The Killing Fields

Thou shalt not kill...

Exodus 20:13

My daughter chose accounting/auditing as her career path, and she currently works in Washington, D.C. as a consultant to the Federal Government.  She visits a wide variety of government facilities in her daily activities - one of which is the Navy Yard.  Thankfully, she was not there last Monday when Aaron Alexis began shooting in Building 197.  When all was said and done, he had taken 12 lives, then forfeited his own in a hail of gunfire.  His goal:  to kill as many people as possible.  His motive?  Unknown.

This morning, masked gunmen burst into a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 39 people and injuring many others.  Their goal:  To kill as many people as possible. Their motive: To force Kenya to withdraw troops from Somalia.  Seemingly endless examples of such tragedies are plastered all over the Internet and the news.

When God delivered to Moses the "rules"  (10 commandments) that should govern human existence, the sixth one in line was You shall not murder.  That heavenly regulation has become earthly law in every civilized nation on earth.  Outside of a war zone (a different topic altogether), no human being has the right to take another human being's life.  I do not have the authority to decide when your life should end, and vice versa. 

More than that - I do not have the right to force you to pay for my pain.  Every person on earth will, at some time in their lives, experience pain, heartache, tragedy, and grief - some far more brutally than others.  Every life is marked with grievances, slights, rudeness, and inequality.  Believing that hurting my neighbor will somehow lessen my misery is an emotional error with devastating consequences.

Jesus said, Come unto me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. God offers comfort and peace in our times of depression, anguish, and pain.  Anger and a weapon (of any kind) only bring further misery and suffering.  

Goodbye...

O Grave, where is thy victory?

O Death, where is thy sting?

1 Corinthians 15:55

 

When you have worked in the same local church for as long as I have (almost 12 years), sooner or later you are going to have to bury someone that you strongly care about.  Such will be my experience on Monday.  One of our congregants died unexpectedly this week - a woman who has been a fixture at the church for years.

She didn't like me much when I first arrived, and if I am honest, I would have to say that the feeling was mutual.  But over the years, time and circumstances forged a strong friendship between us, one that I believe we both valued.  More times than I can count, she came to me with the question, "How can I help?"  She developed a strong affection for one of my high school voice students -  a young man with a wonderful baritone voice.  Almost every time she saw me, she would ask about him, and inquire as to his needs.  When her family revealed her personal wishes for the participants in her memorial service, this young man's name was toward the top of the list.

This precious woman endured tragedy after tragedy that would have felled many others - men or women.  Clinging to her faith, she fought her way through the grief and the tears.  She will long be remembered as the one who arrived on Sunday morning with a smile on her face and an inquiry as to everyone's health.  She was the little lady with the apron pockets full of goodies, surrounded by children as she made her way through the fall bazaar booths.  She loved to laugh and she loved to hug.  She was full of hope, happiness and life and will be greatly missed.

As my vocal student and I searched for the right song to sing in her memory, I came across an old hymn that suddenly seemed to fit just right.  It was the way she lived her life, and the way she met her death.  

Until Then

 

My heart can sing when I pause to remember
A heartache here is but a stepping stone
Along a path that's winding always upward.
This troubled world is not my final home.

But until then, my heart will go on singing.
Until then, with joy I'll carry on.
Until the day my eyes behold that City -
Until the day God calls me home.

 

Fear of the Needle

Fear not, for I am with you...

Isaiah 41:10

 

This afternoon, I was trying to figure out how to make a side dish out of a half of a bag of frozen shredded potatoes when I thought of the (not so) bright idea of perhaps utilizing some of the potato soup I had in the pantry.   I opened the can (tear-off lid), tasted the contents, and immediately realized that it would not be useable with the shreds.  I dumped the contents into another container, grabbed my Dobie pad, filled the can with water and soap, and jammed my hand down in the can to clean it out for recycling.  I immediately felt a jab of pain in my little finger, and knew that I had cut myself on the sharp inner edge of the can.  Sure enough, blood was running everywhere as I surveyed a short but relatively deep cut.

I immediately wrapped it in a paper towel with some pressure to stop the bleeding, and reached for the hydrogen peroxide.  After thoroughly dousing the injury with the peroxide, I put on a bandage and sat down for a minute to catch my breath.  That is when the thought hit me - "You need to go get a Tetanus shot!"  I had just been outside with the dog and the dirt, and I haven't had a Tetanus shot in at least 20 years.  I sat in that chair for quite a few minutes, arguing with myself about why I did NOT need to go get a shot.  In the end, however, my rational side overcame my timid one, and I grabbed my keys to drive over to Patient First.

