I’ve been following Donald Miller on twitter lately, which reminds me often about stories. If you don’t know of Donald Miller, he is the author of Blue Like Jazz which has also been made into a movie that will be coming out in a few weeks. He also has this whole view on life, like it’s a good book or movie. He does a conference called StoryLine, which I would love to do some day, but honestly, would never have the chance to go. But he talks a lot about looking at the story of your life. If your life was a movie, what would it be about? Would you even want to watch it? I personally find my life very entertaining, but it is something to think about. What are your dreams and goals. If your goal is to buy a new gadget or get a certain type of car or house. How boring would that story be as a movie. A good movie has real challenges. All that to say, check out Donald Miller and the new movie coming out. But what I want to talk about in this post is how we put a story to everything we hear and see.

A few weeks ago, in Florida, a boy was shot by a man who claimed it was for self defense. The press heard this story and ran with it. The way it was reported the man who did the shooting was a villain. A racist, trigger happy, militant neighborhood watch freak. The media didn’t say this, but they drew a picture and let people fill in the gaps. Just the right adjectives and well placed emphasis will go a long way to spin a story. They also chose to only show a 14 year old boy in any of the photos, although the boy who was shot was now much older and much larger then the photo. There was public outcry as to why this man wasn’t charged and arrested for a crime.

Just recently it was leaked out that the “facts” of the earlier reporting were a little misguided. The new leaked information tells a completely different story. A story of a troubled teen and a concerned neighbor who did wait until the very last moment in a physical altercation where he was in fear for his life having his head beaten into the pavement, defended himself with his gun. Suddenly, my heart which held him in contempt was flopped to now pity him for being caught up in that situation. It now seems as though he is not the villain he was painted to be. He, I’m sure, is broken over this situation.

I just think it is interesting how we have this need to story line every situation so that we can better understand it. When we are given a few facts, we fill the gaps with reason and character that we sometimes completely make up in order to find a story to fit the facts. Much like those visual tricks and puzzles work, where the eye is given just the right amount of information and it assumes the details to match it’s perception of what your brain thinks it is seeing. We do that for stories as well, and sometimes it’s wrong. But we do it all the same. Everyone does. Your family tells a story about you. Your employer tells a story about you. Maybe you are someone’s nemesis? What are you doing to actively effect the stories being told about you? Don’t just sit back and let people assume who you are. Make your character known by your actions. Also, don’t be a bit part in the story. Make an impact in the lives of people you interact with. Draw people into your story and make it a good story, a worthwhile story. There are some stories that change our lives. Maybe your story will be that to someone else.

It occurred to me the other day that we sing a lot of songs around Christmas about the anticipated birth of Jesus, but we ourselves have grown up in a society that has complete under appreciation for that moment in history. I think that is why Christmas is so easily watered down or distracted by traditions and festive elements. We don’t know the feeling of not knowing. We live in a post Christ  area, where the only thing we are waiting on is inevitable. We await to see Christ face to face. Even if you don’t believe in Jesus, you will get a chance to see his face. You won’t like the outcome of that meeting, but it is inevitable. Even if you are waiting eagerly as I do for the second coming of Christ. About once a day I look into the clouds and pray like, “now would be fine with me, I’m ready to see Jesus.” This isn’t to say that we don’t wait on God for other things in our lives. We wait on God’s timing and guidance, and we wait on him to inter-vein in situations and relationships. But to really wait on something so crucial as for God to lay out a path for your salvation. To see your faith under the foot of an oppressive government and to have this promise of a leader who will establish a kingdom that will never die. To have that promise and be waiting on it. I think you have to picture that to really appreciate what we celebrate at Christmas time.

I hope everyone get’s a chance to get away from the noise and sit alone with God and just quietly ponder on the long awaited Savior. Generation to generation passing down a promise, putting complete faith in a man who hasn’t been born and a God who’s timing is not always understood by us, but was so perfect that it split the history humanity into two parts and grew a kingdom that has yet to be put down and grows constantly with every surrender of burden and shame and acceptance of grace and freedom. To Mary and Joseph it was baby Jesus, but to the wise men, the shepherds, the angels and to you and I today, it was King Jesus. He didn’t grow to become special, he was special from the beginning of time. Christmas isn’t a rags to riches story of a man born in a barn who makes it big the big city. It’s the story of the King of Kings, foundation for the existence of all matter and life, time and space, stepping down to the lowest of positions to fulfill a promise and to make the ultimate sacrifice. To teach us what love is and to show us ultimate love to start a never-ending relationship with you and me.

