I saw a name in my inbox this week I never thought I would see.  Nevertheless there it was, clear as could be in black letters.  My older brother had sent me an e-mail.  My surprise was not at the medium or method of communication; Rick had been computer literate long before anyone else in the family. I was shocked that he had communicated at all.  I had not heard anything from my older sibling in twenty years.

Twenty years is a long time.  Almost half of my life has gone by with nary a word from the brother who was the best man at my wedding.  He had walked out of my life in October 1988, his last communication to me an angry letter, page after page of spiteful words describing in detail the terrible person he believed me to be.

Previous to that letter I had desperately tried to reach out to him, reaching out as far and as well as the limits of my faith would allow.  I think it was the limits that angered him so.  He had chosen a life that was to me a complete denunciation of what had been our shared faith.  The tenets of scripture mattered not to him anymore, or so it seemed.  He was who he was and was going to live how he wanted.  Either I fully embraced and completely accepted the person he was, or he would have nothing to do with me.

What I could not get him to understand was that the life he had chosen had a known outcome.  Multiple passages in Scripture made it clear that people who lived in the fashion he was living were choosing a life without God.  For me, the temporal happiness he was pursuing came with an eternal price tag that was just too high.  It was my fear that if I accepted him completely, if I endorsed his lifestyle, I would be contributing in some way to an eternity without God.  If I loved him, how could I do that?

So he disappeared from my life.  For reasons I have never understood he remained in close contact with my twin brother.  Together they shared a closeness I never knew.  He was an uncle to my twin’s children, friend to my sister-in-law, a welcome guest in their home.
 
Through my twin I heard little bits about Rick, such things as where he lived and what he did for a living.  I frequently let my twin know that I would love to hear from Rick, that if he ever wanted to talk I was available, but I was repeatedly told Rick had no desire at all to talk to me.  Even after 20 years the anger had not faded.

And then the e-mail came.  It came because our mother had died.  Our dysfunctional and damaged by the world mother had died alone in her home, her drunk husband not even noticing until after rigor mortis had set in.  With her death came a clarity that she never inspired in life.  The loneliness that was her last minutes could have been avoided.  She had made choices in life that had driven her children away.  She could have had a family, she could have had comfort, but fear and addiction trapped her in a cell from which she could not escape, so she died alone.

The loneliness of her death inspired a chain of thoughts in my brother, a chain that wound its way to the conclusion that maybe family was worth something.  Maybe anger and withdrawal weren’t the best solution.  Maybe there was hope for relationship after all.
So Rick wrote.  No apology was offered, no explanation given for the twenty years of silence.  Just a request that I “throw him a bone” and a statement that he wanted his brothers back.

A part of me wanted to say that this brother had never left, but I saw no value in that.  I did tell him that the man he had hated so much twenty years ago wasn’t around anymore, that like it is with all men twenty years had brought a lot of change.  And I told him I would love to see him, that distance did not matter.  If he wanted me to come I would come.

He wrote back.

I love to talk to people.  In fact conversation is the best part of my job.  The actual practice of medicine, the diagnosis and treatment of diseases gets more boring as time goes on.  How many sore throats does one need to see before the thrill is gone?

Although sore throats get boring, the person with the sore throat changes all the time.  They have jobs, families, experiences and perspectives uniquely their own.

As much as I enjoy conversation, I am realizing that it is dying.  No one talks anymore.

I was thinking about this yesterday as I was driving out of my neighborhood on my way to the office.  As I drove down the street I looked at my neighbor’s homes and thought about the people who lived in them.  There was Dick’s house, Patty and April’s house, Mike and Jenna’s house, Ron and Jeannie’s,  Artie’s, Dan and Linda’s,  Bev’s, and others.  I know so many of their names, but I don’t ever really talk to them.  On the rare occasions when we do talk it is never about anything of substance.

It has become culturally unacceptable to discuss anything of depth.  Politics and religion are taboo.

In such a world, how are we to proclaim the gospel?  How can we share the good news if we never talk to anyone about anything?  This i snot a question to be viewed lightly.  We are commanded by the Savior to preach the gospel to the world, and the world includes the people in our neighborhoods.

It is hard, but if we are to fulfill the Great Commission, we need to talk.

Last Saturday we had 12 graduating seniors sitting in our living room for a few hour.  They ate a sandwich, drank some soda pop, and joined me in a conversation about evolution.  The group had started with 6 of them two weeks earlier and had doubled in size in just two weeks.

I talked for nearly an hour, beginning with basic DNA and amino acid structure, building up to the concept of a DNA code and finishing by debunking the “birds came form lizards” theory put forth by evolutionary biologists.  They stayed for the whole thing and stayed engaged.

