Lifestyle choices tipping scales toward obesity
Chronic illness resulting from self destructive life choices has prompted a national health emergency. We're fat and getting fatter. Heart problems, obesity and diabetes result from Americans' unwillingness to eat right and exercise. [Read More]
Posted by jameson ( Jul 02 2008, 09:33:58 AM EDT ) Permalink Comments [5]

Picking out funeral clothes

You know when the phone rings before the sun rises that news on the other end will not brighten your day.

We learned this morning a giant spirit broke free and his body fell to earth. It was not unexpected, just too soon. My wife's father has gone on ahead and left us behind.

Why black? [Read More]
Posted by jameson ( Apr 06 2008, 03:33:35 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [1]

Flyover analysis

Before I sent my main story from my trip to Israel to the Biblical Recorder page designer, I sent it to Botrus Mansour, general director of the Nazareth Baptist School for his review. Mansour is an Arab Christian, not an uncommon identity in Nazareth, but still rare.

He was greatly disappointed in what I'd written.

He is a gracious man, so his words were not harsh, but inside them swirled unspoken comment, acrid and constrained, like smoke in a cannister.

My story was a tourist's flyover of his country. We had talked at lunch during my hours in Nazareth, and he was hoping somehow that I and the other editors would come back and write about the complex issues besetting Israel. He was looking for a word of support for Arab Christians who wage a lonely campaign for Christ in the midst of a vast majority of Muslims, Jews, Palestinians and Zionists.

He was likely hoping for a word to Christians in America about the loneliness Arab Christians feel when all the encouragement, resources and foreign policy from this country seem to flow to benefit everyone but Christians' spiritual brothers.

But those issues are so complex they are the stuff of doctoral theses, not of a flyover analysis by a working tourist. I could never do justice to the issues closest to Mansour's heart, which are the pumps and valves of his every breath and that he understands from the bleeding side of his skin.

But he has no voice in America and virtually none in Israel. He speaks with much influence in Nazareth, however, as general director of the city's best school - a school recognized as elite in the entire country. It is a Christian school, a Baptist school, and Christians, Muslims and Jews vie for spots in the student body because it is so good.

To Nazareth Christians though, it is more than a school. It is a broad avenue to Christian witness in Jesus' childhood city. It is a "living stone" as he said, yet when Christians come to Israel, they seem interested only in laying their eyes upon "dead stones" of history. Mansour and his staff relish the opportunity to be "living stones" for Christians searching for the heart of Israel.

Mansour's soulful disappointment reminds me of the flyover views we too often settle for when making pronouncements of other people's positions or circumstances. We may read an article, hear the scoop from a friend, see a hallway conversation and form opinions that we should know are simply a fly over.

We cannot possibly know the heart of the matter like those do who breathe and bleed it. Like the example of Botrus Mansour, it is often best to leave the acrid smoke of comments yearning to be delivered simply swirling in the cannister.

Posted by jameson ( Jan 24 2008, 05:04:26 PM EST ) Permalink Comments [2]

Just bag it

Just when we thought it was safe to go back into the water, here comes the latest entry in the dubious contest for top prize in the "I can't believe it's come to this," contest.

A story in the Jan. 21 Raleigh News and Observer tells of a handbag rental service. This is for women who want use of an expensive handbag for a special event or for a period of time, but don't want to shell out the $2,000 to actually buy the bag. After all, that $2,000 "it" bag you can't be seen without this year will be next season's embarrassing faux pas.

Admittedly, I'm the kind of consumer that threatens to plunge into recession an economy based on manufactured "can't live without it" needs. I don't buy much.

Plus, I dread the critiques on my purchases I get from style point judges forced to appear with me in public. In fact, one staff member declared last week that all I needed to complete my inclement weather ensemble of green corduroy pants and plaid woven shirt was a pair of suspenders.

So, the fact that anyone feels the need to accessorize with a $2,000 purse is simply a fact of life beyond my capacity to comprehend.

Fifteen years ago in Brazil I paid $150 for a hand tooled, glove leather purse as a gift for my wife. I've been too embarrassed over spending that much money for a purse to admit to anyone until now that I did so. Now the "it" bags rent for over $200 a month to people who want to be identified by a brand.

