The Barna Group is a privately owned (no governmental oversight), non-partisan (not tied to any political organization or any one theological entity) research group that has, since 1984, conducted and analyzed primary research to understand cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors in American society, with an emphasis on patterns of worship. They are, essentially, a polling organization, but one that has no political agenda and that focuses on theological and worship issues. When political figures, media and other national outlets quote ‘religious polling data, they are quoting the Barna Group. Personally, I have read information from the Barna Group for the past thirty years.

            And the news isn’t good.

            Religion in America is failing. That is not to say that Christianity is failing. Religion is failing.

            What is the difference you ask? The word ‘religion’ in the Bible is the Greek word ‘threskeia’ and means ‘worship with ceremony.’ It can refer to some things that we do in Christianity, but it can also refer to things that are done in any other religion, from Judaism to Satanism. We have taken to applying the word ‘religion’ to Christianity precisely because we like our ceremony. It gives us comfort, it gives us satisfaction and it gives us a focus. Religion, though, does not give us Christ.

Religion is a habit, Christianity is a way of life.

The Board at McKinley Community Church in Warren, Ohio, a church I pastored back in the 1980s and early 1990s, decided at a meeting one evening that we were too tied to our weekly bulletin. We could not be spontaneous, the Spirit couldn’t move. They decided to do away with the bulletin. Our organist was exceptional so the song leader would pick the songs as the Spirit led and we would sing as many as he felt we needed to sing. Announcements would be made whenever, or not at all. The choir would sing, or maybe not. The only thing that didn’t change was that the preacher had to be mindful of the time. It was kind of exciting, even liberating. Back then, hardly anyone was doing such a progressive thing.

We had a tape ministry for our shut-ins. Every service was taped, the master tape was copied, or dubbed, on as many as eight tapes all at once and then they were dispersed to the shut-ins every week. For those without tape players, the church gave them new players. When a new tape was delivered the old tape would be brought back to the church and I would erase that tape (because we had gone cheap when we bought the dubber and if you didn’t erase it would simply lay the new recording over the old) and put it back in the supply of tapes.

 Somewhere along the way I missed erasing one tape. When I had transferred the master copy onto the tapes to be delivered I would listen to the first few seconds of each newly recorded tape to make sure it had recorded properly. When I put the tape that hadn’t been erased in the player, the first thing I heard was a horrible bit of music. I realized I had forgotten to erase a tape and it had copied over the old. Instead or just pulling the tape out, I continued to listen. What I heard bothered me a lot. Everything from both services, eight weeks apart, was exactly the same. I don’t mean the words were the same, but the services were the same. Same number of songs, same number of prayers, same amount of time for concerns and announcements, even the prayers were the same length. The two sermons started at exactly the same point on the tape and finished within five seconds of each other. In ‘freeing the Spirit’ we had simply instituted a new habit. We do love our religion.

 Which is not to say religion is a bad thing. I would hate to get rid of the acolytes, for two reasons; one, anything that involves the kids in a worship service is, for me, a good thing. And two, sometimes things can happen that are just funny when you are dealing with kids in the service. I don’t want to get rid of the bulletin or anything else we do in worship, so long as those things are not why we are at church. We are at church for the purpose of worship and praise and learning, not so people can feel comfortable in their surroundings. Unfortunately, that is what is happening in our churches today.

 Sociologists have named the various ‘generations’ we have in church today. The ‘elder generation’ is folks born before 1946. The ‘baby boomers’ were born between 1946 and 1964. We are pretty familiar with these two groups. But then, the ‘generation X’ people were born between 1965 and 1983, the ‘millennials’ were born between 1984 and 1998 and the newest group, the ‘generation Z,’ were born between 1999 and the present. I understand the need to separate the generations for the sake of studies and such, but it seems like they could either just give the years or, at least, use more imagination in thinking up the names.

 Anyway, the Barna Group has done an in-depth study on religious trends within these groups. I would like to look at just the Generation Z group at the moment. These are our Youth, the kids who light those candles and who participate in sports and who we want to take over our church one day.

These are results of national polls, so the results will differ a little from place to place, but only by a pointy or two. Unlike the political polls we see all the time, these pollsters are not affected by personal bias. In fact, the results they published are exactly opposite what they would prefer to see. These results concern Generation Z, the age group of our youth and the future of our church.

According to Gen Z, 24% believe the Bible and science are in conflict with one another. They then tend to believe science. 13% of Gen Z claim to be atheists. That is more than double any other group. 24% of the total population claim to be atheists, but far and away the largest of that group is Gen Z. The most common reason for embracing atheism is that they have a hard time believing a loving God could allow the suffering going on in the world. 29% of Gen Z atheists give that as a reason. I suppose we have3 all asked that question at one time or another. However, 23% give the reason the Christians are hypocrites. 37% of all, not just the atheists, Gen Zs say that it is impossible to know if God is real. 66% believe that one cannot be wrong if they really sincerely believe in something, leading to the conclusion that what is true for someone else may not be true for me, but it is true for them. On the other hand…….