Three guys are in an elevator and one of them farts. There are two truths about this situation. One is that someone literally passed gas and knows it, the other is the communally agreed truth, which is that the guilty party will be the first off the elevator. Even if the first guy off the elevator didn’t do it, once he has left the elevator the other two will at least in their mind if not in oral agreement decide that the rest of the journey will be easier on them if they just agree that the guilty party has departed. This is an extremely trivial example of a common place mislead truth or lie that in all honesty probably doesn’t hurt anyone. We, as a society, tell little white lies to avoid uncomfortable situations. The problem is, that even the most harmless of little lies is a gamble in what could lead to a trail of embarrassment and shame.

Although the recent incident involving congressmen Anthony Wiener comes to mind, that really isn’t what started me  thinking about this issue. But it does make for a good example of the kind of lie I’m talking about. When we lie to cover up or save ourselves from embarrassment we are really just building up that embarrassment. Just go back to the analogy of the gastronomic anomaly in the elevator. What if, in that awkward moments after the odorous crime was committed, the guilty party just declared the truth. “Sorry, that was me.” Or even, “That was me… Deal with it!”. Who says there was really anything to be sorry for. It’s a natural thing, or  at least that could be argued. But if you hide the truth, there is no argument for innocents because the avoidance of the truth is evidence of personal guilt.

However you do it, telling the truth early puts the matter to a close. The more you cover it up, the more it makes you look a fool. That said, even if you could get away with a lie, would you? Would it really matter?

Most people say they wouldn’t. But when faced with a situation, there are many who from an early childhood practice default to lie in the face of unwanted attention or embarrassment. I knew some children growing up that lied with every statement. I often wonder how that worked out for them as they developed into adulthood. As a co-worker or employee, how important is complete honesty. Everyone should be allowed a level of privacy about them selves, their thoughts and feelings. But when does a  little lie show you how dependable that person really is. In my job, I work with important servers in ways that it is important that I demonstrate a level of integrity when it comes to “fessing up” to mistakes I make. Because in technology, when someone lies, it really messes up the trouble  shooting data we use to find a solution. I’ve been lied to many times by clients who have messed up their own website but don’t want to admit that they were messing with things they shouldn’t have. I also have clients, one today in fact, that simply declare the truth, “I was playing around where I shouldn’t have and I altered this line of code.” Maybe an embarrassing thing to admit at first, but it also means I can find the solution in seconds.

Perhaps there are some jobs where truth is more important  then others. Maybe it’s more important that a nurse working in a surgery room tells the truth then a janitor lying about how often the toilets are scrubbed. I bet if you asked a military person, they would say that integrity at any level is crucial to the success of the team. What about in the Church? Is there room for lies that cover our socially awkward moments? I’m honestly not sure. I guess every person needs to seek out their own conviction on the matter of how honest they need to be with the brotherhood of Church family. I do know this. When we tell lies, we only cheat ourselves. Sounds like something I would say to my kids, but it’s true for all of us. When  we lie, we take on an unnecessary burden, we miss out on a disarmed moment of bonding with our family, and most of all, we deceive ourselves about our own identities. I have been dishonest. I spent a great deal of my youth worried more about convincing those around me of my high level of integrity then I was actually concerned about my true integrity. Later in life I read a verse that struck me about this.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. -Philippians 2:12-13

Fear and trembling. To me, at that age, my faith was a mostly logical choice. I read, understood and decided to put my faith in Christ. But “fear and trembling”… not so much. It was only after college that I became more committed to a more honest relationship and faith in Christ. I would stop putting on a show and start really living faith. Faith means that I really trust Christ enough to forgive my mistakes. It means I don’t hide from my mistakes, but face them head on and push forward doing good. I struggle, but the difference now is I am proud of my struggle. I would gladly share with any brother in Christ who honestly wants to know. The bible does teach that we shouldn’t just “cast our pearls to swine”, meaning don’t share your heart with those who will mistreat it. But when you are in the safety of the family of God, you should be comfortable with and enjoy the benefits of honesty.

