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Monday, March 16, 2020

Survivalism of the Fittest

Who among us has not seen some television commercial or paid short program hawking survivalist kits? The kits can be either basic or elaborate. Frankly, the majority of us do not invest in these. Maybe we should start.

We are on the verge of a unique kind of survivalist paranoia. And it is striking deep into the mindset of Americans. In fact, it’s EVERYWHERE. It’s built from a foundation of fear over COVID-19. The Great Virus Scare of 2020.

Make no mistake. I choose neither to underestimate the significance of this pandemic nor to increase the amount of paranoia that stems from it. My observations are only built on the shutting down of most forms of business and social life occurring in our land (specifically the US).

While Wikipedia is not always the most reliable source for information, their definition of “survivalism” is as follows:

Survivalism is a movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists or preppers) who actively prepare for emergencies, including possible disruptions in social or political order, on scales from local to international. Survivalism also encompasses preparation for personal emergencies, such as job loss or being stranded in the wild or under adverse weather conditions. The emphasis is on self-reliance, stockpiling supplies, and gaining survival knowledge and skills. Survivalists often acquire emergency medical and self-defense training, stockpile food and water, prepare to become self-sufficient, and build structures such as survival retreats or underground shelters that may help them survive a catastrophe.

Stockpiling supplies. Self defense training. Like…for fighting over toilet paper? Yes! Aggressive shopping mania is certainly happening in America.

As for the rest of the world, Australia has been taking it on the bum. As the BBC reported, "Police were even called to a dispute on Wednesday, with reports saying a knife was pulled out in an argument over toilet roll between panic buying shoppers. On social media, #toiletpapergate and #toiletpapercrisis were top trending on (last) Wednesday. Rolls were being flogged for hundreds of dollars online, while listeners were calling into radio stations to win packs of 3-ply loo roll.”

Similar antics were seen in places affected worse by the virus. Places like Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong. In fact, in February armed robbers confiscated pallets of TP in Hong Kong after shortages resulted from panic buying.

And right here at home, a nurse in my doctor's office told me she went to Sam’s Club and the toilet paper shelf was wiped clean! One of my coworkers discovered the same problem at Walmart. And Target just sent out an email saying, in essence, they were going to have to ration various “essentials” because of the gobbling-up crowd.

What causes this mania? According to Associate Professor Nikita Garg from the University of New South Wales, it’s FOMO syndrome. You know, Fear of Missing Out. She explained to the BBC, people "think if this person is buying it, if my neighbor is buying, there's got to be a reason and I need to get in too.”

Panic buying is truly driven by FOMO. Right now, the reality of a pandemic has fueled that fear. But if you want to be a true “prepper” in a time of crisis, I’d recommend you think a whole lot more of spiritual preparation.

The Bible predicts a day is coming when seemingly all hell breaks loose on this earth. As it is written, “This will be the worst time of suffering since the beginning of the world, and nothing this terrible will ever happen again. Matthew 24:21 (CEV)

Eternal survivalists will be those who prepared by putting their faith in God. It will be a person’s only hope.

I suggest you stock up on faith now.

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Monday, March 9, 2020

Unrequited Love

The first girl who ever invited me to a dance has died. Finding details of her passing has been difficult. Apparently, she had fallen ill recently.

We met in my sophomore year of high school in Montana. It was the late 60s and she was determined to be a Sixties child. Her lime green car had stickers with daisies and perhaps a peace symbol or two. She seemed to love the free wheeling spirit of the age.

I’d fill in more details, but the last time I saw her was at our 40th high school reunion. That was ten years ago. She was in a relationship at that time. But she had been in at least one before. The name I knew her by in high school was apparently not her birth name. I was made aware of that only recently. She left a family of older children behind.

Of course I can’t speak for this departed soul. But I surmise she might well have been able to sing the old spiritual, “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” The haunting lyrics of this slave song go, “Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows my sorrow. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Glory hallelujah!”

The spiritual life of my first dance date is also unknown to me. Between our junior and senior years, my mother and I visited a Seattle Bible college where I was interested in attending. This young girl asked if she could travel with us and visit the school as well. I would end up attending. She did not.

Even on that excursion, I sensed she had a lingering crush on me. It was not mutual. Our life views were quite different. Yet high school is that time when you have a lot of friends, and she was simply one of mine.

