Point of View. – Page 4 – A leadership commentary on life today by Bob Shank

You can’t live (well) without it (hopeless)

We are a “hopeless” culture in the midst of an existential crisis, and it isn’t Global Warming. The markers surround us, yet none of the high-visibility voices with Twitter followings or new movie releases seem to be aware. In fact, the most prominent personalities in our society are both suffering from the underlying condition and communicating the deadly deficiency to the people they influence.

Last Thursday, the Wall Street Journal featured two articles that addressed the phenomenon, though the link was not recognized by their respective authors. What were they?

One headline caught my attention immediately: “Religion is on the decline as more adults check ‘None.’” The account summarized the results of a PEW study: the number of American adults self-identified as “Christian” dropped from 77% to 65% in the ten years from 2008-2018. The most dramatic decline among the oncoming Millennials. No surprises there, but growing concerns…

The second article was equally chilling: “Youth suicide rate increased 56% in a decade, CDC says.” The Centers for Disease Control was simply reporting statistics, without proposing cause that would explain the effect: among the youngest among us (10-24 in age), suicide has replaced homicide as the most likely cause of death. “Unfortunately, it’s not surprising, but it is highly disturbing,” says Dr. Benjamin Shain, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at NorthShore Medical Group in Illinois. Citing the article, “Despite concern over rising suicide rates, researchers aren’t sure of the exact causes…”

The environmental community is tracking carbon as a key indicator in their questionable prophesy of climate change. The attention given to the factors that make the culture toxic are less notable. Here’s the component that is essential for the future of the human race: it’s hope.

Vaclav Havel was the Czech leader who had a significant role in the demise of Communism in his country. His perspective: “I am not an optimist, because I am not sure that everything ends well. Nor am I a pessimist, because I am not sure that everything ends badly. I just carry hope in my heart. Hope is the feeling that life and work have a meaning. You either have it or you don’t, regardless of the state of the world that surrounds you. Life without hope is an empty, boring, and useless life. I cannot imagine that I could strive for something if I did not carry hope in me. I am thankful to God for this gift. It is as big as life itself.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Even in the inevitable moments when all seems hopeless, men know that without hope they cannot really live, and in agonizing desperation they cry for the bread of hope.”

Fyodor Dostoevsky – celebrated Russian author from the late 1800s – wrote: “Totally without hope one cannot live. To live without hope is to cease to live. Hell is hopelessness. It is no accident that above the entrance to Dante’s hell is the inscription: ‘Leave behind all hope, you who enter here.’”

It should be no surprise that an underlying contribution offered by the Christian faith is an essential solution to the crisis. Paul’s epic explanation is profound: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5).

Humans require hope to survive and to thrive, and that hope is the promised outcome of an eternal life founded on faith in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. As the American trend continues the slide toward “None,” the immigrants coming from abroad will land in the modern equivalent of Dante’s hopeless hell: “Leave behind all hope, you who enter here.”

Unless… we turn the hopeless tide and re-introduce Jesus to the Nones…

Bob Shank

The next dollar writes your next chapter

What will you do… with the next dollar?

First, a distinction: people who read this weekly blog – people like you – usually are not from the lower socio-economic quartile… or, the second, or the third. “Upper Quartile” – today – means about $115,000 in household income, nationally.

Folks in that economic neighborhood listen/think/speak/act differently than the people who occupy the other three quartiles. If that number climbs to $195,000, they’re now 90% percentile… and, again, the listen/think/speak/act circumstances change. If they cross the threshold of $480,000… they become part of the now-vilified 99^th percentile where the one-percenters wear targets in the Land of Political Campaigns, where candidates are waiting with new high-caliber tax bullets.

Let me assume that you’re not part of the growing homeless population in a major American city; further, you aren’t dodging phone calls from creditors who are looking for minimum payments on a credit card that you’ve maxed-out. Getting a hardship scholarship for Financial Peace University is not on top of your personal Christmas list, hoping that Dave Ramsey might give you the magic formula to bail you out of some faulty long-term spending habits. You’re doing okay, at minimum… and, likely, above that baseline. Are we on common ground?

The question of the moment: what will you do… with your next dollar?

The options are really simple; once the basics have been secured (food, clothing, shelter: the stuff on the lower tier of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs), the options that are open to the abundance that follows tells a significant story.

Let me reduce personal economics to the most basic biblical understanding. According to the Scriptures, treasure is anything more than we need (that’s need, not want). When treasure is now the issue, the options narrow: consume, conserve or convert.

Consumption is the American Way. Our economy is dependent on sparking consumer envy and preaching personal entitlement. “You deserve better” is the line whose shadow is cast across most advertising; the lust-for-more joins hands with the longing-for-upgrade, and cash registers in retail heaven join in the chorus of GDP hallelujahs. America has taught the world to run on consumer spending…

But, even folks in the 99^th percentile can only consume so much. The next, next dollar now demands direction: where will it be sent? Two options remain: conserve, or convert.

Conserve seems like the ultimate breakthrough. Only the disciplined make conserving an art form; they find ways to stash the cash for security, and to invest the capital for growth. Risk tolerance is the only critical factor: the virtual mattress is there for the faint-of-heart; private equity and blue-sky start-ups that couldn’t qualify for Shark Tank are the playground for the gamblers who grow net worth the way farmers grow corn.

Or… you can convert. To convert means that – in anticipation of a future relocation – you allocate resources for transfer into vehicles that will make it possible to make the ultimate move, from an unstable climate with undesirable factors to a paradise everyone talks about, but never seem to occupy.

Convert: change currencies, then do a fund transfer that moves the money to a place where you will one day be, yourself. How can one do that?

A wise advisor once said: “The people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” (Jesus, in Luke 16:8-9).

Bottom line: invest earth dollars in the ultimate friend-making enterprise. Fund the services that result in changing the eternal destiny of people from hell-bound to heaven-certain, and when you arrive in Glory, those redirected people will be waiting for you, to thank you for investing in them.

Oh, by the way: Jesus will be waiting there, as well: to reward you for that wise investment decision. A “win” on every level: for Jesus, for now-saved people… and for you.

What are you planning to do with the next dollar?

Bob Shank

Robin Hood was a thief, not a model giver

Giver: the ground rules have changed around us..

Not long ago, America was a land of order and opportunity. People who were born here were invited to prosper here; people who came here by choice were offered the chance to have most of the same promise, as long as they came in order, in search of opportunity. Their foreign birth would disallow a future as an American president, but they could become an American success story.

If you just awoke from a long sleep, let me warn you: the ground has moved beneath you. The surroundings may look the way you remember them – from before your hibernation – but you need to take some time to get acclimated. The order you presumed to be reliable has now been recalled; today, we have more laws… but limited enforcement. And, the opportunity that invited creative industry and personal advancement has been recalibrated: privilege now attaches to the slacker, while the wealth creators see a horizon with punitive penalties proposed for those who have been industrious.

At the country club – or, any other civic setting – the descriptor “good Christian” would have been attached to a person whose candidacy for inclusion in a prestigious group expecting it to represent a powerful, positive endorsement. Today, it’s more likely to trigger false charges of various “phobias,” presumed to demonize someone with moral absolutes based on the Scriptures.

Are Christians – real Christians – as bad as some of the cultures’ loudest (and most caustic) commentators claim? Is this historic notion of “righteousness” – in fact – simply a prideful sanctimony that self-elevates religious people, at the expense of others?

King David is a source from history who lived above the political fog that probably blew in-and-out of his world with some frequency. He was tapped as a young man with a bright future when he was a middle-schooler. He fought – and won – an international to-the-death competition against a Giant. From hero to homeless – and on-the-run from Saul’s shoot-on-sight orders – he waited for God to align the conditions that would allow the future he had been promised by God’s man, Samuel.

Finally crowned at 30, nearly 40 years had passed in Israel, under David’s reign. He had the benefit of God’s extended favor from which he could see reality without the taint of passing fads and political dust-ups. Here’s what he had confirmed, through his years at the top: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing.” (Psalm 37:25-26)

As we careen through the final months of 2019 and cross the threshold into 2020, the forces in control of the public screens/megaphones will be screaming “election!” at every turn. Winners and losers will be predicted constantly, with tiresome polls offered as proof that the prevailing campaigns can be foretold (they can’t). Your bandwidth will be compromised – constantly – if you allow your peace of mind to be in the hands of agenda-ridden media voices, none of whom can truly be trusted.

Ask a king whose progeny will, one day, rule over the nations of men the way He does over the universe He created, already. In David’s view, righteous is the class far above royalty. What is it about that upper echelon that sets them apart?

In a word: generosity. John MacArthur notes the difficulty: “God made all of His creation to give. He made the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, the earth, the plants to give. He also designed His supreme creation, man, to give. But fallen man is the most reluctant giver in all of God’s creation… ”

Who modeled that, with generosity valued at the most unapproachable level? “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son… ” (John 3:16)

Modern culture doesn’t accurately appraise that generous provision; it’s our job to elevate that assessment…

Bob Shank

Where will you be next Sunday?

“My son’s games are on Sunday, so we can’t make church. I try to catch the podcast while I’m working out, during the week…”

I hear that with increasing frequency. The contemporary version of The Good Life (that’s the American Dream… morphed to the American Nightmare) has repainted the family portrait of the past. Sundays used to be the sacred slot on the weekly calendar; now, it’s the canvas on which the peer competition paints aspirations, across the generations. Mom and dad both work all week; kids have classes, tutors and club-team practices. Saturday and Sunday are sliced-and-diced into piecemeal portions, and the conflict demands that some options miss-out. “We can’t make church…”

Why sweat it? You’re already “saved,” and that faith transaction can never be rescinded. God isn’t flighty: what He starts, He promises to finish. Entries into the Lamb’s Book of Life are made in indelible ink (the blood of the Lamb); once you place your trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, inclusion in the eternal Kingdom cannot be withdrawn. So, what’s the big deal?

