There Are No Strangers

My kids have gotten so used to me having conversations with random strangers that they just roll their eyes and look at each other as if to say, “here she goes again!” when it happens.   I don’t know why people feel drawn to strike up conversations with me (or then again, maybe I do!), but at any rate, it seems like I must have “that kind of face” or maybe I look like a big sister or little sister or something…or maybe it’s because I go everywhere with a big smile on my face!

Today, though, I can tell you it was because of the shirt I had on.  Yes, you heard me right, because of the shirt I had on.  My husband just bought me the coolest new top, a black tee shirt top with fleur de lis swirls on it and a large cross outlined in blue rhinestones on the left side of the tee.  It really is neat!

As I walked down the baking goods aisle of the local Vons store, an older woman walked toward me.  She commented as we drew nearer to each other, “great shirt!  Did you get it in town?”  I proceeded to tell her yes and tried to describe where the shop was that I had gotten it.  When she asked me if it was a Christian store, I replied that it wasn’t, “but I’m sure she has some Christian blood in there somewhere.”  “Don’t we hope we all do?” was her response as we parted ways to my “amen!”

As I rounded the end cap of that aisle, she had rushed around from the next aisle to meet me there.  “I was just  baptized yesterday in the Cedar Lake here!  Calvary Chapel…and I’m 60 years old!” she beamed at me.   My congratulations to her was from one sister in Christ to another, no strangers here!

You see, the way I look at it, we all have the potential of spending eternity with one another–and if God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, then I love those he loves.   See why I walk around with that smile on my face?  I’m so glad to have met, if even for just a moment, a sister in the Lord today; I’m looking forward to spending a lot more time with her someday.

My mama used to say of me when I was a toddler, “Elisabeth never met a stranger!”   May that still be said of me today, I pray in Jesus name!

Our Security

I’m still in a state of disbelief as I post this entry.  Our soon-to-be eighteen-year-old daughter came home later than normal (with permission) Sunday night.  In her hurry to get in before the appointed time to be home, she left her house key in the lock outside.  When we found it in there the next morning, my husband and I looked each other and felt relieved that, even though the key was in the door, the alarm system had been armed.  Not a good thing, but not a huge big deal either.

Now I am finding out that the installation of our new phone system actually terminated the signal for the security system.  We thought we were secure, when in fact we were completely vulnerable that night.  Yikes!

You can bet that I’m journaling a lot today about my gratitude that our security ultimately is not even with that alarm system, but with the Lord God Himself.  He is our protector, our shield, our fortress.  How ironic that when I realized that the security system was offline, I suddenly felt panicked and scared for a split second.  Then I remembered Who I serve and how amazing His protection is.

Now, I don’t plan to test the Lord and repeat that incident.  I do believe God wants us to do our part in keeping our families safe.  I look back on my life and see many occasions when I know that, thankfully, God made up for my lapse of alertness or diligence.  That’s the kind of God we serve.

Although I do rely on our security system in the physical, natural realm, ultimately, God is our security and He is our great protector.  I will not be afraid!

Mistaken Identity

I have written before about a snorkeling “incident” we had in Hawaii with my husband and our two youngest kids.  They were quite young and very excited to be out in the ocean with all the brightly colored and wonderful fish.  Suddenly my husband called out to me, “Beth, bring Trey over here to see the barracuda!”  Now, I know he said barracuda, but in my mind, I heard piranha.  I’m thinking, “what is he, nuts?!  Taking our kids over near a bunch of piranha??”  I was so freaked out–I didn’t even have the sense to compute that we weren’t in the Amazon River–we were in a quiet bay in Hawaii. 

Pretty sure there are no piranha there.

But I had a bad case of mistaken identity–or rather, I had given the poor barracuda a case of mistaken identity.

This memory surfaced afresh for me last night when I prepared a nice seafood dish (no, it wasn’t barracuda), dusting it with a fine layer of paprika just to give it a pretty color and nice presentation.  When my middle daughter took a bite, she yelped.  “Ouch!  It’s spicy!”  (This is the daughter who can’t handle anything with any kick to it.)

