Gas Prices and the Glory of God

 

To Mask or Not To Mask, that is NOT the Question.

To mask or not to mask, that is not the question.  The question is, shall we accept being forced to be masked, separated and restricted?  Shall we surrender our first amendment rights in the name of 'love' or 'obedience'.  For those that need a refresher, the framers of the US Constitution had drafted the new laws of the land and were shopping it around, looking for leaders in the colonies to ratify it.  But, as circumstances would have it, many of those that would need to sign off were wary of government overreach, having just buried their wives, sons, husbands and daughters in the course of throwing off the shackles of their last leaders.  In their efforts to avoid the dreaded 'rebound' relationship, where anything was better than that abusive jerk you just left so you might choose to overlook the possibility that this new suitor may also snore, have bad breath or tax you without representation, those colonial leaders demanded a written guarantee that this was not just round two of 'The Chronicles of Do As You Are Told and Don't Question it.  

And where did they start?  They started by saying:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the rights of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

They knew that in order for a people to be free, those people had to be able to freely meet, freely worship, freely speak, freely report on what they were speaking and hearing, freely get together for covered dish fellowship or large peaceful protest and, lastly, to be heard by the folks they had willingly chosen to grant a little authority to should those folks be getting carried away.  And, to quote the 21st century philosopher, Dave Chappelle, "The First Amendment is first for a reason.  Second Amendment is just in case the first one doesn't work out."

So why are we now, some 230 years later, talking about this in the context of a cloth covering for your face?  Glad you asked.  Let me tell you.  Humans have this fantastic ability to group themselves into the "us" and the "them".  It's more than a great Pink Floyd song.  Cain and Abel are not famous for their picnic skills.  They are famous for one killing the other.  Human history is not, largely, a study of what each culture was great at, unless of course they were great at chariot warfare, the phalanx, higher rates of reload or superior satellite guided missiles and bombs.  Humans are fantastic at finding reasons to be suspicious of each other.  Be it the way they wear their bone fragments in their hair after the tribal battle or how and if they wear a mask when on the bus.  Once any group becomes 'the other', a subtle and automatic transformation begins.  They become 'less than'; less intelligent, less loving, less patriotic and less worthy of respect.  Once that happens, it takes only a provocation to get us back to what we do best, attacking 'the other'.  We need not look far to see this playing out.  Just walk into a Walmart without a mask or, heaven forbid, try to attend your sons highschool football game in Ohio.  You better bring wear lots of layers.  That makes it harder for the Taser prongs to stick into your flesh.  

You can hear it clearly in the words of a leading politician this week as he jockeyed for position at the head of the table.  "If I can say something here, this is not about freedom, it's about patriotism.  You wear a mask to protect the person next to you.  You wear a mask to protect the bus driver.  You wear a mask to protect the person you're sitting next to on the bus.  To reject the chance to the easiest possible thing to save lives, I find it appalling.  I promise you that my Department of Transportation (DOT) will insist on it..."

Did you catch that?  It's not freedom, it's patriotism.  The implication being that if you choose not to wear a mask, you do not love your country.  It's about protecting the person next to you, the person doing their job.  If you don't do that, you don't love them.  If you reject doing this 'easiest possible thing to save lives', you are appalling in the eyes of the man that wants to lead the nation.  And, rest assured, the appalling ones will be made to heel should he be elected.  So, that is why we are talking about this little piece of fabric 230 years later.  When ever a politician leads with 'this is not about ____', then whatever they are denying the importance of is certainly what it is all about.  How do we know this is certainly about freedom?

Consider every single aspect of American society has been altered in the past 8 months.  Businesses, schools, churches, your ability to walk into a store, you ability to walk on the sidewalk, all of it has been restricted by the government.  One might equate that with your freedoms have been restricted.  Don't believe me?  Think those are just suggestions that they would like you to consider?  Then consider the churches in California or the Synagogues in New York facing massive fines or threat of closure for participating in the 'free exercise' of their religion that was promised not to be infringed upon.  Or the businesses that are closed, many forever.  Consider that there is now an entire generation of students that have been trained to allow an authority figure to point a gun shaped device at their heads to determine if they are 'safe' to enter a public building.  Consider that students are being taught to sit silently while eating their meals while ensuring they are 6 feet apart for their peers. 

