Faith Venture

I love a series of murder mysteries set in 8th Century China featuring a legendary magistrate and statesman called Judge Dee because he was famous for solving crimes. The series was written by Dutch diplomat and ambassador to China before World War II Robert Van Gulik.

I read a comment in a review about what Van Gulik believed based upon his character. I immediately thought that I have no idea what he believed about certain things. He picked up an historical character and wrote fiction using traditional Chinese stories he’d heard. When he developed the character, that character needed to be consistent with a Chinese magistrate of the time. If Judge Dee suddenly became a feminist or didn’t believe in the superiority of the Chinese culture of the time, then he would have been out of character. But I have no idea about Van Gulik.

We must take care imputing character on people or even understanding the character we have built up ourselves. Think of how jarring it is when someone appears to have a certain character and suddenly we learn of behavior totally outside that.

I first heard of pastors years ago who had a carefully burnished character presented to the outside world only to have their real character revealed destroying lives and organizations.

When what we are on the inside is congruent with what we project in public, that is staying in character. Authentically. Truthfully. And we can be trusted. We develop this over a lifetime. We are aware of our inner struggles and work them through in order to be true to the character we’ve established for ourselves.

We are responsible for ourselves. Take care to stay in character.

I walked around our community’s little golf course this morning (without clubs and balls). It’s nice in the cool of the early morning. The path took me above a green. Looking down I saw a sand trap that had already caught an errant ball. I could tell because the foot prints and divot from the striking of the ball were clearly visible.

Not 20 feet away lay a rake. Just 7-10 steps over and back and the golfer could have been kind to those behind by smoothing the disturbance.

I thought about what a metaphor that was.

How often could just a little effort now make things so much better. It takes but a moment to hang up clothes. Or to rinse a dish.

Or, to pick up our inspirational or teaching book of the week and read, sit quietly and breathe intentionally in contemplation, or watch the birds and little furry animals eating and playing.

It takes only a few steps to begin our day such that the rest of the day goes better. That makes it better for those we come into contact with.

I’m sure we can find solace somewhere in the Psalms about my security is in the Lord. However, I think the Lord expects us to also not be a fool or asleep (as in the Proverbs) when it comes to our security.

Cybersecurity has made headlines in major media during the past couple of months. Some companies have paid many millions of dollars for the return of their data. A water treatment plant was hacked which could be a foreshadowing of malicious attacks to come.

I thought I would do a public service announcement this morning. For my other blog, I interview some of the leading cybersecurity experts in the US and Canada for my other blog. Yesterday, I had three posts on the subject.

We have all received emails from Nigerian princes and princesses with money to share. I hope we have all learned to not click on any of those links. It is very easy to copy a logo, make up a plausible email address, and construct a newsletter that looks like it was from your bank or the government or your utility. Click on the link and give them some information, and you just lost some money.

I know people who work in the cybersecurity field who, in the rush of business or upcoming holidays, have clicked a link and infected an entire company.

I don’t say yes over the phone. I don’t click links unless I have verified them by other means (you can hover over a link and see the real URL you are going to). The link I inserted above goes to The Manufacturing Connection dot com. You can check that. If there were a ton of seeming nonsense letters and numbers and a dot ru somewhere, don’t click.

Use the same principle as replying to someone, pause. Think. We get rushed, but we must learn to pause.

It was a Christmas morning several years ago. We were driving from Ohio to Florida for Christmas and made it as far as southern Georgia. So, we spent Christmas Eve in a Courtyard by Marriott. The room came with breakfast.

We show up in the dining area in the morning and things are in a somewhat chaotic state. It seems there was a death in the family of the person running the kitchen, so she (of course) was not there and it was not running as normal. They didn’t tell us that when we approached the counter to order.

The young women working the desk and the dining area were so apologetic and helpful. One says she can fry an egg, would we like that? They went out of their way to provide service. And we would have understood the unusual circumstances.

I subscribed to the blog of Bill Marriott, chairman at the time. So, I felt like we were friends, well sort of. So I wrote to him through the blog and told him of the extraordinary lengths they went through to serve a customer.