Paul knew that finding life in the Son was not the end of the spiritual marathon; it’s the starting line. What does God expect from the now-redeemed? “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12-13). Did you catch that? “Work out your salvation…”

In a time when the tough tasks are often outsourced, and swiping a credit card is the net-effort exerted by the privileged, the idea of taking personal responsibility for the heavy lifting seems a bit archaic. What does God expect of us? Again, Paul’s insight: “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

God does not relieve us from culpability for our own progress: the task of personal purification and growing holiness is our assignment, at the risk of stepping outside the zone defined by informed “fear and trembling,” within our “reverence for God.”

Sunday church is the place where we find assistance in this herculean task; the specialists are there to help: “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:11-16).

You are a “part” of the Body of Christ – the Church. If you have kids, you are cultivating them for their future inclusion in the Church and its historic task (we call it “the Great Commission”). How will they discern the right direction for their life, in stark contrast to the cultural alternatives that have scheduled their games on Sunday?

Answer: they’ll follow your lead. Work out your salvation; go to church for assistance in becoming holy (that’s spiritual maturity). Breaking out of the passive observer status (modern church attendance, giving 65 minutes to be an audience for the Concert + Ted Talk). Seek the pro-bono position of your Kingdom Calling that will rightfully demand your highest level of focus and sacrifice. And, expose your family to that process, so you pass that legacy of faith/work to successive generations…

That was Paul’s ultimate outcome imperative, for the folks who were active members in the churches he planted in the First Century: “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Pass on any external Sunday demand that compromises your ability to do what your faith deserves: show family and friends what it means to be fully committed to the One who is fully committed to you…

Bob Shank

Is there an expiration date on what you’re doing (your legacy)?

What is your destiny? What will be your legacy?

Those aren’t fringe issues; they – together – create the framework for your life, for both today and tomorrow. How defined are those pursuits?

Ask “the Google.” The available connections that emanate from those two signposts are significant: Destiny: 421 million hits; Legacy: 1.38 billion hits. Why? What do they represent?

Destiny: Scripture teaches that we are created with the ability to make moral choices and that we are responsible for those choices. Therefore, our destiny depends upon whether we live in harmony with God, following His moral teachings. Our destiny represents the mysterious collaboration between the potential granted to us by God and the responsibility that is ours to live in a manner that unleashes – without restraint – that God-sourced Calling.

Legacy: formally, it refers to money or property given to another by will; something handed down from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. In a more ideological context, it’s anything of lasting value that survives one’s departure from this earthly existence.

Like a craving woven into one’s biology, fueling appetites and actions that don’t have evident, conscious drivers, Destiny resides in the higher reaches of Maslow’s Hierarchy pyramid, in the penthouse called “self-actualization.” Without a personal connection with the Creator – on his terms, through a relationship with his Son, the Lord Jesus – climbing through Maslow’s levels of physiological needs, safety and security, love and belonging and self-esteem will be wasted effort. The ultimate objective – to find one’s place in the flow of history, in the grand creation – is impossible.

The opportunity to help Christians who are leaders to clarify the uniqueness of their divine Destiny was the ultimate objective that launched The Master’s Program, 23 years ago. After two decades of individual discovery and engagement, the community that has grown around the TMP movement has sensed the next, reasonable pursuit on their lifetime horizon: it’s Legacy.

God has always promoted a strategic agenda that stretched beyond the horizon of mortal life expectancy. In Moses’ time – around 1200 BC – God promised that current obedience would pay far-reaching dividends: “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. (Deuteronomy 7:9-10).”

When David extolled God’s eternal existence and his reliability for people who have chosen to relate to him, on his terms, this reminder was offered: “He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations. (Psalm 105:7-8).”

American culture is in a values free-fall. Younger adults (the children of Baby Boomers) are confirming a steep decline in interest and commitment to religion, to American patriotism, and to having children. Rejection of the historic foundations that are linked to a biblical worldview is evidence of a significant shift – an inflection point – for American society, into the future.

The road ahead – for America – is darkening: “Those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction…” Has that payback begun?

Thank God for the outstanding alternative: “…if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 25:15). Joshua said it; I echo it: my Legacy – to 1000 generations – is that.

Bob Shank

I’m available for lunch with Gates if you can arrange it…

In the last 40 years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet – and, in numerous instances, spend time with – people whose fame, like Bill Gates, makes them distant. That helps to insulate me from the risk of being star-struck. Questions like: “With whom would you like to have lunch, one-on-one?” bring a short-list to my mental desktop. My answer, these days: Bill Gates.

It isn’t his long-time standing in the top-ranks of the Forbes 400 list that puts him high on my roster. His clarity about personal faith is nebulous, at best: “I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decision in your life you make differently because of it, I don’t know.” Wife Melinda was raised in the Catholic tradition and their kids have been exposed by her to that culture. Bill has attended with them, but holds no conclusive declared convictions that would qualify him as “Christian.”

My fascination with his story grows out of my respect for his pilgrimage from tech entrepreneur to venture philanthropist, without the compelling incentive of spiritual urgings.

While growing his corporate identity at Microsoft, he was already venturing off the tech grid into parts of the world where the baseline of life was shockingly inferior to the land of privilege – and the billionaire bubble – that was “home” to one of the new era’s most accomplished innovators.

The first iteration of Gates’ intentional philanthropy was the Wm. H. Gates Foundation in 1994. Six years later, that initial effort advanced to become the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in 2000. In 2006, Warren Buffett made his first commitment to assist in funding the BMGF humanitarian efforts. In 2008, Bill Gates retired from his active career involvement at Microsoft to devote his professional energies to the work of the BMGF.

In 2010, Gates and Buffett announced the launch of the Giving Pledge. The organization’s stated goal is to inspire the wealthy people of the world to give at least half of their net worth to philanthropy. In the earliest form, the Pledge challenged the distribution during the pledgers lifetime; as time went on, the time horizon expanded to include contributions from the donor’s estate. Today, the Pledge has 204 signatories – individuals and couples – from 22 countries. The aggregate net-worth of those families currently exceeds $1 trillion.

How can Bill & Melinda Gates talk affluent wealthy people into divesting half their lifetime accumulation for the benefit of others? The best answer: they’ve modeled that commitment.

About 1960 years ago, the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in Rome to make an even more challenging pledge: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2).

Our capitalist culture uses net worth to identify the higher-ups; the Christian culture uses our progress to holiness as the mark of maturity. Paul knew that the progression toward holiness was the proof of discipleship, but arriving at that spiritual status was not the end of the journey. What’s next?

Once you’re “holy and pleasing to God,” what’s next? “Offer your body as a living sacrifice.” What value would that represent to the one making the decision to give-it-up? “Then, you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Short and Sweet: God’s will for us is what we call our “Kingdom Calling;” God withholds that revelation until we’ve said “yes” to the invitation to be “all in.”For Capitalists, it’s the Giving Pledge from Bill, Melinda and Warren. For Christians, it’s the Living Sacrifice Pledge from Paul. Capitalist leaders commit 50% of their money, from their estate. Christian leaders commit 100% of all they are and have, starting now. How could Paul ask that? He modeled that commitment; he was – himself – all-in.

Lunch with Gates, during my lifetime? Not much chance for that. Lunch with Paul, during my Eternal lifetime? I’m counting on it…

Bob Shank

A last-gasp-of-summer adventure down the Rogue River

For the last five days, I’ve been on a last-gasp-of-summer river adventure with 14 guys whose lives have come together around Kingdom stewardship: our relationships have been founded on the discoveries we’ve made – together – through the shared experience of The Master’s Program.

Fifteen men, ranging from 38 to 73 (three were over 70). Four rafts – and two inflatable kayaks – on a 44 mile journey through God’s creation on the Rogue River in southern Oregon. My first trek down this stretch was 43 years ago. Call it another field-test: take men out of their normal routines; place them in the middle of an unfamiliar but winsome challenge; watch what happens when the rapids shift from Class 3 to Class 4. Age becomes irrelevant, quickly; adrenaline levels the playing field, and the shouts and grins are not forced or feigned.

On a wild river, you’d better enjoy each stretch as it comes. Zane Gray’s historic cabin came and went as we floated by. Rainey Falls was not a ride at Disneyland to be binged and rerun: each turn and every tumult was a one-and-done moment on the river. Much like life, it has no do-overs: you’re racking-up memories – and, anticipating some of the known but hidden challenges like Coffee Pot and Blossom Bar that will take you to your limits – but, more than anything, you have to be fully present in the moment to take on the ever-changing conditions that are next in the canyon. The lessons learned – or, confirmed – on a churning river transfer quickly to the realities of life that are waiting back in the more familiar – but equally demanding – realities at home.

At the end of each day’s excitement, we had ample time to take the conversations that had characterized the day – among the guys-in-the-boat – and expand them to include the whole posse. With no wi-fi or tech distractions, conversation and consideration was the shared focus. A fascinating dynamic came through: input from the older guys was sought and savored as the substance of the dialog went deeper into the things that have real, eternal value.

David’s reflections – written in the waning years of his chronicled life – were still valid, from Psalm 37: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.” (vs 25-26).

Subjects – on the boat and around the dinner table – ranged from USC football to family bonding through Best Days, but the main course was consistently brought to the table through stories told by multiple men of Kingdom initiatives that were requiring days and weeks, hours stretching through the evening and outside the income-generating daylight blocks, expertise carried from career into calling, and cross-cultural impact that stretched from in-town to 12 time zones distant. These guys are living way beyond their normal boundaries, and their field reports weren’t tall tales embellished for self-aggrandizement: they were recounting the amazing phenomenon of God working through them to accomplish His business, on His terms.

