DN=: Part 1–Does Not Equal

Perhaps, like me, you have noticed a preponderance of equal signs lately, on Facebook and elsewhere.  I have also noticed a link between the equal sign and false accusations of “hatred, bigotry and ignorance” being directed at people who are not necessarily on board with the equal sign.

 

This got me to thinking about people and their differences.  Obviously, there’s a whole bunch of us on this planet. We are all unique, as are our experiences and perspectives.  We all see life a little bit differently.  Yet it seems that we all carry with us the assumption that everyone sees life in exactly the same way.

 

I expect this is our natural self-centeredness at work.  If someone doesn’t share our point of view, well, then there must be something wrong with that person.

 

This much is natural, but it seems that in this generation our society has taken this concept to absurd extremes.  Simple misunderstandings of diverse points of view have become breeding grounds for character judgments and demonization.

 

This progression has given birth to the phenomenon known as political correctness, in which people speak in code words with the purpose of not offending others.  Unless they feel offended themselves.  In that case, there is another set of code words with which they can label and demonize their opponents without taking the time to hear them out.

 

Anyone else see a disconnect here?

 

I may have found a way to disarm this bomb, however.  If we are speaking with integrity, that is, if we say exactly what we mean and mean exactly what we say, then in theory, we have eliminated the possibility for misunderstanding.

 

One problem with this theory however—people who speak in code also assume that you are doing it as well.  So rather than hearing what you say, which is exactly what you meant to say, they waste much mental energy trying to figure out the hidden agenda you don’t have.

 

So in order to better understand each other, we need some clear definitions of the words we say and the thoughts and intentions behind them.  To this end, I have come up with my own variation of the equal sign: the DN= (Does Not Equal).  The purpose of DN= is to clarify the motives behind our words to be more thoroughly heard, and therefore, better understood.

 

To illustrate the DN= principle, let’s start with a word all Americans know–freedom.

 

(And that’s just what we’ll do, if you come back for DN= Part 2!)

Touching the Water Tower

One night last November, I was walking my dog, Murphy.  One good thing about living in a small town is that you can still do that late at night. 

 

Unfortunately, a bad thing about living in a small town is that you don’t get much of a change of scenery after years of walking the same dog down the same streets.

 

But on this particular late autumn evening, I found myself cutting down an alley where I do not normally go.  In fact, I am not sure I had ever gone down that little two-block stretch of alleyway before. 

 

It runs parallel to Route 104, the main east-west highway that runs through town.  From this alley, I could see the backs of several businesses that I only knew as places that I would drive past on the way home from work.

 

It occurred to me that evening, that I had lived in this town for nearly 15 years.  I had driven that stretch of road thousands upon thousands of times, always past the same storefronts. 

 

But tonight, I was seeing the same old stores, garages and bar from a completely different perspective—from the back.  For a moment, I felt like I was in a completely different place than my boring old town. 

 

As Murphy and I came out of the alley and angled back toward the highway (and our home on the other side of it), we came upon the water tower.  Like everything else on this stretch of road, I had driven past it thousands of times. 

 

Then something weird happened.  For reasons I did not, and still can not comprehend, I felt an overwhelming urge to touch the water tower.  I couldn’t give you a rational reason for this if I tried, but I guess there was just something about being somewhere I had never been that compelled me to do something I had never done.  I found myself thinking, “Have I EVER touched a water tower?  Anywhere?”  I could not recall ever having done so.

 

So I walked over and touched the water tower.  For a good long while, maybe a minute or two.  Nothing unusual about it—just painted metal. 

 

Murphy looked at me all the while with the canine mixture of anticipation, concern and that not-all-there look that dogs have.  “Dad, can we go now?  Are you OK?  I’m Murphy; I like bacon!”  If you have a dog, you know that look. 

 

It was a completely meaningless action, touching the water tower, but just the fact that I did it broke chains off my brain.  This simple, inconsequential act instantly drove home the lesson that there is always a new way of looking at things, no matter how many times you have seen them before. 

 

So I have decided to make “touching the water tower” my life’s motto.  I am finding myself trying foods that I would not ordinarily.  I travel to new places whenever I can, even if they’re only 5 minutes away.  I find myself relating to my kids differently, as I try to remember what it’s like to experience something as a child, for the first time.

 

And one of the most significant things that I’m doing differently with my life?  Well, you’re reading it right now.  My degree was in writing, but I spent 20 years in the workaday world never nurturing this gift.  Now, it’s almost as natural as breathing to me.

 

And all because I touched a stupid water tower.

 

Paul McCartney Tickets

Deliverance

 

 

No, not THAT kind of Deliverance!

 

 

(Yeah, that’s more like it.)

 

Have you ever found yourself in a situation that seemed hopeless?  Did you pray to God for deliverance?  I have found myself in that place on numerous occasions.

 

God always answers prayers for deliverance, but sometimes it’s not the answer we were expecting.  We have a tendency to treat God like an ATM—swipe our prayer card, and out come the blessings.

 

But sometimes the answer is “no.”  And sometimes it’s “not yet.”  And sometimes, it’s “Yes, but not the way you’re thinking.”

 

God wants us to live life to the full; however, He is always more interested in our holiness than our happiness.  We would love for our deliverance from trials and tribulations to be as quick and painless as possible.

 

But more often than not, God’s plan is to deliver us through the trial, rather than from it.  And painless isn’t always part of the plan.  In fact, sometimes the pain is the plan.

 

The trials we undergo may seem like the end of the world while they’re happening, and yet, we always come out the other side, maybe not totally unscathed, but still standing nonetheless.  We may have some scar tissue, but we also frequently have a sense of liberation.  We got THROUGH this!  And it didn’t kill us!

 

Here’s the thing about deliverance though.  The process of being delivered through a trial is supposed to be a lesson about reliance on God’s strength when our own is failing.

 

After all, why did we cry out to Him in the first place?  Because we knew that we were at the end of ourselves and it was only His strength that could deliver us.

 

So naturally, what do we do first when the next trial comes along?  That’s right, we try to fix our own problems and rely on our own strength.  Again.  Although we know we should never take God’s deliverance for granted, we do it anyway, because it is in our nature to forget things like that.

 

Fortunately God, who knows us better than we know ourselves, anticipates this, and is always there to pick up the pieces AGAIN (and again, and again).  What a great thing it is to know that we can always fall back on His patience and mercy!

 

Still, I think we ought to make more of an intentional effort to remember why God delivers us in the first place—because He is with us, and He is for us.  If He was in our corner the last time we had a problem, and we know that He doesn’t change, then it makes sense that He will go to bat for us again the next time we have a problem. 

  

So instead of having a high-speed come-apart the next time life beats us down or backs us up against the wall, we should approach our trial with confidence, knowing that we will be delivered, and that we won’t have to rely on our own strength to get it done.