Have you ever looked up in the sky on a clear day and seen con-trails crisscrossing the sky? Commercial aircraft have certain lanes they travel in. On a clear day when the atmosphere allows the con-trails to remain, you look up and see big X’s or crosses in the sky. I wonder about the many lives crisscrossing, intersecting without knowing it. It makes you wonder about events that shape and direct our lives. Occasionally we recognize a crossroad and we approach it with the opportunity to analyze, discuss, pray, and decide which course is best to take. However, I believe that sometimes crossroads come and go when we are least aware. Like the contrails, the people in Airplane A never new that the people in Airplane B crossed their trail at 500 miles per hour headed a completely different direction.
Today for me was one of those days. I didn’t see any contrails, but it just seemed to be a day when I was able to observe lives crossing in front of me at tremendous speeds. Some believe they had chosen their course. Others are more aware of being compelled a certain direction by factors well beyond them. My reason for documenting this is that I am aware. Like the guy on the ground seeing the contrails, I am aware. The 700 people on the move are unaware that they just zipped through a crossroads. But from where I sit, I can see it clearly. So the following are simply my observations of the what I saw on the crossroad
I am away from home. I am in Yakima, living in a hotel, taking care of construction business for the Bank. I do this weekly, spending a couple of days a week away from home. My son Jeff and his wife, Charity have been trying to set up a meeting where we could pray for a man who is losing his battle with hepatitis. They envisioned the four of us visiting him and his wife, taking communion and praying for this man. Charity, who is aptly named, has such a heart of compassion. Jeff is faithful and generous. Charity is compassionate. They wanted Helen and me to lead the prayer. Someday they will know that by virtue of how God made them, they can access the spiritual power they want to see loosed. However, Pastor Tom has graciously agreed to step in on my behalf. Shane, the man who is attacked by hepatitis, is in a battle for his life. The Doctors are recommending that Hospice be called in to look after him. This development is after years of Shane having hope for a transplant. That is now not an option. Hospice is the best suggestion the Doctors have.
While in Yakima, I work out of a small branch on Summitview Avenue. I also have an office in the main Yakima building, but many times I prefer the quiet and relaxed atmosphere in Summitview. Vanessa, a young pretty teller there asked me, “How was your weekend?” Thinking that she was simply posing an obligatory conversation opener, I responded, “Fine, how was yours?”
She began, “Saturday was the annual parade in Selah. (Selah is a small town just west of Yakima. I don’t know the history behind its name, but I like it). As a former princess, I accompanied the Queen’s float. It has the Queen and 4 princesses on it. The Queen stands on this high perch. The only way she can get up there is by a ladder. Just as the parade started, it started to rain. It poured buckets the entire length of the parade. At the end it took them an extra 20 minutes to find the ladder and get the Queen down. Just after it was all over, it stopped raining, the sun came out and it was real nice.”
Vanessa was half-smiling as she told the story. What a picture! What a slice of life. If you were a filmmaker you couldn’t have asked for a more intriguing scene. The Queen of Selah being drenched in rain the entire parade route.
This afternoon, at the Summitview Branch, I looked out the window of my office and saw several police cars circling the branch. Sometimes this means that a teller has triggered a silent alarm. I jumped up and carefully observed the lobby. Just then, the Branch Manager came up and said, “They are blocking off the streets. A motorcade is coming through. Vicente Fox, President of Mexico is coming through here on his way to the airport.” I remember hearing that Fox was going to visit a big apple orchard near Yakima today. He apparently had done that and was on his way back.
We stepped outside to the sidewalk and noticed all the police cars blocking intersections. After a couple of minutes, a motorcade came down Summitview. First came about 7 motorcycles. Then came 3 police cars. Then came about 4 Suburbans. Then about 4 unmarked cars, then a bus with reporters. We figured the second Suburban had the important people in it. As it whisked by, a lady in the back seat looked straight at me and waived. I reflexively waived back. Eeeeuww! I just waived at Governor Christine Gregioire. President Fox was in Yakima because they had planned an event where an orchardist was going to tell him that he needed workers. I hope Fox told him that he already had a job.
