Medical Grade Churches

Church is starting back tomorrow night. Instead of 6:00 pm, like normal, we’ll be hosting a 5:00 slot so the cleaning crew can have extra time to disinfect the church. All that scary Covid wafting around it pays to use a little extra elbow grease I suppose. Come to think of it does Covid even waft? Or is it more an airborne menace, an all-powerful droplet of doom, wreaking havoc on man and beast. It fills up hospital beds quicker than a F5 tornado rampaging through a city. It causes all manner of life to seize up like an engine without oil in July. God help us all! I hope we’re prepared for this present day darkness!

I don’t expect a lot of people to show up tomorrow. I went to a Wednesday night service a few weeks ago. We do those once per month. It’s a good idea to get all 3 separate campuses to meet in one place. But since the shutdown and collective loss of ability to think clearly by so many, we’ve been away for a while. I was pumped to be there. A meeting with fellow Christians, united in prayer for the leaders of the country was perfectly timed. I haven’t been watching the online services. I just can’t get into them. I like the live in person stuff. Sure if I miss a week here and there and I can supplement with a simulcast but mostly, I haven’t had the energy.

 How much energy could you possible need to sit in front of a screen for 30 minutes. You don’t even need pants!

Ok so I don’t mean energy as much something else. Having trouble naming it, it’s like a whole body shoulder shrug. It’s an “I just can’t right now” feeling permeating my soul. It’s probably rooted in disappointment over the church’s decision to shut down for such an extended period. For what I believe is a ridiculous virus (I didn’t say fake) that wouldn’t raise an alarm in most years. We’re shutting down business, church and schools for a lousy coughing bug. Oh but It’s contagious, spreads quickly. Good. Maybe we can get to herd immunity by football season. I’m trying to understand the needs of the more vulnerable and be accommodating, but we don’t do that in a free country. The sick and vulnerable stay home, not the healthy.

Since I’m a volunteer at church they are making us wear masks while serving. I’m not happy about it. I’ll go along with it for now. I want to be supportive of the leaders at church and the tough decisions they need to make. But this feels more like accommodating to a world view of how we should behave than an honest attempt to make people comfortable.

How much of this is me being a jerk and how much is a genuine desire to rebel against a lying media machine? The Church needs to be strong on all fronts and sometimes I think it means being a little bit rebellious. If for no other reason than to signal to the local officials “You don’t get to tell us what to do”. Mask mandates aren’t law. They’re pronouncements, edicts, power hungry screeds and we have never passed “laws” that way. We don’t vote to compel people to wear things anyway. I realize that masks are either required by businesses or not, the government hasn’t made a ruling yet. But it doesn’t matter.

I think of the mask as a litmus test. Is that really fair though? All that pressure for a thin piece of fabric?

Those who force wearing it are not going to push back when it counts. Oh they’re nice about it of-course, it’s all just the most reasonable how-could-you-not-just-do-the-sensible-thing suggestions. It’s like a feather even, barely a nudge. “Think of the elderly you monster” “What would Jesus do?” “It’s just for a little while”. I can't imagine Jesus with a mask "Come to me all you who are weary...but please wash your hands, and stay 6 feet away."

Those who refuse to wear it are leaders, especially when the downside to NOT wearing it is reputational damage and scorn. Since leaders across the country (inside and outside of church) are surrendering on little things like masks, and gathering, and accepting the silly premise that singing spreads the disease even faster, I’ll look to those who stand on little things to lead. 

Consistency is a Virtue (almost)

I went for an after work run today in the heat, 3 miles nothing crazy. My weekly schedule is usually weights, running, weights, running and then rest. No two weeks are the same but I do alternate between types of cardio on my lifting days. I’m reluctant to call them “lifting days” anymore. I do a few sets per muscle group and peddle a bike for 20 minutes. Or, I do 15 minutes on the stair climber and work the cables for a few minutes. Lifting has a kind of balls to the wall sound to it, heavy, exhausting, punishing. I don’t work out like that anymore. It takes too much out of me. 