The musical family “The Corrs” released a song years ago titled, “I Would Love to Love You.” The lyrics don’t precisely fit my situation, but they do for many. One stanza says…

You recognized my barrier to love
I know there's nothing worse than unrequited love
So I prayed to God that I could give the love you gave to me
But something's lying in my way, preventing it to be

There’s much truth in the lyric, “I know there's nothing worse than unrequited love.” Many a crush has gone unfulfilled because the feeling wasn’t mutual. It’s also painfully true that long term relationships can fall apart “after the love is gone.”

Perhaps the saddest form of unrequited love occurs in a marriage. Here we find a couple who previously experienced deep, emotional connections. They may have brought children into the world. Then the nasty disease of drift began to attack that emotional and complete marriage bond. You can likely finish the story for many couples.

Love truly is a complex aspect of life. It is much more than an emotional state. It involves the will. The heart. The mind. Indeed, the soul. That is why the words “I love you” are so difficult for many to say. Deep down, we all realize that loving another person is a rich form of commitment.

In the spiritual life, one can then see why our great God, Who commits to us every blessing, would be hurt by unrequited love. When He finds a soul who responds with deep affection and appreciation—a longing for His embrace and fellowship—it touches His heart. Jesus came to give us a glimpse of that love on this side of heaven.

As Jesus told Nicodemus, “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.” John 3:16  (CEV)

Truly amazing.

I hope you have found somebody to love. And that it’s returned.

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Monday, March 2, 2020

Why did the Chicken Change its Tune?

I have to admit—it hurt. From the late 1980s, I have been a real fan of Chick-fil-A. When they opened a new store in a mall in Arlington, Texas, I was invited to join in a dinner celebration and sat at the table with Dan Cathy, son of company founder Truett Cathy. Years later, I would have the privilege of spending around 45 minutes with the senior Cathy at the company headquarters near Atlanta.

When stories surfaced in 2019 about the change of giving strategy for the Chick-fil-A Foundation, it was shocking to many. Seemingly abandoning their giving relationship with the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes could not have been more of a surprise. Truett Cathy allowed his faith to dictate his business practices. And that included his attitude of generous giving.

Truett passed away in 2014. He was 93. His family still has the reins of the company. Certain changes were to be expected. And they came, including changes in where donations were made. At least one of the organizations where funds had been redirected had questionable policies that did not seem to align with the Cathy life philosophy.

Many spiritual leaders wondered if the company was a bit adrift. Franklin Graham reached out to Dan Cathy and was told their mooring was strong. Chick-fil-A devotees—including me—were not so sure.

Truett Cathy’s daughter, Trudy, recently had a new book published. It’s titled, A Quiet Strength, and pays tribute to Trudy’s mom, Jeannette Cathy. Jeanette passed away in 2015. She was 92.

In a recent interview with Christian Headlines, some honest admissions were made about the new giving strategy of Chick-fil-A. One notable statement Trudy made was that had her mother been alive, Mom would have told her children to pray about the change of strategy by the Chick-fil-A Foundation. Trudy believes the changes were costly.

She told Christian Headlines, “My mom was really good about telling us to always learn from our mistakes. And I think in these last few months with some of things we've walked through, we've realized that we've made some mistakes. We're trying to make some corrections in those. We discredited maybe some really outstanding organizations that needed recognition. And so we're learning from those things.”

Rarely do you hear such admissions in the corporate world. She added some thoughts that clearly indicate how Bible truth influences stewardship decisions. It certainly has impacted the way the company treats customers.

Said Trudy, “We're really wanting to make a difference in this world. We're wanting to sell good chicken, but the Lord is using that chicken sandwich as a tool to allow us to have a positive influence on our culture.” I have convictions that this commitment has seen much good fruit.

Hearing about the shift made in giving tainted my perception of Chick-fil-A. This has played out as I drive past their restaurants in recent months. It feels like a bit of a dark cloud has settled there. I know it hasn’t, but it feels that way. And as a consequence, I am less motivated to pay a bit extra for that chicken sandwich. Public trust has been a bit broken.

Regarding corporate trust, The Washington Times reported on a white paper shared at the recent World Economic Forum. It was co-authored by David W. Miller, director of the Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative. The Times noted, “Public surveys show a precipitous drop in trust among Americans for public institutions ranging from government to the media to corporations, along with a decline in religious observance.”

Miller believes spiritual wisdom can have significant impact in helping institutions restore public trust. According to Miller, “religious traditions have amassed extraordinary wisdom and learning about human nature, brokenness, and healing.

