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April 22, 2005
I Am Your Reward
by Cindy Tucker
For many, many years Abraham yearned for a son. He had many servants and slaves, but no sons. The closest kin he had was his nephew, Lot. After Abraham’s brother and father died, Abraham took on the responsibility of providing for Lot. How he must have loved and nurtured Lot! Lot must have been like a son to him. Abraham shares out of his great wealth, for Lot soon has his own flocks and herds and tents.(Gen.13:5)
The day comes when the land can not support both Abraham and Lot’s holdings. Their herdsmen quarrel over land and water. Abraham didn’t want disunity and strife between himself and his beloved nephew. What sadness he must have felt as he suggested to Lot that they part ways. In humility and trust in God, he gives Lot first choice of the land and watches Lot go his own way.
Lot’s choice turns out to be unwise. He becomes a victim of the war between Kedorlaomer and his allies vs. the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and their allies. Because he lived in the losing territory, Lot and his possessions are carried off as a spoil of war.
When Abraham learns of this, he gathers 318 of his trained men, routs the enemy, and rescues the people and goods of Sodom and Gomorrah. All this effort to rescue a wayward nephew!
As the victor, Abraham has the right to take the spoils of war. The king of Sodom offers him the goods of the vanquished. But Abraham tells him, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, the most high…and have taken an oath, that I will accept nothing belonging to you,… so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich…”
Abraham turns down worldly treasures so that he is not beholden to any one but God.
He has every right to it, but he chooses another reward.
Women of the church are much like Abraham. We willingly give up our rights as we submit to the leadership of church authority and our husbands. We give up the worldly desire to be self –indulgent as we meet the needs of our family, church, and community. We put our career desires on hold as we raise our children and serve as helpmates to our husbands. There are days when we can’t see beyond the stacks of dirty dishes, mounds of laundry, and endless dirty diapers. There are the 1 year old’s crying, 3 year old’s tantrum, 6 year old’s smart mouth,9 year old’s know-it –all attitude, 13 year old’s tantrum, the distant 16 year old, and the trials and tribulations of grown children. There are aging parents to care for. There are preoccupied husbands who don’t notice the sudden appearance of clean socks or underwear in their drawer. There is the lack of hours in the day for women who try to juggle career, family, and home. These women are on the front line of representing Christ in sometimes hostile work environments. We stand up for what is right and attempt to live by God’s standards, even if that makes us unpopular. Our choice to follow God’s call may lower our income or keep us from being invited to the “best” parties. We might not ever be famous or important in the eyes of the world. We might not see tangible or immediate rewards for our labors.
We, like Abraham, give up the immediate reward for something much better. What was the reward that Abraham chose, that we choose as we serve family, church, and community?
God appeared to Abraham and said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. (Gen.15:1) God is our reward, the very Creator of Heaven and earth. Not just what He gives us, but God Himself, His very Presence, is our reward.
Posted by fraubleuler at 07:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 04, 2005
My Bad
There is a fairly new expression- at least new to me. (In my mid-forties, I find myself more hopelessly old-fashioned and out of touch with pop culture each day.) I first heard a much younger friend, who is decidedly “hip” (Hey, that phrase even outdates me!), make a mistake and say, “My bad.” She is a rather creative individual, so I assumed that she had coined a new phrase and left it at that. A few days later, my daughter says it. I tell my husband about this new phrase my daughter must have picked up from our friend. Now, my husband, an expert on the cutting edge of what’s cool ( there I go again) told me authoritatively that “everyone’s saying it. By the way, he’s a middle school principal.
Next thing I know, Halle Berry is saying it in “Catwoman.” No, I did not waste time watching it, I just saw the promos.
Anyhow, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the theological significance of this phrase. My bad, indeed. I had to see and recognize my bad before I realized a need for God. I had to see that I could never fix my bad, no matter how hard I tried. I was always going to make another mistake, fail again, disappoint again. How would I ever rid myself of my bad?
