The Law of the Lord Is Perfect

I don't know how many times I will have to be reminded of this. You would think that a guy who has walked with the Lord for a while, as I have, and has been reminded repeatedly about the weakness of his own flesh, as I have, would not have any trouble remembering this thing that I repeatedly wander away from. Here it is as stated by George Mueller:

"I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished . . . . I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it."

Instead, I go other places the first thing in the morning, filling my mind with trouble and trivia, when my soul is longing to feast on real and satisfying food. Oh, wretched man that I am! The psalmist describes the preciousness of God's Word like this:

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
(Psalm 19 ESV)

Holiness Is A Promise - Not A Threat

Michael Horton:

"Holiness is not an option; it is a requirement. But this is not a threat. It's a promise. What God began he will finish (Phil. 1:6). In Christ we are already holy, righteous, sanctified, reconciled (1 Corinthians 1:30). Now we are called to live what we are, not to become what we are not yet."

Quoted from his book "Christ the Lord," and taken from the What's Best Next website.

All Men Seek Happiness

I have often commented that 'Desiring God' has been the most influential book, except the Bible, that I have ever read. Its author, John Piper, celebrates Blaise Pascal's life today on the Desiring God blog with a quote from Pascal that was key to Piper's understanding.

"All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves."

These words of Pascal's resonated with Piper and they resonate with me. Piper's reaction was also mine:

"I suspected this was true. But I always feared that it was sin. That wanting to be happy was a moral defect. That self-denial meant renouncing joy, . . . "

'Desiring God' goes on to explain that we should seek our happiness, provided we seek it in the only place (person!) in which lasting happiness can be found.

Birthday Bride

Today is my wife's birthday and, unfortunately, she is down with some fever-inducing bug. That is an un-Happy condition on your Birthday.

I have sung Kathy's praises on many occasions and she deserves it. She is most caring, most sensitive and most interested in others' well-being. I have often described how I am a better person for having known her, indeed, for having been married to her. But how does it happen?

She cares. Intensely. She is of the "Why settle?" school of thought whereas I'm more tempted to merely get by. When I am struggling over whether or not to eat the second hamburger, or whether or not to stay up late, she says, "Why struggle? Just do what's right." It's beautifully simple. Why struggle?

For this influence and for a thousand other sweet gifts she has given, I am most fortunate. I am so thankful for a marriage that is growing sweeter, deeper and more alive as time goes on. How is this possible?

It's not because of extra hamburger boy, I'll tell you that.

Grace For Grace

I spent the better part of an hour Saturday, scraping double-sided tape up off a concrete floor. It was tape that is designed to keep carpets in place and was therefore not intended to come right back up off the floor. The carpets it was holding down were in a booth at the exhibition center and the whole idea was to keep the carpets down and immovable so patrons would not trip or slip. The intentions were good, but the consequences of the decision remained a big secret until time to pack everything up at the end of the day, after a herd of humans had pressed the tape to the floor like a steamroller squishing asphalt.

My connection to the whole deal was that my wife's employer had the booth and I was there to pick Kathy up. I was waiting in the car, listening to oldies, when the distress signal came. I went in and was soon on the floor scraping tape.

It was a good day because I didn't resent it. And I'm thankful to God for that. On not good days, I would have resented the interruption to my "schedule," resented having to help somebody that should have known better and, after all, you made this mess, you clean it up.

But God is good, and has made His goodness known to me and gave me the grace to lay hold of the grace to be of service to somebody else.

And that is no small thing.

Down Time

Tonight I was reminded why I gave up on Sudoku games. I fired one up on the computer because I've been burning the candle at both ends of late and felt the need for just a bit of "down time".

Just writing that makes my mind start to churn with other possibilities for "down time". Could I have done something refreshing and relaxing and restorative that ALSO edified? In other words, something that wasn't a total time-waster? Undoubtedly. But I didn't think of that question then. I thought of it now. And so it goes.

