Praise the Lord and roll another Ciggerette

Tobacco ,this cash crop for Tennessee Farmers,has provided a living for genreations,Those who profit in Tobacco like most of us probably go to church, praise God , send their Children off to school and dream for their success and well being ..good people , great neighbors , yet this product kills , more people by far and even farther have been killed by tobacco than all the terrorism in the world ..I know that seems harsh, and it would be if I was singling out the Tabocco Industry...lets consider the Tobacco Industry as a metephor ...How many Christians do you suppose work for companies that provide similar products and services ...what is an appropriate business for a follower of Christ to be in ?
When I was in the Hotel Industry I had to choose between my Job and checking in Unmarried Adults .. Do you work in a bar or resturant that sells alcohol ? A company selling arms and munitions to Iran ( beleive it or not there are several in this country that do so ) Or to any other country ? Do you manufacture handguns , work in a Hospital where abortions are performed ? Sell Adult Magazines ? Now I am not saying you are going to hell because of any of these .. I am just asking us to consider how what we do for a living reflects our Christian Values and beliefs ...Im not sure we should have one set of beliefs on Sunday and the rest of the week ignore them.
Perhaps a question that has more punch is this . Do we Trust God and His promises to us.
If we trust God and Obey God Im pretty sure about half of us would be unemployed ..if we put God in the work place where He should be , then some of us would lose our Jobs or we would choose to leave them ...
Recently I saw some " Christian " video games , action games made by " Christian " companies who wanted an alternative to the gratioutius violence of the worldy video games ...they are really no different, the game player ( On Gods Side ) shoots , kills and destroys the minions of Satan ...lots of action , lots of gore ...no difference .
I love to read about the Civil War I even at one time had a Video Game where I could take on either the North or the South on a computer. I had a ball I replayed Gettysburg hundreds of time as the South and I always trounced the North ...in order to do it I had to sacrifice some units knowing they would be destroyed , but that gained time for my greater victory...it began to wear on me ..I began to realize my playful game had real time implications ..one day I simply refused to engage the Northern Army and interestingly enough the Northern Forces seemed to be confused ..eventualy the game ended and no Bytes of information were destroyed ...
Reminded me about that old Viet Nam anti War Slogan I used to have on my car " what if they had a war and no one showed up".
It seems to me that the Greatest Skill the Generals of both Armies had was simply getting these large bodies of men over unmapped and difficult terrain and being able to line them up and shoot and kill each other.
Now with this I am sure some one will be saying well if it wern't for the soldiers we would be all speaking German or Japanese ...
Paul Spoke Latin ....and your point is ?
So now we are back to Tobacco Farmers ...Praising the Lord in Church and selling Death in the Tocacco auctions ....I guess its all about Choice ...

Gentle and Humble ...a Sacrifice for all

I think Lori hit on a Key point with her response to my last post. Why is it that Hundreds of Thousands of people will follow the advice of a TV personality ? How is it that Television and movies seem to have so much impact on what we think and do. And Conversely why do so few people pay attention to what their Christian Neighbors , Family and Friends have to say.

Maybe we should be asking ourselves ( including myself ) what do we say ? and perhaps more important just how do we act ?

Do we act like non Christians , do we speak like non Christians ? This is a question I have started asking myself and looking at my personal walk . I am afraid I am part of the problem. I started by asking myself Just how should we act ... If we are being as the Bible says transformed in the image of Christ just what does that image look like ?

IN the Bible Jesus uses just two words to describe His personality. " I am gentle and humble in heart " . That's a good place to start.

Humble and Gentle.

Websters Dictionary Defines humble as:

Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin humilis low, humble, from humus earth; akin to Greek chthōn earth, chamai on the ground
Date:
13th century
1: not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive2: reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission 3 a: ranking low in a hierarchy or scale : insignificant, unpretentious

Consider that this is How the Son of the most High God described Himself. If anyone would have the right to be arrogant , the right to be assertive it would be the Son of God , and yet He says just the opposite . We claim to be proud after a hard days work making oyster crackers , Gods days work included the cosmos , the oceans and the bountiful life that covers the earth. I am part of Gods days work , and yet I brag over a reasonable picture of a Sunset.

