Love People - Hate Stereotypes - Seek Truth - Challenge EverythingSteve Radford (975)    Steve Radford    Send In The HornetPosted Friday, July 11, 2008 (12 days 15 hours ago.) Viewed 365 times. He starts with Abraham and recounts how he became the father of a nation after he was very old. He mentions the land God provided for Isaac and his sons Jacob and Esau. Next he reminds them of Moses and the deliverance from Egypt , the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea . All familiar stories to people who ever attended church, even occasionally. The next part of Joshua's speech covered some less familiar working of God on behalf of the Israelites. First he reminds them about how God empowered them to defeat the King of Moab. Then there was the time God sent the hornet to drive out seven tribes of people that occupied the Promised Land. It was a strong admonition to worship the God of Israel and no one else. Wait a minute. What was that about a hornet? The exact quote was in verse 12: "I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you-also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow." I had no idea what Joshua was talking about, so with a little help from the search feature in Biblegateway.com, I located the part of the Bible that had all the other stories Joshua was retelling. There it was in Exodus chapter 23, verse 28. "I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way." That must have been one annoying hornet. Or swarm of hornets. Either way, it seems like a funny way to conquer your enemies. The great thing about this particular Bible oddity is that it comes with an explanation. Verse 29 and 30 explain: "But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land." I don't know how you feel about that explanation but it helps me a lot. Sometimes I wonder why an all-powerful God doesn't move in bigger, quicker ways. Parting the Red Sea ! Now that's making a way for His people. But sending the hornet so that our enemies get irritated enough, over the course of several years, to move out? That takes more patience than I have. That may be why He gave us an explanation this one time. It's because He's working on us as much as He's working on our enemies. Maybe we aren't as ready as we think we are. Maybe He's preparing us so that when character is required, we have some. When grace is needed, we are filled with it. There is probably a lot more wrapped up in those verses. But this week I needed the reminder to trust God's timing and methods. We want the pain to go away now. We want our enemies brought to justice now. But thankfully, for our own good, sometimes God sends the hornet. (Scripture quotes taken from the NIV translation) 
Permalink Comments (18) Are You A Senior?Posted Saturday, June 21, 2008 (32 days 16 hours ago.) Viewed 2,394 times. It was lunch time and I was racing from one office to another to interview a sales candidate. As I drove, I scoured the businesses along the route for a restaurant. With less than thirty minutes, it had to be someplace quick. There! I spotted a pizza buffet, turned in and took the first available parking place. Walking in the front door, I observed no line. Perfect. The limited time available would even work to my advantage because I wouldn't be able to fill my plate six times and overindulge. Reaching for my wallet, I approached the cash register. "One buffet?" A young lady greeted me with a smile. I nodded and waited for a total. But to my surprise, she had one more question. "Senior?" She asked. "Excuse me?" I replied. "Are you a senior?" she repeated. I smiled and was about to explain that I had graduated years ago. Then her meaning hit me like an uppercut. She thinks I'm a Senior Citizen! I told her I was not and then asked what would qualify as a "senior". "Fifty five" was her answer. She didn't realize it but, had the cutoff been sixty five, I would have had no choice but to punch a nineteen year old girl in the mouth. Instead I just mumbled "no, I'm not there yet." The kid didn't intend to insult me. She had no way of knowing that her four words had turned a quick lunch into a mid-life crisis. As I gobbled down a salad and a few pieces of pizza, unusual thoughts scrolled through my mind. Hair color, Botox injections, tanning salons, new hair style, tooth whitening. Maybe zodiac jewelry and a Porsche! No, that's just not me. It is wonderful that restaurants are willing to give retired people a break. I know my Dad used to get free coffee at his favorite fast food joint. But if you work for one of those well-meaning companies, consider the following advice: Never ask someone if they are a senior. They will tell you and demand the discount if they want it. If they complain about not getting the discount, it's easy to apologize and say "oh I'm sorry. You look so young that I didn't think to ask!" Try not to sound too patronizing. I'm glad I only had twenty minutes for lunch that day. And that I had to go straight into an interview that took my mind off graying hair and crows feet. Without the time constraints, that lunch hour may have included a chest waxing or tattoo. What do you think? The next time someone asks the "S" question, would it be dishonest to answer with, " If you think I look old enough to qualify for the discount, then go ahead and give it to me."? I'm thinking that would be better than a punch in the mouth. And with the money I save, I can get Botox injections or a zodiac necklace!
