Thursday, August 30, 2018

TEN EXCLAMATION MARKS FOR A HAPPY SENTENCE

Following is a live of several suggestions to “do it anyway” by one Keith Kent, dated 1968. I found this list while going through my departed wife’s lifetime of scrap papers and personal notes. I lived with her for just over seventy years and it sounds so much like her, the lady I once admired as the epitome of God’s amazing and abundant Grace. I see ten seeds here that promise a blessed harvest of abundant living, should someone decide to plant them. 

When I stop and think about how Jesus came as the incarntion of God, and I pause to reflect on that incarnation as God’s expectation for me as a follower of Christ, I discover that I hold in my hand ten seeds for planting God’s Kingdom through my relationships with other people. Let’s see what you think:

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered;
              Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish and ulterior motives.
              Succeed anyway.
3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
              Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
              Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
              Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest of men and women with the smallest minds.
              Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
              Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
              Help people anyway.
9. People really need help but l may attack you if you do help them. 
              Help people anyway.
10.. Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth.
              Give the world the best you have anyway  (Kent M. Keith/1968).

What I see here are Ten Commandments, if you will, for becoming the exclamation mark in what a Ugandan Pastor’s daughter means when she says, “I am the exclamation mark in the happiest sentence I could ever possibly write” (Nakazibwe Blessing Sandra Generous).

This is yours truly,  walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Away at Writers Conference


I attended in 2005 what was probably the last of several Writers Conferences I was privileged to attend through the years. This one took place at the Wesleyan Church Headquarters in Indianapolis, IN, coincidentally, the same year my wife’s health crashed and I became more confined to home and retirement.Among the host of writers and inspirational speakers in attendance that year were (Dr.) Gloria Gaither from Gaither Music and Dr. Keith Drury, Wesleyan Church Theologian, Author, and popular Indiana Wesleyan University Professor. Gloria was compelling as always. Drury, a new discovery for me, 

Much of what we Chog folk" remember about D. S. Warner was not his pulpit preaching per se, but what I call his "pen preaching," the publishing ministry that did so much in furthering our cause of church reformation Christian unity, and holiness (above is the publishing plant of Warner's era), I found new acquaintance Keith Drury especially interesting for his pithy thoughts that I thought applicable to the everyday Christian writer. Following are several solid punch-lines he delivered that struck home with me. 

Several are what we could call good one-liners and I hope you find them as helpful as I did.

1.  The door to good writing is great reading. This is foundational.
2.  Ideas are the writers’ raw materials; i.e. most writers find themselves managing an idea farm. Were you to visit me in my small retirement home and examine my shoe-box files and my file cabinets of writings, you would understand this immediately. I have a lifetime accumulation of cards, file folders, and notes from which I will mine for the rest of my life and not find the end.

Gloria Gaither reminded conferees that a "fact" is what happened once; a "story" is what always happens.  She called Jesus a "walking story." To the writer, the fact has value only in accord with what you can do with it, and Gloria has long been known for her skill as a story-teller.

3.  Writers need to know something about a subject before writing about that subject.
4.  You are a writer if you have readers.
5.  Writers who can write on demand are in demand.
6. ”I’d give an hour a day to be that good.” Did you ever say that? Did you ever schedule and manage that time in a disciplined manner?
7. Fill your attic before you fill your pockets.
8.  Write 24-7 even if you only type one.
9.  Schedule your inspiration.
10. Mundane routine triggers magical inspiration.
11. A Critic is your best friend coming in the uniform of an enemy. I discovered that an Editor that will take the time to add suggestions to his or her rejection slip is any writer’s truest and best friend. Editors are an overworked lot but there are genuinely interested in helping you produce. I found this especially true of denominational magazine writers.
12. Most great writers are actually great re-writers. Always be willing to re-write. Most often you will be the one with the most gain.
13. Self-publishing is the test of one’s conviction of greatness.
14. The great satisfaction of writing is more than a thing of utility; it is making it a thing of     structured beauty.
15. Writing is like having kids; the hard work comes early but the benefits pay long after you’ve done the labor.

Every writer worth his or her salt quickly learns that a rejection slip seldom means failure. It may be unsuitable to one editor but the very thing another editor desperately needs. That rejection slip may be your first step to success as a writer. I have been utterly astounded in looking back at the evolution of an article as it started out in one direction and after several re-rewrites ended up becoming a totally different article.

