Appraisal
By Scott Harrup | January 25, 2012
Jodie and I enjoyed an afternoon date at two used-book stores Saturday. We like to browse among shelves topically labeled in ways more mysterious and random than a national chain’s corporately orchestrated divisions. (That said, we spend plenty of time in our local Barnes and Noble.)
The price is another attraction of used books. Last month, I purchased several from one store’s dollar shelf. But it’s surprising to discover just how dear the asking price for some titles can be. Saturday I came across a stack of old science fiction anthologies and picked up a volume. It was a little battered, though the binding was solid, and I opened the cover expecting a less-than-$10 price penciled inside.
Shock of shocks: $75. The volume underneath was going for just over $100.
I set the books down more gently than I had picked them up.
To me, those books looked no different from the many others I had been perusing in my bargain basement price range. But the store owner, an expert in books of countless categories, knew their true value.
In the grand “used-book store” of life, a lot of us feel battered, past our prime, and perhaps shelved for good. But the Owner knows our true value. There’s not a one of us He’s willing to give up — for any price. Too often, we fail to recognize our value to Him. We remove ourselves from His inventory and try to get reshelved somewhere we think will propel us to best-seller status.
But His appraisal takes in all our flaws, the dust we’ve collected, the hard use that’s yellowed our pages and cracked our binding. If we’ll just find our way back to His shop, He’s waiting to restore each of us to the masterpieces He planned all along.
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Spam
By Scott Harrup | January 19, 2012
“I like your bold viewpoints on this subject,” a visitor to Out There recently commented. “I can tell you have a passion for writing. Your writing style is both informational and persuasive in this article. I share many of your same views.”
To borrow the refrain of a ’70s musical comedy sketch: “Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam …”
I’m not familiar with the technical intricacies of spam, but I suspect the comment was generated and distributed by software able to sample this blog and many others and leave behind marginally associated pabulum in all of them. Who believes such random rubbish?
But I’m not just a spam recipient; I can be a source. My verbal spam can slip out when I’ve had a long day at work and Jodie begins to tell me about a challenge at her job. If I’m not intentional about connecting with my wife, I’ll nod my head and offer surface comments to evidence my supposed engagement. I can make the same mistake with our children.
God never treats me that way. While I don’t hear an audible reply, I sense God’s loving attention whenever I pray. I’m confident He cares deeply about my life needs, and when I bring them to Him in prayer I’m equally sure His answer will be timely and targeted. There’s nothing superficial about God’s relationship with me.
In contrast with written spam, God’s Word is the antithesis of all that is shallow, derivative and impersonal. The Bible describes God’s love in amazing detail and communicates a wealth of real-life counsel.
If you’ve had your fill of spam recently — and it comes at you from just about every media source — catch a healthy dose of restorative sincerity. Ramp up your time in prayer and Bible study.
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Anticipation
By Scott Harrup | January 12, 2012
I started 2012 all wrong.
A head cold (with the attendant depression-inducing decongestants), family health issues, the post-holiday financial crunch, and the new year of challenges upon returning to work all nudged me into a Sad Sack outlook.
Ironically, I recently experienced a life-sized object lesson in living joyfully and with anticipation.
While in Fort Wayne, Ind., for our family’s annual Christmas/New Year’s get-together, I visited First Assembly of God (Ron Hawkins, senior pastor) to report on the Zo Assembly of God congregation that meets in First Assembly’s children’s auditorium. The Zo are a Burmese ethnic minority (Burma being the modern Myanmar), and these exuberant Pentecostal Christians can raise the roof with their energetic praise.
I think back on those joyful congregants, and reflect on the challenges they face. It’s not easy relocating to the other side of the world, learning a new language, and raising children in a different culture. And yet, the Zo exude Christ’s joy, and allow His presence to touch their lives in every area.
A great goal to pursue this year, and in the years to come.
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A-Theist
By Scott Harrup | December 17, 2011
British-American author and journalist Christopher Hitchens’ death on Thursday was sad news to me, although for reasons he would have absolutely rejected during his life. My concern for his eternal soul is ludicrous superstitious sentimentality to anyone sharing Hitchens’ atheistic views. But I listened in quiet dismay to NPR’s news of his death and tribute to his life.
