My Mythical Independence Hall Speech

 (Note: The following is transcribed from an alternate universe where Michael S. Alford, common guy extraordinaire, ascended to the Presidency of the United States in the 2020 election--an election billed as 'the freest and safest election ever'. The speech was made from inside Independence Hall in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, and was not accompanied by scary lights,)

  My fellow Americans, I am honored to be here tonight in a room where history literally was made. In this room better men than I--better men than most, took ideas that had existed in part for centuries and forged them into the first halting steps of a great ongoing experiment in human liberty.  The time was right, and the requisite characters were available on history's stage to answer a burning question; can a people govern themselves?  Can a people create and sustain a society without the meddling of kings and potentates?  Can a people handle their own affairs better than some far-flung elite can?  It turns out they can.  The ideals enshrined in this room have benefitted--even blessed , me.  These ideals have blessed you. These ideals have blessed the world.  My goodness, do you ever just stop and think about it?

  The men in this room had their flaws, and their blind spots.  They couldn't fix every societal problem any more than you or I can. But what was begun here has flung light and liberty into so many corners of the world.  Men breathe free on entire continents because of what happened right here in this room. It's remarkable, and I am not ashamed of it.

  For decades, our nation was involved in a 'Cold War'. It was a time marked by suspicion and distrust where the two most powerful nations bristled towards each other, fought proxy wars and threatened each other with weapons capable of destroying all human life. What finally brought that terrible period to an end wasn't  armies marching through the streets, but rather ideas marching into the hearts of men. Ideas of liberty and freedom brought down tyranny where weaponry could not. That is also remarkable, and I am not ashamed of it.

In this nation we don't have an all-powerful federal machine or an all-knowing executive branch. Instead we have fifty independent sovereign states held together in a loose alliance towards their mutual benefit. Within those states we have thousands of counties --or parishes , and tens of thousands of individual communities; functional real-world, boots on the ground laboratories where the ongoing experiment in human liberty can continue to be carried out.  This experiment may be fraught with mis-steps and course corrections, but its still an experiment worth continuing. Its remarkable, and I am not ashamed of it.

  When I first decided to enter public office, I took inspiration from a great man of my time, Dr. Ron Paul, and my burning desire was to see a rebirth of human liberty in my country.  For decades  the shining gem of freedom had become overgrown with overreach, and it needed to be be cut back. That has been the focus of my administration. I aspire to have less power than my predecessors and to leave office with less power than what I came in with.  Presidents typically begin speeches with the phrase 'my fellow Americas'.  It's a tradition , but its a tradition that means something.  We don't address you as  subjects, but as equals, and it is my intention that when my contribution towards this experiment is over, to take a cue from another great, though oft-neglected President Calvin Coolidge and melt back into obscurity.

  In the meantime my goals are to get off your back and out of your pocket.  The actual Constitutional duties of a President are surprisingly sparse, and I'm certain that the states have both better ideas and the actual authority to implement them. Don't look to Washington ; look to yourselves, and look to your neighbors.  That's the real spirit that was birthed in this room, and if we lose that, we lose everything.

  On a more personal note, I'd like to speak for just a moment not as the head of the executive branch, but as a fellow American.  Liberty in scripture is always tied to personal righteousness.  A man who cannot control himself will find himself controlled by something or someone else, and the God who grants liberty can withdraw it if a free people use their liberty as a cloak for maliciousness..  Over reach doesn't happen in a vacuum. What I need to do, what we all need to do, is look within ourselves and ask am I the sort of person who deserves to be free?  Am I part of the problem?

  Nobody is going to enforce anything that I just said. Nobody is going to come to your house to see if you are doing right. That would be un-American.  But its worth considering--the actions our lives have on the state of our community and the state of our country. Part of the responsibility of self-governance is actually being responsible and actually governing yourself.

  Friends, fellow citizens. I stand here in a remarkable room in a remarkable country with a remarkable history. None of us need to be ashamed of any of that.  Thank you for your time, and good night.

