Strange Days: Gym Scare

I had another incident at the gym today. 

I say “another” because I’ve had two similar incidents in the past few months. My gym has some strange people in it. Not strange like, they prefer cold brew over hot coffee but strange like aggressive. One guy in particular is amped up every time I see him. He’s on drugs, that’s clear. His behavior is erratic and agitated, I’d say meth. He doesn’t even work out, he just walks around and hops over things. He gives random people high fives and pretends to be using a cane like a blind man. Every movement is quick and deliberate. I’ve seen him stomping around like he’s trying to put holes in the floor with his steps.

This sounds like just a bunch of silliness but it’s unsettling. He looks like a guy who might attack on you at random too. Tattoos cover his body. I’d put him at 6 feet 3 inches at least. Likely he has issues that extend beyond drugs. I had him pegged for a homeless man when I first saw him. I complained to the staff about his unsettling behavior. They mostly just wanted to know if there was anything he had done. Basically, Do you have a reason that we can call the cops and get him out of here? Technically he hadn’t done anything wrong aside from put me, and others, in a defensive posture.

Is he dangerous? I don’t know but he sure looks it. Anyway, what happened to a store saying “You’re acting like a nut. Get out of here!” Apparently, they’ve “warned” him. That’s what one of the trainers told me today. After my second complaint about the guys’ uncontrollable and weird behavior, the trainer made it clear their hands were tied. Well, their hands were tied unless he made threats or committed some violence. That’s how I heard it at least.

I’m not disparaging the staff. They’re asked to manage a fitness center where anyone with $12 a month can pop in for any reason. The price point allows a pretty diverse group, including meth heads.

 I politely ran a guy off a few months ago. He was also acting strange, but in a mellow low energy way. He had a frozen, dull expression on his face and keep walking in a tight circular pattern. I'm fairly sure he was mumbling to himself. He wasn’t dressed like a gym guy. He looked like he just rolled out of his cardboard box after sleeping one off. Clearly this guy wandered in. After watching him for 5 minutes or so I decided to go talk to him.

I approached him with a smile and something like “Hey, buddy you need some help?” My dialogue was the finger snap that broke whatever spell he was under. He gave me something about looking around or thinking of joining. As loopy as he acted, my questions didn’t confuse him. Alert enough to follow my question, he looked out of place and it was obvious the staff hadn’t noticed his presence. I went up to the counter and asked them if the guy had a pass. They were completely unaware of him. A few of us kept an eye on him until he left, which was just a few minutes later.

That was the first time I felt unsafe. Not just unsafe, but I felt that no one was watching out or even thinking about dangerous scenarios. This isn’t just a gym thing either. A lot of businesses don’t have a plan in place for handling, let’s call it 'suspect' behavior. One question I asked the trainer was about protocol. What is your plan? Not that they have to tell me, but companies need something other than a promise to call the cops. At least have a taser behind the counter and some zip ties.

I can see a big market for security personnel in the next 20 years, in all sorts of businesses that never needed it before. 

 The grocery store I go to has a police officer standing guard a regular intervals. It’s a Walmart so I don’t know if the city covers it or if the cops are earning extra money on the side. That’s a new development that only goes back a few years. I don’t think it’s just theft either. Stores have their own way of handling shoplifting. You don’t need cops for that. There have been a few shootings in the parking lot in recent years. I imagine we’ll see more security jobs opening up for businesses that need protection from dangerous ‘customers’.  

I ended my morning by grabbing my bag from the locker and coming back home. I hadn’t put in any work. That guy had unsettled me so much that I just left. On the way out of the locker room I nearly bumped into him. He was pretending to walk like a blind man and nearly stumbled into me. I stopped him and said “Hey man, are you Ok? You’re acting king of weird.” He quickly replied “You don’t get to tell me that. I don’t know you from Adam.”

After that he headed for the showers and I left. On the way out the trainer stopped me and said they’d had a second complaint. I guess that means he’s out? I’m not really sure. I’ll head in tomorrow and try again.  

 

Begging for Business: A new Venture

 

Drumming up Business the Old Fashioned Way

A week ago I started sending out inquiry emails to digital companies in the Tulsa area. I’m out of ideas to drum up business for my writing company. I’m taking the ‘throw it at the wall and hope it sticks’ approach. It’s the same thing insurance salesman do, work the phones and cold call everyone on a list. I woke up last Sunday morning with an infused sense of commitment. It’s better to say “recommitment” since this idea has been bubbling up for over a year now. I started a website, paid a host and started writing business-y posts to put up on the page.

For at least 3 months I’ve been idle. I don’t like to admit it but when I run out of ideas I tend to quit. What I need to do is redouble my efforts and start claiming success in faith. I was for a bit but I got sick of not having success. Saturday night the guys in my men’s group prayed for me. I guess I made some comment that sounded depressing. Whatever it was I prompted a response. The prayer was the trigger for me to get up and start the day with a YouTube channel from a writing advice coach.

