Henny Penny and Seismic Indicators

    Is the sky falling, or have the foundations shifted?  Maybe both but one's perspective determines whether the problem descends from the sky or erupts from the earth.  To those who believe that America is a Christian nation or once was,  the decisions of the Supreme court plus the stand of the President, the triumphalism of Liberalism, and the  seeming avalanche of culture with it's media suggested inevitability is galling, threatening, horrifying, and enraging.  To these folk the judgment of God has either already begun, or will come soon.
    To those who want somehow to be a  Christian witness of the Gospel, with compassion for those in homosexual angst and desire, who believe that Christians are and ought to be a witnessing minority in a world of wickedness (and that without being judgmental or condemning), and that somehow those fundamentalists who are nearly apoplectic represent a terrible witness to the Gospel, are urging a calm, cool, and dispassionate response.
    Though I have some sympathy in both directions I don't think we can or should settle for either option..  Of course there are others who claim to be believers who actually celebrate the Court's decision as an expression of justice and see no issue with allowing homosexuals to enjoy the legal privileges of marriage like everyone else.  Paint me homophobic, since I despise such an opinion.
    Those who hide in pietistic Gospel-speak, while certainly seeming sincere in their desire to be a loving and faithful witness in the midst of a fallen world seem to express no active theology of justice, politics, government, or culture.  One wonders how much of the island needs to be swept out to sea before somebody starts taking erosion seriously.  
    This mild reaction to worse and worse decisions by government, presidents, and the courts seems to imply that it doesn't matter if a nation endorses wickedness, applauds immorality, and allows injustice.  Maybe this is not your "injustice de jure."  I am an American, and though for me it was an accident of Providence (if there can be such a thing), I take my heritage seriously.  I like to consider myself a patriot (IRS leave me alone), but I am not a typical conservative.  I have lived my life for justice, for the poor, for the civil rights of African Americans.  I am inter-racially married.  Along the sojourn of my American experience I came to believe that freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to life,  were things we could and should never surrender, and we should pay with our lives if necessary to defend those freedoms.
    Yet, we seem to give our freedoms away now, incrementally, little by little.  While this is happening my Christian brothers and sisters either seem to be terrified or telling me nothing is wrong.  I find both in error, with one side acting as if they have no faith, while the other opinion is unbelievable in its naivete.  I don't ever think panic, fear, hatred, slander, rumor mongering, and lying are acceptable means of disagreeing with our cultural opponents.  I have seen this in some who might call themselves conservative Christians.  The believer should fear God, period.  God is mighty, He will win, and nothing the Devil, all demons, or the wicked can do will change that.  Whatever happens, we must always be hopeful in the love and victory of God.
    However, this doesn't mean the believer shouldn't be angry and realize there is something to hate.  One cannot be righteous without hating evil, and there is plenty of evil to hate.  It seems a lot of my gentle Christian friends find it easier to hate other Christians who embarrass them with their vitriolic demonstrations than the increasing spread of darkness and evil.  We should never hate people, even those whose very clothes we should hesitate to touch.  I think that if you are not bothered by  this development there is something wrong with you, and if you think that the effects of the SCOTUS opinion will not roll downhill speedily, and all of over our freedoms, well just you wait.
    Yes, there has always been evil in the world since mankind introduced it. No, I don't believe evil is always present to the same degree.  Yes, I do believe it grows and I do believe there are times in history when it has been beaten back and freedom and justice have prevailed.  Righteousness does exalt a nation, and sin is a reproach to any people and that fluctuates in history. The court did not force my state to recognize same sex marriage, yet, but it should never have allowed it to be recognized anywhere.  It is not a question of equality before the law but one in which  immorality is forced upon us as the new normal, and those who say it should not are labeled in a pejorative way by the majority of the justices in their official verdict.  What is next?  What political  pursuit will there be against those states who have taken a stand, against those churches, groups, and  individuals who resist this insidious perversion?
   You who tell me not to worry, what will I be able to do for you as your freedoms disappear, as your voice is stilled in the future since you refuse to use it now?  I am not surprised by sin, Lord knows I have enough of my own.  I am not calling for a return to a cruelty to the homosexual, or a failure to love.  I am calling for a sense of urgency not simply about our faith as Christians, but for the survival of our nation as a new tyranny grows.  We must resist this, we must become politically engaged, and we must not stand on the sidelines as if this doesn't matter. Those of you who only want to preach the Gospel gently to your neighbors, and live a life of love, why don't you care about your country?  Do you think the immorality of unbelievers has nothing to do with you, that you and  your children will escape the inevitable squeeze of relativism and the end of your freedom of conscience?  I suppose one shouldn't lose his head over power that sins; someone tell that to John the Baptist .
     I actually read American Christians who say it doesn't matter what happens to America.  Really?  What lazy, apathetic, pie in the sky escapism is that?  What terrible theology to not take life seriously, to not care about the injustice immorality always begets.  America's government is "of the people" so therefore it is us, and we will get what we stand and fight for or it will be taken by others whose vision for America's future is far different from the one for which we had hoped. In case you haven't noticed the other side is fighting for what they believe in.  And yes I think America is important, not because it is the new Israel, or the Kingdom of God, but simply because it is where we live, where I raised my children, where I hope my grandchildren can grow and experience one of the greatest nations the world has seen, that in the midst of its bloody struggle to be great is having its foundations dismantled, and what will we do then, and what turmoil will there be for the world as a result?

