10. February 2012 by BruceSmith.
THE NEW BOOK IS OUT! Life in 3D! … available at amazon.com, paperback and kindle, and at bruceleesmith.co Get you some!
Also, I’m on Television tonight and Sunday talking politics & religion! You can do that on TV!! Take a look, details below:
My television interview on WLAE TV PBS Channel 32 with Jeff Crouere, “Ringside Politics”, airs tonight at 7:30 pm and Sunday night at 10:00pm…we discuss the Republican race, Obama administration, marriage, contraception, healthcare, and more. Www.bruceleesmith.co
Grace and Peace,
Bruce
www.bruceleesmith.co
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7. February 2012 by BruceSmith.
The News and Views…Who Are We in America, Where Are We Going? Murder, Politicians, and the Kingdom of God
Last night, as the events in Syria, Iran, and other conflicted places around the globe, set the background “music” for our viewing of the C-Span video of the National Prayer Breakfast from a few days ago, my wife and I were struck by the “surreal” reality of the moment. At the same time, as details emerged from out West, with respect to the father who murdered his sons and killed himself amidst a blaze of fire and pain, and as the Lord’s Prayer was being powerfully sung by a pre-teen at the prayer breakfast, …the juxtaposition of hope, glory, God-focused pathos and unthinkable suffering created a truly surreal moment. Pain and glory. Despair and hope. Ascending and descending. Murder and love. Conquest and comfort. Our world is all of these and more, is it not? And so, our country too.
Who are we as a people? What stirs us toward Christ-centered passion, and yet, stirs us likewise, toward venomous rage and despair? It is, of course, a question for the ages. Its answer, like so many things, however, has its foundation in biblical truth. Paul, the apostle, is a figure who holds a key for us. At once, a hero of faith, and a murderer of those bent toward faith, Paul, his character, his nature, shows us how vile we may become apart from our God-ordained relationship with the Creator, and his reality demonstrates just how thrilling life can be when focused upon all God made us and called us to be in Him. Every living being, throughout history, has had and will forever have, the same potential for greatness and for despair. Its true of you, me, politicians, and people groups.
With Paul, we must recognize, beyond ethnic lines, territorial battles, and broken relationships, that which drives us to murder, racial hatred, and vengeance, is bred into the human race due to our fallen nature. It is only, and singularly, through a regenerative relationship with Jesus Himself, that we have hope of all we were meant to be. The dichotomy demonstrates the divide between God and His people until and unless we turn to Him for meaning and direction. False religiosity will never suffice. Only God leads men like Wilberforce and Bonhoeffer to sacrifice for a cause bigger than themselves and risk it all. Only God can soothe our pain and brokenness and keep rage outside the doors of our hearts when life falls apart. Only God can bring joy and forgiveness amidst great loss and hurt and victimization.
This life truth is not up for grabs to the greatest debater. This is a law of the landscape of our hearts. As Eric Metaxas, author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Spy pointed out at the prayer breakfast, religion will never heal us individually or as a country. As in England, so to here in America, claiming the title “christian” does not make us changed internally. Only a true passion for God and His ways will be enough to lead us toward the heroic life of faith when life is calling us to fall into the pit of evil and self-focus.
As others at the prayer breakfast waxed eloquently about the nature of our calling to help the poor, reach out to the needy, and support the weaker among us, the one glaring topic missed by some was the biblical call to view life as sacred. The lack of protection of those unborn in our culture, the murderous rampage of selfish men, women and doctors who dismember little lives full of potential not yet sprung from the womb, stands as a grotesque monument to our bent toward selfish evil in our culture. We can stand for all other “good” causes as people and as a political party, yet, if we deny life belongs to God, and we diminish what is sacred to some form of human “choice”, and thereby play God ourselves, we are hurling ourselves headlong into a moral, psychological, and spiritual abyss. We are meant for more. Make no mistake, this is our holocaust. How many millions have we snuffed out limb by limb, ripping potential for our world out of the womb just as a prey-driven wolf goes about assuaging the call of his most primal urge in his self-interest to survive.
