Two Funerals
By Scott Harrup | August 28, 2010
Maybe you’re like me, and you get tunnel vision on the material inheritance you would leave behind if you were to breath your last today. I can be reading a magazine or watching TV, and some ad will remind me that my nonexistent IRA and investment plan aren’t just important to my retirement, but to my heirs. With my 40s slipping away, I can’t deny there’s a compelling logic there.
But Edward Jones, Merrill Lynch and similar fiscal entities have nothing to offer when it comes to the spiritual component of my “estate.” In that department, a funeral does an amazing job of nudging me to keep my affairs in order.
Two recent funerals have me thinking about that spiritual legacy. At both memorial services, I watched family members describe how their own walk with Christ was established and nurtured by the consistent life example of the deceased.
That’s what I want to leave behind, I thought as I looked at those caskets. Thanks to God’s grace and the many people who have already invested in me, that’s doable.
There are plenty of days after I pay the bills when I can say with the apostles Peter and John, “Silver and gold have I none.” But, like those men of faith, I can also say to my wife and children and the other people I meet, “Such as I have, I’ll give you.” For the apostles, that legacy connected to “the name of Jesus Christ.” Not as an incantation, but as a foundation. They were anchored in the Savior, and whatever they gave of themselves grew out of that relationship.
Chances are good that my coffin will not be mahogany, and my heirs will have no need to establish tax shelters. But if my kids (and grandkids??) can stand up and thank me for my faith example—like I watched John and Ken’s families do—I will have died a wealthy man.
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Christian?
By Scott Harrup | August 26, 2010
On a recent Faith & Reason blog, USA Today’s Cathy Lynn Grossman poses the question “Who, exactly, is a ‘Christian’? Obama? You?”
Grossman doesn’t offer any direct definition of a Christian, although she quotes Franklin Graham’s description of a salvation decision. She is more interested in people’s self-identification with the term Christian and their reluctance to apply it to others. She quotes a Catholic blogger who describes the spiritual disenfranchisement exchanged between some Protestants and Catholics. She notes, “One of the largest and longest standing debates at the Faith & Reason Forum is over whether Mormons are Christian.”
Regarding President Obama’s faith, Grossman cites a Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey that finds little consensus and much uncertainty among Americans. Some 18 percent of those surveyed thought the president was Muslim, 34 percent said he was Christian, and 43 percent were unsure what he believes. A photograph of the president visiting with Billy Graham and Franklin Graham in the elder Graham’s home headed the piece.
Grossman’s goal is to generate discussion, not offer any parameters for truth. But the question considered in her title demands a clearly defined and truthful answer, particularly in regard to that final word you. Each one of us must come to terms with whether or not we are Christian—not in the social demographic understanding of the word, but in terms of our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus himself did not coin the term “Christian,” but He clearly explained what He looks for in His followers. Two of Jesus’ statements come to mind when I consider how different His expectations are from the increasingly “social” Christianity of America.
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:34-36, NIV).
I believe a lot of people pursuing the “American Dream” would have trouble with that one. And, guilty as charged, I must come to grips with giving up my life for the gospel every day.
Then there is Jesus’ well-known claim that is so troubling for those who exalt American pluralism.
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’
“Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’
“Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me’” (John 14:6-11).
Grossman’s blog stirs some soul-searching. I can spend all day trying to put the people around me into “Christian” and “non-Christian” boxes while I give myself an automatic pass. But Christ would redirect my attention to just how faithfully I am carrying the “cross” of complete identification with Him, and whether within that identification, I understand that I am relating to “very God of very God.”
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Moo
By Scott Harrup | August 9, 2010
The Los Angeles Times recently ran on their website a photo essay about strange roadside artwork. Looking through the entries, I mentally time-warped to a road trip I took for the Pentecostal Evangel in 2004 and one such “work of art” I saw along the way.
Small-town churches were our cover theme for the Oct. 10 issue that year, and I drove to Carrington, N.D., on July 30 to spend the weekend with Bruce and Patti Gunderson and their congregation at Bethel Chapel (AG). I could have flown rather than make the marathon drive, but I had an ulterior motive.
Renting a Pontiac Grand Prix with just 19 miles on the odometer, I hit the road with Lindsay at around 4 a.m. on a Friday for a whirlwind Father/Daughter excursion. About 14 hours later, we were at the Gundersons’ in time for supper. We stayed through the weekend and got a much later start home on Monday. I think it was the wee hours of Tuesday when we pulled back into Springfield. That Grand Prix had clocked more than 2,000 miles.