    

WHAT KINDA MAN YOU GONNA TURN OUT TO BE?

There are good men, and I want the ladies to know that.  There are good men who fail, but they're still good men.  I want the ladies to know that too.  Then there are men who should be better than they are, who seem full of potential and never seem to reach it or live up to anyone's expectations, including their own.  These men seem to constantly disappoint.  Then there are "worthless fellows," and these are bad men.  They hurt other people, and they enjoy it and encourage their friends in the pursuit of doing stupid things.  Then of course, there are just evil men; they wreak of evil, and violence, and crime. I would like the ladies to know the difference in all these types of men, and I would like the men to know themselves.

     What is important to realize is that each of these groups of men have varying degrees of intelligence.  They are not necessarily what they are because they are smart or stupid.  Men are not simply what they are because they are educated, or not.  Men are not what they are because they have wealth, or poverty.  In theology we speak of a couple of things that seem almost to be in contradiction.  We speak of depravity and all men possess this, yet, all men are image bearers of God.  All men come from some genetic background, some family background (whether stable, nuclear, broken, or destroyed) and it affects them, but not all in the same way.  How can men be both depraved and beautiful, gifted, yet without making any meaningful contribution?  This is the frustration of real life on a fallen planet.

    We need good men, and I'm not speaking for the Marines but for the world.  It is said, "clothes make the man" and of course they do not, but they do present a package.  Some men look for a package that sells, to themselves and to those they wish to impress.  There are men who develop a style of behaving, this too is packaging.  Put a depraved evil man in a uniform, make him a professional, and he is still a depraved evil man.  Here I speak not for the common depravity which cripples humans from knowing God, but that which defines character.  Many people are deceived by packaging, even those in the package.  If all you have is the clothes, and the style, but no substance well then the emperor truly has no clothes; if you follow my logical thread.

    One of the ironies of life is the story of grace and redemption.  It is ironic that a wicked man, full of evil, can be converted, transformed, and become a good man for the rest of his life.  Some don't believe this is possible but Christians live in the story and expectation of it all the time.  This has happened far too often in history for it to an unrealistic hope.  Truly horrible deeply flawed men have been "saved" and become great men, fathers, husbands, brothers, heroes, and dependable.  All men are inconsistent, but better to fail at being a failure and turn one's life around in a positive direction than otherwise.

    In elementary school they used to give out a report card and one of the evaluations was "fails to live up to his/her potential."  Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory, Non-satisfactory.  I remember being mad that my teacher failed to live up to my expectations by giving me a U one marking period in this category.  I wasn't sure what it meant but I knew it was negative.   I think I was eventually pleased to realize she thought I had potential.  How frustrating it must be for parents, women seeking decent husbands, children wishing they had a real and present father to have respectively a son, potential marriage partner, or progenitor who never quite makes the grade.  Some men will live their lives always to disappoint.

    We need good men, and I do speak for the parents, for the women, and for the children.  Starting from wherever they are, they need to up their game.  We need men who will stop pretending just to get the sex, the emotional support, the job, or ego stroking.  We need men who will stop living their lives to get over, or to be just enough and nothing more.  We don't necessarily call on men to be brilliant, talented, wealthy, good looking, well educated, and well dressed (though no one would complain about great icing on the cake).  We do call on men to be good, and to be great at it.  To have the character and fortitude to stand up for what is right and good, to not abandon a family, to not abuse or harm the weak.  We live in a world that confuses the packaging for what is in the box, the icing for what is in the cake, and surface for substance.  

