Who is in control?

You can plan. You can prepare. You can do so much to insure that which you are called to do really happens. But in the end you have no control over a lot of things. That is becoming quite clear this weekend.

Snow is pelting the Northeast and shutting down school activities, community programs and threatening to close many churches. I've already spoken to a couple of colleagues who have made the decision to cancel services. A few minutes ago I heard that two afternoon activities were canceled as well.

So much work goes into planning a service or a program. Many of us look forward to them. In the end we have to come to terms with the fact that we have to lewt go of things sometimes.

That's true in so many areas of life. We are under the illusion that we are in charge. Yet when illness comes, when an accident happens, when we lose our job, when our children grow up and leave home we realize it isn't true. It's then that we understand just how important it is to have faith and trust God. For God is the one who fills the gap between what we have planned and what actually happens.

Our verse of the week at church is from Jeremiah 29: 11. It says, "I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

Jeremiah knew something about disappointment and plans that failed to materialize and yet he gives us this great verse of encouragement as a promise from God. So take heart! When things seem out of your control, look to God and he will see you through.

Cal

Some thoughts on the conflict in Gaza

I try to stay above the political fray most of the time. Although I have my opinions, I don't push them on people. I'd rather they come up with their own take on things. But recently I have heard a lot of people criticizing Israel over the events happening in the Gaza Strip. So I thought posting this comment might give another side to what we are seeing and hearing. Read it and take away from it what you will. I think it is a thoughtful presentation.

Cal

The Necessary Response to Hamas
Dr. Earl Tilford
Center for Vision & Values


January 9, 2009

As soon as Israeli air strikes began striking Hamas-controlled Gaza, many American church leaders started calling for an immediate ceasefire based solely on human suffering rather than the political realities of the situation. Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s ongoing effort to end indiscriminate rocket and mortar attacks on surrounding Israeli towns and villages, is necessary, morally justified, and legitimate, despite the calamitous cacophony from the loquacious Christian left.

Hamas chose not to continue the six-month cease-fire. When the ceasefire ended on Dec. 18, Hamas sent a barrage of Qassam rockets and Russian-built and Iranian-supplied Smerch (NATO codename “Grad‘) rockets into Israel. Short-range Qassams hit nearby Sderot and Ashkelon while Grads slammed into Beersheba 25 miles west and fell on the southern suburbs of Tel Aviv to the north. Neither of these rockets can inflict critical damage on hardened military targets. Grad anti-personnel missiles, designed to kill soldiers on the battlefield, can damage or destroy homes, apartment buildings, schools, automobiles, and buses. Hamas rarely attacks Israeli forts or military units stationed along the border. Rather, these terrorists fire rockets and missiles indiscriminately at nearby towns and cities to kill civilians. This is a war crime.

Hamas is guilty of other war crimes. It locates offices, munitions factories, and storage areas in and among the Palestinian citizenry. Combatants who use civilian populations as a shield are responsible for any harm inflicted upon them by an enemy. While the majority of casualties, even by Hamas’ accounting, are terrorist fighters, there have been and will continue to be regrettable loss of life among innocent civilians. Hamas alone bears responsibility.

Under international law, the occupying power is obligated to protect the occupied population. Claims by the Christian left that Israel is “the responsible occupying power” are incredulous. In 2005, Israeli forces pulled out of Gaza, forcing thousands of Jewish settlers out as well. Soon thereafter, Hamas conducted a coup d'état, killing hundreds of opposing Palestinian political leaders. Hamas, which occupies all of Gaza, bears responsibility for protecting the population. Furthermore, Hamas’ rocket and mortar attacks forced the Israeli response.

Israel’s attacks focus on Hamas-controlled and security-related institutions, including the police and local security agencies. Claims that Hamas’ police are a civilian entity separate from Hamas are specious. Hamas’ Gaza police are as much a part of the same Hamas terrorist organization as were the SS and Gestapo in Nazi Germany. Killing them is no less illegitimate (or morally reprehensible) than was killing Reinhard Heydrich.

