Keys to the Kingdom By Carolyn Tucker

Stand by Your Man

I have innumerable memories and life experiences that are connected with music. When I was around two years old, my family lived in southern California. When we went to the ocean, the four of us had to walk across storefronts to get to the beach. On one of these excursions, my parents noticed that I had fallen behind and wasn’t with the rest of the family. Mom had to walk back to the beer joint and get me because I had stopped to dance to the music that filtered out the open door. Little kids don’t have to be taught how to dance. They simply do it naturally…and gleefully.

When couples marry, they bring to the holy union boxes of stuff from their single days. Two items I specifically recall that my late husband brought to our marriage in 1980 was a shoebox full of cassette tapes. When Elvis died in 1977, Jimmy listened to the radio and taped the Elvis songs that the DJ played. This box also contained a cassette of Tammy Wynette which included her #1 hit song, “Stand by Your Man.”

One of the best Old Testament examples of loyal friendship is between Jonathan and his armor bearer (who isn’t mentioned by name). The Philistines were at war with Israel during King Saul’s reign. One day Jonathan (son of Saul) said to his armor bearer, “Let’s go across to the outpost of those pagans. Perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord. He can win a battle whether He has many warriors or only a few!” (1 Samuel 14:6 NLT).

I really like the supportive attitude of Jonathan’s young attendant. He knew what it meant to “Stand by Your Friend.” “His armor bearer said to him, ’Do everything that is in your heart; turn yourself to it, and here I am with you, as your heart desires‘” (1 Samuel 14:7 NASB). He could have rattled off 20 reasons why two warriors shouldn’t engage in fighting a military garrison of Philistine soldiers. Instead, he joined with Jonathan and together they quickly made a brave attack, overwhelming and killing about 20 of the enemy. Their victory proved then, and now, that God is greater than circumstances. Jonathan’s bold words of faith expressed His confidence in God, Who then enabled this fighting duo to overcome immense odds.

I want to be a loyal friend like Jonathan’s armor bearer. He said, “Here I am with you.”  Jonathan was encouraged by his attendant’s promise to stand by him and follow him wherever he went. We all know what it means when a friend says, “I’ve got your back.” He/she will not turn his/her back on you. A loyal friend is there for the long haul. It’s been said that in order to have a friend, you must be a friend. It might be a  challenge to keep the unspoken promise to stand by your friend through thick and thin, but do it anyway. Having a friend to defend is worth fighting for.

A loyal friend is supportive, trustworthy, confidential, and honest with you. A friend stands by you, defends you in your absence, and helps you out in times of stress and strain. A friend will laugh and cry with you, comfort you, and pray for you. A friend will think the best of you when you stumble and fall, and will lend a hand to help you stand.  A loyal friend will throw out the lifeline when you’re going down for the third time.

The Key: Stand by your friend until the very end.

While talking with my recently widowed friend, I listened as she shared some of her emotional journey. She said something I never had considered: her desire is that, at the moment she dies, she will be in the middle of praying blessings for other people.

Get that?  Not blessings for herself.  For others.  The thought never crossed my mind. Well, the thought of dying has crossed my mind.  Every time I get on a plane, I question how I will react if we nosedive.  Will I scream to my fellow passengers “Choose Jesus” or just pray I lose consciousness before we hit the ground?  When my husband drives too close to the vehicle in front of us, I am not praying blessings on other people.  I just grab the passenger door handle and slam on my pretend brake, a PTSD reminder of my crash over a year ago.

My preferred method of dying would be in my sleep, but if not that, then while hanging with my grandkids.  Of course, they might be traumatized if I keel over while rolling Playdough worms with them, so I should try to consider less shocking (and more spiritual) ends…like my friend.

Compared to her, my thoughts have been selfish.  Where do I start to destroy these desires? Mark 8:34 makes it sound so simple.  He tells us to forget about ourselves.  We are to “deny” ourselves, take up Jesus’ cross and follow him.  That cross simply means not to be concerned about our circumstances but live a life that blesses other people.

