MAKE THE WORLD GO AWAY

Ray Price had a hit in the early 60's called "Make the World Go Away (And Get it Off My Shoulders)".  We knew a fellow once whose theology matched that song.  This man's emotional fragility plus his life events caused him to long for the time when he could close his eyes and not have to deal with stuff anymore.

Is that the way death will be?  Do we just lose consciousness and the world goes away?

A couple of weeks ago, a BSF lecture set my brain to spinning.  We are in the book of Isaiah this year and I'm lovin' it since Isaiah is my favorite book.  But WHOA BUDDY are we wading out into some deep water!  God (through Isaiah) is explaining the concept of evil in the world...and judgment...and hell.  The class is over at 9p and you don't just go home and pop into bed.

The overview?  Everyone gets eternity.  Your life choice, then, is either being with God or not.  Have you heard the choice described as "smoking" or "non-smoking"?  Well, spending forever in "smoking" is a fearful thing.  Here are just a few of the nuggets I was given from Isaiah, Chapters 13 and 14.

* EVIL DOES NOT GO UNPUNISHED.

God is a gentleman and you may have your way on "this side".  It's just that one day, you won't want your way.  God says in Isaiah 13.11 "Thus I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless."

If we get discouraged sometimes that the unrighteous prosper (or "get away" with deeds...like the Wiki leaker, who seems to be putting lives at risk), God reminds us that He has the final say and He is just.

* WILL WE KNOW ONE ANOTHER IN ETERNITY?  

During the time Babylon reigned as a world power, one of her rulers was King Beltshazzar.  Isaiah 14.9 answers the question about whether souls will recognize one another in eternity as we picture the scene when Beltshazzar enters hell.  "The denizens of hell crowd to meet you (Beltshazzar) as you enter their domain.  World leaders and earth's mightiest kings, long dead, are there to see you."

Oh, they recognize one another, all right.  And who else do you think might be in this crowd?  Hitler?  Pol Pot?  Lenin?  On a site listing the worst genocides of the 20th century, Idi Amin and Mussolini tied at being responsible for 300,000 deaths...Saddam Hussein was at 600,000...Pol Pot was 1.7 million...Hitler was 12M (just for the concentration camps/civilians WW2)...Lenin was 23M (purges plus famine)...and finally, Mao Ze-Dong tops the list of mega-murderers at an estimated 49-78M.   It is completely creepy that hell is called "their domain".

Note to self:  interior designers love to decorate with collections of like items.  But no one wants any part of THIS collection.

* EVIL IS IN THE HEART OF MAN AND APART FROM GOD'S RENEWAL, CONSUMES.

This one knocks me out.  Here are these little kings in hell, welcoming the big king of Babylon (literally, Beltshazzar, but also emblematic of the big evildoers of iniquity throughout the ages, culminating in Satan).  These kings of smaller kingdoms that Beltshazzar has conquered are dead and in hell.  You would think that the GPS coordinates would have mellowed them somewhat.  Or at the LEAST, you would think the circumstances would humble them or sadden them or they would have some compassion for another who would be sharing the same fate.  Nope.  Listen to Isaiah 14.9-11 from The Message.  "The underworld dead are all excited, preparing to welcome you (Beltshazzar) when you come.  Getting ready to greet you are the ghostly dead, all the famous names of earth.  All the buried kings of the nations will stand up on their thrones with well-prepared speeches, royal invitations to death.  'Now you are as nothing, as we are.  Make yourselves at home with us dead folks!'  This is where your pomp and fine music led you, Babylon, to your underworld private chambers, a king-size mattress of maggots for repose and a quilt of crawling worms for warmth."

My take-home principle here?  God, increase my compassion for others.  Who would want to find their assignment there?

* GOD LEAVES US AN HISTORIC FOOTNOTE ABOUT BABYLON'S FUTURE.

