in ease and quiet.
Only through experience of trial and suffering
can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
(Helen Keller)
“Character cannot be developed
in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” (Helen Keller)
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My sermon begins at 22:40. “Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings, and only character remains.”
(Horace Greeley) ![]() I've been able to ride the newest coaster at Silver Dollar City a couple more times, and I keep noticing different things. The new effects were inevitable in the combination dark ride and thrill ride. The rear projections are subtle and well-calculated to the point that they don't distract from the experience and make you think you're out of theme. The on board sound is nice for filling in the gaps of the ride, but at some point, I'd like to hear the classic theme song - perhaps at the end. I think the lighting in too bright in most of the building; I'd rather see nothing of the ceiling, walls, or track system. I would also like to see more movement in the characters along the way. Most don't move at all. At the same time, the feature of no movement does lend itself to the nostalgia of the ride that this one replaced. The ride is smoother than the original and the drops are definitely milder, but it's sweet that the engineers were so loyal to the original in almost every way. I'm excited that the story will continue to be shared with new generations and that the local history remains intact. This qualifies as the 51st rollercoaster (by my count) that I've ridden in my lifetime with more to come. ![]() In preparation for one of this summer's teacher institutes for the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and in preparation for our recent Wednesday evening Bible classes about the cultures of the Bible, I came to the same conclusion - that history is not flat. History is not two-dimensional. Every single person on the planet - living, dead, and future - has a history, and those histories are layered with cultural bias, traditions, backgrounds, religious beliefs, politics, and much, much more. Simply by the introduction of time, history becomes four-dimensional. Or...maybe that's too literal an interpretation of dimension. Actually, while history includes geography and location, we're not just measuring length, width, and depth here: we are tracking all of those illions of people who have ever walked the planet since the beginning. We use timelines quite often in the history classroom, so consider that now. The word timeline should almost never remain singular. It might be simple to track the history of our great nation through the perils of time, but for it to remain that simple does an injustice to many others who lived and died as well. Our history is more than Colonization>>>Revolution>>>Civil War>>>World Wars>>>Civil Rights>>>Terrorism>>>Today. That's all well and good; it's easy enough to follow, but it leaves out entire groups of people. Our nation began in more than one location. It began with more than a simple British influence. Our founders were more than second grade biography versions of themselves. They were complex, flawed, and insightful individuals with all kinds of influences. And their personal timelines weave in and out of each other. They are layered with other lines of time, those of other complex, flawed, and insightful people. There are arguments and disagreements, dustups and scuffles, romances and comraderies, alliances and friendships. The overruling cultures change, reshaping themselves at whim or breaking with the forces of a majorities that are not always right. Nope, history is definitely not flat. The same is true for the Israelites of the Old Testament of the Bible. While three major religions follow their timeline, it also becomes necessary to consider the Egyptian influences in the region, the Assyrian and Babylonian movements coinciding with Scripture, and eventually Grecian and Roman powers that overwhelm the world with technology, education, and sheer power. All of those cultural timelines overlay the personal timelines of individuals as much as current world governments, military powers, and social justice machines. Those complicated timeline tangles are the things that keep us coming back for more. We will never scrape the bottom of the history barrel. “The formation of character is forged
on the anvil of adversity.” (Jason R. Roberts)
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Originally posted July 7, 2019 Someone on my Facebook feed recently posted an online article from last October, entitled "Americans Have Almost Entirely Forgotten Their History" authored by Jarrett Stepman for The Daily Signal from the Heritage Foundation. Understandably, the Heritage Foundation leans to the right (something of a rarity these days), but I'll stick to the facts of the article and draw my own conclusions. The article begins: In America, we celebrate democracy and are justifiably proud that this nation was founded on the idea that the people should rule. Mr. Stepman cites a study by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation which concludes that only one out of every three Americans (actually 36%) can pass a standard test for becoming a citizen of their own country. That's probably not too shocking as we see what is emphasized in schools and colleges these days, but considering that only 60% is considered passing, it really is shameful. I feel confident that my fourth graders could do a reasonable job on the test, and I have now worked up my own version to use in the classroom. I know they could effectively answer some of the questions better than the results of the Wilson survey indicate for the general public.
