I learned when I was still in school that it is difficult to proofread your own writing.  Especially in the moments immediately after writing it down, your mind will not only supply the missing words and read the transposed lettering correctly, it will also impose the meaning you had on it when you wrote it, blissfully unaware that it might be construed differently by someone else, or that the inference you thought was so obvious is not.

            I have learned to proofread immediately for the easy things, then put it aside for at least twenty-four hours before trying again.  Then as long as a week later, proofread again.  Every time I still manage to find things to correct.  If I have the luxury of waiting a month before I need to use the writing, I will suddenly see the needed connections my mind supplied but which I left out of the writing, leaving the reader to ponder, “What in the world is she referring to?”

            No, the best way to proofread your writing is to have someone else do it.  They come to it totally unaware of your mindset and can see, not only the homophone errors and transposed letters, but also the places where you have been less than clear.  Their perspective helps them to see things you cannot see. 

            And therein is the value to having someone else proofread your life.  I may think I know my own motivation, when often I am simply rationalizing a wrong.  I think I know the situation best because I am standing in the middle of it when, instead, I am only seeing it from one angle and missing the bigger picture. 

            I often, in haste, type “there” for “they’re” or “to” for “too.”  I know better, but I am in such a hurry my hands take over for my mind and type the wrong thing.  Other times I hit the space bar in the wrong sequence and “three swings and a miss” becomes “threes wing sand amiss.”  The correct elements are there, they are just misplaced, and what a difference it makes. 

            The next time someone tries to help you proofread your life, be grateful.  They can make all the difference in your world, both this one and the next.

Better is an open rebuke than love that is hidden.  Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are profuse, Prov 27:5,6. 

Dene Ward

Dear TV and Movie Producers and Advertisers of same,

    I grew up watching television.  But now I find myself completely disgusted by what you are giving me as entertainment.  May I please offer a few suggestions?

    I am not a prurient adolescent, so please dispense with the sexual innuendo and bathroom humor.  I am far more mature and sophisticated than that.  Most of the people I know are.  I am relatively well-educated, so please come up with words with more than four letters.  They have already worn out their shock value, and what other use are they?  All they do is turn me off, which means I turn the knob off.

    Please give me role models I can identify with, admire, or aspire to.  Give me a father figure who is not an idiotic doofus, one who can make rational decisions and does not need his wife, and certainly not his children, to pull him out of the messes he makes of their lives week after week.  Give me a mother figure who does not treat her husband like a child or demean him to her friends, but respects him; who is not a preacher for the ultra-liberal left, who understands that selflessness and sacrifice for her family is not a fault to be overcome, and can communicate with her family without a martyr complex.  Give me children who respect their parents and obey them without eye-rolling, sass, and deeply heaved sighs of frustration.  

    Tell my children the truth not the fairy tale of “happily ever after.”  Show my children that one talk about condoms does not make teen pregnancy a breeze.  Show them that drugs are not that easy to overcome once they are hooked.  Tell them that there is no such thing as “safe sex” outside of heterosexual monogamy, that AIDS is not the only, or even the most common, sexually transmitted disease out there, and that they could easily end up living the rest of their lives in relentless pain, unable to marry and have children till the day they die.  Tell them that the same self-control we expect of them in regard to stealing and murder is just as viable when it comes to sexual self-control.

    Teach them something called integrity and character instead of looking out for number one and doing what you can get away with.  Teach them that whatever they do affects someone else.  Do you know how many times my probation officer husband has sat across the table from inmates who were shocked to hear that their shoplifting raised the prices that their dear old grandmothers had to pay?  No one taught them simple economics.  No one told them that what they did was a reflection on the women who raised them.  “I don’t know your mother,” he often says to them, “except what I see in you.”  You would be surprised how many hardened criminals sit there with tears running down their cheeks at those words.  Too bad you didn’t say any of those things a long time before he did.  

    And tell me this—would you ever pepper dialogue with the phrase “Oh my Allah!” or “Oh my Buddha!” or “Oh my Vishnu!”?  Or would you never dare in this age of political correctness to cause offense to someone’s religious beliefs?  So why must I listen to you disrespect my God?  Or is it, as seems to be the case over and over, that discrimination against Christians doesn’t count?

    Speaking of Christians, show me practicing Christians who are neither fire-breathing, insane radicals nor hypocrites.  Show me people who live what they believe—quietly and selflessly serving others and living moral lives.  I can show you hundreds of families in just my limited circle who do.  Why can’t you find any?

    I am not the only one out there who would like these things.  A good many of us are tired of seeing sex used to advertise hamburgers and shavers and suave urbanity to advertise liquor and beer.  Let me tell you—the most interesting man in my world is not an arrogant, beer-swilling womanizer and no man should expect me to come running just because he gave me the eye across a boxing ring.  My standards are much higher than those.  My friends feel the same way.  We’re tired of having to battle an entire culture in order to teach our children how to be decent people.  Not a few have turned their TVs off.  They have made the decision to boycott businesses who promote themselves in such irresponsible ways, businesses whose only interest is the bottom line.  

