The sound of silence

After an idea came to him one recent morning, a colleague asked, "Why do these things come to you in the morning?"

And the answer came to me today, but not in the morning. It didn't come while I was watching SportsCenter or twittering, not while I was e-mailing or reading and most certainly not while playing 'Princess' with a 4-year-old.

No, it came to me as the steady drone of the lawnmower drowned out all distractions. And there you have it. These things come to us in the morning, or mowing the grass, or in the shower or lying in bed because these are the times when we are silent. Even when the world is not silent around us, our minds are free to think, to wonder, to create.

As I plowed from one end of the yard to the other thinking about this, I was reminded of an experience in high school. A small group of 8 or 10 of us went on an Easter weekend retreat. For a portion of Good Friday afternoon, each person was sequestered in a room by themselves. No TV, no radio, no conversation. Just a Bible and a notepad.

I don't remember coming up with any radical theology during this time, but as the rain pelted down outside, it seemed I never better understood what it might have been like on a hill outside Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. In the silence, I found an emotional connection that's nearly impossible in a sound-saturated world.

It turns out the Bible was onto something: "Be still, and know that I am God."

A bridge too far

You might have read or heard this story last week about the Chinese man threatening to commit suicide who was given a push by a passer-by to speed up the process. Of course, the bridge was only about 26 feet high, and the man suffered only back and neck injuries.

But there is a passer-by on another bridge in China that seeks to save those seeking to commit suicide. Meet Chen Si (pictured). A manager in a transport company by day, he is a super hero on evenings and weekends on the Nanjing Bridge.


The bridge was completed in 1968 and won a place in the Guiness Book of World Records as the longest highway and railway bridge. But it is now notable as a place where more than 1,000 people have killed themselves in the last 40 years.

Chen Si does his best to prevent that number from rising. In one story, Si talks about how he sometimes tackles the men to prevent them from hurling themselves over 100 yards into the swirling waters of the Yangtze River.

Si has been called a Good Samaritan, a guardian angel, a lifeguard and a one-man crusade.

Maybe we could all learn something from this Chinese man who began his patrols after his own grandfather starved himself to death to keep the family from squabbling about who should look after him. As of last summer, Si had saved 144 lives by his own count.

There are plenty of lost souls out there committing spiritual suicide. Are we like the first passer-by, simply giving people a shove because they are inconvenient to us?

Or are we daring to look for those who need help? Are we willing to even tackle those embracing the path to destruction?

Most of the time, I am neither. I am simply the hustle and bustle of traffic going my own way with the neither the time nor the interest in finding out if those souls on the side of the road need my help. And by default, that puts me in the camp of the pusher.

Jesus said, "For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. I needed clothes and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."

And he might have added, "I was standing on a bridge and you did nothing."

Who's on first

Sometimes in the game of life, you feel like you're playing a part with Abbott and Costello. You might be getting answers, but you don't realize it. And even when you know the answers, they don't make any sense. So the only thing you can really do is have a good laugh. So here you go, I dare you not to at least have a smirk on your face by the time this is done.

Living on Death Row

"It is appointed unto man once to die." -- Hebrews 9:27

Mark Allen Wisehart understands that as well as anyone. Wisehart was sentenced to death on Sept. 26, 1983, for murder (Details here). Twenty-six years later, he still lives on Death Row in the state of Indiana. His hair is gray now, and the malice seen even in his 1994 mugshot is now replaced with wistfulness.

Wisehart was one of several men featured on MSNBC's Lockup a few years ago, an episode I only just caught over the weekend. In the TV interview, Wisehart said he thought death would come within five years and then it would all be over. Instead, he watched his "friends" die, knowing that his day was inevitably coming. He talks about hanging on to his sanity by a thread, and they even showed how he adopted a cat. Asked if the cat knew it was imprisoned, Wisehart said he knew cats preferred to roam free, but when the calico cat lifted its chin to be scratched or rubbed its head on his face, that was his connection to humanity.

Since that show aired, Wisehart had a federal appeals court overturn the sentence, but the law process continues. Wisehart technically no longer has a death sentence, but still lives on Death Row (or at least he did last year), knowing that any day could bring his freedom, be it life or death.

Few of us realize just how much we have in common with Wisehart. We are all living under a death sentence which may be carried out sooner or later. We are surely guilty of crimes against each other and our God -- though surely more discreet than those of a man on death row.

We've seen acquaintances come and go, sometimes wondering, 'Why them?' or 'Why not us?' Our sanity may occasionally hang by a thread, and we seek a connection to others. We search for it in bars and churches, in sporting events and on the internet, and even in pets.

And we all have also had our sentence overturned. Overturned by the execution of Jesus Christ and sealed by his resurrection. We have only to choose to file our appeal with God above.

And when we appeal, it means our eventual death will actually be our freedom and the start of life eternal.

Word of the Day I

No, I'm not going Sesame Street on you here ... at least not yet. I'll save the lesson Cookie Monster teaches us on temptation for another time.

This is about one of those times you read something and a word just jumps out you. In this case it was a quote from Charles Darwin and the word was "enfeebling". Darwin was describing how he no longer drew a sense of delight from things such as pictures, poetry and scenery.

"The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature."

What a great word -- enfeebling. To deprive of strength, make feeble. Causing debilitation.

How many times do we enfeeble ourselves? We think we're doing something important but we're so busy we enfeeble our relationships with others. ... We want to prove we're strong, we're tough but rather we enfeeble our emotions. ... We want to make a statement for God and in our zeal we enfeeble His ability to be seen.

It reminds me of this recent news story involving the Ohio teen attending a private Christian school that was suspended for going to the public school prom. And when it was over, he went on national talk shows, being hailed as a hero.