Jesus was saying he was humble to us ,His people and as His people our goal is to be Christlike.

I suspect there are very few of us who would claim to be humble , humility is not a word we would readily use to describe our selves or our culture .

Just a drive down the road will revel the worlds best hamburger ( at five different locations ) the fastest car , the best phone service , the best football team, the greatest nation on the earth. This is not only the way the world acts but its the way we act as well ,,,the greatest church , the largest congregation, the best sermon. As a Churched group we routinely compare our little Worship place with others and the others usually come up short.

What would a picture of a humble Christian look like ? How do we start to learn to be humble , and why is it necessary for us to be humble ?

I think a starting place would be scriptural as well , an understanding of Servant hood. Servant hood is very closely aligned with very nature of love. After all can't we define true love as a condition when someone Else's needs become more important than your own ?

Now there is a topic ...For it seems that for most Love has now been redefined as What must I do to satisfy myself ? Its all about me , me first , my needs first , its my body. These all come from the same common root , its difficult to criticise the person choosing to abort when we are ourselves placing our needs first and the needs of others in the distant background.

Servant hood means doing for others with no anticipation or desire for reward for ourselves. There is alot to be said on this and the hour is late ... I am going to end tonight by challenging myself and any who are interested in taking a small baby step ... each day I wish to provide without benefit to myself a random act of kindness to another ...since reporting this would in a sense be a benefit I also choose to simply do it and not then seek praise for reporting it ...

Kenn

Oprahs Gospel ?????

The other day a billboard outside of a local church Caught my attention . It said ( in electric letters ) " We don;t have the same Gospel as Oprah ". At first I didn't know what that meant , I asked my wife if she knew how Oprah had hacked off the local Church and she said that Oprah has apparently hacked off many Christians with her " odd " interpretations of the Bible.

I probably should have let it go at that ..but I have been thinking about that sign for several days now and I have some concerns.

I guess my first concern is that as "Madison Avenue " advertising this just doesn't work for me , I'm not interested in what something is not ..I am far more interested in what something is. I wouldn't expect a Church to announce " we are not Muslim " , Or we are not " Buddhists " Nor do I expect a Church to advertise on behalf of others ...Oprah does pretty well , in fact its probably reasonable that More people watch her on a daily basis than have been in this particular church in a year. What I want to know is very simple I want to know what you believe and I want this to be positive and not negative.

I am reasonably certain that a clear proclamation of the Gospel will make perfect sense to those God wants to hear the message in His timing. Proclaim the Gospel of the Jesus Christ ...that's what the Bible says to do.

As for the Gospel of Oprah I also don't have a clue what that really means ...I know that Oprah doesn't have a " Gospel " I know she is a person who has beliefs and ideas and some or many of these may get under the skin of other people ...but I think all of us have those ...One of the biggest surprises for me as a new Christian was finding out that not all Christians believed that all Christians were Christian ...In fact it seems that some Christians go so far in defining what it means to be Christian that they essentially exclude anyone who doesn't agree with them as not being Christian enough for them . I believe that faith and beliefs are gifts from God .. it is through Gods grace and not our merit that He offers these gifts.

I'm not even sure that God wants all of us to have the same ideas and beliefs ..I do know that if He did we would . I also feel that while there are people who know the Bible by heart they have a hard time understanding and living the heart of the Bible. I am not bothered nor offended by Oprah nor am I threatened by her ...If I want to know what the Bible says I read the Bible and if I want to know what Oprah believes I will read and listen to what she says.His Word says that " we see but a reflection " and each of us will always see a reflection differently than another ..its a matter of angles and perception. All this to say ...Christians should proclaim the Gospel ...that's Job enough for most of us ..Just faithfully Preaching Christ and Christ Crucified.

