You are currently browsing the Bruce Smith weblog archives for September, 2008.
30. September 2008 by BruceSmith.
Anyone that is watching the news, reading the paper, or listening to radio the last two weeks is keenly aware of the economic crisis we are facing in America. Likewise, anyone with less than perfect credit who is seeking a loan for personal or business reasons is very aware of the credit crunch now in full bloom. The recklessness of business leaders, political leaders, and yes, many on Main-street America, has led to an economic meltdown in our markets. The future is uncertain at best, potentially fatal in a worst case scenario.
If you have ever found yourself in a moral, economic, relational, or any other kind of real life “fix” you know the desperation that can set in. Panic mode is a tangible reality for less than perfect people who mess up their lives and for those who find life messy through no fault of their own. In situations like the one our country is facing, and in personal life, we can find ourselves in desperate need of a “rescue plan”. The question becomes then, “Where do we find such a plan?”
David, the king of Israel, was a man familiar with being at the end of his rope. Though bright, crafty, strategic, powerful, and in command, this leader/conqueror often found himself with his back against the wall. In those moments David recognized that the way out was in surrender. That surrender was a surrender of his plans, emotions, tactics, goals, and fears to God. When the enemies were closing in David realized that God and God alone would bail him out.
Psalm 27 speaks of such a rescue plan. David, fearing the worst, and trapped in by circumstance and pressure, offers a thoughtful prayer of surrender and trust to the God who makes a way where one does not appear to exist. He writes, “The Lord is the stronghold of my life–of whom shall I be afraid?” Even with the enemies closing in, ever present and armed, David recognizes that his would-be captors cannot overrun him.
In this reality we must rest with David who goes on to say, “Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident”. The character of God and His nearness to us is what assures our rescue. Our own devices are not merit enough for calm. Only the love of God for His people, and His action on our behalf, can bring us comfort amidst overwhelming sadness, fear, confusion, and doubt.
With David, we must all accept that, in reality, we have only one true need. It is this need and this truth which is our rescue plan. If all else falls apart we are still in safe hands. David writes, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple”. If all else falls apart and we have this assurance and placement in God’s love, we have it all.
If you find yourself “in trouble” today, as David and many others have before, take heart, cry out to God. In Him you will find that your rescue plan is in place. Remember the words of David’s prayer of assurance, “For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock”.
That’s a real rescue plan, friends.
Bailing out on my agenda and trusting His,
Bruce Smith
optimuslife.org
**We are in great need of your funding for our activities today, and we are fully aware that many are under the crunch at this time. If you have the ability, and you are at all helped by Optimus’ activities, please, send a financial gift at this time. Grace and Peace.
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26. September 2008 by BruceSmith.
http://blog.optimuschoice.com/__oneclick_uploads/2008/09/great-sex-death-of-taboo.doc
Have you ever wondered about God’s plan for sex? Is there such a plan? Does the cultural view that “anything goes” work? Does it offer a truly fulfilling path to sex, relationship, and love?
If you are looking for something more in your love life take a look at Bruce’s new addition to the “LATEST WRITINGS” section and find an excerpt from his new book (now being written). Bruce’s latest writing on this subject deals with real life, real sex, and real love. Just click on the link under LATEST WRITINGS which is just to the right in the upper box. Then click the link on the title “Great Sex? …” then click on the small text title again…and, “Bam!” …you’ve got your roadmap to Great Sex!!
Or just cut and past the link above or below into your browser.
http://blog.optimuschoice.com/__oneclick_uploads/2008/09/great-sex-death-of-taboo.doc Optimuslife.org
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24. September 2008 by BruceSmith.
Just a little reflection/prayer of sorts for those who are wrestling with the issue of romance, love, and belonging…enjoy! A Would Be Lover’s Question
Where is She?
Where is He?
You told me that it was not good for me to be alone,
Where is she?
I thought two were better than one,
Where is he?
I waited, and waited, and waited,
For who am I waiting?
I thought I saw her today in the coffee shop,
It was just another fantasy.
I thought I saw him at lunch today,
There was no dessert.
Is she at the movies?
Is he at the office?
I dreamed high above in the clouds,
Then we landed and took separate cabs.
She was a vision upon the sands,
Then the vacation ended and the hopes washed away.
I was sure I found him in church that day,
He turned out to be less than free, and certainly not for me.
She looked so well put together,
Then she took off the mask.