Still, selfishness comes so effortlessly, doesn’t it? Never has a baby been born who wasn’t egocentric. We don’t have to teach children how to be selfish.  It is part of human nature.  If ever there was a little tyke who daily asked, “What else can I do to help this family?  I don’t need to go outside and play.   I just want to unselfishly give of myself,” I’ve never met that little saint. The only time I heard my kids offer to sacrificially serve in our home was when they wanted money or permission to hang with their friends.

Selfishness doesn’t end with little ones.  Professor Jay Hoffman of The College of New Jersey writes, “If you don’t think most of humanity is selfish, try going shopping early on Black Friday…Or try yelling ‘Fire’ in a crowded theater. And driving anywhere these days one sees a horrific display of selfishness. Drivers are aggressively competing to get ahead of each other…”

The truth is, you and I are selfish.  We need to remind ourselves to put others first, to look for ways to bless them before we bless ourselves.  It is not a challenge the Holy Spirit cannot handle, but we must be willing to seek his will when confronted with choices of “who comes first.”      I daily battle this sin.  I want the thermostat set so as not to replicate a walk-in cooler.  I struggle when multiple vehicles take advantage of me and merge in front of my car.  I want the shortest line in the grocery store, and I have no problem taking the last bag of Fritos off the shelf.     Galatians 5:20 calls selfishness one of the “works of the flesh.” James 3:16 says it leads to “disorder and every evil practice.” Selfishness ruins friendships (Proverbs 18:1) and hinders prayer (James 4:3).

Sin (selfishness) and love cannot coexist. We need our minds transformed. That happens when we allow God’s love to move through us so that we can love others the way He wants us to love.  I’m pretty sure that includes praying blessings on others instead of myself.

Keys to the Kingdom By Carolyn Tucker

Hotdogs or Steaks

As a little girl, I learned to entertain myself by “pretending.” I would pretend with my baby dolls, riding my bicycle, playing the piano on a chair, and pretend that I was a secretary. It’s alright to pretend when you’re young. But it’s really not OK to pretend when you’re an adult. For example, let’s pretend I invited you to my home for supper and I told you that we would have steaks. However, when we sat down at the table, I served hotdogs instead. I think you’d be shocked, disappointed, confused, and ready to kick my shins. So when you get your nerve up to mention that you were expecting steak, my response would be, “Oh, let’s just pretend the hotdog is a Filet Mignon.”

Living as a Christian pretender is serious business. We’re not fooling anybody when we’re not living out the walk we talk about. While reading in one of my personal journals from 2006, I came across this anonymous quote: “The partially-surrendered life may be Christian in spirit, but it is secular in practice. Of what earthly value is Christianity if it leaves no indelible mark on one’s lifestyle? It is of no value (in this life) to be Christian if you do not think Christianly — if you do not have a Christian life view.” We don’t want to get caught red-handed living as a Christian impersonator.

A genuine born-again Christian cannot stay the same. We’re either walking forward in a growing faith or backward in a worldly culture. Following Christ is a daily workout of killing the old lifestyle and being filled with the nature of God. (The last thing I want is to be filled with myself!) “By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the One who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (2 Peter 1:3,4 NLT).

No hotdog can fake it and make it. Pseudo Christians are pretenders which will fail miserably. Plus, they will discourage  and disillusion others from committing their life to Jesus. The watching unbeliever will likely say, “What’s the point of being a Christian? He doesn’t live any different from my other friends who don’t even profess to know Jesus.“ God desires undivided loyalty and genuine devotion from His children. Christ followers will have a desire to live a different lifestyle from the surrounding culture.

As believers study God’s Word, we can readily recognize the first signs of fakeness in ourselves and take corrective steps to eradicate it. The qualities of a bonafide representative for Christ are found in Matthew 5:3-12, known as The Beatitudes. Jesus wasn’t tip-toeing through the tulips when He also said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” (Matthew 5:13 NKJV). Evidently it’s possible to lose our Christ-likeness and godly influence. Again, there’s no earthly value to being a Christian if we fail to be fully surrendered. The hard  truth of Jesus’ teaching should motivate all of us to take regular inventory of our heart, mindset, and lifestyle to ensure that we’re still wholeheartedly following in His steps.

The Key: Don’t pretend to be a steak if you’re really just a hotdog.