God spoke about Babylon in Isaiah 13.19-22 and said "and so, Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the flower of Chaldean culture, will be as utterly destroyed as Sodom and Gomorrah were when God sent fire from heaven.  Babylon will never rise again.  Generation after generation will come and go, but the land will never again be lived in.  The nomads will not even camp there.  The shepherds won't let their sheep stay overnight.  The wild animals of the desert will make it their home.  The houses will be haunted by howling creatures.  Ostriches will live there, and the demons will come there to dance.  Hyenas and jackals will den within the palaces.  Babylon's days are numbered; her time of doom will soon be here."

What about that?  Has Babylon ever been inhabited since her destruction?  Didn't Saddam Hussein try to rebuild Babylon?  That impressive capital city of the world was enormously wealthy and powerful and was a pagan religious center.  Babylon's Hanging Gardens were listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  The city was located at the point where the Tigris and Euphrates converge, just about 50 miles south of present day Baghdad.  When Saddam Hussein tried to rebuild, he even had bricks made with his name on them to duplicate what King Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon's builder) had done.  Here is what you can read on the unfinished bricks today:  "In the era of President Saddam Hussein all Babylon was constructed in three stages.  From Nebuchadnezzar to Saddam Hussein, Babylon is rising again."  Uh...notsomuch, Mr. Hussein.  Even Alexander the Great tried to rebuild Babylon when his Greeks were the world power.  Unfortunately after Alexander declared himself "King of Kings", he died in Nebuchadnezzar's palace at the age of 32.


My truth from these verses?  Babylon may try to rise again in history because man struts across history's stage.  But God is sovereign.

Gee, we really need to end on some good news.  How about this final point?

* THERE IS A DAY COMING....  

Isaiah 14.1 begins "God will have compassion on Jacob and Israel (no more divided kingdom...and today, that's a reality).  He will establish them in their own country (another reality as of 1947)."  Then skip to verses 24-27:  "The Lord of Hosts says...exactly as I planned, it will happen.  Following my blueprint, it will take shape.  I will shatter the Assyrian who trespasses my land and stomp him into the dirt on my mountains.  I will ban his taking and making of slaves and lift the weight of oppression from all shoulders.'  This is the plan, planned for the whole earth, and this is the hand that will do it, reaching into every nation.  The Lord of Hosts has planned it.  Who could ever cancel such plans?  His is the hand that's reached out.  Who could brush it aside?"

 In days of economic uncertainty, porous borders, and terrorist schemes, those verses encourage me to lean fully against God's stability...and His control over human events.  And I love to think of the day when Israel returns to center stage!

All of human history is moving toward a place declared before time began.  History is indeed His story.  God is a good God who stretches out His hand to all men.  Who could brush it aside, indeed?



"The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent." 2 Peter 3.9

  

KEEP YOUR DISTANCE

Remember that scene from Gladiator where Russell Crowe comes into the arena and danger is coming at him from all sides?  His enemies taunt and circle and look for opportunity to slip up on his blind side.  Watch that cretin with the sword AND the crouching tiger, Maximus.  They're roaming for the shortest road to your vulnerability.

Lately that's how life feels.  The guy at the airport security line spoke for more than just himself when he backed up and told them not to touch his "junk".  We are feeling stalked by some closeness that's just a bit too close.

That healthcare plan circles and gouges at my freedom.  The plan has just barely gone into play and already the pie-in-the-sky promises have melted away.  What is left are the leg irons that will chain us to bureaucracy.  It's really gonna be different to not be able to have the healthcare we are used to/when we are used to having it.

If you fly, there are the pat-pat/naked body scan problems pushing into our dignity.  I understand we need to tighten security; I want to tighten air security.  But there's a persistent picture of terrorist merriment in my head as I hear them laugh "you'll never believe what we've got them doing NOW!"  Speaking of air security, did you get that email that suggested putting an enclosed booth in the boarding line?  When passengers step in, instead of x-raying them, when the door closes it will detonate any explosive device they have hidden in/on their body.  What a win-win!  Explosion contained.  No racial profiling.  No long and expensive trials.  You hear a muffled POW and then the announcement "attention standby passengers, we have a seat available on flight number...."

