Is there more than this? [RELIGIOUS/POLITICAL]

        I think all religions deal with this question.

        Churches and the Christian faith in general are in decline in this country. What follows are generalizations of a complex subject, but I do believe they address the root cause of the decline from what I see people express online. Typically the conservative side of the Christian faith points to the liberalization of our culture as being responsible for the large part of the decline.

        In a conversation about faith that I was having with a friend I mentioned that the current political climate was having a deleterious effect on the faith. People are leaving the church in droves because of not only the position of the Evangelical Party supporting a President who is at his very best an abysmal representative of the faith, but also because of the expressed conservative intolerance and maltreatment of so many others. This would be in areas of other religions having rights, racism, immigration, Muslims, abortion, the environment, guns and bigotry. Hot button issues. (By no means is that intended to be a complete list.)

        In response my friend said that if they’re leaving the church then their faith must not be very deep.

        That sentence should have been in the paragraph above it but I wanted it to stand out. I think that it’s really important and I have been reflecting on that ever since. I believe that what he said is very true for probably the vast majority of Christians and for good reason.

        After all, Jesus, when he was on the cross, cried out wondering why God had forsaken him. He was deep in his faith. He is the faith. Now I’m sure that theologians offer a lot of different explanations for what he said but it’s pretty apparent that his faith in God the Father was shaken. So, if you’re questioning your faith you’re at the very least in good company.

        The bible has stories about people and tribes being left alone for awhile to their own devices and then converting to other faiths or losing their way. Even the inner circle of Jesus had their doubts, weak moments. Jesus? Who’s he? Never heard of the guy. There are also examples of people whose faith was rock solid and never wavered. More on this later.

        There are modern examples aplenty of people questioning their faith. Mother Teresa had a crisis of faith in her journey. Pastors have renounced their beliefs in Christianity. In times of personal tragedy, especially when children are involved, people can question or lose their faith. The actions of Professional Saints can make people question their faith. Needless deaths can cause people to question their faith. Where’s God during natural disasters? Have you heard the expression “If this is what Christians believe I don’t want any part of their faith”? That covers a lot of ground.

        Here’s an example of what I’m talking about that I just now pulled out of the comments section of a post responding to comments that President Trump made at the Annual Prayer Breakfast. Prayer. Breakfast. His comments were quite a bit less than Christian. He takes his pettiness and vindictiveness wherever he goes. He lives it. He is a bully. This is the example that the Evangelical Party holds up as being the Chosen One. His Christian supporters cheer him on. This is how the person responded:

        “I'm having a hard time holding on to faith when it's Christians that are being hateful and horrible. This situation with Trump worship and people thinking Trump is the path to God is disheartening. It's a grotesque, money-worshipping path and I want nothing to do with it.” END OF QUOTE

        People are saying that if President Trump is representative of the faith then they want nothing to do with it. They want no part of a religion that actively supports a man like him.

        The internet is full of these kinds of comments about the Christian faith in other issues being covered as well. I have read thousands upon thousands of similar comments over the years. As in, if this church supports gay marriage I’m outta’ here! Typically the comments when people talk about not having anything to do with the Christian faith have nothing to do with the absolutely fundamental core belief of the faith. There is an afterlife. There is life after death. There is more than this. How do we get there?

        Their responses are usually directed at the examples they see Christians make in our lives in the secular world. Their comments are usually made in response to how they see Christians reacting to gay marriage, abortion, immigration, other religions, the environment, etc. People don’t become believers by accepting the faith’s position on immigration. People become believers by accepting Jesus as their savior and believing that there is an afterlife. Shouldn’t life after death be more important than a particular political view or secular issue? How do we get to that dialogue?

        As saints we’re supposed to spread the “good news” and witness to others. In other words I’m a Christian because I believe that there is in fact more than this. That there is an afterlife. That the story of a man named Jesus somehow survived a couple of thousand years of history. That Jesus provided not only a path to salvation (achieving an afterlife) but also an example of how we should try and live in this life. 

 

Some examples provided from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the bible:

“…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

 

How did Jesus feel about people that didn’t do the above? More from the NRSV:

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’  Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

 

        There is good and evil in the world. Love is most important. Love God. Love people. Those are the two big commandments. Treating the poor and sick is what we’re supposed to do. Take in the immigrant (stranger). Racism is wrong. Greed is wrong. Essentially that humanity (people) comes first. We need for those who don’t believe to come through the door of conversation, not drive them away.

        The Evangelical Party* has different priorities. They would have us serve their Caesar, their “Chosen One”.