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV)

From stumbling to soaring, we have a choice to make.  We remember the stumbles, times we wish we could delete from our memories, times we needed to turn to the One who offers us the ability to soar and not tire out.  Times when we need to change our ways, but who, except for wet babies, likes change?                                                             

We dig our heels in and justify our decisions to continue doing what requires no soaring or running or even walking.  The couch becomes our safe place, and the television becomes our god.  Easy peasy.  Except it’s not the way God calls us to live.             

Isaiah reminds us that when it comes to change, the eagle has much to teach us.                     

Did you know that the eagle has the longest life-span among birds? It can live up to 70 years, but to reach this age, the eagle must make a hard decision. In its 40s, the eagle’s long and flexible talons no longer can grab prey, which serves as food. Its long, sharp beak becomes bent, and its aged, heavy wings, covered with feathers that have grown thick over the years, become stuck to its chest, making it difficult to fly.                        

The eagle is then left with only two options: die or go through a painful process of change, which lasts 150 days. The bird must fly to a mountain top and sit on its nest.  There it knocks its beak against a rock until the beak falls off. The eagle then will wait for a new beak to grow back, a beak used to pluck out its talons. When the new talons grow back, the eagle starts plucking out all the old feathers. After five months, the eagle takes a famous flight of rebirth and lives 30 more years.

Like the eagle, we cannot “stay right where we are” and call ourselves Christians.  God wants us to delete old memories, eliminate destructive (lazy?) habits, and soar like eagles. We just need to understand that faith does not come in one giant tsunami-like wave.  It is a step-by-step process which calls on us to move out of our comfort zone, to pluck out whatever keeps us from soaring.  We don’t have to wait until we believe it all, see it all or understand it all.  We just need to take the first step.

That’s what the Israelites did after they escaped Egypt and 40 years later, found themselves camped on the bank of the Jordan River.  Joshua 3 explains their dilemma.  God asks them to step into the raging river (“at flood stage”) and trust that He will take them to the other side where the Promised Land awaits.  The priests go first, as per Joshua’s instructions, followed by one man representing each tribe and then the rest of the Israelites.  Not until the priests’ feet hit the water did God allow the river to open for them to pass through.  One step. An act of trust that opens Heaven.

God offers us the same victory.

The next step is ours.   We stumble or we soar.

Keys to the Kingdom By Carolyn Tucker

Memorial Day is a day set apart to honor the sacrifice and loss of any man or woman who died while serving in the U.S. military, whether during deployment overseas or in training and service in the United States. Military organizations and bases nationwide honor all fallen military warriors on Memorial Day. The best way for us to pay respects to our  military freedom fighters is to attend a Memorial Day ceremony at a veterans’ cemetery, or visit the grave of a loved one who gave the ultimate sacrifice of patriotism.

Patriotism means you love, respect, and are willing to serve your Country and, if need be, sacrifice your life to protect a fellow American. The American flag stirs a very proud patriotism when we see its stars and stripes waving majestically in the blue skies of liberty. Many of the best have bravely died for this flag. Military warriors have guts — and they’ve proven it by spilling them.

After viewing the 1998 film, “Saving Private Ryan” for the first time years ago, I emphatically said, “Everyone living in the United States of America needs to see this movie.” It’s a hard watch, but a necessary one if you want to get a true pulse of American heroism and patriotism. Politics and patriotism are not two peas in a pod. Although Saving Private Ryan was fictional, it was inspired by the true story of Frederick Niland, who was sent home after two of his brothers were killed in action during World War II. And if you want to read or watch a true September 11, 2012 account, I recommend “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.” Heroes don’t wear capes, they wear dog tags.

Saving Private Ryan’s historical accuracy in the opening sequence was praised by both WWII historians and actual survivors of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944. Charlie Company’s horrific experiences in the early scenes of the film, including those seasick in the landing crafts, the catastrophic number of casualties as they exited the crafts, and the struggle in linking up with the nearby units on the shore are all true to history. Many  minor details, including the sound of the bullets and the unique “ping” of the U.S.  soldiers’ M1 rifles ejecting their clips, are accurately recreated. Even the correct code names for the different sectors of Omaha Beach were used in the film.