Among Gen Z churchgoers (those who have attended one or more worship services within the past month), perceptions of church tend to be more positive than negative. Strong majorities of churched teens say that church “is a place to find answers to live a meaningful life” (82%) and “is relevant to my life” (82%), that “I can ‘be myself’ in church” (77%) and that “people at church are tolerant of those with different beliefs” (63%). Negative perceptions have significant currency, however. Half of churchgoing teens say “the church seems to reject much of what science tells us about the world” (49%) and one-third that “the church is overprotective of teenagers” (38%) or “the people at church are hypocritical” (36%). Further, one-quarter claims “the church is not a safe place to express doubts” (27%) or that the teaching they are exposed to is “rather shallow” (24%).

So, you say, all is not lost! If they go to church they can be talked too! Praise the Lord! We live in Wabash County and our kids are in church!

But not really.

We have great kids in church. Other churches around have great kids. But most churches have fewer than a half dozen Youth. At one time, not so many years ago, it was a horrible thought to think that anyone would sin in or around a church. But now, less than half the people in this county go to church. There is little respect among the younger adults; how can we expect respect from their kids. Twice, in the shadow of St. Peter’s, Marsha has run off two boys engaged in a sex act in one of the baseball dugouts. Once, in the same dugout, it was a boy and a girl. When told to stop and leave, Marsha was called some vile things. When Marsha reported this to the man who heads up the Lion’s Club, she was told that if it was consensual there was nothing anyone could do. Really? Nothing anyone could do?

And it is not all good for kids in church. 49% of the church going Gen Zs say that the rejects what science says. 36% say that the adults at church are hypocritical. 27% say that the church is not a safe place to express doubts. 24% say that the faith and teaching of people at church seems shallow. And, 17% say that church seems like an exclusive club for adults. And lastly, 59% of Gen Zs say that church is not relevant to them.

Moral of the story? Well, first, we need to support our Youth programs with prayer, willing hands and any financial help we can. But, secondly, we need to quit looking at the church as ‘our’ church. It is the one great hope the kids have for the future. What makes us happy and content is not anywhere near as important as what those young people see in us. Will this church be around to see them into adulthood? Will the path we lay down now have the Spiritual foundation to guide them in the future? And where do they learn things like church people are hypocritical, that church is not a good place to express doubts, that the teachings they get at church are shallow and that church is a club for grownups? They get those ideas from watching us, the grownups. Pastors fail, leaders fail, pew sitters fail. We often put our own wants and desires and agendas before what the Lord wants, and young people see that clearly.

The closer we move towards the Lord, the better the future of the church becomes.  

            I am sorry for the delay in this blog. Both Monday and Tuesday the Word program on my laptop crashed as I was finishing the blog. Even though I had saved it as I went along, I still lost it all. This time I got it all in, but it is time to take the laptop in to the Geek Squad and let them play with it, Anyway, getting back to the topic of a couple of weeks ago, we have a tendency to understand things based on our own experience. We do this with everything. As an example, let’s look at cremation. When someone dies, there is a disposition. Essentially, a disposal of the body. There are primarily three methods for this action. Burial of the deceased in the ground, burial at sea and cremation. Burial at sea is the least common. The area most of you live in here in Indiana, traditional burial in a cemetery accounts for right around 85% of all dispositions. So, you would say, based on your personal experience, that most dispositions are done this way. However, nationally speaking, cremation stands right around 50% of all dispositions and, in the area Marsha and I come from, it is closer to 60%. Some of you, as you read this, might not believe that this is true. But, according to the Cremation Association of North America (the organization that certifies and licenses crematories and cremationists in this country) these numbers are accurate. At the funeral home/crematory I worked at in Ohio, we regularly cremated 500 people a year. The reasons are many. Better for the ecology, less expensive, you can keep your loved one, you can scatter the cremated remains of your loved one……the list goes on. Just because something is beyond our personal experience does not mean it is not so.

The Bible is another example. The Bible was not written to be understood in 21^st century standards. It was written to be understood in God’s standard. A conversation with a gentleman, which I did not start, concerning whether or not homosexuality was a sin. He started out by saying that a loving God would not condemn something that is an expression of love. “Now,” he said, “I know what the Bible says, but I am not buying it.” What was I supposed to do with that? He was saying that God felt one way but the Bible said something else, so therefore he didn’t believe the Bible was God’s Word. I am sure he would have said that it is God’s Word, but by saying he doesn’t care what the Bible says, he’s not buying it, he is saying it can’t be God’s Word. A lot of people have a problem with God telling Moses to destroy all the people in Canaan, which would include women and children. How could a loving God be so cruel? Surely that cannot be God’s Word! But, that is 21^st century American thinking. God knew things that no one else knew. The seven different groups of people in Canaan were not wiped out. They became the Arab people, who eventually became the Muslim people, followers of Islam. In time they overran Asian and European and African territories, enslaving great multitudes of people, killing millions and making life unbearable for their subjects. Convert or die. The great unrest in the world today is caused by Muslims. How many of our sons and daughters from this country have died since 09/11/2001 fighting in our armed forces as they tried to protect their nation from further attacks? Al Qaeda, ISIS and a host of other Islamic groups that have made it their business to terrorize the world and cowardly kill innocents would not even exist today if God’s Word had been followed. If one of your kin was one of the ones who have died since 09/11/2001, you might well think that the people of that time should have heeded the command of God.