        The Evangelical Party has the money to spend when it comes to advancing the Jesus that they are recreating in their image. President Trump amplifies their voice. They’re both into punishment for those who dare to disagree with them. Their Jesus has an agenda that matches that of their leader, President Trump. The teachings of their Jesus become subordinate to the actions of President Trump. He gives them their power, NOT Jesus. He provides them the judges and law that they want. It will be a Christian God that children pray to in church. Christians won’t have to serve those that they don’t like. Muslims will be persecuted. It’s okay to separate the families of brown people. They are scum. It’s okay to be greedy. It’s okay to name call. It’s okay to bully others. It’s okay to encourage violence against those that disagree with them. It’s okay to kill people. Trump rallies are the Evangelical Party in action. Lies are their truth.

        The Evangelical Party spends BILLIONS advancing their agendas. They serve the Republican Party. They serve President Trump. President Trump is their Chosen One; the head of the Evangelical Party as well as being the head of the Republican Party. When President Trump talks about the evil “Dems” he catches up the Christians along with everyone else. In other words Christian Dems are evil too. You can’t be against the Chosen One and be a Christian. Anyone that criticizes him is evil. The media is evil. Muslims are evil. He is the truth teller. He is their Chosen One. Salvation isn’t in their platform. Salvation doesn’t come up at the rallies of the Chosen One. But he is learning the necessary messaging.

        Through President Trump they are all powerful and the rest of us are flies to swat into the afterlife. An afterlife that we don’t qualify for because we don’t support their master.

        Again with the afterlife. What about those who don’t believe in an afterlife? How do we reach out to them? Atheists make some good points about how religion causes rather than solves problems in the world. Especially when people seeing the bible used to oppress those least able to fend for themselves.

        I watched a television talk show where Ricky Gervais, an atheist, made the comment to the host that if civilization ended and everything had to start over again we would eventually end up with the same scientific books and the answers that they provide but that we wouldn’t end up with the bible again. The host was stumped for a response, but I think Gervais was wrong.

        I submit that it was various disciplines of science that gave us the bible as we know it today. Before the written word primitive mankind looked to the skies and wondered what is it all about? Is there more than this? How did all of this come about? Is there good and evil? What started it all? If there is a God then how was God created if there was nothing before God? The questions are endless. Science tries to answer these questions. Science has its limits.

        People will search for and come up with explanations as to how we came about. This is how so many religions came to be. Various ways of answering universal questions were devised. People came up with God as a way to explain the unexplainable.

        At some point faith becomes a question of belief in something that can’t be proved with any of the scientific disciplines. It isn’t any wonder that people lose their faith or that their faith isn’t very deep. It seems that it is our human nature to question our beliefs, to search for answers and to figure out how to live our lives and conduct ourselves. I believe that’s a good thing. We need to have conversations about what we believe and why we choose to believe that way when there are so many choices available. This is where as Christians we are to engage others as to what we believe is possible.

        The Evangelical Party is using religion to gain power. To impose their will upon the nation and on people who hold other beliefs. They, with the assistance of the Republican Party, seek to recreate government in their own image. They will fail. It’s just a matter of how much evil they will inflict upon others before they’re brought down by the weight of their own intolerance.

        Religion has been used as a panacea to the poor. A way to keep the poor down and happy regardless of their situation. Because no matter how bad their circumstances there is a better life beyond. A life where they are equal. A life without pain or sorrow. A life where skin color doesn’t matter. A life where wealth isn’t measured in material acquisitions. A life where we have the knowledge and the understanding that we need.

        We need to make it clear that Jesus is about making life better in the here and now NOT just the afterlife. There isn’t anywhere in the bible that Jesus said that the rich come first (in fact, he often says the exact opposite). Emphasis on Jesus. He said that we should use our resources to minister to the least among us. When people read the bible to support evil acts they’re reading the bible wrong. We are supposed to speak out to the truth of the Good News.

        Times like these are where we depend upon those rock solid people to help us through those moments of doubt. Those folks that remind us that we aren’t alone; that we aren’t insignificant. That we matter. That God is always with us in our pain and suffering as well as our joy. That we can also apply our beliefs to make life better in the here and now. Then we can support those rock solid people if they waver. We can stand with them. We can amplify their voice in the darkness. We can make Jesus a beacon for what is right. A Jesus that does not tear families apart. A Jesus that puts people before Caesar and Rome. A Jesus that does not turn a deaf ear to those crying for help. A Jesus that recognizes all of our humanity.

*        These are the types of  Evangelical organizations that I’m referencing:  The Falwell Empire, The Robertson Empire, Christian Broadcasting Network, Focus on the Family Action (Citizenlink), American Center for Law and Justice / Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism, Alliance Defending Freedom, American Family Association, Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, National Organization for Marriage, Faith and Freedom Coalition. Not a complete list.