If I Were a Post-Tribber

   I am not an advocate of the post-trib/pre-wrath school of eschatology but I try to be honest.  I try to admit when a verse stumps me and I try to admit when I have no idea what I'm talking about.  In that spirit, I recently was listening to a man expound on 2 Thess 2, and I did that dangerous thing I do sometimes--I thought about what he was saying.

 If I were a post-tribber, I wouldn't plant my flag in Matthew 24.  No friend, I would dig my heels into 2 Thess 2 and I would call folks like me on our loose handling of the text.  Becuase I'm an honest type, I'll tell you why.

  A component of the general 'pre-trib camp ' is the idea of imminence of the rapture.  The approach is that it could happen at any time. It could happen tonight. It could happen before you finish reading this. No other prophetical event is left to prevent the catching away of the church.  Paul expected it in his lifetime and every generation of the church has lived in expectation of the imminence of the rapture.

  I agree with that except---well...let's just look at what it actually says.

  2 Thess 2 says "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;.."

  Let's just assume, in the interest of not getting bogged down, that the "day of Christ" is both the rapture and the topic at hand. There is already enough in these verses without me chasing that rabbit.

  According to verse 3, the 'imminent' rapture is preceded by 2 events; a 'falling away ' and the revelation of the man of sin.  Now I'm no novice so I know what the typical teaching is by my crowd.  I know where the verses are.  But if I'm honest, the typical explanation isn't without its problems.  Let me explain.

  The typical teaching is that the 'falling away ' is a sort of worldwide apostasy as marked by all sorts of things going on in churches and in society.  It's very easy for me to look around at 21st century American Christianity or society and say 'Yeah man, we're here', but honestly--it isnt everywhere.  Oh, I agree the western church is not only a mess but proud of it.  I cant honestly say that the church in China or the church in Saudi Arabia or the church in Korea is a mess. Frankly, it looks like they're doing fine without our help.

  Truth be told every generation can look around and see apostasy. Cotton Mather saw it in the 1660s. Lester Roloff saw it in the 1960's. Both of them were right. It has existed since day one.  Besides, I did a little bait and switch there on you. The verse doesn't say 'apostasy', it says 'falling away', and as much as I would love a solid cross reference to nail down what the phrase means, I don't have one.  And yes I know about Hebrews 6.  Different rabbit.  I can speculate that it means apostasy, but I can't prove it.  Maybe we pre-tribbers ought to quit acting like we can.  Just a thought.

  There is also the matter of the revelation of the man of sin.  It looks to me like, grammatically speaking, verse 4 and 5 aren't the revelation but rather a factoid about the man of sin.  Of course that doesn't really get me completely out of thorns, does it?

  The man of sin is revealed you say? To whom?  To the world? To the church? To himself?  Not clear from the verse.  So I'm going to say that I don't know, and after having listened to and read behind a lot of guys, I'm not convinced that they know either.  Yeah, I know I'm never going to become a best-selling prophecy author by saying 'I don't know,', but there it is.

  How about this?  The rapture isnt 'imminent' in the sense that literally nothing else has to happen first. It is 'imminent' in the sense that it is preceded by events that I have no control over and events that I may not even realize have been accomplished.

  As I said before, I'm a pre-trib guy, but pre-trib doesn't explain everything in a neat little bow, and we need to admit that.  Maybe if we quit poring over recycled charts from the 1920s and sought God's face, He would explain it to us.  That's my plan anyway.

Cancelled Comics and Steven Crowder

 Well folks, I got the boot.   Let me explain.

  For some time now I have used a webcomic site (comicfury.com) to host my several webcomics and though I acknowledge that my ideology and worldview is 180 degrees out from most of the other creators, it's never been a problem.

  Anyway, sometime late last week there was a forum discussion topic entitled "Stop and Post whatever You're listening to Right now!"  (or something to that effect).  I threw up a link to Louder With Crowder, and thought nothing else of it.

  A few days later I couldn't log in.  A little bit of digging revealed that an admin had called my link 'hate speech' and thrown me off the site. No warning, no explanation. I cant even access my files. My webcomics do not exist on that site.