“Oh my goodness, Cassandra,” came my impatient response.  “It’s just paprika!!  That’s not hot enough for you to even taste!”  But she continued to insist that it was hot.  Now Ivan had doused his with Tabasco, so he wasn’t going to be an accurate gauge for whether it was hot or not and I didn’t take any of the seafood, so I couldn’t either.  She actually got up, rinsed it off under the sink and then continued to eat.

Suddenly, as I sat there kind of thinking things through, I realized that I might have once again been the one who suffered from mistaken identity.   Did I grab the Cayenne pepper, thinking the bright red powdered spice was actually the Paprika?  Surely not…I had put the Cayenne pepper away, hadn’t I?  Well, with these thoughts going through my head, I got up from the table to just double check.

You know it…I had put the paprika away and had indeed sprinkled the seafood with Cayenne pepper.  No wonder she was yelping and squawking.  Poor little honey!

It reminds me of how many times we can lose sight of our own identity in Christ…accepting the whispered lies of the one who wants us to forget who we really are:  “You’re a loser…you won’t ever lose that weight…you can’t do anything right, no matter how hard you try…you are suffering from a bad case of wishful thinking…” and we accept that we are defeated before we even try.

Listening to the Voice of Truth isn’t that hard, if you just learn how.  There are a few ways that come to my mind; if you think of some other ways, please comment at the end of this note for those who will read after you.  One important way is to read in Scripture…who does God say you are? 

I am God’s child.

I am a friend of God.

I am a member of Christ’s Body.

I am a citizen of heaven.

I am born of God.

There is a list of these “I am” statements at the Freedom in Christ website:  http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm with Scripture reference for any of you who, like me, might suffer from mistaken identity from time to time.

Never forget that you are you are one of the ones for whom God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that you might have everlasting life!  Amen!

Kite Children

As our children become older, they remind me more and more of kites!  Yes, kites…  Let me explain:

Do you remember flying kites in your youth (or if you’re lucky to have remained youthful, maybe you still fly kites to this day)?  When the wind was steady and constant, you could let the kite out farther and farther, until you could barely see your kite, but you still felt its tug on the string.

When the wind was gusty, you had to keep the line a little (or a lot) shorter.  The kite would dip and soar with the wind as it did a beautiful dance in the air.  The pull on the string would increase and then lighten as the kite responded to the wind. 

What about the really turbulent winds?  You would have to either back up slowly or even run backward in short bursts of speed to keep the string taut and keep the kite aloft.  At times the kite would dance and gyrate, seemingly out of control, yet as long as you held the line tightly and maintained contact with the kite, keeping it out of trees and power lines, you were good.

And then there were the moments when your kite, under the influence of a downdraft, would suddenly turn its nose earthward and, giving in to the pull of gravity, literally dive to the ground!  Nothing you could do would stop it from smashing into the earth it had been trying desperately to escape just moments before.  Rushing forward, you would check it closely and anxiously to see if it was damaged in any way. 

We watch our children stretch up higher and higer toward independence and adulthood, pulling at the string in our hands and we hold on, knowing on the one hand that we can’t keep them on too short a line, but knowing on the other hand what the battering winds of society, peer pressure and the pull of the world can do to them.  So when all is calm and steady, we let them climb, all the while holding the string firmly in our hands.  That string connecting us reminds me of the Holy Spirit and the way He lets us know when the winds are getting stronger, more turbulent and we need to reel in or back up a little to bring the line taut and keep this most precious kite aloft.

Sometimes though, our kite-children turn nose down and head for the earth, giving in to society’s gravitational pull, and dive downward.  At those times, remember, you are holding the string in your hands.  You are not flying this kite all alone!  We rush forward in those times, check for damage and then help our kite-child soar again in a divine partnership with God.

Our children aren’t meant to stay in our hands forever.  Eventually the string will be pulled out of our hands and they will begin to fly under their own power.  Yes, we are aware of potential power lines and trees that might snag them, but we take comfort in the sure knowledge that the string is still connected to the kite and held by the hand of the One who loves them far more than we can ever love them.

It is helpful as we watch our kite-children grow up, making choices and decisions we are not comfortable with or even downright opposed to, that our God is the One who, like the widow who swept her house for that lost coin (Luke 15:8), goes to the ends of the earth to gather His sheep to Himself.  He leaves the 99 and searches for the one whom He loves dearly (Luke 15:4). 

