Follow the Leader

You know what I decided last night as I was watching my first grader play at a boy scout social? We have a problem in our society--an authority problem in that no one wants to follow the leader any more. Here’s why that authority thing hit me. The cub master was attempting to corral the scouts by numbering them off for game stations. There were probably twenty adults standing there watching him. And thinking I know it all, I whispered to my husband; “Why’s he doing it that way it’s not going to work.”

My husband’s response? “Just let the Cub Master do his thing; he’ll get it figured out.” Now, it’s probably important to tell you that my husband is in a management position and has been for ten years. He knows what it’s like to be at the top--that it is, indeed, lonely. No matter what you do there’s always going to be people who disagree with you, and consequently, don’t like you.  

I took his advice to heart. ‘Yea,’ I thought to myself, ‘this guy is the den master’ and I need to respect that. That little thought led me to this great title, Follow the Leader. When you stop and think about it, how many of us really do that anymore. Whether we’re talking about the president, a teacher, a mayor, or your boss, we all at times have a beef with people in authority positions. And, let’s be honest, it’s because we figure we can do it better.

Back to the scouting picnic. I was in charge of one of the games. While I was handling it the best I knew how, another parent came over and began to talk over me.  Maybe he didn’t like the way I was running the game. Maybe he thought his way was better. Or maybe, he was just trying to be helpful. Regardless, I thought to myself, ‘Look buddy, I volunteered to lead this game, if you think you could have done it better than why didn’t you volunteer?

Again, it got me to thinking about this issue of respect. When I was in grade school, a Christian School, we learned the Ten Commandments. Believe it or not there is a commandment regarding this very topic. It goes something like this, “Honor your father and mother that it may go well with you, and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” It was in that commandment that we learned it was important to honor not only our parents, but other people in positions of authority over us; teachers, police officers, teachers, governing bodies, teachers and, well, you get the gist.

 Romans 13:1 Submission to the Authorities

 

13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (ESV)

Wow. That’s a pretty big statement, isn’t it? There is no authority except from God. Whether we agree with them or not, whether they’re doing a good job or not—God decides who will rise and who will fall. It’s His job to judge, not ours. 

So the question might be what do you do with a leader who is pure evil or may be running our society into the ground? You do what you should for any enemy of yours; you pray for them. 

Titus 3:1-2 Pray for All People

2 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, ² for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. (ESV)

 

God spells it out pretty clearly in the above verses, ‘Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities. Even the ones we hate? Yes. 

God instituted authority. He wants us to pray for our leaders. Not bash them. Not seethe over every single thing they are doing wrong. But pray with faith, patience, and hope so we can live godly and peaceful lives. 

There you have it. Not so popular I know. But last time I checked we weren’t called to be popular, we were called to do the right thing--the unexpected thing; pray for our leaders and other authorities, and trust God to do the rest.

the eternal question

You know what I hate about the story of Job? How God chews Job out at the end of the book. After all, wasn't God the one who described Job as the finest man on earth-- a man of complete integrity; didn't God refer to him as one who had nothing to do with evil?  In the story, Job experiences unimaginable suffering, so that by the end you might expect God to be singing Job's praises--"Well done good and faithful servant" kind of praises. But He doesn't. I have to admit that, in the past, I've always  skimmed that part of the story jumping to the happily ever after. And I'm wondering if all along I haven't been missing the most important part. 

It’s the eternal question, isn’t it? If God is so good then why so much suffering? Why, especially, does it seem that His faithful followers are inflicted with all kinds of grief and pain. This question always seems to be hovering above my heart waiting to consume me with its fire of anger, resentment, and doubt about God’s goodness.

After all, who hasn’t wondered why God allows such suffering on the earth. For a nonbeliever the answer might come easier; God isn’t real, He doesn’t exist, or, if He does, He’s a fraud. But for the believer who trusts God, who follows God, suffering seems to be the antitheses of all that we believe God to be; gracious, merciful, loving. 

Today, for the first time in a long time, I remembered the night I was hospitalized in a state of severe psychosis. I remember the pain of waking up and realizing that all of my visions in the past several days--the ones I thought were from God had been nothing more than the twisted work of a devil—a devil who masquerades as an angel of light. I felt so vulnerable, scared, and unsure of what had gone on. My past seemed a fraud and my future loomed before me with so many unanswered questions. 

In the midst of all that pain, I was tempted more than at any other time in my life to turn my back on God—to have nothing more to do with Him. God was good, was He?  I had prayed. I had worked. I had been faithful. Was all of this just a cheap trick by some puppet master in heaven who, despite what I’d been taught, didn’t care about me at all? Worse yet, was He mocking me? 

