Friday, October 31, 2008

The Arrogant Axe

Bill Brown .. Xiamen University
"Does the axe raise himself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it?" Isaiah 10:15, (speaking of Sennacherib, King of Assyria).

"The superior man is modest in speech but excellent in action." Confucius

"High steps, haughty bearing" (Chi gao qi yang). Chinese saying.

More fatal than flattery is pride, which is but self-flattery. We may be suspect of other's flattery, but we trust implicitly our own opinion of ourselves, and only to our own convictions even when others are starting to have doubts about us. About the time of Sennacherib's inglorious defeat, an arrogant Chinese general learned, like Sennacherib, that overly inflated egos are puncture-prone.

General Chu Xia served the Prince of Chu during the spring and autumn period (770-476 B.C.) . General Chu was unlearned and unskilled, and most people considered him worthless, but he was proud and arrogant, and the smallest victory went to his head. General Chu was very concerned about his external appearance, but when General Tou Taipei saw Chu strutting around, he knew Chu thought too highly of himself. General Tou told his charioteer, "General Chu will be defeated this time. He carries himself as if everyone else were beneath him, with a high step, nose in the air, and a disdainful expression. He is not preparing to fight but to impress the enemy!" General Tou begged the Prince to send another General. The Prince ignored him, but that night talked it over with his wife (the Prince was as henpecked as most of us), and decided to send extra troops to help Chu Xia. Still, he was utterly defeated, and committed suicide.

Pride indeed goes before the fall, because our victories so easily inflate our ego, but as God warned King Sennacherib in Isaiah 10:15, "Does the axe raise himself above him who swings it?"

God used this pagan Assyrian king Sennacherib to chasten an unrepentant Israel, but instead of learning from his successes, the king's power went to his head, and he boasted that the world was his for the taking. He said of himself:

'By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures, like a mighty one I subdued their kings.' Isaiah 10:12b, 13

God's response was, "I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. For he says: 'By the strength of my hand I have done this..."

In 701 B.C., the angel put to death 185,000 of his soldiers. Sennacherib returned home, and was later killed by his own sons (see end note).

Over the past few centuries, one nation after another has dominated the globe or parts of it, amassed great wealth, and then succumbed to its own arrogance as it prospered at the great expense of others. And each in turn has fallen, for they have neglected two recurring themes of the Bible, which are 1) humility and 2) caring for the poor and oppressed. They have invariably become not humble but proud, and boasted, like the king of Assyria, that the world was theirs for the taking--and quite often claimed a divine mandate to do so.

I hope that those few nations who possess such power today will use their wealth for good and not evil, lest they face the fate of General Chu of China, or the king of Assyria, who tripped over their own pride.

F.B. Meyer, in "Our Daily Homily" (London, 1894) wrote:
We are only instruments of God's husbandry, implements through which He fulfils his plans (1 Cor. 3). It dates an era in the life, when we cease to work for God, and allow God to work through us.

Thoughts like these correct alike pride and despondency. Pride, because whatever is the result of our work, we can no more take the credit of it than the pen that wrote the "Paradise Lost" could take to itself the credit of its production. At the best, it is not you, but the grace of God that was with you. You are only a pipe in the organ, but the breath that educed your music was divine. And in despondency it is very helpful to remember that if we are nothing, God is all-sufficient, if we have failed, it is the more needful for Him to exert more power. Throw back the responsibility of all results on God. Only see to it that you are a polished shaft, and unblunted saw, and leave Him to do through you what He will.

Notes:
Sennacherib's Assyrian name was Sîn-ahhe-eriba ("moon god"). In his own accounts of his war with Judah, he does not mention losing 185,000 men, but rather claims it was a complete victory. But he was slain by his son or sons.
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Thursday, October 30, 2008

Fanning the Flames

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewod--because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram... If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." Isaiah 7:4-9

Desert Carnage 24/7 The first Gulf War brought the desert carnage into the world's living rooms, live, 24/7, and it was a gut wrenching experience as lives seemed to stop and everyone waited for moment by moment updates. But in China, we had no international TV and the news in the paper was 4 to 5 days late. So the whole war was pretty much over by the time I knew what was going on. But it saved a lot of wear on my nerves, and even today I limit how much news I watch. Informed is one thing; intimate involvement in what I cannot change is another.

Almost daily, I receive E-mails from people fearful that the elections and economic problems. And if I hung on the news as they did I might become fearful as well.

It is good to be informed, of course, but we humans were not designed to be this informed, where every disaster on the planet is brought right into our living rooms, from war in Afghanistan to a bus tumbling off a bridge in Peru. People even get news updates on their cell phones. Our fear is fanning the flames, and the professional end-timers claim the end of the world is upon us and tell us to sell everything and convert it to gold and hide in the mountains (but not before sending them a generous offering to help keep them on the air--which seems rather pointless if everything is ending).

I don't know if the world is ending or not. I don't know what is happening later this morning, much less tomorrow or next year. But even Jesus said that no one, including himself, knew the day or the hour of the end, and his counsel was to keep working, stewarding what we have, that His kingdom come his, will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We could also learn a lesson from old King Ahaz.

Stand Tall or Not at All It must have seemed the end of the world to Ahaz as he faced the attack of two powerful neighbors, but God said they were not blazing torches but "smoldering stubs of wood" soon to be extinguished. "Within sixty five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people." God told Ahaz to "Either stand firm in the faith or don't stand at all."

Smoldering stubs of wood are all around us today, but the powerful media, and our fears, are fanning them into a blaze. Some people fight, some run, and some just give up and hope for the best in the next life. I'm not sure what you should do, but however you are led--do it without fear. Stand tall or not at all, and make a difference. It may not be big, in the eternal scheme of things, but as Mother Theresa said, "It is only a drop in the ocean but if it were not there it would be missed."

In "Our Daily Homily" (London, 1894), F.B. Meyer wrote:
Take heed, and be quiet: fear not, neither let your heart be faint. Isaiah 7:4 (R.V.)

SERIOUS trouble seemed imminent. Two strong peoples were bearing down on Jerusalem, and the heart of the house of David was moved as the trees of the frest are moved with the wind. Fear like this demoralizes men and nations. It unfits them for wise and strong action. Hence the necessity that Isaiah should reassure Ahaz with these words.

They were not sent to him because of his righteousness or virtue, for he was one of the weakest and most idolatrous of the kings of David's line, but because his foes were acting in direct collision with the determined counsel and purpose of God. Such a coalition may be threatening you today; but it is vain for the breakers of the human pride and hate to attempt to intrude within limits which God has set around his chosen. Come, my soul, enter into your chamber and shut the door behind you. God will fight for you. Be not dismayed; God's purposes cannot be overthrown....
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Are You a Reluctant Leader?

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"I will make boys their officials; mere children will govern them...A man will seize one of his brothers at his father's home, and say, 'You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!'" Isaiah 3:4-6

Extroverted Hermit? My nickname until I left home was Hermit because I rarely spoke, even to my family, until High School. I'm not shy; I just prefer quiet. So it was a great surprise to me that by 12th grade I ended up in several leadership positions, both in school and in the community--not necessarily because I was well qualified but because others better qualified were unwilling.

Ironically, even today I feel awkward around crowds--and so of course I have ended up living for over 20 years in China, the most populated country on the planet. And every week I do what I feel most uncomfortable doing--speaking before large groups of people. Which leads me to think that if I can lead, anyone can lead--including you.

Like Moses, we can make excuses. "I can't make public speeches, Lord!" But also like Moses, who grew up in Pharaoh's court and so knew the lay of the land, you and I have a unique background to serve in ways that no one else can--even if we are reluctant, fearful, or just plain lazy. And the longer we serve, the more we have to offer--provided we keep learning, and don't just rest on our laurels.

Back in 1894, F.B.Meyter wrote in "Our Daily Homily" (see below), "Have you bread and clothing? account yourself God's steward".

Humbly Reluctant? Don't force others to accept second-rate leadership, to be "ruled by babes," as Isaiah put it, just because your own excuses, such as "I'm not qualified." "I don't have experience." "Others are much better than me." "They will not accept me...."