Never, ever shall we disregard the words of Jesus which perfectly describes all the brave hearts of our military men and women who have given their ultimate patriotism. “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 CSB). I also appreciate the same scripture from The Passion Translation: “For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.”

I was taught not to argue with God or His Word and, honestly, it would be ridiculous to try to do so. With the meaning of Memorial Day weighing heavily on my heart, the following scripture clearly illuminates an appropriate response to what Peter writes: “Show proper respect to everyone. Love the community of believers. Have respect for God. Honor the king” (1 Peter 2:17 NIRV). We should obey God’s Word and give proper regard to those who sacrificed all.

The Key: Believers have an ethical obligation to honor and properly respect our U.S. fallen heroes.

“The pursuit of excellence is gratifying and healthy. The pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic, and a terrible waste of time.”  Edwin Bliss

Meet the Martha Stewart of Bethany, a woman with whom many can relate.  Strong-willed and energetic, Martha was all about her check-off list.  What do I need to do next?  She lived with her sister Mary and her brother Lazarus and freely welcomed friends as well as strangers into her home. Religious leaders, the “Who’s Who of Bethany,” and virtually anyone in need, including her close friend, Jesus, knew they had an open invitation to this home. It was there she learned to prepare a meal with little advanced notice for her guests.  With no Whole Foods in site.  I hyperventilate thinking about it.

Martha’s downfall, like mine, is her life could easily become unbalanced when she took on too many tasks.  It appears that she missed some sweet opportunities for relationship-building when she allowed herself to become too busy.  After all, she was not about to have people whisper about leaving her house hungry.  Not on her watch. Sound familiar?

Then there’s Mary.  Aah, Mary, who saw no great need for unnecessary things like schedules and household chores.  What fun was that?   “Let’s just visit” was her motto.  “And the house will take care of itself.”  Mary was almost childlike in her hunger for truth – especially spiritual truth.  So sets the stage for Jesus’ visit to their home as written about in Luke 10:38-42, NRSV.

Now as they went on their way, He (Jesus) entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what He was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to Him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.              

Free-spirited Mary was all about relationships, and even though it was unusual for a woman to sit among men, Mary reclined as close to this friend as possible.  What other people thought of her was of no concern!  She did not care that some called her flighty and irresponsible.  She was there to hang onto every word spoken by the Rabbi, the Messiah who, unbeknownst to her, was just a few weeks short of his death.

I once read that perfectionism is doing things right while excellence is doing the right thing. Which woman represents you?  Many theologians say that we should be more like Mary, but both women offer lessons about balance in our lives.

Interestingly, Martha appears to desire that sweet fellowship with Jesus but knows that the group of visitors would consider her inconsiderate if she did not feed them.   She, as the “hostess with the mostest,” wants her guests to be taken care of, but as she labors over her stove and hears the mumblings of conversation in the other room, she realizes she is missing out.

If you’ve ever labored outside over a hot grill while your friends recline inside, cheering for their favorite sports team, you get Martha’s frustration.  The only time they include you is to remind you how they want their burger cooked or to give them a gluten-free bun. Not fun.

Mary, as opposed to Martha, appears not to care about physical food.  She wants spiritual food and recognizes that she is sitting at the feet of the only one who can satisfy that need. There always will be time to enjoy Martha’s stew, but who knows when Jesus would pass this way again?

What we need to take from this story is that to become so self-righteous in our good works that we start to judge others for not doing as we do does nothing to please the Lord.  Our careers/ministries require attention, but not so much that we neglect our time with God.  One is exhausting, and one is exhilarating.

As someone once said, “Select the best, and you will have rest.”

In the Zoning Meeting in Fulton on Tuesday night, I raised a concern that there seems to be a big difference between what two members of the committee (Brian Ashworth and Brian Wade) think zoning will accomplish. (See Two Brians, Two Views Of Zoning) It is very different for anyone to form any coherent opinion of zoning when the committee has polar opposite ideas of what it will actually do in Bourbon County. What I stated in the meeting was:

“Brian Ashworth said it won’t prevent anything, just make sure there are common-sense guidelines being followed. For example, with solar, it might require setbacks from neighboring buildings, EMS training, or fully funded decommissioning agreements. However, Brian Wade has said that zoning is the tool to keep landowners from leasing their land to solar companies. These are two very very different goals. Mr. Ashworth thinks zoning will be a scalpel to carefully shape the way landowners use their land, Mr. Wade thinks it is a sledgehammer that will dictate what can and can’t be done.”