As we pulled into our end-of-journey take-out, I asked one of our river guides (young, strapping vagabonds who live on-the-edge) how he would describe our group to another guide who was not on our trip. His answer: “You guys are the most worldly guys I’ve ever been around.” We froze; our use of that term had preconditioned our recoil. We were stunned, but I asked the follow-up: “How would you define ‘worldly?’”

“You guys have traveled the world, and you’re doing amazing things all over the place. You really care about each other, and you’re really involved in each others’ lives. You’re doing things that are way outside the norm. I’ve never been around guys like you…” was how he defined, Worldly.

We talked for five days on the river about Destiny and Legacy. God writes our Destiny; finding it is foundational to living a life of substance (Destiny is a great synonym for Calling). Once we find and pursue our Destiny, we write our Legacy; engaging that divine agenda for life opens the potential to invest today in a way that will continue to stimulate beneficial repercussions far into the horizon of Eternity. David knew that; we’re confirming that; our boat guides picked up on it as they were invited into our camaraderie on the Rogue.

We’re talking about doing this river trip again next year – same time, same setting. Wanna come next time and get in on the conversation?

Bob Shank

Don’t go back to work without reading this

I hope you’re enjoying some time for yourself – with your family and friends – as the last gasps of Summer are enjoyed doing something that refreshes your bod and your soul… instead of work.

Are you going back to work tomorrow? “Summer break” is no longer applicable for people who have checked-out forever (classic American “retirement”); for them, vacations and holidays have become functionally meaningless; they’ve traded their timecard for a scorecard; this one’s not for them.

My working assumption this morning: you’re still on-the-job… and your faith is the foundation on which you build your life. Given those commonalities, my question expands: if you are going back to work tomorrow… why?

We’d better have some solid answers; if your life aligns with your American working peers, you’ll invest 100,000 hours of your adult lifetime in your career at work.

There are two possibilities: 1) you work for someone else; or, 2) you work for yourself. Pick a lane; neither is more righteous, but both hold particular imperatives for the followers of Jesus.

If you work for someone, here’s your breakthrough biblical paradigm: your career is, in fact, your ministry: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:22-24). Your career is your ministry.

First Century slaves are the 21st Century’s employees; the parallels are spot-on. Tempted to go to work with an attitude that only declines through the day, Paul’s counsel calls us to a higher plane: commit to uncompromised fulfillment of your supervisor’s expectations; work with passionate, righteous engagement… and have confident expectation of future compensation. Your day-in, day-out labors have more-than-meets-the-eye value: “It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Like a missionary in a frontier gospel desert, you’re wearing the Christian label; make sure you honor your Sponsor.

Perhaps you don’t punch a time clock; instead, you own the time clock, and the people who use it. After years of effort and boatloads of risk capital, the buck – and, the bucks – stop with you. Are you at the top of the professional food chain in your career environment?

Here’s your biblical viewpoint: your business is a mission. Tax status doesn’t certify your eternal responsibilities: there are non-profits (even faith-based entities) whose efforts don’t show up on God’s tally sheet. At the same time, the for-profit nature of a business doesn’t disqualify it from being listed among God’s highest-performing investments. How do you get in that line-up?

Paul’s model stands tall, though preceding our lifetime by two millennia. While giving his highest productivity years to expanding the footprint of the Kingdom into two continents held in Roman dominance, he conducted his tent business as a companion effort to his Calling.

When he landed in Corinth with the intent to stay long enough to establish the church, “There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 18:1-4).

Why did he do that? He revealed his continuing strategy to the elders from the church in Ephesus: “I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” (Acts 20:33-35). His positive cash flow from his business fully covered the cost of his ministry team, allowing them to work in the community without the need to raise money from the fledging congregation.

If you have a boss, here’s your shift: your real employer is Jesus, and your service is to Him.

If you own your business, you’re holding it in-trust for its real owner: God owns your enterprise, and it’s your mission, given to you to serve His purposes.

Happy Labor Day; tomorrow, make sure you head-back to work with the right understandings. We’re different than the folks who are just there for the paycheck… and don’t have the hope we have.

Bob Shank

He’s still awaiting trial…

These are, traditionally, known as the “Dog Days of Summer.” That’s not a technical term; it’s the colloquial calendar – between the end-of-July and the middle-of-September – when the trial of “hot and sticky” is the daily reality, and nothing of note is supposed to be happening.

But, the internet functions without effects from temperature or humidity. Conversations of the culture have now adopted the 24/7/365 calendar, and “summer vacation” is no more.

Hardly a slow period: though students are just-now moving into college dorm rooms to commence their fall semester, the temperature is running hot among academics over a recent essay by Dr. David Gelernter. A full professor at Yale and renowned computer scientist, his contribution to the spring edition of the Claremont Review of Books is full of fighting words for academics.

In “Giving Up Darwin,” he reaches a reasoned conclusion: “The empirical evidence suggests that the notions of a purposeful Creator and a purposeful creation cannot be dismissed as mere pre-modern mythology.” With that declaration, the presumption of spontaneous events that triggered evolution – now accepted as the uncontested answer to the origins question – is, once again, put into examination. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” (Genesis 1:1) presents the historic alternative articulated in the opening sentence of the Judeo Christian Scriptures.

At the same time, word out of the Mideast is provocative. At Tall el-Hammam – an archeological site in Jordan – evidence has now been unearthed of a powerful airburst from a meteor colliding with the atmosphere about 3700 years ago, explaining the complete destruction of a Bronze Age civilization on the north side of the Dead Sea.

In what they call an “extremely hot, explosive event,” an area of 200 square miles suffered the complete annihilation of cities and towns and the stripping of topsoil from once-fertile fields. The researchers theorize that the intense shockwaves from the blast may have covered the entire area with a “super-heated brine of Dead Sea anhydride salts,” rendering the region unproductive and uninhabitable for centuries to come. Curious: this all coincides – in time and in circumstance – with the Genesis account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah for their wanton violation of God’s moral laws…

Last week, Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial; the trial question of “murder, or suicide?” will circulate with no conclusive outcome. He’ll never have his trial “day in court” in Manhattan, but his victims may never have their chance for civil justice through trial, either. In yet another foul twist in this sordid story, during trial Epstein executed a will days before his death placing his $500+ million estate into a trust that may shield those resources from the people whose lives he impacted. If the Darwinian culture has it right, he dodged the bullet of accountability. If the people who start with Genesis are right, Epstein’s fate is included in the awesome conclusion described in The Revelation:

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-15).

You can either start with God… or, you’ll end with God. If you begin with Truth – and follow its guideposts – the hope of Heaven is the comfort through all of life. If you deny and discredit God and his Truth… the day of reckoning awaits.

Things around here will cool off, soon enough. There’s a place where it burns hot, forever…

Bob Shank

You’ve got the code to find the treasure…

I’m thinking about turning everything “off” until October 31st, 2020.

I’ll have to vote on November 3^rd, but I’ll only need a couple of days to get briefed on my options. Between now and then, people who will be in history’s dustbin one year from today will be screaming into microphones at state fairs and union conventions with a common agenda: they’re hoping to make us miserable, while presenting themselves as the only living person who can turn the tide and return us to our Happy Place.

Don’t look for answers from presidential candidates; ask Bing: “How to be happy.” Block some time: you’ll get 187 million results. Try Google: they only offer 7.2 million options. It appears that Happy Hunters can get more advice from Microsoft than Alphabet (the parent companies for the search competitors). It’s confirmed: lots of us looking for some relief from the raving…

Alex Palmer is the author of Happiness Hacks, his new book digesting a lot of those ideas. Here’s his synopsis:

“Over a period of more than two years, I studied hundreds of academic studies, interviewed psychologists, sociologists and happiness researchers about what brings a person joy. Happiness is far from a simple concept. It can refer to a wide range of moods, emotions, sensations and traits – each with its respective benefits and drawbacks….

“Here are some of the most interesting tips I discovered in my research: 1) Stop apologizing. 2) Rent; don’t buy. 3) Don’t retire early. 4) Embrace getting older. 5) Don’t be a lawyer.” Really?

This isn’t a new issue. There’s a man in Bible history whose name put him a constant paradox. When your mom calls you a “pain,” how do you hunt for happiness?

“Jabez was a better man than his brothers, a man of honor. His mother had named him Jabez (Oh, the pain!), saying, “A painful birth! I bore him in great pain!” Jabez prayed to the God of Israel: “Bless me, O bless me! Give me land, large tracts of land. And provide your personal protection – don’t let evil hurt me.” God gave him what he asked.” (1 Chronicles 4:8-10, from The Message)

If we’re looking for good answers, campaign rallies and internet searches are of limited value. Here’s a great option: ask a man who, like Jabez, sought God’s favor, and received it. Solomon the Wise offers these timeless downloads on the subject in his book called Ecclesiastes:

“A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” (2:24-25)

^“I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil – this is the gift of God.” (3:12-13)

“This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them – for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil – this is a gift of God.” (5:18-19)

“So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.” (8:15)

“Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.” (9:7-8)

Synopsis: enjoy your work (even though it’s sometimes tough). Linger over dinner, appreciating what’s on the table and the people who are around it. Enjoy your abundance; it’s from God (if your excess now causes more problems than solutions, you might be exceeding His limits). You’re in sync with God, through faith, so you’ve got His approval, already…

So, drop the despair and portray the kind of over-the-top satisfaction that will make your friends look to you for the answers, instead of the manipulative alternatives that are misdirecting our searching generation.

Care to join me in a well-founded Happy Dance?

Bob Shank

How the best get better (great)

“It ain’t that great.”

