Simply Thanks

The quiet, serene day, mildly cool with a deep blue sky, and the emptiness of the normally busy street in front of my house made for a beautiful Thanksgiving holiday. Having lit the fire on the grill which would soon be adorned with 10 Cornish game hens, I enjoyed the peace of the moment. Normally at 10 am, I'd be working to build a 5 pm newscast, and sifting through emails hoping to book a guest for the next show. However, today was different. No ringing phone, no last minute production orders, no deadlines, and no stress.

Nope. Today was different. Today was simple. As the flames died down and the charcoal ashed over, I had little to worry about other than these birds being placed on the grill. It might take an hour to cook them, it might take more. No worries. If they took longer than expected, we'd just have lunch a little later. If the kids became hungry waiting, we had an array of snacks to tide them over.

The kids were happy, enjoying several rousing games of Uno, playing Minecraft on their tablets, or showing Papa Benjamin their latest achievements. Life was good.

It's at this time I remembered just how blessed I am. These Cornish game hens were seasoned with a new blend, and Jessica had an array of sides lined out. Today's meal was more than a family meal. It was an adventure, an exploration of new flavor, a new experience altogether. Most people in the world are denied such privilege.

My brick home, heated to just the right temperature, would provide the perfect setting for the holiday meal. My father-in-law would sit with us, having recovered from a tragic accident a year before to be able to spend this time with us.

And best of all, no stress. No deadlines. No hurry. Just relax, check the grill, and enjoy the day.

I hope your day went just as well, but if not, take heart. God's will is not for you to struggle through a never-ending series of heartbreaks, pains, and defeats. God uses those things to form you, but he never intends on keeping you there.

In Exodus 15, God led the Israelites to Marah, so named because the waters there were bitter, and undrinkable. As the Israelites complained about the water, God showed a tree to Moses to cast into the waters to make them sweet. Then, He led the Israelites to Elim, where there were 12 wells of good water.

I tell you that to tell you this. Sometimes, you find yourself in a place of bitterness. That happens in life, but like God moved the Israelites to Elim, He never intends to keep you in bitterness. He can make the bitter sweet, and then move you to an oasis.

Keep trusting Him, and shift your focus from the bitterness to the things that are good in life. This is a practice that has taken years for the Lord to teach to me, and He'll teach you as well, if you let him.

For the transformation that God has worked in my life, and for the continuing transformation taking place, I say, simply, thanks.

Can Reality Come Between A Man, and Christ?

"Hi, I'm at Lifeway. Want anything?" My wife asked over the phone after attending one of my oldest daughter's basketball games.

"Absolutely! If they have The Great Good Thing by Andrew Klavan, pick it up!" I replied. She did. And over the past day and a half, I have been in reading heaven.

I first discovered Andrew Klavan by accident. Someone had linked to one of his videos on Facebook. Klavan's most recent incarnation is that of a political pundit on The Daily Wire. His daily podcast mixes satire with politics and current events. Klavan, without being risque or rude, says what we really think, and turns the turmoil of today's political corruption into a daily sitcom. The first video I watched, a rapid fire assault on the ridiculousness of the boycott on North Carolina due to their bathroom law, said essentially everything I thought about the controversy, only in a more entertaining way. 

Andrew Klavan

If I had only known Klavan for his political commentary, I'd have been a fan. However, a few weeks after I discovered him, Klavan released his new book, The Great Good Thing. The book is Klavan's story of growing from a secular Jew to a believer in Jesus Christ. The title, premise and author were enough to sell me on the book, but Klavan's commentary on his book, offered on a series of TV interviews and podcasts I found on YouTube, enticed me even more. 

During those interviews, Klavan discussed his search for the truth, his never-ending self-assessment of his motivations, and ultimately how he came to believe the truth, and to show his conversion via a Protestant baptism. 

So, as soon as Jessica returned home with the book, I opened it to the introduction. Introducing the premise of the book, Klavan discussed his struggle with converting to Christianity. Among other things (doubt as to his motivation, family heritage, etc), Klavan discussed his love for life, his fascination with the things of this world, and his attraction to what is real. 

Klavan discussed how, during his struggle with converting to Christianity, he feared he would lose touch with reality. Already well-known for writing thrillers, murder mysteries, and TV shows, Klavan was concerned that his writing would drift toward softer stories, like a little girl whose bunny turns up missing but miraculously returns. While this may seem silly to some, Klavan understood the gritty nature of the real world around us, and he didn't want to be converted to a fruit-loop with his head in the clouds when he converted to Christianity. (My words, not his). 

To a degree, I can understand his concern. Working in the news business, and political talk radio, I see every day the effects of sin on this world. I read and research news stories about kids who kill their parents, parents who kill or torture their children, politicians who carelessly leave America's finest to die while they plan their next fundraiser, and the devastating effects avarice and lust have on this society. 