Humility, of course, is a virtue. It helps us keep ourselves in perspective. But it may also keep us on the sidelines when there is no one to go to bat. Humbly speaking, if see a need for leadership, and know one else will lead, you are probably qualified if you :


1) Have the background. Moses did not choose to be placed in a basket, rescued by an Egyptian princess, or grow up in Pharaoh's court--though Moses did choose to become arrogant, and murder an Egyptian--and even his subsequent flight into the desert helped prepare the hothead fugitive for the great role he was to reluctantly play). In the same way, you and I did not choose what country or family we were born in to. So who we are is not something to boast of but to give thanks for. (And perhaps you think your life is a mess, and nothing to be thankful for? Moses probably felt the same as a youth exiled to the desert; but our Father works all things together for the good (He never said they were all good; just that He works them together for the good). He shaped us, not we ourselves, to lead.

2) Are willing. Increasingly, people are couch potatoes, spending 4 or more hours a night watching TV. We are passive, not active, and passive people don't want to even serve, much less lead. If you are willing to lead, you're alraady far ahead of the game.

3) Have served. You may think, I'm a follower, not a leader, but that may well be the best qualification you have. The best leaders often rise from below, and once on top they remember where they came from. The best leaders are servant leaders, like the One who washed his followers' feet. If you have served, you can lead--even as an uneducated, hotheaded bumbling fishermen, Peter, learned to lead. [If, on the other hand, you have never served, you might want to ask yourself why).

If the need for leadership is there, and no one else will do it, and it should be done (not all good things are the best things), then congratulations! You are called to lead!

But in closing--balance! If you are neither serving nor leading, you've got a problem. But also, in this frenetic age some people take on too much and lose sight of God-given priorities. I remember the famous leader who said "If I serve God, God will take care of my family for me". God had taken care of his family. He'd given that family a father, and that father abandoned them. He gained the world's acclaim but his family suffered greatly.

When accepting a leadership role, make sure you are led, not driven.

F.B. Meyer, in "Our Daily Homily" (London, 1894) writes:
"I will not be an leader...make me not a ruler of the people. Isaiah 3:7
Generally men aspire to be rulers; the emolument and honour of the position are infintely attractive. But the prophet suposes a case in which the people gather round one who has saved a little more than the others from the general wreck, and entreat him to assume the responsibility by directing public affairs. But he refuses, not wishing to be involved in the disasters that have swept the fatherland. Isaiah cites this as the most complete evidence of the desperate situation brought about by wrongdoing.

It is the mark of great deterioration in a religious community when none are forthcoming to take responsibility, none who have power to lead. It is a grave sentence, "I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them." Never shrink from assuming any responsibility to which God and the church evidently call you. Is is an easier life to remain among the stunted undergrowth; but if God calls you to be a forest tree, with fast spreading branches, humbly accept the opportunity, and fill up its full measure. His grace is sufficient. Better to fail in a great endeavour than to live safely having evaded the divine call. Have you bread and clothing? account yourself God's steward....
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Bill Brown



Xiamen University
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Walk, Don't Sit, in the Light

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"O House of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord." Isaiah 2:5

"Don't just sit in the Light, Walk in it." (Bill B.)

"The world is a bridge. Pass over it but build no houses upon it." Muslim's "Thousand Sayings of Jesus."

Candlelit Bookstore When we first came to Xiamen China in 1988 there were almost no tall buildings, which was just as well because elevators would have never worked. Xiamen saved electricity by scheduling power outages at least one day a week, and two days in industrial areas like Huli. We bought candles by the case because we also had unexpected power outages several times a week, sometimes for hours at a time. I even carried candles shopping, because you never knew when you'd be caught in the dark in a windowless Chinese store. Several times I browsed the Foreign Languages Bookstore by candle light, and each time the Chinese marveled, "Wah! You carry candles!" Personally, I marveled that Chinese did not carry candles. If we expect to get much done, we need light--both without and within.

Why 'Jacob?' In this passage, Isaiah called Israel the "House of Jacob" because of what Meyer called their "duplicity and chicanery." Israel, God's chosen people, walked in darkness. Isaiah now called them to walk in the light.

'Walk, not sit, in the Light' In the late 16th century, in Agra (India), the emperor Akbar built the Gate of Victory (Buland Darwaza) in the Mughal capital of Fatenpur Sikri. Carved upon it is one of the Muslim's hundreds of Jesus' sayings: "The world is a bridge. Cross it but don't built your house upon it." In other words, life is a journey, not a way-station. Life is to explore and learn, not just to sit and wait. Jesus said "Thy will be done" (not talked about, but carried into action). There is a time, of course, for quiet meditation, and listening to that still, small voice within. Otherwise we've no idea where to walk, or when. But we are to walk in the Light, not just sit in it. Build no houses.'

'In the Light'. How do we know where to walk? Psalm 119:105 says "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet." We are led by our Father's Word, which we read. We are also led by our Father's Spirit, who reads us, and guides us.

The Bible speaks universal truths that apply to our specific needs, but the Spirit within us speaks specific truths appropriate for our immediate needs. As Christ said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." The Light within us will illumine the path ahead of us, but it is up to us to walk in it.

In "Our Daily Homily" (London, 1894),F.B. Meyer wrote, "To what a walk we are called! ...
"This invitation is primarily addressed to the house of Jacob. Sometimes the elect people are spoken of as Israel; but when Jacob is used, they are reminded of the vein of duplicity and chicanery which lies embedded in their nature. Such people need specially to 'walk in the light of the Lord,' until the brooding darkness of their nature is dispelled. You will never succeed in ridding yourself of the self-life, with its jealousies and impurities, until you have learnt to walk in the light of the Lord. Nothing is so hostile to disease and corruption as light and air; believe me, the one way by which we can become sound and strong is to abide in Christ, that He may abide in us.

"WALK INVOLVES STEPS We cannot enjoy the presence of God as a whole unless it governs and illumines every step. We must be perpetually looking into our Father's face and asking where to place the next step. We must have fellowship with Him in all things; then we, who have been darkness, will be light in the Lord, and as we walk in the light we shall become children of light."

Reference: Khalidi's "The Muslim Jesus: Sayings and Stories in Islamic Literature"

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Monday, October 27, 2008

Planting People for 100 Years

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." Psalms 1:3

"For one year, plant seeds; for ten years, plant trees; for 100 years, plant people." Chinese saying.

"I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." 1 Cor. 3:6 KJV

A couple weeks ago I visited Changxing and Jiangyin, between Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou, with Mr. Alan Smith, founder and director of the Livcom Awards, and while at both cities we we handed shovels with red ribbons to plant a memorial tree. It was a nice change--planting a tree instead of being up a tree.

Chinese love trees, and have long had many proverbs about them. For example, they say we plant flowers for this generation but trees as shade for the next generation. But my favorite quote is engraved on a large rock beside Furong Lake on Xiamen University: "For 1 year, plant a seed; for 10 years, plant a tree; for 100 years plant people."

Chinese love planting trees. Changxing, a county near Shanghai entering the 2008 Livcom Awards in Dongguang, plants almost 2 million trees per year, 1/3 of them by volunteers. But China's most ambitious project is the "Great Green Wall"...

Great Green Wall Our family saw the Great Green Wall in 1994, while driving through the Gobi Desert during our 40,000 km. drive to Tibet and back. The largest ecological project in history, this $8 billion 2,800 mile 9 million acre network of forest belts is being built to stop expansion of the Gobi Desert, which grows about 950 square miles per year (2/3 the size of Rhode Island!) and is now within 150 miles of Beijing.

The Great Green Wall started in 1978 and by 2010 should stretch from Beijing to Mongolia.
It is 775 to 1,755 feet wide, with a sand fence, checkerboard patterns of vegetation, and a 6-foot-wide gravel platform.

Will it work? Some experts say no, but the U.S.' 100-mile strip of native trees built in the 1930s helped heal the Dust Bowl, reducing airborne soil 60% (though China's desert is much more arid than America's midwest). At least the Chinese are not ignoring the problem, but looking ahead.
Looking Back; Looking Ahead Churchill said "the farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see... " If that is true, it might explain why Chinese are planting trees for a project that won't be finished until 2050. Chinese have a lot of history behind them. In China, everything is ancient--including the sauce in a family wok...

