*This is not an endorsement of any piece of equipment discussed hereafter.
I was so tired when I got home from work. I’d been up since 0500, but I was not tired from physical labor. Actually, I enjoy physical labor, especially working in the yard–anything to do with the soil, trees, plants, etc. I was tired from what I call “administrivia.” I had had to do a lot of that today at work.
My Mondays tend to be like that–paperwork, management of resources and people, looking at demographics, and kind of seeing not the people themselves but rather pieces of data on a spreadsheet.
And I’m a chaplain and pastor. People are what I love–their spirits, and what undergirds their worldviews.
But today had been one of those Mondays where I was spent–just worn out from administrivia.
But when I finally got home at 1900, CJ met me in the garage.
“I have something for you,” she said.
She knows what I like, so I was suddenly in better spirits.
She walked me to the back deck. She’d purchased a Ryobi limb trimmer.
I was ecstatic.
Some might laugh. Really? they might think. Something to work in the yard?
Yes. Exactly. I love this sort of thing–something to get me outside, where my spirits lift; something to keep me in touch with the smell of trees, even if it’s to prune their dead limbs.
So that’s what I did. I went out with her, and got to work. Thirty minutes later, I had felled several dead limbs, burned them in the firepit, and even watered some new trees I had planted.
Small things, I suppose, is what I’m driving at–the small kindnesses that are done for us, things that move us, things that bring us joy. For some of us, it’s trees–pruning them, trimming them, planting and watering them. And saying ‘thank you’ to the ones who love us enough to know when we need a boost so that we flourish.
Question: What is a wise criterion by which to evaluate leadership?
Possible responses:
Mission accomplishment
Retention of quality workforce
Job satisfaction
Growth
Pride in the organization
Sense of self-worth/value experienced by team members
Truth
Transparency
Context, Context, Context: In the prophetic Book of Hosea, we have the words of Hosea speaking a parable of warning to his culture in the 700s B.C. when the culture has largely fallen into false religion, shepherds for sale, and morally rotten leadership.
Text: “My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore” (Hosea 4:12).
One thing I love about Scripture is that it tells it like it is. The Bible does not sugarcoat things. It uses imagery, metaphors, and analogies, in addition to narratives, poetry, gospels, and apocalyptic literary genres to reveal the truth about God, about us, and about the only means of salvation: Christ.
The context in verse 12 above concerns how idolatrous people fall under false shepherds, shepherds for sale, and lies. Hosea illustrates ways that the people use a “walking staff” that gives them oracles. And what do those oracles do? They lead the people astray. And the people “play the whore.” They allow themselves to be pimped. That’s strong language, you say? Yes, it is. And it comes straight from Scripture. So, don’t shoot the messenger.
Teaching/encouragement: The point from Hosea as God’s prophet is straightforward: a wise criterion by which leadership is to be evaluated is tied to the quality of transparency and truth of its leadership. This is why Jesus is called the Good Shepherd in Scripture. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He leads His sheep to green pastures. He guards against the wolves. He exposes the darkness. He equips His sheep. He exposes the false. He invites investigation. He is transparent. His work is done in the light.
Introduction: For years and years, I had heard about this novel. I even had it on a shelf in my library for years. Finally I resolved to read it. It’s not that I didn’t want to. It was that I have so many books on my TBR list that I’d simply not gotten to it. But the time came at last. And to give you an idea of how highly I found the experience of reading it . . . well, I’m blogging about it. It was spectacular. If you are a serious reader, perhaps you will follow me as I share some reflections below.
Published in 1985 by Texan Larry McMurtry, the novel earned the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1986.
The plot is simple but not simplistic. The story hinges upon the spectacular efforts to leave the tiny community of Lonesome Dove, Texas and ride horseback to Montana to herd cattle back to Texas, and become self-sufficient ranchers and leave Texas Ranger life somewhat behind.
The two main characters are Captain Augustus “Gus” McCrae and Captain Woodrow Call. But their group of friends and associates and women and drunks and a boy (Newt), and ex-wives, and a black man/friend/scout named Deets, et al, will leave you with characters in your imagination you’ll not quickly forget. There are also Dish and Pea Eye and Lorena and Clara. The cast of characters is large as the landscapes the story covers, but they all grip you. At least they gripped me. Profoundly.
The stories involved in this tome include their heroisms, defeats, arguments, divorces, adulteries, friendships, betrayals, loyalties, love for the land, battles with Indians, a cowardly sheriff, tough-as-nails women, golden-hearted whores, grave diggers, and more.
So, What’s It Really About? It is difficult not to limit the book in answering that question. But among other things, it’s about friendship, about loneliness, about pride, about grit, about sacrifice, about freedom, about the need for others, about pity, about honor, about violence, and that’s just a start.
