Illegal Immigration

Tomorrow illegal immigrants and their supporters from across the nation are planning to boycott businesses, schools and work places in order to show congress and the rest of us how important they are to our economy. The are planning to march en masse to prove their solidarity and to demand their rights to be citizens of this country. If the protests of the past couple weeks are any indication, many of these illegal immigrants will be marching under the Mexican flag.

I'm sorry, but am I the only person who has a problem with this? I would have a lot more sympathy if they marched through the streets of town with banners proclaiming: "We love America. Please don't make us leave." Or, "We want to be Americans, too." Shouldn't they be begging to stay instead of demanding their "rights"?

And, by the way, didn't they come here so they could work and go to school and pursue the American dream? So why would they leave their employment, walk out of schools and refuse to shop? Seems to me they are cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

And marching under the Mexican flag? That bothers me most. They want all the benefits of being an American while proclaiming themselves to be Mexicans?

There may be 12 million of them, but there are far more of "us": people who love America and have pledged our allegiance to America and choose to obey its laws. Many people have chosen to make this their home and applied for citizenship legally. They worked hard to learn our language and culture and history. My great-grandparents came to this country from Poland (Austria-Hungary). They were immigrants. Legal ones. Is it too much to ask that those who want to be a part of this country obey its laws even before they are granted citizenship? If they don't, and if we don't require them to, I fear we weaken our country and America will begin to lose what makes it great in the first place.

I am prepared to go shopping tomorrow. I'm heading to the mall to buy something... anything. I want retailers to know that it is the American people who fuel our economy. I want our congressmen and women to know that, too. Illegal immigrants may contribute, but we don't make our policy and laws to give protections and freedoms and privileges to those who are breaking our laws. Or at least we shouldn't.

Whatever happens tomorrow, I hope it will wake Americans up to the preciousness of this country and cause us to stand together to maintain our laws and ideals. And I hope more than a few of the marchers will realize the privileges they are enjoying are ones others have given their lives for... and that they will be moved to become citizens legally.

A New Year

I can hardly believe it is already 2006. And I haven't updated my blog since September. I don't know why I've been having such a hard time writing lately. Maybe I did a little too much writing last year -- the Lectio Divina study on John, a couple weeks' worth of devotionals for Light from the Word, and several commentaries for Teacher's Helps. Last year this time I finished a huge project (for me, anyway) for my sister's computer company that they never did anything with. Nothing like feeling you're wasting your time writing to keep you from doing it!

Even though I haven't blogged, I've still been doing something. I spent the past month and a half trying to get all my old writing typed into the computer (much of it I lost on an old laptop that quit working about 4 years ago). Rebecca (precious 17-year-old daughter) helped with some of the typing. Then I worked at putting together a store on eBay to sell my writing as ebooks (in PDF format that every computer can read). At the time I started this project, I was convinced that this was something God wanted me to do. But now I wonder. I am so inept at business strategy. I have no idea how to market my writing, and sometimes I wonder why anyone would care what I have to say anyway. But I'll give it a try.

I am most excited about having my apologetics material available on the web. I taught several apologetics classes at our church in Wisconsin and then developed my own material based on hours and hours of study and seeing what worked with students. I must admit that I am very proud of this work. It's concise, but it is also full of good, practical, logical information. I am hoping it will be a great help to many people.

So what's up for the new year? My one goal is to write a book I've been thinking about for 10 years now. I hate the thought of writing it, because I know I'll be branded a heretic by most of the Christian world (at least the vocal Christian world). I want to call the book "Rethinking Revelation" and tackle the whole issue of the Second Coming, the Rapture and the Millennium. I am so weary of all this pretribulationism and dispensationalism I hear nowadays. I don't think Scripture teaches what they teach, but I don't want to write a book just to be "right." I want to write something that will motivate and inspire. So, I have a lot of thinking to do. And I could use any insights any of you out there have to offer.

In the meantime, if anyone is interested in my ebooks (electronic books that must be read online -- they're not printed for you, though you can print them yourself if you want to), visit my eBay store at www.stores.ebay.com/biblebasicsandbeyond.

Watch over the next couple days for my New Year's Resolutions. I never do them before the first of the year, because New Years Day is a holiday, and I usually break them all the first day. So, I'll be forming mine before the end of the first week of the year. Hope you are working on yours, too. Until then....