            Again, just because it is beyond our personal experience doesn’t really mean that the whole world is just like us. 

            This is true of Christianity, as well.

            The county our last church in Ohio was in was called Lake County. Lake County has that name because it sits right on Lake Erie. It is the smallest county, in land area, in the entire state, but it has a population of 228,614 people. With a land area of only 227 square miles, that means there are 1,007 people per square mile. Contrast to the county I now live in, Wabash County. There are 412 square but the population in the county is only 31,762, for 80 people per square mile. So, Lake County is roughly half the size of Wabash County but has tight around seven times as many people as Wabash County. There was some cultural shock when we moved here, but if someone from here, who had lived here all their lives, moved to Lake County, the change would be very hard to deal with. The pace of life is far greater, the traffic is more complex, the attitude of the people is different. There are good things and there are bad things. It is a very different place. One of the things that would jump out at you is the attitude on religion. With nearly a quarter of a million people you would assume Lake County had a lot of churches. According county records, there are 167 Christian based churches in Lake County. That may seem like a lot, but Wabash County, with a population seven times smaller, has 80 Christian based churches. (A Christian based church is a church that professes Jesus Christ as Savior. That may not be taught in the actual teachings of the church, but it is part of who they are. It does not include worship places dedicated to the Jewish or Islamic or any other type faith system. I don’t know if Wabash County has any such worship center, but Lake County has a few.) It is easy to see that Wabash County is pretty rich is churches compared to Lake County and, for that matter, much of the rest of the country. Just as an interesting sidelight, there is not a single Brethren church in Lake County. Drive down any back road in Wabash County and you will one sooner or later.

            It is hard to believe for someone who is from Wabash County that there are places where the teaching of the Word of God is not prominent. In Lake County, according to the last census, only 55,712 people claim any church affiliation. That is less than one fourth of the population. For someone from Wabash County, based on their own personal experience, that seems hard to believe. To not even claim any church affiliation; unimaginable. As one Wabash County pastor said to me a while back, “Oh, you’re from heathen land.” It does seem that way, doesn’t it? To make matters worse, those 55,712 people who claim church affiliation don’t really go to church. If they did go to church, each church would have 334 in attendance each Sunday. I can guarantee you, from personal knowledge, that the figure is closer to 50-75 on average.

            So, the folks in Wabash County, Indiana can take great joy in the fact that they live here in God’s country, right? Again, this is the fallacy of assuming your personal experience is just the way it is for everyone. We tend to be drawn to people like ourselves. That is normal. That being said, if we go to church and our friends go to church, and if we believe in Christ as Savior and our friends believe in Christ as Savior, everyone must. But, reality isn’t dependent on our personal experience. In Wabash County, of the 31,762 residents, only 13,765 claim any church affiliation. That is less than one third of the population. Remember, heathenistic Lake County is just under one fourth of their population, so Wabash isn’t that much better. And, if all those 13,765 people who claim church affiliation actually went to church, each church in the county would have 172 in attendance every week. We know that is not the case.

            What is the point here? In Lake County there are 172,902 people who have no church affiliation. In all likelihood, all they know of Jesus Christ is that He has something to do with Christmas and Easter and Santa and the Easter bunny. In Wabash County there are 18,000 people who have no church affiliation. In all likelihood, all they know of Jesus Christ is that He has something to do with Christmas and Easter and Santa and the Easter bunny. Now, here is the big question: Is this their own fault? In the New Testament the ‘preacher’ is the Greek word ‘kerusso.’ It means to be a herald, to be someone who speaks, or shares, the divine Word. What I attempt to do on Sunday mornings is a form of preaching. But anytime one of us shares the Gospel, we are preaching in a Biblical sense. Romans 10:8-14 says this; But what does it say? "The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the Word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing great blessings on all who call on Him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

            One might say, ”I don’t know anyone who doesn’t go to church and who doesn’t know about the Lord.” But, of course, you do know such people. You don’t know them well, maybe, but you do know them. You just haven’t engaged them in conversation about Spiritual things.

            Sunday nights at 6 PM at our church we are working on a path to sharing. It is offered. I can’t make you come, but it is offered to you and is presented in such a way as to make you comfortable in the sharing. If you are reading this and you are a long way from Wabash County, e-mail me at oldirishguy51@yahoo.com and we will talk about it.

            You are the ‘preacher’ someone needs to show them the way to Christ, and it is your job.

            Blessings.  

            I want to get back to the topic of my last blog, but today I want to share a blessing. It isn’t a big deal except to me, but on this past Wednesday I had a tremendous weight taken off of me, and I want to share.