Still working on it (RELIGION)

Relationship with God

        March 5, 2017 was the first Sunday of Lent. Lent lasts for 40 days but not really because Sundays aren’t counted so that adds six days. There are sects that use different numbers for determining how long a period constitutes Lent.

        Christians deal with Lent in a variety of ways including doing nothing. If we’re giving up something for Lent there are some that say that we aren’t supposed to talk about it just like there are those that say we’re supposed to go off and pray by ourselves. Others use Lent to focus on service to others.

        I have given up things for Lent in the past. The year that I gave up hang gliding was my most successful. That really wasn’t keeping in the spirit of Lent. The year that I gave up beer (Alcoholic beverages but primarily I drink beer.) was probably my least successful. I took penalties twice and they were not fun. Don’t ask. There are also habits and actions that I try and get better at with limited success.

       What I often hear around Lent but at other times of the year as well is that I should use Lent as a time to work on my relationship with God. Seriously! What does that even mean?

       “You know, God, it seems to me that you’ve been kind of moody lately. Things just haven’t been the same between us. I asked you to make those last lottery tickets winners and frankly you let me down. What’s with that? Is there something that you would like to talk about?”

       Just off the top of my head I’m going to postulate that isn’t a good way to work on my relationship with God and is not what people are talking about.

        There’s always the recommendation to study the bible. Well, that’s kind of reading about what other people think about God. Bible study is about words and what do they mean. That doesn’t seem to me to be a good way to build a relationship. I have studied a lot of different things including religions. While my understanding improved nothing happened in terms of building relationships.

        Now when it comes to the bible I am NOT erudite. I have a minimal grasp of scripture. I am happy if I can just get through the Lord’s Prayer in church. I’m getting older and I wasn’t that sharp to begin with. Scriptures are often less than useful especially when they can be used to support or oppose the same issue. What a person should or should not do becomes dueling scriptures. I prefer information or insight that makes some sense. You know—something that’s useful. If I’m going to build a relationship I want to know what’s going to work.

        It seems to me that to say we need to work on relationship implies that there will be some communication in the way of feedback. I watched a TV show where two people were praying for a particular something. One said to the other, “Are you getting anything yet?” “Nope!” That just about sums up the way I feel when it comes to working on a relationship with God. There is no back and forth dialogue. It’s a one way communication initiated by us. Not a great way to improve a relationship.

        In my history I have only had two instant communications from God. I know that this is where people say, “Uh oh, he’s a little cray” but there you are. In both instances I hadn’t been to church or even thought much about God for years. One instant occurred when I was stooped over working in a factory on second shift; the other when I was driving to the hospital to get to my dad after he suffered a heart attack. I did feel Holy Spirit when I was “saved” in a Southern Baptist church but that really wasn’t a communication like the other two.

        It’s usually after the fact that I realize God has been communicating with me. My wife and I were talking about this the other day. We were going over all the many decisions that led us to our current situation and talking about how everything worked out for the best. Then we talked about how we pray for guidance and direction on a daily basis. We can’t help but see how we often would both come to the same conclusion and make the same decision without fully understanding why. We acknowledge that as prayers answered.

       We aren’t engaged in a Q and A or direct sharing of words with God.  God communicates with us in the background. It’s hard to discern that in the present when things are happening. For me I think it would be better to say that I’m working on acknowledging and realizing my relationship with God rather than working on it. I need to be a better listener. God is.

NOTE:

       I downloaded the picture from The Met, Metropolitan Museum of Art. They have made their collection available for use in the public domain. The oil on canvas painting titled “The Dead Christ is by Edouard Manet, 1832—1883. The painting was criticized for the wound being on the wrong side and the realism. (Christ looks dead.)

Did Jesus brush his teeth? [Religion]

        We usually see Jesus pictured on the cross with a cloth around his personal area. I don’t know why it never occurred to me until it was mentioned in passing during a sermon that Jesus was completely naked on the cross when he was crucified. I just never thought about it.

        Jesus’ humiliation was complete in addition to the pain he endured. He is covered in pictures out of prudery I suppose. Believers don’t want to visualize him naked. But it’s real. It’s accurate. It’s honest. Yet a picture of Jesus naked would be controversial even though we have seen every other aspect of his death portrayed vividly. I do think that it’s important to understand it.

        We don’t often think about what Jesus did in his earthbound body. I mean a lot of his day to day activities probably consisted of doing similar things the rest of us do. There are just some kinds of bodily functions that can’t be skipped. I’m not trying to be graphic. The point is that we often don’t think of the more basic or mundane aspects of life in regards to the time he was here on earth. He slept. He ate. He drank. He learned a trade. He helped out his mom and dad. The majority of Jesus’ time spent here on earth was just being like those around him.