There is a consistency to going to the gym (or running) that teaches discipline. I’m more consistent now than ever and it isn’t because I feel like doing it. When a challenging activity becomes routine it starts to pay you back. We have a loft at work that overlooks the entire warehouse. It’s our conference area, break room, zoom call meeting area and all-purpose media room. It has a staircase I run up every morning to grab my printouts. For some reason I can’t connect with other closer printers in the office area. No problem. I love the change to run full speed up the steps. I used to get winded, not anymore.

In little moments like that I feel progress. It takes getting a little older to appreciate it. We take our fitness and strength for granted in our twenties. It’s like the summer heat, constant, unchanging. But after a decade or so it becomes clear that consistent work is the only way to avoid the sluggishness and weight gain. Another way to say that is, you work harder for smaller gains. The gains still happen but they’re marginal relative to 20 years ago. But I appreciate them more now.

Consistency doesn’t sound like a real quality. It isn’t one of the big ones like honesty or kindness or bravery. It’s certainly not listed among the fruits of the spirit like love, joy, peace, patience and so on. But it’s an important characteristic for leaders to have in inconsistent times. When institutions fail and role models (defined very loosely) won’t support their own movements, people will look for consistency. This isn’t always good by the way. The swirling chaos in the country right now is blowing people to opposite ends of the street like debris. Some search for strength in mob like behavior. Others, in brave leaders that reject the onslaught of mob rule and stand on truth like they always have.

Consistency is never saying “sorry” to appease the mob. It’s taking a Biblical position on traditional marriage if that’s always been your belief. It’s defending American traditions if the rationale for those traditions hasn’t changed. Should statues be ripped down in a fit of anger whatever the reason? No. We vote on these things. Consistency is holding the line and taking the arrows even when the battle looks lost. Besides, there is always a market for truth and reason; stand on it and watch people follow. Leadership, or lack of, is the problem. It takes courage and a lot of our business CEOs, politicians and athletes don’t have it. They’re either lost in the woods with no compass, or they have a compass but no courage.

I hope I haven’t downplayed the very real struggle our leaders face and the constant assault from evil people in high places. Earlier this week James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma) introduced a bill to replace Columbus Day with Juneteenth. Nothing against Juneteenth, but getting rid of Columbus Day is a sop to the radical left and their demands. They’re children, you don’t appease them. 

He eventually abandoned the idea. Wonder why?

Lankford seems to me like an honest man with convictions so this one surprised me. It’s just dumb. I like him and I think he’ll do well if he stands on principle, mainly don’t try to do media fluff legislation. They don’t like you so don’t bother.

Consistency is about never giving up and doing the tough work, day after day. It builds up resolve the way that running builds up the legs. You can't have courage without it.   

 

Moses and Remembrance

Deuteronomy 9

Why do we remember anything? Or if asked a little differently, why do we remember some events and not others? Meetings with old friends can bring to mind stories long forgotten? It happens that way because our minds are prone to push some things to the front and others to the back. We can only focus on so many events/stories/memories at a time. Moses understands how pivotal the 40 years in the wilderness was to the children of Israel and insists they remember, or lose the collective importance.

If you had an event in your family where a member almost died because of a heart condition, you would remember that. You’d remember a scary night at the hospital when their life seemed to hang by a thread. And if they lived…you’d remember how they changed their diet, started walking and losing weight. You’d remember what made the difference and make changes in your own life to avoid a similar scare. Moses needs the Children of Israel to remember the scary night in the wilderness when God nearly destroyed them because of their wickedness.

One way to remember is by routine or ceremony. In America we have ceremonies for Veterans Day and Memorial Day, and important people like Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln. The Jews celebrate Passover by ‘remembering’ in a collective sense, the exodus from slavery to freedom and a land of their own. It's a reminder of how God kept His promise and rescued them from the Egyptians and took care of them through the wilderness. Most of Deuteronomy is Moses imploring the next generation of Israelites to never forget how the Lord kept them from harm, and kept His Word.  

Near the end of chapter 9 Moses reminds them that God was full of wrath at how they had rejected Him and made a golden calf to worship like the Canaanites. He (Moses) pleaded with God not to destroy them in His anger. Moses is also thinking about what would be said about God if the Jewish people were ultimately destroyed.

