Friday, March 22, 2024

Too Loud (Friday Devotional)

For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God. 

- James 3:7-9

One of the realities of having three children 8 and under is that Lindsey and I periodically have to deal with tantrums. Yesterday was just such a time—our daughter was tired and hungry, she wasn’t getting her way, and she was making her displeasure known.

At one point in the back-and-forth, Lindsey told her she needed to stop yelling. Katherine protested that she wasn’t yelling—she was mad, but not screaming at the top of her lungs.

“You may not have been yelling as loudly as you can,” I responded, “but you definitely raised your voice. You were much louder than you needed to be.”

You’ve probably heard the old idiom, “actions speak louder than words,” a phrase that dates back to the 17th century. It means that your deeds are more powerful than your words, that people pay more attention to what you do than what you say.

But especially in an age of mass communication, your words can still speak pretty loudly. That’s why the Bible talks about the importance of taming your tongue, a.k.a. watching your words. The same mouth that can bless people can also curse them, and the same voice that can lift people up can also tear them down.

What you say is a direct reflection on your walk with the Lord, just like what you do. And just as your witness for Jesus is affected by your actions, it is also colored by the things you say—whether in person or online, in public or in private, with a stranger or a friend.

Do actions still speak louder than words? Who can say. But this much is true: if you don’t tame your tongue, your words can wind up being a lot louder than they need to be.

Friday, March 15, 2024

The Most Beautiful Creation (Friday Devotional)

 

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.

- Psalm 8:3-5

On Wednesday evening, Lindsey and I loaded the kids into the car at 8:00 PM—bedtime on a normal night—to see some stars. The next morning we’d be ending our brief vacation at Big Bend National Park, and before we headed back to the suburbs, we wanted to see a night sky unpolluted by artificial light. They say you can see more than 2,000 stars with the naked eye on a clear night in Big Bend—the stars really are big and bright deep in the heart of Texas!

Staring up at the cosmic canvas of black dappled with white, thinking about how every one of those specks represented a celestial body millions of miles away, I admired the splendor set before me. But if I’m being honest, the stars were not the most beautiful thing I saw that night. What took my breath away was not the vastness of the universe, but the sight of my kids, decked out in their pajamas, poking their heads through the sunroof while Taylor Swift’s “Never Grow Up” played in the background. For though the universe inspired awe, it was my kids that filled my heart with love.

In the eighth psalm, David similarly reflects on the glory of creation, awed by both its immensity and its intricacies. But rather than making him feel small and insignificant, the universe’s majesty actually elevates his view of his humanity—for, in a cosmos as big as ours, God cares exponentially more about people than he does about stars.

The Bible tells us that God created the universe day by day—the heavens and the earth, then the sky, then the sea and the earth, then the sun and the moon, then the plants, then the animals. But when, on the sixth day, he created people, he did something new—he created us in his own image, endowing us with purpose and power and responsibility. After each of the first five days, he said that what he had made was good. But on the sixth day, after he made people, he said his creation was very good.

It’s easier for us to admire mountains and oceans and stars than our fellow human beings. Nature never lets you down; its majesty is always readily apparent. But what I realized on Wednesday night, what David realized thousands of years ago, is worth remembering today: as wondrous as the natural world is, you—and your neighbors—are the ones who fill God’s heart with love.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Just One Thing (Friday Devotional)

 

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed—indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

- Luke 10:41-42

Have you ever walked into a room and completely forgotten what you were there for? Maybe you wanted to grab something, or to ask your spouse a question, but whatever it was, it’s completely slipped your mind.

When that happens, you might even start aimlessly looking around the room, trying to find something that will trigger a recollection of your purpose. Keys? Phone? Wallet? It’s such a frustrating feeling, because you know if you could remember what you needed it would be so simple to take care of. After all, it’s just one thing.

In Luke 10:38-42, the Bible tells the story of two sisters, Mary and Martha, who hosted Jesus in their home. Martha was preoccupied, trying to play the ideal hostess for the Lord. Mary, on the other hand, was content to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to him. Eventually, Martha spoke up and asked Jesus to rebuke her sister. But he refused—“Martha, you are worried and distracted about many things, but few things are needed—indeed, only one.”