        Setting aside the religious aspect the smallest history of the man named Jesus made it down through the ages. Odd that. What we know about Jesus is hearsay based upon a tiny snapshot of everything that he was and did. We only have bits and pieces of conversations out of all the millions of words that he surely spoke in his life. The most of what we don’t know about is that for a big part of his time here on earth he didn’t stand out in a crowd or we would have heard more about it. He just wasn’t on the historical radar for a large portion of the time. We fill in all the space in between the words that we do have through myriad translations with what he probably meant or would have said about subjects not specifically covered. In some cases context of the times is applied and at other times not.

        Jesus speaks in 15 verses in the bible. 193 words. (KJV) That’s it, give or take a few words. What 193 words would you choose to have as your record here on earth? What would your life story say?

        The claim is that the important essential thoughts made it through. Then wouldn’t that mean that most of what Jesus said wasn’t important? Well, that can’t be true. Besides, it just wasn’t up to us. In reality most of what we know is what we don’t know.

        In idealizing him have we made him unrecognizable? He wasn’t ethereal in his physical body. Jesus the man was human. I think that we skip a lot of the Jesus was a man part or at least don’t spend much time dwelling on it. Why is that? Is it totally unimportant? Is there fear that humanizing the man Jesus would de-deify him, make him less approachable? The life stories of Jesus tell us that he was completely approachable to the poor, the afflicted, working people, the masses.

        While I am not a literalist when it comes to the bible it seems apparent to me that Jesus had emotions. We know that he got frustrated, could be angry. Could he joke around or was he always Mister, “Our father in heaven and he is me said…”? Were there times when he just walked out of a morning and thought, “It smells like it could rain today” or did he already know what the weather would be? Did he tap his foot when a catchy tune of the time was playing?

        Did Jesus have “Hey, how ya’ doin’?” over the backyard fence kind of conversations that didn’t make it to the final book version? It wouldn’t have made for powerful reading but I kind of think it would have helped provide context and color. If we can accept that he was capable of simply saying “Hi” to someone without it having any deep philosophical meaning then some other things kind of fall into place. In other words he was capable of just having everyday types of conversations. Have we taken comments made in passing and made them gospel?

        We have a sense of humor. It seems like that should be for a reason if our design is indeed intelligent. So if Jesus saw someone in one of those silly pratfall slapstick incidents that have gone on throughout man’s existence do you reckon that he would chuckle at the humor? If he talked about someone having a plank in their eye was he joking or was he being sarcastic? If he could be sarcastic we have some serious problems.

        What about his early years? He didn’t start doing miracles until his later years. A toddler performing miracles surely would have made it into the good book. As a child did he play? I like to think so and we don’t know otherwise. Did Mary and Joseph have to sit him down and explain to him who he was or was he born self-aware?

        There was certainly literal and figurative ritual cleansing during Jesus’ time. But how about day to day personal cleansing? Those weren’t times that were real conducive to maintaining good personal hygiene. People smelled and had to have extremely bad breath. On a day to get through the day basis these were not the sweetest smelling people and frankly somebody not smelling or having bad breath would have stood out.

        We can say beyond any doubt that people in Jesus’ time got cavities and were missing teeth at an early age. Did Jesus? Smiling with a few front teeth missing wouldn’t have been noticed. But having a full set of chompers!? It would have been mentioned and noted if he had the glowing white teeth that are becoming so popular today. Granted it wouldn’t have been a miracle on the scale of turning water into wine but it certainly would have qualified as a minor miracle. That’s the kind of stuff that gets written down. “Sure he can raise the dead but did you see those teeth!”         

        If Jesus didn’t brush his teeth then he had bad breath. Would a disciple offer him the equivalent of a tic-tac before he went into a crowd to speak? “Here Jesus, how about a nice mint leaf to chew on before you talk?” Would that make any difference? What if bad breath, body odor, terrible table manners and image aren’t all that important to God? If he showed up for dinner would people tell him to wash those hands and brush those teeth first? I don’t think so.

        Religion market share is about numbers. In the world of business who has the best number is the one that wins. Would a god that doesn’t brush his teeth be less believable than one that does? Or would a god that brushes his teeth be one that we can more readily identify with? Whose picture would be the most marketable today?

        Would the Jesus of his time be welcome in our homes today? Would we let him through the door, or turn him away because of his looks or hygiene? Would he return or check up on us as a contemporary man? The kind of man that would blend in with the crowd?

