Commas (,) and Periods (.) and Easter Sunday

Yesterday in Church our pastor preached on the resurrection.  That seems obvious, as it was Easter Sunday, except for the fact that the main scripture for the sermon was the resurrection of Lazarus, not that of Jesus. He focused most of his sermon on John 11, where Lazarus gets sick, yet Jesus does not go to him until after he has died, and Jesus resurrects him four days after Lazarus has died.

Our pastor made a few points that I want to touch on before getting to my main point. At one point he highlighted when Jesus says "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe."  On this verse our pastor brought up the fact that Jesus had done healings before, and that if Jesus went and healed Lazarus to prevent his death, there would always be a few people who would say "he wasn't really that sick" or "it was the doctor who saved him."  However, once Lazarus was dead, nobody could deny that it was an outright miracle performed by Jesus that brought Lazarus back from the dead.  He also said something else that I found interesting.  Our pastor added that maybe there are times when the situation doesn't call for a miracle. Perhaps Lazarus' being sick didn't call for a miracle, but his having died did.  He made the point that we want and expect God to do miracles in our lives, but we don't want to be in the situation that requires a miracle. Interesting point.

Our pastor also highlighted Martha's faith in the story.  In John 21:11, Martha says "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." What incredible faith! Not only did she have faith that Jesus could have healed Lazarus had he come before Lazarus died, but she fully trusted that even after Lazarus' death, Jesus could ask God to resurrect him, and it would be done.  If only we could all live with that kind of faith.

I think what impacted me the most however was not something from scripture, but rather a point about the overall story that out pastor made.  In relation to this story, our pastor referenced a friend of his who once said "don't put commas where God puts periods, and don't put periods where God puts commas."  I particularly liked that last part, as it is incredibly applicable to this story and to our lives as Christians. In John 11 it would have been so easy to put a period after Lazarus' death. Lazarus dies, end of story.  As humans we'd tend to do that, but God put a comma there instead.  While we might expect the story to end there, God wasn't done, and he showed his incredible power again in resurrecting Lazarus from the dead.

I think this point is particularly applicable in our everyday life. We can't see what God has in store for us, and we don't know what God is doing, whether it be in the future or even how He is working in things that we are currently experiencing.  It's so easy for us to experience something and put a period after it. End of story.  I think that quite often we think something is over, and God is still working.  Too often God does something in our lives and we say "that was God working, thank you," and assume that the work is done and it's time to move to the next thing. However, God may still be working in that situation.  Even when we can't see it, God is always working.  When we think God is done, He may be just getting started.

So when something isn't going well, or doesn't appear to have worked out the way we'd like, let's remember that God works in mysterious ways, and we often don't understand or even realize how God has been working until long after He's done His work.  I think if we can all remember that God is always working and that we need to actively look for how He is doing that, we might just see things we didn't expect to see.

Let's leave the punctuation to God.

Instead of A Show

This is a great song by Jon Foreman.  Here's a link to it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uE1l75aiZc)


Here are the lyrics:


I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show
Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stomp on my ears when you're singing 'em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show

Your eyes are closed when you're praying
You sing right along with the band
You shine up your shoes for services
There's blood on your hands
You turned your back on the homeless
And the ones that don't fit in your plan
Quit playing religion games
There's blood on your hands

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

Let's argue this out
If your sins are blood red
Let's argue this out
You'll be one of the clouds
Let's argue this out
Quit fooling around
Give love to the ones who can't love at all
Give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
Stand up for the ones who can't stand at all, all
I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmania.com/instead_of_a_show_lyrics_jon_foreman.html
All about Jon Foreman: http://www.musictory.com/music/Jon+Foreman

A Week and a Half

Next Friday I will be done with college. Wow. I said it. Next Friday, the Washington DC Semester program ends, and with it, my career as a student at Calvin College comes to a close. I'm not going to write a big reflection on my time at Calvin yet (though that may come later), but I thought maybe it was worth noting.

It's been a fantastic four years at Calvin (well, 3 plus one abroad). It's actually funny to think about the fact that I am where I am today, because I spent most of my life saying I was not going to go to Calvin. When I started visiting colleges and looking at where I wanted to go I mostly ignored Calvin. I had nothing against Calvin, except for the fact that it was close to home and almost my entire family had gone there, so I didn't want to.

Four years later I am so thankful that I chose Calvin, and I have not a single regret about going to Calvin. I've had so many fantastic opportunities, and I know that my time at Calvin will continue to provide me with opportunities through the course of my life.

Again, in a week and a half I'll be done with college. One month from tomorrow I'll be a college graduate. Wow.