Ancient Sauce A famous Xiamen University artist, Tang Shaoyun, told me that in Sichuan they never wash their woks, so that over the years the residue accumulates, adding a rich flavor to everything cooked in them. Professor Tang said one family in Sichuan has not washed their wok for over 200 years. He laughed and said, "Their sauce is older than your country!"

Churchill had a point when he said that looking back can help us look ahead, because if you study history it does seem that we keep making the same mistakes over and over. This seems especially true as American elections approach and we hear candidates on both sides make the same speeches and promises we heard eight years ago and two decades ago.

But rather than just allow the past to give us a window upon the future, we'd be better to allow it to instruct our present. The past is water under the bridge, and today is the only time we have to write the future, and we write the future with people.

The biggest investment in the future is people, and while we may not actually "plant" many people (I suppose my two sons counts as two I've planted), we most certainly have the potential to either nurture or harm every person we come in contact with. It is sobering to consider how our words and actions towards people today can have compound affects upon many people and generations to come.

Do we build up or tear down? Are we nourishing or destroying?

Transplanting People. While we may not "plant" many people, we can, by our actions, have such a strong influence that we may actually lift some people out of poor, barren soil and replant them besides streams of living water. How many lives have you changed for the better?

Each person we meet today is an opportunity to nourish, plant or transplant a tree for the future. So grab your spade with the red ribbon and your watering bucket and be prepared. But first make sure you yourself are well planted, in rich soil. Otherwise it is just the blind planting the blind.
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Sunday, October 26, 2008

Three Magic Words--You are God?

Bill Brown Xiamen University

"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:5

"You are God," ("Three Magic Words," a book by U.S. Andersen, printed with cooperation of Thomas Nelson & Sons, Bible publishers).

During the heat of battle on a Naval ship in World War II, Andersen, a gunnery officer, suddenly realized that evil is tan illusion and sin is error. I suspect that insight may have put a damper on his military career if at that point he quit firing at the illusory enemy.

After a varied career Andersen became a metaphysical self-help author, and one of his many books was "Three Magic Words." It took him over 300 pages to tell us those three magic words, which we find on page 313 are: "You are God." There is nothing but you.

What interests me is that the book was reprinted with the cooperation of "the world's largest publishers of English Bibles, Thomas Nelson and Sons. They've been printing Bibles since 1798, so I'm sure they know a lot more about the Bible than I do--unless I really am God and have just forgotten a lot.

This is going to be a rather long devotion today--so here is a brief summary for those on the go:
1. If God is my Father, does that make me God?
2. Heirs (God'sDNA) inheritance and timing.
3. Reigning on High and Serving on Low
4. God's Curriculum
But first, an excerpt from a book by a favorite author, Adrian Plass. (www.adrianplass.com)
Moving Mountains and Paper Clips (from Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, Age 37 3/4").

Monday January 6th "Went into the Christian bookshop on my way home from work tonight.
"All those books!
"Gerald says Christian paperbacks are like Chinese meals. Very satisfying at the time, but it's not long before you want another one."
"Bought a really great book about faith this time, though. It's called 'Goodness gracious--in God's name, what on Earth are we doing for Heaven's sake?'
"A very witty title I feel.
"It's all about how Christians should be able to move mountains by faith, if they are really tuned into God.
"Very inspiring.
"Waited 'till there was no-one around, then practised with a paper-clip. Put it on my desk and stared at it, willing it to move. Nothing! Tried commanding it in a loud voice.
"Gerald came in just then, and said, 'What's all the shouting about, Dad?'
"Could hardly tell him I was shouting orders at a paper-clip.
"Said I was practising voice-projection.
"He said, 'What for?;
"I said, 'I don't know.' Felt really stupid."

Tuesday January 7th. "... Had another go with the paper-clip tonight. I really took authority over it. Couldn't get it to budge.
"Told God I'd give up anything he wanted, if he would just make it move half an inch.
"Nothing!
"All rather worrying really. If you only need faith the size of a mustard seen to move a mountain, what hope is there for me when I can't even get a paper-clip to do what it's told!"

Wednesday January 8th. "...Told Anne later that I'd heard about a man who tried to move a paper-clip by faith and couldn't do it. She yawned and said, 'Well, you always get your lunatic fringe, don't you!"

Thursday January 9th "Study-group tonight....Forgot about the paper-clip-business for almost an hour, quite distracted by thinking about Jesus......"

Saturday January 11th. "Got up early to have a last go at that blasted paper-clip. Ended up hissing viciously at it, trying not to wake everybody up. When I gave up and opened the door, I found Anne and Gerald listening outside in their night-closes, and looking quite anxious.
"Anne said, 'Darling, why did you tell that paper-clip you'd straighten it out if it didn't soon get its damned act together?'

1. If God is my Father, Does That Make me God? I marvel that in Matthew 6:9, Jesus said, "Pray then this way, 'Our Father who are in heaven..." Jesus clearly taught that not only is God his father but ours as well. In Ephesians 1:4 it says that He chose us even before the creation of the earth to be his. But does that make me God?

God's DNA Shannon and Matthew are my sons, but not me--though they are wired with my DNA (which may or may not be a blessing for them). Similarly, we are God's children, but we are not God--though we are wired with God's DNA. First, He breathed the breath of life into us in the Garden. His breath is our breath. His life is our life! When we are conceived, that life in our first single cell comes from Him! And he programmed the amazingly intricate DNA that dictates how we develop. So we are most definitely His children--but we are not Him.

As children of the Creator we all live vastly beneath our potential. Christ said we could do greater things than him, but I cannot even by taking thought move a paper clip at the breakfast table, much less walk on water, stop my thumb from hurting when I pound it with a hammer, or keep from getting angry when cut off by a Darwinian Driver in China.

I am indeed God's child, but I am just that--a child. And I won't receive my inheritance until I graduate from this brief but very meaningful life.

2. Heirs, inheritance and timing. Paul wrote,"If we are his children, we are also God's heirs. If we share in Christ's suffering in order to share his glory, we are heirs together with him." Romans 8:17 God's Word Translation (1995)

Shannon and Matthew are my sons and will inherit all I have (not much, I'm afraid!), but not before they've learned to stand on their own. They'll have to steward well what I've already given them before I give them more because I want them to multiply their inheritance, not squander it like the prodigal in a far land.

A Return on God's Investment Christ taught that the Kingdom of Heaven is God's investment in us and He expects a return on his investment. In Matthew 25:23, "Jesus said to the faithful servant, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things!" As for the servant who just buried his talent, Jesus called him "wicked", and even the little he had was taken away from him.

5, 2 and 1 It is interesting that one servant was given 5 talents, another 2, and the laziest was given one. The Master obviously knew his servants. He knows us as well. He has invested in each of us, and given us abilities commensurate with that trust. "To him who has much, more will be given; too him who has little, even the little he has will be taken away!" That is a hard saying, but life is tough--at least until we graduate.

Just yesterday I read that Robert Schuller removed his son from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral, and now the sermons will be preached by guest speakers--strangers, as opposed to his own son. I've no idea if Schuller was right or wrong in doing this; fortunately, I've no doubt that my own Father has perfect timing and will neither give me my inheritance too early nor take it away unjustly.

3. Reigning on High and Serving on Low
Many Christians sing about "crowns", and "reigning on high," but we will never reign on high until we learn to "serve on low." We will never rule until we've learned the rules. The problem is we don't want to serve but be served. We want Instant Enlightenment and Gratuitous Godhood.
Adam was obviously created with great power and knowledge if he could take dominion over the entire planet, and name every creature. And in time humanity would gave grown in knowledge and wisdom, but eating from the fruit of knowledge was like cheating on the exam, or reading the Cliff-Notes of Life, or going to the back of the book to see how the mystery ends. We were expelled from full-time school in Eden to engage in work-study, laboring upon earth until we've earned the knowledge we tried to steal in Eden.

