Archive for New Earth
Sticking to Your Word
Posted by: | CommentsAs recently as last week, Jerry Jones was quoted as saying that Wade Phillips would finish the season as the Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Yesterday, Phillips was fired by that same Jones.
This serves as yet another example of how difficult it is for someone to actually say something and stand by it, no matter how difficult it may be. Or to carefully consider what to say in the first place. Now, after the Cowboys poor start and horrible performance the other night against the Packers, I can understand why Phillips was fired. However, I think we should all be frustrated at the actions of a man who says one thing and then goes on to do another. Clearly, Jones has shown that he is a man who, like too many of us, thinks it is no big deal to say something and do the opposite one week later. His yes is not really ‘yes’ and his ‘no’ not really no.
Lest we go on pointing the finger and Jones and feeling all good about ourselves, however, we are wise to recognize that we too often are guilty of the very same thing. We are careless in what we say. We make commitments we don’t intend to keep. Or that we intend to keep, but aren’t very diligent in carrying out. If we are Christians, we might even say, “I will pray for you” in a careless fashion and never follow through. Or we are incessantly late. Or generally unreliable.
This should bother us more than it currently does. Jones’ carelessness should make us face up and hate our own. Not only that, but from my perspective as a Christian, a story such as this should make us long for the day when everyone will say what they mean and stick to it. And lead us to more diligently seek to live that way now.
So how should Jones have handled this situation? As far as I see it, here were some central options. We can learn from at least 3 of them.
1) He could have been more careful in what he said in the first place. Something like the following may have sufficed. “I really don’t like to make a coaching change in the middle of the season, and I certainly don’t want to do so now, but if things get worse and it seems to be in the best interest of the club, it is a move I won’t be afraid to make.”
I see absolutely nothing wrong with saying something like that. It is fair and understandable to everyone involved. We should take notes for our own personal situations.
2) After coming out with his statement that Wade Phillips would finish the season, he could have stuck by it at all costs and set an example of being a man of his word. He could even have said this week, “You know what, I wish I hadn’t said what I said last week about Wade Phillips remaining head coach for the rest of the season, because I want to fire him after our poor performance against the Packers, but I do not want to go back on my word, so no matter how bad it gets, he will remain our head coach for the rest of the season. I realize that many people may be frustrated with me for this decision, and I understand, but I am willing to accept the consequences and feel that no matter how bad they are, they are better than me going back on what I said.”
I am not holding my breath for that one, but again, we should take notes.
3) After his statement of last week, he could have made the decision to fire Phillips, while offering an apology for being careless with his words last week. “I have decided that I was foolish and careless with my words last week and that it is in the best interest of the club to fire Phillips today. I realize now that I was trying to manipulate the situation in hopes that the team would rally around Phillips. I wasn’t honest and I publicly ask for forgiveness from Phillips and everyone else for essentially lying.”
What a breath of fresh air that would be huh? Can’t see it happening, but why can’t we do something like that?
4) He could have fired himself as General Manager of the club, a move, it seems, that would be quite popular with Cowboy fans. “Even though this is kind of weird, as the Owner of the Cowboys, I have decided to fire myself as the General Manager. After all, I hired Phillips and had a huge say in each player that is on this team. I accept the fact that the position of General Manager may be beyond my ability and humbly terminate myself! The fact that I was careless with my words last week was the last straw, so effectively immediately, So-and-So is taking over for me at the General Manager position.”
I am not sure how we can apply that personally, but it would be a fun story. At the very least, such humility would be well-received by many. At least I hope.
All in all, this story should remind us that what we say and how well we stick by what we say is more important that we often realize. Jesus said, “Let your Yes, be Yes and your No, no. Can you imagine a world in which everyone did just that? I can’t wait and pray now that I would better preview that coming day by saying what I mean and sticking to it. Or humbly repenting of my failure to do so. Or, if necessary, humbly repenting and firing myself.
Looking for a Better Day in Sport
Posted by: | CommentsIf you aren’t already convinced of the Fall, maybe this will turn the tide.
A few days after our 83-67 victory over Udine during the first week of the season, we were informed that we had to forfeit the game because improper paperwork was filled out for our 2nd assistant coach. Because he sat on the bench (he has since sat behind the bench), the score was changed to 0-20. Naturally our team appealed the decision to some kind of decision board, but the decision was delayed so that finally, today, they decided to uphold their previous decision to have us forfeit the game.
Now, I am not sure what the rule books state. It is possible that the league has put it in writing that if the wrong paperwork is filled out, you must forfeit the game. I would be very surprised, but if that is the case, it should be obvious to us all that that is a stupid rule (and thus, evidence of the Fall). After all, this is professional basketball, and only 30 games are played, so I would think it would be much better for everyone involved for a simple fine to be paid. That seems to make more sense to every single person I have spoken to about this (literally, I have not found one person who thinks this makes any sense). I would be very surprised if an NBA team would have to forfeit a game if they had a wrong person sitting on the bench. And they play 82 games. Who comes up with this stuff?
