This Will Never Work In New Jersey

The state legislature in Texas is considering raising the speed limit on some interstate highways to 85 miles an hour. You can read about it here.

Since the highest legal speed limit here in New Jersey is only 65, such an increase would never work in this state as it would only legitimize what goes on in the left lanes of most highways and thus would give drivers reason (in their minds) to drive even faster.

It’s already white knuckle conditions out there now. Could you imagine the Turnpike or the Parkway at 85 mph? That would be a good reason to stay home.

Plus, with the price of gas being what it is, you could quickly watch your needle drop to empty while driving at 85 and your wallet would also empty out.

For around here I believe 65 is a better way to go.

This May Be Closer Than We Imagine

I came across a blog post from Gene Veith today about military chaplains may be forced to perform gay weddings which came from this article.

This troubles me on two levels: first, several years ago I had a vicar (an intern) serving with me while I was in Arkansas who did an outstanding job in learning more about being a pastor. After completing his education, he was assigned to a congregation in Minnesota and during this time he also felt a call to enter the naval chaplaincy program. He was all set to leave the parish when the rules of how to deal with gays in the military changed and he withdrew his application. My former vicar felt his religious beliefs would be compromised by the new standards established by our government. This has now been shown to be true.

Second, if you read the report from the American Conservative carefully, you will see some conjecture by another writer within the piece indicating that what could happen is eventual banning of clergy who do not support same sex marriage from participating in the civil licensing of marriages. This is a requirement of every marriage in our country. Weddings could still be performed in churches but for a couple to be legally married they would have to go to a licensing authority to get their license.

Sounds far fetched? Maybe. But when you consider how far we have come in the past few years down the slippery slope we are traveling, nothing would surprise me.

Watch How Fast Kids Grow Up

Here is a video made by the parents of a little girl named Natalie, where they claimed to have taken one picture every of her life from birth to ten years old.

Would This Do the Trick?

I know I have some Chicago Cubs fans who follow this blog (Jeff, are you there?) and this article from the Wall Street Journal is probably as close to heresy as there is for Cubs’ supporters.

But, for me, who has attended a handful of games at Wrigley and never found much in the place that was endearing (especially one memorable afternoon sitting in right field just above the exhaust vents of the concession stand beneath and I came out of there smelling like a combination of burnt hot dogs and Lord knows what) it’s time to move on to a modern baseball facility.

My dream–build something close to Navy Pier that floats so that when the team goes into its normal swoon, lashings can be loosened and the whole mess set free to drift off on Lake Michigan toward Gary Indiana where no one will care if the Cubs win or lose. Oh, wait, no one cares now …

“Not that we loved God, but that He loved us”

Our weekly devotion from Rev. Earl Fedderson, retired LCMS mission executive:

Acts 11:19-30
1 John 4:1-11
John 15:9-17

“This is love:” we read in 1 John, “not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” In the Gospel, Jesus says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. . . . Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. . . . I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit –fruit that will last.”

A major segment of American society speaks incessantly about “rights” and “choice,” even the “right to choose.” The sentiment is reflected by parents who don’t take their children to Sunday School so the kids can “choose for themselves” later on. I suggest it’s pretty hard to know anyone–even God–if you are never introduced! But then a lot of people don’t get to know Him because they want to choose the terms of their relationship. It’s another “right to choose” which proves, once more, that there is no such thing as a right to do wrong.

In his A Gospel ABC, Frederick Buechner wrote, “Knowing something or somebody isn’t the same as knowing about them. The knowers don’t simply add to their mental store and go their way otherwise unchanged. To know is to participate in, to become imbued with, for better or worse to be affected by. When you really know a person or a language or a job, the knowledge becomes part of who you are. It gets into your bloodstream.” (Ever hear of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?)

The relationship between the words in 1 John and Jesus’ words in the Gospel gathers force from the old saying that a friend is someone who knows you and likes you anyway. Jesus added His own power with His definition of a true friend’s love: “that he lay down his life for his friends.” God’s mission has to do with having such a Friend who calls us to help others know that He is their Friend as well.

I once heard a psychiatrist say that love and hate are opposite sides of the same coin. She was talking about emotions, not love, but I didn’t want to argue. When we read in 1 John that love is not something you say, we could add it is not something you feel either. It is something you do. When Jesus says, “I chose you,” He is revealing a decision that is based, not on evidence or emotion, but in spite of them.

He chose to love those who would fail at the most rudimentary form of friendship. He chose to love those for whom His love would cost His life. He even chose to love those who would take His life!

I am your friend when I tell you about that Friend.

Some of us are fortunate enough to have friends who know us and love us anyway. Fewer, I’m sure, have friends who would lay down their lives for us. More have or did have parents with that kind of love. The amazing love and grace of God covers us all!

Our mothers and fathers didn’t choose us; they sort of got stuck with us. But we have a Father who chooses us. We have a Friend–a Brother–who laid down His life for us. None of us who believes those things chose to believe them on our own. It was a gift of God’s Spirit through His Word. Even that Word came as His gift.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you . . . to bear fruit.”

When You Confess the Creed …

You’re among friends here, you can answer truthfully: when you worship God, are you sincere or are you just going through the motions? This can be a painful question to consider because although we would like to see our worship to always be vibrant and alive, sometimes it is far from it.

The following video (courtesy of Pastor Larry Peters) may be of help:

Mid-Week Stewardship Thought

Money Is a Test

Jesus said, “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Luke 16:11). The way we handle our material possessions is a good test of the way we would handle responsibilities relating to God’s kingdom. Jesus tells us that, if we can be trusted with our stewardship of the material things that He entrusts to us, then He will trust us to be stewards over things of highest value which relate to the eternal. In order to be “trustworthy in handling worldly wealth,” we need to recognize our privilege and responsibility to use our material blessings with a kingdom focus.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to develop a right and proper attitude toward the money You have entrusted to me. Help me to see my money as a tool to help others. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

Blessings on your stewardship journey!