Continuing a quick series on what people I trust are writing about racism, here’s an article by Marvin Olasky, editor-in-chief of WORLD Magazine, a Conservative Christian news magazine, dean of the World Journalism Institute, and the author of 26 books including Fighting for Liberty and Virtue and The Tragedy of American Compassion. I commend to you the whole article in which he’s responding to his conservative readership who apparently disagreed with something nice Marvin had said about Floyd George. Here are a few snippets:

I’d challenge your characterization of him as a “thug”: Floyd came out of prison in 2013 and by some accounts was a changed man over the next seven years.

Does it matter that Floyd grew up in Houston’s Third Ward in the Cuney Homes housing project…? Does it matter that he was more than 6 feet tall in middle school and didn’t get much of an education except in football and basketball, so when he wasn’t good enough to go pro he wasn’t trained in anything? … Floyd after prison volunteered with Resurrection Houston church, which held many services on the Cuney Homes basketball court. Does it matter that he apparently set up chairs and a bathtub on the court for baptisms, and went door to door with Pastor Patrick Ngwolo, letting residents know about Bible studies and grocery deliveries?

I have read about the century of racism that contributed to the Third Ward and many other wards becoming tough places. I oppose the politics and philosophy of the Black Lives Matter organization, but books I’ve reviewed in WORLD show that for a long time black lives didn’t matter, much, in the eyes of many whites. You might read Douglas Blackmon’s Slavery by Another Name, which shows the virtual post-Reconstruction re-enslavement of sharecroppers and others, and David Oshinsky’s Worse Than Slavery, which describes Jim Crow justice. Concerning recent years, Jason Riley’s Please Stop Helping Us shows How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed. -Marvin Olasky, July 16, 2020, in World Magazine.

Marvin goes on to write about what George Floyd might have become had he been given a second chance. Again, you can read the whole article here.

I think sometimes we forget that we were all saved by grace.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2.1 – 5, NIV, emphasis mine)

[Peter said, ] “No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we [good, religious Jewish people] are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15.11, NIV)

Then his master summoned him and said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. (Matthew 18.32 – 35, ESV)

From time to time I’ve tried to draw our attention to the racial issues confronting us. I like it when others are doing the same thing: helping those of us who are white to see the other side.

My friend and fellow-Navigator Bill Mowry wrote about what he is learning from two black friends and the prophet Amos. Here’s a snippet:

Dean [an African-American friend of Bill’s in his late 50s] would be routinely stopped as he drove through a wealthy white neighborhood. His wife, who was white, drove the same car on the same streets but was never stopped. I now saw racism through the eyes of a friend. Something seems wrong when people are treated as racial stereotypes.

Clarence was a young African-American pastor in my leadership network. In a casual conversation one day, he said that he just had “the talk” with his young sons. I cracked a joke about the “birds and the bees talk” but he said this talk was on another subject. “I explained to them to that they should keep their hands in their pockets when entering a store. People would quickly accuse them of shoplifting. Black males are not always welcomed in a lot of stores,” he said.

I never had a conversation like this with my two sons. Something seems wrong when people are treated as racial stereotypes. – Bill Mowry, 
https://alongsider.com/2020/07/09/the-walls-are-dissolving/, emphasis mine.

Bill went on to say he started to see God confront these same issues through the prophet Amos:

Then I met Amos, the Old Testament prophet. Amos didn’t specifically address racism. Instead, he indicted Israel’s practice of economic cruelty. He confronts Israel again and again for her economic injustice. Here’s one sample:

Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him . . .you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. (Amos 5:11-12)

Amos challenged me to consider combining issues of justice and righteousness with the Great Commission. He confronted the wall I had built between social issues and making disciples. -Bill Mowry

His whole article is worth the read.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4.1 – 16, ESV)

A pastor friend of mine is watching the videos I shot for Officers Christian Fellowship, and he had a very insightful comment on Video #4 in which I talk about Indifference, defined by Ignatius of Loyola as:

Being detached enough from things, people, or experiences to be able either to take them up or to leave them aside, depending on whether they help us to “to praise, reverence, and serve God” (Spiritual Exercises 23). 

