My heart hurt when I read in Sunday's Pittsburgh Tribune Review that a 15-year-old girl and her 14-year-old boyfriend buried the body of their stillborn baby in a bag in the ground behind an apartment house. This happened in April 2007. The remains were discovered more than a year later (June 2008). These two kids were "charged as juveniles with concealing the death of a child, abuse of a corpse and conspiracy." Not only that, the man who discovered the body and other "neighbors" found the discovery very disturbing.
What's the deal? Why did my heart hurt? Why were these two charged with breaking laws? Why are neighbors upset? Well, I don't know precise answers for the last two questins but I do know why my heart hurt. It hurts for kids who have to grow up too quickly in a world they don't understand and probably don't have God's truth to guide their lives. They were afraid. They didn't even tell their parents or a trusted teacher. In their fear they acted to hide their shame and guilt.
These young teens live thousands of years away from the Garden of Eden but not so far from the actions of Adam and Eve who also felt shame and guilt and tried to hide. God gave Adam and Eve the answer for their guilt and shame when He sacrificed a lamb and made them fur and leather coats.(Gen. 3) God promised on that terrible day in Eden that one day He would send a Savior. God made good on that promise over 2,000 years ago (the day Jesus died on a cross outside Jerusalem)! Ever since Eden when God had to banish Adam and Eve from the beautiful garden, God has been in the business of restoration - one heart at a time!
Jesus calls us to be salt in a world gone badly wrong and light to push back darkness (Matt. 5:13-16). When we faithfully do so, God does His restoration thing in one heart after another! Then God's Kingdom starts to be on earth the same as it is in heaven in one heart after another!
Showing posts with label Pittsburgh Tribune Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pittsburgh Tribune Review. Show all posts
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
"Fidel Fades"
"Fidel Fades Away" - That is the headline banner across the front page of today's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review with a picture of Fidel's profile in shadow.
I was thinking about this yesterday when I first heard the news that Fidel had stepped down to turn the reins of Cuba over to his younger brother, Raul. I wondered if it is possible for such a brutal dictator who governed with an iron fist for almost half a century to just "fade away."
The cartoon on the Tribune's editorial page gets it more right, I think. It features a depiction of the Devil talking to a few of his minion demons who are standing with placards at the foot of the steps down to Hell. One placard reads "Got cigars?" The artist BISH captions his drawing, Calm down, boys ... that's not what they meant when they said Castro was "stepping down."
He might go out with a bang like the recent Hezbollah terror mastermind, Imad Mughniyeh. Suspected in some of the deadliest terrorist attacks for over 25 years, Imad Mughniyeh was supposedly a role model (scary thought!) for Osama bin Laden. He died a flaming death in Syria a week ago on Valentine's Day.
But, there's just something about "fade away" that isn't right and doesn't fit to describe Fidel Castro. There's the irony of Fidel calling himself "President of Cuba" when he was really a despot who proclaimed himself to be "president." And there is the long trail of tears and bodies Castro leaves in his wake! It's hard to "fade" from the very tragic human reality of all that suffering!
If I were numbered among those who escaped from Castro's Cuba, I don't think "fade" would be the word I would want to see heralding the end of his reign of terror.
It does, however, seem to be a sign of how calloused we are to mayhem and suffering that "fade" is okay to describe such devastation as the end of all the terrors Castro pepetrated on Cuba's people and ecomomy and culture. Why are we so timid about calling it what it is? Castro is an evil man -- even if he is physically sick.
Is Fidel Castro beyond God's grace? I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that we need to have hearts more sensitive to the plight of millions who suffer and have suffered at the hands of such cruel men around the world.
President George W. Bush is in Rwanda Africa is speaking out against the genocide that has devastated the people of that region. President Bush said that the situation in Darfur and the lessons we should have learned from the brutal 1994 Rwandan genocide should be a clarion trumpet call across the world to stand against such evil. The call and responsibility for Christians is even greater!