  I emailed them.  No response. Some other people who could not find my comics emailed them with no response. I didn't insult anyone, belittle anyone, or even take a position on anything.  I merely posted a youtube link to a conservative commentator, and for that I was a pariah.

  So here's my position. They are bigoted cowards who, while trumpeting free speech, are really completely disinterested in any worldview than their own. They live in mortal terror that they might be confronted with an opinion that might poke a hole in the philosophical bubble they live in.   They are narrow-minded and gutless and should they want to discuss this further, I'm real easy to find.

I also successfully moved my latest comic to a new place. Take a look.

School Shootings and 'Progress'

  I was born the year Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency and, math being what is, most of my more formative years were spent in the 1980's--which often leaves me mystified at the very real market for 80's nostalgia. I was there, and it wasn't that great.

  But they were innocent times, I suppose. At least compared to what came after.

  Anyway, most of you may not remember, but in 1982, Joe Clark became principal of Eastside High School in Paterson, N.J.  Clark was a polarizing figure.  Some people loved him, some people hated him. President Reagan praised him. He made the cover of Time magazine, and he even got a movie made about him where he was played by Morgan Freeman.  Heady stuff indeed.

  What I remember was the controversy. Clark carried a baseball bat and a bullhorn, which is a clever bit of iconography in itself. He roamed the halls intimidating drug dealers and he expelled 300 students for disciplinary problems in his first week.  He referred to troublemakers as “leeches, miscreants and hoodlums.”.  Interesting guy.

 

  Now was his approach the right one?  I have no idea, but by some benchmarks the school improved--so there's that.  But here's my point; in 1989 there had not been a single school shooting in America.  With Joe Clark or without Joe Clark.  Since then there have been more than I could name or remember.

  Of course when you broach this topic everyone has an opinion. The chattering political classes tend to veer one way or the other. The self-identified 'left' lives in fear of inanimate objects and the self-identified 'right' wants to turn the school into a prison. I wont get into my solution for public schools woes right now ( I'll give you a hint; John Galt),  but it's interesting to me that in 40 years we went from outrage to a principal carrying a baseball bat to serious discussions about giving handguns to teachers.  That's what we call 'escalation', boys and girls.  Not just an escalation of the problem, but an escalation of the solution.

  Ah, but we're progressing so I'm told. Life is getting better. Society is safer. Crime is down. People are more tolerant and enlightened. After all we have cell phones now and 300 or so genders. The old bigotries and prejudices of the past have been scrubbed away and we stand on the brink of a new age of peace and prosperity and brotherhood--provided of course we can get people to stop murdering our children.

 

  Now I get it. I have opened a can of worms and out of however many people read this we could get at least that many different takes on what the problem is and twice as many about what the solution is. There are so many facets to all this that its hard to even get your brain around it all. 

  But just don't call it progress, ok?

 

 

 

Entertainment and the Christian

 I have been in church for 25 years or so, and in that time I have heard many a man tackle the idea of 'standards' in regards to entertainment. Books have been written, and seminars have been taught. While in Bible Institute, I actually took an entire class on appropriate Christian music. I have heard men lament the latest TV show or the latest movie.   I have heard men slander and besmirch all manner of music, picking on vocal techniques and chord progressions, railing on beats and meter, criticizing one instrument over another.  Some apply the idea of 'guilt by association', dismissing entire categories and genres or the products of an entire corporation because of one area of malfeasance. Some use illustrations or anecdotes  that I've heard from so many different men under so many different sermons that they have acquired the status of a Christian urban legend. And most of the time I have sat back and wondered; if an alien dropped down from Mars and asked me why 'X' or "Y' was so harmful, or why X and Y were so harmless, could I take a Bible and "prove all things" ?

  There are entertainments that are inappropriate for a Christian to be involved in.  Only the insensible  would argue otherwise. There is a line out there somewhere. But where we might disagree is where to draw the line.There are a lot of reasons why that would be, but I think the most prominent one is that , while a lost person has no appetite for spiritual things, every saved person has a certain amount of appetite for carnal things, and frankly, we will defend what we love.  So let's establish , in the forefront that just because you or I like something or enjoy something or find something to be harmless doesn't mean it is.  It doesn't mean it's not.  Since we can't trust our own opinions necessarily, it behooves us to , to the best of our ability, take a Bible and view even our own prejudices through that lens , praying for discernment and courage as we do.  The Christian life is a life that requires courage, and though this treatise is by no means exhaustive, hopefully it's complete enough to cast your appetites and mine in the proper light.

  The Bible says in 1 John 5:19-20 "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."  Gen. 8 informs us that, from God's perspective "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth". A man with a Bible is given the insight that the whole world is broken; a fallen, tainted creation and that even the good things of life are not beyond the subtle warping that man's fall brings to it.  Outside of God's word, everything you've ever seen, tasted, touched, listened to, every person you've ever met, bears in them a certain amount of corruption, and that statement has been true since Genesis 3. Gods words are "pure words", which implies that yours aren't, and never were. "God is not a man, that he should lie" implies that "all men are liars", and always have been.  If you take the position that music was good until the 1950's or that TV was OK until Andy Griffith went off the air, I submit to you that you might not understand the world you live in. Almost anything can have a case built against it, and God knows that. God also knows that you have to live here, at least for now. We are told in 1 Corinthians not to keep company with fornicators and then the very next verse acknowledges that the only way to completely observe that would be to "go out of the world".  Completely isolating yourself from carnal things is somewhere between impractical and impossible, and yet a certain amount of separation is necessary and a claim that 'it was hard' won't wash at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Knowing all this, how do we balance things out?  Where do we draw the line in our personal lives?

  For starter, in 1 Cor 6 :12, the Bible says "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient; all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."   Now 'expedient' is an interesting word. Consider an athlete preparing for a competition. Is he 'allowed' to eat an Oreo? It's not against any 'law', and one or two isn't going to wreck him, but it also isn't going to help him do the thing he says he wants to do. It will slow him down, weaken him by whatever degree that it does, and with enough extra work he might be able to withstand or overcome what the Oreo does, but it's 'expedient' for him to stay away from something he is technically allowed to have.

  I submit unto you that the first principle we should consider in evaluating our entertainment (or anything else) is not whether or not it's lawful, but rather whether or not it's expedient.  Does it help me be what God has commanded me to be or do I have to work extra hard in other areas to overcome the damage it does? Am I actually DONG the extra work necessary to overcome it?

 Another principle is found in the second part of the verse "..I will not be brought under the power of any." It's worth asking yourself the question; does the music I listen to or the media I watch or my favorite website, does it have any sort of power over me?  It's really difficult to do this without giving some examples (even though examples don't age well) so here we go.

  Do you understand that these social media companies literally hire people who study you in order to find ways to get you to log in and find ways to keep you logged in? Their entire business model is based on manipulation and addiction.  Is social media lawful for you? Yes--until it gets power over you, which it is literally designed to do.

  That phrase shows up again in 1 Cor 10:23 with an additional caveat; "but all things edify not." Once again, if we are honest, we have to examine the lawful things that we give ourselves to and ask whether or not they edify.  If they don't, then we might consider that we are paying a higher price for these things , in terms of our spirituality, than we reckoned.  The world is, after all, full of Oreos, whether they look like Oreos or not.

  In Matthew 13 we have a future event portrayed in parable form with an explanation given by Jesus.  Verse 41 says " The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."  We have to deal with the text as it lies, the items gathered up fall into two categories; "all things that offend " and "them which do iniquity". At some future point during His earthly reign, the Lord Jesus is going to really clean house.  He won't be concerned about  'freedom of expression' or 'the peoples rights'; He will be concerned about what He wants and what He likes to the exclusion of literally everything else.  Mankind had its run, and now the one true King will be finally getting His way in the world that he made and among the people He created. It will be glorious.  

