A spider and a centipede are having tea.  The centipede gets up and offers to go buy snacks.  He goes out the door and hours pass.  The spider is so hungry, wondering what happened, and opens the door, only to find the centipede sitting on the doormat, still putting on his shoes.

Sometimes I am that centipede.  It takes me F.O.R.E.V.E.R. to tie my hundred shoes, to get going…in a spiritual sense, I mean.  In real world activities, I am the Energizer Bunny.

Francis Chan’s “New York Times” best seller, Crazy Love, makes me wonder if I am taking my own sweet time in becoming what God desires for me, even after 45 years of being a Christian.  Chan writes much about “lukewarm Christians” (in other words, not Christians at all).  They love God for what He can do for them (like eternity in Heaven) and not for who He is.

The test is simple, using the question John Piper wrote in God In the Gospel: “If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?”

Spend some time before answering.

The author is concerned about the unfaithfulness of Christians.  Referring to the question “Can I go to heaven without truly and faithfully loving Jesus?”, Chan’s response comes as no surprise.  “I don’t see anywhere in Scripture how the answer to that question could be yes.”

We know that Jesus’ sacrifice to die on the cross for our sins benefits us eternally, but have we ever considered the emotional pain well before the crucifixion, like how it had to sadden God to say farewell to His son and send him to earth to live with sinners who would reject him, abandon him, deny him and kill him?  (If you are a parent, put yourself in God’s shoes.)

Leading up to that Heavenly good-bye, I wonder if the angels were huddled in panic.  Were there lingering hugs and tears? Surely Jesus knew what was ahead, that he would be grieved, tempted, exhausted, frustrated and would agonize over his impending death. Still, he volunteered to come, to offer to die in our place.

How much love he has for you and me, that he made that choice!

Jesus wasn’t finished. He returned to Heaven but did not leave us without help: the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His followers and therefore us, “… it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go the Helper will not come …” (John 16:7). Get that?  Better than Jesus remaining with the disciples is that we can be gifted with his Spirit. And what a gift he is!   In John 14, we learn much about what we Christians have living inside of us, thank you, Jesus, waiting to be used.  A helper.  A comforter.  A teacher. A guide.  A prophet. A convicter. An intercessor.

Christians, we have been given everything we need to faithfully follow Jesus.  It is time we lace up our spiritual shoes and get moving.  Luke 10:2 reminds us of Jesus’ words, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few…”

Often, I have made time to talk about politics, about families, even about the weather, but I don’t make time to put on the Jesus shoe to tell others what matters most.

I have to wonder, Would Chan use that as a definition of “lukewarm”?

Around sixth grade, Jonita and I were having a great day touring the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, MO. I’d never been around llamas before, so I didn’t know they spat at humans when distressed, annoyed, or threatened. As we stood on the other side of the fence, we were acting goofy and giggling and I was talking rather loud. (Since that day, I’ve learned there are two signs that let you know a llama is getting ready to spit. The llama will pin its ears back and then stare at its target. Next, a llama will move its neck and raise its head up and spit either from its mouth or stomach.) Well, I made the llama angry and, sure enough, a flying torpedo of spit missed my face by an inch. After the initial shock, we erupted in hysterical laughter and stumbled away to the monkey cage where I was the target of flying poop. I seem to have a special rapport with zoo animals.

Llamas, alpacas, and camels are all from the same family. In the Old Testament, the Midianites were among the first to use camels in warfare.“…they [Midianites] would come like locusts in number — both they and their camels could not be counted — so that they laid waste the land as they came in” (Judges 6:5 ESV). The one-humped dromedary can travel more than 150 miles in one day. The two-humped Bactrian camel is slower but can carry more weight than the dromedary. Camels live to be 40-50 years old, and can weigh 1,800 pounds. They drink 30 gallons of water in 13 minutes and run 25-40 mph. You certainly want to stay on the good side of camels because they can be dangerous and unpredictable. If they become angry, they can wreck an entire campsite!  

