Can We Get Out Of Gods Way?
I remember watching religious themed television on Sunday mornings while other families were getting ready for church. Now this was not cable television but rather three networks and two of them were fuzzy. One of the programs was entitled, A Lamp Unto My Feet, that was produced by CBS Television. The programs had morality lessons based on christianity and I thought that they were great! During my young years, before 11 years of age, we did not attend church…but I was captivated by Bible stories! I would see these wonderfully bound books in the waiting room at Ferrel Hospital in Eldorado, Illinois that had beautiful illustrations and a narrative that was made to order for my Biblical curiosity!
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Many years later, grown with kids of my own, I sent a card in from one of the, same, Bible story books…still found in doctor’s offices…and said that I was interested in learning how I could purchase a set of them for Aaron and Johnathon. Little did I understand that a Bible Story book salesman was going to come to my home to high pressure sell me my beloved books!
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We had just returned from a Gatlinburg, Tennessee vacation when what did I hear but a knock on my door. When the old German man entered he told me that he believed that it was God’s will for me to purchase a set of books! I, after listening to his sales pitch for 30 minutes, told him that I would think about it and would call him and let him know. He responded that he feared that Satan would enter my heart if I did not buy the books now and that he thought that he should speak with my wife. I assured him that my wife would throw him out if he spoke to her in such a manner as he had to me…and he gathered his books and left.
I later purchased the books and have them to this day! I also noted to the salesman that apparently Satan had not entered my heart!
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One of the most exciting experiences that I witnessed during my early years as a christian was the influx of about 40, primarily Jewish Hippies, to our little non-denominational church located on the Royalton blacktop road in Elkville, Illinois. The group was comprised of some from wealthy homes and others from the middle class… and one who was an orphan and who had been homeless and slept on the streets of Chicago.
The hippie commune, which I visited and stayed over night and showered in the corn field, was at the other end of the blacktop.
We were a small church of under 100 parishioners. When the hippies came…they not only found a welcoming and loving congregation and pastor but they discovered a family that they had been hungering for!
This church event was so unusual and unprecedented that people came from miles around to see what was going on in the little…poor church in the village of Elkville! The young people that came became christians and subsequently…’Jews for Jesus.’
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Religious leaders in the Southern Illinois area marveled and rejoiced in the manifest witness of Gods outreach and dynamic magnetic drawing of his children to him…while others scoffed and criticized and turned their head and walked sadly away!
The Chicago orphan is my lifelong friend Jeff. He and his wife live in London. Jeff is the CEO of Genistar and works tirelessly to help others. He has enriched the lives of countless people that come from difficult situations and life events! I see their photos and read their testimonies regarding the difference that Jeff has made in their lives and I remember the little hippie boy…my friend….almost 50 years ago….
I spent my career at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale. During my over 32 years of service I interacted with thousands of students. Many of these students come from broken homes or are latch-key children…or are battling mental and emotional challenges. There is one overriding theme that is an umbrella over so many of these young people…they are lonely!
Pastor Archer was able to think outside the box when the 40 hippies came to his church. I witnessed tears stream down his face as he demonstrated to them the love of a father figure. The congregants of our little church were salt of the earth Southern Illinoisans. They loved the lonely hippies…they did not think of the hair or the clothes…they saw their hearts!
My first hand witness of God bringing his sheep to someone who would care for them and love them…was a seminal event in my christian experience! I understood that to follow Jesus…was to first get out of the way of what he was wanting to do with his children…and to be his representative to every hurting and lonely human being!
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Mystery At The Fair
The Fair continues to provide surprises!
Carl and Billy B. walked out of Merlin’s tent wondering what type of tiny projector had been hooked up to the crystal ball where they had just watched the strangest, seemingly unrelated, events projected on? The proper decision seemed to be to find Sam Malone’s Taffy stand and proceed to enjoy the best taffy east of the Mississippi river!
