A WAKE-UP CALL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE!

There’s a personal story that I have shared on occasion with younger people who are still in their formative years.

While studying for my Masters of Divinity degree at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary [a three-year course that I managed to complete in eleven years as a part-time commuter], I heard about a dual degree option with the University of Pittsburgh that would merge coursework and allow me to also attain a Master of Social Work degree [which would have been a door-opener for me into the world of counseling]. 

I applied and was not accepted.  I appealed the decision and was told that they had MANY applications that particular year and they had to go back to high school records to make final decisions.  They then reported that although all of my graduate and post-graduate work was excellent, I had received twenty-eight C’s during my high school career!  That eliminated me from consideration. 

I had not been highly motivated in high school.  My parents didn’t place high demands on me; they were happy with C’s.  Obviously, I was capable of much better grades, but I had no sense of purpose in making the investment to receive higher evaluations.

Very few high school students are aware of the impact their high school performance might have on their future. 

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For several hours yesterday, I sat and watched the broadcast of a Senate subcommittee in the process of questioning [and lecturing] Pete Hegseth – President-elect Trump’s candidate for the Secretary of Defense.

It was difficult to listen to.  For the most part, the Republican Senators complimented him on his qualifications and passion, while their Democratic counterparts literally took Hegseth apart in many areas.  It should be noted that this is standard procedure for Senators in this process. 

At one point or another during this process, Mr. Hegseth was accused openly of the following:

·         repeated public incidents of being extremely drunk

·         being in his third marriage

·         admitting to having immoral sexual relationships while in his first marriage

·         having an immoral sexual relationship outside of his second marriage that ended in a pregnancy [and his third marriage]

·         making public comments about women not having a place in the military

·         drinking on the job while a host on the Fox News Channel

·         inappropriate behavior with female employees

·         poor management of several organizations that he previously led that reportedly saw a significant drop in contributions during his leadership

He was repeatedly accused of having a lack of integrity and being extremely unqualified for the level of leadership that he was nominated for. 

He consistently defended his record and withstood the onslaught of accusations and allegations.  He frequently referred to “having been cleared of all wrongdoing” or by openly denying the reality of the Senator’s reports.

Although I am a Trump supporter, I have no vested interest in the outcome of this process.  I am not particularly a fan of Pete Hegseth.  I don’t have sufficient background information to be capable of deciding whether or not he should serve in this role at such a high level of our government.  I will leave the outcome of this process to those who do have the information and the power.

My interest in this painful and embarrassing saga is the education of our youth!

Here’s a man who clearly has struggled with alcohol abuse.  His insistence that he will NOT drink if appointed as the Secretary of Defense is hard to believe. 

Here’s a man who has had repeated marriages and has a record of infidelity.

Here’s a man who has failed to garner respect from his fellow employees.

Here’s a man who is reported to have treated women in a demeaning manner.

Here’s a man whose past statements have the potential to prevent him from holding a highly privileged and extremely powerful position.

Here also is a man who claims to have had a spiritual awakening within the last thirty days – since he was nominated by President-elect Trump for the position of Secretary of Defense! 

THESE ARE HEAVY CONSDERATIONS THAT OUR SENATORS ARE CONSIDERING!

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Suddenly – in a totally unforeseen manner – Pete Hegseth discovered that he had been noticed by the President-elect! 

In a turn of events that most would never have imagined, Pete Hegseth is seriously being considered for an extremely important leadership role in the future development of our country!

Here’s the question for young people to consider:  If Pete had seen this coming, might he have changed his behavior in the past?  Having lived in an apparently reckless manner, does he now look back with regrets?  Does he wish he would have worked harder on his marriages?  Do the fleeting rewards of sexual irresponsibility now seem foolish?  If he could, wouldn’t he like to purge numerous areas of his life from public knowledge? 

Our youth are not known for great wisdom.  They are inexperienced and curious.  They want to experiment and discover things for themselves. 

They need guidance and parameters!  That’s why God gave them a parent from each gender to advise and protect them throughout their development. 

Wise parents might take the ‘Pete Hegseth’ episode and talk about it with their youth.  Some starting points might be:

·         Do you think Pete has regrets about his past behavior?

·         You need to be careful about your daily activity.  It may affect your future! Life is a progression. The things you say and do today may have an impact on your future.

·         What are your goals for the future?  What are some behaviors and decisions that could totally destroy your hopes?

·         In light of your hopes and dreams, what kind of behavior today will develop character and integrity in you that will facilitate your dreams coming to reality?

Parents have the potential and opportunity to have these kind of vital conversations with their young people.  Wise parents will take full advantage of modern-day examples to help their children develop with wisdom and integrity!