    And to those who are saying amen, I am calling on more of you to do something tangible to show your displeasure--not violent, not illegal, but something that will make an impact that businesses care about—their profits.  Write a letter, using calm words, good words, not indecent ones.  Don’t become what you are opposing.  Then follow up.  Turn off that television, stop watching those movies, don’t buy those products or patronize those establishments.  You know who and what they are as well as I do, you’ve just been ignoring this issue because it would put a crimp in your style.  Maybe it’s time you sacrificed something.  You know who it’s for.  Aren’t they worth it?  Isn’t HE worth it?

 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead reprove them.  Eph 5: 11.

Dene Ward

I saw a bumper sticker in a parking lot:  DON’T TELL ME WHAT KIND OF DAY TO HAVE.  I must be slow because it took me several minutes to figure it out.  Here was someone so mad at the world that he couldn’t even handle a common courtesy.  He obviously did not want to have a nice day, thank you very much, and I suspect that he didn’t, not that day nor any other.
 
   I have heard similar things about other polite phrases.  “You don’t care how I am, why ask?”  Everyone with any sense knows that “How are you?” is not a question; it’s a greeting.  Do these people need a course in semantics or what?

    No, what they need is an attitude adjustment, the kind you get from becoming a disciple of Christ.  Christians are not afraid to take risks, to put themselves out there for people like that to step all over, because Christians understand that treating others well, regardless of how they are treated, is the signature of a follower of Christ.  More than anything else, it shows who we are.  We choose to believe the best about people; we choose to offer help whether it is accepted or not, whether we are taken advantage of or not; we choose to show a spirit of forgiveness whether the other person deserves it or not.

    Those others, the grumpy, the bitter, the cynical, the ones who view the world with a jaundiced eye, the ones who deride us for our stupidity, as they categorize it, who think themselves so much smarter and better than us with their snide sarcastic sayings—“Don’t tell me what kind of day to have”--are in actuality cowards.  They are afraid of being hurt, afraid of being used, afraid of losing the only thing they have—confidence in themselves and how they choose to live.  They will not take risks, while we thrive on it.  We know that anything we lose here was not worth that much anyway—it will all perish in the end.  The things they count on could be gone in a flash, but they are not smart enough to figure that out.

    So there you have it—they are cowards and not very smart ones at that. Don’t worry when they laugh at you for your willingness to take risks.  When you think about it, we aren’t taking any risks at all—they are the ones with everything to lose.

    And by the way, have a nice day!

You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, resist not him that is evil: but whosoever smites you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man would go to law with you, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.  And whosoever shall compel you to go one mile, go with him two.  Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not away. You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy: but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you; that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the Gentiles the same? You therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matt 5:38-48.

Dene Ward

I have noticed something about Judges 13 that most people seem to miss.  Usually we get into a discussion about Samson’s origins, and how his parents were so careful to do what God told them to do even before he was born, a good discussion to be sure.  But I like to point out something else that is just as helpful to me as I try to live my life as a disciple of Christ.

I find the difference between Samson’s parents amusing.  God knew exactly what He was doing when He approached Manoah’s wife instead of Manoah himself with the news that they would finally have a son.  His wife did run to tell him, as any woman would, but we immediately get the picture of a man so excited he cannot quite think straight.  He wants to see this messenger too, so when “the man of God” returns, his wife dutifully brings him.  After hearing the same message, Manoah insists on fixing a meal which “the man” says must be an offering to God instead, an offering which is immediately ignited, taking “the man” with it.  Wow!  This must be an angel!  Now Manoah is really excited!  “We’re going to die!” he screams to his wife.

This calm, practical woman probably sighed before telling him, “Nonsense.  If we were going to die, why would he tell us that this was going to happen to us and how to act until then?”  The inference is that with this bit of common sense she managed to soothe her frantic husband and then did exactly as she was told, altering her diet so that Samson was indeed a Nazirite “from the womb” as God had promised.  Her lack of frenzy did not make her less faithful.  She was instead a woman who managed to temper her enthusiasm enough to actually get the job done.  

It is a big mistake to judge someone’s faith by how loud it is.  Too many times we get caught up in the excitement, roused up by the passion, ignited with the zeal, only to have it burn out, leaving us in a pile of ashes, never having accomplished more than a tiny of piece of our mission, if any at all..  Towering flames may make a beautiful spectacle, but softly glowing coals cook the meal and heat the home far better, and like them, true faith is usually a quiet one that accomplishes the task, even if it is tedious and disagreeable, and simply never goes out.