 “…O Lord God, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or their sin, lest the land from which You brought us should say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.” (26-28).

Moses was thinking about the promise and reminding God about it. How awesome is that? We can remind God about His promises to us. He is also thinking about the future of God’s name and reputation among people if the children of Israel die in the desert. Usually God is holding us back from making a regrettable decision. Here, it looks like Moses is doing the same to God. But in using the promise of Jehovah’s Word, it has the uniqueness of being reliable.

The wilderness experience for the Israelites was so formidable in the exodus story that Moses won’t let them forget it. The same is true for us in personal matters too. We remember when something is important enough. But add a few generations and without rigorous attention to ceremony, it gets lost in the ‘importance’ of the now. The Jewish people get this better than most. They also show us that it’s possible to live a modern (Western) lifestyle and still honor the past by adhering to ceremony where necessary. I don’t think the actual rites or rituals are as important as making time for them. In Christianity we celebrate the resurrection of Christ by attending church for a celebration of victory over death, for all time. But other ceremonies exist around the world, I’m sure Eastern Orthodox Christians have a different tradition.

When we don’t honor seminal events we lose them, and the importance of God in our lives. We also lose generations of people to nihilism or apathy. Moses won’t let them forget.  

 

Big Red and Me

I forgot how hot it is here in the summer. I don’t mean how high the temperature gets, everyone knows that. This is Oklahoma. But how difficult it can be to do any amount of running at all in the full sun (Big Red), it’s really a nightmare.

 I read an article yesterday at work, hey gimma a break we were slow. It said running in the full sun is as difficult as trying to cut 30 seconds from your pace time in a mile. That isn’t impossible but it’s a noticeable burden on a normal run. Even mornings can be difficult if you don’t get out of the heat before it hits 80 degrees. I can struggle through a long run and drag my overheated body across the line before I collapse, assuming the temp stays low enough. What I can’t do is run a 10 miler if the sun is out the thermometer is near the mid 70s at the start. Cloudy days are better. I do shorter runs in the summer on average; anything long distance just hurts too much.

I went to the park today after work to do a 3 mile run. From experience I know 3 to 4 miles is really the most I can get when the temp is above 90. But with quicker runs I like to break up the pace with fast and slow intervals. It just makes it more of a challenge and it works toward speed training the same way the track used to. Ever since the Wu Flu virus track workouts have stopped. The college won’t allow the Tulsa Running Club to use the facilities so Tuesdays with group runs are out. It’s just as well though. The club meets at 6:00 in the evening when the sun is very warm. Some of those guys can really fly too. I don’t mean just the young ones either. A lot of the late 40s and early 50s men and women both can really move.

So to substitute for the quick, short sprint nature of track workouts I tried it at the park. It went well for the first few cycles but I just couldn’t keep it together. Big Red beat me down and I had to walk the last half mile. The interval thing was a good idea I just went  too hard at the beginning. Despite the heat, I like to run outdoors more than on the treadmill. I hate the treadmill but without it I wouldn’t get my miles in.

The foot that cause all the problems for me the last 2 months is healing nicely, but constantly sore. Being on my feet all day at work doesn’t help. I stand on a warehouse floor for most of it. I’m not complaining but it does cause regular pain that’s tough to shake. I don’t think jogging makes it any worse though. The most pain I had was when I wasn’t running at all, just getting out of bed every morning and stretching out. If anything the jogging helps toughen up the feet. At least that’s my story for now.

 I’m looking forward to a nice warm summer rain to jog through in the morning. I hope I catch one this year, before October please!

Law and Order, the Essentials

 

 Tombstone teaches a lot, but one takeaway is what happens when a city trades law and order for vice.

Jason Priestly plays a character called Billy Breakenridge. It’s such a small part that I had to look him up on IMDB. He’s the agent of change representing a love for culture and freedom (indulgence?) that sees how fleeting both can be without law and order. His friend, and likely lover, Mr. Fabian the stage actor is shot by a band of “Cowboys” led by Curly Bill.

Breakenridge instantly turns from friend of the outlaws to supporter of Earp. He ends his crusade right there and lets the men know “Sorry Sir, But we got to have some law”. He’s been hunting Earp for killing some of the local “Cowboys” that run Tombstone like a gangland.  The realization comes on like a flood when he sees Fabian dead from a vindictive cowboy.