In a world ruled by personal opinions – expressed on everything from YouTube to Yelp – it doesn’t take much to order-up the headstone and doom someone/something to early death. Just let a loon with the leverage of social media express their opinion – well-founded, or embittered – in the right place, and vicious goes viral: “It ain’t that great” can close a restaurant or short-run a movie.

Be willing to be honest: in the 21st Century, no one settles for good anymore. Average deserves the death sentence by consumers who don’t want to waste a dollar on anything short of 5-Star experience. If you only have one life to live… set your sights on great. Anything less-than-great doesn’t deserve the oxygen it sucks to survive, or so it seems…

Jim Collins has risen in the ranks of marketplace mavens through the last two decades. Built to Last put him on the radar, back in 1994; Good to Great put him over-the-top in 2001. His signature life message articulates what it takes to rise above the mere victor class and achieve Olympian status.

Good has become a four-letter-word, no longer worthy of note. To deem someone good is to condemn them to mediocrity. We’ve become a culture willing to settle for nothing short of great.

Who ever sets out to be average? Answer: no one! Since Collins raised the bar, God help the person who circulates at a class reunion without exploits approaching greatness to report. Gold may be the top medal in games, but it’s just the starting point for a culture now consumed with Diamond Platinum status in their elite designations.

Put the hidden camera in the management office where perfunctory performance reviews are enacted. Any position above the lowest-ranks of the org chart will experience a predictable hour-with-the-boss. Reports of good performance will evoke a yawn; expectations of great achievement in the next reporting period will be clear before the meeting ends. Last year’s record output is now the baseline for the future. Be great, or be gone…

Collins has turned greatness into a consulting focus: there are ways for people and for teams to climb to the top if practiced religiously, over long periods. If you’re serious about greatness, prove it.

The debate rages in society: should kids get a trophy for just showing-up? There’s no debate on that subject in the real world: trophies go to the winners, and the world-records in every field are never static. Today’s great is tomorrow’s good… and life – and its expectations – climbs ever-higher.

The race to great isn’t recent. During a commute between venues – while Jesus was on tour – the 12 guys in his entourage got into a tongue-tussle over pecking order: “They came to Capernaum. When he (Jesus) was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.” (Mark 9:33-34).

I’ve talked with Christian marketplace leaders, sprinting in their Monday-Friday marathons trying to achieve – and, sustain – greatness in their field, suggesting that greatness in the Kingdom is also worth pursuing. Frequently, I get a response indicting me for abandoning the grace-alone tonic that was brewed in the Reformation. Does salvation by grace alone – a key biblical truth – disallow the serious pursuit of greatness in God’s enterprise?

“Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35). Jesus didn’t assail the pursuit: he just defined how it could be achieved. Cultural navigation says that the Great are served; Kingdom navigation says that the Great are serving. Professional is good; pro bono is great. Waiting for recognition – until the Great One appears – is the ultimate deferred compensation…

Bob Shank

No place for loners – without communities

Summer in the communities of America has lost its innocence.

Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton are offramps – not destinations – and what happens in those communities and burgs are seldom in national headlines.

That was then; this is now. Towns with status that would never gain front-page prominence have, in this era, become notable because of tragedy initiated by “loners” whose path to infamy is paved with the remembrance stones that mark the graves of their victims.

A Garlic Festival in California; a Walmart in Texas; a cluster of restaurants and bars in Ohio: who would imagine those communities as killing fields to be avoided during America’s midsummer break?

As the live coverage of the panic-in-the-aftermath gives way to memorial services and grieving families, the Talking Heads will be called back from vacation breaks to give their opinions about underlying causes and missed cues that might have spotlighted murderers-in-the-making.

And, because we’re 15 months from a presidential election, pundits aplenty will be placing blame and proposing policies, propelled by the principle proposed by Rahm Emanuel: “You never let a serious crisis go to waste…” Expect current political leaders to be named as unindicted co-conspirators with last week’s shooters; expect all current candidates to have the ultimate solution in their teleprompter of talking points…

Had the mayhem not happened last week, the report from the market research group YouGov might have captured some attention. They found that social media-savvy millennials may make up the loneliest generation in America. After polling 1,254 adults, they found that 27% of millennials have no close friends, 25% have no “acquaintances” and 22% – or, 1 in 5 – have no buddies at all. This compares with only 9% of Baby Boomers and 15% of Gen Xers who reported having “zero chums.”

Whenever research is formalized, one crucial element is a “control group,” creating a baseline experience against which one may create comparison and draw conclusion. If researching the modern phenomenon of oncoming generations who lack social connection and the growing incidence of “loners” whose actions become inexplicable intrusions into the national sense of normalcy, where might you find a control group?

Here’s a thought: zero in on the approach to life for which Jesus prayed – and, sacrificed himself – for the people who would choose to identify with him in the generations that would come after he returned to Heaven. Listen in on the request he made of his Heavenly Father, the night before his appointment with destiny at Calvary: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23).

Jesus envisioned relational communities that would be interconnected through their common relationship with him, through their belief in him as Savior and Lord. The shared life that would flow from that foundational agreement would allow them to be living with attributes of physical, emotional and spiritual health that would make them the ideal against which all other societies would be measured.

Using the Scriptures as the lifestyle blueprint, the best life possible in a fallen world would emerge. Dismiss God’s revealed Truth as the model… and brace for Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton.

Bob Shank

The countdown clock continues to tick… for our Universe, and us

In our universe, most of our days are spent in tension over things that are happening more quickly than we can update our intel and navigate ourselves – as well as our enterprises or our resources – into a place that is both safe and leveraged (a tension that is almost certainly unattainable: security avoids the risk necessary for high returns; leverage creates more exposure in pursuit of gains, but lacks conservative safeguards). Our time-horizons have become short and brittle…

“Long-range thinking” is still relatively short. Imagining the next market correction – or, the next presidential election – puts us into months instead of moments, but there often remains the Long View that can be missed from myopia-on-overload.

As if there was not enough to stress the limits of human capacity, last week, Forbes released this report from prominent astrophysicist Ethan Siegel:

“The Universe is not the same today as it was yesterday. With each moment that goes by, a number of subtle but important changes occur, even if many of them are imperceptible on measurable, human timescales. The Universe is expanding, which means that the distances between the largest cosmic structures are increasing with time…

“A second ago, the Universe was slightly smaller; a second from now, the Universe will be slightly larger. But those subtle changes both build up over large, cosmic timescales, and affect more than just distances. As the Universe expands, the relative importance of radiation, matter, neutrinos, and dark energy all change. The temperature of the Universe changes. And what you’d see in the sky would change dramatically as well. All told, there are six different eras we can break the Universe into, and we’re already in the final one.” (Ethan Siegel: PhD, astrophysicist, author and science communicator; former professor at Columbia University).

If we were in the middle of the span of history, it would be one thing; we could be aware of the past, but confident of the future. We could imagine that things would continue to unfold in a predictable, systematic manner. That mindset has become disruptable by prophets of environmental or political doom, but it operates out of touch with the epochs of time and space.

When we’re talking “Big Picture,” who’s the best source of insight regarding what’s next: the observer of Creation? or, one who is the spokesman for the Creator?

This from Peter (a man who spent years with Jesus, and then represented him with the balance of his lifetime): “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.” (Peter né Simon, early-life entrepreneur fisherman, mentored by Jesus of Nazareth; later, high-impact leader in the Kingdom of the Son of God).

In the Christian subculture, there’s much debate about biblical prophecy – under the heading of “End Times” – and the conflict that it creates has made the topic unwelcome in social circles.

So, don’t think about “End Times;” let me draw your attention to the “End of Time” (there should be far less disharmony on that one). Siegel puts it poignantly: “… we’re already in the final one.” Peter backs that up, and offers us the best strategy in preparation for the finish: “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the Day of God and speed its coming…”

Great news: this is not “the beginning of the end;” it is, rather, “the end of the beginning!” There’s an astounding next chapter that Siegel hasn’t read!

Bob Shank

It’s time to get high… on a mountain!

“LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart…” (Psalm 15:1-2).

It’s Summertime, and during this mid-year departure from your year-round workaday reality, I hope you’re getting some time to be somewhere – doing something – that is a refreshing break from your routine.

Everyone seems to have their own definition for the “happy place” where they feel like they’ve landed in a place where their gauges go back toward “full,” from the “reserve” caution that seems to come from just getting your desk cleared and your bags packed for vacation. Some head for beaches; others lean toward deserts. There is, however, a case to be made for mountains. If you want to get some time with God, He has made His preference pretty clear in His writings: there is no “Trinity Beach” or “Righteous Island” on that map in the back of your Bible… but there is Horeb, a real place with an incredible nickname: “The Mountain of God.”

Ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? On a mountain. Tell Moses to come hang-out, and take a couple of stone tablets with the take-home notes? On a mountain. Grab Elijah after his halftime retreat (following his victory over the idol priests at Mount Carmel) to give him instructions for his Second Half? On (another) mountain. Watch Jesus take his backfield (Peter/James/John) to a place where He would let them see Him in His real identity? On a mountain (of Transfiguration).

Yep, that’s me in that one-time photo; I’ve been operating off-the-grid – and, in the Zone – on a mountain this week. Full disclosure: one of our Master’s grads is a ministry partner who has found his calling to include convening men – 12 at a time – for a five-day experience described with a unhackable acrostic: TCBTGWOYL (This Could Be The Greatest Week Of Your Life).

On a 1150 acre ranch – along the Madison River in southwestern Montana – an idyllic compound called Smiling Moose Lodge is the setting for a phenomenon that cannot occur in the high-tension terrariums where most of us spend most of our days. “What happens at Smiling Moose stays at Smiling Moose” (one of the unchallengeable ground-rules), but this much is clear: guys open the trunks of their past to find the weights that were deposited – in their early years, before they were in control – that are keeping them from releasing the horsepower that God put under their hoods.

