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O.W.O.S

I have to make a confession – I have not been following the “Occupy Wall Street” protests too closely. Actually that may be putting it a little too simply because I have not been following anything that is currently in the news too closely. (OK, I can tell you who the President is and I do know that the Libyan guy was killed – I don’t have my head in the sand.) But you see, I have decided to be Occupied With Other Stuff (O.W.O.S.) and I invite you to consider joining me.It was in the early spring of 1987 that I ended my newspaper subscription. Sometime I may write one of these little essays about that decision. You may find it interesting and/or enlightening. We never got cable tv until the summer of 2003 and it was kind of interesting for awhile just because it was different. It didn’t take long for the new to wear off though and frankly it is mostly really boring. We do seem to keep getting new channels to not watch though and I suppose that is worth it. I guess I just don’t find a lot in the news that adds much to my life right now – there is the Other Stuff to be occupied with.It was years ago that I made a decision for myself that I would attempt to take the Bible as my only rule for faith and practice. Even after all this time (see previous note on “40 years”) I find this challenging and stimulating. As my “rule for faith” I take the Bible for my guide in what I think and believe. While that may sound simple, believe me it takes work and discipline. As my “rule for practice” it is my guide for how I live and what I do. This affects my life every single day. Am I perfect at it? Of course not. Am I getting better at it? Absolutely.Everyday I spend time considering the scriptures – what is written, what is meant, to whom was it written, how does it apply to me, etc. Every day I enounter other people (the term “other people” encompasses all sorts of different relationships; family, customers, co-workers, friends, etc). The question that I try to remember to ask myself is “Am I seeing this individual in the light of what the Bible says?” Or, “Am I treating/speaking to/dealing with this person in a manner that is consistent with what I believe?”With the Bible as my rule for faith and practice, it seems more important to be occupied in finding ways to be of service in my community than to keep up with what the news about what is going on. With the Bible as my rule for faith and practice, it seems to be more important to be occupied with developing myself as a better person, friend, husband, father, etc. than to put forth efforts making sure others live the way I think they should. With the Bible as my rule for faith and practice, it seems to be more important to be occupied in finding ways to contribute to and enrich the lives of others rather than making sure I get mine.I find that I am too Occupied With Other Stuff like this to have time to be occupied with much else.
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OCCUPY, a poem about the Wall Street Protest

 

OCCUPY

They are occupying Wall Street,

But I wonder, do they have a job on Main Street?

They are against the Corporate profit,

But how many Corporate patents do they use?

When they twitter, and black berry, and whine without end?

And how unrighteous is that Starbucks 5 dollar coffee cup?

They are calling for fairness, but not ambition.

The condemn the rich, but they excuse the lazy poor.

They say we should not have bailed out the banks.

But who, OH, Who was it that signed the trillion dollar check?

Was it Democrat, and Obama, and Biden and friends?

And now they set the stage to do it again.

Its too bad they do not occupy diligence,

Diligence is never hungry or broke.

Had they occupied wisdom

The right thing would have been done.

The only place they have occupied, is the seat of the fool

The scornful, the lazy slothful, all in the name of fairness.

They really only want to suckle, as a suckling baby pig,

On the wonderful government teat.

They care not the burden they have heaped on this land.

They only want to suckle and suckle is where they stand.

The debt is now 47 grand for every woman child and man.

15 trillion, but onward the little piglets go.

 

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Forty Years and Counting

There’s little question that the number 40 has some Biblical significance. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights in Noah’s time. Moses went up to the mountain for 40 days and nights. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years after the reconniassance team had spent 40 days in The Land. Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. There were 40 days between the Ascension and Pentecost. Those were only the examples I could think of off the top of my head here in my office.All of that came to mind because it was 40 years ago this fall that I began to seriously search the Bible for answers and direction. Actually, my attention had been drawn to the Bible sometime before that. More accurately, it was 40 years ago that I found a place where I could begin to get answers. Even as I write that it is kind of amazing to me because it doesn’t seem that long. To borrow (and change) a phrase from the great American philosopher Robert Seger, “40 years, where did they go? 40 years, I don’t know. I sit and I wonder sometimes where they’ve gone.”I like to think that I have grown and matured spiritually (and other ways as well) over that time. Certainly I have some different perspectives now than I did back then. As an example, in our room at home there is a chest of drawers. It is tall enough that if you were a young child in the room you could not see what is on the top of it. But as an adult, it is pretty obvious what is there. It isn’t hard to see at all and that is because you see the chest of drawers from a different perspective because you grew.There are some things that were black and white back then that are a bit gray to me now. There are some things that had less importance back then that now seem to me to be very important. Some of the things I paid attention to back then don’t get much attention at all these days. Conversely, there are matters now that I pay far more attention to than I would have back then. It is all because of perspective, seeing things from a different vantage point. There are things I wish I could do over, there are things I wish I had not done, there are things that I wish I would have done. There are also plenty of things that I am thankful that I did.To be sure, there are those items and viewpoints that have not changed at all. Jesus Christ is the same today and forever (though I can say I appreciate him and his work more). The Word of God has not changed one bit (though I can say I appreciate and understand it more). God Almighty, His love, grace, peace, power,(that was all I could think of right now) have not diminished at all (though I can say I endeavor to rely on Him more than ever).It has been a wonderful 40 years and I am excited to see what the future holds. For certain I know who holds the future.
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