Growing up, and even sometimes later, was difficult because there was always someone to report your wrong doing. Germany found a way of turning its people against each other. Telling on others increased personal safety or provided desired approval without having to be a better person. Somehow it can be satisfying and boost self esteem to find others faults without accepting or becoming accountable for your own.

Where is the group who says, “Let’s do better,” because they realize they are part of the short coming that must be identified? Where are the ones who live so much better that their examples make the failing deliberate their choices and learn to desire better? Where are the voices of compassion who understand the reasons people make the wrong choices and move to assist them to find a better way or a way out of harmful ways?

Are the doom prophets desiring punishment like Jonah or rescue like Jeremiah? I trace my motives for blaming and shaming others, and I am blamed and shamed by my attitude. My pointed finger aims in the direction I need to serve, not accuse. The pointed finger identifies prayer needs and a desire for God’s rescue for the hurt and hurtful, like me. I am never isolated from those who I feel are doing wrong because I am a part of them as they are of me. Honesty would demand that I recognize that I seek with or for, and not against. The one who works to destroy them and lead them in wrong ways is my enemy too.

Cruelty grows where joy and justice are absent. Ghandi seemed to believe that finding fault was a call to serve, and to serve in a way that was unlike the wrong he perceived, but better. Ghandi may not have been Christian, but his example is worthy of note. We should fight like the Americans in WWII because the Germans would travel to the American sector to be captured because of the way they treated captured enemies. Japanese were shocked that they were not treated by Americans in the same way they treated others. Becoming better than your enemies and an example for the broken is far more difficult than pointing out their faults and failings. I’ve a lot of work to do.

One of the dangers of writing a blog, especially if it has a faith theme, is that people might consider the writer an expert. Sometimes the writer might get an over inflated opinion of his own opinion.

I am a student, not a graduate expert. I am learning and don’t have the last word. I know what I’ve read and experienced, but can’t feel that gives me any authority in another’s life.

I watched John Rich’s conversation with Jordan Peterson on a podcast. I thought Rich did an excellent job. He stuck very closely to scripture and didn’t venture off with his own translation of truth. He represented himself as subject to the Bible and not its enforcer or final authority. I found it very encouraging.

My OPINION is that you can measure the maturity of a minister or ministry according to how much time he/it spends promoting Jesus versus how much time it spends promoting his/herself, a derived point of view, or the ministry they represent. The question becomes, “Where is the focus?” It is kind of like the detective shows saying, “Follow the money and the power.”

Charismatic people can seem very believable, even though what they say may not be accurate or completely true. The most dangerous lie (in my opinion) is the one that is partly true. I read in a social sciences book that people tend to credit others according to their appearance. Handsome or beautiful people are often credited with being better than homely or ugly people as a human tendency. (That is a flimsy reference without title, author, and page number.)

It is a painful discipline in my life to force myself to search for truth instead of following the waves of emotional comfort that don’t require any truth or effort. I’m not the only one. I’ve spoken to atheists who have given the best description of divine creation that I’ve ever heard while insisting it was all random. It is dangerous to be reckless and lazy when seeking the truth!

I hope that anyone who reads my blog will feel free to disagree with me. Each person is responsible for their own soul. They will not be able to blame their beliefs on anyone else because others are just an influence. The individual has to choose to agree or not. Our lives and eternal lives depend on the choices we make as individuals, not the groups we join or the blogs we follow. Please be careful with yourselves. You are precious.

I believe friendship to be one of the most critical needs for health and well being. It looks in love and forgiveness to his fellow with a view of truth, compassion, understanding, and care in ways that are both brutally honest and totally generous that would seem impossible and contradictory between two people. A deep to deep friendship is amazing. It is like the foxhole friends of war. This relationship can overcome all odds or racism, religion, culture, or any other adversity which would normally destroy a relationship. It is an unmeasurable power of life.

Anyone who has had a foxhole friend, in or out of war, can attest to its ability to be honest to a fault and completely forgiving simultaneously. The friend can see the anger of his friend, the justice of his efforts, the wrath of his enemies, and the survival processes at once with a more than fair prediction of outcomes and ongoing goals, even though they have to be described one feature at a time for the understanding of others. Friendship is a highly complex reality worthy of all the work it may take to create it, have it, walk in it, and establish it for a lifetime.

I am currently reading Isaiah. He must have been this type of friend toward God. The entire book gives a comprehensive image of a complicated God who has a complicated relationship with mankind. There are descriptions of anger, frustration, discipline, love, compassion, promises and so much more that defy anyone’s ability to oversimplify a powerful, multifaceted relationship between God and a being God created and loves. Isaiah saw the complexity of that which was understandable and that which was beyond understanding at the same time and did not consider it a hinderance to deep relationship. I may not understand God, but I can see why He would have picked someone like Isaiah to be a prophet.

I watched a debate between a Christian and atheist. The atheist position was that reason was the source of reality. The Christian stance was faith as the source. Both positions gave me cause for pause.