He sent them a note and also the general manager, who sent me a nice note, also.

I just finished listening to this month’s episode of the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast. He was interviewing former Southwest Airlines VP of Human Resources Ginger Hardage about corporate culture. Reinforce a positive corporate culture by “catching” someone doing good, thanking them, and publicizing it to the company (or organization).

Being critical comes so easily to most of us. Watching for good things and then complimenting changes your outlook on life—and that of the other person.

Make that today’s discipline—look for someone doing good.

Words shape us. They shape how we feel about ourselves. They lift us to emotional highs. They destroy our confidence and self-image. The Hebrew Bible says that God spoke words and the universe was created from chaos.

Is there any society on Earth that does not have a minority population where words of the majority describe all their negative traits? Words designed to keep that minority subservient to the majority?

Do we choose the words we speak or post on social media? Or, do we repeat emotionally laden words that stirred our inner fears and prejudices without thinking?

We can choose words that lift people. Bolster faltering confidence. Encourage the young to excel at a profession or skill. Guide someone to the right path of life.

You can choose right now to filter words coming into your consciousness. You can choose to speak only encouraging words.

A classic statement in process control holds that if you can’t measure it, you can’t control it. If you are mixing a big batch of product, say liquid laundry detergent, perhaps you need to hold the mixture to certain temperature and pressure. So you add instruments to the process to measure temperature and pressure.

We moved last year during the pandemic. I had two things hitting me simultaneously. The trauma of moving to a new city and state, and a total disruption to my fitness routine. I tried to maintain a routine. I did not gain the “Covid 27” added pounds. But I did add about 7. My measuring instrument is the bathroom scale.

In January, I dropped those 7 pounds. But, my weight has been stable for five months. Even though I increased my workout and we eat a healthy diet.

Actually, I need another measure. Introducing a new variable, dumbbells and regular Yoga, I’ve added muscle and lost fat thereby maintaining a constant weight, but my body has somewhat been reshaped.

You’re asking, is there a spiritual application? Of course. What are you measuring?

You could be measuring how many laws you’ve followed versus how many broken. There are all the Hebrew Bible laws (614 or so). Then there are “laws” that generations of a type of Christian have compiled from random verses mostly pulled from Paul, but also other writers.

Or…

Maybe we measure ourselves against this list of the marks of a Jesus follower found in Romans:

• Genuine love
• Hate evil
• Hold fast to good
• Love for one another
• Outdo one another in showing honor
• Rejoice in hope
• Be ardent in the spirit
• Serve the Lord
• Be patient in suffering
• Persevere in prayer
• Contribute to needs
• Extend hospitality to strangers

These aren’t laws. They are a way of life. But we can step back and look at how we live measured by these “instruments” and determine if we are mixing a good batch or a ruined batch that must be tossed.

[Note: A study was recently published that reported for those people who gained weight during the pandemic, the average was 27 lbs.]

The calendar app icons on my Apple iOS devices says “1”. We have flipped to a new month. Half a year is now past. I dig out a new pair of contact lenses for the month. Change the filters on the HVAC system. Pay bills. Monthly rituals.

We are also maybe 18 months through the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Covid has become a familiar word in almost every language. But like all such events in history, it seems to be about at the end of its race. It feels strange to be gathering without masks or looking at others with suspicion—are they spreaders?

Many people still think that the whole pandemic thing was just a media ploy to spread fear from a political agenda. I learned a long time ago not to even try to change people’s minds when they are firmly made up.

I wrote some thoughts yesterday reflecting on seeing is believing. Today, I approach from a different angle. I wonder, do people not believe the pandemic is real simply through lack of experience? If they never got sick, and if no one close to them got sick, then maybe it is not real?

I wonder if Christianity in many places might suffer from the same syndrome. People want to believe. Many fervently wish to believe. But maybe there is no experience of God reaching directly into their lives. They have never experienced those fruit of the spirit—love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

That is the real tragedy. To be so close, and yet so far.