Let’s call it what it is even as we love those who have themselves fallen prey to this most horrific lie. We can, and we are called to, in fact, point people toward understanding, love, and forgiveness. We must meet people where they are and show them the matchless grace of God who can restore any heart and heal any wounded conscience. We must also raise the banner of truth which guides us toward sanctity and beauty. The Church, the true Church, that body made up of God’s true followers, those that forsake fake religion and run toward full-on relationship with God, must live the call of the Church in our personal lives and in our national journey. Our future as individuals and a people are in the balance.
In a world where it is so tempting to abandon our standards, His standards, where our political “core” is up for grabs when the dollars and the votes are in jeopardy, we must come back to true religion. One line moral slogans and empty promises of “greatness” or “change” will never serve as leadership for a nation with so many huge challenges. A shifting political agenda will not serve us as we seek to build a more perfect union. Our leaders and potential future leaders cannot hope to serve either nation or God should they deem it a viable option to pick and choose those issues they will stand for. What is God about? What does He stand for? Its not limited to the sanctity of life, but it certainly, and fundamentally, includes such. And let us be reminded, standing and pointing fingers across the isle, and self-promotion of our “otherness”, is neither a biblical or helpful strategy of lasting transformation politically or personally. One does not boast themselves into leadership, not true leadership anyway.
As we hold ourselves to a higher standard, as we guard our own hearts from the evil that lurks within, we must call our aspiring political and social leaders to reach for more than rhetoric and votes. It is not enough to be smarter, smarter than the rest. It is not enough to speak with soothing eloquence. It is not enough to run off intellectually weak promises and slogans as we flash robotic smiles and tuck every hair into place. We must fight, and we must have leaders who fight with intellectual, moral, and spiritual vigor if we are to see the dream of America continue to thrive. Our core must find its grounding in the core of biblical reality, God’s truth. We cannot leave our future to the Super Pac crowd who will do anything, say anything, and push any agenda that will get a vote. We may buy the Presidency, yet, we will never buy transformative leadership. Moreover, we will never buy the Kingdom of God. It is this, the Kingdom of God, made visible in our culture and national experiment, that we must have above and beyond anything else. It is more vital than oil, land, ethnicity, education, healthcare, security, market success, or anything we may put in its place. It is the only lasting reality and nation-building strategy. It will not end because it has its beginning in the eternal God.
Drawing nearer to another election day, at a pivotal moment in our nation’s story, and that of the world in fact, may we, anew, devote ourselves to voting in the Kingdom of God. We are aliens in this world if we are followers of Christ. We are here for a time. This is not our Motherland, if we are true believers. We are awaiting the day, just as Paul awaited, when we shall migrate to that place that is bigger and beyond anything we have ever imagined. We will meet many other travelers there from every nation and tribe. May we live, love, and lead others toward the calling of our true home. America is greatest when we, as a people, remember the message of that classic hymn, Amazing Grace. It is grace which has saved us from the despots, the dictators, the plight of so many nations in the throws of despair. And it is grace which gives us amazing purpose, and which calls us to live in the light of our true home. The American dream, rightly viewed, is found in the dream of living in the fullness of God’s call for all human beings, speaking for those who cannot speak, loving those who have not gotten it all right, and extending grace and provision toward those in need. If we choose that way, and as we elect men and women who will champion that cause, we shall remain a land full of grace and splendor and hope.
Who are we? Where are we going? …
Bruce Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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4. January 2012 by BruceSmith.
“Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.” Ps 4:1
As David did, we have the mind-boggling privilege of standing before God, offering ourselves in humility, and submitting our cries for help, knowing, all the while, that God hears us, knows us, and moves on our behalf. What is your need today? Ask God, your Father, the lover of your soul, to intervene and make His way forward. May it be so for us all.
Amen.
