Tradition

The word “tradition” brings to my thoughts people performing archaic rituals in dusty settings. Being a creature of modern times, I tend not to give old traditions their due; I tend to find many new traditions fascinating and older ones comparatively dull because of their familiarity.

Is tradition obsolete? Modern life is full of tradition. People hatch new traditions daily. Consider one example, the line of electronics fans that assembles at the “Apple Store” long before doors open to introduce a new product. I can affirm that this is a tradition because I see it happen over and over.

The habit of assigning importance to tradition therefore is not out of date. If tradition has importance, should we modern beings not consider the value of the old ones along with the new?

The tradition that has come to have first importance to me is, the tradition of believing in a God who created me and saved me from paying for my sin with an eternity of separation from Him. Belief in this tradition has saved me from feeling desperate many times, and will do so again.

When I see the way that desperate people live and die and inflict harm on other people in the process, as in the Newtown school shooting, I feel very sad that many in America would curtain from public view the tradition of belief in a Savior God who keeps feelings of desperation from swallowing me. If the tradition of Jesus Christ heartened  a few desperate people, wouldn’t it be worth the irritation it caused some others?

More deeply than I believe in the superiority of the MacBook computer on which I record these thoughts, I believe in the supreme compassion of the God who stooped to make His Son Jesus Christ a man and bring an end to the sin that can give birth to desperation.

I pray that the people who strive to hide news of Christ behind a curtain, while pushing forward news of new digital products, will reconsider. Shouldn’t digital miracles and spiritual ones both be freely available to Americans? As much as I love my MacBook, I don’t know of any lives it has saved. I know many lives that have been saved and renewed by Jesus Christ. I say, let people freely choose among traditions. I think that’s the American way.

What is it to be disabled?

What is it to be disabled?

Is there a difference between a disabled person, and a person who has a disability?

A person who has a disability is a person who has gained the ability to support other people with increased interest and compassion, along with the ability to accept support graciously from others. 

On the other hand, a disabled person is one who can neither support other people nor willingly accept support from others.

I had an aunt who in her old age was constrained by rheumatoid arthritis from doing much of anything when she had a flare-up. Yet she unfailingly took an interest in members of our family and stayed involved with us. 

We occasionally received little notes, gifts and clippings in the mail from Aunt Dorothy, and when we visited her she would always be making a gift for someone. She always treated you as the most important and brilliant person she knew.

In addition, Aunt Dorothy accepted support from others with grace. Her younger brother took care of her housekeeping and provided companionship. He was loving and faithful and she was happy and grateful. She had a collection of lifelong friends, young and old, near and far, who also took an interest in her.

Aunt Dorothy got out and enjoyed the sunshine with us when she could, and when she could not get out she brought sunshine to us in other ways. 

Aunt Dorothy was "out of commission" physically much of the time, but she was not disabled. 

Aunt Dorothy showed me that a person may choose between becoming disabled, or becoming a person with a disability. May I remember this as age and circumstances limit me. As impairments arrive, may I be a person who has them, and not a person who is them.

Man Overboard?

Biblically literate Christians can have a seething gripe against other Christians, and yet quickly side-step Christ's instruction "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” (Mt. 18:15)

The gut impulse to attack or flee seems to summarily overrule obeying Christ’s command or heeding the principle it teaches.

“We’re talking about a business matter; not a sin” we argue. Then follows a decision to punish, retaliate or quit, without giving the offender an opportunity of input.

There is wisdom in hearing the private response of the one who has given offense. Failing to grant the opportunity of response is to throw away a learning opportunity for both sides.

The sooner Christians take heed and steer the boat the way Jesus instructs, or according to the principles he illustrates in His commands, the sooner our ship will arrive at the destination he intends - with no crew members thrown overboard.

The Affordable Care Act - Our New “Spruce Goose?”

In World War Two enemy submarines were sending thousands of ships to the bottom of the ocean - ships carrying people, food, medicines, materials, and weapons that the Allied Nations needed to survive and prevail.

Of American merchantmen, we lost 2742 ships in 6 years.