I would myself be inclined to stay far away from a Church that measured its Preaching against a Talk show host ...but that again is just me

The Cross on the top of the steeple points to Heaven not to our neighbors transgressions ....at least that is the way I see it

Life is not always Sedimentary

I believe that life is far less sedimentary and far more metamorphic. The sum of our experience may be laid down in sedimentary layers , but something happens to this experience it is not processed in a linear fashion , instead it is compressed , jumbled , pressed , and squeezed into the person that is you and the person that is me.

I realize now that my trip to Oklahoma just as I entered my teen years was one of those layers . It must have had a profound effect on my life. when I returned home from Oklahoma without realizing it I had changed.

I have stopped at this point for over five days ...thinking , pulling threads together , realizing that I had stumbled over something fundamental , and yet I have no Idea what it is.

what happened in Oklahoma was life changing ...only it took me over 40 years to realize my life had changed.

I slipped the chains of self awareness and began to see the world in with the eyes and ears of others ...I had seen racism and Poverty , I had seen a simpler culture not yet enslaved by Television. I had become more self reliant , after all a trip downtown on the bus was not quite the same as bus trip across the USA.

But I have to say that the more I realize this was a turn point in my life I cannot find that which I turned on.

I have to leave Oklahoma ...consider some other writing subjects ...

This has helped me to know that each of us is far more complex than we appear we are not simple sediments easily interpreted layer upon layer , we are more than linear. we are compressed , torn and uplifted , we are pressed down and formed out of pressures we cannot fully explain.

After this its back to Oklahoma

I pan to get back to the "Oklahoma " thread in a few days ..but recent developments and thoughts keep forcing themselves on me in such a manner that I know I need to deal with them .

As can be expected the last few weeks centered around " Independence day " have stirred some thoughts , discussions and a few stumbling blocks.I believe it is possible to be out of balance when it comes to Patriotism and the Military. The past church we used to go to would have ( in my opinion ) these over the top patriotic services to honor the Military in our country. On services close to Memorial Day, Veterans day , Fourth of July , patriotic songs would be sung , Service men and women past and present would stand and be honored , we would pledge allegiance to the flag , and at one time we even had an alter call to America the Beautiful. This seems inappropriate and out of balance to me. I believe this Country is much more than our Military conquests. If I had my choice we should be honoring ...all those who have "sacrificed " for the country

Because I am a Pacifist I am routinely called a traitor ...This by many who have themselves never worn a uniform or sacrificed for the country. What they don't know or care to know is how much I have sacrificed and worked to make this Country better for those that will go on after me ...I was active in the Anti War Movement in the 60's , Actively worked for Civil Rights. When I was in College i was both President of the Student Body and The Editor of the Student Newspaper, As a new father and store owner in Sisters Oregon I was a Volunteer Fireman and emergency health provider for over a decade ...

Most important ...in all this I am not alone ...I don't believe that the greatness of this country can be measured only in terms of Military victories and sacrifices. My father was one of thousands of young men who hung on wispy strands of steel to dynamite the sides of the Hoover Dam, he was a high steel worker on the Golden gate bridge , and during WW 11 he worked rigging cargo in the giant cargo bays of Liberty Ships ..where he was exposed to asbestos and died an early death from Lung cancer at 59.

This country is the sum total of the farmers, and steel workers, the accountants, and teachers , the pastors and doctors , pavers and roofers...riveters and welders , truckers and food pickers , packers , and stockers.

Some of these people went home after work and watched TV , or sat in easy chairs and read their favorite books or magazines. Some came home quickly showered and grabbed a bag full of Baseball equipment and headed for the Neighborhood Baseball diamond. Some even though they were bone weary ..pushed themselves into cars and took the Neighborhood children into the wilderness , or to the camping grounds nearby.

I have also found something interesting over the years ...those who went off to war are perhaps the most ardent pacifists of all ...their pacifism comes from that same epiphany voiced by General Robert E. Lee at Fredricksburg " It is good that War is so terrible that we would not do it more often ". Veterans who I know who actually saw combat are almost to the man unwilling nor inclined to talk about their front line experiences. Conversely I find those who are most vocal when it comes to talking of Sacrifice and Honor ...may have served in the theaters of Combat , but their service was far and distant from the spilling of blood.

