In the Words of the President

In case you or your calendar publisher missed it, today is Presidents’ Day.  And in case you were wondering “what’s that all about?” I thought this little snippet from the History Channel’s website was helpful:

Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. Traditionally celebrated on February 22—Washington’s actual day of birth—the holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present.

No matter what your party affiliation, every American ought to be able to concede that there isn’t a more stressful job than the presidency of the United States. As comedian Brian Regan has put it, there’s nothing like being awakened every morning to: “Problems. All kinds of problems!” And while they are often ambitious folk, these remarkable individuals give up 4 years (maybe 8, or even 12 if you’re FDR) of their lives (in the case of 4, literally), their privacy, and their public reputations to do their very best in leading our country. A lonely post in the best of times, few leave office without the indicators of the wear and tear the intensity of the presidency leaves.  Each one has left a unique legacy, a mark on American history. And each one deserves the gratitude and respect of the American people.

With that in mind, I’m proud to present to you ABB’s second “In the Words of the President” quiz! Below are ten quotations from our presidents, with three choices as to which president the quote originated from. Take a few minutes to take the quiz (without using Google for a reference!) and submit your answers via the comment section by March 5. The reader who gets the most questions correct will receive an inspiring book from ABB! The Printer will have one more question in store in case of a tie.

And so, without further adieu, I give you the Presidents of the United States of America, in their own words!

1)“No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”

 Abraham Lincoln

 John Quincy Adams

 George Washington

2)“[A] wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government…”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Thomas Jefferson

Martin Van Buren

3) “I pity the creature who doesn’t work, at whichever end of the social scale he may regard himself as being. The law of worthy work well done is the law of successful American life.”

Theodore Roosevelt

William Jefferson Clinton

Franklin Pierce

4) “Our government was made by patriotic, unselfish, sominded men for the control or protection of a patriotic, unselfish and sober-minded people. It is suited to such a people; but for those who are selfish, corrupt and unpatriotic it is the worst government on earth.”

John F. Kennedy

Grover Cleveland     

Donald Trump

     

5) “American citizenship is a high estate. He who holds it is the peer of kings. It has been secured by untold toil and effort. It will be maintained by no other method. It demands the best that men and women have to give. But it likewise awards to its partakers the best that there is on earth.”

Calvin Coolidge

Andrew Jackson

Chester Alan Arthur

6) “[T]he same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.”

Richard Nixon

John F. Kennedy 

Dwight Eisenhower

7) “It remains for the guardians of the public welfare to persevere in that justice and good will toward other nations which invite a return of these sentiments toward the United States; to cherish institutions which guarantee their safety and their liberties, civil and religious; and to combine with a liberal system of foreign commerce an improvement of the national advantages and a protection and extension of the independent resources of our highly favored and happy country.”

John Tyler

James Madison

William Taft

 8) “[I]t is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed who God is the Lord.”

Abraham Lincoln

James Monroe

 Franklin Delano Roosevelt

9) “[Fatherhood is] giving one’s all, from the break of day to its end, on the job, in the house, but most of all in the heart.”

Barrack Obama

Ronald Reagan

Lyndon Johnson

10) “There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. Help us to remember it, Lord.”

John Adams

George H.W. Bush

Ulysses  Grant

Live in the Moment

I struggled with what to call this post. By “live in the moment,” I don’t mean to abandon planning or to ignore the consequences of today’s decisions, or pay no attention to what has happened in the past. What I mean by it is something along the lines of what Moses meant in his psalm. Yes, I did mean Moses.

Smack dab in the middle of songs written by David is this ancient, powerful text by Moses. Psalm 90 contrasts the infinite nature of God with the finite fragility of man. It is peppered with passages like these: “from everlasting to everlasting you are God,” “a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past,” “You carry [our years] away like a flood,” and  “we finish our years like a sigh.” Then, in the middle of all this figurative wistfulness, comes this tangible observation and very practical request:

The days of our lives are seventy years: and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Incredibly, millennia later, the average life expectancy remains 78.8 years. Our brief existence, compared to God’s infinite timeline, doesn’t even measure a micrometer. What’s more, the brevity of our life is a reminder that we live, as Moses did, in a world under God’s judgement. Man was not created to die—we were created to live forever. But sin altered that design, and we live with its consequence each moment, including a fixed lifetime.  Moses’ reaction to those hard facts is a humble plea that God teach us to “number” our days. The Hebrew word for  “number”  literally means “to count” or “ to reckon.” It provides the picture of a bookkeeper taking inventory of precious resources for a business. Life is the most important business there is, and time is the most precious of resources.