Advice: Make a database of the organizations and people you contact. Send them a personalized note and ask if they need help with any writing. Do a search for local digital companies and go down the list.

Getting to Work

That’s basically what I’ve been doing for the past week. I’ve contacted 30 so far. A lot of the contacts are just messages from their website they use to solicit customers for themselves. I don’t like doing that but many of the sites don’t list email addresses. Probably because they don’t want some rando (like me) sending emails they’ll just delete. That’s what I do. Hit delete whenever someone tries to offer me a package on a website upgrade.

So I didn’t have a lot of hope for this to work. But how many people actually need to respond and throw some business my way? Not many. I hit a few people up on Linked in. I’m to the point where I don’t care about how I come off anymore. Not that I want to be a pest but being polite is getting me nowhere and respecting others’ space has left me broke. What I mean is, my reluctance to describe my skills or ask people for work is probably the reason I don’t have any. All those irritating Aflac salesman that pop into the store, asking to set up a meeting have turned me off to soliciting business.

Ditto the obnoxious blue shirts from AT&T that bang on my door during the summer. But here’s the thing. I did buy a package from them about 6 years ago. The price went up after that so I dumped it. But I made someone a commission that day. I’ve said no probably 25 times. But I said yes once. That’s why I should solicit. It’s a game of attrition, like dating and warfare. Persistence pays off and rewards you eventually. I’ll keep bombing digital companies with emails until I hit the jackpot.

Then I’ll do it again.

How long until a typical small business evens out and becomes profitable? There are too many variables. But I’ll likely need to get comfortable with this begging for work thing until I can ride on my existing customer base. Being a small business owner is a kick in the balls. But it’s also wonderfully freeing once you learn to live with sore balls. I’ve seen in with my brothers, 2 of whom are further down the road to sufficiency than me. They work hard when they need to and schedule in family time.

If they need to take a few extra days around a holiday, they put in extra work beforehand to make it possible. Hiring additional help seems to be the biggest impediment to running their growing company. But that’s a long way off for me. For now I’ll try to survive on drips and drops and trust the Lord for the rainfall.

Lamentations: Corruption Leads to Pain, Regret, Sorrow

 

The Local Church Connects the Community 

Most people think Jerimiah wrote Lamentations as a poetic retelling of the fall of Jerusalem. In it, he compares the once great city to a virgin being ravaged by her captors and the shame that comes with uncovered nakedness. It’s not all metaphor though. Some of the scenes he describes come from direct accounts of the destruction. We have to use our imagination with some of the history. What’s known is that Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians right around 575 BC.

Chaotic Beginning

The book of Lamentations reminds the reader that destruction comes swiftly but never accidentally. Sin and selfishness over time create hardening in hearts. Collectively, that rejection of God’s law and plan for His people open the door to attacks. Not all at once but after a time, the Heavenly Father gives us over to destruction if we continually ignore His demand for repentance.

“Jerusalem has sinned gravely, therefore she has become vile.” (Chapter 1:8)

It's common to treat Lamentations as a kind of metaphor for our individual lives. When we reject God our world turns to chaos. Divorce, addiction, poverty, disease and unforgiveness destroy us eventually. Disobedience leads to chaos; chaos leads to exile. But there is a practical, even direct, application to our world here in the US. We’ve ignored the corruption in our midst just like Jerusalem in Jerimiah’s time.

Corruption is the Root

 Who can say that the United States isn’t the jewel of the rest of the world, wealthy, free, democratic, powerful? It’s still a destination for foreigners hoping to start businesses and worship without harassment and death.

I’m critical of what America has become in the last 50 years, but it’s still a blessed country where we worship freely. Beyond that there are major problems of our own making through corruption. Corruption is the currency that feeds business, government and religion. It’s not just the politician taking bribes and giving favorable treatment to their cronies. Corruption means looking the other way and compromising principles. It prioritizes money or status at the expense of God’s plan for His people.

How many national Christian churches have dropped their objections to homosexual marriage or cleaned up their statements to include positive language on social justice issues? Translation, they aren't doing their jobs. Lamentations has some thoughts.

"Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captives, but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions." (Chapter 2:14)

It's Our Fault

We love to talk about how Washington DC ‘ain’t lookin out for us’. But we hardly examine our own lives for rot. We avoid tearing up the linoleum where the floor is soft, lest we have to replace it. It’s comfortable to point fingers at the wickedness in entertainment and media, it’s a clear and present danger. But mostly it provides us a convenient foil for looking closely at our hearts lest we find damage in need of attention. 

The wickedness in the culture is an outgrowth of decades of avoidance. How so?

