Author: Dave Burchett

One thing I hope is true of these humble ramblings is that they are, at the very least, honest. So I will confess that I struggle mightily with “celebrity” books. I remember when my first book was released and I visited a local book emporium. One lonely copy of my brand new baby was buried on a bottom shelf in the back. Featured on a table at the front of the store were dozens of copies of the autobiography of fifteen year old singer Charlotte Church! The title was “Voice of an Angel” and the subtitle included the obvious disclaimer…My life: (So far). Here is some of what she had learned: (so far).

…what I’ve learned is that no experience goes to waste. Life is made up of building blocks. Each block makes way for the next block. Because of this there is something positive to be gained from everything you do. Just be true to yourself and be prepared to work hard.

Next I applied a valuable technique that I learned from radio talk show host Glen Beck. I duct taped my head to keep it from exploding. Is that how Jesus would respond? Probably not. But no matter how personable or talented a fifteen year old might be they have not accumulated enough life experience to write an autobiography. I remember hearing a noted pastor say that you should not write a word until you are forty. Since I was younger at that time I thought he was an out of touch old geezer. Now that I have celebrated thirteen anniversaries of that forty year milestone I can see exactly what he meant. I am just now starting to figure this journey out. Am I a slow learner? Maybe. But the Bible tells us to exalt the grumpy old men in your assembly. 

Gray hair is a crown of splendor;
it is attained by a righteous life.  Prov 16:31  NIV 

That’s what I’m talking about! Of course, gray hair can also be attained by stress, hard living, and bad genetics but I choose the wisdom of Solomon to explain my own graying mane. 

But seriously, what is it with the celebrity worship in this culture? Charlotte Church’s premature autobiography came to mind when I was again perusing the local book vendor. There, staring at me from a large display, was actor/comedian Jim Belushi flexing his bicep with his new book title tattooed across it.

                 Real Men Don’t Apologize 

In the interest of full disclosure I must also confess that I was a bit envious of Belushi’s biceps. If I tattooed a book title across my bicep it would have to be a one word title in small type. Chicago Sun-Times writer Mike Thomas wrote this about Belushi’s philosophy of life.

“Listen, anger is a good friend of mine,” he says by phone from his soon-to-be-vacated Brentwood home, a revamped bungalow bought with money earned from his 1986 big-screen hit (and career springboard) “About Last Night.” “I’ve had many friends,” he continues, candor couched in subtle shtick. “Cigarettes were a very fine friend. I had alcohol — niiiiiice buddy. Anger has always been a friend of mine, so I’m not gonna let him go. I let everything else go.  “[Anger] protects you,” he says. “It’s always protected me. And now my wife says, ‘You don’t need the protection anymore, honey. You can let it all go.’ And you know what I say to her? ‘Letting go’ is the most overused phrase in America ! I don’t want to let it go!’ ” 

And yet that is exactly what the Biblical strategy is concerning anger. Let it go. For example…

But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Colossians 3:8

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Eph 4:31 

So should I listen to Saint Paul or should I live my life  “According to Jim”?    Hmmmm….  Here are some other examples of manliness from Belushi’s book. My comments are italicized.  

– Real men don’t apologize for being who they are. Depends on who you are. Some men desperately need to apologize…and now!

– Sometimes you have to earn respect the old-fashioned way — with your fist. Real men understand what respect really is and that it is rarely, if ever, earned with fists.

 – Every man has to have a little bit of Gandhi, Clint Eastwood and Curly in him. I do like that. The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy. Marketing slogan…Meditating while comically smacking others up the side of the head makes my day!

 – Beer does not judge you. Drinking lots of it makes you more sociable and funny. Perhaps the most dangerous statement I have read in a while. I know that Belushi clarifies this a bit by saying he has, for the most part, stopped drinking.  And I know he is going for the joke here. But drinking lots of beer makes some men dangerously violent (not more sociable) and disgustingly vile (not funny). No substance judges you. But you may be judged by the effect those substances have on you. Real men remain in control. 

