Faith Venture

Sin and stupidity know no bounds of politics, race, gender, or whatever.

Picking up a little news during my busy week, I chanced upon the turmoil of Virginia politics. Seems that top three elected Democrats are scrambling to defend themselves against late adolescence stupidity and sin. Then the Republicans choked on their chortling when the same stuff became public about the top Republican office holder.

Billionaires not to be excepted, there was news about Jeff Bezos and photos and lawsuits. How could someone rich and successful put himself in such a position that photos could be taken of inappropriate behavior? I guess there is business intelligence and then there is emotional and social intelligence, which sometimes don’t meet.

It is best to try to keep our own lives in order, something plenty hard to do. Pointing at one or another group of people gets us nowhere. Soon enough, the finger gets around to pointing back to us.

Spiritual writers of all traditions and eras of history shared the insight that none of us are perfect. And that we are better served looking after ourselves. What was it Jesus said about the speck in the other person’s eye and the log in our own?

Before you make that Facebook re-post about someone else’s failures proving the other side is bad, maybe you should thank God that none of your adolescent (or more recent) photos have popped up on Instagram.

I missed a day this week and this post is late. It’s been a long week. I’m at a conference. Got up at 3:45 am Monday to fly to Orlando. Took a Lyft to the hotel. By 1:00 pm I was at a table with notebook out ready for 5 hours of press conferences. Every half-hour a company executive would come in and tell us the latest news.

Dinner followed that. I was back in my room by 10:30 pm. Up at 5:30 to make it to a 7 am breakfast meeting. 13 appointments with few breaks later, it was 7 pm and I headed out for a quiet dinner. Wednesday, same routine.

Good news–I learned much and made or renewed many good contacts. Maybe even stirred up some business. But it’s far from my normal laid-back days.

After the conference closed for the day yesterday, a man I know who owns and is CEO of a software company in Germany invited me for an adult beverage while we chatted business.

The point is–what is the point?

He laid out for me the programming basis for his totally re-written software application. He pointed out the four main benefits of his software.

He’s passionate and enthusiastic about his product.

But I told him, he needed to come up with the one main point that tells potential customers what his rather complex software is all about. One simple sentence.

Then I thought, “What is my one simple sentence that describes what I’m all about?”

What is your sentence?

Are you who you think you are?

Do not wade across a river with average depth of four feet.

What do you think when historians or anthropologists say that humans of a certain era lived for an average of, say, 30 years? Since many died before age 2, some most likely lived beyond 70.

When you read in mainstream media about an average Christian, do you know any?

What makes an average?

Some merely say they are Christian.

Some hold others to a certain set of rules of behavior.

Some even hold themselves to a set of rules of behavior.

Some proclaim a set of beliefs.

Some live out a life trying to follow Jesus.

This list is not exhaustive.

People reflecting this variety of beliefs and practices cannot be blended into a homogeneous batch of humanity.

I doubt that any phrase attempting an average Christian has any believability. It reflects an idea, and a poor one at that. In reality, average does not exist.

A strange dance it is, when we are defined by what we oppose.

Some of us are so opposed to someone or something, that we are defined by it.

When that person or issue goes away, what becomes of us?

We are in this endless dance with that which we dislike or hate. We don’t know where our own soul lies.

Better is to be defined by a positive.

Choose what will define you…don’t be sucked into a vortex of hate and negativity.

Choose your master wisely.

I choose Jesus. He has words of life. As the old folk song says, “He is the Lord of the Dance.”

“Would you care for something to drink?” the host asked of his guest. “We have wine, beer, soft drinks, and iced tea.”

“I am a Christian. I don’t drink,” was the reply.

The comeback sentence, appropriately, could have been, “I’m a Christian, and I do.”

I’m thinking that the guest meant drink alcoholic beverages. I imagine she drinks water.

But how did that sentence strike you? Kind of like an in-your-face challenge of I’m better than you.

A simple, “Just water, please” would have been sufficient. And friendly.

I go to many receptions or networking events or dinners because of business. I’ve seen no one disrespected for what they drank or not. Only the person who goes out of control with drunkenness.

Paul, the apostle, freely gave lots of advice on living. Some of it weird. But he consistently opposed over indulgence. He hated drunkenness. He hated sexual passion. But he did advise his young mentee Timothy to take a little wine.

Or, as Jesus once said, let your yes be yes and your no be no.

No, thank you, is appropriate with no further explanation needed.

Let’s do a “thought experiment.”

I come to you today and give you a million dollars. And a beautiful 5,000 square foot house (mansion). And a shiny new Lamborghini.

And you move in and live there for a time.

Then I return and take it all back leaving you just exactly where you were when we began.

How would you feel?

You would not feel the same as you did at the beginning. You would, in fact, feel worse even though your circumstances would be the same.

Which is why ancient wisdom sages from the ancient Hebrews (Proverbs, for example), the Stoics, and Jesus all taught that we should live in the moment and be happy there.

Perhaps good fortune comes our way. Then perhaps we lose it all, even our lives. We should appreciate the day and live in the moment. As the winds of life blow us one way and then the other, we can maintain stability and peace. It’s not deep theology. “Hey God, it’s you and me, right?”

Three engineers were riding in a car. The car stopped suddenly.

The mechanical engineer says, “I distinctly heard a clunk sound just before the car stopped. I bet it’s the transmission. We’ll just have to wait for a tow truck.”

“Just a minute,” says the electrical engineer. “There was a flicker in the instrument cluster just before the car stopped. It is probably short in the wiring. Let’s just troubleshoot the wiring before we take drastic measures.”

However the Microsoft engineer looking much more calm than the others suggests, “Let’s just try getting out of the car, closing the doors, opening the doors, and getting back in. It’ll probably start then.”

[apologies for an old joke]

When our cable TV receiver acts up, we just unplug it, count to 20, plug it back in, and let it recycle through the startup.

When our WiFi access point seems clogged up, we just unplug it, count to 20, plug it back in.

Most likely at least once a day we also need to unplug, count to 20, and then re-engage.

Maybe every month we need to unplug for a longer period.

Maybe every year we need to unplug for a week or two.

I don’t mean just from electronics, but that, too. Just unplug from the daily routine and recharge.

• Take a long walk
• Get a massage
• Take a day and visit a lake or woods or beach
• Go to a library or coffee shop, settle in with a cappuccino and read something totally different
• Visit someone you’ve been meaning to see

Then, refreshed, go back to making things happen.

[That counting to 20 thing? It is not mystical. It just allows for plenty of time for the capacitors in the circuit to all discharge.]