        It is the actions reported not the word for word dialogue of Jesus that inspire as well as the message. I’m talking about the barest of scraps of all the parts that were Jesus. The message of unconditional love survived regardless of the specific words. Some things, like love and faith, you have to feel and believe with your heart. Falling in love is more than a physical response; more than hormones. It’s knowing. Faith is or can be the same way. Believing can also be a matter of intellect, an intellectual acceptance derived from a variety of disciplines. Faith can be an experience.

        My belief and faith falls into the experience category. My two deepest connections and communications came during a time when I was unchurched and though still a believer I was not engaged with any of the trappings of the faith including regular study. While I am comfortable with my beliefs I do believe that it’s important to study the bible and be inquisitive. It’s our nature as human beings.

        There are some things that we need to start accepting as Christians. What we are proposing for others to accept does sound a little cray cray if you strip away the religious covering. We have to be open to challenging thoughts and questions. Mostly we need to live in a way that would be considered desirable to others. There has to be a reason for people to change behavior. Jesus lived real and did good. He loved and told people to love. (We’re talking spiritual love not the act.) He taught acceptance.

        Accepting that there was a real person named Jesus can be the first step of a journey. Just leave out the God stuff. Who was he? What did he stand for? What did he believe? Can his ideas help me? Can I be a better person? Ask questions of yourself. Are you happy? Do you feel empty? Is there more than this physical world? Do you always have this feeling like an itch that you can’t scratch? Do you feel fulfilled? Is life just something that happens to you? Would you like to know joy? Would like to not be alone? Perhaps a figment of the imagination can be a help to you. Perhaps a very real Jesus beyond just the concept of Jesus can be with you.

        We have what we have. We just have to make the best of what there is before us. That’s what we have to work with. The evidence before us is that his “message” of love from the past did make it through a couple of thousand years. There is the message that there was Jesus. Just that means a lot and speaks volumes about his few written words.  

The two Great Commandments [Religion/Homosexuality]

          I don't want to start a war of scriptures here. I'm just sharing my guiding life verse, Matthew 22:34-40. "But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." For the quoted text I used the King James Version bible that my grandma gave to me so many decades ago.

If I hold to the above scripture it keeps life and what I'm supposed to do much simpler. Otherwise we quickly descend into interpretation, definitions, context and then what did the original Greek word mean. It just never ends. Scripture is hurled back and forth like word grenades. No quarter is given.

As an example, would it be neighborly or loving of me to call a gay neighbor an abomination? If that neighbor is a "None" (No religious affiliation) that I would like to talk with about Jesus, being saved and Christianity? That really wouldn't be a good way to start a conversation let alone build a neighborly relationship. The problem we have in building the faith is that MILLIONS of Christians are SHOUTING from the rooftops and the World Wide Web that gays are an abomination before God as well as citing any number of other hateful, non-loving scriptures to anyone that will listen.  

Churches are being busted up and/or closing over the issue of homosexuality. People are leaving the faith. Families are being torn up. In the United States, the Christian faith, based on the bible, declines in numbers with each passing year. People have made an idol of words. They worship the words.

There are some hard words in the bible. Real. Hard. That’s the truth of the matter. We have to live with that. But we do have the example of Jesus before us as well and those two great commandments. So would gay people be an abomination before Jesus? No. No, they would not.

Do we as Christians fulfill the second great commandment if we deny our neighbor a service like baking a cake for their wedding? Jesus would have baked them 2 cakes.  People will argue with that. People will argue with any number of simple acts of kindness and love. In the final analysis Jesus had a servant’s heart and encouraged the same in us.

We reduce arguments to niches, clichés and often make it personal. I read a comment that said if we want our nation to be Christian (I'm paraphrasing) then we need to stop voting for Liberals. Then we place people in niches as being conservative, right wing, left wing, liberal or some mix thereof.

If we’re going to use clichés and niches then Jesus would qualify as a bleeding heart liberal with the things that he says. At least that is what the Pharisees would say.  He put the poor waaaay before the rich. It seems I remember him telling some rich young guy to sell all his stuff and give it away. He didn’t. He liked his stuff. What would Jesus tell the “one percenters” of today to do with their incredible wealth?

I'm old enough to remember the time when people who were divorced were looked down upon by the church. (Some still do.) If Christianity hadn't loosened up as to the treatment of divorced couples the numbers of church members would have been decimated even further.

People can't talk me out of my faith. Even for the four decades that I didn’t go to church I never lost my faith. It’s like that for some of us.

The Nones may not even want me trying to talk them into the faith. That’s their call. That’s the way it works. But if I do try, I don’t plan to insult or vilify them first.