I always cite Philippians 4.11 – 13 as Paul practicing indifference. Chip referred me to 1 Corinthians 7.29 – 31, which could also be taken as recommending “Holy Indifference:”

This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7.29 – 31, ESV)

P.S. The videos will be posted for a while, I’m assuming. HOWEVER, there is a one-time, live Q&A session Tuesday, July 21, beginning at 7p, MDT. You can click the link to sign up for it. I’d love to see you then!

We’ve passed four months of COVID lockdown, and compared with many people, the impact on us has been minimal. We do a lot of our work at home anyway. We live on a street where we can walk without running more than a couple people. We’ve only had one acquaintance diagnosed with COVID, and she recovered. We’ve had to socially isolate, and I’ve lost a few speaking engagements, but our exposure to the really bad COVID effects has been through the news, and we don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on the news.

That said, this story grabbed me. It first started circulating about a week ago: A 30-year-old man in Texas attended a “COVID Party” – an event designed to expose people to the virus. In his case, it was a fatal mistake. One of the last things he said to his nurse was:

I think I made a mistake — I thought this was a hoax, but it’s not.

It’s a warning about COVID and a life lesson beyond COVID.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 16.25, ESV)

All at once he follows her…he does not know that it will cost him his life. (Proverbs 7.22, 23, ESV)

I don’t think the Denver airport is that hard to navigate for a relatively large facility. The public has access to levels 4, 5, and 6. You drop people off to fly out on Level 6. You pick them up on Level 4. Level 5 coming and going is reserved for commercial vehicles, and that’s also where baggage claim is. When I’m picking someone up, I tell them: get your bags, go down one level, walk outside, and call me with the door number and color. The color tells me whether to come to the east or west side of the terminal. That’s all.

So I was surprised to see a post on NextDoor recently from someone who said he’s flown in and out of Denver for over 20 years and just figured out what’s going on by going on-line and engaging with a map.

There have to be lessons there. First, never assume that just because people have similar experiences to yours that they know what you know or think the way you think. Second, as I wrote a few days ago, pay attention! Yogi Berra said:

You can observe a lot by just watching.

Finally, if you’re a teacher, and we all teach someone something, it’s a good reminder that

• Telling is not teaching
• Listening is not learning
• (And now we can add) Looking is not seeing

Jesus saw a man… (Matthew 9.9, John 9.1)

I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction… (Proverbs 24.30 – 32, ESV, emphasis mine)

Yesterday I wrote about the new director of The Navigators’ Military Ministry affirming what the “main thing” is for that ministry. I hope it’s clear to readers of this blog that I’m advocating we all have a main thing and that main thing should revolve around following Jesus wherever we are: neighborhood, work, school, church, clubs, etc., just as Jesus himself learned to be “about his Father’s business” even in Nazareth.

I wrote earlier that I was inspired by an obituary in which the deceased was described as one who “lived the great adventure of seeking God and loving people…” I have since refined my adaptation of that to seek God, love people, teach others to do the same. Here is a current version of “My Main Thing:”

There is a war going on, and I am engaged under Jesus’ banner. My joy is to advance his Kingdom. And how does the Kingdom advance? “Not with swords loud clashing nor roll of stirring drums. With deeds of love and mercy, the heavenly kingdom comes.” (From stanza two of Lead on O King Eternal)

Therefore, I will be SaLTy: 

• Seek God
• Love people
• Teach others to do the same

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. (Ezra 7.10, ESV)

You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5.13 – 16, NIV)

I have been around The Navigators since 1967, and I am forever grateful that they taught me:

• The priority of daily time with God in the word and prayer
• The power of personal attention in one-to-one disciple-making
• The privilege of passing on what I am learning to others

In other words, as our motto says, “To know Christ, make him known, and help others do the same.”

June and I came on staff formally in 2001, and here’s what I’ve observed. A strength of The Navigators is that we are always assessing how we’re doing and thinking about how to do our ministry better. A weakness of The Navigators is that we are always assessing how we’re doing and thinking about how to do our ministry better! (This is my unofficial observation!)