There was a day when I pondered a high-profile nonbeliever’s death with a self-satisfied conviction that he or she, having encountered God as Divine Judge, was no longer a nonbeliever. But Christians do nothing to promote the cause of Christ by trumpeting anyone’s death. The crux of the gospel, after all, is the gift of eternal life. And “gift” is the key idea here, for none of us is owed this infinite bounty, or even deserves it.
More than I would have admitted in the past, I find Hitchens’ atheism is not so far removed from my life and the life of every believer. Even as a follower of Christ, I experience some level of denial of God’s existence whenever I fall to temptation. Think about it — does anyone, no matter how devout, really want to contemplate the existence (or imminence) of a holy, all-powerful, all-knowing God in the very moment when personal actions contradict His divine guidelines for life? I don’t think so.
We all flirt with “atheist” moments. For anyone to transition from atheist to “a-theist,” something has to break into our reality from the outside as surely as that hyphen has to break apart the word. The Bible describes that “something” as God himself. Throughout history, God has revealed himself and intervened in human affairs to make possible our redemption. A week from tomorrow, the world will again acknowledge — willingly or not — the fullest expression of that redemptive intervention.
“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:9-14, NIV).
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Theoparticle
By Scott Harrup | December 15, 2011
I’m intrigued by recent news items on the search for the elusive Higgs boson, the so-called “God particle” physicists theorize is responsible for the mass of all matter. The idea that some incredibly tiny physical component of matter gives all matter its heft messes with my mind. But just about everything I read about theoretical physics messes with my mind.
My friend Lloyd Colbaugh, an avid writer and circulator of cogent emails, just happened to be attracted to the same subject I was contemplating for this blog and had this to say in his epistle today:
“If the Higgs Boson is beyond our understanding, how much more is God Himself. The Scripture spends a lot of time making God more accessible to us. Yet the mysteries are still beyond our comprehension. As I may have mentioned (because it so amazes me!) Paul says that ‘in Him we live and move and have our being.’ All that is in our universe is enveloped by God. Unbelievable. He is not some long-bearded lonely One sitting on a throne ‘way up there.’”
Amen, Lloyd!
And if the scientific community decides to enshrine the current nickname for the Higgs in physics’ Standard Model, I think “theoparticle” would be quite functional.
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20,000 What?
By Scott Harrup | December 9, 2011
My first-grade journey to literacy had barely progressed beyond the adventures of Dick and Jane when Mom gave me my first “real” book — Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This wasn’t a “Golden Books” condensation for kids, but a Classic Press, Inc., English edition of the groundbreaking 19th-century French science fiction classic. I attribute much of my love for science fiction today to that fortuitous, though unlikely, choice of a gift.
Prior to Verne, my reading homework included such prose pearls as, “Dick said, ‘Look, look. Look up. Look up, up, up.’” The opening sentence of 20,000 Leagues confronted me with, “The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.” It required the better part of two years to complete the book, with “phenomenon” and many other words expanding my vocabulary.
My original well-thumbed volume remained in Koindu, Sierra Leone, when a family tragedy on our mission compound forced us to return to the States in 1975 with a few hastily filled suitcases. In 1998, my brother Blake found the same edition in a used bookstore and gave it to me for Christmas.
Christmas brings to mind another Book. Mom not only prodded my personal reading; she regularly read to Blake, Obie and me from the Bible or from various collections of Bible stories. With our family’s multigenerational loyalty to the King James Version, I was the recipient of a large KJV study Bible somewhere around the fourth grade. Its Elizabethan cadences further polished my vocabulary and elocution.
In the ensuing decades, that Book — whether KJV, GNT, NASB, NIV, The Living Bible or The Message — has done far more than nudge me onward in the joys of reading. It has shaped my soul. It has pointed me to eternal life. It has given wisdom for decisions large and small.
At Christmas, I like to return to my King James roots. Here’s one of the most beautiful selections in all of English literature.
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
“And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger” (Luke 2:8-16).