When we fly, we’ve become used to the question posed by the airline agent: “Has anyone whom you don’t know given you something to take on the plane?” For men, the folks they trusted the most have taken a parcel packed by the Evil One and given it to them to carry into their future. The lies that the Enemy has loaded on their hard-drive need some time and attention to identify and dislodge: the light of Truth wipes out the power of the darkness of Satanic deception (sounds mystical… and it is).

Twelve men; five days; hours of fly fishing; mornings and nights around great meal tables and outdoor fires creates an environment where God’s truth about who we are can be installed in the same place where the false messages sourced in the opposition.

Weeks for men. Weeks for young men (the “Young Guns” parallel). Weeks for women (in an upscale setting – in a custom residence on the river instead of the fish camp up on the bluff). All these happen every summer because of a great Christian couple whose achievements in their business had less excitement for them than the chance to participate in releasing great people from gross lies – in a Mountain of God setting! – and seeing that as a way to exercise their Kingdom Calling.

Check it out: the website is twa.us. Read the testimonials of folks like you who have found God – in a unique way – on the mountain (where He has often chosen to get together with people!).

It’s too late for this year; the schedule for 2019 is already booked full, yet the schedule for 2020 is now available for booking. So… what if you could start thinking now about finding a faith-sharing friend and bringing them with you to a place where TCBTGWOYL?

I’ll go back to sea level this week, find a razor… and get back to my “normal” business of mentoring leaders through The Master’s Program. I wonder, though: will the TMP guys who were here for five days ever recover from visiting the Mountain of God?

Bob Shank

Are you an American? Are you a Christian?

What does it mean to be an “American?” What brings all Americans together, as one?

Apparently, that question lacks an enforceable answer today.

American schools – from government-backed preschools to exclusive private universities – are too-often graduating students who are derisive of all-things American (except for their freedom to dis their country). Revulsion toward the foundations of the country, the price paid by generations who came before them to create the country that the rest of the world envies, and the privileges that their parents have provided to them that create the infection of entitlement: all of that seems to be swirling under the caps-and-gowns that mark the passage into adulthood in America today. What is the next generation’s attitude toward the country that we are preparing to entrust to them, in the coming hand-off of national succession?

To be an American today means that you can enjoy the prosperity and prominence made possible by this incredible, protected environment – in the entrepreneurial marketplace, in sports, in entertainment, even in hired or elected government – and, once achieving the self-elevation made possible by “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” the lewd denunciation of the culture that make one’s success possible begins. The flag – from historic versions to the most contemporary – is abused. The Pledge of Allegiance – most especially the line “…one nation, under God…” – draws silence. The National Anthem is now the National Embarrassment, with rejection as likely as respect by the last line: “O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave…”

Political leaders – both current and aspirational – are seeking the votes of the disgruntled; to get their support, they pander the populace by echoing their disenchantment with America. Who would have imagined that the ideologies against which America fought World Wars would now be elevated by prospective presidents? What does it mean to be an “American?”

What does it mean to be a “Christian?”

Within a few hundred years of the launch of the Christian movement, the emergence of heretical teaching – under the simple banner of “Christian” – was affecting the integrity of the Faith. Self-proclaimed “leaders” were re-inventing the movement’s history – and, reframing the theology that is at the core of the faith-that-saves, differentiating it from all religions before or since.

To guard against the creeping counterfeiting that threatened to erode the integrity of the Christian message, the leaders of the movement (in the late 300s) created this concise restatement of what it means to bear the name “Christian” (the Apostles Creed):I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father almighty. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic* Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. (*In the Creed, “catholic” means all-inclusive; it does not validate the exclusivity of the church system of the same name.)

If you don’t wholeheartedly embrace every element of that description, don’t wear the label. Would that we had a similar Creed to define our national identity. I wonder how many “leaders” would have to turn in their campaign paraphernalia and find a real job?

Bob Shank

Let freedom ring…

176 left to go. Before you think I’ve shifted into a hyper-philosophical mindset after a long holiday weekend celebrating freedom, hear me out…

The internet has turned us into searchers; our pursuit of life has been shaped by summarizing. Come up with a few search terms, and you’ll have the latest thinking on any narrow category within one-click access on the first results page.

Freedom is an intriguing door to open on the World Wide Web. Turn that handle, and you’ll be presented with 40 million opportunities to click-into the concept behind the fireworks.

July 4th is America’s day to celebrate political freedom; the Tax Foundation offers their assistance each year in calculating our Tax Freedom Day. Their premise: the aggregate impact of federal, state and municipal government burdens are constantly rising and falling. How much of your year is spent satisfying their demands?

If you live in Alaska, you were free on March 25th. In California, it was April 20th. For New Yorkers (the worst), freedom was not real until May 3rd. Slavery is still practiced in some states…

The government loves to have people at work: workers pay taxes, while non-workers get checks. High-employment is one metric used by governments to measure their success; at every level, they claim control over that measure of productive participation. While the political class is measuring the size of the workforce, Gallup measures the satisfaction levels of the working stiffs. Their findings are intriguing: in their most recent survey, 85% of workers admitted that they hated their jobs (when responding anonymously).

Enter, stage right: the FIRE movement. Financial Independence, Retire Early is the backlash against the culture’s conundrum. Working in a job they hate – and doing it for months each year for governments they have no compulsion to underwrite – there’s a movement underway to opt-out of the rat-race before the rest of the rodents know what happened. Extreme frugality – motivated by profound self-interest – is drawing First Half adults into Second Half financial strategies. Boomers are choosing between Social Security at 62 (the threshold for monthly checks at the lowest pay-out) and waiting for the max-calculation at 70; Millennials on FIRE are using Index Funds instead of counting on FICA to pull their workaday ripcord and sell their briefcases on Craigslist…

What if the real “Freedom Day” is the day you “retire” from this life, and transfer into your Eternal reality?

The best lifetime counsel for obtaining financial freedom was offered by the most reliable advisor, ever. Here’s Jesus’ input: “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” (Luke 16:9-12).

Our culture’s viewpoint: your money is yours, for you. Building reserves to allow a life of leisure and fund consumption is the grand plan. God’s viewpoint: it’s not your money; it’s God’s money. Your real grand plan is to use everything at your disposal to populate heaven with people. What’s at stake in your Eternal future? “True riches”, and “property of your own.”

Freedom Day: it’s out there, for you. Does your plan align with His Plan?

Bob Shank

A national cheek-swab for 1776andme (and the Declaration of Independence)

Happy Birthday (this Thursday we celebrate our Declaration of Independence)! We’re aging – together – within a unique experiment.

Wow; we’re 243. It’s an age when we – nationally – are at risk of some corporate dementia. While we wave flags and attend parades, it’s tempting to forget where we came from.

It was 93 years ago – in Philadelphia, at the event marking the 150th Anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence – when Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President, gave what many believe was the finest statement about the Declaration ever made by a President. He was often dismissed as a man of few words; he didn’t specialize in speeches. What would he have to say – at that occasion – that might capture the imagination of history?

Consider his comments about the integration of Christian faith and America’s origins:

When we take all these circumstances into consideration, it is but natural that the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence should open with a reference to Nature’s God and should close in the final paragraphs with an appeal to the Supreme Judge of the world and an assertion of a firm reliance on Divine Providence. Coming from these sources, having as it did this background, it is no wonder that Samuel Adams could say “The people seem to recognize this resolution as though it were a decree promulgated from heaven.”

No one can examine this record and escape the conclusion that in the great outline of its principles the Declaration was the result of the religious teachings of the preceding period. The profound philosophy which Jonathan Edwards applied to theology, the popular preaching of George Whitefield, had aroused the thought and stirred the people of the Colonies in preparation for this great event. No doubt the speculations which had been going on in England, and especially on the Continent, lent their influence to the general sentiment of the times. Of course, the world is always influenced by all the experience and all the thought of the past. But when we come to a contemplation of the immediate conception of the principles of human relationship which went into the Declaration of Independence we are not required to extend our search beyond our own shores. They are found in the texts, the sermons, and the writings of the early colonial clergy who were earnestly undertaking to instruct their congregations in the great mystery of how to live. They preached equality because they believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. They justified freedom by the text that we are all created in the divine image, all partakers of the divine spirit.

Modern political voices are as likely to disavow our past than to declare it. Efforts to separate the Christian faith from America’s foundations have resulted in a contemporary mindset that treats biblical truth as toxic residue rather than as essential to our identity.

Ask Calvin Coolidge, and he’ll tell you that the foundation laid by a biblical Christian faith is the foundation for American-styled democracy. Here we are, 15 presidents later, and candidates are making their case to become #46. How many are echoing the sentiments expressed by #30?

America, America, God shed His grace on thee… I wonder if He will continue to do so, if we stop recognizing Him as our Firm Foundation?

Bob Shank

Are you COEXIST-ing, in the modern neighborhood?

COEXIST. In the modern neighborhood, there’s no better way to declare one’s trendy tolerance than to put that sticker on your bumper. Toss out your notes from your old days in Sunday School; theology for the 21st Century requires a new primer to operate the culture’s newest upgrade on your spirituality platform…

COEXIST is the attempt to blend all religions into an acrostic that gets everybody into the blended pool. C: the half-moon star from Islam. O: the pagan pentacle, as a five-point star. E: the Hindu Om, their sound of life. X: the Star of David, embraced by the Jews. I: the Humanist symbol of the individual. S: the Yin Yang of Taoism, portraying balance. T: the Cross of the Christian faith.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) – whose insightful opinions span the entire spectrum of life – has captured the core belief of the modern era with her recent declaration that “all religions are equally valid and teach the same thing.” Is she right?