Thank God Christ never had to say, “My bad.” Fully man and fully God, He lived a perfect life. And when He died, they nailed my bad on the cross with Him. And the my bads of all who call upon His name. His blood covers my bad. And now when God looks at me, He doesn’t see my bad. He sees His good.
Posted by fraubleuler at 02:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 01, 2005
The Terri Schiavo Travesty and Her Legacy
By Cindy Tucker
Terri Schiavo is gone now, and from the evidence of her life, she is probably worshipping with the Lord and His saints face to face. Over the past two years I have prayed and wept for this woman. I even called Florida legislators, Judge Greer’s office, and Gov. Bush’s office. This last go round I kept thinking surely reason and right would prevail and Terri would be allowed to live. There was so much conflicting information surrounding her injury, subsequent care , rehab, and her hearsay statement that she wouldn’t want to be hooked up to a life-support machine. Not to mention the suspicious behavior of a husband that had moved on with his own life but seemed hell-bent on Terri’s demise even though she had a family willing to care for her and relieve him of all responsibility. There seems to be a question of where the money for Terri’s rehab and care went- it seems a great deal went for legal fees to get permission to starve and thirst her to death. I know dehydration is the proper term, but it just doesn’t quite paint the picture of the man in the desert panting for water that I think we need to understand when we contemplate removing “hydration” from someone.
I really have nothing new to say, but I believe I have a truly unique perspective. 18 years ago, I had a car accident. At the age of 28, I had injured my spinal cord. My husband was told I would never walk again, would spend the rest of my life “confined”(I hate that word; I’d be confined without the chair) to a wheelchair, and perhaps never have children or a normal life. I was bleeding to death and needed surgery. Since I was unconscious, my husband needed to sign for my surgery. Thank God he did.
You see, we had conversations about what would happen if one of us had been incapacitated. I had said if I was ever in a wheelchair I wouldn’t want to live like that and I certainly wouldn’t expect him to stick around and take care of me. I would want him to move on. (Our hearsay conversation.)
Thank God I married a man of conviction who took his wedding vows seriously. He stuck by me. During my 3 months of rehab, he brought me my school work (I was working on my Master’s) and visited me 3 times a week. God gave me the grace and determination to finish my schoolwork and go back to my job as a teacher, and to live all these years in a wheelchair.
O.K. I wasn’t brain-damaged. I can speak for myself. But, from my perspective, I can tell you we don’t know how Terri felt after her accident. She appeared to respond to her loved ones and find pleasure in their company. She appeared to try to communicate.
Maybe it was a reflex, but what if it wasn’t? And pain. I myself have an incomplete spinal cord injury so I have limited movement but I have nearly normal sensation. When I had to have a cut stitched last summer, I quickly told the doctor I had sensation so he would numb my calf before sewing me up. It still was uncomfortable! If I hadn’t told him, he would have made the assumption “she can’t feel below the waist.” So who are we to assume Terri couldn’t feel hunger pains and thirst over 14 days? In a recent World article, Lynn .Vincent tells the story of Kate Adamson. Kate suffered a double brain stem stroke and was unable to move at all, not even blink. She was however, fully cognitive. She heard the doctors tell her husband she was a “vegetable.” At one point they removed her feeding tube for eight days. She was in terror and great pain. She has now regained most of her abilities and is understandably an advocate for the disabled. Also, the same medical and legal minds that told us starvation and hydration is a euphoric experience allowed Terri to have morphine when they saw grimacing and twitching-I guess what we lay people would call signs of pain.
Why, as President Bush asked, if we err, don’t we err on the side of life? I thank Congress for trying to stop this innocent death, but I now urge them to pass a law requiring living will statements specifying the patient’s desire before nutrition and water is removed. We all need food and water to live; it is not a heroic measure. I am also very concerned about those who only have government insurance. Those who advocate national state insurance need to consider this case with great concern. It’s not too far-fetched to foresee a future where the state decides when a person’s life is too costly to maintain, when their value to society is not worth the upkeep, and the decision is made to withhold food and water. It could happen; it happened 60 years ago in Nazi Germany.
For the public record- I do not want to go by starvation or dehydration.
Posted by fraubleuler at 11:16 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack