Palm Reading

 

   We lived in Arkansas for 13 years and saw only a couple of snows that were of any good (ie. snow men, snow ice cream).  Now we are here in Mississippi, and they have had more than that this month.  I hope everyone up there is settled in by a heater with a good movie and hot chocolate.  If you love the snow… congratulations!  Out of school? Celebation!  Don’t like it?  You could be in Washington D.C.  (Of course you could also be in Key Largo, Cabo, or Martinique.)      

  If you haven’t been able to keep the snow off your satellite dish, you may have missed the prominent news story shaking the airwaves.  Iran is ratcheting up its nucleur program another notch, Haiti conitinues to dig out from under its infrastructure, the west coast has been hit with major mudslides, the Winter Olympics are about to begin, and the New Orleans Saints fans won’t be wearing the “Ain’ts” sacks on their heads anymore… but that news will have to wait.  CBS and other major news  sources have uncovered a scandal that will shake this country to its foundation.  They have had their eye on those “Tea Party” folks for some time.  Something was very suspicious.  How could a movement be so conservative and yet so popular?  They knew there had to be something sinister behind this cloak of popular uprising.  How else, they thought, could you explain the popularity of their image bearer… Sarah Palin?      

  But now, thanks to clandestine photographic work, all is laid bare!  After mulling over countless photos with magnifying glass in hand,  there is definitive proof from the Tea Party National Convention.  They caught her red (actually black) handed.  She wrote the talking points to her speech on her HAND!  Gasp! Shock! Horror!  Can you believe what she says if she has to use crib notes?  What about the children?  Will we ever be able to stop kids from writing on themselves with ballpoint now that it is paraded on National TV?  It is an outrage!    

  I guess you might note there is an air of sarcasm in my tone.  Some of you may actually think this is a huge matter worthy of pushing Haiti and Justice Alito shaking his head and mouthing “not true” right off the front page of the news.  However, before you get too wound up, let me ask you, can you think of moments when you wish the person would have wrote a reminder to themselves?   Remember a time when you wish you’d left yourself a note?    And Sarah’s not the only one.  I offer you these from the archives of hands…         

Custer forgot to check his hand at Little Big Horn

     

   

  

      

Remembering lines was tough on young Stallone

    

      

      

 

Jotted down during long-winded middle ages sermon

 

 

 

 My hand last Sunday 

    There is a real serious point in the midst of this all.  It really does not matter that she wrote her notes on her hand.  Regardless of whether you agree with her, her ideas are not any less viable because she used her palm for her talking points.  Maybe she has plans, if elected someday, to pay-off some of the national debt by selling all the governments teleprompters on Ebay.

  No, this is about something much more important than her method of speech delivery.  Creeping ever so slyly through the national garden of our culture is a slithering serpent called “slander.”  He has always lived here and needed periodically be beaten back with a hoe.  It seems, however, that more and more of a stage is granted this serpent, and more and more money devoted to feeding it.  From celebrities, to heros, to leaders of every stripe there seems to be an obsession with making sure we not hold them in too good a light.  The papparazzi of dirt seem to exploit every little possible opening  in hopes of sinking deadly venom into their reputation and the spirits of everyone else.  We should not judge, the culture says… we should leave that to the media to do for us.    

   We would do well to remember that the world’s Lord said such a spirit and act are sin.  Whether in print or on the news… slander is still diabolical.  So next time you see a story trying to demean and undermind somone, ask yourself, “Why are they running this?”.  There is always more news than a newscast can put on the air, so, “Why is this one so important to the newscasters?”  You may see a poisonous reptile crawling on its belly across the screen, sneaking up on its victim.     

   On the other hand, remember that God writes on His hand as well.  His writings are not the source of denigration, however, but of value, worth, and treasure.  He says through the prophet Isaiah…     

 ”Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
       and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
       Though she may forget, I will not forget you!       

  See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands    (Is. 49)     

   Not only did God write it down, he wrote again in blood.  There were never such palms as His palms.  No ones hands ever said as much about you and I, or as much about the one to whom they belong as did the hands of Jesus.  For as the songwriter says, when we see Him we shall know Him… by the nail prints in His hands.   And what does He think of us?  Read his palms!

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

  The holidays are in full swing.  We got an early start this year.  My son-in-law was in from Afghanistan on leave in November, so we got the tree and everything up right after Halloween.  (Well, almost everything… I promised I would get the wreaths out this afternoon.)  [Of course, celebrating it ahead means they didn't actually celebrate it on Jesus' birthday... but, oh well.]  Mary tells me we have almost finished our Christmas shopping, and driving around town makes me glad of that.  (Christmas eve is so exciting; I can’t wait to see what we got everyone.)

    I hope you are getting the special people in your life something they will love this season.  If you are looking for some great gift ideas here are a few.

This house in Australia is for sale.  It looks normal enough, except that it continually rotates.  That has to be interesting.

Here are some fashion ideas from a recent show.  Nothing says “love” like a new outfit.

I hear you can get great deals on real estate… on the moon.  The Lunar Embassy in Prague (a real agency) says sales have been slow… with housing market and all.