Back to my point, such as it is - Sudoku. I had a book of these puzzles a few years ago and worked through it and discovered something. They are not hard. Nor are they especially mysterious. They are simply fill-in-the-blank tests with clues. The only thing we don't know is how long it will take to solve it.

And it will get solved. This is why they are less than puzzles; less than mysteries. We know the answers, it's just a matter of time. And I finally decided I don't want to spend a half an hour finding 9 sets of numbers that run 1 through 9.

So, how do you spend "down time"?

unManning or Manning?

I sort of covered myself with my Super Bowl pick by saying the Colts would win . . . unless the Saints did. Boy, was that spot on. I'm like The Amazing Kreskin.

Honestly, though, right before I said that, I said that I didn't think the Saints could stop Indy QB Peyton Manning and, obviously, they did. I think that was the big story from the ballgame, the New Orleans defense. Manning was very unManning-like, unless you think that all the accolades that had been heaped on him of late were misplaced and that he really is like the guy who used to lose to Tom Brady every year. In that case, he was Manning-like and his only championship still is against a Chicago Bears team quarterbacked by whats-his-name.

Today was another day in the string of Valentine goodies my wife is treating me to each day. She is an extra special lady, in case you are curious. There have been chocolates and ball cards and a CD. And socks. I needed socks. Anyway, she's celebrating 14 days of Valentine's by giving a gift each of the days leading to the 14th. She seems to be enjoying herself and I know I am! "remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35

It was also hamburger night. After work I went to the fitness center at the hospital and then went home. After a shower, I made hamburgers. This is probably no big deal to you, but I really like hamburgers and would just as soon have a hamburger as most anything you could name. Go ahead and try it. Name something and I will bet I like a hamburger better. This may only be interesting to me.

After dinner, '24'. After several episodes of laying groundwork and plodding along in workman like fashion, Jack and Renee got busy. My bride and I were commenting about this very thing tonight and I said, "It's about time for it to get going. They are still climbing (like a roller coaster)." About 60 seconds later there was a flurry of stabbing and shooting. The natural order of things was restored.

Make Plans, Not Resolutions

I don't know where you are at, of course, but for me, this was timely:

“First, God is central to plans and motives. God is not first on a priority list, but rather central to all areas of life.”

Said another way, God is not first among equals (the rest of the list), but the star around which all things move, their orbit ordered by that star.

The article from The Resurgence.

Resisting the Gray Twilight

One of my favorite blogs, What's Best Next, had this quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

"Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory, not defeat."

I find myself in the "gray twilight" far more than I like.

Customer Service The Right Way

I have been going to write about customer service for a long time now. Typically what drives me to do so (almost!) is a bad experience, or service that says to me, the customer, something like "Can't you see we're busy, go away! No, I can't help you, even though it's perfectly obvious that I can and should! I won't! Go away!"

Somehow and somewhere along the way the notion of providing customers with the service they expect in an efficient, courteous manner got jettisoned. Many times these days, if you ask for a little service, a little this or another that, the employee will look at you like you just hit his truck.

Not so at Culver's in Springfield on Wednesday evening! I had gone to pick up my bride from work and we were headed to church. Typically that means we grab something quick to eat on the way. Culver's is on the same street as her office so I stopped for a Pot Roast Sandwich Value Basket and the roast was delicious, I might add, and I headed to her office.

I got there, parked in front to observe her emergence from the building. While waiting I reached for some fries and WHAT! NO FRIES! They forgot the fries! C'mon! It's a Value Basket! Sandwich! Fries! Drink! The fried and carbonated triumvirate that rules ALL FASTFOODOM! How can you NOT get those 3 pieces together?!

My bride alighted from the office and got in the car. I told her what happened and we drove back to the restaurant. I was sure they would give us the fries, I was just there. But I expected to be treated as if it were my fault somehow. Sorry, that's just what I expected.

I couldn't have been more wrong. The young man was very sorry and said he would get our fries right away. The shift manager stuck her head out the window, apologized, and asked if she could get us some custard for our trouble! "Yes, please," we answered. When she brought the custard, I told them, in far fewer sentences, what I've just told you, that they had just performed customer service the way it should be done and that very few others do it any more!

