to confusion. You have the power to decide who you are and what you do. God is on your side. He is growing and teaching you and won’t let go of you.

2. Remember your purpose. You have a purpose as a Christian. You were created as a one of a kind creation to benefit others as God blesses you. Keep your relationship with Jesus healthy. Don’t worry about failure. All men fail. It is not about how many times you fall, but how many times you get up. Build health and well being into your community, family first, church and work next. Be God’s workman.

3. Remember to be a good steward. God has invested in you and your life. Be the best steward of what He has given you as you can. Continue to allow God to grow His investment in you. Remember — no one is perfect. Don’t get crazy judging yourself. You are human.

4. Remember your faith. You can only do so much. God has to do the rest. You are not in control of anything except, at times, your stewardship. You are in a vast ocean of problems and possibilities. God put you there. He can keep you there and lead you into fulfilling your purpose. Learn and practice listening. God talks and communicates in people, through others, and especially in scripture.

5. Remember God’s timing. God doesn’t have the same sense of urgency you do. His plan takes on contingencies that you haven’t or couldn’t consider. God makes all things beautiful in His time, not yours. Don’t get distracted by the world around you. God is on the job and is faithful. Everything on this planet may fail, but God won’t.

Documentaries can be fierce beasts. They can portray extremely intense and long events in a short period of time. The documentary about Tarawa is an example. The documentary explains the Japanese fortifications that were built on a small atoll to the point that the Japanese believed 100,000 men could not take it. America sent over 10,000 men who took it in four days. The destruction to man and property is/was beyond description. 

The battle does not end when the guns stop firing. The battle includes the horrible scars done to the insides of the men who fought there and could never forget what they saw, and all the other horrors of the aftermath. This was just one piece of a much greater war.

Over 4,600 Japanese defenders and 978 Americans died in four days of fighting over an area of land that was less than one square mile in size. You could walk the full circumference of the island in less than four hours.

 Saying they died does not do justice to how they died, what was done to their bodies, and what was happening to the men as they killed each other or what impact the event had on those who survived. The amount of shells and powerful equipment destroyed was in like proportion. The bombing and shelling of the island was the most ever done to that point and occurred before the men reached the beach. The island and all its structures were plowed by the bombing and shelling. 

So, why bring this up? Because it is an image, a powerful image, that can be related to the damage done inside the soul of a suffering human in a battle in this war we call life. “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” John 3:12 ESV.

How big and complicated are the insides of a human? How many worlds are carried in one life if you include the thoughts, emotions, beliefs, dreams, and experiences each human has? How much territory is covered on the insides of a person when it includes even the element of time, making all times and territories covered within relevant to the current experience? Their current moment includes all their past and present, and to some degree, their hopes/plans for the future. Each person is like the Tardis from Dr. Who. They are much bigger on the inside than they are on the outside.

We have oversimplified people to the point that we can excuse our lack of compassion, our lack of love because we only see them in this moment without all the details. We have no knowledge of the horrible damage that has been done to any small atoll in the broad expanse of their life and the pain there that may be active in their actions today. We are all at war spiritually.

It may seem reasonable to excuse unforgiveness because we don’t know and possibly don’t want to know that the pain inside them may be far worse than the pain they have caused us. We do not see the war going on in them as the Lord wars against the principalities of darkness that would consume their souls. Compassion is the ability to see internal wars and be able to care for people as they fight their internal wars. Failure to have compassion and to forgive is a failure to see that the Lord is at work on that soul for its healing and redemption — even as He is at work for our soul’s benefit.

Tarawa was a pin point in a greater event. It was life changing to those involved. It was life changing beyond its small place and time. It consumed the location and the people involved, but not the whole of all things taking part. It was one place for nations and economies to be involved. How much is any part of our life worth? How much does any part of our life influence and shape the rest? We are too big to understand and too much with which to grapple.

It takes the Lord in our lives for us to begin to see in and beyond our limitations. It is the Lord in our lives who teaches us to care for others beyond the superficial things which are easy to see and not a true image of the whole person. Learning to love is hard work, a battle, a freedom, a connection to the purpose of Jesus.

My wife scanned this post and pointed out it was a little harsh. I had to agree. She is an example of getting good feedback from primary sources the Lord provides. This blog is a continuation of the “Symptoms” blog with the only difference being one of severity. The last blog might be more medicine cabinet emergency. The items here are more “call the ambulance” level symptoms.

Unforgiveness is wrong. No matter what someone has done to you, unforgiveness only adds pain and suffering. Unforgiveness harms the person who has it, not the person who may deserve punishment. Unforgiveness is a clear signal that something in the heart is broken.

Defensiveness is a clear indication that you have something that you feel the need to protect. Depending on the circumstance, this may be a signal of insecurity or fear in your life. Insecurity and fear are emotions that cry out for healing.