That we have a direct communication link to the creator of the Universe is a staggering reality. He who created all from nothing, and who sustains it all, chose us. He chose to create us, engage us, and walk with us. It is unthinkable that we would go about our lives with so little passion for greater intimacy and desire for His way forward. When the earth shakes before us, when the pillars of pleasure, money, and self fall apart, when the transient mores of a misguided culture do not fulfill, only God is enough for our souls.
David knew this in victory, in pain, in loss, in failure. It is our truth to know as well. God, the great “I Am”, still IS our only hope, rest and peace. He sees all, knows all, and wants all good for you and for me. Walk today, this year, in the reality of God nearness and providence. In Him we live and move and have our being.
Bruce Lee Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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2. January 2012 by BruceSmith.
Life Thought #1, 2012: When one loses sight of the transcendent, all of life becomes transient. If we are to have meaningful lives, our foundation must be secured in the truth of God. Apart from Him, all of life is an empty guess. www.bruceleesmith.co
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30. December 2011 by BruceSmith.
A New Year’s Prayer
Father, as we look back we give thanks for all you did in us, with us, through us, and for us. As we look forward we pray that you might be glorified in ways we have not yet dreamed of as we walk in stride with you. For the failures of the past we ask your grace, forgiveness, and renewal. For the victories, we give you praise and thanks.
We are thankful for those moments with friends, family, and others where you were present and extended to us sweetness beyond measure. As we wrap up the holiday season, help us to remember that the next year should be lived in the spirit of those moments of praise, tenderness, togetherness, and grace we just experienced. May the holidays become for us, preparation for how we ought to live throughout the year.
Many of us step into the new year with enormous challenge and uncertainty about what awaits us. God, we pray that you would be strong where we are weak, true where we are false, and faithful where we fail. Some of us need new adventures. Some of us need renewed courage. Many of us need deeper passion for the things of God. Make us new where we walk in the old ways, and revive the dreams you once kindled in our hearts, we pray. Help us to walk in wisdom in every moment ahead of us this year.
Lord, we pray that whatever the year ahead holds for us that in the end YOU will be the one people see in our story. As a new page turns, and as new plot twists enter our lives, our longing is that Christ be front and center on the page. May our story, this year, point to your story. In our work, our ministry, our play, may there be a different quality about our lives that causes people to be drawn to you. May we ask the right questions this year, pursue the right relationships, react the right way, tell the right stories, pursue the right things, and give ourselves to that which is admirable, enlarges our hearts, strengthens our families, and contributes to the world in bigger ways than ever before.
We set aside the brokenness of false ideas, desires, and quests, and we open ourselves to goodness, Godly ambition, and God-sized efforts. May we give more, love more, serve more, encourage more, lead more, bless more, hope more, and experience more of you. Comfort those who have experienced great loss this year, lead them to great gains in you in the year ahead. For those who walk through deep valleys in the year ahead, give them a deeper sense of your presence and strength. Make them formidable bulwarks of faith amidst the fight.
God, we are thankful that you are God of the new. We are thankful that you make all things new in us, as we come to you, and walk in the confidence that in all things you are working your good plan in us and for us. May that reality envelope us in the year ahead. Thank You for surprising us with miracles we did not expect. Thank You for keeping us when we thought we would not make it through another challenge. Thank You for being God for us. Thank You that your love is unchanging and unfailing, unlike us. Thank You for people around us who show us your character and go the extra mile for us.
We step into the new year, oh Lord, hungering for more of you. We pray that when we look back on the year ahead we will remember, again, how marvelous you are.
Amen.
Bruce Lee Smith
Author, Life in 3D!
www.bruceleesmith.co
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21. December 2011 by BruceSmith.
Merry Christmas, friends!
I hope and pray you take in the fullness of the season, embrace the majesty of God’s grace extended to us, and enjoy time with family and loved ones. You can still get my new book, Life in 3D!, delivered in time by going to amazon.com where you can purchase the book in paperback and kindle format! Get a bunch for anyone you know who may be looking for the bigger, more heroic life we were created to live.
