Build A Boat

"Many of us need to jump off the train and build a boat. Trains are constrained to rigid tracks set out for them to follow. A train's momentum and tracks make it almost impossible to steer. A boat is a very different thing altogether. Boats set sail into the unknown subject only to wind, and wave, and weather. Boats can be lifeboats preserving wisdom and understanding while the storm rages overhead. Boats can be arks- safeguarding the life of the world as the floodwaters rise. And boats can carry us away into adventure- away from the shores of the current paradigm into those unseen shores of a future not yet written. Get off the train and build a boat."   ~ From www.whatawaytogomovie.com

"One does not discover new lands

without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time."

~ Andre Gide (Nobel Prize in literature 1947)

Mercenary of Love's War

What will be our solution to the problem of war when the cost in human life and suffering has outpaced our desire to make the world after our own image? 

There may be a solution that allows us to have our wars and save our own skin as well, at least that’s what the military contractors want us to believe. They will be happy to sell us their newest solutions. The military has been testing several interesting war innovations throughout these last two wars. The most fierce and impressive war tool has been the addition of "predator drones" (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). 

In days past, kings and political leaders routinely hired mercenaries to fight wars when their people were not willing to shed their own blood. Mercenaries had no opinion of the hostility engaged in- the bottom-line was personal gain- i.e. “It’s just a job” (a job they were very good at). When you stop paying a mercenary, the mercenary goes elsewhere. If your enemy can pay him better, he switches sides in the conflict.

Drones are the modern equivalent of ancient mercenaries. For an investment of a few million dollars, drones will do your killing for you. Of course, in the arms race, if your enemy can afford drones, these disinterested robots will gladly serve them as well. The Dr. Frankensteins who build these new monsters are happy to write up a contract (or to direct their war machinery through some other friendly nation when their own neighbors show concern).

Wouldn’t it be better if we would come to a place in history where we question war altogether? I love this quote: “Any intelligent fool can make bigger things, more complex things, and more violent things. It takes a touch of genius- and a lot of courage- to move in the opposite direction” (E.F. Schumacher).

Perhaps there’s just too much money to be made in the bigger, complex, and more violent things. Perhaps there’s just too much fear circulating about to try another way. Perhaps there’s too much pride in earthly power and preeminence to have it any other way.

With a touch of spiritual genius and courageousness that cost his very life, Jesus dreamed of a better world: “Love your enemies. Do good to them.” It’s not a flashy war motto, that’s for sure. There are no medals given in love’s war. It’s a battle few enlist in and fewer value enough to lay down their lives to win. Frankly, embracing such a posture may lead to a personal cost that is just too high a price to pay for earthly kings and kingmakers.

As Kingdom people, loving our enemies and doing the hard work of peacemaking not only honors the King of Kings, it also underscores the value of human life and dignity everywhere. I want to be a mercenary of Christ's love. I want to be the kind of person who offers practical love and works for peace with all sides in every human conflict. I want to work for the kind of world Jesus dreamed of. Jesus asks that I might not live according to the principles of this world but according to that love which keeps its eyes fixed on the world to come.

What do I gain by enlisting as a mercenary of Christ's love? I gain Christ and the his coming world.

This picture is a caricature of those christians who seem to embrace violence as a solution to our world's problems. The atheist blogger mockingly depicts what many people believe about christians in America
 (From- www.loljesus.com- "Dedicated to Damnation")

Interesting Links:

A story on Lockheed's Truck Drone 

-One would think that kids who now spend their youth playing video games will be the future military recruits. Instead of sitting in front of a television or computer playing “Call of Duty,” they can actually sign up for duty and play a real war game.

President and General Dwight Eisenhower's comments about the "military industrial complex"

Eisenhower's Presidential Farewell and Warning

Thoughts on Sermons and Messages

My Assumption: "Public communicators must continually remain students of the art and science of public speaking."

On The Power of the Spoken Word:

Something can be learned by spending time on www.TED.com and watching its major presentations. Each presenter is given exactly 19 minutes for a presentation of the most innovative and world-changing ideas of the Day. If these innovators and communicators can limit their presentations, one wonders why more pastors have not learned to give their messages in a shorter, disciplined time frame.

Insights I've Gleaned Over the Years:

"Better to have people leave wanting more than to have them leave overwhelmed and over-stuffed. They will remember more and are likely to come back for more."

"Repetition can be good. However, too much repetition makes the listerner feel that the speaker is not ready to say what he or she is presently saying (i.e. The cake is not ready to serve"). The listen can feel like the speaker feels he or she is an uneducated fool (or worse, a mere child)."

"Everything that is interesting to me as a speaker is not necessarily interesting to others."

"Restraint in speaking often demonstrates humility." It says, "My words are not the complete answer to your need."

Ecclesiastes says, "When words are many... It is meaningless."

The Sarah Palin Effect: "If I just keep talking, they'll eventually forget their question." Unfortunately, they will also feel I have something to avoid or realize I don't know what I'm talking about.

Our Cultural Assumption (which is unlike many cultures in Africa and Central America): "Timeliness conveys respect for the other person."

"An economy of words can show that a matter is well-understood and that words themselves have value to the speaker. The more you speak, the less you deliver." Words can be like romantic kisses- if we give them away too freely to anyone, eventually they come mean nothing to our beloved.

"More lives are changed by a private word lovingly placed, than a public word."

Dr. Haddon Robinson- The  Key Question for Every Preacher: "What's the 'Big Idea' here? How can I articulate what I am aiming to say in one powerful, memorable sentence?"

On Human Physical Realities:

"The mind can only absord what the butt can take." This is truth is highly cultural. The educated are busier people and are often less forgiving because they are not seeing you as a crowd attraction and the day's novelty to break the routine of boredom. They are thinking: "Ok. Let's see what you have to say. You have twenty minutes of my full attention unless I feel this is irrelevant to my life or you are dull." Remember, Jesus was never dull, wordy or irrelevant. He always read his audience as a Master Communicator and delivered his message to their needs.


For more:


http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/whats-wrong-with-the-sermon-its-too-long

The Mechanics of Planning Your Preaching

Talking Heads

Rhetoric is the art and study of the use of language with persuasive effect.  I had to study the subject as a young college student and later as a graduate in theology. 

If I may confess, there was a time when I was much too bedazzled by the spoken word.  As I page through many of my old sermon notes from younger days, they seem like the rants and ruminations of a sophomore- the fool who thinks himself wise. 

Some of us tend to enjoy hearing our thoughts articulated audibly in fine-sounding ways- even when some of these are half-baked, untried, untrue, plagiarized, premature, or… for God alone.

As I get older, I’m placing less confidence in spoken words and much more confidence in lived words.  Another admission: I am better at speaking than living.  It comes easier for me.  Yet, without adding skin and bone to words, words are empty water pitchers.

Paul said, “Without love, I am a clanging cymbal.”  I think he meant to say something like this: “Love-less, content-less speech is nothing but rhetoric.”

Today I will try to live what’s real to me and speak only if I must. Today, I will remember: “The Word became incarnate.” Yes, even God’s words in the Bible would be nothing but empty promises had God not put skin and bone on those words.