Like Martha, we get easily distracted by the myriad tasks that every day brings. Like when you walk in a room and forget why, our brains are so filled with information that it’s easy to forget what actually matters.

But Mary and Martha’s story is a reminder not to let the urgent overcome the important, not to be so consumed with responsibilities that we lose sight of what—and who—we are made for. There are always a million things to do—but when Jesus is calling, just one counts.

Saturday, March 2, 2024

February Reading Log

   

I'm still on track to break my record for pages read in a year after a productive February. I kept things interesting this month, bouncing from genre to genre and interest to interest...take a look and see what I mean!

THE COME UP: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE RISE OF HIP-HOP by Jonathan Abrams

For at least 30 years, hip-hop has been the dominant genre in popular music, so much so that it has also blended into everything from sports to movies to fashion. More than just music, hip-hop is a whole culture, one that you can like or dislike, but cannot ignore.

So how did we get here? How, in barely 50 years, did hip-hop go from its birth in a Bronx apartment to the dominance it now has over popular culture?

In The Come Up, writer Jonathan Abrams tells the story through an oral history, hundreds of interviews stitched together into a 500+ page narrative that covers 5 decades and at least 4 different regions of the United States. Told by everyone from music executives to artists to journalists, the oral history offers a boots-on-the-ground perspective on hip-hop's rise, told not by an impartial historian, but the people who witnessed it themselves.

As is always the case with an oral history, the success of the book is dependent on the people being interviewed—how reliable they are as narrators, how entertaining they are as storytellers, and how close they were to the action. I'd give The Come Up a B in this regard—there are a lot of artists I'd have been interested to hear from that Abrams couldn't get a hold of, but the people who did sit down for interviews were compelling and informative. Lots of great stories, plenty of good quotes.

One word of caution—this is not a great place to start if you have no foundational knowledge on the subject matter. There are a lot of names, and if you're hearing them for the first time then I imagine it would be like drinking from a fire hose. But for those wanting a solid overview of hip-hop's history with some insider nuggets, I recommend The Come Up.

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME by Victor Hugo

Disney's 1996 animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame has a reputation among fans (and parents) as an unusually dark kids movie, with more mature themes than you'll find in contemporaries like The Little Mermaid or Aladdin. After reading the source material, Victor Hugo's 1831 novel of the same name, let me assure you: they toned it down.

The story centers around three characters: the beautiful Esmerelda, the deformed Quasimodo, and the lustful archdeacon Claude Frollo. Both Quasimodo, who serves as the bellringer in the famed cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris, and his foster father Frollo fall in love with Esmerelda, a Romani dancer. However, her heart belongs to the gallant Captain Phoebus. When Frollo makes his move to win her love—by stabbing Phoebus and kidnapping Esmerelda, naturally—Quasimodo rebels against the man who raised him. The story ends—spoiler alert for a nearly 200-year-old book—not with Disney's happy ending, but with Frollo having been shoved off the cathedral's ramparts, Esmerelda hanged, and, years later, Quasimodo's skeleton found cradling Esmerelda's. Like I said...dark.

As a story, there is much to recommend about The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Hugo's characters are memorable, the themes resonant, and the story easy to follow; I can see why Disney thought they could turn this into a movie. However, as a 500+ page book, there is a lot of fluff here—indeed, any modern editor worth her salt would turn this tome into a 120-page YA novel. Lengthy descriptions of Paris' streets and Notre Dame's architecture get tedious after a while.

Furthermore, while the central characters are memorable, they are also extremely flat. Each can be fully described in one word, really—Quasimodo = tragic, Frollo = creepy, Esmerelda = beautiful, Phoebus = jock. If that feels reductive, I promise I've given you a pretty solid summary of each. There's just not a lot there.

While I'm fundamentally opposed to abridged books, this is the kind of novel that gives me pause on that position. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is definitely a story worth telling, and not with Disney's ending, which transforms a tragedy into a happily-ever-after. I'm just not sure it's a book worth reading.

THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA by Philip Roth

Everybody loves a good historical hypothetical, right? What if Napoleon won at Waterloo? What if the Union lost the Civil War? And, in the case of The Plot Against America, what if isolationist war hero Charles Lindbergh, not FDR, had won the 1940 presidential election?

