iMonk Classic: Jesus, Mom and Michael

Classic iMonk Post
by Michael Spencer
Originally posted Oct 22, 2005

Note from Chaplain Mike:
In the light of recent posts about life’s messiness and ministering to people with unimaginable stress from the problems they face, I was struck when I went back and read this profoundly insightful article Michael wrote about caring for his mother.

I’ve been to school the past week. The school of life. God’s school. The best teacher of all, with lessons that will never leave you asking, “Now how am I going to use that in real life?”

The class I’ve been taking is called “The Only Child Cares For The Aging Parent.” There are other classes called, “Adult Children Care For The Aging Parents,” but let me give some of you more responsible folks a heads up: be careful thinking there will always be someone to step in an exempt you from the class. Don’t be surprised when the rest of the family informs you that junior’s soccer game is preventing them from helping out, and you are it.

Continue reading “iMonk Classic: Jesus, Mom and Michael”

Saturday Ramblings 10.16.10

Two things that don’t go together: gutters and pine trees. Sigh … Climb ladder—grab a handful of pine needles from gutter, drop into big bucket—climb down ladder—move ladder over three feet—lather, rinse, repeat. After an afternoon of fun like that, there’s nothing I want more than a comfortable chair, a glass of iced tea, the remote control, and Saturday Ramblings.

The good news story of the year has to be the successful rescue of the 33 Chilean miners from deep underground. Who among us wasn’t moved to cheers or tears or both when all of these men were brought out of their prison alive? For one miner, the battle was more than just about being stuck under the earth. “I was with God, and I was with the devil. They fought, and God won,” one of the miners said. This is a great, great story. All praise and honor and glory be to our God.

Adam Palmer spotted this piece on Roger Ebert’s blog. Very interesting reading. I am going to need to read this several times, but I wanted to include it here now as it relates to the story above. You read it and tell me what you think.

In what could possibly be a good news story, organizations who watch the persecuted Christians in other nations are optimistic that the pending change in leadership in North Korea might lead to more religious freedom in that nation. This is something that is very dear to my heart. I host two South Korean teenagers in my home, and they tell me stories of the severe persecution that our brothers and sisters endure for their faith in North Korea. We are told to remember those in chains as if we were in chains with them. Let’s be praying for those in North Korea that they may enjoy even a fraction of the freedom we take for granted.

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A Jesus Story in Song

By Chaplain Mike

Jeff’s post on storytelling songs yesterday got me thinking about all the great musical artists I’ve heard over the years who have painted song-pictures in which my imagination could wander. A great storytelling song puts you right there in its scenes, and suddenly you are seeing, hearing, and feeling what the characters are experiencing.

Storytelling songs can be a great vehicle then, for helping us get inside the Bible. A few (too few!) Christian artists over the years have had this gift. One of the best, in my opinion, has been Don Francisco. Gail and I used to enjoy going to his concerts because we knew we were going to hear stories in song portraying Jesus and his ministry in ways that drew us in and touched our emotions and imaginations.

Here is a good example. Enjoy.

Open Mic: Is Narnia too Scary for Kids?

By Chaplain Mike

On her•meneutics, Christianity Today’s blog for women, Elrena Evans has written a post called, “Why There’s No Narnia in Our Home.”

I’d like to hear your opinions on it today.

It turns out that Ms. Evans takes a very aggressive role in controlling the reading material to which her children are exposed. She was involved in a Ph.D. program in children’s literature when pregnant with her first child. This set her to organizing and purging her bookshelves, putting many volumes away in boxes until she felt her child would be ready to read them. As life went on, she testifies,

Things got complicated when my daughter started reading at a very early age. Like many parents of early readers, I found that books that were otherwise fine suddenly weren’t, when they were being read by a child much younger than their intended audience. I re-read the Little House on the Prairie series from her perspective and nearly had a heart attack. Narnia became a wasteland of bloodshed and violence. Even Christopher Robin was running around shooting things with his gun.

Go to her•meneutics, read and think through Ms. Evans’s perspective. Please. I want our Open Mic conversation to take place in response to what she says. I’m not really interested in any knee jerk reactions someone might have to the brief summary I have written here.

Then return and let’s have a discussion about parenting as followers of Jesus, guiding and protecting our children, and what may or may not be appropriate reading material in our homes.

Story Songs

Ok, iMonks: time for your publisher to make his confession.

