Does Truth Matter?

When we got here our friends were wearing some little rubber bracelets. They look like the ones you get for all sorts of causes, but they have a small metal disc, about the size of a dime, on the inside. Don told me that they give you better balance, more strength and greater flexibility. I am a sceptic at heart, but he said that the salesman could do pull ups off of his outstretched arm after he put the bracelet on. I never believe the type of claims that something will make your life better if you take it, or wear it, but Don said it was real. He said that the little disc put out 17 different frequencies that countered all the other radio waves that are constantly bombarding your body. I had my doubts, but I thought if it makes him feel better what's the harm?

Sunday we went up to the Mesa Swap Meet. My in-laws used to winter in Arizona years ago and I remember going to the swap meet with them. Back then it was open-air in the parking lot of a dog racing track. Now it is under cover and it is huge, we spent about 4 hours there and probably only saw 1/3 of it. There is almost anything you can imagine for sale there. Don found a booth with a guy selling a similar bracelet and insisted I let the guy give me a demonstration. He told the guy that I was a sceptic and the salesman said he used to be also. He proceeded to give me a demonstration and he "proved" to me that the bracelet gave me better balance and more strength, but it didn't do much for my flexibility. I thought it was funny that he told Don that his bracelet really only had 1 frequency and the one he was selling had 100. He wanted $35 for a bracelet, along with being a sceptic, I'm pretty cheap and I wasn't going to buy something I didn't really believe in even though his demonstration seemed to prove it. When we got back to the motorhome I googled EFX scam and found a youtube video that showed how the demonstration worked, a complete scam. The video was the exact same demonstration that I had gone through.

Now my dilemma, do I tell Don that he got scammed, or just let him feel better? The more I thought about it the more religious implications I came up with. Don was essentially an evangelist for this product. He truly believed in it. He was promoting it to help others, he had no other motive than helping his friends to feel better like he had. No matter how strongly he believed, it was still a fraud. I really got mad thinking about the salesman preying on some really hurting people that he was working with while I was there. One man who seemed to have a balance issue the salesman put a bracelet on him and promised wonderful results, but it would take a little while. While he was working on me he asked the man if he felt a little tingling on his wrist. The man thought for a minute and then said maybe, the salesman said so you can feel it working, it may take 30 minutes or more in your case. After seeing the youtube demonstration I knew that the salesman couldn't be a believer because he had to use trickery to "prove" its effectiveness. I got even madder thinking about the people who manufacture these worthless bracelets, knowing they are scamming gullible people. Why couldn't they use their resources to produce something that could help people. I know the answer, then they couldn't make as much money. I thought about preachers who are just in it for the money, preaching things that they don't really believe. They think it is just an easy job that gives you some power and prestige. I equated the manufactures with Satan who will do anything to get us off course, he doesn't really care if your a little off or completely evil, just so you don't know the truth. I believe that there is absolute truth, that there is One God, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. I know I don't have all the answers, but I know that they are out there, and I will continue to search for them. Please be sure of what you believe, it is important, don't believe something just because a good salesman played a trick on you. It really doesn't matter how strong your faith is if it is in a lie.

Casa Grande

We left Irvine a little over one week ago, went to Yuma to visit my aunt. We stayed in Yuma for two nights and had a nice visit with my aunt Ruth and her husband Byron. We took Austin for a couple of walks out in the dessert, he loved running in the sand and sagebrush.