 So as believers we're stuck in a Catch 22 because we're supposed to talk about our faith; bring people to the faith. We certainly aren't supposed to deny it. That's why our actions, how we behave and what we say are so important. We have to look like we have something that people want, something that they can apply to their daily lives that will have relevancy; that will make them want to talk to us. Whether they talk with us or not we have done what we are supposed to do. We have served humanity and a higher purpose by looking past ourselves in the service to others. 

Taking Dad Home [Life Story]

My Dad was always a home town boy and all his life went back to the little town of Liberal, Missouri on a regular basis. He seemed to know everyone in town. He left from there to serve his country during WWII. He started his married life from there. Most of his family was still in the area. I had grown up used to making weekend trips to see both sets of grandparents, thinking even then how lucky I was to have all of them in the same home town along with a few aunts, uncles and cousins as well. 

I carry a lot of memories about Liberal.

When I was a young boy Dad and Granddad would take me for a walk. Granddad on one side smoking his pipe, Dad on the other with me a tow-headed boy in between holding their callused hands. All I needed was a slingshot stuck in my pocket and we would have made a Norman Rockwell painting.

In reality I was just cover, an excuse to leave the house so that they could go to the pool hall over on Main Street. For me it was a wonderland. I would stand by the pool table staring up at those big schooners of golden liquid. Sometimes I would even be given a sip! At times I would go and watch Granddad and the other older men play dominoes or checkers. These were serious games and played fast from years of experience and perfection.

Now, what kind of dad takes a boy that young to a pool hall? What kind of business lets a youngster of tender age come inside? Well, I was Homer’s boy and it was a different place and time. He was also the kind of dad and man that would find Jesus in later years and give his son the opportunity to find him as well. (But that’s another story.) He taught respect and life’s lessons by example and showed that life is what you make of it.

One of our trips in our adult years was to attend the funeral of Mom’s mother. After the funeral Dad rode back home with me. I have forgotten the reason there were just the two of us. He started telling me a story about Liberal.

He told me that the last few times that he went to Liberal there was a young boy in white overalls following him around.  He saw the boy at all his old favorite places to play.  He said that the boy would hide behind trees, jump fences, etc.

I noticed that he seemed to be deep in thought while he was telling me about the boy.  I told him that it wasn’t too surprising for him to be seeing a boy doing the same kinds of things that he did because Liberal is a pretty small town and that he shouldn’t worry about the boy following him around.

Dad was quiet for a long time before he said, “You don’t understand, Son.  That boy I’m seeing is me.”

I didn’t think yet that he was being literal but just to make sure I queried, “You mean he looks like you?”

“No, son. I mean the boy is me.”

We just kind of let that hang there.  Dad was absolutely not given to say things like that.

The next thing he said to me I will always remember.  He said, “Son, if something happens to me I want to be buried in Liberal.  I don’t care what you have to do to get me there.  Drive me down sitting in the seat beside you if you have to but get me to Liberal.”

I told him I would.  The call to return home can be powerful.

Two weeks after getting back home I received one of those calls in the morning at work that you never want to get. The foreman came out on the shop floor to the machine that I was working on and told me that my dad had been taken to the hospital. He had had another heart attack. That was all the information that he had.

Afterwards I learned that his attack occurred at the little self-service laundry that he and Mom owned.  He had been working on one of the washing machines, stopped, took a nitro pill and hopped up on one of the folding tables and sat there swinging his legs.  I had seen him do that a hundred times when his heart would bother him. Only this time he just laid over.

He had had a couple of heart attacks and finally couldn’t go back to work.  My folks bought the laundry to keep him from driving the rest of us crazy.  He had worked hard all of his life and just sitting around was just not in his game plan.

I don’t even remember running to the parking lot, jumping into the car and taking off. The first thing I remember is that I was heading for the hospital as fast as the car would go. The road into town had a section where it abruptly dropped to a lower level. When I hit that section I went airborne. All wheels off the ground.

Time seemed to stand still and to this days words are inadequate to explain what took place. It was like a wind blew through every fiber of my being. It was like I was seeing a star-filled night sky and being pulled into it but not. It was a powerful communication. It’s hard to describe. There were no words spoken but rather they were understood. I was told that Dad was gone and to slow down. There was a glimpse of vastness and a kind of light beyond my comprehension around that voice. It was a calm presence.

Then the wheels touched down and I was back to a very fast reality. The rest of my trip to the hospital was at a more sedate speed. I arrived at the hospital and was taken right to a small waiting room. Most of my family was already there.

Mom looked at me and said, “Your Dad is gone.”  I replied, “I know, Mom.”  The chaplain said, “Now we don’t know that yet; they’re still working on him.”  The chaplain left and came back after a while with the official news that Dad didn’t make it. They gave us some time with him before we left.

