Also, I mentioned a phone call with a friend that stimulated a lively conversation about the similarities between her area of expertise and mine and how we have a great deal in common. If you are a fairly regular reader of this blog, you might have heard me speak of Tina, a high school classmate who went on to a legendary career in law enforcement at both local and national levels.

In Denver, Tina was one of the first female officers, overcoming many obstacles and prejudice in her rise to captain. She brought order and stability to one of the city’s roughest districts, commanded Denver’s police academy and also internal affairs. She was one of the first female graduates of the FBI Academy. And, for eight years she was the Presidential appointed US Marshal for Colorado and personally oversaw the planning and processes of security for the Oklahoma City Bombing trials that were held in Denver.

Her experience in law enforcement, the United States Marshals Service and the US Department of Justice, as well as her captivating and unique speaking style,  have made her one of the most sought-after trainers in law enforcement as well as business and industry.

One of her training courses that is causing quite a buzz is called Bold Patrol. Her focus is to equip both new and experienced police officers to see their basic patrol function from a totally new perspective. This is the aspect of her work that provoked our discussion of similarities between teaching the basics of hermeneutics and discipleship with the basics of Bold Patrol.

At the end of our discussion, I asked Tina to put some of her thoughts in writing, and I share them with you here. You may not give a rip about law enforcement and that’s not my point in publishing Tina’s thoughts here. I think you will quickly see the parallels to basics of biblical living, and she makes some pointed comparisons herself. Beyond that, I challenge you to think about how these same truths apply to YOUR profession, vocation, personal life or whatever. (If you DO give a rip about law enforcement or the application of these principles to business and industry, you can find Tina’s website here).

The patrol function in a police department involves handling dispatched calls for service and doing directed or administrative and maintenance tasks. It also includes officer-initiated patrolling activities, in the varying amounts of available time between other tasks.

 Bold Patrol teaches strategies for making that self-initiated time Purposeful, Active, Versatile and Effective. (PAVE) It helps an officer stay energized and increases the quality and quantity of a wide variety of work that helps a community.

 When I teach Bold Patrol I have to immediately overcome resistance to the idea that it needs to be taught. The most common objections I hear are:

 “They went through an academy, so they shouldn’t have to be told.”

“They’ve all been patrolling for several years so they know what they need to know.”

“I don’t want to insult the officers by telling them they could use training.”

“There’s no way to teach patrolling. You either can do it or you can’t.”  

“This makes something easy seem difficult. All you really have to do is drive around and watch for things. Right?  

 But the truth is, almost no officers are taught specific techniques for maximizing the time between calls for service through observation, inspections, enforcement, contacts, crime and problem prevention, investigations and the other things a patrol officer can do. It’s not taught at academies, not emphasized in most field training programs and not taught as part of in-service training. As a result, many officers who do an excellent job of handling a dispatched call will not use time between calls effectively—or they will primarily do only one activity—traffic enforcement, business checks or narcotics arrests.

 I often hear officers describe their last shift to another officer by saying, “There was nothing going on.” “It was dead tonight.” Nothing was happening.” I always say, “If there was nothing going on, why is it the offense reports are rolling in now?” There was never a rape, a robbery, a theft, a burglary a vandalism or a homicide where there weren’t officers on duty. There’s always something going on.

 After a Bold Patrol class officers always report that they have increased their worthwhile activities and their effectiveness double or triple. Some are excited at learning some new ways to consider what they thought of as a routine activity. One thing is for sure—if they don’t, it’s a choice because there is no doubt that they know how. One officer wrote to me and said, “ I’ve driven through the same area at least two thousand times in my career here and in some ways I feel like I’ve never seen it before.” (THAT is the application to hermeneutics.)

 It’s not that the officers weren’t sincere before or even that they didn’t try. But, we always say, some people have five years of experience, some have one year of experience and some have one year of experience five times. Some officers drive through the same area thousands of times, but some people drive through it ten times and arrest a wanted person, correct a parking problem, report a light out, warn a speeding driver, give crime prevention information to a neighborhood group and get out of the car to talk to a homeowner.  (Some people read the Bible every day and find it helpful and useful and that’s good. Some people read it every day and get all the richness there is in it..)

