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The Absurdity of Pursuing Happiness

As we all know our founding fathers said that we were all created with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  We are told that the purpose of government is to protect these rights.  While it makes sense that the government should protect us from being unjustly or prematurely killed and our government should protect us from being unjustly imprisoned or enslaved the government cannot do anything about our happiness.  In fact by definition no one can, not even ourselves.

The root word of the words “happy” and “happiness” is an Old English word “hap”.  The definition of the Old English word “hap” is “a chance event over which you have no control”.  Because this is the definition of “hap” when something occurs without known cause we say it just “happened.”

The word happy is used when all of your “haps” are lined up just the way you would like.  When they are you are said to be in a state of “happiness.”  But you see the problem!  If a “hap” is a chance event over which you have no control then you have no control over your “happiness.”  Happiness occurs by chance events lining up indiscriminately.  By definition no one can pursue “happiness.”

The Bible is not filled with “happy” people.  It is filled with joyful people.  “Happiness” is based on circumstances outside of oneself while joy is always found within.  Joy springs from an inner contentment based on settled belief and expectation of good.

Joy is knowing a secret.  Imagine you of one of ten students in a class.  Passing this class is a prerequisite of completing your degree and showing up and participating in each and every class is a requirement of remaining in school.  It is the day of the final exam.  No one in the class has a grade sufficient to pass the class even with a perfect score on the final exam but everyone must be present and complete the exam in order to continue in school.  Each and every student is hopeless – except you.  Last night the professor called you and admitted that the students were failing because of his failings as a teacher and that he was going to make everything right.  His plan was to give everyone in the class an A for the course on one condition.  His condition was you could not tell anyone of his plan until he did.  You had to hold in the truth.

The time for the final exam has arrived.  You are sitting in a class with nine other students who are absolutely hopeless.  As you look around the room all you see is nine empty faces, in fact anger is right under the surface.  But your fellow students notice something different on your face.  Because you know a secret and you are filled with joy, your countenance begins to rise.  In a seemingly hopeless situation you are filled with joy that you cannot contain.  Your fellow students accuse you of being crazy, not smart enough to understand the current situation.  But in fact your are the only one who knows the truth – and the truth has set you free.

The Bible is filled with people who know a secret.  It is filled with people who know who they are in Christ and where they are going.  Their circumstances are difficult but their hearts are light.  They are filled with joy!

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Nats Notes – Volume 1 2017

The Nats can only pray that the weather on Opening Day is as nice as the weather in Washington today – 74 and sunny. It has been a strange winter in Washington for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the Nats lack of activity.  But still they are picked to win the National League East.  In my opinion the following questions will decide their fate in the East and beyond.

1) Who is the real Bryce Harper?  He needs to be a .285 hitter with .350 OBP, hit 30 home runs and drive in 95.  If he’s not the Nats will never go far.

2) Who is the real Stephen Strasburg?  He needs to win 15 games and be healthy down the stretch and in the playoffs.

3) How good is Trea Turner?  If he hits .300, steals 30 bases, scores 100 runs and hits 15 home runs he can be an average defensive shortstop and no one cares.  If not he needs to be an above average shortstop.  If he does both he could be MVP.

4) How good a hitter is Daniel Murphy?  Was last year an abiration or is he really that good.  He needs to be close.

5) Is Adam Eaton closer to Pete Rose or Ben Revere?  We need him to be a scrappy, get on base, batting lead off or second hitter who has a little pop and brings an attitude.  If he does he’s worth the steep price we paid.

6) Will the bullpen come together or fall apart?  Lots of arms, lots of concerns.  Someone needs to pitch the 7th, someone needs to pitch the 8th and someone needs to close.  Second biggest concern on the team.

7) Will the catchers hit above .225 or hit 10 home runs?  Biggest concern on the team.

8) Will Ryan Zimmerman or Jayson Werth hit .275 or hit 20 home runs or drive in 75 runs.  One of them needs to.

9). Will Anthony Rendon get his stroke back for the whole year?  He needs to hit .275 with 25 home runs and drive in 85 runs.

