Category Archives: Perspective

Two for One. (A Response to the RFRA)

I work, play, and worship in North Eastern Indiana.  While I officially live just over the border in Ohio, I think it is fair to say that the majority of my time awake is spent in Indiana.  I am familiar with the twists and turns of many Indiana backroads and I have marveled at the beauty of Hoosier lakes and forests.  I feel a connection with the state, and while my Buckeye pride celebrates when Ohio is successful, I wish Indiana and all of its inhabitants well.

I listen to the news constantly when driving.  So I have heard all about the bill recently passed in Indiana that is causing such an uproar.  The ‘Religious Freedom Restoration Act’ (RFRA) has brought the humble state of Indiana to the world stage.  Hearing about the bill on national and international news is surreal and hearing the tumultuous reaction to the new law is discouraging.  It seems that RFRA is so controversial that it has brought a D.C. sized firestorm to the very doorstep of a state I love.  Companies and organizations are running to both sides of a line drawn in the sand, willing and eager to do economic battle in the interest of winning the fight.

I don’t call the reaction to the RFRA discouraging because I support its intent and want to see our religious freedoms protected, but rather I am disappointed that we would find the need for such a law.  The Constitution of the United States already protects the free practice of any religion in its first amendment.  Do we really need to re-legislate to protect something we are already guaranteed?  Have we lost faith in the protections afforded to us by the Constitution?  Does the Constitution need to be renewed every so often like the batteries in our smoke detectors?  If we can not look to the public servants tasked with upholding the Constitution with an expectation that the clauses outlined within will be carried out, it is time to elect new public servants.

I find the intense reaction to RFRA discouraging in another way as well.

Whether appropriate or not, much of the blame for this whole debacle is falling on the plates of conservative politicians, who were elected by a conservative electorate.

Let me speak more clearly.

Much of the blame for this law is being placed on the shoulders of those who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus.  Much of the blame is being placed on my shoulders, and on the shoulders of those I live and work with.  While I do not live in Indiana, I am part of a church there, a collection of people who seek to follow the teachings of Jesus.  I have influenced those who live in Indiana and feel like I bear some of the responsibility assigned to us.

Frankly, I do not think we are unfairly burdened with the responsibility.

Each of us who follow Christ has likely heard a story of persecution brought against “our people” by “the enemy”.  Perhaps the most popular example is of a baker who was approached by a gay couple and asked to bake a cake for their wedding or commitment ceremony.  The baker refuses, citing religious beliefs, and is then sued for a civil rights violation.  The story usually concludes with the bakery closing as a result of the suit.  Afraid that this story was only a story, I searched for and found several different versions of this story reported by various media outlets across the United States.  Based on the evidence I have found, I can not deny that this has happened more than once to more than one Christian bakery.  It is a true story.

Another true story can be found in Matthew 5.  During his sermon on the mount, Jesus laid at the feet of the masses a worldview that was completely foreign to their understanding of the Old Testament.  Before Jesus told us that we must be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect, he asked us to give to the one who begs from us.  Before he told us to walk two miles with someone who forces us to go one, Jesus told us to give our cloak to the person suing us for our tunic.  Our cheeks were to be turned and offered to the people who struck us, and the loss of our eyes was not to be avenged.  We were asked to hold ourselves to a higher standard than any religious leader of the day had so far put forth, and we were asked to love our neighbors and pray for those who persecute us.

In exchange for our obedience to the requests Jesus makes in Matthew 5, we are promised that our persecution would result in our blessing.  We are told that if we make peace, we would be called sons of God.  Jesus goes so far as to say that we should rejoice and be glad of our great reward in heaven, secured for us by the persecution directed against us.

A baker I am not...

A baker I am not…

I do not own a bakery (for readily apparent reasons), but if I did, I hope that I would find the strength to go willingly the extra and uncomfortable mile when it was asked of me.  Perhaps someday I will have an opportunity to serve someone who is seeking to do me harm.  I hope I do not mind a little pain today for the promise of a great reward in the future.  Until my opportunity to do so arises, I will continue to ask myself what it might look like to give to the person who is suing me more than they ask for.

Do not ask the government to legislate away our chance at a blessing promised by Jesus.

Go two miles when you are only asked to go one.

Undeserved Gift

If this post was a court of law, I would defend the front half of this story as pertaining to the witnesses state of mind.  It may not seem like we are getting anywhere interesting, but I hope you’ll see the value of the front half, by the time you finish the back half.   Continue reading →

Victorious

I drew a ragged breath from the rapidly cooling air around me as my left foot hit the chip sealed roadway beneath me.  A dull pain reached from the outer edge of my foot, up through my knees, and into my hip.  I pushed the toxin filled air back out of my lungs and hurriedly drew another breath as my right foot and then left foot repeated the actions of the last 2 hours and 22 minutes.  I glanced down at my phone as it told me the remaining distance to my goal.  12.85 miles completed, with just a short .25 standing between me and finishing my own little half marathon.  I could see our house in the distance, about a half mile away.  I would reach my goal before I reached home. Continue reading →

Leash

This is our dog.

