Katrina was a powerful storm, to say the least, and has left in her path a loss of human life and property that may not be fully known for some time. While it's helpful that there was advance warning of the arrival and expected severity of the storm, not everyone could get out of harm's way.

The poor seem to always take the hardest hit -- those who don't have cars or money to travel and stay in hotels away from danger. Or if they could leave at the last moment, they had to leave everything they owned behind, and in many cases it's now gone. And poor people generally don't have the margin to have insurance.

If you're near Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama perhaps you can spend a day or several days volunteering to help these communities in need. For those of us not nearby, we can at least donate money to the Red Cross or other organizations that can quickly make it helpful to people.

All of us can pray for the survivors, their loss, their ongoing uncertainty, and the long haul of rebuilding. While it doesn't negate or trivialize tragic loss, it seems that alongside the pain, God can turn pretty much any liability into redemptive outcomes for those who are open to this. That is so supernatural it's downright strange, but God can do this.

We've gotten more sophisticated about predicting the weather (not necessarily more accurate - maybe one of God's ways of keeping us humble) and if nothing else we are provided these days with quite a lot of information about the weather while it's happening. We can't do virtually anything about the weather but try to guesstimate in advance, try to get out of its way, try to monitor while it does what it must, and try to clean up afterwards.

What is it about storms that sneaks us a glimpse of our tiny place in creation's history with God? What small speck-tacles we are, and how powerless. Yet God places precious value in each of our lives, and equips us for things that one could argue have more impact than earth's storms -- even big, deadly storms -- on the scale of eternity.

A long time ago God regretfully sent the biggest storm yet as way to start over. Geeks call it rebooting. It's a long time later, and looking around the globe at the depravity of our day (we'd like to think that our society, like our weather watching, is more sophisticated now but it's not necessarily more true to God's intent) we haven't exactly redeemed the second chance, the fresh start opportunity that was given to Noah's family and descendants.

Jesus experienced some storms. Sometimes he slept through the worst of them and scolded his followers for their lack of faith - experienced fishermen who know a thing or two about dangerous storms. Sometimes he walked through them. Sometimes he rebuked the wind and waves. "Quiet, be still." The powerful words of one who knew a thing or two about the elements. Our words are a tad less prescriptive.

"Red sky at night, sailor's delight;
Red sky at morn, sailors take warn."

It's crude, and it kind of works. But we're more sophisticated than that when it comes to interpreting the signs, what with our doppler radars and greenscreens and fancy microcasting computers. Right?

Jesus had an encounter with some Pharisees and Sadducees (two groups who didn't co-mingle much except to face a common threat, which they perceived him to be).

 

The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Jesus then left them and went away.

- Matthew 16:1-4

Do we ask God to show us miraculous signs, while ignoring or refuting the signs already provided to us about God's identity and intent? (Do we run away, like Jonah?)

Do we know how to interpret the signs God has given us?

Do we equip ourselves with knowledge of God's word and attentiveness to God's spirit, in order to be better interpreters?

Do we patiently pray for and help others who are at various points along in this process?

What are the signs of our times? How might these be different than the signs of the times of the first century church?

What old or new initiatives is God up to, and how can we participate?

 

If we want to understand the signs of our times, we can come to the one who was and is and is to come.

Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. (Matt. 7)

 

"I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat."

- Jesus, in Matthew 25

We have a rule in our family that we never say "I'm starving" when we really mean that we're hungry. It's an offensive euphemism.

I find in myself a persistent instinct to avoid news reports of hunger, malnutrition, starvation, and famine. I know I'm not alone in this aversion. Do you experience this?

When I hear the stories like this one of a little girl named Fahizatou in Niger who might no longer be alive now, a week after this story was reported, or when I see the pictures, my heart goes out; and I pray (however uncertainly) about world hunger; and I sometimes respond with a donation to a trusted organization that I know will actually deliver food to the mouths of hungry, starving people, somewhere. And I want to do more, always. But I also avert my eyes from the next headline about hunger.

If only there were a solution that worked quickly, the way instant oatmeal does. You mix it with hot water and it alleviates hunger, right away. It even tastes good.

Just like having oatmeal for breakfast, feeding the hungry is never an act of permanence, it's temporal and ongoing. When the food is gone the people are hungry again. This doesn't let us off the hook. We don't stop loving our neighbor for having done so just last week. Feeding the hungry is permanently required of us as a response, anywhere we find hunger. And our shrinking world accentuates the remote presence of poverty in unprecedented ways (unless we personalize our news consumption to filter it out, which can be done, but don't do it).