As a man that worked his way through college by tending inmates in a state prison, I can assure you that those behaviors listed above are absolutely issues of freedom.  By restricting the freedom to assemble and the freedom to worship, they are attempting to neuter any that might disagree with them.  By shuttering the businesses, they are attempting to neuter those that would prefer to care for and provide for themselves.  By teaching the young to comply without question, they are neutering the future.  And a neutered future is a one that will not be a problem.  They will not even notice that their First Amendment is gone.  It's the war that was won without firing a shot.  Americans are willing slipping the shackles on their own hands in the name of safety...from a disease with a 99.9+ survival rate.

Our forefathers stood against the strongest military and economic force of their day.  They fought in their fields and in their forests.  They bled and died with musket shot and bayoneted holes in their bodies.  And we, their successors, are laying down when faced with a survival rate of 99.9+%.  A nation gets the leader she deserves.  If the American voters can be convinced that a complete abdication of their rights in the name of safety is a worthy quest, then they will have earned their chains.  

We will know in less than 30 days.  One need not be a person of faith to have a problem with American's being told they cannot meet freely to worship.  They simply need to be a person that understand how quickly the erosion of freedom affects us all.  For fear of sounding dramatic, the question must be asked.  If many are already facing arrest, fines and the loss of their livelihood over not wearing a piece of fabric to protect from something with a 99.9+% survival rate, exactly how far is the jump from a potential leader of America saying those who question the edict are 'appalling' and the repeat of so many pages of world history where tyranny reigns, blood is spilled and generations are lost?

I ask not because I want bloodshed.  I ask because I want freedom.  I ask not because I hate any politician.  I ask because I fear the one who entices with eloquent words whilst concealing a club (or an unhinged mob) behind his back.  I ask not because I want people to contract this virus.  I ask because I want folks to consider what a 99.9+ survival rate is costing us as a nation.  I ask not because I want the elderly or those with pre-existing conditions to die.  I ask because I understand that the elderly, by nature of them being older and closer to death, are much more likely to die anyway and at all times.  That's how being old works.  The same goes for those with pre-existing conditions.  It is not unloving to calmly embrace facts.  On the contrary.  It is unloving to attempt to manipulate the masses in the name of safety, while simultaneously threatening financial ruin, or worse yet, a boot across the throat to any that dare to question.  That, my friends, is absolutely about freedom.  That is absolutely what first amendment is about.  That, my friends, is what being a rational human being is about.

The question is not about masks.  The question is about being free and rational.  Here's to being free and rational.

Biblical Manhood in the Era of Emasculation

It's been said that the best way to detect a forgery is to be well acquainted with the real deal.  That is true when appraising art, classic automobiles, currency and men.  Museums employ specialists to study the masters with an eye towards detecting fakes.  High end car collectors will check serial numbers and historical records when verifying the vintage of a machine.  The government trains agents to know the markings of currency to detect and isolate impostors.  Knock-off's abound.  Forgeries flood the market, driving down the value of the original articles, attracting the eyes of unsuspecting and uninformed admirers.  This is never more costly than in the market place of masculinity.  

While museums have insurance policies to protect against loss, car collectors may have legal recourse against fraud and governments can simply destroy counterfeit bills; when it comes to deficient men, the
long tail on those losses can leave a scorched earth impacting generations.  It is no understatement to say that nations rise and fall on the character of the men that round out the roles.  Similarly, the evidence for the need of correct masculinity could not be more clear today.  Quite literally, the impostors of today are wading through the ashes of the looted, charred remains of the hard work of those they reject.  