Law and order is the chassis on which Western civilization rides. Every vehicle needs one. No one sees it except the builders but without a chassis the car falls apart. You can do a lot with the shape and style. Engines can be tooled for racing, hauling or just getting groceries around town. Body styles come in sleek and tough, classic and custom, but without the chassis the car is just a glossy frame.

The group called CHOP, in Seattle, installed a hasty government, erected a fence around the downtown area and put enforcers in charge. It’s ironic that the lawless Antifa types threw off the local authorities, to be free of it no doubt, and immediately established one of their own. Governing is tough enough when you have the will of the people. But when the inevitable crime wave happens who will enforce the existing law? What is the existing law in this newly established hovel? Are robbery and rape even crimes? What about murder? If so, by what moral principle is anything good or bad? What is the process by which a victim appeals to an established judge, or a court for retribution? Are the revolutionaries that run the place even looking out for each other?

The problems with our system of law and order are well known. It’s much easier for wealthy people to avoid prosecution and get by with committing crime. Money buys good lawyers and teams of investigators that can muddy the waters of a case even when the defendant is guilty. Slip and fall lawyers can wring dollars out of businesses like dank water from a mop. In states with no limits on damages, companies can get sued on even the slightest technicalities. Poor neighborhoods (not just minorities) have a likelier chance of encountering the police and being apprehended. Most legal infractions (misdemeanors and felonies) require some payment of fee to get out of, not to mention the court fees. The poor are disproportionately affected. The fees aren’t unjust per se, but it’s tough to climb out of debt with legal bills. Miss a payment, add another layer of fees.  

None of this is to say it’s an awful system but we do need to reform it on the margins. Sometimes it means voting for a person or bill designed to sort out some perceived wrong. But I don’t believe it’s a ‘systemically’ racist legal system. This is the standard Black Lives Matter line, not to mention countless Marxist groups in the country. American jurisprudence is rooted in the English common law tradition where property is protected and disputes are settled by a judge, or unbiased party. That decision is used as a reference for similar cases that follow.

 This business about our legal framework is a blog post for another day, but you get the point. So what does it mean that the institutions are systemically racist? If you mean discriminatory, exclusionary and unequal than you’re right. But if by ‘systemic’ you mean that the foundations (first principles) are rooted in an immoral understanding of rights and liberties, I’d call nonsense. The inequities are mostly in personal biases and an unwillingness to provide everyone in society with the same opportunities that the nation’s founding always provided for.

In Dr. King’s famous “I have a dream” speech he refers to this specifically as a bad promissory note for black Americans.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

If King thought the founding was systemically racist he wouldn’t reference the Constitution or the Declaration as standards of legitimacy. Instead, he calls white society to live up to them. Law is something we interpret through the courts, but courts can go sideways for years with poor philosophy, bias, neglect and racism. Like a banged up chassis causing poor steering, bad law can damage a society. A dramatic correction is needed, as Martin Luther King well knew.

 Societies need standards of behavior and consistent protections in order to survive. Even decadent ones like the radicals in Seattle will soon discover “We got to have some law!”

 

2020 Man!

 

I drove home from the gym today after an exhausting run on the treadmill. Running helps get the angry energy from the day out of my head. Morning runs put me in a positive mood to start. I guess between the two I prefer to run early but the gym isn’t ready to let us take showers yet. I can’t believe I uttered that statement but there it is, no showers at the gym. The way work is going I’m pretty keyed up by the time the day finished out and I need a release.

It isn’t work that’s stressful but life. Work makes sense. Work is orderly. Work needs me.

I think I’m watching too much news but I don’t really know how to stop.

Well turn off the TV dummy!! I don’t even watch TV news anymore.

It isn't like 50 years ago. Not many people plunk down at 6 and watch the evening news. The news is in everything today. It’s one mass blob of similar narratives squeezed into various items like jelly in donuts. News, sports, politics, and business all taste the same now.