Eric, who among the group is teased for his less than stellar academic record, summed things up pretty well at the end.  Said Eric, “If I believed in evolution and heard all that you just said, I would feel like a total retard right now!”

When I was finished, they stayed and talked more.  We discussed salvation theology, evangelism and how to interact with an unbelieving world.  The kids, all but one graduating from a Christian high school this week, were hungry for truth.  Not just hungry for truth, but for truth intelligently and confidently proclaimed.  Truth that is not afraid of questions or challenges.  Truth that can stand on its own two feet.

One of the boys told my son, “I am like a sponge right now, soaking it all in.!

Another wrote in my son’s yearbook, “If it wasn’t for you and your dad, I would be spiritually dead right now.” 

How wonderful it is to be able to teach these young adults, and how sad it is that no one has done it before.

Listening to Scott McClellan talk about his book I was struck about his reasons for writing.  He said he had a “higher loyalty” to the truth than he did to the White House.  This is a grand statement.  I can’t help but wonder why that loyalty only kicked in after a book deal.  Loyalty to truth should trump everything else, including personal financial gain.

When truth only comes out when it is to our advantage for it to come out, it calls into question our commitment to it.

I don’t doubt that Mr. McClellan believes what he is saying, but if he did not truly delve into all of these questions with his superiors and did not give them all a chance to clarify it leaves you wondering.  Isn’t it possible he didn’t know as much as he thinks he did?  Wouldn’t loyalty to truth require more effort and in a more immediate fashion than waiting to publish a book?

It was an interesting evening Friday night, six of the ten who had committed to come actually showed up, which for high school seniors is a pretty good turnout.  It was awkward for me and I was a little uncomfortable.  I have long said that I am not a gifted small group or discussion leader.  I am much more comfortable behind a pulpit than I am in front of a small group.  My son said he noticed the nerves, but did not think anyone else did.

The words definitely did not flow as I would have liked, and places where I thought discussion would develop did not materialize as planned.  Nevertheless the response was positive.  I was able to make the main point I wanted to make, namely that the secular world divides thought into two realms.  The first realm is universal knowledge/scientific fact, the second is personal opinion/religious beliefs.  By relegating issues of faith to the realm of mere opinion the Christian perspective is easily dismissed by secularists.

As Christians we need to show that the existence of God and spiritual truth are not matters of mere opinion but actually are universal truth binding to all men.  Whenever we are told something is “just our opinion” we are put on notice that what we need to argue is the basis for truth itself.  We need to remind people that the evidence for the existence of God is overwhelming, and that he has clearly revealed himself.

I then challenged the kids to be on guard for the “division of realms” in their own lives.  It is far too easy to view God’s truth as relative, and to discard that with which we don’t agree.  We need to accept God’s truth as readily and as firmly as we do the truth that 2+2=4, E=mc2, and the law of gravity.

They all said they want to come back next week, so I am encouraged.  It will be a busy weekend, as I am leading the “Truth Group” on Saturday and preaching in Fullerton Sunday night.  I am energized by the knowledge that I am doing God’s work in a tangible way.

10 graduating high school seniors have agreed to come to my home tonight to begin a conversation about truth.  The students, all who have attended a Christian high school, have expressed a desire to be able to effectively understand and defend a Christian Worldview.

As they head off to the liberal land of secular colleges they are aware that their Christian faith will unwelcome and disrespected.  It is my hope to show them that there is nothing of which they need to be ashamed.  As Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.”

This is one of the most significant ministry endeavors I have ever attempted.  To me preaching in a Sunday service is dwarfed by the opportunity to prepare young people to defend their faith.  So many young men and women see their faith fade and even disappear after they graduate high school and leave the safety of their youth groups.  This evening will truly be a front line battle for their minds.

Last November I preached a sermon at a Calvary Chapel in Huntington Beach.  Using the story of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law as the foundation, I talked about the danger of being overworked and stretched to thin.  Moses was spending all day, every day, passing judgment on every issue brought before him both large and small.  He was brutally overworked.  Jethro told him, in so many words, to knock it off and let other people help.

One of the major points of the message was that there is a natural tendency for the servants of God to get over committed and to get bogged down.  It happened to Moses and it happens to a huge number of pastors today.  

I have talked to pastors who find themselves having no idea on Friday what they are going to preach on Sunday because they were too busy.  I have heard of many pastors whose marriages were on the brink of collapse because they spent too much time at church.  There is no question in my mind that a great number of pastors just can’t say “no” nearly enough.

We live in a church culture that encourages this type of behavior.  When I was being interviewed for a pastoral job last year the search committee asked me if I saw myself doing much hospital visitation.  My answer was a very short “No.”  I did not feel it was the senior pastor’s duty to be the person calling on all of the sick people in the church.   I felt it would be my job to make sure that someone did visitation, but it was not my job to actually do it.  The answer went over like a lead balloon.