We took a lot of photos along the way, including several of this cow.
I have no idea as to the background story. It’s random, to say the least, and now it’s part of the Harrup family archives.
But the trip was a pleasure, even if a bleary-eyed pleasure by the last few hundred miles. Today, if I were to repeat the route with Lindsay, I could let her do a chunk of the driving.
It feels a little like déjà vu as the Oct. 24 Evangel, going into layout this week, takes another look at small-town America. You’ll want to read our coverage of Rural Compassion, a wonderful ministry that is empowering local churches to address the community needs around them.
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Ray of Hope
By Scott Harrup | August 2, 2010
In the 1970s, I picked up a paperback collection of Ray Bradbury’s short stories. I was immediately transported. Bradbury is the kind of writer who can offer up poetry disguised as prose. I lost that first collection, but I still have my high school copy of Fahrenheit 451 and a half-dozen or so other Bradbury titles.
Today’s article on CNN.com about Bradbury’s religious views was a must-read. Several of his quotations I would happily frame and keep in my own writing nook for inspiration.
Of his writing: “It’s a God-given thing, and I’m so grateful, so, so grateful. The best description of my career as a writer is, ‘At play in the fields of the Lord.’”
On prayer: “Joy is the grace we say to God.”
On space travel: “We’re moving more toward God. We’re moving toward more proofs of His creation.”
I connect as well with Bradbury’s Midwestern Baptist upbringing. The Assemblies of God shares a good deal of its theological framework with many Baptist fellowships, and our church headquarters is just one state over from Bradbury’s Waukegan, Ill., hometown. Bradbury and I share a fondness for the Gospel of John.
So far, so good.
But key differences in our spiritual frames of reference caught my attention as well. The article noted that Bradbury “keeps writing about Jesus, but he doesn’t consider himself a Christian.” Bradbury is quoted as saying, “Jesus is a remarkable person. He was on his way to becoming Christ, and he made it.” Of his own faith: “I’m a Zen Buddhist if I would describe myself. I don’t think about what I do. I do it. That’s Buddhism. I jump off the cliff and build my wings on the way down.”
The CNN article announces Bradbury’s 90th birthday this month. He is one of the last surviving formative giants of science fiction and fantasy. He will be studied and interpreted by generations of students and scholars. His legacy is assured.
But my hope for one of my literary heroes is that he’ll stop trying to build his own wings of faith and recognize that Jesus is eternally the Christ — not just the leading character in his favorite book of the Bible, but the Savior that he and every one of us need.
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Joni
By Scott Harrup | July 30, 2010
It was a real joy yesterday to spend some time on the phone with Joni Eareckson Tada. What an insightful woman of God. If you’re a Pentecostal Evangel reader, you’ll want to keep an eye out for her contributions to our Nov. 28 issue.
She mentioned that today is the 43rd anniversary of the diving accident that broke her neck and began her life journey in a wheelchair. Her Joni and Friends radio program observed that anniversary. You can hear the five-minute broadcast here.
Joni makes a powerful statement: “I can understand that is may be hard for most folks to appreciate that I celebrate this day. Maybe ‘celebrate’ is not quite the right word; maybe it’s more like ‘remember.’ I remember this day as that point in time when God grabbed hold of my life and jerked it in a whole different direction than I would have ever planned for myself. And just what is it that I celebrate, that I remember? Well, first, I celebrate and remember the extent to which God is sovereign over all the details of our lives.”
She went on to speak of God’s purposes for her life in the years since that dive into the Chesapeake Bay. Her remarks are a powerful reminder that our greatest fulfillment in life, and our greatest antidote to bitterness or sorrow, is in service to God. He has lavished His grace on us, is with us in life’s most painful moments, and is preparing a future for us that will forever transform our current trials into clear stepping stones to glory.
Joni’s trials are not confined to her wheelchair. She is also fighting cancer and will begin chemotherapy this coming week. She asked that Evangel readers keep her in prayer. Thankfully, this blog can be posted long before our press run. As the Lord brings this servant to mind, I hope you respond in faithful prayer.
Topics: People | 1 Comment »
Diaries
By Scott Harrup | July 27, 2010
In some regards, this blog has become a substitute journal for the one I sporadically keep at home. I don’t think I’ve managed a sentence there since early spring. When I peruse entries over the past few years, the annual input is shrinking dramatically.
Others have been much more successful at journaling. John Quincy Adams’ diary spanned nearly half a century. You can find digital collections of those writings here. I have a volume of journal entries by London Times special correspondent William Russell, whose observations of Civil War-era America are fascinating.
Samuel Pepys’ 17th-century diary is familiar to most students of English literature. I remember reading his entries on the Great Fire of London when I took a class in high school. The useless factoid that stuck with me, however, was the unlikely pronunciation of his name—Peeps.
Though not in the form of diaries, the four Gospels have to be the greatest “life journals” ever written. Consider the task of the Gospel writers—somehow to capture the key events of the earthly life of God’s Son. What to include? Everything, one must think in semipanic. What to exclude? Imagine excluding something said or done in your presence by God himself.
John, at the end of his Gospel, pretty much laid it on the line. “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (21:25, NIV).
He wasn’t using hyperbole. John understood there was no way to fully capture the words and deeds of Jesus, because everything about Him connected with the infinite kingdom of God and had an immeasurable influence on humanity.
But John and the other Gospel authors had a divine writing Partner. The Holy Spirit inspired them to highlight those words and deeds of Christ that best prepare the reader for eternity.
All that remains for us is to read with eyes of faith.
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Slurrr-mack!!
By Scott Harrup | July 20, 2010
That’s the sound I imagine a giant palm salamander’s tongue makes when it impacts a juicy bug. Turns out, according to recent research, that this Central American critter’s tongue holds the record for most powerful muscular response—18,000 watts per kilogram of muscle. That translates to 24 horsepower per kilogram according to one online calculator!
The Book of James offers some thoughts on the power of the human tongue. People can steer giant ships with small rudders, James observes, but can’t control their tongues. I’ve found that to be true for myself many times.
During a conversation, my brain will snap across some random thought and, like that giant palm salamander, my tongue zooms into action at warp speed. A split second later, I’m regretting what I just said.
James has a solution to the problem of random tongue missteps, and to a number of other problems he outlines in his epistle.
“Submit yourselves, then, to God” (James 4:7).
That’s the shortened version. James has plenty more to say that you might want to read for yourself. But that statement quickly gets to the root solution.
If I am determined to follow God, I’ll give careful thought to every word and action and how it reflects on Him.
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Slow Reading
By Scott Harrup | July 9, 2010
Malcolm Jones, in his article “Slow Notion” in the July 12 issue of Newsweek, takes a look at a habit often discouraged in education circles: “Slow reading has always gotten a bad rap. Slow readers in school were the bad students. No one ever got a blue ribbon or a good grade for plodding. So it comes as a surprise to find that the phrase at least comes with a distinguished pedigree.”
Jones goes on to note some of history’s proponents for slow reading and the resurgence of interest in the practice. He cites John Miedema, author of the book Slow Reading, who claims, “When you bring more of the person to bear on the book — or maybe more of the book to bear on a person in a sense — you develop a more intimate and rich relationship with the information that builds richer memories and a richer intelligence.”
Jones’ article caught my attention because I’m a slow reader. I love to read, but I’m one of those “read it out loud in your brain” kind of readers. I take my time visualizing every description, mentally enunciating every word traded in dialog and imagining the different accents and speech cadences a writer attributes to each character.
I’ve read my share of tips for speed-reading, and pretty much every one of my reading habits violates some speed-reading dictum. Although I did pick up one tool I use with some success when I need to read faster. Just moving my hand across the page along my line of sight probably bumps my speed up by a good 50 percent.
Any reader, even a speed-reader, will slow down over a favorite text. I doubt a treasured poem is ever read rapidly. Or Shakespeare, for the matter. Just the thought of a Hamlet soliloquy at warp speed has me imagining Alvin and the Chipmunks in tights and zipping out “To be or not to be, that is the question….”
The Bible is one Book I read deliberately, in every sense of the word. I never want to hear the Chipmunks in my head when contemplating the Twenty-Third Psalm, the Beatitudes or 1 Corinthians 13’s description of authentic love. Most importantly, as I read Scripture slowly, I take time to measure my life against its standard. Sometimes my understanding and application can be so slow the process feels almost glacial.
But there is no other book in whose pages I would so willingly trade some speed for Miedema’s “intimate and rich relationship with the information.” If ever there were a case where slow reading brings “more of the book to bear on a person,” it has to be God’s Word.
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Lighting Candles
By Scott Harrup | June 25, 2010
Most of us expect negative headlines in the news. “If it bleeds, it leads,” the saying goes, and that tends to hold true whether you’re reading the morning paper, following a breaking story online or watching the evening news.