  It seems the president loved his gift.  [This photo settles it, even when you are president, sometimes your "coolness" slips.  Notice the first lady's expression.  You get the feeling she's been there for these "cool-challenged" moments before.]

Of course you could get the man of the house a new lawnmower….

   The list goes on and on.  I still have one of the great gifts I have ever received… “The Ronco Pew Appreciater.”  Given to me by a dear friend in Tennessee, it was a square frame with small nails forming a cross.  The instructions directed that in the course of a long sermon just set this underneath whatever part of your body was feeling the hard pew and a renewed appreciation would come in minutes.  I keep the present hid because… afraid the kids will start carrying it to services on a regular basis.

What’s the most bizarre gift you have ever received?

  I don’t know the most bizarre; but I do know the most incredible.  The spirit of Christmas is that God “gave” His son… His son “gave” his life.  He paid a debt we could not pay… and we owe a debt we can never repay.  If Christmas means anything its because the one in the manger was the Divine come to be one of us.  And if He really came, then everything is different.  If He wasn’t divine then celebrating is an absurdity and a delusion.  If He was… then its a spiritual earthquake that rocks the world still, 2000 years later.   The God of all creation is in a battle of love to save all men.

    The absurd thing is to sing the songs, praise the baby, and then do nothing…to sing “Hark the highest heaven adores Christ the everlasting Lord,” then live like He was anything less.  If He was just a baby… walk on.  If He was “Immanuel,”  “God with us,” then bow at His feet and serve Him all your life.  He is worthy of no less.

   Joy to the World the Lord is come, let earth receive her king.  Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing.

Facebook Dilemnas

  It’s the question everyone is asking; the new definer of your  social status…”Do you have a “Facebook” account?”  It seems everyone is getting into the social network sites.  A couple of years ago, while a youth minister, I asked my teens about getting an account.  They said it would be all right, but they rolled their eyes in that classic manner that let me know I was invading sacred adolescent territory.  I was way too old.  Now my grandmother has a site.

  The sites really do keep people connected in way unavailable before.  I now have daily updates from friends in distant places we have lived, friends from High School, and all kinds of people with whom I had and would have lost contact with before.  There are also interesting insights from some of the lists being passed around.  I liked the “25 random things about me” list… though it was out of date before I could get 25 together.  The big thing now is “My Top Five.”  So far I have confessed to my top 5 cartoons, sports teams, and my first five cars.  It was tough admitting, even to myself, I had driven an AMC Matador and a Chevy Citation… not exactly “Mr. Cool.”  I am hoping in the future I have answers for “My 5 Favorite Things to Do in Cabos San Lucas,” “My 5 Favorite Coastal Seafood Places,” “5 Favorite Private Beach Resorts” and “5 Favorite Plays in Oklahoma’s National Championship Defeat of Florida”

  My dilemnas, however, are much more common Facebook applications.  No, even though it says so, I do not believe I am really among the 1000′s evidentally related to President Obama, and I am not intimidated by any of you all who are challenging my IQ.  It’s this “Nicest Person on Facebook” contest.  The one where everybody votes and you can check on how you are doing compared to others.  There are so many ethical questions.  Is it right to accept those votes?  Is this something for which you should campaign; try to win?  Is it right for me to accept those votes when I know me… and I know I am not the nicest person on Facebook.  It would be great… but I know better.  Yet, all that said, there is a part of my ego that likes to see those notifications pop up.  There is a part of me that feels better about myself because someone used one of their votes on me and I am making my way toward the leader board.  I haven’t noticed whether people could vote for themselves… that would be the kicker.

  The other dilemna concerns an advertisement I saw in the left column.  I don’t worry about those Facebook advertisements; I doubt I’ll ever follow one.  However, one I saw was tempting: “Find out who has entered your name into a search engine!”  That’s intriguing… but do I really want to know?  Should I want to know?  Evidently “Danny Holman” was a main character in a novel some years ago, (okay, I confess, I googled my own name), so that would elevate the number of searches… heh, it might surprise me.  Maybe its what my self esteem needs… or doesn’t need.  On the other hand, could it be more “self absorbtion” than anyone needs.  This back and forth in my soul… interesting.  Or is it disturbing?

  In the end, I am sure the site promising to be my own google search private detective agency is going to want money, and that will be the end of that.  I do wonder, however, what such service would do to my psyche, and why?.  For, regardless of who is searching for me online, my real worth has a much stronger foundation.  The God who created the universe knows me by name, and will one day call me by name.  He gave His life to open the way to me knowing Him.  He says, “Mothers can forget their children, but I will never forget you; See, I have carved you on the palms of my hands.”  Every day I can look in the mirror and note, “God says you are worth dying for… and God knows everything.”

  Just today I opened up WordPress and started perusing my way through the religion category just to see what folks had written about.  Seldom do I stop to open one, but today I had to.  There was a blogsite there that jumped out at me.  Though I read every post immediately, I had never seen it on WordPress’s list before.  The site is “Neil’s Diamonds.”  It has great reflections, but even if it were internet scribble I would open it immediately.  The same is true of his sister’s blog… because they are my children.  In my world that is all the value they need.  To know God looks down and sees us in the midst of the universe and calls us His own… that’s all the value any of us needs.