This hypothetical is the launching pad for a story that is both personal and wide-spanning, an examination of America's relationship with its Jewish population and a chilling reminder to never forget how dangerous and near antisemitism can be. Built upon a realistic premise—Lindbergh did indeed consider a career in politics at the height of his fame, and was an outspoken voice against the U.S. engaging in any way in the "European war"—it is told through the eyes of a 10-year-old Jewish-American boy from Newark whose parents idolize FDR and are horrified when Lindbergh is elected, assuming it will lead to the sorts of horrors being visited upon the Jews in Germany. As the book progresses, you slowly see how Lindbergh's presidency—both his policies and his rhetoric—divide the nation and even the narrator's family. By the time the book is nearing its conclusion, the prospect of concentration camps in the United States is not farfetched.

And then, in the book's penultimate chapter, the whole thing goes off the rails, as Roth abandons his narrator's personal story and shifts to President Lindbergh's mysterious disappearance, the conspiracies that arise as a result, a near coup in the U.S., and more, all before hastily and tidily putting things back in order, with FDR in the White House for a 3rd term and everything back to normal just in time for Pearl Harbor. The whole chapter feels like a fever dream, as though Philip Roth had grown impatient with his simmering story and was ready to blow it all up so he could move on.

The bizarre ending notwithstanding—and I realize that's a big allowance—this book is all about how quickly a nation's bonds dissolve when the reins of leadership are handed over to a celebrity who cares about "real Americans" but not all Americans. Published in 2004, it is, ahem, prescient. While the deus ex machina ending keeps me from loving it, it's overall an excellent story, and a good one to read this election year.

SEASONS IN HELL by Mark Shropshire

In preparation for the first season when the Texas Rangers get to describe themselves as "defending champions," I decided to pick up what is widely considered the best book ever written about the team, albeit as it existed in its earliest iterations, when they still played in the charmless Arlington Stadium and barely qualified as a major league outfit. What I didn't know is that Seasons in Hell would wind up being the funniest baseball book I've ever read—move over, Ball Four.

The book's author, Mark Shropshire, was a part-time sportswriter for the Fort Worth Press and a full-time hedonist during the three seasons he narrates in the book. In the tradition of Hunter S. Thompson, he pairs the stories of the Rangers with his own booze-soaked stories of the press box, the road, and the team plane. The easily offended will be repulsed by his narration, but Texans with a taste for tall tales will eat it up with the necessary grain of salt.

Rangers fans are introduced to a variety of characters, but the stars are undoubtedly the managers, first the candid Whitey Herzog, who was always up-front about the chances his woebegone roster had for success, and then the volatile Billy Martin, who led Texas on a surprising if unsuccessful pursuit of the pennant in 1974 only to flame out in dramatic fashion the next year just in time to get hired by the Yankees. Also featured heavily is David Clyde, the star high school pitcher who owner Bob Short insisted be called up straight to the big leagues without any time in the minors. Barely mentioned are 1974 MVP Jeff Burroughs or ace pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, presumably because consistent excellence doesn't make for very good copy.

If I have one criticism of the book, it's that Shropshire's snarky hedonism starts to feel like schtick after a while—the book, while not exactly War and Peace at 241 pages, is still perhaps 50 pages too long. Nevertheless, I had a great time reading this, and Shropshire did an admirable job painting a picture of an era that feels like ancient history now. This is a must-read for all Rangers fans—we may be champions now, but you need to know your roots.

7 PRACTICES OF EFFECTIVE MINISTRY by Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner, and Lane Jones

As books on church leadership and practical ministry go, this is one of the most, well, practical I've yet encountered. Authors Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner, and Lane Jones all rose to prominence as pastors at North Point Community Church in Atlanta (Stanley and Jones are still there; Joiner has gone on to found Orange, a publishing imprint focused on family ministry), and this book is written to pastors. However, those seeking a book with lots of biblical quotations, spiritual insights, and devotional thoughts will want to look elsewhere—for better and for worse, this is a book that deals exclusively with the nuts and bolts of organizational leadership, while the role of faith, prayer, and the Holy Spirit are assumed rather than stated.