When we know God's grace and love, then we need to take tough stands against injustice and evil wherever that evil raises it's ugly head! God calls us to action!
I seriously doubt that members of the Cuban community in Florida would ever consider it appropriate for such a villian as Fidel Castro to "fade away." Many of them bear on their persons the marks of tortue before their escape from "Castro's paradise." I'm old enough to remember well all the boat and raft and whatever would float loads of people desperately trying to escape from the so-called "paradise."
We cannot and must not turn away from the suffering around us if we ever hope to push back the darkness with the Light of Jesus' love! We must boldly speak the truth and seek to right wrongs where we can. It's God's way to live in this world that is in such desperate need of restoration!
I was thinking about this yesterday when I first heard the news that Fidel had stepped down to turn the reins of Cuba over to his younger brother, Raul. I wondered if it is possible for such a brutal dictator who governed with an iron fist for almost half a century to just "fade away."
The cartoon on the Tribune's editorial page gets it more right, I think. It features a depiction of the Devil talking to a few of his minion demons who are standing with placards at the foot of the steps down to Hell. One placard reads "Got cigars?" The artist BISH captions his drawing, Calm down, boys ... that's not what they meant when they said Castro was "stepping down."
He might go out with a bang like the recent Hezbollah terror mastermind, Imad Mughniyeh. Suspected in some of the deadliest terrorist attacks for over 25 years, Imad Mughniyeh was supposedly a role model (scary thought!) for Osama bin Laden. He died a flaming death in Syria a week ago on Valentine's Day.
But, there's just something about "fade away" that isn't right and doesn't fit to describe Fidel Castro. There's the irony of Fidel calling himself "President of Cuba" when he was really a despot who proclaimed himself to be "president." And there is the long trail of tears and bodies Castro leaves in his wake! It's hard to "fade" from the very tragic human reality of all that suffering!
If I were numbered among those who escaped from Castro's Cuba, I don't think "fade" would be the word I would want to see heralding the end of his reign of terror.
It does, however, seem to be a sign of how calloused we are to mayhem and suffering that "fade" is okay to describe such devastation as the end of all the terrors Castro pepetrated on Cuba's people and ecomomy and culture. Why are we so timid about calling it what it is? Castro is an evil man -- even if he is physically sick.
Is Fidel Castro beyond God's grace? I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that we need to have hearts more sensitive to the plight of millions who suffer and have suffered at the hands of such cruel men around the world.
President George W. Bush is in Rwanda Africa is speaking out against the genocide that has devastated the people of that region. President Bush said that the situation in Darfur and the lessons we should have learned from the brutal 1994 Rwandan genocide should be a clarion trumpet call across the world to stand against such evil. The call and responsibility for Christians is even greater!
When we know God's grace and love, then we need to take tough stands against injustice and evil wherever that evil raises it's ugly head! God calls us to action!
I seriously doubt that members of the Cuban community in Florida would ever consider it appropriate for such a villian as Fidel Castro to "fade away." Many of them bear on their persons the marks of tortue before their escape from "Castro's paradise." I'm old enough to remember well all the boat and raft and whatever would float loads of people desperately trying to escape from the so-called "paradise."
We cannot and must not turn away from the suffering around us if we ever hope to push back the darkness with the Light of Jesus' love! We must boldly speak the truth and seek to right wrongs where we can. It's God's way to live in this world that is in such desperate need of restoration!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Remembering Roe v. Wade
35 terrible years after Roe v. Wade - 35 years of legalized abortions and millions of babies slaughtered in the name of choice and convenience - we remember Roe v. Wade as the nightmare that has shaped and damaged lives forever!
"Jane Roe" was the faceless, silent woman who would be famous for the Supreme Court's landmark decision to legalize abortion. Abortion is easily the single most galvanizing issue in our culture since the US "Civil War." Whether for LIFE or choice, the issue of abortion has dramatically impacted our society. Roe v. Wade made it possible to walk into an abortion clinic (often even without parental permission) and kill the child living in utero.