![]() Stepman concludes that all of this means we must make fundamental changes in how we approach education in the United States. On this, he is probably correct, but perhaps he would concede that he doesn't have all the answers. I would suggest that the changes need to be include the area of state/national standards, teacher education, classroom focus. While it is important for states to set reasonable standards for public school classrooms, those standards are often misdirected to the wrong students or the wrong levels. More likely, the standards do not emphasize our nation's history as much as they could. With a little elbow grease, we could include more at all levels with extensive focus at particular points along the grade levels. Since states have emphasized literacy and mathematics (with a little science peppered in) on standardized tests, history and social studies is easily relegated to the closet. I've even heard of principals (not ours of course) who have demanded that their teachers do not teach social studies, but to use every possible minute to emphasize reading comprehension. Undoubtedly, reading comprehension is crucial, but for decades, I have voiced my concern that purpose for reading is also important. History is interesting to my students; there are days when they go home telling their parents everything I've taught them about it. Likewise, I almost always help them make connections between history and their own lives. How have we gotten to this point in current events and standards of living? They understand more by studying history and connecting the dots. When states do not recognize the importance of learning from history and civics, they run the risk of an ignorant citizenry! Secondly, there are too many teachers who can only skim the surface of our history, forcing in a few boring facts on certain holidays and calling it good. Some of those time-worn facts are not even facts: Columbus discovered America, George Washington cut down his dad's cherry tree, etc. The reason might be that in our own teacher-prep and collegiate careers, history was absolutely not emphasized. In other words, while colleges of education have focused their attention on so-called STEM, literacy, math, and general methods for teaching, they have removed any emphasis from history (unless, I suppose, one happens to be a history major). At some point we have to talk about more than just reading comprehension of history texts to tick a box. At some point, we must offer teachers more content training! Until then, some kids coming through elementary school will only know that Johnny Appleseed planted apple seeds (Even then, they won't know that he was actually planting apples for the purpose of fermentation.). Finally, many teachers will put history on the back burner because they didn't sign up to teach history (Actually, they did, but who's looking?). For many teachers at the elementary level, they dreamed of becoming teachers for many reasons outside of our current topic. For some reason, many fail to consider that they have the responsibility of fostering a responsible and reasonable, informed citizenry. They may not think much about teaching the branches of government and their checks and balances. They may not think about the importance of teaching voters to base their votes on which candidate has the best yard signs or slogans. Unfortunately, the emphasis in some classrooms can be more on the cuteness of the bulletin board, the silliest dress up days, or the latest magical software subscription than on the future of society. Stepman puts it this way: We don’t want to become trapped by the past, but we do want to learn from it in order to avoid repeating past mistakes and build a better future. As citizens, knowledge of the past and of civics is crucial. Lacking such knowledge is unhealthy for a free country, and even dangerous, given how bad political life can become. “The true test of civilization is not the census,
nor the size of cities, nor the crops – no, but the kind of man the country turns out.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) ![]() After Jesus is resurrected, He ascends into Heaven. Some of the apostles are present to witness the event in Acts 1:12-26. The 11 remaining apostles get back together in Jerusalem, along with 120 or so other followers of Christ. They pray, fellowship with each other, and they must wonder at what to do next. What will happen now that Jesus is no longer with them? How will they know what to do? As we might expect, Peter suggests that there needs to be a replacement. Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and then felt enough remorse to take his own life, but they rest their faith in the idea that there must be an even twelve. After all, the prophecy in Psalm 109:8 says, “May another take his office.” Two men, Matthias and Joseph are selected as candidates. Scripture doesn’t give any information about them, but they do qualify under Peter’s stated standards in Acts 1. According to Peter in verses 21f, a replacement must be a man who accompanies them “all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among” the apostles, “beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from” them. Peter says, “[O]ne of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” We don’t know much about Matthias and Joseph, but we do understand that they have been faithful disciples of Jesus. The group prays and then, strangely, they cast lots to discern who the replacement will be. We do the same to break ties today. We roll the dice. We pick a number between one and ten. We play Rock/Paper/Scissors. Incidentally, why does rock always get to be mentioned first? Rock/Paper/Scissors isn’t even in alphabetical order. Someone must have had a tie breaker to decide. Maybe it just sounds better than Paper/Rock/Scissors. Anyway, they cast lots and the lot falls to Matthias…and that’s all we know about Matthias from Scripture. It’s almost all we know about the man not chosen though: we also know that Joseph has other names - Justus and Barsabbas. Some say that Joseph - this man not chosen - is “Judas who was called Barsabbas” in Acts 15:22, where it says, “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers…” Now that we’re caught up on