– Always remember that to a woman, the relationship is more important than you are. How about simply admitting that the relationship is different for women than for most men? I do think that he has demonstrated one truth here. Men would generally rather rationalize than take the time to  understand. Rationalization is sooo much easier. 

– Have a Fortress of Solitude. Find a spot that is yours and yours alone. In your Fortress of Solitude you can be the Knight of Brooding Silence! This is always a big hit with the damsel of the castle, the lovely Lady of the Chilly Response. 

– Don’t be a wuss. So what if you fail? Strength is in the attempt. I would agree with the essence of this one. So what if you do fail? But the strength of a man is in his character. And the source of that strength, for this man, comes from a real man named Jesus. 

My take on the thought that real men don’t apologize? Sorry Jim. I have to respectfully disagree with you. I am sure there are some chuckles in the book and maybe even a gem or two of wisdom. But this is my definition of a real man from a guy who is several light years away from celebrity. 

Real men do apologize. Real men are often wrong and they believe they lose none of their manhood to admit that fact. Real men cry. Real men forgive. Real men stand up for the less advantaged and the disenfranchised. Real men give of themselves. Real men are willing to sacrifice for their family, their country, and their faith. Real men model integrity and the courage to do the right thing even when it hurts them personally.

Real men are hard to find. I have been around a lot of men that the average person considers real men. I have watched rich and talented men in the NBA, MLB, and network television for nearly three decades. But out of all those talented, wealthy, and gifted men I have met the man I most admire is a guy you never heard of and likely never will. His name is Bob. He is a real man. An outstanding coach of young men. A great father. A loyal friend. He is a real man because of how he has loved his wife through a difficult cancer journey. When I used to hear Paul exhort us to love our wives as Christ loved the church I would push back. No way. That isn’t even possible. Then Bob came along and screwed it up for me by doing it and doing it well. Thanks Bob for showing me what a real man looks like. 

And now I have the chance to trust the real God-Man Jesus to help me do that same thing with my wife Joni during our cancer journey. Real men do a lot of things. I think a real man tries to follow the words and example of Jesus. Without apology.

For the last post you were blessed with a respite from yours truly as eldest Son Matt filled this space. His words impacted me and made me think about how I view others. We really don’t know what baggage others are carrying. Here are Matt’s comments about an unwilling conversation he had on a plane with a guy who just needed to talk.

He starts it.  The conversation begins with small talk. I am an unwilling, tired, frustrated twenty something that doesn’t want to talk about jobs, hometowns, or those small talk things that fill gaps in between awkward silences as I try to return to Velvet Elvis or Backpacker or Sports Illustrated only to be interrupted again. He rambles some more about life and love and all the things I don’t want to talk about.  A tear wells in his eye.  Divorce.  Kids.  Lost jobs.  Bankruptcy.  Grace.  Forgiveness.  Redemption.  Hope.  I was wrong.  He was carrying a lot.  My backpack had some books and magazines but he is lugging a broken life.  He was carrying it in his heart, soul, mind…and he needed to let someone know.  I couldn’t see it.  I didn’t even ask. Did I even care?    

How often do I judge others with no consideration for what they are going through? Recording artist Sawyer Brown has a song that describes this sad trait of our fallen nature. The video for the song They Don’t Understand is powerful. The lyrics speak to me and my amazing ability to center my universe around…me.

Everybody’s busy with their own situation
Everybody’s lost in their own little world
Bottled up, hurried up trying to make a dream come true
They don’t understand
Everybody’s living like there ain’t no tomorrow
Maybe we should stop and take a little time
‘Cause you never really know what your neighbors going through
They don’t understand

Joni and I are learning a lot from her cancer journey. Now that she is follicly challenged she has told me that part of the adjustment is getting used to the feeling that people are looking at her. One of the t-shirts that I found when writing about the unlikely topic of cancer humor earlier this week came to mind.

The t-shirt simply says….”Don’t Stare…Say a Prayer!” I found the story of the t-shirt and how to buy it.  Here is an excerpt from the site.