No one warns the mother of the years of grief, guilt and agony she will experience as a result of her choice to abort her baby. Widely disseminated is the idea that the "fetus" is not a baby - that it's just a blob of tissue. The logical conclusion is then that getting rid of unwanted tissue has no moral consequence - of little more significance than taking a bath and scrubbing off dirt.
Roe v. Wade was so much more than a judicial case and judgment. Roe v. Wade opened the gate for all kinds of brokenness. "Jane Roe" (aka Norma McCorvey) floundered for many years with substance abuse and guilt. 12 years ago Norma met a man who had the answer for her battered heart. His name is Jesus!
According to today's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Norma McCorvey finally found the peace she sought in the "change of heart that turned her life around." Jesus restored her heart and filled the empty spaces with Himself! So this Tuesday Norma McCorvey (aka "Jane Roe") will participate in the March for Life in Washington DC - another story of restoration happening one heart at a time!
"Jane Roe" was the faceless, silent woman who would be famous for the Supreme Court's landmark decision to legalize abortion. Abortion is easily the single most galvanizing issue in our culture since the US "Civil War." Whether for LIFE or choice, the issue of abortion has dramatically impacted our society. Roe v. Wade made it possible to walk into an abortion clinic (often even without parental permission) and kill the child living in utero.
No one warns the mother of the years of grief, guilt and agony she will experience as a result of her choice to abort her baby. Widely disseminated is the idea that the "fetus" is not a baby - that it's just a blob of tissue. The logical conclusion is then that getting rid of unwanted tissue has no moral consequence - of little more significance than taking a bath and scrubbing off dirt.
Roe v. Wade was so much more than a judicial case and judgment. Roe v. Wade opened the gate for all kinds of brokenness. "Jane Roe" (aka Norma McCorvey) floundered for many years with substance abuse and guilt. 12 years ago Norma met a man who had the answer for her battered heart. His name is Jesus!
According to today's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Norma McCorvey finally found the peace she sought in the "change of heart that turned her life around." Jesus restored her heart and filled the empty spaces with Himself! So this Tuesday Norma McCorvey (aka "Jane Roe") will participate in the March for Life in Washington DC - another story of restoration happening one heart at a time!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
No Way Out - No Exit
Last week the Pittsburgh Tribune Review carried a startling story on the front page. It was about a deer that jumped a fence to get into the Pittsburgh Zoo. After wandering around for awhile apparently, the deer jumped another fence into the polar bear pool. The entire saga was caught on video by surveillance cameras.
Deer are everywhere in western Pennsylvania. We live above a very busy US highway surrounded by residential areas and regularly deer stroll through our yard in groups. Deer eat my flowers. They love tulips in the spring. They eat the shrubs and trees in winter and spring - right in my yard mere feet from our house. In fact, if I encounter deer in the yard up close, they stand and look at me as if I were the intruder.
I have offered a number of bow hunters access to the balcony off our living room for their own personal deluxe hunting "stand" in a gesture of "humanitarian" protection for my plants, bushes and trees. So far there are no takers.
Back to the zoo story: After jumping over 20 feet into the polar bear pool, the deer swam several laps with the bears close behind. Then the deer climbed out followed by two huge furry bears. According to news reports the bears never touched the deer. The deer injured itself jumping the fences sustaining significant injury so had to be euthanized by zoo personnel. The bears did no harm and were unharmed apparently. Soon they were swimming in their pool again with no interference from an "alien" creature.
Another deer story: recently I was driving along a Pittsburgh street with cars in front of me and cars coming toward me. All of a sudden - somehow dodging the cars - a deer streaked straight across the road running at full tilt, up the bank beside the road and on to parts unknown. This time no harm was done except for raising at least one driver's cardio-vascular rhythm. But that is not usually the case. Deer are routinely killed and injured on the streets and highways of western Pennsylvania. Cars, passengers and drivers also sustain damage in these encounters.