 I watch TV at work which means I have to select a sports channel, it’s a sporting goods store after all. Now live sports don’t usually air between 9 and 5 Monday through Friday. Playoff baseball is an exception as well as a few other post season events, but mostly it’s just replays. Sports channels have either talking head shows or replays. Normally I’ll watch talking head shows because at least they are newsy and current. Some are better than others, or rather less obnoxious than others.  

Live sports aren’t happening right now (Yeah Virus!!) so it’s making the talk shows extra lame. But ever since the George Floyd murder it’s been an onslaught of racial politics, police brutality, and sycophantic apologies from anyone popular who happens to be close to a microphone.

Colin Kaepernick is back in the news as well. The NFL commissioner apologized to him for not taking him seriously, despite getting sued by Collin. They settled and Kap made out well. But this was a few years ago but the cop killing has put new fire into an old debate, or jelly into a new donut.

 Drew Brees apologized for saying he would never kneel in front the flag. American businesses can’t get their apology copy to the black community fast enough. If no apology is needed they issue some grovelly Black Lives Matter solidarity statement. Whenever I read one I just want to scream “Say black people matter! Or black people are essential!” Black Lives Matter is a Marxist group that sees America as a white supremacist country. The difference is critical.  

So I’m watching shows that have diving contests and poker games. I just have to tune out everything current because it’s all depressing. I get on Facebook to see how my friends are doing and everyone is posting pro or con stuff about marches, riots, looting, legislation. My podcasts are either sports or politics. Both are out.

I go to the gym and run where a TV in front of me shows the nightly news, CBS. It’s wall to wall negativity and pot stirring. Here come the narratives again in all the reporting, more jelly. The cop in Atlanta that killed the black man I didn’t watch the video. I refuse to. I’ve seen a few reports of baptism on the street corner where George Floyd was killed. That’s incredible but hardly anyone seems to know it. I can hardly make myself watch Netflix anymore either. I don’t want to see violence, even the fake sort that I normally can’t get enough of. So I read. Or go to bed early.

I’m sure that events in the country aren’t as bad as they look, but my creativity is being stretched. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe I’ll learn some trade or craft during this time and when people ask me how did I learn it, I can shake my head and say “2020 man”.  

Onward

I’m back running again. Hardly to the level I was before but at least I’m back at it. The plantar fasciitis I had is under control. There is some pain in the morning but only a little thereafter. Thank God for that, answer to prayer.

 During my last post about working out I whined about the gym policy on no showers. I can’t understand why letting members shower after a workout is asking for a spread of Covid 19, but there it is. I guess businesses have to just get on with whatever measures they need to start making money. At least Oklahoma is mostly back to normal, albeit with a few silly requirements thrown in to remind us about the pandemic. It’s forced me to go back to hitting the gym after a full day of work. I don’t love it. But until I can go back to mornings I’ll deal with the crowded night club feel. It's tough to get a decent treadmill at 5:30 in the evening though. Most of the available ones don't let you increase the hill slopes. 

So it's slow right now. The first time I got on the treadmill I hoped to get three miles. I made almost six, albeit with an extremely high heart rate to finish. I was up around 182 which is going hard. But it had been almost 10 weeks so I didn’t get too upset. Since then I’ve managed a few three mile days and a couple of fives, a few sixes. It’s too hot to get any real distance outdoors. I got up early the other day hoping for six in the sun. I managed 1 mile. ONE FREAKING MILE! I was exhausted. It wasn’t just the heat but I suspect that was the largest part. I’m just not in running shape anymore and it shows up more outdoors than on a treadmill. I need to drop a little weight as well. I got kind of lazy with the quarantine by sitting around and eating ice cream day after day. No excuses now. Gyms are open, I’m back to work and my foot feels a hundred times better.

I’ll have to reacclimatize to this heat though. It’s a process I go through every summer. I can’t go as far distance wise but I really earn every mile. Some days I just have to stop half way through the run and continue at a slower pace or drop from exhaustion. At most that’s once a week though. I still run at the gym a lot in the summer. Drinking water throughout the day helps a lot too. My body doesn’t work as hard when I’m plenty hydrated. For all the preparation you just need to actually get out and grind it out. Nothing gets you back to distance and speed like just doing the work.

Onward.