Ocasio-Cortez self-identifies as Catholic; her view of religion is the position recently clarified by the Pope. In a compact created by Francis and Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb – considered to be the most important imam in Sunni Islam – this “truth” is declared: “The pluralism and the diversity of religions, color, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. This divine wisdom is the source from which the right to freedom of belief and the freedom to be different derives. Therefore, the fact that people are forced to adhere to a certain religion or culture must be rejected, as too the imposition of a cultural way of life that others do not accept…”

COEXIST is a clever ruse to pretend that we live at a time when all belief systems can operate with freedom to be different… but that ambivalence has no tolerance for people maintaining allegiance to the timeless standards of truth declared in the Scriptures.

Dr. Serene Jones – president of Union Theological Seminary in New York and president of the American Academy for Religion in 2016 – sings a solid harmony to Ocasio-Cortez: “To say our prayers ascend to the ultimate truth the space of divine love, and we share in that space is not a nonsensical claim to make at all. It’s one that I would endorse.”

Peter was a fisherman – without academic credentials – who spent three years with the Second Person of the Triune God; his clarity on the subject is refreshingly succinct. To the leaders of the “X” in COEXIST: “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by this name… there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12).

Religions are inherently mutually exclusive: their positions regarding God, man and eternity immediately separate them into irreconcilable differences. They could all be wrong… but they cannot all be right. Does it matter? It will… when your context shifts from a culture in conflict to an eternity without second chances…

~~COEXIST~~. Who’s right? The Pope and the Imam? Ocasio-Cortez and Jones? I have decided to trust Jesus and the Scriptures…

Bob Shank

These guys (and our Father) are anything but optional…

Before the dust settles from yesterday’s emphasis of Father’s Day, let me offer my endorsement of fatherhood – and the men who have stepped-up to the challenge – as essential to the relational integrity of society. From families to churches to communities to nations, men play a critical role in bringing people together in mutually-beneficial connectivity.

It’s no surprise that the Evil One would be doubling-down on his strategies to oppose everything that God is for, and to attempt to destabilize a culture through disparaging – rather than honoring – the importance of fathers in the healthy development of every oncoming generation.

Extraordinary individuals begin with conventional names, but – over time – they become known for their accomplishments and their contributions, gaining titles and nicknames that are descriptors of their consistent behavior and reliable character. Jehovah God – the Almighty Creator – has earned designations that celebrate Him as He has revealed Himself to humanity, across history.

In the era of the New Covenant – the season defined by introduction of the Son of God, His redemptive sacrifice and His deployment of His followers to take the Gospel to the frontiers – the unique identity of the One True God has become intensely personal. The New Testament writers recognize the intimacy that now characterizes the bond between the First Person of the Triune God and those redeemed by His Son: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (Paul, in 2 Corinthians 1:2-4).

The challenge of family relationships is significant, but the incredible power that comes from those relationships warrants the attention they deserve. When Paul wrote to the high-visibility church members in Ephesus, he helped them to understand the importance of bringing their faith to life on the home front. With concise precision – and leaving no wiggle-room for marginalization – he gave them this instruction: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ – which is the first commandment with a promise – ‘so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’ Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:1-4).

Children who are Christians: do what your parents tell you to do. Christians who are adults: review the role your parents had in your development and speak well of what they did right (while exercising grace regarding their shortcomings). And, for the men who have fathered the next generational wave: don’t strain the relationship; instead, look for the ways to establish disciplines and boundaries while establishing the foundation of faith and worldview that is founded in God’s truth.

Dads are currently being devalued in American political correctness; but, in God’s great plan: we’ve got work to do that is uniquely ours to do.

A one-day “time-out” for recognition is great… but, for the rest of the year, let’s take the field and represent the Father!

Bob Shank

Video

The Reality Program we’re forced to watch…

The race has begun; it will end in 512 days… and then start up again.

I’ve lived through 16 presidential election cycles, and that experience does not energize me regarding the next 17 months. Cursed with digital devices programmed to deliver “Breaking News” with no legitimacy filter, anything having to do with the two dozen people (one incumbent, and 23 aspirants) who believe themselves worthy of the Office of the President will attempt to interrupt my concentration toward the truly meaningful – and, far more urgent – activities of my life. It’ll happen to you, too…

Worthy? Ask Webster about “worthy:” having or showing the qualities or abilities that merit recognition in a specified way.

The biblical definition of worthiness is to be competent, fit, able, suitable, or appropriate. We have combined and confused worthiness with righteousness resulting in the assumption that God makes us worthy. He has given us the task of becoming – and, being – worthy of elevation or advancement: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” (Ephesians 4:1).

When Jesus came to the Jews, 2000 years ago, their distaste for the Roman government was certain. Their pain filter caused their interpretation of the Scriptures’ promise of Messiah to be personally framed, and immediately focused: they wanted the Promised One to mount a campaign to reestablish their sovereignty and usher in an era of righteousness. That longing drove even the 12 who spent 1000 days with Jesus to ask the question, just before his Ascension and return to Heaven: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

I’ve looked across the stage of the candidates – from both of the dominant parties – and the fact is indisputable: not one of them could be considered for service on the board of a church that uses the Bible to establish the qualifying criterion.

We’ll be asking the question as we approach our responsibility as citizens, about 500 days from now: Who is worthy?

My political despair is mitigated by my confidence in the promise found in my ultimate future. Before I was old enough to vote for a president, I submitted an absentee ballot in the election that matters most: “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’ ” (Revelation 5:11-12).

My gift to you today: put yourself somewhere that you can plug in some ear buds – or, close the door and crank up the auxiliary sound on your laptop – and invest about four minutes that will soothe your soul. Chris Tomlin asks the question: watch this video to hear the answer…

Waiting for that day,

Bob Shank

Fools are Fearless; the Wise are Afraid

No: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

The line has become nearly ubiquitous; its modern origin is the 1986 horror flick, The Fly. Jeff Goldblum is the quirky scientist; Geena Davis is the reporter working to expose his teleportation work. As Goldblum’s lab goof sends him into species transfer, he tries to reassure the reporter: “Don’t be afraid.” Davis replies to the threat with wisdom: “No. Be afraid. Be very afraid…”

Just a month ago, the cultural calendar delivered the National Day of Prayer. As is usually true, the only people who observed the emphasis were those who pray every day. The majority of American society went on about their business that day without being distracted by the Divine…

Recently, some national faith leaders called for American Christians to designate yesterday – June 2 – as a day to pray for the President. That call echoes the kind of wise coaching offered by Peter to Christians living in a pagan Roman environment: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2:13-17).

That advice is in stark contrast to the social norms surrounding Christians – then, and today – regarding personal decorum in public demonstration and discourse. For the mainstream: forget God and trash the President. For the follower of Jesus, the orders are clear: fear God and honor the President.Why? “It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.”

When you view America through a political lens, the population typically breaks into a two-parts – with two parties – and a broadening divide shows no sign of closing. When viewed through a biblical lens, the multitude gathers under two God-defined banners: the Righteous, and the Wicked. Those categories begin in the heart, but they manifest in observable behaviors. You can discern the emotional state of a person through their words and deeds. King David put it this way: “I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before their eyes. In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful; they fail to act wisely or do good.” (Psalm 36:1-3).

I prayed for the President yesterday. I prayed that he would follow the advice of a famous King whose 40-year term was marked by the blessing of God. Here’s Solomon’s wisdom for the President (and, for me) to heed: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

The next 18 months – leading to the 2020 elections – will become increasingly toxic, and the daily grenade volleys will attempt to get us off-course. My plan: take Solomon and Peter to heart, and make “God-fearing” the #1 character quality for any candidate seeking my support…

Bob Shank

Will you be remembered?

This is a profound season for 3,245,900 young adults in America: graduating from high school, and they represent a unique generation. They – and their younger siblings – live in a period unlike any before: America has been at war – continually – through their entire lifetimes.

Years ago, the Joy family were contemporaries in our church. Their daughter, Shannon, was older than our kids, and on our babysitter “approved” list. We watched their Shannon grow up…

Shannon graduated from law school, then taught there. Without fanfare (and, unbeknownst to the folks at church), she moved to the east coast. In fact, she joined the CIA and became a counter-terrorism officer. She met a CIA colleague – Mike, a young man from Alabama, a Marine captain who had become part of the CIA’s Special Activities Division – at a Fourth of July party. He had two young daughters from his first marriage. Shannon and Mike were married, and their son Jacob Michael was born soon afterward.

The terror attacks of 9/11 led to the war in Afghanistan in October, 2001. One month later, Mike Spann was dispatched to the prison housing Taliban combatants at the Mazar-e-Sharif fortress. While there, hundreds of prisoners revolted, and Captain Spann became the first American casualty of the still-running conflict. His last act was to warn another colleague of danger whose life was spared…

Spann’s story has been retold across innumerable media outlets during this Memorial Day weekend. His star is one of 133 on the Memorial Wall of the CIA Headquarters; most are from the Special Activities Division. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

One month after Mike’s death, his first wife died of cancer. Mike’s three children became Shannon’s continuing assignment. For their family, every day is Memorial Day; Mike is gone, but not forgotten.

Hebrews 11 is God’s concise history of heroes whose service to His purposes placed them on the front lines in the ongoing war between Heaven and Hell. The inscription over the entry is the declaration: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see…” The chapter continues by reciting the exploits of historic heroes like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses, and summarizing great victories of faith. But God includes the tough stories as well: “There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.”

The fallen are not gone, and they’re not forgotten. In fact, God allows us this remarkable insight, as the tour continues in Chapter 12: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…”

Forebears in the fight of faith – who have paid the ultimate sacrifice – are in the Stadium of Eternity, watching as we continue the battle that defined their life.

