The Story Behind the Song: I’ll Wait For You

I’ll Wait For You

Here in the darkness
I’m listening for Your Word
The silence gently whispers
but I still haven’t heard
what You want of me

I’ll wait for You
show me Your plan
I’ll wait for You
until I understand

Here in the quietness
I’m looking for a sign
Come show me, Lord,
and teach me
the depth of Your design
Your great love for me

I’ll wait for You
until the silence breaks
I’ll wait for You
for as long as it takes
(c)1993 Lyric Jonathan Varnell/Isaac Miller//Music: Isaac Miller/Jonathan Varnell

Isaac and I were getting ready for a church worship service one morning when he began to noodle on his keyboard. The chord riff for this song seemed to pop out of his fingers and I began to listen. I must have asked if I could write words to his chords because within about 20 minutes we had almost finished it. We sang it over a few times to commit it to memory, both excited at the power of it.
We never got to record it because life got in the way as it often does.

If I remember my state of mind at the time, Isaac and I were working on an album with a bunch of other guys in a band named Awake (I still have T shirts). Since then someone else appropriated the name and appear to have a certain amount of success. Anyway, all of us were in the throes of change with one thing or another so this subject seemed to be natural fodder for a song. It must have been on my mind quite a bit because the imagery remains so vivid to this day. Recently I got in touch with Isaac, not having spoken with him for a few years, about the song and found he couldn’t even remember writing it!

About the time Awake broke up (someone stole all our instruments from my van) Isaac taught me the chords and I memorized it. Fast forward 20 years, I began trying it on guitar. The fingering kinda’ challenged me since the first chord is shaped like a F2 add Maj7/Bb or, as a Bb chord it would probably be a Bbsus#4/6. So if you played an FM7 and dropped the A note to open up the G string then put a Bb on the bass, you’d have to use your 1st finger (index) on the Bb, 4th finger on F (D string), 2nd finger on C (B string) leaving open the G & high E strings. It took my head a while to wrap around this finger position–don’t know why I play a lot of hard chords in other songs. Now that I have it, of course, the chord feels natural.

My plan is to record it with acoustic driving it at first then to replace the notes with single notes on the electric guitar on the second verse. I’m not sure about the rest of the arrangement because all I have in my head’s ear is a feel–which means I’ll have to experiment. What I play on the video is a raw form powerful in it own right.

The Sweet and the Savory

 

Light is sweet, and it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun. Indeed, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many. All that comes is futile. (Ecclesiastes 11:7, 8 HCSB)

Humans avoid darkness. Just look at the street lights in a city, how late we stay up at night, where we like to vacation and the places we call “paradise” for starters. The last phrases and the sentence speak to a place inside our collective psyche about an avoidance issue we all share. Something I know after years of trying it every other way possible is that no matter how good we have it–decent job, nice house (not expensive just average), friendly family, and toys–we still have days of darkness.

Many days of darkness.

Lately I’ve begun to notice how often people post on Facebook about their dark times or poignant quotes related to them. The memes (pictures with thoughts written on them) run rampant everyday pointing to our thought life as the source of happiness and light-hearted living. Why? Because everyone is experiencing their share of futility and despair. I’m not focusing on the negative here just pointing out a truth as I see it–or fact as it is.

One of the few things I have gleaned out of being alive for 53 years is the ability to be almost fearless when looking at the facts. Don’t get me wrong, I still hesitate and waffle when confronted but eventually I prefer to just get my hands in the mess and deal. The journey from a bruise, cut or debilitating injury to healing takes time. The one fact which has stood out for me is that it takes time to heal from anything.

We accept the truth of physical healing as a matter of course while injuries done to the mind receive less sympathy–or empathy–unless we experience something similar. How many times have you heard someone say, “Oh just grow up and deal with it!” or “Grab yourself by the bootstraps and pull ’em up!” or “Time to put on your big girl panties and…” I dare say too often, no matter what the situation someone always has that “easy” answer in the shape of a formula that works no matter what the situation. The problem I find with other people’s answers is they believe (often wholeheartedly) their method is a one size fix all rather than something that simply worked for them at the time.

This brings me to the lesson I learned of principle working theory over method.

I am approximately the same size as I was in my 20s. As an example my waist remains roughly 33″ but definitely not 34″ unfortunately. Why is it unfortunate? Because I’m slightly more than 33″ but 34″ is too loose and I struggle to keep them up even with a belt. If I buy clothes, the shirts still fit but I must try on the pants ‘cuz even though it says 33″ it might be too tight and then it’s misery.

Solutions come with similar problems attached. Even though the gist of a situation might look exactly like something we’ve dealt with before one twist can make the flavor or outcome entirely different. God created the parameters of time and chance which runs off of a set of variables so vast no one really knows how to calculate them. Yet we insist on solutions in the one-size-fits-all category, attempting to force everyone through legislation, habits, a host of guidelines and social mores into a specific bag (or number of them) so we can deal efficiently. Religions do it, governments do it, cultures dictate it, society thrives on it and families die from it. The more I think about it the more I’m convinced one-size-fits-all is a form of laziness. I don’t care how industrious or ambitious someone claims to be categorization allows us the convenience of not thinking through all the variables in a situation and blaming the person for not being subject to conventional solutions.

On the other hand, just because we misapply the principle of categorization doesn’t mean that having categories is wrong. The evil isn’t in the category but the relentless assigning of it and hard-hearted refusal to allow people to be more than one. For instance, measles as a disease is in a category of diseases which act a certain way, affect a specific part of the body and results in a defined outcome with few variables. Native Americans died from it because their immune system had never confronted it before, yet even though in the European cultures people died from it exposure to it guaranteed a better survival rate. So to categorize measles as a disease which is incurable or deadly across the board would be inaccurate. To categorize it as one with dangerous possibilities is truth.

Jesus said once, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold… (Matthew 24:12 NIV)” Methodology is the darling of some of the worst atrocities in history. The Nazis were masters of the societal norms and governed “truths” which annihilated millions before they were stopped. The history of the world is rife with examples of one method winning against another and then proclaimed as penultimate way for the future. Until of course another way is brought by those who conquer the previous conquerors. And round and round it goes. Every nation which went undefeated in battle and conquered other nations used its victories to proselytize and champion its gods/God. The method the winner used became the standard until someone else thought of something to counter it, then the newcomer championed his gods. The callous hearts resulting from hardline methodology can be seen from religions to governments to business to personal interaction and family dynamics.

Pleasure seekers are never more intense about it than when the days of darkness abound. We call addiction a disease to ease the shame of it but most of the people I know who became addicted had other goals in mind when they began the downward spiral. The reasons are complicated so conclusions as to why and what caused the spiral are as many as there are addicts. However, we can get a general gist as to the trek into this madness of sorts by watching the trends.

Many of us just want to feel good–physically or personally, it doesn’t matter. We seek pleasure as a means of boosting our own view of life or ourselves or use it as a means of gaging success. I doubt that most people who end up addicted ever set a goal for it or had even thought about it much. Having worked and lived with many people who deal with addiction I can confidently say each one experienced something uniquely similar to everyone else.

The days of darkness come to all. Escape is not an option mentally though it might be physically. Just ask someone suffering from PTSD because of war trauma and you will know the truth of that. The only solution is healing; the only way to heal is to know what caused the trauma in the first place, and the only way to know that is to be aware, honest and willing to do the work it takes to go to the dark places of one’s soul.

Yet all is not lost for most of us since there will be plenty of days where light shines brightly. Solomon’s injunction to remember the light in our days of darkness comes as a warning against despair. We have life, therefore we must live it with everything in us. We have light in some form so must cling to the memory of it to sustain us through the dark times. At the same time we need to remember the dark days in the times of light so that we don’t get blind-sided when something crashes to the ground. Life is very unpredictable with so many people putting their two cents in the pot so our response must be caution in success and hope in defeat.

No Holds Barred

As you know not what is the way of the wind, or how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a pregnant woman, even so you know not the work of God, Who does all. In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hands, for you know not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether both alike will be good. (Ecclesiastes 11:5, 6 AMP)

In discovering new truths about life, the universe, and everything, science keeps demonstrating how much we don’t know. Unlike Solomon we now have an idea how the bones of a baby are shaped in the womb–though the mystery still remains as to why and what exactly causes the metamorphosis. And while we have more educated theories as to what the process is as well as knowing several of the catalysts in so many areas, everyday we discover how many of our theories were either slightly or widely off.
I’m not here to criticize our scientists or science merely pointing out how limited our grasp of reality is. We don’t know the way of the wind, or how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb or even what the spirit is as yet that’s why I’m more concerned with our understanding of living. Since we don’t know the answer to many of the questions of what constitutes life itself, Solomon instructs us to live no holds barred and invest intentionally for we can’t know the outcome of our efforts until the tally at the end of the “day”.
My take is: Live with gusto, purpose and a sense of adventure. Life is short (though when we’re young it seems to be long) so don’t waste time worrying about failures. Instead forge ahead knowing that life is its own investment and everything becomes subject to time and chance in the end. What far too many call “failure” springs naturally from the steps of learning and growth. I’m not trying to ease the sting of it either, rather it’s important to point out that every single accomplishment in my life came with its own learning curve. Failure is part of getting to know any subject and accomplishing anything.
The conclusion? Invest! Be wise and cautious but don’t be frozen by the latter, instead use it to prepare for the worst yet always work for the best.
I’m taking this message to heart and determined in the coming year to practice them as best I can with what I know to do. What about you?

Turn On The Power

If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie. Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. (Ecclesiastes 11:3, 4 NIV)

Do you ever read a scripture which states the obvious like our text above and just go “duh!”? When we react like this we show we miss the opportunity to exercise our brains. Solomon points out a reality in our world to make a statement about life itself not just the mechanics of it. If I were to say it my way, it would go, “Yeah, yeah, the clouds rain when they get full, the wind blows too hard sometimes, whatever! A tree falls down and wherever it lands is where it stays…got it! If someone worries too much about what can go wrong, they will never get busy with the things that need to be done. How you think will determine where your path will lie. blah, blah, blah…” Yet if a tree stays in in the course of its fall, there is no changing the outcome later once its down without some pretty significant intervention. The same could be said for a course of action.

As reality sinks in for me I am beginning to be less and less given to railing against it. At the same time I do everything I can to change it when the open door seems to present itself. Some open doors lead me right into the worst problems I’ve ever faced in my life, others just work like cutting soft butter.
If we worry too much about the barriers to our goals, we will eventually be frozen into inaction. I find in myself all sorts of excuses to avoid the pain of certain relationships, work opportunities and a host of other steps which will move my life forward because I see (or imagine) all the things which will prevent me from accomplishing said options. Take the words weather and wind as metaphors to be replaced by political climate, social barriers or mores, physical limitations, and a host of intellectual facts we know and some we don’t know. If we let the known or unknown stop us from even attempting or carrying on to the goal, we are worrying about the “wind” and “weather” too much.

Let’s admit right up front that some things we want to attempt are impossible for us right now. As I’ve said before in this devotional, Edison used almost all his “failures” to make the lightbulb into semiconductors and tubes of various sorts. Each of those “failures” made him sound brilliant instead of foolish. He turned his failed efforts into patents and helped usher in the age of electronics as we know it. Of course, he wasn’t alone since people all over the world were working on similar projects.

Tesla, on the other hand, commonly credited for inventing the television, died broke and bitter because he was like an artist who doesn’t think about the salability of what he was doing. He just did it because he could and probably enjoyed it. Unfortunately, someone he knew ripped him off and took credit for it, leaving him destitute.

The difference between Edison and Tesla might take a better psychoanalyst than me to figure out where who went right or wrong. What I do know is that one turned his failure into a future while the other didn’t. Edison patented even his “failures” and started a company; Tesla trusted other people with this and was soundly abused for it, to the point of losing everything he worked for all his life.
Is there a lesson here to be learned? Certainly. Yet I can’t help thinking that if Tesla had someone with business savvy devoted to him, his life would have written a different story. Edison was no better at people skills except in public, from all accounts, neither was Henry Ford. What made them different was the drive to turn their skills into lucrative results. I don’t know Tesla’s motivation but the results speak loudly for a man fascinated by his passion for invention but who lacked the desire/sensibility/knack for thinking of these inventions in monetary terms. Unfortunately for him the world around him stripped him of the credit and ripped him off without even coffee in the morning or flowers.
The Tony Robbins (not the man but all those like him) of the world will look at Tesla with pity or disdain–admiration for his inventive mind but disparaging his lack of business sense. These same success gurus will point to Edison with high praise for his drive and determination. And may be they’re right by purely business savvy terms, but I think they are wrong in what makes a person successful.

Time and chance is not just a philosophical conundrum but a universal law of addition and subtraction. I speak to this constantly but want to again in order to emphasize its weight on the outcomes.

That Untouchable born in Bangladesh without an education or any means of changing their fortunes cannot be preached to by the Tony Robbins of this world. For one thing without the education and society to inform them of what is possible they won’t even consider being something other than what they are. Now take a culture steeped in Buddhist or Hindu belief both of which looks on one’s status as a progression to better things in multiple reincarnations and you have an apathetic society developing bent maintaining the status quo. Humans are basically lazy when it comes to truth, which means few put out the effort to discover or change what they believe, preferring instead to survive with what they know. A Tony Robbins wouldn’t even be able to get through to such a person without physical interference and lots of money to raise them up. The solutions for one may not equal the solutions for another if the latter have further to go.

For a person in the slums of a third world country to reach the heights of someone like Steve Jobs or Tony Robbins they must jump incredible hurdles and receive help in chance-based ways. No one becomes a success on their own for all success grows out of the community supporting them then their opportunities and reception in the world around them. Steve Jobs’ success grew out of a certain self-absorption, according to his own account. He fixed his eyes on that goal and went forward in spite of all the naysayers who would call him back to “reality”–whatever they thought it was at the time. Yet he also was not a nice man to be around a lot of the time.