I have read hundreds of novels over my many years as a reader and teacher. I have never been one for genre fiction–Westerns, sci-fi, fantasy, etc. But this book, though certainly a Western, was not so much a book as a world.
Let me compare it this way: I love reading the great tragedies of Shakespeare. And each time I read Hamlet, e.g., I’m back in Elsinore. Well, in this novel, I wasn’t in Elsinore; I was in Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, Fort Smith, Arkansas, and more. I was simply but profoundly there with them. The story was that good.
The Ending: It’s a long novel, by most people’s standards–just short of 900 pages. So, yes, it takes some effort to stick with it. But I can think of few novels where I wept like I did over this one’s endings. I say “endings” because we as readers see the ends of a host of characters. We come to understand Call in his pride, Gus in his courage, Clara and Lorena, and the beautiful boy, Newt. And when you see what becomes of them, McMurtry rips our hearts out–not in cruelty towards us as readers but in our love for these men and women. I cannot get over how much the scenes between Call and Newt eviscerated my soul. And the last conversation between Gus and Call was simply an example of the best of what great literature provides to us–beauty and pathos and a reminder of the power of love, pride, honor, and sacrifice.
If you will, I simply encourage you to pick up this book. Schedule time. Read it. It took me several weeks, but it was so worth it. I know this will reveal even more of my deep love of great literature, but this book does what great literature is meant to do–remind us of what Faulkner called “the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of [man’s] past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”
And like so much that Faulkner wrote in his best novels and stories, McMurtry, too, earned his place among the greats with this novel.
The sun was setting. I laced up my hiking boots and set out.
I was only to the first hill and two eight-point bucks were watching me. I could feel something watching me. Outoodrsmen will understand. We can sense eyes upon us.
I spotted the first one on the left. I was watching him as he was watching me. But then another, larger buck was to his left (my right).
I tried to capture him with my old iPhone, too, but he flagged me and trotted down the hill up which he had come.
It’s nearly everywhere. Your witress or waiter comes by when it’s time to pay for your meal; they slide you an iPad after taking your credit or debit card, and immediately a screen appears with suggested amounts for tipping. Oftentimes the ‘suggested’ amount BEGINS at 20%. Listen, if a waitress goes above and beyond, that’s one thing. But that’s not been my experience.
I’m quite ready to tip well. That’s not my issue here. What I’m talking about in this piece is when a (s)hemale with purple hair, tattoos obscuring her body’s skin, a septum ring, black fingernails, and an anarchy symbol on her left earlobe, who acts about as eager to serve you as an Eskimo is to be rerouted to Havana, Cuba, solicits a tip–that’s who I’m talking about.
This ilk is ubiquitous–at the QuikTrip, at the Wendy’s, at the barber shop. Seemingly everywhere. Hey, it’s a free country, as the saying goes. If you wish to paint your body in ink, dye your hair to look like the visuals on an LSD trip, and pierce yourself to such a degree that you’d sink in 2″ of water, that’s on you.
However, if you desire a ‘tip’ when you hand me a hamburger or sell me a bottle of water, I have a ‘tip’ for you: be courteous; grow up; greet people; say, “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am,” as appropriate.
And that word appropriate has the root of “proper.” Just saying.
Introduction: This coming Sunday as the saints gather at Christ Covenant Church (3cs-canton.org) I am going to teach from Ecclesiastes 5 on “The posture of the Christian.” The word posture has its roots in Latin and is rooted in the idea of “position” or “station.” We might think of it as the disposition or pose of the mind/soul towards God.
Why It Matters: Why should this matter to us? Well, in short, because all of us have to deal with the God question. How you and I respond to the reality of God has consequences. Do we respond in repentance and faith in Christ or do we harden ourselves and suppress the truth of God in our unrighteousness?
Text: “If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them” (Eccl. 5:8).
Context, Context, Context: Solomon is here writing a book of wisdom with the overarching theme of contrasting worldviews–namely, secularism (life under the sun) vs. theism (life under God). Solomon is a master teacher. How so? Well, he teaches by way of contrasts–this vs. that; light vs. dark; fulfillment vs. futility, etc.
Teaching: In Eccl. 5:8, what we have is wisdom regarding the reality of human fallenness. To use a military analogy, it’s having an accurate sight picture. It’s seeing things as they are, not how we might wish they are. It’s coherence. It’s using terms that accurately correspond to the way reality is. A is A, in other words. A is not non-A.
Solomon teaches here that we should “not be amazed at the matter” of human oppression or “the violation of justice and righteousness.” Why? Because this is a fallen world. The world is composed of sinners; therefore, expect them to act like sinners. To use a homely expression, “What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket.” That’s good country wisdom. How so? Well, it reminds us of what Solomon teaches–namely, that this world is fallen.