Looking back, almost ten years later, I realized something else today, God's perspective, His eternal perspective is so much clearer than my own. In the midst of that thought something else occurred to me. The best person who ever lived, a person who was good to the core, who followed God unswervingly endured terrible suffering, too. Jesus. 

I'm sure there wasn't a single day that Jesus didn't experience some type of trouble. Yet, he followed God, he trusted God, he believed in God's goodness. So what was the outcome of his life? What did he receive as a reward for his faithful obedience? He died. On a cross. Alone. And the very God he called Father had forsaken him. 

Jesus felt the pain of it, the full pain of being left to wonder if God really is as good as He claims to be. And you know what? To the very end Jesus believed that, yes, his Father was good. Though he felt forsaken, Jesus entrusted his spirit to the One who could rescue him from death. 

If the best person who ever lived endured such unimaginable pain, is it too much for God to ask that I endure suffering with the same faith and hope that Jesus did? After all, look at what came out of Jesus’ life; out of his death. Our salvation. Something magnificent and beautiful grew out of the ashes of death—Jesus brought us back to God, back to our Father. 

Let me encourage you today to look at suffering with a little bit different perspective. See it not as a curse to be borne. Instead, praise God for what He will bring out of the ashes of your own suffering. Life. Eternal life—with a happily ever after we can’t even begin to imagine. All will be set right in the end. I believe that with all my heart. I hope you can find the faith to believe it, too.

again, please don't be crazy.

So, yes I'm cheating by re-posting an earlier entry, but this one has been at the forefront of my mind and heart lately. While all the talk about gun control and changes that need to be made to gun laws are important, there is another major issue that needs to be addressed; treating the mentally ill who are often the hands, faces, and minds behind these heinous crimes. These are the people who need a brother, somewhere, to "be their keeper." In the midst of all the arguing and debating, don't turn a blind eye to a major piece of solving the puzzle; getting help for the mentally ill. 

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

In light of the tragedy in a Colorado movie theater and the recent news story about Jared Lee Loughner, the man who shot congresswoman, Gabby Giffords, injured twelve others, and killed six, I feel that there is an issue, an ensuing crisis in our country that needs to be addressed. I believe it’s a crisis of magnificent proportions and, unless we take action now, all signs indicate that this crisis is only going to get worse. My views on these recent shootings may not be popular but here goes.

The event that spurred me to write this entry was the court proceedings that took place this past week in which Loughner appeared before a judge and pleaded guilty to nineteen of the forty-nine crimes he was charged with. For the most part this decision was favorably received because it meant that the victims and their families would be spared an agonizing trial. Gabby Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, said in a statement, “that [they] were satisfied with the proposed plea agreement.”

This hearing was much different than the one that took place in May, 2011. On that day, Loughner was removed from court after an outburst in which the Arizona Republic quoted him as saying, “Thank you for the free kill. She died in front of me. Your cheesiness.” At this point Loughner still believed he had killed Giffords.

But on this August day, 2012 the Judge presiding, Larry A. Burns had this to say about the change in Loughner’s manner and presence, “He is a different person in his appearance and his effect than when I first laid eyes on him.”

Clearly something had changed. The federal psychologist appointed to this case, Dr. Christina Pietz, commented on these changes. “Loughner is severely mentally ill, one of the worst I’ve treated. But I believe he can function in the general population.” What was the change?  Medication. In fact, Loughner’s treatment was stopped at one point to ensure that he was not being forcibly medicated. But after another incident in July 2011, prison officials decided to require the medication again. This time the 9^th circuit court upheld the decision to medicate him.

Pietz saw Loughner nearly every day and described the changes that had taken place, “At first he thought he had killed Giffords. However, after time, Loughner began to express remorse.” ‘I especially cried about the child,’  Pietz quoted him as saying about Christina-Taylor Green. Loughner told Pietz that he “deserved the death penalty and that he realized the consequences of his actions.”

There were signs that Loughner struggled with mental illness long before the shooting incident. Based on his journal, Pietz concluded that he had shown signs of depression since 2006 and may have developed symptoms of schizophrenia in his junior year of high school. Classmates at Pima Community College described him as a strange and eccentric student; professors spoke of his “disorganized thought process,” Dr. Pietz said.

The NY Times reported that Loughner’s parents testified that at one point he asked them if they could hear the same voices he had been hearing. In written answers to her questions, his parents told Pietz they were worried he would kill himself. In videos he made, Mr. Loughner said that, he, “felt depressed, and that he had the urge to kill someone.”

Clearly, Loughner was struggling with both schizophrenia and depression, but once he began a treatment, he was a completely different person. You may be thinking that all I’m doing in this entry is defending a horrible monster. In actuality, I’m not. I’m remembering those who were victims of his rampage.