We were home that afternoon and Mom was trying to figure out what to do.  I discovered that even with Dad having serious heart problems for such a long time they had never talked about final arrangements.  I said, “We’ll bury him in Liberal,” and told her of my conversation with Dad a couple of weeks prior.

So, just as he wanted, we took Dad home to his beloved town and laid him to rest surrounded by his history, secure in the faith of a life well lived. 

My Tipi Sabbatical [Life story]

Back during the summer of 2012 I had been caring full-time for my father-in-law, Paul, for almost 10 years. I finally reached a point where I had come up against a wall and desperately needed a respite. Paul came to live with us in 2003. He had Parkinson’s disease and it was no longer safe for him to live on his own. The level of care he needed was continually escalating. Shelley, my wife, agreed with me that I needed a break and my brother Kim would help her care for him while I took off for a few days. My plan was to pray and meditate at my cousin’s place at Table Rock Lake, not far from Shell Knob, Missouri.

Ready to leave, I had my suitcase completely packed. When I went back to get it to load it into the car I forgot that I hadn’t zipped it up yet. I picked it up and dumped everything on the floor. Not an auspicious start. Then on my way out of town I decided to gas up. Try as hard as I could the access door to the gas cap wouldn’t open, no matter how many times I pushed the release button on the dash. Just as I was thinking that I was going to have to take a chance on breaking the switch or physically pry open the door to the gas cap I realized that the trunk was wide open! The switch to open the trunk was right next to the switch that opened the door to the gas cap.

My cousins have a place right at the edge of the lake. On their property they have a for real full-scale, traditional tipi. This is where I planned to sweat, meditate and pray. There was a drought that summer so in addition to taking care of some prayer requests I also intended to pray for rain. My main prayer, though, was to have the strength, patience and ability to continue taking care of Paul. We all knew what his prognosis was too well. He was going to get worse. A lot worse.

The first time I went to the tipi my cousin LeAnn had some trepidation. Mainly she didn’t want to send me home…you know…dead from heat stroke. I could see the front porch of their house through the open flap of the tipi. Periodically before I settled into a nice meditative state I would see her coming out to check on me. For some reason when Shelley’s not around people seem to think that I need extra watching.

I finally did hit a transcendent state. That doesn’t happen for me very often. While I was praying for rain I felt drops falling on my face. It took a bit for it to sink in that it was raining on my face. You might remember that I said I was inside the tipi. I opened my eyes and looked up. Though I wasn’t sitting underneath the vent opening, the rain was swirling down in such a fashion that it came down on my face. I looked outside through the opening and could see rain hitting the ground. It was so dry that the raindrops made little puff clouds of dust as they hit the ground. It only rained for about 30 seconds. I kind of wished that I had prayed for a specific amount of rain.

Unsure of what to do next, I decided to pray some more even though I had been sweating in there for over an hour already. So, I closed my eyes again and prayed about what I should do next. A few minutes into prayer I again felt something on my face. I opened my eyes and discovered that I was covered with granddaddy long legs spiders. I was sitting cross-legged on the floor with my back against a seat. The seat was covered as well. Nothing else. Now normally I would have been freaked out by this but as it was I was utterly calm. It was time to leave.

I went into the tipi other times but I never reached that wonderful state of calm and acceptance again, though I did sweat a lot. That isn’t a bad thing if one of your goals is to do that very thing. People pay good money to go places to sweat and I was doing it for free and having a pretty good time to boot on the hot summer day that the Lord provided.

All good things have their time and at last I had to return home after being well cared for by all my cousins. On the way home I was having major trouble staying awake. Probably all the carb loading that I had done during my stay was making me drowsy. When I say drowsy I mean slap yourself in the face to keep from nodding off while you’re driving drowsy. Not good.

I pulled over at a rest stop not far from Parsons, Kansas. I thought that if perhaps I could just get 20 minutes of nap I could make it on home to Park City, just north of Wichita, KS. Unfortunately I was low on gas and couldn’t leave the car running with the a/c on. I tried resting on a bench underneath some shade trees at the rest stop but it was just too hot. My only option was to get on down the road. I figured that I could make it to Fredonia, only another half-hour away and where I planned on gassing up.

I pulled over again to the side of the road as I was leaving the rest stop and prayed, “Lord, I’m in trouble here and I can’t stay awake. I need your help to safely make it home.”

With more face slapping I made it to the gas station outside of Fredonia. While I was gassing up I was absorbed with my thoughts of what do I do next because I really needed to make it back that day. People were counting on my return to take care of Paul. Shelley had to go back to work and Kim was taking care of our mother at the family home as well as helping Shelley, so he was carrying a heavy load.