 I have observed that it takes three things for an officer to be willing to gain knowledge and skills in Bold Patrol training:

 1.) They have to want to gain mastery of patrolling, not just do it good enough to get by. The desire to be their best is the number one requirement.

2.) They have to be willing to humble themselves to admit they may not have complete mastery now.  

3.) They have to be willing to take a task apart, look at it in new ways and put it back together again, even when some aspects of it seem obvious.

 If they will do those three things, the reward is that what was formerly routine and often not productive, is now a task filled with energy, enjoyment and a richness that it didn’t have before. They can make a difference in their communities that is noticeable.  

 There’s an old saying about police work: “It’s eight hours of boredom interrupted by five minutes of heart pounding excitement.” I close my class by saying, “Be a Bold Patrol officer and you’ll never be bored again.”

 The application: It seems to me that learning the scripture and looking at each word and phrase from a wide range of Biblically sound perspectives requires the same desire to grow mentally and to achieve mastery. Having faith like a little child doesn’t mean they should be proud to be at a first grade level in their understanding of the Bible, for the rest of their lives.

 There also seems to be a parallel in the idea of not being insulted at the idea that there may be something new to learn. Another similarity is that in my classes I say, at several points, as we talk about varying methods for patrolling, “Try this and see how you can make it work in your city. Let a month or so go by and keep doing it now and then. If it never is worthwhile and you never get results, you can stop. But at least try it with a commitment to seeing it if achieves the mission.”

 However, having said all of that, the truth is that some officers just don’t have the depth of thought to fully appreciate my class and they leave thinking it was good but nothing will ever really change for them. Other officers latch onto it from the first minute of the class and eat it up all day and leave energized, with plans for how to use it.

 I suppose that’s what you deal with as well. You crave learning about things from new perspectives, which is why you and I both do research. Many people are quite content to see no more in a verse than when they learned it at ten years old. They miss out on the riches of learning new depth of meaning, new perspectives and applications as mature adults. 

So, that’s just one parallel of the same basic truths between law enforcement and biblical living. What applications do YOU see?

As an evangelical Presbyterian church, Heartland comes from a rich heritage of Bible study. I knew that some of the people there would have formal theological training and others none at all. I tried to aim in the middle and speak with a passion for Bible study that would encourage all of them to go beyond where they are now. There’s not a lot of “teaching” that can take place in a little more than an hour, but I ended the session by giving each of them a copy of my book. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with the crew at Heartland and were very blessed by their sweet and eager spirit.

After my teaching time, each of them shared what they got out of the session. I was encouraged that each had picked up on different aspects of what I said and had something to take home. As I suspected, it was not as much about learning some deep, new truth, but rather being impressed with some different perspective on a basic truth with which they were already somewhat familiar that made the difference.

I’ve always said that most everything that is really important in our faith walk we learn in the first couple of years of being a follower of Jesus. It just takes the rest of our lives to learn to live and apply those truths in a wide range of circumstances – and to remember them! Many people waste their lives by searching for some Bible code, secret truth or hidden meaning no one has ever seen before. There is no secret code, password, handshake or hidden meaning.

Years ago I was in South Africa to teach basic disciple-making to a group of tribal pastors. They had come to Johannesburg from various locations and we met each day at the YMCA downtown. Most of them had little formal education. While there, I was asked to speak in the chapel service of perhaps the most highly regarded seminary in South Africa.

What a contrast! The seminary was in the high European style. Students and faculty wore academic gowns and the pulpit was high enough in the air to give one a nosebleed in the rarefied air between the stained glass windows.  My objective that morning was to communicate this same concept of giving continued and constant attention to the basics of our faith.

I spoke highly of the seminary and how thankful each student should be for the opportunity to receive such a quality education. I really meant it. They were learning Greek, Hebrew, systematic theology, church history and enjoyed the privilege of hearing some of the finest scholars in the world. I did not mean to be the least bit judgmental or critical, but I simply said, “While you can be thankful for such a rich education, keep your perspective by remembering that anything that takes 8 years of graduate studies to understand and is beyond the comprehension of my pastor brothers down at the Y is probably not all that important in the grand scheme of things.”