            Each one of us have things that make us different. We may never talk of these things because we might be embarrassed or fearful someone will think we are weird. Some of us have superstitions and some of us have had life changing instances that to other people seem small and incidental. One of those things for me is my irrational fear of heights. Ten years ago, I was on a plane going from Atlanta to Akron OH. I was sitting next to a young Army Sargent rotating home from Iraq. He was getting married when he got home and that was the topic of conversation while we sat on the tarmac waiting for the weather to clear. During a break in the rain we taxied out and took off. The Sargent got quiet and I was left with my fears. Then the storm hit us. We were battered and banged and tossed, and then we were struck by lightning. The Sargent was coming unglued, so I started talking to him, trying to calm him down. I didn’t think it would do anyone any good to see this battle-tested four striper go nuts. Quietly talked to him all the way into Akron. We got off the plane together and he gave me a hug, thanked me and invited me to his wedding. I laughed, turned it down, gave him another hug and walked away to the first restroom. Once in there and into a stall I nearly passed out. I really, really don’t like heights. Driving over the Eel River bridge in North Manchester makes me queasy. Just don’t tell anyone.

            Lots of people are afraid of heights, but I do have something unique to me. All of my ‘one’ years are very bad years. When I get to an age where my age ends in a ‘one,’ I know it is going to be a rough year. Now, you might say that is a silly notion. Every year is going to have its ups and downs, which is true. You could suppose that I see the downs during a regular year and simply shrug them off, while in the ‘one’ years I dwell on them. Or, perhaps, it is a coincidence that bad things happen in the ‘ones.’ But, I didn’t realize the significance of the ‘ones’ until I was forty one and I was looking back at my life and reviewing the hard times. I was surprised to discover that, while there were other times that were difficult, a lot of misery came down on those one years. Sure enough, forty one was a difficult year.

            When I was one I nearly died three times with the croup, which is a respiratory condition common in children. You may know it by its Latin name, laryngotracheobronchitis. If you know it by its Latin name, you have way too much time on your hands. Croup inhibits the ability to breath, which will send the child into a panic. In my case, it very nearly killed me. Less than 1% of children with croup have it as bad as I did. I was just a year old and I still remember one of the attacks quite well. When I was eleven my father started drinking, which started a long and dark nightmare. At twenty one I had so many jobs that when I filed my taxes the next year I had to pay extra postage. It was the beginning of the economic collapse that turned the Steel Belt into the Rust Belt. At thirty one I was pastoring a church in Warren OH that seemed to take great pride in the fact that they were paying me so little that I could have easily qualified for welfare. By the time I was forty one I was pastoring another church that was dealing with the news that their denomination, the Disciples of Christ, was completely leaving the Bible and moving in the same direction the United Church of Christ was going. When I went to the church two years earlier, I told the Elders that I had heard that the denomination was very liberal and I didn’t want to affiliate myself with it. They asked me to at least investigate the denomination. They were sure I would find that they were good folks. So, I investigated. The deeper I got the more garbage I uncovered and I reported that to the Elders. They had no idea. Many in the church were angry with me for uncovering the things I was finding. I know, why be mad at the messenger? It is a normal human reaction. I’ve seen it here. People were finding out they had been involved in something all along that was wrong. They were realizing that it was all pretty plain and if they had looked a little deeper they wouldn’t have been involved with it. So, rather than shoulder the blame, you get mad at the messenger. 1997 was a year of discovery, anger, hurt feelings and tension. Plus, the Indians lost the World Series. In 2007, my fifty first year, I was dealing with being out of church ministry for the first time in thirty two years. I was still doing ministry, but I was no longer ‘Pastor,’ which had been my identity for a long time. Marsha was no longer ‘the Pastor’s wife,’ which was very hard for her since she had been ‘the Pastor’s wife’ as long as I had been ‘Pastor.’ This was a horrible adjustment. And, then, in 2017 I was sixty one. Three different hospital stays, triple by-pass, rolling my car over at the end of a police chase, stunned by a sheriff deputy and handcuffed, the recovery from a big surgery and then, just a week before my birthday that would allow me to be sixty two, I tripped and fell, smacking my head so hard it still hurts.

            Some of those things may not seem like much to you, but for me at the time, they were the worst things that could have happened. When you are a baby and can’t breathe, when you are eleven and your life starts to unravel, when you are twenty one and married and find that jobs are disappearing, when you are thirty one and you are doing everything you can do for a church and they are trying to make you feel guilty because they are paying you so much when the reality was that it wasn’t even subsistence wages, when you are forty one and you find yourself pitted against your church and the denomination, when you are fifty one and the life you had known for over thirty years is gone and you have lost your identity and when you are sixty one and at the end of the year you have eight new scars that weren’t there at the beginning of the year, it is a big deal.

            The up side of this is that, so far, a ‘two’ year has followed. ‘Two’ years are great! I don’t remember my second year well, but I know I could breathe. At twelve I made the Little League All-Stars! At twenty two we moved to Miami FL for school and employment settled down. At thirty two I took my shoe off during a Bible Study and showed the congregation the hole in the bottom of the shoe, which led to a nice raise. At forty two our church came to grips with our wayward denomination and we finally began to move forward. At fifty two the new ministry, that of the funeral home and being staff clergy, began to expand in new and interesting ways. Now, I am sixty two. I am almost giddy. Will if be a year of good health? A year of growing ministry? A year of accomplishment for the church? I don’t know, but I think it will be a better ride.

            Blessings!