The Christian left continues to condemn any military action by Israel while ignoring Hamas’ conduct that compelled Israel to initiate Operation Cast Lead. It condemns Israel for a “disproportionate response” while failing to set the context in which Hamas, from its inception, has been—and remains—committed to the total destruction of Israel.

As for the “disproportional” response, on Dec. 30, a Grad rocket blasted a hole in the roof of a primary school in Beersheba. If school had not been cancelled, that Grad would have slaughtered a classroom full of children. Every such rocket fired by Hamas into Israel, whether a “little” Qassam or a Grad, is fired with the intent of killing and maiming Jewish civilians: men, women, children, young and old alike. Israel builds shelters and provides a warning system to protect its citizens. Hamas, by contrast, places weapons in its mosques, hides terrorists among hospital staff, locates its offices in apartment buildings, and places its munitions factories and storage areas in neighborhoods. Nevertheless, Israel uses precision-guided munitions and makes every reasonable effort to minimize collateral damage and civilian casualties. Hamas, by contrast, almost exclusively targets civilians.

Israel undertook Operation Cast Lead as a last resort. Political realities in Israel compelled the current government to take action or face possible replacement by the more conservative Likud Party. Uncertainty over the level of commitment to Israel forthcoming from the United States after Jan. 20, 2009 likely played a role as well.

Israel must continue Operation Cast Lead to its culmination point. To inflict civilian casualties without destroying Hamas would be regrettable. Israel—and only Israel—can free Gaza from Hamas’ occupational stranglehold. Doing so will facilitate the peace process and make possible a just and lasting peace with an independent Palestinian state. And the world, including the Palestinian people, will owe Israel gratitude.

Dr. Earl Tilford, a fellow with The Center of Vision & Values at Grove City College, is currently working on a history of the University of Alabama in the 1960s. A former Air Force intelligence officer and former Director of Research for the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute, Dr. Tilford earned his PhD in American and European military history at George Washington University.

Decisions, decisions...

I woke up this morning to snow and ice on the roads. They had canceled school back home. Many of the schools in Boston, where I was staying, had delays. I was determined to get to the conference one way or another. My hotel was right on the subway line. It would be easy to just walk down the hill and catch a ride.

As I thought about leaving my car at the hotel I realized that if I took the subway I would have to walk in the rain, not only down the hill to catch it, but I'd also have to walk the half mile up the hill to Andover Newton at the other end. Life is never easy. So much of our time is spent trying to make the right decisions.

We agonize and lose sleep over them. The truth is that many of the decisions don't really matter in the long run. Today I could have gone either way. I didn't have to waste an hour thinking about it. But there are some decisions that do have a lasting impact.

How are you going to live your life? What are you going to use as a guiding principle? What will you set up as priorities in how you spend your time? These are the decisions that shape our lives and most of us spend very little thoughtful time on them. We just slide through life and focus on the deicsion of the moment.

This is where a regular devotional life can be so helpful. Spending time reading the Bible or in a prayer group or even attending worship services can help you put things in perspective. I know it works for me.

The truth is that I didn't spend an hour trying to decide what to do this morning. I had already made up my mind that I was going to the follow up session to the conference. How I got there didn't matter. I just got in my car and drove.

The roads weren't that bad by the time I left and it was a piece of cake. I got to hear the speaker talk about listening for the voice of God. Being there was what I was supposed to do.

Cal

A grounded faith

As I walked down the steps I had a flashback to 1982. Lori and I were newlyweds and had just moved to our studio apartment on campus. That summer I took a job on the grounds crew at school and learned how to strip and wax the floors in the halls and classrooms of my seminary. I also learned how to clean the bathrooms and how to clean the carpets. I did a little bit of everything that summer.

I thought of that today as I returned to the seminary for a two day conference. That summer on the grounds crew was every bit as important to my education as the classes I took over the next two and half years. They grounded me and reminded me that ministry has to be practical if it is to be any use to the people I would serve.