4. God's Curriculum
This life is our opportunity to learn God's ways, which are justice, love, and truth. But He does not force us to learn. We can play hooky all we want--but if we don't learn, we won't inherit.
On Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008, at Xiamen International Christian Fellowship, Lindell T. remarked that Skinner discovered that instant reward or punishment can condition people to obey but then we would be no more than robots. God has chosen instead to give us free will, and threescore and ten years in which to exercise it as we work through life's curriculum, which does have principles but they are, as L.T. note, "predicatable but not mechanical," lest we attempt to manipulate God with them (as, indeed, is done with magic and sorcery).

Lindell noted, for example, the Biblical proverb "diligent hands shall prosper." Do diligent people always prosper? Of course not, but the proverb is not illusrating a "truth" per se but a principle. The generally holds true but not always, in part because our actions, on this earth, are influenced by others' actions as well.
While we all live far below our God-given potential, that potential will not be fully realized until we receive our inheritance after graduation.

Quantum Uncertainty Even scientists have reached a dead end in trying to understand and manipulate "reality." The predictable rules of comfortable materialism cease below the atomic level, where reality dissolves into a dizzying dance of information-encoded energy that literally flashes in and out of existence millions of times a second. There is no certainty, only probability. The only thing I am fairly certain of (I think) is that I am not the one who keeps the countless elecrons in my body in orbit.

As I type, it is hard to imagine that my hand is by far empty space, the atoms within it farther apart, relatively speaking, than the earth is from the sun. If I cannot even move a paper clip by thought, or mentally add a few hairs to my head or inch to my height (Matthew 6:27), how can I keep the atoms within me in their orbits?

While even scientists cannot fathom ultimate reality, much less manipulate it, or understand the timeless singularity that spawned the Big Bang (and understand where that timeless Singularity is now, since we are now in time), we can understand the principles of this life, and those principles (order, justice, love) reflect the Creator behind the reality.

CREATED FOR GOOD WORKS Today I read a blog of a scientist/metaphysician who wrote that all is perfect as it is and we need do nothing. There are no emergencies, no problems--nothing at all to worry about. He also noted that he is an authority because he has a grad degree in science. How did he get that degree? Did he skip all his classes and the university gave him a degree anyway because he already possessed all knowledge?

I appreciate what the man is trying to say. At least he is considering the issues. Most people don't even get this far. But to take the attitude that we need do nothing in this life, that we are already God, is to hide our talent in the ground until the master returns.

I am not God, but I am his child, and that isn't shabby! And after I've learned from this school of life, and performed the good works that he created me to do, I will graduate.

And the first thing I'm going to do after graduation is to race Adrian Plass in moving a paper clip across the kitchen table.

Brief Bio of Uell Stanley Andersen
Norwegian-American Uell Stanley Andersen, a professional football player and then a self-help author in the 1950s and 1960s, also spent time wild-catting for oil, running an advertising firm, working at the Columbia Sawmill, and serving as a gunnery officer on a destroyer escort where, in World War II, in the heat of battle, he received the enlightening thought that Evil was nonexistent, sin is just error, and we are all God.

U. S. Andersen was influenced by Mary Baker Eddy, Edgar Cayce, Emmanuel Swedenborg, Scottish spiritualist Daniel Dunglas Home, philosopher Jacob Boehme, William Blake and Edward Carpenter. His publications
* The Key to Power and Personal Peace (1954)
* Secret of Secrets (1958)
* Success-Cybernetics: Practical Applications of Human-Cybernetics (1970)
* Three Magic Words (1972)
* Magic in Your Mind (1975)
* Greatest Power in the Universe (1976)
* The Secret Power of the Pyramids (1977)


www.amoymagic.com

Friday, October 24, 2008

Deliver the Promises or Else

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked...But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

"He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." Psalms 1:1-3

A comedian said, "All right, God! We know you're up there and we've got you cornered! Come out with your hands up and your promises out!"

The Book of Psalms starts with a big promise -- that "Whatever he does shall prosper." But before we "name it and claim it," as many are wont to do, we ought to note that almost all Biblical promises, including this one, come with a big "if" or "but."

Christian mantras and magic formulas like the so-called Prayer of Jabez are also popular nowadays. "Repeat Jabez prayer daily and God has to answer," it is claimed. But Jabez was blessed not just because he prayed for blessings but also because he was "more righteous" than his brothers. That was a big "because."

Mp3 Prayers sold online also guarantee wealth. The websites say that if you repeat these prayers while playing them in your car on the way to work, God has to answer them because it's in the Bible. These claims also ignore the many "ifs" and "buts" that accompany those promises.

In Psalm 1, the Psalmist is saying that those who listen to wicked or foolish advice will fail, but (and it is a bit "but"), those who delight in the Lord's law and meditate on it day and night will prosper.

I don't think this means that those who just meditate day and night prosper. The point was that, if we delight in God's wisdom and are led by it, day and night, we will prosper.

Meditate. There is a difference between casually thinking about something and meditating on it. When we meditate on it, we think about its meaning, and how it applies to us today. We root ourselves in the Word, as a tree is rooted in water.

Stream, not Pond. The Psalmist also said the tree is nourished not by ponds but by streams. Ponds are still, and can stagnate. Streams, flow, continually refreshed with new supplies of water from higher up. We too need daily fresh wisdom from higher up to face new circumstances. Then we can enjoy a lasting prosperity like the tree with the "leaf that does not wither."

* * * * * *
F.B. Meyer, in "Our Daily Homily" (London, Morgan and Scott, 1894; reprinted today by Zondervan as "Great Verses Through the Bible"), wrote of Psalm 1:3, "Whose leaf does not wither."

"If a man abide not in Me," said our Lord, "he is cast forth as a branch,and is withered." The same thought is here. Thrust down your rootlets to the oozy river bed, and there is no doubt about your continuing earnest, petient, God-filled. The sun of temptation may strike you with sword-like beams, but you will have a source of supply which they cannot exhaust. The secret of an unwithering beauty is in the Word of God, delighted in and meditated upon day and night. And what is the Word of God, but the life of God translated into human speech?

Wean yourself from all beside, and learn to feed on God. Withdraw your rootlets from men and things, and let them travel to the river of God, which is full of water. Close other doors, and open those that lead out on to the terrace, whence you may behold the far-spread landscape of what He is, and says, and is willing to be to us all.

Note that word meditate. The root must lie in contact with the stream, and the soul must steep itself in the Word of God. We must give the truth time to enter and pervade our souls. We must have retreats, shut away from the rush of life, up and down the glades of which we may tread. These retreats are oftener found within the soul than without. Just as in the temple of old, there was Solomon's porch, where Jesus walked, so in the temple within there are closes and cloisters, where we may commune with our heart, and be still.
www.amoymagic.com

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Preach--with words, if necessary

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"The Preacher searched to find just the right words, and all he wrote was upright and true." Ecclesiastes 12:10

"Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words." St. Francis

"Silence is a true friend that never betrays." Confucius

I have six hours of lectures today but I spent much longer than six hours preparing what to say, and just as importantly, what not to say. I know I have to 1) open with something to get their undivided attention. 2) Make my points clear, simple and memorable. And 3) Leave my audience with a practical lesson. And it's the same each time I communicate, whether with farmers in Anxi or MBA students--as I learned at Harvard Business School in 2007.

Xiamen University MBA Center sent some of us to Harvard Business's Executive Training, and we sat in on classes with Harvard MBA students. These are smart folks! But though the Harvard MBA professors cover a lot of ground in a lecture, they work hard in preparing their lessons to be sure that they get across well three, at the most four, key ideas ("take aways," they call them--meaning these are the ideas they want the students to grasp, remember and take away with them). Even Harvard MBA students, for all their brains, are only capable of grasping so much, so fast, and the professors burn the midnight oil to make sure they choose just the right topics and words, to get the key lessons across.

The first of Communication Theory's 7 steps is "Think" (decide what to communicate), and then decide "how" to do it--but how often do we just open our mouths, talk away, and hope that somewhere in the flood of words our listener can catch a bit of meaning?

* * * *
"The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, and there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence. Yet, government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words." David McIntosh.
* * * * * *
The Best Communicator. I admire how Christ communicated so clearly with simple parables that even simple fishermen could grasp. But even better was the Message of his Father. He grabbed the Jews' attention by sending Christ not as a King but as a poor man's son, born not in a Christmas-like manger but a place where cows were fed--noisy, smelly. The child grew up poor, learned the hard job of being a carpenter, and only at 30, after he'd learned enough of life to know how to communicate clearly, did he start preaching. And then he died, killed not by the Romans or the heathen but by his own people.