It is because of this tendency to over commit that pastors end of seeming flaky and non-responsive.  They are so busy engaging in mundane tasks that they neglect what is important.    

I just read a comment on a post at Politico.com.  The article was on the weakness of the Republican brand and how it would be difficult for John McCain to overcome that.  The poster's comment- "There are two things that would make be abandon John McCain, pandering to the base and selecting Mitt Romney as his VP choice."

It is fascinating to me that anyone could even make such a statement.  How can someone react in such a fashion and claim to have any rational basis for doing so?  I am not a big McCain fan, but the alternative in Barack Obama is so far to the left that as someone who leans conservative there is no choice but to support him.  "The if I don't get it exactly my way I'm going home" mentality is evidence of a mindset that is more emotional than rational.

A similar analogy would be a vegetarian saying, "If you give me vegetables sautéed in animal shortening I am going to leave and eat a porterhouse steak!"   Such a statement would suggest that an individual's anger, his or her emotions, are the driving force rather than his or her values.

I see this everyday.  What people feel is becoming more important than what people think.  Their beliefs and values are so lacking a rational foundation that they change like the weather.  I see this in my practice.  People feel badly.  They want to get better.  They want antibiotics.  I give a detailed scientific explanation as to why that would be bad medicine.  The response I usually get, "I don't care, I want to get better."  To them their feelings are equal to my medical training.  My opinion is no better than theirs.  They want something, and that is all the justification they need.

Unfortunately, when people want conflicting things, there is no way to get what they desire.  You can't eat fatty foods and be thin.  You can't have a good marriage and live like a selfish pig.  You can't have a stable Iraq and abandon it to Al Qaeda.  You can't placate terrorists and be left alone.  This is not the reality of the world in which we live.

Rational people understand this.  Unfortunately, it seems that rational people are becoming an endangered species.

About 4 months ago my work schedule changed.  My Physician's Assistant found an additional job and could no longer work her usual Friday afternoons.  She could work on Thursdays instead.  She is an extremely valuable employee and many women love having her as an option for their medical care, so I agreed to have her work Thursday mornings. 
What to do with the time off?  My wife and I decided to get annual passes to Disneyland.  So now, at least twice a month after the kids go to school my bride and I spend a few hours together at the Happiest Place on Earth.  We don't go on many rides most days, preferring to relax and listen to musicians perform, browse in the shops, or just sit and people watch.  There is a special joy in escaping in the middle of the week.  It truly feels as if we are cutting school.
    The days we don't make it to Disneyland we do something else together, either going out for breakfast or staying at home and sneaking a NetFlix movie we hadn't yet been able to watch together.
    The best part of it all is I am with my wife.  After 25+ years of marriage, she still makes my heart skip a beat when I see her.  Every Wednesday I find myself getting excited about the coming morning's time with her.  I am blessed.  In my job I see so many who have fallen out of love, have been deeply hurt and let down, or who have never known the joy of a good marriage.  When a man and wife can look forward to simply being together, they are truly blessed.  Thank God for Thursdays.

In my adult life I have regularly attended four churches.  One for 15 years, the other three for about 4 years each.  The first church we attended as a married couple was pastored by Charles Swindoll,  a well known Bible teacher.  We stayed because he taught the Bible well.  We stayed even when we moved 30 minutes away, because he taught the Bible well.  When we left after 15 years it was because we thought our children would do better if they went to a church where they could develop friendships closer to home.

After 10 years and three churches we are now driving back to the original church.  Why?  Because in all of the other instances we over time learned that the pastors weren't who we thought they were.  For one is was doctrinal, there were beliefs about ministry that were controversial.  The pastor tried to keep these views hidden early in his ministry, yet allowed them to come out over time.  When those beliefs came out, we left.  For another church it was relational.  The pastor  turned out to be superficially good, but in reality he was spiteful, vengeful, controlling and arrogant.  As I became more involved in the church these traits became more obvious.  When my efforts to approach these issues were rebuffed, we left.  The third instance was one where the pastor appeared to get lazy in his doctrine.  Over the years the sermons were more agenda driven and less scripture driven.  The Bible passages would get tweaked to support his point.  Not to the point of heresy, but it was clear there was a lack of diligence.  We decided to find a place that honored God's Word more.

All of this to say-  people who truly have faith, people who truly love God, people who are truly serious about their spiritual lives, don't tolerate incompetence in a Pastor.  We can deduce a lot about Senator Obama from the last 20 years, and none of it is good.