And honestly, being able to praise their efforts made us happier than getting the custard!

Way to go, Culver's!

Friday Night Fun

As I write, there are two lady guests of my wife's in the other room and the three of them are preparing name tags for a ladies function at church next week. The frequent laughter erupting from the dining room is enough to make a man curious. However, the Natural Order of Things says I will keep my distance. It wouldn't be a problem to go in there, but it would be, ah, . . . different.

While we are on the topic of guests of the lady persuasion, my lovely bride hosted 10 or so last Tuesday for Bible study. While they held their confab in the living room, I took the opportunity to have the oil changed. In our car. I'm not sure what the topic was the women were discussing, but when I returned, trying ever so hard to not make a disturbance, they all rose in unison when I walked in the door. I will say the notion of being in the wrong house crossed my mind. But no, they cooked up the little display for fun!

For the last thirty years, or so, I have harbored the idea that learning guitar would be a neat thing to do. And these many years later, it remains a harbored idea. There were a couple of times I nearly set sail, but alas. A few days ago I came across this video of a young man which causes me to think about starting to learn AND abandoning the idea all at once! I trust you will understand my meaning when you watch.

And, this one is amazing.

Happy Friday!

Trivializing Life and Death

Fair warning - this will be a long post. I have a lot on my mind and I am going to dump it here, all in one spot, in the hope that there will be some thread running through the jumble, some fiber that gives cohesion to the lump. So, if you've no stomach for a long ramble, you may wish to move on.

Thursday was a day that many will remember for a while because two famous people died. Here in the USA, when famous people die, we all get into the act as if we were somehow personally affected by the life and times and demise of the deceased celebrity. This is balderdash of course, but that doesn't stop us from searching for a roller coaster that our emotions can ride, while we lament the passing of someone we have no actual emotional connection to.

Why do we do this? If there is no connection to the deceased, why do we pine and stare? Have we so conditioned ourselves to not feel much of anything (or not allowed ourselves time to feel something) that we will turn on the tube for a little vicarious grieving because it might be nice to just feel a little something right now? I don't know.

But the passing of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson were merely a link in a chain of events for me, only the tip of the iceberg and, as the metaphor implies, there's a whole lot more going on under the surface so, let's get to it, shall we? And I'll warn you again, this will be long. I really haven't even started yet. You may be excused, if you wish. Put your dishes in the sink.

I suppose the chain of events began over last weekend when South Carolina's governor, a guy named Sanford, went AWOL. As the days unfolded, we learned he was in Argentina with his mistress, but we only found this out after a couple of days of lies.

I began to think about the mess Sanford was (is) in and how it is a mess of his own making. He cheated and lied and abused the trust placed in him by a spouse, by sons, and by citizen voters. And I wondered how sick it would feel to be to be in his shoes, presenting a facade of faithfulness by lying.

The next link in the chain was the shooting death of a football coach in Iowa. Here, unlike our celebrities, is a man that hardly anyone outside of a few counties in Iowa knew of. We heard of his death only because of the brutal, criminal way in which it occurred. The one consolation was that we learned that Coach Thomas had trusted Christ for salvation. We thank God for that.

Hard on the heels of this event was a personal upheaval in my home. I had overlooked a credit card bill. And this is not the first time. And I was going to have to own up to my fault by talking to my bride about it because the bill was in her name. I went through hours of anxiety over this, wishing there was a way to not have to confess my wrong. My integrity was on the line.

What came next was a blog post at Desiring God. Pastor John Piper, a man of integrity, wrote about an experience when he was not so gracious in answering a question and then he proceeded to explain what his answer should have been. And, Oh! What a statement!

He was responding to a question about why he doesn't watch a lot of movies and doesn't own a TV. Here is part of what he said: "I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema."

And some more: "But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ."

I think this is what is at the heart of my experience this week. Some very real and serious things happened this week, but it was the trivia that was emphasised.

Thursday afternoon, we had a book study at work and the topic of integrity came up. Sound familiar? It did to me.