When they presented themselves in front of Sam he was singing his famous taffy making song: ‘Mama likes taffy and daddy likes taffy…and so does Dick and Jane…even Spot the dog like taffy! So good….get it now….get it now!’
Sam would take massive rolls of fresh and soft taffy off of the roller with his his massive arms and hands and begin to throw the sweet confection high into the air and let it land on a large wooden table…whereupon he would turn it over and cast it into the air…
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The Fair
A evening at the Fair!
School had been in session for one week and had it ever been hot in the classrooms! Billy Bump and his buddy Carl had been looking forward, with anxious anticipation, for the Friday night opening of the fair. There was customarily a parade just before the gates were unlocked to the fair grounds. In the parade throng there were local celebrities, such as Minnesota Fats who lived just down the road, and as many politicians that could squeeze in. The Governor was marching along with the first lady and he was smiling from ear to ear and passing out candy to the children and kissing every baby that was offered to him. He waved with the back of his hand…much as Billy B. had seen Queen Elizabeth of England do in the news.
Leading the parade was a jockey riding a horse drawn chariot signifying the world renown harness race…
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Boots
Life can get you down. The stress of working a job that has become more of a burden than a blessing and the overwhelming feeling that your efforts are not appreciated is a prescription for the blues.
It seems in our roaring economy…the Bull has not visited many of us? Attrition is a pair of concrete overshoes for those who remain working, as they stand at the precipice of the ‘slough of despond,’ with the implied promise that you may be next it you can not keep up!
We visited the Orthopedic Institute this morning and I could not help but observe how busy the nurses were. Their serious countenances and ceaseless efforts to care for the many patients that were at the facility reminded me that most people in todays American economy are overworked and underpaid.
As our country has exported virtually all of its manufacturing jobs and replaced them with a service industry…we have become the losers!
In Southern Illinois the two primary employers are the university and the health care industry. I have been retired for nearly 9 years and SIUC has not had a raise since I left at the end of 2010. When no raise is received a worker is loosing money due to the cost of living.
The glossy unemployment numbers in the United States do not reveal; the underemployed, individuals who hold multiple jobs, or those who have simply given up looking for employment. I looked with great interest during the last presidential election cycle when presidential candidate Bernie Sanders touted that minimum wage needed to be at least $15 per hour. Shortly thereafter, McDonalds in New York State, began paying $15 per hour to their employees. Upon closer investigation I noticed that many of McDonalds staff were working in fast food as their primary employment.
I heard the President say the other day that the American people were loaded up with cash and very rich since the tax cut that he implemented. Obviously he is not talking to the same people that I am!
When you have money and means and houses and lands…it is easy to talk about poor individuals and the working class in this country, ‘pulling themselves up by their boot straps!’ That is easier said than done when you have no boots!
I was speaking with a friend the other day and she was planning on furthering her education. She currently works in the food service industry. Now, this goal is laudable and attainable…but it is similar to doing a juggling act on a 50 foot high wire while riding a unicycle! Oh, did I mention that there is no safety net?
Our nation desperately needs federally funded education programs that are similar to the World War II G.I. Bill. When I began at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale and up to and including today there are professors who obtained their education through the G.I. Bill.
Sadly we obsess over minuate and quibble over the ephemeral and support inane political arguments that look pleasing to the far left and to the far right…when we should be providing boots to the needy!
Note: Photos and images are courtesy of Google.
The Contrarian
I love to go along and get along and be hidden in a crowd. However it is somewhat difficult to remain hidden when you are 6 feet and 3 and 1/2 inches tall…and not thin! There is little that is more peaceful than being a member of a group that you agree with and support and feel little need to question. But…what to do when you disagree with the majority of the people that you are associated with…including the powerful
I vividly recall when I disagreed with the untimely termination of chancellor Jo Ann Argersinger and and felt compelled to not hide our friendship or to refrain from speaking out on her behalf. Those were some scary times for Mary Jane and I when I had my job threatened…and I was a full ten years away from retirement. I felt that she was good for SIUC and that her firing was a spiteful and politically motivated event. It was strongly intimated to me that a promotion was in my immediate future if I would just not demonstrate visible support for the fallen leader of the campus. I not only refused to back down, but rather sent a message to the president of the university and the board of trustees that Jo Ann and Peter were my friends and that I did not intend on changing anything regarding my freedom to disagree with bureaucratic authority as long as I did not disrupt the operations of the housekeeping department that I oversaw.