these two with every bit of information the Bible shares with us about them, is there anything to learn from these men? I suppose the best thing to learn is that both of these men remained faithful to the mission and faithful to Christ and the church. We all serve in different ways, but each of those ways is important in the body of Christ. We, too, must dedicate our lives to Him and remain faithful. Another thing to consider is that these two men were ready to step in and step up to the role that was emptied by Judas Iscariot. My dad always told me that if offered the opportunity to serve, I should take that opportunity. Sometimes that can be scary. There are times when we feel inadequate to take on a certain role, but we can always try. We can always develop skills. No one should require a streamlined demeanor our first time out of the gate. In all of this, we learn that everything operates on God’s timetable and not our own. That’s certainly true for Paul. It has been suggested that Peter, with all of his pretentious personality, jumped the gun in leading the group to install Matthias as the replacement for Judas. They argue that Jesus was the only one who could select apostles and that Jesus directly calls Saul, a persecutor of Christians, to fill the gap. Saul certainly does not fit the requirements that Peter put forth: he’s not a follower of Jesus at all. Saul is first mentioned in Acts 7:58 and 8:1. A good Christian man named Stephen is being stoned to death. In the next chapter, the church is being persecuted and driven out of Jerusalem, and this guy, Saul, is appointed to go to Damascus and continue the persecution there. As he gets closer to Damascus, Saul is blinded by a bright light - literally blinded - and Jesus speaks to him from Heaven. Jesus tells the man to find and get further instructions from a man named Ananias. He prays. As a staunch and strict Jew, Saul (who becomes Paul) has prayed before, but now, for the first time, he prays through Jesus Christ. This blind man must still have tears filling his eyes for the next days of his journey. And yet, Ananias tells Paul that he is not yet saved. It’s the biggest argument I can find for a belief and prayer not being a completion of the steps to forgiveness of sin. Paul admits his guilt and repents, but Ananias says he is still not saved. How afraid must Ananias be when he confronts this former enemy of the church and says, “Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins by calling on His name.” Paul has been “calling on His name” for three days. He has now confessed his faith in Jesus, yet Ananias says he has not been forgiven. When our friends want to preach faith only to us, the account in Acts 22 compels us to understand that obedience is more than a statement of belief. Submission is the only way to call on His name. Paul, of course, follows the instruction and spends the rest of his life teaching about Jesus and solidifying the church. Can we learn from Paul? I should hope so! Paul writes 13 of the 27 New Testament books. He also wrote letters to individuals and churches that we don’t have in our Bibles. Some believe he also wrote the book of Hebrews. So with all of that inspired content, I should hope there is something in there for us. Many in the church present Paul in such a manner that it seems like he’s the replacement for Jesus Himself and not just another apostle in the lineup. Paul is not perfect, but like Matthias and Joseph, Paul is faithful. Listen to his own self-reflection in Romans 7:14-25: he says, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into bondage to sin. For I do not understand what I am doing; for I am not practicing what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate. However, if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, that the Law is good. But now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” Even this great man, Paul, says that he continues to do the things he knows he shouldn’t and that he doesn’t do the things he knows he should. If Paul is a “wretched man”, what am I? What are you? Paul helps us figure that out too: in Romans 3:23, he proclaims that all have sinned, and in Romans 6:1-10, he teaches us to stretch ourselves out as far as we can to reach God’s standard of perfection. He gets us to the idea that repentance, baptism, and the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice are absolutely and forever connected. Likewise, Paul preaches to himself as much as he does to the church when he continually talks about humility. As an athlete, Paul applies the principles of a workout to spiritual life in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, saying in verse 27, “I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” David Laton wrote, “Throughout Paul's writings, he teaches us to prepare for service to God in this lifetime with the view that what really matters is being prepared for judgment. Paul takes the principles of godly living and teaches us what they look like in real-time. We spend a lifetime learning how to apply the teachings of Jesus as Paul instructs us in the New Testament.” We can’t be sure how Matthias died. Some traditions say he was stoned and then beheaded, while Hippolytus of Rome claims that he died in Jerusalem of old age. Paul’s death, on the other hand, is well recorded by history. In his writings to Timothy, Titus, and others, Paul anticipates his death. For example, in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, he writes, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” If we look at the historical accounts outside of Scripture, we find that this great apostle was apparently beheaded around the same time that Peter is crucified (AD 64-66). That makes sense since it was against the law to execute a Roman citizen by crucifixion. “Character is what you are willing to do
when the spotlight has been turned off, the applause is over, and no one is around to give you any credit.” (Ann Landers)
“To be good, and do good,
is the whole duty of man comprised in a few words.” (Abigail Adams) Here is the first-person video of my encounter with the blue whale on Route 66 of Catoosa, Oklahoma - a bit of nostalgia for the 1960s and 1970s. |
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