On Hurricane Katrina

No one who has watched the news at all this past week could help but feel a desperate compassion for the hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana and Mississippi who have had their lives torn apart by Hurricane Katrina. Such devastation! Such suffering! Such pain! I can't even imagine how they feel. Forgotten, abandoned, hopeless. Our first response is to ask, "How can I help?"

But I found another response in my heart after watching the newscasts. I felt anger. And I'm not altogether sure why. I don't feel anger toward God. Or toward the government. Or toward any organization or official. But I do feel a certain amount of anger toward the "victims" of this tragedy.

First, it angers me that they didn't leave when evacuation orders were given. I understand that some were unable to leave town because of a lack of transportation or money. But they had 2 days warning. They could have hitchhiked. They could have done something.

I'm angry that people are looting and raping and shooting at relief workers. What are they thinking? Why do tragedies like this bring out the best -- and the worst -- in people? And why are so many of the poor also so uncaring toward their own that they would choose to hurt those who are already hurting? I just don't get it.

I'm angry because the victims are angry. They're hurting. We all understand that. But their anger reveals that they think they have some right to have relief provided for them. Given the compassion of Americans during catastrophes around the world, they do have a right to expect that people would also be compassionate toward them. But the folks in New Orleans act as if they are the only ones in need. And they forget that much of the efforts of the early rescuers was to actually rescue people whose lives were in danger. They were plucking people off rooftops, while those at the Superdome were crying because they wanted more food. I know they feel desperate. But I've fasted many, many times in my life. I've often gone a week without food. I've gone 3 weeks. And I wasn't terribly overweight when I started. And I survived. And I didn't complain.

Do you think it's because we're so spoiled here in America? We're not used to ever going a day without a meal. We think someone owes us something. We think we're entitled to quick relief and comfort.

Don't misunderstand. The situation is deplorable. But some of it I just don't understand. People urinating and defecating on the floor...? Pardon me, but wasn't there anyone there with any sense to suggest that they dig a hole outside and keep their personal waste away from everyone else? To me, that's common sense. Maybe the problem is that among the poor (those "left behind") there is very little leadership. Maybe their really was no one to step up and guide people. But no, I don't think someone else -- someone with a family of their own to care for, someone with enough sense to flee the category 5 hurricane -- should have been expected to stick around and put their life on the line for those who decided to stay in town.

When the tsunami hit in Indonesia, you saw pictures on television of the "victims" working to clear debris and to stack dead bodies away from the rest of the people. They were helping in search and rescue. But the victims in this hurricane all seem to be standing around waiting for someone else to do something for them, chanting, "We need help! We need help!" And they're angry that help isn't coming faster. I wonder if in the coming weeks we'll hear the refrain, "We detest this miserable manna."

One woman interviewed on TV tonight said, "We don't deserve to be treated this way!" What way? People everywhere are sending money. We're trying to get relief to them. People want to help. No one is treating them poorly. They're doing the best they can in a situation that is difficult. It's not too easy to get food to areas when the roads are impassable. For once I'd just like to see one person interviewed express thanks to God for protecting them and for the lives they have. I'd like to see someone express hope for the future.

Maybe I'm being too hard on them. I've never been in their position. I've never lost everything. But many others through the centuries have. And they survived not by waiting around for someone to help them and condemning the government for not responding quick enough -- but by garnering their inner strength, picking themselves up by the bootstraps, and making something happen.

Compassion and anger. Is there something wrong with me for feeling both? I'd love to hear what you think! Please leave a comment and help me out.

Lectio Divina

I almost forgot to let you know about the new Lectio Divina Bible Study series that is now available (at least partially) from the Wesleyan Publishing House. The series is being published by WPH in conjunction with Beacon Hill Press (Nazarenes). Right now John and Hebrews are ready, with Philippians and Mark available in the fall. A total of 12 titles will be available by the end of next year.

I wrote the study on the gospel of John. It was the hardest writing assignment I've ever had. And one of the most satisfying.

Lectio Divina is the ancient art of "divine reading." The reader is invited not just to read the Bible for information, but for spiritual transformation. Each of the eight Bible studies in each book are designed to help you interact with the text: What is God trying to say to me through His Word? They're designed to help you develop a rhythm in your devotional life, balancing praying with listening, and studying with applying. I think you'll find the series refreshing. Instead of simply giving you information, the books ask questions to help you discover the "living Word" for yourself.