  It's not clear to me whether or not this is a one time cleansing or an ongoing process, and I'm not sure it matters.  If you offend Jesus, you're gone. I have often pondered how different the world will look with all things that offend God removed by force. How many books will no longer be sitting on the shelf? How many magazines will no longer be published? How many businesses will be shuttered for good?  How many TV shows will be off the air? How many singers will be out of a job?  Will there even be a Hollywood?  How many of the things that I enjoy will be gone?  And if they offend Jesus then, odds are they offend Jesus now. And if they offend Jesus now, why am I enjoying them?

   In Psalm 101, the Bible says  "I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me."  The Bible uses the term 'wicked' in two different ways; to identify a people and to  categorize their works. The Psalmist takes the stand that he won't watch what they do. In fact , he will purpose in his heart to hate what they do because  otherwise, it WILL affect him.  It will "cleave" to him.  The best biblical example of this is "just Lot" who, was a  "righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)".  Lot's close proximity to the wicked and their ways led to horrible consequences for his family. It's worth noting that Abram didn't have that sort of trouble, even though he dwelt literally surrounded by pagans. Joseph also somehow avoided all that while a prisoner in Egypt. It's akin to Prov 22:3, to wit "A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished."  Are we putting wicked things before our eyes and hoping it won't cleave to us?  And what are the odds that we're wrong?

  Let me stop just for a moment to address something because it's something that gets said a lot in certain circles. I see no evidence from scripture that evil spirits inhabit questionable media. I really don't think there is a devil hiding in your DVD player or on some crummy website waiting to pounce. I just don't see it from scripture. Perhaps another study for another time.

  The idea in Psalm 101 is the idea presented in 1 Cor 15 ; "evil communications corrupt good manners" or in Proverbs where we are warned that "Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:  Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul." Over and over again, Gods people are warned against learning the ways of wicked men because there is a snare associated with it. It's not that some mystical foul spirit of pigheadedness will attack you; it's that you will "learn" to be that way by observing "their ways".

  Another thing to consider in light of Psalm 101 is that, in Romans 1 the passive enjoyment of wickedness done by others carries with it a certain amount of culpability for the wickedness itself. Verse 28 starts out "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."

  I'm trying to stay away from too many personal examples, but this one is too perfect. At my place of employment it was common practice to watch, in the employee break room, a daytime talk show that was a constant parade of depravity and bad behavior. The guys I work with, some of whom were professing Christians, delighted in the over-the-top nature of this program, and would try to justify it to me. It was harmless, they would say, and besides, these deviants were often portrayed in an unflattering light.  All I could think about was the last part of Romans 1;."they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."

   To nail this principle down a bit better, we go to Ephesians 5, which says "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret." Once again, if we lay aside our sacred cows and just look at what the text actually says it admonishes people who "were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord" to "walk as children of light", and to "Be not ye therefore partakers " with the children of disobedience."  It goes on to say "..have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."  What then counts as  "unfruitful works of darkness"? The list goes something like this; "fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness","filthiness","foolish talking",  "jesting".  It includes the works of  the "whoremonger", the "unclean person", and the "covetous man, who is an idolater."

   Now that's a bit interesting because some take the position that the spiritual or moral condition of the one producing the entertainment has no bearing on the entertainment itself. God does not appear to look at it that way, as he warns against not only the thing they do, but the people doing it.  After all, Matthew 7 tells us "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."  It's not just the fruit that's corrupt, but also the tree that produces it. 

 

So, one could argue, it DOES matter than Michael Jackson was a pedophile.

  Anyhow, there you have it. A handful of principles (and a probably unnecessary swipe at the character of a serial child molester) by which you can take a Bible and judge the very things that you would never judge if left to your own devices.

