Friday, April 3, 2009

It’s Friday, But Sunday’s Coming

How do you use your appetites? Your hunger? Your sexual desire? Your yearning for relationship?

Paul gave these questions some thought years ago and decided that the best place to channel them first is in pursuit of Jesus. He said, in effect, “I want to know Jesus, and I want to experience him and to become more like him.”

Hunger, sexual desire, and every other yearning are symptoms of a deeper need—the need to be close to Jesus. And Paul says don't give up. He says keep on running. Clearly, Paul's seen some track meets. He may have attended the Olympic Games a time or two.

Chariots of Fire is my all time favorite movie. Eric Liddell was Scotland’s greatest athlete and a favorite to win the 100 meter dash in the 1924 Olympic Games. He instead won the gold medal in the 400 meters, an event that was not his specialty, because he refused to run the 100 meter dash on Sunday. He thought to run was to violate the Sabbath. What a great moment, celebrated on film, of when an athlete sacrificed to honor God—and triumphed.

However, I also love Eric Liddell’s life after Chariots of Fire. As Phillip Hughes writes, Liddell, in 1925, received a degree in divinity and set sail as a missionary to China. In 1932, during his first furlough, he married his wife Florence. In 1941, facing the growing Japanese occupation, he sent his wife and three daughters to Canada to stay with her family while he remained to work among the poor and to serve them.

Liddle suffered many hardships, but he kept on running hard after Christ. And then in 1943 he was placed in the Weihsien Internment Camp where he again cheerfully served those around him. In 1945, at the age of 43, Eric Liddell died of a brain tumor that may have been caused by his malnourishment and overwork. His grave was marked by a simple wooden cross, with his name written in boot polish—a seemingly inglorious end to a man who desired to know Christ and live for him.

What you may not know is that after the producers completed the filming of Chariots of Fire, they flew to Canada to show preview the movie for Liddell’s widow. After the movie was over, they turned on the lights, and she was weeping. The producers were crestfallen. She did not like the movie.

No, she said, that was not the problem. She responded that Eric died thinking that he was a terrible speaker and that he failed in sharing Jesus. He had not made a difference.

No. Eric Liddell did indeed make a difference. You might say that he died pressing on for the gospel and pressing on to know Jesus. Let’s use our appetites to know Christ, instead of allowing our appetites to use us.

10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (Phil 3:10-21). New International Version (NIV)

The Stockholm Syndrome

One of the neat things about living in a college town is the interaction with college students. Tyler has a campus of the University of Texas here, which means we have dealings with graduate students. This week, a couple of graduate students from the UT Tyler psychology department, Amber Leech and Joni Bryant, asked to interview our family for a project.

The first question was something to the effect of, "What do you see as different about your family?" They asked our daughter Annie, who is age seven, to answer first. She replied, "Because we are not poor like my friends."

(I was thinking, “Uh, oh. Looks like we are going to need some damage control. I am sure all of the doctors and lawyers who are parents of Annie's friends at school would really appreciate that remark.”)

My son Timothy, who is age 6, said he liked our family because they have a bunch of toys.

(“Oh, great, now these graduate students are thinking we raised a family of materialists.”)

As I was dying a thousand deaths, things actually improved from there. As a matter of fact, I became concerned that all four kids’ answers were too good. They began telling the interviewers how calm our family life was, how there was peace in our home, how good we were as parents to them, how much fun they had being part of our family…. In other words, I began to ask myself, "Who are these kids?"

Then it hit me. I remember in the 70s hearing about terrorist groups such as the SLA (Symbionese Libertation Army), kidnapping individuals, including people who were famous. Sometimes, the kidnapped suffered from what they called "The Stockholm Syndrome." The Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages. It is the emotional attachment to a captor formed by a hostage as a result of continuous stress, dependence, and a need to cooperate for survival.

I thought to myself, “Our kids suffer from The Stockhome Syndrome!”

Book Review

A couple of weeks ago I finished the book, When Trumpets Call Theodore Roosevelt After the White House. I found it very interesting because of its focus exclusively on the post-presidential years of TR. TR lived about 10 years after he left the White House. But what a decade!

He spent the first couple of years on an expedition to Africa, followed by a tour of Europe meeting with heads of state. On that tour, he stopped by Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. He returned in time to jump in the political fray, landing with a nomination for President from the Bull Moose party.

Of course, most children cannot make it through elementary school without seeing a photo or drawing of Roosevelt shortly after he had been shot by John Schrank. The assassination attempt occurred in Milwaukee during October of 1912. The bullet passed through the manuscript of his speech, slowing it down and possibly saving his life, before entering his chest. Still, Roosevelt insisted upon going to his next speaking engagement. With blood oozing from his wound, and with sweat pouring out of his body, Roosevelt spent 80 minutes on stage, most of which was taken up by his speech. The TR legend grows!

With Republicans split between Taft and Roosevelt, TR lost the election to Woodrow Wilson. However, shortly thereafter, he received the opportunity to map out an unknown river in South America. The river had a name reflecting its mystery: River of Doubt. Shortly after Roosevelt and his small party began their expedition, they saw a transformation take place.