In modern society, especially those with deep veins of media saturation, the centuries old method of passing the torch from grandfather to father to son to grandson has been eroded by a steady drip of external influence.  With the cultural and educational revolutions of the last 70 years in America and the dramatic proliferation of competing messages via mainstream media and, more recently, social media, the chorus of dissenting voices would drown out the voice of consistent, steady masculinity if left unchecked.  Fortunately, there are men left to toe the line.  As the chorus of voices shouting about the failures of men to lead crescendos into a frenzy, there are growing numbers of men that are opting to tune out the noise and focus on the task at hand.  

If you are still reading, perhaps a spoiler alert is in order.  This is likely not going to be a popular message.  It is unlikely to win you friends of help you influence people.  It will be counter cultural, but isn't that all the rage these days?  The rub will be that, instead of inciting folks to burn, loot and murder, the call of Biblical Manhood is a call away from those foolish acts and towards acts of personal responsibility.  Just as the need transcends race, so too does the solution.  Our problems as a nation have their roots in inferior cultures, not inferior races.  Any man can learn to do good, but not all men will.  Any man can incline his heart to wisdom, but not all men will.  The offer to come and learn to live is made by One that transcends race but cannot be separated from culture.  Whereas one man may choose to mate with an eye towards selfish pleasure, another will see the act of sex as a means of building his heritage.  While one man may see the accumulation of wealth as a personal quest to assert his prestige, another will rightly understand that finances are a tool that can either build for the future or cast shackles in this life and the next.  While one man may proudly assert his own sovereignty and declare that he will do what he wants because he is 'the man', another will learn to check his own desires against the established moral code that has wrestled societies over 5,000 years of recorded history.  

Biblical manhood kicks against the inherent tendencies to exalt self, instead choosing to prefer God's glory and then the good of others.  

Biblical manhood is like a restraining bridle in the mouth of a wild beast, constraining passions and bringing them under control of the Spirit of God.  

Biblical manhood defies the tendency to tear down others in a quest to promote self, correctly understanding that a man need only be right with his Creator in order to be free to love and serve.

Biblical manhood understands that a man is dust, temporarily endued with breath, but that his life will pass like a thin mist over the water on a summer's sunrise.  Mists do not waste their time building personal castles, for they know their time is short and their grip is loose.  

Biblical manhood pumps the brakes on consumerism, knowing that Godliness with contentment is great gain.  Instead of wandering away in the pursuit of excessive wealth, they opt to forgo the piercing of many sorrows to focus on building legacies that last.  After all, you don't hear about kids turning to drugs because there was too much contentment in their homes.

Biblical manhood understands that a faithful wife is a helper, not a whore.  She is the mother of his children to be respected, cherished and prized not because she is weak, but because she is precious, valuable and the guarantee that culture, indeed humanity, may endure.  By showing love and respect, a man ensures that his children grow up with a proper understanding of the value of women.  I dare say, all of the corruption and confusion plaguing our streets and our schools today stem from not seeing this lived out in the homes.

Biblical manhood rejects instant gratification, preferring the long term harvest that comes only by doing the hard work of cultivation.

Biblical manhood chooses to turn its eyes away from sin, understanding that regardless of how many years may have been lost to lust, the future belongs to those that move forward.  Much more to come on this at another time.

Biblical manhood sees his children as a heritage from the Lord, not a hindrance.  They are the letter he is writing to the future.  He would do well to choose his words carefully.  Truly, a man cannot be a success without a successor.  

Biblical manhood understands that much of what is prized in the culture is antithetical to his well being.  Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses...those men turned their eyes and set their gazes upon a different prize.  When those men were at their best, their moved towards holiness and, as a result, appeared to be disconnected from the mass of men doing desperate things to live empty lives.  

For all the things that Biblical Manhood is, we must be clear about what it is not.  Biblical manhood is not 'trying harder'.  Biblical Manhood is not being stoic for the sake of stoicism.  It is not merely giving away all your possessions or attaining peak physical health.  It is not in achieved by perfectly following a set of rules.  Biblical Manhood comes only when a man realizes his inability to do all the things outlined above.  Knowledge of his inability, acquaintance with his failures will drive the wise man to the cross and empty tomb of Man named Jesus Christ.  