It is a simple and obvious fact that is ignored and rejected by many in our culture.  We are not all equal.  We do not all have equal abilities, equal potential and unfortunately, equal opportunities.  This is reality.  When this reality is rejected, great harm is done.
For example, not everyone can be a doctor as I am.  Medical school is four years of 30 unit semesters.  Not everyone can do that.  For many people the academic work load would be too great and they would fail.  I am not an artist.  No amount of schooling, practice or effort could change that.  I have an artist friend who has painted murals in my office.  In just a matter of hours he painted freehand beautiful murals that covered the wall of one of my exam rooms.  It would take me days of effort to accomplish the task, and the quality would be far less.  I am not his equal.  I am comfortable with that.
    This week I had a consult visit with a family who's daughter was struggling in first grade.  She wasn't failing, but the teacher was concerned that she wasn't keeping up with all of the other students.  As we talked it became evident that the teacher, as she had been trained to do, was viewing all of the children in her class as equals.  I reminded the parents that this isn't necessarily so.  A remarkable 50% of Americans are of below average intelligence!  There will be students who are in the bottom half of the class!  I can predict with certainty that the bottom half of the class will contain exactly half of the students!  What was and is important is that the child do as well as she can, and become the best that she can be.  Treating her as if she is equal when she is not can do great damage to her self esteem.
    This "all are equal" philosophy is dangerous in the political arena as well.  It is what leads some to decide that successful people deserve to be taxed more.  Since everyone is equal, no one should have more than anyone else.  This thinking is foolishness, yet it is common.  It has as its consequence tax policies that paralyze the economy and stifle productivity and growth.
    So why is this idea so wide spread?  First because of a misunderstanding of equality.  Men are all created of equal value, deserving equal rights and respect.  It is easy to mistakenly broaden this definition to say all men are equal..  Secondly, and more importantly it is due to a rejection of our Christian heritage.  The Sovereign God who has created us has decided to bless people disproportionately.  A culture that rejects this truth will turn to other false ideas instead.  Amazingly, the evolutionary mindset that dominates are academia supports inequality in another way.  Implied in evolutionary theory is the existence of advantageous mutations.  What are such mutations if not inequalities?
    We need to reject the notion that all are identical and equal.  We need to celebrate and embrace the truth that all are equally valuable yet not equal in ability or talent..  Only form such a place of truth can we truly address the ills of society and develop solutions.

I was on the golf course this morning.  I sneaked out early so I could play nine holes and be back before the family was up.  In that sense it was a successful morning.  My golf game is terrible, as it always is. 
One of the things I enjoy about playing nine holes is being paired up with strangers.  I view it as an opportunity to engage in conversation, and if possible, evangelism.  I focus my conversation on values, family and other such matters, hoping for the chance to share the basis and foundation for the values I have.
This morning the conversation turned to the question of materialism.  I made the point that the current generation does not understand the concept of sacrifice for a higher goal.  Previous generations, such as the generation that fought World War 2, understood the need to live for a higher call, and that at times a price must be paid.  The current generation seems to have lost this value.  If things get difficult, we quit.
I made the mistake of applying this concept to the situation in Iraq.  I said regardless of your viewpoint on going in to Iraq in the firstplace, it disturbed me that so many were so willing to quit on the effort.  Relative to previous wars, the cost of Iraq has been small, yet we seem unwilling to bear it.
One of the men I was playing with began a diatribe about how we never should have gone in to Iraq, and proceeded to tell me how terrible it was that America was always trying to tell other countries to be like us, as if we think we are better.  Another man chimed in that it was all about oil anyway.
As we talked it became clear that neither man had a fully formed understanding of the world in which we live.  As children of relativism, they could not see the superiority of democracy, of individual freedom, or of a Christian faith.  The one man repeatedly stated that as the most powerful nation we had no business being involved in other nation's affairs.  When I asked him if as the most powerful nation it would be appropriate to stand by and watch genocide in Darfur or other African nations because that is "how they live, it is their culture" he had no response.
His belief that all cultures, nations, and beliefs are equal blinds him to the truth that they are not and could not be.  Anything that challenges that mindset is rejected out of hand.  The concept that there could be any just cause in bringing freedom to a  Muslim nation , that the people might actually want freedom, and that as the greatest force of freedom  the planet has ever seen we have an obligation to  procure freedom for others, is anathema to him.
The war  in Iraq  forces  these feelings to the surface.  The hatred on his part, and on the part of liberals, is not against the war per se.  It is instead a rejection of  any belief in  definable morality or justice.  To support the war is to support the idea that our culture is actually better, that not all cultures are equal.
To accept that is to accept the idea of transcendent values.  This is something he simply will not do.  I believe that once someone acknowledges transcendent values they then become obligated to live by these values.  Or humanistic, materialistic society rejects this premise.