There are those who missed the fight and live vicariously the battles and bravery.

My former father in law was a corpsman running a LST on D day ..he took fresh young troops into the Battle and returned with Mangled bodies from each landing. He never talked about his experiences , until the 50th anniversary of Dday ...when I called him to thank him for his sacrifice...His reaction was simple and direct ...those who fought fought so that we might never need to fight again.

My best friend had two tours of Duty in Vietnam ...one where his job was defusing unexploded bombs and explosives..the second tour he worked in Graves registration ..he came under fire several times and I have heard from other of his friends that he was for a brief time a POW until he escaped .

Lee and I might be seen as a curious pair Him the Warrior and me the Pacifist ..but we have a deep and abiding appreciation for each other and what each has done in good conscience.

We also share a distrust and dissatisfaction of the leadership that has directed both of us .

Yes I believe we should honor the soldiers and warriors of our country , but I think that we should also honor the peacemakers , the workers , the teachers and all of us that form the matrix of the society we live in ...Honor does not always mean continued sacrifice , that we send more to their deaths out of fear of dishonoring those that died in service to their country is not in my opinion appropriate ...we should seek to diplomatically end hostilities whenever possible and certainly not be seeking to expand them.

As Christians we have a battle plan , one offered by Jesus Christ not just to His Disciples but to the Multitudes as well ...these words of His are not the words of a Mad man ..nor the words of a man who had no Idea where the world would be today. His words which we must at least discuss and examine are easily available in the Bible.

Matthew 5: 38-47

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

If this is what Jesus said , and if we believe that Jesus is God , and if we as Christians take our very name from this man ..then we must accept this teaching ....how do we not ?

Free Speech ?

I think that far more bad things have happened in this world because of people trying to do good things ..than bad things happening because of people knowingly doing bad things.

And when people think what they are doing is right , and they think that the reason they are doing them is a good or ( Godly ) reason it is far more difficult to take a look at what we are doing objectively.

I know that for the vast and greater part of my life I have grown up in a political and cultural environment that believes that the USA is Light , and those other Countries who disagree with us are an opposing force of darkness.

Not too long ago I was in an Christian Play ..where Judas said "I am not as black as you think I am nor are you as white as you think you are ". I think there is much to be said of that.

I certainly do not believe that this country has Evil intent ..when it comes to its politics or world view ..but we have made evil choices ...

When we list these choices we have made ..a curious thing happens ..either the list is dismissed as being too far back in the past ( Our treatment of the Native Americans for instance) Or that these are new and far more complicated times ( Our treatment of the Detainees at Guantanamo for instance ). We are list makers ...and score keepers ...ultimately we like to have our good deeds add up to outnumber our bad ones ...Lately it seems to me that in order to skew the count another curious thing is happening. There are some who feel that even the discussion about what is right and what is wrong ..is unpatriotic....

I don't understand that ...how can discussing openly our policies , our tactics and our strategies be considered un-American ? In our effort to export American Ideas , culture and government to the world we have made some mistakes ...what predictable result can we see in the future if we cease discussing our mistakes and errors ?

When I say openly and with conviction that the war in Iraq is wrong ...I am saying that as a caring citizen of this country ...I can be critical of this Countries Policies because I help shape and am a part of them .

If people do not agrree with me ...thats part of the process. I do not feel threatened or dismissed because others disagree with me. I do not think the world revolves around me ...nor do I feel the planet will slip from orbit and hurtle in the abyss of space if my thoughts and ideas do not become the standard by which millions of people will live their lives .

Heck I have enough difficulty living up to my standards on my own.

We need to be careful very careful that we not only praise " free " speech in this country , but that we allow it to be free...

Fireworks , Spider Monkeys and Christ ( just for staters )

Friday I went downtown Nashville to Photograph the Fireworks. I set up at an location I had shot from a few years ago ...and before the Fireworks began I was visited by the Police and asked to leave ..apparently they were concerned with my safety from the fallout from the Fireworks ..even though I pointed out ( nicely ) that there were several hundred people between me and the fireworks on the river ..my argument entered the logic zone and even thought the Beat policemen understood and agreed , management did not. So I was moved to an area that was closer and more hazardous for my safety.