Anger can be one of the most brutal emotions available to humans. The newspapers are full of reports regarding rape, murder, and other horrors performed by people who have given themselves to the extremes of anger. It doesn’t always start at the extreme end. It can begin small with a slight or embarrassment and grow larger, possibly to an extreme. Anger usually portrays itself in harsh language or actions, but can also be expressed through devious manipulation and/or subversive or subtle forms of cruelty.

Bigotry, racism, and factionalism are ways humans put others into good or bad preferential treatment zones. Corrupt politicians have used this natural human tendency to create wars and every other type of division they feel they can use to their own personal advantage. It always tends to end up working both ways because the original victim of this type of treatment will respond in kind. It can injure others by keeping them away from the click of best friends or by demeaning or hurting those considered to be, in any way, less than the friends in the comfort zone. History is replete with examples about how this type of behavior works to deny God and destroy people at every level of society and between countries or cultures. The level of division is the measure of the amount of harm it will cause.

Hatred is always wrong. Disagree – yes; hatred – no. Check out Jesus and the martyrs. They disagreed, stood for what they believed, were not swayed, but did not hate. Hatred is a soul killer, killing the soul of the person hating. Disagreements don’t have to be filled with hatred.

Bitterness is a poison. Bitterness is a destroyer to the already injured person. It fails to ever have any positive effect on anyone, no matter how terrible the cause. It is like the wisteria vine that climbs the pine tree and kills it, leaving the dead top and branches to hang as decorations in the living vine which murdered it.

It is important to be alert to these symptoms because of the harm they cause to us and those around us. You may get a clue from your own thoughts or feelings. You may have to get clues from your friends, family, or the stranger on the street to signal warning for you. I’m sure any reader can come up with a much longer and thoroughly developed list than I’ve given here.

Harm is not what the Lord wants for us because He is the author of life, the victor over death. It is no surprise that the cross is the center of the Christian faith. The cross is the point in time where humanity gathered up all the worst it had to offer and poured it all over Jesus. It is also the point in time when Jesus gave us the gift of heaven through the forgiveness only God could provide by doing what only He could do.

Being a Christian is realizing that we live in a life-long war every day. Our worst and humanity’s worst constantly meet God’s best on the battlefield in our lives. “Jesus saves” is the short phrase that means that He is alive every moment of every day rescuing us from ourselves and the damage of this world. The wisest thing we can do in life is to open our lives to Jesus, let Him show the damages of sin in us and in the world, and cooperate with His plan for healing and redemption. See the signs/symptoms. Accept the truth. Turn to Jesus and get the life that overcomes death.

Don’t let the enemy sneak in the back door and have coffee in the kitchen while you’re entertaining visitors in the parlor. Carelessness can be expensive. I love the horror shows in which someone is left alone after tons of danger warnings, which they don’t follow. Then they hear a noise. Then they call out. The camera has already told us – they are not alone, and the script writer has decided that they have fullfilled their part in the movie. The only question left is how messy the final moments will be. We live in a dangerous world surrounded by warnings. 

Stressors that gather in a person’s life can become an excuse to loosen personal self-discipline and do things thought or known should not be done. We leave doors open and windows unlatched. Do we hear the spooky music in time to latch the windows and lock the doors? What are the signals that we are being careless? Life has symptoms like any kind of illness.

I can tell stress, frustration, or some other form of weakness is beginning to get to me. There are tell tale signs. Sometimes it is the little to large self indulgences that are symptoms. I’m wanting things to make me happy when things never really work that way. You can be thrilled by anticipation on Christmas eve, covered in presents on Christmas, and back to unfulfilled by Christmas afternoon or the next day. Things are stalls and symptoms. Things do not fulfill.

Guilt is a great symptom. It is a clear indication that something isn’t right inside your own heart whenever you immediately defend yourself or take offense at something another has said or done. The reaction of guilt is to attack the other instead of examining the inner working of the self. Guilt is a good symptom of some unresolved issue which should be identified and examined. Anger and other negative emotions can work the same way, as indicators of how the inner life is functioning. Guilt, anger, and other unresolved negative emotions create all kinds of horrifying outcomes, messy, and devastating. The enemy can empty the entire refrigerator and pantry in the kitchen while you put on appearances in the parlor for the public.

Many of these life indicators or symptoms are really a clear indication of the current relationship with the Lord. The symptoms become stronger the more distant someone gets from the Lord or the more impatient someone is while waiting for Him. Life symptoms become indicators that a person has grown sloppy in self discipline because they are being sloppy in discipleship.

The indicators are like a small child’s temperature and lethargy. They are the things that show the need to face the possible illness before it gets out of hand. Life symptoms are the warnings and the “tells” that let us know something is wrong or getting wrong. They are the creeking door and wind slapped window shade. They are the smells of someone cooking in the kitchen when no one should be in there.

Symptoms say it is time to be accountable and accept that something isn’t working exactly correctly inside. It is time to turn and face the Lord with all the hurts and needs, big and small. It is time to be mentored and corrected by those the Lord has given to be shepherds or under-shepherds.  It is time to draw close to the Lord and get in His presence. He came to rescue. He is available. The worst mistake we can make is believe we can or have to do it on our own.