Relief agencies work to address the immediate crisis of hunger, but they also emphasize the importance of sustainable ways to produce food locally. We need to equip communities facing hunger to meet their own needs over the long haul, while also helping them in the face of hunger as long as they need it, even indefinitely. We are increasingly interdependent as a human race, even when we opt for selfishness over obedience to Christ.

The immense disparity between the extreme poor and the extreme wealthy is hard to stomach. Here's an example, and I'm not trying to pick on Bill Gates, but he does "afford" us one end of the spectrum in this contrast. Bill's net worth is currently over $46 billion. This is more than the GDP of each of the poorest 152 countries, or sliced another way, it is more than the combined GDP of the poorest 55 countries put together. (I crunched some numbers from the World Factbook to make this comparison, make up your own "margin of error" number accordingly.)

Surely this disparity, especially when millions at the bottom don't get enough basic food, can't be what God was envisioning in the intelligent design and creation era (which to God must seem like just a few days ago). And it's not as if Mr. Gates isn't helping to meet the needs of the poor, because he is.

But why are we sending people into outer space when every day thousands of human beings have lacked food for so long that their body can no longer survive? How can we spend $200 billion on a war? How can the whole world spend more than that each year on movies and DVDs? How can these polarities coexist -- which priorities would appear to be most important to us? If one of the people who will die tomorrow from hunger was sitting on my front sidewalk today, would I make different choices? Does the lack of proximity make extreme hunger somehow more palatable?

Questions might be hard but they are often easier than answers. The rich-poor gap and the way it plays out in hunger versus abundance is not just "out there" somewhere. Those of us who use the web are among the wealthiest 10-15% of the people in our world. Let's evaluate what we are doing with all we have been given. Irony can get real personal sometimes too -- I'm trying to lose weight (among about a third of the US population who are overweight) while people elsewhere in our country and other countries are desperately hungry. I'm smack dab in the middle of this quandary, whether or not I avoid certain news headlines.

God, help us to see with your eyes, and to make both small and sweeping changes to the ways we live, so that all people you have created can live the life of fullness that you designed, not die of hunger. Jesus, in light of what you said about the odds of rich people entering your kingdom, show your face today to the world's wealthiest people including Mr. Gates and I guess including me. And show your face to the poor, bring them help and hope, today. Use us, help us to see and participate in your kingdom here, now, and some day in your even-better kingdom to come. Help us fight to make hunger abnormal. Help your church to make you known. Give all your children this day our daily bread.

Some of us identify ourselves as people who seek to follow Jesus. We fail sometimes, but we also succeed; we strive, we abide; we stumble, we repent; we seek, we find; and we grow in faith, by God's grace.

Have you ever had the experience of someone tainting your identity (in this case, your identity as a person who tries to follow Jesus, commonly known as a "Christian") by coopting your faith or belief, speaking errantly about the God you believe in, misrepresenting the Christian faith, embarrassing you and the Jesus you follow, essentially offending the very nature of what your God is about? (Should we just get used to this and not be so surprised next time?)

This is basically what Pat Robertson has done today in calling for the assassination of the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. It's almost unbelievable, if we hadn't heard extreme things like this before. Here is a man who professes to be a Christian, calling for the assassination of the president of another country as a means of resolving differences.

Imagine how individuals around the world will perceive the Christian faith when they hear remarks like this from someone who purports to represent and follow Christ. Somone on CNN last night, an international security expert, said they immediately noticed "chatter" and increased threat indicators in many countries all over. This kind of talk not only misrepresents Christ, but it irresponsibly places Christians around the world in increased danger who are trying to be a witness to Christ. It can even destroy the trust and witness they have been working to build. Like a bird stealing off with a seed that was germinating and about to sprout.

Several Christian organizations and leaders criticized Mr. Robertson's remarks, while some others said they were too busy to comment. But we should never be too busy to carefully speak truth into situations that have to do with Jesus' reputation. God's truth may be difficult to understand on some matters, but not in this case. Politics should take a back seat to the reputation of Jesus.

This incident reminds me of two things.

First, it reminds me of Jerry Falwell's words almost a year ago, who said on CNN, "...you’ve got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I’m for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord."

Hearing that made me cringe. It made me grieve inside. It made me angry. It's 180 degrees away from Jesus' teaching and example, but was spoken "in the name of the Lord."

