Next Stop, Oprah!

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Morgan FreemanThis time of year you see all sorts of year end shows that try to wrap up the year’s events.  Barbara Walters comes to mind, as does Time’s Person of the Year. (I believe that this year it will be Pope Francis.)  I recently received an email from a dear friend that linked me to an anonymous piece which some of you may have seen called an Interview with God.  So I am picturing Barbara Walters, or that guy from Inside the Actor’s Studio opposite a God-like figure, say Morgan Freeman, white suit and all.  And the discussion goes like this (Excerpt from video -Click Here- Interview with God ):

“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.
“If you have the time,” I said.
God smiled.
“My time is eternity.
 What questions do you have in mind for me?”
“What surprises you most about humankind?”
God answered:
“That they get bored with childhood,
 rush to grow up, and then long to be children again.”
“That they lose their health to make money,
 and then lose their money to restore their health.”
“That by thinking anxiously about the future they forget the present,
 such that they live in neither the present nor the future.”
“That they live as if they will never die,
 and die as though they had never lived.”
God’s hand took mine,
and we were silent for a while.
And then I asked:
“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?”
God replied:
“To learn they cannot make anyone love them.
 All they can do is let themselves be loved.”
“To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others.”
“To learn to forgive
 by practicing forgiveness.”
“To learn that it takes only a few seconds
 to open profound wounds in those they love,
 wounds which can take many years to heal.”
“To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most,
 but one who needs the least.”
“To learn that there are people who love them dearly,
 but simply have not yet learned how to express or show
 their feelings.”
“To learn that two people can look at the same thing
 and see it differently.”
“To learn that it is not enough that they forgive one another,
 they must also forgive themselves.”
“Thank you for your time,” I said humbly.
“Is there anything else you would like your children to know?”
God smiled and said,
“Just know that I am here. Always.”

(Thanks Dottie, for sending this amazing collection of insight.)

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure II

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bill-ted2Back in 1989, one of Keanu Reeves first movies came out.  Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure was about two fairly dumb high school kids that travel back in time via a telephone booth (what’s that?) to gather characters from the past for a school history presentation.  (Oh, mindless ‘80’s entertainment, where have you gone?)  Now, let’s pretend that we can borrow Bill and Ted’s excellent time machine and travel back to the first celebration of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter and pick up a couple of locals.

In our little booth we would fit a Pilgrim couple who after struggling, and at times close to death over the past year or so, were joining their fellow adventurers and natives to give thanks to God for the bounty He had provided in this New World.   We would then stop at the sleepy little village of Bethlehem, the night that three Magi, great wise men, had arrived from a long journey to pay homage to a new King, the world’s savior, in the most unlikely of places, nothing more than a hand hewn limestone cave where farm animals slept.  Here they would be laying down their gifts at the feet of the child as signs of their hope and faith in God’s promise.  Our last stop would be along a road leading from the great city of ancient Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus, where two travelers were headed back home with stories of Jesus and the miracle of the Resurrection after an encounter with the risen Lord on that very road.  In our time machine we now manage to transport our group of devotees back to 2014 Phoenix, or any other major metropolitan area.  And then let’s say we were able to have these journeyers from the past stay with us from the week before Thanksgiving through the week after Easter, each in time to celebrate what we have made these holidays.  What would their impressions be?

Well, the Pilgrims would certainly recognize the turkey and maybe the rest of the meal.  (I guess cranberries come out of a can now – that’s convenient!)  But how would you be able to explain the Continue reading →

None of us is an ‘only-child’

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI have never been an ‘only-child’.  I was in the middle of five kids.  There are many of you that may be the only- child, or were the only-child up until your parents brought home that younger sibling(s), and then had things change dramatically.  No longer were you the center of attention.  Now, we did raise an ‘only-child’, our son Ben, for four years until his sister Julie came onto the scene.  So, I know what it is like to focus all of your parenting onto a single child.  And, one of the primary reasons we had a second child was because we wanted Ben to have a sibling and experience all of the benefits of learning how to share the stage with someone else.

However, one of the potential downsides to any scenario with multiple beneficiaries is that they will always be the opportunity to ‘keep score’.  Every parent of multiple kids will hear at least one time in their lives that something is not ‘fair’.  That little Jimmy got more dessert than his sister Mary.  Or, how come my older brother got the new clothes and I was stuck with the hand-me-downs?  Well, we soon learn as we mature, that life is not fair, and if you are taking the time to keep score there is a strong probability that you will be disappointed.  Our expectation of fairness is largely driven by the democratic culture that we foster here in America, which ironically, has the largest gap between the wealthiest and poorest citizens in the world.  There is a lot of score keeping here, with most of us trying to make sure that we get what we believe we are entitled.