Living Our Thanksgiving

This morning in Church our pastor gave a sermon on Matthew 26. He selected a few sections to focus on in following with his recent sermon theme of "All In."  He spoke of the woman anointing Jesus' head with expensive perfume, saying she was "All In." He spoke of Judas' betrayal of Jesus for a 30 pieces of silver, saying he was clearly not "All In." He spoke of how we should be "All In" in our lives.  


The key image that he presented was the contrast of the Cup of Wrath and the Cup of Thanksgiving. In Isaiah 51, the prophet speaks of the Cup of the Lord's Wrath, which Israel has drunk in its sin. 


Rise up, Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD
   the cup of his wrath,
you who have drained to its dregs
   the goblet that makes people stagger. (Isaiah 51:17)


He contrasted that image with the Cup of Thanksgiving in Matthew 26:  "Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." The Cup of Thanksgiving, as the symbol of the blood of the covenant, represents our salvation from sin through Christ's sacrifice on the cross.   This is prophesied in Isaiah 51:22, where it says 


This is what your Sovereign LORD says,
   your God, who defends his people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
   the cup that made you stagger;
from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,
   you will never drink again.  (Isaiah 51:22)


By offering Himself on the cross for our sins, Jesus bears the Cup of Wrath for us, so that we may never have to drink from that Cup again.  Rather, we drink from the Cup of Thanksgiving, which gives us new life, as a new creation, in Christ, free from sin. 


Jesus went all in for us. He drank the Cup of Wrath so that we do not have to.  We are called to go all in as well. In response to Christ dying for our forgiveness, we are called to live our lives as a servant of Christ, carrying out His will each and every step of the way, and living our lives as examples and vessels of Christ's love, carrying it to all nations and all peoples.

An Exercise in Patience and Trust

• Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
• Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34)
• For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD(Jeremiah 29:11-13)
• For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

I've been trying to think of a time in my life when I felt less patient about life, or when there was less of a need to truly rely on God.  Of course, we always should truly rely on God, but it seems to me that as I inch closer to graduation, with my plans for next year still not clear, God seems to be repeatedly saying to me "Trust Me, let Me work this out, I have a plan, and My plans are perfect."  

I'm the kind of person who likes to know what is going on in my life, and I like to be in control of it. For the first time in my life I feel as if I have no control over what happens. I think when we reach a point like this in life, it's pretty clear that there is nothing to do but to look to God and say "You are God, you have created me for your work and your glory, you have prepared me to live for your Kingdom, now help me to follow wherever you would call me."  

As I think about my life up to this point, what I've learned, what I've done, where I've been, I feel like God has been preparing me all of my life to serve Him through pursuing a life of social justice, working for the poor around the world, giving a voice to the voiceless and following Christ's example of reaching out to the lost and the least in the world. I've studied, I've traveled, I've prayed and I've practiced.  God has prepared me. I am ready. 

And while I sit here saying "I'm ready, let's go save the world," God is saying "My time, not yours." I don't know God's time. I hope that it is soon, and it may be.  For now, I continue to search and pray, serving God where I am here and now, knowing that God calls us to serve Him wherever we are, and trusting that when He needs me, the call will come. 

The Sad State of Nationals Baseball

Last night I went to my first baseball game of the year.  We saw the Washington Nationals play the Philadelphia Phillies. It was actually a pretty good game (unexpected because the Phillies have one of the best pitching rotations in MLB history and a pretty good batting lineup, while the Nationals are just plain bad). In the end, the Phillies won 3-2 after the Nationals scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th before Roy Halladay struck out the last two hitters on six straight strikes.

On the note of the Phillies being good and the Nats bad...in the starting lineups last night, the Phillies had only one batter hitting below .300.  The Nationals on the other hand had not a single batter hitting over .300, had nobody batting as well as the Phillies worst hitter, and were starting a player batting .071.  Pathetic.

But I'm actually not here to talk about how great the Phillies are (Halladay commands a game like nobody I've seen before, and with such ease), or how bad the Nationals are, but actually to talk about the sad state of the culture of baseball in DC.  Shane Victorino led off for the Phillies last night to start the game and promptly doubled.  The crowd went nuts with cheers.  Let me say that again, the crowd went nuts with cheers.  Now let me remind you that the game was played in DC, home of the Nationals.  When Jason Werth jogged out to right field, he was greeted with a chorus of boos and chants of "Worth-less, Worth-less" from the Phillies faithful, every single inning.  Unfortunately for him, there were far more Phillies fans present than Nats fans. When Roy Halladay walked off the mound at the end of the 8th inning, he received a standing ovation from the visiting crowd.  And every time the Nationals fans tried to make any noise at all they were drowned out by cries of "LET'S GO PHILLIES!"

I know the Nationals aren't a great team, and I was not expecting a sell-out.  However, when there are more fans cheering for the visiting team than there are for the home team, that's just sad.  Noting that, it's no surprise that the Nationals are so bad, after all, who would want to come and play in a city where being at home is actually a disadvantage.