You see, I was a person who was capable of doing horrific things in a state of undiagnosis. I've shared often that pre-diagnosis I frequently considered suicide, but that's not the whole story. The night I was hospitalized I went psychotic and, in that state, who knows what I might have done. But for the grace of God maybe that jail cell could have been mine.

Which leads me to a question. Why do you suppose so many people who commit crimes of this magnitude are known to have struggled with some form of mental illness? It’s not coincidence, folks. It’s a pattern; one that’s occurring all too often. Locking the mentally ill up after the crime has been committed may be a short-term solution, but in the long run wouldn’t it be better to get these people help before it’s too late. Randy Gardner, who was one of Loughner’s victims decried the lack of mental-health care for people like Loughner saying, “We really have to be our brother’s keeper here and reach out and get them help.”

I couldn’t agree more. I believe that many crimes such as these are preventable. I can say this with confidence because medication has literally saved my life. Much like Judge Burns described Loughner as being “a different person,” that is how I feel about myself. For me going off meds isn't even an option. I know what my life was like before I took them. It was, awful, horrible, a dark place that I never want to go back to.

Here’s the deal folks; mental illness is real. It is ugly. And, unless it’s dealt with beforehand, it can be lethal. In the end it’s about being our brother’s keeper; getting help for the mentally ill, but it’s also about ensuring that there will be no more innocent victims like Christina-Taylor Green.

 

death stares us in the face

I received bad news from my hometown this past week. One of my mom’s former colleagues died tragically while on a canoeing trip. When I read the article concerning the accident, it was hard to believe that he was gone. Just like that. What hit home for me most was that this man, this fifty year old, died so unexpectedly. 

The news brought with it a sense of the finality of death. Life flashes by so quickly. You never know which day will be your last. Accidents happen, cancer happens, diseases happen. And in the midst of the pain and grief it’s easy to wonder if God even cares about our suffering and loss. But when I look at all that Jesus did when he lived on this earth, I have to believe that God cares. 

¹² A funeral procession was coming out as [Jesus] approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. ¹⁴ Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” ¹⁵ Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Luke 7:11-17 (NLT)

Jesus’s heart overflowed with compassion for this widow, as did his Father’s. Remember that time when Jesus said anyone who has seen him has also seen the Father? Rest assured, Jesus’ love for that widow was a mirror of his Father’s love. 

When bad things happen, it’s easy to rail against God, believing the worst of lies; that He doesn’t care; He’s detached from our lives; He just lets cruel things happen to people to keep us all in line. 

But consider the stories about Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Jesus’ friends, his good friends. One of the last stories we hear of them in the Bible is one of the most extraordinary tales ever told. 

When Jesus is told that Lazarus is sick, he doesn’t run full speed to save his friend. In fact, the story reads that after he received the news, he stayed where he was for two more days. What a way to treat your friends, right? How could Jesus do this to those who were so close to him? 

But you see, God had a bigger plan a better plan--one that involved the death of someone Jesus loved. Out of Lazarus’ death many good things were about to happen--including the fact that many who saw Jesus raise Lazarus would put their faith in him. Not to mention the fact that Jesus revealed his power—his Father’s power over death.

There is one portion of this story that truly intrigues me. If Jesus knew he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, why did he cry? You remember it, the shortest verse in the Bible; Jesus wept. I’ve always wondered this; why did Jesus cry even though he knew that in a matter of moments, he was going to bring Lazarus back to life. I think it’s this part of the story that gives us a good peek into the love and compassion God truly has for us all.

³³ When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he ^uwas deeply moved⁵ in his spirit and ^vgreatly troubled. ³⁴ And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ^35 wJesus wept. John 11:33-35 (ESV)

That short but sweet little verse gives a pretty good glimpse into our Father’s heart. You see, I don’t think Jesus was weeping because Lazarus was dead. As I stated, he knew he was going to raise him to life. I think the real reason Jesus cried was because he hurt for his friends. Some translations read that Jesus was indignant. Death was never supposed to happen; it wasn’t part of the Maker’s plan. 

My heart hurts for the families that experience the death of a lost one. I understand the pain that they’re going through. If I can hurt like that, think about how much our Father hurts for His people whose hearts are aching. Though it’s difficult to understand the reasons why, we can trust the One who sent His son to suffer and die so that we wouldn’t face an eternity without Him. That’s the joy of eternal life. That’s the joy of heaven, a place where there will be no more death, or crying, or pain. Even though your heart is breaking, trust in him—the One who will wipe every tear from our eyes. He cares. He really does.

⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’^[a] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:4 (NLT)