I’ve known musicians, like myself, who worked their entire lives to earn a living at music only to find themselves broke and playing bars or churches of 5 people–most of whom are friends or relatives. Of these musicians many of them are as talented or more so than those in the spotlight already earning the accolades. The difference? Time and Chance.

Will Ferrel’s dad gave him some advice: “Well, if it was all based on talent, I wouldn’t worry about you. Because I’ve watched a lot of your shows, and I really think there’s something there. But you have to remember that there’s a lot of luck involved. And if you get to a certain point in 3 years, 4 years, 5 years and you just feel like it’s too hard, don’t worry about quitting. Don’t feel like you’ve failed and it’s okay to pick up and do something different.”

(Read more: http://www.uproxx.com/webculture/2013/12/will-ferrell-marc-maron/#ixzz2nTDtNpzs Follow us: UPROXX on Facebook)

A saxophonist I met in San Francisco in the late 80s who worked for Kenny G at the time told me at one point when I expressed discouragement, “Jon, there are million guitarists out there better than you and they’re living on the streets or stuck in dead end jobs because they can’t catch a break.” Strange as it might seem to some of you reading the blog, that was a great comfort to me. He didn’t tell me to quit trying only that my current or future state wasn’t an abnormal experience.

Let me talk about what I know so you get the how crucial a community can be.
For a musician to be famous doesn’t always take exceptional talent or virtuoso performances. All that’s needed is crowd appeal and they’re off and running. Some appear timeless but we don’t see behind the scenes where a group of dedicated promotion and management people work to keep the artist in the spotlight. In almost ever instance these musicians reach a crisis point where their fame takes a turn for the better or worse. I could quote examples until the blog was full of stories about famous people who tried and failed–not once but several times. Bands broke up, only to get back together less effective because they shot themselves in the collective foot. Bands broke up and one or all of the musicians go on to great solo careers. Those who succeed tour nearly 300 days out of the year and the only time they take off is when they record an album or need a break.

We criticize artists for their use of drugs but fail to realize most of them start with struggling to sleep or anxiety from crossing time zones so much. We disparage them for their lack of self-control but forget how much we contribute to their current state of mind. A part of our community treats them like gods, the rest are looking for them to fail or fall. These people are in a constant state of crisis and without consistent friendship or community support they will fade into obscurity. Of course if they succeed or fail, books will be written and analysts will try to make sense of their lives and choices. I dare say that almost any famous musician we could name dealt with it in one or more unhealthy ways.

Jesus told us to love even our enemies, to support the good in others while refusing to turn a blind eye to their faults. Yet the “Golden Rule” doesn’t say our POV should just be looking outward but love your neighbor as you do yourself. For us to truly practice love we must love ourselves equally. Not more, not less but in the same way. Treat ourselves as others want us to treat them; treat others as we want to be treated. Now this moral guideline works unless we tend toward masochism or sadism; neither of which are healthy mindsets.

A part of success is being content within oneself and inspiring others to the same. It appears counterintuitive to be content when we believe in accomplishment, yet contentment doesn’t indicate laziness, lethargy, apathy or any sense of futility. On the contrary, contentment speaks to being satisfied with our accomplishments and what we have at hand. We can take pride in our accomplishments without comparing our lives with anyone else (see Galatians 6:4). Success is not based on self-absorption or self-centeredness but a sense of being true to our own nature as best we know how to. Discovering how and where we fit in the world around us brings contentment.

When we know our inner shape we also discover the ever evolving person inside and outside. The shape we take in our youth, for example, will not look exactly like what we grow into as we mature. Oh, the basic design remains the same but the exact fit will be different. Solomon’s warning about the weather changing unpredictably should give us a sense of our own evolution in the grand scheme of things. Humans adapt as part of their make up. We figure things out no matter what the circumstances and learn to live with some pretty challenging environments.

Life holds such mystery. If we live with encouragement, we will see the sunrise as a sign of good things to come–no matter what the day holds. If we live in an environment of discouragement, our world will see even the beauty of the flowers as a mockery of our hopes and dreams. Jesus gives us hope not only for the world to come but here and now. His assertion of the enemy’s plans contrasts with His own goals for us, The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). (John 10:10 AMP)

Today is the day of salvation and hope. Solomon’s argument supports Christ’s declaration of His mission. We must seek life no matter what the weather is like, no matter what the climate is like, no matter where the tree falls. Our goal is to live the life Jesus came to give us starting now, letting our fears inform our choices with caution but never preventing us from attempting, striving or investing our all. We hold to the promise though everything around us opposes it, for our forward movement in the spiritual realm will never be subject to the earthbound circumstances set to hinder us.

 

Investments

 

Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. (Ecclesiastes 11:1, 2 NIV)

Every investment will show results–eventually. I often worry about spreading myself too thin from over commitment, which can be a problem, but the advice here is to invest. So, I do.
Yet, may be Solomon isn’t telling us to be so over-committed work related projects that we have no time for the rest of our lives. May be what he’s suggesting is we take advantage of every opportunity which comes our way within the parameters of good planning. In other words we are to invest in things for which we have the means and time without destroying the home crop, food for the winter or next year’s seed. These other pieces to our human psyche puzzle need attention as a form of wealth as well–metaphorically speaking. Every area of our lives takes an investment and exacts a price.
A healthy person recognizes he or she is made of many parts which all need to be maintained for that health to continue. An unhealthy person however makes great strides in one or a few areas and the rest suffers from either neglect or minimal time given. It’s easy to perceive the personae these highly “successful” people as the best means to everything we desire, but the dark underbelly of hyper-focus shows up after a while and we see the rest of their world begin to unravel. Whereas the healthy person invests in a wholeness approach–considering every aspect of themselves as important.
Solomon’s entire message here follows the theme of the rest of his book, namely laziness is foolishness and industry makes life interesting and fun. The repeated phrases in this small book (e.g. work with gladness of heart, enjoy time with your spouse, food, and friendships) add to our conclusion and when ignored or subtracted change our understanding of the message. Since time and chance happen to all, sitting on the sidelines watching or checking out through working long hours or partying just makes it worse. I’m sure most people can’t imagine how an ongoing feast could be bad but anything which takes without replacing eventually needs to restock. So if those in the party aren’t providing the food and fun, someone has to.
And right there is where oppression asserts itself into the situation. Those in power who are too lazy to do the work to supply their party take from those who already have to fund their fun. This continues until those who do the work are left with nothing at all for themselves, which angers the fools in charge. Of course their anger is unwarranted and selfish but they don’t care. What’s sad is these same leaders will tax their people into poverty then blame them for being destitute, all the while missing the irony.
Yet Solomon doesn’t let us off the hook just because we experience oppression or loss. Everything he’s said about life before this in Ecclesiastes comes into play at this point: Yes, life is unpredictable and the golden ticket doesn’t always go to those who seem to deserve it; yes, good people suffer when bad times happen and bad people often thrive; yes, oppressive kings exist and those who should be in power languish in obscurity; yes, everything we do might seem futile because death takes us all and we leave all we worked so hard for to someone who might squander it. BUT invest in life anyway since there is nothing guaranteed because one never knows what the outcome or rewards will be.
I don’t think Solomon is arguing for a sunny, always positive outlook on life. I do think he’s telling us reality sucks for some and not for others in unpredictable, wholly subject to time and chance ways except where God directly intervenes. His perspective seems to focus on what we can do about our reality rather than what we can’t. In other words when life gives you lemons make pie or lemonade and sell your product to whomever is buying. Don’t speak against those in power unless you have the power to do something about it, and if you do, be aware of the risk that you will be found out. It’s also a waste of time to rail against those in power when there’s absolutely nothing we can do about their abuses–outside of leading an insurrection that is.
But here’s a reality too: investment pays off one way or another. No one ever earns any profit off their product by storing it in barns; it takes risking the market to get the rewards. Sure we might fail, that’s what risk means, but it also means we might win. If we couple our risk with wisdom and follow the proven methods of others who have succeeded before us, we can at least be sure of putting the odds in our favor.
Here’s another reality: Some pay offs won’t be seen by us in our lifetime. In fact, I’d say much of what we do will only be seen by the next generation to appreciate as profit or learn from as a lesson of what to avoid.
As a follower of Jesus I believe in His word which says, “What a man sows, he will reap…” One way or another the “profit” of our investment will come back to us. If we sow grain(s) (both real and figuratively speaking), we most likely will see a harvest to be proud of–that is if the weather, war, illness, death or pests don’t take it out first. Knowing we did the best we could within the parameters we have at hand limits the negative outcomes but doesn’t subtract them completely. To paraphrase a discussion earlier in this book we are just one ingredient in life’s bread. The outcome depends on choices of others and unpredictable nature those choices as well as nature’s inherent input.
Railing against it, complaining, becoming bitter, holding onto anger or anything else which the powerless express in times of great calamity won’t solve it. Though it feels good to express our frustration, anger or hurt, remaining in that state of mind doesn’t move us forward.

