The Carol Drive* Chronicles: Remembering Baba

Ten years ago today Baba went to her eternal home.  Some people have grandparents.  We had Baba and Jedi (pronounced Jed-ee and yes, we played the Star Wars angle to the max).  My paternal grandparents emigrated from Yugoslavia an 1929.  Soon their third child was born.  My father entered the world in July of that year and the stock market crashed in October.  Welcome to the USA.

Baba and Jedi provide enough interesting and hilarious material for a library, but for now I would simply like to pay a tribute to Baba.  This sturdy little woman (about five-foot-nothing) was actually born in Pittsburgh Dec. 31, 1905 to one of the first Serbian immigrants in the area.  Her father came here in the late 1800s, worked in the mill and lost his arm in an industrial accident.  They had to return to Yugoslavia when she was a little girl.  Being one of the oldest of about ten children, Baba (real name Milicia) never had any formal schooling since she had to help raise the family.  They all lived in a small house (I had the opportunity to visit there in 1990) that we couldn’t imagine being adequate for such a population.  Eventually she married my grandfather (Milos Niksic) and they settled in the South Side of Pittsburgh where Jedi worked at J & L Steel.  Jedi had a little bit of schooling and could read…Baba could not, but she learned English and became bilingual.

I say bilingual in somewhat of a loose sense of the word.  That’s where much of Baba’s uniqueness shone.  Both of them had some quirky English, but Baba’s was downright entertaining at times.  My two brothers and I are known in the extended family as Donnie, Keith and Mark.  To Baba we were Dunnee, Kithee and Markee.  She would always use all of our names to call on one of us and the one she wanted was always last.  If she wanted me it would be “Kithee, Markee, Dunnee.”  Calling Keith would usually be “Markee, Dunnee, Kithee.”  And so it went. 

Most verbs have “um” attached to them such as “Dunnee, you takum dis” or “Markee, puttum toys away.”  I could chronicle hundreds of Baba-isms, but here are a few of the best known (with English tranlation provided):

“Dom doot”  (Don’t do that)  We heard this often since she was our main babysitter when we were growing up.

“Boatah da”  (Both of them) 

“Ohla wahn”  (All of them)  If there are more than two.

“Chockle kek”  (Chocolate cake)

“Meks me so nerevoos”  (Make me so nervous)  Be sure to roll your “R”s a little.

“Ahm git so vorree abahtah”  (I get so worried about it)  These were both common statements for Baba, the family’s designated worrier.

“Ah-YO!”  Multi-purpose expression useful to convey disbelief, disappointment or being mildly ticked-off.  This one expression will be explored in a future blog….lots of history here!

I take pride in the fact that I have Baba’s version of English down pat.  Often my brothers and I communicate in this dialect just for fun.  It’s worth archiving and will help preserve the memory of a very unique individual.

Here’s to your memory, Baba!  We loved your sarma (stuffed cabbage), ornacha (nut roll) and pita (unique bar cookie).  You lived simply, worked hard and loved your family unconditionally.  We should all live to such a high standard.

*The Carol Drive Chronicles will appear on an occasional basis documenting the people and events of that unique American neighborhood in which I was raised.

The Church’s Great Act of Stewardship

Around thirty-five people showed up.  If it was for your birthday party, there would be cause for celebration.  If it was the number that showed up for a home Bible study, you might be elated.  In reality, it was the attendance for a Sunday morning worship service at a church that can seat over 1000 in their sanctuary.  I learned that factoid from a friend that had been attending services there for a while in the late 1970′s.  I remember thinking at the time what a shame to have such a small crowd in such a big building.  It has to be depressing to many of those church members.  That discovery and my reaction took place around thirty years ago.

Fast forward to 2008.  I asked another friend who was in the know what the current situation was at that church after I had related the story from three decades earlier.  He said that not much had changed.  That’s when it becomes more than just an unfortunate situation.