When I said this, Mr. Wade shook his head as if I was misrepresenting him. I want to make sure I correctly represent him, so I went back to find the video. It is hard to hear because it was recorded on a cell phone, since at this point they were not streaming their meetings, so the mics at the table weren’t being used.

Here is what Mr. Wade said:

“ My neighbor hit me up this morning at the gas station. He lives in Linn County, and, uh, him and another partner farm a bunch around us and he said if it wasn’t for zoning in Linn County, he’d have 5,000 solar or 5,000 acres around their house off of 52 highway.”

My best understanding of his statement is that the land owners who wanted to lease their land for non-agricultural use (to solar companies) were stopped by the fact Linn County is zoned.  The result of zoning wasn’t to simply require a certain amount of setback or a decommissioning agreement. It didn’t provide some type of”common-sense” guidelines. Instead, he seems to indicate that they were prohibited from using their land how they wished.

If you want zoning to be used as a tool to keep solar out as Mr.Wade said it did in Linn County, then you should be concerned by Mr. Ashcroft’s view that it won’t do that.

If you support zoning because you feel it will still let land owners do what they want with their land as long as they follow “common-sense guidelines,” then you should be concerned when Mr. Wade indicates it is the mechanism that prohibits certain land use.

The point in my statement on Tuesday was that, despite trying to understand what zoning would mean for Bourbon County, I have no basis for forming any logical opinion on the topic because I have no idea what it would mean for land use other than farming and cattle.  Based on the differences between what members of the zoning advisory committe have said zoning will do, it appears I’m  in good company.

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Hurtling Towards The Cliff

We’re at a precarious crossroads here in Bourbon County, and if the public doesn’t start getting involved and speaking out, various internal battles that have been brewing behind the scenes for years threaten to boil over and turn our County into a permanent laughingstock. As such, despite thoroughly enjoying my vacation from local politics, I read an abbreviated version of the letter below during Public Comments at tonight’s County Commission meeting, fittingly right after a heated battle over who should control the landfill:

The last time I sat at this table was the first meeting of the new Commission, and that night I felt something I had not felt in a long time – hope.  Hope that the toxicity that has plagued this County for years was over. Hope that, to be blunt, the dumpster fire our county had become was finally extinguished.  I come before you tonight with a heavy heart, as it has become clear to me that that fire rages on, and that without fast intervention, the sickness that fuels that fire is going to turn this county into a place no one with any sense will want to serve, work for, or live in.

That sickness has a name, and that name is  “grievance mentality”.  Google defines grievance mentality as “a pattern of behavior where individuals persistently perceive themselves as unfairly treated, unjustly wronged, or as victims of external forces”.

Just over 20 years ago I first entered the world of local politics, and I watched up close as a man I worked with, a man who was a good and decent person, was eaten alive from the inside out by grievance mentality.  With his grievance mentality came paranoia, an inflated sense of entitlement, and an insatiable desire to control EVERYTHING.  By allowing this to fester, this man made not only himself miserable, but just about everyone around him.

20 years later, history is repeating in front of my eyes, only this time it’s not just one person I care about being consumed by this sickness, but many, and it’s not just affecting one city, but the entire county.  I truly believe every controversy that has popped up since January in Bourbon County, from shock resignations to legal controversies to battles over who controls the landfill, can be traced back to grievance mentality.

A lot of people have questioned why Commissioner Kruger resigned so quickly.  I don’t want to speak for him, but I will say this: I believe Leroy felt caught in the crossfire of the endless civil wars within this Courthouse, wars between the Clerk and IT offices and the Sheriff’s department, wars between factions within the Public Works Department, and I’m sure others I’m not even aware of.  Basically, there are more offices fighting each other than not within our Courthouse walls, and it’s been that way for a long time.  I believe Leroy felt like an island unto himself at this table, like he was the only one here who wasn’t trying to serve one side of these wars or the other, and I hate to say it, but I don’t think he was wrong.  These things are easy to get sucked into for the uninitiated – grievance mentality also tends to breed manipulation. I would also like to note that I don’t operate on hearsay – as a courtesy, I sent Leroy this portion of my comments this past weekend, and he had no issue with me making them.