            It is very hard for most of us to understand things that go beyond our personal experience. We know what we know and we have a tendency to think that anyone who is clear thinking would agree. I thought about this at 5:30 this morning as I read the overnight news on the internet. (I am always curious to see if the West Coast was nuked over night.) The big, important news this morning was that Blanca Blanco did not wear a black gown to the Golden Globes last night. There were three stories about this terrible act. Now, ‘personal experience.’ I have no idea who Blanca Blanco is, although based on the name and the Spanish grammatical rules, and the fact that she wore a red gown, I know she is a woman. I also know her name means ‘white (feminine), white (masculine).’ So, first thing I am wondering is why would you name your child White White. Second, I am wondering why they are making a big deal about the color of her gown. And third, I had to ask myself, ‘What are the Golden Globes and why are they more important than real news?”

            I did some research. Wikipedia, which is an on-line encyclopedia type of a publication, says this, “Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual ceremony at which the awards are presented is a major part of the film industry's awards season, which culminates each year in the Academy Awards.^[1] The eligibility period for films correspond to the calendar year. For example, a film would have been eligible for the 60th Golden Globe Awards (held in 2002) if it was released on any date 01 January to 31 December 2001 inclusive.”  That explains it, to some degree, although the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is a new one to me. I know about the Oscars being for movies and the Emmys being for television, so from the definition I am assuming that the Golden Globes are a combination of the two. Apparently, they have been around since 1944, so I should know about them, I guess, if I cared.

            Then I did a little research into the black gown thing. It seems that all the women this year who were attending the Golden Globes were asked to where black gowns to draw attention the sexual harassment that runs rampant through the entertainment industry. Wearing the black gown, I read, sent a strong statement to industry execs and Blanca Blanco decision to wear a red gown weakened that statement. Again, ‘personal experience.’ I read about some of that stuff a couple of months ago. Men who had been using their positions of power to gain sexual favors from young starlets are finally, after decades of such behavior, being brought down. Good riddance and farewell. There were some instances where the men in question used drugs or alcohol to make the women more compliant. But here is my thinking. These men all had reputations for this sort of thing. The women knew about these reputations. Yet, they still went, mostly willingly, to the hotel rooms or apartments or homes of these men. In many cases they engaged in the sexual misconduct required by these men so that they could get parts in movies or television productions. Then, years later, they seek to turn on these men. See, in my little world there is such a thing as personal accountability. It is like the Biblical account of the woman taken in the very act of adultery and brought before Jesus so He could pronounce judgment on her. Of course, Jesus pronounced forgiveness. But the unasked question is, what about the man involved in this act of adultery? How does he get away with it? In the case of these women, how are they not shamed and forced out of the business? Maybe they didn’t want the sex, but they put themselves in a position to be taken advantage of, so isn’t there some blame involved? They so wanted a part or to get in good with these sleazy characters that they swapped their bodies for the chance. Sounds like prostitution to me. If they were forced, why didn’t they bring these men up on charges? Well, they would have never worked in Hollywood again, of course. Which causes me to ask; What is more important; personal integrity or the questionable fame and glamour of Hollywood? The answer is obvious.

            So, now they are ‘strong’ women. They have made it in the business and they no longer need these scummy men, so they are all joining together to bury them. As far as the burying of these men, I agree wholeheartedly. Any man who will use his place of authority or position to have his way with a woman (or, as it turns out, another man) should be tossed into prison for the rest of his life. But, there is still the question of personal responsibility for the women. Strong women stand up. They may be battered and they may be scarred, but they stand up. And a strong woman doesn’t wait 20 years to do it, either.

            Anyway, these women banded together to wear black. Most of the men, too, although a man in a black tux is hardly noteworthy. Then, along comes Blanca Blanco, who wore red. She wasn’t the only one to not wear black, but she was the focus. Who is this woman? In the last two years she has been in twenty two movies, fourteen of which are still in post-production. That is completely amazing. She is not a star, nor do any of these parts have real importance, but to be in twenty two movies in two years means you are working all the time, even overlapping movies. Apparently, she is a hard worker. Wearing red got her a lot of notice. And, the lack of dress material in that red gown also got her a lot of notice. That is what it is all about in Hollywood. Notoriety.

            Like I say, my experience, or lack thereof, confuses me. Of those twenty two movies, I have not seen a single one that has been out and of the others, I might see one. Chances are, I will miss her bit part. I know nothing about Hollywood, whether it be movies or TV. I don’t care too, either. But in my little world, hypocrisy is hypocrisy. Based on what I have read, those men used those women to satisfy carnal desire. Disgusting. But, at the time, those women were allowing themselves to be placed in jeopardy and were therefore using those men to satisfy professional desire. Is that not disgusting? Let me know what you think at oldirishguy51@yahoo.com  

            My next blog is going to further explore this concept of what we do, and do not, understand based on our own experience.

Blessings.  

            How do you start off a New Year? The best way is with a few chuckles from the ‘Laugh File.’ A collection of jokes and stories I have put together over the years. Some have been around, some are new. Guaranteed, though, to make you smile and maybe even laugh. For instance…….

            A group of kids in various grades at a particular school were all give the assignment of writing down deep thoughts. A 15 year old writes; I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I don't have any clean laundry because who wants to wash clothes on the last day of their life? A 13 year old paraphrased something from AA; Give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to accept the things I cannot, and a great big bag of money. A 6 year old expressed a thought from personal experience; For centuries, people thought the moon was made of green cheese. Then the astronauts found that the moon is really a big hard rock. That's what happens to cheese when you leave it out.