That statement certainly brought mixed reviews from my academic brethren. Some applauded while others felt that I was belittling the importance of their education. My purpose was not to minimize the value of education (something I greatly value), but to help those of us blessed to have an advanced education to keep the proper outlook and not get too full of ourselves. Those of us with a Ph.D. (that stands for Piled Higher and Deeper) can continue to pile on the knowledge, but if we neglect the foundation – the basics – it will all come tumbling down.

Baseball’s spring training begins this week, and professional ball players will spend a lot of time going back over the fundamentals of the game. There certainly are special techniques and knowledge that professional ball players possess, but the day they forget about the basics that little boys and girls learn in youth leagues across the country, is the day their game begins to fall apart.

Let me encourage you to stop looking for the secret that never existed. Stop wasting your time fantasizing that the newest book or latest web site, seminar, class, or DVD is going to have that one key that puts your life into focus. It won’t. Jesus admonished the Ephesian church to return to their first love. I admonish you to go back to the basics and get them down.

Someone once asked legendary Swiss theologian Karl Barth what was the one great truth he learned in his remarkable academic career. His answer was this

 Jesus loves me,

This I know,

For the Bible tells me so.

Karl Barth got it.

Following our time at Heartland, I got a call from a friend that got me thinking even more about the importance of honing the basics. Talking about the experience at Heartland, we got to discussing my career and hers and the many parallels as far as attention to basics go. I was so fascinated by what she was saying, I asked her to put some of her thoughts down on paper. Stay tuned right here and I’ll share them with you.  Meanwhile, what are the basics in YOUR life that need work this coming Spring? It really is all about the basics.

Wikipedia offers this Mondrian quote explaining his outlook.

I construct lines and color combinations on a flat surface, in order to express general beauty with the utmost awareness. Nature (or, that which I see) inspires me, puts me, as with any painter, in an emotional state so that an urge comes about to make something, but I want to come as close as possible to the truth and abstract everything from that, until I reach the foundation (still just an external foundation!) of things… I believe it is possible that, through horizontal and vertical lines constructed with awareness, but not with calculation, led by high intuition, and brought to harmony and rhythm, these basic forms of beauty, supplemented if necessary by other direct lines or curves, can become a work of art, as strong as it is true.

To Mondrian, his lines were to be seen as infinite extensions connected to the greater cosmos, and for that reason he would not allow them to be put in frames. He wanted them to be appreciated as integral parts of the room itself and not just something that hung on the wall. So committed was he to the “big picture,” he would sometimes even design special furniture or other objects to be part of his exhibitions. His art influenced design and even architecture.

Christian intellectual and pastor Francis Schaeffer was an astute observer of art and artists during his long ministry to young people in Switzerland. He tells the story of one very important exhibit of Mondrian’s work by giving extreme attention to every detail so that the balance of every detail would be absolutely perfect in homage to the artist’s great eye for design and harmony. Furniture Mondrian had commissioned was also included in the exhibition room.

Finally, just the perfect arrangement was achieved and clearly highlighted the balance and beauty that would be fitting to characterize Mondrian’s work and design. There was only one significant problem. As soon as a person walked into the exhibit, Schaeffer observed that the perfect balance of elements was thrown off by the presence of people. The exhibition was striking indeed, but there was no way to fully appreciate the perfectly balanced design with anyone else in the room. The problem was not with the art, but with the crowds of people flowing in and out of the exhibition room. (I have felt this frustration before, trying to appreciate a great work of art and visually wrestling with the other spectators swirling around the space. I was surely just as frustrating to them!)

That story may sound a bit ludicrous or exaggerated to you, but it came to my mind as I was reading in Exodus the other day. God had given Moses the task of constructing the Tabernacle to divine specifications. Even though God clearly communicated the key elements of the Tabernacle, he also gave freedom to the artists to use the imagination and creativity he had given to them.

