The recent deluge of storms in southeast America have had profound effects, killing far more than we would expect, destroying homes and property, and wiping out infrastructure that is creating its own injuries and harm. The focus is often on the horror and harm. Discussions revolve around the problems, possible solutions, and timelines for healing the wounds, but I wish to consider another aspect of this time.

Seemingly out of nowhere people arise to help and heal. People of every religious and non religious backgrounds are suddenly mobilized to help others. People without power and water in their own homes become part of the brigade for others in hard or harder hit areas. People who work for power companies all over the country go from working a job to a missionary zeal to rescue and rebuild. People unable to assist themselves offer what they can in money, encouragement, and prayer for those who can put hands to the task. An army arises from every corner and circumstance to create hope and help. Amazing! Stunning!

Despite this great service, the human tendency is to see it from a labeling and self serving perspective. It sees all its own kind that have risen to the challenge instead of the whole of the event. It discounts others of a different type and may even use disparaging terms and phrases like, “Good works don’t . . . ” and forget the General who called the masses to work, regardless of their background and knowledge. It is easy to forget that the Author of creation values the ones who hear the call and respond. The Creator is the head warrior against evil and destruction, and it is His values and His personhood that calls across creation to rise and follow.

We are the created. Our goal is not just to listen, but to hear, not to just look, but to see. He is the one who puts “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” in the hearts of men because it is His character. These characteristics in humanity, any humanity – regardless of the label given them – is a reflection of the Creator’s influence or presence in our world. These qualities don’t exist without Him. We have a choice to focus on the creator instead of the created, the influencer instead of the influenced. All benefits come from the love of God whether people hear or see or not. The greatest joy comes to those who engage in Him and let Him install His character within them. It is important that we express thankfulness to those who hear and respond, and go to thanksgiving and beyond to the One who inspires people to be more and better.

A teacher recently confided her awareness that students were excited by the current series of storms. They were hoping to get out of school and lit up by the excitement. The horrors and potential damage did not appear to enter their thinking. The older see the damage to home, property, life and limb. We count the cost when the young see the thrill. We older were once there and may yet have areas where thinking and emotions haven’t caught up to maturity.

Storms build maturity. They force people to face that which is beyond their control and require them to show the true quality of their hearts. Some will rise up in helpfulness, extending themselves to sometimes extravagant levels to provide hope and help to others. Some go into survival mode, working their way through the challenge, some others may actually go into victim/blame/self-pity mode making their situation tough and tougher for those around them. Each person is given a chance and choice in the challenge to see who they are, how they operate, and assess the possibility of staying the same or growing forward. Challenges are the bullies that push people off of the fence and make them commit to grow or no grow.

Challenges can be as small as a discomfort or inconvenience to as large as a violent storm or other catastrophic event. Sometimes the continuous small challenges are really preparation for the bigger challenges that always come. It is not good to put off the small challenges thinking that saving up for the big challenge is a good idea. Practice and rehearsal are always necessary for a good performance. Failure in the small can often lead to failure in the large. All challenges prepare people for the next things on their personal timelines. All can push toward positive growth as an individual, quality person. Each choice makes a difference in what comes next. Each decision creates the future that is waiting for your arrival.

Storms introduce humility. The most powerful person on planet is not in control of the planet or all the circumstances within which he/she stands. We live in the illusion of power without the substance of it. We influence, but don’t control. Weather proves human need for humility, the realization of the greater that is more than any and all of us. God is greater. Humility allows us to see Him and realize His truth for our lives. Humility makes an individual teachable and provides a conduit for personal growth, development, and relationship. God may not want the storms to hurt us, but He can certainly use the storms to grow us. He is able to turn anything, good or bad into something of great value and benefit. The storm may not be good, but God is.

Mysteries are often lying around, all over the place, waiting to be discovered and understood. Mysteries, to my mind are real and true, not inventions of human imagination. The marvelous creatures being discovered on Facebook are stories, not mysteries, unless you want to consider the story tellers motivations. I love the one of the shark leaping out of the water after the man on the helicopter ladder.

Lightening and electricity were mysteries until they came to someone’s notice and began to be revealed in understanding. I wonder how the few who realized the mystery and undertook understanding were elected for the job. Everyone was affected, but only a few saw the mystery and accepted the challenge of discovery.

Faith is like that, lying around waiting for discovery and to challenge the believer. It affects everyone, and everyone finds a way to express faith or things to believe. The questions is “why” faith: because all men worship something? because of the desire for faith to support our point of view, or because faith has discovered the greater who has the wisdom and power to correct and change – overcome the limitations of man, humanity, and world? There is always faith, even to trust that a chair won’t collapse under you. Faith is everywhere like fall leaves on the ground or spring leaves on the trees. The why is the challenge, truth of the one who creates lightening or less, the impact and control of lightening by men.

I had a student who was a professing Wiccan. I was stunned because he was such a sharpe person, so I asked him why he worshiped the creation instead of the creator. He laughed because he was doing it to aggravate someone who was an authority in his life. We prayed together to the creator. Faith can have nefarious purposes and is determined by the believer.

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.