Into the Unknowable

No one knows what is coming—who can tell him what will happen after him?  Ecclesiastes 10:14b

 

…Yet we can kind of predict what might happen in the future by what we know to be true in the present.  For instance, the next verse says, A fool’s work wearies him; he does not know the way to town.  We know that last phrase reflects a more contemporary saying like he’s so stupid he can’t find the light switch or she’s so dumb she can’t find her way out of the shower.  It’s a general comment on someone’s ability to navigate life, which, once we know them, we can predict whether disaster or success will follow their choices.  I don’t know anyone who can forecast the details—and as the saying goes “The devil’s in the details.”  I like to watch people so I see many who look like they are on the road to the success crash and burn because they made a few “minor” mistakes.  Habits, whether small or large, often dictate the outcomes for us, since they become the building blocks of our routines.

Solomon follows up his declaration about the future and fools with this gem:  Woe to you, O land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning.  Blessed are you, O land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness.  Ecclesiastes 10:16, 17.  It appears to be a random statement thrown in but the Teacher has a purpose.  While we can’t predict the future or know what is to be after us, we can see trends which predict a general outcome.  Rulers who don’t take care of business or average people who fixate on foolish living both have poverty and decay on the horizon.  No may be able to predict for certain what will happen in the immediate future but we can  see plenty of examples for the outcomes of both to get a pretty good idea.

The fact that we can see trends in a person’s life doesn’t necessarily give us a crystal ball into the future.  So many different *ingredients* go into situations and circumstances (as we’ve discussed before) that it’s hard to predict with any accuracy what will be.  Far too often fools gain wealth or power only to begin to selling it their method as a brand to other people.  The equation for success should look like this:

 

Skill + Hard work = Success

 

In reality it looks more like:

 

Skill + Hard work + Clever Marketing + Time & Chance = Success

 

The first two are negotiable as far as the outcome is concerned.  I’ve seen people with minimal skills work just hard enough to get promoted because they were very good at marketing themselves and their successes.  Then we meet the type of people who don’t mind lying to get the job or golden ticket and who claim other people’s success as their own.  There are plenty of examples of people who made it in a business they were never that knowledgeable about, good at or even qualified for.  We all know of actors, for example, who really can’t act their way out of a paper bag but remain popular the world over.  And don’t get me started on the French voting Michael Stipe (lead singer of the rock band REM) as best male vocalist of the year in the 80s…

All this rhetoric works into the main point Solomon is touting as a reality in our world.  Yet all is not lost necessarily, merely unpredictable.  A man who gains wisdom, hones his skill set and works hard to increase not only his holdings but his contacts for life in general should find success in one form or another.  A person who takes care to do what is honest, right and wise has a much better chance of finding lasting success than one who cheats to get there.  Cheaters target the honest hard-working individual, which sets in motion bad results to varying degrees, depending on the level of fraud.  A wise person learns from these mistakes and uses these lessons to read prospective clientele or partners better.

Still, success in any of its forms can never be guaranteed.  Remember Solomon’s assertion time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come:  As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.  Ecclesiastes 9:11c, 12.  Unless and until we can extricate ourselves from the world we remain subject to the choices of others who may or may not live wisely.  And even if someone does their level best to live a well ordered life with wisdom and love, there’s no guarantee they won’t come in contact with disaster in one form or another that makes them the first of many dominoes to fall.

I’m not saying that there is nothing we can predict but that even if we do have all our ducks in a row, the outcome remains uncertain until the curtain call.  Take some time to meditate on the more predictable outcomes and you’ll see what I mean.

Now a little blurb on success.

I am not a big fan of motivational speakers because, quite frankly, what they really sell us is themselves.  Where these people make their big money is often the ticket sales to their events and convincing us they have the answers to our success and happiness.  So literally they create their success off of selling how to be successful.  They go into great detail about how successful people make it to the top and what they do to stay there, almost as if it’s some kind of mystery (and it may be to some since they refuse to improve themselves).

Here’s the reality:  The most wildly successful (financially) people are fairly single minded, ambitious, often times relentless in their pursuit and work 80+ hours a week.  Many of them sacrifice relationships with their families, friends and their own hearts to grasp the golden ticket.  At the end of the day most of them have health problems, divorce (one or several) and generally aren’t satisfied with what they achieve.  Eventually, the habit of long hours and “self” denial becomes the only thing that feeds them.  Rarely have I met anyone who experiences great success financially who isn’t on the brink of a personal collapse somewhere. At the same time several books in the Bible outline the formula to success and happiness in God’s view—which includes wealth in the form of money and possessions.

Sound like a negative take on wealth?  It’s not, merely a realistic take on what I see around me.  Success in its purest form is being able to live comfortably within the bounds of healthy relationships.  It also requires a certain big dose of knowing how to be content with what cannot be changed.  On the other hand, I know plenty of people who live within their means, work hard, continue to invest in family, friends and hobbies who are doing well financially.  So there isn’t a set-in-stone rule about it either, merely I believe we think the financial part to be the best evidence and I disagree.