This dog...I don't know about this dog.

This dog…I don’t know about this dog.

I have a like/dislike relationship with this dog.  He is a couple of years old, but still jumps all over everyone who tries to come into the house including my mother who can barely walk right now.  He spends several minutes barking every night, so I’ll look out the door to see what is happening, only to find he is barking at his kennel.  For the last year or so, he has been on a 50′ leash, tied near the corner of our house so he has access to his kennel, food, water and a bit of room to run around if he wants it.   Unfortunately the leash is necessary.  When he is not connected to the leash, without fail he finds his way over to our neighbors homes.  If we allowed him to run free, he would be turned over to the dog warden, or potentially hit and killed on the roads that are near our home.  So while the leash is not our preferred solution, we have done our best to keep him safe and at home.

On Monday, he managed to wear out his leash.  It isn’t the first time he has broken the rope, so we just tied it back together again and returned to life as normal.

On Wednesday night I came back from two days in Indy, a little tired from working on various projects.  I walked in to the garage, and as is typical, was immediately pounced upon by our dog.  After fighting him down and scratching his ears for a few minutes, I noticed that his leash was detached again.  I made sure the garage doors were closed with him inside and went to bed.

The next day I found out that our delinquent dog, had seemingly mended his ways, our roaming rover roamed no more!  The broken leash still held him!  Apparently the leash had been broken for several days, and our wandering whiner had stuck close to home.

What is going on in this mutts head?  I would hate to try it, but I bet if I took the little remnant of yellow rope from his collar, he would be at the neighbors before we knew it.  What is it about this short thread of nylon clipped on to his collar that holds him back?  The leash itself has been severed, but it is as if its influence is still strong.  Is he afraid that at any moment the leash will become whole again and hold him back?   Judging from his behavior when he is not leashed, our dog longs to have the freedom to roam where he will.  Now, when he is free, he is willingly subjecting himself to captivity.

In late 2012 I started making plans to free myself from a job that I was no longer passionate about, that I no longer had the energy to give to it that it deserved.  I felt like I was being lead to pursue other projects.  I had made a personal commitment to stay on the job until a suitable replacement was found, so I hunkered down for what I hoped would be a short wait.  It was almost 18 months later when a replacement was finally hired to take over.  My leash was finally broken.

I have to admit that the visions of my “leash-less” future were pretty grand.  I already had three fairly serious projects lined up that I wanted to work on when my time was mine.   Instead I find that I still feel like I am living in the same captivity that has held me for years.  Sure there are a few unexpected circumstances that have changed the equation for me a little bit, but I begin to suspect that there will always be circumstances outside of my control that limit the time I have available.  I have found myself with an abundance of time just sitting and thinking, which would be a perfect opportunity to work on one of my projects in particular, but I find myself afraid to start.  Instead of making the smallest strides towards completing the project, I make excuses.

So what is holding me back?  Maybe there is a small thread of my former leash that is still dangling from my neck, powerless to actually hold me, but the memory of its pull is strong?  Maybe I am afraid of the becoming tied up again?  Maybe I don’t think I deserve the freedom I have found, or maybe I just want to wait until I feel like even the shred of leash still around my neck is completely removed.  I am as confused as our poor dog.  Unsure of what this new freedom means.

Our dog may not be “free” forever; as soon as he crosses out of our property, things will have to go back to the old ways.  He will have to relearn the way of the leash, before he can be trusted again.  While no one is subjugating me, no one is holding me captive, I have to realize that the freedom I do have right now, may not last forever.  I would be a fool to not take advantage of my broken leash, especially since I don’t know how much time I will have.  Instead of complaining or making excuses, I hope to take advantage of the freedom that I do have, I hope to make a better use of my time than I have to this moment.

Is there a scrap of leash still tied around your neck?  Are you still being held back by something that should have stopped having power over you a long time ago?  Maybe it is a relationship that went wrong but the emotional pain still holds you tight?  A dream that is lost, but you aren’t willing to accept your new reality?  Could it be that you are letting past sins and mistakes hold onto you?

Friend, I encourage you to identify the remnants of leash holding you, and do whatever it takes to eliminate its influence in your life.  Maybe you need to share your story with a trusted friend, or spend time in prayer approaching God for reassurance of forgiveness.  It could be that you need to forget a failed relationship, and start to open up your heart to take a few (calculated) risks again.  Of course the opposite could be true, and maybe it is time to stop letting the desire for a relationship run your life.  I could go for days and days creating hypothetical situations, and if you want to talk about your situation with a real person, I’d love to listen and offer what little wisdom I may have.

