Saturday, January 27, 2018

Words.


On Tuesday morning, just before school was supposed to start, a 15-year-old with a handgun opened fire on his unsuspecting classmates at Marshall County High School in Kentucky.

That’s my neighborhood.

He was described as “a sweet kid”. He was a member of the marching band.

So… why?

Although he was apprehended alive, “why” is never going to be satisfactorily answered.

Life is not that simple.

So what does one say to the grieving parents of the two children who died? Or the dozen or more who were wounded? And the hundreds who are still in shock that this happened before their very eyes? And the thousands who are caught in the repercussions of this violence?

As a preacher of the Gospel, I am supposed to have the “words”, right?

But I don’t.

I grieve just like the rest of the community.

Twenty years ago a similar incident occurred in my home town of Paducah, at cross-town rival Heath High School. I, and many others, assumed that we had had “our turn”, that gun violence would leave us alone now.

Once is enough.

Not so.

Violence knows no bounds.

So what can I say? What words would bring comfort to the grieving families? To the traumatized children? To the expectant community still living in shock?

There are no words.

God did not call these children home.

God did not need another angel in heaven.

God did not need them more than we did.

You can believe that if it makes you feel better, but God did not do… anything!

A thought that some find even more disturbing.

This shooting was the very embodiment of evil. Pure and simple.

Yet I also grieve for that boy, who was apparently pushed to the point of no return and took a handgun to school…

And I grieve for his family, who like the family of the shooter at Heath High, sit in shocked disbelief that their son could have done something like this.

There are no words.

Although there have been a lot of words.

A lot of “thoughts and prayers.”

Words don’t heal, and “thoughts and prayers” often ring hollow, but it is important to somehow acknowledge another person’s grief.

I was 14 when my Dad died. He spent two weeks in a hospital 2 ½ hours from home.

I don’t remember anything that was said to me during that time.

I don’t remember the funeral. Couldn’t tell you at this point who the pastor was or what he said to attempt to bring comfort to a shocked and grieving widow left with four children. It was all a blur.

And it was 40 years ago.

What I do remember from all of that is that a couple from our home church – friends of my parents – drove the 2 ½ hours to be with us. Again, I don’t remember what they said, but I remember they were there. And it meant something to me.

And I will give credit to Kentucky's governor, Matt Bevin. Although I disagree with most of what he has done as governor, he showed up. He was here within hours of the shooting, and again yesterday to declare a Day of Prayer for our county.

But what I also remember from all that is that I missed the first – and only – day of my 9th grade year because of the funeral. And when I returned to school, no one – not my friends, fellow students, administrators or teachers – said a word to me about my loss.

Although present, they weren’t there for me either.

I was very alone.

Except for Lou.

Lou was a short, skinny, bedraggled type with homemade tattoos across his knuckles. He wasn’t one I would call a “friend”; he was a classmate. I sometimes let him copy off my test papers. I had always imagined he would wind up in jail before he graduated; I don’t know if he made it or not.

But passing in a stairwell at school my first day back, he said, “I heard your old man died.”

That was all.

“I hear your old man died.”

I’d never thought of my Dad as my “old man”.

But these were words I needed to hear.

It wasn’t “There’s one more angel in heaven!”

It wasn’t “He’s in a better place now.”

It wasn’t anything profound.

It was simply an acknowledgment of my loss. And at that moment, when I was feeling very alone in the world, those were the words I needed to hear the most.

A lot is said today about “thoughts and prayers”. It has become expected that, after a shooting like this past week, our elected officials take to the airwaves and send their “thoughts and prayers”. I have written about this before.

There have been eleven incidents of gun violence on school campuses this year.

Yes, eleven. In the month of January.

There have been 300 incidents of gun violence on school campuses since 2013.

That’s almost one per week.

Many will argue that these politicians have the power to stop the senseless gun violence, but all they send are meaningless “thoughts and prayers”.

In more honest moments, short of confiscating all weapons of any kind – which will never happen – I suspect even Congress would have a difficult time stopping it completely.

I believe it is not a matter of law, but a matter of the heart.

