He must have been crazy

This is not likely to be read by many, or any.

The shooting at the school in Connecticut on Dec 14 will bring a predictable response from the public sphere.  We will mourn, of course.  The thought of what that children experienced - all of them - is wrapped in with after thoughts of what the parents, family's, friends, staff, neighbors, and close public will endure for the short, mid, and long-terms.  We suffer for them and with them.

As we mourn and as we react, we will begin to "problem solve".  Conversation will (actually already has) move into "why did this happen?"  followed closely by "how can we prevent this?".  Inevitably it will lead the politically polarized US public to stale, meaningless arguments such as gun control.

The Problem

There is a greater problem among us that I suspect will not even be addressed.  The young man who did this represents the deeper issue.  He is a disaffected person who sunk to this, whose delusion, desperation, despair, and dysfunction all exploded in an event destroying hundreds of futures.  He had something unsolvable that backed him into a corner.  (Probably) only he perceived it and was driven by demons or voices or urges or emotions or illness or all or some of those.  They  combined to create a deadly brew leading to the decision to do this thing.

We Ignore Them

He is the problem our culture and society cultivates and refuses to address.  He represents a culture that, while walking among us, are seen through and sneered at as the lazy youth who could lift themselves out of their morass if they would just get to work.

They have always existed.

We Have Solutions We Refuse Them

Today we, as a collective public culture, reject spiritual solutions for them.  Truth of truths is, these are lost young people who need the mercy of God to perform miracles in their broken lives to put them on the track He designed them to be on.  While this is a fact, our society has relegated this thought to "you believe what you want and I'll believe what I want" in our attempt at fairness, equality, and tolerance.  Instead of embracing what the real, proven cure is - spiritual life - we encourage them to reject it by our own public eye-rolling at the very mention of God and His solutions in the public square.  Just like St Peter said, quoting prophets himself "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.  They stumble because they disobey the word..."

Are you rolling your eyes?

By abdicating the miraculous nature of God, we take on the responsibility to solve the problem of evil ourselves.  And we even abdicate that.

This person clearly had "issues".  We can blame him, and we must, for he is guilty of evil.  But, if we reject the spiritual definition of evil because we are smarter than that, then what?  His evil has a source. What is it?

Is he crazy?

We Ignore Crazy

Of course he is crazy.  He lived crazy in a society that treats crazy as though it were a choice.  We expect the majority of crazy (more gently defined as mentally ill) people to "get over it" and make choices that crazy people can't make.  We collectively expect someone to give them a pill to take, and then expect them to take it, and expect the problem to be solved.

We don't care for them when it counts, before they are in the corner he was in.  We treat children as little adults, we fail in the developmental process as we park children in institutions like schools and daycares so we can go out to earn to pay for the schools and daycares.  When parents are bad we tear the children away and park them until the courts can be sure the parents got treated fairly and then look for a permanent "family" solution, often after we've broken the chain of developmental support required  for a healthy brain to be wired for healthy adult living.

I know a number of young adults, all in their 20's, who have expended all of their life's capital in their transition from child to adult.  They have wasted any educational opportunity because the institution cared more about test scores than them.  The wasted their freedom to choose by stupidly crossing legal lines with drug use, shoplifting, driving illegally, fistfights, or drinking into stupidity.  They have no career choices because the few opportunities they had to succeed in the work world they destroyed by not being disciplined enough to struggle to earn, save, and accumulate experience and assets.  They quit out of frustration coupled with stupidity, leaving a trail of references that made 'next steps" impossible.  Nobody mentored them because they wouldn't listen, or no one had the time.  They are left, in their 20's, with no ability to get a job, have a place of their own, or persist as the majority in the day-to-day struggle long enough to develop a mature career with experience, training, and education that lead to success.  Instead, they can't take the first step because they have wasted it all before they were 25.

Who are they?

They Are There - Do You See Them?

We see through them and blame them for their troubles.  Are their troubles their own fault?  Yes...by all means, they have made choices that lead to the place that they are in....but....the place they are in is a corner that has no way out.

So some of them explode.

Like this guy.

Look to the Future

Is this him?  Is this how he got to this point?  I don't know, but I can be sure that we as a society, as a culture, cultivate more like him as every day passes.  No amount of regulation, law, gun control, school security, police oversight, cameras, alarms, or jails will solve this problem.  The only thing that will solve this problem is for us to return to being a society that loves our children - all of them (including the broken, the ugly, the stupid, the poor, the least) - and take responsibility to nurture them not educationally, but humanly.

I believe the best way to do that is to raise them as children of God to become men and women of God,  each of us guided by a healthy adult relationship with God that yields to His truth rather than our reason.

Given that America is not likely to do that collectively, our culture chooses instead to take on our own shoulders what God has promised because we reject Him.  So - ok - then we must realize that from the day of conception children are humans that are on a biological, neurological, and behavioral developmental track that requires certainty in it's mapping.  We can't skip steps or put kids on hold.  They develop - good or bad - no matter what we do.  If we choose God or ourselves, we must realize that responsibility or expect a growing population of cornered young people who will occasionally explode.  If we outlaw guns they'll explode with knives.  If we outlaw knives, they'll explode with clubs, if clubs, then fists.  They will explode because we have infected them.