It’s not just camels that can wreck stuff when they get angry. Humans can totally destroy relationships if they let anger take control of their emotions and actions. Vicious and hateful attitudes toward others are dangerous undercurrents which can develop into anger. “I will bridle my anger, trash my wrath, cool my pipes — it only makes things worse” (Psalm 37:8 MSG). When llamas get super mad, they spit terrible stinky junk from their stomach. If they’re simply annoyed, they just spit saliva from their mouth. But whatever they spit, it’s not pleasant if you’re the target. (I know from first-hand experience!)

In the middle of writing this column, I was insulted and offended by a spur-of-the-moment situation that made me so angry I could chew up nails and spit out a barbed wire fence. However, after recounting the episode with four trusted loved ones, I finally got to the point where I could laugh about it. Before I hit the hay that evening, I had trashed my temptation to spit and had chosen the better option of uproarious laughter. “And don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil“ (Ephesians 4:26,27).

Anger that’s not nipped in the bud is a serious problem and God’s Word gives us a lot of  instruction on it. It’s natural to experience anger, but it’s important to quickly handle it in a godly manner. Being madder than a snake who married a garden hose shouldn’t last a week, month, or year. And getting mad as a mule chewing on bumble bees shouldn’t be an everyday occurrence either. “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. A hot-tempered person starts fights; a cool-tempered person stops them” (Proverbs 15:1,18 NLT).

The Key: Don’t waste your money on a spittoon, just get over “it” before you go to bed.

It is common knowledge that the shopping habits of Americans have changed dramatically in my lifetime, particularly that of small town residents.  Gone are the days when I walked into the locally-owned grocery store by myself as a child in my home town of 1,300, and everyone called me by name.  The five-and-dime where I bought cinnamon balls, Bazooka bubble gum and comic books is a thing of the past.  No more soda counters.  What happened?

The biggest megatrend to hit rural America was big box stores, such as K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc.  The concentration of buying power enabled them to cut prices and undersell locally-owned stores who could not compete.  Good for the consumer in terms of prices and increased selection, bad for small town retail businesses.  Even newspapers suffered, as these stores usually had their own distribution system of flyers, often bypassing print media.  Hundreds of small town newspapers have closed or dramatically decreased their frequency of publication over the last several decades. Around 7% of America’s counties now have no local news outlet and around 20% are at risk of their communities becoming news deserts in the foreseeable future.

Also, since President Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act of 1956, federal and state roads have continued to improve incrementally.  Do you remember how bad 69 Highway was between Overland Park and Fort Scott?  With the vast improvements of 69 Highway North and South and 54 Highway East and West, small town shoppers have no problem driving an hour or so for more shopping choices.  As evidence, our “Pull Factor” (the percentage of every dollar a Bourbon County resident spends of their income locally, plus tourists and passerbys) has dipped to 70% in recent years.

The last great megatrend might be the most impactful for local businesses: The Internet.  It is way too easy to click on a web site and buy what you need without leaving your couch.  One would expect this trend to continue.  We are even getting our entertainment via online streaming services now.  How does a local business compete?

When a population is shrinking, such as it is in every county in Southeast Kansas, it is easy to understand that a business that sells exclusively to the local population will have less sales down the road.  The only small town businesses that have a chance to grow are those who sell primarily to out-of-town clients, such as the two window manufacturers we have in Bourbon County.  The other winning strategy is selling to the increased traffic count on 69 Highway and visitors.

The board and staff at Bourbon County REDI understands these megatrends and are engaging strategies that will help stem the tide and play to our strengths, which are many in our neck of the woods.  We believe in Bourbon County and its future; that is why we live here.  We encourage you to shop locally and support tourism by welcoming those from out of town.  It is the least we can do to move us forward together.

1 Corinthians 10:26: The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.

When Dave and I moved back to Fort Scott in the early 80’s, we attended various churches in order to decide where we best fit.  It was a season for tithing sermons, I guess, a subject we were not too keen on obeying.  I mean, we gave to charities and tossed some dollars into all of the collection plates, but if these churches were going to browbeat us into feeling guilty, they weren’t for us.

Embarrassing, I agree.

As relatively new Christians, we had missed out on a basic tenet of Faith, namely, God owns everything we think we own.  Everything.  He has blessed us with the ability to accumulate what we have, so we cannot take credit for any of our possessions.