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Amazing Grace
By Scott Harrup | December 7, 2011
I’ve listened to John Newton’s treasured hymn countless times, but I felt like I was hearing it for the first time when Andrea Bocelli sang it on Good Morning America yesterday. He also shared the song during his Sept. 18 Live in Central Park concert. You can find a YouTube clip of that here.
As Bocelli crafted each verse for the GMA studio audience, I was fighting back tears. It was especially poignant to see this blind virtuoso proclaim, “[I] was blind, but now I see.”
With the approach of Christmas, I’m reminded again of all that is transformed in my life thanks to God’s gift of His Son. I was spiritually blind once. After 40-plus years of following Christ, I keep discovering an ever-expanding panorama of God’s plan for my life. And I look ahead to the full expression of that transformation when I meet my Savior in eternity.
For our family, that reunion will mean our son Connor will never need a wheelchair again. Perhaps for you it will mean conversing with a loved one you lost to Alzheimer’s or seeing a smile on a face once ravaged by cancer.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound! It’s the truest sound of Christmas.
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Three Observations
By Scott Harrup | December 3, 2011
Three news articles caught my attention over the past few days. I’ll offer my reasons for tying them together in a moment. Here are the three items.
1: A Nov. 30 Slate online news summary reported an apparent glitch in Siri, the digital personal assistant software on Apple’s iPhone4S. Siri understands voice queries, automatically seeks out relevant answers online, and can talk back to the user. The glitch: The current version of Siri is unable to locate abortion clinics.
Slate had this to say: “Why’d the chicken cross the road? Siri knows. Trying to score some pot? Siri’s got you. Want a hooker? Ask Siri. Want to kill that hooker, except now you’re super duper high and paranoid and don’t know what to do with the body? Don’t worry, Siri has a few suggestions. Need to find an abortion clinic? ‘Sorry, I couldn’t find any abortion clinics.’”
The American Civil Liberties Union is ready to jump into the fray, and Apple has been quick to insist the software’s abortion-clinic blindness is not a deliberate programming decision.
2: On Thursday, Houston’s Rice University distributed a news release entitled “Some atheist scientists with children embrace religious traditions according to new Rice research.”
Working with the University at Buffalo-The State University of New York (SUNY), Rice researchers interviewed “a scientifically selected sample of 275 participants pulled from a survey of 2,198 tenured and tenure-track faculty in the natural and social sciences at 21 elite U.S. research universities. Approximately half of the original survey population expressed some form of religious identity, whereas the other half did not.”
Among the findings: “17 percent of atheists with children attended a religious service more than once in the past year.”
Rice sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund, the study’s principal investigator and co-author of a paper in the December issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, noted, “Our research shows just how tightly linked religion and family are in U.S. society — so much so that even some of society’s least religious people find religion to be important in their private lives.”
3: The cover feature of the Dec. 5 issue of Newsweek focuses on “The Sex Addiction Epidemic.” Writer Chris Lee reports, “Sex addicts are compelled by the same heightened emotional arousal that can drive alcoholics and drug addicts to act so recklessly, say addiction experts. Research shows that substance abusers and sex addicts alike form a dependency on the brain’s pleasure-center neurotransmitter dopamine.”
Lee noted the effectiveness of several recovery programs, even citing the leader of a Christian anti-pornography website.
However, in illustrating the article, Newsweek’s graphic designers, in my opinion, completely undermined any beneficial takeaway from Lee’s reporting. The magazine cover, though tasteful, featured the attractive shadowed head and shoulders of a woman with no visible clothing. Why not use a completely nonsexual photo of a recovery group meeting? Within the magazine, the illustrations were blatantly erotic, though the models were minimally clothed.
The connection I see between these three articles? A deep undercurrent of irony.
Isn’t it strange that, in a completely secular news item, Siri’s inability to give directions to abortion clinics is contrasted with its ability to offer assistance in illicit drug use, prostitution or even murder? (After all, pro-choice adherents insist there is nothing immoral about abortion.) Who would guess any atheist scientists would seek out opportunities for religious expression for their children? And, though I cynically expect this to be the case, why does a major news magazine rely on erotic imagery to illustrate an article largely focused on the damage caused by pornography?