Brand awareness is the goal of every manufacturer and the bane of every parent who tries to squeeze a child into the $20 equivalent of $80 jeans. For some reason consumers readily brand themselves with the logos of manufacturers and gladly become billboards for the ubiquitous logos like Nike.

Before reading the story, I couldn't even name a Chanel tote, or Marc Jacobs Stam, Chloe Paddington, vintage Gucci satchel or Prada bowler. Now I know where I can rent one for $300 a month. That's nearly a car payment in my world.

During the 2002-04 intifada in Israel that destroyed property and lives as Arabs rebelled against Jewish restrictions put in place to prevent terrorist attacks, Arab Christians started wearing crosses. The symbol identified their faith and said to all that although they were Arabs, they were not of the kind and mind that fought the Jews and sought to destroy their country from within.

Now that is branding I can appreciate.

Posted by jameson ( Jan 21 2008, 02:08:06 PM EST ) Permalink

Rain Came

Growing up close to the soil, we talked weather constantly. We didn't cut the alfalfa if it was predicted to rain within three days because we didn't want the rain to beat the nutritious leaves off the drying plant. We certainly didn't want to bale wet hay, which was heavy and prone to spontaneously combust when packed into the barn.

Too much rain kept us out of the fields in the spring. Late rains kept us from picking corn in the fall. Too little rain and we harvested more weeds than grain.

When the combination of rain and sunlight on a cornfield was "right" you could stand in the midst of the field and hear young corn grow.

In urban society I cannot figure out why the weather report garners so much news time day to day. You're going to your office or out for your morning biscuit no matter what the weather, unless there is a sheet of ice on the road and you can find that out when you get up in the morning.

When I'm told to "turn on the TV and check the weather," I'm more likely to check it through the window.

Maybe the weather persons drone on about funnels, fronts and flurries to give school kids hope of a day off. Maybe we like to stay up with the weather because no matter what the weather is or is projected to be, we can't do a blessed thing about it, so we feel no guilt or responsibility to change it.

When we lose our closeness to the land, we tend to forget how vital weather patterns are to our survival. Early settlers planted themselves close to natural resources. That's why early cities were on rivers.

Then we figured out how to trap water from rivers, or tap underground aquifers and then there was no limitation to where we could live. That's why you have people in Phoenix and Las Vegas, naturally barren places God intended as forbidding buffers to keep Californians in the west.

Just like children think chocolate milk comes from black cows, or that people in a factory somewhere invent cereal and put it into boxes for them, we tend to forget the source of our most vital element for living - water.

Baptist Men called us to pray for rain on Dec. 30. A couple days before that, weather persons started predicting showers for that weekend. On Sunday morning water drops started to splatter on my window. By the end of the day, my rain gauge showed 2.4 inches and the water supply for Raleigh rose from 92 days to 126. Most of North Carolina received a good soaking.

Would God have blessed us with the rain had we not beseeched Him in concert? Perhaps. Certainly He is being beseeched constantly from throughout the southeast from people in thirsty cities asking God to bless the land. Georgia's governor held a pray for rain meeting at the state capitol.

Some prayers are "last resort." Some are first option. Many who never pray will share equally in the blessing. Many prayers are not from Baptists and some are likely not even from Christians. God is God of all.

As the prophet Jeremiah says, (14:22) "Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, O Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this."

It is appropriate to recognize - no matter the timing - that God alone sends the showers and to give thanks.

Posted by jameson ( Jan 02 2008, 11:37:18 AM EST ) Permalink Comments [1]

Arresting Gift

Sometimes a Christmas story breaks through the tinsel and hype to arrest you with tingling and hope. A story of generosity out of Charlotte did that for me Sunday.

Cpl. John Hyland has had 16 surgeries since Sept. 10 when his Humvee in Iraq blew apart, crushing his feet and fracturing bones in his back and pelvis. He and his family have been stuck in a hospital 150 miles from home while he received medical attention. They wanted to go home for Christmas but have no working vehicle. A story about their plight in the Charlotte Observercaught the attention of Rick Hendrick, a NASCAR team owner and car dealer.

Reporter Karen Cimino said Hendricks donated a $50,000 Honda Odyssey with a hydraulic lift and added bicycles for Hyland's sons Hunter and Wyatt. Cimino wrote, "Hyland, 37, who grew up in Charlotte, said he didn't expect anything in return for serving his country or for getting injured. He's humbeld by the help and hopes his story inspires folks to give to other soldiers and civilians."