His brief life of 33 years gave rise to great and complex religions, and learned schools of theology--so learned that we easily forget the simplicity of the Message that was communicated so clearly to us by the Master Communicator--that our Father loved us enough to be one of us, and to show us the Way back to Him.

A Danish Proverb says, "Life is God's gift to me. What I do with it is my gift to God." But what I do with my life is not just a gift to God but the only real message I'll ever preach, because the best sermons are not from lips but lives.

I need to go prepare the words for my lecture today. I wonder what my life will communicate? My students might be better off if I put into practice the advice of Abraham Lincoln, "Be silent and be thought a fool. Open your mouth and remove all doubt."

F.B. Meyer, "Our Daily Homily" (London, 1894) wrote of today's verse:
"The wise preacher or teacher is not content with merely teaching the people knowledge, he will ponder and seek out and set in order the lessons of divine wisdom; and when these are settled, he will go on to find out acceptable words.... Not that we are to make beauty of language an object in itself; but having conceived high and holy thought we should give them a worthy expression, so that the Royal word may ride forth in a becoming equipage....

"...Remember, however, that the words of the wise are as goads and nails. They must have points, sometimes to prick to duty, at other times to stick fast in the memory. In every sermon or lesson there should be points. To arrest and compel attention is more important than to please the ear. Do not refine and beautify it to such an extent that there may be nothing left to stir the conscience and lacerate the heart.

"Words that best fit the enunciation of God's truth are given from the One Shepherd. We are enriched by Him, not only in all knowledge but in all utterance. He who made the mouth can put his words into the mouth. Ask Him to speak to you, that you may speak in accents borrowed from his tone; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you."

www.amoymagic.com

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Want Success? Wash Those Dishes Well!

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again." Ecclesiastes 11:1

"Sow your seed in the morning, and in evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well." Ecclesiastes 11:6

Foreigners in Xiamen were excited when they started digging the foundations for our first international hotel, which is now the Xiamen Millennium Harbourview Hotel. One of the things we looked forward to was some place that would serve ice water! (Chinese drink hot water; it's bad enough being in hot water without drinking it too).

We now have dozens of fine hotels, but Millennium remains my favorite because of downtown location, (close to Zhongshan Rd. shopping, and Gulangyu Ferry), and the food (try their daily noodles from pasta magician Dai Kan Fai!). But what I most appreciate is the attitude and service, which is because of exception training, from top management on down to kitchen staff.

Even a dish washer in his 50s was given several weeks training--not just on how to wash dishes but how to be part of the Millennium Harbourview team. And speaking of dishwashers, this reminds me of a lowly dishwasher in New York who became the first manager of one of the greatest hotels in the world! You have probably read the embellished version on the internet, but embelling this tale is like "drawing legs on a snake" (a Chinese saying for adding unnecessary detail) because the truth is even better than the urban legend.

True Story--from Dishwasher to First Manager of Waldorf Hotel
On one night around 1891, a couple tried to get a room in a small hotel in Philadelphia. The young man at the desk, Mr. Boldt, said, "I"m sorry, but the hotel is full, but you can have my room."

The man who took Boldt's room was William Aldorf Astor, and he built the prestigious Waldorf Hotel and asked George C. Boldt to be its first manager!

The urban legend makes Boldt out to be a poor clerk of a small hotel, and the Astor's to be an elderly couple, when it fact Astor was 43 and Boldt was 40. And the small hotel was a chic inn that appealed to elite clientele with its exceptional service and cuisine. But more amazing than the urban legend is how Boldt, a penniless immigrant came to own the Bellevue!

Wash Those Dishes Well! In the 1860s,Boldt arrived almost broke in New York and got a job as a dishwasher at the Merchants Exchange Hotel. He then tried to find a better paying job in Texas, but returned to New York with even less money than before, and got another kitchen job. But Boldt worked so hard in the kitchen that he was promoted to cashier, and then hired to be manager of an upstate New York hotel.

Boldt then developed the Bellevue Hotel, which Boldt's wife helped renovate to appeal to upper class women and elite clientele. A couple of years after Astor and his wife stayed at the Bellevue, Astor built the Waldorf hotel, and being a good businessman, I'm sure he chose Boldt to be his first manager not simply because he gave up his room but because of the qualities that enabled him to rise from humble dishwasher to wealthy hotelier.

The moral, "If you're washing dishes, wash them well!"

Sowing in the Morning In Ecclesiastes 11:6, Solomon said to sow seed in the morning, and to not be idle in the evening, for one never knows what will succeed. I'm sure George C. Boldt, who was as courteous to an elderly couple trying to escape the rain as he was to a corporate CEO, would have imagined the consequeces of that night. And we, too, cannot imagine the longterm results of what we do today. But if there is one universal rule in life, it seems to be "What we sow we shall reap."

So what to sow, and where? Each day our opportunities and fields are different. The only sure-fire path to eventual success is to have a core set of values, stick to them, and do the best we can each day.

Thread of Success. In closing, a story closer to home. In the early 90s I had a female MBA student (I'll call her Miss Zhang) who scored 100 on all 8 of the tests I gave in four courses. She was also good at sports, and a respected student leader. I asked Miss Zhang what drove her and she said, "My parents were just poor teachers, but they told me from the time I was small that if I did the best I could on small things, later I might be able to do bigger things, but if I did small things badly, I'd never do greater things. So I always do the best I can at everything I do."

Thread of Failure. In the same class was another youth, Mr. Lin, who was always late to class, did not do his homework, even cheated on the test. He did not care because back then graduation was almost automatic in Chinese universities (though not so today!). He told me, "70 is as good as 100. It's passing. Besides, it doesn't matter what I do because I have no hope. I can't choose my job. I am assigned where to work."

I said, "That's true, but you can always just pay your work unit several thousand Yuan, be released, and go to work for a private company."

"But then I would not have any security!" he complained!

Lin's parents, by the way, worked in a government office in Xiamen, and as he was growing up he had learned from his parents that the way to make it in life was guanxi (relationships) and luck.

Miss Zhang graduated, paid several thousand to her danwei (work unit), went to work for a private firm, and after many years slowly worked her way up and out--to New York, and Hong Kong. Mr. Lin is probably still in a Xiamen government office moaning, "I have no hope."

There does seem to be, of course, some element of luck in life. But as someone once said, "The harder you work, the luckier you are."

Cast your bread upon the waters. Give of yourself to others, whether it be money or time or a job well done, whether in the classroom or the workplace or the hotel kitchen washing dishes, and it will be given to you.

Xiamen Millennium Harbourview Official Site

www.amoymagic.com

Monday, October 20, 2008

Blunt Axes and Whetstones

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success." Ecclesiastes 10:10

"The artisan who would do his work well must first sharpen his tools." Confucius.

"Surely more work is done by a blunt edge and divine power, than by a sharp edge and little power." F.B. Meyer, 1894 (below)

When I was ten my father gave me a beautiful little cherry wood handled axe and a whetstone and told me to help clear a couple of acres of woods to build a house. I was so excited that I just tossed the whetstone aside and went at it. It was fun--for about five minutes. A blunt axe doesn't go very far very fast. After about half an hour, I gave up. After a bit of a rest, and washing the dirt out of the blisters on my hand, I sat down to the tedious, boring job of sharpening the axe. After that I made some real progress, but it wasn't fun anymore because the blisters hurt, even with gloves on.

A few days later I tried it again, but this time I first sharpened the axe--and this time it went much faster, and I did not get more blisters. And where before I saw axe sharpening as a boring, tedious job, I began to take delight in seeing how fine I could get the edge, and how quickly it could chop through trees. That lesson stood me in good stead years later, when in my senior year of high school I was captain of Florida's state-winning "forestry team." We had to demonstrate many skills, one of which was using a two-person saw. Our saw was so sharp it could split a water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen. We won, and we enjoyed dinner with the governor and special guests Miss Forestry and Miss Universe. It was quite an experience for a 17-year-old from a small town of 15,000 people. It taught me the power of dreaming, and vision--and that if you don't first sharpen your tools a vision is just a daydream.