From there we came to Casa Grande, or Cass Grand as the locals call it, we met up with our friends Paula and Don Hovde. We are at a RV resort called Palm Creek. It is very nice. It was started about ten years ago so even though it is for retired people they are "younger oldsters". Our motor home is a 32' 2003 model and when we go to state parks in the summer it is usually one of the bigger nicer ones, not here. They don't even allow one over 10 years old in here, and the average is probably only 2 or 3 years old. There are a lot of Park model Trailers here, but the motor homes average 40' or more. Don used to work for an auto dealership and knows the value of the motor homes, we saw one the other day that he says goes for more than a million dollars. I would guess the average here would be close to $300,000. The facilities her are very nice and include a golf course, 2 pools and lots of different hobby and craft facilities. Again, like Irvine, I really like it here, but the thing that bothers me here is the tremendous waste of talent. There a lot of very nice friendly people here that don't do anything productive. They are enjoying the "American Dream", the part that says that once you reach retirement you can just enjoy yourself. There are many very capable people here most in very good health, just playing golf or tennis or pickle ball or shuffle board or making different little doodads. I wondered if they wouldn't feel more useful if they actually did something to benefit the community. I thought that there are probably engineers, managers, HR people, lawyers, all sorts of areas of expertise living here. What if they started a business, produced something the community, or mankind could benefit from, it wouldn't have to be very profitable, and they wouldn't have to work long hours. Or maybe they could just make a catalogue of the skills and talents here and start a consulting service for struggling businesses in the area. Or maybe a restaurant to serve the community's less fortunate, or a daycare, I have to believe that there are many grandmothers here who would love to spend a little time with some children. If the time commitment were kept low people could still make their doodads and do some real good. I guess we don't have to be in a place like this to waste our time, we can do that on our own too. I was wondering that it might work from the other end also. What if a business that was having a hard time getting good dependable workers put in a nice RV park to have a source of employees? Just some thoughts, think about it and let me know if you know of any examples of this.

Irvine

We got to Irvine CA on Tuesday afternoon, we had a good trip. We were just ahead of the snow in a few places, but we didn't have to drive on it anywhere. We have had a nice stay with the girls, Naomi, Daphne and Maggie. Andrea, Arthur and Jack are also here, but it is mostly about the girls, Jack will get in the mix as soon as he gets a little older. They are just so much fun, Andrea and Arthur are good parents and manage to spend time with each of the kids individually everyday.

I was in Irvine for a week in October when Jack was born. Irvine seems to be the perfect community. Every yard is manicured, there are no rundown houses, any vacant spaces are mowed. The construction sites have nice fences around them. I have not seen a single panhandler or homeless person on either of my visits here. The streets are all wide with most having landscaped medians and in good repair, unlike I 5 from central CA to L.A. There are lots of newer stores in well done neighborhood malls, they can be hard to find because tall signs are not allowed. There are well maintained parks and trails everywhere. Andrea said she got a letter reminding everyone that Christmas decorations could not go up until November 28 and had to be down by January 14. This is a prime example of a planned community. I must say it is very nice. For this to work there has to be a lot of rules and conformity.

I do like the look and feel of Irvine, but what is lost? You don't have that neighbor who thinks a bright blue house with pink shutters would add character to the block. There are no homes with junk cars in the driveway or chickens as pets. There are no sandwich board signs on the sidewalks, or garage sale, lost dog or any other signs on the telephone poles. I haven't seen any home operated businesses. I don't know where the poor are, I guess they outlawed them along with all other unpleasantness.

To achieve this a certain amount of individuality has to be sacrificed. I think that we have placed the importance of individuality way to high, but should we sacrifice it for pleasant surroundings?

I am not really sure what to make of all this, it would be wonderful if we could all live in a pleasant beautiful community and never have to confront poverty or crime or decay, but removing those things from sight doesn't mean that they don't exist. I really do like this place, but it just doesn't seem real.

I have not explored all of Irvine, and I am sure some of my observations are not accurate. I am pretty sure there are other communities like Irvine around, my question is, is it wrong to want to build a community like this? Should we live with the poor and unfortunate around? I certainly am not saying all the people that live here are evil, shallow people, I love one family here a lot, and they are really good people. I'm not really sure what is bothering me so much, but for some reason this just doesn't seem right.

Leaving Bellingham

Well we are pretty much packed and ready to leave. We plan on going to Church in the Motor home tomorrow morning and hitting the road after services. We will check the weather in the morning and if nothing has changed we will begin our great road trip. We are heading to California to Andrea's first, even though they were just here we do like to play with the girls, and we have the Motor home half full of stuff that they couldn't take home on the plane. After that we will head for Arizona. From there we are pretty unclear, we would like to eventually make it to visit some friends in Florida. There are also people in Texas we would like to visit and we would like to spend some time at Koinia Farm in Americus GA. All of it will be up to weather and if we don't find something more compelling somewhere on the road. We haven't set a return date either, I guess when we get tired of being away we'll turn around and head back.

We are taking bicycles along and plan on getting plenty of exercise. We both could afford to lose more than a few pounds. We aren't going to allow any junk food in the motor home.