Now, I don’t mean to get all dour, especially on an occasion as joyful as Thanksgiving. So, let me try to turn the corner…by turning to the book of Ecclesiastes. “Sure, Joel,” you are thinking, “that will liven things right up!” As the Narnian marshwiggle Puddleglum would put it, Ecclesiastes will teach you to have a sober view of life more than any book will. But even it has this bright commentary to share:

I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 3:10-13)

King Solomon, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes, arrives at the happy conclusion that even though life is short, life, and all that it encompasses, is a good gift from God. And even though our lives on this earth may be fixed, the essence of who we are as image bearers of an infinite God, keeps us mindful that we are in fact made for eternity. Earthly lives aren’t all that there is.

So how does this all come back to “live in the moment?” Ever since childhood, my tendency has been to fixate on what I deem to be the exciting times of life: weekends, vacations, birthdays and holidays. As an adult, I find that my childish fixation hasn’t changed much: I try to hurry the workday along to quitting time; I try to hurry the workweek along to Friday afternoon; I’ll even try to hurry these next 3 pesky filler days along to Thanksgiving Thursday! I tend to do the same thing with the seasons of life of my family, hurrying my toddler onto when he can be independent enough to put on his own clothes and ditch the diapers for the potty. I hurry my infant onto when she will sleep through the night and be able to communicate with us through more than just cries.

But in each scenario, I’m missing Moses’ humble request and Solomon’s happy conclusion. Each moment of my day, be it Monday or Saturday; each day of the year, be it Thanksgiving, an overcast day in February, or a dog day of summer; each season of my children’s lives, whether infancy, adolescence, or adulthood; all of them are a part of the beautiful, but limited, gift called life. I don’t want to blow past these God-ordained moments. I don’t want to hurry through the mundane in order to get to something merrier. I don’t want to be too overwhelmed  by all that I haven’t done and want to do, that I lose focus on what I’m presently doing. And I don’t want to miss out on precious moments with my children in each stage of their lives for what I imagine to be an easier stage in the future.

I want to learn to number my days, and then, with a heart of wisdom, enjoy each moment of every one, as God’s gift. That’s what I mean by living in the moment, and I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe, I’ll have learned how to do it by next Thanksgiving. 

Photo credit by Marco Verch in creative commons.

Good Work, Pre-planned, Just for Me

Each year, Americans celebrate the importance of work by taking a day off from it. Labor Day, as holidays go, is a bit of an odd-ball, and this post really wont’ help you understand why we have it. Check out this article if you want that backstory.

Whatever you know or may not know about Labor Day, the day itself is a reminder that  most Americans spend the majority of their lives laboring to survive. Paid work is a necessity for most of us, and work of any and all kinds is the reality for every American, whether we get a paycheck for it or not. Strange as it is, as much as we appreciate a day off from work now and then, we realize that its absence is harmful to every aspect of our humanity. We need to work because were made to work.

And speaking of work, I recently changed jobs, and in so doing, career fields. After several years in the legal profession, God has now placed me in the realm of education, as an administrator for a private Christian home school academy. I don’t blame you if you think that’s a little strange—I wouldn’t have believed it myself if you had told me 10 years ago what I’d be doing now. Ironically, it was about a decade ago that a mentor, after hearing me lay out my life-plans for the next several years, wryly advised me to be on my toes because God just might throw me a “curve ball.” Turns out, he was right. God has a beautiful way of pitching us curve balls by taking us directions we hadn’t anticipated. But He also masterfully prepares us for those unexpected curve balls, so that if we’re paying attention, we’ll still connect for a base hit.

