The Rich Young Ruler

Bryant L. Myers has an excellent book which I read last year. The book takes a wide look at how we serve and help transform poor communities for God's Kingdom. One key theme addressed is the similarity of the poor and the non-poor in possessing what he calls a "marred identity."

Myers argues that part of the marred identity of the poor relates to their spiritual viewpoint of (1) how they got poor and (2) what they're able to do to get out of it. But, he also shows that the non-poor have that same problems in relating to their wealth. Surprised?

What is Myers's solution? Pointing us, both poor and non-poor, to repent of "god complexes" and submit ourselves to the story of Scripture:

Another way to help the poor discover their identity is by encouraging them to "find themselves in [the Biblical] story." But we must also witness to the non-poor concerning their identity. We need to help the non-poor "explore and identify their own poverty, to get in touch with what happens when one confuses being with having, or serving with power and control. The non-poor also need to read their story against the story of the Bible. The Bible has good news for them, too, even though they tend to find this hard to believe. The problem for the non-poor is that the cost of being who they really are and doing what they were meant to do is too high. Surrendering god-complexes and using human skill, the power of position, and financial resources LIKE A SERVANT is very hard indeed. This is why the rich young man walked away (Mat. 19:16-22)." (emphasis mine)

Apparently we're hard-wired in original sin to value our own righteous stories above God's. Apparently God's story isn't good enough for us--or is the problem that it is too good?

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BillCosby

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard Bill Cosby said something funny that had the ring of truth to it--true truth, as Schaeffer and Van Til spoke of. Recently I heard another great statement by Prophet Bill, which goes like this:

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

What is broken about the world is in part a fear of man--the paralysis that comes over a person when he or she attempts to make everybody happy.

I read today about an autistic girl who finally found her voice; for years she was mute and wouldn't and couldn't talk. Everyone had given up on her except her parents, and then she discovered the keyboard. Out gushed words upon words upon words.

The girl, named Carly Fleischmann, writes, "It is hard to be autistic because no one understands me." Carly's agony is a special form of what sickens everyone's heart.

After all, if people did really understood us, would they want us to please them? Of course not. If people really understood us, they would know that pleasing God is what will bring us greatest happiness. They would get out of the way, and we wouldn't be distracted by such trifles.

Later, in that article, the author writes, "Therapists say the key lesson from Carly's story is for families never to give up and to be ever creative in helping children with autism find their voice."

Hear hear. And not only children with autism. The broken heart cries out to a Redeeming God: Oh God! Help me find my voice! Help me be the me you made me to be. Free me from the fear of man. Help me be a Pleaser of Thee.

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Brett Favre

In the spirit of the NFL playoffs, and also taking an opportunity to praise a modern hero, here is Brett Farve, Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, on his favorite memory in his long quarterback career:

Ask people around Green Bay for their favorite Favre memory, and you'll get countless anecdotes but rarely any hesitation. So many elite athletes captivate with their otherworldly physical gifts, but the common theme among the Favre highlights is the human element.... Ask Favre for his own favorite memory, and he's quiet for a moment. "I've got so many plays running through my mind," he says, finally. "The funny thing is, its not only about the touchdowns and the big victories. If I were to make a list, I would include the interceptions, the sacks, the really painful losses. Those times when I've been down, when I've been kicked around, I hold onto those. In a way, those are the best times I've ever had, because that's when I've found out who I am. And what I want to be.

     --Alan Shipnuck, "Sportsman of the Year: Brett Favre," Sports Illustrated, 12/10/07 p. 56.

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Speaking of having conversations, I finished an interesting article in the September 4, 2006 issue of The New Yorker, "Bob on Bob," a review of a book that compiles excerpts of good interviews of Bob Dylan over the decades. But, as Bob is a notoriously difficult interviewee, the article largely analyzes several of these interviews Bob Dylan has given over the decades.

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan has been known to reduce many an erstwhile quote-grabbing interviewer to utter confusion partly because they are "looking" for someone who apparently isn't there. Here's a great excerpt from the New Yorker article:

If you were serious [in that musical age when rock and roll was moribund] you played folk songs. And to become a folksie, unless you actually were from Oklahoma, you invented a persona. The whole folk revival was make-believe anyway; it was urban kids trying to sound like hillbillies and sharecroppers. One of the folk music veterans when Dylan came on the scene was Ramblin' Jack Eliott, a singer with a cowboy twang who had once hoboed around with Guthrie himself. Ramblin' Jack was the stage name of one Elliot Adnopoz, a Jewish kid from Flabush whose father was a prominent surgeon. Cambridge was another center of the folk revival--its where Joan Baez got her start in the coffee houses around Harvard Square. (She was a B.U. dropout.) ...Artifice was the price of authenticity.

It seems that many folks see Dylan as less a philosophical visionary and more of a cultural opportunist with great musical talent. For Dylan, it was never about the "movement" but about the "song."

So, "finding" Dylan has been difficult. Here's something to think about: if someone were to look for you, really look for you, who would they find?

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