Centuries before Confucius said that good artisans needed sharp tools, Solomon admitted that extra strength and skill could make up for a dull axe--but how much better to spend a little time first sharpening ones tools!

Honing our Life Skills It is the the same with life. In America we so often have a lottery mentality. We want to make it big without first paying a price, or preparing. And many youth are so anxious to get out into the "real world" that they drop out of college, certain they're going to make it big in music, sports or acting. Don't get me wrong--I'm all for dreams! We only go around twice, so let's make this time around count! But after we build castles in the air we should also put some solid foundations beneath them.

The World is my Whetstone Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God ordained for us long before we born. We were each given different temperaments, inclinations, and abilities to perform the unique tasks to which He has called us. And our life is the whetstone upon which we are sharpened.

Don't just live life on the edge; be that edge--and be a sharp one. It's easier on you, and it's easier on whatever you're hacking at.

At the end I add a small passage about the important of sharp tools. It was written by a Chinese in Fujian in the 1850s. But first, here is F.B. Meyer's take on Ecclesiastes 10:10 from "Our Daily Homily" (Morgan and Scott, London, 1894; modern reprints are called "Great Verses Through the Bible). My favorite line is "Surely more work is done by a blunt edge and divine power, than by a sharp edge and little power."

F.B. Meyer ("Our Daily Homily")
"If one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength." Ecclesiastes 10:10

If this is true, as we know it is, may we not often use it as an appeal to God? There are times with all who work for God, when they are blunt, through much usage. The brain is blunt, and cannot think. The heart is blunt, and cannot feel. The voice is blunt, and has lost its ringing note. How often the evangelist, towards the end of a series of services, feels blunt! Sometimes also there are private sorrows, of which we cannot speak, which take off the edge. At all such times let us turn to God and say, "Put in more strength. Let thy power be magnified in my weakness. Give more grace, so that thy word shall not suffer." I suppose Paul meant this when he said that he gloried in infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon him. Surely more work is done by a blunt edge and divine power, than by a sharp edge and little power.

This, however, does not justify us in seeking to be blunt. And when we are conscious that the edge is going off, it becomes us to seek a fresh whetting. The time is not lost in the harvest-field when the reapers whet their scythes with musical tinkle. A day in the country or a week by the seaside are very pleasant whetstones. Solomon says that friendship, the face of a friend, will sharpen a blunt edge, and full often we have been sharpened and quickened by seasons of holy fellowship. But after all, nothing gives us such a keen edge as the devotional perusal of the divine Word. Let us appropriate the words of the prophet, and eachy one ask to be made a new sharp threshing-instrument having teeth, that we may thresh the mountains, and make them small, and give our God as little anxiety as possible.

From (Manual for Chinese seven-stringed zither, published in Fujian by Chu Feng-chieh in 1855).
"One must rely on tools. It is imperative that before the work begins, the tools be made sharp. Otherwise how can one's aims be achieved? Only then can excellent work be done.
Modern watches from England, and other things, are made with such surpassing craftsmanship that nothing could be added, and what is the reason? Sharp tools of quality (are used). If this sharpening of the tools is ignored, then it will not matter how good a carpenter one employs, he still will not be able to exercise his abilities."
Source: http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~jrb/chin/

www.amoymagic.com

Why Lao Tzu was wrong about the 1000 miles

"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." Ecclesiastes 9:11

"The journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step." Lao Tzu.

"Lao Tzu was wrong." Bill Brown

Solomon was complaining about life's unfairness when he wrote this, but in 1895 F.B. Meyer in "Our Daily Homily" interpreted it in the light of Paul's assertion that even the weak can win the race when we rely on His strength and not our own. But there is a third way to look at this.

Solomon was of course right. Life is sometimes not fair. But Paul and F.B. Meyer were also right. Not all things are good, but our Father can work all things for the good of those who trust Him. We can win, regardless of our weakness, when we are running the race in His strength and, just as importantly, in the right direction.

Why Lao Zi was wrong. Lao Tzu said a journey begins with the first step--but what if the first step is in the wrong direction?

I like to joke that I'm greater than Columbus because he tried and failed to find a shortcut to Marco Polo's fabled port of Zayton (Quanzhou), but I've made it there dozens of times! Of course, it is only 70 miles north of my home of Xiamen, so I could walk it if I had to. But what if I began my 70 mile journey by walking south? The earth is round so I might by some miracle make it anyway, but it would be a lot smarter to begin my journey not with the first step but deciding upon a destination and then making sure I'm headed in the right direction. And once I've set off-never quitting until I either reach the destination or am led clearly to change tracks.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 speaks to me of persistence. The swift and mighty sometimes lose the races and battles not because life is unfair but because they think too highly of themselves, or too little of the opponent, or take on more than they can chew in one bite. God may well have given us a goal but He also gave us common sense.

Sunzi, in his "Art of War," said "Know yourself and know your enemy and you can fight 1000 battles without fear of defeat." To consider your limitations is not to limit God but to assess that He has created us with abilities and limitations. "How do you eat an elephant?" One bite at a time--unless God has gifted you with a very large mouth.

But having said that, He may very well be calling us to eat an elephant. If so, we'd better buckle down, loosen our belt, and start eating--and not quit until we've cleaned all our elephant off the plate.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 also reminds me that, even with God's strength, we must use our brains and common sense and make sure that we 1) head in the right direction, 2) use the strength and skills we are uniquely gifted with, and 3) never quit.

Before we look at Meyer, here's a story from my book "Discover Gulangyu." (taken from a story by Reverend John MacGowan, of the Amoy Mission, in 1913):

Eastern Tortoise, Western Hare

“The Chinese as a race are on the whole a robust and healthy people. I have no doubt in my` own mind that this is largely due to the fact that they have to work for their living…One is surprised in traveling through China at the tireless activity of this people, and I have often wondered how they have been able to endure the wear and tear of successive ages and to be the strong and sturdy people that they are to-day. The simple food they are compelled to live upon, and the health-giving force of daily labor have had the effect of producing a race of people that seem to have all the elements of strength and endurance wrought into the very fiber of their lives.

“On one occasion a race had been arranged for between two cutters —one managed by an English crew and the other by ordinary Chinese boatmen. The former were men who had been selected with great care from a British man-of-war, whilst the others were men who were daily getting their living by rowing passengers across a broad river. The contest was a peculiar one, for, it was meant to be a test of the powers of endurance of the men of the East and the West, and so it was decided that the course should extend to a large village in the interior nearly twenty miles distant.

“Looking at the crews as they sat in their boats waiting for the signal to start, one felt that there could not be the least doubt as to which would be the winner. The bluejackets [British] in their well-known uniform looked the very picture of strength. They were big, brawny men, with thews and muscles that seemed to be made of iron. These men could never tire, one thought, and there was a proud and confident look on their faces that made one feel that there was no doubt in their hearts as to who should gain the victory.

“The Chinamen, on the other hand, with the careless, indolent way in which they are accustomed to hold themselves, gave on the impression that they could never hold out to the end of the journey.

“They had never been made to sit upright, and they lounged on their seats as though the whole thing were a vast joke. There was an amused smile on their faces, and they were, no doubt, tickled at the idea that they were going to compete with the famous English, whose deeds of prowess had often been exhibited, to the detriment of their Empire.

“At last the signal was given, and away the boats started on their long race. The English got away with a swing, and soon they were far ahead of their Chinese competitors, who continued to row with an even, steady pull upon their oars as though they were quite unconcerned at the rapid progress that the English were making ahead of them.

The beat and the rhythm of the sounds that came from their boat never quickened, nor was there any excitement in the faces of the men, but with a calmness and serenity typical of the East they kept on with their measured strokes, apparently indifferent whether they won or not.
“By the time that they had gone ten miles the English crew began to show signs of distress.