I love baseball. I will go to almost any baseball game because I love watching it, and I can sit and talk baseball all day long.  Thus, I enjoyed the game.  However, being a fan of baseball, it was sad to see that this team had so little support from the home crowd. Baseball is America's past-time.  DC is America's capital.

Having played baseball and watched baseball for years I know that baseball players, like any other athletes, respond to the support and energy of the crowd.  If the crowd is excited and energetic the players get energized and have more fun.  Baseball, more so than any other sport, is performed at a higher level when one is having fun.  It's a long season.  9 innings is a long game.  If you're not having fun you won't play well.  But when you have fun, it is so much easier to play well. So get out there DC folk, support your team, and they may someday reward you with good baseball.

"Politics...it's about governing"

Henry Clay once said: “Politics is not about ideological purity or moral self-righteousness, it’s about governing. And if you cannot compromise you cannot govern.” For his role in helping reach an agreement on the Nullification Crisis and slavery, Clay was dubbed "The Great Compromiser." Now, on the brink of a government shutdown, it looks like we could use another "Great Compromiser."  As I look at our government right now, I see one side that absolutely fails to compromise and another side that is really bad at compromising. 


As we approach this shutdown, Tea Party members of Congress are refusing to budge on the budget. They absolutely refuse to compromise at all. (I will note that a number of Republicans seem to want compromise, but are being pressured by the new Tea Party members to refuse any compromise)


On the other side, the Democrats are really bad at compromising. Up to this point the Democrats, led by President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, were giving all the way.  It seemed as if compromise to them meant give in so that a deal can be made. In all the "compromises" so far, it seems as if the Democrats gave in and the Republicans held strong. 


Now, as a shutdown looms, Democrats have changed their game, deciding not to give in anymore.  The problem is that since they've given and given all this time, they have little to work with. Compromise is about having something to offer that the other side wants, and them having something you would like in return. 

Webster's dictionary defines compromise as: "a way of reaching agreement in which each person or group gives up something that was wanted in order to end an argument or dispute."  The problem for the Democrats right now is that they don't really have bargaining chips, and the Republicans (guided by the Tea Party) refuse to give anything up. 


I think if Henry Clay's quote could be revised today it would be something like this: "Politics SHOULD NOT be about ideological purity or moral self-righteousness, it SHOULD BE about governing.  And if you cannot compromise you cannot govern."  The problem is that politics right now is entirely about ideological purity, not about governing. Rather than compromising in order to actually govern the country, our politicians on both sides are fighting for their ideological purity.  


What has happened? Why are we unwilling to compromise?  


I think part of it has to do with the fact that we have become so focused on a single issue. Rather than saying "We have a budget problem and we do need to address it, HOWEVER, we also have a country to govern," the Tea Party is saying "We have a moral crisis that has led to overspending, and if we don't address this now, our country will collapse." 


I agree that we need to cut back on spending, but we need to be responsible about it. The more I look at proposed budget cuts (including Paul Ryan's proposed FY2012 budget) I see cuts across the board, with little thought as to what is actually being cut.  This leads to trying to balance the budget on the backs of the poor. It's fairly clear that those who will be hurt most by the proposed budget cuts are those who rely on government services and a social safety net for their livelihood.  Now if we want to say that these programs need to be fixed so that people aren't dependent on them and can support themselves I'm all in and I'll jump right in and help.  However, what I'm hearing sounds more like "these programs need to be fixed so they don't cost us so much...so we should cut them."  


I feel like I'm starting to ramble, so I'm going to try to end this soon, but I just can't get over the fact that the House of Representatives seems to be ignoring the fact that these budget cuts have real human impact.  People are actually affected by these cuts, and people will suffer if these cuts go through. 


We need to fix the budget. Blind slashing is not the way to fix it. Let's be responsible about this.  Start by cutting programs that we don't need (such as fighter jet engines that the military doesn't even want).  Then let's look at fixing programs what we need, but aren't working right. This won't happen immediately, but if we take our time to do it right our future will be much better than if we rush to slash the budget. 

Taxes

It's tax season and people around the country are finishing up (or already finished) reporting their income and paying their taxes. Meanwhile, at InterAction I'm writing a paper on Innovative Financing for Development, which addresses a variety of tax options on currency transactions, financial transactions or big banks as a way to raise money for development and global health programs.  At  the same time, Congress is fighting over the budget and while taxes aren't really part of the fight, they actually are.

On that note, I want to make a few points
1. We do have a budget problem, and we do need to work to balance it
2. Cutting from the "non-defense discretionary budget" will not balance the budget. Even if we eliminated the entire "non-defense discretionary" budget, we'd still have a deficit
3. Some programs absolutely cannot be cut
4. The proposals put forth in HR 1 would be like pulling the safety net out from under a tightrope walker.  People all over the country (and the world) live day to day, week to week, and do not have a secure financial future.  The proposed cuts take away any safety net they have.
5. There are other ways to balance the budget than just cutting spending (hint: look at the title of this post).