Two things happen when you ignore problems. First they get bigger and tougher to deal with, then they destroy you.

 One person’s drug addiction affects their family and their circle. Every relationship eventually feels the strain, from siblings and partners to his/her kids and their friends. But in a healthy society, the behavior is limited to the addict’s world. Churches used to fill the role of arbiter, counselor and friend to the broken soul. They largely still do, but the connection between the individual and the church is tentative and often nonexistent.

 For all their mistakes over the years, churches work best when connected to the local area. Their flock consists of generations (often) of family and friends with an interest in the welfare of each other. This is a perfect scenario, when relationships are healthy. It’s never perfect. We hurt each. But the community aspect of church provides a bulwark against a lonely world. It’s a stabilizing force for the addict who would be otherwise lost.

Healthy Groups

Satan tries to pick us off by separating us from the group dynamic. It’s why Paul tells us to “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ”. Ever seen one of those nature shows where lions chase a herd of bison? They run long distances until the slowest member, usually the youngest, falls back and gets eaten by the pack. The first action that happens is the wolves stir up fear among the bison. Once the herd is fearful it starts running to avoid trouble. After the animals are moving it’s only a matter of time till one succumbs to the predator’s bite.

I’ve seen groups of bison in a circle fighting off an attack and even killing a wolf or two in the process. It works when they stand their ground. The group dynamic is designed to protect the weaker. But fear creates an irrational sense of panic.

We aren’t in a society that turns first to the community church. Weekly church attendance has dropped consistently over the last 20 years or so. It’s a reliable metric of the spiritual health of the nation. Depending on how you slice it the number of regular church goers’ hovers around 1 in 3. In the year 2020 it was closer to 1 in 2 for “Practicing Christians”.

This has repercussions for community. Will we lose another 25% in 2040? Eventually the idea of an active church that works together for its members begins to look like an aberration. Practicing Christians might look more like a Star Trek fan club with their infrequent conferences and esoteric musings on scripture.

Conclusion

The national church gets some blame here, but so do the rest of us. We’ve all collectively decided the mission of God is less important than…fill in the blank. That’s corruption as well. Lamentations is a warning of not cleaning up sin in the good times. No one thinks they will be an exile until it’s too late. Wealth and freedom lull us into a sense of security that’s as false as the invincibility of an ocean border. The author sums up that feeling like this.

"The joy of our heart has ceased; Our dance has turned into mourning. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!" (Chapter 5: 15-16)

The United States is close to breaking down as a workable idea. This might seem alarmist, we’ve had tough economic times and even political upheaval before. The Civil War nearly broke up the Union and the Great Depression destroyed livelihoods everywhere. But spiritually we’re bankrupt. We’re not quite like the addict with nowhere to turn but in 10 years we might be.

Lamentations is a poetic warning to turn back to God. It’s also a practical example of corruption leading to sin, and the resulting destruction over time.

 

 

 

 

 

  

Democrat Goons Execute Political Hit on Mar-a-Lago

 

Thugs in the FBI Go After Trump

What does the raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home mean?

The FBI is nothing more than a goon squad for the deep state. This ‘just a few bad apples’ argument is tired. Sure I’m a conspiracy theorist. It’s tough not to be anymore. You have to ignore countless and blatant examples of two-tiered justice. There are clear violations of law from the whole Biden family starting with Hunter. The FBI had his laptop for years and did nothing. Hilary Clinton wiped her server which contained countless classified information. James Comey gave her a pass. Actually it was worse than that. He carefully explained that they weren’t going to pursue charges because she didn’t mean too.

Try using that excuse the next time you trade money for secrets with foreign governments. In Clinton’s case it wasn’t just the information she wiped from her server, proving that she knew exactly what she was doing, it was the server itself. What kind of government official cuts out the government? A hopelessly crooked one.

Incompetence

 On the Russia collusion hoax? The special prosecutor John Durham can’t even convict a low level functionary (Michael Sussman) of lying to the FBI. It might be a candy ass charge but it should be a slam dunk. This is in the endless effort to make something stick in the collusion hoax that dragged Trump through the mud in his first term. And yes, he will have a second. Durham has seemingly wasted millions of dollars invested every possible trail coming off the obvious spectacle of that cruel hoax. And yet, no one has been held accountable.

Is it too much to ask, to know the legal system still works. Maybe I’m naïve. Is there a reason the corruption in the federal government is so nakedly obvious? It’s like the decision makers (not Biden) are telling us they can do whatever they want.

"We stole a national election. What are you going to do about it?"

Exposure

Trump’s great triumph was in exposing the deep state to the public. He clicked on a flashlight and illuminated the shadow forces like an episode of Scooby Doo. The first big revelation (for me) was his they “tapped my wires” comment. If you didn’t wonder to yourself, how long it had been this way you weren’t paying attention.