Here is the law as it reads…

It shall be unlawful for a person to intentionally engage in the smuggling of human beings for profit or commercial purpose.

B. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a felony punishable by incarceration in the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than one (1) year, or by a fine of not less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or by both such fine and imprisonment.

C. Notwithstanding any other law, in the enforcement of this section a law enforcement officer may lawfully stop any person who is operating a motor vehicle if the officer has probable cause to believe the person is in violation of any traffic law of this state.

D. For the purposes of this section:

1. “Procurement of transportation” means any participation in or facilitation of transportation and includes:

a. providing services that facilitate transportation, including travel arrangement services or money transmission services, or

b. providing property that facilitates transportation, including a weapon, a vehicle or other means of transportation, or false identification, or selling, leasing, renting or otherwise making available property or real property; and

2. “Smuggling of human beings” means the transportation, procurement of transportation or use of property or real property by a person or an entity that knows or has reason to know that the person or persons transported or to be transported are not United States citizens, permanent resident aliens or persons otherwise lawfully in this state or have attempted to enter, entered or remained in the United States in violation of law.

READ MORE HERE

Here is what I like.

I like that they are only specifically targeting with this law the people who profit on the trafficking of immigrants. At first glance, this would seem to target people coming over the border and the people who provide for the illegal smuggling of peoples into the US. I think that is the major issue that we as a country need to address is the act of immigrating illegally. Immigrants who are already here and abiding by every other US and Oklahoma law, we don’t need to be hunting them down.  Why not you may ask. Simply, it’s not cost effective and it’s not necessary. The only agency that has an interest in casing down undocumented immigrants would be the IRS, but I have not heard anyone argue that point. I think mainly because outside of day laborers the majority of long term immigrants are paying into the tax system even though until their legal status changes, they are not seeing refunds or benefits from those contributions.

What I don’t like

I don’t like that this law was pushed forward in front of a lot of other pressing matters. It’s a politically motivated law to a politically motivated fear of a problem that has yet to be fully identified. I read the intent of the law but it also puts to much power in the hands of the local authorities to interpret and misuse. We have seen case after case in other states of laws like this being abused by rural authorities looking to profit from preying on undocumented immigrants by taking their possessions but not fully chasing and charing them for any law breaking. I have no problem with a judge or jury taking away a persons property, but there are no checks and balances with a police department who has the authority to seize your property for 90 days without evidence or a court order. I worry that this law will be abused and that we will never know because the victim will be afraid to step forward.

What I did about it

I contacted all my representatives about the new law with some simple questions. I will give my state senator Clark Jolley the most credit for being responsive and open to a dialog on the issue. My state house representative Marian Cooksey never responded to my email on the issue. I was most interested in hearing from her as to how this bill became authored since she is listed as a co-sponsor and what the primary motivation was behind the focus on immigration in Oklahoma. There is a buzz in state politics that if we don’t pass laws like this then we will get all of the immigrants from Arizona and Texas.

I have seen no direct evidence pointing to Oklahoma having an immigration problem. We have a very efficient and effective drug enforcement strategy through state and local agencies that does a good job of keeping out the drug runners. In fact, when most people go to defend these kinds of laws they point out the drug busts and how the people involved were undocumented immigrants. Two issues with that argument. Those individuals were busted for smuggling drugs. If they had been white people with valid paperwork, they probably still would have been busted after being pulled over. I have never heard of a cop who just felt like he had to let a suspect go because he didn’t have a reason to search the car. In Oklahoma when a cop has a reason to pull you over, he also has a reason to search your car. Second issue with the drug argument is that it just isn’t true by the numbers. I have done a lot of research looking for statistics to show how undocumented immigrants have caused a rise in drug related crime and the numbers just are not there. Drug crime rises with the population fairly evenly, in fact data shows that black non-Hispanic population increases are more likely to increase the drug crime rate then any Hispanic population increase. At least from the data I compared from 2000 to 2005 census and OSBI arrest data.

If someone has better, more recent data or a better analysis that would prove me wrong, I would love to hear it. But I have not been presented with any real information on the issue. The presentation of these laws have all been based on political posturing and conjecturer about a misunderstood and misrepresented population. I have written a blog post before on this issue of blaming immigrants for our issues.

