A Pilgrim’s Odyssey

On Heaven Is Real, Be Heard

Over the weekend we enjoyed a family movie, it was “Heaven Is Real” a 2014 film written and directed by Randall Wallace (writer of Braveheart) and based on Pastor Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent's 2010 book of the same name. The film stars Greg Kinnear.

I had always avoided the movie because I assumed it would be another cheesy Christian movie, and there had been questions over the validity of the young boy’s claims. Four-year old Colton Burpo claims to visit heaven during surgery for a burst appendix.

It was surprisingly well done, and did a great job of portraying the dad’s and others skepticism at the boy's claims.

It left me wondering, why don’t we see more movies like this? True family movies that reflect what most of America is, Christians, who live their faith. In a 2019 Pew Survey, 65% of American identify as Christians. Yet, where are they represented in the movies, in television, and in the news and media?

You can never forget, the people creating the content you consume not only don’t value what you believe, they want you to believe something else. They want your kids to believe something else.

I bring this up because sometimes it’s easy to think you're crazy when you hear messages that contradict what you believe and you have moments you go, maybe they are right.

As the movie ended I was reminded of a Bible verse learned long ago:

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…."

Stand up for what you believe, be heard, know you are not alone. In fact, you are in the majority, by a lot.

Heard On The Radio Today, Family or Career?

I was listening to a radio show this morning and one of the guests said, “Why should I have to make the decision that family is more important than my career?”

The host understood the implications of that and followed with: “I think we can all agree family should be the most important thing in all our lives.”

She acted like he hadn't spoken. She had been raised in a family where career and school were more important than family and now she was a single-mom who wanted success in a very competitive career field, no matter what it meant to life at home.

They both became uncomfortable, and it was uncomfortable to listen to.

But it brought up an even bigger, broader point. What do we value, and how do we judge ourselves?

Is it by how much money we make? Our job title or job satisfaction? Is it all “me” centered?

Or is it in our faith, our family, our friends, our community?

There is a disconnect that has evolved over the last 70 years, really since WWII, where progress has led to fractured families and communities, meism, and a breakdown of things that matter.

This was a women who is smart and thoughtful. But “satisfaction” to her was a job that “kicks butt”. And it’s not just a women thing, it’s a people thing, a man thing. Is our value only in our titles and our bank account? If so, what does that mean and what will be the consequences?

Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives

My wife is re-reading the book “Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica” for the 3^rd time. It is inspiring to watch her work through it again.

The book is a testimony to learning to live in the spirit, free of worldly influence. It is an aspirational work for our spiritual journey as we draw closer to God. It also offers a clear picture of why we suffer and cannot find peace.

More than a few passages from the book have impacted me over the years since reading it, but two stand out, one on humility and the other on the type of life we will choose to live:

“Until you have suffered much in your heart, you cannot learn humility.”

“Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility.”

Have you suffered? Did it cause despair, or did it lead you to humility?

What draws your attention? Worldly, temporal things, or peaceful, kind, important things?

We all will suffer, and we all will have plenty of distractions put in front of us. How will we respond? What will we focus our thoughts, and ultimately our actions upon?

Rule Breakers Or Law Abiding Citizens?

Yesterday, we talked a little bit about mass incarceration. While empathetic to those neglected and abused by the legal system, most did the crime. I do not want liars, thieves, and violent criminals in my family.

On the other hand, many of my heroes were rule breakers: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Daniel Boone, etc. If they saw injustice or things they believed were wrong, well, they wouldn’t always follow the rules.

What to do with my children, or myself? How do we navigate injustice?

Here is what Henry David Thoreau had to say about it:

“Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them?” – Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

“If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth–certainly the machine will wear out… but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.” – Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Judging Ourselves By Mass Incarceration

A March 24, 2020 report on Mass Incarceration in the United States found the following:

"The American criminal justice system holds almost 2.3 million people in 1,833 state prisons, 110 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,134 local jails, 218 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories.

Every year, over 600,000 people enter prison gates, but people go to jail 10.6 million times each year.  Jail churn is particularly high because most people in jails have not been convicted."

Worldwide, the US has 21% of the World’s prisoners, but only about 4.4 percent of the world’s population. How should we consider those who are incarcerated in our midst?