 

This Has Nothing to do with Anything, and Yet Everything to do with Everything

   In my community there stands a gas station and tire center that has been there since the main road was dirt and owned by one family.  For decades the proprietor, Mr. Buck Addy, (along with a cast of kids, grandkids, and in-laws)  sold gas, fixed cars, and sold tires there.  It's the sort of place that you just take for granted- a throwback to an earlier time. Everybody knew where 'Addys' was. It was, in a lot of ways, the heart of the community and for a gas station it holds a surprising amount of memories for me.  As a teenager I bought Cokes and gas there on my way to someplace else. As a young husband I took our cars there to have repairs done and for 20 years I bought tires exclusively from them. The Addys knew my parents, they knew me, and they knew my kids.

  Mr. Buck was tall and hard-working--generous to a fault. Mrs. Addy ran the business side of things, and I don't know if I've ever known a sharper woman. I suspect she was the reason they didn't go bankrupt as her husband would probably given the store away without her interference. He certainly gave me my fair share of free tows and free labor.

  The shop was plastered with pictures of old cars and grandbabies and a big black and white picture of the Bucks on their wedding day. The cooler was full of Yoo-hoos and RC colas. There was an ice bucket in the front with Cokes.

  Mr. Addy's son worked there--Mr. Stanley. Mr. Stanley was old my entire life, but he could fix anything on a car and I cannot even tell you the times we came in as a young couple with young kids and a car that was on the verge of disaster and  Stanley took care of us.  One time in particular I remember I picked up a car from them , and as I was pulling out of the parking lot, Mr. Buck ran me  down. It turns out there was a part they had pre-emptively purchased but had not installed. I came back inside, and they adjusted my bill.

  Once I had an old beater car ( that I still own) that needed wheel bearings. Mr. Buck looked at it and told me how much it would cost to put in new bearings. I was broke and asked him if it was safe to drive home. He said "Son, I don't even know how you drove it here."  Mr. Stanley got out there and did something that made it drivable for another 2 or 3 years.

  Let me say this as best I know how.  Some people contribute to the world through hard, earnest labor, and in doing so they improve the lives of those they come in contact with. They fix other peoples cars, they put roofs on other peoples houses. They, as Mike Rowe used to say "make civilized life possible for the rest of us". They add value to the world through their skills and labor. They literally build the world, and keep it turning. The Addy family were exactly those people.

  Time rolled on as it tends to do, and Mr. Buck began to 'slip a little', as the old folks would say.  But all he ever knew how to do was work so as his dementia progressed his wife would still bring him to the shop to help keep the routine. He would sit in a chair in the corner, greet people and try to get involved in things he no longer understood. Once he introduced himself to me 3 or 4 times and I had to tell him that he had known me since I was 13 or 14 years old.  Eventually , at 94 or 95, he went the way of all the earth, and his wife ran the shop by herself . Then we didn't see her very much and we saw her daughter a lot more.

  Yesterday I went to buy tires, and everything was different. The daughter had sold the business and it had been radically transformed into a place that didn't sell tires or fix cars, but rather sold lottery tickets and CBD gummies and vapes.  The place was crowded with trinkets and baubles and nonsense.  Strangers stood behind the relocated counter.  I will probably never set foot in that building again, and I was struck with a near-overwhelming sense of melancholy.  I felt like an era had passed.

  I know, I know. I'm a middle-aged guy who is watching the past slip away and I am making a bigger deal out of a gas station than is necessary.  But man do I have some complicated thoughts about all this. I don't even know if I have words for some of these thoughts.

  We did business with the Addys because we knew them.  Our parents had known them. Everybody knew them. We took our cars to them because I knew that Mr. Stanley would keep my family safe and he wouldn't overcharge me. It was a business relationship based on a sense of community and a mutual, though unspoken understanding  and trust.  I don't know that I will ever see that again.  I bought tires, sure--from somebody else.  And they did a good enough job, but it wasn't the same.  

  You know, it's funny. Even the guy I eventually bought tires from had some Addy stories to tell.

 Community is a nebulous concept --a surprisingly fragile thing.  And though we shop at Wal-Mart and we buy some stuff off Amazon, we also know the lady we buy our vegetables from and the guy who installed my A/C went to school with me.  Once that's gone, I'm pretty certain all the vape shops in the world can't replace it.  