And while you’re talking with them, why not also pray with them about their future!  Let them hear you voice your concerns to God on their behalf! 

WHEN DOES CHRISTMAS END?

The twelve days of Christmas are no longer observed in American culture.  Now, Christmas ends abruptly on the morning of December 26^th.  Trees come down, decorations get packed away and Christmas music is replaced with whatever was playing before November. 

I’m observing – not complaining. 

But, in its original context, things were considerably different!

We only know time contexts in a very broad manner.  We know that Herod – in his paranoia about the birth of a new king of the Jews – sent soldiers to Bethlehem to destroy all of the male children under the age of two. However, it's not as quick as we might think [or as is usually portrayed in movies].  It is likely that Joseph and Mary lived in Bethlehem for a couple of years?  We get a hint in Matthew 2:11 where we are told that the wise men came to visit Mary and the ‘child’ [not the baby] in a ‘house’  [not a stable].  This seems to imply that Joseph had settled his family in Bethlehem for a short season [perhaps a couple of years].

It was after this visit that “God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod…”  [Matt. 2:12]  [All quotes from The New Century Version]

Sometime “After they [the wise men] left, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and said, ’Get up! Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt…” [Matt. 2:13]   God’s divine intervention was obviously intended to protect the holy family! 

Those who understand biblical history tell us that it is likely that Joseph would have taken his family to Alexandria – where there were already a substantial number of Jews living.  This was a growing area that would need skilled laborers like Joseph.  He is described in scripture as a ‘tekton’ – or craftsman. 

Again, those who have studied this era suggest that they would have made this long journey in one of two ways:

1.    Typical travel would be by foot or donkey.  The distance would have been approximately 300 miles.  At 10-15 miles per day, we can assume that this trip took the holy family about a month.  It is noteworthy that this plan would leave them vulnerable to be overtaken by Herod's soldiers.  

2.    Others suggest that the urgency of the angel’s instructions would have motivated Joseph to travel the shorter distance [40 miles] to Jaffa, where they could board a boat for Alexandria – a trip of 285 miles.  The recent gift of gold could have been used to enable this speedier departure. 

The Bible and extra-biblical sources give us very little about this intervening period; we are left to speculate.  Did Jesus grow up speaking Egyptian?  Was He bi-lingual?  How many years did they stay in Egypt?  Did He see the pyramids – the distance to Giza would have been over 100 miles? 

We know from Matthew 2:15, that Joseph stayed in Egypt until Herod died.  One would think that determining the length of the holy family’s stay in Egypt would be fairly easy.  However, there are several complicating factors.

For instance, the date of Christ’s birth is not even precisely known.  We do know from scripture that Jesus was born while Herod was king in Judea.  His reign is typically measured from 37 B.C. until his death in 4 B.C.  [It is essential to note that even the death date of Herod is greatly debated].

We also know that Quirinius was governor in Syria during the same time and that a census was ordered in 6 B.C.  There is general belief – based on these facts – that Jesus was likely born in either 6 or 5 B.C. 

From these facts, we can ascertain that the holy family likely stayed in Egypt for about two or three years.  Matthew 2:22 reports that Archelaus [Herod’s son] became king in Judea upon Herod’s death.  His reign was about ten years – from 4 B.C. until 6 A.D.  Consequently, Jesus would have been two or three years old when “…an angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream while he was in Egypt. The angel said, ‘Get up! Take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, because the people who were trying to kill the child are now dead.’” [Matt. 2:19-20]

A FINAL ADJUSTMENT

“So Joseph took the child and his mother and went to Israel.  But he heard that Archelaus was now king in Judea since his father Herod had died. So Joseph was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the area of Galilee, to a town called Nazareth, and lived there.” [Matt. 2:21-23]

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Joseph and Mary’s lives were anything but easy in these early years.  In fact, they were immigrants in a foreign land for several years.  They had left all of their belongings in Nazareth when they made the journey to Bethlehem – to be taxed.  Yet, God’s provision was evident through the generous gifts of the magi.  Also, Joseph was a man with skill and ability.  He was capable of protecting and providing for his new family! 

We can only wonder how they were received upon their return to Nazareth.  Jesus would likely have been about five years old upon their arrival there. Were they shunned by their families because of the lack of understanding about the birth of Jesus?  Were they ostracized by the community there?  Were they able to have some of their belongings restored upon this return? 

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With no intention of being critical, even our liturgical year moves us along in a fairly quick manor.  With Christmas behind us, we will be called on to observe Lent on March 5^th [Ash Wednesday].

I simply observe that we anticipate Christmas for at least a couple of months by decorating, buying gifts, baking cookies and watching romantic (or silly) movies.  On Christmas Eve, many still participate in a worship service to commemorate the special event of Christ’s birth.  However, as stated earlier, on December 26^th the celebration is pretty much over. 

Yet the fear of the unknown, the uncertainty, the inconvenience of repeated moves, the transition to a foreign culture, the absence of family, the loneliness and the deep inner questions about all that had happened – continued in the lives of this little family of three: Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. 

Sovereign God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

Thank You for Your long-range planning and careful preparation for the coming of our Savior!

For a few moments, our eyes are open to the fragile environment that Jesus was born into.  We see the humility of His birth, the specifically chosen visitors who welcomed and honored Him. We are aware that this story is true and involved tremendous adventure and inconvenience.  We are moved – in this moment – to continue our celebration of the coming of our Savior!

And You did it all for us!

For me!

Thank You!

WE CAN DO THIS, DAD!

In 2016, we arranged to rent a lot in Heron Woods [small retirement village in extreme western Pennsylvania] from our landlords, Gene and Carol Whalen.  We prepared the site, shopped for a manufactured home and finally bought one with plans to have it delivered and set up.  This was to be our retirement home and we were quite excited about it. By the end of the summer, we were pretty settled and began thinking about buying or building a two-car garage. Our son, Troy, was insistent that we should build it. He explained that his father-in-law [also our friend and former parishioner], Mark Noel, had volunteered to design it and would walk us through the building process.

Troy talked me into it and we began the process in September.  I was still leading a church in Kittanning, PA, so we sometimes worked together and sometimes worked individually [based on my schedule and Troy’s fire-fighter schedule].  Over the next several months, we followed Mark’s plans and instructions to the ‘T’.  We also stood together and watched scores of ‘youtube’ videos!  

In short, it was the most enjoyable project I have ever been involved in!  Troy and I thoroughly loved being together so much and engaging in such a productive project!  Mark worked with us on days that he was available.

Having been a home-builder for over twelve years, he was a masterful guide and coach.  I believe he actually worked far more on the garage than he had originally planned. 

On certain big days – like setting the trusses – we called in help from nephews, brother-in-laws, neighbors and friends.  I was overwhelmed with the gift of time and skill that was given to our project! 

  

God gave us a wonderful fall to proceed with our building!  We actually had the garage floor and entrance apron poured a few days before Thanksgiving Day!  We were nailing shingles on a snowy day!  My vehicles were in the unfinished garage for the winter.  Then, come spring, we worked hard to put the finishing touches on our project: electrical work, installing a propane heater, hanging plasterboard, sealing and painting and adding additional sidewalks. 

I have been enjoying this awesome garage for seven years now!  There’s hardly a time I enter it without appreciating all the help I received in making it a reality!  Mark and Troy particularly went to extra lengths to make sure that everything was near-perfect!  When I close the man-door, I can feel the pressure on my ears!  The heater warms it within a few minutes of being turned on!  My F-250 truck actually fits [although there’s not much room to move around it and I have to fold the mirrors in to enter and exit 😁]. 

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I’m sure you hear the pride and gratitude that I feel!

Recently, I’ve been cleaning the garage after over a year of just piling stuff up.  I came across a few sheets of graph paper that Mark had provided to Troy as we began the project.  It was a general layout for the layout of the purlins [the horizontal timbers that will support the rafters of a roof].  Another page had detailed instructions for the setting of our poles and the follow-up steps to siding the walls. 

                             

A few months earlier, I had come across more detailed instructions of the later stages of our building process.  After all this time, I am freshly reminded of the gift that Mark gave when he encouraged us to take on this project!  I can’t imagine the hours that he invested in drawing, thinking, and writing notes for us to follow!  PLUS, he spent many hours on the job actually helping us – especially on critical days of important tasks! 

How do you repay a gift like that?  Although I expressed my gratitude through some gifts along the way, it fell far short of the investment Mark made in the garage and seeing it through to completion! 

The same goes for Troy!  He pushed me uncomfortably to take on the project!  However, it was one of the most meaningful times for us to share! 

If I hadn’t listened, I would probably have bought a pre-fab garage that would have been FAR INFERIOR to what I have today! 

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So many people have made investments when it comes to my needs and wants.  I hope that I have done the same in such a gratuitous manner. 

How about you?  Have you inconvenienced yourself to help someone else reach their goals?  Have you invested – at significant cost – in the dreams of another?  Giving doesn’t just involve wrapped or monetary gifts; sometimes it means giving expertise, counsel, time, skill and other means of investment.   

Maybe it's an age thing, but I seem to be realizing a deeper gratitude at this stage of my life for the people who have helped me along on this journey!  My life surely wouldn't be where it is without their investments!  I'm thankful to God for each and every one of them!