10) Will the bench be a strength again this year?  I hope so.

Go Nats!

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It Matters Why We Do What We Do

When my daughter, Lindsay, was about 7 years old, (which just happens to be the same age that her oldest daughter Kahlan is right now),  she asked, “Dad may I walk down to Lisa’s house alone?”  Lisa was her best friend and lived on the opposite side of our neighborhood street several houses down.  I did not think it was a good idea for her to walk alone so I said, “No sweetheart, wait a few minutes and I will walk you down to her house and then call me when you are ready to come home and I will come get you.”

Now the moment of truth was at hand.  Was Lindsay going to “obey” me or not, but more importantly was she going to follow my words for the right reason.?  You see at that moment Lindsay had the following choices – (1) “disobey” me and wait until I went inside and just walk to Lisa’s house alone and defiant,  (2) “obey” my words but not believe in me and angrily wait for me to walk her to Lisa’s house, (3) just stomp up to her room and cry, (4) decide that if she waited and allowed me to walk her to Lisa’s house she would get a reward, (5) decide she had no choice but to wait because she would be punished if she “disobeyed, or (6) she could stand there, listen to my words, disagree with my assessment but allow her trust in my unconditional love for her to overcome her desire to do her own thing and allow me to walk her both ways even though she was sure she could do it alone.  

I italicized obey and disobey on purpose.  In the New Testament, the word most often translated “obey” means to “listen attentively.”  We often say to our children, “when are you going to start “listening” to me?”  Listening with attention is given to words we value.  And words we value come from people whom  we trust and love, but more importantly from people who respect us and love us.  To disobey doesn’t only mean not doing what the speaker has directed us to do, it also means doing what the speaker has directed us to do for the wrong reason.  In the example above each of Lindsay’s first five choices have an element of disobedience and selfishness.  Only the sixth option is true obedience based on listening attentively to an object of our faith and love.

Lindsay waited for me to walk her to Lisa’s house.  Why she waited only she knows.  I wish I could say that I know she chose the sixth option.  But if she is anything like me there was a part of self involved in the decision.  When I read or hear God’s word I often listen with limited attention and then follow for selfish reasons.  One day I pray that I may know God well enough to trust completely in His faithfulness and love and therefore listen with total attention and follow in response to His Love and Mercy.   Continue reading “It Matters Why We Do What We Do”

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Super Bowl Thoughts – Patient Endurance

A tiny acorn falls through the cracks of a massive bolder apparently lost, never again to see the light of day.  But day after day, moment by moment the acorn persists at what it does best until one day it bursts forth and the massive bolder crumbles,  unable to stop the tree’s incredible growth.

On Sunday evening in Houston, the New England Patriots were left for dead but an incredible confluence of circumstance, luck and patient endurance allowed Bill Belchick and Tom Brady to stand tall again, holding the Lombardi Trophy high overhead.  As strange as it sounds the interception that Brady threw late in the first half actually hurt the Falcons late in the game and especially in overtime.  In the fourth quarter, the catch by Julian Edelman was incredible but the defender’s leg being in just the right place was at least fornutate.  But the Patriot’s persistent belief in their coaches and system ultimately brought them back from the dead.

Because of the “pick six” late in the first half, the Falcons ran only 19 plays in the entire first half.  They only ran 27 offensive plays in the entire second half.  The New England Patriots even while losing 28 – 9 at the end of the third quarter had a distinct advantage because they had run so many plays.  It is much more exhausting to play defense than it is to run offense.  By game’s end the New England Patriots had run an incredible 93 offensive play while the Falcons had run only 46. (the average NFL team runs 59 offensive plays in a game).

But more important than odd circumstances or lucky breaks, persistent belief in the system and steadfast hope were the main ingredients required for the Patriots to breakthrough.  Because the Falcons believed they had the quickness and athleticism to rush the passer with 4 and cover the Patriots receivers man to man all over the field the Patriots were running shallow crossing routs consistently throughout the first half.  The Falcons defenders did a great job covering those routes for two and a half quarters.  But then fatigue began to set in.  As the fourth quarter began, many teams would have panicked  down 28-9 but the Patriots stayed the course, believing in the system and in their players and coaches.  As the fourth quarter progressed, the Falcons defenders wore down more with each possession until back to back drives, the final drive followed quickly by an overtime drive, left them with legs that couldn’t react and minds that couldn’t think.