I have been an informal life-long student of relationships. Sometimes I am truly surprised by how limited I am in understanding others. I have to be shocked into awareness because I assume too much empathy and understanding on my part. Face it, I like to think of myself as a good guy who is thoughtful instead of a limited guy who is restrained by his physical being, which is tied to a specific culture, training, and experience of being one person in one place at a time during a specific span of history. Since I know all that I know, it seems to be the whole world until I come face to face with what I don’t know or understand.

I recently had to take a couple tries at listening to an individual’s video rant. I stopped the video to stop and pray. I couldn’t hear the person or what she was saying. I asked the Lord why. The answer was that I was a communication snob and a bigot. This person lived in my community, but we were worlds apart in culture, experience, and language. I was experiencing a full collision of my limitations and another person’s life. I had to put my culture and experience aside in an effort to hear this person from her point of view.

I have held nice views about the importance of each person and the respect each person is due. God created all persons, unique, gifted, amazing with the intent that each person would benefit others. His artistry in creation was to bless, not curse. Yet, humans often isolate, separate, and denigrate others who don’t fit their world view or who do not fit in their comfort zone. I had to realize that my nice thoughts had to quit being pie-in-the-sky and come to earth in concrete reality. I am drawn to those who fit my world view and are comfortable, and tend to avoid those who don’t. I tend to surrender to the comfort of my limitations. This person in the video really challenged that, and I realized God hears and knows all people for who they are with love and respect. I need to work to be more like Him.

I put aside my culture and bias and listened to the video. I was able to see the beauty of God in this person, the validity of her concerns, the honor in the way she was struggling to overcome the issue, and the love she had for those she wanted to protect. Nice views and philosophy, partnered with God’s design and purpose equals a change in Harry. As the Bible says let him with eyes see and ears hear. The video also taught me that I need people to teach me, people to hold me accountable, and an open door to allow the Lord to speak and to allow others access to my life.

I admire missionaries all the more because they open their lives to see God wherever they go, in whomever they meet, regardless of how foreign the life or culture. They open their hearts to be vulnerable to God and others. Love can be very frightening to those, like me, who have to be shocked out of our comfort zones.

I love inspirational speakers. They always make you feel like you can do anything and do it with great success. They skillfully work on determination for weak-willed people and get-up-and-get-going for procrastinators. I fall into both categories. If the speaker is really good, he/she will do their inspiration without overworking the normal guilt response of those who aren’t determined or who do procrastinate. Inspirational leaders focus on human strengths and human abilities in the belief that right actions produce right results. In a perfect world, that might be true, but we live in a human world that is fraught with things like interdependence and deep seated levels of failure the Bible calls sin.

Stewardship is the area of life available to the inspired. We do the best we can in the best ways we know with the strongest determination we can muster in all the ways we have opportunity. At some point life brings each person to the point of recognizing that their absolute best isn’t enough. History is replete with great ones who did amazing things, far beyond their peers. History also records their failures and the problems which kept them from complete success or total respect.

Now, in our politically correct world, we are tearing down monuments to men and women who were great successes and great failures combined in an individual. Robber barons built great economic empires while being Hitleristic in the way they treated others to build their empires. They had skills to build, but not to maintain and grow in healthy ways. History proves with its continuing testimony that even the greatest among us are flawed.

How do or can humans deal with their humanity? They have to find someone or something greater to lead them. They find something greater in ideals, philosophies, or idols. Each of these are limited to human ability or insight. History also shows us that humanity has been searching with, and fighting with, their images of God throughout their time on planet earth. Gods come in all forms, religions, descriptions, philosophies, and things.

Humans have made religions related to man made objects in addition to all the non tangible things and ideas they can conceive. The first point of sorting comes down to man made and controlled or God made and only able to be controlled by God? To truly find something greater, they have to find God because only God can be greater than any human can be and greater than any or all humanity can provide and (most importantly) can communicate for Himself.

My opinion is that if man can make it or control it, it isn’t God. That creates a limitation for the inspirational speakers. They can only deal with the man side. They make errors if they inspire men to act in ways that will make God respond in a dependable way. Men controlling God by their behavior makes men god instead of God being God. Humans can be good stewards of their behavior, attitudes, and actions, but they can’t be God on their best day with their greatest skills and their hearts and attitudes as close to perfect as is possible for humans. God is beyond humanity. He is not manipulated by human behavior or attitudes.

The Bible is an amazing book. It shows humans in every state, from great to nightmarish, in connection with God. It can, to some degree, be summarized in one word, relationship. God wants and works to have relationship with mankind. He has a plan with or without man’s cooperation. The Bible shows that man is man and God is God, but there is a divine connection between the two created by and maintained by God who is the only one who can keep a relationship with humans who keep breaking it.