Austin, our 2 and 1/2 year old yellow lab will be going with us. I plan on working with him to try and train him to track. He is a very good dog and only has a couple of bad habits, he is nothing like Marley.

I plan to post often, probably not as often as I did from Africa last year, but we'll just have to see if I find things to write about. Feedback from my last post was underwhelming, but it is the kind of subject that you have to think about for a while. We will have cell phones and computers with us so it's not like we are very far away.

I ask for your prayers, that we will see with our eyes and hear with our ears. I am pretty sure we all miss so many valuable things in our busy lives, so we will make a real effort to be unbusy.

Leaving Egypt

Yesterday I challenged the Church to make this a year about leaving Egypt. I don't think I did a very good job. I have been thinking about this general idea for a couple of years, or maybe longer, but I finally came up with what I think is a good metaphor. It is probably foolish to think I could convey everything in a 30 minute talk. My premise is that we have taken on way to much of the "American" culture and think it is Christian.

The Israelites took on too much of the Egyptian culture, even though the two societies didn't intermingle. When they left Egypt many complained and wanted to go back to a repressive society because they could have their leeks and onions. They built a golden calf to worship, an Egyptian god, because they didn't have a good understanding of the true God. God put the Israelites in Egypt to protect them, but they forgot him, but He didn't forget them. The story starts in Genesis 37 with Joseph being sold by his brothers, and continues through the first part of Exodus. It is a fascinating narrative, with many lessons that we could apply, but the main one is how they lost sight of the true God.

Comparing Egypt to the USA was a big stretch for most of my audience, there are obviously some huge differences, but they are both Nations controlled by men. Even though we hear that the USA was founded on Christian principles by Christian men and is a Christian nation, it is still governed by men. Nations have different goals than God. I am not advocating hating America, I feel very blessed to live here. I have served in the US Navy, I vote and pay taxes. I have the means to live anywhere I want and I choose to live here. I should have said that Egypt represents any nation governed by men. I could make the same statement about Canada, Brazil, Spain or China. I think for most of us though it would be easier to see my metaphor if I used North Korea or Iran, but it applies to the USA just as well. In fact because we tend to see our nation as good and right it applies even more. We have accepted "American" principles as "God" principles. Our allegiance should be to God first and foremost, not a flag. We are taught that we have rights, that our government guarantees those rights. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 50 million unborn Americans have been denied the right of life, liberty is used as license to live immoral lifestyles and happiness is used to justify greed and selfishness. I love America, and it has done some really great things for the world, but I can't worship it over God. Jesus said that you can't serve two masters, the problem is too many people don't see that America and God are not synonymous. I believe that God has blessed America greatly, but He doesn't sanction everything "American", as Christians we must see that, and live as Resident Aliens in what ever country we find ourselves in.

I am not advocating that we withdraw from society and form our own little nation. I'm not really sure what it should look like, I need your thoughts. I suspect that actually it may require us to be more politically active, to stick out like sore thumbs. To be the subject of ridicule, to opt out of the "American dream". Most issues are not easy, when does feeding the homeless become enabling? What of the many great injustices do we spend our energy on? Who should we give grace? Who should we rebuke? I have many more questions than I have answers, but I believe that we must "Leave Egypt" and follow God. Christianity is a journey, not a destination. Jesus asked his disciples to follow him, knowing that they didn't understand, but just that they follow.

Life is not about defending the Faith, it is about living it. Help me out with your comments and prayers.

Vote Jesus

I haven't posted anything since I got back from our travels, so I don't know if anyone is going to see this, but I think I will start writing a few things when I have something to share. Let me know if this strikes a chord.

I had to come up with a sermon topic for last Sunday and with the election coming I was looking for something to do with an election. I love old testament stories so I decided on the story of Jeroboam and Rehoboam. It is not really an election, but it was a tax revolt, and a change of leadership, and since I was doing it, it was my call. In the process I thought about all the adds and phone calls I have been getting for and against candidates, so I decided to make one for Jesus. I listed what are the hot button issues this year and started filling in what I thought Jesus' position would be. Then I decide that it would be more fun to make a negative campaign add. Here is what my add would look like;

Jesus too RADICAL for us

Here are his positions on these important issues

Taxes; Pay them, He doesn't really care about taxes!!