America wondered, “Is there a way to cut these losses and deliver more necessities to embattled people and troops?”

A brilliant man named Howard Hughes decided to try building a huge plane, a "flying boat", to carry fighting men, weapons and supplies above the oceans that the submarines ruled.  He and Henry J. Kaiser got a government contract to develop it. Hughes, a multi-talented aircraft designer and flyer, and Kaiser, an exceedingly successful industrialist, were among the best brains America had.

Hughes called the plane the H-4, but it became better known as the "Spruce Goose" because it was built of wood - metal being too scarce in wartime.You can view it online.

The Spruce Goose was brilliantly conceived and built by the finest American craftsmen in wood - furniture makers from Grand Rapids, Michigan, among them.

I have seen the Spruce Goose. My family and I saw the huge flying boat when it rested at Long Beach, CA (it now resides at McMinnville, OR).  It is grand, graceful, and beautifully put together. It made me wish that I had a heaven-sized house in which to put this wonderful piece of "flying" furniture.

I say "flying," but in fact the Spruce Goose never really flew.  It flew once, in 1947, for just over one mile at an altitude of seventy feet for one minute. It was later taken to McMinnville on a barge. It never carried a payload.

Inadequate power was the limitation. The most powerful engines of the day lacked the energy to get it above 70 feet.

This government financed wonder - and it is a wonder - got 70 feet in the air and flew one mile. How many "Spruce Geese" has our government created since!

Will our nation have the horsepower to lift our expanding portfolio of social improvement schemes off the ground and keep them flying? Hughes proved it's not enough to be brilliant, served by the best craftsmen, and have federal government backing.

Like the developers of the Spruce Goose, do we lack the essential power to lift our government’s new social programs and keep them flying?

I am thinking of our grandest political scheme of recent years: the Affordable Care Act, which the Supreme Court affirmed yesterday.

Here's my question: In the Affordable Care Act, will we Americans have a brilliant and valuable new resource that satisfies our health care needs - or only a huge piece of furniture that rises to seventy feet for a minute and then plops down and becomes a museum piece?

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For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ (Luke 14:28-30 ESV)

The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them. (Author Unknown)

Catch and release

Landing a glistening trout arouses conflicting emotions in me. Should I catch and release, or catch and eat? My decision is easy when I fish with guide Tom Baltz in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Even on streams where I could legally bag trout and take them home, he won’t go along with it.  When I fish with Tom, it’s catch and release – period!

Actually, with Tom there’s a third alternative – catch and cultivate. Tom not only returns fish to the stream, but he cultivates streams so trout can live long, healthy, and happy lives. Among other things, Tom and others of the local Trout Unlimited chapter check water quality, clear fallen trees and debris from streams, and maintain the adjacent habitat.

Is there a spiritual parallel to piscatorial catch and release?

As a person called by Christ to make the gospel known, should I aim only to catch and release people?

I mean, push a Christian book or pamphlet at them and let it go at that?

Or is it enough to walk away after telling them: “God so loved the world that he gave us his only son, and promised that whoever believes in him shall have everlasting life.”

I think it's better to support words with actions. I mean, become a better friend and give people an opportunity to see if the gospel is real in my life and the lives of my friends.

I don’t know Tom’s religious convictions, but he and Trout Unlimited are motivating me not only by their friendliness, but also by the way they carefully and consistently care for their fish and their streams. May I be similarly devoted to the people around me.

Why do migrating salmon strike fishing flies?

My father, an avid fly fisherman, told me Atlantic Salmon do not feed when they return to fresh water from the sea. I asked, "Then why do they strike a fly?"

My Dad shrugged and replied, "A lot of people think the fish are angry at the fly intruding on them; others think they strike instinctively out of habit formed at sea when they were eating."

Perhaps today's office-seeking American politicians should ponder the fate of many salmon who strike fishing flies: striking out of anger or habit (or an exaggerated sense of self-importance) can get you caught, cooked, and eaten.

In salmon, the fundamental need to get upriver and spawn can be thwarted by indulging piqué. Isn't the same true of presidential election politics?