“This store is a joint project masterminded by 9 year old Ryan Howard and implemented with the assistance of The Sean Berkley Foundation. Ryan is a 9 year old boy battling a brain tumor.  After surgery and chemotherapy, young Ryan has lost his hair.  He came up with the phrase “Don’t Stare…Say a Prayer” one evening while he was out to eat with his family and noticed people staring at him. These simple words from such a young man echo the emotions and feelings of everyone affected by a life altering sickness. All proceeds from sales of Ryan Boy items will be split 50-50 between The Ryan Howard Fund and The Sean Berkley Foundation.”

We tend to stare or uncomfortably avert our eyes when we seen people affected like Ryan. How about praying for the grace to look them in the eye, smile, and warmly greet them like every other person you meet. And then silently say a prayer. You may need that grace extended sooner than you know. Sawyer Brown gives us the basis for trying to understand and be graceful about what others are going through. It started at Calvary.

A man hanging on a wooden cross
Giving everything to save the lost
Everybody’s staring not knowing what he’s goin through
Somebody said you don’t have a prayer
If your a king come on down from there
The man just turned his head looked up and stared
He said please forgive them for they have not seen the light
they’ll come to know me when i come back to life
Go to heaven to make everything alright
So please forgive your children, they don’t understand

Please do forgive us Lord. We don’t understand. But by the power of your Holy Spirit can you help us to try?

Today you get a break. I am pleased and proud to turn these humble ramblings over to a guest rambler. And a pretty special one at that. Eldest son Matt came home a couple of weeks ago to join a weekend home edition of “Makeover for Mom”. The boys decided to show their love for their wonderful Mom by updating a tired bathroom, cleaning out a cluttered garage, and stripping some outdated wallpaper. They worked almost around the clock and the results were wonderful for both the house and the heart of a Mom who felt very loved. On his way home to Nashville Matt put these thoughts together. I proudly turn my space over to my Son. Enjoy.

We carry a lot.  In our hands, hearts, souls, minds…we always have baggage.  While walking through the airport recently, bored and exhausted, I started trying to figure people out.  Briefcase, loafers, Blackberry…small business owner.  Backpack, flip flops, Nalgen bottle…college student. Shorts, laughing, holding hands…honeymoon.  This game is easy! 

I  wonder what people are thinking of me?  Do I appear to be who I really am?  I am wearing jeans, flip flops, a backpack, and carrying a Sports Illustrated, Backpacker Magazine, and Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis. Then it dawns on me.  It is like the times when you are hiking and you see the sunrise. Even though you knew all along that sunrises are beautiful you suddenly notice it, and it makes sense to you.  Those moments when mindless clutter is replaced with abnormal clarity.  In this brief moment, in the middle of an over stimulated, crowded, stressed out airport terminal, I realized that my life’s passion, loves, and purpose were being carried under my arm. 

I love my wife, hiking, baseball, and Jesus.  I am passionate about being a good husband, enjoying a great game, seeing God in the mountains, and pursuing Jesus in all that I do and all of who I am.  It struck me that I was carrying all of me in one hand.  I was holding a key to everything that had power in my life.  Can others see it?  Would anyone notice?  I might as well give you my Social Security number.  Look at what I’m carrying!  My life.  My passions.  My loves.  All simplified and offered to the careful observer for deconstruction and criticism.
I put my things in the backpack.  I sift through a Bill Clinton biography and a book about chronic shopping habits at the airport bookstore to throw people off. 

After boarding the plane, I remove from the backpack my “life”. I began to observe passengers boarding  to try and guess my traveling companion from the options coming down the aisle.  Is it the one with the laptop or the one talking on the phone? I hope it is not the one that is jamming his luggage at the front overhead compartment even though he is sitting in the back because he thinks the plane will unload faster if his luggage is at the front.

Then I realize with a bit of a sinking feeling that the only traveler that can interrupt my reading, sleeping, and Sky Mall shopping time is the guy that is coming down the aisle now.  Nothing in his hands, no briefcase or backpack or Burger King bag or cell phone.  Nothing.  He brings only himself to the chair next to me.  How am I supposed to figure him out?  He sees my life.  But he’s not playing the game.  