I actually have some questions about this. What is the Mexican President doing coming up here looking for work? Are they all up here now? Did he turn out the lights when he crossed over to the US? Is he going to go back or just send money down to his family? This is the most hotly debated issue in America. It has more profound implications for the future of America than our war in the Middle East. I personally got to see the President of Mexico and his contrail of security vehicles pass by. Where most leaders find ways to increase employment in their countries, Fox is paving a way for US to employ his people; legally or illegally. His biggest employment initiative is to ensure that the emigration of his citizens from his country continues unabated.
Helen called and told me that a man out of my past was trying to reach me. John was a former building official for the City of Kennewick. He is about 70. He fell last year and suffered some bleeding of the brain. I had heard that he had undergone brain surgery in Seattle last year. But I had just lost track. Today he was calling from home. He had been undergoing rehab to learn to walk again for a whole year.
John has been a great friend. As a Kennewick Building Official, he would visit construction sites and either pass or fail the contractors job progress. I would periodically get visits from contractors who would come to me distressed because John flunked their project. The contractor would have all kinds of choice words to describe John. Indeed, John had a legendary reputation. He knew how to make millionaire contractors shake and beg forgiveness. In the middle of the contractor’s venting, I would let him know that I had no better friend than John. Then I would advise the contractor that if he took the same attitude, his troubles would disappear. “If John is telling you to change the way you are framing this building, then I would thank him for the advice and do it.”
Well, John’s message today was that he was very proud. His challenge was to take three steps on his own. After a year, he did it. It meant that he could come home. He proved the doctors wrong. His therapist never gave up. She worked with John for the entire year. His speech was slow, but we talked and laughed for about an hour.
I have reflected on these four incidents. Shane, the Selah Queen, President Fox, and John. Their stories all crisscrossed in front of me today. John and his ability to walk 3 steps seemed the happiest.
I know that we are all in God’s hands. There is nothing that happens to us that he doesn’t already know about. He helps us to endure. He laughs with us. He gives us individual strength all the while He is shaking the governments around us. Those crisscrossing contrails can be so complicated. I like it when they form a big cross in the sky. It is a reminder to me that I can fully trust in Him. And that is the truth.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Thanks Ahmadinejad, this war IS about God.
Matthew 24:11 says, “`and many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray;
It shouldn’t be a surprise anymore when we see one. The thing that I like about Ahmadinejad of Iran is that he is growing in recognition as a prophet. He isn’t just a radical leader of a renegade country. Many Muslims believe that when he spoke to the U.N. a radiance of light appeared around him. They are now saying that the words he wrote in his 18 page letter to President Bush were divinely inspired. This is not the case for the other tyrants who profess to hate America. Kim of North Korea wants to be thought of as deity, but he is far from it. The Taliban acted under “religious authority” but it was not recognized outside of their sect. Saddam was, well, he was just a thug even though he had many statues of his own likeness erected in Iraq. This man Ahmadinejad is being given credit for hearing from the Muslim’s 13th prophet.
Even though I have not read the content of the 18 page letter, from what I understand, he is carrying out a Muslim prerequisite. He must give us an invitation to convert to the Moslem faith. If we do not then he is compelled to wage war against us. I love it that he has separated the issues. Our most important issue is whether or not he is making nuclear weapons. That’s a minor issue to Ahmadinejad. The real issue to him is the incompatibility of our gods. Simply put, if we are not for his god we are against him. He calls our God the Great Satan. He hates Christianity. He hates Israel. They are the enemies of his god. He regularly prophesies that Israel will be wiped off the map. Any attempt on our part to call him on such a statement falls of deaf ears. He does not hear the leaders of other countries. He only listens to this mysterious 13th prophet for further direction. I like this guy.
Why do I like him? He is making us face the reality of what this war is all about. From the beginning, since 9-11 we have tried to define the conflict as us against a radically militant portion of an otherwise peaceful people group. We have done this for two main reasons:
1. An attempt to marginalize the militants and separate them from the Muslims who have not taken up arms against us.
2. An attempt to define this as something other than a religious war so that our secular western culture and the press that serves it would hopefully stay engaged on our side.
Because our western society is now predominantly secular, it just does not have the understanding of what this war is all about. I am quite sure that our western society believes that it can be neutral in this whose God do you choose? issue that Ahmadinejad is forcing on us. I believe that God will use this conflict to destroy the neutral position.