Second, Pat Robertson's words today reminded me of what James wrote in chapter 3 of his letter, talking about the challenge of controlling our tongue.

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

- James 3:1-12 

Mr. Robertson said things today that are irresponsible and inconsistent with any serious view of the teachings of scripture. This is not primarily about marring our identity as Christians, it is about tarnishing the identity and principles of Christ. Nobody has a perfect record. But if we put ourselves in the position of teacher (or broadcaster) on behalf of Christ, we will be judged more strictly in how we control our tongue. We're also called to have the right internal attitudes in the first place, not just a matter of keeping quiet while sinful attitudes of hatred or vengeance fester inside.

What do we do when people tarnish the name of Christ? While we should speak up, we shouldn't waste too much time engaging them, focusing or spending energy that could be spent instead on fruitful efforts. I'll admit, I'm tempted to do that, in jealous defense of the name of  Jesus. Maybe you are too.

But instead, we might spend our energies on things that matter, that make a difference to God's kingdom coming "on earth, as it is in heaven." And we can certainly spend a few introspective moments examining our own use, and taming, of our tongue, as we follow Jesus.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith; the Word, who supercedes all human words, true or tainted.

Like most days between the rising and the setting of the sun, today is a terribly difficult day for some and a jubilant day for others.

Students know that moving day can be hard, but not like this.

In Gaza, the Israeli army has given notice and this week will enforce if necessary the decision that Israeli settlers will relinquish the homes and land from settlements in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian people.

These settlements have been in place since Israel's occupation of the strip in 1967. Just a couple times the size of Manhattan, sans the highrises, the Gaza Strip is home to 1.4 million Palestinian refugees and, up until this week, 8,000 Israeli settlers. (By way of contrasts, which are often telling, the Israeli settlers are a half percent of the people in Gaza, but have been living in about 15% of the land -- the differences between this picture and this picture help fill in a couple thousand words of this picture.)

Let's clarify one thing: for the next couple minutes when we say "Palestinian" we are not talking about the fringe extremists who are self appointed terrorists and suicide bombers. We are talking about the vast majority of Palestinians -- regular, sane human beings, created by God; families, people who want to live in peace and have a decent life, but have been living as refugees in poverty. Most are Muslims and some of them are Christians.

65% of the Palestinians in Gaza live below the poverty line as defined by the UN, or on less than $2 a day. (Measured on an Israeli poverty line, 88% of the Palestinian population would be poor.)

It's understandable that Palestinians are celebrating this week. Not that their economic situation will suddenly improve after this week, it could get worse before it gets better.

It's also understandable that Israeli settlers who are leaving their homes in the settlements are not celebrating, even though most Israeli civilans are in favor of the evacuation of the settlements. But for those who believe this is land that God has promised to them and now they have to give it up, you can imagine how difficult this is. What would it be like to leave, against your will, the place you've lived for a decade or three, especially when it's also a spiritual matter?

Personally, I'm surprised this is actually happening and I'm holding my breath for something bad to happen. For so many years, it seems there has been only lip service, not actual compromise. It doesn't take extraordinary intellect to realize that peace will usually stay out of reach if both sides of any dispute refuse to compromise. I would say this is a glimmer of actual compromise. 

The Bible is rich with historical, theological, and cultural references that relate to these peoples and lands. I know that some Christians take the Zionist road, and others are appalled by that notion, especially if it turns a blind eye to injustice and suffering. I'm not going to go there for now.

Right now I'm thinking about empathy. Empathy is putting yourself in another person's shoes. If we try this, sincerely and prayerfully, with both sides of what is happening this week in Gaza, we'll find some new understanding of the mixed emotions and sobering cost of peace.

God is the model empathizer of all time, who not only empathized with the human condition but went so far as to suffer a humiliating, unjust, and horrible death that he didn't deserve, to prove a point, and to enable a new covenant -- God's blessing, through Abraham, to all nations.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
- Philippians 2:5-11

Jesus said "Blessed are the peacemakers." Pray for them, in Israel and Palestine, this week. Hint: the significant peacemakers are not necessarily among the politicians, they are among the civilians, who make daily choices and sacrifices.

Stories about the spreading of the Avian Influenza, or Bird Flu, have been increasingly appearing in the news these past months. 

So far, the World Health Organization reports only 57 human deaths from this disease, in only 4 countries: Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand, and Cambodia. 57 lives is a lot, but not compared to an epidemic or a pandemic, which this has not yet become.