ISAIAH 61:1-3

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."

And then in MATTHEW 25:34-40 we are reminded how we are to care for others, and the importance of remembering who they represent:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"

The horrendous way we engage "the least of us" stains every part of our world. It is another evil we are complicit in that we try hard to hide our eyes from. Just like the sexualization and commercialization of our culture that everyone contributes to, church goers and non-church goers alike, the fact we haven’t done more to shed a light on our immense prison culture and its consequences on our entire society is shameful.

When All You Can Do Is Talk, Talk

I had a great conversation this weekend with a young friend about his work on a suicide hotline. One self-depreciating, but powerful thing he said, “all we can do is talk. But it helps.”

It sure does. So many people don’t have meaningful conversations. They don’t feel heard or affirmed. It is lonely.

Our talk reminded me of my Uncle who once told me, “people want to be known.”

Think about it, who really knows you deeply? Who understands those thoughts you have that are guarded behind private eyes?

Psalm 19: 12-13 "But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.

Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.

Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression."

Freedom of soul and spirit requires being known. If no one truly knows you, there will always be a part of you that feels like it is living in secret. That is where the dark things develop.

You start with God, and if you are lucky, (and it’s worth the risk,) you have one or two others in your life who truly know you.

The First Amendment And Publick Traytors!

So much noise. Social media, news, radio, politicians, everywhere. Yet, I'm glad we live in a country, for now, where you are allowed to make noise. But there is a vicious rush to shut up people you don’t like, you don’t agree with.

As I like to do on issues such as this, I usually begin by going to our foundations. In this case, the First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The following from a young patriot is even more prophetic!

“In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech; a thing terrible to publick traytors.”

This was written by Benjamin Franklin at the age of 16! In 1722!

And then you see in Thomas Jefferson give a poignant warning. Beware of monopolies that can control. (See Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.)

“I will now add what I do not like. First, the omission of a bill of rights, providing clearly, and without the aid of sophism, for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, restriction of monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury, in all matters of fact triable by the law of the land, and not by the laws of nations.”

Thomas Jefferson in a letter to James Madison, 1787

And one more from the great Benjamin Franklin:

“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.”

Tiger Could Be Us

Following the tragic Tiger Woods' accident and the impact it and other traumatic episodes in his life must have had on his psyche, made me think about us all.

Life is terribly temporal, which makes is so important to be grounded on the right things. That car on the side of the road could be us.

Focusing on the things that matter should be your mantra. Don't let too many days pass without taking a minute to reflect and recount how you are spending your time, who is getting your attention.

We are only here once. Every moment matters.

Get Dirty And Live!

A couple of odd encounters with fearful hipsters took me back to my twelfth birthday. I was given my great-grandfather's double-barrel shotgun and allowed to wander the fields looking for something to shoot.

It was glorious, yet something I imagine the two young hipsters I met would be appalled by.

If you aren't getting a little dirty and a little stupid sometimes, you aren't living.

A Moment For The Little Things

Yesterday we talked about Bob Dylan’s song, Every Grain of Sand. A beautiful testimony to how our pain and vulnerability might be the things that help us realize God is everywhere, in Every Grain of Sand.

This weekend reminded me of a similar concept, in our busy world slow down or you might miss the most important things of life.

My homeschool varsity boys basketball team was in our state Final 4. The first quarter went well, then we stopped doing the little things. Most importantly, we didn’t stop to look and anticipate. We reacted. I teach the kids to catch the ball and take a second to face the basket and look around. Put your head down and start dribbling to soon you miss opportunity and you head into trouble.

But isn’t that life sometimes? Put your head down and move too quickly, you miss things.

We need to time to contemplate, to breathe, to examine what is going on around us and make good decisions.

Matthew 6:6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."

Mark 1:35 "In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there."

And we don’t just need to find the time to stop, look, and listen for prayer. We need to do it for so many of the little things in life that are far more important than their size: a moment to laugh with a friend or loved one, time to read or listen to a favorite song, time to hug and hold the ones your love without a hurry to end the embrace.

Don’t rush, you’ll miss the little the things that often matter most.