What we have here is a stewardship issue.  That particular church had its heyday many decades ago and probably filled the sanctuary and used that building constantly during the week.  It is in a very affluent neighborhood and has an endowment that will allow it to operate for the indefinite future.  The building is a beautiful, huge stone structure that was probably built at least 100 years ago. 

Within a ten-minute drive of my home there are about a dozen churches that are meeting in schools, office buildings and shopping centers….one is meeting at a funeral home.  (I would guess the salvation message carries some clout there.)  Several of them are getting well over 100 people attending on a weekly basis and continue to grow.  Most are looking for a more permanent home since any arrangement that’s not on your own property is subject to change.  Several are not sure how long they’ll be able to remain where they are.  These churches range in age from newly formed in the past year or so to well over a decade.  Property is hard to come by with all the zoning, financial and other issues.  They could move further out and find a place, but that could be many miles away and would remove them from most of the people they serve. 

In some cases, even churches that have their own property are outgrowing their current facility and need to find more space.  They often don’t have any room to add on and even buying up property around them is a very slow process.  You can’t claim eminent domain if you’re a church.  You have to wait until it becomes available.

I believe one of the greatest acts of stewardship that the body of Christ could execute would also be one of the greatest witnesses to the unchurched world.  Trade places!  If all of the churches with huge facilities that have merely a remnant of their former membership would trade places with growing churches in desparate need of more room, we would be honoring God in ways that would echo for generations.

Will it ever happen?  In some cases, no way unless God makes his presence known in an unmistakeable fashion.  Generations of tradition in a building are powerful.  On the other hand, I recently witnessed the merger of two churches.  One had the nice building with a diminished congregation.  The other was only a few years old, renting space and growing fast.  Like any marriage I’m sure they hit the occasional pothole, but they are making it work.

Whether it’s trading spaces, merging, sharing facilities or some other arrangement, let’s be the body of Christ when it comes to our facilities.  I don’t claim to know what any particular church should do, but they all need to be challenged to pray and seek God’s face as to how they exercise stewardship regarding the material resources with which God has blessed them.

The Body of Christ: Diversity, Not Always Proximity

Try this when you have a spare moment:  Take your big toe (while still attached to your foot) and place it right next to your ear.  Unless you’re a gymnast or under two years old this will cause some level of discomfort.  The discomfort will increase as the duration increases.  Once you’ve completed your contortionist impression and the pain subsides consider why 1 Corinthians 12 uses the analogy of the human body to describe believers.  Starting with verse 12 there are many examples of how the two bodies are similar.  I would like to propose another truth that is implicit, even if not explicit from this analogy.

There are some members of the body that should not spend a lot of time in close proximity to each other.  Some of us are toes, some are ears.  While there can be mutual respect and even short-term exposures to each other, long-term close proximity will make the whole body uncomfortable.

I have met believers from all over the world and have been to several countries meeting members of the body of Christ.  Some should never be allowed to come within shouting distance of each other since that might be all they would do.  We have some major diversity in theology, politics, lifestyle, wealth, education, priorities, worship style, etc.  Any of these could trip an argument since many believe passionately in their particular “hot-button” topic.  They may all have the basics down regarding the Bible, Christology, salvation, etc., but Christians have been known to disagree now and again.  (Insert your own expression for “DUH” here.)  

A very simple example occured a few years ago when a group of men from church were discussing finances.  One shared a story about how he helped an elderly woman do her taxes and spent hours looking for five cents to make everything balance in her books.  Another said that if he’s within $30 of the bank’s figure he lets it go.  If that $30 remains for three months he adjusts his books to match the bank.  The other looked on with incredulity and said “how can you do that?”  The rest of us intervened so this would not dominate the evening, but if believers disagree at that level, how much more arguing could there be if we all thought that our way was THE way?  I’m sure each of them could supply biblical support for their positions.  Here we might have the stewardship of resources vs. the stewardship of time controversy.