Maybe things aren’t as clear as all that though, maybe you feel trapped because you really are in captivity.  It could be addiction, debt, unfaithfulness, or just sin in general.  Maybe you are trapped in a dead end job and afraid to try to break free.  Don’t just accept your leash.  Go read John 8:31-36 and let me know if you find in those few short verses the freedom you have been seeking.  If you want extra credit, read the whole chapter!

dog2

You can be free…our dog on the other hand…let’s just wait and see.

Super Special Bonus Content:  “So am I” ~ William Shatner    I promise you won’t regret this following this link!  

Entropy

Sometimes I can be a little bit, shall we say, fatalistic?  I somewhat relish the idea that some things are inevitable.  It takes a lot of pressure out of the situation to know that the final result is unchanging.  So when people talk about the inevitability of death, sickness, or taxes, for me there is a small little bit of peace in the finality of it all.  It is as if my internal monologue is reassuring itself with something to the effect of “We can’t change this, so let’s just accept this and move on, okay?”   That finality is not something I’ve really been afraid to embrace.

entropy2

Tonight I walked outside with a box of stuff that I needed to dispose of, and since we live in the country I put the box in our burning barrel and lit it on fire.  In those brief moments before the light from the fire began to overwhelm my night vision, I leaned back and looked up at the stars.  On nights like tonight in the country, you can see stars everywhere.  They run up and down, back and forth across the inky expanse of the night sky.   The stars letting in light like fabric with far too many pinpricks in it to still be worn as clothing.  Some areas were brilliantly concentrated sections of light, and others sporadic and distanced.

The flickering light of the fire began to distract me, and I looked over to see flaming drips of plastic falling further down into the barrel, almost like the shooting stars I sometimes see on nights like tonight.  First a small burst of light that goes out almost before you can recognize that it was really there, and then a lingering stare, as if by looking harder you can bring the starry streak back again.  I watched as these shooting stars of flame fell, igniting the trash below it.  I watched as the fire crawled up the side of the box, unmaking the things in its path, taking away their form and function.

I have witnessed the effects of fire many times before tonight, but this time the simple little exothermic reaction I had created sent a shiver through my soul.  You see, every fire has a few common characteristics: fuel, an oxidizer, heat.  One other thing that fire always seems to carry with it is entropy.  Very loosely stated, entropy is the measurement of disorder in a system.

If you’ve made it through a high school level science class, you’ve probably heard at some point or another that energy can not be created or destroyed, that energy can only be changed in form. Of course if that was the whole story, then fire would just be a restructuring of energy.  Stored energy would become released energy in the form of heat, that would interact with the larger system around it and the effects would ripple down the line forever.

Except that isn’t the whole story.

Entropy can also be defined as energy that is no longer available to the system.  Energy that is no longer usable as energy.  Energy that has seemingly been destroyed.

You know what is even more terrifying?

Increased entropy is the natural result of unguided actions.  All we have to do for entropy to increase, is to let the world do its own thing.  Entropy naturally increases as the world moves from a state of order, to disorder.  Every second, more and more energy is lost to our system (i.e. the universe) and removed from the equation around us.  Every second.  My little fire wasn’t just unmaking the stuff in the fire, in effect I was participating in unmaking a part of the universe.  Forever.

So I got pretty freaked out when I started thinking about it.  I’ve actively unmade part of the universe, and I can’t remake it.  I can’t fix it.  I’ve pushed the universe one step closer to it’s inevitable end!   That’s what happens you see…eventually the universe runs out of energy.  Beautiful stars die after spending all their fuel, leaving behind frozen planets and broken orbits.  One by one the stars becomes more distant, more separated, more isolated, until nothing visible remains, just darkness, the absence of light.

A total buzzkill on a beautiful starry night, right?

There are very few Bible verses that I personally find really comforting, I just don’t really get into “life verses” or motivational applications of popular verses.  I believe in the meaning of the whole bible, but I just don’t find comfort in most verses without the context of the rest of the bible surrounding it.  There is of course an exception.  If I had to summarize the whole Bible in one small phrase, I would choose this phrase from Revelation 21:5.  “Behold, I am making all things new.”  If you gave me one more phrase I would continue with Revelation 21:6 “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the End.  To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”.

In a universe that is quite literally tearing itself apart, in one phrase I can know that all things will be made new.  In that phrase, the Alpha (the beginning) and the Omega (the end) have told me all that I need to know.  In that one sentence, you can find God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the ultimate being that is outside of time, promising to make all things new.  Granted this small sentence is somewhat sparse on the details of how and why and when he will make all things new, but for me, this one promise is enough.  God is going to make everything new.  I don’t know how, but I know that he will.  Jesus didn’t just defeat sin and death on the cross, he also defeated the inevitable, he defeated entropy.

In a universe that is inevitably hurtling towards eternal darkness, only the beginning and the end can say “Let there be light”.

For a great science fiction short story I stumbled across the other day by Isaac Asimov (that admittedly inspired this post) check out “The Last Question”.