Remember America’s heroes today; remember the Kingdom’s heroes every day. Plan to be one of them, for the oncoming generations to venerate as they reflect on the models worth following.

Bob Shank
The Master’s Program

The last message you’ll hear, graduates, before the bell

Graduates from all grade levels – elementary, middle, high, undergrad and graduate schools – are lining up to “walk” at their respective graduation ceremonies.

For the high school-and-beyond graduate events, the restless students and their attentive families will likely be subjected to untested advice from a special celebrity guest who cleared the ever-changing vetting criterion to be named the vaunted Commencement Speaker.

Imagine gathering a panel of successful leaders as a Commencement Collaborative as a gift to the outgoing student body. Their approach: offer their input on the most foundational aspect of the graduates’ future. What should they know about saying “yes” and “no?” to coming invitations?

Shonda Rhimes, media titan and all-around impressive human being, recently gave a TED Talk on how she said yes to everything for a year.

Billionaire and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett once said, “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”

Grant Cardone, sales pro who has built a $750 million real estate empire says, “Too many people need to be saying yes to things more than they do. The more you say yes, the more opportunities will come your way. And the more you fear saying yes to something, the more likely it will benefit you. So, say no to things that will take you away from your purpose, but say yes to things that scare you.”

Marla Beck, cofounder and CEO of Bluemercury, adds: “I usually have three priorities at a time and only say yes to things that fall within these priorities. That becomes tricky when you owe someone a favor and they’re asking you to do something that doesn’t fall within your priorities. You must earn the right to say no to almost everything.”

Casey Weade is a retirement planning expert; host of “Retire with Purpose” on television and radio. He says, “When you start out in business, you have to say yes to virtually everything just to find out what works for you. That’s how you determine where and how you can make the highest impact and provide the most value. Once you identify those activities, you can evaluate your opportunities and only accept those that amplify the results you’re looking for.”

Daniel Lesniak is the founder of Orange Line Living. His perspective: “I have noticed that successful people have the ability to focus on what makes the biggest difference. This requires saying no to a lot of things that might be urgent but not important. To be successful, focus on what is important, even if it isn’t urgent. The more you can do that and say no to everything else, the further you will move the difference-making activities and the more success you will have.”

Bob Shank, founder of The Master’s Program, says, “You need an opportunity filter: that will allow you to screen your options to find alignment with God’s Kingdom Purpose, your God-Honoring Passion and your God-Designed Potential. Only then can you find your unique Kingdom Calling.”

The world is waiting for you to come change it.

Go get ‘em, graduates,

Bob Shank

Your identity is on the line

That sick feeling you had when you got rolling today; what is that?

After you finished the get-ready process and tuned in on what’s waiting for you – out there, in the world you’re commuting into – how did that tune you up for your day?

Oh, yeah: we’re at war… and you’re in the middle of the battlefield.

It’s a sweeping declaration, but it’s true on so many levels. If you have a news consolidator that you use to get current on world affairs, updates on the War on Terror will make the way to the top story. A bombing in a place of worship or a crowded public market will evoke anxiety. If the global front is in momentary respite, a hearing on Capitol Hill will be portrayed as untempered blood-sport; there is no sense of dignity within the marble halls when partisan divides draw live fire.

Upon arrival at the office, “locked and loaded” is a posture assumed if you want to finish the day without landing on the casualty list. Whether vying for promotion among co-workers or the fight for a contract between the competitors in your niche, it means war from 9:00am to 5:00pm. That red-dot on your chest isn’t lint: someone has you in their sights, and the kill-shot may be imminent…

The troops are lining-up on the 2020 political battlefield. Dozens of self-nominated contenders aspire to be the commanding general for the two parties who will fight to the death for power in Washington. Whoever becomes the nominee will mobilize their forces against the opposition. The strategy for victory will be the same: Divide and Conquer.

It’s traced back to Julius Caesar as his plan for triumph in the Gaelic Wars. Drive wedges between the enemy’s ranks, then move against the segmented groupings, one at a time. Dis-unify a significant force; raise an “every man for himself” panic, and then overwhelm them.

For the next 18 months in America, Identity Politics will employ Julius Caesar’s approach to the battle. Divide and Conquer: separate people into groups – based on their perceived special interests – and use those compressed qualifiers to manipulate their movements on the electoral battlefield.

The question will be asked constantly, but thinly veiled: Who are you, at the core?

Categories are multiplying. Gender? Once binary, now there are multiple options. Privileged, or exploited? Capitalist, or Socialist? Sexual Orientation? Once impossible to imagine in polite banter, there is now an alphabet-soup of differences based on preferred approaches to intimacy. Religious, or godless? Global view, or domestic focus? The identity-tags pare the crowd to make us a divided populace with increasing isolation and victor-or-victim reactions unleashing a torrent of trouble.

Paul wrote to the cosmopolitan Christians in Corinth and called-out the “orientations” (in Bible terms, that’s sinful behavior that has become second nature for those living outside a relationship with God, on his terms)that were commonly used in the cultural context. Would Identity Politics work to divide the church? Paul’s challenge: “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6). They were no longer the person they were, before they experienced the Lord Jesus.

Whatever the rank assumed by the culture, Christians possess a new identity: who they – and, we – had become through Faith was now the over-riding answer to the greatest question of life.

Who Are You? You are now a Child of God, and that’s the only identity that matters…

Bob Shank

When first isn’t first anymore – the Kentucky Derby

Parties were widespread over the weekend for the Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo.

For the Kentucky Derby Mint Julep set, the festivities on Saturday happened at Churchill Downs, the iconic Thoroughbred racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky (home to the fried chicken made famous last week, on Capitol Hill). Opened in 1875, in its first year of operation the first Kentucky Derby was hosted there.

For the Tequila amigos, Cinco de Mayo came a day later, but the chatter in the sporting community carried over from Saturday into Sunday. The hats from the Derby were drooping as an unprecedented ending to the 145^threenactment of the historic horserace caught everyone by surprise.

Luis Saez was astride Maximum Security, the second-most-favored to end up in the Winner’s Circle. When Saez crossed the finish line first, everyone assumed that the best man/horse had won; within minutes, track officials had signaled a delay in that determination.

Video replays; jockey interviews; expert consultation ensued, and, about 25 minutes later, the decision was rendered. Saez/Maximum Security had veered outside their lane, impeding the sprint of multiple horses vying for the lead. In the end, Country House – a 65-1 longshot – went from runner-up to winner.

The $1.68 million purse was awarded to the rightful victor, while Maximum Security’s position went from 1^stto 19^thplace in the final standings (with no purse attached). He’ll forever be historic, but without the “win” alongside his name, despite finishing 1¾ lengths in front…

Racing to win is in the human DNA; every culture – in every era – has created matches to pit competitors in contests to prove superiority. Against that familiar backdrop, Paul was used by God to script the rulebook for the women and men who would aspire to achieve victory in the Kingdom games.

The handbook is in 1 Corinthians 9; the first 23 verses outline the rights of the contenders – in the “apostle” category – and he personalizes the framework so that his readers would understand how it works in “the real world,” in which we all perform to qualify for placement in the Eternal Kingdom.

The inherent rights are worth understanding… but the responsibilities that attach to those rights must be understood as well. Those are the last four verses of the chapter; etched onto my dashboard as I steer my life/calling around the track.

The caution: “You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.” (v 24-27, from The Message).

Allow me to trumpet Paul’s admonition for you, yet again: you cannot lose your salvation (see Romans 8) but you can lose your reward (see 1 Corinthians 3). Our human perspective is focused on the finish line; the Officials of Heaven have the instant replay that monitors the conformance with the rules, all the way around the track.

The final results will be announced at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Let’s meet there for our medals, without having to fear or suffer disqualification…

Bob Shank

Are you a consumer or investor?

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus…” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Thursday is the National Day of Prayer. In 1952, Congress passed a resolution calling for that annual focus; it was signed by Truman and has been part of our national fabric for nearly seven decades.

Thanksgiving is also a National holiday… but, like prayer, giving thanks is not a once-a-year exercise for followers of the Lord Jesus. Some things are occasional, by mandate; some practices are foundational, by choice. Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances: miss a day, and you lose.

There are some things deserving of the once-a-year provision. The National Day of Prayer is – by Congressional mandate – the first Thursday of May. Without consent of Congress, the Golf Challenge was established 30 years ago, held in the second week of May.

I’m asking the Friends of The Master’s Program – I hope that includes you! – to be part of this amazing (virtual) event. Though a few of us will be on-the-course, fulfilling the Challenge mandate, the majority of participants will be at work on May 9th while doing their part in the Challenge effort.

This event – every year – funds the efforts involved in recruiting men and women – Christian leaders – into TMP. All year long, thousands of high-potential believers are invited to enroll in TMP in hosted events that are possible because of the proceeds from the Golf Challenge. In business, it’s called sales and marketing; in ministry, it’s recruitment. We spend about $150,000 annually to present our unique value proposition to Influencers whose value to the Kingdom multiplies exponentially through their involvement in Master’s. Outcomes made possible by the Golf Challenge will be measured in Eternity; as an investment, it rocks the house.

Here’s how it works: click here to become one of our sponsors. We have a few folks raising support from their friends (I’m among those, as you can see). Pick your favorite; it all goes in the same bucket. You’ll be helping to underwrite the advancement of the ministry reach of The Master’s Program, which exists to propel the advancement of the Kingdom. Cheri and I are deeply invested in this effort; we’re inviting you to join us again this year.

Pray and give thanks every day; do something special this Thursday to show your world that prayer is not a futile exercise, but a source of provision offered by God to His People.

And… would you make today a day of eternal investment for 2019? Make a generous pledge to the work we do in The Master’s Program: helping Christian leaders explore, expose and, then, exploit their unique Kingdom Calling. Your partnership in the Golf Challenge will be essential to our continued impact with high-impact people like you.

