Foreclosure

Wicked, Wicked, Wicked, Wicked…Righteous

Standard

House of the wicked?The local community newspaper listed eight foreclosures in the last week, all residences. That’s just in one week.

I had a hard time reading that and not getting misty-eyed. Eight families, no home.

At that rate, we’ll have 416 foreclosures in 2009 in my locality. Frankly, given the trend of things around here, I’m thinking the real number will tally somewhere closer to 700.

I wish it were zero.

The dread of losing one’s home runs high in most people. In America, it’s the ultimate failure, the financial, social, moral, and intellectual  scarlet letter.

The Bible, in one of its more inscrutable verses, says this:

What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.
—Proverbs 10:24

When I first started writing Cerulean Sanctum, I got a lot of emails from people with the gist of  “Who do you think you are,  some kind of spiritual brainiac with all the answers?” The letters didn’t last, though. I think enough truth came out in postings here that people realized that I don’t have all the answers, not even remotely.

I don’t know what to do with a verse like the one above. In the case of the righteous of the Old Covenant, one could argue that their end goals were earthly prosperity and a continuing lineage. Time and again, the Old Testament’s discussion of the payout for the righteous takes those two forms. You can’t ignore them.

The New Covenant changes it, at least as I see it, so that Christ is the goal for the righteous.

But it’s not the payout for the righteous that perplexes me, but the wicked’s. The wicked’s jagged little pill bothers me because their end is the same in both the Old and New Testaments. What they dread is what they receive.

So I struggle with this. Not because the wicked should not reap what they sow, but because the Bible seems to make it clear that people will see the practical outcomes of wickedness. They will be clearly visible. We will know who is wicked and who is righteous by what happens to them, not only in the life to come, but in life right now.

Which brings me back to Proverbs 10:24.

I think about those eight foreclosures in my locality, and I apply Proverbs 10:24. Those people who lost their homes received what they dreaded. The verse says it is the wicked who receive what they dread, not the righteous.

Therefore, it would appear that every one of those people who lost their homes to foreclosure were wicked. They could not be righteous.

So I struggle with that. I wonder if Proverbs 10:24 and dozens of verses that say the same essential thing elsewhere in the Scripture are proof-textable clarifications of who is wicked and who is righteous.

Then we come to the following passage and the water murks even more:

When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.
—Acts 28:3-5

The thought of the local people: Paul is wicked because of the misfortune that befell him. They seem to be referencing Proverbs 10:24 here.

How does this all fit with the dozens of OT passages that say that the wicked receive misfortune, while the righteous receive good? Hyperbole? Positive thinking? Rainbows and unicorns? Did the New Covenant wipe all those verses away?

So much for being a spiritual brainiac…

Any wise folks out there with some sage wisdom with regards to this topic? Please share. I think that many people in the days to come will be struggling with this same issue and will need to hear godly words.

More Monday Morning Musings

Standard

Been working so much I haven’t had two seconds to put together a coherent thought. So here are a few disjointed ones.

***

I’ve got to believe the biggest unreached people group in the United States right now are those folks who are losing (or have lost) their homes to foreclosure.

***

Definition of a Christian oxymoron? This. Seriously, watch the first part—and pray your head doesn’t explode. All I can say is, “Maybe there’s hope yet!” (HT: Bud, who also has the transcript.)

***

I noted last week that many economics experts claim that China needs to create 24 million NEW jobs each year or else their economy will implode. Guess what? Riots over increasing unemployment swirl there now. No way that 24 million is happening.

And what is the standard tactic for communist regimes that hope to get the unwashed masses focusing on something else rather than regime change? Can you say, “International incident?” I knew you could. Now, what spicy, international incident can Red China cook up? (Hint: think the letter “T” and a name that rhymes with “hang my neck.”)

***

Because we could not find a taker for our dog, Rosebud, we had to take her to a no-kill shelter run by the League for Animal Welfare. It’s a beautiful facility, spotlessly clean, and is run by people who really care for animals. They’re choosy about he animals they take, so we were blessed to get her in there.

I was so broken up, I think I cried the entire time I was there. Me, 46-year-old male, 6 feet, 4 inches, and 200 pounds. A big sobbing mess. And I’m the one who said no to a dog in the first place.

The rep there said that she should go fast considering how nice she is, her age, the fact she’s spayed, and that she has all her shots. Still, it’s sad. I loathe making commitments then having my hand forced due to circumstances beyond my control. Yet that happens so many times anymore that it’s practically a rule.

***

Been to the toy section of the store? That big hole in every store in America is supposed to be filled with Bakugan. Guess the only toy my son asked for this Christmas? (Santa Claus wouldn’t have this stock problem.)

***

To which Julie puts all such thinking into perspective.

***

Was reading through Genesis with some brothers, and I read this in 16:11-12:

The angel of the Lord also said to [Hagar]:

“You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.

You want to understand the Arabic people? There it is in a nutshell, folks.

***

Bar none, this is the best financial blog on the Web.

***

The Christian community needs to rethink its interactions with the homosexual community. The rhetoric between both groups resembles the snarling of two rival packs of wolves. But can we Christians see Jesus, who ate with tax collectors and prostitutes and who took a thief with Him into paradise, acting that way?