When watching our children make choices and decisions that trouble us or even tempt us to be frightened for them and for the consequences, remembering Paul’s words, as he speaks of believers and unbelievers united in marriage, in 1 Corinthians 7:14 brings such comfort:  “for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.”  Holy!  As in sanctified, consecrated, set apart for God’s purposes!!  Even when turning nose downward and heading for the ground?  Even then!

I questioned God in prayer asking if Romans 8:28 was a promise that applied to my wayward child:  “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”  As I asked that question, I felt prompted to recall the comforting words of 1 Corinthians 7.  They are called, because they have been set apart, holy through a believing parent or parents.  They have been taught to love God and, praise Him, He loves them with a love that will never sever the string by which they are held to his side, pressed there tightly under His wing.

So believing that all things—the dips and whirls, the downward swoops and the crashes—are caused by God to work together for good is our act of faith.  It is our choice as parents of these wonderful, beautiful, amazing kite-children.  Ahhh, it so much better to trust and hope and wait for God as He flies these precious kites, urging them ever more toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).

Under His Wings

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers!  How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me,” Jesus plaintively grieves over Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37 just prior to going to the cross.  This passage of Scripture has always haunted me through the years as I have pondered the “why” of seeing people all around me refuse the call of Jesus on their lives in various ways…even as I have not let Him protect me under His wings in various ways myself.

My grandfather had chickens on his Nebraska dairy farm.  It was amazing to watch the hens “round up” their chicks and hold their wings over them, hiding them from the ever-watchful eyes of the circling birds of prey above.  As I have meditated on this passage, I have remembered these natural protective instincts of these hens.  It comes to me that as the hen covers the young with her wings, the chicks are pressed against her body, sheltered by the wings, but also supported and warmed by the mother’s body.

What does this metaphor mean for us on a deeper level?  Can you see how Jesus protects us under His wings by pressing us into His body, the Church?  We were never meant to go through life on our own, with a stiff upper lip, isolating ourselves when things get tough at home, on the job, or at school.  We have the body of Christ to lean against, gathering stability, warmth and support. 

Scripture tells us that we are to bear one another’s burdens, thereby fulfilling the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).  We can’t share each other’s burdens if we have no idea what we are each carrying individually.   I encourage you to find a group of believers and allow the Lord Jesus to shelter you under His wings, pressing you up against HIS body, the Church.  Maybe you’re already in a church, but not really connected with anyone there…let Jesus press you against His body by opening up your life to others.  You will begin to experience a new dimension to being “protected beneath His wings.”

He Holds My Hand

I am sitting on a wide, 5th-story balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Kona, Hawaii at the moment.   The scene is so beautiful.  Our resort is built at the water’s edge on the huge, ancient lava flow of an extinct volcano which looms out of the ocean in so much grandeur.   As I sit here with my morning coffee, I am watching a husband and wife with their two young children walking along the water’s edge.

Now, the little son is about 2 years old and is toddling along, tripping over all the sea shells and waving his hands in excitement.  Mommy is sticking close and keeps steady hands on him as he adventures around.  The little daughter is about 4 years old and Daddy is clearly in charge of her.  He walks closely by, pointing out anything of interest for her to look more closely at.

Then she notices that there are tide pools out where the ocean has receded back to leave bare lava exposed and she wants to walk out there.  Knowing that this surface is rough, uneven and possible slippery, the dad firmly takes the little daughter’s hand and steps out onto the lava surface with her. 

As I watch the two of them venturing out further to see what might be in those tide pools, a lump comes to my throat and tears sting the backs of my eyes.  You see, I can just envision how God takes our hand as we walk out on the  lava flows in our lives.  Your lava flow might look very different from mine, but how comforting it is to know that our Daddy is right there, holding tightly to us, lest we slip and fall. 

Psalm 73:23 says, “…I still belong to you; you hold my right hand.”   And in chapter 143:10 we read, “May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.”   What a sense of peace and calm comes over us as we look into the realm of the Spirit to see, with spiritual eyes, the hand of our Father God extended out to us to help us navigate over the rough, rocky and slippery places in life.   Oh, the gratitude that floods our hearts as we read again and again in Scripture that we do not walk alone. 

