Jesus Take the Wheel

“Worry weighs a person down.” – Proverbs 12:25 NLT

In his book, Parables (Creation House, 1991), Jamie Buckingham tells about a pilot in Ecuador who was involved in a plane crash because of a passenger's fear. The wheels of the heavily loaded Cessna 206 had barely left the wet jungle airstrip when the passenger, sitting in the co-pilot's seat, panicked. The pilot had the throttle pushed all the way forward to the firewall. He had done this many times before and was confident they would clear the huge trees towering at the end of the little airstrip.

The passenger, an American who had been visiting the Indians, had never taken off from a jungle airstrip. Looking up, all he could see were the on-rushing trees filling the windshield. “Why doesn't the pilot pull back on the controls?” he thought in terror. Fearful they were going to crash, he tried to help. He grabbed the wheel and pulled back. That was the worst thing he could have done. A plane needs to build up airspeed before you point the nose skyward. Otherwise, the plane will stall.

The plane did stall. It pitched up, lost critical airspeed and began to settle toward the jungle below. The pilot wrenched the controls back and tried desperately to get the nose down. But it was too late. As the airplane reached stalling speed, the heavy engine pulled the nose over sharply, and the craft spun to earth. By God's grace, no one was killed, but all were injured because of a passenger's lack of trust in his pilot.

How often are we like that frightened passenger? We panic and worry, grabbing the controls from God, denying him access to our lives, because we fear risk and failure. We would rather trust our own ability than that of the Master. Give the controls back to God. Turn your life over to God and trust His promises!

What's Good about Good Friday?

This week we will have a Good Friday service. I wonder, and perhaps you do too – How is it that we call the day Jesus was crucified, good? I mean I find it hard in my own life to imagine a day marked with sadness as a good day.

Since the early centuries of the church, the day was marked with sadness, mourning, fasting, and prayer. Christians were instructed that it was to be a “day of mourning, not a day of festive joy.” Ambrose said it should be a “day of bitterness on which we fast.” Historically, many church buildings were kept dark even by draping black cloth over the windows, and processions of Christians dressed in black would walk the stations of the cross along the Via Dolorosa.

What’s good about Good Friday?

Truly it is a sad day, yet that sadness is truly good. The sorrow of the day is godly sorrow. It is like the sorrow the Corinthians felt after they were disciplined by their beloved teacher, Paul, in the sharp letter we call First Corinthians. Hearing of their conviction of sin and repentance, Paul wrote back, “My joy was greater than ever.” Why? Because such godly sorrow “brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret” (2 Cor. 7:10).

The commemoration of Christ's death on Good Friday reminds us of the human sin that caused this death. It enables us to see that salvation comes only through godly sorrow. The path to true happiness runs through the experiences of sorrow – shed tears turn to joy.
Good Friday also reminds us of God's love—“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son” (John 3:16). The goodness and grace of God revealed on a cross is certainly worth commemorating – it is good news – check that, it is great news! Perhaps we should start calling the day Great Friday!

In His Grip,
Phil

The Principles of Pragmatism – An Oxymoron

We have heard our new President clearly outline the principles that will guide his decision making and how he plans to govern.

For example, President Obama told the American people that he was ordering higher ethical standards for lobbying. "If you are a lobbyist entering my administration," Obama said, "you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years." I applauded his principle.

But now that the campaign is over with victory in hand; now that the celebrations have died down, our President is showing his tendency to choose pragmatism over principle.

Case in point, President Obama quickly appointed William Lynn as deputy secretary of defense—despite the fact that, until very recently, he had been a lobbyist for Raytheon, one of the nation's biggest defense contractors, right up until the time he was appointed. What happened to the principle of a two year waiting period?

When the press challenged him on this, Obama said Lynn was uniquely qualified to do the job, so he issued a waiver. How was he uniquely qualified? He knew how the system worked.

Pragmatism trumped principle. Expedience overtook doing what is right. The end justifies the means.

President Obama used the same argument for his choice of Tim Geithner to be our Treasury Secretary. Geithner, as we all know, neglected to pay $35,000 in self-employment taxes for several years. Senator Robert Byrd—a member of Obama's own party—called Geithner's behavior "inexcusable negligence." Words, I'm sure, we would all hear from the IRS if we had failed to pay our taxes.

Again, pragmatism trumped principle.

The message Obama is sending to our kids is: "If you're smart, qualified, and know how to play the game, its okay to be unethical."

Let's be honest – character and principle don't matter in our society. You can be considered a good president and cheat on your wife. You can become head of the government's treasury and cheat on your taxes. You can get appointed to a Senate seat by an ousted governor whose middle name is synonymous with corruption. You can be a president who runs on the mantra of change, but can't stand up to your own party based on you own so-called principles. You can say what want and do something completely different – pragmatism over principle.

I am deeply concerned about the pragmatic path of our President – for pragmatism is a mere form of postmodern, humanistic relativism.

It is important that we continue to pray for the President, that he will uphold the principles that have made this nation strong.

Pro-What?

Kim and I recently rented and watched the movie, Bella. It's a wonderful and inspiring story. If you haven't seen the movie, I warn you this post may spoil the movie's plot.

In the movie, Nina, struggles with the decision to keep her child or not. It's interesting to me that pro-choice people argue that the film is pro-choice, and pro-life people argue that the film sends a pro-life message. She chooses life; therefore, the movie is pro-life. But pro-choice advocates say it was still her choice to keep or abort her child, so they say the movie is pro-choice.

Which is it? I believe the movie is clearly pro-life. Allow me to explain.

There are three options (choices) for a pregnant woman: keep the child; put the child up for adoption; or abort the child. The first two are pro-life decisions. The latter is a pro-abortion decision. Choice sits in the middle; it is the center point of the crossroad. Choice, in and of itself, means nothing. Everyone is pro-choice in that we make choices every day. However, we are not defined simply by the fact that we make choices – we are defined by the choices we make.

You can't be pro-choice just for choice's sake; it's WHAT you choose that makes the critical difference. You can't talk about the vague notion of "freedom of choice" until you define what the specific choices are. And for a pregnant woman, the only two choices are: does the child growing inside get to live or die?

Pro-abortionists like to disguise their stance by saying they are pro-choice. It sounds so innocent and free to be "in favor of all the choices" as if they are somehow neutral on the issue. But let's be honest – pro-choice is really about abortion. Pro-choice says it's okay to kill the unborn child. That, in my book, is being FOR (pro) abortion, and you can't be both pro-life and pro-abortion, because they are moral opposites.

Bella is rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief disturbing images. Parents should see the film first to decide if it is appropriate for their child.