Do Not Turn to the Right ... Nor to the Left

Several weeks ago, I wrote a piece titled Christian Right. Christian Left. And whatever happened to just following Jesus?

I've been thinking about that lately and wanted to share some more thoughts on it.

On Facebook, I follow the group The Christian Left. I wouldn't really consider myself to be a member of "The Christian Left" because I seem to have some pretty strong opposing views. I can say the same for "The Christian Right" (if such a group can be defined). The thing that got me to thinking about this again was a phrase that I heard several times this past weekend. Actually, it was more than a phrase; it was a command.

Since I had about twenty hours of driving last weekend, I spent much of the time listening to The Bible. At the end of the Book of Deuteronomy and the beginning of the Book of Joshua, there are words similar to these that appear on several occasions: "...do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left..."

Do not turn to the right, nor to the left.

I'm not saying that following the commands of God are easy. But I think that convoluting the Word of God with the desires of man makes things very confusing. Christians ought not be at odds with one another over many of the things that we seem to be at odds over. I know that each side points to the Scriptures to defend their stance on the issue at hand, but how can the Scriptures be used to defend both sides?
The simple answer is that they (the Scriptures) can't.

Do not turn to the right, nor to the left.

Maybe it would be better if it were easier to follow God's commands and harder to follow our own desires.
Maybe it would be easier if it we really cared about others like we care about ourselves.
Maybe following God would be easier if we would quit listening to the rantings of politicians and pundits and searched our hearts for the guiding wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
Maybe we could realize that when we have to spend so much time and energy to convince ourselves that we are doing the right (correct) thing, we probably are not.

Do not turn to the right, nor to the left.

What if we decided that politicians were not going to guide our conscience?
What if we decided that news broadcasts were not going to guide our conscience?
What if we decided that religious leaders were not going to guide our conscience?
What if we purposed in our hearts to read the Bible and pray for understanding and we would let God and God alone guide our conscience?

Do not turn to the right, nor to the left.

If you lived in a godless society (and you probably do) and the government of that society was not a religious party kind of government (and it most likely isn't) whose values are reflected in the laws of the land, how would you go about putting an end to the evils of the land?

If your desire was to bring about an end to the 3,500+ abortions per day in the USA and you couldn't change the laws to make abortion illegal, how would you do it?

If your desire was to put an end to sexual promiscuity and pornography but couldn't count on help from the government to get it done, how would you do it?

If your desire was to feed the hungry, provide clean drinking water to poor communities and give medical care to the sick without the aid of the government, what would you do?

Are we, as Christians, powerless to impact our society without the aid of a godless government?
Has somebody shortened the arm of our God?
Should we be fighting among ourselves over which social issues need government intervention and how that needs to come about?

Do not turn to the right, nor to the left.

It would be easier if I could say that I hate politics...but I don't. I think that good politics is stimulating. I think that the differences and diversities of the many peoples of the United States are what make us a great nation. But we have to learn (or in our case, relearn) to listen to one another. The government shouldn't be run by the biggest bullies or the richest kids on the playground -- but that's what seems to be happening.
And yet, that matters very LITTLE in the scope of my quest to be obedient to God; to follow His commands.

Do not turn to the right, nor to the left.

One of my blogging buddies commented on the original post, "... I think we just heard from the Christian center."

Would you care to join me? Can we make a difference by following the commands of God? 

"Go...and make disciples..."

John<><

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St. Baldrick's Update (#3)

I just made the final installment of the SGF ATCT contribution to the St. Baldrick's Foundation for the 2012 shave the head fundraiser. The facility made their goal and so I guess I'm locked into getting my head shaved with my nephews this weekend.

I really do want to say thanks to everybody that made a contribution. I know that the boys are very excited to have exceeded their $1500 goal by more than $300! Even though they're not quite to $2000 (which is what I told them it would take for me to join them), I'm going in for the  head shaving anyway. I am really proud of them for doing this again this year and stepping up to help other kids that are in need. Just a couple of weeks ago they learned one of the kids that has been coming to their house for religion classes has been diagnosed with leukemia. Participating in this year's event will be much more personal than in years past.

Later this morning (after a couple of hours sleep) I'll begin the journey to meet them for the Saturday event. I plan on dinner with my folks tonight and then with Aaron and Jenny on Saturday night. Sunday I'll make the long drive home to push the weekend total driving to around 1100 miles (1770 km). Since I'll be spending most of the weekend hours behind the wheel, it will probably Monday before I post the pictures here and on Facebook.

For anybody that would still like to make a contribution, you can do that here. Just click on the "make a donation" link and follow the prompts.

Again,
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

John<><

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Facebook Friendships

Last night I was looking at my list of Facebook friends and wondering where they all came from. Right now my profile says that I have 544 Facebook friends. I have a whopping 38 followers on Twitter and an astounding 9 connections on LinkedIn. I have about 60 friends in circles at Google+.

Most of my Facebook friends I have actually met. That makes sense. It's actually odd that I have a great number of "friends" that I haven't met and many that I haven't seen in a very long time. Most of the "haven't seen in a very long time" friends are classmates or friends from my hometown of Chillicothe IL. Some are relatives or friends of the family.