Prior to the Special Convention to replace Commissioner Kruger, I met with both Dillon Duffy and Mika Milburn to encourage them but also to warn them about the giant toxic mess they were walking into.  I told them about the internal wars being waged, and that if they were chosen, they would likely end up feeling just as isolated as Leroy did, but that I believed help would arrive this coming January.  To their credit, this didn’t deter either of them.  Flash forward to this past Friday morning when I received an unexpected phone call from an audibly frustrated Commissioner Milburn.  Her message was short and to the point:  “Nick, you were right.”.  That phone call ate at me all day, as it had the same tone and tenor as phone calls I used to receive from Commissioner Kruger.  Guys, I hate doing this, I hate public speaking, and I hate that by speaking out, I will likely get several people I consider friends mad at me.   But what I hate even more is that every time I encourage good people like Leroy, Dillon, and Mika to serve this County, it turns out that what I’m REALLY asking them to do is jump headfirst into a spirit crushing, toxic meat grinder.  That has to stop, and stop now.

Now I don’t want to discount the fact that there were many very legitimate grievances made against each and every one of these warring departments by some of the previous occupants of this table, and I have no doubt those previous occupants enjoyed playing each side against the other.  But those occupants are gone now, and just because a grievance is legitimate, that doesn’t mean it’s healthy to hold on to.  It’s past time for everyone in this County to put the past in the past, put down their swords, their paranoia, their sense of entitlement, and their need to control, and bury the hatchet.  If they don’t, grievance mentality will eat both them and this entire County alive from the inside out like a cancer.

In closing, I want to end on a hopeful note.  I haven’t spoken to the man I mentioned earlier in 18 years, and quite honestly I’m not sure he would want to speak to me, but out of curiosity, I’ve followed his career in the time since. By letting go of grievance mentality and moving on from here, he thrived, having a lengthy tenure in Ottawa, and retiring just last year after a well received stint as the Interim City Manager of Topeka.  He finished strong, and left a legacy to be proud of.  I know many in our County government plan to retire from public service in the next few years, and I would encourage them to do the same – don’t let grievance mentality define your legacy here.  Finish strong.

Nick Graham, Uniontown, KS

Note: FortScott.biz publishes opinion pieces with a variety of perspectives. If you would like to share your opinion, please send a letter to [email protected].

Keys to the Kingdom

By Carolyn Tucker

I Fall to Pieces

I’m pretty sure you have to be within a certain age group to associate the words “I fall to pieces” with a song. In 1961, Patsy Cline recorded “I Fall to Pieces” which was her first recording to top the Billboard country chart. This song was one of her biggest hits and, as far as I‘m concerned, she still owns it. Patsy, as the first female, was posthumously elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973, ten years after her fatal plane crash. I was five years old when she died, but I have heard this iconic artist’s beautiful and distinctive voice nearly all my life through her records.

Our life is sometimes comparative to the trade of a blacksmith. If you’ve ever seen a Western movie, then you’ve probably seen a blacksmith at work as he makes and repairs iron objects and horseshoes by hand. He heats and hammers the iron and when it’s just right, he plunges it into cold water. Sometimes the object doesn’t take temper and it will fall to pieces in the process. If the iron isn’t going to allow itself to be tempered, it winds up in the scrap pile. Thank goodness, God doesn’t throw us in the scrap pile if, or when,  we fall to pieces.

If I had my way, I’d choose to never be in the heat, hammered, pressured, or tested. But real life is not a perpetual rose garden. Tough stuff happens and it happens to all believers if we live long enough. I suspect Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren’t looking forward to being thrown into the blazing furnace. Nevertheless, they declared, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty“ (Daniel 3:17 NLT). When they were bound and thrown into the fiery furnace, they discovered that they weren’t in it alone. God was there in the furnace of affliction with His servants. Christ followers can have the same confidence these three boys had because we serve the same God they did.