That's pretty funny, but the dangerous world that presses in on us is not so funny.  Borders are invasively porous.  Inflation is stalking as the dollar is devalued.  Today a terrorist tried in CIVIL COURT (as if he were a bank robber) was acquitted on all but one of his 285 counts...and gave justice a whoopin'.  Glen Beck suggests we buy a cabin in the woods as a back-up plan for our times. But Jon Stewart disagrees,  saying "we live in hard times, not the end times".  Let's see, should we get our theology from Beck or Stewart...Stewart or Beck?

One by one, our egg baskets (our traditional places of safety) are being taken away.  We can't trust our money...it may soon be Monopoly money. We can't trust government or our status/strength as a world power.  It's getting increasingly harder to trust basic civilization.  And so what does that leave us?

I'm thinking that all along the Lord would have us put our full weight on His sovereignty.
He alone has the power to orchestrate my next breath.  He knows the purpose He has for my life and the number of days that it will take to accomplish that purpose.  
He is the Observer of my life arena.

I raise my confidence to the King of Kings.


"The LORD Almighty has sworn this oath: 
'It will all happen as I have planned.
It will come about according to my purposes...
I have a plan for the whole earth, for my mighty power 
reaches throughout the world'."
Isaiah 14.26

A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND

I'm pretty sure daycare workers put in a full day...and chicken pluckers, too.  But I'll say one thing, my husband is the hardest worker that I've ever known.  And this week I have the privilege to say that I've been sharing Mike's name for forty years.

Work ethic certainly was not what attracted me to him at first.  Who thinks about work ethic when a guy has dark hair and blue eyes like Sean Connery?  All I knew was the bottom of my stomach fell out when I was around Mike.  Now THERE'S a measuring stick for determining your life mate.

Even from our earliest days, I have been a bit intimidated by my husband's intelligence.  He's smart AND he can fix things.  That was new to me because my Daddy was funny, but not so handy.  Still, Mike didn't seem to understand interpersonal relationships like I thought I did and that made me feel needed.

Phase Two began all too soon as we discovered our differences.  Surprise!  We began to push and pull on each other to be more like the other.  Why IS that when we used to be attracted to the differences?  When Phase Two ended, we had put out the fire.  Guilt was thick like smoke in the air.  Our fussing was frustrating because Mike was a peacemaker and had to be picked on to fight.  Then, even with all his intelligence, he didn't really know what the fight was about and so he could hardly spar effectively.  We went to our corners and pretty much were resigned to a perpetual sulk.

In the fall of 1979 the Cruses had been married nine years and had two kiddos.  My hopelessness caused me to finally say "yes" to a friend who year after year had asked me to go to a Bible study.  The fact that she even asked me...insulted me.  Why did she think I needed a Bible study when I was very involved at my church?  But I swallowed my pride and went and for the first time, cracked open a Bible.  It wasn't long before I met the Savior.  I know it's strange to be in church all of your life and never know how to come to Christ, but that's what happened.

Now Christmas was coming and Mike and I typically saved our biggest fuss fights for the holidays.  After that Christmas, Mike was miserable enough to agree to go to the men's class of this non-denominational study (BSF).  By that spring, he had prayed to receive Christ.  Now we came to realize that we actually had a LOT in common.  We are both high-control and willful.  We are both the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son...wanting to "do the right thing" but not "be the right thing".  Our self-righteousness was such a stink in God's nostrils.  
The Lord wants a love relationship, not a duty one. 

When Mike and I look back at our early years, we are amazed that we got through our yucky stuff without legal proceedings.  The funny thing was that even in our darkest misery, neither of us wanted that.  We were just glum and didn't know how to spell relief.

My husband is a dear man.  Over the next years, he figured out his gifting and realized his chosen profession was pretty much of an irritant to his peacemakers heart.  Lawyers and conflict seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly.  After retiring from that 30 year career and from the Air Guard, Mike began his third career as he went to work for our church.  The next ten years gave my husband work he never dreamed could be so fulfilling.  Only the God who made Mike with certain talents... could then make the work that perfectly utilized the same talents.

