“Puh-CHEENG-g-g-g!”
It struck me that the chooser of the Facebook private messaging sound had to be a morning person, an inveterate optimist. The high-pitched, cheery, sharp little sound easily overrode all the other chirps, boops, bips and Zedge’s stylized notifications. Couldn’t be ignored on a bet.
It further struck me that the chooser would be virulently despised by all Night Persons. Should they ever identify him or her, it would not be pretty.
It’s the very cheeriness of that unmistakably bright little greeting that reminded me of an adolescent jay bedeviling its first camper of the morning. Still young enough to get too close and a lot too loud. Huh. Come to think of it, that defines many human adoles—
“DING.” Ah. Microwave. Now, there’s a robust, no-nonsense sound. Jimmy Dean egg ‘n’ sausage biscuit. Great snack. Breakfast is another matter; one of those could feed a small family.
The ticking of the heating element on my venerable GE coffeemaker reminded me my first pot of hot, fresh joe was patiently awaiting my siposity. Drawing in a deep breath, I reflected as I set the old carafe back on the burner and carried my coffee and biscuit to my desk and sat down. Mighty fine. Just mighty– (Oooh, s-t-r-e-t-c-h-h-h-h. . . )fine. I leaned back, luxuriating in the peacefulness of the—
“Puh-CHEENG-g-g-g!” Ungh. Did I mention the cheery little PM dingy is also insistent?
I sat my ‘perkatory’ mug half-full of fresh coffee down beside the monitor. Ohhh. That’s why there are always rings on that side. I really do need to clean those up. On the other hand, if I leave one there as a decoy. . .
Facebook. Private messaging. Little round picture icons. Sparks.
“G’morning.”
“Hi. About time. Boring brew in the mug today?”
“Actually, no. This morning it’s Cameron’s Highlander Grog.”
“Seriously? What’s in it, bagpipe dust?”
“That’s what Google is for. What’s up?”
The cursor sat there blinking for about 20 seconds before the three little wavy dots indicated Sparks was typing. Odd for him, that. He usually was quick on the trigger.
“What do *you* do with more liberal friends who work the Left party line and basically accuse you of, well, all the normal things they think anyone who’s Conservative must be infected with?”
I sat musing for a minute.
“Narrow it down. What specific thing bugs you?”
This time the young deputy was ready with an instant reply.
“So I spoke out in favor of a conservative Constitutionalist group who doesn’t like the purposeful shove by this administration toward Socialism and has organized in our state several past hit-and-miss conservative entities under a single, permanent umbrella. As a bellwether issue they mention the recent SCOTUS decision for gay marriage. I’m smart enough to know the liberal tug-of-war never stops, but I have friends sympathetic with the whole gay agenda, I guess, who seem stuck on my being somehow afraid of homosexual intimacy on its own merits – AS IF it’s a stand-alone deal that, once they got that SCOTUS decision, they’d back off and be satisfied. They either don’t get that the whole LGBT movement is never satisfied and just keeps shoving, or they don’t WANT to acknowledge the liberal Left’s agenda has never been tolerance, but subjugation. Other more sinister, dangerous entities are happy to piggyback on the whole gay marriage thing to pursue their objectives, too. But my liberal friends don’t seem to see the progression, the acceleration. The more anti-God and anti-Christ groups get, the more they demand. Why don’t the ‘Why-can’t-we-all-just-live-in-love-and-harmony’ activists recognize they’re being used?”
Me: “Go on.”
“I mean, they know I’m a serious Christian. And I think they know I love them and consider them friends, though I don’t agree with the whole gay thing. But it’s not a matter of fear. I did 2 tours in Afghanistan. Well, strike that. I guess I am afraid that people I’ve known a long time – who I care about – will miss God’s Heaven because they choose to believe or buy into everything BUT what He’s given us in the Bible as guidelines for this life. So how do I tell them that? And, yeah, I know you like to think about stuff before just reacting. I’m off duty so I’ll be here whenever you reply.”
Later, after I’d had time to absorb his thoughts, added to what I know about this young man, I replied to him. Here’s what I wrote. . .
Recently a young professional whose personal faith and public service I respect and trust said, “In the ancient struggle between good and evil, evil has consistently proven to be unsatisfied with leaving good alone.”
It bears repeating.
In the ancient struggle between good and evil, Evil has consistently proven to be unsatisfied with leaving Good alone.
Take a good, hard, honest look at that statement. You see its truth enacted everywhere you look: day care, playgrounds, sporting and social events, work, recreation, and even in some worship settings.
Good goes on being good while allowing Evil to make its own choices. Evil, on the other hand, is not content to indulge itself in wrongdoing; it always feels obligated to needle and jab at Good in a ceaseless attempt to soil, discredit and if possible destroy Good and its influence.
God defines Good and Evil in The Bible. In the end it doesn’t matter what I say. What matters is what God says. He’s the one who set down the guidelines within which we could most fully enjoy and appreciate this life and best associate with each other.
I do not support homosexuality or ‘gay marriage’ because God says it’s not His plan for us. It has nothing to do with hating those so involved or even disliking them. I believe what I believe because I am doing my best to live as an authentic Christian, and adhere as best and as practically as I can to what the Bible teaches.
I have enduring friends and family who chose the ‘gay’ lifestyle.
- I love them.
- I consider them my friends.
- I do not judge them for it is not my place. See item 1 above.
- I do not condemn them.
- I will never allow anyone to bully them.
Yet from the Left’s perspective, the name-calling and stereotyping of us who live and believe a different way and stand for what we believe is the very thing the liberals don’t want anyone doing to them. We have the right to speak and live according to our beliefs, too.
Love has been horribly disfigured by millennia of us trying to love one another while stubbornly clenching our own selfishness. Simply, we wanted it our way, not God’s way.
Evil resulted. Evil stomps every decent, worthwhile, clean thing around it into inky, sooty compulsion to its jeering, stained environment. It’s never content to leave Good alone. Evil must destroy Good wherever found; otherwise, Good eventually shines through Evil’s worst, giving the lie that God isn’t/doesn’t/can’t the Bright Son treatment that always shows Evil up for the tawdry, cheap, compromising LOSS that it offers. Can you imagine anything dumber than for Evil, the ultimate Loser of all Time and Eternity, staring up through blackened and puffy eyes at Jesus, the Ultimate Champion, to say it doesn’t believe in God and therefore anything He says in the Bible doesn’t matter?
Good encourages all, even Evil, to come back to God’s design and shows remarkable forgiveness and love in the doing. Yet Good never demands its way, nor turns its back on those having opted for the temporary fun and games and lies of Evil. Good goes right on being good, leaving Evil alone other than to pray and show God’s love to any caught in it seeking help.
Think ‘War Room’, Sparks. Nothing Evil could ever in its wildest dreams imagine can stand for an instant before Good on its knees, fighting spiritual battles God’s way.
Nothing.
And don’t be fooled, my young friend.
They’re ALL spiritual battles.
Be strong and of good courage!
© D. Dean Boone, December 2015