But I know from personal experience that “thoughts and prayers” are an important part of the healing process. It is important to the victims – the survivors, the family members, the community – to know that they are not alone, that someone else knows of their pain.

And that you care.

*In memory of Preston Cope and Bailey Holt.



Friday, January 19, 2018

They Sow the Wind, They Will Reap the Whirlwind



(That is taken from Hosea 8:7.)

Earlier this week, President Trumpf had a physical exam, his first since taking office a year ago.

Supposedly it was a REAL physical.

By a White House physician.


A guy in a distinguished naval uniform.

Not this guy.


And the report is that, despite a diet heavy in fast foods, the President is in “excellent” health!

“Excellent”!

Wait. I'm not finished here.

The Navy physician reported the President is 6’3” tall and weighs 239 lbs.

And he was specific to point out that, based on the latest Body Mass Index, the President is NOT “obese”.

He is NOT “obese”.

Sure, he could stand to lose 10-15 pounds, but he is NOT “obese”!

Which immediately caused everyone to get out their BMI charts and look it up.


Lo and behold, a person who is 6’3” tall and weighs 239 lbs. comes in at 29.9 on the BMI chart – with 30 being “obese”.

Interesting!

If the President was just a pound heavier or just an inch shorter, he would cross that line into the scary area of “obesity”.

Captain’s Note: Not surprised to discover, an older copy of the President’s driver’s license declares him to be 6’2”, as does that internet fount of wisdom, Wikipedia!

But not the official White House physician. He reported 6’3”.

Curious. At 71 years of age, the President has grown an inch taller!

Now, this physical was supposed to put to rest concerns about the President’s health.

Instead, it has launched a “Girther Movement” – people demanding to see Trumpf’s actual “Girth Certificate”.

Seriously. Look at this man.


Does that look like 239 to you?

Here is Evangelical Christian darling Tim Tebow. He is 6’3” and weighs 233.


Six pounds apparently makes a huge difference!

Of course, the President’s acolytes are issuing charges of “fat shaming” against the President’s critics.

Ouch.

What are we? A bunch of high school girls here?

Frankly, the Captain believes this hubbub is not so much about “fat shaming” as it is about “lie shaming”.

We don’t believe anything this President says anymore, and we have good reason to believe he bribed instructed the White House physician to “make it sound good”.

And it’s his own damned fault.

Donald Trumpf has been accusing everyone else of lying ever since he stuck his big toe into political waters back in 1987.

No, the Captain is not “fat shaming”. It is called a “big toe”.

Trumpf told us President Obama lied about his Birth Certificate, and that officials in Hawaii lied to protect him… the mainstream media are all liars… except FOX News... he labeled his most recent Democratic opponent “Lying Hillary Clinton”… the FBI and CIA lied… anyone who opposes his will is lying.


Everyone. But. Him.

This report on the President’s height and weight just seems too good to be true.

Because it says exactly what he wants it to say.

“Excellent” health? Really?

And since we’ve been told repeatedly that everyone else is lying, why should we believe this doctor?

“If you sow seeds of distrust, you will reap distrust.”

Who said that?

You can credit the Captain for that little nugget of wisdom.

If the Trumpf acolytes – Bannon, Conway, etc. – have done anything during the past year, they has sowed seeds of distrust. They – and the President – brazenly lie.  Daily. They have successfully undermined the peoples’ faith in the very institutions we – as a society, as a nation – NEED to trust.

But now we, the people, feel we cannot trust anyone. On the big things. Even on the little things.

Mark my word, if the Captain were to run for President in 2020, I would run on a campaign of “Make America Honest Again”.


Or that...

Don’t worry. I’m not running.

But truth matters to the Captain. Trust matters.

We must get back to that basic element of civil society, or we will die.

Captain’s Note: In response to the accusations of “fat shaming”, the Captain honestly reports that my personal BMI is 33.5 – which places me squarely in the middle of the “obese” range. I’m not proud of that, but not overly worried either. 

To change that, I only need to lose 30 pounds... or grow 5 inches taller.