Our church was always building or remodeling and Mike was the liaison between the church and the construction company.  He operated with a checklist and a hardhat.  He had never done that kind of work, and so each morning before his feet hit the floor, he was asking for help.  God waits for that!   The year before we moved to Fayetteville, Fellowship Bible Church bought land and relocated.  Mike was on his knees a lot that year because it was a 51 million dollar project with a small time-window.  But what a perfect caboose for his work life!

Caboose?  True persister/achievers don't retire.  We bought a house in Fayetteville and Mike was on the job again (7a.m. to 7p.m.), coordinating workmen to take it down to the drywall and back up again.  In two months.  Now Mike's going to bed at night and waking up with our new church on his mind...

This October Mike went to his 50th high school reunion in Jonesboro.  He was co-salutatorian of his class and editor of the yearbook, but I'm attracted to something else about him.  I love how he gives of his time and money to God things.  He has an adventurous side that takes him to a mountain top in British Columbia to shoot a bighorn sheep, yet I trust his responsible side that is conscientious and reliable.  He is a weight-bearing wall in our relationship.  He loves and serves his family; he gets teary when he talks about what God has done in his life.

I have a friend who speaks about her husband as Jesus with skin on.  That is not intended to be irreverent.  Literally, God provides for us through earthly relationships and Mike is my LOCAL protector/provider.  God gave me a godly mate, but we sure didn't start out our relationship that way.

When I think of how we hurt one another in the days before Christ, I am so grateful for the power the Lord gives us to forgive one another...and for His power described in Romans 4.17b.  It says He calls into being that which does not exist.  For Mike and I, that meant He put love back into our hearts.

Happy Fortieth, Mike Cruse.  You are Numero Uno on my speed dial.

SAD, SOLEMN, AND NOT-SO-SORRY

DAY ONE AFTER THE ELECTION
At the President's post-election presser, his countenance was somber and his mouth said the words "shellacking" and "sadness".  Did the President mean what he said?  Asked directly THREE TIMES whether his policies had anything to do with his shellacking...he said no.  But he LOOKED reflective.  He couldn't have been as sad as the politicians who went down on his ship the day before.  There were a sackful of them who took one for the Gipper.

How can we know whether Barack Obama is contrite or not?  We don't go by what our eyes tell us.
Since this man has a track record of creative verbiage, concentrate carefully
on what was actually said.  http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=552798

Then wait.  True colors have a way of bubbling to the top.

DAY TWO AFTER THE ELECTION
Listen to the spin.  Liberal sources are practically yawning as they couch the story:
"The GOP took the House and 6 Senate seats"

Well, yeah.  That was concise.  The election doesn't seem like a big deal put that way.  Certainly it doesn't sound like what was described in other sources as a tidal wave...or the largest party turnover since 1948.  Just look at the red map.  We are a center-right country.

Do the words "taking 60 seats" sound larger than the words "taking the House"?  The underreporting must have been tricky to accomplish.  It certainly was not all the story.  They could have added the governorships.  Republicans won in PA, OH, MI, WI TN, AL, NE, TX, KS, GA, SC, NM, NV, WY, SD, OK, AZ, UT, ID, AK, MN, IA, and FL.  Plus the state legislatures.

Whether acknowledged or not, this election can change the political landscape for years.  Or so it would seem, but we can't be so sure.  Wasn't it James Carville who, after the 08 election only two years ago, said that the Republicans would be set back for "fohty yeahs" (40 years)? 

DAY THREE AFTER THE ELECTION
Nancy Pelosi says she is not quitting and she's sorry for those friends who wouldn't be returning,
but she is proud of their accomplishments.  Are these people in Wonderland?

Now the Wheel of Fortune puzzle pieces are coming together.  Only an ideologue would ignore what the country is saying.  Did we really think they were going to reach across the aisle?  The first phone call in two years from the President to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came AFTER the election.  What kind of president does not talk to a Minority Leader even one time in two years?  President Obama must have meant what he said to John Boehner and others back after the 08 election:  "elections have consequences and I won".