The wonderful thing I’m learning as a Christian, now in my third decade of life, is that I don’t have to plot out my life’s vocational journey. I’ve often fretted over whether I’m on the proper rung of the professional ladder, given how old I am and the training I’ve received. But God is showing me more and more that I’ve really had it backwards. He’s the Planner for my professional life. In fact, He’s got a complete file on all the stuff He wants me to do for His Kingdom. How do I know that? He told me:

For [I am] His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that [I] should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:10

Long before I came into existence, God already knew that I would be. He knew I would be born a sinner, but that I would also be adopted into His family. And, as my adopted heavenly Father, He personally and perfectly prepared good works, His Work, for me to do.  This means that all of my work, professional or otherwise, has been specially chosen for me by a loving Overseer. It also means that it isn’t up to me to figure out how I’m going to make my mark on the world through my career, or scheme my way up the ladder of earthly success. My responsibility is to be faithful to do the work God has for me, right now, in this season of my life, until He brings me a new assignment.

Oh, and by the way, if you’re interested in a job, Dad says He’s always looking for new hires--He's got plenty of work for you to keep you busy.

Photo by Peter Miller in creative commons. 

A Legacy to Keep

Americans commemorate Memorial Day with barbeques, parades, and gatherings with family and friends. In my growing-up years, the holiday typically found our family on a day hike, enjoying the grandeur of God’s creation in the Pacific Northwest. But for far too many of us, the day passes without reflection on its intended purpose: honoring those who gave “the last full measure of devotion” in service to their country. Since the first humble minutemen, whose blood was spilt on Lexington Green in 1775, American soldiers have willingly given the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the continued legacy of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" to future generations of Americans. Today is the day we remember them.

Sometimes I become discouraged and even doubt if the ideal of true liberty, the philosophy of limited, constitutional government, and the notion of a nation grounded in Biblical law and morality, is worth fighting for. Perhaps those principles just aren’t worth the cost.

            

But then I wonder...what would I say to the Continental soldier at Valley Forge, with his bloodied feet leaving scarlet footprints in the snow, his tattered "uniform" barely giving him the slightest protection from the elements, and his life hanging by a thread? What would he say to me, if he knew that two centuries later I would so casually give up the principles for which he fought and bled—the dream of liberty to which he so tenaciously clung in the war's darkest hour?

            

What would I say to the defenders of Ft. McHenry who, during the war of 1812, gallantly flew the Star-Spangled Banner in defiance of the British fleet bombarding them through the long night? What would I say to the “honored dead” of Gettysburg, Blue and Gray alike, who valiantly struggled for the American ideals of freedom and justice? What would I say to the U.S. Marines whose blood stained the sands of Iwo Jima as they fought to preserve what the men at Valley Forge had died to create? 

What would I say to my own grandfather, who faithfully flew reconnaissance missions for the U.S. Navy off of Alaska's western shores to ensure his country's safety during the Second World War? And what would I say to Navy Seal Caleb Nelson, a man I knew personally, killed in Afghanistan in 2011, leaving behind a wife and two young sons? 

No, I could not, and as Americans, we must not be so ungrateful, so flippant, so callous, as to toss aside the legacy of freedom and liberty that these patriots, and millions of others, have given us at the cost of their very life's blood. We must be grateful sons and daughters who remember what our fathers and mothers have given us, and in turn give our utmost to see that their legacy is continued.

So please, thank the Lord today for these brave Americans of our day and of times past, who have given us the "new birth of freedom" we continue to enjoy. And may God give us the courage and commitment to see that their legacy lives on.

In the Words of the Presidents

In case you or your calendar publisher missed it, today is Presidents’ Day.  And in case you were wondering “what’s that all about?” I thought this little snippet from the History Channel’s website was helpful:

Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. Traditionally celebrated on February 22—Washington’s actual day of birth—the holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present.

No matter what your party affiliation, every American ought to be able to concede that there isn’t a more stressful job than the presidency of the United States. As comedian Brian Regan has put it, there’s nothing like being awakened every morning to: “Problems. All kinds of problems!” And while they are often ambitious folk, these remarkable individuals give up 4 years (maybe 8, or even 12 if you’re FDR) of their lives (in the case of 4, literally), their privacy, and their public reputations to do their very best in leading our country. A lonely post in the best of times, few leave office without the indicators of the wear and tear the intensity of the presidency leaves.  Each one has left a unique legacy, a mark on American history. And each one deserves the gratitude and respect of the American people.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to mix the wisdom of our presidents with a little fun, and present to you ABB’s first ever Presidents’ Day trivia quiz! Below are fifteen quotations from our presidents, with four choices as to which president the quote originated from. Take a few minutes to take the quiz (without using Google for a reference!) and email your answers to the Printer at believersbroadside@gmail.com by March 6. The reader who gets the most questions correct will receive an inspiring book from ABB! The Printer will have one more question in store in case of a tie.