The big day eventually came when the work was finished and Gods glory was to inhabit this tent in the presence of his people. Here’s the part that struck me.

Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Exodus 40:34-35

Moses did everything he was supposed to do, but when the job was finished, God’s glory filled the tent and there was no room for Moses or anyone else. Later, of course, Moses would be able to enter in to communication with God in the Tabernacle following ritual purification and consecration.

I think there is an important lesson here. In our natural state we cannot stand in the presence of God’s glory. This is a thread that weaves through the entire Bible.

The message of the Bible is not that of humans trying to come up to God’s level in the hope of one day being accepted into his presence; it is the message of God coming down to our level in the Person of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, to pay the penalty for our sin and rise again from the dead on the third day. Paul said in 2Corinthians 5:21 that he who knew no sin, was made sin for us, in order that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Our God is a greater artist than Mondrian. No room for people in the perfect picture? No problem! Instead of changing the picture or the individual elements, God transforms us. He has personally dealt with our sin in the sacrifice of his own Son to offer us eternal life and righteousness so that we might indeed enter into the presence of his glory. This is good news!

If you have not been following along, I strongly urge you to begin by clicking the hyperlink here and reading my first post about the amazing literary skill of Dr. Luke. The first post demonstrates what is known as chiastic parallelism in the birth announcement of John the Baptist. Not only is this poetic form beautiful and eloquent, it serves the practical benefit of pointing the listener or reader to the main point.

Here, we compare the birth announcements of John the Baptizer and Jesus the Messiah. I think it is remarkable how Luke lays this out. One of the scholars who has identified and communicated this parallelism is Joseph A. Fitzmyer in his Gospel According to Luke I-XI, pp. 313-314. (This is NOT a work I would recommend for the average student. It is part of the Anchor Bible). What follows is my own modification of his work. This is technically called step parallelism, in contrast with the chiastic parallelism we saw earlier. It’s not hard to see from this visual manifestation why it is called step parallelism.

Birth Announcement of John, Luke 1:5-25

A  Parents introduced, expecting no child because the wife is barren and past child-bearing years. 1:5-10

B  The Angel Gabriel appears. 1:11

C  Zacharias is troubled. 1:12

D  Fear not. 1:13

E  Your wife will bear a son. 1:13

F You shall call him John. 1:13

G  He shall be great. 1:14-17

H  Question: How shall I know? 1:18

I  Answer: God sent the angel to tell him. 1:19

J  Sign: You will be mute until he is born. 1:20-21

K  Zacharias’ mute response. 1:22

L  Refrain: Zacharias goes back. 1:23

Birth Announcement of Jesus, Luke 1:26-38

A’  Parents introduced, expecting no child because they have not yet consummated marriage. 1:26-27

B’  The angel Gabriel appears. 1:28

C’  Mary is troubled. 1:29

D’  Fear not. 1:30

E’  You will bear a son. 1:31

F’ You shall call him Jesus. 1:31

G’  He shall be great. 1:32-33

H’  Question: How shall this be? 1:34

I’  Answer: The Holy Spirit will come upon you. 1:35

J’  Sign: Your elderly cousin Elizabeth has conceived. 1:36-37

K’  Mary’s verbal response. 1:38

L’  Refrain: The angel goes away. 1:38

Coda:

Mary Visits Elizabeth. Luke 1:39-45

Mary’s Song. Luke 1:46-55

Refrain: Mary goes back home. 1:56

In music, a coda is a passage that brings a piece to a conclusion. It is a departure from the variations on the theme that has brought the piece to this point. A refrain is a phrase that is repeated, like the chorus after each verse, for example. So, Mary’s visit to Elizabeth followed by Mary’s song is a departure from the parallelism that we saw in the two birth announcements. This is similar to a musical coda. However, the same refrain at the end shows that they are part of the same piece. In step parallelism the last stanza is usually the greatest or most significant of all. That the coda contains Mary’s song celebrating Jesus is Luke’s way to poetically establish that, even though the birth announcements are parallel and both involve the miraculous power of God, Jesus is clearly greater than John.

