Allen's Blog

5th in a series on Men and Women in the Bible dealing with waiting, disappointment and unemployment. Abram and Sarai: Are We There Yet? What excuses have you made today?   “I can’t get my foot in the door.”   “Ageism is alive and well.”   “They keep hiring people with higher degrees than me.”   “Their vision is short-sighted and distorted.”   Those have been my excuses as to why I haven’t gotten the job that I wanted.   What they amount to are examples of blame, whining and pride.   Also, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I am completely forgetting that God is sovereign and He is working  out  His plan in my life.   In Genesis 12 we read the story of Abram(his name means ‘high father’) and God speaking to him out of the blue, telling him to move to an undesignated location.   At 75 years old, he had many legitimate excuses for not going.   And there were some in-congruencies in the revelation that, as a neighb...

4th in a series on Men and Women in the Bible  dealing with waiting, disappointment and unemployment. The Tower of Babel: Poor vision and even worse strategy I am fascinated with beginnings.   Probably the opening five to ten minutes of a movie can be the most frustrating because the author/director is formulating the characters, developing the plot and creating scenes that seem impossibly disparate from one another.   We must resist the urge to give into the confusion and jump to another, more simplistic drama or worst of all….start talking to the other people in the room by saying, “I don’t get it. Who’s that? What does that character have to do with anything?” But movies, as fun as they are, can only mimic real life.   Ever heard anyone say after an amazing human interest story, “You can’t make this stuff up” ?Reading the Bible is a great exercise in discovering the complexity of the human equation especially as we come in contact with ...

3rd in a series on how men and women in the Bible deal with waiting, disappointment and unemployment Noah’s New Career Genesis 5:32 says, “At the age of 500 Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japeth.”   Five hundred years is a long time. Five hundred years ago our ancestors were either in Europe or Africa.   Living under the light of candles and /or campfires.   Plumbing was rare and electricity nonexistent.   Transportation was mainly en pied or if you were wealthy, you might have a horse or two.   We don’t know what technology was available to Noah, but we can assume that the economy was primarily agrarian.   One can imagine that in that amount of time, Noah probably acquired many skills.   And all those skills were required to live.   There was little use for “knowledge workers”.   Any expertise you had, better be for starting fires, capturing game, growing food or building homes.   At the age of 500 God appea...

2nd in a series on how men and women in the Bible deal with waiting, disappointment and unemployment   Cain and Abel: Right Product/Wrong Time In 1940,  Henry Ford  famously predicted: "Mark my word: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.”   In 1957,  Popular Mechanics  reported that  Hiller Helicopters  was developing a ducted-fan aircraft that would be easier to fly than helicopters, and should cost a lot less. Hiller engineers expected that this type of an aircraft would become the basis for a whole family of special-purpose aircraft.  And 60 years later, we’re still waiting.   Maybe it is the car of the future but the timing has to be right doesn’t it?   Well, let’s go back 6000 years, a time way before automation, before infomercials to the first market economy, two competitors: Cain and Abel.   Two sons who had legitimate occupations marketing legitimat...

1st in a series on how men and women in the Bible deal with waiting, disappointment and unemployment Adam and Eve Get Fired Whenever we read the Bible we study it while wearing a particular lens.   If anyone ever tells you that they have an objective view of the Bible or of history, keep your distance…because they are deceived.   We come at everything with an agenda.   I hear your compliments and criticisms through the lens of my emotional security.   I read the newspaper looking for views that support my own.   And I usually like to surround myself with people who regard my particular views as sound and noteworthy.   My only hope is that, as I read, I remain open to other interpretations and primarily to the influence of the Holy Spirit. With that in mind, I have just begun viewing the Bible from the perspective of what it means to wait.   It seems like there’s a lot of waiting in the Bible.   Also, how do men and women...

What I Learned This Summer Remember when you returned from summer break and your first assignment was to write about what you did over the summer?   I remember when my summers disappeared.   My first job out of college was as a management trainee at Moore’s Building Supply in Roanoke, VA.   The spring slipped into summer and I hardly noticed.   Being off the academic year was a jolt and a huge disappointment.   I had to choose carefully how I would spend my two weeks of vacation a year.   If not for my involvement in Young Life I would not have had much of an excursion at all.   So, one week at camp and I can’t remember the other week. Fast forward…..a few years….this past summer I was involved with an inner city ministry and we offered a five week program for the youth.   This was right up my alley.   I had done youth ministry for years.   I loved kids….of all ages.   And I had been affirmed that I was pretty...

Why Can’t We All Just Get Along? What’s the big deal?   Why is there such disagreement between those who call themselves Christians?   Is there a baseline to which all should refer?   Or are we free to follow our hearts and worship in a way that brings us the most satisfaction?   Recently I attended a church service in which all the elements appeared very religious.   Pastors and choirs in robes, a church building, pews, hymns, a baptism, the reading of the Bible and prayer.   According to most it fit the definition of a ‘worship service’.   In many ways, I wish I could just leave it well-enough-alone.   But my understanding of Scripture and the nature of God does not allow me to keep silent.   Whether God needs defending or not, I feel I must offer some critique and see if I can do so in an effort to pursue Truth in an attitude of love. It’s amazing all that can happen in a one hour service, but my thoughts in ...