God loves us with an unconditional and everlasting love. When the testing and sorrows of life come, with lovingkindness He draws us to Himself. And He will do one of two things: Either keep us from falling to pieces, or take the pieces and put them back together in a stronger fashion; He never throws them away. Personally, I don’t like putting puzzle pieces together. I suppose I lack the interest and patience required to tackle the project. I’m thankful that God never gives up on me when I fall to pieces.

“When I am pressed on every side by troubles, I am not crushed and broken. When I am perplexed because I don’t know why things happen as they do, I don’t give up and quit” (2 Corinthians 4:8 TLB). Remember, if we should fall to pieces, understand that remaining in that state is not an option for the believer. If life’s circumstances knock us down, we’re not “out” because Jesus’ hand will be reaching out and pulling us back up. When the going gets tough we just keep forging ahead. Apostle Paul reminds believers of our important and steadfast hope in Christ: “We have great endurance in hardships and in persecutions. We don’t lose courage in a time of stress and calamity” (2 Corinthians 6:4 TPT).

The Key: The best option is to not fall to pieces. But if you do, it’s not the end of the record. Just get up and play the A-side.

Up until last week, the zoning advisory committee remained shrouded in mystery for everyone except those who could find the time to attend in person. No minutes have been published, and the meetings were not streamed to the public like advisory committees have been under previous commissioners. (See Commissioner Beerbower’s explanation of his view of the Zoning Advisory Committee as a democracy vs. the need for transparency.)

The veil was ripped last Wednesday when FortScott.biz streamed the meeting. Looking through the hole that had been torn in the opaqueness, those of us who couldn’t physically attend the meetings got our first look at the workings of that committee and the things being discussed that had formerly been obscured from the public view. So maybe that is a bit dramatic, but the point remains, the public was now able to see what was happening with the same level of transparency as city and previous county advisory committees.

For me, the statements made by two people named Brian on the Zoning Advisory Committee (Brian Ashworth and Brian Wade) provide the best illustration of the fundamental disagreement between members of the committee (and possibly the public and commissioners) when it comes to zoning. Understanding these two views of people who support zoning is key in any thoughtful discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of implementing zoning, as Beerbower says, the commission has already established they will do.

Brian Ashworth stated that the goal of zoning is not to prevent anyone from doing what they want to with their land. He said the purpose of zoning is to make sure a landowner wanting to put in something commercial or industrial would need to follow some guidelines to be a good neighbor, but it wouldn’t stop them from using their land as they see fit.

This sounds completely reasonable and could mean things like, if a landowner is going to put in a field of solar panels, they might be asked to put a row of trees between the panels and their neighbor’s house. Or maybe it would mean asking the solar company to locate battery arrays 500 feet or more from neighboring property and make sure the fire department is comfortable with understanding what to do in the rare, but still possible, event of a fire from the electrical systems or the situation most of us have experience where a neighbor’s field being burned that gets out of control if it happens to threaten the solar field. Those types of suggestions probably fall into the common-sense type of things that would happen on their own among neighbors who are actually looking for reasonable accommodation. Maybe zoning helps make those conversations more likely. Sounds reasonable, right?

However, Brian Wade offered a different view of the purpose of the zoning committee. He talked with admiration about how Lynn County’s zoning was able to prevent landowners from renting their land out to solar companies. He didn’t talk about how the zoning laws allowed the county to guide installations with some best practices for fire preparedness. He didn’t talk about how zoning allowed some reasonable setbacks that gave neighbors some nice trees to look at. No, he talked about how great it was that zoning had been used as a tool to prevent the landowners from leasing their land.

Mr. Wade’s goals as presented in the meeting were completely different from Mr. Ashworth’s stated goals.

If you want zoning to be a tool to prohibit landowners from using their land in legal ways that you don’t want, then Mr. Wade’s goals probably match yours. If you want zoning to be a process that helps guarantee good communication and reasonable accommodations between neighbors, then Mr. Ashworth’s goals probably align with what you want.

However, the bigger question is this: If zoning is implemented, what will we actually get?

(Note: Commission Mika Milburn says she will have the meeting streamed on May 13th, so hopefully the process will be more transparent going forward & kudos to her for trying to bring the transparency of these meetings back to the same level of previous commissioners.)