Step back and now put that in the context of our relationship with God and you begin to understand what Grace is all about.  God has offered us communion with Him in eternal Paradise.  And through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus on the cross, we need do nothing but accept the offer.  How fair is that?  If God were keeping score, I am pretty sure that Heaven would have a lot of vacancies.   Or to put it another way, if we truly did get what we deserved, most of us would be in trouble.  So why is it that we tend to put conditions on how we Continue reading →

Broken hearts and such…

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heart 1Romantically, I was a late bloomer.  It wasn’t until my freshman year in college that I had a serious relationship with a girl, let’s call her Mindy.  Mindy was about a year younger than me and we dated for about four years as I went through college.  It was my first experience with romantic love and I thought at the time that we were going to have a future together.  But, I guess Mindy didn’t.  She dumped me for an older man at about the time I graduated and just before I went off on a cross country summer adventure with my dear friend, Pete.   I was devastated in that I did not see it coming.  It was the first time my heart would break.  I took it very hard and thought it was never going to stop hurting.  Thank God that He had other plans for me, because as some of you already know, I met my wife during that cross country trip in late July of 1980 at an Allman Brother’s concert in the old Aladdin hotel in Vegas.  God had meant for Ellie and I to be together and that has made all the difference in my life.

Now, during that year after I returned from my post graduation trip, I dated a couple of women, one of which (let’s call her Marisol) turned into a fairly regular relationship in that we spent a lot of time together and had fun being together.  But, as will happen sometimes, partners develop different visions of their relationship.  I really enjoyed our time together, but frankly did not see it developing into a long term connection.  Unknown to me, Marisol had developed a different view.  So when my long distance relationship with Ellie took bloom, and I felt compelled to make a commitment to it, I had to let Marisol know.  She took it pretty hard.  It was difficult to see how I could be the cause of someone else’s grief.  So within that same year, I had been on both ends of a broken heart, both painful.

I am pretty sure that most of us have had similar experiences with similar devastation and grief.  It is a difficult thing to see a relationship die.  But apparently this is the Continue reading →

Things aren’t as bad as they seem

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young JesusIf you are around my age (55+) you probably remember a movie musical from the sixties called ‘Bye, Bye, Birdie’. A satire about the rise of rock n’ roll in the US and the super popularity of its stars like Elvis.  There is a song in it, titled, ‘What’s the matter with kids today?’ where Paul Lynde bemoans the trials of parenting “…noisy, crazy sloppy, lazy loafers.” And I guess it is easy to think of our younger generation as less than we were at their age.  Time has a way of clouding the bad and brightening the good we may have done.  But I have to tell you that if you spend some quality time with young people today you will find that they are not much different and in many ways, even more mature and committed than we may have been.  I have three examples of recent experiences that have encouraged me to feel good about our future:

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a retreat for EDGE middle-schoolers as one of the team leaders.  (Leader is not my term, but what our church labels the adults and teens that help to facilitate the program.) As usual I volunteered with the presumption that I might have some knowledge or experience that might help one of these kids to get a grip on a confusing subject – for kids and adults – God, religion and their own beliefs.  And as usual, I soon discovered that I was the one that needed the learning.  My association with this program and these kids has been an instrumental part in developing where I am today in my own spiritual life.  Once you actually are able to engage them in a discussion about God, their lives, their families and their friends it becomes pretty obvious that these kids understand much more than I did at that age.  And although many of them are from fairly well off families, they get that they are blessed.

This week I attended a Christian concert that had about 10 popular Christian bands and a couple of preachers, it was cool, and again inspiring if you can imagine a huge church service 4-hours long with video screens, a light show, fog machines and huge speakers.  It was a great show but maybe a bit odd in how it was managed.  No advance ticket purchases, cash only purchase of $10 (yes $10!) at the door and over 15,000 people waiting on two lines.  Once the doors opened, the lines did get redirected and somehow everyone paid their $10 to the guys holding buckets at the door.  Now, coming from NYC the thought of collecting cash in buckets at such a large concert seems a bit whacky.  That’s about $150,000 in cash out on the concourse.  But it all went off without incident.  Thousands of people waiting patiently on lines that literally wrapped around the coliseum and into the parking lot.  Not one fight, not one obnoxious Continue reading →

Today’s Reading….

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Jesus BuddhaIf you do any type of scriptural reading or spend any time studying the Bible, you will come to see a very distinct difference in the character of God in the Old and New Testament.  Although there are very often very strong links that bind the two, the God of the OT often comes across as an angry and vengeful god.  There are countless accounts of gruesome genocide, and seemingly inexplicable tales of warfare, destruction, plague and famine.  Then we get to the NT and here is Jesus, God incarnate, and he is just the opposite, a peace-loving hippie type.  Turn the other cheek and all that.  How do we reconcile the two?  Well, I am coming to understand that we first need to start looking at ourselves instead of God when we try to characterize the divine.  There is a contemporary Buddhist parable that I came across in a really great book I am reading (for the second time) called The Holy Longing by Ronald Rolheiser that does a terrific job of explaining this all:

 …”One day the Buddha, badly overweight, was sitting under a tree.  A young soldier, trim and handsome, came along, looked at the Buddha, and said: “You look like a fat pig!”  The Buddha replied: “Well, you look like God!”  “Why would you say that?” asked the rather surprised young soldier.  “Well,” replied the Buddha, ‘we see what’s inside of us.  I think about God all day and when I look out that is what I see.  You, obviously, must think about other things…”

Rolheiser will fill in the pieces…take the time to read this through….it’s really cool (you should be able to click on the pages below and read it):