Faith is a man who gets up every morning and goes out to provide for his family, whether he likes his job or not.  Faith is the woman who cares for her family and her home, as well as the sick and poor in her community, as well as she can, even if the chore gets nasty and no one else notices what she has done.  Faith is the teenager who has the maturity and integrity to rise above his fellows—and in spite of his fellows—in choosing the values he will live by.  Faith is the retired couple who spend much of their free time visiting and having people in their home, usually people who can never return the favor.  Faith is the widow who goes to the meetinghouse on Monday and Thursday to keep the classrooms in order, file the bulletin boards, and run off the newsletter, and has it all taken for granted—or even complained about.  Faith is the widower who still comes in every Sunday morning and quietly takes his seat, now empty of the love of his life, but who manages to worship with all his heart anyway, knowing full well that he will see her again.  

Real faith is practical.  It may not be exciting; it may not make the headlines of the local paper; sometimes it may not even be pleasant; but real people who do what needs to be done with a quiet consistency are the ones we should set up as role models for our children.  It takes a far bigger man to do something he may not really like to do simply because it needs doing, than a man who only does the things he enjoys doing.  True faith needs neither the acclamation nor the adrenaline rush to endure. 

Keep at it.  Keep plugging along.  Someone is noticing, actually a lot of someones, and your faith will be the example that sustains them as well.

And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works,  yet now has he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: if so be that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, Col 1:23-24.

Dene Ward

We recently swapped computers.  This new one is supposed to be so much better for someone like me, someone whose vision is becoming more and more limited.  It’s supposed to be easier to deal with.  Why, it has no wires!  You can pick it up and carry it around with you and no, it’s not a laptop.  It’s one of those new “all-in-ones.”  Part laptop, part tablet, but with a screen the size of a large desktop.  You don’t even need a mouse and keyboard.  Rrrrright.  In my viewpoint it will take them a few more years to make this no-mouse-no-keyboard thing work smoothly enough that you don’t find yourself wanting to throw the whole thing through the window at least once a day.

    But it would have been a much easier transition if it hadn’t been a Lenovo.  Does that ring a few bells with the techie crowd?  Lenovo has recently taken some flak because they placed something called Superfish into their new computers.  If you have read anything about it, you already know where this is going.  There was so much adware embedded in this thing we couldn’t even read a line of text without pop-ups flooding the screen.  If the cursor ran across a magic word, another would instantly appear.  And the thing kept track of every website you visited, producing even more ads.  Sometimes they popped up so quickly that when you were trying to click on something on the legitimate page, you wound up clicking on an ad instead.  We couldn’t even load our desired programs for all the pop-ups.

    This stuff was so deeply embedded that it took at least three trips to the Geek Squad to get it out.  And after every scrub, we had to spend time loading the programs we wanted yet again.  The first four months we were actually able to use the computer about 4 weeks.  

    Satan embeds his adware into our culture the same way.  When you can’t even watch a hamburger commercial without “soft” porn invading your living room, when the teasers for the shows you avoid include language your mama would have washed your mouth out with soap for using, and when we are constantly told that we aren’t hip, cool, smart, happy, or the most interesting people in the world without beer, hard liquor, cigarettes, or dancing the night away in skimpy clothes on a rooftop somewhere exciting where whatever you do stays, then you need to watch out for your souls more than ever before.

    The world will laugh at you if you mention Satan.  He isn’t real, we are told.  Only the ignorant believe in a mythological character like that.  If you are a Christian, you must believe in Satan.  If you don’t accept that part of the Bible, why would you accept any other part?

    Growing up I thought the only New Testament verses that mentioned Satan were the ones around Jesus’ temptation and the good old roaring lion in Peter.  Imagine my surprise when I looked it up.  I counted 19 outside the gospels, less one for the Peter passage we all know, for a total of 18 others.  Then there were the ones who called him something else like “the god of this age,” and “the Devil.”  And many of them talk about his “adware.”  Check a few of these out.

    2 Cor 2:11 mentions the “devices” of the devil.  Eph 6:11 speaks of his “schemes.”  2 Cor 4:4 tells us he “blinds the minds.”  2 Cor 11:14 tells us he “disguises” himself.  All I have to do is look around and see those devices and schemes every day, not just on television but in the speech and behavior of people who have already been taken in.  Have you ever seen the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers?”  Some days I feel exactly like Kevin McCarthy, looking over my shoulder to see where the pods are, and wondering which of my neighbors have been replaced.
    
   One of Satan’s devices are his ministers.  The New Testament warns again and again of false teachers, false messiahs, false prophets, and false apostles.   They fashion themselves as “ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor 11:15).  Not only do they appear to be doing good, they even look good.  False teachers on the whole are good-looking and charismatic.  A lot of what they say sounds good and is, in fact, good.  But 90% of rat poison is good too.  It only takes the 10% to kill the rats.  When you keep finding the good in a man you know is teaching error, maybe Satan’s adware has taken hold of your heart already.

    Our culture has become embedded with evil masquerading as good.  We had to have our computer “scrubbed to the bones” to get rid of the adware.  Maybe it’s time we all used a spiritual scrub brush on ourselves before we are taken in too.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.  2 Pet 2:1-3.

Dene Ward