A Haunting Poem

World War I produced moving poetry. To me, the most haunting poem of that era was an anonymous one.  It is inscribed on a modest headstone of the grave of one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.  His name was Hobey Baker.

Hobey Baker was a Princeton graduate.  He is the only athlete ever elected to both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Hockey Hall of Fame.  His hockey records lasted for decades.  Today, college hockey's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy is called The Hobey Baker Award.

Baker volunteered to serve in World War I. He was one of the first to fly an airplane in war.  Tragically, he crashed to his death in Toul, France. He left behind many grieving family members, friends, and fans.  We do not know who the author was, but this is the poem written on Hobey Baker’s tombstone:

                  YOU SEEMED WINGED, EVEN AS A LAD,

                  WITH THAT SWIFT LOOK OF THOSE WHO KNOW THE SKY,

                  IT WAS NO BLUNDERING FATE THAT STOOPED AND BADE

                  YOU BREAK YOUR WINGS, AND FALL TO EARTH AND DIE,

                  I THINK SOME DAY YOU MAY HAVE FLOWN TOO HIGH,

                  SO THAT IMMORTALS SAW YOU AND WERE GLAD,

                  WATCHING THE BEAUTY OF YOUR SPIRITS FLAME,

                  UNTIL THEY LOVED AND CALLED YOU, AND YOU CAME.

     

Extraordinary, isn’t it?  Such is the power of poetry dedicated to help humanity remember those lost in The Great War.

Cheating Hearts

Several years ago, TIME magazine reported a study done at the University of Hawaii. An attractive member of the opposite sex approached college students. After a brief introduction, the students were asked one of three questions:

                        1. Would you go out on a date with me tonight?

                        2. Would you go back [with me] to my apartment?

                        3. Would you have sex with me?

            The male response varied from the female response. Here is how each answered the question of the corresponding number:

                                                Women (yes)                  Men (yes)

                        1.                         50%                             50%

                        2.                         6%                               69%

                        3.                         0%                               75%

            The magazine noted that Charles Darwin considered Man to be a moral species since human beings could compare their past and future actions and motives, and correspondingly approve or disapprove of them.

            “In this sense,” TIME said, “yes we are moral. We have at least the technical capacity to lead an examined life: self-awareness, memory, foresight and judgment. Still, subjecting ourselves to moral scrutiny and adjusting our behavior accordingly is hardly a reflex. We are potentially moral animals-which is more than any other animal can say-but we are not naturally moral animals. The first step to being moral is to realize how thoroughly we aren't."

            These are fascinating words coming from a secular magazine. Better yet was the title of the article—“Our Cheating Hearts.” Does this title connote an editorial statement in a supposedly neutral magazine’s investigative reporting?

A Faulty GPS

Recently, three South Koreans were touring in a state forest in Queensland, Australia. Following the directions from their satellite navigational system, they found themselves stuck in a gully in the middle of nowhere.

Authorities later found that the three men had ignored several warning signs. Instead, they chose to follow the directions of their GPS. Unfortunately, the guidance they had received was incorrect.

I am seeing more and more people operating with faulty navigational systems. Rather than using the Bible as their source of direction, they instead rely on the newest cultural source of information for how to make it through life. They, too, typically pass a number of warning signs that things are awry.  Unfortunately, they ignore these warnings and continue on until their lives are stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet

       and a light for my path.

The Next Step

A few years ago in SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, I read a remarkable story. In the spring of 1978, the New England Whalers of the WHA fired their communications director and radio play-by-play man. He was 45 years old and unemployed.

He decided to look into finding a way to provide coverage of the University of Connecticut basketball games using the more than 12 cable operators located in the state.

As he talked with these operators, they kept mentioning a distribution technology. With time on his hands, he checked into it and found that RCA had a satellite in space for two years and was looking for customers.

He discovered that he could provide UCONN basketball games not only to the state of Conn., but also to the entire U.S. for a cheap price. For that reason, Bill Rasmussen decided to offer 24-hour-a-day programming because it was cheaper to do so than to not.

Because RCA did not demand the rent up front, Rasmussen borrowed $9000 from credit cards and began a network. The network began by broadcasting on a limited basis daily and 24 hours on weekends. One year later, it was broadcasting 24 hours a day. This was how ESPN was born.