Where is she?
Is she beautiful, smart, touchable, lonely, broken, bashful?
Where is he?
Is he strong, handsome, powerful, sweet, secure, bald?
I’m about ready to give up,
Is it up to me?
Are you bringing my lover?
Am I looking in the wrong places?
I’m not lonely, but I sure am alone,
Won’t someone just talk to me on the phone?
Does my heart have to be so broken to find love?
Can’t she just find me?
What happened to the knight in shinning armor?
Are all the horses dead?
Tell me, please, where is my lover?
Or is love a fable?
I would love a fantasy, but they love me and then leave,
Is there no one with which to cleave?
If I settle, I die in quiet desperation,
If I don’t I may be alone forever.
Am I wasting my time?
Can two ever become one, really?
Can someone lead me to that oasis that was promised?
Is the fruit tree just a mirage?
Will she ever be mine?
Will I ever be his?
If its not to be why do I want it so bad?
This thirst for love, its driving me mad.
I ask again:
Where is my love? I am looking,
Is anyone looking for me?
A Would Be Lover’s Poem by,
Bruce Smith
Optimuslife.org
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22. September 2008 by BruceSmith.
Readers, bloggers, listeners…the podcast is up from this past Saturday’s radio show, Think Out Loud. Here is the link: http://wgso.com/content/blogcategory/107/260/ Happy listening! optimuslife.org
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19. September 2008 by BruceSmith.
Dear Bruce,
This is a sensitive subject for me and many others, but its one that is very important I think. I have lived with a deep pain in my life since I was a child and it has affected every relationship I have ever been in. When I was a child someone took advantage of me. Not knowing what was proper, acceptable or not, as a child, and not wanting to hurt anyone, I did not know what to do and did not tell anyone. Now, as an adult, my pain, fear, and sense of loss causes problems in my relational life with others. Even after many years in the church I am still trying to figure out what God’s plan for romance and sexuality is. I have made every mistake imaginable, and am not sure how to move forward. I wish I could really be able to understand what God’s plan looks like and I wish I could escape my pain. I would appreciate any help you could offer.
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
Sadly, the pain and hurt you express is experienced by far too many in our world today. Thank you for your courage in writing. First, you need to understand that God knows your pain very well. I am sure that you have felt similar feelings to those of Elie Wiesel, who in his book, Night, expressed the darkness of his soul in speaking of the atrocities of the Holocaust. He wrote, “Never will I forget that night which took my God from me”. The atrocity of which you speak, similar to that of the Holocaust, is one which is hard to comprehend, but which we must understand comes from a gross breech of humanity and morality.
In each case it is the loss of the sacred view of life which is at play. In the Holocaust life itself is deemed secular and profane and definable by humans. In the case of sexual abuse sexuality is deemed not to be sacred. Where sex is made secular, merely an act, a biological urge and nothing else, there are no boundaries. This is why our culture is becoming increasingly overtaken by sex. In removing it from the arena of the sacred we employ its wares for any whim we may have. In doing so, we lose the joy and purpose for sex which was intended by God. We use sex to sell cars, insurance, food, clothes, … you name it. Further, Hollywood has sexuality at the center of its entertainment industry. ”Sex sells” as they say. When and where sex is for sale or for the taking it loses its value. Those who use it for banal ends have lost the pleasure in it and can only lust for its urges. Ultimately, those people have become prisoners to a polluted pursuit. In the case of sexual abusers, the pollution takes over the soul and envelopes them is a terrible darkness.
Enough about the broad theological reality at play. For anyone in your situation you need to know how to move forward and experience healing in your life. I would encourage you to remember three things. First, God knows and has experienced your pain. At the cross the purest human to ever live, Jesus Christ, experienced such betrayal, loss, and violence that we could never fully imagine. A man, God in the flesh, who had given Himself for all those He walked with, was preyed upon and made a mockery of by the savages who tortured Him.
Also, I would encourage you to consider Elie Wiesel and his experience again. While initially, as a teenager, he witnessed a soul defining pain in his life that crushed his idea of God, in the end, he came to see that God had not abandoned him and others in that moment, rather, God was right there with them. Toward the end of the book Wiesel tells of a day when he and others were forced to watch as a child was tortured and hung before them. As they watched someone whispered to him, “Where is your God now?” This is the first question many ask amidst the kind of pain you have experienced. I would ask you to consider the answer to this question which is the message of Wiesel’s book and the message of our lives amidst all the pain we suffer. The answer, “God is there, with the child, hanging in the gallows with him”. God has not forgotten you. And amidst any and all mistakes you may have made in life along the way as you have sought to deal with or escape that pain which was inflicted upon you, God is ready to be your healing, help, comfort, and hope. He has been and will be there with you in all your experiences.