That “extraordinary wisdom” has to come from somewhere. King Solomon wrote, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:6 (NIV)

So why did the chicken company change its tune on giving? I’m sure it’s complicated. Hopefully, wisdom can get them back on pitch.

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Monday, February 24, 2020

My Dog’s Better than Your Dog

Within the last few weeks, former President Barack Obama was speaking in Singapore. He decided to wade into the waters of the significant political differences in America and how social media can and does help spread misinformation. Even those lies that heap coals on burning political fires.

The former leader of the free world then jumped the fence into which gender makes better leaders. Oh boy. The setting for his observations was appropriate being it was a private event on leadership.

His generalization was that a majority of the problems in our world stem from old people—mostly men—who hold positions of power. Barack revealed that while he was the president, he had mused what a world run by women would look like. So here are some results of his musings.

First he noted, “Now, women, I just want you to know, you are not perfect, but what I can say pretty indisputably is that you're better than us [men]. I'm absolutely confident that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything... living standards and outcomes.”

As one political observer noted, women as political leaders have not necessarily led to a significant improvement in outcomes. Germany’s Angela Merkel has been the country’s chancellor since 2005. Their economy has not always fared well, particularly in late 2012 and 2013.

In the United Kingdom, Theresa May found the going brutally tough at times. Parliament never did get behind her Brexit plan while she was in office. Finlanders have chosen a 34-year-old woman, Sanna Marin, who is leading a cabinet primarily served by women.

There’s hardly enough evidence to make the claim that Obama did—that “if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything... living standards and outcomes.” But such bold proclamations make for good political standing amongst the right crowd.

Pew Research has done quite a bit of study on women and men as leaders. In survey after survey, they discovered that few believe one gender has a better leadership approach that the other. However, leadership styles do differ. Women are perceived to be more compassionate, empathetic, and able to find compromise. Men are perceived as stronger in making bold moves and taking risks.

But why pit one against the other? Anyone with a family can see there are differences in the way women and men deal with decisions and relationships. When working together, strong families usually result. Gender personalities can be quite different.

So…would the former president ever re-engage in political leadership himself? Doesn’t seem like it. Mr. Obama said his belief is that leaders should step aside when their time of service has ended. In his words, "If you look at the world and look at the problems it's usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way. It is important for political leaders to try and remind themselves that you are there to do a job, but you are not there for life, you are not there in order to prop up your own sense of self importance or your own power.”

One can only imagine how his former Vice President, Joe Biden, perceived this message. Grandpa Joe is in quite a dog fight right now with both men and women. And what about Bernie? And Bloomberg?

And speaking of dog fights, pitting one gender against the other reminds me of a formerly well known dog food commercial. The brand had kids singing, “My dog’s better than your dog 'cause he eats Ken-L-Ration.” That’s a good way to start a fight among dog loving kids! (see YouTube link below for the commercial.)

The Bible offers this counsel. “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3 (NLT)

This is really good advice. There is one exception. My dog actually IS better than yours. (See picture.)

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Monday, February 17, 2020

Yin Yang Politics

Poor Andrew Yang. Even tons of money can’t buy your way out of a paper bag. Or into voters' hearts. Especially if your weakness is being “sort of" pro life.

Last week, Yang yanked himself from the candidate field of Dems hoping to defeat Trump. You drop out when enough votes fail to drop in your basket. Mr. Yang also threw a rather wild pitch to give all of us $1000 per month. Not out of his own wealthy pockets, mind you, but from that mysterious black hole of “play" money raised partially from taxes, but more frequently from a huge borrowing trough. You might call it debt.

It wasn’t the grand giveaway alone that put Andy in sinking sand. Consider deeply what he said about abortion. During a New Hampshire forum, he was asked about his view on abortion policy (of course). He responded, “There is a really important tone to set on this, where you don’t just say, like we’re absolutist about it, though I have to say I am relatively absolutist about it on this.” What?

No doubt realizing this could be perilous territory for a Democrat candidate, he added, “Like I think that it should be completely up to the woman and her doctor and the state should not be intervening all the way through pregnancy. But it’s a tragedy to me if someone decides that they don’t want to have a child and they’re on the fence and then maybe at some point later; it’s a very difficult personal decision and it’s something that we should be very, very sensitive to.”

Talk about putting a dagger in his campaign! His view garnered the wrath of a popular consultant and writer named Lauren Rankin. Following Yang’s comments, she tweeted, “Abortion is an incredibly common human experience, one that deserves dignity and respect.” Too bad the babies can’t speak up on that ludicrous comment!