On the way to this area I was heartened to notice that someone had taken the time and energy to clear an area close to the road where people could sit and enjoy without having broken glass under their bottom and brush up their nose.

I had no such Luxury but I did get tolerable view of the display.

When I left at the end of the Fireworks ..I was disheartened to see that the people behind me who had been able to sit in relative comfort had left the area filled with garbage , empty beer cans and broken glass.

That and the confusion about where I could or not stay , started me thinking about the Fourth of July ..Why do we celebrate ? and has the Celebration lost its meaning ?

I started to think about something Lori had pointed out to me ... a large church in our area was planning a worship service that included the largest indoor firework display in the area ... I now plan to digress ...please bear with me ...

For one thing I do not understand why a Church would choose to place a flag in the Sanctuary ...Before you send me hate mail , let me offer this ..only in the United States , and in the State allowed Christian Church of China will you find National Symbols ( flags ) in the Church.

In the not so distant past Nazi Germany also did the same ...but that is something else.

I believe that the Sanctuary is where we worship God its HIS house and He is not bound by any one state or nation. In His house we can give thanks for His blessings and that certainly may include the blessing of our Nation ...but it is HIS house. The United States Government has rules about this sort of thing ...the rules for the display of the flag allow for a Church to not display it at all ..its not required to fly the flag in the sanctuary ...but if you do ..it has to be more prominent than any other Emblem ( not just another flag ) such as the Christian Flag.

So I wonder if its questionable having a flag in the sanctuary ...then what about a worship Service and fireworks ?

does this seem kinda out of place ? perhaps an inappropriate use of Gods House ...after all remember why God didn't allow David to build the Temple ?

And this ongoing discussion in my mind brings me to today's Worship Service in our new Church. Which was wonderful By the way. We discussed spider monkeys because they have an interesting habit that makes it easy for them to be captured ...they are stubborn and greedy. The trappers hollow out a large gourd and leave a hole just large enough for the Monkey to place his hand in , then the trapper places a piece of fruit or candy in the gourd. The Monkey investigates the gourd sticks its hand in grasps the prize but finds that when the gift is grasped he cannot remove his hand He is stuck and the trapper can easily capture the monkey. Obviously for the monkey to have his freedom all he has to do is drop the fruit and remove the hand and scamper off ..but the monkey will have nothing of that.

The point was made in church ...what is our fruit , what is our piece of candy that we hold so tightly to it we miss the freedom of Christ ? Some obvious answers would be our money , our cars , our toys , our addictions ...but what about some of the things we almost hold sacred , like our flags , our patriotism , our weapons of mass destruction ?

When I discussed the flag issue with my former pastor I was told that Romans 9 gives the scriptural foundation for this practice ...

Does it ? Romans of course was written by Paul a Roman Citizen imprisoned in Rome. Does this mean that the Gentile Believers the Persecuted Church in Rome brought Roman Standards into the Caves and worship places with them ..did they begin their Worship with a Hail Cesar ?

There is nothing wrong with Celebrating the 4th of July ...especially if you pick up your trash. But doesn't it make sense to worship God in House house and leave the fireworks to the parks and river banks and lakes ?

This has led me to a curious paradox that I wish to address in the next blog ..

Kenn

" hard" times in Oklahoma

The first few weeks in Oklahoma in the summer of 1960 , were weeks of adjustment...after the first days of realizing that we ( me and the cousins ) were linked by some sort of family bond , that included a unwritten code of being nice to each other ...we started the " testing" period.This means that we started to size each other up ...when it came to all things academic I easily had the upper hand. But in the important summer categories of farming, wrestling, colorful speech, and overall physical endurance I was a distant last. The rest of the summer was a chess match ( or checkers) where each of us tried to find the best and easiest way to excel. It was a classic battle the city kid vs the country kids. When it was all over I'm not sure who won , I do know I left with a much greater appreciation of their life and lifestyle.