   We don't get movies, television shows, or too much coverage of a man who (though not perfect), worked hard, plodded along, stood his ground not for ego or pride, picked himself back up when he fell, loved his wife, family, and friends, cared for the helpless and weak, and delivered himself a man when a man was needed.  Sometimes we think evil men should just be killed off, maybe sometimes they must, but we hope for  those radical conversions yet.  Sometimes we wish those men not living up to their potential would get a firm kick up the backside, because these are the men who frustrate us all.

   We also need women who will forgive, who will give us the break they want and need for themselves, who will have the sense to discern between momentary disappointments and a total disappointment.  It is manifestly true that in a world of corruption we need character, and we need grace to not only realize God's love for all of us with imperfect character, but grace to empower us to grow in godly character.  We, all of us, need good men.

Father's Day

   One part of my life for which I am tremendously grateful was given to me by God, my wife, and my children.  They are the ones who made me a father.  I am so glad I had the chance, the opportunity to be a Dad.  It was a precarious situation since I came to it with such poor preparation and equipment, meaning my own personality and sinfulness. So I am thankful to them, and most of all to the Lord God, who not only made me productive but gave me grace to serve as a father.
    I am thankful even to my own earthly father who abandoned me as a young child because he gave me the resolve never to leave.  I realized as the years went by how easy that would be, to leave and to give up.  There were certainly moments of lust and adulterous thoughts that could easily have led me to other women and the destruction of my marriage.  Much of my tenacity in staying was simply being loved by a great woman, the attraction she continues to hold for me in her own personal beauty, and her patience and forgiveness in putting up with my failures.
    My pride, my ability to fall into self-pity, my ability to be resentful and to hold a grudge, these were big threats to my faithfulness.  It was the grace of God that led me out of the labyrinth of those dark moments, usually after some argument or conflict.  Repentance, humility, the plea for mercy were the steps to reconciliation.  For me these things weren't easy, they were impossible, without the grace of God and the love of my wife.
    It was in the context of holding on to my marriage that gave me the place to be a Dad.  I didn't have to love my children on the week-ends, I didn't have to pay someone else child support, I didn't have to suffer being bashed by my spouse to my children.  She supported my role, my authority, and voice, my decisions, my discipline, and my love.  We were able to keep restraint on the other's temper, the other's laxity and permissiveness.  We kept each other from killing the children.
    Though my fear is that through my failures I have in part ruined them.  Certainly these wonderful children God gave me, one through adoption and the other three through natural birth, have seen some of my sin, some of my spiritual failure.  They have experienced my harshness and fierce anger, my bellowing menace.  They have suffered from my absence and neglect.  They have not enjoyed as much patience, tenderness, gentle instruction, affectionate encouragement and positive reinforcement as they needed and deserved.  I am amazed that they turned out so well.
    I knew always that they needed more than me.  If God was not their Heavenly Father they would not and could not have what they needed to face life, to endure hardship, to deal with their fallen-ness, their own depravity.  They would not have the One they needed to fall back on when even their earthly parents failed them, as we surely have, and do.
    As a pastor, as an Army Chaplain, I stole from them to give to others.  I was not always there, I missed games, birthdays, celebrations, important and historic events.  I made them go without because I chose to live a lifestyle, accept a salary, to do a ministry that deprived them of certain material things.  I made them sacrifice with me, I made them live my values.  I am honored that I have never heard them damn me for it, I am proud that they seem to have lived their lives unashamed of me or my calling.  I am so incredibly grateful for their love.
    I rejoice in the memories of every hug and falling asleep on my chest moment when they were babes.  I still am thrilled as I remember their jogging with me, climbing a mountain with me, wrestling with me, laying on my back as I did push-ups.  The moments when my grown daughter lies her head on my shoulder when we sit next to each other are exquisite.  To hear them laugh, have a sense of humor, to be insightful, discerning, critical and even sarcastic at political hypocrisy and pretense makes me admire them.  For them to be sincere in their faith, in their prayers, in their love for God and their passion to see the church be what God calls it be makes me not only proud, but impressed with them as saints.  I am thrilled to have my family for a posse of people committed to justice.
   I hope and I pray that I have not damaged them too badly, that they will not repeat my failures, that my modeling of parenting would make them want to be better than me. In their adult years  I don't want to fail them as their friend, the giver of sage advice, the listener, someone who can make their heart relieved and proud when the see the smile of approval on my face, or a look of forgiveness if they need it.  I hope I will succeed as a grandfather to their children. 
    So as we come to Father's Day, let me be the one to say thank you to my children.  You gave me a chance to be something great, to hold in my arms something of the future, and great potential for the world.  You gave and give me joy, and whether you are near or far in place, you are never far from mind and heart.  You have helped define me and give me meaning, and if you ever do anything great (and I expect that you will), or even just pretty good, then all glory to God!