Lastly, I would like to offer you one practical step to deal with your pain and enlarge your future. Use your experience to meet the needs of others in our world. There are many who have lived the same nightmare, and they need someone like yourself out on the front lines calling attention to the reality of this suffering and the hope which is available in Christ. Use your pain as a catalyst for good. Any clinician will tell you, practically speaking, that one of the best ways to find healing for ourselves is to focus on the needs of others and actively pursue involvement in causes bigger than ourselves. I offer you and any other readers a link to one such story which highlights the love of a mother for her daughter who was stolen and forced into human trafficking. It is a story of pain and loss, but also a story of active love and help for a much bigger cause. The link is below:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/09/17/stolen.lives/index.html
God’s grace and peace to you as you continue to heal, view all of life as sacred, and seek to impact the world as God leads you.
Bruce Smith
optimuslife.org
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14. September 2008 by BruceSmith.
Folks, the podcasts are up for this week! Bruce was a special guest on Jeff Crouere’s daily political talk show this week and you can listen to the podcast at the wgso.com site. Here is the link: http://wgso.com/content/view/7793/172/Also, Bruce’s Think Out Loud radio show featured a great interview with Ravi Zacharias this past saturday. You can hear their discussion on the pursuit of purpose through pleasure and the problem of pain and suffering. The is here for your listening pleasure! Go to : http://wgso.com/content/view/7795/172/Simply cut and paste the links into your browser to hear the shows. optimuslife.org
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11. September 2008 by BruceSmith.
September 11, 2001. We all remember where we were, who we were with, and what unfolded. In one instant, one moment, one event, one act of evil the world changed for each of us. It has not been the same sense.
Today, seven years after 9/11 the country has paused again to remember. What is striking about the news coverage today is the theme of Oneness. Indeed, in moments of such tragedy all the separations of class, race, status, political affiliations, doctrine, and all other divisions, seem to fade away. When events of life changing magnitude touch us all so profoundly we recognize and even act as if we are one.
Listening to CNN coverage of the memorials and remembrances this morning, I was struck by one story in particular. The story came from the floor of the NYSE where the commentator was reading from a letter, penned, I believe, by an employee in one of the buildings which collapsed. The letter, in the face of unthinkable evil, focused on the collapse of human walls on that fateful day. The writer told of the care of one for another which unfolded as the people of NYC forgot everything which divided them and simply helped one another get out of the unfolding carnage. Black helping white, even as each were turned solid gray by the soot enveloping them, rich helping poor even as the symbols of wealth and status were crumbling around them, and busy disinterested New Yorkers engaging nameless faces with no regard for payback or commendation.
Amidst the reality of tragedy we all gain a new perspective on what it means to be human. When all the trappings of this life are pulled away from us and all we have left is our soul, our humanness, our compassion, beauty and oneness emerge from the rubble of life. Let us be reminded today that in an instant all that we know, hold dear, and cling to for safety can be snatched away. In the span of one breath life can change altogether. It is during those moments we become aware of our need for something, someone, MORE.
As we take time to remember 9/11, may we also remember we are called to be one in love and deed. Such oneness, in daily life, ought to define us. Such oneness, attainable only through the One who offers such ability, is desperately needed in our world today.
May we be one in Him, who offers us the key to the riddle of life and offers us life to the full. As Jesus, prayed, “Father make them one even as you and I are one”.
Amen,
Bruce Smith
optimuslife.org
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8. September 2008 by BruceSmith.
Thanks to so many of you for your thoughts, prayers, and concerns during the Gustav evacuation. It was an interesting week for me and my crew, to say the least. Three years post Katrina, almost to the day, Gustav came toward us and was threatening to be a Katrina 2 type storm. That being so, my crew and I hit the road and headed out of town. Ironically enough, I was scheduled to be in California the same week to tape a television show featuring my book Soul Storm (soulstormsite.com). Under threat of a killer storm and following a mandatory evacuation order I realized that heading out on Wednesday after the storm would be impossible, so I loaded the crew on a plane and we evacuated to Beverly Hills. I know, sounds tough, but someone had to do it!