But sometimes the headlines stack depressing realities so deep, even a jaded news consumer like me sits up and takes notice.
Here are four in a row from this morning’s Slate lineup: “Study: Fetus Feels No Pain First 24 Weeks,” “Record Number of Children Dying in Hot, Unattended Cars,” “School Criticized for Giving Condoms to Elementary School Children,” “Coming Soon: .xxx Porn Suffix.”
Taken together, these stories speak to this dad of a world where children are at terrible risk from conception and throughout childhood. The “no pain” article is supposed to salve the savage reality of abortion. It doesn’t. Adult negligence of the worst variety has toddlers baking alive in sealed cars. Adult perversion offers condoms to elementary schoolers behind the backs of parents. A predatory pornography industry wants to expand the $3,000 a second already being spent for its online poison—with no concern for how much easier it will be for tech-savvy young children to do massive searches for porn.
All right, that’s my “curse the darkness” diatribe. How can we light some candles? Consider these possibilities.
1: Fight abortion by promoting adoption. Contribute your finances or time and energy to a crisis pregnancy center or a faith-based adoption agency. Springfield’s Pregnancy Care Center has been doing wonderful things in this community. A number of Evangel staff members, moi included, participate in their annual Walk for Life. Assemblies of God Family Services Agency offers fantastic resources for promoting life. Furthermore, if you have any personal connection to a pregnant teen, choose encouragement over condemnation. If you are perceived as a loving mentor rather than a self-righteous judge, you’ll have far more opportunities to point that young mom to Christ.
2: Recognize that kids left in cars is a symptom of a far greater issue — kids who are systematically neglected. Do you know any stressed-out, distracted young parents? Can you step in with an offer to babysit, a card and a sack of groceries, even a compliment that brings to mind a child’s inherent worth?
3: Research the policies regarding sex education and counseling in your school district. Put together a fact sheet for parents in your church or community group. Many of the worst school board decisions can be combated through simple parental awareness even if those decisions are not reversed. And even reversal can be achieved with a wide enough outcry.
4: Make sure stringent parental controls are in place on your home computer, and encourage any parents you know to do the same. Talk to your children or grandchildren or nieces and nephews about their computer use. If you are struggling with a pornography addiction, or even viewing it at what you believe to be a “harmless” level, talk to a pastor or trusted counselor and get some biblical insights into why this industry is so destructive to adults as well as to kids.
And, if you’re a mom or dad whose heart aches over the spiritual plight of your child, remember that you are not alone. Your Heavenly Father wants to partner with you in creating for every son and daughter the very best life He has planned all along in the face of every adversary.
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Forgiveness
By Scott Harrup | June 22, 2010
Forgiveness is one of those warm and fuzzy subjects with a thorny underside. Warm and fuzzy when we remember being forgiven or are hoping for forgiveness. Thorny when we have been hurt and are called to forgive. I recently caught a lesson on forgiveness from a surprising source.
On a recent father/daughter date with Lindsay to Barnes and Noble, I picked up a copy of The Reagan Diaries. My first reading quickly carried me through the assassination attempt on President Reagan a mere 69 days into his first term. In those succinct personal journal entries, I read some of the most poignant expressions of forgiveness.
Looking back on the events of March 30, 1981, President Reagan had this to say:
“Getting shot hurts. Still my fear was growing because no matter how hard I tried to breathe it seemed I was getting less and less air. I focused on that tiled ceiling and prayed. But I realized I couldn’t ask for God’s help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed-up young man who had shot me. Isn’t that the meaning of the lost sheep? We are all God’s children and therefore equally beloved by Him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold.”
On April 17, President Reagan wrote:
“Later in the day talked by phone with Billy Graham. He knows the family of the young man who did the shooting. They are decent, deeply religious people who are completely crushed by the ‘sickness’ of their son.”
And on April 28, a brief note: “Received a mailgram from the Hinckleys—parents of the boy with the gun.”
Even the tone of President Reagan’s notes demonstrates his continued compassion for his would-be assassin and his willingness to distance the crime committed from the assailant—“mixed-up young man who had shot me,” “young man who did the shooting,” “boy with the gun.”
I miss the Gipper. Reading his diary entries gives me a renewed appreciation for the godly man he was. His lack of malice in response to a hateful attack that also wounded three other men draws my attention to one of the most challenging responsibilities of any Christian—freely sharing with others the forgiveness offered to each of us.
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