THE PASTOR AND HIS MONEY

   So who do you get mad at when you don't have enough?  Do you get mad at God, the Elders, the congregation, your wife, or do you blame yourself?  Being a pastor, or a person in ministry, puts one in a peculiar position when it comes to needing more money or an increase in salary or pay.

    Money, the need and desire for it, does lots of strange things to people. When we are lacking in resources we can become afraid, fall into worry, and that anxiety can easily spill into self-pity or anger.  It is one thing to be a layperson who is frustrated with his or her boss due to lack of adequate income, but what do you do when the people of  God are those who are supposed to pay your salary?  

    Pastors and ministry leaders often take confusing (sometimes just bad) approaches to this problem, and if you are blessed and have a comfortable income then maybe you will have no appreciation for this issue.  Take heed that someday your real character traits might be revealed if and when you fall into financial stress.  Here are some tips:

1.  The way you think about money, spend, give or withhold generosity, go into debt, or complain are not symptoms of your wealth but of your spirituality (or lack thereof). 

2.  Resources come from God, not people, and as soon as you forget that you are in trouble.

3.  Anger, self-pity, or blame shifting due to financial problems are  not signs of faith.

4.  "Poor mouthing" to the congregation about your financial problems from the pulpit is manipulation and not a sign of integrity. A preacher has the power to use the pulpit to get members to give him private gifts, over and above his agreed compensation, and this is shameful.  

5.  It is necessary and right to clearly communicate to those who decide on your income about your financial situation, and your need for more compensation, if that should be the case.  How you communicate your needs will tell them much about the condition of your heart and will either increase their loyalty or drive them away.

6.  You have to decide if you are a "hireling" or an "owner" of the ministry to which God has called you.  If you are simply an employee you will think like one, grieve when not rewarded adequately, complain, blame the church, and eventually forfeit your right to lead them.

7.  You are expected to call the people to discipleship in their giving, but you must practice what you preach and lead by example.  If you call for faithfulness, sacrifice, or tithing you had better be doing it too.

8.  It is good and necessary to develop relationships with the wealthy members of your church, as with everyone.  Relating to the wealthy means you can "command" them to be rich in good deeds, as  you should.  If they seek to help you personally that is a blessing, as long as it is legal before government and without compromise of the ministry of the Word.  If you direct their primary giving to yourself and not the ministry you are being unethical.  Don't be guilty of hiding income from the government.

9.  If you are married and have a family your family has to share in your faith, and not drive you to fear or anger because you can't meet their demands.  Your qualification for leadership is revealed in the way you lead your family.  If you do not have the faith or the ability to live under the terms of the "call" you received don't accept it.  

10.  Don't translate your frustration with finances due to your consumer needs (including paying for Christian Education), falling into debt, unforeseen vehicle, medical, or other needs as a lack of God's love or a lack of care by the congregation.  Stop comparing yourself with the wealthiest members of the church and start comparing yourself with the poorest.  If God takes care of sparrows he will take care of you, trust him!

11.  No two congregations are the same so be very careful about salary comparison. Envy is not a good motive to jack up your salary.  If you think the primary financial mission of the congregation is to keep you in a comfortable lifestyle you have obviously missed what the church is supposed to be about.  Your quality of life goals: the size and beauty of your house, year, make, model and number of your cars, private education for your kids, graduate studies for yourself, etc.  are not the responsibility of your church.  They are perks, blessings, things to save and strive for, but not leverage for you to demand more income.