The result has been a seemingly ever-increasing list of emphases, goals, areas of concern, etc. Therefore, I really appreciate what fellow-Navigator Terry Wichert, newly installed director of The Navigators’ Military Ministry, wrote to those serving in the Military Ministry. Here’s a sample:

Where will we focus? If you have had your ear to the ground these past many months, you have heard and sensed some things that are receiving increased attention throughout our Navigator work. [He lists a few of those things.] All of these are right and necessary, and we will indeed aggressively pursue these things, and others, at the appropriate time and in mission appropriate ways.

Still, that hardly answers the question—Where will we focus? 

Let me state plainly and unapologetically that our main thing will be what it has always been: raising up, training, developing, resourcing, empowering, and releasing passionate, committed, reproducing, military, first responder, and ROTC disciple-makers who will do the same for others. – Terry Wichert, Director of Military Ministry for The Navigators (emphasis his)  

Amen. With leadership like that The Navigators organization is still headed in the right direction! I will close with the scriptures that Terry opened and closed his letter with.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28.18 – 20, NIV)

The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)

We always seem to be looking for reasons to exclude someone from our fellowship or judge whether or not they’re really “Christian.” 

I just heard of two brothers in their 70s. The older brother was worried about the younger’s faith, maybe because the younger didn’t attend “the right kind of church.” Until the younger one died and the older one went to his memorial. There he found out a lot of things about his brother he didn’t know: mission trips, for example; people he had helped, causes he supported. In short, the younger brother was a strong believer, just different from the older brother.

How often have you heard something like, “I’m worried about whether that person is a “real Christian” because:

• They drink alcohol
• They don’t go to X kind of church
• They do go to Y kind of church
• His hair is too long
• Her hair is too short
• They voted for X
• You fill in the blank…

I’ve had two people question whether or not Pope Francis is a “true Christian” and one of them is Catholic! There’s no end. 

A reviewer of the movie The Two Popes captures the issue well:

[Pope Benedict and Cardinal Bergoglio’s] debate is one that is raging inside every faith community on Earth: Is religion a tent that expands and adapts, allowing more and more seekers under its protective folds? Or is religion a mighty bulwark that the righteous run into for safety against the buffeting storm of modernity? https://www.primetimer.com/barnhart/two-popes

The Jewish believers in Acts 15 were clearly on the side of a bulwark, as are others I’ve written about before.

But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” (Acts 15.5, ESV)

But that view did not win the day. It makes one wonder why we still hang on to it. Here are other snippets of the Acts 15 discussion:

[Peter said, ] “Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” (Acts 15.10, 11, ESV)

[James said, ] “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” (Acts 15.19, NLT)

Paul wraps it up.

So don’t put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. (Colossians 2.16, MSG)

P.S. Right after I wrote this I read a news report of crazy stuff going on with a particular denomination with respect to some serious issues. I’m not talking about those here. And remember, Dr. Howard Hendricks said, We must be able to discriminate between what cannot change and what must be changed.

Last week this time June and I were staying in a cabin at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. This was the view from our front porch:

1  The heavens declare the glory of God, And the firmament shows His handiwork.
²  Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.
³ There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.
⁴  Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
⁵  Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
⁶  Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat. (Psalm 19.1 – 6)

To conclude our little series on discipline in which we’ve observed:

• There really is no growth in anything, even spiritual growth without discipline
• Discipline requires step-by-step instruction, not just motivation
• If people don’t act on my attempts to motivate them, it’s not motivation – it’s just words.

Finally, let’s remind ourselves that discipline isn’t a dirty word. The disciplined life is the joy-filled life!

I love this picture a friend of mine posted soon after the COVID lockdowns started. Notice her comment: “Our new normal. Looks a lot like everyone else’s.” And there are her three kids, sitting at simple desks doing their schoolwork. Except it’s not “a lot like everyone else’s” normal. It’s disciplined. Contrast comments from her friends. “My house is not that clean nor my kids that productive.”

Question: in which house is there likely to be more joy? 

For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly. (Proverbs 5.23, NIV)

The fruit of the spirit is…joy…and self-discipline. (Galatians 5.23, 24)

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. (2 Timothy 1.7, NASB)