Irony aside, the articles remind me of the interaction between human free will and divine influence. Our Creator allows us to choose our path in life, even if that path takes us far from Him. When we choose poorly, He continues to give providential reminders of the right way.
Thus, when a writer places abortion and murder in the same paragraph, it is evidence of an underlying divine reminder that abortion is murder. Similarly, atheist parents continue to experience a deep sense of spiritual longing, especially in regard to their children. In Newsweek’s conflicted prose and images I discern, on the one hand, a God-given knowledge of the healthy, lifelong, monogamous model for sexual expression established at creation and, on the other, a selfish, hormone-driven impulse that all too often infiltrates what we say and do.
I believe the Bible identifies the source of our “providential reminders of the right way.” Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as God’s ever-present influence in our lives. God’s Spirit engages our conscience and either compares or contrasts our choices with the divine standard. He reveals both our sinful condition and God’s holiness (see John 16:8-15).
The good news is that the Holy Spirit urges us to surrender our lives to God’s will and come into a redemptive relationship with Him. And He makes possible that transformation.
“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:14-16, NIV).
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Peanut Poison
By Scott Harrup | December 1, 2011
My only known food allergy is to mangoes. It’s not my only allergy. I’m plenty allergic to poison ivy, but I’ve never had a desire to eat it. Various allergies to antibiotics leave my doctor few choices for treating my occasional bronchial or sinus infection, but that has no effect on my diet.
So when I read of people with severe allergies to common foods, such as wheat or nuts, my heart goes out to them. Jodie teaches preschool, and periodically has to care for a child with critical diet restrictions.
A recent development in allergy treatment caught my eye yesterday. You can read the article here. The young girl featured in the story is overcoming a peanut allergy by a carefully controlled regimen of eating peanuts, starting with microscopic amounts of peanut powder and working up to daily portions of a few whole nuts. It sounds counterintuitive, but the researcher who developed the technique is seeing positive results.
The article highlights an attendant, positive condition of the girl’s severe allergy — family participation. Her family has made an enormous effort over the years to keep her eating environment safe. Now they’re beginning to breathe a collective sigh of relief as she transitions to a life less menaced by the specter of severe allergic reaction.
Especially painful situations in life may appear to have no redeeming value. But if you are blessed to know people who will love you sacrificially, sometimes the most difficult circumstances reveal that love most clearly.
Conversely, if you truly love someone, the deepest expressions of that love can come to the surface in moments of crisis and hurtful need.
I believe followers of Jesus Christ experience this truth on several levels.
First, as members of the “body of Christ,” we share the burdens of life with each other as well as rejoice together in times of blessing. “God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Corinthians 12:24-26, NIV).
Second, as we acknowledge the pain Christ endured in order to bring us redemption, we see mirrored in our own pain elements of God’s redemptive purpose. This process grows our capacity for compassion. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3-7).
You and I don’t have to look far to identify people who are enduring life’s “peanut poison” attacks. When we take the opportunity to walk that path with them, we gain potential companions to help us face our own inevitable challenges.
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It’s a Wrap
By Scott Harrup | November 23, 2011
The Dec. 25, 2011, Pentecostal Evangel just completed production, and I added my copy to my office binder, filling another year. It always catches me by surprise when the next annum of Evangels wraps.
And it can be a little confusing. Because of our production schedule, our staff is working on material for the next calendar year by October. I remember back in the dark ages when I began working at the Assemblies of God National Offices editing Sunday School curriculum, I dated a check “1987” months before the calendar shift. I recently made the same mistake with “2012” at the grocery store.
Shelving another binder full of magazines seems appropriate at Thanksgiving. I’m grateful for the editorial team with whom I’m privileged to work every week; the writers who fill each issue with features, columns and news items; and the many readers who continue to support the Evangel and continue to share with us their reports of how the publication ministers to them. That’s especially true of more than 1,000 inmates who write in each year from across the country after reading magazines donated through our Key Bearers ministry.
If you’re looking for an inspirational read this Thanksgiving between bouts of turkey and football, you can sample the Evangel online at pe.ag.org.
May your holiday be blessed with family and friends nearby and daily evidence of God’s generous grace.
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