Do Americans Prefer Guns to God?

By Dr. Russ,

After the Newtown massacre of 6 and 7 year old children, I observed people coming together in mourning at memorial services held in churches all over the country.  It is not unusual for tragedy to lead us to seek comfort in God; to look for the Lord’s guidance and yes protection.   To me that would mean people now would seek out God more and guns less.  Protection of the soul and the spirit within is not had with a gun, but only with God.  So what has happened?

According the New York Times, Americans are flocking to gun stores across the country in record numbers to purchase not just guns, but weapons designed to kill 10 to 100 people in under a minute.   Thirty round, high capacity, rifle magazines are now selling for $60 up from $12 a few weeks ago.

These Americans who have made this choice to arm themselves with what I consider to be “weapon s of mass destruction” have forsaken the protection of God for the false belief that they can play God and protect themselves.  On the way to the gun store, they have forgotten ten truths about God.

Ten Truths Americans Forgot about God on the Way to the Gun Store

1.     Martin Luther King, Jr. fought the final major battle for the equality of blacks in America on a platform of non-violence, peace, love and reconciliation.  The guns that were used, were used by those who sought to destroy the African American, but only fueled the determination of their spirit of endurance.

2.     The watch-phrase of the 60’s was “We Shall Overcome.”  And, overcome they did without firing a shot despite being fired upon over and over.

3.      It took four centuries, but the Roman Empire despite putting thousands upon thousands of Christians to horrible deaths in the Coliseums finally became a Christian Empire in 381 AD. 

4.     Evil works through the creation of irrational fear that there is nothing we can do to keep ourselves safe except to take up evil and try and fight evil with evil. 

5.     Evil is stymied when we come close to God, place him in our hearts and talk to Him moment-to-moment, everyday.

6.     Jesus taught that life is not about the flesh and worldly things, but about the spirit and life everlasting.  On a given day, in some particular circumstance, someone may protect their flesh with a gun, but protection of the spirit can only be sought through prayer and peaceful coexistence with our fellow human beings.

7.     The reason the Founding Father’s were successful in overthrowing British rule in the American Revolution had little to do with the right to bear arms and everything to do with an unyielding spirit and belief that, “All people were created equal and had the right life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  How else could that “rag tag” group of colonists under the command of General Washington have prevailed except for a belief in the ideal for which they were fighting.  They were not fighting to protect their own flesh.  They put their flesh at risk to protect some projected future, which was an IDEA!!!!!

8.     In their rush to the gun store, they have forgotten that the logical extension of their thinking is an SUV that transforms into a tank for protection of the homeowner, or the pocket size tactical nuclear weapon. 

9.     We have a choice to choose God and not guns.  When we choose guns we choose to play God.  I do not recall any Bible story where it turned out well for one or more humans to play God.

10. God created the world and everything in it including humans so that we could experience the joy of living with God and walking with Jesus through worship and honoring Him.  Life is not about us!  Life is about God!  God will not forsake us.  Those Newtown families who choose to seek out God and come closer to Him will be assured that their lost loved ones are being cared for by God, and they will find a deeper meaning and joy in their renewed spirit that will come from this death than ever imagined. 

Blessing of the Animals is an Act of Optimism

By Dr. Russ,

On Sunday, October 14, 2012, the community around Duke University Chapel came together to celebrate the “blessing of the animals.”  This event is in commemoration of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, which always occurs on October 4 of each year and is celebrated at Duke on the first Sunday after the 4^th.  Originally scheduled for October 7, 2012 in front on the majestic Duke Chapel, it was postponed due to rain.  As someone aptly said, there is nothing worse than the smell of wet dog.

Sunday, October 12 was a gorgeous 70 degree, blue sky day; a perfect venue for celebrating the Patron Saint of animals and the environment who lived during the 12 century.  The celebration honors all animals on earth, and is meant to remind us that God entrusted humankind to be good stewards of the animals he placed in our care.  The event was attended mostly by dogs and their owners, but there were cats, guinea pigs, and even an iguana sprinkled throughout the crowd of several hundred.

Sofie, my standard poodle, and I attended the event.  I had never been to one of these ceremonies before, and came away quite impressed.  We had music from a local children’s choir, liturgy, prayer, and a short sermon all in honor of God’s gift of animals to our world.  Afterwards, the numerous robed clergy on hand came around and gave an individual prayer-of-blessing for each animal.  This individual ritual is clearly depicted in the picture above.