And so, without further adieu, I give you the Presidents of the United States of America, in their own words:

1) “My movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.”

    a)   Abraham Lincoln

    b)    John Quincy Adams

    c)   Harry Truman

      d)   George Washington

2) “You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.”

      

     a)      Franklin Delano Roosevelt

     b)   Zachary Taylor

           c)    Martin Van Buren

           d)    John Adams

3) “The storm of frenzy and faction must inevitably dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the Constitution.”

a)      Thomas Jefferson

b)      William Jefferson Clinton

c)       Franklin Pierce

d)      Lyndon B. Johnson

4) “Ideas are the great warriors of the world, and a war which has no ideas behind it, is simply a brutality.”

      a)   John F. Kennedy

      b)   George. W. Bush   

      c)   James Garfield

      d)   Gerald Ford

5) “If it were not for the reporters, I would tell you the truth.”

a)      Donald Trump

b)      Theodore Roosevelt

c)       Andrew Jackson

d)      Chester Alan Arthur

6) “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.”

a)      Herbert Hoover

b)      George H.W. Bush

c)       Dwight Eisenhower

d)      James Carter

7) “Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.”

a)      John Tyler

b)      James Madison

c)       William Taft

d)      Ronald Reagan

8) “I believe also in the American opportunity which puts the starry sky above every boy’s head, and sets his foot upon a ladder which he may climb until his strength gives out.”

a)      Benjamin Harrison

b)      William Henry Harrison

c)       Franklin Delano Roosevelt

d)      Theodore Roosevelt

9) “The Secretary of Labor is in charge of finding you a job, the Secretary of the Treasury is in charge of taking half the money away from you, and the Attorney General is in charge of suing you for the other half.”

a)      James Monroe

b)      Ronald Reagan 

c)       Lyndon Johnson

d)      George W. Bush

10) “I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.”

a)      Abraham Lincoln

b)      Rutherford B. Hayes

c)       Calvin Coolidge

d)      Ulysses  Grant

11) “Whatever starts in California unfortunately has an inclination to spread.”

 a)      James Carter

 b)      Ronald Reagan

 c)       Barack Obama

 d)      Richard Nixon

 12) “Being a President is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or be swallowed.”

  a)      Grover Cleveland

  b)      Harry Truman

  c)       William McKinley

  d)      Andrew Jackson

13) “I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm.”

  a)      Calvin Coolidge

  b)      James Buchanan

  c)       James Polk

  d)      Thomas Jefferson

14) “Stabilize America first, prosper America first, think of America first and exalt America first.”

 a)      Donald Trump

 b)      Warren Harding

 c)       John F. Kennedy

 d)      Martin Van Buren

15) “That’s all a man can hope for during his lifetime—to set an example—and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.”

a)      George Washington

b)      Millard Fillmore

c)       William McKinley

d)      Grover Cleveland

                   Photo Credit by Mobilus in Mobili in Creative Commons

Christmastime is Here

“Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed most commonly on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world.” So begins Wikipedia’s article about the holiday I love best.

I had the privilege of being brought up in a home that kept Christmas in all its fullness. Christmas in our household was filled with many delightful traditions: the keeping of Advent, baking stollen, decorating a Christmas tree, and eating German delicatessen on Christmas Eve. And in the midst of those traditions, my parents wonderfully connected them all to the centerpiece of the holiday: the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The blessing of that rich Christmas heritage is one of the biggest reasons it’s impossible for me to think of any aspect of Christmas apart from Jesus. Even Santa Clause, the supposed (and sometimes chosen) substitute of the Christ-child, is representative of the real-life Christ-follower who exemplified the compassion and generosity of his Lord.  While believers and nonbelievers alike have contributed to the holiday, it’s unmistakable that its purpose to “billions of people around the world,” as Wikipedia put it, is to remember Jesus’ birthday. As a believer myself, I see it as a great loss not to participate in Christmastime with the same intentionality with which I was raised. Why miss the opportunity to mark with great joy the coming of Immanuel, God with Us?