How does one end up with so many friends that they haven't met?

For me, a lot of the "friends I've never met" have come from the Blogosphere. My blogging buddies come from all over. Most of them are in the US, but many are not. I do follow blogs of people that I know and have actually met, but I think I have more blogger friends that I haven't met--but would really like to meet. Maybe a world tour to meet by blogging friends would be cool. Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia, UAE, South Africa, England, Mexico, and even Iraq. Also the east and west coasts of the US as well as the southern states, the mountain states and the Midwest. And I might as well include Canada and visit the friends that we met while on vacation.

Several of my blog friends turned Facebook friends are no longer blogging. I think that Facebook has some how managed to siphon off the daily minutes once given to blogging and trashed them in the great time sucking black-hole of Facebook.

Many of my friends are Air traffic Controllers that I have met through my active days of working through NATCA. Some of my ATC friends I haven't actually met but we share many mutual friends and a common career.

And there are a great many friends that I have met through ministry activities, camps, preaching, conferences, etc. I have some friends that are friends at the recommendation of a mutual friend. We've never actually met and yet we are "friends" just the same.

With so many friends from so many sources, I was wondering...are there rules for what is acceptable when soliciting friends or (perhaps more importantly) when accepting or ignoring friendship requests?

For example:
I never solicit friendships from kids.  I don't even solicit friendships from the youth students that I teach. I get requests from kids that have been to camp or VBS or some other church function.  I generally accept these requests but don't usually subscribe to their updates.
As a general rule, I don't solicit friendships from women. I have women friends--family, classmates, churches, etc. Some of the blog friends are women. And I'm sure that some of them did receive a friend request from me, but not too many. Like I said, "As a general rule..."

So, what about you?
Any rules that you follow for friending or un-friending?
What about rules for commenting or subscribing to a friends status updates?
Any rules on messaging/chatting, etc.?

I would love to hear your feedback.

John <><

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St. Baldrick's Update (#2)

With only a few days before the Friday deadline, SGF ATCT is getting very close to reaching its goal!
I want to thank everybody that has already made a contribution to the St. Baldrick's Foundation to support my nephews' efforts to raise funds for research for a cure of childhood cancers. With just a few more donations, I'll be joining the boys for a head shaving event on Saturday.

In addition to the local Air Traffic contributions (including staff and administration), we have also received donations from a supervisor that hasn't even reported to the facility for assignment, an AF technician and the elevator maintenance guy that was in the facility and saw the notice.

Some of my NATCA friends from other facilities have made contributions, as well as family and church friends. I know that you will all get a thank-you from the boys. I want to make sure that you know how much I appreciate it, as well. If there are still Facebook friends, Twitter followers or regular Out of My Hat readers that would like to make a contribution, you can do that here. Just click on the "Make a Donation" link and follow the prompts. I know that there are many places that you can (and do) give your charitable dollars. For those that have chosen the St. Baldrick's Foundation for this event--Thanks!

John <><

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Some Stories From Children's Camp

Tonight was a great fundraiser for our Hopedale Kids' Camp. I am truly humbled by the generosity of the people of Hopedale. And true to form, the people with the big hearts and generous spirits are the ones that don't have kids that are of the age to go to camp. Come to think of it, most of their grandkids are past the age of going to kids' camp, too. But they recognize the value of teaching kids about our God and Savior and so they invest in the next generation of Christ followers.

THANK YOU!

As a way of affirming the work that goes on at kids' camp; I thought that I would share a couple of camp stories. I should begin by pointing out that kids' ministry would not be my first choice in Kingdom work. You can read this post from five plus years ago for some insight as to how I ended up in this unusual predicament.

But these stories, these testimonies of the work of the Holy Spirit, are enough to open the eyes of this doubter to see the hand of God where there is no other explanation. I know that the changes that have taken place in the lives of the kids (and their families) have been far greater than what a simple man like me can take credit for. Here is one of my favorites:

Several years ago a father approached me the week after camp. He said that he had to tell me what happened to him on the way home from picking up his son.
The Sunday that we were in camp, there was a missionary from Haiti at our church. The missionary was there to explain what they were doing with the money that was coming from the people of Hopedale. Most of it was going to feed the children that were coming to the mission school. For most of the kids, the freshly baked roll with peanut butter that they received in the morning and the beans and rice that they got for lunch was the only food that they ever ate. Many of them didn't eat over the weekend. They waited until they went to school on Monday for their food. The parents of one of our kids were both lamenting the fact that their son was missing this presentation. They knew that their son had a heart for kids that were less fortunate and thought that he would have gotten a lot from the presentation of how our gifts were impacting the Kingdom work in another country.
The dad came to pick up the son that evening. On the way home, the young boy announced that he was going to be a missionary. He told his dad that Mr. John had told them that God even speaks to kids and sometimes lets them know what he wants them to do when they become adults so that they can start to get ready for that calling. Confidently, he told his dad that God is calling him to be a missionary.
The dad told me that he had to pull off the road. His eyes had filled with tears and he could no longer see to drive. While he and his wife were wishing that there son could hear the missionary speak, their son was hearing the Spirit of God call him to the work of a missionary.