In surrender to Christ, a man admits his weakness and find sufficient strength in Christ.  He exchanges his dead heart for one made alive, endued with grace and mercy.  In surrender to Christ, he finds the humility to lay down his selfish pride and learn to love.  In surrender to Christ, he finds the grace to forgive as he understands what it means to be forgiven.  A man finds the living water to wash his filth, quench his thirst and clear his eyes.  He finds the tenderness to love his wife and give himself for her, to wash her and nurture her.  A man finds the ability to turn his heart back to his children.  He finds the compassion to see his brother as a fellow image bearer of God and the wisdom to understand that all men are his brother.  

In Christ, man is reconciled back to God.  He is restored to his original role as one created to enjoy and reflect the goodness of his Creator.  In so doing, he admits that he will be hated and, simultaneously, finds the strength to endure.  He not only endures, however, but rather understands that he has overcome and, as a result, can turn to run back into the fire to pull others out with him.  In learning how to be a man, he learns how to lay down his life.  Thus, society endures.  Children thrive.  Families prosper.  On the backs of men ride the fortunes of society.  

One question remains, then.  Which men will we be?

 

High Tech on the Homestead

 If you've spent anytime on this blog, you know by now that we are doing the whole off-grid thing.  It's solar powered, heated by wood in the winter, cooled by sweat in the summer and filled with love all year long.  But this isn't the turn of the 20th century, and I need to do more than sit in this rocking chair reading and smoking a pipe.  It's 90 minutes, one way, to my office.  Ain't nobody got time for that!

Recent health silliness has forced everyone to work differently.  Many of us, deemed 'essential' have just kept on keepin' on.  

So for those folks, you get it.  I am able to work from this humble off-grid mountain cabin because I leverage the power of technology to bring the office to me.  And I'm not alone.  How do I know, you ask?  Because my company does it for a bunch of small and medium sized businesses in Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Missouri and Idaho.  We provided managed IT services and IT consulting, allowing those businesses to remain connected, secure, profitable and operational, even if the cities are burning and the government is lying.  

Remote workforce?  Check.

Email Security? Check.

Tulsa, Oklahoma IT Security Consulting?  Check.

Managed IT Consulting?  Check.

Check us out.

We know how to get I.T. done.

I Love Science - World View Matters

 “I Love Science” - World View Matters

There is a theme today whereby one will exclaim, “I believe in science…” with the implication that they do not have time to believe in God because of their advanced understanding.  It is often accompanied with a dismissive tone of voice or other apparatus of condescension.  

Mankind has accomplished some pretty amazing things.  The recorded history of civilization’s advancement is breathtaking.  From the advent of the written language, with as many variations are there are people and geographic groups, to the instantaneous full-duplex communications between any places on this planet, or others, our accomplishments are staggering.  From the first nomads and their mud caked bare feet to our pressurized, autonomous suits that allow us to work in space (after strapping ourselves to rockets that blast us into orbit), the complexity to our modes of transport and the accompanying level of accomplishment cannot be understated.  It is almost understandable how one could be enamored, perhaps even intoxicated, with our accomplishments.  After all, we are the top of the food chain.  We are the alpha dogs.  We have opposable thumbs and have used them to harness silicon and electrons, putting massive amounts of technology into the hands of our people, allowing us to execute complex computer modeling, peering behind the curtain of some of the greatest mysteries of the known world.  What’s not to be impressed with?