And that is what I think.

Bee Careful

Spent a bunch of time with my bees over the last few days.  This is the season to change over from encouraging them to give me honey to encouraging them to do what is necessary to survive the winter. It's a very elegant balance of tasks they perform, all I do is make the environment as friendly for them to work in as possible.  (After all, they are very good at being bees)  There are some basic checks to make, like how much the hives weigh, to ensure they are storing the large amount of supplies they'll need to make it through the winter drought.  I also move their stores around to make sure all of their food is in the top of their hive, they eat "up" as the winter progresses.  Finally, I make the environment healthy for the queen to continue laying eggs so that there is as big a population of bees as possible before the real cold weather hits.  The more bees in the hive the more heat they produce.  Bees value their young, in fact, realize their young ensure their own survival.  A lot to be learned.....

Throw the bums out.

The facts of our government's failure to do their job as appropriators are stark, yet there is little being done about it.  Seems the most action we get is when everyone rings their hands and postures about whose fault it is.  We need leadership to stand up and take strong action to insist that the Congress do their appropriation jobs, and not leave without doing so....that instead of riding around on buses telling on each other....who is bad and who is good....

No other...

From the book of Isaiah

5  I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
6  that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;


Its good for me me to read this.  I need the reminder "I equip you, though you do not know me" and such.  He is faithful even though I am not.

Tender? Humble?

From 1 Peter:

 all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called.


A good admonition, especially the first part, for a tender heart and a humble mind.  These are certainly not promoted states in our world today.  Our political and social discourse is too often aimed at the opposite.  I find myself in the same state and have to constantly remind myself of this way of thinking.


...a tender heart and a humble mind....if only I could stay that way, and how I would then bless those around me.....

the Beach

I get to do a lot of thinking while at the beach. While the kids chase the crabs and the tide, I usually sit in the sun and bask in the blessings put before me....those kids, a beautiful wife, all those kids parents (my big kids), many friends, and the freedom to sit on such a lucious example of God's power and creative might. Thoughts flood. This is a more typical time for resolutions than New Years, though I don't declare them

Sowing peace

From James chapter 3:


...wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.


In a world who rejects the Bible, often for what they've heard about it rather than actually reading it, they miss those kinds of jeweled thoughts.  If we think this way as a society, then won't we move from being concerned with what others might be doing against us and, instead what we are doing for the cause of peace?


Oddly like Christ, who says we are His body...?

Seeing is believing?

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen....3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.


From the 12th chapter of Hebrews....this statement is pretty clear, so why do we spend our time discussing our need for "proof" to believe?  Faith defies that idea, it is a stronger and higher intellectual pursuit to agree to believe because of the choice we make...and THEN we witness the proof, the faith produces the ability to sustain itself in us in a way any proof could never....because proof can change,   the "facts" are assumed to be so until other "facts" come along.  The history of archeology is replete with examples of this.


Faith never changes.

Let it rain another day

Last winter it got pretty cold.
People prayed - "Dear Lord, please make it warmer"

Last spring it got pretty dry.
People prayed - "Dear Lord, please make it rain"

Last week it was hot.
People prayed - "Dear Lord, please make it cooler"

Last night it rained.
People prayed - "Dear Lord, rain, rain, go away..."

I think it must be hard to listen to us.....

To be near

But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.


From Psalm 73.  Critical to believing is understanding WHO He is; and once I settle down to dwell on that, it is true; it is good to be near God.


Good in the sense of my own behavior, protection, guidance, etc., but even more, good to be near Him because iy is pleasant, comfortable, peaceful.

Pro Choice.

"...they were unable to enter because of unbelief. "


This from the book of Hebrews in the New Testament states a sad case, whereby none of us can be where God has designed us to be without belief.  What is sad about this is that belief is a choice, not an accident, an emotion, or a biological response.  It is not intellectual, it is not academic, and it can't be argued.  It is a choice.


And if I know that my choice to believe is what (and only what) will please my Creator, then I should make that simple step....


Choose to believe.

Happy Birthday USA and be careful old girl

The problem with forgetting what freedom is and what is cost is that as each successive generation moves on they do so absent the knowledge of that freedom and of that cost.  It is a sort of "ratcheting" of the Nation's psyche, and to regain it would take an extraordinary act or event.

To check me, ask a high school student some probing questions about freedom in America.  Most have no idea.  Ask them some questions about what communism or socialism takes away - they won't know.  Ask them what freedoms they cherish, what they'd be willing to fight for.    Ask them what WWI or II, what the Civil War, or what Desert Storm were about, and beyond a possible "headline" or 2, most will not know how they relate to freedom.

It's a slow fade.  I fear as this ratchet continues, George Orwell might have been right after all, just got the year wrong.

Missed it by that much....

And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.4 Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.


This is one of the most repeated phrases, in one form or the other, in the history of Israel as told in the Old Testament.  Interesting, because it does represent me so much.


In the first place, do I "do right in the eyes of the Lord"?  If so, good, then do I make sure "the high places are taken away"?