Borders; He says welcome strangers, He says we aren't really citizens here anyway!

War; Love your enemy, Pray for them, Turn the other cheek, Seek peace.

The Economy; Store up treasures in heaven, God will take care of you, You can't love God and Money.

Jobs; Be happy, no matter what you do, work as if you were working for God

Religion; He argues with all the religious leaders and spends time with unsavory friends.

Crime; JESUS IS SOFT ON CRIME!! He failed to prosecute a woman caught in the act of adultery, He pardoned a convicted felon on his execution day! He has been convicted HIMSELF!! He has been seen in the company of prostitutes.

JESUS IS TOO EXTREME FOR US!!!

After I finished I compared this with my positive add and there really wasn't much difference. I realized that as I chuckled about my negative add I was really convicting myself. I am too American, too invested in my own comfort and ease, too much in charge of my own life. As I thought more I realised that we have an election every day, we vote for who is in charge of our lives, too often I vote for myself instead of Jesus

Trying to Sum it up

I'm back home finally. I saw a lot and think I learned a few things, or at least I have more things to think about. My bed was great, it will take a few days to get back in this time zone though. It is 2:45 am here now and I can't sleep, a common theme for me on my trip, so I'll try to put a ribbon on our travels. This could be a long post, I was laying in bed thinking and there are a lot of things I want to address.
First it is so good to be home! I agree with Dorthy, "There is no place like home". Home is where you are you, that isn't always good, but it is comfortable. My dog is at my side, he missed me. He was usually not far from me anyway, but now that I have been gone he is even closer, I don't think he will let me out of his sight. Austin is a 1 1/2 year old Yellow Lab, who is nothing like Marley. He is right at my feet as I type, I think we can learn from dogs. When we got here Susie was waiting, she said she had to wait for us to give us a hug. Susie, Alec and Casey house sat for us and took care of Austin. They are our neighbors and good Friends from Lummi Island and they wanted to see what it was like living on the mainland. There was a basket of goodies and a card from Mary, Mattie and Nathan. Both of the kids asked if they could stay home from school for one day so they could catch up, actually, Mattie asked for two days, one for grandma and one for grandpa
Our trip was long and draining, it will take a while to sort out all my thoughts, at least I hope it will, in fact I hope I never get over some of it. I switch pronouns a lot, I use "I" and "We" almost interchangeably. The trip wouldn't have been the same without D'Linda. We are best friends, We have different vantage points on life, and We can disagree, but We have each others back. On the plane back We kissed and she said people wouldn't think we had been married for 39 years. I wrote about her before, so you know how I feel. I give her a lot of the credit for keeping me sane. We do work well together. I usually bounce things off Her first, she is always trying to protect me, and calm me down. She may be short physically, but she has a giant's heart.
I met Teddy on my first full day in Liberia, if you haven't read my first post you probably should, to understand the impact He had. At first I wasn't as focused on Teddy, but the conditions of all the orphans there. The more overwhelmed I became with the culture there the more hopeless it seemed. Then I came across that old Jewish proverb "If you save one person, you save the world", Teddy became my "one person". There seemed so little I could actually do, so I had to do the most important thing, pray to The Ruler of the Universe. I have vowed to not say a prayer without mentioning Teddy until he is out of there. I have also enlisted the help of you and almost everyone I meet by telling about Teddy. I don't know what will happen to Teddy, but he will not be forgotten as long as I can help.
Culture is a funny thing, I have maintained for a long time it is much more powerful then we give credit. I am even more convinced now. I have been exposed to quite a few on this trip. It is easy to see the differences, but it is harder to weigh whether they are better or worse or just different. It is even harder to realize the impact our own culture has on us. Our culture places great importance on the rights of the individual, even to the point that it hurts the whole. The Jewish culture is almost the opposite. The survival of Israel is the most important thing. In Liberia your reputation is most important. In Spain it seemed to be the "good life" or living well. It is impossible to reduce cultures to so simple of terms, cultures are very complex and powerful. Jesus knew that, that is why He called us to live differently. To take on the culture of The Kingdom of God. He said the greatest command was to love God and He always included that we were to love our neighbor as our selves. He said that people would know us by our Love. That we should be about clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, getting justice for the oppressed, visiting the lonely. He told us that we should treat others how we wanted to be treated. He told us that we would be known for our love. I saw some of that, but after 2000 years I'm sure Jesus expected his people to have more of an impact. The "Holy Lands" really drove that point home. Millions of Christians have visited there and what I saw most of were souvenir shops, pushy tourists, and old church buildings. I met and heard about some remarkable people, but they were the exception, not the average. Jesus called us to serve, but most of us like to be served. Jesus called us to be last, but... I don't have an answer, but I want you to think, along with me, about how much our culture effects us that we don't think about, that we just accept. We really do need to renounce our culture and become citizens of the Kingdom of God. That sounds simple, maybe it is, but why can't we do a better job of it?
