Words of Truth

Most families go on vacations. They go to Disney World, the Grand Canyon, Colonial Williamsburg, and other places. There is nothing wrong with that. I have stated before that if my wife and I were from the same state, we would be able to do vacations like that, but since our extended families live in two different states, we have to spend our “vacation” time visiting family.

Don’t get me wrong; I love visiting my family. I think it’s important that our children grow up knowing their relatives. I think it’s important to spend quality and quantity time with family. You never know how much time you have with those you love. But when you have three weeks a year to spend, and you spend all three weeks visiting family, that leaves no time for California (which I will always and forever pronounce in my head like Arnold Schwarzenegger does), Canada, or wherever else people go.

If I add up all the trips we have taken since our children were born, and I delete the ones that included visiting family, if my memory serves me correctly, we have taken one vacation. We went to Florida in 2006. We would like to go to Washington DC, Colonial Williamsburg, back to Florida, and other places. We even planned out a vacation one time where we would drive down to Texas, across New Mexico, Arizona and into Ca-Lee-FOR-nee-uh (see, I told you). We would see the sights in San Diego, Drive north to Disneyland, and see the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Seattle. Then we would head to Yosemite and spend a few nights there before we drive back home through the Rocky Mountains. We’d see Mount Rushmore on our way through Iowa (to visit family!) and then home. Maybe someday we can do this.

One thing that we DO do (there’s no good way to say that) is go to family camp. We first went to family camp in 2003. We usually go to the Iowa Regular Baptist Camp in Clear Lake, Iowa. I was a lifeguard there as a teenager, my pastor was heavily involved (I believe most of his family worked there, his mom was a cook in the kitchen, etc) so we were always encouraged to go to camp. I left high school and went to Bible college and seminary where I was surrounded by other believers and heard preaching almost every day, so going to Bible camp didn’t really seem necessary.

In 2002 I accepted the call to be the pastor of the Evangelical Free Church in Rockwell City, Iowa. Kim and I are Baptists (and we told them this before I became the pastor), and after being there a year, we felt like we needed to be around other Baptists, so in 2003 we went to family camp at the Iowa Regular Baptist Camp for the first time. For anybody who has never been to family camp, let me explain how it works. You load up the van, drive to the camp, and unpack in your room (there are varying levels of rooms from “bring your own tent” to rooms with your own bathroom and a few rooms that remind me of a hotel. Most of the rooms are air conditioned and furnished with several bunk beds. Everybody picks a bed (parents get dibs!) and then you go out to enjoy yourself on day one. Sometimes the food isn’t what you would pick, and other times it’s amazingly good, but on the average it’s above average.

Here is the view from our room at family camp. Ok, not really.

My wife doesn’t have to cook or clean dishes, I don’t have to mow the yard or anything else. You get to hear good sermons and devotional messages, you spend a lot of time with your family doing fun things, reading the Bible, boating, swimming, archery, zip line, etc. There are tournaments, carpet ball, softball, paintball, and all sorts of other kinds of -ball. You enjoy yourself and you get closer to your family and closer to God. In short, you come out the other end better than when you started. It’s an annual recharging of our family that we have only missed twice in the past ten years. Once was the summer we moved to Indiana, and the other was the summer right after that when we took that vacation to Florida.

This year we got to reconnect with Gerald and Julie Hawk, some friends from Faith Baptist Bible College that are on deputation to become missionaries to the Hispanic population of Katy, Texas. We are also hearing some great preaching. The preaching of Pastor Steve Cox (in the Book of Ruth) has been especially challenging to me. The first night he preached how God is sovereign (in total control) and I realized that I have been asking God to show me His will for my life, when I haven’t been consistently doing what I already KNOW He wants me to do (namely, spend daily time with Him, pray, and witness to others.). If I’m not doing what God has already specified He wants, how can I expect Him to give me other jobs to do? Last night he preached about how Ruth picked the field of Boaz seemingly by chance, but God was in control of the situation, and worked out all the details. There are no accidents. There are three days of camp left, and I look forward to what God will teach me in them.

People came out in droves to Chick-Fil-A restaurants on Wednesday August 1^st  to purchase food.  What does this mean? If you have been living in an Olympic-themed cocoon, I’ll explain.

The CEO of Chick-Fil-A was interviewed last month by “The Biblical Reporter” (as reported in The Baptist Press). When asked about opposition his company has received on its position supporting traditional families, CEO Dan Cathy said, “Well, guilty as charged.” He elaborated, “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

The liberal left and the media (but I repeat myself!) took this statement as an attack against gay people and gay rights.  Many said Cathy’s position is bigoted and hateful. The mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, has decided that a company that doesn’t fall in line with his political views should not be allowed to exist; at least not in “his” city.  A member of the Philadelphia city council and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel agree with this position: if you disagree with the ruling party in government, we don’t want you doing business here.