When you read the Old Testament, it becomes evident that God wants the first 10% of what we make.  The “first” 10%.  Then Jesus arrived on the scene, and the New Testament tells us to “live generously.”  No longer is a specific amount noted, so most scholars claim that 10% should be a minimum we give.

Pastor Todd Mullens, from the church Dave and I attended three years ago in Jupiter, Florida, made a powerful demonstration of how that minimum plays out.  On the stage, he had a large basket of fruit.  He pulled out 10 bunches of carrots, carefully counting them as he laid them on a table.  He removed one bunch and placed it in a smaller basket.  That was God’s portion.  He did likewise with apples and cucumbers.

Then he told a story about his son’s sixth birthday party.  For a present, his grandpa had given Jefferson 10 one-dollar bills.  Todd asked his son who gave him the money and was told “Papa did.”  Todd agreed but reminded young Jefferson that God had given Papa the ability to make the money.  Todd took the bills and placed them side-by-side on the kitchen table, counting them out slowly.

“Jefferson, every time we get some money, we need to give God 1/10 of what we have received.  You need to give God one dollar out of these ten.  You get to keep the rest.”

Jefferson picked out one bill, looked at his father and asked, “Gee, Dad, this is all God wants?” A perspective we all should share.

According to the “Generous Church” organization, the average Christian gives 2.5% of his/her earnings to God.  Should they give 10%, between $165 billion and $300 billion (depending on the source), more could be amassed.  Look at how that plays out:

• $25 billion and five years would relieve global hunger, starvation, provide clean water and deaths from preventable diseases.
• $12 billion would eliminate illiteracy in 5 years.
• $15 billion would solve the world’s water and sanitation issues.
• $10.8 billion would free 27 million people living in slavery.

Add it up.  That still would allow at least $100 billion to be used elsewhere.  Scripture says that “God loves a cheerful giver.”  Something tells me that those who give 2.5% of their earnings to God probably don’t fit that definition.

Keys to the Kingdom

I stepped out onto my porch and saw him walking toward me, leaving his big honkin’ tractor-trailer rig idling in the lane. He greeted me, joined me on the porch and drawled, “Car-o-line, how’re we gonna do this?“ I answered, “You’re the expert, you do whatever you need to do to set that 600 lb. fireplace insert right here on the porch.“ (You could’ve   pushed me over with a feather when I saw a Fed Ex 18-wheeler instead of a normal-sized box truck like I was expecting.) He was grateful to know he had permission to  maneuver through my yard/pasture area, because he needed it to get into proper position to drop his load. I’d been waiting six months for this backordered item and it finally arrived when it was 85+ degrees. Seven trees, a fire pit, and a flag pole later, he proved he’d been skillfully doing this for 28 years. I was astonished from the moment those big wheels rolled across my entrance until they rolled out 40 minutes later. If you ever order an elephant or hippopotamus, you should ask for Eric to deliver it ‘cause he‘s the best!

As the All-Knowing Expert, God has my permission to sit in the driver’s seat of my life. He knows where I’m supposed to go and how to get me there at the right time. He knows what He’s doing and He doesn’t need my help with the steering wheel, accelerator, or brakes. On the way to church one morning, I set the cruise and a few miles later I noticed my foot was on the accelerator. I thought, “This is the way a lot of believers live. At our wit’s end, we finally ask God to help us. Then we get impatient and rack our brains trying to figure out how we can do it without Him.”

A really good bad example is found in the first book of the Old Testament. God told Abraham and Sarah they would have a child. After several years of waiting, Sarah got impatient and decided to help God out. “She said to Abraham, ‘The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.’ And Abraham agreed with Sarah’s proposal” (Genesis 16:2 NLT). In today’s culture, I think we might call that a FAIL. This was not God’s plan in any way, shape, or form.

“Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go, He’s the one who will keep you on track” (Proverbs 3:6 MSG). There are two voices that speak to believers and it’s absolutely essential to know the difference. Jesus said that His sheep know His voice and the voice of another they will not follow. Satan is cunning and he’ll lie to us in an attempt to steer us off the straight path onto a wild goose chase that’ll crash and burn.