If you think I am frustrated, you are right. Of course, I can trust the sovereign God of the universe with this decision, but at the same time, things such as these serve as a reminder that things are not as they ought to be. Certainly, rules should be upheld. I am all for that. But as we all know, not all rules are created equal. Not all decisions are as wise as we would like them to be.
And so it that I accept this one. As a wise one or a good one? No. But a decision nonetheless, good at least in that in reminds me that things are not as they ought to be, and that one day, because of Jesus Christ, a better day is coming. Indeed, a perfect day in which all is as it ought to be, even sport.
Shalom: The Way Things Ought to Be
Posted by: | CommentsBelow is one of my all-time favorite quotes- from anyone. In his book, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, Cornelius Plantinga writes,
The prophets knew how many ways human life can go wrong because they knew how many ways human life can go right. (You need the concept of a wall on a plumb to tell when one is off.) These prophets kept dreaming of a time when God would put things right again.
They dreamed of a new age in which human crookedness would be straightened out, rough places made plain. The foolish would be made wise and the wise, humble. They dreamed of a time when the deserts would flower, the mountains would run with wine, weeping would cease and people could go to sleep without weapons on their laps. People would work in peace and work to fruitful effect. Lambs could lie down with lions. All nature would be fruitful, benign, and filled with wonder upon wonder; all humans would be knit together in brotherhood and sisterhood; and all nature and all humans would look to God, walk with God, lean toward God and delight in God. Shouts of joy and recognition would well up from valleys and seas, from women in streets and from men on ships.
The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. We call it peace but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a cease-fire between enemies. In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness and delight – a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.
If you think about it, we all hold some unwritten standard of the way things ought to be. The question we ought to ask ourselves is where does this unwritten standard come from? Who is its author? How has it been informed? Usually, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that we have just decided the standard ourselves. We pick things up here and there and then set our views up as ultimate and well-informed.
From a Christian standpoint, however, this is arrogance. Humility dictates the need for a source outside oneself. An authoritative one. This is where the Bible and the need for us to study it with diligence comes so clearly into view. For though many read it and see incoherence, when rightly understood and studied, a unified story emerges. And not just any unified story, but the ultimate unified story, indeed, the only unified story that can tell us how things ought to be, and what has been done to assure that Shalom will come to pass.
This line of thinking is about as practical as it gets. For no matter the topic, understanding how life ought to be is central to how you ought to think and act now. When thinking about sports or the environment or politics or marriage or whatever, apart from an authoritative standard, you thinking will be far from clear. Theology is incredibly practical.
I could say more, but that is enough for now. Suffice it to say that if what I have said really is true (especially if you are a Christian), you ought to do all you can to understand Shalom, or the way things ought to be. In subsequent posts, I will make a few book recommendations.
Christians and the Environment
Posted by: | CommentsThree men weighed in for Christianity Today on how concerned Christians should be for the environment. Their answers aren’t comprehensive, but they are a great start.
Here’s Al Mohler.
And Jonathan Merritt.
Also worth mentioning is that Jonathan Merritt’s book, Green Like God, looks like a good one to check out.
Pay or Walk Away?
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Yesterday, I came across this article in the Wall Street Journal. It reports a growing trend in some areas of the country where home owners simply walk away from their loans even though they can afford the payments. Walk away, meaning, they just stop paying their loan and take whatever hit comes to their credit score, etc. Apparently, in some States, your mortgage company cannot pursue your other assets if you choose this option. Usually, people do so because their homes have drastically dropped in value.
The problem, however, is that there are only a few lines even hinting to the fact that if you simply ‘walk away’ from your loan, you are failing to uphold your end of a signed contract. I have been in countries (and in a business more or less) where contracts are often considered little more than a framework for the deal. Somewhat optional. And the effects of such a mindset are disastrous. I am very concerned about what will happen to our country if more and more people begin to adopt the same attitude to their agreements.
Can you imagine living in a world where a handshake or a simple ‘yes’ was enough to seal an agreement? Where both parties had absolute confidence that the man or woman shaking their hand or saying that ‘yes’ would uphold their end of the agreement? What a great place to live!
Well, this is how Jesus calls His followers to live. ”Let your ‘Yes’ be yes, and your ‘No’ no,” He said. And the beauty of it is that someday (at least according to the Bible), it will be exactly like that. On the New Earth, everyone will keep their word perfectly and completely. No one will be walking away. I can’t wait for that day. But until then, we are wise to uphold our end of an agreement, no matter how difficult it may be.