Animals of all kinds and species bring us much joy and enrichment, hence the popularity of zoos, the Discovery and Animal channels.  Our pets bring us the comfort of unconditional love.  All we have to do to fulfill God’s promise of the gift of animals to the earth, to us, is to treat them with the respect, dignity, care that God did when He spoke them into existence.  

Optimism is derived from two aspects of animals: 1) the unconditional love they give to us, and 2) the joy and positive spirit we get from taking good care of them.  We experience both sources of optimism within the close personal relationship we develop with our pets and farm animals.  We derive the same level of optimism from animals in the wild and the sea when we hold these creatures in the awe of God’s wonderful creativity and treat them with dignity and respect by honoring their environments, their freedom, and rightful place to live on the earth. 

Find Meaning in Life through an Impossible Dream

By Dr. Russ,

If the impossible dream is the seed of an optimistic moment, how do you cultivate it so that it grows and bears fruit?

Cultivating the seed with White Nile Optimism

Any farmer will tell you that cultivation requires stamina to stay the course during the growing season, to deal with long days of planting, storms, droughts and floods, pestilence, weeds, disease, long days of harvesting, and economic up and down turns. 

How does the farmer maintain optimism in the face of so many possible problems that occur day after day, and year after year after year?  We argue that it is only possible with a strong “Spiritual Mindset” that flows through the farmer like the White Nile feeds the Nile to keep it flowing at a steady state year round.

Here is another reason to look to your spiritual side for Optimism Stamina.

▪    Sometimes the pressures of your daily struggles can push your belief system beneath the surface.  Immediate pain and struggle can color the lens through which we all view all of God’s past, present, and future activities in our lives.  We can easily lose track of the truth.  And in that kind of emotional haze it doesn’t take long for us to start thinking that the goodness of God is a lie.  (Furtick)

White Nile Spiritual Tips for Optimism Stamina

Reality – The circumstances and problems that God gives us to overcome and solve.  He knows the closer you get to him to seek His help, the more your will learn and master to solve these problems.

More Reality – We only become REAL like the Rabbit and Skin Horse when someone really loves us, and when we accept God’s unconditional love for our imperfect selves, we have a store of love inside us that is the source of infinite optimism stamina.

▪    Romans 8:28 says: We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

 According to Steven Furtick:

▪    “Until you believe God is with and for you, fear and hesitation will characterize your life.” And, we say you will NOT have the stamina to remain in the 90%-plus optimism zone.

Belief  – According to Steven Furtick all you need to believe is that God is good and God is great to have optimism get to and remain in the 90%-plus optimism zone.  God is good means he loves us unconditionally.  God is great means he is the one who created the universe out of nothing with the snap of His fingers.  According to Furtick, if you do not believe that God has the kind of power to part the Red Sea, drop bread from heaven, and miraculously heal the ill, then you cannot have the kind of “audacious faith” necessary to have a constant and steady state of optimism stamina.

Truth –   “True faith is founded on what you believe about God and what He is capable of” because whatever He is capable of you are capable of if you allow Him to work here on earth through you. Are you beginning to see how White Nile Spiritual, Optimism Stamina works inside you as a constant and steady source of the positive view?

Trust  – If we believe in the truth of God then we can take risks for Him, including the risk that he will NOT answer our impossible dream prayer.  What do we risk by praying for the impossible?  Quite frankly, we risk undermining our faith if we come to think our prayer wasn’t answered, or we risk diminishing our belief in how good or great God is.  “Trust in God’ is essential to any sense of “Optimistic Stamina.”

Choice – We have a choice everyday to believe in the truth and trust of God.  Optimism stamina comes from never wavering in your belief in God’s truth and trust given to us freely through grace.  Of course we could choose to believe that God has abandoned us or has bad intentions.  In that case we would choose to stay away from God, which many do.  Make a choice to give God the opportunity to work through you and watch your optimism stamina grow astronomically.

Wisdom – The more we seek to understand God’s perfect nature and His purpose in the world, the more meaning our lives will have.  

Meaning – White Nile spiritual optimism comes from carrying out our vision of God’s purpose for us. If there is no limit to what God can do then there is also no limit to what we can dream and pray or accomplish in his service.  When we are acting for the glory of God, God responds because he wants to demonstrate His glory not only to us, but to those around us.  So He loves to accomplish the impossible on our behalf. Our life then takes on meaning with unlimited stamina held up by seeing the impact we can have on the world by accomplishing impossible, optimistic goals for His glory.  When we finally realize that God’s greatness is meant to work in our lives for our good, but not necessarily monetary good, we grasp on to an infinite source of optimism stamina.