The potential loss of life is in the millions, if a number of worst-case factors play out together in the wrong way, but so far it appears that governments and communities are taking the threat very seriously and responding accordingly.

Thousands of chickens and geese have died or have been slaughtered as a precaution to contain the spread of this flu. In some countries, poultry are in quarantine to monitor for the disease. Migratory birds have already carried the bird flu to many other counties including Kazakhstan, Russia, China,  North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines.

Consider poor people in many countries whose livelihood has been taken away because of their dependence on raising and selling chickens, which have been quarantined or slaughtered. There are many whose source of income has virtually vanished. 

There are two main strains of this virus. One of them is potentially lethal to humans and has killed about half of the confirmed cases in humans. The possibility exists, if this strain mutates, of spreading from humans to humans. Most who have died in Asia from this virus are believed to have contracted it directly from birds.

Experts have hope that an antivirus will be developed, and if rushed in time to any area of outbreak, could contain an epidemic.

I don't know why but whenever I hear about this in the news, I think about Jesus' words in Matthew 10 as Jesus is giving instructions to his disciples before sending them out. There are some hard teachings in this chapter. Then in verses 29-31 he says this:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

In these days of lethal viruses, does God's concern for sparrows extend also to chickens and geese the way God's covenant has been extended also to gentiles? Jesus' words indicate a yes -- a deep love by God for creation and any ill that would befall created life. The hard thing is that as we observe God's world, this concern does not always culminate in a direct saving intervention by God when birds and people fall prey to viruses (or cancer cells, or fatal accidents). I don't know why.

The takeaway, though, is that according to Jesus, whose word I trust, God does care, and knows, to the minute detail, about our travails, and he says "Don't be afraid." This is a matter of faith and choosing, even in the midst of hardship.

When calamity comes, this is another chance for God's people -- the church -- to step in and demonstrate gospel love, help and hope, in a world that sometimes puts fear and danger on our plate. God knows, and yet equips and sends us out.

"The Kingdom of Heaven is near." 

...who trespass against us. 

Ten years after the genocide that killed up to a million people, Rwanda, the smallest and most densely populated nation in Africa, has begun to release 36,000 genocide suspects (BBC) who have been held on suspicion of genocide for a decade. This is about half the total number of suspected participants in the genocide who are imprisoned. The release for many is provisional, pending court cases which still have not been held. Most of these suspects have confessed to their involvement in the genocide.

Very difficult experiences lie ahead for many of those who will return to their home areas, and in many cases will come face to face with neighbors and surviving relatives of the people they are suspected of murdering.

Imagine trying to forgive someone who did this to someone you love, especially if it was someone who was trusted and known. Imagine trying to ask for forgiveness. 

Now imagine being on either side of this, without the benefit of a personal experience of God's forgiveness through Christ, and the learning and supernatural enabling God gives, to be able to forgive. Forgiveness is not a natural human trait. It is supernatural.

I have read two books which have been helpful for me to understand a little more than I otherwise would, to shed some light on this difficult historical event in Rwanda and how a nation could possibly move forward.

One is No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu, in which he describes the necessity of forgiveness to the national process of healing in South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the finer distinctions between confession, forgiveness, justice, retribution, restoration, truth telling, amnesty, and reconciliation.

The second book is The Graves Are Not Yet Full, by a journalist named Bill Berkeley who has travelled extensively in many countries of Africa. The title of the book comes from a radio broadcast during the worst of the 1995 genocide in Rwanda, instructing people to go and find remaining "cockroaches" and finish the job, because "the graves are not yet full." Incredibly, the manipulation of facts and emotions and fears caused people to commit unthinkable acts of terror upon their neighbors. (Let's not be quick to assume that we would never be capable of these actions if we found ourselves truly in the same situation.)

This book looks at historical and political influences in five African nations (Liberia, Zaire, South Africa, Rwanda, and Sudan) which have led to extreme conflict and millions of lost lives among indigenous peoples who had peacefully coexisted for centuries before the arrival of colonial powers. The author makes a fairly strong argument that in each case, in unique ways, ethnic or tribal differences were exploited by external powers to exercise control in the country, pitting one group against the others, and these dynamics led eventually to civil war or genocide and permanent effects on the social fabric of each nation.

It's a somewhat depressing read, but we shouldn't avoid confronting ugly history if it will inform how the international community can help achieve reconciliation, and how we might avoid similar mistakes in the future. I think it is also important for citizens of influential world powers to consider carefully how the actions of our government (for which we are at least partially accountable before God, no?) can directly or indirectly affect generations and millions of people whom God has created. For better, or for worse.