            For a period of time I worked for a newspaper in Ohio, doing sports writing by night and pastoring by day. I would write a story and someone else would write the headline. The headline writers had the hardest job. They had to read an entire article and then come up with a catchy headline, and they had to do it quickly. The paper was always waiting to go to press. Some really weird headlines resulted. GRANDMOTHER OF EIGHT MAKES HOLE IN ONE. Evil grandmother, apparently. DOCTOR TESTIFIES IN HORSE SUIT. Where do you buy a horse suit? POLICE BEGIN CAMPAIAGN TO RUNDOWN JAYWALKERS. That is one tough city. TUNA BITING OFF WASHINGTON COAST. Pretty hungry tuna. That’s a lot of coastline. MANY ANTIQUES SEEN AT DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION MEETING. That is really no way to talk about those sweet ladies! TWO CONVICTS EVADE NOOSE; JURY HUNG. If you can’t convict, you have to take the punishment. COLLEGIANS ARE TURNING TO VEGATABLES. Kind of my view of higher education these days. SAFETY EXPERTS SAY SCHOOL BUS PASSENGERS SHOULD BE BELTED. My mother drove a school bus for over three decades. There were many students she wanted to belt. FLORIDA ILLEGAL ALIENS CUT IN HALF BY NEW LAW. Goodness! Think about that before you head down to the Sunshine state on vacation. If you are mistaken for an alien you could come back in pieces. MAN HELD IN MIAMI AFTER SHOOTING BEE. I am going to assume that BEE was supposed to be SPREE, but then again, we lived in Miami for some years and guns would come out for the slightest reasons. And then, my favorite…..IRAQUI HEAD SEEKS ARMS. Those Iraq leaders, always dissatisfied with just being a head.

            Then there are these that I never actually saw, but I like them. Supposedly these are found mostly in the classifieds, but there are some headlines, too. FREE PUPPIES! 1/2 COCKER SPANIEL, 1/2 SNEAKY NEIGHBOR'S DOG. What breed is sneaky neighbor’s dog? SNOW BLOWER FOR SALE... ONLY USED ON SNOWY DAYS. Well, yeah. TICKLE ME ELMO, STILL IN BOX COMES WITH ITS OWN 1988 MUSTANG, 5 LITER, AUTOMATIC TRANS, EXCELLENT CONDITION $6800. Kinda high for a Tickle Me Elmo, even still in the box. HUMMELS - LARGEST SELECTION EVER "IF IT'S IN STOCK, WE HAVE IT!" Now, there is a slogan. Reminds me of a little greasy spoon restaurant back in Ohio that proclaimed, WE DON’T SERVE NO CRAPPY FOOD. Ate there once. The slogan lied. GEORGIA PEACHES - CALIFORNIA GROWN - 89 cents lb. Not sure what to say to that. NICE PARACHUTE: NEVER OPENED - USED ONCE. Well, OK…….

            In the world today, one needs to be constantly aware of being politically correct. This seems to be true more for men tan for women. Thirty years ago, I went to a sensitivity training event and found out that if I put my arm around a woman’s shoulder, if I placed my hand on her back at the level of her bra strap, if I held her hand after a handshake for an extra second, if I called her honey, dear or sweetheart, all of it was sexual harassment. Legally. Thirty years ago. If I hugged the woman it was attempted rape. So, I try to avoid all those things. I have been called a cold person. Women, on the other hand, have called me sweetie or honey or dear whenever they wanted. One waitress called me sweetie, to which I returned a honey pie. She became offended and I suddenly had a new waitress. I have been touched on the shoulder, the chest, the face…..any number of places. And hugged? Oh, yes! I can’t hug back or put my hands on her back, but it is OK for her. Recently, a woman in our church really, really needed a hug. I felt obliged to ask her before I hugged her. So, here are some helps on how to be politically correct with women. She is not a bleached blonde, she is peroxide dependent. She is not a bad cook, she is microwave compatible. She is not conceited, she is intimately aware of her best qualities. She does not gain weight, she is a metabolic underachiever. She is not to skinny, she is skeletally prominent. She does not have a mustache, she is in touch with her masculine side. She does not get fat or chubby, she achieves maximum density. She does not wear to much makeup, she has reached cosmetic saturation.

            Most of us will attend a movie occasionally. Marsha and I went and saw three last year at a theater and three more at the drive-in. And, of course, we see the occasional movie on TV. Movies give a great deal of information we would otherwise not be aware of. For instance, during all police investigations, it is necessary to visit a strip club at least once. Also, all grocery bags contain at least one stick of French Bread poking out the top. In addition, the ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place – no one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building undetected. Also good to know, all bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they are going to go off. It seems that a real man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds. It’s a little known fact, but if you are staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises in their most revealing underwear. A good thing to remember is cars that crash will almost always burst into flames. To find your way, remember that a single match will be sufficient to light up a room the size of Lucus Oil stadium. And, if you misplace your keys it is always easy to hotwire a car, anyone can do it, and any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds, unless it's the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.