Its not enough to be a good boy and continue to allow the worship the things that deny God's preeminence.  He's not an "equal opportunity god"; He's an absolute monarch.  (another reason we need to keep social studies in school).

So what?

So Anderson Cooper announced he's gay.  Who cares?

I'm heterosexual.  I don't tell anyone, it's none of their business.  Why does he think I care?  Does it make him more valuable?  Nope.

Sorry he felt the need to be validated by telling everyone how he likes to have sex.

So hot, but feels like....

We can read the thermometer and see that it is 100 degrees.  And, being the intellectual giants we are, we know that is hot.

But, because our media authorities, knowing that we might be more stupid than they are, have to tell us that it "feels like" 105 degrees because of the "heat index".  OK.  Well, glad I know that and don't just respond to the 100 degrees....I'll prepare for the additional 5 degrees by taking off my hoodie....

Today in history

And so it was, the big news day.  It, in fact, affected no one except politicians and the prognosticators, half of whom got it right and the other half got it wrong.  The belly dancers demonstrating at the Supreme Court were affected because they got on the news.  In fact, no one knows what will happen with this monster we cut loose, because most of the time is spent being emotional about Obamacare and not analyzing it in a rationale way.

Know why?

Because anything with this many moving parts is to big to analyze, instead, the political machine will push it over the edge of the hill and see what happens as it travels.

It's easy to do that when you don't have to earn the money you are spending, in fact, you can force others to pay because you make the laws.

Fair is Fair

It seems inconsistent that our President can make such righteous statements about innocent children being deported as illegals when they were brought to the states by their parents and have contributed by becoming educated and, in some cases, become successful in the military.  These children didn't have anything to do with the decision to come illegally, had no choice in where they are, and might be worthy of protection rather than having to pay for their parent's decision.

While that is worth considering as a philosophical question, doesn't it follow that a child in the womb is as innocent and worthy of at least as much protection by the government, recognizing they as individuals they had nothing to do with the decision to exist or be conceived, yet they pay the highest price for indecision by their parents - with their lives - so that the parents can be relieved?

Fly the flag

As we face this political season each of us Americans face a few hard questions - that is, who will we allow to be our President, and, who will we allow to represent us in the legislature...along with local and state election issues and people.  Sobering responsibility, and hard to know what is really right.  We are limited to, for example, the choice of 2 people for President.  Can we know which one is right?  Mostly no, all we can do is decide which one we think is worse and vote for the other guy.

On the other hand, being Americans we have an even harder question - daily.  That is - which way do we want to live so that what we do promotes truth, justice, and the American way, or, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness FOR US ALL.  Tougher, it happens every day, and the choice we make is about ourselves rather than someone else.  When we make this choice, if its wrong, its our individual fault.

What could be happening?

A quick survey of Facebook gives us an idea of where our society is heading....the number of pictures taken in mirrors is the indicator.

Some time ago cameras were used for art and recording pictures of others and other places.  Now, with the proliferation of cameras making them ubiquitous, it seems many can't resist looking at themselves and then subjecting the world to looking at them looking at themselves.

Strange.

Sound thinking

"...in humility count others more significant than yourselves..."


A good admonition from Paul's letter to the Phillipians.  To do so does require humility that is not natural and must therefore come from something outside influencing me.

Creeping

One of the reasons the blogging is so thin is that Facebook seems to have sucked all of the online communications out of me.  Of course, I almost never write on Facebook either.  I do, however check my newsfeed often.  Like a few times a day.  When doing so I occasionally quip, comment, or "like" something some wrote or posted.

Thats where I get in trouble.

Seems that is called "stalking", or "creeping".  Neither of them seem like nice things.  It doesn't seem appropriate to criticize someone for reading things people post on a public forum that is designed for everyone to read.  I suppose it makes sense that we make up new rules for stupid things, new etiquette for the inane.

The good news is that one of my kids told me not to worry, being a "creeper" isn't a bad think.

That fits the trajectory.

Googling

It is interesting how much information is available online. The verb "to google" is so natural that my 4 year old granddaughter knows to tell her Mom "to google" when there is a unknowable answer on the table. That is an enormous privilege, but at the same time, somewhat daunting to know that we find out these things instantly, and assume them as truth as quickly.

Amazing.

All of this while we have other information that has been written and proven for thousands of years, yet, doesn't even warrant an instant of consideration. Most who spend time studying the Bible and let it guide their lives find it to be true and inspiring. Others reject the notion that the Bible speaks truth without reading any. Some even reject it based on "googling" and finding some critic who rejects it.

Sad.


I bake bread that is made from flour I grind from fresh wheat. I have to use the flour within 2 hours of grinding it to maintain the chemical composition that has the greatest value. It takes about half an hour extra to make bread this way. I could use flour I buy at the grocery store and save that time. If I did save that half an hour, my bread would contain 43 fewer nutrients than grinding fresh flour as I do.

Maybe "googling" for facts is like the store-bought flour in that it does fill the stomach and taste good. It even lasts longer on the shelf (as it appears not much life grows on it). Maybe the freshly ground flour with the 43 extra nutrients is like that Bible reading, where the extra time is invested to produce something life sustaining.

Just saying.