I don’t understand the atheist position because typically their stance is that all is created by random connections coalescing into a coherent reality. Coherent and reason both defy random. I don’t understand how the atheists wed the two into a mutually supportive ideology.

The Christian talked about faith as though it is unprovable, but possibly only in the context of the statements about “reason.” I feel faith is perfectly provable as it always leaves a trail, like the dinosaurs left their bones and archeologists prove all that we’ve never seen by what it has left in its wake. Detectives prove unseen facts by verifiable residues left at crime scenes.

Faith is verifiable because our culture and life have been created by it. People believed, so they pursued, then they found and established. The theorists believed that an atom could be split and a bomb could be made. Their faith was proved as they pursued and manifested the truth of the belief. All discoveries, even the flat world/round world, and all scientific discoveries, all started in faith before being proved by outcomes or artifacts. Much of the entire debate about evolution, for or against, is still in faith form with both sides assembling facts and knowledge available at this stage of discovery by their faith viewpoint or focus.

Why is faith treated like it is the residence of fools when it is the moving factor in all historical, cultural, and scientific moves from our deepest past, to now, and into our next step in life. People go forward and pursue possibilities because they have faith they exist.

The debate made me wonder if we are reasoning or rationalizing, reasoning to understand facts and truth or rationalizing to defend or establish a preferred viewpoint. The Pharisees and Sadducees knew the truth of the church and were confident that Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah. Yet, there He was, right in front of them, doing what the Messiah was supposed to do according to their own prophecies and faith. Humans are confusing. It is easier to have faith in God.

I really wish I could speak to my dad this Father’s Day. He died in 1985, and I still miss him. I actually miss him more now than when he was alive because now I understand more about what he was doing and trying to do. I understand what sacrifices he made for me when I was rebelling against his wisdom.

I’m not trying to say dad was perfect, but he was committed to being a good dad. He did all the normal stuff like working, being faithful to mom, trying to serve in the church and community. It was all the personal stuff I fought with. He didn’t want me to have candy before dinner and ruin my appetite for the meal. He wanted me to listen to teachers and do well in school. He wanted me to clean up after myself and do chores for the family. All that was irritating because it wasn’t what I wanted to do.

Later, of course, I found out that serving as part of a family was important and provided life satisfaction that running around in the woods and blowing up minnows with cherry bombs couldn’t. Good grades and school success was far more important than socializing with empty friendships that were more focused on the choice of ignorance. Dad was always frustratingly right, and I wish he was here to be right again. His scolding is more important to me now than the flattery of others. He was working to make my life worthwhile to others and meaningful to me. I miss him terribly.

One lesson dad taught me was that I have a Heavenly Father who will continue working on me in my dad’s absence. I see now that I’m still trying to get past immaturity. I wake up some days and realize that I’m treating God the same way I treated my dad. Apparently immaturity doesn’t get treated and overcome in one good blast. It takes a lifetime of work. I’m glad for my dad, and I miss him. I’m glad for a Heavenly Father, and I’m still in training. I will do my best to honor and give thanks to both this Father’s Day.

Wealth is not bad in itself. However, the gain-of or holding-onto wealth or maintaining wealth can create horrible problems in life. It can destroy relationships, hinder relationships, break relationships. it could cause us to downgrade others so that we do not build relationship. It can cause us to be preoccupied with things in our lives the things that we can buy or have instead of others who need us. It could cause us to become preoccupied with our pleasures.

Desires and preoccupations can destroy healthy priorities and perspectives. We see it all around us. I’ve met people in the business world who are all about power and money. I’ve seen great programs in school systems removed or degraded due to politics, money, or some kind of favoritism. We’ve all experienced it in the workplace because sacrificing to do the right thing or the best thing is uncomfortable and uncommon. Putting others first is not the natural thing to do.

Love always puts others first. It is an honor to see the gifts and talents of others and promote them instead of competing or trying to come out ahead of others. I have spent a fair amount of time being jealous of the many I see as more gifted than I am. That jealousy created grief in me as I felt bad about myself and frustrated with them. Slowly I’ve begun to learn better. The giftedness of others is a gift from God. To refuse it is to refuse Him to some degree. To accept it is to allow God to bless you through the gifts of others.

I began to show this knowledge in my classroom. I began to appreciate and show the students their gifts and abilities. It didn’t matter if I felt inadequate. It mattered that they were doing something original, creative, or manifesting some other praiseworthy value. The odd thing was that they began to give me credit for being better than I was. Suddenly I was heroic when I had done nothing but show them that God had not made a mistake creating them through their own show of talent.

My feelings of inadequacy diminished as I realized I had a talent to see and reflect to others the beauty God had created in them. The gifts of God build up and do not tear down. They strengthen and not weaken. JK Rowling was correct in her Harry Potter series when she indicated that love was more powerful than all mankind’s gifts and powers. We have the most extreme example of love in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He proved the love of God and proved that through His love, we had value, great value.