Of course you aren't likely to be able to give a new car but that doesn't dismiss your opportunity to help. Sometimes we think, "Well, I can't do that," so we don't do anything.

Dozens of people who live around you could use a hand in big or small ways. A real helping hand can change your neighborhood.

Other lives are waiting your help with a financial gift. This is the season Baptist Children's Homes receives a special offering for the hundreds of children in its care every day. Woman's Missionary Union is promoting the annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering that enables the International Mission Board to mobilize a force of 5,000 missionaries around the world. Baptist Men just announced a day of prayer for rain Dec. 30 and an offering to help North Carolina farmers buy feed for their animals so they don't have to sell them at a loss and put their farms at risk.

And there are military families far from home, living daily in fear for a loved one in harm's way, who need a hand with a car that won't start, an appliance that needs repair, children without a coat or a utility bill overdue. Here are several sites that can connect someone who needs help with your willingness to serve.

This site. works nationally to connect soldiers to people who want to help. This site. offers ways to contribute or to get an application for someone who may need help. This site. has chapters throughout the country and works to help solider with emercency services, education and morale. This site. has links to hundreds of other support sites.

Posted by jameson ( Dec 17 2007, 06:56:06 AM EST ) Permalink

Flunking Retirement

When my financial planner told me her projections for my retirement income she said in effect there is a greater distance between what I'll need and what I'll have than I had imagined. I know she is a Christian, but I wish she had not used biblical terms to describe that distance: "as far as the east is from the west."

In other words, "Work longer, save more."

If I need to work past typical retirement age, I won't be alone. Many in my generation, after retiring from "a job," find new career freedom and work in areas they've always wanted to explore.

International Mission Board writer Erich Bridges told recently about the many retired missionaries who continue to invest their lives in others, either in churches and communities in the United States, or in different venues in the areas of the world where they worked earlier.

Bridges quoted William Sadler, author of "The Third Age: 6 Principles for Growth and Renewal after Forty,"who studied people who pursued "second growth" in later life.

"If we come under the spell of aging, we will set aside ambition, anticipation, passion, idealism, and discovery," Sadler writes. "I contend that we should not deny aging, but rather transform it with a new growth process. We have the chance to create a second half of life that is very different from what our parents or grandparents experienced. Instead of being diminished by time, our lives can become richer. It all depends on how we spend it.... This constitutes the third age, a new frontier with tremendous potential for growth."

North Carolina Baptist men and women volunteers, especially in disaster relief and long term rebuild projects, demonstrate not just a willingness but a hunger to serve when others tell them they have "earned" some time to relax.

A heart on fire always burns toward new fuel.

You may be a corporate attorney who retires and teaches kindergarten; a teacher who becomes a builder; a home builder who goes overseas to teach people how to make bricks and build stable houses. Your opportunities are as vast as the globe and as rich as God's people.

I used to be after my dad to retire. Then I realized he's made the adjustments necessary to physically continue and he finds fulfillment in his work helping people. Beyond that, At 77 he is still his community's primary "go to" guy, for advice, for a helping hand, for a ride to the doctor or church, to usher or attend at a funeral. I say, "Go, Dad!"

Now, all this life after retirement, and freedom to do what you want presupposes one big thing: you need to be preparing for your retirement! It will cost more than you think to live in 20 years. Deny yourself certain things today so you can live comfortably tomorrow. If you work in a church, call Johnny Ross at the Baptist State Convention for help on retirement planning. He can help your church see its responsibility toward that end.

As for me, I'm going to encourage my financial planner to work hard for me, so I can retire while I'm still young enough to ride bikes with my grandson. After all, she IS his mother!

Posted by jameson ( Sep 28 2007, 03:43:11 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [4]

Deer Running

Most of the time when I see a deer while riding it is only as a brief flash across the trail or as a thief stealing hay from NC State's equine facility that borders the greenway.

I hear a rustle, see a flash and too quickly these magnificently fragile, agile creatures are gone.

One morning I rounded a corner and startled a deer so suddenly and completely it didn't know where to go. It had some synapse collapse and instead of bursting away into the woods, it turned abruptly and ran ahead of me down the path, striding before me as I rode along behind.