While both sides were claiming victory for their beliefs, there was no winner to be found. The school was painted as close-minded legalists and held up the Bible-thumping stereotype all the way. The boy and his stepdad/handler looked like publicity seekers who found a way to one-up those Puritanical school administrators.

And the God they all claimed to serve was enfeebled. Well, to be fair, God wasn't actually enfeebled, but his message was.

My challenge to you and to myself? Go and enfeeble no more.

The Great American Novel

I was listening to Larry Norman tonight. If you don't know, Norman is considered the father of Christian rock. He wasn't necessarily part of the Jesus People movement of the late 60s and early 70s, but he looked like he belong (see album cover at right).

From what I've read, Norman didn't particularly like to be labeled, and that included his music. He sound was sometimes the Beatles, sometimes Bob Dylan or sometimes the Rolling Stones. But it was definitely Jesus.

In one interview, the question was asked, What does your audience expect of you?
Norman said, "I don't know. I only do between 5 and 15 concerts a year. So I don't build up an exceptional rapport. I don't do what they tell me to. If they cracked a whip and said, 'Smile and do a back hand-spring,' I have an idea I'd just go home.

"I'm going to tell you something you probably don't want to hear. Because I'm not here to fulfill your expectations. I'm here to tell you that if you're not a Christian then you should become one. And if you are a Christian then you better stop putting expectations on people.

"Start getting rid of your own limitations, your own preconceptions and your own repressions. Stop coming to these concerts. Go out into the world and preach the Gospel. I'm not coming to entertain you, I'm coming to inspire you; to be so filled with Christ that you stop listening to Christian records because you don't have money for it because you're giving your money to people who don't have food."

Right on! Anyway, I was listening to his song, The Great American Novel off the 1972 album above, Only Visiting This Planet. And you know what's neat is when something written 37 years ago sounds like it could have been written yesterday? Listen to this:

You are far across the ocean
but the war is not your own
and while you're winning theirs
you're gonna lose the one at home
do you really think the only way
to bring about the peace
is to sacrifice your children
and kill all your enemies

the politicians all make speeches
while the news men all take note
and they exaggerate the issues
as they shove them down our throats
is it really up to them
whether this country sinks or floats
well i wonder who would lead us
if none of us would vote

and your money says in God we trust
but it's against the law to pray in school
you say we beat the russians to the moon
and i say you starved your children to do it
you say all men are equal, all men are brothers
then why are the rich more equal than others
don't ask me for the answers, I've only got one
that a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son.

Happy Mother's Day!

And sometimes you just need to say the obvious. No deep thoughts here, just a Happy Mother's Day wish for all to whom it applies.

Wayward Son

I'd like to keep this interesting by changing things up from time to time, so this post I'm going to let you hear from somebody else.

Kerry Livgren was a member of the highly successful rock band, Kansas. He became a Christian in the late '70s, changing the subject matter of his songs and eventually leading him into a role as an '80s Christian rock pioneer. He has some interesting comments on the whole notion of "Christian" music, but we'll save that for another time. For now, listen as he shares the story of his spiritual journey from the set of an independent Christian film called The Imposter.

The Variable

So it only took until the fourth post before I referenced the TV show, Lost. I'll go ahead and apologize now for the next 20 times it happens. Anyway, fan of the show or never seen it, I think you'll understand why this struck me.

In last week's episode (5.14), a character named Daniel Faraday (learn more about his namesake, Michael Faraday here) makes the following statement.

"I've been spending so much time focused on the constants that I forgot about the variables, and do you know what the variables are? Us. People. We seek the reason, we have choices, we have free will."

How much time do we spend focused on the constants? The constants of work, family, TV shows ... the things that make up the routine of life. And we forget about the variables ... the people, us.

In an internet age, it's surely easy to forget about the variables, and it's sometimes harder to think about the variables, a.k.a. people, across the street than the ones across the world.

For example, I have a neighbor that I would often rank somewhere between plant life and my cat for value to society. Yet, it seems to me that I could be his variable. The constants in his life seem largely of the destructive kind. But he has choices, he has free will ... (pause to let the Calvinists think about it) ... and perhaps I could do something to sway those choices. Or at least I could if I ever stopped worrying about my constants long enough.

Romans 10:14: "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

Slumdog (Spiritual) Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire was 2009 Picture of the Year and winner of 8 Academy Awards. It is the story of a teen from the slums of India who goes on that country's version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and knows the answers to the questions as a result of his life experiences. Or at least that's the short version.

Anyway, this morning at church, our missions pastor told of his experiences in the slums of India where he recently visited.

He spoke of Pastor James, a man that was kidnapped by the authorities, jailed and beaten. Pastor James eventually was able to get a note to a maintenance worker who told his family where he was being held. A group from the church got together, marched on the police station and demanded his freedom.

On the evening of the third day (imagine that?), Pastor James was released, his face puffy, bruised and bloodied from interrogation tactics. Well, our missions pastor went to visit Pastor James the day after he was released, to share some words of encouragement. As the driver pulled up to the house, he said, "Oh, no." Not because something was wrong, but because Pastor James had set up a stage with lights across the street to take advantage of the foreigners' presence to show that he had a message that could not be stopped.

Another story described a church that is to be bulldozed in a month. Some members of a higher caste are building some high rises next to the church and they are going to clear away the squalor of the neighboring slums. A church bought and paid for with wedding rings, heirlooms and other valuable jewelry is going to disappear, but still they meet.

Slumdog millionaires indeed. These people need no game show because they are already rich beyond measure. They are spiritual millionaires and I imagine that when it comes to storing up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21), their barns are overflowing while mine looks rather unused.