He starts it.  The conversation begins with small talk. I am an unwilling, tired, frustrated twenty something that doesn’t want to talk about jobs, hometowns, or those small talk things that fill gaps in between awkward silences as I try to return to Velvet Elvis or Backpacker or Sports Illustrated only to be interrupted again. He rambles some more about life and love and all the things I don’t want to talk about.  A tear wells in his eye.  Divorce.  Kids.  Lost jobs.  Bankruptcy.  Grace.  Forgiveness.  Redemption.  Hope.  I was wrong.  He was carrying a lot.  My backpack had some books and magazines but he is lugging a broken life.  He was carrying it in his heart, soul, mind…and he needed to let someone know.  I couldn’t see it.  I didn’t even ask. Did I even care?    

This game we play.  When we try to figure someone out, compare ourselves, say the right thing, and strategize the relationship.  It’s ugly.  It’s human.  We play that game.  We play that stupid game everyday.  Why?  Baseball, hiking, Jesus, marriage…those are great things to know about me.  They bind us, a community of diverse and weird people, to common passions. Those things allow us to be known.  They are insights into the truth about us.  Home runs, vows, the Appalachian Trail, and church affiliation do not define me.  You won’t know me.  But you can know about me.    

I have been walking around differently the last couple days.  I still notice the things that help me know about people.  They carry what they want me to know. They carry what they want me to think about them or ask them about.  The things in their hands can define, cover up, expose, or become keys that unlock questions that perhaps have never been asked. My favorite scripture is I Thessalonians 2:8…

“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” 

Actually, Paul’s life was lived the other way.  It was life first, gospel second.  Know someone, be known.  Seek authentic, honest friendships where people are loved because of what the gospel has done for us and because we genuinely want others to experience that joy.

Today, my challenge to you is to be observant.  Look around at the people and what they carry.  Ask the question.  Make a connection.  Help someone be known.  You never know what they are carrying. They may need a hand with the load.

Contributed by Matt Burchett
Coordinator of New Student Programs
Belmont University

               

 

When you input the word humor into the Google database you will receive a staggering 209 million hits. I decided to narrow that with a restrictive qualifier like “philosophical humor”. That apparent buzz killing phrase still generated over 17,000 hits. So it was with some interest that I entered the ultimate oxymoron into the Google engine. “Cancer humor”. That narrowed the responses to about 5,000. To give you a feel for how low this is in Google world…you can type in “infield fly rule” and get 111,000 hits.

One of the life lessons that Joni and I are learning on her/our cancer journey is the truth of the wise king who wrote this classic lament.

There is a time for everything,
       and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
       a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
       a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
       a time to mourn and a time to dance,

I will have to confess I first learned these truths courtesy of  The Byrds in 1965. With lyrics by Solomon (King) and Seeger (Pete) the song Turn! Turn! Turn! was a favorite of mine during my confused journey into adolescence. But the truth of the words of King Solomon beautifully adapted by Seeger and colleagues is resonating with me today. I would suggest that a fair percentage of our journey so far could be wrapped up in verses three and four above.

a time to kill and a time to heal,
       a time to tear down and a time to build,

This summarizes the weird cycle of chemotherapy. The chemo kills the rapidly dividing cells and then the other drugs stimulate white cells to regain strength. I wrote about the odd concept of poison for healing in a recent post. But the essence of this rambling is contained in the next verse…

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
       a time to mourn and a time to dance,

That says it all in a nutshell of ancient wisdom. There has been a lot of weeping. We have exhausted our annual Kleenex budget with seven months still left in the financial year. And that has been good. God has giving us the gift of weeping. It is cleansing and therapeutic and men ought to get a little better at that truth. There may be no crying in baseball but there is crying when your wife and best friend is facing cancer. There was mourning. We accepted the reality of her disease. We trusted in a God that has proven trustworthy. But we mourned the loss of blessed routine. Our lives would be turned upside down for a very long time. There will be a time to dance when we finish treatment and when we celebrate the five year anniversary of diagnosis. But perhaps the most overlooked tool is the gift of humor – the time to laugh.