Where are the places you have felt the strong, steadying hand of your Father holding you tightly in life?

Submission: Weakness or Power?

Be careful if you have lunch with me, because you might end up in my blog!!  :D  I had lunch with my new BFF, Pam, this afternoon and had an amazing conversation with her about wives and submission.  What a hot button that is in the Church today…and how difficult it is to get your mind around just what that REALLY means.  I grew up in a faith tradition that emphasized and enjoined wifely submission and did a really good job of differentiating submission from subservience, subjugation or any other sub…of course, it wasn’t practiced perfectly in either direction, but at least it was valued.

If you visit my Facebook profile, you will see some books on this topic on my iRead bookshelf.  Books like The Politically Incorrect Wife, The Power of a Praying Wife, Feminine Warrior, and Strong Women, Soft Hearts.  All these books have helped me fine-tune my understanding and practice of being a Biblically submissive wife, but no other book besides the Bible has deepened my understanding than Mahaney and Harris’  Humility:  True Greatness. 

Let me explain what I mean by that.  When my husband and I first were dating, I explained to him that I was looking for a marital relationship with a strong man who would be the leader in the home and to whom I could submit as his “weaker vessel” as outlined in the Bible.  The poor man!  He bought that line…the thing was, I had bought that line, too.  We have spent the next 20 years trying to find that place…how many of you can say a hearty AMEN to that?!  At any rate, I thank God that He is patient with us and I’m thankful that my husband is patient with me, too, as I yield to the Holy Spirit and allow God to mold me in the image of Jesus Christ–sure to be a life-long process, so please pray for my husband’s continued patience!! 

You see, I had taken the scripture’s exhortation seriously, but I did not yet understand the underlying ethic of wifely submission.  I have tried to surrender to an ideal instead of surrendering to the Almighy God!  I am controlling and manipulative…all those flesh patterns my friend Jennifer Kennedy Dean talks about in her beautiful books.  I thought that submission took my power away, leaving me powerless (even though one of my favorite books is Omartian’s POWER of a Praying Wife–duh).  What are we, women, when we feel powerless??  Say it with me:  controlling and manipulative! 

So, what is that ethic underlying submission?  Humility.  Humility illustrates that the one who has power willingly lays that down in order to serve the other.  In Ephesians 5:25, men are told to love their wives like Christ loved the church, giving up His life for her, living sacrificially and dying as the ultimate sacrifice.  In Hebrews we learn more about just how humble our Lord was as He went to the Cross, a perfect sacrifice.  And the capstone for me is Philippians 2:5 which says, “you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.  Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.  Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.” 

Ture humility releases me from the fear of powerlessness, because the very choice I make on a situation-by-situation basis to be humble demonstrates the “incredible greatness of God’s power” at work in me.  (Ephesians 1:19)  Thus we have the ultimate exhortation that is often overlooked in Ephesians:  “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  (Ephesians 1:21)  Truly it is in the humility of surrender (surrender of self, surrender to God, surrender of control, surrender of pride) where true power lives…the power of God!  Not our own power. 

There is an old martial arts parable a counselor reminded me of today:  A samurai stood in front of a monk who was seated in meditation.  “Monk,” the samurai said, “do you not know that I have the power to slice you in two?”  The monk calmly replied, “Samurai, do you not know that I have the power to let you?”

In choosing submission, we are demonstrating the greatest power of all:  the power of Love, not of ourselves, lest we boast, as the apostle Paul famously said.  But rather the power of God working in us.  There is no fear in this kind of submission–no need to control or manipulate.   What freedom comes with this knowledge.  What absolute peace and confidence.

Trust me when I say that my husband will benefit the most from my deepening understanding of this ethic.

Room Service from God’s Kitchen

My dear, sweet husband recognized the signs recently that I was heading for an emotional meltdown after a particulary tough week with our hormonal and frustrating teenaged son.   He suggested I take the weekend and head up to our place on the lake in Big Bear for some personal time.  Due to a recent heavy snowfall that would have made it hard to get up there and back, I asked if a couple of nights at the local Double Tree Hotel would qualify as a spot for my personal time.  Bless him for it, he said yes!   So, here I am, spending the second night here all by myself!