The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.
- Habakkuk 2:11 

I recommend reading these books along with a friend or in a small group, and taking time to discuss them together. (And speaking of Habakkuk, give it a prayerful read, it's short and covers related themes of justice and political power of nations.)

Also recommended on this topic is the movie Hotel Rwanda, and another book I've not yet read but have heard good things about: We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda.

Pray for the local hearings and truth commissions throughout Rwanda, for justice to reign and truth to be told. Pray for the IFES student group in Rwanda (and in this map, read stories and prayer requests from Rwandan leaders). Virtually all of the Christian student leaders were killed in the genocide and this student movement had to start over from the beginning.

Let us think often about forgiveness -- receiving it gratefully when it is extended, and being mature enough in Christ to offer it, supernaturally, whether or not the offender has asked for it.

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. - Ephesians 2:4-5

Maybe you've read or heard stories the past few days about Hiroshima, as the world has looked back on this sobering event exactly 60 years ago today, when the United States dropped the world's first atomic bomb. Here's an original news report (The Guardian), from 1945.

About 40,000 people died instantly. Within 4 months, another 100,000 had died from the radiation. The total loss of life -- almost completely civilian life -- from that one military action has exceeded 242,000. A quarter of a million civilians, gone. (If civilian casualty is the measure, that's like the impact of eighty 9/11's, or 2.5 times the current Iraq War's estimated toll on civilian life.)

Three days later another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 80,000.

I'm no war historian. I have heard that the magnitude of the war, including Japan's occupation of China, had cost about 50 million lives by that time. Maybe it seemed to the decisionmakers at the time that the collateral damage was worth the chance that the shock value would actually end the war. The atomic bombs are credited with part -- not all -- of the reasons for the surrender of the Japanese.

I am not able to find in scripture any principles of peacetime or wartime that would defend the strategic massacre of civilians. In the Old Testament there are scenarios involving the punishment or destruction of nations or groups of people which are difficult to understand and reconcile with the rest of the picture we have from ALL of scripture of the loving, patient, just God we follow. I have never studied these passages specifically. (I usually can think of funner things to do, like lie down on a bed of nails.) I have only bumped into these passages now and then, and wondered. They make me pray. But the answers are elusive.

In light of Hiroshima, what did Jesus mean when he taught us to pray, "Forgive us our debts (sins; trespasses -- places we go that we are not supposed to go), as we forgive our debtors (those who wrong us)"?

In light of Hiroshima, what did Jesus mean when he taught us to love your enemy, turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, pray for those who persecute you, overcome evil with good? 

Is Jesus' advice impractical and irrelevant in a time of international tension and wars, with two world wars under out belt? Or is it truth, if perhaps difficult to accept or to fully live out?

What can we do, 60 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that is of any practical usefulness or obedience to God?

• We can adopt an attitude of apology and sincere regret for the choices and actions of our nation (the sins of the fathers??) which have resulted in the loss of innocent lives, anywhere.
• We can learn from the past in order to not repeat these choices in the future, as difficult as the situations might be in circumstances of war.
• We can sincerely pray what Jesus taught us to pray.
• We can seek to live how Jesus taught us to live.
• We can pray for our leaders, and the leaders of other nations, in war and in peace.
• We can hold each other accountable, and this includes holding our political and military leaders accountable, for doing justice and loving mercy. Not because our leaders necessarily are people who truly follow Jesus, but because these are characteristics that are required of any leadership under God's realm.
  

As Christians it is our mandate to advocate for justice and mercy, not just in a private internal way, but also in public polity.

Meanwhile, Pakistan and India have nuclear weapons. So do Russia, China, UK, and France. The United States has not a few dozen or hundred but 10,240 nuclear weapons.

We don't insist these other countries (most are allies) disarm. But we're very concerned that North Korea and Iran not pursue any further development of nuclear capabilities, even for energy purposes. With their track records, I'm in agreement, but is our (United States) track record any barometer? Does our concern lie with the possibility that they might use nuclear weapons on civilians? I wonder what an average citizen in North Korea or Iran thinks about this as they ponder world politics and life and death and God.

These are interesting days to think about what God might desire of the nations.

And for the record, it's nu-cle-ar. Nucular is not a word. 

Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers;
may your mercy come quickly to meet us,
for we are in desperate need.
Help us, O God our Savior,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins
for your name's sake.
- Psalm 79:8-9