And, I would be untrue to the reader if I did not leave you with this word of warning. I have known “good writers, brilliant in their own right who would not let any editor change a single word of their “inspired writing.” One such friend was well published and I found him brilliant. That was his option, but I also watched his vanity cut off his nose to spite his face. Don’t be afraid to defend your ideas, but never fear accepting the exchange that takes place between you and a helpful editor.

Your editor wants you to be successful as badly as you want to succeed. And, in this digital age, be aware that some of our finest works today are self-published. Self-publishing is no longer merely a “vanity” publication. By the way, a good way to personally meet potential editors is to put forth the effort to attend a popular Writer’s Conference.
J I am
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com










Monday, August 20, 2018

INTO THE HANDS OF THE SOLDIERS


I spent much of this week immersed in David Kirkpatrick’s riveting report Into The Hands of the Soldiers, (NY, Viking Press, 2018). David spent six years as NYT Bureau Chief in Cairo, long enough to write a politically neutral, very well researched resource for readers wanting to read an on-the-ground authentic reportof the Arab Spring and the intervening years following Mubarak’s replacement byMr. Morsi and the Military Coup led by Mr. Seisi , roughly 2010-1016. 

Accompanied by his family, David lived in Cairo during the Arab Spring of 2010-15, travelled the region, learned the truth as best it could be told, and told it as honestly as able. For that he was finally reported on State Television as an enemy of the State, his picture posted, and eventual departure made necessary to protect him and his family from danger. 

By the end of the book, I found the chaos and corruption, the gore, the murder and the mayhem “utterly depressing” and retired for a restless night.

Contrary to popular opinion I, as a Christian, discovered THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD had worked vigilantly for a preferred peaceful and non-violent political solution, up through the recent term of Mr. Morsi. I learned that the Palestinian HAMAS is an offshoot of THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD and seeks non-violence and peace, but because they defend themselves against the Israeli’s  they are considered Terrorists by the U. S. 

I also gained insight into some of the dynamic between Egypt and Israel when out of sight of American policy. I came to understand the term “Deep State”, something I had not heard of before. As I understand it, that is a bureaucracy that is so deeply established and entrenched that it cannot, and will not, be displaced and will retain its position, power and prestige at any cost. 

Egypt lives with a Deep State, under Mr Seisi and the Egyptian Military will not be replaced even to allow a free democratic rule of Law. They capitalized on the fear and hatred of THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD and thrive best under Islamic Theocracy so that Mr Seisi betrayed Mr. Morsi as President via a military coup d etat and forthrightly rejected (or prevented) allowing the people time to develop a democratic state. 

I also discovered there was a general consensus of people that prefer the free democratic state and they rose up after Seisi and the coup took place, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Christian Copts, and liberal secularists, who all arose in mass. They established a mass Protest Presence that could not be overlooked. Yet, the U.S. could not acknowledge the military coup without having to withdraw its Military Support from Egypt (a tidy sum).They rationalized  the coup (pronounced without the p) and gave it a different name so as to stay politically correct and keep their political finger in theEgyptian/Middle East pie.

With time, the “DEEP STATE” Military Forces utterly crushed the popular revolt in what is now the largest one-day slaughter of protesters in documented history, and the author gave the figures. As a result, the DEEP STATE is still in control of Egypt and filled with corruption, which he reported in some detail. 

THE US is still sending its Military Support which would have been illegal had they acknowledged the “Coup”. I saw great bi-partisan confusion in our US Administration(s) and unclear policy yet our tax dollars still go to the Deep State Military Institution (a bribe, or black mai in my view), although they militarily crushed the democratically elected President (although he was a Muslim) and refused to give his election a chance to develop and flower simply because he was of the hated Muslim Brotherhood Party, and this in spite of Mr. Morsi’s many attempts to foster and further the needed elements of an inclusive democratic society, including social diversity outside of Islamic theocracy and freedom of women (all documented).

As a result, the Muslim Brotherhood is now terribly diminished politically but also very confused internally. Now; some are turning to violence to rebuild their organization. All the while, the DEEP STATE structure tolerates no diversity, controls ALL policy and social life, and keeps financially solvent with the help of the supportive autocratic Arab States (with the exception of one). The Islamic State develops and grows as does the threat of terrorism.