The expedition became an epic. Other than contending with fire ants, grasshoppers the size of sparrows, rapids, days lost as axes cleared paths on banks and made log rollers for transporting 2500 pound dugout canoes, bees, wasps, black flies, more rapids, termites, ticks, mosquitoes, 100° heat, rainy season, clothes and bedding permanently wet, bodies’ covered with insects, boils, fever, and dysentery, a drowning, days of delay spent hewing new boats from trees with axes, dogs losing tails to piranhas, hunger due to food running out and food loss to rapids, a murder, a murderer abandoned to the jungle, a discovery of natives never before seen by civilization, and rapids, rapids, and more rapids, not much happened.

The fever and infection made Roosevelt so sick that he begged members of the expedition, including his own son, to abandon him so that he might die and they might be spared the burden. They refused and his sickness and wounds probably bore major responsibility for his death in four years. However, one caveat to this episode, the Brazilian government changed the name of “River of Doubt” to “River Teddy” shortly after the expedition.

When World War I began, TR desperately wanted to raise a regiment and travel to Europe to fight. Woodrow Wilson turned him down. TR supported the war effort by speaking at bond drives and by providing four sons for the fighting. Quentin was the youngest. He was a pilot, who was shot down over German territory and killed. Out of respect for both Roosevelts, father and son, the Germans conducted a full military burial service and marked the grave with a cross and the English inscription, “Lieutenant Roosevelt, buried by the Germans, July 14, 1918.” A few days later, members of the German military flew over enemy lines to drop off a bundle containing Quentin Roosevelt’s effects.

The work that the Brazilian expedition had begun, aided and abetted by Quentin Roosevelt’s death, helped hasten TR’s demise. The fever and injuries had robbed TR of much physical vitality; the death of his son robbed him of his spiritual verve. He died a few months later on January 6, 1919 at the age of 60. Upon receiving word, Archie Roosevelt cabled his brothers Ted and Kermit, “THE OLD LION IS DEAD.” And he was.

Years later, Noel B. Gerson, wrote a biographical novel on Theodore Roosevelt. He said part of his motivation came from an event in childhood that he never forgot. In those days, before radio and television, afternoon newspapers were important sources of news. One day, he came home from school to find his father in the parlor, crying. The boy saw the afternoon newspaper and its headline, “Theodore Roosevelt: Dead.” And he understood.

Boredom Alley

Recently I completed listening to an abridged version of Ken Alder’s book, The Measure of All Things. It was captivating in some sections, tedious in others. The book tells the story of two astronomers from France who were seeking to establish the meter as the standard of measurement for France, Europe, and the rest of the world. Their theory was, the meter consisted of one-ten millionth of the distance between the North Pole and the equator.

Alder researched his book extensively. He discovered documents tucked away that had not been read for decades, documents that held a secret. It seems the two astronomers, Pierre-Francois-Andre Mechain and Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre, had arrived at separate conclusions.

What happened was this. Delambre was to travel the meridian north of Paris to Dunkirk, Ireland. Meanwhile, Mechain was to move south of Paris until he arrived at Barcelona, Spain. Alder narrates the amazing effort that was made to achieve this feat. Measurements were taken from the spires of church cathedrals and volcanoes. The astronomers worked for over seven years to measure one third of the earth.

Unfortunately, Mechain’s measurements disagreed with those of the Delambre. Panic stricken, Mechain covered up his mistake. His guilt led him to a breakdown and ultimately contributed to his death. It was after his death that the Delambre discovered what had happened. He chose not to reveal the truth.

So, the meter which is used worldwide today, is actually a fraction off. Those of you who lived back in the 70s may remember when the U.S. announced it was going to come in and join the rest of the world by using the metric system. This was so unpopular in our country that we never did truly connect with the world community. Not that Alder's findings in any way offer vindication, but it is still interesting the meter is wrong.

Students of geography, I think, will be fascinated by this book. Alder based much of his work on never-before-read letters and mission logbooks of the two men. The book was written in 2002. Seven years say history will not be change, but you never know.

Oops!

Many thanks to Jessica Boyd who caught a mistake in my blog of March 20. She wrote asking, “Did you mean Michael Moore, when talking about Ben Stein’s movie (‘Michael Moore did the Bowling for Columbine and the anti-Iraq war movie and the Cuba’s perfect healthcare movie….’)?”

I had written ROGER Moore. As I told Jessica, I did indeed mean Michael Moore. As far as I know, James Bond has nothing political to say about guns or health care.

I think my mistake ranks right up there with the time my friend mentioned in a sermon about the famous 1804 duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Unfortunately, or fortunately for those of us who wanted a good laugh, my friend said "Raymond Burr"--the actor who portrayed "Perry Mason" and "Ironside."

Management regrets the error.

Five things I think I think (a tip of the hat to Peter King for this idea)

1. Here’s how I see the Final Four: Villanova defeats North Carolina and Michigan State defeats Connecticut—both upsets. Next, I see Villanova upsetting Michigan State.

2. Saw a cleaned up version of Witness last night. Peter Weir’s 1985 tale holds up well. Harrison Ford is less like Indiana Jones in this movie—a nice change.

3. Most startling headline of the week came from the Dallas Morning News: “Romania May Allow Consensual Incest.” The law would apply to adults only, as if that would make the world community feel better.

4. I am pleased to have made it through Wednesday without receiving the Conficker computer virus, at least I hope that I have not.

5. Is it me, or is Queen Elizabeth really starting to look her age?

Have a great weekend!