Final Thoughts

I will end with this thought. If you support immigration reform that requires local law enforces to discriminate how and who they serve based on legal status, you create an underground of un-reported crime that creates and re-enforces the existence of gangs and an increase in gang violence or what they call street justice. What we need is an open dialog between the immigrant community and local law enforcement so that drugs and gangs can’t gain a foothold in our community. That kind of reform solves no real problems and creates new ones. I look forward to the day when the Federal government addresses immigration reform issue and we can remove these laws from the books or at least re address them to protect the civil liberties of individuals who will no doubt be effected by these laws.

Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on the issue.

I’m not sure anyone can truly understand Fred Phelps. I have done as much reading as there is known about the man behind the group of people in Colorado who call themselves Westboro Baptist Church. The more I read looking for some kind of insight into why he believes the way he does and what exactly he believes, the more I think he is really just a crazy person. I think it’s interesting how someone’s beliefs can effect their world view and how their world view can drive their actions. I think the best way to try to understand Fred Phelps would be to try to imagine his beliefs and how they have scoped his world view.

A brief history…

See, Phelps wasn’t raised a believer.He was born in the 1930′s and had a particularly tough childhood. His mother passed away at an early age. He was raised by an aunt who also died and at the age of 20 or so went to live with his father who was remarried. Phelps was smart as a child and knew it. He was introduced to Christianity after he had already graduated high school and was accepted and attending West Point Military Academy. I will say this about the man, when he made a change in his belief and started studying the bible, it changed everything about him. He dropped out of West Point and attended a bible college. He only stayed for a couple semesters and then tried another before finally getting an associate degree from yet another school.

Here is my theory. I have never met the man, but upon reading his biographies and histories compiled across the internet, I have developed a story of my own to tell about Fred Phelps. Fred was a smart boy who thought he knew all the answers. He applied this to his faith and was quick to be bold and confrontational about his beliefs. But I believe that deep in his heart he was always trying to answer the question of why tragedy and suffering existed in the world. This is an issue that many people deal with when it comes to faith. Why does God allow bad things to happen? Phelps had experienced a lot of bad things in his life that were outside of his control. His family was good people, yet bad things happened to them. I think that Phelps was presented with some ideas while in bible school that he grasped onto for the very reason that he liked how it answered this question as well as stroked his ego.

He believed that God chooses to choose only select people to follow him, and that God hates everyone else. Phelps believed that God chose him and that everything that he believes is correct and anyone who questions or opposes Phelps’ doctrine is bound for hell and not one of the chosen. This belief requires Phelps to be ultra confident and have not even the slightest sign of humility. Which we see from his works and message.

The advantage to this line of thinking as a church / cult leader is that no one can question what you say. Anyone who disagrees is of the devil, end of argument. Which is why you don’t see Phelps in many debates or interviews. He doesn’t care what anyone else has to say. He  believes his faith is unquestionable. He picks the versus of the bible that support his cause and boldly ignores the rest. Many Christians and even non-believers are guilty of this. We take the parts we like and quote them for encouragement, and we take more difficult parts and figure out ways to make them irrelevant to us.

My thoughts on the man

In the end I think I could have said this about Phelps without having had done the research, but he is simply a man consumed with hate for the anyone but himself and blame for everyone but himself. He twists the scripture to suite his ugly agenda. The bible gives us one standard by which to identify other believers. It says we will know them by their fruit. Phelps claims that he must be on God’s side because God hasn’t struck him down yet, but that isn’t what the bible says. The bible says there will be many false prophets and teachers. But we will know true believers by looking at what they produce. Meaning that a true believer will produce other true believers. This is how Christianity spread around the globe. Yes there were times when it was mandated, but the only faith that ever survived the trials of time were true believers sharing the LOVE of God with others. Jesus gave us a new commandment, to LOVE our fellow-man and to LOVE God with all our hearts.

When Phelps passes on from this world I know two things to be true. One, his church will not live on much longer. Once his generation is gone, the message of hate will water down and I doubt very seriously that his grand children will carry on his legacy. Because hate is a rotten fruit that will not bare seeds that grow. Two, when he get’s to heaven he will be standing before Jesus enthroned in a seat of judgement and Jesus will ask him a simple question. “Where were you when I was hungry, when I was thirsty? When I was naked and a stranger to you, where was your kindness? When I was sick and in prison, you held up signs mocking me, and never did you offer me any assistance. I don’t know you Fred Waldron Phelps.”