The next thing I knew someone was tapping me on the shoulder and talking. I turned and there was this face just inches away from mine and he was jabbering. All that I could really make out is that he was calling me “Boss” every few words. He was standing way inside my physical comfort zone. I asked him to step back and let me finish gassing up, then we would talk.

After I finished I sized him up. He was a young, long-haired guy dressed up in something that looked very much like a toga. Back in the day he would have been called a hippie. (I was one for a while.) He was driving an old beat-up van and wanted to know if he could trade some jewelry that his wife had made for some gas. His story was that they were musicians and headed to a church in Wichita where his wife’s dad was a pastor. I told him that while I didn’t need any jewelry, I would give them enough gas to get to Wichita. He thanked me profusely.

After taking care of them at the gas pump I went inside and picked up some munchies for the rest of the trip home. I couldn’t get the whole incident out of my mind. It was just so unusual. I was just outside of Augusta and about half an hour from home, when it dawned on me that I hadn’t been drowsy even once since my stop. One of my many prayers had already been answered, just not in a way that I expected.

I made it back to Shelley and Paul feeling renewed. And we did make it all the way with him on his life’s journey. There were more tough times but we knew that God was with us every step of the way.

Dad’s right arm [Religious]

Many of us have “touchstone” memories that can take us back to a special place and time in our hearts. Here lately I find that I have these more frequently as I look back on my life.

My dad provided many of those moments. I had a great dad. He was a warrior. He was a guy; a WWII Battle of the Bulge veteran. He was short physically but tall in stature. He worked hard and took care of his family as best he could, even working a second job on weekends driving a milk route. He also made sure that we went to church.

When I was a teenager, I became concerned about salvation and my immortal soul and I had begun bugging my folks and pastor with “age of accountability” questions such as, if a person knew they were going to die was there still time to be saved. I was intrigued with the whole “death bed confession at the last minute possibility” as a fall back insurance policy for getting into heaven.

I pestered them for weeks with my salvation questions. Finally in exasperation our pastor, Reverend Bolton, said, “Look, if you’re asking the question then you’ve already answered it”. This was not the answer that I was looking for. However, I was perfectly willing to let the matter rest for a while.

Then the church we attended happened to have a revival. So my dad took me with him one evening. It was one rip-snorting, serious, fire and brimstone, come-to-Jesus kind of revival, altar calls and all. Still, I have to admit that as a teenager my mind wandered. Then I was hearing the preacher wrapping up by telling everyone to bow their heads and pray. He was saying that it didn’t look like anyone was coming forward that evening and we were going to finish up, unless even one person wanted us to keep going. I was practically home free! He asked that if anyone wanted us to keep going because they felt someone could be saved would they please raise their hand.

The pew Dad and I were sitting in was tightly packed. I was to his left, head bowed along with everyone else. As the preacher asked if we should continue, my shoulders and upper body shifted to the left. The preacher then said to the crowd that we had a winner and would continue. (Those were not his exact words.) He continued preaching and we continued praying. Nothing. He stopped and asked us all to bow our heads again. Same question. Same response. I shifted to the left again.

You have probably guessed what was happening, but it may bear mentioning that there were those in the family that considered me to be a little thick-headed. This same scenario went down a third time before it dawned on me that my dad was the one raising his hand and that action was what was causing me to shift to the left. My exact thought at the time was, “Oh, Jiminy! Dad is going to have these people here all night if I don’t find Jesus.”

To this day, the thought of my dad’s faith makes me teary-eyed. Because I did find Jesus that night. My dad had faith. That whole congregation had faith. They didn’t leave. The preacher didn’t give up and Reverend Bolton ended up baptizing me.

A couple of years later Dad had a heart attack. He fell to the floor in his bedroom. He wasn’t breathing and was turning blue. A couple of weeks earlier I had learned how to provide mouth to mouth resuscitation. I worked on Dad. I didn’t give up, just like he hadn’t given up on my finding salvation. We had him for another wonderful decade before another heart attack took him home. Saving my dad’s life, though, doesn’t compare to what he did for me.

That anchor point of faith got me through a lot of tough times over the years. Though I drifted from the church for 40 years, I never drifted from my faith and belief in God. When I served in Korea it was that faith that led me through the dark. I held onto it through divorce, single parenthood, caregiving, loss and all the other events we go through in a life’s arc.

Faith has been there for the good times as well. It has helped me find the community of church again and the love of a good woman as well as to appreciate my many small blessings. My hope is that if being a Christian becomes a crime there will be enough evidence to convict me.

Thanks, Pop.