My Thanksgiving Devotional

Deuteronomy 30

This is the end for Moses. Unbeknownst to those surrounding him, Moses is wrapping up a remarkable life. From where I sit, I wonder if he knew that he would never step foot into God's promised land? Here is a group that has waited for generations to be recognized as a legitimate nation. Here they stand just paces from that promised land presumably wrestling with the prospects of freedom and prosperity. My speculation here, but I'm just wondering if anxiety loomed over the people. Looking at their history, God's people existed either enslaved or wandering. Just beyond the ridge their new settling place awaited them. I imagine there could have been fear and conflict within the camp over the opportunity for self-rule while at the same time longing to have an established government to provide authority; being ruled a concept they had grown comfortable with. After all, the people groups that surrounded them were in fact nations, with a king and everything.

As usual, I am extremely grateful. So much to enjoy for such an undeserving person. This has been a year of finding those things that have been scattered and lost. There is a lot more to it than I have time or space to devote but the ability to dream has been restored. As the passage (found at the link above) directs, there were thick calluses that needed to be cut away.

I learned about myself this year that I had experienced at least a couple of years of depression. This is hard to admit but after some honest introspection and self-discovery exercises I came to learn that life's circumstances turned my focus away from God's power to direct me toward opportunity and blessing. I was making purpose and meaning more difficult than it actually is. The Lord taught me that meaning for my life isn't out of reach; in fact, all I needed was a mirror to see who God created. Those talents, attributes, convictions and what I had been taught had not evaporated. I just needed to become intense again in my obedience and devotion to the Lord my God.

And now, what has kept me going and what finally pushed me to break through the darkness is the fact that there is something I can do to initiate the power and authority of God in my life. That is, simply put, to reach back while realizing that there are two choices facing me--life or death. I was experiencing a slow death by not doing anything and believing that the best had come and gone. Now I am experiencing a rejuvenation. My dreams haven't completely come true yet, but the Lord is leading me through an adventure of learning new purpose and giving new opportunity to take hold of the blessing of the land that I possess.

Letting Off Steam

Stale, musty air filled the cabin as Jacoby and David boarded the plane. Quickly finding his seat, David stows his carry-on in the overhead compartment and sits down by the window. Coming down the isle, Jacoby sees that the seat next to David is empty, along with about a dozen other seats; unusually barren for a trip bound to southern California.

"Hey David, mind if I join you?," Jacoby inquires.

"Not at all," David replies, "I can't sleep on these damn things anyway."

Jacoby places his briefcase in the bin above and tosses his jacket alongside. Sitting down, Jacoby sighs, tired from his day and hoping desperately that this trip will land a new client. Sarcastically, as if to blow off some steam, Jacoby turns to David and remarks, "You don't want to drop a half million in premium billboard space and full page glossies in five general interest rags do you?"

"Actually, put me down for an even mill," David jabs back.

Chuckling, Jacoby appreciates his flight mate accommodating his stress relief. "So, you mentioned earlier some family business." Asking David, "wedding?, graduation?"

As his chin turns away, David replies, "I wish this occasion was so happy." Then pulling the window shade down, he reverts to his polite, eye contact pose. "You mind if I leave it down until we get above the clouds?"

"No problem," Jacoby answers, sensing the approach of an unpleasant subject. "Hey, I'm sorry if I crossed a line by being too nosey."

"We all have them, so at some point the statistics point toward problems, right?," says David as his expression sags. "It's inevitable. Even Bonds struck out every now and then. I just wish my situation wasn't this bad."

"Listen," Jacoby interjects, "it's none of my business. Let me buy you a drink. Miss!," raising his hand to signal the attendant.

"I guess I should be more private about my pending divorce," David continued, "but I just can't pretend anymore that it's not happening. When she left me, she took our two kids and moved in with her parents. My week will consist of fighting about who gets what and trying to convince my girls that their dad loves them. It's been a month since I last saw them."

Sympathizing, Jacoby says, "I don't think you have anything to worry about, of course you love your kids. And they love you."