One more thing, though.  The reason the daughter sold the business?  She couldn't find or keep good employees.  Think about that. Her parents kept the place open since the late 40s and now she cant find people like her parents to do the work. There are no more Mr. Stanleys. No more Mr. Bucks

  I'm telling you folks, something is changing, and I don't know what it is, but it's significant.

Rejoicing in the Dark

   Let me preface what is to follow by saying that I believe in a practical Christianity--a faith that exists not behind cloistered doors in ivory towers, but rather in the real world.  In fact, I would go so far as to use practicality as a litmus test for truth; if your doctrine doesn't work, then it isn't true.  One of the myriad of issues with the Osteen-ish , 'Every Day a Friday', 'Your Best Life Now', 'name it and claim it' gobbledygook is that it doesn't work.  It sells real well among the upwardly mobile in a big city in a rich country with access to clean water and food good and medicine, but try selling that snake oil to Christians in Sierra Leone or Haiti.  It doesn't work, so it isn't true.

  Now with all that in mind, lets take a look at Ecc 11:7-18. The Bible says  "Truly the light is sweet , and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity."

  As with most of the Bible, there is a lot packed in there, but I want to zero in on a very practical sentiment: the days of darkness are many and if you live long enough, you'll see your fair share.  I don't know why that surprises people , after all Job already told you that "man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward". You and I were born into a broken world that has been in a constant downhill slide since our ancestors were forced out of the garden.  There is plenty of sorrow and sadness to go around, and if you stick around, you'll get some to call your very own.  Isn't that encouraging? Isn't that practical?

  Look at the verse again.  You might have missed it the first time. A man can rejoice in all his days, even the dark ones.  It is possible, according to scripture, to not only 'stand' in the evil days, but to 'rejoice' in the dark days.

  I saw this and I really started digging.  I have had, and am still having, and still will have, some dark days, and if victory is possible , I want to find it.  I think I found 4 areas where a man can rejoice even as the world crumbles around him, even as his mind turns on him, even as nothing goes right, even as his best days are behind him.

  We'll start in Psalm 139:12, which says "Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."  I know what it is to have dark days. I know what it's like to be discouraged and dismayed and frustrated. I know what its like to feel like I don't have a friend in the world. I know what its like to  have no idea what to do next, or to even understand why things are happening.  But you know something? God has never had a day like that. God acknowledges that some days are dark, but they are only dark to you.  You , dear Christian, are not alone in the dark, and the One in there with you can see just fine.  Somebody knows what going on, even if that somebody isn't you, and you can rejoice in that.  You can ,in the midst of your misery, be glad in that.

  Moving on to Psalm 31, we find, " I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities; And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.  Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.  For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.  I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.  But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God."  Notice that the author (David) is, as the saying goes, in a 'world of hurt', physically spent and emotionally wrung out like an old rag. Every day is not a Friday , and he is not having his best life now. He sits there amidst his sorrow, alone, friendless--and rejoices in God's mercy.He rejoices that God knows his situation, and he acknowledges that it could be worse.  That's a legitimate stand to take, and a legitimate way to rejoice in the dark.

  Our next stop is Habakkuk 3:17-19, which says "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments."  Here we have a man having a very dark day. If we take the text at face value economic ruin and starvation aren't off the table.  And 'yet' Habakkuk purposes that he will rejoice in the Lord. Why? Because (get ready for some deep theology) God is strong. He rejoices in God's ability and willingness to get involved in the struggles of His children, and because God is strong even when Habakkuk isn't, he knows someday he will walk out of this particular valley, and he rejoices in that.

  We'll finish up in Psalm 119:161-162, which says "Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word. I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil."  Once again, the author is not a person without problems. He is being persecuted, apparently by the government, but in the middle of  that, he is able to rejoice, not in his circumstances, but in God's word.  It doesn't make his problem go away , but it does give him confidence. He has the written revelation from the One who cannot lie, and to him it a treasure beyond compare. Through it, he is able to have the victory.

  There you have it, folks. Four things.  A lot more could be said about each of these points, but, what do you think?