I went out to SoCal with a fresh awareness of the subject matter of Soul Storm (dealing with disaster), and the television interview went well. It was a pleasure to present just how faithful God is to make Himself present and known amidst the storms of life. What I did not expect to encounter on my trip was the tangible sense of my insignificance in the world. Let me explain.
While in Beverly Hills (the mid-point between places I needed to be while out there) one cannot help but notice that nearly everyone is smashingly, breathtakingly beautiful, the weather is perfect, everyone is smiling, everyone is fit, everyone is dressed to kill, and it seems as if everyone drives a Rolls or a Ferrari. Walking around town for lunch, Pink Berry (an amazing yogurt stand out there), and taking in the sunshine, an outsider can feel, well, very “outsiderish”. Without looking beneath the veneer of wealth, cosmetic surgery, and to die for clothes, you can begin to feel as if you are alone in a very hip, rich, healthy, and pleasure-a-plenty world.
Just about the time I was wondering if this bookish Southerner from tiny town U.S.A. had somehow missed the train ride to Happyland, I was greeted with a timely and seemingly out of place reminder of what life is really about. As I was going about my workout one afternoon in a swank health club in Beverly Hills, I was shocked to see a man (clearly a Hills insider) wearing a Wheaton College t-shirt. Unless you have spent any time in this secluded bastion of pleasure and privilege you can’t fully understand just how out of place this t-shirt really is. As a Wheatie myself (I attended Grad school there) I just had to make my way across the room and find out what the story was behind that shirt.
Nearly sprinting across the room filled with perfect bodies, many perfectly artificial, I jumped into this guy’s space and demanded to know if he or a son/daughter of his went to Wheaton. He understood my curiosity without my having to voice it. He went on to tell me that his daughter graduated from there some time ago.
As our conversation developed he shared with me a vacation story from some time ago. I had just told him I was “evacuating” from Gustav and shared with him that I am from the New Orleans area. As most do, he went on to tell me how fond he is of our city. Then he made an interesting comment that was totally unsolicited. Standing in the middle of Beverly Hills amidst all the symbols of pleasure, wealth and health, this guy shared with me that he thought, perhaps, those of us down in NOLA may be on to something about life that he and others he knows seem to miss. Startled by the comment, I asked, “How so?” He went on to tell me that one of his most interesting experiences in travel was going to NOLA and eating at Commanders Palace (a world class eatery). He went on to explain that while eating a meal which costs over $100.00 a plate, he was dumbfounded as he looked out of the window while eating and noticed he was overlooking a graveyard! He went on to explain that he thinks “we people” may get something they miss in Beverly Hills…we will all die.
As the conversation continued, this distinguished, hip, ridiculously wealthy, and engaging fellow shared with me his concern that “his people” don’t remind themselves of their mortality very much. He suggested that they tend to feel as though through proper nutrition, good doctors, lots of sun, and plenty of plastic surgery (he seemed to suggest they all have plastic surgeons on call!), they can stay young forever. His experience of dining within a stones throw of a cemetery seems to haunt him with the reality of his mortality. His simple comment, “You guys may be on to something.”
As we wrapped up our conversation, and still recovering from his decided rejection of my plea to use the Ferrari for a day or two, I was reminded of Jesus’ words, “What does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?” I was also reminded of the many tragic stories of Hollywood personalities who have traded their souls, families, health, and lives for the “Hills life”. When surrounded by so much “plenty” we, myself included, are tempted to think we are missing out on something. And while riches and fun and health are certainly not bad intrinsically, we must be on guard to remind ourselves of what life is ultimately about. In an instant a monster storm could take all we have held dear. No surgeon, bank account, toy, or pleasure can secure our soul in those moments. Going to LaLa Land to be interviewed on television to remind others of that reality, I had to be reminded of it myself.
So, as it turns out, my evacuation turned out to be an education on many levels. During my interview I was reminded again of the hope we all have amidst disaster. The nearness of God to the afflicted is a great comfort. During my workouts I was reminded that indeed without God my life is insignificant, but with him “I am on to something”. Whether rich, poor, hip, in, or out, intimacy with God is what gives all of our lives focus, purpose, and hope. Without him all the maintenance and fun we could imagine will never provide for a life well lived.
Hipper than ever, in His hands,
Bruce Smith
optimuslife.org
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