What can we learn from him

First, we should all approach Gods Word with humility. Brilliant men have studied the scripture for a lifetime and still know there is more to be learned. Always be weary of someone who claims to have it all figured out.

Second, Phelps should make us ask ourselves, “What is the core message of the Bible?” “What is church and what purpose does it serve in the life of a believer? What about to the community and the world? Is it the church’s responsibility to condemn society’s sin? If not, what is the responsibility of the church. I know this is something I am often focussed on when reading the Bible. What do you think?

A lot of people joke about this verse of scripture found in John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” But it really is one of my favorite verses of the bible, because there is so much depth to it simple two-word sentence. If you are not familiar with the verse, this is the point in Jesus’ story where here arrives on the scene of a close friends wake of sorts. See his friend had died several days before, and on the property of this friend He is greeted with disappointment. “If you had only been here, he would not have died.” These were Jesus’ friends. He was friends with many people, but I imagine that Lazarus and his family were like kitchen table friends. They were not disciples in the sense that Jesus’ was responsible for them as a teacher. They were probably one of the few who actually ministered to Jesus by providing for him and giving him a place to stay on occasion. Needless to say, they knew Jesus well and were well aware of his ministry and miracles. This is why they knew that He had the ability to heal the sick and even bring people back from the edge of death. But in their eyes now, it was too late.

So the question we have to ask is, why did Jesus cry?

He didn’t show up on the scene and cry, but only after seeing how the family was grieving and having two women mention to him how they had wished he could have been there before Lazarus died and seeing an entire community there grieving as well. The bible says that Jesus was moved by their sadness and was greatly troubled. Not that He too was sad with them, but that He was sad because they were so sad. Some translations use the word “angry”. Jesus wept because he was upset. They were grieving like people who have no hope in resurrection. Jesus had already encouraged one sister that Lazarus would one day rise again and her response was so typical of our weak faith, “Yes Lord, I know all that heaven stuff, but in my reality he is dead.” (in so many words) Jesus wept because He knew that His time was short and looking out on this crowd, no one, not even His close friends, really understood who He was. They were standing in the presence of the “Word who became flesh”, the one who was there in the beginning of creation, who had power over every element of existence, and they didn’t have real hope in resurrection. They had a traditional faith and theological belief in their eternal existence, but it wasn’t real to them. Jesus wept over their inability to understand who he was. He didn’t use tricky words when he told them that there isn’t just a resurrection, but “I am the resurrection and the life.” Yet they mourned as if this was the end.

Jesus does the unexpected.

Everyone knows how this story ends. Jesus does what is probably the most disturbing miracle of his ministry, but also the most profound. He asks that they roll back the grave stone. “But he’s been dead for days, he will stink!” the sisters exclaim. Jesus reply, “Have you not been paying attention, I am telling you that God is doing something!” (again, my paraphrasing) They roll away the stone, and Jesus say’s a brief prayer and then yells out dramatically, “Lazarus, come out.”

The next part of the story is a little more than my imagination can handle. A man who has been dead for three days. Who’s body had surely already started to decompose. Rigamortis had definitely set in, so his body was probably stiff and sore. I have no doubt that in Lazarus’ perspective, that his resurrection was a traumatic experience, no doubt also for the witnesses there. I imagine that observers there were first shocked and in awe, but then followed a deep fear of God and a complete reevaluation of who this Jesus fellow was.

What does it mean to us?

It’s easy to make faith a story that we tell and not the foundation of our reality. Of all the influences in our lives, it’s easy to place Jesus down the list. He was so humble, so kind and good-natured. Teaching so much of forgiveness and love. We think that if Jesus is third place in our life, then he will just be happy that he is there at all. But he wasn’t and isn’t. He wept. He was angry. And then he proved himself in a way that was gut wrenching and frightening. Placing Jesus as the core to your life and faith and letting that lead you means that you understand that this life and existence is not the end. Jesus has power over death, but outside of Lazarus, he let many others pass on. Because this life isn’t suited for us forever. This life is full of turmoil and sadness, brought on by sin and separation from our Heavenly Father. Jesus came to fix that, but not by mending our reality with a band-aid of healing and Lazarus miracles, but by resurrecting us from death and into an eternal life with him, in a place that he has made for us. A place that is suited for us to spend forever with him, no more sin, no more separation.