Then on the drive home from work I got the first word on Michael Jackson and at home the confirmation (from the TV!) that he died. Later I read these words from Justin Taylor's blog, quoting Andrew Sullivan: "There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child. By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age - and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal life. But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell."

And: "I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out."

As I suggested earlier, I think Piper came close to nailing what has been going on in my heart this past week and the news events served to draw it to the surface so I could see it. The recurring theme? Real stuff versus trivia, I think.

Governor Sanford threw away the real and vital for an affair; Coach Thomas, brutally slain, knew Christ and impacted the lives of the boys he coached; I had to 'man up' and own my irresponsible act; Piper called me to not deaden my soul, but to nourish it; an entire nation went on hold because two people they didn't really know died; and Sullivan's comments on Jackson, who lived an unreal life because the real was denied him.

All of this piled together left me desiring real things and not temporary trivial things. I do not want my capacity for joy in Jesus to be deadened because if it is, then I am reduced to finding joy elsewhere, like on TV.

I hope this is not a lesson that fades soon.

6-9-84

I want to say thanks to all the folks who made the 25th anniversary of my marriage to my lovely bride such a happy day.

Honorable recognition goes to a couple of folks. First, to my son-in-law's parents. Dale and Liane, who are potters in Hardy, Arkansas, made a beautiful pitcher which I surprised my wife with. It is engraved with our wedding date and is a lovely pale green color. There is a story behind giving my wife a pitcher. I won't go into all the details, but it would be enough to say that a pitcher is graceful and pours itself out for the good of others - like my bride!

Also receiving recognition is the Hall family, and more specifically, the multi-talented head of this tribe who, aside from his ability to have you in stitches within 15 seconds of greeting him, is apparently gifted at making little videos for mass consumption on You Tube. Thanks, Tim, for putting us on You Tube! By the way, he occasionally blogs here. Pressure's on, Tim. I have a vast audience of probably nearly 10 people.

To my daughter and aforementioned son-in-law, thanks for the cupcakes which spelled 'Happy 25th Anniversary'. I think we still have a 'p' and an 'h' and maybe one or two others left.

And to Pixar, thanks for making 'UP', which concluded our evening! It was a lot of fun!

Finally, to my lovely bride. You are, quite simply, the best. I wrote these words in the letter I gave you with the pitcher - It is a difficult thing to find words that give the right amount of beauty and weight to 25 years of marriage – and it’s all the more difficult for the grace, growth and depth we’ve been shown together - and without sounding arrogant, it's true. Twenty-five years is hard to quantify, but I will say this: It could not have happened without the Lord and I'm grateful that you and I both know that. And, it would not have been possible with anyone but you!

A Happy Meeting

I ran into an old friend last night and we had a great time. We met at a new place downtown that's been there a few months, but I had not been there yet.

You know when this happens, you haven't seen them in a long while, but you pick up right where you left off? That's how this was. We didn't miss a beat.

Have we changed over the years? Sure, but I recognized my friend right away. Little things that were said, the things that made us laugh and smile were still the same.

And the time just flew! I sat back and soaked up the fun of our renewed friendship. And it was extra special to share the experience with my son and son-in-law. They were aware of the friendship, but had never really met before.

I guess we spent two hours together - just me and Jim.

And Scott.

And Leonard.

And Chekov and Sulu and Uhura.

And Spock.

I can't wait to see them again.

Great Is The Lord and Greatly To Be Praised

I teach college Sunday School at my church and I have begun pulling lessons from John Piper's What Jesus Demands from the World. Demand #4 (i.e. Chapter 4) is "Believe In Me." I was going over that in preparation for leading the class tomorrow and read some words that really set me back:

"The desperate situation we are in, Jesus says, is that we are under the wrath of God. This is owing to our sin. God is just, and his anger is rightly kindled against human attitudes and behaviors that belittle his worth and treat him as insignificant. All of us have done this. In fact, we do it every day."

My prayer after reading that was to ask that I would never 'belittle His worth' nor 'treat Him as insignificant'. I trust you are of similar heart and mind.