This man has signed on with the enemy of God. He is fearless and determined on the issue of who we will serve. To him, issues of oil and nuclear power are merely tools for the real issue. Up to now we have only had powerless false prophets show up. This one has power and craves more. And he doesn’t crave it to bask in it; he craves it to use it for his god. We have been waiting for him. I believe that he will unify the Muslim world like never before, and unless he is stopped soon, he will convert many in Europe, Asia, and even in the Americas to the Moslem faith. They will see their choice as converting and joining in his power, or become relegated to a powerless, impoverished existance.
Am I saying that Ahmadinejad is the anti-Christ? Matthew 24: 24 says: “For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great miraculous signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones.”
I believe he is one of many to come. Know this. The Messiah will not come in the form of a leader of a country. He will not come out of a deep well as the Muslim 13th prophet is said to be coming.
Matthew 24:27 says, “"For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Yes, the real Messiah has a much grander entrance in mind.
We have the false prophet Ahmadinejad before us as a sign that Jesus Christ is on his way.
It shouldn’t be a surprise anymore when we see one. The thing that I like about Ahmadinejad of Iran is that he is growing in recognition as a prophet. He isn’t just a radical leader of a renegade country. Many Muslims believe that when he spoke to the U.N. a radiance of light appeared around him. They are now saying that the words he wrote in his 18 page letter to President Bush were divinely inspired. This is not the case for the other tyrants who profess to hate America. Kim of North Korea wants to be thought of as deity, but he is far from it. The Taliban acted under “religious authority” but it was not recognized outside of their sect. Saddam was, well, he was just a thug even though he had many statues of his own likeness erected in Iraq. This man Ahmadinejad is being given credit for hearing from the Muslim’s 13th prophet.
Even though I have not read the content of the 18 page letter, from what I understand, he is carrying out a Muslim prerequisite. He must give us an invitation to convert to the Moslem faith. If we do not then he is compelled to wage war against us. I love it that he has separated the issues. Our most important issue is whether or not he is making nuclear weapons. That’s a minor issue to Ahmadinejad. The real issue to him is the incompatibility of our gods. Simply put, if we are not for his god we are against him. He calls our God the Great Satan. He hates Christianity. He hates Israel. They are the enemies of his god. He regularly prophesies that Israel will be wiped off the map. Any attempt on our part to call him on such a statement falls of deaf ears. He does not hear the leaders of other countries. He only listens to this mysterious 13th prophet for further direction. I like this guy.
Why do I like him? He is making us face the reality of what this war is all about. From the beginning, since 9-11 we have tried to define the conflict as us against a radically militant portion of an otherwise peaceful people group. We have done this for two main reasons:
1. An attempt to marginalize the militants and separate them from the Muslims who have not taken up arms against us.
2. An attempt to define this as something other than a religious war so that our secular western culture and the press that serves it would hopefully stay engaged on our side.
Because our western society is now predominantly secular, it just does not have the understanding of what this war is all about. I am quite sure that our western society believes that it can be neutral in this whose God do you choose? issue that Ahmadinejad is forcing on us. I believe that God will use this conflict to destroy the neutral position.
This man has signed on with the enemy of God. He is fearless and determined on the issue of who we will serve. To him, issues of oil and nuclear power are merely tools for the real issue. Up to now we have only had powerless false prophets show up. This one has power and craves more. And he doesn’t crave it to bask in it; he craves it to use it for his god. We have been waiting for him. I believe that he will unify the Muslim world like never before, and unless he is stopped soon, he will convert many in Europe, Asia, and even in the Americas to the Moslem faith. They will see their choice as converting and joining in his power, or become relegated to a powerless, impoverished existance.
Am I saying that Ahmadinejad is the anti-Christ? Matthew 24: 24 says: “For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great miraculous signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones.”
I believe he is one of many to come. Know this. The Messiah will not come in the form of a leader of a country. He will not come out of a deep well as the Muslim 13th prophet is said to be coming.
Matthew 24:27 says, “"For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Yes, the real Messiah has a much grander entrance in mind.
We have the false prophet Ahmadinejad before us as a sign that Jesus Christ is on his way.