God‘s driver‘s manual states that we are to, “Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path” (Proverbs 4:26 NLT). There was nothing straight about the layout of my property. However, it was obvious the truck driver had given careful thought as to how he would proceed before he visited with me. There are plenty of detours on life’s highway that are as crooked as a dog‘s hind leg. God repeatedly warns us not to leave the straight path. I appreciate the promise in Psalm 37:34 TLB: “I won’t be impatient for the Lord to act! I will keep traveling steadily along His pathway and in due season He will honor me with every blessing.”

The Key: Give Him the driver’s seat and let God be God in your life.

The growth of government regulations has advanced at a vigorous pace over the last several decades, and is accelerating.  From 1970 to 2017, the number of words in the Code of Federal Regulations nearly tripled from 35 million to over 103 million, according to a 2019 article published on Forbes.com, authored by Adam A. Millsap.  His study showed that a 10% increase in regulation increases consumer prices by 1%.  This excess hurts all of us, but the burden falls disproportionately on the poor and rural Americans.  Estimates are that the national poverty rate is 2.5% higher because of government regulations.  Consider the following:

• The annual cost of regulations is estimated at $2 trillion a year, which is higher than the Gross Domestic Product of all but nine countries in the world.
• In the last 22 years, federal agencies have published more than 88,000 final rules, of which 15,458 have been identified by federal agencies as having a negative impact on small business.
• In the last 60 years, the United States population increased by 98% while the federal regulatory code increased by 850%
• It is estimated that by 2025, the average additional cost of an automobile due to government regulations will be $7,200.

One specific example, my bank employer is a public company with over $1.5 billion in assets managed.  We are required to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed in 2002 in response to the Enron scandal which requires the generation of a voluminous number of internal reports.  The law is extremely complex and the penalties for non-compliance are substantial; so much so, we choose to undergo an independent audit just to make sure we are in compliance with this one law.  The internal cost to comply is hard to discern, but we do know that we spend $220,000 annually on the external audit alone.

The result of this additional cost of regulation requires a business to grow revenue or watch profits go away.  In banking, the number of charters has gone down 73% since 1970, and the shrinkage has occurred disproportionately in rural counties.  Why is Western Insurance gone?  The primary culprit is the cost of increased regulation that required consolidation in the insurance industry.

Some amount of regulation is necessary for public safety, but we have created a huge bureaucracy whose incentive is to advocate for more laws to enforce in order to perpetuate their own existence.  Politicians love the chance to make their mark on what they perceive as the public good.  For a deep dive on this subject, visit the Reason TV channel on YouTube and search for “Great Moments in Unintended Consequences.”  You will be shaking your head while you roll your eyes.

For the sake of the poor, small businesses, and rural America, we have to hold our politicians accountable to defeating this hidden enemy of rural communities by decreasing unnecessary and harmful regulations.

I don’t watch much television, but when I do, I have a few favorites: “20/20 on Own; America’s Got Talent; and The Voice.  Dave isn’t a fan.  He finds the murder shows depressing, even though I remind him that the killer is always caught and given life in prison without parole.    Dave says it doesn’t take DNA evidence or tire track impressions to know who did it because it’s always the spouse.

As for the talent shows, Hubby thinks it’s unfair when anyone who has a professional background competes.  He favors John Wayne shoot-em-up Westerns, sports, John Wayne shoot-em-up Westerns, Fox News and John Wayne shoot-em-up Westerns.

Not me.

  For starters, John Wayne is not much of an actor.  Hold your critical horses. Great acting, in my opinion, implies one can play multiple characters.  Like Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep. John Wayne is always…well, John Wayne.  Too, the plots of his movies are predictable. The guys in the white hats on the white horses always win.  As for the news, it’s pessimistic and gives me bad dreams.                                                                                                                                       Simply put, I like happy endings.  Cinderella.  A reconciled marriage.  Winning the World Series. “Remission.”  Ukraine successes.  Forgiveness.  The Greatest Showman.   A debt paid.   Afghanistans rescued.  A Weight Watcher’s goal met…and kept (so I’ve heard). Happy reunions. Everyone ending up in Heaven. Well, almost everyone.  Not terrorists who behead or burn people alive.  Not Nero or Hitler or Mengele or Stalin.  Not Osama bin Laden.

And yes, I know I am to forgive or I cannot be forgiven.  I forgive evil people; I just don’t want to share Heaven with them.