I am of a different mind than many of my lifelong friends and family regarding current political leaders. I respect their right to their opinion completely! I have made a practice of not speaking out to hear the sound of my own voice. I am a believer that silence is golden. However when I feel strongly regarding an issue I do not feel badly about being the lone voice among the throng.
So often we are afraid to speak out. We are afraid of rebuttal and snide remarks or of incurring the wrath of our colleagues that disagree with us. This is an unfulfilling and diminished way to live life!
Whether it is the church or the workplace or the school or our place in society…we should, without fear or favor, speak out when we believe that we have witnessed wrong.
Something that I love about First Presbyterian Church is that it invites a diversity of opinions. It is governed by an elected board of elders that are referred to as the Session. These positions are three year terms.
The American War of Independence was fought by 13 colonies against Great Britain’s King George III… by a lot of contrarians!
In Pennsylvania, ‘Shell workers were told that they could either attend the Trump speech on Aug. 13 and get paid as normal, or stay home and lose a day’s pay, the latter of which would have had the effect of causing them to lose overtime pay later in the week.’ Snopes
Although the Shell Plant contends that the policy of no pay for lack of attendance is likened to the option of not attending training events…nevertheless workers that did not clock in at 7 am and stand throughout lunch, but without lunch, were not paid…and the speech that was billed to be about energy…morphed into a political speech that was paid for with taxpayers money…although that is against the law.
Are you a member of a workplace that tells you what your opinion is?
Are you a member of a church that demands that all members expound the truth of the charismatic leader of the movement?
Speaking candidly and being proud of who you are and what you believe and your truth…is huge! It will enhance your self confidence and enable you to better understand your identity.
The aberration of having sad and little men like presidential advisor Steven Miller and Ken Cuccinelli… advocate the erasure of the renown poem,The New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus that is on the Statue of Liberty and, according to, ‘The Trump administration’s top immigration official reworked the famous words on the Statue of Liberty in an interview Tuesday, saying America will only embrace immigrants who can ‘stand on their own two feet’ and ‘not become a public charge.’ In a subsequent interview, Ken Cuccinelli want a step further, saying the poem referred to ‘people coming from Europe.’ CBS News
‘The New Colossus’
By Emma Lazarus
‘Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightening, and her name
Mother of Exiles, From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she
With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’
I Don’t Think That I Can Do It?
Billy Bump accepts a challenge!
So, Billy Bump had wanted desperately to be a foreman in his housekeeping career. He had began a a janitor and had, through hard work, ascended to a crew leader or what was called a Building Custodian. Billy reveled in the stable and secure job, with benefits, that he had attained with the university and he was gobsmacked and grateful…and he worried that it would end suddenly…just like it had began!
The assistant director of the physical plant had been coming to his building to speak with him as to whether he would like to become a foreman, which would oversee several positions and crews like the one that Billy currently worked with…or would he like to be the training officer for the entire department? Dale was a pleasant man and he spoke of his christian faith and a place of mutual interest for Billy and he…Disney World in Orlando…
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Storm
I am sitting on my screened in porch and enjoying watching the rain fall and listening to the thunder peal! I have always found rain and mild thunderstorms peaceful and serene and they have a magnetic pull on my psyche. There is something about the implied danger of a thunderstorm and feeling safe while you are in the midst of it.