Joni and I have determined to find a time to laugh through this cancer journey. I have purchased a couple of t-shirts for Joni from a company called Cafepress (Not all designs are this site are, shall we say, edifying. Proceed with caution). One has a befuddled little happy face with the words, “I’ve got CHEMO BRAIN…What’s your excuse?”  Other shirts have an in your face attitude that some might consider dark but I believe represents the spirit of hope and trust and resolve. One company is called gotCancer?org and they have a wonderful slogan…”Laughing in Cancer’s Face!” I might modify that to read “Cancer’s Ugly Face” but the point remains the same. A couple of their designs are definitely for those with a sense of humor.

The shirts are available at the gotcancer?org website.

There is a time to laugh…even in the face of cancer. Joni and I were laughing today about an incident that happened last night. This was the weekend of the lost follicles. Joni’s hair starting coming out and she got the buzz cut on Monday. That same night she went to an event wearing her new wig. A woman came up to her and said, “I love what you’ve done with your hair! What have you done?”

I asked Joni if she had shared  how this admirer could have the same look. It is really very simple. Just have a port surgically installed. Begin chemo. Wait two weeks. Remove remaining hair. Don wig. Voila! New look!

On the day of Joni’s first chemotherapy we felt some understandable trepidation. The unknown is the worst part of this journey. Then a wonderful brother in Christ showed up unexpectedly at the Oncology office. And there in the midst of our uncertainty we laughed and joked and talked. I am convinced that God used this servant to bring joy to us before the storm. When we made it to the chair Joni’s pulse and blood pressure were pretty normal. I suspect the dose of therapeutic laughter and joy were a big part of that.

It is easy for those in the valley and for those around them to discard the gift of humor. Sometimes we almost consider it a Godly thing to be somber. I would suggest that laughter is one of God’s most precious gifts in the healing process. We have committed to not waste our cancer. But we have also committed to laugh during this trial as we put our trust in the One who bestowed that wonderful gift. There is a time for laughter. Don’t forget to make time for it.

 

I finally got around to reading the DaVinci Code this weekend. I figured I might as well add my contribution to the DaVinci Over Load hysteria that is sweeping our land. Seriously…I suspect the US economy is growing in large part because of the cottage industry that is the DaVinci Code. I stopped by a book retailer this weekend and they had three full tables of DOL (DaVinci Over Load) stuff. Try DaVinci Code on Google and you will get over 9 million hits. To be honest, I am already tired of this before the movie even comes out this weekend. But when I dug into the controversy I was fascinated.

I wanted to be intellectually honest when I am asked about the book. I know that Dan Brown will be fascinated with my critiques because I only need to sell another 39, 975,000 copies of When Bad Christians Happen to Good People to be dead even in sales with Brown. I just need everyone in my beloved home state of Ohio (Go Bucks!) to buy a copy. That will increase my tally by over 11 million. Then if every Longhorn in my adopted state of Texas buys just one solitary copy I will have a total of 34 million. To be honest, I will settle for that. I don’t have to be even with Mr.Brown. I am that selfless.

So here is my contribution to the DaVinci Over Load.

• It’s a good read. I suppose you don’t sell forty million copies of a bad read but this is truly a page turning thriller. At times the plot is a bit implausible but I enjoyed the book very much.
  
• It is fiction but the line is dangerously blurred. I found myself being inclined to believe certain outrageous claims because they were logically proclaimed by likable characters. But since I have a rather large stake in this whole following Jesus thing I made notes to go back and investigate many of the claims later.
  
• I feel encouraged that Christians are generally engaging the debate and not burning torches and demanding a boycott.
  
• I feel very encouraged that a novel and movie that promotes what is clearly heresy to many Christians is being civilly debated and discussed. Ask Salmon Rushdie about his experience with a similar fictional approach to faith.
  
• I was amazed at how glaring some of the errors were in Brown’s declaration of “facts”. One amazing goof is this statement at the very begining of the book. The heading of the page is FACT. And on that page this statement appears.

“The Priory of Sion – a European secret society founded in 1099 – is a real organization.”  