He wasn’t from their world (Ivy League, elected office, intelligence community) and they feared him. No I don’t think he played politics like a 3D chess game. He’s a straightforward self-promoter who steps on his shoelaces far too often. That’s understandable, he’s a novice in this world. Without the noise and feistiness Americans wouldn’t have trusted him.

This is the new model for Republican officials in the short term. Look at Kari Lake in Arizona. She is throwing dynamite at the establishment. I have no doubt she’ll prosecute the last election (in Arizona) if she wins the governorship in the general. Noisy beats quiet because no one trusts the reasonable types to stand up to the rampant corruption anymore. We’re close to a violent rebellion if Americans think they can’t trust the federal government, elections, the courts or the police force.  

Animus

Did Trump know the FBI was going to raid his home? He had to have known it could happen. The deep state has been trying to make him ineligible for office since before the Billy Bush ‘grab em by the pussy’ video. But their tactics always backfire. They always push too hard, try to take too much ground. Trump’s position has always been, they lie, they’re corrupt, they’re out to get me. How much does a political raid on his home prove that out? This has never happened to a president, current or former. The deep state keeps turning him into a prophet. They’ve done nothing to make patriots think Trump is somehow a thief or a fraud.

Ostensibly the raid was because he stole classified documents after he left the White House. Kash Patel, a Trump official, said they weren’t classified because Trump had already declassified them. The president can declassify anything he wants. But the story of a president taking secret information to his house without asking anyone is a splashier headline. It’s also in line with the way the Democrats like to portray Trump, as a lawless rabble rouser.

He is going to run again and he’s going to win. Whether they try another sham ‘mail in’ vote is anyone’s guess. This time we’ll be watching.

Romans 7: A New Heart of Flesh

 

Heart Change is the Difference 

Romans teaches us how to connect the former rules based society with one of grace. Paul’s goal is to get Jews to think differently about covenant, sin and redemption. Gentiles, who never had the law, are now included in God’s plan for humanity. The biggest change from old covenant to new is the heart change that comes with an acceptance of Christ as the fulfillment of that law.

I’ve focused on chapter 7 here

Sin and Law

There are two dynamics at work in the human condition, sin and the law. The law came through Moses and provided us with a knowledge of sin. Another way to say this is that the “do’s” and “don’ts” of the law give sin a name. Names are official. They provide legality. But with the name comes a legal understanding that by breaking the law, we subject ourselves to the punishment of it. It’s a difficult standard, next to impossible. The effect of such a rigorous standard is to create a desire for evil in our flesh that builds on itself.

We know we shouldn’t lust or hate or cheat, the law forbids it after all. Our flesh pushes us towards desire. This is a constant war in the soul.

There was no way to have a heart change on the law. We always struggled to do the Godly thing because Christ had not defeated the power it held in us. The best way to understand this is to watch how a toddler responds when you take away the thing they most want. I had friends over a few weeks ago and gave one of their kids a bag of gummies. I meant for her to have the whole bag but her dad had other plans. He gave her a handful and put the bag on my refrigerator. She wasn’t satisfied with just a handful and began searching for a stool to stand on. She would not be deterred.  

A strong “No” from her parent kept her from climbing for the gummies. But she clearly didn’t want to. Nothing but the harsh, nearly impossible law, kept her from doing the thing she really wanted to do. Her heart hadn’t changed toward the candy. At no point did she say to herself “A whole bag really is too much. I’ll probably get sick anyway”. There is only an awareness of punishment through an authority figure. When we’re kids, it’s all we have.

But before Christ we were like children in our flesh. The law only gave us a framework, a detailed one at that, for right living. It didn’t give us a heart to do the moral things of God. Paul doesn’t get into grace in this chapter but he is setting the stage for it. Grace is the difference. It changes our hearts to now seek to do good things. Sin was dead after Christ’s death and resurrection, providing us with a way to God not previously available.

Resurrection and Redemption

Sin’s power is no longer the biggest challenge to living a moral life. It’s such a radical shift in thinking that it needs to be considered again and again. How much more for those like Paul and the early church, disseminating the scriptures for a new age? Even now I think we struggle to grasp how big and how revolutionary the idea that we can want to do the right and good thing. Sin’s power is dead. We’re are still toddlers in a lot of ways. We don’t always understand the things of the Spirit and we seldom know the reasons.

But we have a new heart, one that listens and obeys the voice of Father because we want to. Our flesh will always want the gummies on the refrigerator, but our hearts are tuned to the Father’s voice. We can overcome the flesh now by subjecting our desires to His will.  

Paul describes the conflict like this

“I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who will to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (verses 21-24)

The Christian is truly a new creature in Christ. Romans helps us understand how.