I want to end this section with the very realistic Serenity Prayer:

God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.  Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it, trusting that You will make all things right, if I surrender to Your will, so that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with You forever in the next.  Amen.

Winners, Losers, the Luck of the Draw, Fate….

I have seen something else under the sun:  The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.  Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come:  As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.  Ecclesiastes 9:11, 12.

 

Over the years I have made certain passages part of the building material for my spiritual house.  The above is one of them.

Watching the world go by as a participant and an observer I noticed talented people who languished in obscurity while those less so thrived, became popular and started whole movements within the culture or the world.  The first time I read this book my head was in a different space about its point—the reason for the instruction.  Right now, years later, I’m completely convinced Ecclesiastes is a spiritual reality check.

Too often we who attend the Christian gatherings we call “church” get so fixated on the religious or ethical teaching that we believe society should listen to and practice we forget to live.  The other thing that happens more naturally is the subculture which begins to squeeze out all others.  This latter situation, while a blessing in some ways, tends to make us exclusive, withdrawn from the macro society, and in far too many ways which matter, we stop being involved in it as salt and light.  The best way to describe it is:  sometimes we live for our future heaven so hard we forget to be alive on earth in the now.

I’ve drawn away from mainstream Christian association over the last several years due to a gradual shift in my understanding of the abundant life taught by Jesus.  Most of us read the stories of the New Testament and see not just highlights of Jesus and the apostles’ lives and work but the whole of it.  Somehow when we read the Bible we forget the daily stuff such as in washing clothes, bathing the body, eating, sleeping, and the list could go on and on.  Too frequently we see these stories as the whole story not just a snapshot of how God works.  If we look at the miracles of the Bible and stop to think about how often they happened, we would get sense of how rare these occurrences were.  People lived years without anything worthy of an epic story being written.  In other words they had to live in the daily routine for long periods before anything even resembling miracles or adventure took place.

One of the recent patterns of my study of Christ has been to attempt to think outside the box of my understanding.  Jesus travelled from place to place right?  What did He and the disciples do during the hours and days they journeyed?

I don’t know the exact answer to that but I know how life works a bit in the daily grind.  I also know we put a veneer of spirituality on everything—for instance praising God.  Instead of religious excitement I would love to see more people imitating Jesus in their everyday.  They say the highest form of flattery is imitation right?  So why do we see cold, hard religious people instead of Jesus people more often?  Jesus was kind, gentle, loving, accepting, able to speak to anyone and generally full of wisdom—which means to me He grasped perspective.  At the same time He could be tough as nails when it came to God’s reputation.

In Romans 9, as I’ve mentioned before, we read about the subject of predestination.  It fascinates me how we have twisted the meaning of this simple idea into something mystical or fairytale-like without being aware of how childish the “reasoning” is.  I’ve heard about people who were perfectly healthy and fully mobile praying for a parking spot near the front, as if God thought these people should be preferred over those who really needed it just because they were too lazy to walk.  I’ve heard stories of people asking signs from God about natural occurrences—such as a light changing green to red—never stopping to think about God’s teaching on His will.

One thing the key verses above have done for me is removed the fatal out of my thinking.  I recognize my cultural and personal instruction permeates the way I reason so I’m pretty sure the cure for it is not realized as yet in me.  On the other hand, I’m more aware of how little control I or anyone has over other people’s choices or views.  This being the case, I’ve become an observer of the human placement game.  Never heard of it?  It’s all around us.

Let’s think about an artificial situation in which several people are involved—one which, however, could be a reality for anyone of us.  Scenario:  I step into the street to go from my parked car to the coffee shop and just as I reach the middle a truck careens around a corner hits me and I’m left in the street with broken bones or dead.  Now let’s take this situation apart and think of what could have been the cause of the effect.

First, we must establish that crossing the street is necessary from our point of view.  So there’s something on the other side we want to do, see or experience therefore we make a decision to cross.  At the same time, a person who is driving under the influence made a decision to put themselves behind the steering wheel and go somewhere which coincides with my exact position.  What we have here is two random factors working with other random factors such as street lights, stop lights, crosswalks, businesses being open, etc.  Each one of these factors become intrinsic to me getting hit by a car.  Only one is at fault.  One random decision made by a person whose judgment has been impaired.  That one choice decides the outcome of my day.

In the course of these decisions, we have what appears to me to be a clear road, so I step into the street.  Just as I reach the far lane the dui in the making careens around the corner hitting me full on, causing me to fly up into the air and on my way down I land square on my head crushing my skull and spine.  The reality here begins to get murky, since what happens next depends on trajectory, angle and force of impact.  There are three main outcomes of this tragedy in process:  1) I die.  2) I’m paralyzed to one degree or another depending on where the spinal cord is damaged.  3) I walk away with injuries that haunt me the rest of my life but I’m able to function and move on.

Within these three consequences lie a myriad of combinations built on the percentage of each.  The precise definition of the accident only becomes apparent when we get past it somewhat.  Oddly, God’s will here is exactly what?

At this point most Christians begin to talk of God’s will and what He might want for my life, ignoring, or perhaps being unaware of, the natural occurrences involved.  I don’t want to criticize these brothers and sisters but I do want to point out that puppets on a string don’t have any choices to make and cannot be held responsible for their actions or the outcomes; therefore hell or heaven as a punishment or reward hold no meaning.  However, if we are free moral agents and our choices are real, albeit spectrum based—i.e. God gives us a number of options to choose from like ingredients for some dish of food, then the “flavor” of the outcome depends not on God’s direct intervention but His created spectrum of combinations.  Every single combination has been created by Him just as every equation ever discovered by human beings was already there waiting to be found.

So what can we say about God’s will?

First, we must admit that He warned us to stay away from sin—which means to aim at a target and miss it.  The target in this definition is becoming like God, making sin the antithesis of that goal.  The moment sin enters our combination of options the unpredictable (for us that is) nature of His creation takes on a sinister meaning.

Second, choices matter.  God created options for each one of us which also applies to every other human being.  Each choice affects the outcome.  If the above driver wasn’t drunk, his choice would affect the outcome differently.  If I hadn’t crossed the street at that particular time or ever, a completely different set of options and outcomes would have resulted.

Third, the word “predestination” taken apart is “pre” meaning already created or existing before, and “destination” which is a place or condition or goal.  If we stick with its obvious meaning (as in the reasoning I’m using), then we don’t have a preordained destination but merely one which exists before my choice.

I need to discuss this a bit more, even though I know I’ve written about it before (that rhymed).

For illustration purposes let’s look at the options as a house with several rooms and doors.  Each door is a choice; each room is a destination.  When one enters a room, they can be said to be “predestined” to enter it if they use its door.  In this logic we are not forced to enter the room nor use the door, but if we choose to enter the room through that door, we will be “forced” to enter by dent of its location and existence.  The choice was not forced but the destination is preset as a choice.