Look for the President to come back from his royal tour of the Orient and try again to explain to the unwashed (and in my case, an unwashed hillbilly) about how brilliant his plan really is.  It must be the ultimate irony that in the year since healthcare passed, the Great Communicator pitched it over and over, but can't make us understand.  Perhaps his teleprompter could be slowed...

THE MIDTERM MORNING AFTER

Well, we certainly don't have to wait as long for election returns these days.
If political signs are still out on the corner the morning after, it's aggravating.
So we've lived through another election, and I'm thinking of that old saying
"Americans have uncommon good sense when they go to vote".
Wouldn't have said that in 2008, but now the pendulum swings back.

I'm grateful for the big new freshman class up on the Hill.  These newbies may not know "how things are done".  Hope not.  But the election gave us some surprises about who will be back.  Reid.  Nevada, what were you thinking, Honey?  I read this a.m. that the Senator was  interested in compromise.  Methinks his tail is singed.

My new fav freshman is Col. Allen West from down in Florida.  His tag line is that he is the first black Republican elected since 1870.  I'm so glad that is not the only thing in the Colonel's resume.  Allen West has both a record of service to his country and conservative, no-nonsense thinking.  He says that he is going to Washington to do his assignment and then he's COMING HOME.  Good.  Those positions have a way of changing office-holders.

Let's back up and take a look at the election as a whole.  What drove the voters and what political forces drove the election?  Voters turned out in a midterm because of the economy and their repudiation of big government.  And the political forces?

1.  THE TEA PARTY.  Apparently the people didn't buy the slime of "racist and extremist" because the Tea Party proved to be a major force in American politics this season.  Their Senatorial candidates who won were Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, John Boozman, Mike Crapo, Jerry Moran, John Hoeven, Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, John Thune, and Ron Johnson.  Additionally, they wait to see about two tight races in Washington and Colorado (Ken Buck and Dino Rossi). 

The Tea Party had eight candidates for Governor.  Three men (Keet/AR, Paladino/NY, Tancredo/CO) went down, three women (Haley/SC, Fallin/OK, Martinez/NM) won, and there are two cliff-hangers (Rick Scott in Florida and Tom Emmer in Minnesota).  The Tea Party also supported Paul LePage who won in Maine.   

2.  SARAH PALIN.  Sorry, Cher.  Sarah is a mover/shaker and the star of the Republican party.  Her Mama Grizzlies did not all win, but she touched a spot in women across the nation with her characterization of women looking out for the next generation.  Watch how that encourages other women to step up next time.  Kudos to Sarah Palin for enduring viciousness.


Mama Grizzlies Christine and Carly and Sharron went down...but look at these Republican women who roared last night:


Nikki Haley (Indian-American Governor/South Carolina)
Vicky Hartzler (Congresswoman/MO)
Kristi Noem (Congresswoman/South Dakota)
Susana Martinez (first Latina Governor/New Mexico)
Kelly Ayotte (Senator/New Hampshire)
Mary Fallin (first female Governor, OK)
Michele Bachmann (re-elected Congresswoman/MN)


3.  REPUBLICAN MINORITIES.  Nikki Haley (Indian-American), Marco Rubio (Cuban-American), Susana Martinez (Hispanic), and Allen West and Tim Scott (conservative African-Americans) dispel the notion that Republicans are all white guys.  Finally.


4.  PELOSI stimulated Republican voters.


5.  NEGATIVE COAT TAILS.  The Dems ran from Obama's record and his healthcare like lemmings.  The Democratic governor who won in West Virginia, Joe Manchin, won because he not only set himself apart from his party with an elbow-locked distance...he actually publically disowned their philosophy.


So now what?  If you thought the elections were tough, now consider what lies ahead for our divided nation.  Where is there room for compromise?  Is it likely that the President will suddenly decide his "hope and change" can be diminished?  Is it likely that the newbies (fresh from a mandate wave) will fall in line with the Democratic majority in the Senate?