Being a minister of God's Word, I've had to counsel with the teenage girl 'abused' by her father, the child who witnessed his/her father nearly murder his/her stepmother, the teenager whose been left homeless, the kid abandoned by both parents, the war veteran living with PTSD, and the family living in extreme poverty.

These experiences propel me to do battle. This is a Spiritual war that can only be won by proclaiming God's word, confronting evil, and honoring your responsibilities. It's the kind of battle that you cannot win by saying "too blessed to be stressed." Such pithy sayings, in my opinion, are a disengagement of the Spiritual battle we face, and constitute living in denial. Sure, God is good all the time. Sure, God holds us in the palm of His hand. Sure, God is in control. However, God not only gave us the capability to join His cause and battle on His behalf, but has also called us to do so. 

As a result, I lack the polished appearance, speech and demeanor many pastors have. (And they use that demeanor as an armor they wear into the Spiritual battle.)

So, when Klavan feared that he would lose his edge, his understanding of reality upon conversion, I understand where he is coming from. Furthermore, I find it interesting that his understanding of the Christian nature was one where reality is denied, and people keep their heads in the clouds. Have we as Christians put forth an image of softness, denial, and rose-colored glasses? If so, that's a shame. 

We have been put on this earth to shine God's light, to spread His Gospel, to visit the orphans and widows, and to feed His sheep. That process involves standing against evil, and from time to time, beating away the wolves. 

Life is a gift. It's wonderful, fun and interesting. It's also hard, gritty, dirty, and deadly. We need to engage the reality around us, and rescue those who are perishing. The lost around us need to know that we can help, and that we can speak true wisdom into their lives, not just quote "God's Little Instruction Book."

May God bless you as you do the Lord's work. 

We're Still in the Starting Blocks

I'll admit it. Even though I did not vote for Trump, nor did I ever feel any confidence in his candidacy, I did breathe a sigh of relief when Pennsylvania turned red, and Fox News called the Presidential election in his favor.

I'm still not confident in his future administration, and I do not feel that Christianity has won a huge victory. I am, however, relieved that Hillary Clinton did not win the election. At least now, there's a chance (a small chance) that the next round of Supreme Court justices will be friendly toward religious liberty. There is a chance that the executive branch of government might back off churches and para-church organizations. It's possible, but not guaranteed.

All that said, many of my Christian friends are actively celebrating this election. Seeing the nation outright reject a pro-abortion, anti-religion, anti-Second Amendment candidate is reassuring. It tells us our nation may not be too far gone. However, seeing this victory as a win for Christianity might amount to counting the chickens before they're hatched.

It's easy to look at an election win and think that things are okay, or that they're even getting better. However, elections do not effect change in the hearts of people, and if we are to see America truly come alive, it'll take more than a Trump victory to make that happen.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah notes that he saw the vision of the Lord, high and lifted up on His throne in the Temple, in the year that King Uzziah died. King Uzziah was a Godly king who restored a certain level of greatness to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Despite his sin that led to his untimely death, hs is regarded as a king who did right in the sight of God. Upon his death, his son Jotham became king. Jotham had been running the kingdom since Uzziah contracted leprosy as a punishment for unlawfully entering the Holy Place in the Temple. Jotham was also a good king, a Godly king, one who did right in the sight of God.

It would have been easy for Isaiah to think that, with Jotham's coronation, everything was going to be okay. However, it was at that time that Isaiah saw the vision of God in the Temple. Upon seeing this vision, Isaiah was reminded of his sin, his nation's sin, and was then told that his nation would rebel against God until the captivity came. Isaiah had work to do in order to reach those who would repent. He would be charged with speaking God's truth, and calling the nation to repent.

Despite the glimmer of hope that the 2016 election might have presented, we still live in a society where partial birth abortion is seen as a legitimate form of birth control to which a woman has a right. Sexual immorality is still being normalized. The family continues to break down. Younger Americans still want to trade in the opportunity of freedom for the "security" of socialism. And America continues to turn away from God, His church, and His Word.

Our work as Christians, pastors and missionaries did not come together and conclude with the 2016 election, it's just beginning. This is going to be a long race, and we are still in the starting blocks.

This election has presented us with an opportunity to spread God's word and spark a revival in this country. Let's not squander it.

Timeless

Recently, my wife and I found a new show on NBC called "Timeless," which follows three main characters who are pursuing a time-travelling terrorist, trying to stop him from going back in time and changing the past, and thus, destroying America.

In each episode, the crew learns of how a small detail in history actually impacted the country in a major way. Those plot twists are reminiscent of "Quantum Leap," an NBC show from the late 1980s where a time traveler "leaped" into the lives of individuals to stop some catastrophic event from happening that would ultimately destroy the individual's life.