Trusting is an odd word. It sounds so good when you say it or hear it, “I trust you.” The word has a kind of reliability built in it that makes it like a concrete platform that you can stand on with confidence. There are two issues with trust. You must have discernment and wisdom to choose the right thing to trust, and you, yourself, must develop the reliability to become trustworthy. The word is great and sounds great, but the two issues can destroy or make it worthless.

People who trust alcohol to make them feel better or be better are working on shattering the word into destructive shards. Some can enjoy drink without it becoming troublesome, but those who can’t find it to be a most powerful destruction to lives, relationships, careers, and more. People can be blessing or curse to the word depending on the individual. Wealth is one of those easily trusted items that can corrupt or kill the person trusting it if they aren’t careful.

People make mistakes when they put their trust in things. Wealth is or isn’t terrible based on the person who has it or doesn’t have it. Poverty is the same, bearing the qualities of the person in that state. Trust requires thought and inner awareness. Research a doctor to see who is quality is a reasonable activity. Searching yourself to find the motivation for your trust choices is equally important.

There are measuring standards that can be used to evaluate quality and trustworthiness. Does the decision to trust create the outcomes of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and the like, or do the outcomes create anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envies, selfish designs and the like. People who choose not to believe in God will find that His way works because it is built into the life He created, whether you credit Him or not. It is always best to choose Jesus and let Him teach you personally about what works and what doesn’t, what is worth having and what should be avoided. Jesus rescues all who would be rescued and provides the training that makes life worth living. He is trustworthy.

A common knowledge truth is that “Any thing that is free is worth what you pay for it.” I can’t even number the times I’ve tried to go the easy way and found that it wasn’t easy at all, often more costly to get far less or nothing I was hoping to get. I’m not alone. Scammers know it is human nature to want something without effort or a bargain that costs little and gains much. They bait their hooks with easy wins, massive increases to finances, instant success in every venue, health fixes and anything else your heart desires without the pressure of working for it. The easy way always costs more and gains less. Scammers bilk the American public of billions every year. We know. We just don’t do.

We even resist being reminded or pushed in the right direction. It is almost like we feel, “Don’t bother me,” when we are in the take-the-easy road mode. One of the issues of faith is that God “bothers” us. He wants to interrupt our bad behaviors and bad attitudes to push us in the right direction toward discipline, responsibility, and accountability. It is embarrassing when I find myself resisting doing the best when I know it is right because I prefer easy, which never is. He has a better plan. My plan is to try to spend more time in agreement with His plan because His outcomes are always better and worth having. His plan is always worth the effort because His grace provides more than we deserve. His hard work is really the “easy” way out.

I had a friend who created cheat sheets for difficult school tests. He could include a chapter or more of science information on a three by five card. He had to use every space on the card, even writing around the edges. He knew the information by the time he figured out how to visually put the information on the card and studied it on the way to school. He never used the cheat sheet on the test because it was his study technique to master the information. He didn’t need to cheat. Others did cheat, got caught, lost their credit and credibility. Those who didn’t get caught were caught short in other ways because they never learned the information and built a habit that would fail them in life.

I recently met a young woman who was hooked up to an IV, which happens every week for her. She indicated she had considered another round of chemo, but the cancer was in her lungs and liver and would probably be a waste of effort. Her primary goal was to live to her children’s next birthdays, one was nine and the other six. The woman could not have been older than early thirties and weighed under one hundred pounds. She was a most thoughtful and cheerful person despite her situation and put all at ease around her as she was not preoccupied with her life issues. She was interested in the lives and well-being of others.

I was awed by her courage and faith. She knew the Lord could heal her at any moment and prayed for Him to do so, but she accepted whatever God had in store for her without having to understand. She reminded me of the corpsmen on the Pacific islands during WWII. The medics ran or crawled to the wounded, exposed themselves in open sight of the enemy, without fighting back, to help and rescue a downed soldier. They were battlefield heroes to the other soldiers who would then run to medic’s aide when they were wounded helping another. People who willingly lay down their lives for others provide a most powerful example of love. This young woman put her life aside to care for others despite her imminent death.

I met her after her courage had achieved heroic proportions, but I can’t imagine that she started there. I believe she started with little sacrifices, building a lifestyle of caring for others, until she became the fortress of faith I met. I met the end result of many smaller miracles and choices that took place over time. I wonder how many falls and get-ups were required while she became strong and consistent in her courage. How many disappointments had to be overcome with encouragement before she spoke encouragement as a native language? If patience comes through adversity then her patience was proof of the adversities she has faced.

I believe the young woman earned my respect in at least two ways. First, the size of the obstacle she faced was monumental. It was far larger than I could imagine facing, especially with the grace and strength she displayed. Secondly, The long hard work it must have taken to build the consistency and reliability she expressed. She is a many layered example of the work and look of love, hard fought and hard won, built into a life by caring for others. She was an amazing example of what loving can look like when hard work and determination operate the process of loving over time.