Brown got one thing right. It is a real organization. But the Priory of Sion was founded in 1956! I have researched some things poorly over the years but plus or minus a millenium is not a very good standard. Dan Brown apparently accepted at face value some premises that have been proven false by scholars on all sides of the debate. The Priory of Sion was founded by Pierre Plantard and Andre Bonhomme a mere 857 years after the date Brown proclaimed as a fact. Then he adds the following “fact”.

“In 1975 Paris’s Bibliotheque Nationale discovered parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo da Vinci.”

What they discovered were forged documents placed there by Plantard. The more one does research the more one comes to value the simplicity of the website Wikipedia.org, which accurately summarized and corroborated hours of independent research.

Plantard began writing a manuscript and produced “parchments” (created by his friend, Philippe de Cherisey) that a local priest had supposedly discovered whilst renovating his church. These forged documents purportedly showed the survival of the Merovingian line of Frankish kings. Between 1961 and 1984 Plantard contrived a mythical pedigree of the Priory of Sion. This can be easily proved to be historical fiction because the various claims as found in the Priory Documents never existed before the early 1960s in any shape or form, and cannot be substantiated from the known historical records. Furthermore, letters in existence dating from the 1960s written by Pierre Plantard, Philippe de Cherisey and Gerard de Sede to each other confirm that the three were engaging in an out-and-out confidence trick, describing schemes on how to combat criticisms of their various allegations and how they would makeup new allegations to try and keep the whole thing going.

These were among the “facts” that Brown used as a foundation for his story. When the “Secret Files” were exposed as a forgery by French researchers and authors, Plantard acknowledged that the above mentioned list was a fraud. In 1989, however, he tried to make a comeback and revive the Priory of Sion by publishing a second list of Priory Grand Masters. Incredible! But wait, there is much more.

• I was interested in his take on the Council of Nicene. Brown got that mostly wrong as well. Fellow Crosswalk blogger Albert Mohler summarizes nicely the errors of Brown’s statements.

Constantine supposedly called the Council of Nicaea in 325 in order to invent the idea of Christ’s divinity (and celibacy) and then turn out the heretics, thus burying the real story of Jesus (and Mary Magdalene) forever.  “It’s all about power,” one character explains. That’s why Constantine “upgraded Jesus’ status.”

And the Council of Nicaea?  There, The DaVinci Code reveals, the Emperor led the bishops to declare Jesus as the Son of God by a vote.  “A relatively close vote at that,” the text elaborates. The real Council of Nicaea adopted a creed in order to reject the heretical teachings of one Arius, who taught that Jesus was not of the same substance as the Father.  Brown weaves fact and fiction with such recklessness that the average reader will assume all these claims to be factual.

The Council of Nicaea did not “invent” the divinity of Jesus.  This was already the declaration of the Church, claimed by Jesus himself and proclaimed by the apostles.  The council boldly claimed this as the faith of the Church and named Arianism as a heresy and Arians as heretics.  A close vote?  Only two out of more than 300 bishops failed to sign the creed.  Not exactly a cliff-hanger.

The Council was never convened for the purpose of deciding if Jesus was divine. At this point I could safely relegate the book into into it’s proper place on my bookshelves. Fiction. I could go on and on with other factual errors or interpretive stretches. Clearly this book should not be taken at face value on any historical claim. Do the research.

Why the title of  “Thank you, Dan Brown”? Because, like most average human beings who are stumbling their way through this journey with Jesus, I had not taken the time to study these issues. Thanks to Mr.Brown I have spent a lot more time investigating early church history, the foundation of the Bible, and other critical issues brought to the forefront by The Da Vinci Code. Made me look, Dan! And I am comfortable with what I have found. So thank you Dan Brown!

Whether you decide to see the movie or not why not take the time to do a little investigation of your own. We read the following in Isaiah.

“Come now, let us reason together,”
       says the LORD.

What a blessed relief to have that attitude among most of Christendom about these issues. God will use this movie and this book for His purpose. We just need to be informed and available.

 

 

 

 

Dear friends Nelson and Suzie deserted us to go live in the Texas Hill Country. We have tried to lure them back with Biblical admonitions.