When I was thinking about this time with anticipation during the week, one of the things I had considered was actually fasting while I was here.  One look at the room service menu sent that idea right out of my head.  The menu looks great!!  For dinner last night, I ordered the Pan-Seared Asian Tuna Salad from the Eat Right menu.  Here is how it is deliciously described:  “pan-seared tuna, drizzled with a coconut-wasabi sauce, served with stir-fried sesame marinated eggplant and fresh baby mustard greens.”  This is what I got:  “lightly-breaded and fried-in-extra-grease tuna with balsamic-vinaigrette-drowned packaged salad greens generously topped off with 3/4 cup of sliced ginger.”   

Okay, you don’t always bat a thousand with room service, maybe breakfast will be better, I thought positively.  So, I read through the selections with great anticipation this morning, choosing very carefully since everyone knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day!  I selected the Greek Omelet (“scrambled eggs with satueed tomatoes and feta cheese, topped with fresh Oregano”), but what came from the kitchen was a Garden Omelet (stuffed with red and green bell peppers and mushrooms, topped with cheddar cheese).  Yuck!  So I asked the Lord how to keep this food issue from spoiling my retreat.  I was so looking forward to wonderful meals all prepared by someone else and delivered to my room and what I was getting was just not enhancing my time here.

He gently reminded me that when I was first thinking about this retreat, I had considered fasting!  I wanted to streamline my distractions over the weekend, so thought that a juice fast would be a wonderful way to both stay on track with my holiday weight goals as well as be able to stay in a frame of dependence upon God.  I had completely forgotten that intention the moment I sat down with the room service menu. 

I suddenly realized that I have been struggling with my disappointment that my children have not come out of God’s kitchen the way I have ordered them, either.   No big surprise there for anyone (do they ever come as we have requested, after all?), but I had been fighting that so hard that it was really beginning to effect my mental and emotional health!   I have been letting my disappointment detract from my life’s experience.  I can just hear the Lord saying, “Honey, can’t you fast from those expectations and let me take care of that order??”  Just thinking about it with this perspective has lightened the burden I have been feeling.   After all, the words from Jeremiah 29:11 have been etched indelibly on my cranium:  “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans or wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” 

No matter what I order, invariably what comes from God’s kitchen is exactly what I need!  Praise Him!

Oh and by the way, I stopped off at Sprouts Farmer’s Market after church this afternoon and bought some protein shakes and green drinks.

The Word of God–a Sharp Sword

My favorite martial arts weapon is the sword…we have quite a collection of swords in my household–Samurai swords, bamboo swords, wooden swords, chinese double-sided swords, broadswords, and so on.  Each sword is designed to be used for a specific purpose and we have to train for years to learn how to wield each sword the correct way until the various strokes become second nature.

When starting to train with a sword, we (my husband, son and I are all black belts in Karate) started out by doing very basic conditioning exercises with the weapon to build muscle and learn how to hold it properly.   From there we went on to learn a series of exercises that put several strokes together, teaching us to move from one stroke to another smoothly and without hurting ourselves.  Without these basic conditioning exercises, we could have really done some damage to ourselves!  Only after mastering the basics, did we move into full Karate forms which simulate a fight with two or more opponents.

God’s Word is actually compared to a sword in Hebrews 4:12.  “For the Word of God is alive and powerful.  It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword…”  and also in Ephesians 6:17b, “Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”  God’s Word is much like our martial arts swords; you must learn how to use this sword skillfully, or you and/or others can be hurt. 

We are encouraged to learn to divide the Word of God correctly.  The New Living Translation, which I value for daily devotional reading, puts it this way:   “…correctly explain the Word of Truth.”   The Bible is an amazing collection of writings and the only written book with which I have ever experienced having a real relationship!  What are some ways you are training right now with the Word of Truth, the sword of the Spirit”?  Where would you say you are in the process of learning to correctly explain the Word of Truth?  Keep in mind, that even as black belts in Karate, we have just mastered the very basics of the art.  There is a lifetime of learning still ahead!  Likewise, to plumb the depths of the Scriptures will take me through my entire life as my roots grow deeper down into the love of God I find in its pages.  This is one type of sword training I will never “age out of”, unlike my practice of the martial arts!