Lastly, you can now follow me on twitter, @bruceleesmith3d
MERRY CHRISTMAS, and I pray 2012 is your best yet,
Bruce Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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29. November 2011 by BruceSmith.
Lessons from Hugo…if it aint working, fix it.
There is a scene in the movie Hugo where the plot comes together and bigger meaning is revealed. Hugo, a boy who has lost his parents, a boy who loved his dad, a dad who shared his love of watch-making and love of fixing complicated machines with his son, searches for years to discover the deeper meaning of his connection with his father and his compulsion to fix things himself. Lonely, and obsessed with fixing the automaton left behind by his father, Hugo fends for himself amidst the busy life of a massive train station.
Reduced, it appears, to the life of an orphan, taking what he needs to survive, Hugo is thrown into the life of a miserable and mean toy shop owner who has it out for him. Over time, and through a series of seemingly providential events, it becomes clear to Hugo that this mean shop owner, who has stolen Hugo’s cherished book, was somehow connected to his father in time past. Befriending the shop owner’s grand-daughter, Hugo comes to discover that this broken-spirited and cruel man was once a great film-maker, a pioneer of film in fact, in France, a country enamored with the art. What is revealed in time, is that this once iconic artist lost his passion, his art, and his purpose, and in the end, he lost his heart. The result was not a pretty thing to behold. In losing his purpose he lost his compassion, his touch with beauty and creativity, and his zest for life. His heart shrank, and no one benefited.
Hugo, himself full of pain and questions, finds his purpose in bringing joy back into the life of this miserable man, and his wife. Hugo begins to heal, himself, even as he seeks to bind the wounds of another, another who, in fact, sought to wound Hugo.
What the movie most profoundly and creatively reminds viewers of is the deep and abiding truth which resonates with all human beings; we were intended to live with purpose. Purpose, embraced and pursued, gives us something to live for, and when we have something to live for, we are better mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally.
What the story of Hugo conveys, splendidly, is that when we fail to find our purpose, we are like the watch that does not work, we are broken, something is missing. We can set, re-set, and set the hands again and again, yet, the “fix” is always temporary. Not until we have purpose does the thing work as it ought. Like the watch, whose gears are missing, rusted, and uncooperative, so go our hearts, minds, and emotions, when we don’t know what we were created for and for whom we were created.
Augustine said it well, “Oh, Lord, our hearts shall know no rest, until we find ourselves in thee.” Our “fix” is in a relationship with the One who placed us here and has a purpose for us. There is no way around it. Until we own this truth we shall be ruined by pettiness, crude interests, meanness, selfish pursuits, and banal trivialities.
Just look around you. Look what is on our television screens, movie screens, radios, and in our schools. Does this look like a culture that knows its purpose? We shoot each other up, rage on each other, cheat on each other, beat on each other, abuse each other, deceive each other, and believe the lie that some pleasure quest or experience will suffice to make us whole amidst all the dysfunction. We are broke. The gears are locked up. It will never work. And, mind you, time is short. Further, we don’t even know what time it is personally, culturally, spiritually.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a lovely reminder that we can be fixed, that life can be renewed, that beauty does exist, and that redemption can be found. Dreams can be recaptured, and healing can take place. Do we dare leave the land of fantasy and walk into the greater adventure of purpose and passion? Do we dare to live the dream of God again? Dare we take God up on the majestic journey of truth, and abandon the small life of common pursuits? Do we dare? We had better, if we want to really live.
God loves us. He, unlike the angry masses around us, longs to offer us a place of rest and tenderness. His aim is to sweeten our souls and lift our hearts. His hope for us is that we might know Him, walk with Him, and enjoy Him forever. This is the fix which sets our internal clocks right. This is the fundamental purpose of our being here on this planet. From this reality all good things and virtue does flow.