12.  You are worthy of your hire and the congregation should strive to adequately take care of you and your family, but you must measure the pressure you put on them with the understanding that believers should not give to God out of necessity or compulsion, but with cheerfulness. Part of their cheerfulness will come from seeing how gracious and loving you are, especially when you are stressed about money.

Gunshots In An Airplane

    I may be guilty of some sarcasm in this piece.  I'm not sure but let's start with this idea, since there are so many of us Christians, and we have no real enemies in the world, we can afford to take each other apart in pen and word, attempt to destroy each other's credibility, slander, besmirch, and ridicule without regard to consequences.
    Since the only real problems in culture, society, and the world are those caused by stupid, ignorant, or misguided preachers, blog and article writers, or authors who claim to be Christians we can spend most of our time attempting to dismantle their annoying opinions; especially if we feel they are in the least heretical, liberal, or just sloppy.  We can call them names, albeit in an intellectual way so as to make ourselves look incisive.  We can align them with known malefactors of condemned periods of church history, or even of despised current splinter groups, so that they couldn't possibly be taken seriously.
    Now, let me state straightforwardly that there are bad opinions and bad ideas and these things do have consequences.  There is orthodoxy, and thus there is heresy.  Bad ideas in fact have and can destroy individuals, families, congregations, denominations, and nations.  I really have no problem with identifying bad  ideas, and sometimes bad guys.  What bothers me is a cavalier attitude to the plane in which we are flying.
    I have never been on an airplane that was being hijacked.  I hope I never have to be in that situation.  My hope is that if such a thing did happen there would be a Sky Marshal on board who would protect us from the perpetrator.  I even hope the marshal is armed, but I really hope he/she is well armed and can shoot straight.  Have you ever seen one of those movies where the plane is depressurized?   A hole is ripped in the aircraft and things and people start flying out.  I have sometimes had apprehension of such when using the   toilets at 40,000 feet on an international flight.
    I think we Christians are on such a flight, and we are on it together.  We travel through the atmosphere of a foreign environment, and can easily forget how fragile the aircraft is in which we fly.  I think the way we treat each other sometime in public discourse is akin to untrained Sky Marshals who shoot at anyone who even gets out of their seat.  I think institutions are fragile things, and I also think that much of the younger generation knows little of how much effort, sacrifice, and discipline it takes to create them and hold them together.  I believe local churches are such fragile institutions, and Christian institutions like schools, colleges, denominations.  For a generation who has become enamored with creating virtual cities and empires, and can then erase them when bored, there seems little at stake in making no long term commitments to organizations and institutions, nor even loyalty to friends and brothers.
    Of course, there could be something said simply about learning how to love one another, "....love is kind,.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."  (I Cor. 13:4-7) NIV
    I like and enjoy things that are well written.  I enjoy humor, insightful critique, and even sarcasm.  I just know that sometimes we shoot too quick, too frequently, without aiming well and seem to have little thought of the damage and danger in which we all are placed.  I would think the atmosphere outside the plane was enough for us to be concerned about, but if there is danger on the plane, let's make sure our shots are well placed.

What is your definition of Normal?