Just as the acorn just keeps growing not paying attention to the circumstances around it, the Patriots just do their job, trusting in who they are and obeying (listening attentively) their coaches.  And at the end, the Atlanta Falcons had no chance against the pressure of the patience.

 

 

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Called and Set Apart

Many of my high school teammates and classmates will be surprised to hear this story but it is true and illustrates the basis for my strong faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I did not become a believer for many years after this event but the lessons learned have been crucial to my understanding of the Christian faith.

In August of 1966 I was alone, standing in my kitchen in Mt. Vernon Terrace having decided that I was not going to play football on any level at Mt. Vernon High School.  A year earlier I had played freshman football and at the end of the year Larry Hartman and I were brought up to stand on the sidelines and wear oversized jerseys for the final game or two of the varsity season.  But now as my family was falling apart, I had decided I was not going to play football because I was afraid – not of injury but of failure.  I knew I couldn’t measure up and had no one to talk to.

But then the phone rang.  I answered it, and to my astonishment and terror, it was Coach Miller.  He said, “Steve, where are you?  Practice started today and we missed you.  Did you just get back in town or what?”  I said, ” No, I have been here but I have decided not to play football.”  There was a long pause on the line.  Then Coach Miller said, “Steve, I have you penciled in to start at safety.  Why have you decided not to play?”  I said, shaking and tearing up, “I just don’t think I can.”  After another long pause, Coach Miller said, “I am coming to get you.  You are my starting safety and you do not need to be afraid.  I will teach you what you need to know and I will be there for you at every step.  Get your cleats and I will be over to get you.”

I found out later that some of the other coaches were concerned about coach Miller’s boldness in declaring me as his free safety.  But he had predestined me to be the starting safety and he called me.  He lowered himself to be my rescuer and he placed his affection upon me.  I didn’t earn it or deserve it when he chose me but because he did, I slowly but surely became the player he had foreseen me to be.  I made many mistakes along the way but at each step he was right there to pick me up, to encourage me and exhort me until I was living up to the measure of his grace.

I became a Christian in exactly the same way.  I was a hopeless sinner until God called me to himself.  He set His affection upon me and declared that I was His son.  I neither earned it nor deserved it.  He promised He would never leave me nor forsake me and in good times and in bad He would be right there beside me encouraging me and exhorting me.  I am slowly but surely becoming the man He has made me to be and I am endeavoring to measure up to His grace, pursuing that for which I was pursued.

Coach Miller was a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ for me and for that I will be forever grateful.  May he Rest In Peace in the arms of His Lord until we are reunited in Him.

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Humility is the Sign of the Vine

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches…..” (John 15:5).  Paul said, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Branches are humble vessels connecting source with fruit, content with being used without esteem.

Humility means “the state of being humble.” Both it and humble have their origin in the Latin word humilis, meaning “low.”

Here are some examples of humility in use:

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
— Proverbs 11:2

Who has not gazed at the night sky, mouth slightly agape? The experience is so common, its effects so uniform, that a standard vocabulary has evolved to describe it. Invariably we speak of the profound humility we feel before the enormity of the universe. We are as bits of dust in a spectacle whose scope beggars the imagination, whose secrets make a mockery of reason.
— Edwin Dobb, Harper’s, February 1995

If leadership has a secret sauce, it may well be humility. A humble boss understands that there are things he doesn’t know. He listens: not only to the other bigwigs in Davos, but also to the kind of people who don’t get invited, such as his customers.
—The Economist, 26 Jan. 2013

For many, the lowness in both humility and humble is something worth cultivating.

Without humility any fruit in our lives is artificial, incapable of nourishing or regenerating and always self serving.

“The humble shall be exalted and the exalted shall be humbled.” (Luke 14:11)

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