The bottom line is that the body of Christ is way more diverse than our little worldview can grasp.  As long as a person has a saving relationship with Christ, he or she is part of the body.  Often we will judge whether they are living as they should or even question their eternal destiny.  I think we are doing too much judging and not enough accepting.  Judging tears into the body, accepting builds it.  (Please understand I am not referring to confronting sin in the proper and humble manner–that also serves to build the body.)  Often we are judging when something doesn’t sit well with us emotionally, not necessarily because it’s a biblical issue.  We can’t let the prejudices of our narrow experience substitute for scripture.

It’s time we celebrated the diversity of Jesus’ body.  That just may mean some of us will need to love and respect each other with a little more distance between us.

The Carol Drive* Chronicles: Two Hours of Yuletide Eternity

The closest we get to an eternity in this life is the time between going downstairs on Christmas morning and actually being able to tear into those parcels under the tree.  Growing up in the 1960s with two younger brothers made this a test beyond the scope of human endurance.  Give me waterboarding anytime–please!  Just get me through this!

We sprang out of bed as soon as our eyes opened…usually right around 5:00am.  There was the frantic sprint to the living room.  That took around 6 1/2 seconds.  Then there was the quick scan to see if there were any gifts too big or odd-shaped to wrap.  (The occasional bike or sled created a temporary sense of well-being.  Then we knew that our torture session would be only about 95% of its original intensity.)  That whole process ate up another 3 1/2 seconds. 

So here we are ten seconds into our eternity and the pathetic reality begins to set in.  Mom and Dad said we can’t wake them up until 7:00am.  ARE YOU KIDDING?!!!!!!!  How are we going to make it that long?!!  We can’t do two hours of this!!  Where’s my brown paper bag? 

That’s it. Calm down….breathe easy.  Then another ray of hope….we are allowed to open the gifts in our stockings.  That feels like a band-aid on a compound fracture, but we’ll take anything at this point to help deaden the pain.  The stockings were usually candy and other small stuff, but we made it work for us.  We’d take turns and open one at a time to eat up the clock, still watching it seeming to be at a stand-still.  Why can’t time go this slow when we’re out playing with friends, building shacks in the woods and riding our bikes?  Ok, we opened all the stocking gifts….

WHAT?!!!  It’s only 5:08am????!!!!!  NO WAY!!!!!  I’ll die of old age before 7:00am gets here!

Thus set in the eternity of Yuletide.  We just sat there in front of the tree staring at the gifts…and staring at the gifts…and staring…and staring…and staring.  We tried to pass the time speculating their contents.  That took another thirty seconds.  We would check out the stockings once again to make sure we hadn’t missed anything…another fifteen seconds.  We’d stack our gifts and compare the height of the piles…maybe two minutes.  It’s torture I tell you…cruel and unusual punishment!!!

Somehow the clock would creep its way to 7:00am and our redemption draweth nigh.  Mom and Dad would stagger from their room and….let’s just say the next few minutes resembled a snow-globe that had been violently shaken.  The long, frustrating, eternal torture was over.

“Hey Mom, I’m hungry.  What’s for breakfast?” 

*The Carol Drive Chronicles will appear on an occasional basis documenting the people and events of that unique American neighborhood in which I was raised.

Winning the 21st Century Will Happen One life at a Time.

Winning the 21st century will be accomplished one life at a time.  The only thing that changes the world is changed lives.  A life is changed only when the heart of that person is changed.  You can force people to march in lock-step to a certain agenda, but the threat of punishment or death is the only thing that keeps them “in line.”  That’s why it’s such a major effort for totalitarian regimes to keep their people moving in the desired direction.  Whole armies are necessary, not only for defense, but just to keep their own citizens in check.

On the other hand freedom carries a certain risk.  That’s why John Adams said that freedom can only work when the people have a moral foundation.  It’s that inner compass that keeps free people from needing the strong arm of totalitarianism.  That’s how our nation got off to such a strong start….we had the overwhelming majority of the population restrained in their behavior by their Christian faith.  

