Randy's Ruminations

Temptation often has a two-fold component. It is like a one-two punch. Temptation leads with a left jab of desire and follows with a right hook of fear.

Desire and fear.

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Edmund is first tempted by desire. He loves Turkish Delight and desires more. After the Queen (White Witch) gets him to compromise the good and betray his family and the oppressed inhabitants of Narnia, Edmund is kept in her clutches by fear.

She shows him her opponents whom she has frozen and threatens, “Think about whose side you are on – mine or theirs.” He is afraid to change course.

What began with a desire for “sweeties” became a trap of fear. Think of king David tempted with desire for Bathsheba and then trapped in the fear of discovery. Thus did adultery lead to murder. Only exposure in the confrontation by the prophet Nathan, breaks the grip of fear.

This is why confession is so powerful, so necessary – and commanded. It breaks the grip of deception and fear. A confessed sin is a one whose power of bondage is broken.

Psalm 32:1-5

Blessed is he
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord does not count against him
and in whose spirit is no deceit.

When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.

For day and night
your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, "I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord"--
and you forgave
the guilt of my sin.

“Grandfather’s been dead for all these years, but if you lifted my skull...in the convolutions of my brain you’d find the big ridges of his thumbprint. He touched me.” (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451)

What marks are you leaving behind? How are you blessing the eternal spiritual beings within your personal sphere of influence? How are you redeeming the time? (see Ephesians 5:16 in the KJV)

Your thumbprint is all over people. When God looks at the lives of the people who have been in your sphere of influence where does he find your fingerprints? Does he find it in their generosity or in their selfishness; in their patience or in their anger; in their kindness or in their apathy; in their confidence and optimism or in their doubt and pessimism?

In September of 2003 the 900 page book of the letters of Ronald Reagan was published. Upon the publication of the book, daughter Patti Davis commented, “Lifting the book, I thought about the weight of a life. We leave imprints of ourselves on this earth: memories, relationships, accomplishments as well as mistakes. All have weight.” (Time, 9/29/03)

What you do with your time has weight – eternal weight.

“The sun goes on, day after day, burning and burning. The sun and time. The sun and time burning.” (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451)

“Back there at the beginning, as I see now, my life was all time and almost no memory....And now, nearing the end, I see that my life is almost entirely memory and very little time.” (Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow)

Time is currency. You spend it. What return are you getting? Do you blow it? Do you spend it wisely? It is your most valuable asset and is non-renewable. You spend time on memories. What memories have you purchased?

Spending time on memories has been one of our operational principles as a family.

- climbing the Statue of Liberty on the 4^th of July

- or going to the Hollywood Bowl 4^th of July spectacular

- watching the sun rise over the Grand Canyon while playing the “Sunrise” movement of the Grand Canyon Suite

- cutting our own tree in the mountains every Christmas

We give experiences as gifts for and within the family:

- tickets to the Rose Parade

- tickets to a play like Phantom of the Opera

- sending a daughter to Japan to visit her two sisters already there on a mission trip

We have always considered money spent on a memory to be well worth it. And time spent on a memory is time well spent. It is a tremendous bond in family life.

Your time is your life and you are spending it every day.

These two words are sign-posts as to how people think. The Associated Press reported that the American Dialect Society chose “truthiness” as the word of the year. Truthiness is a truth that doesn’t have to stand up to the facts. Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert, who claims to have coined the phrase, said “You don’t look ‘truthiness’ up in a book, you look it up in your gut.”

A “flexitarian” (the American Dialect Society’s word of the year for 2003) is a vegetarian who eats meat. Come again? A vegetarian who eats meat. That is, someone who believes a vegetarian diet is preferred but either likes meat occasionally or believes people need some meat. So they are flexible on the issue rather than dogmatic.

And so here you have both the up-side and down-side of post-modernism. There is a place for flexibility and being practical rather than dogmatic. Most of us do know in our gut that such is the case, but at times our dogma wouldn’t allow it.

But real truth still matters. Quite paradoxically, Colbert was incensed that the AP article failed to mention him as coining the word “truthiness.” A lexicographer even claims the word already existed. Colbert wanted credit and said of the AP story, “You’re not giving the whole story about tuthiness.” Looks like he wants the facts to count in this case and can’t settle for “truthiness.”

Every kid needs “Church Parents.” I’m not talking about a mom and dad who go to church. That is vital, too. But I am talking about not blood-related adults at church who become a second set of parents or grandparents to a kid at church.

I had two sets – in different churches.

These were homes where I was welcome to stay if my parents went out of town. Homes where I could go “hang out.” At one home Monday was wash day and I was the helper.

It was interesting and educational to see how another home functioned and to see different things. They had different stuff on the walls, different mementos. They had been to different places.

But more importantly, in these homes I was welcomed and appreciated, even loved. It has a significant impact on a child’s world view and attitude about life to know that love exists beyond mom and dad. It was of great spiritual significance that adults in the church loved me.

But of supreme importance was the confirmation of the faith. Here were other adults living the Christian life, praying at meals, reading scripture, talking the talk and walking the walk. For a child this says the Christian call is real.

It is not simply something mom and dad use to make me be good. It’s not just a “church thing” on Sunday. It is life. It is the way to live. It works. There is a community, a network. If mom and dad die, there are other people of God to count on.

And if I need maturing or correcting, it is not all up to mom and dad. We all know that someone other than family saying the same thing gets heard with different ears. Reinforcement is crucial.

As churches get bigger and more urban, as lives are busier, and particularly as more women work outside the home, this important connecting point for kids is at risk. As a parent, seek out this connection for your child. As an adult, look for the opportunity to connect with someone else's kid.

Last summer I saw one of my two church moms again after 32 years. It was a special evening.

Open your life up to a kid and when you are 85 some 54 year old man may show up on your doorstep for another dinner.