            2017 was a year of dealing with insurance companies for me, so this one strike a chord. A Charlotte, North Carolina man having purchased a box of very rare, very expensive cigars insured them against fire, among other things. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of cigars and without having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the man filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the man stated that the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The man sued and actually won. In delivering the ruling, the judge agreed that the claim was frivolous. He stated nevertheless that the man held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure against fire, without defining what is considered to be "unacceptable fire," and was obligated to pay the claim. Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid the man $15,000.00 for the rare cigars he had lost in the "fires." After the man cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on twenty-four counts of arson. With his own insurance claim and testimony for the previous case being used against him, the man was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and sentenced to twenty-four months in jail and a $24,000.00 fine.

            Well, time is getting on here, so let me close with this fine story. There was a nice lady, a Baptist minister's widow, who was a little old fashioned. She was planning a week's vacation in California at Skylake Yosemite campground, but she wanted to make sure of the accommodations first. Uppermost in her mind were bathroom facilities, but she couldn't bring herself to write "toilet" in a letter. After considerable deliberation, she settled on "bathroom commode," but when she wrote that down, it still sounded too forward, so, after the first page of her letter, she referred to the bathroom commode as "BC." "Does the cabin where I will be staying have its own 'BC'? If not, where is the 'BC' located?" is what she actually wrote.

             The campground owner took the first page of the letter and the lady's check and gave it to his secretary. He put the remainder of the letter on the desk of the senior member of his staff without noticing that the staffer would have no way of knowing what "BC" meant. Then the owner went off to town to run some errands.

The staff member came in after lunch, found the letter, and was baffled by the euphemism, so he showed the letter around to several counselors, but they couldn't decipher it either. The staff member's wife, who knew that the lady was the widow of a well known Baptist preacher, was sure that it must be a question about the local Baptist Church. "Of course," the first staffer exclaimed, "'BC' stands for 'Baptist Church.' " And he sat down and wrote:

Dear Madam,

            I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take the pleasure in informing you that the BC is located nine miles north of the campground and is capable of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it is quite a distance away if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along and make a day of it. They usually arrive early and stay late.

          The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that right now there is a supper planned to raise money to buy more seats. They are going to hold it in the basement of the 'BC.'

          I would like to say that it pains me very much not to be able to go more regularly, but it is surely no lack of desire on my part. As we grow older, it seems to be more of an effort, particularly in cold weather. If you decide to come down to our campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time, sit with you, and introduce you to all the folks. Remember, this is a friendly community."

            Someone said to me the other day, “Where you come from you are used to this cold, but for us this is pretty bad!” Where I come from, we are used to seeing lots and lots of snow. But, right now as of this writing, it is 22 degrees warmer back in Geneva, Ohio than it is here. That just means that it is 7 above zero in Geneva, which is not warm, but it is -15 here. In fact, the very reason the old town gets pounded with snow, that being Lake Erie, is the reason it stays a little warmer. Until the Lake freezes over it will be warmer there than here. And it is truly cold here.

            Consider this; The high at Fort Myers Beach, Florida is only going to be 64 degrees today. I mention this because Aaron, Dawn and Eli are there right now. Not really what one thinks of as warm in the Sunshine State. But that makes it 79 degrees warmer than it is here. I’d take that. Today’s cold here is not a one time fluke, either. This may be the coldest day of this current cold snap, but it has been really cold and will stay that way for quite a while. Brrrrr.

            Periods of time like this always bring about the question, ‘What is the coldest you have ever been?’ Well, there was the time Marsha and I were about a hundred yards out on the ice on Lake Erie and she fell and broke her leg. She was colder than me because I had to work to get her back to shore and then to the hospital. (For the full story, ask Marsha. Her version is more entertaining than my version. I broke my finger trying to get her to shore, but no one ever seems to care about that, even at the hospital. But I am not bitter.) Then there was the time in high school when two friends and myself were rabbit hunting and we got trapped by a blizzard. I got blamed for that one, too.