How here’s a more complex example:  Picture a staircase.  Now off each step we see two alternative steps to the right and left.  Each of the three represents a choice.  Say at step nine I choose to take the right step to the second floor landing, the result will be that I won’t reach the second floor in exactly the same spot the main staircase does.  My experience of climbing the stairs will be different to a degree.  The similarities remain such as there are stairs to be climbed or gone down, each step can be taken or I can skip one or several depending on the reach of my legs, and there is a bottom to the them as well as a top.  What will be different is where the landing is.  The alternative stairs also have a myriad of choices off them as well giving us opportunities to go three directions again.  Do you see how complicated our choices are at any given moment?  I’m sure you’ve seen movies such as Spider-man where Aunt May cries,  “If only I had stopped your Uncle Ben from going after you, he would be alive today!”  And that is probably the truth.  The story took him down one branch of stairs which led to him confronting a thief who chose to shoot him, which then resulted in his death.

Jesus gives us two doors to enter by which we find salvation or death:  the narrow gate, leading to life; and the wide gate, leading to death.  Depending on which we choose each one is a preexisting (already created beforehand) established destination determining our eternal outcome.  No one is forced to choose one door or the other but whichever of the two we choose our choice determines the results.  We cannot choose to enter the narrow gate of life and be given death instead, nor enter the wide gate of death and be given life as a reward.  The choices are as final as the destinations.

Back to the text.

The rewards of life don’t always go to the people most deserving of them.  There are plenty of examples throughout history of talented, wise, educated and proactive humans who languished in obscurity and poverty.  We don’t have to go too far back to notice some of the most celebrated painters of our current era died ignored, penniless and troubled.  Van Gogh could hardly sell his paintings for enough to buy a drink let alone a mansion.  Yet his paintings sell for millions in today’s auctions.  He receives accolades posthumously, doing him no good whatsoever but somehow it makes us feel as if we are honoring him.  It’s not enough.

The world is unfair, capricious and given to the erratic whims of the fallen nature—even our own.  It is said the only way to solve a problem or begin helping ourselves out of a condition is to identify the problem.  Here we have discovered the one thing that haunts, destroys and ultimately misaligns humanity from a life well lived or rewarded.  We build religious institutions, social organizations or political think tanks to try to anesthetize ourselves from the real issue as religions and the secular world scrambles about attempting to control the erratic results of it.  Sin—the one ingredient in the food causing it to taste bad and go rotten, without which the improvisational universe would become a place of glory for all.

If we feel we have received a bum deal, let’s recognize our lives are not affected by merely our choices but anywhere from one to a billion-plus choices of other people.  Oppressed people can have the best work ethic alive and remain repressed, impoverished and full of unrealized potential.  The most powerful humans will still face death and lose everything their work ethic and privilege of birth or hard work and opportunities afforded them.  All we have to do is think back to leaders who were fools and wise men who were geniuses to realize life is not a gamble but an intricate dance among the opportunities.  Those of us in what we call The Free World have more opportunities than say an Untouchable in India but we are all subject to time and chance.  What’s more God made it that way on purpose—His purpose—in order to surprise our journey with the unpredictable joy awaiting.  Sin and death have robbed us of the ability to look forward to the outcome without worry or fear of what might await us in the dark.  Jesus came to restore God’s design, and in that alone we find hope.

The Art of Keeping Children Occupied

Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot.  Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.  He seldom reflects on the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.  Ecclesiastes 5:18-20.

 

I guess one could take the above statement as a psychological reading of why some people never really register how fortunate they are in the grand scheme of things.  Until I read this passage today, it never crossed my mind that sometimes people who are prosperous just can’t see how bad the world is because God keeps [them] occupied with gladness of heart.  Yet Solomon isn’t talking about the head-in-the-sand types but those few allowed to enjoy the contentment which comes from not needing anything—literally.

I must say, I have never experienced this type of contentment from abundance and I doubt very many have.  The reason is simple:  we resemble the previously mentioned type of people who worry about gaining or losing our wealth.  I have met, however, a few who match this description in our passage above.  They might be few and far between, but they do exist.

On the one hand it seems easy to be content once a person arrives at a certain supply volume.  On the other, human nature being what it is, we rarely see anyone with “enough” maintain it without stress.

Solomon is speaking to us about a gift of God.  A gift is something we can’t argue with as believers.  He also justifies these few with his declaration that they are unable to reflect on their lives because God gifts with gladness of heart.  So when we condemn those who are simply content and happy with life and seemingly unaware of the horrors in the world their abundance seems to flout, we are actually condemning God’s sovereignty.

To expand what he said here to the NT, Jesus claimed God rained His blessings down on the righteous and unrighteous alike.  If this gift of being able to enjoy our prosperity is a gift of God, and He shows no favoritism whatsoever, then we can conclude one possible reason we don’t experience this is the fault lies with us.  Again, if God gives equally to everyone, then the reason we are not glad of heart is our own fault not some cosmic curse.  Remember, the gift spoken of here is not merely wealth but gladness of heart.

Jesus commanded His followers to let go of worry about our food, water and shelter supplies.  Paul took it a step further by suggesting godliness with contentment is the greatest gain.  Paul also went so far as to give an illustration from his own experience when he wrote I have learned the secret of being content in any and all circumstances, whether in plenty or want, well fed or hungry…going on to point out we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.  This whole teaching flies in the face of the reality we deal with everyday.  At the same time, it seems to me one of the reasons why some people don’t register how bad things are in the world is because they are kept occupied with gladness of heart.

I lived in Walla Walla, Washington, for a few years where I witnessed people living in almost a dream state of contentment.  Now remember, this is from my outsider perspective so I wouldn’t know any of the personal issues going on inside the families.  What I saw was a real sense of arrogance on the part of these mostly educated people, and thus a subtle condescension for my family because Dad barely started third grade before he had to begin supporting his family.  He was only 12.  Few, if any, admired his determination for life, intelligence or sense of loyalty to his family as much as they looked on him with pity for being uneducated.  It wasn’t always overt, because it rarely is with people who have learned nuance and social decorum, but it was there.  Eventually, one of my friend’s mothers met with me and told me I wasn’t good enough to hang out with her kids.  I wouldn’t have thought to apply what she said to my family background except that she took pains to point out the nature of my family’s low station in the town.

In writing about this meeting I’m not hiding or displaying bitterness, just focusing on the facts.  I heard from several people later that she and a few other mothers actually talked about how odd I was, wishing I would just know my place and stay away from their kids—my friends.  Later I found out this very same lady came from the type of background she accused me of having, and through her children she apologized and tried to make amends in all our later meetings.  She’s actually quite a sweet person, just damaged.

But my point is sometimes we get so fixated on our good that we begin to think that anyone who doesn’t have what we do is somehow either less than, stupid or lazy—or, if you’re into this type of Christian doctrine, dealing with a family curse.  I’ve heard all sorts of people speak this way, including my own family.  It seems when humans are blessed in some way they begin to consider themselves above those who aren’t in their “blessed” space.  I get it, but it still doesn’t follow Scriptural common sense.