Do you feel as though something is missing? Is there a gear inside you that feels stuck? Are your ongoing attempts to set the hands on the dial leaving you weary? Do you feel as though time is running out? Are you missing a purpose? Is there anything you love to live for? Do you spend your days passionately pursuing something bigger than yourself?
The Father of Time, the Keeper of time, the One who set time in place from the beginning, longs to make us new. In His hands the moments of our lives have purpose, and our hearts beat with a rhythm formerly unknown to us. Like the cruel, miserable, and broken shop owner in the story of Hugo, no matter how lost we may be, no matter how hardened our heart, no matter how long ago the dream died, we can be resurrected. Our life can be made new. Our hearts can beat again. Our dreams can be rekindled. We can have a purpose. Who among us, deep down, does not want this above all?
Find your purpose. Embrace the adventure.
Bruce Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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22. November 2011 by BruceSmith.
For those afraid
by Bruce Smith on Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 12:03am
I was afraid…
I was afraid of failure,
So I won at all costs.
I was afraid of loneliness,
So I was never alone.
I was afraid of thought,
So I never engaged my mind.
I was afraid of truth,
So I made it up as I went along.
I was afraid to cry,
So I hardened my heart.
I was afraid of real love,
So I settled for lust.
I was afraid to care,
So I ran away.
I was afraid to win,
So I laughed through loss.
I was afraid of pain,
So I drank myself happy.
I was afraid to be happy,
So I drank myself mad.
I was afraid of my anger,
So I became the clown.
I was afraid of tenderness,
So I perfected my rage.
I was afraid of attention,
So I went into isolation.
I was afraid of being neglected,
So I joined every party.
I was afraid of my father,
So I liked every boy.
I was afraid to marry my mother,
So I did just that.
I was afraid of God,
So I worshipped myself.
I’m afraid of what I’ve become,
So I’m trying to find my way.
I’m afraid to look in the mirror,
So I’ll compare myself to lesser ones.
I’m afraid of going back home,
So I’ll keep running wild.
I’m afraid of the wilderness,
So I’m looking for a cave.
Is there any escape?
From all this being afraid?
I’m afraid.
I’m just afraid.
1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear”.
If fear drives your emotions, your relationships, your professional aspirations, your love life, your anything or everything. Remember, that train will not stop and wait for you to get off. Jump. Leap for your life. Fear will sink you, bury those you love, crush all you hope for. Fear, the foremost dart of the enemy of your soul, will pierce you through and through. It will keep you from enjoying the progress of others, it will cause you to smother those close to you, it will restrict every dream you have, it will severe every relationship you begin, and it will choke the life right out of you. Fear, unchecked and unsumitted to God will consume you like a cancer. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)
If you are not walking in peacable power, love and sound mind, you are not walking in the spirit of God. Your escape is found in keeping in step with the love, rest, and character of God.
Bruce Lee Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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15. November 2011 by BruceSmith.
Link and a Prayer
When your day starts out bad and gets worse by 9am, its easy to hang it up and just go back to bed. I’ve had “one of those” starts this morning. I woke up not feeling well, weak, tired, flu-like, and checked on my daughter who is home ill from school with similar symptoms. After taking the other two to school, I arrived back home to take care of the dogs. Upon opening the garage I was knocked over with a smell so fierce my nose hairs burned. Getting closer to the kennels I realized the pup, who was sharing the kennel with the Lab, had somehow exploded internally with such ferocity that both dogs, once white, were now brown, and covered in a stench so strong it was hard to believe. Good morning!
With my back reeling from a tennis tournament over the weekend I had a choice to make. Option one: pull two dogs and kennel out of garage, thereby setting off the back even more. Option two: let them out of the kennel, catch them in the yard, and hose them off outside somehow. I opted for option two. I’m not sure why.
After “cleaning” the dogs, the kennel, the driveway, and the garage, I came inside, only to walk down the hall to the bathroom to wash up a bit. On the way, seriously, I stepped in two piles of cat vomit. Seriously. Good morning!