Restrained sounds like such a limiting factor….like it keeps us from doing what we really want to do.  In some ways it does look like that.  The other side of that argument is the fact that we were created in a certain way for a certain role.  When is a train most like a train?  When it stays on the track.  It works best and gets the most done that way.  When we go along the path that we are designed for we are at our best, get the most accomplished and are the most fulfilled.  To some that sounds very limiting, but it’s actually the most freeing way to live.  Pursuing that for which you were designed is highly liberating.

Our nation was built by people that believed that very idea.  A change of heart that aligns us with our God-given design will be both productive and fulfilling.  Our nation can be rebuilt by the same method.  Our job is to reach out to people with the life-changing message of Christ, help them to find out what God created them to do and then watch them be a part of winning the 21st century….one life at a time.

That Stinkin’ Hairball…The Search for a New Venue.

That Darn Cat was a cutesy Disney flick from the 1960s that featured a cat that always got into “mischief.”  It would knock things over and create laughs, but in the end saved the day.  Well, that darn cat would be a delight compared to that stinkin’ hairball that we now possess.

We lost our cat of fourteen years last April to old age.  In fact Austyn, our youngest doesn’t remember life without the cat….he’s fifteen.  That was a tough event for him to witness since “Lizzie” died right in front of our eyes.  (We also lost our dog the very next morning….had to have her put to sleep….so that was a rough stretch.)  Our house was petless for the first time in many years. 

That status lasted through the summer, but fall came and so did the opportunity to aquire a new cat.  A woman that places them into homes provided the current edition.  Since I call all cats “Hairball” my oldest son Justin nicknamed her “Hairball 2.0.”  She was about four months old when we took her in and after hiding and not being at all visible for over a full day, she began to warm up to us and now runs the place.  We, her staff work to make sure she lives the ultimate pampered existence.  Food must be served as soon as we awaken.  If not, we will experience a relentless four-pawed squeaky-voiced alarm clock.  Sprinting all over the house when bored is a favorite activity.  If it moves, it’s attacked.  If we’re eating it, she wants some.  The litter box must be kept pristine at all times….and with the right kind of litter….which reminds me….

While we were still in the process of figuring out the perfect litter formula for our little prima donna, she apparently didn’t like the current conditions of the litter box.  Thus ensued the search for a new venue.  It has to be a place where the guilty party can bury the evidence….making our search one that involves the nose more than the eyes.  Believe me, it didn’t take a bloodhound to hunt this one down.  I entered our bedroom and quickly noticed an odiferous presence.  Did she get stuck in here with the door closed?  Is she miffed at us and marking turf?  I looked under the bed, in the corners and finally noticed a couple of “nuggets” on the bed.  I called Shileen in and we looked at a blanket that looked like it had been snagged multiple times by the cat.  But why?  Then Shileen pulled the blanket and sheet back to reveal…..let’s just say it was closer in size to two scoops than one at the ice cream shop.  Immediately the smell was equivalent to a punch in the face.  I didn’t know if I should be disgusted, ticked off to high heaven or just stare in disbelief.  Shileen gathered up everything and headed to the laundry.  Fortunately the mattress cover minimized the impact and everything was fully restored.  The impact on our noses would require a longer recovery.

It looks like we finally have the routine down for Hairball 2.0.  There are still a few tweaks and minor adjustments, but it appears we are, for the most part, operating in a satisfactory manner for her royal sovereign majesty.  But I still sniff around the bed before I get in at night.

Obama Angst and the Church

The reactions and post-mortems have been tireless.  Many say that this election is not only historical, but ushers in a new era that will bring about much needed change.  Others lament that we are threatened with losing much of what has made this nation great.  Either way, the Church needs to be the Church.