Here's the rub.  With all our advances, all our discoveries and all our breakthroughs we are still just trying to figure out what has been known, in full, by the Creator since long before any Bangs, Big or otherwise, were popping off in history.  Our brightest minds, using the most powerful tools in the history of mankind, are still just pulling on the end of a piece of yarn that was designed, implemented and woven into the tapestry of all that is around us, both seen and unseen, from the beginning.  The haughty proclamations “I believe in science” to the exclusion of admitting God’s supremacy in all of it remind me, in some woefully inadequate way, of my son declaring that he is ‘the greatest ever’ after successfully putting 2 pieces together on a puzzle.  I am proud of him but am not ready to crown him king of all.  See, he found a pair of related pieces and was able to put them together.  But he only found what was already there.  And while not diminishing his role in pushing back the limits of our understanding; he is still very much just playing catch up to One that knows the end before the beginning began.  Should he continue to assemble the puzzle he would find more of the picture coming into view, more profound, more intricate and more beautiful that anything previously known.  Each new piece, each fresh view of the big picture, would lead him to a further appreciation for and realization of the beauty and complexity in the created world.  If he were truly wise, that appreciation would cause him to proclaim his adoration for the One who has been so many steps ahead of him and Who did works so far surpassing anything he could do.  

So, I love Science, but not simply for the sake of putting puzzle pieces together or pulling on strands of yarn.  I love science because it allows us to see more clearly those mysteries that were hidden in the beginning and are just now being made clear.  We have so far to go because, despite our advancements, we are still looking up and into an Intellect that far surpasses our own.  We are trying to push back the darkness of our own understanding.  We are chasing The Light, The Truth, The Life and we are doing it from the vantage point of dust and clay.  I do love science.  I have great hopes for the future as we piece it together.  My greatest hope is that, in doing that, we ‘accidentally’ touch the hand of the Creator as He slides another piece onto the table. 

Manhood That Stands the Test of Time

As I reflect on the things I've studied and learned over the past 30 years or so, it is clear to me that they have all, eventually, taken their place at the feet of the Word of God as revealed in the Scriptures.  As I push away from the shore of my early 40's and make my way increasingly into the deeper, personally uncharted waters of middle age, I find myself increasing finding strength in the depth, the history, the wisdom and the power of God's Word.

But, much more than a personal aid in growing older, the Scriptures are being proven true, time and again, in the world around me.  I've moved from the young father and husband to a more seasoned, but equally wide-eyed, father of 4. I've wrestled inmates.  I preached funerals.  I've sat around conference tables with wealthy executives at the height of their business success and watched as they weep when it all evaporates.  The culmination of those experiences thus far call me to passages like James 4:13-15.  

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 

Indeed, there is more to being a man that finding success in business or accumulating wealth.   

And today, as I watch the American experiment totter under the weight of social disruptions, crippled morality and ineffective leadership I cannot help but think back to all the times in history when things seemed irrecoverable.  As cities burn and explosives fly, as police are attacked and established institutions come under criticism, it can be easy to grow bitter or to be swept up in the excitement.  But history can be rightly viewed as the pause for a rushed, ragged breath between periods of unrest.  The books are written after the bombs stop falling or the waters recede or the statues are toppled.  This was true for the era when the Bible was written as well.  Nearly all of the Scriptures were written during or about a time of intense trouble, either personal or national.  And all historical writing, be they secular or sacred, are predominately occupied with how men responded to the peril facing their families, their communities, their nations and the world.  

Regardless of the lenses worn by the authors, as a man of faith, I have become increasingly convinced that God sits astride the affairs of men, His hands open and engaged in the active completion of His plans.  This worldview, or framework of interpreting the events and outcomes in light of God's revealed word, mean that births, deaths, wars, famines, genocides, atrocities, captivities, and seemingly irredeemable and unrelated tragedies are actually single notes in the Symphony of Redemptive History.  This can be seen throughout the Scriptures, from Adam to the Apostles.  Paul puts an edge on that blade in Romans 8:18-25

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Where does this leave a man in the current American climate?  Where does it leave that man that must wrestle with how to respond to the society around him while protecting and leading his wife and children?  That man finds himself toeing the line of greatness.  He looks up at the winding, mountainous trail with determination and resolve, not fear or retreat.  As the popular voices shout for destruction or hedonism, material success or personal gratification, men of God understand that their chief end is to bring glory to God and find their enjoyment in Him.  Men of faith understand that God has always called men to work, to subdue, to preside, to lead and to simultaneously rest, be subdued, to defer to One greater and to be led themselves.  These are the marks of the great men we read of.  These are the marks of men that leave legacies and heritages worth writing of.