    As I read various articles on the "normal" Christian life, and debates on whether or not we should call people to be "radical" it leaves me a bit puzzled.  I am just wondering where all these so-called "radical" want-to-be Christians are anyway?  It just doesn't seem to be a real problem.  Are people rushing into cities to save them, or save the people of the cities?  I just sort of feel left out, like I missed the stampede.
    I see gentrification sure enough.  I see young white people moving into cities and pushing to get jobs, internships, fellowships, etc.  I see them living pretty much normal middle class jobs, or attempting to break into business, education, or government careers.   Is that radical?  I thought it was just attempting to maintain the status quo, and in that I see very little prospect of Kingdom witness, let alone transformation of the cities, especially among the poor.
    Not that I despise these young Christian adults who want to make a cultural impact on the city, or the world.  Not at all, it is just that I would love to see them become part of churches that really want to include the poor in their church life, which is to say to include them in their economic, social, and cultural lives.  I would love to see the average, normal, middle class urban Christian be part of a church that makes the poor part of their family life, and not simply a service project.
    Of course to do that one has to have a vision beyond one's self, beyond the "normal" way of doing church or doing life.  One can be as isolated from the poor in the cities as in the suburbs.  It is not a new piece of data to realize the place with the fastest growth of poverty is in the suburbs, or at least selected suburbs.  Where else are the displaced supposed to go if no one has fought to provide a place for them to stay in the cities close to the services they need but now can't reach?
    Market forces aren't the only thing that can determine where people can live, sometimes vision that goes beyond a fast profit, that includes set asides, that includes preserving communities can actually create new circumstances.  I think the poor need the middle class, and they don't just need them to move in and be a good neighbor.  Loving your neighbor as yourself is absolutely essential, but the poor have always needed a more aggressive love than that since their lives have become so dysfunctional. Preaching the Gospel to the poor creates certain relationship implications.  That is one reason churches of thirty something middle class people who move into poor communities with no overall church strategy or vision to do mercy and development with wisdom and care invite their members to become exhausted.  The really poor are too much for them, if they just live "normal" lives among them.  The end result can be a new callous detachment, and a cynical fatigue by being overwhelmed by systemic issues and problems.
   I would like to be a Biblical person myself, in the whole counsel of that idea.   Intensely pious in my love for Jesus, broken in my need for mercy and grace, loving in my relationship with all men and especially my brothers in the Faith, and full of faith and action when it comes to mercy and justice.  I want to be as extreme as Jesus in calling people to follow him, since I take it I am an just an echo of his call.  I expect to have to pull my own weight, to get an education, to hold a job, to support my family, to participate in my local church, to be a good citizen.  I also expect that I, and all who name Jesus as Lord, would seek those good works to do which he has ordained for us to do, and not just assume that caring for myself and my own is all that Jesus asks for me to do.  That would take a forced deafness, a determined distortion of Scripture, and an all too selfish agenda.

The News Gets Depressing

   It was one of those days where the culmination of one depressing cultural erosion after another just gives you a sense of sadness and dreams of revolution.  The horrible story of the Philadelphia abortion doctor, and then President Obama praising Planned Parenthood.  Then the basketball player telling the world about his sexual preferences, and tying it in with his Christian background, then President Obama calling and congratulating him.  Then a sports commentator expressing his disagreement with the practice of homosexuality while expressing tolerance for a fellow athlete, then being attacked and dissed by various organizations for his so called "hate."
    Then I see news of the Pentagon hearing from a certain individual, who thinks that open Christian witness and proselytizing is evil and dangerous, and wants to limit the behavior of military Chaplains.  It is pretty amazing how powerful simple name calling is when it comes to attempting to marginalize Evangelicals.  Mike calls us "monsters."
    On top of that I watched an NBA game and saw that hockey rules have evidently been introduced into playoff games, such as the physical beating going on at the Warriors versus Pistons game. Man, what is happening to the world?  Obviously some of these things are more important than others, some more evident of cultural erosion, some more telling of the death of morality and Truth and the elevation of worship at the idol of "freedom."
    Freedom is such a wonderful and beautiful thing, but without definition it is any man's weapon not simply to be but to take whatever he self-defines as his.  Freedom without foundation, without boundaries,  is no freedom at all but the colliding of electron like individuals, movements and causes, that tend to smash what would give them direction or form.
    Sometimes I feel the fuse burning of anger in my reaction to the maligning, slandering, mocking voice of those who (ignorant of history, ignorant of the constitution, ignorant of what is built on what) declare the patriot, the faithful citizen, the meek religious obedient tax payer to be dangerous and an enemy due to his audacity to express his religious opinion of what is disintegrating around him.  Wow, that was a long sentence.
   Today I was reading in the book of Psalms, Psalm 92 specifically.  "The senseless mean does not know, fools do not understand, that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.  But you, O Lord, are exalted forever.  For surely your enemies, O Lord, surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered."  (92:6-9)  Another version translated "senseless" as "stupid."  I took it  that God was calling me stupid, and after thinking about it I would have to agree with him.  I often forget that God is bigger than America, bigger than politics or cultural movements, bigger than loud mouth antagonists of my faith.  My anger is usually a sign of my weak faith in the fact that our sovereign God cannot be defeated or thwarted.  No plan can succeed against him.
    Oh, I do think culture and politics matter, and I think the weak, helpless, and children perish because of the injustice that is brought about by evil thinking.  Yet, my hope must be in a God who is still in control, and will be in control even if someone threw someone else in a fiery furnace for not bowing down to an idol.  "our God will deliver us O King, and even if he does not, we will not bow down."  (The book of Daniel).