While the book barely references Scripture, it does open with an extended parable, an approach they also used in their book Communicating for a Change. The story, about a pastor who attends a baseball game with the enigmatic owner of the ballclub, sets up the titular seven practices that are then delved into more deeply in the how-to section. It's a transparent-bordering-on-tedious way to introduce the subject matter, but does help elucidate the universality of the principles and keep the whole book from being a how-to seminar.

From there the authors get into the seven practices that, according to the owner in the parable, will help make any organization more effective, including a church. Bouncing between explanations of the practices and examples of how they used them at North Point, the authors convincingly explain the importance of things like clarifying the win, narrowing the focus, and teaching more for less. Pastors and other staff members will likely have no problem imagining how these practices could be better employed in their own churches.

The book's chief weakness is also paradoxically the strength it advertises: the idea that these principles would work for any organization, including the church. By intentionally steering clear of spirituality, this reads like a business book that just happens to be written by pastors. There are undoubtedly insights that churches could benefit from here, but the refusal to even allude to the role of the Spirit or the importance of prayer beyond the book's introduction is off-putting and frustrating.

Like any self-help book, 7 Practices of Effective Ministry is what you make of it. If all you want are the list of practices, you can read the table of contents and get what you need. If you're looking for a springboard for a staff retreat, this will get some good discussions going. But if this book is the end-all and be-all for you, you're going to miss some important things every pastor needs to know about leadership. After all, practical ministry has to account for both of the words in its name: practicalities and ministry.

ESSENTIAL IRON FIST VOL. 1 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, et al.

Some characters just never become stars. The concept can be good, the costume can be cool, the most talented creators can try their hand, and still...something just doesn't click. Iron Fist, whose adventures I followed this month in the Essential volume collecting his solo adventures in the early-to-mid-1970s, is one of those characters, forever relegated to the B-side of the album despite seeming to have the ingredients for greatness.

When Danny Rand was introduced in the pages of Marvel Premiere, he was clearly just an attempt to capitalize on the kung fu fad that Bruce Lee had kicked off (pun not intended) in Hollywood. Still, his origin was more imaginative than it had to be. Writer Roy Thomas imagined a mystical city, K'un-Lun, which only appeared on earth every 10 years, where the greatest martial artists trained. Danny's father, it was explained, had come upon K'un-Lun years ago only to leave it of his own accord. When he sought it out again, both he and his wife perished in the attempt, leaving Danny to enter K'un-Lun alone and to learn the martial arts and acquire the mystical power of the iron fist.

That's not bad, right? If we're being honest, it's better than "he was bit by a radioactive spider!"

By the time Iron Fist spun out of the pages of Marvel Premiere into his own book, the reins were handed over to a team of up-and-coming creators, writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, who would soon become superstars as the team behind Uncanny X-Men. In their hands, Iron Fist was given a supporting cast, the private investigators Colleen Wing and Misty Knight, and tilted away from being a kung fu character to a more mainstream superhero. But despite their best efforts, Iron Fist was in danger of cancellation after 15 issues, leading the Marvel brass to make the decision to team him up with another character, Luke Cage. That partnership is where both characters would ultimately come into their own and make their most enduring mark on the Marvel Universe.

When I look at Iron Fist, on paper he should have become an iconic character. But after reading this Essential volume, I have to concur with the fans of the time—it's hard to explain, but something's missing. The je ne sais quoi that a Spider-Man or a Hulk has is lacking, and even John Byrne's art can't bring it out. This was far from a bad book, but neither did it stand out. Some characters just aren't meant to be stars, I guess.

Friday, March 1, 2024

Only a Matter of Time (Friday Devotional)

 

Be careful, then, how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

- Ephesians 5:15-16

Yesterday, we lived through something we only get once every four years: Leap Day, a.k.a. February 29. Created to synchronize the calendar year with the astronomical year—because an astronomical year actually lasts 365 ¼ days, not an even 365—the leap day is an idiosyncrasy in the otherwise mundane task of timekeeping.

Its effect is, every four years, we get something we all claim to want: more time. An extra 24 hours to complete tasks, an additional opportunity to get around to something you’ve been procrastinating, a 366th day of the year to use as you see fit. Nevertheless, chances are you did the same things with that extra time you’d have done with any other day—work, meals, chores, family time, sleep.

We all dream of having more time; we convince ourselves that the clock is all that’s keeping us back from fulfilling our potential. But the trick is not finding more time, it’s wisely using the time we are given.