{A key reference and idea source for this post was the book: Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick, Multnomah Books, 2011).

Optimism is a Gift From Heaven

By Dr. Russ,

Making the choice to seek, find and accept God’s gift of optimism requires the wisdom to know that Jesus spoke the truth to his followers, the truth given to him by God from heaven above.

Reality

Optimism is a belief that gives us the mental and physical power to deal with the circumstances of life known as reality.  Pessimism is the belief that we are hopeless and helpless to make a better life for ourselves in the face of negative circumstances.  Pessimism is further fueled by the belief that we have little or no control over the negative thoughts and feelings that we experience daily. From the perspective of pessimism, we are not able to take the negative circumstance, trials and tribulations of life and make them work for the good of ourselves and others.  How do we avoid becoming absorbed into and completely overwhelmed by this negative life cycle of pessimistic belief?

Our only hope is Christ and the optimism that comes from navigating this world on His terms.  But, where do we find optimism and then hold onto it in the face of so much negative news in our world?  Whenever we tell others that we are in the business of teaching optimism we consistently are told: “Oh, we all need more of that.”   If so many people need more optimism, why don’t they have it?

Belief

First, we must understand where optimism comes from.  Optimism comes from within and without.  Our position is that optimism is a God given belief from without and above that is experienced and shared with others from within.  God gave us the possibility for optimistic belief when he sacrificed his only Son, Jesus Christ, for the sins of all humanity.  In that moment of sacrifice, we gained an opportunity to be redeemed by a the Savior, having our sins atoned for and thereby allowing us to shed the weight of guilt and negative emotions that come from a life lived on our terms alone.  Once freed of all this negativity we are then able to experience the joy contained in every moment of life no matter what the seeming trials, tribulations and pain therein.

While God gave us this gift, He did not guarantee that we would find it.  Like the Christmas gift hidden behind the tree or the Easter egg behind the sofa, we must make the effort to seek and find the gift.  Furthermore, we have choices about whether to open the gift and whether we like and treasure it as priceless, take it within ourselves, accept it as our own, and share it with others. Once we accept that Christ died to relieve us of sin and guilt, we are free to move forward with our new found optimism into the future, but we must continue to trust in the truth and shine the light of optimism on the path that Jesus gave us.

Choice, Wisdom, Truth and Trust

God's truth is to trust in Jesus and the word of God, to follow in his path and to model our lives more after Him.  God sent Jesus to earth so that we could see a living example of a perfect life that God wants us to live.   

Having shown us this example, He also had to give us the underlying belief that we could hope and strive for such perfection.  Thus, He removed the shackles of our negative beliefs born of our failures, shortcomings, wrongdoings, and yes, sins so that we could believe in the possibility of the Good News of Jesus Christ – that He died upon the cross taking all of our sins with Him.  

Meaning

That path was His life as a living example of how God wants us to live; one of loving others as ourselves and forgiving others just as we seek such forgiveness.  God does not promise that if we follow the Christian path that life will be easy.  In fact, we are told that it will be difficult and full of many challenges to overcome.  But, we are told that meaning in life is not derived from achieving the perfection of Christ, but from the striving and trying to live every moment of life according to His teaching; making incremental improvements every moment and day.  In so doing, we believe it is possible not only to find optimism in every moment of life, every day, but also to hold on to that optimistic view for an eternity.

Therapy Dog Raises Spirits as God's Messenger

By Dr. Russ

What do God and a dog have in common?  First, they have the same three letters, a d, a g, and an o.  In fact, the three letters, d-o-g, when reversed spell God.  Most importantly they both can raise our spirits.  A dog, especially one trained as a therapy dog, can go and sit with patients in rehab centers, nursing homes, and with children who are down and out and lift them-up for a few or many moments.

Here is a more extensive list of similarities between the spirit lifting powers of a dog and God.  I am in no way trying to equate a dog to God, but I am saying that a dog is God’s creation here on earth designed to carry out His mission for it to be a major “Spirit Lifter.”  Here is my list:

1) Both offer unconditional love

2) Both only ask that we love them in return

3) A dog is obedient to his master just as God asks of us

4) A dog wants to please us as we should want to please God

5) When we are down and out, a dog--like God (if we ask and wait)--comes and sits with us awhile and raises our spirits to be more than we can be.