In each show, we see the importance of ordinary people, and the importance of empowering people to great things. It stirs the imagination. What if you could go back in time and fix ___________? What if you could prevent the Kennedy assassinations? Pearl Harbor? What if you could warn the engineers building the Bay Bridge, thus saving hundreds of lives from the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake?

If going back in time to fix the past captures our imaginations, then why doesn't fixing the present?

If we can imagine changing the world for the better by warning President Lincoln to avoid Ford's Theatre, or by tackling Lee Harvey Oswald as he entered the Texas Book Depository, then why can't we imagine changing the world for the better by uplifting the people around us?

The lesson we learn from time-travel stories is not "what could have been," but rather that we have the potential to impact the world in big ways, simply by helping people and speaking truth.

So, embrace your mission! What will you do to change the world today?

Why This Election Will Not Stop The Great American Decline

Sorry for the reference to The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again," but I've been through enough elections to know that the results of this election will not bring sweeping change to our country. The United States has been on a downward trajectory for years, and it has less to do with whom we elect, than who we are.

Our elected leaders stink, because we stink. Our government is dysfunctional, because we are dysfunctional. Our society crumbles because we removed the bedrock foundation that made it great. I don't care how magnificent the structure, you remove it's foundation, and the whole thing falls.

The foundation of American society was faith. Faith in God who built this country and blessed it. Faith in the American people who built this country and defended it. Faith in the American dream which built the greatest society and economy the world has ever known. Faith.

In his book, Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville noted the role that faith played in the American experiment. Faith, he wrote, was essential to democracy working, because it was the faith of Americans which convicted us that we had a responsibility not only to ourselves, but to do right by others.

Following de Tocqueville's logic, if you remove faith, then America descends into a conglomeration of warring factions, with each group and individual seeking pleasure and power at the expense of others. The nation degrades into a group of fractured demographics, all of which are opposed to the others, with leaders seeking the support of these warring factions until ultimately the country tears itself apart.

This is not Obama's fault, and it's not going to be solved by Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. This crisis will only be resolved by a revival in our country.

This Decline Is Evident In The Foster Care Crisis

Every week, I read stories about the supposed "failing" foster care system in Texas. There aren't enough workers, foster homes are overcrowded, and of course, there isn't enough money.

The problem with the foster care system, at least in Texas, is not that there's a lack of money, foster homes or case workers. It only appears such because we have an abundance of parents, who, after having rejected faith, have elected to abuse drugs and their children. Right now, there are approximately 6,000 children in the Texas foster care system awaiting adoption. That's not including the children who were taken into care last month, or those whose parents' rights have not been terminated. Think about that, there are enough children in foster care in Texas to populate a small city. That means that thousands of parents have shirked their responsibilities, and actively harmed their children.

The increase in abusive households is not the fault of the federal government, government policy, nor is it the fault of Child Protective Services. The increase in abusive households is the result of the degradation of society brought on by the abandonment of faith.

Poverty

The fact that, with all the prosperity we see in America, poverty affects families across generations is another sign that our foundation has been compromised. America is the land of opportunity. Despite all of our complaints with the tax system, welfare state, and corporate corruption, America is still the one place that you can go from rags to riches in one generation.

While millions of people find themselves temporarily in poverty, perpetual poverty is the result of the foundation of faith being removed from American society. Once again, if you remove faith, you remove hope, and you remove personal responsibility.

Currently, we have millions living in multi-generational poverty, when the formula for escaping poverty is as simple as it has ever been. The left-leaning Brookings Institute has released three steps to escaping poverty. Basically, if you follow these three steps, you will escape poverty without fail.

These three steps are: (1) Graduate high school, (2) wait until you turn 21 to get married, and don't have children out of wedlock, and (3) get a full-time job.

Yet, we have generations of Americans who are dropping out of education, who are having children out of wedlock, and who refuse to do what it takes to get a job. These decisions are influenced, not only by a lack of hope, but a never-ending list of voices who tell the impoverished that there is no hope, they are not responsible to make good decisions, and that their plight is caused by the rich man. These dishonest voices are motivated by greed, as an entire class of activists and political operatives draw their power and income from the plight of the poor. Once again, faith has been removed, and ruin follows.

Calling Good Evil, and Evil Good

America is going through a time of transition where our values are fundamentally changing. The institutions that made America great, the church, higher education, the family and the community, are metamorphosing in ways we never imagined. In order to remain relevant, many churches are abandoning orthodox teachings and normalizing sinful behavior. Many avoid standing on moral principle, or standing for God's word, by employing a "judge-not" philosophy on life.