  If you’re like me, you’re bothered when the good guy loses.  The Bible isn’t short on such stories.

Take Moses, for example.  He has a little hissy fit—Who wouldn’t after 40 years of dealing with a bunch of knuckleheads? —strikes a rock and is punished.  Maybe his behavior deserves a time out or a day without his staff, but Moses was greeted with what I consider to be a harsh penalty. Granted, he surely ended up in Heaven, and in reality, that’s all that really matters, but to be denied entrance into the Promised Land?

  Wait! I guess that’s what Heaven is, so he wasn’t denied after all.  And best yet, we’re going to get to meet him when we get there.  Happy days!

Two times in the past month, five St. Mary’s graduates (from the class of ’64) and I have met to relive our experiences growing up in Fort Scott.  Details are added by those with exceptional memories, and sometimes we agree to disagree or ask forgiveness for our parts in petty, selfish actions.  An hour lunch turns into four as most of the time is spent laughing and empathizing.  We are catching up on each others’ lives and cherishing these conversations.

One day, there will be a reunion like no other.  Matthew 8:11 reminds us of what that will be like: I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

Can you imagine?  “Paul, please pass the mashed potatoes.”  “Esther, how terrified were you when confronting the king?”  “Jesus, thank you for making all of this possible.” 

There will be no disagreements or tears shed or need to ask forgiveness or murder mysteries, and I can’t imagine the details that will be added to stories of which we know only a part.

 As for “happy endings,” I can’t think of any better.

Keys to the Kingdom

By Carolyn Tucker

Several years ago, when our son was in college and still living at home, he had a beautiful fawn Boxer. I grew up with dogs living outside, but we made an exception for Gus to live indoors because he was such a smart, lovable, and loyal companion. Aaron took responsibility for house training him and all was well — until the evening all three of us left Gus home alone. I guess he got terribly bored, emotionally strung out, or so lonesome he could cry. Anyway, after being gone, I was the first to enter the living room. Gus was just quietly sitting there, but he had eaten the couch and strewn the stuffing all over the floor. I don’t know exactly why he ate such a strange supper. Fortunately, that couch needed to be replaced anyway, so I thought the furniture casualty was extremely funny!

Let’s drop the “ing” from “stuffing” and just focus on “stuff.“ God is greater than stuff (hard times). A partial list of stuff that we might encounter could be: career disappointments, various losses (death, divorce, job) sickness, financial setbacks, family heartaches, etc. But be of good cheer because believers are not up a creek without a paddle. We have this wonderful promise, “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble” (Psalm 46:1 NLT).

The devil will tell you that your situation is hopeless. But there’s not an iota of truth in that lie. Jesus was speaking to the crowd about the devil and said, “He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44 NLT).

Christ followers are to practice trusting God every day through thick and thin. Otherwise, we’ll live in worry, fear, anxiety, and doubt and that‘s a miserable way to survive. If we fail to trust God and His promises, we’re actually being prideful in thinking we can handle our stuff by ourselves. Having a deep-seated confidence in God proves that we believe He has the solution when we don’t. God says, “I will…make Trouble Valley a Door of Hope” (Hosea 2:15 GNT). God takes care of His children in a precarious world. We can move forward if we’ll trust Him to direct and help us.

When stuff (hard times and challenges) happens, don’t allow the devil to fill your mind with his garbage of anxiety. Make a stout decision to trust God to pull you through the knothole. You can be more than a survivor, you  can be an overcomer through Christ. He  has experienced every temptation we have and He will help us press through to victory.   He said He would never leave us alone and we can take that to the bank.

“To depend” means you can believe in, rely on, bank on, count on, lean on, and pin your  hopes on someone who‘s proven to be trustworthy. Written by Randy Phillips and recorded by Janet Paschal, “You Can Depend on Jesus” really brings this truth down where we live: “It’s fairly easy what you need to do, Invest your trust in One who’s tried and true; The Ageless Stone will stand alone when all the sifting sands of life have come and gone. You can depend on Jesus, you can depend on Him. As He was yesterday, tomorrow He’ll be the same. You can depend, you can depend on Him.”

The Key: When life’s cushion falls apart at the seams and stuffing is everywhere, you can depend on God to help clean up the mess.