Ms. Rankin added, “You don’t get to lead the Democratic Party in 2020 if you belittle and demonize those who’ve had abortions and those who’ve defended and supported them. 1 in 4 women have had an abortion in this country, and Andrew Yang is mocking their choice and humanity when he demonizes abortion in this callous way.”

This clearly illustrates how far afield we have come. And how ridiculous the arguments are made to defend the inhumane treatment of babies. Yang didn’t mock anyone’s choice. For extremists, there’s no room to fudge on this!

As for the rest of the field of Democrat candidates, some have become brutally hard nosed on this issue. Take Bernie Sanders (Please!). Prior to the New Hampshire primary, "The Bern" showed up on an MSNBC town hall episode where abortion rights were discussed.

The host, Stephanie Ruhle, asked Sanders, “Is there such a thing as a pro-life Democrat in your vision of the party?” Here was Bernie’s response, “I think being pro-choice is an absolutely essential part of being a Democrat. By this time in history . . . when we talk about what a Democrat is, I think being pro-choice is an essential part of that.” Scary. How is that for freedom of thought?

Is that a “big tent” philosophy? Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota opens the door a bit. Her thought, “There are pro-life Democrats, and they are part of our party, and I think we need to build a big tent.” As for the other candidates, Senator Elizabeth Warren and the slippery mind of former Vice President Joe Biden made assurances to codify access to abortion nationwide if elected.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg was asked if he wanted the support of pro-life Democratic voters. He was told there are about 21 million such creatures. Would he support party language “to ensure that the party of diversity, of inclusion, really does include everybody?”

Here’s his patently political response, “The best I can offer is that if we can’t agree on where to draw the line, the next best thing we can do is agree on who should draw the line. And in my view, it’s the woman who’s faced with that decision in her own life.” Would we use the same logic for environmental issues? Nope.

The Bible clearly spells out where God sees life beginning. His words to the prophet Jeremiah tell us, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV) The same thought was expressed by King David in Psalm 139.

Thank goodness for the hard-working, never giving up, pro-life voices in America. Thousands of babies have survived because of their dedication.

We need more of them…to offset the yins and the Yangs.

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Monday, February 10, 2020

How do I Love … Let Me Count the Ways

Love gets very special attention this week. Hundreds of millions of valentines will be exchanged. Who loves the theme of love most? Those who sell cards, flowers, candy, and the restaurant trade.

It’s rather odd that we have such a day on a calendar. Trying to pin down a truthful history that justifies the occasion is almost impossible. There are too many mutations to the legend.

Supposedly, we get the day in honor of a person with a spiritual legacy—St. Valentine. The variations on his story make that legacy questionable. Even scholarly attempts found in Christian periodicals fall short.

In grade school, Valentine's Day meant exchanging those cheap little cards and heart shaped candies with messages like “Be mine.” If you were lucky, a cute girl would send one that said “kiss me.” It made you wonder if she had eyes for you. But in third grade, you really didn’t know what that meant.

Are you sending a love message with a candy heart? Then your Valentine is getting “sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, glycerine, artificial and natural flavors, gelatin, vegetable gums (tragacanth, xanthan and arabic), citric acid, and artificial colors (red 3, yellow 5, yellow 6, red 40, blue 1).” It’s on the box.

For most men, giving flowers on Valentine's Day is a must. Seasonal advertising is always pitching some great offer on roses accompanied by stuffed animals or boxed candy. These too shall pass. With or without the commitment that true love is best expressed by.

More than one survey has been taken on the “best love song of all time.” One list I found offered these selections.

  • “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers.
  • “I Say a Little Prayer” by Aretha Franklin. 
  • “Let's Stay Together” by Al Green. 
  • “Something” by The Beatles. 
  • “Your Song” by Elton John. 
  • “My Girl” by the Temptations.

Anyone familiar with these tunes knows that the lyrics are mostly focused on a romantic kind of relational love. Michael Bolton had a hit record with the song, “Love is a Wonderful Thing.” Hmmmm. A “thing”?

In the Christian faith, we are taught about three forms of “love”:
  1. Agape—Rich, unconditional love
  2. Eros—Romanic love
  3. Phileo—Affectionate or brotherly love

It’s said the ancient Greeks added five more expressions.
  • Philautia—Self-love
  • Storge—Familial love (*sometimes found in Christian teaching)
  • Pragma—Enduring love
  • Ludus—Playful love
  • Mania—Obsessive Love.