Powerful Article in the Paper

I read the article below in the Inland Daily Bulletin in my town.  The writer, Cal Thomas, has an amazing grip on the situation and I wanted to reprint his article here for my own readers.  This about sums up my philosophy of life, so I hope it will stimulate some great discussion.  Cal, you hit the nail right on the head in my opinion.  Comments, anyone??

Evangelicals shouldn’t rely on politics

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By Cal Thomas

FOX NEWS

Posted Nov 08, 2008 @ 07:02 PM

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When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, he will do so in the 30th anniversary year of the founding of the so-called Religious Right. Born in 1979 and midwifed by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Religious Right was a reincarnation of previous religious-social movements that sought moral improvement through legislation and court rulings. Those earlier movements — from abolition (successful) to Prohibition (unsuccessful) — had mixed results.

Social movements that relied mainly on political power to enforce a conservative moral code weren’t anywhere near as successful as those that focused on changing hearts. The four religious revivals, from the First Great Awakening in the 1730s and 1740s to the Fourth Great Awakening in the late 1960s and early ’70s, which touched America and instantly transformed millions of Americans (and American culture as a result), are testimony to that.

Thirty years of trying to use government to stop abortion, preserve opposite-sex marriage, improve television and movie content and transform culture into the conservative evangelical image has failed. The question now becomes: Should conservative Christians redouble their efforts, contributing millions more to radio and TV preachers and activists, or would they be wise to try something else?

I opt for trying something else.

Too many conservative evangelicals have put too much faith in the power of government to transform culture. The futility inherent in such misplaced faith can be demonstrated by asking these activists a simple question: Does the secular left, when it holds power, persuade conservatives to live by their standards? Of course they do not. Why, then, would conservative evangelicals expect people who do not share their worldview and view of God to accept their beliefs when they control government?

Too many conservative evangelicals mistake political power for influence. Politicians who struggle with imposing a moral code on themselves are unlikely to succeed in their attempts to impose it on others. What is the answer, then, for conservative evangelicals who are rightly concerned about the corrosion of culture, the indifference to the value of human life and the living arrangements of same- and opposite-sex couples?

The answer depends on the response to another question: Do conservative evangelicals want to feel good, or do they want to adopt a strategy that actually produces results? Clearly partisan politics have not achieved their objectives.

Do they think they can succeed by committing themselves to 30 more years of the same?

If results are what conservative evangelicals want, they already have a model. It is contained in the life and commands of Jesus of Nazareth. Suppose millions of conservative evangelicals engaged in an old and proven type of radical behavior. Suppose they followed the admonition of Jesus to “love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison and care for widows and orphans,” not as ends, as so many liberals do by using government, but as a means of demonstrating God’s love for the whole person in order that people might seek Him?

Such a strategy could be more “transformational” than electing a new president, even the first president of color. But in order to succeed, such a strategy would not be led by charismatic figures, who would raise lots of money, be interviewed on Sunday talk shows, author books and make gobs of money.

God teaches in his word that his power (if that is what conservative evangelicals want and not their puny attempts at grabbing earthly power) is made perfect in weakness. He speaks of the tiny mustard seed, the seemingly worthless widow’s mite, of taking the last place at the table and the humbling of one’s self, the washing of feet and similar acts and attitudes; the still, small voice. How did conservative evangelicals miss this and instead settle for a lesser power, which in reality is no power at all? When did they settle for an inferior “kingdom”?

Evangelicals are at a junction. They can take the path that will lead them to more futility and ineffective attempts to reform culture through government, or they can embrace the far more powerful methods outlined by the One they claim to follow. By following his example, they will decrease, but he will increase. They will get no credit, but they will see results. If conservative evangelicals choose obscurity and seek to glorify God, they will get much of what they hope for, but can never achieve, in and through politics.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist and Fox News commentator. Send e-mail to tmseditors@tribune.com.