Summer version of the Happy Stump |
Reading Room 1: Life Columns
The Back 40 Museum
Mar 3, 2023
The Happy Stump
Mar 1, 2023
Where Sleep Our Children
Lamenting the madness of abortion.
when their laughter we long to hear?
Where are their flashing, excited eyes
and those antics that bring us to tears?
Where are those moments when first we feel
the rhythm and rhyme of giggling time?
And, where are the memories of growing up,
those times of both joy and pain,
all cherished alike, because they were shared,
all counted by love as gain.
Where are our children? Oh no! Oh God!
For our children lie in the grave of convenience,
unmourned in the graveyard of greed.
And still we slumber while they die,
innocent victims of reprobate minds
which speak in a way that - It seems OK.
Feb 14, 2023
What You See
Since those younger days, I have also discovered a whole new level of insight regarding corrective lenses. It is this. Life's quality very much revolves around the “corrective life-lenses” we employ to view its circumstances.
Obviously, life is what it is. And, like it or not, its issues are often distorted and hard to make out. And, so we employ psychological corrective-lenses to help us clarify those challenges. And, sometimes they work well, and sometimes - ah, not so much. It all depends on the correctness of the prescription of those lenses.
For example, some choose the prescription of poor little mistreated me through which to filter life's images. It is a bad prescription which typically engenders a very flawed picture that usually results in the off-balance life approach of demanding hatefulness.
But there is another life-lens which truly improves one's vision and results in a much more balanced life-approach. It is the lens defined by Patience. This is the life-lens which, instead of outlandishly magnifying societal tensions, enable us to see through them to discover and experience truly durable solutions - together.
The simple truth is this. What you see in life is, indeed, precisely what you get.
Nov 28, 2021
The Clue In The Weeds
It is very sad, however, that this true nature of the faith life cycle does not square at all with the prevailing redemptive ideas of these more modern times. These times have largely invested themselves in the bogus belief that “a believer’s minimal investment” is a perfectly legitimate approach the redemption of his soul. Indeed, it is this misconception which keeps so many in the modern Church from actually experiencing this complete metaphysical metamorphosis in the Living Christ – which God’s authentic redemptive plan enables and requires.
Jul 4, 2019
The Mindset of Dr. Bull
In this episode, the main character, Dr. Jason Bull, flippantly admitted to a priest that he knew full well that he (Bull) was going to Hell. I’ve also heard this same flippancy employed by other people - as if Hell is "no big deal."
But, think about it. If there is a Hell, it is actually the absolute biggest deal for human beings.
But, if there is a Hell, surely that judgement moment then takes on infinitely more import. Indeed, if Hell lies just beyond the moment of divine judgement, even the most flippant among us would quickly become completely terrified by their sudden realization that they had now arrived at this infamous "Moment of Too Late."
And yet, if the Christians have it right, no amount of regret or tearful pleading can defer the next moment – the first moment of suffering in that place called Hell. And, after a thousand years have passed, if Christians have it right, that agony will still be exactly the same. And, after ten thousand years have passed, still the suffering will not have abated in the least.
And, even after a million years, still the Christian Bible teaches that life in Hell will always be as it always was. Thus, if there is a Hell, the pain of that place is one thing. But, coupled to eternity, that pain becomes the most horrific thing which could possible befall the human soul.
Nevertheless, it would seem that many have already made up their minds. And, so they simply choose to dance flippantly on, in the mindset of Dr. Bull.
Jun 9, 2019
Warning: High Energy Area
Mar 31, 2019
Little Life, Big Life
Mar 15, 2019
Haughty Naivete
Feb 13, 2019
Small Devils In Oversized Chairs
Eventually, I began to notice the distinct differences between these two methods. I began to see that when I chose the former method, there were no lasting results and morale was always in the basement.
Granted, oppression (or authoritarianism) is typically the shortest path to a given behavioral end. But it is also the most antagonistic, and thus, the most resented method.
So, as soon as the autocratic “hammer” is subtracted from the picture, people simply revert to what they wanted to do or be in the first place. Thus, the use of oppression comes to this: “No present hammer, no present result.”
On the other hand, if you choose Inspiration to move people, though it usually is a longer and more draining way, this method of motivation actually changes the level of peoples aspirations. Thus, inspiration produces enduring motivation, even when the authority figure is subtracted from the picture. So, inspiration eventually comes to this: “No present hammer, no real problem.”
My deep regret is that I did not understand these differences and embrace the Inspirational Method of motivating people much earlier in my life. Had I done so, I could have been a much better parent and made the childhood of my older children a happier existence.
And, I am convinced that I would have alienated fewer people (and truly changed more) in the churches that I pastored. And, I would have been a much more effective boss at work. But sadly, I was just too slow on the uptake.
So, I simply offer this to spare others the same mistake. Laugh! Laugh! Laugh! as often as you possible can with the people who look to you for direction. Real and worthy authority is never endangered by seasonal humor. It is only enhanced by it.
Don’t take yourself and the minor issues so completely seriously. In spite of what you may think, you are not really that critical to the process. Life went successfully on, long before you directed it. And, it will take little note that you are missing when that day comes. So, get over yourself.
And remember, the minor issues are just that. They are not the major issues, so quit turning them into such. Excuse everything you possibly can. The little stuff is just the day dust which gives everybody a mostly harmless way to remember the human frailty, learn from it, and grow beyond its present limitations.