That was several years ago. They have moved to another one of the many small towns of Southwest Missouri. I ran into them recently. Though the young boy's venue of sharing the gospel may be changing a little bit, he is still active in pursuing the call to reach the world with the gospel.

_____________________________

Now that's just good stuff!

I'll share more of these stories as we draw closer to June.
I want to add--one of the reasons we have such a great kids' camp is that we have a great children's department. Our kid's workers are super. They love the kids. They love telling them the stories of the Bible. And they love encouraging the kids to share the stories with their friends.

Hopedale, you guys are the best!
Thanks for your service!

John <><

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Five Day Challenge

As I sit sipping my morning coffee, I can't help but think that the very real possibility exists that at this time next week I'll be sipping my morning coffee with a shaved head. Here's the post if you're not sure of what I'm talking about.

On the one hand, my co-workers are still a little short in their quest to see me with a bald head. It's possible that the only bald John they'll see is the photo shopped pic that one of them came up with to inspire a little generosity.

And on the other hand, the boys are still a little bit short of their goal so I may get off the hook that way.

And on the other hand, everybody may come through with the contributions to make the shaved head a reality and it could be "Bald John" that's sipping coffee next Sunday Morning. If you would like to make a contribution to the St. Baldrick's Foundation and help the boys reach their fund-raising goal to help with research for childhood cancer, just click here first and "make a donation" next. Every donation helps, even $5 or 10 will get the boys closer to their goal.

There are only five days between now and when I'll need to be on my way to Chicago for the event. I'm asking my readers--all of you, not just the ones that know me personally--to help out. And if you do know me personally, through church, work or ministry, then perhaps I could encourage you all the more to make a contribution. To date, only a couple of readers have made contributions (along with several co-workers). How about helping the boys to help other kids and encouraging them in a life-long habit of selflessness in helping those that are less fortunate that themselves?

SGF ATCers, you still have work to do. You're less than 2/3 of your goal! Other NATCA friends, how about it? Can I get a few of you to make a contribution?

Five days. 5:30-1:30 tomorrow followed by four mids. Then I'm off to visit the folks after the Friday morning mid, on to Bolingbrook Saturday morning and Chicago to see the kids Saturday night. The only question is will I be visiting the kids as a baldy or not?
___________________

Time to get ready for church. Praying for all of my pastor friends. Preach hard, brothers! Preach hard!

John<><

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Intercessory Prayer

Last Sunday morning, Dr. Burris preached a message on prayer. I've been thinking about it this week as several of my pastor friends have expressed needs that they or their churches have. My thoughts have been more about our need to pray for one another and how we end up in the situations that we find ourselves in from time to time since Sunday's message.

I also feel compelled to mention just how cool it feels to bring a friend's name and need before the Mighty God of the universe.

I know that some of my readers may never give a thought to spiritual warfare. Some of you think of anything spiritual is an imagined concept of a weak mind. I happen to believe that spiritual warfare is a very real thing and is being fought out in battles all around us. Some of us are injured in the process and there are souls that are won and lost. Eternity hangs in the balance. Even many of my Christian friends rarely give a thought to the battle that rages in the spiritual realm. But it is real and we should intercede for those that are on the front lines of the conflict.

I am going to have to admit some ignorance. I really don't understand why God would listen to the request made by one like me. If He is sovereign (and I believe He is), then how is He influenced by the urging of a mere human? If He is omniscient (and I believe He is), then He already knows of my need or the needs of my friends before I ask.

And yet, Jesus tells us to pray.
In fact, Jesus leads by example and prays for his followers...then and now. Yeah, that's right. Jesus prayed for us! Somehow I'm guessing that the prayers of Jesus have a little bit more weight than my own petitions.

On the other hand, the Bible says that we are joint heirs with Him. Perhaps God hears our prayers as a parent  listens to the innocent petitions of his child.
(Memory interrupts here and I see a very young Hannah holding my face with both hands and looking directly into my eyes to make sure that she has my full attention.)
Maybe it's like that. Maybe we need to come to God with the innocence and urgency of a child with an important petition; important enough to hold His face in our hands and share our need (or the needs of our friends).

I also have to admit, that although I enjoy praying for my pastor friends, I am somewhat disturbed by their needs. In three different situations, Satan is working through members of their churches to destroy the work of the Holy Spirit through the men called to lead as pastors.

How is it that we can get so puffed up with ourselves that we would presume to overstep the biblical guidance to honor our pastors and respect those that have ordained to guide us? Can pastors make mistakes? Yes, they can. Going to them to discuss differences is way different than going around them to create division.

If you are a church member, I want to urge you to guard your pastor. Guard him with your prayers. Guard him with your voice. Speak up for him if he is being attacked. Defend him when called to defend him. Offer to go to him with a brother that feels the need to confront him on an issue.

The battle rages on.
Souls are the currency of a spiritual war.
Eternity hangs in the balance.

John <><

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