Ready to ship off the animals to an island and go back to bed, my mind began to race with all the stuff of life I am behind on. With the phone ringing, deadlines calling my name, problems with publishing, work, family issues, and more, all in overdrive this morning, before 9am, I was not exactly ready for the day. Good morning!
Ever had a day begin that way? Ever had a day stay that way? Ever had a day stay that way longer than a day? A week? A month? A year? A decade? A life?
How do we gain perspective and press on amidst the tough stuff, and amidst the challenges of life? How do we win, even as loss, frustration, and failure look eminent?
My help today, and our help, always, as we attempt to navigate this journey called life, is to place ourselves, in total humility, before a God who cares more for us and our issues than we do. And so, for your help, and mine, I offer the prayer below. As David did, let us, each of us, standing in the face of the tempests of life, as we struggle, fail, succeed, and press on, simply offer everything we encounter, and all we are, to God.
“Father, I have no sure resolution but you. There are no guarantees aside from your love. Life gets messy. At times it really stinks. I’ve done some things well. I’ve dropped the ball too often. Its a tough start to this day, and it feels as if the waves are growing larger. Even if the seas of my life do not calm, Lord, calm the raging waters of my heart and mind. Teach me to find your will, pursue your path, and run after your plan for me. Help me to focus on that which you have called me to, and not be distracted by lesser things. In my frustration and fear, please, oh God, be my provider. Please, though I don’t deserve it, be faithful in your unfailing love, and meet me in the backroads of my life’s detours, wrong turns, and dead ends. Help me, Father, to trust in the love of a God who loves me. Remind me, that unlike so many around me, you love me, true, constant, pure, and full. Therein lies my peace and purpose. Father, today, as I seem off track, and its early, conduct the affairs of my day, and when I lay down to rest tonight, may I be able to say, “God. He was faithful again. Thank you.” May I walk, struggle, and take up residence in your presence today. Secure me in You today, oh God. In my own mess, may I be mindful of the plight and struggles of others, and offer compassion and care as I make my way through this day. Amen.
I hope and pray your day, this day, is a moment in life to remember. I pray that God speaks to you and reaches you in tangible ways and assures you of His love and plan for you. Don’t lose sight of Him amidst the chaos, don’t hide amidst the failing, don’t put Him aside as you take pride in what you think you accomplished. He is the reason you breathe.
On another note:
Please, go to amazon.com and buy the paperback or Kindle version of my new book, Life in 3D! The Superhero’s guide to the Galaxy. As you read, please, post a review on amazon as well. Thanks for your support, encouragement and ongoing feedback on the writing and initiatives. Check out all we are doing at www.bruceleesmith.co
Life in 3D! Its on Kindle and in Paperback now!! Below is the link.
Bruce Lee Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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9. November 2011 by BruceSmith.
We Want Joe!, We want Joe! Icon worship, football, and moral games in America
I am stunned tonight. I am stunned, not by news that Joe Paterno was just fired. In my opinion, a mournful one, it is what should have happened, he should have been fired. I am stunned tonight as I hear the chants, read some of the commentary, and hear some of the Joe supporters, who chant, “We want Joe! We want Joe!” Really?
Like so many, as a sport fan, as a follower of college football, and as a long term fan of “JoePa”, I am deeply saddened by the developments of the last few days. However, and this is what is so profoundly disturbing, it seems that many are more distressed over Joe’s departure than they are over the gruesome crimes which took place, and the lack of leadership and failure from the man Joe Paterno. Kids were molested! He knew of at least one incident. He did not go to police. Why? I don’t want to try to venture into Joe’s mind, but did he think he or his program were “too big to fail”? Did he feel his “reputation” or that of his legend would be marred? Did he fear the impact upon recruiting? Did he fear the impact upon the school? Whatever combination of these or other realities were in play, a massive failure took place. And people are more concerned with football at this time? God, help us.