Since this world is so fallen, how will Christians position themselves? What is to be our posture? Are we to hide the light of truth under a basket? Jesus had some rather strong words about that posture. Should we try to force belief upon people as some worldviews do, i.e., convert or die? No. Christianity alone rests upon the loving, clear declaration of truth and leaving it up to the individual how he will respond.
We don’t force belief; we simply present the truth and back it up with evidence. Others will do as they will. Hell’s doors are locked from the inside, you see. The people who hate God choose their destiny. Heaven would be hell for the one who hates God, in other words. Hell’s “doors,” so to speak, are therefore locked from the inside. Why? Because the denizens hate God, refuse God, and reject God.
Encouragement: The posture of the Christian, therefore, is one of submission to the truth of God in the midst of a fallen world, wherein we labor to be salt and light in a world of moral rot and darkness. Why? To preserve, to be the light in the darkness, to call out corruption in prayerful hope that cleanness will be brought instead. But that cleanness is not something we manufacture; it is the gift of God. And God uses the posture of Christians to bear witness to that cleanness.
Introduction: What associations come to mind when you reflect upon the legacy of Nebuchadnezzar from the Book of Daniel? Below are some likely ones:
Hubris
Humiliation
Exaltation
Reduction
Context, Context, Context: No matter how many times I read Daniel, I discover new insights about human nature, about saving faith, about leadership, and about God’s sovereignty. Just think of the difficult tasks that Daniel was faced with–being an exiled believer under pagan rule, being tasked with interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, then seeing his three friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) cast into a seven-times-heated fiery furnace, etc. Daniel could’ve become puffed up like Nebuchadnezzar often was. But Daniel didn’t. He remained faithful. He remained a man of prayer. He kept his vows to God. He kept short accounts with the Lord.
After God preserved and rescued Daniel’s three friends, Nebuchadnezzar made this profound statement: “Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way” (Dan 3:29).
Encouragement: A purpose of miracles in Scripture is to teach us to reverence the miracle worker, not just the miracle. We’re to revere the Giver rather than the gift. Nebuchadnezzar was soon to learn this wisdom in even more dramatic fashions soon, but for now we will just leave it here. More to follow.
Question: What qualities are desirable for quality leadership?
BLUF: Skillful in All Wisdom
Context, Context, Context: The Book of Daniel was written in the 600s B.C. by Daniel. This was the time of the Babylonian exile under wicked Nebuchadnezzar, whose armies had besieged Jerusalem and taken captives back to Babylon (present-day Iraq, approximately 50 miles south of current Baghdad).
Can you guess what types of young men Nebuchadnezzar aimed to train in his ways and in his culture? They were “youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace” (Dan 1:4).
Encouragement: Revisit the question: What qualities are desirable for quality leadership? Even the wicked Nebuchadnezzar recognized what was wise to desire in capable people–those skillful in wisdom and learning, and those who were competent. The irony, of course, is that Nebuchadnezzar’s ploys would backfire on him, because God is the sovereign One, not Nebuchadnezzar, as he was soon to learn. But insofar as picking the right people for leadership, in that sense, the king got it right. God was going to use these young men to show God’s wisdom and the utter humiliation of the haughty.
While driving home from work today, my Spotify playlist decided I should hear A Flock of Seagulls’ “I Ran.” And, wow! An avalance of memories I had forgotten I harbored came crashing over me like waves.
Suddenly, so much washed over my memory. First, I remember summers at my dad’s place in Marietta and Sandy Springs, when I competed (poorly) as part of the neighborhood swim team. I was never a gifted swimmer, but I loved the pool.
Second, I remembered riding our Huffy and Schwinn bicycles up and down the hills in the neighborhood to get to the pool, where we spent our summers as boys.
Third, I remembered my friend Mark who lived a few houses down our street, and how we’d camp out in our little tent in the woods adjacent to our street, and call the Domino’s in town to deliver pepperoni pizzas to us on Friday nights. We’d leave our little camp area and go out to the street when the driver arrived with the delicious-smelling pizza we relished as boys.
Fourth, I remember the tunes. O, the music! In those years, it was A Flock of Seagulls, the J. Geils Band, The Tubes, and Van Halen, and so many more. Music, music, music, the pool, the smells of sun tan lotion the girls laved on themselves all day long, the swim meets, the camping in the woods adjacent to our little street.
I had not heard “I Ran” in years, I think–but in an instant, I was a kid again–pedalling our bikes, swimming laps, imbibing the tunes, wrestling with hormones, and just being a boy. Wow . . . just wow!
MIND & MATTERS 