We Christians sing a song taken from Psalm 119:

THY WORD IS A LAMP UNTO MY FEET AND A LIGHT UNTO MY PATH…

As has been written, the lamp of Psalm 119 was not a flashlight. Rather, it was more like a lantern or a candle. A person could see just enough ahead to take the next step or two, but no farther.

Bill Rasmussen did not begin with a grand vision—“I will be the founder of ESPN!” No, he was initially seeking to fulfill a much more modest goal. A step here, and a step there, and look where it led him!

The apostle Paul was not looking to lay the religious and philosophical foundation for western civilization. He was simply seeking to take the gospel to the Gentiles.  He followed God, step by step.

In reality, our call is not to carry out a grand vision for God. Our call is simply to honor God in this next step. Will we?

An Indifferent World

Back in 1994, in Mont St. Michel France, Marie-Noelle Gullernee saw that her daughter had fallen into a deep tide pool below the tourist island town. She dove in to save her life. Together, they began to flounder and both of their lives were in danger.

A number of tourists were near and saw the whole thing. How did they respond?

They came; they gawked; they did nothing. No one intervened; no one called for help.

Finally, a local resident became aware of the situation and called rescue workers. The child was saved, but they were too late for the mother.

But all was not lost! A tourist with a camcorder said, "I got the whole thing on tape!" Another hurried away with the videotape, taking it to a local France TV station to put it on the air.

Said a local saleswoman, "It's shocking no one bothered to do anything, but apparently that's how people are nowadays. An accident is just a spectacle because it's someone else's problem.”

Indifference is a sin. I’m glad God did not look upon a perishing world, full of sin, with indifference. John 3:16a tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave…” I think you could just as well write, “God so loved the world that he came to rescue…”

The Power of Speech

“Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down.  His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying...” (Matthew 5: 1-2.)

    

Have you ever seen or heard a great speech?  I remember seeing on video once the speech that President Kennedy made at the Berlin Wall in 1963.  Now keep in mind the context in which this speech was given. 

It was the height of the cold war.  The Soviets had built the Berlin Wall in 1961 because so many East Germans were fleeing to the west.  In October of 1962 the U.S. and the Soviet Union had come within an eyelash of nuclear war. 

In the summer of 1963, Kennedy spoke to several hundred thousand West Germans in West Berlin at the Berlin Wall.  Remember, these were people who had mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and assorted kinfolk trapped in East Berlin.  Many were questioning if freedom was worth its price.  Others were losing all hope. 

As he looked over the mass of humanity, Kennedy calmly said:
                

There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the communist world.

Let them come to Berlin!

There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future.

Let them come to Berlin!

And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the communists.

Let them come to Berlin!

And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress.

Lass sie nach Berlin Kommen!  Let them come to Berlin!

    

Kennedy then concluded his dramatic speech with these words, "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner'. "

In that strong, staccato, dramatic, intense tone of voice, Kennedy had resolutely stated his call.  Of that moment the famous historian Arthur Schlesinger writes,  "The crowd shook itself and rose and roared like an animal."  There was an avalanche of energy that surged almost visibly through the square.  It was as if he could have said,  "'March to the Wall-tear it down,' (and) his listeners would have marched." Such is the power of a great speech.

Jesus' speech on the mount was a great speech.  You may or may not know this but it is found in many textbooks today as a model for young students of rhetoric. As good as President Kennedy’s speech was, I believe even he would have said that Jesus’ speech was better. 

We Christians refer to Jesus’ speech in other way; we call it a sermon. Jesus’ sermon has moved people for two thousand years. Such is the power of preaching.

I believe in preaching. I believe in the power of preaching. I always will.

Do You Know Who I Am?

A few years ago, I read about an elderly woman who walked into the local country church.  The friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the steps.

He was very polite and asked her, “Where would you like to sit?”

She replied, “Oh, the front row, please.”

“You really don’t want to do that,” the usher said.  “The preacher is often really boring.”

“Do you happen to know who I am?” the woman inquired.

“No,” he said.

“I’m the preacher’s mother.” she replied indignantly.

“Do you know who I am?” the usher asked warily.

“No,” she answered.

“Good,” he replied.

"A fool's lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating” (Prov. 18:6).