Higher education no longer seems to challenge the thinking of its students, electing rather to avoid hurting anyone's feelings. (That's really a shame. Though I had liberal professors who challenged my conservative Christian views, it was through defending those views to said liberal professors that I learned to think for myself, and construct my own world view, which is even more in line with scripture, and more conservative than it was prior to going to college).

The family is being redefined from a mother, father, and children, to any group of people who happen to live together. This arrangement diminishes and even negates the responsibility to raise children, which gets relegated to government schools.

As these changes progress, the American world view degrades into a cesspool of self-loathing, moral ineptitude, and rampant sin, which will ultimately result in the loss of America's greatness.

I could go on...

... but I won't. I could address how rampant sexual immorality is victimizing today's children, thus perpetuating itself to the next generation, or how the abdication of personal responsibility is leading us to communism and the loss of all freedom. I could talk about the evaporation of the American economy as companies are less interested in creating value and products, and more interested in automating financial reports. I could discuss our fascination with violence, the loss of decorum, the rejection of truth, and the admiration of evil. But I won't. That would be running up the score.

So, if your candidate loses, don't lose heart. If your candidate wins, don't celebrate too much. The real problems in America originate with our hearts, and not in the Oval Office.

It's time for America to repent. It's time for us to turn from our sin and turn back to the Lord. It's time for us to renew our faith in God, our faith in each other, and our faith in the American way. If we fail to do that, even a resurrected Ronald Reagan won't be able to help us.

Renew your faith, and I'll see you in church on Sunday.

Let Us Not Do Evil, So That Good May Come

There's an old saying that "the ends justifies the means." Basically, if you get a good result, it does not matter how you arrived at your destination. Therefore, you can freely justify any behavior so long as your intentions were for a good result. This line of thinking has caused thousands of good Christians to sacrifice their integrity and surrender their testimonies, all for the sake of pursuing a goal, whether that goal was a legislative or electoral victory, or whether that goal was effecting change in their local churches or communities.

History is full of churches that died as a result of splits caused by members pursuing a Godly goal through unGodly means. Maybe the preacher did deserve to be fired. Maybe the church needed to launch a youth ministry or transition its worship style. Maybe the red carpet was the best choice... however in many cases, those changes were pursued using the unGodly means of gossiping, backbiting, slander, and vote stuffing. The results of this behavior have been devastating each time this strategy has been employed.

This morning on News/Talk 102.3 KXYL in Brownwood, TX, I once again drew fire from listeners for not defending Donald Trump's candidacy for President. Particularly, I said he was as deplorable as Hillary Clinton, and when asked about his Christianity, I expressed my doubts.

(1) He has never made a public profession of faith. Trump has never publicly stated that he has had a conversion experience.

(2) He has publicly stated that he hasn't had to ask forgiveness for anything, because he hasn't done anything wrong. (I'm referring to the statements he made back during the primary, not during a recent Presidential debate.)

What we do know about Donald Trump is there is a line of women accusing him of sexual harassment. There is audio tape of him describing his tendency to grope women (statements that mirrored a 1997 sexual harassment suit against him). There are questions about his business practices, and just a few years ago, he was pro-abortion, and pro-government healthcare. There are serious questions about his character.

Now, this is the part of the discussion where people ask me, "What about Hillary Clinton?" She's deplorable, and could possibly be the most despicable person to be elected President. However, Clinton does not claim to represent my values. Clinton does not claim to speak for my Lord, and Clinton is not trying to court my vote. Clinton represents the other side of the political aisle. It is not my job as a conservative, evangelical Republican to hold the Democratic Party accountable for its values and nominees. It is my responsibility to make sure my own house is clean. Before I should seek to remove the speck from the Democrats eyes, I must first make sure my own are clear.

While I understand that a Hillary presidency would be disastrous, I have no obligation to endorse anyone who opposes her. At the same time, I have to keep in mind that when I sign my name to a candidate, I am also putting my credibility and testimony on the line. While a Trump victory would give Republicans the White House, I would also have to explain why it's okay for Trump to commit adultery, but not Bill Clinton. I would have to explain why Trump is inherently innocent of all accusations brought against him, but why Hillary is automatically guilty.

Furthermore, I have to look at the girls in my youth group and tell them why we should support Trump, in spite of his "locker room" talk, while at the same time teaching them about living in holiness. For those reasons alone, I cannot bring myself to endorse Donald Trump. That's before we even delve into the issue of his changing positions on conservative issues.

Donald Trump may win the 2016 election. He may lose. Regardless, the Republican Party, and the evangelicals that supported Trump's nomination and campaign, are about to learn a hard lesson. Compromising the means to achieve a desired end leads to devastation each and every time. Perhaps we should have actually consulted our Bibles during the primaries, and remembered Romans 3:8, which says (paraphrased) let us not do evil so that good may come.