If it ever was obvious that we cannot rest our full weight on the "here and now"...we know it is now.  These people we elected will do their best.  America is watching and will have NONE of the old "say one thing/do another" doublespeak.  But what can be done to ease the division?

Let's PRAY.  America needs to be on her knees now more than ever to give these men and women who have stepped forward to be our leaders the ability to lead.  Pray for wisdom to know the way forward.  Pray that God would give a way through gridlock.  If they lock heads, it will be two more years until we can vote again.  We need jobs TODAY.  And a strong defense.  And leadership who knows why Israel is our friend.


Let's pray to that end.  But let's pray knowing our security is not in what man may or may not do.  My hope is not a campaign slogan attached to the word "change".  My hope is in the mighty and omnipotent hand of the living God.  He alone controls the future.  And at His signal, a new kingdom will begin whose government will have no end.


But in the meantime, let's work with what we have through prayer.

	"Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land." 2Chronicles 7.14 NLT

HALLOWED EVE

Teaching children has been so good for me.  With dwindling brain cells, my attempts to translate big concepts into little people's words causes new insights.   

Halloween has long frustrated me; I hate it that Halloween has developed into such a huge "holiday".  I really hate it that little ones cannot even go to WalMart without getting scarey dreams from the motion-activated, life-sized Freddie Krueger on the end caps. 

But on the other hand, who likes to dress up more than moi?

This year in working up a couple of lessons for Kingdom Kids (kindergarten/early elementary age children) we talked about the dark holiday.  I asked "what is the day before Christmas called?"  They knew that one.  Christmas Eve!   "Well, for a long time November first was a day for celebrating GOOD.  The good people were called 'hallowed'.  The day before Hallowed Day would be 'Hallowed Eve'.  The people celebrated GOOD on November first, but on the day before (on Hallowed Eve)...BAD was celebrated."

Then we talked about how we don't celebrate being bad.  We talked about the creepy things associated with Halloween like spiders and bats.  We talked about the things we see at Halloween such as ghosts, vampires, skeletons and zombies.  I asked them what all those things were?  "Dead things!" one little boy said.  Children are so wonderfully direct.  We talked of how the dead things seemed to be coming back and roaming around.  Then I asked them who came back from the dead.  They got that one right away...Jesus!  Jesus and the good people (the saints) are raised.  We talked about how all these other things are POSERS that pretend to come back.  Our God is the only One with power to raise from the dead.  The others mock God.

The week before Halloween, each child in Kingdom Kids was given five little booklets (see below) and were asked to pray and ask Jesus for five names of friends or neighbors who might want to know more about Him.  Then during that week, they were to turn the tables and 'give' instead of 'take'.  They were to dress up and either make treats or take candy to those people as they gave away their little booklet.  And I figured if you gave an assignment, you should have to carry it out.  So here's Miss Susan on a neighbor's porch.  Wanna wind up my nose?  My eyebrows and mustache wiggle.

                                                                                                                                                 

Without all the darkness, there is a lot of fun to be had in dressing up.  Here are some pictures of great examples of creativity in costuming...

This family lives in Florida and so it is perfectly natural that they would be an "under the sea" family.  Ariel and her brother (an amazing jellyfish who lights up) even have their little sea turtle on a leash.

Here is a Louisville family endorsing their local hero.  
It's the Colonel and the box of chicken who is his wife...with their little peep.

Gotta love these chefs and that little lobster!

These girls get high marks for creativity in a low-cost budget.

These youthful two on the left are frozen in a nostalgic time zone.
The wannabe Queen Esther may have swerved into more of a gypsy.

This mother is dressed as a flapper, but doesn't her face look like Snow White?
Can you guess who her real-life daughter is?  Barbie!

What a sweet family with all their costumes from the Mouse's House.
We have Jasmine, Mulan, Minnie...and the precious Mickey.

 The church cannot ignore Halloween.
These days, it is second only to Christmas in money spent and hoopla.
We do our children a disservice if we do not explain the "holiday" to them.
But then let's use it for good with costume creativity.

Jesus is the Light in the darkness.
Our costumes can be, too!