The attendant approached the two men, smiled and reviewed the drink menu. "What will it be?", Jacoby asked David.

"A vodka spritzer for me," declares David.

"Make it two," Jacoby said, reaching into his pocket and retrieving his money clip. He hands her the cash and reclines his seat.

"Thank you," David says looking over toward the isle seat. "So what about you? You often travel for work?"

"Very often. I'm in advertising and right now, well, it's tough business. I'm networked, have great relationships with my contacts. It's the money factor that's beating me." Continuing to summarize Jacoby says, "The economy is tight and the political culture is such that companies are scared. When that happens, the checkbooks close." Jacoby pauses to taste his cocktail that was delivered almost immediately.

Listening, David kicks his shoes off and says, "At least you have the relationship part down. My problem is just the opposite. I have more money than I can spend; huge house, luxury cars, private school for the girls, but Angie says it just doesn't work anymore."

Sacred V. Secular

Compartmentalization is a part of life. We continually make judgments and stereotype as a way to analyse, explain and understand. I guess it is a natural response in an effort to gain control and feel comfortable. To use the reasoning of critical analysis in search of knowledge seems innocent enough. Knowledge and understanding are good but just like all good things, the opportunity for bad exists. Ultimately then, the search for meaning can be soiled. Often, discrimination and unfair conclusions are the result of our separation of things. We are all familiar with the socio-economic living classifications of rural, suburban and urban along with the work place snobbery tags of white collar and blue collar. These labels unconsciously suggest one worker is worth more than the other or that one neighborhood is more safe or sophisticated. Compartmentalization happens often. We do it to describe the make-up of our bodies, societies and cultures and even in the manufacturing of ideas, beliefs and behaviors. A larger list could be created but I want to focus on the latter.

In the realm of faith and religion, it is in ideas, beliefs and behaviors that the talk of what is appropriate is vigorous. Why does the community of faith make division between the sacred and secular, another one of these separations? And since artificial barriers exists, who decides which categories certain things fall? These are thoughts and questions that have come as a result of my thinking of how truth is marketed and distributed. Just this year, I have enjoyed and benefited from the Pixar movie Wall-E, a modern film categorized as both secular and for children. The animation medium, for whatever reason, seems to be pigeon holed art for immature audiences only. That is an ignorant conclusion and a judgement reserved for the immature. Wall-E is, perhaps, the most thoughtful and truth telling film as I have seen. For as great as the story is, the film is altogether efficient too. The animation allows for all audiences, children or adults, to pay attention to and learn from. Now, the motivation that drove the making of this movie can be brought to question. Christians are very good at this because Wall-E, after all, is a Disney creation and their intention seemingly was not to point to God, the maker of truth or to symbolize Wall-E, the robot, as a Christ figure, disrupting the natural flow of life and setting a course where a new heaven and new earth is formed and where the human race is redeemed. I think it is safe to say Disney/Pixar had other motivations. Other critics claim this movie is one of political ideology. Maybe. That is what makes this film great. It leads all sorts of people, all different, to draw different conclusions in their personal pursuit of what is right and good.

Back to motivation and what shapes purposes; maybe this is where sacred and secular are divided. Is it in purpose that makes something sacred? I am not arguing that Wall-E or any other movie, for that matter, is sacred. The argument could be made, however, that the lessons of the film itself are sacred.

Another example of confusing judgement is in the novel Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. A book of classic literature and widely regarded as one of the best novels ever written, yet it is not considered a sacred work even though it is a magnificent story of self justified murder ending with sincere repentance. Truthfully, this book has stimulated more capital in my personal faith than most any book currently on a Christian bookstore shelf.

It is both funny and maddening that as a society we make the effort to organize and categorize. Trying to understand why probably makes me seem insensitive to the effort of the church to disassociate itself from the world. The reality, of course, is we are all a part of the world, like it our not, and that truth, no matter its source is of God. To borrow a concept from another Pixar film...not everyone will know truth, but truth can come from anyone.