Recently a friend of mine posted on her website what I found to be a fascinating story of Mongolia. Knowing a number of people who have and are living in Mongolia, my interest was piqued.

Check out her opening paragraph:

 In one of those odd events made possible only by the Internet, I learned about the Oyu Tolgoi mine. The mining company employee who corresponded with me for a time told me that the Oyu Tolgoi mine will  have more of an impact on Mongolia than anything since Genghis Khan in 1206! 

I know that some of my readers have interest in Mongolia, too, so I pass on to you this link. It’s not long and I highly recommend that you read it, especially the poem at the end. Oh, and watch the accompanying video, too! Let me know what you think. You might even let her know what you think.

If you are looking for great spiritual truth today, STOP READING HERE!

This has NOTHING to do with Mongolia, but I wanted you to know that I made it home from skiing in one piece with all of my extremities present and accounted for. I did discover a few muscles not normally used in everyday life and current gym routines.

Oh!!! I have to tell you my flight story from today. Early this morning I’m standing at the gate in the Salt Lake City airport waiting for my flight. I look ahead and a gentleman is patiently waiting in the elite access line to be the first to board. I can’t help but notice him because he is quite literally a giant of  a man. He is no less than six foot five, maybe taller. But he is huge; he has to be pushing every bit of 400 pounds. I mean if this guy is not even an ounce overweight, he is still huge. He does, however, have a few excess ounces.

Boarding begins and we all make our way on to the small regional jet. The aircraft is small with two seats on each side. I had reserved an aisle seat in the exit row – every inch or two of legroom is all good! As I make my way down toward 8C, I see that my seat mate in 8D is none other than Goliath. Oh great! Of course he would want the extra legroom, too!

He had to raise the armrest in order to fit and maybe half of my seat is left – if he scrunches up. Now, I’m not a small person, but I feel like a grasshopper in his presence. I look at him; he looks at me and smiles. It is a bit of an awkward moment for both of us. When my briefcase doesn’t fit above, I bend over to put it under the seat. That”s when I notice that one of his legs already occupies my foot space.

Hmmm. This is going to be interesting. I manage to get the briefcase under the seat in front of me and then turn my body to the side to see if I can slide in sideways. Where is a shoehorn when you really need one? By the grace of God I am able to squeeze in .. sort of.

He is a really, really nice gentleman. “I’m sorry to make this pretty tight, what with these broad shoulders of mine and all . Fortunately it’s a relatively short flight.”  It’s that “and all” I’m worried about more than anything.

Now, honest to God, I am not really upset or tempted to whine because I am thinking that he is every bit as uncomfortable as I am and he is even more uncomfortable because he knows that he is making me uncomfortable. Not only that, he’s being extremely polite about it all.

I must confess that there have been times when I have been in similar situations and have succumbed to the temptation to feel sorry for myself or even get just a bit ticked off. I know you can’t believe that, but it’s true. This morning I am truly trying to put myself in his place. Maybe that is because I just did my Bible reading and journal writing before getting on board. Do you think?

I look over at him and reply, “Oh, that’s alright. We’ll make it! You’re right. It’s only about an hour flight and we can do this.”

The upper half of my torso is oozing out into the aisle. I am not kidding. Every person large and small that comes down the aisle hits me. I feel like one of those rubber door flaps that dogs or cats push through to get inside or outside. I’m trying to read my book and look as nonchalant as I can, but it’s hard because my arm is pinned to my side and it’s hard to get the book all the way open. People passing by avoid eye contact with either of us.

The first person to make eye contact with me is the flight attendant. She almost looks like she’s trying to stifle a smile while being as professional as she can.  I don’t know what, if anything, I expect her to do. This is not her fault. It’s not my fault, and it’s not the fault of the guy sitting next to me that he is a giant. I seriously wonder at the many challenges he must face on a daily basis that most of us never consider. Sure, he could stand to drop some serious weight, but as I said, he would still be a giant.

The flight attendant is on the PA doing her spiel about final boarding and wanting confirmation from those of us in the emergency exit row that we are willing and able to perform our duty of opening the emergency door of the aircraft in case we crash and happen to survive and the door happens to be enough in one piece to open.