Solomon approaches this subject from pre-messianic point of view.  His conclusions aren’t wrong, merely lacking in the complete picture.  Yet the conclusion above holds part of the argument both Jesus and Paul presented in their discussion of worry, anxiety, trust in God and contentment.  I believe we should be content with our lot when we prosper.  No one should ever feel guilty about having plenty.  Living in Portland, OR, I hear a lot of resentment about the rich or even well to do people.  Those concerned with poverty seem to almost hate those with enough as if it’s their prosperity which caused the evil conditions elsewhere.  While it is certainly true that some wealthy people are responsible for the horrid conditions of others, most of the truth doesn’t lie with the well off.  It is a byproduct of either time and chance or oppression/sin.

In one discussion about the privileges even our poor Americans experience the person I spoke with looked with a jaundiced eye on my son’s Wii and many toys.  Without actually accusing me of being heartless towards the homeless children in my city, they pointed out my red headed boy’s abundance as if it were evil.  My next question came to me as an inspiration, “So tell me, do you think your impoverished street kids should have enough food, toys and even a Wii?”  My friend got quiet and looked conflicted.  So I went on:

I believe all people should have everything they need and be able to earn their “wants”.  The reason they don’t is because sin makes people insane about hoarding and controlling.  The children in the streets of Portland and whatever city we name are there because of oppression, poverty, abuse, the drug and alcohol problems of their parents or their own and a host of other issues.  In New Deli the problem is mostly political because the ruling class still sees the Untouchables as cursed by the god (take you pick as to which one because they have over 2500 gods).  The select slice of Christians who look on poverty as an evidence of a family curse (taken from the OT law, by the way, which was nailed to the cross) mirror this ethic of Hinduism, though I’m sure they don’t realize it, which can only be lifted by rites and ceremonies to one degree or another.

Oddly though, no one thinks that the curse is rarely a specific sin but the natural consequences of denying God His place in our lives.  We conclude it must have been a sin of the ancestors when someone has financial troubles, all the while forgetting (or perhaps not knowing) the passage in Ezekiel 18 where God basically does away with this type of punishment.  If a person repents of his or her own evil, they will not be held responsible for the sins of the ancestors.  It’s pretty evident, however, that we don’t read the entire Bible because too often we get half-baked theology running around causing incredible anxiety, despair, depression and, quite often discouragement.

Later in Ecclesiastes 9:11 we find out that we are subject to time and chance which explains some of God’s judgment against humanity.  What if, folks, a lot of the consequences we experience come as a result of bad habits developed in the family culture?  We know from the studies of anthropologists and psychologists humans basically learn through imitation more than scholastics.  If this is true, it’s no wonder God destroyed whole city states because the evil was in the DNA.  It’s been established in the last 50 years that alcoholics pass on the gene which makes their offspring susceptible to addiction up to the third or fourth generation.  So what does that tell us?  God is punishing the children for the sins of the parents; or, something more intrinsic about His design?

God doesn’t need to punish us overtly because the consequences of our actions will be felt in the natural outcomes of our bodies, minds and societies.  To think otherwise is to make Him out to be petty and small.  No, our bodies need water, if we deny them moisture, we will become dehydrated and eventually die.  This is not a “curse” but a very real natural consequence of design.  God designed us to operate a certain way, if we step out of the design specs, we suffer the consequences and oftentimes hurt others along the way.

God keeps some people occupied with gladness of heart because they aren’t able to cope with anything else or in order to demonstrate the promise of His love to those around them.  Either way, it works.  It’s like kids who can’t cope with scary things being given the gift of insulation from all the problems in the world.  God gives some this gift to keep them from falling away as much as He expects them to give out of their abundance.  The natural byproduct of being human steers them towards arrogance, however, and they begin to think there is something extra special about them when it could just be they are too weak to endure anything else or that God is demonstrating the promise of eternal blessings through them.

Yet some are given this gift because they can handle it with godliness and sensitivity.  These people see the world for what it is, remain humble and thankful for their blessings and continue to work toward lifting others up out of their degradation and oppression.  These few deserve both our admiration and applause…though I doubt they would be comfortable with either.

“From those given much, much will be expected; from those given little, little will be asked.”  Jesus of Nazareth

Surprise! There’s Injustice and Inequality in the World…

If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one and over them both are others higher still.  The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.  Ecclesiastes 5:8, 9.

 

For the most part, I’m pretty disappointed in the human race—especially those who claim to be wise and in the “know”.  It seems very few people harbor any sense of realistic outlook on the world’s drama unfolding.  Living in Portland, constantly bombarded with social and environmental issues, I find some people care about these things to the exclusion of rational thinking.  Some get so concerned for the issue they fight for that their humanity becomes compromised.

Poverty is one of those issues.

It’s always frustrating to me when people act surprised by poverty.  In America we barely register the world’s definition of the word itself, as far as I’m concerned.  It’s not like there isn’t a cause for it.  Disaster, substance abuse, laziness, oppression, economic fluctuations, personal tragedy, etc. all contribute to the conditions of the poor.  Yet at least a few of the problems could be avoided if society cared more for people than they do about accomplishing great things for society or power mongering.  Of course, the US also knows poverty yet it’s an odd type of poverty.  Our poor have more goods than most poverty stricken people.  It’s hard to worry about a culture of poor people who can own a TV, car, iPods, get food stamps, shop for used clothing or whatever at discount places like Goodwill or Salvation Army, etc.  I don’t consider myself hard hearted towards them, rather I feel we have a whiner attitude which pervades a rather privileged culture.  To be blunt, while I acknowledge the under privileged and the children who go hungry in our country, we don’t have to with all the programs here.  The children who tend to go hungry here rarely do so because the programs to provide for them don’t exist.  It’s usually the fault of the parents who are strung out on drugs, alcohol or practice some form of abuse—neglect, physical or mental.

The wackiest problem we encounter as human societies is that of the hierarchy taking a lion’s share of the goods which come in from the “fields” where the food supply is grown.  I’ve dug ditches and must say that whatever the bosses say, those guys down doing the hard work deserve to be paid better than they are.  But it won’t ever happen.  Human nature being what it is those in charge believe in some odd sense they deserve a bigger cut of the profit than those actually doing the grunt work.  It’s a weird juxtaposition brought on by entitlement attitudes of the rich and educated.  Still, I get it, when a person owns a plot of land, the larger portion of the profit should go to them.  Otherwise they won’t have seed or enough income to maintain the property nor will they be able to weather disasters and market fluctuations.  That said, their workers must be paid a reasonable salary as well.

Yet the impoverished struggle with greed, envy, jealousy, lust and covetousness just as much as their rich counterparts.  Those who have money worry about losing it to some disaster or failure on their part; those without it worry about getting it.  Those impoverished or on the borderline of it lust after getting it.