This model of manliness is one predicated upon being a man of faith, walking against the flow, head bowed in prayer but shoulders strong in the face of the challenges before him.  Doug Wilson describes this as 'the glad assumption of sacrificial responsibility."  Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in the man, Jesus Christ.  And, in Christ, God is calling men back to Himself, to be made new and then conformed to the image of God (2 Corinthians 2:19).  While there are many loud voices shouting for their version of manliness, the mark has been set in stone and written in blood by Christ who gladly assumed responsibility for us by sacrificing Himself.  The call of Christ to men has not changed.  We are to imitate Him as we follow Him.  

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. - Luke 9:23

If men were called to follow Christ, daily, under the occupation of Rome and that call was enough to set the world ablaze with the Gospel of Christ throughout the ages, then it remains today, unchanged.  Burning cities, raging crowds, toppling statues, diseases, masks and a litany of things that are all the rage today are but a footnote in the life of a man of faith.  Self-denial, not an exercise in stoicism for the sake of simplicity or discipline only but, rather, as an agreement in faith that God's ways are better, higher and truer than our own.  We ascribe Lordship to Him by willingly, daily, bowing our heart to Him and allowing him to transform us.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world,[c] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:1-2

It is not seeking comfort, but conformity to Christ.  It is not seeking ease, but evangelistic effectiveness.  It is not seeking success, but sanctification.  It is not seeking happiness, but holiness.  This manhood understands that to find holiness, sanctification,  evangelistic effectiveness and conformity to Christ is to find happiness in this life and the next.  This is the manhood that stands the test of time. 

Don't Call It a Comeback - The Return of the Blog

"Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years."

Back in March of 2017, I posted that we were finally framing the walls.  Then the posts stopped.  I could evoke a Thoreau reference by reminding myself that as his work began in earnest he was engrossed by it and found himself "...not having many communicable or scholar-like thoughts..."  Surely that was part of it.  The other, though, is due in no small part of utter lack of time.  The entirely of this project, while probably only 20 or 30 days of actual labor has been completed thusly as notes scrawled in the margins of my daily grind.  In the days since the last post my full-time IT consulting gig has put my toes in the Gulf of Mexico by way of Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas, the sands of Jacksonville Beach, Florida and the foothills of the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee.  The 8-5 had been, for the entirety of those trips, bloated to the 7am - midnight, 7 days a week and I think it is no stretch to say that I went a full 35 days without a day off at one point...

So, those words above were written in November, 2017.  We were living in our previous home in Oklahoma.  I was grinding it out as an IT consultant for a small firm and was pushing every spare minute and penny into building our cabin.  In the two and a half years since then, we've done it.  Actually, tomorrow will mark one year of full-time, off grid living in the cabin we built.  Time flies when you are having fun.  It also seems to accelerate as my hair turns whiter and my kids get taller.  A lot has unfolded between the bookends of 2017 and today.  It's time to play catch up, to fill in the gaps and to expand on what we have learned up here.

Spoiler alert!  It's better than we ever dreamed it could be.  And, it has been so much easier than we thought it would be.  Now, if you have spent any time reading or watching other off-grid folks online you have likely heard stories about '10 things I wish I had known before going off-grid' or heard things about how hard simple things were to do now.  I can say that, in our experience, we overthought every single step at least 12 times before we made a move.  So, when we finally took our foot (or sometimes feet) off the brake pedal and let the wheels of adventure begin to move, we spent more time laughing at how concerned we were as we learned to loosen up.  Yes, we've had a few close calls, of which I'm sure to regale you later, but for the most part, this whole living thing is a lot more user friendly that we thought it would be.  It's almost like one does not actually need all the trappings that we've been sold as essential for all those years.  But, again, more on that later. 

Ok, we've got a lot of ground to cover.  Onward.