I have no doubt that the form of government in power plays a huge role in the welfare of the people.  The Bible is replete with admonitions to leaders since they have such power in that regard.  However, no form of government should prevent the Church from being the Church.  In extreme cases, as in China and other countries that persecute believers, the Church is underground and operates largely as house churches.  Many meetings are in secret and believers are regularly arrested, persecuted and even executed at times.  What doesn’t change is the transformational power of the gospel in peoples’ lives.  The gospel of Christ changes lives forever even in the most dire of circumstances.

In our nation we have seen a gradual erosion of some religious freedom….especially in the last several decades, but we are still no where near the level of persecution that many of our brothers and sisters experience around the world.  We have no excuse for not being salt and light in this nation, but it seems we have less and less relevance to an increasingly secular culture.  The Church has been relegated to an activity like Little League, Scouts or Texas Hold’em night.  If we see it as having that level of relevance, it will have that level of influence.  The Church is God’s instrument for the redemption of the human race.  How dare we reduce it to just our particular Sunday morning activity.

The government is not the answer to the woes of our society….the Church is!  Who we elect as president should not have an impact on the fact that we are salt and light.  It may determine the issues we confront, but the Church still needs to be the Church….the transformational force in our nation and in the world.

Christian Impact on the Election and the U.S. Supreme Court

Ever wonder why the “government” or elected officials don’t reflect your values?  Is it the corrupting influence of politics?  Is it the lure of powerbrokers in Washington, D.C or your state capital?  They all may be factors, but I submit to you a more fundamental reason that may be uncomfortable for us to swallow.  It’s easy to blame “the culture” or some other big amorphous entity for the nation’s woes when the blame lies squarely on Christians.  We must shoulder this one.

Here’s a basic truth:  Elected officials do not reflect the values of the people of the nation.  They reflect the values of those that voted for them. 

From 1996 to 2004 Christians voted in increasing numbers for each election cycle.  During that same period pro-life legislation made headway for the first time since Roe vs. Wade was ruled on in 1973.  Issues such as partial-birth abortion were finally dealt with from a pro-life perspective.  However, in 2006 the number of Christians voting scaled back and the legislation passed has reflected that trend.

Abortion is the American holocaust.  We have taken the lives of nearly 50,000,000 babies since Roe vs. Wade was ruled on by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973.  That ruling as well as many others have been made by a body stepping outside of its constitutional boundaries.  Making laws from the Bench is not how this nation was designed.  A judge’s job is to interpret the law, not write it.  The kind of judges that are put in place will be a direct result of the kind of people we elect to office.  We can “throw the bums out” on the next election cycle if we don’t like who we elected.  Judges stay for decades.  There are very long-term implications for who we elect as president.  This next president will likely appoint more than one U.S. Supreme Court justice as well as numerous lower court judges.  Right now the court is roughly balanced, but will swing one way or the other, likely for decades, based on who we elect as president.  That is “Issue One,” more important that the economy or the Iraq war, neither of which will be big issues in just a couple of years. 

Christians need to mobilize and be heard from in unprecedented numbers.  Remember, those that are elected reflect the values of the voters, not the nation.

Presidential Debate–The Twenty-Somethings Say So

After watching the last presidential debate the other night I entered into a discussion with several twenty-somethings.  Now that was an education!  There were some very intelligent people in the room so it was all the more surprising to find how prevalent were certain presuppositions.  Among the statements that were posited (approximately quoted):

• “It’s an established fact known by everyone that global warming is man-made.”
• “There’s a finite amount of money in the world.”
• “I need the government to tax me since I would probably just buy more clothes.”  (In response to me saying that the money we pay in taxes is our money.  Would we pay them if it was voluntary?)

There were others, but these alone demand a response that could require a semester in class. 

For the first one, I challenged this person to Google the number 31,000.  As stated in a previous blog (July 11, 2008) that is the number of scientists that have signed off on a document that states global warming (if it exists) is not man-made.  (9,000 of them have PhDs.)  Right now the globe is actually cooling, but the point is that we can’t assume we are the cause of climate change.  Many believe it is more as a result of sunspot activity.  In addition, the climate goes through changes all the time.  We had a mini ice-age around the 18th century.  We can’t abuse the Earth, but God gave us resources to use.  The response back to me dismissed the validity of my source (Google) and they said they had “peer-reviewed” sources.  Why is a Google source invalid? 