 “You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north.”  Deuteronomy 2:3
(The reference is for the other readers Nelson…I know you have Deuteronomy memorized)

But they have ignored our wisdom and have settled in the rolling hills between Austin and San Antonio. One of our friend’s challenges of country living was making sure that their dog Pepper would not wander away. Pepper is about 10 pounds of pure attitude. 

He needed to be safely restrained from animals that were not intimidated by blustering small packages. So Nelson installed an underground fence to keep Pepper at bay. For those who don’t know about this innovation, underground fencing is a wired perimeter with a radio antenna. When the dog approaches the wired boundary it sends out a signal that activates a battery in the dog’s collar. The battery causes a shock similar to static electricity, and the dog backs off. The field of radio waves can be adjusted so that the dog does not get too close to the edge of the property before hearing the warning tone.

The collars have settings from 1 to 6 with the highest being a pretty good little shock. Pepper sailed through the restraining area when his collar was set on 2. So Nelson decided to skip right by setting 3 and go directly to 4. He reported that the new dance that Pepper invented demonstrated that four might be a tad high and the optimal setting became 3. But there is an interesting aspect to the “invisible fence”. (Note: Invisible Fence is a trademarked brand name developed by Richard Peck in the mid-70’s and they are still a leader manufacturer of the systems).

The dog remembers what happened the last time he went near the boundary so they often never venture to try again. Some owners report that they take off the collar and the dog remains unwilling to try to leave the yard because of that “shocking” memory. It occured to me that Satan operates a lot like that in lives of Christians. Once we have been shocked by a bad experience with a bad Christian or jolted by a relationship gone bad we tend to remember the invisible fence. And we are forever restrained by that invisible fence. We read God’s Word and we know (intellectually) that we need to cross that boundary to confront and repair those relationships and fears.

But I remember the pain. I am afraid that if I approach that person again I might get hurt all over again. Who knows…maybe they will turn their setting up a notch or two and it will only hurt more. I start believing that if I cross the boundary to repair a relationship I will just get shocked one more time. Why should I even try? 

But the reality is that God has given us the Holy Spirit and He can take the batteries out of the collar of bondage we choose to wear. And I have come to realize that it is a choice we make. That collar has no power to hurt or shock or restrain us. We only think it does. And we remain constrained and defeated by an invisible fence that Satan has constructed. Paul exhorted the church in Rome to dare to be different. Take chances. Love and serve one another. And if someone does hurt you the justice belongs, not to you or me, but to God.

Don’t just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically. Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful. When God’s children are in need, be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night. If people persecute you because you are a Christian, don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible. Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written,   

    “I will take vengeance;
       I will repay those who deserve it,”
       says the Lord.

Instead, do what the Scriptures say:
   
    “If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
    If they are thirsty, give them something to drink,
       and they will be ashamed of what they have done to you.”

Don’t let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good.  Romans 12 NLT

Paul was a smart guy. He knew human nature. He knew this wasn’t an easy assignment. But he believed it was possible and so do I. But it takes individual responsibility and courage and trust in Jesus. I have been recently restrained by the invisible fences. I have decided to take the risk and try again. If I get zapped again that is the risk I have chosen to take. But I suspect the barrier is in my mind and God has cleared the way if I move in obedience and trust.

I would wager most of you have an invisible fence or two in your life. Can you trust Jesus enough to venture out in faith to conquer whatever is keeping you restrained in your spirit? Don’t allow it to hinder your joy or your influence for the Lord. What’s in for you and me?

 Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom. I Cor 3  NLT

The Spirit of the Lord does not desire for us to be fenced in by the bondage of fear and by invisible fences. To quote the late Ronald Reagan…”Tear down that fence!”

An interesting note in a recent edition of The Week magazine featured two short blurbs about the art of resume writing. One company that does background checks has found that well over half of all resumes contain false information. Background Information Services has found that most people stretch the truth about their work and educational credentials.