She approaches our row and asks us to raise our right hands and take the emergency row oath. We do and say, “I do.” She then looks at my partner and says, “Sir, I’m sorry but I’m not allowed to let people sit in the emergency row exit that are using a seat belt extension. If you can’t fasten your normal seat belt I’ll have to re-seat you.”

I size up my good buddy and then size up the door, and I’m thinking about the wisdom of that regulation, ’cause if that door were to actually come open, there’s no way his XXXXL body is going through it! That means that any of the rest of us who happen to survive are all going to die in the ensuing inferno.

He hands the seat belt extension to the flight attendant and says, “Yeah, I can get this.” He struggles and struggles, grunts and struggles. “I’m really going to do this.” Then he looks at me and says, “Sir, could I ask you to stand up for just a moment. If I can’t do this, you’re going to have to get up anyway.” More struggle.

I feel like the entire aircraft is watching the unfolding drama. Fifty people hold their collective breath while pretending not to be watching.

“Where is that other seat?”

“It’s three rows back”

“An aisle?”

“Yep.”

“OK.”

It’s over. What looked to be an exceptionally long hour flight is now much shorter. From being split at the midsection over an armrest, spilling out into the aisle, I now have the only empty seat on the aircraft next to me.

What great lessons of life do we learn from this? What insight into the significance and purpose of humanity can be drawn from this episode? Do I have any scriptural application that I have gleaned to make me a better person, or to help others? What occurs to me is simply this – God loves me.

Today I saw something I had never seen before. I was riding a lift to the top of one of the mountains here when I saw below me a pretty good group of people moving around down on the snow and most of them had removed their skis. I prepared to see the carnage from a horrible ski collision. Instead, people were circling a porcupine who was making his little path through the snow. Cameras and smart phones were all pointed at the little guy. He didn’t appear intimidated at all. In fact, he made his way to a guy with a camera and actually curled up at his feet as though he were a purring kitten. Strange!

Here are some photos from Alta I ripped off from public domain sites. I’m not much of a picture taker myself, and today it would have been messy because it snowed all day.

This is what it looked like when I saw the porcupine

Looking down a slope toward the Alta parking lot

View from the mountains at Alta

Let me go further. I believe that the Bible is a living book. Hebrews 4:12 says that it is alive and powerful. That’s the same passage that says the Bible is like a two-edged sword, though we don’t use real swords to fight battles much in our culture today, only as a sport. Here’s my point: the Bible is a living, life-giving book; it’s also a deadly weapon capable of eternally ripping someone’s (or your own) guts out.

I have neither been in the military or law enforcement, but I have been in wars and have had really good friends all my adult life in both law enforcement and the military. Correct me if I’m wrong, but one of the first items of training in the use of firearms is to instill a healthy and almost reverential respect for one’s weapon and what it can do. The officer/soldier recruit is carefully educated in somewhat ritualistic procedures to avoid pointing a weapon at anyone or carelessly transporting it in any way. The word gunslinger is part of our language, but it is never a good thing to go slinging a gun around under any circumstances. I understand that trainers are extremely picky about trainees slinging weapons around thoughtlessly. (Maybe that’s why no one wants to trust me with a weapon!)

Part of training is to bond with your weapon, to learn how to take it apart and put it back together again. One learns well how to clean the weapon, store it properly and safely to avoid it being picked up by untrained or malicious individuals. The more advanced and specialized the training, the more demanding in all of these areas. I have friends who can take their weapons apart and reassemble them blindfolded in the time it takes someone like me to change channels with a remote control.

Now, an essential part of training is to drill into the head, heart, spirit, and consciousness of the trainee that his or her weapon is never, ever to come out of the holster and be drawn until and unless there is good reason to believe that it may be necessary to use its deadly force in the course of duty. As your trainer might say, “You had better be sure, you had better be damn sure there is a legitimate reason to draw that gun!“Actually, the language may be a bit more explicit, but this is a general audience blog and you can use your imagination.