Secondly, there is not a finite amount of money.  The economy is not a zero-sum entity.  Our GDP doubles about every ten years.  Where does that new money come from?  It’s generated by a growing economy.  The potential for growth is infinite.  Redistributing wealth may make some sense if there is a finite amount.  However, the pie grows bigger all the time and everyone benefits.  Do the rich get richer?  You bet!  Why is that a problem if everyone gains ground?  We need to quit hammering “the rich” and get on with the work God has given each of us to do.  The class-envy trip will only make people bitter and want to figure out a way to have the government do for them what they should do for themselves….improve their lot in life.

Third, why do some trust the government with our money more than ourselves?  The government has a few roles that it plays very well.  Those roles can even be scripturally supported such as national security and dealing with crime (see Romans 13:4).  Other needed roles include regulating trade (to some degree) and infrastructure.  Those are services for which we should be glad to pay taxes.  Good public servants are highly valuable to a community and are often at their best when invisible.  If things are running smoothly it means they are doing a good job and we probably don’t think about them much. 

The problem is that we have come to the place where far too many Americans see the government as the answer to all of our woes.  No, we need to be the answer to most issues of life.  With God’s guidance, people are the best resource we have to meet the needs of people. 

This election will tell a lot about who we think knows what’s best for the American people.

9-11 and Hurricanes Didn’t Work; Will Economic Disaster?

Two weeks!  That’s how long the wake up call lasted after September 11, 2001.  Church attendance increased significantly for a couple of weeks after the terrorist attacks of 9-11.  But soon it was back to normal.  Here’s why:

As traumatic as 9-11 was, it only had a severe impact on several thousand people outside of the victims….the families, friends and co-workers of those that were lost.  As you draw a wider circle the impact diminishes, even though hundreds of thousands knew someone who was injured or killed and even maybe millions had their lives altered to some degree regarding jobs, travel, etc. 

Hurricanes Katrina and Ike are the same story….the impact was localized and the ripple effect did hit the nation, but for most of us it was minimal if at all.  (We even had some heavy rain and winds with power outages here in Pittsburgh from Ike.)  Like always, it’s back to normal ASAP for all but those that took the direct hit.

This time it’s different.  The economic plunge we are experiencing is more widespread in its devastation.  It’s not a life-and-death situation, but it’s more ominous on a national scale.  The scope of this is almost unfathomable.  This data will be out of date fast, but we have lost about $8 trillion in value from the market’s high of one year ago.  Our total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is about $14 trillion.  People are seeing their efforts of many years of planning and saving evaporate in weeks.  Ideas of retirement, vacations, major purchases and investing will all need a severe overhaul.

The real issue:  Will it be enough?  Will this event serve as a wake-up call to bring the nation to pay some attention to our Creator or will it take an even bigger incident?  It’s no secret that I believe God has given our nation a special role to play on the world stage.  Our wealth is a gift from him.  While it’s perfectly legitimate to enjoy his blessings, we are given this gift to honor him.  There has been less and less of that type of honoring in our recent history.  Guess what….what has been given by God can be taken by God.  We are stewards of HIS wealth, not ours.  Deuteronomy 8:18 states, “remember the Lord your God, for it is he that gives you the ability to produce wealth.”  Our blessings and even our ability to create the richest nation on Earth are a gift.

Some feel this is God’s judgement on us (as were 9-11 and the natural disasters).  Though it’s not outside the realm of my thinking, it’s not a call I’m willing to make with certainty….only God can make that call.  However, I am certain that God uses these events to get our attention.  When one level of incident doesn’t work, the wake-up attempt has to be ratcheted up a notch or so.  It is frightening to think what degree it will take for us to finally pay attention.

What will it take for you to pay attention?