When we see things like this take place in our nation we cannot just watch the clips, view the opinions, and hear the sqwuak-boxes and move on. This type of crime and this type of massive neglect should shake us to our souls. Who are we if we cannot be moved by these heinous acts involving children, as a result of our all consuming lust for a game? Its a game for goodness sakes! A game. Lives are now altered forever, and someone in leadership, perhaps the one person in leadership who could have stopped it, did not. A predator’s actions were hidden, and hearts were broken, forever. I cannot help but wonder if those screaming for Joe right now have anything really worth living for. Can anyone be so callous as to allow football to overwhelm the human call for compassion and concern? As they often say on ESPN, “C’mon, Man!” Really?
There are two realities we should, perhaps, literally weep over at this moment. Joe is not one of them. The realities we should be rocked by are our cultural addiction to pleasure, icon worship, and games, and of course, the heart-breaking nature of these crimes. What is taking place at Penn State right now, as the news is reporting, as kids, students, supposedly future citizens and leaders, are chanting for Joe to remain, is grief inducing. Students are chanting in the streets calling for a man to be kept in place, a man, mind you, who at a minimum did little to end massive criminal behavior, and who, perhaps, the facts may show, is culpable of much more. All across our country young people have lost the ability to think clearly. We have lead our young people to embrace the cultural, political, and academic falsity that suggests no absolute truth exists, individual rights trump everything, morals are up for grabs, games are life-defining, and pleasure trumps all.
Sport can offer us so much that is good. As a college athlete myself, as a coach, and as a true fan, I love what sport offers us. In so many ways, and I have written on this, sport is a metaphor for life. Yet, we must realize, people are far more important than sport. Truth is certainly bigger than sport and its icons. Icons are merely what we perceive them to be from afar. Legends are largely constructed. We should be reminded, also, we are all capable of being less than we ourselves truly desire to be. But for the grace of God, we all are moral failures. We should not be pointing fingers at Joe. We should hold him to the call of leadership, for sure. He should be gone. Yet, we must also maintain a sober awareness which pulls us toward compassion for him as well. More than anything, however, our hearts, prayers, and compassion should be directed to those young people subjected to such pain.
My prayer, as we watch these kinds of events, and so many others in our culture, is that we might wake up to the reality of truth, the call to live our lives in keeping with God’s call and standard of love and grace, and that as individuals and a nation, we might be more like people created in the image of God, for relationship with Him.
This is so much bigger than football. This is so more important than how we will spend three hours on Saturday. This is about the heart and soul of our culture more than we apparently realize. Students are turning over vans, pulling down light posts, starting riots, because a football coach is no longer employed after more than four decades? They are chanting for more Joe while the families of kids exposed to a pedophile are screaming “Why?”, “How?”.
If we, as a culture, continue to make a game of morality, we will continue to see a decline in our national experience, a further marring of our political structure, and a continuing demise of our cultural soul. Our universities, our grade schools, our public square, amidst the reduction of all things to the least common denominator, have weakened in frightening ways. Our entertainment, our dialogue, our media, our societal cravings, have run away from anything resembling what God has for us.
May God help us to see through the veneer of “legend”, long for more than the sport of pleasure, and move toward a deeper sense of biblical orthodoxy. Right thinking, Godly living, is what we have greatest need of. We don’t need another coach, we need Godly leaders. We don’t need another legend, we need the ledger of our failures to be set right by a God of grace and truth.
Joe, JoePa, an impressive coaching resume for sure, and yes, a compelling sport media figure for some time. Yet, there is more to all of us than our resume and our personality. There is more than media fanfare which defines us. There is more than human recognition that tells our story, our full story. And there is much more to the human story of which we are a small part than our small part. Life is bigger than us. It does not all begin and end with us. Our part is to ensure the goodness of those around us and others in our world.
The real story, we should all be reminded here, is that a number of boys have had their lives altered forever. Only grace, truth, forgiveness, and God’s love will heal them and all involved. Can we cover that story, please?
Bruce Lee Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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