Looking back I realize that those summer days were filled with creative play, with participating not observing ..none of my relatives had TV's , and they didn't feel bad about not having them ...The most important news was discussed in the barber shop and the town store. The best entertainment was on the front porch every evening as guitars and banjo's and harmonicas were paraded out. WSM radio and the Grand ole Opry was a popular diversion ..but it usually turned into a sing along. Gospel and Country music were the standards. Sweet Iced tea was the evening staple and on special nights we would have lemonade , and fresh made Ice Cream..with the smell of the rock salt and vanilla hanging heavy in the air.

The Baby boomer generation on the porch , seemed to live each moment to its utmost , there was very little talk of the future , of plans for work or school , if there were plans it was for where to go fishing in the morning.

There was much less fear in the Countryside...Where I lived we were practicing Air Raid drills and being warned about the communist Menace ... In Oklahoma people kept watch on the weather and worried about the rainfall.

Looking back I realize ( Much latter ) that this is what I missed the most after leaving Oklahoman and returning to Oregon...I missed living each moment , I missed not living each day in fear of being separated from my family if the Bomb was dropped...None of the circumstances of life in the 1960's were different , but in Oklahoma we didn't hear a constant drumbeat of fear from the televisions and news ... The enemies they faced in Oklahoma were tangible , tornado, hail , drought even poverty . But these dangers came with a deep abiding faith and an understanding of a word that we seem to have lost from our modern day vocabulary. Providence. There was no courting of entitlements in the hill country of Oklahoma , living with Tornado's taught you that " there but for the grace of God " ..when good fortune fell on some it was shared and when misfortune fell it was likewise shared. There was a strong sense of family and community ...Yes it was a hard time

Bound to be some trouble

Looks like I have some catching up to do ...first of all I have been really busy uploading photos to a Nashville Book Project called " capture Music City " You and investigate if you want at " Capturemusiccity.com ) and you are certainly welcome to vote on some of my submissions ..some of you already have and thank you !

Tomorrow I plan to return to my stay in Oklahoma and Ken the early years ...today just a few snippets to catch me up.

I was very sad to hear that George Carlin passed away, I didn't always agree with his verbiage but I was always impressed with his passion and comedy.

Lori and I have decided to make the Smyrna Assembly our new Church home now we have to break the bad news to them ..( I am the bad news )

I have been really on the fence about the upcoming presidential election ...again seems like a choice between Spam and Liver and onions ...like when will we ever get Sushi on the menu ?

By that I mean it seems that if we lived in a city where we only had two resturants and both resturants only served Spam and Liver and onions we would find a new place to live or open a new resturant. Yet that is how it seems every election year. I usually choose the candidate I plan to support not by their Merits but by the groups and people who line up against them.

Anyway I had thought of a good reason to vote for McCain. But then when I saw that Both Dr Dobson and the NRA are coming out against Obama I think I'm Choosing Obama.

Dobson said Obama has faulty interpretation of the Bible ...respectively I would like to mention to Mr Dobson , that when Jesus said " Love your enemies " I don't think he meant for us to kill them. I find it very hard to understand the " Christian Right " not just because they are so wrong , but because they have so " honestly " driven the Christian Faith into the political arena .

I say honestly because it is my hope and prayer that this is not a malicious act on their part , that they are seeking to do good, but if they are seeking to do Gods will for the world , then I think they should spend more time in the Bible and less time in politics. That Evengelicals are so passionaltly for the war in Iraq , ( and it seems will support the upcomming war in Iran ) is a sad commentary on how little they actually read the Bible. Bottom line Christians are not supposed to be using the weapons of this world. we are to be a light to a world that is oppressed by war and selfishness , and show that there is a better way a way that Jesus Preached to promote peace.

As for the NRA ...imagine my surprise ...a large group of middle aged white guys who love guns ..are against Obama ....go figure. I find its easier to get a vicious argument from " Christians " about Gun Control than it is to get a disscussion about sharing your wealth with others less fortunate ... Im not sure why we have such a love for guns in this country but it does seem to border on Idol worship

Lori and I saw Wall E and loved it ....gets a huge thumbs up from both of us.

Kenn