So, whether you are a longtime keeper of Christmas, a skeptical non-participant, or somewhere in the middle, I commend to you the following ways of passing this Yuletide.

Christmastime is for commemoration. God gave His people holidays to help them remember His great works on their behalf. Holidays like Passover (Exodus 12) reminded them of His protection and deliverance while holidays like The Feast of Booths (Leviticus 23:33-44) reminded them of His provision. In the same vein as those ancient holidays, there is no better time of the year than Christmas for Christians to commemorate God’s greatest work of all: the salvation of sinners through the incarnate Messiah.

Christmastime is for celebration. It’s appropriate that Christmas falls at a time of year when much of the world’s nighttime is at its longest. Darkness is representative of the condition that the world was in spiritually before the coming of Christ. It’s fitting that we mark with decorations, songs, food and mirth the advent of the Light of the World, the Victor over the darkness (John 1:1-14).

Christmastime is for reflection. Mary taught us from the very beginning that Christmas is a time for pondering (Luke 2:19). If you haven’t, think about the reasons Christ needed to come. What if He hadn’t come? What have you done with the fact of His coming? If you’ve received the Christ-child, how is He at work within your life today? What have you done to bring His light to those still in darkness?

Christmastime is for preparation. God’s people waited long for their Messiah’s coming, but when He finally arrived, only a few were actually prepared to receive Him. Simeon, Anna, and the Magi exemplify people who waited with active expectation for the birth of Christ. As a result, the day of His coming was one of incredible joy and fulfillment. We too are waiting for an advent, the Second Coming of Immanuel. We, like the Thessalonians, are waiting for God’s “Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come.” (I Thess. 1:10) We might be waiting, but are we prepared, as those few at His first coming were, for His arrival? Indeed, I cannot think of any better reason for the celebration of the First Advent, then to prepare our hearts for the Second.

Photo by Chris Wolff, available in creative commons here

What to Do After Thanksgiving (Besides Eating Leftovers)

In case you forgot, Thanksgiving is this Thursday. That has already put me in a good mood for the week because Thanksgiving is the doorway to my most favorite time of the year: “The Holidays.” One of the reasons I love this season so much is that it lends itself to hopeful reflection. Both Thanksgiving and the Christmas season call us to remember what God has done and to look more intently at what He’s doing right now.  It makes us take a “time-out” to express our gratefulness for His goodness and grace in our lives.

But with the joyous celebration of the season, I also find a challenge. It’s easy to be thankful on Thanksgiving (and Christmas for that matter). Thanksgiving is a day of abundance: great food, time off work, fellowship with family and friends. Why shouldn’t we thank God for all His blessings when we’re holding tangible evidence of them on our dinner and dessert plates? But what about after the Thanksgiving leftovers have been polished off and the daily grind starts again on Monday morning?  Will the Day of Thanks translate into daily thankful living? It seems that’s when the real challenge to be thankful comes.

The Bible is replete with verses about gratitude, but I think no verse stresses the practical importance of giving thanks than I Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  And for those of us who like to use the “we don’t have to give thanks for all things, just in all things” loophole, God has given us Ephesians 5:20: “giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There’s no wiggle room here; God’s will for Christians is that they be thankful people, in everything and for everything.

For me, a griper by nature, the simply-stated direction from God’s Word is wonderfully helpful. With the added benefit of the Holy Spirit’s guidance, I don’t have to look far to see where thankful living can be applied in my life. When my inner-whiner wants to ask why our toddler has to make so many messes, the Holy Spirit helps me see those messes as sweet reminders that we have a toddler to love and care for (and one day I’ll miss those messes to clean up). Where my inner-mumbler sees the 4-hour attempt at fixing the car CD player as a complete waste of time, the Holy Spirit helps me see that the same venture expanded my knowledge of automobile interiors and confirmed that the CD player really is broken and I can be thankful for it.

 So, in case you, like me, are suffering from a little lack of GTA (Giving Thanks Always), use this year’s Thanksgiving celebration as the catalyst for injecting practical gratitude into your daily routine.  You can start by thanking God for the dishwasher…because as every Thanksgiving dinner clean-up crew knows, you’re going to need it.