So here's my recommendation, and before I continue, don't get your hopes up, this isn't a complete solution, and I'm not going to go into a ton of detail because I haven't studied the numbers very carefully, but I have enough to present a basic idea.

MY RECOMMENDATION: raise taxes (shhh...don't tell the rich beneficiaries of the Bush tax cuts that I said this).

 I'm not saying to raise taxes on everybody.  In fact in most cases I wouldn't even say raise taxes, I'd simply eliminate tax cuts to the wealthy.  Along with that, we need to close corporate tax loopholes.  There are far too many deductions, shelters and other tax-reducing tactics that big businesses use to avoid paying their fair share. I'm not going to propose a solution to our tax problems right now, but we need to work on our tax policies.  Americans expect services from the government, but we don't want to pay for them. Take a look at most European countries.  They pay far higher taxes than we do, yet we expect most of the same services, that's unrealistic.  We need to take a good hard look at what we expect from our government, and what we are willing to pay to get it.

I'm thinking I'll need to come back with a more detailed post on this later, but this is all I have time for now.  Remember, I'm not saying we should raise taxes on everyone, but we do need to at least have taxes on the table as we seek to solve our budget issues.

Baseball

To honor Opening Day (yesterday) of the 2011 baseball season, here's what I think is probably the best definition of baseball I've ever heard.  It's from famous Detroit Tigers announcer, the late Ernie Harwell's Hall of Fame Induction speech.

Baseball is the President tossing out the first ball of the season and a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm. A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That's baseball. And so is the big, fat guy with a bulbous nose running home one of his 714 home runs.

There's a man in Mobile who remembers that Honus Wagner hit a triple in Pittsburgh forty-six years ago. That's baseball. So is the scout reporting that a sixteen year old pitcher in Cheyenne is a coming Walter Johnson. Baseball is a spirited race of man against man, reflex against reflex. A game of inches. Every skill is measured. Every heroic, every failing is seen and cheered, or booed. And then becomes a statistic.

In baseball democracy shines its clearest. The only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the rulebook. Color merely something to distinguish one team's uniform from another.

Baseball is a rookie. His experience no bigger than the lump in his throat as he begins fulfillment of his dream. It's a veteran too, a tired old man of thirty-five hoping that those aching muscles can pull him through another sweltering August and September. Nicknames are baseball, names like Zeke and Pie and Kiki andHome Run and Cracker and Dizzy and Dazzy.

Baseball is the cool, clear eyes of Rogers Hornsby. The flashing spikes of Ty Cobb, an over aged pixie named Rabbit Maranville.

Baseball is just a game, as simple as a ball and bat, yet as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport, a business and sometimes almost even a religion.

Why the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World's Series catch. And then dashing off to play stick ball in the street with his teenage pals. That's baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrigsaying., "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”

Baseball is cigar smoke, hot roasted peanuts, The Sporting News, ladies day, "Down in Front", Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and the Star Spangled Banner.

Baseball is a tongue tied kid from Georgia growing up to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him the way to Cooperstown. This is a game for America. Still a game for America, this baseball! 

Here's a link to a video where you can hear Ernie give the speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cloU58N0YVI&feature=related

Baseball is probably my favorite sport professionally. Going to a baseball game is like almost nothing else in the professional sports world.  If I could have season tickets to any sport, it would be baseball, and YES, I would indeed love to go to 81 baseball games each year.  A baseball game is one of the few places where you can do and relax with friends for 7 innings, cheering when the situation calls for it, and follow the game while enjoying the social aspect, and then tune in for the last couple of innings when things really get exciting.  Some people say that baseball is boring.  How can it be boring when there is so much going on?  I know, I know, "nothing ever happens" people say.  Now maybe it's just the fact that I've played baseball all of my life and am pretty much an extreme stat-nerd, but the way I look at it there is ALWAYS something going on.  To the average fan, the only pitches that matter are the ones that end in strikeouts and home runs. From my view (especially as a former pitcher) EVERY SINGLE PITCH is huge.  A good pitcher uses every pitch purposefully, setting up the rest of the at-bat.  A pitch that is made in the first inning might be done just to set up a different pitch 5 innings later. 

There's so much strategy in baseball, and so much thinking that does (or should) go into every single pitch and every swing and every play in the field, that it can never be boring (at least to a sports nut like me).  For that, and for the fact that everyone from a little kid throwing a plastic ball around, to a grandpa and grandma watching a game, baseball truly is a game that EVERYONE can enjoy.  

So let's say hello to another season of our country's pastime...LET'S PLAY BALL!