In Ephesians 5:15-16, Paul warns believers that the days in which we live are evil and unwise, that if we are left to our own devices and the whims of the culture, we will waste the time God has given us. So the Lord calls us not to conform to the patterns of the world, but to make the most of our time, using every precious moment to live for him.

So today, show kindness. Tell the truth. Encourage someone. Pray for wisdom. And in all things, seek God’s will. It’s quite the list of commands, but make no mistake: you have all the time you need.

Friday, February 23, 2024

Granite and Gratitude (Friday Devotional)


We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

- 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

I was at an embarrassingly advanced age when I learned that a phrase I’d been using for years was actually a malapropism on my part—I was getting the real expression all wrong.

“I took it for granite,” I said to a friend.

She looked puzzled. “You did what?”

“I took it for granite.”

“You mean you took it for granted?”

I pushed back. “No, no, for granite. You know, I thought it was rock solid, like it would never go away. I took it for granite.”

She was right about the expression, of course. But my confusion aside, there are certainly things—and people—in our lives that we take for granite. I’m talking about the systems that have been operating so efficiently for so long that we assume they run on automatic. I’m talking about the chores around the house that you’ve never had to worry about because your spouse takes care of them. I’m talking about the humble leaders who arrive early and stay late, who do the menial jobs others won’t, who refuse to let something important fall through the cracks on their watch.

When a kind gesture or a gracious act of service is done repeatedly and with no expectation of reward, it’s easy to begin feeling entitled to it, to think that this is just the way things are supposed to be, to turn someone else’s sacrifice into your expectation. It’s easy, you might say, to take it for granite.

So what a helpful reminder the apostle Paul gives us in the epistles which make up much of the New Testament. In letter after letter, he begins with an expression of thanks—thanks to God, thanks to his coworkers in ministry, and thanks to the church who is receiving the letter. Far from considering himself a self-made man, Paul is quick to think of those who have supported him in his ministry, to regard them as indispensable to his work. He seemingly cannot thank others fast enough.

There is a lesson in that for us if we’ll hear it. Think about someone in your life—in your home, your neighborhood, your workplace, your church—whose faithful work you may overlook. They could be anyone from a custodian to a corporate officer, but someone who makes sacrifices without expecting a spotlight. This weekend, take a moment to sincerely, earnestly thank them—not because they need your appreciation, but because they’ve earned it.

Gratitude doesn’t cost a dime of your money or an hour of your time, just a humility of spirit and an ounce of thoughtfulness. So don’t take people for granite—give them gratitude instead.

Friday, February 16, 2024

Knowing the Rules (Friday Devotional)

 

And one of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

- Matthew 22:35-40

There were a million fascinating storylines and conversations coming out of last Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII. Some wanted to talk about whether this Kansas City Chiefs team—after their 3rd championship in five years—now officially qualifies as a dynasty, and where Patrick Mahomes ranks on the all-time list of quarterbacks. Plenty of folks were talking about a moment in the first quarter when tight end Travis Kelce, frustrated by the team’s play at that point, screamed at and bumped head coach Andy Reid. And speaking of Kelce, more than a few people wanted to dissect every moment caught on camera between him and his girlfriend—maybe you’ve heard of her.

But the story that caught my attention in the days following the Super Bowl was about the overtime period, only the second to ever happen in the big game. Several 49ers players confessed to the media after the game that they didn’t know the rules about possession, which were different from both the regular season and from postseasons in the past. Apparently the coaching staff had never covered that eventuality with them. For all the players’ talent, skill, and preparation, they somehow went out on the field not knowing the rules.

Thankfully, this is not the case for believers in Jesus—we have been told what is expected of us. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he gave a two-part answer grounded in Scripture: love God and love your neighbor. These two basic laws, he said, were the foundation of everything the Law and the Prophets had to say.

But Jesus didn’t just tell us to do these things, he showed us what a life grounded in these commandments looked like. All the way to the cross, Jesus showed obedience to his heavenly Father even as he showed grace to everyone he encountered.

So in the light of his resurrection, we have been given our marching orders: to live as he lived and love as he loved. We know the rules of the game—and with Jesus as Lord, we know victory is assured.