It seems to me that if Christians want to really impact the homosexual community, that impact will come when we leave the pack and reach out to one homosexual man or woman at a time and show them the real love of Jesus. One-to-one. Not pack to pack.

All the snarling in the world won’t change a single life for Jesus Christ. But genuine love and concern will when demonstrated one person to another.

***

Watch what happens in Russia. Just watch.

***

In the last year, I’ve had to explain racism, abortion, and homosexuality to my 8-year-old. I didn’t hear about racism until I was a teen, abortion until I was in college, and homosexuality until I was in my mid-20s.

A few would insists my son’s early exposure to those issues is a good thing. My response to them? No freakin’ way.

***

Why is it that everyone seems to bring out their best baked goods this time of year and no other? I mean, what’s wrong with Christmas cookies in July?

***

When I was 14, my Dad was hospitalized in a half-body cast after back surgery. He was in the hospital for six weeks. Somehow, my mom singlehandedly did all the shopping for Christmas that year. My big gift? A Fairchild Semiconductor LED watch, something I hadn’t even asked for. No other kid in school had one of those. It was beyond cool. Even though we had to have Christmas in a hospital room, I think that was one of my favorite Christmases.

Which one is yours?




Elusive Grace

Standard

Okay, so I admit it.

I’m the kind of guy who likes the one item on the restaurant menu that no one else orders.

I’m the kind of guy who when faced with a daily drive from point A to point B attempts to find a different route between those two points every time.

I’m the kind of guy who gave up on self-help books years ago because I never fit into any of the categories the author would use to illustrate solutions.

I’m pretty much always the odd man out. The contrarian. The iconoclast. The weirdo.

When people find out that I write speculative fiction and then discover that I’ve never read through The Lord of the Rings books because I found them dull, well my weirdness takes on new levels.

That said, I did enjoy the Rings movies. And again, being the weirdo, I definitely thought The Two Towers was the best of the three. My reasoning is that I found the most biblical imagery in the second film.

When Gandalf tells Aragorn to look up when things appear most desperate and expect to see him at a certain hour, I could not help but think of this passage:

And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?” And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.” And he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him.” It was told him, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
—2 Kings 6:11-17

At the bleakest moment in the battle at Helm’s Deep, Aragorn, remembering Gandalf’s words, looks to the rim of the valley and sees it lined with a vast army headed by Gandalf.

At the bleakest moment, a sign of hope. The very presence of grace. Once doomed, now saved.

How many Westerns made their money by sending the cavalry over the hill to rescue the beleaguered heroes pinned down by the relentless tide of opposition? 'Cavalry Charge on the Southern Plains' by Frederick RemingtonThe trumpet cry as the rescuers spurred on their chargers. The enemy routed.

Grace, all of it.

You would think, then, that in a country that bills itself as a Christian nation, in a land steeped in the last desperate stand before the cavalry arrives, that we would be drowning in grace as a people. You would think that our whole lives would be devoted to dispensing grace as often and to as many as we can.

You would think.

I spent most of the evening thinking about this disconnect. How is it that grace is so elusive in the United States? What is it about us that we can’t resist the spectacle of watching another human being go down in flames? How can it be that their ultimate fate means so little to us?

Most of you know that the foreclosure rate in this country is running about three times higher than normal. Where I live, the number of abandoned houses—those fled by their owners, no “For Sale” sign in the front yard, no realtor in sight—borders on the epidemic.

We as Christians may talk about grace, but if we want a painful example of how out of touch we are concerning grace, the very lifeblood of the Church, look no further than those families who lost their homes. How is it that those families seem to vanish into the ether, melting away to nothing like hoarfrost assaulted by hot breath? Where do they go?

It saddens me that I don’t know. All I do know is that they were in trouble and no one was there for them in the midst of it. All the potential in the world for Christians to step in and demonstrate grace, yet it never came to be. And now, as if sucked into that mysterious realm where singleton socks go, that family is gone. Sometimes they don’t even bother to shut the door behind them.

And we who are wise can pontificate about why they failed. We can talk about greed. We can talk about poor choices. We can talk about moral failures. We can blame it on the times, the media, the economy, the war, the peace, the current president, the next president—heck, we can talk for whole years at a time, but none of our talk reveals bare naked grace to the ones who need it most.

Is anyone besides me grieved by this? Is anyone else hounded by our lack of care, our inability to somehow take the grace we might have been shown in the past and minister it to someone in desperate need?

How is it that we hate failure in other people, yet we expect others to feel for us when we go down in flames?

There’s not a person reading this now who is not excruciatingly close to losing it all. Do we realize how readily our carefully crafted lifestyles can go to pieces in a matter of weeks? One bad investment. One miscalculation at work. One illness. Poof, and its all gone.

It doesn’t matter how smart you are, how healthy, how wealthy, how prepared, or how risk averse. When that time comes, it comes. You’ll need that grace. You’ll need someone to love you no matter how shattered you might be, someone who can minister the grace of Jesus Christ to you.

Now what if there’s no one there?

We all have to be the cavalry at some point in life. We all have to ride into the flaming arrows, the poison darts, the thick haze of flying lead. Because there’s no way anyone’s going to be our cavalry when we need it if we were never there for them.