Have a blessed Lord's Day and be happy in Him.

145. Head's Up! Changes At Central Standard

The year is drawing to a close and many would say, "Good riddance!" It has certainly been a roller coaster ride for a lot of us. Probably most years are, but this one seems more so. I think.

The last few weeks have seen remarkable changes for me. At a routine doctor visit I found I need thyroid medicine. Bummer. Taking medicine is what your parents do. Or your grandparents. Now I do. It's worse, for me, than turning 50. Fifty is on a calendar or a questionnaire, but medicine is a concession.

But at the same time, I feel better, more alert and have more energy now. Perhaps I'll shed this extra lard that seems to be adhered to my bones like an octopus clinging to a deep sea diver.

Also I recently discovered a web site that's been a great encouragement to me. It's called What's Best Next. The blog is about efficiency and getting things done. Anyone who knows me knows that these have been issues I've battled all my life. Hopefully, no more. I've been changing, rearranging and generally trying to improve my efficiency over the past month or so and I think I'm getting somewhere. And it has been fun.

So naturally, I am going to change the look of Central Standard. It's a new year, I'm a new man - let's have a new look. But this is not going to be Change in the Obama sense of the word, that is, just words. No. We are aiming to make substantive changes - More Content! Stronger Writing! Increasingly Interesting Posts! And while we are at it, Better Mileage and Fewer Calories!

I hope the new look is favorable, but whether it is or not, I hope that, most importantly, 2009 sees your happiness in God abound!

138. Friday Night Music

I've been meaning to mention some songs that have caught my attention lately.

I listen to an online radio station at work and you can rate the music or the artist or the album or any combination and when you do, the station is supposed to respond with more selections that you will like. And it works pretty well, I think.

Right now, my favorite song is "How Are Ya' Fixed For Love" by Frank Sinatra and Keely Smith. I don't know why exactly, but it's a very happy tune. I like the orchestra a great deal and the two singers are excellent together. Of course, Smith was the long-time wife and partner of Louis Prima of "I Want To Be Like You" fame.

I think that Chuck Berry's cover of "Route 66" is the best version of that song and I had never heard it until a few months ago. If you follow the link, the player is to the right. It took me a while to find it.

Finally, John Mayer has a song called "Stop This Train" and I really like it a lot. I didn't know much about this guy, but my son has some of his music and I heard it while riding in the car with Jacob. This song is about aging and the rhythm evokes a moving train. The lyrics are great. One verse:

Had a talk with my old man
Said, "Help me understand."
He said, "Turn sixty-eight,
You renegotiate."

Most meaningful though is on my birthday in August, Jacob took me to Panera Bread for an iced mocha and on the trip he cued up this song because he knew I liked it.

Very nice.

125. Beautiful Music Together

I’m generally a happy person, so when I listen to music, I want music that, at a minimum, does not drain my happiness.

Until recently, I put a great deal of stock in ‘styles’ of music or ‘types’ of music I liked or didn't like. Something like “I hate country” or “I hate disco”, and I would use these 'opinions' to guide my music selection. But this approach is often informed merely by peer pressure or the ever fickle culture and is so insufficient as to almost always miss the point.

What is most important is my heart, the furnace of my soul and source of all my outward action, including my mood and attitude. Obviously, my heart’s health is primarily dependent on being happy in the Lord each day and then, as the day goes on, I will encounter stuff that either aids my happiness or doesn’t, like music.

That said, I’ve decided that ‘genres’ of music is just not enough information alone for picking music and I suppose that's not really groundbreaking. But the motive is the happiness of my soul no matter what the alleged 'genre'. Where I can get fooled is by the memories that some music evokes and sometimes that's enough to trick you into 'liking' a tune, but not because you really like it, but because it reminds you of a time or a place or people. And that's not the point.

The point is, does the music cooperate with my current happiness or drain me of it?

Now, what's really interesting is my wife wrote about this very topic on her blog today and neither of us knew what the other was doing!

Stuff like that makes me happy, too!