Click here to make a secure online commitment to the Golf Challenge effort. We’ll send you a tax-deductible receipt; God will include your faith-driven contribution in your eternal portfolio, to be returned and rewarded later…

Thanks – in advance! – for teeing-off (virtually) with us again this year!

Bob Shank

It’s all in how you see it…

Tell me what you see; I’ll know more about who you are… an empty tomb? an ink blot?

It’s more widely panned than practiced, but everyone knows the essence of the test. Created 98 years ago by Hermann Rorschach, the 10 cards – each with inkblots – are the basis for subjective interpretation and, based on those individualized conclusions, the means by which an individual’s psychosis could be assessed. The same picture can mean different things to different people…

The Report was released during a holiday weekend; if you’re out to control public reaction, that’s a good strategy for avoiding widespread awareness and reaction. If controversy is likely, it’s best to drop the news bomb when people are more likely to be traveling and involved in diversions…

Tensions had been building for months; as long as he was drawing crowds in the heartland – away from the capital, and out of direct conflict with the leadership – he was just a nuisance to be tolerated. But there were new issues to consider: his following among the rank-and-file was colliding with the professional bureaucrats who represented what some would call the “Deep State,” out to protect their historic positions of power, gained through manipulating public opinion and making deals with the devil that served their self-interests and sold-out their constituents.

The Report was heavily redacted; there were two versions in circulation within days of the event. Everyone accepted the veracity of the facts… but preconception clouded perspective.

One version was pretty cut-and-dried: a man with inconsequential credentials had been gathering crowds and performing amazing feats that were frequently recounted around the circles of power in the capital. He would come to town occasionally; whenever he did, the encounters with the official hierarchy were tense. They formed a task force to find a way to mitigate the problem; extreme measures were proposed and an opportunity to pull the trigger was before them.

He was in town for the Festival, and they had a mole in his inner circle. There was a narrow window: a nighttime raid to a nature preserve just outside the city facilitated his arrest. Moving with haste – and disregarding their own legal protocols – they plowed through a series of bogus hearings with people in power. Each passed the buck while washing their hands of the matter.

The final appeal was before a public gathering that feigned a jury formation; the decision regarding the captive was thrown to them. Whom would they choose for public pardon: the man with no criminal culpability but powerful enemies, or a three-strikes criminal with no possible defense? The crowd chose Barabbas. It’s Friday – leading into the Passover Sabbath – and time was running out…

Jesus was crucified. Joseph and Nicodemus bargained for his body. The women prepared the lifeless corpse for burial. The Jewish leaders convinced the Roman authorities to put a military guard at the tomb to ensure that his followers would not steal the body and feign a miracle. Problem solved…

Then, on Sunday…

Two different reports; they were recounted Rorschach tests. Here are the facts (minus the redactions); what does it all mean?

The official spin: the Roman guards fell asleep, allowing Jesus’ disciples to come and steal his body, leading to their audacious claim that he had come back to life.

The story that swept through the city: an earthquake displaced the stone in front of the tomb, revealing the missing body. Angels – appearing as men – were there to give the women the report of Jesus’ resurrection. Through that day – and beyond – he met with his followers to prove himself alive and to challenge them to great things on the basis of his victory – and, theirs! – over death.

The same events, viewed by opposing people: His enemies doubled-down in their antipathy; those inclined to God’s involvement – through His Son, the Lord Jesus – saw it as the Miracle that would launch a Movement. The Empty Tomb; what did it mean?

What does an empty tomb mean… to you?

Bob Shank

History is impacted by Average Joes

Maundy, Maundy, so good to me…

Culture has appropriated history, time and again, reframing the timeless in an effort to reinvent it for modern meaning. It was The Mamas and The Papas who sang, “Monday, Monday, so good to me…” But Monday isn’t Maundy…

Today is Maundy Thursday. The cultural calendar of 2019 isn’t likely to commemorate the day – in the week of Jesus’ Passion – when the Passover Seder was shared by Jesus and his core team in what we remember as “The Last Supper.” Maundy commemorates Jesus’ words and deeds surrounding the Last Supper: washing the Apostles’ feet, then commanding the sincerity of love they would have for one another, after he would leave them and entrust to them the leadership of the movement…

From the Upper Room, the 24-hour countdown begins: they walked to Gethsemane where Jesus prayed as he waited for Judas’ betrayal and the arrest that would culminate in his crucifixion. Just one day after he portrayed his broken body and shed blood in the bread and wine, his broken and blood-drained body would be secured in an unused tomb…

The life of Jesus the Man – the Son of Man, by his own declaration – was archived by the four biographers inspired by the Holy Spirit to write his story. The Gospels tell us about his birth and his death; at both significant events, there were men named Joseph who played an essential role.

The Birth of Jesus involved Joseph of Nazareth. Engaged to young Mary, his quandary over his pregnant fiancé was mitigated by a supernatural directive. An angel of the Lord appeared to give him clear marching orders: to go through with the marriage and welcome the child who was the Son of God.

The Death of Jesus involved Joseph of Arimathea. Joe¹ was a simple man: an obscure contractor who is described in Jesus’ early years by Matthew and Luke; Joe² was a rich man and prominent leader, a member of the Sanhedrin who did not consent to their efforts to condemn and execute Jesus.

As Jesus’ death was confirmed by the Roman contingent supervising the cross, Joseph and Nicodemus broke ranks from the anti-Jesus consensus of the Council: they leveraged their influence with Pilate to get custody of Jesus’ body. At odds with the antagonism toward Jesus of their peers in the Jewish hierarchy, they pledged their fealty to the One they had respected, revered and followed.

Joe² had purchased a tomb in a memorial garden. This was not a speculative investment; his use of the hewn cave would be for his own burial, and for his immediate family. The opportunity to demonstrate his high-regard for Jesus became immediately practical: the value of his personal asset, offered in service to the One they believed to be the Messiah overruled his own estate plan…

Maundy Thursday left a message: the ultimate lifestyle model is to serve rather than to be served.

Good Friday would inscribe the next installment of the story: sin is a really big deal, and it both warrants and requires the ultimate sentence of death.

But the story would not end at sundown on Friday; the final installment would be at sunrise, on Sunday…

Joseph of Arimathea made a decision on Good Friday that would include him in the dramatic victory of the Resurrection that was scheduled for Sunday morning. A true Gospel Patron, he used his asset (the tomb) to serve the ultimate purpose of God.

Kudos to Joe¹ for his part in Christmas; kudos to Joe² for his part in Easter. Average Joes – like you and me! – always have a part to play in the Story.

Have you found your role in the Story yet?

Bob Shank

There’s a News Blackout in the Newspaper…

“Don’t believe everything that you read in the newspapers.”

In the next seven days, some little kids will be pulled away from their digital devices to participate in a timeless outdoor game that harkens from history: it’s the week for Easter Egg Hunts to be the springtime version of Halloween. Plastic eggs – loaded with candies – that will be hidden in plain sight for the sugar sleuths to discover in their race through the backyard or neighborhood park.

The quote I opened with could be a digital Easter Egg Hunt for big people with Google glasses: who said it, and why?

Let me save you the effort: in the modern era, online investigations can happen with the flick of fingers while waiting for the barista to deliver your caramel macchiato. Search the source on that line; you’ll be directed to Andrew Card – former White House Chief of Staff for Bush 43 – but you’ll find that he’s just a recent reciter of a conclusion reached and reported by competent observers, stretching back into the horizon of history…

Mark Twain said it in his own inimitable way: “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.” The power of the press goes to the person who owns the press; there is no vetting process that assures that people who control headlines are acting with wholesome objectivity.

These days, there’s no filter: the past’s exclusivity of a printing press has been democratized with blog posts and Twitter feeds. Wackos now have a following who legitimize their potentially corrupting perspectives. In the old days of newspapers, they spewed once-a-day, thrown in the driveway, morning or evening. Today, it’s live-feed, 24/7/365, updating in nanoseconds.

I’ve always lived in Orange County, California. Sixth largest county in America, it’s larger than 21 states. For decades, it was known as a conservative hold-out; a bedroom community to Los Angeles that was more Mayberry than mayhem. The Orange County Register was the locally-owned newspaper and controlled daily influence with a libertarian bent and a local vibe. That was then; this is now…

Yesterday’s Sunday edition of The Register newspaper was a commentary on the culture. April 14, 2019 wasn’t just another day in the year, was it? The “news” would – undoubtedly – memorialize the memorable for the people who look to the headlines to gain focus on the important. Big week ahead?

In the news business, the ultimate lead is always the story that is “front page, above the fold.” What were the compelling teasers that would draw the reader in, to turn the page into the key stories of the day?

In the #1 spot: “Board makers try to catch a green wave.” Story: surfboard companies trying to satisfy the new era demand for biodegradable non-toxic materials. And, the bigger-bolder piece in the same top-of-page territory: “Art in the Desert:” the things happening off-the-stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, happening now. Two consecutive weekends: April 12-14, and 19-21.

Interesting; those are the same weekends in when historic happenings are on some ancient calendars. “Palm Sunday,” “Good Friday,” and “Easter” are overlays. Where are those in the “news”?

In my Sunday newspaper, they were virtual no-shows. Buried in a back section was a half-page article with Easter Brunch options: six SoCal Casinos featured with food explosions next Sunday. One church bought advertising space to promote Holy Week offerings. Apart from them, nothing…

I present to you the secret headline: “The Lord Jesus Christ came to Earth to Save Sinners.” He died and rose again: those events will be highlighted at churches that still feature the Cross, and preach the Gospel of Salvation. Don’t miss it: it’s the biggest – and, best – news ever revealed…

Bob Shank