I wish that I could tell you that I talked with God on the trip to the clinic - verbalizing my fears and remembering His promises.  Unfortunately, however, I spent the 15 minute trip ramping myself up to the horrible experience of a needle - an experience that has terrified me since childhood. By the time I reached Patient First, my blood pressure was quite high and I was rapidly becoming a basket case.  Forty minutes later when the nurse finally arrived to administer the shot with the tiniest needle I have ever seen on a syringe, the experience was over in the blink of an eye, I didn't even feel the needle, and I felt like an utter fool as the young nurse said, "See?  All that anxiety over nothing!"

On the way home, I apologized to the Lord for my lack of faith - actually, for my lack of communication with Him at all prior to receiving the injection.  Even after all these years, I am still struggling to remember that it always works better when prayer comes before panic. 

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

...choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods 

your fathers served in the region beyond the river,

 or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. 

But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24:14

We all make decisions each and every day - scores of choices big and small.  Some decisions we agonize over, but many others are made with very little forethought.  What, where and when to eat, for example, are usually not determinations that involve heavy-duty thinking.  There is nothing in our day-to-day lives, however, that does not include decisions: work, school, leisure, vacation, entertainment, exercise, and nourishment. 

I am an avid reader of mystery novels - who-dun-it's, and one of my favorite authors is Anne Perry.  Her marvelous books are set in the Victorian era in England, and showcase either the sleuthing skills of William Munk, or Inspector Thomas Pitt.  I have just finished Acceptable Loss, featuring Mr. Munk, his wife Hestor, and their friend Oliver Rathbone, a famous London barrister.  At the heart of the story are three additional characters - Mr. Rathbone's wife, Margaret, his father-in-law, Arthur Ballenger, and Rupert Cardew, a dissolute but kind young man.  These three characters form the emotional core of the story, and each makes decisions - some rash and on the spur of the moment, that drastically alter the course of their lives (not toward goodness, but in the opposite direction).

I have to laugh at myself sometimes, because I am often found arguing with one of the characters in a book - cautioning them regarding a choice they have made or are making.  "Oh pleeeease, don't go there!!!"  Obviously, it does little good to talk to a character in a novel.  But processing what decisions are being made and what the outcomes are likely to be is a wonderful learning experience for me, if my heart is open to accepting the lessons that are there.

All of us have decisions to make today, and again tomorrow, that will affect the path of our lives.  One of those choices is to whom we will give our allegiance.  The Old Testament leader, Joshua, knew this.  In his confrontation with the people of Israel, he demanded of them, "CHOOSE... Choose whom you are going to serve - the pagan gods from your past, the gods of your Amorite neighbors, or the Lord God."  That same question comes to us today.  Who will you choose to serve?  Yourself?  The gods of money, power and prestige?  Or the Creator of the universe?   

Is Twerk in My Dictionary?

...whatsoever things are pure...

think on these things.

Philippians 4:8
 

Every year new words are added to the English dictionary - both online and print varieties, as our culture and language continues to fluidly change.  Examples of words or terms already added in 2013 include:

phablet, digital detox, geek chic, cake pops, hyperemesis, parasomnia, screencap, tweetable, cruft, dumbphone, appletini, Olympic flame, and touchless.

In the realms of cultural and social change, however, the newest buzz word is "Twerking."  When I hit the Web to research the meaning of "twerk," I discovered that this word is already in the Oxford Online Dictionary with the following definition:  "...to dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance."  

Twerking was actually introduced into the hip-hop scene back in the 1990's in New Orleans.  Oxford, who entered the word into their dictionary this year, claims that the term has been around for twenty years, but it's sudden emergence into the current social culture was brought about by the actress Miley Cyrus, who "twerked" during a solo performance by Robin Thicke at the MTV Video Music Awards on August 25, 2013.

One does not have to watch more than a second or two of the "performance" to realize that "twerking" is a far dirtier dancing than anything Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze ever thought of.  Dressed in a nude-colored costume that resembled see-through underwear, Ms. Cyrus offered herself as a sexual object to the singer, the audience, and the television viewer.  No Hannah Montana here.  No, this was a 20-year-old courtesan displaying her wares, complete with a sex toy to aid the display.

Ms. Cyrus has said that she danced that way 1) because "that's just me," 2) because "that's what you're looking for, (the audience)" and 3) because she and Robin Thicke wanted to "make history."

The controversy generated by her act certainly provided them with the history they were looking for.  If her twerking truly is an indicator of her character, then I feel very sorry for her indeed.  I certainly hope there are no longer parents out there who hold her up as any kind of a role model for their daughters.