Their faces were flushed, and their clothes were wet with perspiration, whilst the vigorous swing and dip of their oars with which they had begun the race had lost their naturalness, and were not the result of a strained effort that had begun to feel the stress that was laid upon their powers. The Chinese, on the other hand, seemed absolutely unchanged from what they were when they first started. There was no sign of distress on the faces of any one of them, and their pull was steady and regular as though the men were pieces of machinery that were being moved by some invisible force that brought no fatigue upon the rowers.

“In the meanwhile the boats were drawing nearer to each other, apparently without any special effort on the part of the Chinese, and finally the latter took the lead and easily came in victors without any signs of strain or fatigue such as were seen in the English crew when the long, exhaustive race was ended.

“The Chinese are a strong, sturdy race, with vast physical powers, which have enabled them to successfully endure the wear and tear of constant labor for countless ages. The many days of relaxation that ease the working-men in England are entirely unknown in China. As a Sunday does not exist in that country, they cannot claim the rest of one day in seven which that Christian holiday gives to men in England. There are, indeed, a half dozen or so festivals during the year when people, by universal custom, drop their work and take a holiday, but beyond these labor is continued on every other day in the year…

“…But whilst it is perfectly true that the nation on the whole are a healthy, vigorous people, and show no signs of decay in consequence of the incessant toil which every class of worker willingly carries on until old age creeps over him and compels him to take life more easily, it is equally the fact that there is a very considerable amount of sickness to be found existing in any district through which one may be traveling. The casual passer-by would never discover this, for in the bearing of pain and disease the Chinaman is a hero who shows the fiber of which he is made by the quiet endurance with which he suffers and dies if needs be without revealing the agonies that may have made life a torture to him.”

And now.... F.B. Meyer, "Our Daily Homily" (Morgan & Scott, 1894).
The race is not to the swift, not the battle to the strong. Eccles. 9:11

This is true in another sense than the Preacher meant. His conclusion was that time and chance happen to all alike in the race and battle of life. To us it means that God comes to those who are not swift, but, like Mephibosheth, lame on both feet, and gives them the prize which they could not win; that He bends over those who are not strong, and gives them the victory which they could not procure. The Gospel is full of promise to younger sons, bruised reeds, lame and helpless souls, to babes and sucklings, to those that have no might; whilst it hides its secrets from the wise and prudent, and withholds its rewards from the swift and strong.

YOU ARE NOT SWIFT. Long ago the spring was taken from your life, and the elasticity form your feet. For many years you have lain by the Beautiful Gate, seeing the happy souls pass to the inner shrine, and coming out entranced. You have been content to live on their alms. But better things are in store. He who knows your case will even now give you perfect soundness. Though you cannot win the prize of your high calling by running, it shall be yours by receiving and taking. It is a fight; and though you have not legs you have surely hands.

YOU ARE NOT STRONG But it is well. Many of us are too strong for God. He has to weaken us by touching the sinew of your thigh. When Jacob went from fighting to clinging, he became a prince with God. Isaiah left it on record that God gives power to the faint, and increases might to those who have no power. And the great Apostle of the Gentiles gloried in his infirmities, because he had discovered that when he was weak then he was strong, since the power of Christ was only perfected in weakness.


Xiamen University
www.amoymagic.com

Sunday, October 19, 2008

The Power of a King's Word

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"The King's word has power." Ecclesiastes 8:4

"He who rules by moral force is like the pole star, which remains in place while all the lesser stars do homage to it." Confucius

Careful polishing can remove a flaw from a diamond, but an evil word once spoken can never be unspoken. Confucius


The King's word has power because it is supreme authority, whether the king is right or wrong. As Solomon wrote in verse 4, "Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, 'What are you doing?'"

If power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, no wonder so many kings' power goes to their heads. Even the greatest Jewish king, David, "God's friend", succumbed, and used his words of power for great evil.

In his youth, David even endangered his own life repeatedly to avoid harming King Saul, who was after his head, because David did not dare "harm the Lord's anointed." But then David fell under the spell of power. Yet what did David in was not the power but the life of ease and indolence that accompanied it.

2 Samuel 11:1, "In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army..." David was a king, yet he did not go off to war like other kings but "sent Joab out" with. And it must have been pretty serious, because he sent the entire army with Joab--but he stayed home--with devastating consequences. For it was while he lazed about the house that he saw a beautiful woman bathing, and even after he learned she was Uriah's wife, "he sent messengers to get her."

David did not invite Bathsheba. He used his kingly power and ordered his messengers to "get her." The messengers had little choice; neither did Uriah's wife. As Solomon wrote, "the king's word is supreme. Who can say to him. 'What are you doing?'

David slept with the wife of Uriah, his faithful servant, and then murdered Uriah to cover it up--and not only David but all Israel paid the price.

I've often marveled the Bible includes such stories. David, after wall, was the legendary hero who stood up to lions and bears to save his sheep, and slew Goliath with a stone, and risked death rather than kill the man who sought his life. Why ruin the legend by telling us about his sordid fall?

The Bible is chock full of such stories, and to me that is what makes it a book I can relate to, and believe in. They are stories of common people, quite often a nobody--the youngest son from the smallest tribe, like David--who was able to rise to great heights, and then blow it--but in spite of it all be forgiven and restored. These stories promise us that, if we are faithful, even we nobodies can be used, and if we blow it, we will be forgiven.

["Our stubborn passions shut our souls' door against God" Confucius ]

Several things strike me about the power of the king's word.

1. Earthly kings' words, even when wrong, have great power. Likewise, your word and mine also have great power, for we are, relatively speaking, rich. We are the economic royalty of the world. If you don't believe it--go abroad and see how most of the world struggles just to survive. But do we use our words to build up or tear down. Are we using our words to seek first the Kingdom, or are we, like David, lulled into complacency?

Our words have great power, for good or for ill.

2. There is one King whose Word has great power, and fortunately I can trust in His Word. It is the Word that was in the beginning, the Word of the God who called himself Love.

I cannot do much about the unreliable words of earthly powers, be they kings, presidents, humanists or religious leaders, but I can count on the word of One who called himself Love, and who said that He asked not for religion and rites but for us to love Him, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Not that is a Word I can understand!

Though my Father's Word has ultimate authority, He does nore make me obey, but I eventually learn that to obey Him leads to greater happiness than I could ever find doing things my own way. Even so, I quite often find myself asking God, "What are you doing?!" And if God were only a king, He might have my head for it, but He's also my Father, and not only accepts my impertinence but answers me, not as an earthly ruler who must be blindly obeyed, but as a Father who loves his child.

F.B. Meyer, in "Our Daily Homily (Morgan & Scott, London,1894, reprinted today by Zondervan as "Great Verses Through the Bible," writes of Ecclesiasted 8:4, The King's word hath power:

When our King speaks it is done. He spoke in creation, and power went with his word to call all things out of nothing. He spoke in his earthly ministry and power accompanied every word, inm giving eyes to the blind and life to the dead. He spoke, and the paralysed had power to walk. He spoke, and the winds dropped, whilst the tumultuous waves were hushed to rest. He spoke, and men knew their sins were forgiven, to be remember against them no more for ever. He spoke, and the dying chief passed into Paradise.

Whwatever He bids you do by his word, be sure that He will enable you to do it by his power. He works in us to will and to work of his good pleasure, that is, He never directs us in any path of obedience or service without furnishing a sufficient supply of grace. Does He bid you renounce some evil habit? The power to renounce it awaits you. Claim it. Does He bid you walk on the water? The power by which to walk only waits for you to claim it. Does He bid you perform irksome duty? There is such transforming power issuing from Him as to make duty a delight, if only you will avail yourself of it. Whenever you are called to stand up to speak the word of your King, be sure to seek and obtain the power--that shall prove your best credential. Take the power of the King with you; it is his signet-ring, by which men will be convinced that you have been entrusted with his word.

"Sustain me, that with Thee I walk
these waves,
Resisting!--Breathe me upward, thou
in me
Aspiring, who art the way, the truth,
the life--
That no truth henceforth seem indif-
ferent,
No way to truth laborious, and no
life,
Not even this life I live, intolerable!"
(Aurora Leigh, Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

Want to walk on water? You can if you visit here! :)

Bill Brown
Xiamen University
www.amoymagic.com

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Seize Today, not Yesterday

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"'Do not say, Why were the old days better than these?' For it is not wise to ask such questions." Ecclesiastes 7:10

Seize Today, not Yesterday (Why Nostalgia is Debilitating)

Unlocked Doors in China. A Chinese Professor at Xiamen University complained to me as I walked home, "Someone stole my bicycle. That's the third one this year! No matter how I lock and chain them, they're stolen."