If perfection is your rigid demand, you better go ahead and drag out a tall stack of cryin’ towels – 'cause perfection ain’t happnin,’ Honey. Reasonable consistency is about the best you can hope for - and even that, only at the end of a long line of, “Oops.”
So, you have a choice mom or dad, pastor, or Mr. VP, etc. You can choose to puff up, and rant and rave, and belittle and berate the people around you. Or, you can choose to inspire them by wielding your authority with laughter, and forgiveness, and wisdom, and the shared life tricks that you, yourself, have previously learned.
Your choice. But, know this: the traffic on the shorter path never really varies. The "bosses" who travel that oppressive pathway, always just come off as really small devils in oversized chairs.
Dec 20, 2018
When Christmas Calls: A Back 40 Christmas Celebration!
The gift was a harmless Child. And that Child had great purpose attached to His life. And He fulfilled that purpose with perfect devotion.
But, to truly grasp the depth of the Christ Child's devotion, we must understand the true length of His journey. This baby came to our world from the place of His own unlimited joy and power.
In that former place, time could impose no limit on him. A thousand years were as one day, and a day, as a thousand years. And, tomorrow was as yesterday - and both were always but the present to Him.
Nor could any space impose its dimension on Him. Before he came here as a baby, He was everywhere in the universe, while, at the same time, completely encompassing it, as its Creator.
Before this Baby arrived in our world, He knew no restraints to even His slightest whim. Whatever He determined, He could effortlessly do.
His existence was without pain. He knew nothing of anguish, or fear, or weakness. He knew nothing of hunger or thirst - before He became the Christmas Child.
But, on that first Christmas night, as God presented this innocent gift to our fallen race, all of that changed for Him. He became like us in every way, save one. And, it was all to deliver God's message of love, forgiveness, and the opportunity for a true newness of life.
But, the toll of His faithfulness, both to God and to man, was hard-paid in long suffering. As, He joined our race, this Child began to experience the pain of all things human.
How unfamiliar and difficult that first breath of air must have been for one who, only a moment before, had no need to breathe at all. But now, He must not only breathe, but also, feel the strange throes of hunger and thirst, and the deep depletion of exhaustion.
This one who had so effortlessly governed creation merely by His graceful thought, must now become entirely surrounded by the bitterness of disappointment, frustration, and failure.
He who had, only yesterday, instantly spanned the universe without effort, must now spend years, merely to cover the small regions of the Promise Land.
He who created our sun, and numberless others like it, and who flung them all into the Heavens with but a word - must now bear up under that sun’s disabling heat - and know the sweat born from laboring beneath it.
And every day, He had to endure the ingrained pain of humanity's physical frailty. And, He was forced to do so in the knowledge that, this was pain which was never meant to be. In the world He designed and created, it was never to be known.
And, though He had lovingly given life to a perfect race in Adam, He must presently endure the wounds which this now depraved race would inflict upon Him. And, how horrible it must have been for the very essence of all life to lie down in the dark void of death - for our sake. Nevertheless - He did it.
Thus, in His long suffering, the baby Jesus faithfully and courageously traversed two worlds to bring a message of hope, and newness, and everlasting life. And now, each year the Christ of Christmas freshly whispers to us again in the soft and lovely undertones of divine love. He whispers: "Entrust yourself to Me. Take my hand and walk humbly with me. And, I will give you a new heart, and a new life of peace and deep meaning, and an everlasting destiny of fulfilling life."
"Behold, I make all things new." It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. And, I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to those who thirst. And, those who overcome shall inherit all things, and I will be their God and they shall be my sons and daughters."
Apr 17, 2018
The Divine Companionship
Mar 30, 2018
East . er (ˋdo ōver) n. A Christian holiday
And, indeed, it is crucial that we have a Living Jesus in order that we might experience the absolutely astounding completion of God’s redemptive process for humanity. And, this mysterious redemptive twist is one which no one saw coming until these New Testament times.
Indeed, He was offering to allow humanity to symbiotically share in His own renewing character essence. This was that wonderful redemptive twist which no one really saw coming until it actually happened.
But, the New Testament Church has now been able to clearly understand that the believer's thorough personal renewal entirely results from this empowering Spiritual merger between the devout believer's character essence and that of the Living Christ. And, we also now know that this Spiritual interconnection between the believer and the Living Christ occurs through the specific redemptive event which the Church calls the Spiritual Baptism.
This very unique occurrence, initially arranged and then sustained by the Holy Spirit, intimately, connects the believer to Christ’s value system and, thus, His correct perspectives on life's circumstances (His divine truth). And, this new Christ-based view of life, stemming from the believe's now Christ-based value system, is, indeed, God's ultimate redemptive goal for the New Testament believer.
And, as previously described, this event changes everything for the believer. Indeed, it is this pivotal event which is the ultimate "Target Event" of the New Testament experience following one's initial embrace of the Lordship of Christ.
And this wonderful, here-and-now transformation of the believer's character and life circumstance brings us to Resurrection Celebration Reason #3: Everlasting Life! Indeed, it is true, this Spiritual symbiosis with the Living Christ not only empowers the believer's new physical life, but also his or her eternal life.
Indeed, the true joy of Easter can only really "sing" in our heart and in our life to the music of this desperate and delighted answering chorus. “Yes! Yes! By all means, Yes! Make me new, Lord Jesus!”