We can talk about the love of God. We can preach about the need for salvation. But if the people in the neighborhood around the church are hungry and homeless, then the words will fall on deaf ears. Ministry has to deal with the whole person and all of the needs and circumstances of life. Jesus understood this. When you read through the Gospels you will see Jesus interacting with people in very meaningful ways. He saw them as people and met their needs. Then he healed them or forgave them or did something to change their lives.

That is what we are called to do. Ministry has to be practical. It has to be real. So go out and feed the hungry or work to house the homeless. Go out and work for peace and justice. Stand up for the victims and stand with them if you can. Put your faith in action and you will find Jesus standing there with you.

Did I tell you that I met Jesus on the ground flooor of a seminary classroom I was cleaning? I had had some of my best talkes with him there that summer as I was working on the floors. May it be so for you as well.

Cal

The real Lords of Flatbush

While we were in New York on vacation we took a little trip into Brooklyn. My daughter is thinking about moving to Williamsburg and she wanted to show us a few of the restaurants. We got off the train at the Flatbush Avenue station and I couldn't resist taking this picture. I joked about us being the Lords of Flatbush.

You might remember that the original Lords of Flatbush came out of a 1974 movie that featured Sylvester Stallone, Henry Winkler and Perry King as a gang of Brooklyn teens who chase girls, steal cars, play pool and hang out at a local candy store.

We didn't really bear any resemblance to those guys but we did stop at a Chocolate Store. On the way home I thought about the fact that just because you claim the name it doesn't mean you can play the game.

I think about this in terms of being a Christian. What is it that makes us a follower of Christ? Is it what we believe? Is it the way we live our lives? Is it the way we treat others? Is it going to church and observing the ritual, sacraments and ordinances of the faith that makes us a Christian? It is something to think about. Maybe it is all of this and more. You tell me.

Cal

Just play the game

I'm watching the football game between Indianapolis and San Diego tonight and I have to chuckle to myself. All day long I listened to various sports personalities dissect the four play-off games this weekend. They talked about stats and past performances. They spoke about the strengths and weaknesses of each team and made bold predictions.

The first game of the weekend was an upset according to most of the experts I listened to. The Cardinals had no business winning that game. If San Diego pulls this second game out there will be a lot of sports casters with egg on their face.

The truth is that in any given game, past performance is not the best predictor of future results. There are so many variables that go into winning a game of any kind. The best players don't always win. It is the team that executes the best and minimizes mistakes that will usually prevail.

That's why they play the game. It is a battle that is waged in every possession of the football. Consistency is what counts. If you perform well over time you will prevail.

The same is true in life. Some people are more gifted than others. Some have an advantage over us. Yet if we faithfully live out our life, if we minimize our mistakes, we are more apt to come out ahead. We can't change what we don't have any control over but we can make the most of our opportunities.

I pray that God will show you the opportunities he has for you in the new year and you will take advantage of them and be blessed. Forget the past. Press on and God will be with you. Cal

There is a lot we do not know

I had to get some keys made up this afternoon. I ran over to the Hardware store. I figured I would be in and out in a jiffy. Boy, was I wrong. There was a line of people who must have had the same idea. As I talked to the salesman he told me that their busiest days are the first and fifteenth of every month. As people move in and out of apartments the landlords need new keys.

It struck me that this was a world I knew nothing about. As he told me that they do over 20,000 keys a year, I began to realize just how little I know about the every day activities in some places. We take so much for granted. We think we know about the minutia of every day life and then we meet up with someone who tells us something that we could have never guessed.

It reminded me that humility is a good trait for all of us to hold onto. We don't know it all. When we start making statements about some aspect of life that we are not familiar with, we only show how parochial our knowledge is.

I found out today that it is far better to ask questions and learn from others than it is to make like we know it all. It is a lot less embarrassing that way.

Cal