It wasn't a long time running together but during those 10 seconds--stretched into mental minutes by the clock of wonder--the deer and I were of the same herd.

We were buckcyclists.

We rode/ran together, no wolf on our heel, no hunter in orange raising a rifle, no fear imperative pushing us.

We just "ran."

Imagine actually swimming with dolphins, not just being in the water while they swim around you; or running shoulder to flank with gazelles in Africa; or soaring with a hawk. For a moment the fluid joy of animal motion washed over me.

Those are special moments and rare.

I'm not a hunter. I hunted pheasants until I was good enough to actually shoot some. I had no dog, so I just walked for hours through the grassy pastures next to corn fields.

Pheasants are smart birds and you almost have to step on a pheasant before it will take flight. Then they burst out from under your feet as if shot from a cannon.

Seeing them fall out of the sky as a result of my marksmanship was a thrill until I walked up to them, lying bloody and lifeless on the ground, their brilliant color fast fading. Then I thought, "What was that about?" and relegated my shotgun to anti-prowler duty behind the basement door.

I'd be the same with deer hunting although human development crowds them into ever smaller natural areas until individuals are too prevalent for the good of the whole.

We tend to do that, don't we? To meet our real or felt needs we crowd others into ever smaller places until they do it our way, die or disappear.

Pity. When we do that, we never know the sheer, boundless joy of running together.

Posted by jameson ( Aug 28 2007, 10:03:04 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [1]

Meetings Coming and Going

My wife says I'm a joiner, but I just like to participate. I'm participating right now on the stewardship committee at church.

Tonight we hashed out methods to personalize our "gather, go, give" theme. We talked about our budget, average gifts, giving units, increases, needs, personal debt and motivation.

We're just completing a large construction project, adding a family life center in a neighborhood with many families. Our budget is increasing dramatically to cover the costs of operation.

But no one gives to a budget. No one cares one flip about the budget. If your stewardship campaign is encouraging your members to give to meet the budget, you can help yourself most by saving the stamps that would send that material out.

People give to change lives.

To bring a heartbeat to your annual stewardship campaign this year, you need to define the ways life changing ministries are made possible through the gifts your people give. Have people active in those ministries share with everyone how their involvement helps them grow.

In addition, have people come speak to your church who have benefited from the ministry your church provides. Is there someone from the town where your youth went on mission trip this summer? Is there a homeless person who benefited from a bag of groceries from your pantry?

Is there a military wife whose husband is deployed overseas and your members make sure her grass is cut and her car is maintained?

Is there a beneficiary of the meals on wheels your members drive? Someone who came to Christ because of the outreach ministry of your church?

These testimonies don't have to be eloquent or long. Take a picture, write a paragraph in your newsletter. Have them stand up on Sunday morning. If they are too shy, introduce them, tell their story for them and let people shake their hand after church.

Have someone from Baptist Children's Homes or a new church start share how your gifts through Cooperative Program Missions Giving have changed their life.

You say your church isn't involved in anything like that?

Houston, we have a problem.

Posted by jameson ( Aug 13 2007, 08:55:55 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [1]

Chasing Rabbits
You learn growing up in Wisconsin farm country to prepare soil. Today, riding bicycle prepares my soil and I?ll share insights from above the spokes.[Read More]
Posted by jameson ( Jul 31 2007, 01:48:22 PM EDT ) Permalink

Quiet casualties in Iraq
Ancient lives are also being lost in Iraq.[Read More]
Posted by TonyCartledge ( Mar 22 2007, 10:00:23 AM EDT ) Permalink

Hold on, hold on ...
Let's keep the death penalty on permanent hold.[Read More]
Posted by TonyCartledge ( Feb 07 2007, 07:39:31 AM EST ) Permalink Comments [7]

Liberty and politics for all
Some things, like the Statue of Liberty, are more than they appear to be.[Read More]
Posted by TonyCartledge ( Jan 24 2007, 10:22:19 AM EST ) Permalink Comments [1]

Who gets the money?
Contributing to charity isn't as straightforward as it might seem.[Read More]
Posted by TonyCartledge ( Dec 15 2006, 08:57:18 AM EST ) Permalink

Give me a rake!
Spiritual discipline comes in many forms. [Read More]
Posted by TonyCartledge ( Nov 18 2006, 05:57:46 PM EST ) Permalink Comments [2]