The Meyer Minute

The Meyer Minute for June 27, 2013

I’ve been feeling under the weather lately, so will prescribe some time off.  Hope to be back after the 4^th.  Be well and stay safe!

The Meyer Minute for June 25, 2013

Hi, Drew here, or as Opa calls me, A. Dale.  What an adventure on Sunday!  I was exploring before we went to church.  I was on the second floor and found a little door.  I opened the little door and then it all happened very, very fast.  I hurtled down to the first floor, screaming all the way.  I came out feet first in the laundry room on the first floor.  Uncle Bruce said it was good Mommy and Daddy don’t do laundry several times a day.  I had a soft landing.

When Opa heard I was OK, he laughed and then remembered.  One Sunday morning in 1950 he was ready for church, playing outside waiting for his Mommy and Daddy.  He fell on a step and had to go to the emergency room.  Dr. Kampe sewed 15 stitches over his eye.

Then Opa told me about an old painting.  A child is leaning over a bridge but an angel is there to protect the child.  Opa says you might remember that painting.  Opa said big people pray our heavenly Father to send angels to watch over all God’s children.  They do!  I am proof that there are angels even at the bottom of a laundry chute.

The Meyer Minute for June 24, 2013

The blessings of order…

Last Friday, June 21 in 1783, the Continental Congress was debating a crisis.  The Revolutionary War was over but many American soldiers had not been paid.  So 80 soldiers had armed themselves and marched on the federal capitol, then in Philadelphia. When Congress asked the state of Pennsylvania to send militia to stop them, Pennsylvania refused.  Not feeling safe, Congress moved the federal government to Princeton, New Jersey.  A month later they moved to Annapolis, then to Trenton, and in 1785 to New York City.

Out of all that came 3 aspects of civil order, two of which we take for granted today.  First, the subordination of the military to civil control.  Second, the location of the national capital in a special district and not in a state.  Third but debated, the fact that residents of that special District of Columbia cannot vote in federal elections.

From cover to cover the Bible is about order.  The Ten Commandments, for example, prescribe the orderly life that honors God and benefits us all.  A settled federal government is a blessing and so is a society that counts order as one of its blessings.  We may think that Washington isn’t working well these days but it’s still orderly.  What would happen to our life together if we all became, as Steve Martin used to describe himself, “a wild and crazy guy?”

 

The Meyer Minute for June 21, 2013

Today is the longest day of the year, longest sunlight, say the meteorologists.  In the real lives that we lead there are many long days, many days when the sun isn’t shining in our souls.  In my own circle of acquaintances: a new widow, parents with a two-year-old in the hospital, a man diagnosed with cancer, underemployment, unhappy employment, unpaid bills…  What might it be for you and your friends?  We know long days!

It’s important to see these long days in terms of our relationship with God.  The earthly situation that stresses us is also a spiritual exercise that can strengthen us.  “Now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)

“Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand; I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.

Through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light.

Take my hand, precious Lord; lead me home.”

 

The Meyer Minute for June 20, 2013

“Pope Francis has given a 17-year-old boy with Down Syndrome the ride of his life – sort of.  Francis invited Alberto di Tullio up onto his open-top Mercedes at the end of his general audience Wednesday, letting him spin around on the pontiff’s white chair while tens of thousands of people looked on.  The boy’s father, Celestino di Tullio, told The Associated Press he choked up when Francis approached his son.”  (Huffington Post, June 19)

There’s a precedent for what the Pope did, and a precedent for every time today you’ll give sincere and special attention to another.  The precedent is Jesus.  “A leper came to Him, imploring Him, and kneeling said to Him, ‘If you will, you can make me clean.’  Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched Him and said to Him, ‘I will, be clean.’”  (Mark 1:40-41)  Open the Bible and you’ll easily find many more stories of Jesus one-on-one with people He did not know.

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:2, referring to Genesis 18:1-15)

“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40)

 

The Meyer Minute for June 19, 2013

“The church is full of hypocrites.” Yup, two kinds in fact.  There are sinners who sincerely trust Jesus died for their sins but still commit sins that other people see.  Those are moments of hypocrisy.  Second kind: Sinners who go through church motions but don’t have crushed hearts to see their personal need of a Savior.  A man in his youth was so turned off by what he saw a church-going businessman do that the rest of his life he wouldn’t consider going to church.  Of which hypocrisy was that businessman guilty?  God only knows.