Ready?

I cry when I hear really good stories in songs. They don’t even have to be sad stories, just real. And sung with a gut-wrenching passion. Done right, you can wring a cupful of tears from me.

This week I was perusing the CD collection at my local library when I came upon Harry Chapin’s Greatest Stories Live. A quick check showed me it had the song I wanted, so I checked it out, brought it home, popped it in my MacBook, and cried like a professional onion-cutter. The song? No, not Cat’s In The Cradle. I much prefer Taxi, the story of two lovers reuniting after many years. For some reason, that song just reaches inside of me and pulls out emotions that usually lie still and quiet.

Continue reading “Story Songs”

Depression Is Selfish

Can someone tell me what a sign in front of a church means that reads “Depression is Selfish”?

–from a Facebook post

This was the “status update,” or whatever it is called, posted by a good friend of mine on his Facebook page the other day. At first I just wanted to chalk it up to this being in Texas where my friend lives, and Texans just being Texans. (You can always tell a Texan. You just can’t tell them much…) My response on his page was: “This means that if you are human and have any kind of problems, you are not welcome in this church.” And while I still think this is true of the church, I am starting to see that there could be some truth to their statement. Especially after what happened here in my town this week.

A young man, a senior in high school, took his own life Tuesday night. It happens that he attended a Christian high school, a strong school with a great headmaster and teachers dedicated to serving their students as best they can. When I heard the news, I wept. I didn’t know the young man, and I don’t think I know his parents. But he is now gone, and I can’t help but think it was a very selfish act. He’s beyond pain now, yes, but what about all those he left behind? His parents, his siblings, his extended family. His friends and classmates. Teachers who gave and gave and gave. I have two Korean boys living with me—Chris and James—who are students at this high school. I now will need to spend a lot of time with them to be sure they are working through their grief in the right way. I would rather be playing catch with them or talking sports or explaining Steinbeck to them than discussing suicide.

And then there is my 17-year-old son who attends a public school here in town. There are no secrets any longer. Before his first bell most of the students at his school would have heard about this tragedy. How many copycat suicides and suicide attempts will we hear of in the coming days? If even one, that is one way too many. So I will sit down with him to talk about what neither of us wants to discuss: the selfishness of suicide.

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Tell Me About Your Day

By Chaplain Mike

OK, so here is a brief report of some of the stories I heard on a recent day of visiting hospice patients and their families. (Details have been changed.)

In the morning I visited an older man I have come to love. He has a strong faith and contagiously positive spirit. He’s dying. This man has been on hospice for awhile for one problem, but a more serious one developed a few weeks ago and it will take his life soon. Unfortunately, this new issue has caused symptoms which are about the most unpleasant, undignified, and embarrassing that one could imagine (I’ll spare you).

Believe it or not, he has been the “rock” for his family in recent days. Continue reading “Tell Me About Your Day”

The Life God Is In

 

By Chaplain Mike

“…he is not far from any one of us.”

(Acts 17.27, NLT)

As I have talked with friends throughout this year, I’ve noted that we’ve been using a phrase regularly: “This is the life God is in.” OK, it could be better grammatically, but it’s punchy and makes a clear point.

So many of us think our life and circumstances must change in order for God to inhabit them. We think we must purge out all sin to make a place for God to dwell in our midst. And we certainly can’t imagine God being there when we have to deal with people who deny him, habitually act in ways that transgress his laws, and generally make a mess of their lives.

Or when we make a mess of our lives.Continue reading “The Life God Is In”

Ecclesiastical Dreamin’

"Church in Paradise" by M. Singleton

By Chaplain Mike

Stopped into a church I passed along the way.
Well, I got down on my knees
And I pretend to pray.
You know the preacher likes the cold.
He knows I’m gonna stay
California dreamin’ on such a winter’s day.

It’s not winter yet, but earlier today I wrote about how the year is falling in the midst of the drought we’re having right now. So forgive me if I stay inside and start dreamin’ a little bit early.

Since I left the pastorate nearly six years ago, I’ve been asked a few times why I don’t start a church. When someone reads what I write about being in “the post-evangelical wilderness” and lamenting not finding a church home, they say, “Why not start your own?” I guess it’s the American way. It’s actually part of the “evangelical” of which I am “post-.”

Continue reading “Ecclesiastical Dreamin’”