I have not always been brave and a casually observer of storms. When the derecho rampaged through Southern Illinois in May of 2008…I began observing as a curious interested storm watcher. I was on campus at the Physical Plant speaking with director Gatton. He told me that I should go to the basement as the weather reports promised an unusually strong thunder storm. I informed the director that I had seen many strong storms and that I had not feared one yet but rather enjoyed watching them and that I had watched one from the front door of my little house in Elkville and witnessed a storm uproot two large trees from the ground as if they were saplings and lay them over into the street in front of my house! At that moment I saw the windows in the building move in and out as if they were bellows and the large air conditioner that was outside Building Services move about as if it were a tinker toy! I decided that I would join the others in the basement.
My step-father, Earl, was extremely afraid of storms. When the wind would begin to roar and the lightning illuminate our darkened house…he would call for my mom and I and his chihuahua Cheetah to run to one of his vintage automobiles to attempt to escape the imminent devastation of what was assuredly a tornado!
Now, Cheetah was a mean little shit…and she offered to bite me almost daily…but when the call for escape from tornado alley came…she was docile as a lamb.
You know what…I felt safe in the car with Earl driving and looking out of his open drivers side window and, at times, opening his car door to study the foreboding skies. Earl had fought in Korea. He had been injured and almost died…but he did not! He had the same job that Glenn Campbell sang about, he was a lineman for the county. I went with him to work the day before Christmas and watched him shinny up a electrical pole faster than most folks walk on level ground!
Storms surround our daily lives. Wether it be domestic storms or employment storms or health storms…or storms of faith…we all have an ‘Earl’ with us! We have someone that we know will protect us and help us and who will not let us come to harm. For me it has been Christ and his guardian angels who have extricated me from so many storms that would have overtaken me…had I not had a bodyguard and a friend and a mentor.
‘For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’ Psalm 30:5 KJV
Note: Images are courtesy of Google search.
‘The Righteous Gemstones’
I watched the pilot episode of a new HBO television show entitled The Righteous Gemstones. The series is about a family named Gemstone that has a mega-church ministry that is extremely wealthy. The father, portrayed by John Goodman, is the senior pastor accompanied by his two sons, Danny McBride, as the oldest sibling, and the youngest Gemstone preacher played by Adam DeVine.
The middle child is played by Edi Patterson as the daughter that is marginalized due to her being female in a fundamentalist congregation.
The series is undoubtably a satire of televangelism and the worldly riches that it brings to the preacher/stars of the show!
There is a very popular doctrine that can be found in many fundamentalist churches that states that if you will follow Jesus…he will make you rich. This is a keynote teaching for television preachers and televangelists. Many congregations are taught that if you will pay your ten percent tithe…on your gross pay…not your net…as well as giving generously in the many offerings that are collected…you will become rich! This teaching is actually a primary financial success plan for many in the fundamentalist movement.
The Bible does speak of a 10% tithe and it does speak of a generous heart toward the poor and needy. But, to extrapolate that to all who follow the financial success plan of giving to the wealthy for the automatic financial remuneration from God…is folly!
I have witnessed senior citizen give of their meager finances, social security, to the extent that they did not have enough to eat…and they were hungry!
When the minister, in whom you trust as the spokesperson for Jesus, is living many times above your standard of living and taking lavish vacations and driving luxury automobiles and living in a McMansion or perhaps a full blown Mansion…you have been fleeced as certain as the faux shepherd who took all of the wool from his sheep and led them to the wolf!
When capitalism becomes so intermingled with christianity that it is difficult to extricate one from the other….we have created a Golem of Christianity!
I watched a series on Netflix last week that was entitled The Family. It discussed the, basically hidden, group that is behind the National Prayer Breakfast that occurs each year in Washington D.C.
The Family which was founded in the’ 1930s by Adam Veride, a Norwegian immigrant and traveling preacher,’ and later headed by Doug Coe is a secretive organization that is comprised of Senators and members of Congress and leaders and elite from all over the globe!