I think the tour we went on was very good. It was good, partly because there were some problems. I have told you about Daphne, we talked with other group members and most of us had expected to have a Christian tour guide. Daphne gave us a Jewish perspective and some insight into Her culture. If we had had a Christian guide feeding us the "party line" we wouldn't have learned as much, or been challenged to think about some long held beliefs. There were traffic and schedule problems, and there were crowds that have different rules on personal space. I got caught in one crowd of oriental women that were more intimate with me than some girls I have dated.
The people in our tour group were a good mix, mostly Catholic. We were on the go most of the time and didn't have as much time to just talk as I would have liked. One person was in a wheelchair and he was traveling with his wife, son, daughter and Mother and father-in-law. They had to stay in different hotels than us a few times because of accessibility problems, so we didn't get as much interaction with them. There was a Pastor from Bakersfield, Garvin, and his assistant, Danielle. Garvin was a very sincere person who was very touched by Teddy's story. Danielle had some pipes, she sang for us a few times. In one Church from Crusader times with reverberating acoustics she sang and it could have been the most inspiring time of the whole time in Israel. I would pay money to listen to her sing there anytime. Another time she sang for us she was so overcome with emotion she couldn't speak for quite awhile. The only other time we had music was in the boat on the Sea of Galilee and that was inspiring. I think music is a better way to connect with people and God than old church buildings, and you can do that anywhere.
Mary Willis, 16, and her sister Lea Hannah, 18, were in the group with their parents Roy and Tracie. They were beautiful girls inside and out. It was wonderful to be around such polite, intelligent, fun teenagers. I think one of the best times was floating in the Dead Sea with them. They just enjoyed it like little kids. It was really neat to float so high in the water, it was more like you were on the water than in it. When we went to old Jerusalem a man offered 400 camels for the girls, I'm pretty sure it was in jest, but from then on Roy didn't take his eyes off of them. Roy is retired from the Navy and gives most of the credit to Tracie for his daughters. What ever they did they should bottle it and sell it, maybe they could make more than 400 camels?
There were 23 in the group and we got along very well, Daphne said we were a very good group and that she enjoyed us. She gets paid, and I'm pretty sure she never tells a group they were the worst, but I think our group was good. We exchanged email addresses and I'm going to send pictures of Teddy. They all said they would pray for him, Garvin said he would get his whole church to pray.
As I reflect on the whole trip I was struck by the remarkable people I have encountered. There is evil out there, lots of it, but there is also hope. I think two of those remarkable people are Rusty and Jamie. They had the "American Dream". They were in their early thirties, had a new big house, new cars and all the toys. Rusty was part owner of a very profitable construction company. They had very little debt and were on their way to the top. Then they turned their back on it all and left for the third world. They have seen a very different life there. They have given away much of what they had left. They have seen need and despair up close. They have saved lives and given hope. I am so proud to know them. I hope when I grow up I can be like them.
Finally, when I left I had no intention to write a blog, it just kind of happened. I didn't even know how, I read my kid's blogs, and look at a few things online, but I'm not that into computers. I don't have any plans past this last blog about the trip. I appreciate the comments that I have received, I have tried to respond to most of the comments, but haven.t always done that. The future of this is in your hands, if I have written anything that has helped you please let me know, if I can answer any questions, or at least give you my thoughts let me know. This has been a good exercise for me, it makes me collect my thoughts and articulate them in a rational way, anyway I tried. What ever happens I hope I have been able to communicate a little of what God has shown me on this trip. I know some have had a hard time trying to post a comment, so just email me direct if you want jack@lairdmail.com.