This one hit close to home for me. A few years ago I was asked to write a bio that would be sent out with a press kit for my new book, When Bad Christians Happen to Good People. My educational background was, to be very kind, inconsistent. I was attention deficit before it was cool. Instead of having accommodations and testing and medication I was called into the guidance counselor’s office and chastised for underachieving and laziness. Those are indeed great motivators. I loved the line from Donald Miller’s new book To Own a Dragon. Miller was describing the difficulties of paying attention in school.

“I felt I was on a merry-go-round, hearing every fifth sentence. The rest of the time I wondered what a civilization of puppets would use for currency.”

That, ladies and gentlemen, is my brain. I just spent about ten minutes wondering what the puppets would use for currency. Maybe string.

At any rate, I survived high school with good enough grades to pass. With a clean slate I enrolled in Marietta College with a determination to show I could do well academically. I stayed interested for one semester and did well, even making the correct Dean’s List for a change. After proving I could accomplish that goal my interest promptly turned to ping pong, pinball, and Strat-o-matic baseball for the second semester. Not surprisingly, I dropped out after my freshman year.

As I examined my educational credentials for my bio here is what I had to put on the table.

College drop out.
Marginal ping pong player.
1972 high game on the Play Ball pinball machine – Student Center, Marietta College

Not exactly Algonquin Round Table material. I would have loved to embellish the old academic credentials. But it was like my grandpa used to say when he noted that you can’t polish a, uhhhh, well never mind what grandpa used to say. The point is my academic career was spotty. Like Donald Miller I found my refuge in reading and research. I did learn that you never stop learning. And I realized the miracle of how God can use anyone, even a slacker like me. Getting puffed up with pride is not an option for me when it comes to my academic credentials.

Had I known about a company called fakeresume.com I could have pumped up the old resume a bit. The site offers a resume “tune up” that shows you how to fill in gaps in your resume, get fake references, and even get transcripts from any university with the GPA you want. Here is the rationalization taken directly from the firm’s website.

•  The bottom line is if you know you can do the job, then why shouldn’t you fluff up your resume a bit?  We all know a great deal of people who have held jobs that they were not qualified to have.  Yet there they were day in and day out collecting big paychecks while other people corrected their frequent mistakes. This underground guide will teach you how to take your real life experience and embellished on them so you get the job you deserve.
  
• Can this be considered lying?  Perhaps, but don’t you deserve a shot at a job you know you can do?
  
• What about your prospective employer’s honesty?  How open and honest are they to their employees and future employees?  Anyone who’s read the newspaper or watched the evening news has witnessed the lack of integrity that runs rampant in today’s corporate world. In my experience very few employers will fully reveal any unpleasant details affecting the positions they advertise. 

Why not “fluff up” the qualifications? As long as you know you can do the job that’s okay, isn’t it? Lying? Well if you are going to get all nit picky you could say it’s lying. But I would simply suggest that you drag out the best rationalization of all for sinning. The gold standard of rationlization is justifying one sinful act because of another sinful act someone else commits. Companies are dishonest? Then you can be dishonest too. That merely levels the situational ethics playing field, right?  The website has subheadings like “how much should you lie on your resume” and “how not to arouse suspicion”.

I have the answers to those questions and I feel pretty confident these are biblically accurate.

How much should you lie on your resume?    Zero
How not to arouse suspicion? Tell the truth

In Proverbs you will find this timeless wisdom.

Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed. Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil; joy fills hearts that are planning peace! Proverbs 12  NLT

Mark Twain was exactly right when he said, “when you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.”

So here is my resume with no embellishment.

Education:           One year of college
Degrees:              None
Honors:               None
Clubs/societies:    Member of Sam’s Club
Job experience:    Twenty three years of Texas Rangers baseball telecasts (enough bad pitching for three lifetimes)

Personal:     Child of God and Follower of Jesus
                   Devoted husband of Joni (30 years this summer)
                   Proud father of three wonderful men
                   and two beautiful daughter-in-laws
                   Blessed with wonderful friends and work associates
                  
Sometimes I wish the top half of my resume could be “tuned up” a little. But the personal portion of my personnel file is what matters. And there I am blessed beyond words…and that is no embellishment.