HF Rolheiser_Page_1HF Rolheiser_Page_2

HF Rolheiser_Page_3

 

 

 

Take Two

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take twoI got to thinking about how our lives are played out – like a movie or play – the various acts, scenes, dialogues, etc.  If it was you who had to write the screenplay of your life you would probably break it into acts: First – early childhood, then adolescence, young adulthood and possibly marriage, family, mid life, and so on.  Each act would have a variety of scenes, highlights that would capture the essence of the times, places and people that come into and out of your life.  Some scenes you might remember as fleeting glimpses, barely thoughts, while others would be long and extended period pieces – all from your perspective, your camera angle, and your particular editing.  Probably a lot of stuff would be left on the cutting room floor, some other scenes enhanced for dramatic effect possibly stretching the truth so that it would need to be qualified as simply ‘based on a true story’.  Most of us would be concerned about looking good, and giving others a good impression when we tell our story, sit back and hit the ‘play’ button.

Thinking that we only have limited control over how our life-story develops, I then thought of all the scenes that may have turned out differently, you know, alternate endings which some movies or video games offer.  (The movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ comes to mind.)  I wonder what might have been if my friend Pete and I happened to be looking in the other direction and missed the Las Vegas marquee that had us go to that Allman Brother’s concert where I met my wife, Ellie…what would my life be like today?  I think about the several times that I could have easily been killed behind the wheel of my car: like driving home from Brooklyn back in the ‘80s one night so drunk that I could not remember getting home.  Or the time I woke up in a hospital with a doctor stitching up my head from a head on collision with a taxi that turned in front of me.  There was a childhood illness that I barely remember where my fever was so high I had hallucinations.  All of the scenes which could have turned out very differently and have now led me to the act in which I presently find myself.  I can’t help but believe that it is the skilled hand of my Divine Director that has pieced this story together, fully aware of all those potential outcomes, and His guidance each time my life-story would turn.

But the truth of the matter is that at every point during our life-story – even at this moment – our Director has us in the spot where we need to be to tell His story.  That spot may be a great place, full of happiness and peace, for which we would give God all praise and glory for getting us there.  Or, many times it is in a place of trial and torment, sadness or dis-ease, which would then allow us to model to others a Christ-like persona of trust and strength in God, or maybe perseverance or compassion.  Either way it all serves to tell God’s story of His eternal love of us, and the only script we are given regardless of the scene, the act or the circumstance reads the same:

 “…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  Matt 22:38-38

It is easy to play our parts and to love God and even our neighbors when things are all just peachy.  But each one of us will have difficulty ‘sticking to the script’, and our love and faith tested, when things turn south, and we are in the midst of apparent devastation.  At this point it becomes easy to ad lib and seek out our own interpretations of the Master’s plan.  We begin to allow our own emotions to direct us as we contemplate all of the possible endings, forgetting that God is still in control, regardless.  We forget to simply get back to the script, and then accept guidance from our Director.

And this is the point:  We all think the story is ‘all about us’ – about our own little personal life.  About how we feel and how we hurt and how we need and what we want.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  You will come to understand, if you have not already, that it’s all about God and His plan.  As long as we remain in our present roles as players on this stage, God’s script is to have each of us help the other to be with Him eternally, whatever that role may take.  And if the Director needs me to stand in a place of abundance and sing His praise, or in a place of suffering and seek His strength, so that in the end either me or one of His other children are saved, well I’m beginning to see that this is the role for which I was made, and nothing more.

When I die…

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when I dieA father of a friend of mine passed away very recently. I had the privilege of attending the service celebrating his life. It got me to think about my own mortal life.  And possibly what might be said of it.  And, of course, what the thoughts of those I would be leaving behind might be.  All this, I thought, not so much for my own concern, but more so for theirs.  I am sure that most of us would like our loved ones to be comforted and not overly distraught when we are gone from this earth. It hurts me even now to think that someone might be sad or distressed when I die. So, for anyone that, one day, may possibly be affected by my passing I offer these thoughts to comfort you:

I died knowing that I was loved by God as if I were His only child.  I died knowing that my life was important to Him.  I died without fear or regret.  I knew that my eternal future was secure in the hands of the one that created me.  I died accepting whatever gift of time on this earth I had knowing that each day was just that – a gift to use wisely.  I died so grateful to have met so many gifted and good souls – angels sent to guide me on my way.  I died with a prayer of thanks on my lips for the life I had, the great love with which I was blessed, and the joy I was given.  I died knowing that I would be born again into the peace and communion for which I had been created.  Finally, I died knowing that you would be with me too someday. Regardless of what you may believe, or think you believe now, God has a plan for you, too. And, God’s plan is not something that can be dismissed, not even by our own ignorant beliefs.  I died knowing that God’s love for you is relentless, whether you feel likewise or not. I died knowing your salvation is promised just like mine if you only accept it. I died at peace.

So, weep if you must, but don’t weep hard and don’t weep long, and don’t weep just yet – because I’m still here!  Ha!

Don’t be dismayed at good-byes…..A farewell is necessary before you can meet again…..And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends…..Richard Bach