I grew up in a lower middle class family.  This is not to say my folks weren’t educated, Mom went to college though Dad didn’t make it through third grade, still they were professional people after the style of the 50s and 60s.  Dad became a mechanic following a car accident which almost killed him, leaving one hip disjointed, two broken vertebrae, and crushing four disks.  I remember he could cut a car in half, weld a new half on and when he finished you wouldn’t know it had ever been damaged.  Mom turned out to be an exceptional nurse (this from those who worked with her), and I think she must have had a fairly intelligent mind because she could grasp abstracts pretty well.

In the fall of 1971 Dad almost died from three heart attacks while setting chokers and bundling logs.  We were a couple hours flight from Ketchikan, Alaska, so when this happened they had to first get a plane to pick him up, leaving Mom, my brother Tracy and I to worry.  I honestly don’t remember much about that day at all.  I can remember parts of scenes, but nothing much beyond snatches.  We moved to town, found an apartment in the least raunchy of the housing projects across from the ferry docks and Mom began hunting for a job.  Unfortunately for us Dad couldn’t get insurance because of a preexisting heart condition (which turned out to be something else entirely), so money was so tight we had to live on the last of his wages and severance pay from the logging camp.

I don’t remember the move to our new apartment; the next clear memory is going to school then a trip to the Post Office.  We heard from Dad somewhere in that timeframe and the lead doctor assured us he would recover if he took it easy and didn’t overstrain himself.  Turns out his heart was in perfect condition up to the heart attacks, but he had a rare condition known as Wolfgang-Parkinson-White Syndrome, a nerve disorder which caused fibrillation and dizziness.  He came home two (?) months later and would never be able to work again full time—or even part time for that matter.  Social Security kicked in as did the food stamps, without which we wouldn’t have made it.

Before Dad came back we boys needed new coats, since it was September or October when it all went down.  Mom prayed for exactly $60.00 to pay for new coats and the utilities, which were scheduled to be shut off, telling no one about our situation.  A little while later on one of our trips to the Post Office, she began to cry and hold up a letter, telling me to look inside it, and there was exactly $60.00.

I ended up going to a private Christian grade school and when I reached hi school, began working to pay for both Tracy’s and my school bills.  We didn’t know poverty on the level of people from second or third world countries, but it was pretty tight.  Mom attempted to get her RN when I was 14-16 years old, but her health gave out two months before she could finish school and she ended up getting a job at a college in Washington.  She couldn’t go back to nursing for several years because of the burnout.  The stress of Dad’s health and lack of resources caused her to become allergic to all sorts of things—even her own skin.

I am not one of those who will cite the “tragedies” in my past for sympathy; instead I want people to understand I get it.  I know what it means to go without to a point.  I didn’t even own a car until I was 27, and that was given to me by my brother.  And all this just to say, the conditions in America rival the middle class of most countries.

Yet this doesn’t detract from the problem of the rich abusing their power and taking a lion’s share of the wealth.  Everyone profits from the field and should be grateful for the people who do the back breaking work it takes to put that food on the table.  We should also be thankful for the people in the market who take care of our goods in a way which allows us to be free from diseases or bacteria.  God expects us to share the wealth and give to those who are underprivileged, while at the same time making sure we do our best to never enable those who refuse to work.

The wealthy who take advantage of the poor will pay the price eventually.  A person can’t abuse the system which brings them profit then expect that system to remain stable.  If we break the hand that feeds us, we can’t expect it to work for us until it heals.

A tough path to negotiate.

Successful Envy

And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor.  This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

The fool folds his hands and ruins himself.  Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.  Ecclesiastes 4:4-6.

 

Often times we read these types of statements without connecting them, as if they were unrelated truths or proverbs just haphazardly thrown into the paragraph.  Yet if we look closely, we can see the relationship between the two ideas.

I looked up the word used for “fool” in our text just for fun and got an education on its various meanings.  The word used here means “self-confident” or someone who is informed on what is right per his/her religious instructions but ignores the wisdom.  In the context above it would take on significance by being stated, “The overly self-confident person folds his hands and ruins himself.”  People like this chase after wealth with the air of someone who feels they know better.  A similar word was used to name David’s nemesis in 1 Samuel 25.

It would be sorta’ like a runner who knew he or she was fast but coasted the last leg of the race because of their over confidence.  They would come in second or third, not because they couldn’t do better with more effort but from pride in their own prowess.

I’m gonna’ take this one step further though.

Both those who fold their hands or who chase after the Joneses are fools for they ignore wisdom.  Solomon concludes that having one handful with tranquility is by far better than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind, not because achievement or toil are bad but due to the motivation inspiring them.  If our goal is to own what others gained, then we will work ourselves into the ground or figure out a way to take it—legally (through loopholes in the law) or illegally.  Envy produces covetousness, which if left to fester, will produce something even worse.

There’s also another spin for this part of the passage which strikes me as lethal.  Some will give up because two handfuls take far too much anxiety, instead they approach their idea of “tranquility” through the lens of one who is afraid to deal with the added stress of striving.  While this is truth even in this context, I don’t think Solomon was making this point, however, since his illustration after this goes the other direction—striving after two handfuls is futility when one will do.

What would it be like if we all forgot about competing to get the best of one another and decided to accomplish great things for the joy of doing them?  What would the world be like if our greatest successes were celebrated with parties instead of jealousy or critique?  What would our own lives be like if we set out to build, create or be something just because our Creator made it possible for us to do so?  What kind of world would we live in if everyone shared the resources and made sure we all had enough—and when someone didn’t have enough, we took from our abundance to make sure they did?  What if the leaders of nations or that local book club (or whatever) were excited when someone in their group succeeded beyond their expectations?  What would our relationships be like if we decided being top dog meant another way to serve?  What if competition really was fun and for the joy of doing it rather than being better than or one-upping (is that even a word?) someone else.

Paul said, Godliness with contentment is great gain.  If we struggle to be content, it has to do with our attitude about life rather than what we do or don’t have.  I’d love to own a flat screen TV, but I can’t afford one, so I’m content with the one I have.  It’s odd that things become more important than our relationships all too often.  For years now I worked to have the attitude to be at peace than striving to get somewhere just like or better than someone else.  This passage is one of my earliest memories, for Ecclesiastes was probably the fourth or fifth book I read after I gave my life to Jesus and this truth stood out for me.  I haven’t always been content or happy with my life, but I gotta’ tell ya, the only time I’ve ever been peaceful has been in this mindset.

The word most misused in the English language has to be “deserve” because people will tell you they deserve things you know they haven’t worked for ever.  It’s pretty sad when we put a price tag on our actions above what they warrant.  To be blunt, we don’t really know what the rewards of any action should be for the simple reason our standard of sin is that murderer, child-molester, career thief or whoever we hold up as worse than ourselves to feel better about the sin we not only tolerate in our own lives but cherish.  The reference of truth for the godly must center on Jesus, the author and completer of our faith.  Our wealth, ideals and whatever else we value grows out of what He considers to be worthy pursuits.  Envy, jealousy, covetousness and the like step outside of His character and thus outside of our scope, if our spiritual eyes are fixed on Him.