Deer don't belong in closely populated residential areas. Deer are in grave danger crossing busy highways. Deer don't belong on streets and highways. Deer are the "alien" intruder.
Then I mused on environments where I am also an "alien" intruder - places I don't belong and shouldn't go and where there is great danger to life and limb. In my life I have found myself in various such dangerous situations. (We all have.) Sometimes (like the deer at the zoo) I have been totally oblivious and unaware. Sometimes I have known I needed to get out but not known how. Sometimes I am in the situation in the first place because I chose to jump in. In every case the end result is that I need an "exit strategy."
Actually that's why Jesus came to earth in the first place. He is God's provision for that way out of every harmful, dangerous circumstance in life. Jesus knows we are trapped in a life of sin and doomed to eternal death with no way out, no exit. He is the only Exit! John 1:14 says, "He became flesh and dwelt among us ... " He put on our skin and moved into our neighborhood (our world). It was a trade down for Him to provide a trade up for me (and you) !
My unrestored heart gets me in lots of predicaments. As my heart continues to be restored by God's grace (provided in the trade Jesus made: "He Who knew no sin became sin for us." 2 Corinthians 5:21), I may still get into predicaments. The good news is that there is an Exit and His name is Jesus!
Deer are everywhere in western Pennsylvania. We live above a very busy US highway surrounded by residential areas and regularly deer stroll through our yard in groups. Deer eat my flowers. They love tulips in the spring. They eat the shrubs and trees in winter and spring - right in my yard mere feet from our house. In fact, if I encounter deer in the yard up close, they stand and look at me as if I were the intruder.
I have offered a number of bow hunters access to the balcony off our living room for their own personal deluxe hunting "stand" in a gesture of "humanitarian" protection for my plants, bushes and trees. So far there are no takers.
Back to the zoo story: After jumping over 20 feet into the polar bear pool, the deer swam several laps with the bears close behind. Then the deer climbed out followed by two huge furry bears. According to news reports the bears never touched the deer. The deer injured itself jumping the fences sustaining significant injury so had to be euthanized by zoo personnel. The bears did no harm and were unharmed apparently. Soon they were swimming in their pool again with no interference from an "alien" creature.
Another deer story: recently I was driving along a Pittsburgh street with cars in front of me and cars coming toward me. All of a sudden - somehow dodging the cars - a deer streaked straight across the road running at full tilt, up the bank beside the road and on to parts unknown. This time no harm was done except for raising at least one driver's cardio-vascular rhythm. But that is not usually the case. Deer are routinely killed and injured on the streets and highways of western Pennsylvania. Cars, passengers and drivers also sustain damage in these encounters.
Deer don't belong in closely populated residential areas. Deer are in grave danger crossing busy highways. Deer don't belong on streets and highways. Deer are the "alien" intruder.
Then I mused on environments where I am also an "alien" intruder - places I don't belong and shouldn't go and where there is great danger to life and limb. In my life I have found myself in various such dangerous situations. (We all have.) Sometimes (like the deer at the zoo) I have been totally oblivious and unaware. Sometimes I have known I needed to get out but not known how. Sometimes I am in the situation in the first place because I chose to jump in. In every case the end result is that I need an "exit strategy."
Actually that's why Jesus came to earth in the first place. He is God's provision for that way out of every harmful, dangerous circumstance in life. Jesus knows we are trapped in a life of sin and doomed to eternal death with no way out, no exit. He is the only Exit! John 1:14 says, "He became flesh and dwelt among us ... " He put on our skin and moved into our neighborhood (our world). It was a trade down for Him to provide a trade up for me (and you) !
My unrestored heart gets me in lots of predicaments. As my heart continues to be restored by God's grace (provided in the trade Jesus made: "He Who knew no sin became sin for us." 2 Corinthians 5:21), I may still get into predicaments. The good news is that there is an Exit and His name is Jesus!
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