The Family focuses on expanding their membership of leaders to their interpretation of the gospel of Christ…while basically ignoring the human rights violations and suffering of the millions of people that these leaders are responsible for.
‘Before Coe died in 2017, he helped turn the Family into the invisible star-making machine it is. He had personal connections to many presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton. In 2001, he helped kick off a peace deal between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda by inviting the waring presidents to his home.’ Refinery 29
The Family has often used the comparison of moral failings in a political leader to King David of the old testament. Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was a member of the Family and used the reasoning of King Davids moral failings for his affair. President Trump has been likened to being ‘God’s man’ with the reference to King David on many occasions by the evangelical community.
A christian methodology or dogma or doctrine that focus on the elite or the leaders of a country or organization and gives little thought to the suffering of the millions of citizens or followers of these corrupt leaders…is an aberration…and not…Christianity!
Note: Photos courtesy of Google search.
Listening To Respond…Or Listening To Understand?
Have you ever been asked a question and encouraged by the questioner to speak from your heart and to be open and candid…only to have the seeker of knowledge not only misunderstand what you were saying but also to immediately correct your heartfelt and seldom shared remarks?
I am a reluctant speaker both publicly and in group settings, I have noticed that, although, I ruminate and worry about comments that I have made, most people could not tell you what you said in the first place.
The art of listening to understand is easy to talk about and difficult to put into practice. The primary component of this seldom used skill is to, when listening, the ability to take yourself and your preconceived notions and bias out of the experience. If I want to understand what is in another human beings heart…I must accept what they say to me as their truth.
Empathy is a virtue! I have found that if I listen to my friend as they are speaking with me…it is possible to feel the emotions that they are conveying and the hurt that they are holding in their heart.
So many times we feel that we have the fix for the ailments of our neighbors. We know that we have heard their story before and that we have already developed the remedy that is similar to a form or a template that will function as ‘one size fits all!’
We know that if our sick colleague will just allow us to dispense the medicine to ameliorate their aliment…all we be well..! When is reality…the person who is speaking to us is looking for a someone that really sees them….
‘Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down, and taught them.
And the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone at her.
And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.’ John 8: 1 – 11 KJV
I wonder what Jesus was writing?
Note: Images are courtesy of Google.
‘This Could Be The Start Of Something Big!’
‘This Could Be The Start Of Something’ (generally known as ‘This Could Be The Start Of Something Big’) is a popular song by Steve Allen, published in 1956′
‘Originally, the song was written as part of the score for the 1954 television musical production of the Bachelor.’
‘In 1956, ‘This Could Be The Start Of Something’ replaced the original opening theme to Allen’s NBC talk show, Tonight Starring Steve Allen, until Allen left the show in 1957 to be replaced by Jack Paar.’ Wikipedia
Jonathon and I strolled the beautiful Campus of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale this morning. The Campus was resplendent in all of late summer beauty! Band students were carrying their instruments and their bass drums and young women were bringing their flags, for cheering, and walking to the same area that I have seen them congregate at for the past 41 years!
Dr. John Dunn is our Interim Chancellor and he is a good man and a great leader! I had the privilege of working with him in the last decade before Western Michigan University had the wisdom to make him their president…while we languished!
Chancellor Dunn’s magnetic personality and real interest in everyone in the university community…is a significant assets to our school!
Matt is the Chancellor’s chief of staff and he is a wonderful and open person! Each occasion that I speak with Matt…I know that my University is in good hands!
The Grounds staff has been working their fingers to the bone and their handiwork is apparent everywhere you cast your eyes!
Building Services have the floors shining and the classrooms glistening and the indoor facilities ready for the honored members of our community…our students!
The academic programs and disciplines of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale…are unparalleled! Would you like to be a part of a community that feels like family?
Would you like to be a member of a family where the office staff and the housekeeping staff and the faculty and the chancellor care about you on an individual basis? If so…join the University that epitomizes the old Steve Allen song, ‘This Could Be The Start Of Something Big!’
The Happy Traveler 