Relationship counselor Craig Lounsbrough recently wrote about love and said, “Take love out of our existence, and the chilling question would be ‘what’s left?’” He offered some interesting responses of his own, saying that “loss” would abound. Here are three of his examples.

Loss of Community
Take away love and we have no reason to consider our fellow man nor join him in the partnership of life and living. The communal foundation forged strong by empathy, fired by sympathy, and cinched tight by respect, is obliterated. Without love our world would fall, and in the chaos of the descent it would tear itself apart to its own death.

Loss of Self
Take away love and our own individual existence would fall into abject irrelevance. The desire to sustain ourselves would devolve to a singularly primitive savagery…Hatred of self—and for self —born of the absence of love, would cause us to viciously turn on ourselves, rendering us our own enemies…In essence, to become loveless is to become non-existent.

Loss of Life
Take away love and nothing would capture our imagination. We would find nothing compelling. We would never marvel or be held in the mesmerizing embrace of wonder….Passion, desire, dreams and hope are all borne of love and entirely sustained by it. Take away love and we take away meaning.

Good thoughts, Craig!

Bottom line? God IS love. Jesus explains how to love. The Holy Spirit empowers us to love. The apostle John writes, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7 (ESV)

Want the secret to a meaningful life? Learn to love, Valentine.

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Monday, February 3, 2020

Refurbished Misery

Quite often I see offers on Groupon or ads in the paper for more expensive products at seemingly very low prices. A closer look usually means some fine print that says, “Refurbished.” You never know exactly what went wrong the first time.

But now, Rhonda and I know exactly what the problem was with our “refurbished” refrigerator. The thing is, we bought it NEW. So we’re not happy about that.

It started with our need to replace a second fridge that we use in our basement. Those super-duper Black Friday deals seemed like a good time to buy. We found a nice LG unit that fit our needs and had it delivered around early December.

Everything in the freezer froze. Which is good. Everything in the upper part of the refrigerator seemed not as cold as it should be. After attempting to lower the temp inside the fridge, alas, no change. We placed a thermometer inside and determined it was only cooling to a mildly chilling 57 degrees. The milk we had stored there took the worst hit. You don’t want to know ...

The purchase place, Lowe’s, explained it was not their problem. We were directed to LG Customer Support. This is a misnomer. It should be called, “LG Customer Run Around Before You Get Any Real Help.”

First, you don’t speak with a person. You’re told to go on your computer and fill out a form. (Suppose you actually don’t HAVE a computer?) Rhonda made at least three attempts to do so. Finally, a call came giving us a repair date. Unfortunately, it was a date on which we were in Florida!

But this time we had a number! So we called and rescheduled the service person to come out. While out of town, a service rep stopped by. Grrrr.

When we returned from our trip, we have the standard “you must be available between the hours and 8 a.m. and 12 p.m.” appointment time. This means, of course, you can’t do anything else during that window. The person showed up after 11.

He checked out the refrigerator and said he thought it was a fan problem. But to get to it, now EVERYTHING had to come out of the freezer—where it sat out for the hour or so while repair was being made. And we were told to wait 24 hours before opening the fridge to allow it to cool.

In the meantime, a SECOND repairman came by at 3p. Now we learned the first guy wasn’t an actual LG person, but a subcontracted service person. The LG truly authorized repairman said to call him on his mobile if the problem wasn’t fixed.

It wasn’t. We called. The third day we actually connected. And he made another appointment—using the 8 - 12 time slot allowance.

On the day Mr. Repair Guy showed up, the official LG truck with all the parts had broken down. He arrived with a single tool in his rental truck just before noon. After reviewing the situation, he ordered a part for us which arrived this past week.

Last Friday was “repair day.” Or so we thought. The replacement part was installed. Now…waiting until morning for results. And the answer is ?? It STILL doesn’t work! Grrrr #2!

Truth be told, the frustration index would be much lower if you could talk to an actual customer service person who cared. Not a single LG employee would want the same treatment we received for damaged goods that they purchased. So why dish it out to customers?

In times past, I’ve actually made presentations for business friends on treating customers well. It certainly isn’t rocket science. It’s not even refrigerator science!

In fact, the way to handle such matters is written almost in gold. Jesus of Nazareth said it simply, “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” Luke 6:31 (ESV)

Bad customer treatment often cannot be repaired. Even with refurbished attempts.

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