Let’s examine the facts:

1. Dan Cathy is espousing a biblical worldview. Those of you who, like me, believe that Jesus Christ was a literal man who walked the earth two thousand years ago as the sinless incarnation of God will no doubt agree that, in God’s eyes, marriage is between a man and a woman.  That is the biblical pattern established in God’s act of creating Adam and Eve, His act of providing at least one male and female animal for the ark (only one of each for the unclean animals), and in the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ when He said in Matthew 19:4-6, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
2. Non-Christians, the Left, and others do not share this worldview.  Much like a man stating that “pickle flavored ice cream is the best flavor in the world,” they cannot comprehend how this view could possibly be true.  It rails against everything they believe (“If it feels good, do it.” “If it makes me happy, it’s ok.” “There are no moral absolutes.”)
3. Chick-Fil-A is a company that is free to make their own policies and positions within the guidelines of the laws of the United States of America.  As the CEO of the company, Dan Cathy is authorized to guide the company to financial prosperity however he and his shareholders see fit.
4. The United States of America is still a free-market capitalist society.  In this type of economy, the consumer ultimately decides which companies will succeed and which companies will fail.  If a company comes out in support of something that 99% of Americans find morally repugnant, that company (in a free-market society) will fail, because people will not want to buy their products nor even be associated with it.  Let’s say there was a store that came out in support of domestic violence.  Would you shop there?  Would anybody you know shop there?  That store would not be open for long.

Given the above facts, Dan Cathy did nothing wrong in stating his company’s position on marriage and the family.  He never said he hates gay people. He never said anything at all about gay people in the interview. Yet he (and his company) are under attack by gay rights groups.

They state, “You can’t push your morality on me!” and yet they are now trying to do just that by forcing Bible-believing Christians to agree that homosexuality is morally acceptable. If these people are honest in their cries for “tolerance” and against “bigotry,” then why don’t they tolerate my right to think they are wrong?  Why don’t they give up their bigotry against Christianity? The Merriam-Webster’s dictionary (tenth edition) defines a bigot as, “a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices.”  Sound like any liberals you know?

This is not the first time a group has tried to force their views on the rest of us. I remember a cookie company in Indianapolis called “Just Cookies” that came under fire in 2010 because they chose not to sell cookies supporting gay pride. Gay rights groups protested that business, stating that they felt discriminated against because a private company chose not to support their political position, something that the City of Indianapolis ultimately decided was within their rights to do.

The whole point of today’s action at Chick-fil-a was to show the media and the liberals in government that we the people will not sit idly by while they attack a company that doesn’t toe their party line. The people of Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and the rest of the country should have the right to choose where they will buy their chicken sandwiches, regardless of the will of the ruling political party.  Barring Chick-fil-a from opening a restaurant is not only morally reprehensible, but illegal and against the very fabric of our society.

What do you call a system where only government-approved businesses may operate freely?  Yes, Virginia, it’s called “communism.”

No, this post is not about my recent BSN program, which is now over.  This post is not about my recent house-selling experience, which is only on hiatus. 

This post concerns the cafeteria where I work.  A disclaimer: the cafeteria is not run by employees of my workplace. I believe it is leased out to some other company, so this post is NOT a reflection on my workplace, which is great. It’s my observation about the contractor who does business in my workplace.

I have eaten in this cafeteria at least once or twice a week (sometimes twice in one day) for the past year.  The following things have been steadily getting worse: food quality, service, hours of operation, price, and selection of menu items.  If I compare the cafeteria right now to the cafeteria of a year ago, the food options are fewer, they taste worse, and they are more expensive. Some of the staff are surly and they start shutting the food lines down way too early.

And so I’m done. I refuse to give them any more of my money.  I have the choice to eat there or not, and I would rather eat food that is hot and fresh, even if I have to drive 2 miles away to get it.  For an example, today I got a tenderloin sandwich. The sandwich by itself cost me just under $5, and that’s with no sides.  Another person got five scrawny looking chicken strips for $6.   For this kind of money, I could pick up food from TGI Fridays every day and pay less than what I’m currently paying. But I can’t do that either.  

I’m going to start bringing my lunch on the days I don’t have the van, and looking for cheaper alternatives on the days I can drive.  I sincerely hope that enough of my co-workers do what I’m doing (avoid the cafeteria) so that the contractor loses the contract and some other company comes in that can do a better job selling good food for less money with happier employees.

They say there’s no such thing as a stupid question, but today I had two in quick succession. I’m trying to be sensitive about this, but there’s no other way for me to view these questions. See if you agree.

SQ#1: A lady asked me to fix a machine.  She said, “This machine is making a noise. It says ‘plug in’ but I don’t know what to do.  How do we fix this?”  The plug was hanging there on the machine, right at the end of the cord, in plain sight. I plugged in the machine. No more noise. 

SQ#2:  Thirty minutes later, a woman on the second floor asked me (and this is a direct quote), “I see these two green “EXIT” signs, but how do I get to the elevators or the stairs so I can get out?”  I looked at her for two seconds, and pointed towards the exit signs, saying, ” You go that way.” 

These incidents coupled with the rising occurrence of parents leaving their infant children in sweltering cars leads me to believe that the human race is actually losing IQ points at an alarming rate.