US financial support remains a primary objective while still being the common enemy and a threat to the autocratic Middle East kingdoms, like the Saudi’s and others who have turned their states into private family kingdoms that they own and operate as such. The support of our State Department provides nothing for the impoverished and vulnerable--just Military weaponry.

As a reader, I felt great empathy for those people protesting for a free democratic state and disgust with our politically correct government. Egyptians live in a very controlled social order where corruption on all sides is sickening. Their prisons are full and filling fuller with political prisoners, being some of the harshest on the globe.

One story related to Mohammed Soltan who returned to assist the Arab Spring, an American citizen and graduate of Ohio State, charged with inciting violence (opposing the system). Soltan had family on both sides of the fracas and spent 21 months in prison, 16 months on a hunger strike that diminished his 272-pound frame by 160 pounds – deported back to the U.S.5/3/15. He said Islamic State jihadists “had been recruiting avidly in the prison. They say, ’These apostates will never respect anything but violent resistence. They only understand the language of weapons.”

Kirkpatrick quotes Soltan as concluding ”The one thing that everybody in the prison had in common  --the ISIS guys, the Muslim Brotherhood guys, the liberals, the guards, the officers—is that they all hate America” (p 297).

I was appalled at the reported comradery between President Trump and Mr. Seisi, as well as the Saudi’s, each recognizing in the other the characteristic ‘Strong Man”  approach of the autocratic (dictator) philosophy of leadership, I also see a strong parallel in the DEEP STATE approach that controls Egypt and is seeding within the current American White House.

I applaud David Kirkpatrick for his splendid reporting; I appreciate our many honest, hard-working journalists, but I not sure I would pay the price he paid to do such an investigative report.  As a Christian believer I will continue to do whatever I can to further our relationships within our human family. I will respect those of different color, creed, and culture and work at being a global family of human beings. 

My Christian faith calls for diversity and difference and it seeks the common good of all. Jesus teaches me to seek first His Kingdom and he suggests therein that I will find life and love and lift. I affirm that and I love God supremely. I will, moreover, love my neighbor as myself. Like no other, Christianity gives that unique lift that brings people together and relates them into a family of non-violence and peaceful harmony.



This is walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com  

Monday, August 6, 2018

THIS DANGEROUS GOSPEL

What scenes of upheaval followed these first Christians! The Book of Acts is full of them. There are at least twenty tumultuous accounts recorded. Town after town experienced rioting. Their streets and buildings were full of angry people demanding that these Christians, ‘who have turned the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6), be driven out, as they were threatening to destroy their unrighteous businesses. We see soldiers carrying a man because of the violent mob trying to kill him, while others are thrown into jail. One is stoned to death while he kneels and prays to God. And why? … This new religion tears people out of his [Satan’s] clutches because it cleanses them of their sins. Such a religion is contagious.” 
 From:  “Foundation of Faith” (Ed. By H D Nimz/
 Unity Press/Flint, MI/3-18/”Fear of the Gospel”/
 Arthur Booth-Clibborn, pp 8-9).

When Jesus launched his ministry, Luke reports that “Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up; and went to the synagogue, as was his custom. When invited to share the leadership that day, Jesus announced:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach
   good news to the poor.
  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovering of sight to the blind,
   to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
   to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
       (Luke 4:18-19 RSV)

Jesus spent three years in his ministry before he was captured, questioned, and crucified. He had to be taken out of circulation because he took his “God-calling” seriously—i.e., personally: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”  Personally rejecting the comfortable religious formula’s then in vogue, he took his message  (his anointing) seriously by making it an issue resulting in good news to the impoverished, sight for those without vision, and freedom from the slavery of oppression and vulnerability.

The Ministry of Jesus is more than a story from yesterday; it narrates an encounter with of a personal call from a Living God that becomes two-sides of the same coin. On one side is the personal discovery of a personal walk with a living God as revealed in Jesus Christ. On the other side of the coin, we find ourselves personally challenging social forces that BIND, BLIND, and CONFINE people to serving such powers as ultimately destroy us individually and/or socially.

Truthfully; it is pretty tough to live as a Christian in life's dark room without turning on the light to see. It begins as a personal, individua experience, but it quickly becomes a social experience involving others. At least that is how I see it ... walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com