But the coldest I have ever been was with my father. Early December, 1974. I was ready to go back to college in a few weeks. My mother’s brother Rufus was in town from Kentucky for a few days. He was pretending he was there to see my mother, but he was really there to go coon hunting with my father. My father was well known for the dogs he trained to hunt and Rufus had one that needed some work. By this time in his life, though, my father was winding his hunting days down. He didn’t really want to go, but it was Rufus and they were old friends, so the hunt was on. I got roped into it because my father made me feel guilty. I had grown up having to go hunting, which wasn’t so bad, but when my father went with his buddies, large quantities of beer were consumed. Even as a little boy I knew that four or five men running through the woods with loaded weapons in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other was a bad idea. When I got old enough and big enough to make it stand up, I refused to go with them anymore. But, Rufus was what is known as a Hard Shell Baptist. They shout and weep and get pretty excited in church, but they never drink. So, my father told me that there would be no drinking on this hunt. And it was important I go. If I didn’t go on this hunt, Rufus would go home to Kentucky and tell everyone there that the college boy was to stuck up to go on a hunt. (My family had a low opinion of college and of men who wasted their time going to college. My father was right. Rufus would have done it. That was the part that guilted me. I didn’t want my mother to be embarrassed.) So, I went. At one point the dog Rufus had brought went off after a deer and Rufus followed him, yelling some things a good Hard Shell Baptist shouldn’t be yelling. My father and I stayed after the other dogs. We got to the top of a hill that ran down to a creek. Our dogs had a coon treed on the other side. The creek had a covering of ice and snow on it, but at that time of year it would be foolish to walk over it. “Boy, we can jump that. You go first. You’ll probably fall in and I’ll have to figure a way to get you out.” I was content to find a shorter place to jump, but the old boy had made me mad. I didn’t want to be there anyway and the uncle I had always respected was out in the woods loudly losing his religion. I gave my father a quick glare and I bolted down the hill, rifle and all. At the last possible moment, I launched myself into the air. Much to my surprise, I cleared the creek and landed on the other side. Even kept the gun dry, which was paramount. I turned back and looked up the hill. “OK, old man, your turn.” Of course, that made him mad, so he tore down the hill. He jumped to soon, though, and came crashing down in the middle of the creek. At first it was funny until I realized that he was so deep that his rifle was gone, too. You never got your gun wet. NEVER. In a couple of seconds, the gun flipped up and landed on the ice, sliding my way. Then a hand appeared. Then his head. But he wasn’t going to get out like that. The creek had to shelve out to that deep spot, so I grabbed a nearby branch, stepped out on the ice and stamped my feet, causing it to break through. The break went all the way out to him. I walked out and held the branch out until he could grab it, then I pulled him in. The water was over my waist and I was losing feeling, but my father had been completely under. He was in a bad way. We finally managed to get to shore and we lay on the ground, breathing hard. “Come on, Dad, we have to get back to the truck.” “N-n-n-o-t w-w-w-itho-ut the d-d-dogs.” He was really cold. But, his dogs were trained, so I yelled out the one word that would make them break off and come to us. Two of the three came (the other stayed on the tree) and we got to moving. As it happened, the road was just up from where we were. We got to it and crossed the bridge. We never had to jump that creek. I think my father just wanted to laugh at me when I went in.

 We got to the truck just as Rufus was tying his dog down. He was pretty angry at the dog, but when he saw us he gave a quick laugh. “You boys decided to go for a swim?” I was disappointed in him, but he was my uncle and I wasn’t going to say anything to him. My father came through, though. Through chattering teeth, he said, “The way you were cussin,’ Ruf, we thought we better get baptized.” In spite of myself, I had to laugh. Rufus was pretty embarrassed. He went back for the other dog and I got the truck started and got the heater running. I wanted to take my father to the hospital, but he refused. I am pretty sure that was my coldest night, and it was only about 32 degrees.

I think about that night from time to time. It wasn’t really cold. You don’t want to spend a lot of time in 32 degree weather in your shirt sleeves, unless you are working. You certainly don’t want to get wet and then stay outside in freezing weather. But if you are prepared for 32 degree temps, or, for that matter, -15 degree temps, you can handle it. The right clothes, the right attitude, the right motivation. You can be pretty comfortable in a situation that would make someone else miserable.

When I think of a cold church, I don’t think of a church that isn’t friendly or open to people. I think of a church that isn’t prepared to do the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way. We could have avoided that dip in the creek all together. The first thing that we could without that night was my father setting me up for failure. He had hunted those woods many times and he knew how the road bent and turned. He knew exactly where the road was and he knew we could easily go up the hill a little way and then cross the bridge. The second thing we could have done without, there in the woods, was pride. He goaded me, then I goaded him and then we had ice in our pockets from the water. The third thing we could have done without was stubbornness. We should have gone straight to the truck rather than wait for the dogs. That’s the way it is in our churches. We talk about loving each other, but then we seek to tear down rather than build up. We let our pride and our own wants make our decisions. And, boy, are we stubborn. My way is the right way! Even if it is not.

Some years later, things got very bad for him in Ohio, bad because of his drinking and nasty lifestyle, Marsha and I took him in. He lived with us in Miami, Florida because his other children would have nothing to do with him. He met a wonderful lady there and fell in love and cleaned his act up for his new wife. He and I had a relationship, but he never let me get close enough to have him be Dad. My father never told me he loved me and I, shamefully, never told him. We didn’t. The last time we were together, he told me how disappointed he was in me. One college degree and two graduate degrees and somehow I had let him down. I told him that was OK, my only concern was that I was doing God’s will, not his. We both took a sip of coffee and he asked if I thought the Dolphins were good enough to make the playoffs. When he died, February 2005, we all went down for his funeral. That was it, I thought.

But, I couldn’t shake it. Grief was flooding me. How could I grieve for a man like that? It was weird, too. I wasn’t sorry he was gone, but my heart was breaking. I had a pastor friend in Oklahoma. We exchanged e-mails and prayer needs. I mentioned it to him. He told me that what I grieved for was not the loss of a relationship, but for the fact we never had one. And he was exactly right. I should have reached out and built him up, I should have put my pride aside and I shouldn’t have met his stubbornness with my own.

Do you have a real relationship with God the Father, or do you just do the things that look right? Are you Spiritually cold while acting the good Christian? Do you love?

Don’t let it get away from you.