"Yes, I know it's a big problem," I said. "I guess I'm lucky, because I've had the same bicycle for 12 years."

The professor was astonished and said, "No one is that lucky! Your God must be watching out for you!"

If only I'd said that myself, for indeed luck had nothing to do with it, as I quickly learned. We parted ways, and less than five minutes later I reached home to find--that my bike had been stolen! I learned my lesson.

I knew, of course, that "luck" did not play a part in my life. I've lived long enough to see that Hand many times. But perhaps I had taken it for granted and needed a reminder, but we forget the help we've had in days past, even as we forget the problems. And this is good; why dwell in the past and wallow in our problems. But when we forget the past, we sometimes also idealize it, and this affects our perception of the present and future--and that is a problem. For example....

Longing for the China of the 50s...

In the late 90s many of my elderly Chinese neighbors complained about bicycle theft, and thievery. Almost as if reading a memorized script, half a dozen elderly gentlemen told me, "Ah, I miss the 50s! Back then we never locked up our bicycles. We did not even lock our doors. And nothing was every stolen. Those were the days!"

What he had forgotten was that no one had anything to steal! Even in the late 80s, bicycles were a luxury. In the 50s, people walked, not cycled--and they were lucky to have shoes, and food in their bellies. The Great Leap Forward, while good in theory, was a Big Fall Backwards for many people, and many people retold such ancient Chinese jokes, based on truth, as the Ming Dynasty Tale about two brothers sharing a pair of shoes:

If the Shoe Fits (Ming Dynasty, adapted from "Magic Xiamen--Guide to Xiamen")
Two brothers pooled their funds to buy a pair of shoes and share them. The older said he'd wear them in the day and the younger could wear them at night. To get his fair share of time, the younger ptu them on every night and walked and ran the entire night, returning home each morning exhausted. When the shoes were worn out the older brother said, "Want to buy another pair?"

"No thanks," said the young brother. "I need to get some sleep."

Nostalgia is Unwise Solomon warned against asking why the old days were better than today--but he did not give a reason for the warning. Most of Ecclesiates follows a formula: don't do A because of B. But here, he simply says don't engage in nostalgia because "it is not wise to ask such questions." Perhaps "it is unwise" is good enough reason because nostalgia was obviously fruitless. Or maybe he had enough reasons to fill a book and just summarzied it: nostalgia is unwise.

Nostalgia is Debilitating. The problem with nostalgia is that it is not only unwise but also debilitating. It locks us into an imaginary past, one that never existed, and distracts us from the very real hope of tomorrow if we grasp the opportunities today.

Carpe Diem: Seize Today, not Yesterday. You cannot seize the day if you are hanging on to yesterday. But yesterday was probably not as good as you'd like to think. Who would want to go through puberty again? Or 11th grade? Or that first job interview? But even if yesterday were better, it is gone. There is nothing we can do about it, or with it.

Nostalgia's Guarantee Yesterday may have been okay, but if we hang on to yesterday instead of seizing today, it is certain that tomorrow will be even worse off than today--and then we'll have even more grounds for wallowing in nostalgia instead of embracing the new lessons and opportunities ahead of us.

Bill Brown
Xiamen University
www.amoymagic.com

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Jericho's Walls: Waiting, Obedience, Faith

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city." Joshua 6:20

"A speedy victory is the main object in war. If this is long in coming, weapons are blunted and morale depressed. If troops are attacking cities, their strength will be exhausted." Sunzi, "Art of War" (Chapter 2, Waging War)

"When I say three, jump!" My drill sergeant, Lackland Air Force Base, Summer 1974

Hurry Up and Wait--and Obey I learned the same lessons in the Air Force that the Jews learned in the desert: 1) how to "hurry up and wait," and 2) the benefit to me of obedience.

"This is now your world!" our Sergeant yelled at us terrified new recruits on our first day. "You have no one but me. No family, no friends. Just me--and you will obey me!"

When I say jump up... He paused, glared some more, and said, "When I count to three, jump! One, two, three--Jump!" We jumped, and he angrily told us, "Knock out ten!" (ten push ups, which we had to do after every mistake. Day one, I could barely do 30; by week six I could do 300). Three times we jumped and then did push ups until he finally demanded, "Do you know what you keep doing wrong?"

"Sir, no sir!" we replied, exhausted.

He glared at us as if he now understood why some animals ate their young, and said, "I told you to jump up! I did not say to come down!"

Our sergeant's point--we do only what we are told; no more, no less. But...after we learned to obey, we were gradually given more freedom and flexibility to think on our own. Even the military does not want or need robots. Same with God. He wants us to learn on our own--but first we need to learn to wait, and to obey, until we are no longer children but mature, and can make the right decisions on our own. As Israel learned in its 40 years leading up to Jericho.

Don't Fear God repeatedly told the Israelites "Don't be afraid" because they were constantly afraid, in spite of the miraculous ways in which they had been led. It took 40 years instead of 40 days to get through the Desert because He had to wipe the slate clean and write His will upon a new generation--and even then it was an uphill battle, with complaints and grumblings and longing for the old days in Egypt, the land of leeks and onions; how easily they forgot that had also been the land of making bricks without mortar from sun up to sundown.
Setting the Stage Even the attack of Jericho was calculated to greatest dramatic effect--to teach both the Israelites and the gentiles a lesson. After crossing the Jordan river, God had them set up stones and said, "Remember!" He said this because they were always having to relearn lessons they had forgotten.

School of Hard Knocks I feel that way myself. I have to learn the same things over and over. But I often wish we could take the school of hard knocks courses by correspondence.

Waiting After crossing the Jordan, the Jews learned that the impregnable city of Jericho was shut up tight, the enemy cowering within. So what next? Hammer on the walls and gates while the defenders poured rocks and boiling oil on them?

God drew it out, playing upon the suspense like a violinist drawing out a long note--no doubt freaking out the inhabitants of Jericho, but probably not doing the Israelites a lot of good either.

Sunzi's Art of War teaches there is a right time to attack. Too early and you're not ready; too late and the soldiers have lost their enthusiasm and vigor. Surely 7 days was a bit much! The first day may have been fun--rather like a football pep rally. But by the 4th or 5th day surely it got old. But it did not matter because the victory was not dependent upon the soldiers themselves.

Obedience. I'm sure the Israelis also had ideas of how they could better spend their time--either attacking or retreating, but not just marching around an impregnable fortress blowing trumpets and shouting. What God had them do made no sense at all--but the point was not to make sense but to teach them how to wait, and how to obey, and why it was to their advantage to do so--as I learned in the Air Force.

Faith. By making Israel do something senseless, repeatedly, for 7 days, God was teaching Israel to wait. He was also teaching them faith. It made no sense to them, but they could not see both sides of the playing field, and did not know the end game. But their victory at Jericho taught them, yet again, "Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord."

Of course most had forgot the lesson by Tuesday afternoon the following week, just as we forget a memorable Sunday Sermon by Monday. But the story was written down for future generations to read, and Remember.

Straight Ahead. All may be doubtful, but at the right moment it is clear. When the walls finally fell, each man marched "straight ahead" and took the city. He did not have to wonder which pile of rocks to climb over, or where to attach. When the time was right, all he had to do was march straight ahead and take care of the job at hand. No more waiting, no more wondering.

Today I too must wait, obey, and have faith--until the way straight ahead is clear. It does not mean I do nothing in the meantime. I continue to plow wholeheartedly at the furrow before me.

Remembering When I doubt, I reread stories from the Bible. Better yet, I reread stories from my own life (some from memory, many that I've written down), and comfort myself with the knowledge that our Father is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. What He did yesterday, He will do today--if I let Him, and if I do my part--which is to wait for the right moment, obey, and have faith.

And once I've learned to obey, I am then trust and even expected to do less obeying and more thinking on my own--much like the Air Force after boot camp!

Bill Brown
www.amoymagic.com