Permalink Comments (8) Vindication: Good Movies, Bad GospelPosted Sunday, May 04, 2008 (80 days 9 hours ago.) Viewed 3,797 times. I love vindication, don't you? A driver nearly runs you off the road as he speeds past. A few miles down the road you see a cop writing him a speeding ticket. Vindication. Someone embarrasses you in a meeting in an effort to elevate his position. A few months later, corporate restructuring results in his reporting to you. Vindication. You are ridiculed for siding with the minority on a hotly contested issue. Later your position proves to be the right one. Vindication. Vindication is also one of the most popular plots in film. Early in the story a hero and villain are established. The quality of the movie depends on how well these two main characters are developed. Good must be really good and Evil must be rotten to the core. Next comes the confrontation. The bad guy steals the good guy's girlfriend. The powerful bank takes advantage of a poor farmer. The undefeated team ridicules the upstart challenger. Terrorists take innocent people hostage. But be patient. We all know how the story ends. The good guy ends up winning his girl back. Farmers band together to avert foreclosure. The upstart challenger miraculously defeats the undefeated team. And the terrorists die horrible deaths, usually involving impalement or a fiery crash. In every case, the eventual winner, the good guy, has the satisfaction of vindication. That's why we have such a tough time with the gospel of Jesus. Where's the vindication? It starts out right. The good guy is born in a small town to an ordinary family. The family is Jewish. The Jews were being oppressed by the Romans. The underdog plot seems to be forming nicely. The ancient scriptures predicted that a messiah would come and set things right. A series of events relating to the ancient prophecy had many people pointing to Jesus as the one. So if you were a Jew living 2000 years ago, you probably assumed this was leading up to liberation from the Romans. The disciples thought they had it figured out. This Jesus had personal power and charisma. They must have imagined Him rising up in defiance and crushing the mighty Romans with the Jews rallying behind Him. But had they pondered His actions, they might have noticed that He didn't attack the Romans. He spent His time redeeming the outcasts and marginalized of His day. Confrontations were reserved for defending the helpless and powerless against the religious leaders instead of the Romans. But that's not what we ordered. We want vindication. So we reject Jesus. By "we" I mean we Christians. We argue every conceivable point from economics to doctrine in an effort to prove we are right and the opposition is wrong. We are determined to be vindicated. Waiting a few thousand years will just make it sweeter when we win in the end right? Do you think this is leading up to a day when you will get to shake your fist at your detractors and say "damn you and you and you"? "I was right all along and you were wrong!" Sadly, I believe many Christians think that way. We've distorted the message. But you say "I've read the book and we win in the end". You shouldn't have skipped to the end of the book. You missed the part where our leader said "follow me" and then He gave His life. I'm not talking about drinking the poison Kool-Aid. That would be easy compared to what He did. It's about forfeiting when you know you could win. Receiving insults and offering kindness in return. It's the opposite of vindication. You might call it grace. So who wants to be an agent of grace? We want to win for Christ's sake! But Jesus calls us to lose. We want to crush and humiliate our enemies. He told us to love our enemies. We demand our rights in the name of one who relinquished all of His. The plan sounds backwards to say the least. Instead of "Go, Fight, Win", our battle cry is the very inspirational "Love your enemies, surrender your rights and die"! How would my corner of the world change if I started modeling Jesus in my daily life? What if I took some of the power I normally use to win and made it available for use in this upside down kingdom? Suppose the same energy, formerly used to strategize and conquer, was redirected for the purpose of helping an opponent that is down. I know it's radical to suggest that Christians attempt to act like Jesus but it just might work. It makes a lousy movie plot but may be the answer for a world spinning out of control.
Permalink Comments (22) Winning the War on RoachesPosted Tuesday, April 01, 2008 (113 days 10 hours ago.) Viewed 1,270 times. The cul-de-sac was overrun with roaches. Our home, positioned at the end of the street, was clearly in the best position to take action. In fact, as the largest home on the block, the other residents undoubtedly looked to us to solve the problem, though they never said so. We had already taken steps to keep the bugs away from our own place. We sprayed insecticide inside the house and even around the outside perimeter to kill the pests living in the shrubs and ivy. After months of roach free living, it seemed we were starting to win the war. Then one day last spring, I spoke to my friendly neighbor that lives to our right. All was not well. While our home was nearly roach free, she had found a couple, maybe even several of the awful things in her place. She always keeps a close watch on the activity of the court and had strong suspicions that her other neighbor was actually breeding the disgusting roaches in converted fish aquariums she called "wombs of multiple duplication" or WMDs for short. We had to take action. The way roaches breed; it would only be a few short weeks before the entire neighborhood would be uninhabitable. With the approval of my neighbor to the right, operation "porch light" was born. It started with secretly placing cans of insecticide on each neighbor's porch during the night. We just wanted to give them the tools they needed to extinguish the roach cells living on their property. We were optimistic about operation porch light. And if everyone had done their part, it could have worked. But as long as one house provided a safe haven from the insecticide, we could not win. We had to go after the WMDs and there was no other choice but to invade the source. It would have been preferable to consult with the neighbor to the right regarding the invasion. But the details of operation "porch crash" were too sensitive. Success would depend on our ability to reach the WMDs before the roaches could be released. So at 2:00 the next morning, I kicked in the front door of the incubator house. Fitted with a gas mask and insecticide, I went in spraying. The broken front door and frame were a small price for the victory at hand. I would just put the repair bill on my American Express. Unfortunately, the Wombs of Mass Duplication turned out to have fish in them. We are sure the neighbor to my left tipped off the roach house inhabitants. An hour later, as the paddy wagon drove away; I looked through the bars on the back door and thought about the advice of my allied neighbor: "I think we need to maintain a defensive posture. As much as we would like to go find the roaches, we cannot. They have been hiding and duplicating for thousands of years." He may have been right but hopefully history will vindicate my actions.
Permalink Comments (12) |
Archives:
 
Barbara Fuqua (0)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