When King David lusted after another man’s wife, committed adultery and arranged her husband’s death, he never imagined that he had done anything wrong…until Nathan told him this story.  A rich man wouldn’t butcher one of his own sheep to entertain a guest but commandeered a poor man’s one lamb.  Now David saw hypocrisy, the rich man’s!  “The man who has done this deserves to die.”  Nathan’s retort: “You are the man.”  (2 Samuel 12:5, 7)  What we think are hypocrisies in others might be insights on ourselves.  “You have no excuse, every one of you who judges.  For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.” (Romans 2:1)

The Meyer Minute for June 18, 2013

“By the time I was ten, I was totally ashamed of my father. All my friends called him names: Quasi-Modo, hunchback, monster…. My father was born with something called parastremmatic dwarfism. I hated to be seen with him. By the time I was seventeen I was blaming all my problems on my father.”

When friends told her she was wrong, she did a U-turn. In a speech she gave at graduation, she confessed, “Father, I owe you a big apology.  I based my love for you on what I saw…. I forgot to look at the one part of you that meant the most, the big, big heart God gave you. …I want you to know I could not have had a better father.  You were always there for me, and no matter how badly I hurt you, you still showed up. Thank you!”

“For the first time, I saw my father through God’s eyes, and I felt honored to be seen with him.” (“God Allows U-Turns,” Editor Allison Bottke)

Do you see people through your eyes… or do we take time and try to see them through God’s eyes?  “Man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

 

The Meyer Minute for June 17, 2013

“Diane has been happily married for 7 years,” I’ve been saying lately.  “5 minutes here, 10 there, it adds up pretty quickly.”  “Out of how many years?” people ask.  Today’s Minute is the answer.  I was captivated the first time I met her and yesterday we celebrated our 40^th wedding anniversary.

We’ve raised the kids and become the best of friends.  Two wonderful daughters, fine families, and now the joys of grand parenting.   One ritual comes in the late afternoon, she gives Ferdie triscuits, we have our drinks and talk.  Early to bed, early to rise (we’re not party people), we continue our visiting in the morning while watching national politics.  But then it’s time to work, and we love to work.  Diane has been active in community, church and now campus, truly a model of selfless civic service.  When the grandkids come over, I say, “Camp Opa is about work” but then Oma shifts her work to indulging the boys. 

There’s a tinge of sadness, 40 years now past, but that makes these times so much sweeter.  There have been bumps of course, but looking back we see it is true: “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” (Psalm 127:1)  Diane, your number of happy years is going to increase dramatically!  Love, Dale

The Meyer Minute for June 14, 2013

An early riser, I like to sit on the front porch with my cup of coffee.  It’s just getting light but our neighbor is already out loading the car.  “What’s happening, Dennis?”  “Everett and I are going to Chicago to visit Brianna.”  Brianna is their niece and they’re joining her parents for a weekend visit.  Our street remembers baby Brianna but now she’s grown, doing medical research in Chicago. As life moves on, loving families grow ever closer.  So this weekend our neighbors Dennis and Everett join Brianna’s parents for a weekend visit in Chicago.

The first commandments tell how we should act toward God.  The second group of commandments is about how we relate to one another.  All the interpersonal relationships spelled out in the second table of commandments begin with the family.  “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”  (Exodus 20:12)  Parents and uncles visiting Brianna this Father’s Day weekend is a snapshot of the life our Creator designed for us.  When the two uncles drove off, I put out the flag.  It’s Flag Day.  A good morning on a little American street.

The Meyer Minute for June 13, 2013

A hymn about Christian education begins this way, “Shepherd of tender youth, guiding in love and truth through devious ways….”

May our children and grandchildren recognize “devious ways” in their lives’ journeys!  Travel writer Pausanias describes a road walked by ancient Olympic hopefuls.  “As you go to the stadium along the road from the Metroon, there is on the left at the foot of the hill of Kronos a stone platform, right by the mountain, with steps in the middle.  Near the platform have been set up bronze statues of Zeus.  These have been made from the fines inflicted upon athletes who had offended the rules of the games and they are called ‘Zanes’ by the locals.”  The base of each statue lists the offense that brought the fine, bribery, violating rules of the games, lying, and the like.  Pausanias says, “The text on the last one states that the statues are a warning to all Greeks that nobody should pay money for an Olympic victory.”  (V, 21)

“Devious ways” are only recognized if basic moral lessons have been learned.  This Father’s Day we pray that parents, especially fathers, will “bring (their children) up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)