The Police Training Manual by Captain George Lumb of the Pennsylvania State Police, published way back in 1919, gave advice that sounds almost exactly like police training today: “A firearm should be drawn only when there is reason to believe deadly force must be used against an assailant (or might be needed and the weapon must be ready). The firearm or nightstick are not to be drawn or belligerently pointed to threaten or frighten citizens, even known criminals. To do so may cause the violent reaction a wise officer is seeking to avoid.”

Though not in the military or law enforcement, I have been a martial artist for many years. You would not believe the incredible rituals just to withdraw a traditional Japanese katana (sword) from its sheath! One trains for years to learn proper control and use of katana, and the respect for the weapon and others is over the top. You don’t just go down to the store, buy a neat Japanese sword and start running around the neighborhood cutting up stuff. Or, if you do, everyone knows you’re just a jerk.

Why all this noise about weapons and training? Because I believe that many professing Christians today are guilty of assault with a deadly weapon. Shooting from the hip, both barrels blazing, they fire off indiscriminately in all directions with no thought for the harm they may be causing.

A wife screams at her husband, “The Bible says for you to love me like Christ loves the church!” “Yes,” he screams back, “but it also says you are to submit to your husband.” Who wins that exchange? You’ve got two bloodied people. Assault with a deadly weapon.

You’re standing on the corner yelling Bible verses at people passing by. One in a thousand prays the “sinner’s prayer” and an immediate chorus of halleluiahs confirms the power of God’s Word. How many of those “transformed lives” ever darkens the door of a church? Another one in a thousand? “That’s not important, Brother. The Bible says that there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repents.” We are pretty good to justify just about anything we do and “prove” it by quoting yet more Bible verses yanked from proper context.

How many Jehovah’s Witnesses have genuinely come to faith because they got hit in a fire fight of Bible verses? How many people are ever argued into Heaven? How many atheists or agnostics finally saw the light because of a Bible grenade that exploded nearby?

I went hunting … once. My friend’s dog runs through a thicket and a bunch of quail suddenly flare in front of me. Excited, I raise my shotgun to the hip and open fire. By the grace of God I hit one that falls from the air. Wow! I’m a hunter! Could I do that again? Maybe one in a thousand! My friend says I might have better success if I learned to aim.

Am I saying we shouldn’t use the Bible? Am I ashamed of the Bible? Am I against evangelism? Don’t I know that there is power in the Word of God? Don’t get me started. Don’t go there. You have no idea. I believe that there is more power in that book that you and I can imagine. I am all for the transformation of lives by God’s grace through the power of his word.  I’m just saying you’d better keep it holstered unless you know exactly what you’re doing. Take it out and use it with great skill when you are absolutely convinced that this is the moment that God has ordained. Just because you’ve got a nice Bible and have learned some neat stuff about it, don’t go shooting it all around unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Last summer not far from my house, some guys are standing by a small lake on the grounds of their apartment complex. They have a nice gun and think it would be cool to celebrate the 4^th of July season by firing a few shots into the lake. It never occurs to them that bullets sometimes can ricochet off of water as though it were stone. Some kids are playing in the backyard of a house a couple of hundred yards through the woods on the other side of the lake. Suddenly, a pretty eleven-year-old little girl falls over dead with a gunshot wound to her head. How many families are ruined by that thoughtless, stupid act? Keep it holstered.

Analogies eventually break down, but there is something else I want to say. A police officer learns to project an image, a presence, a confidence. In military and polices circles people speak of “command presence.”  An officer with good command presence might just make it through a lot of potentially explosive situations without ever having to use his or her weapon. That would be the idea. If you want to be Rambo and shoot up a bunch of people, don’t be a cop; join a gang.

We are to project the presence of Christ to those around us. We WILL have to draw our sword when the moment is right. First and foremost, though, we are to live the presence of the Christ. We keep the weapon holstered until just the right moment arrives. When we finally draw it, we bring to bear our training, our life, our experience and all that we are to be able to strike just the right spot with the right words. There is transformational power in that type of action.

Am I suggesting that we should not allow the Bible to enter into our conversation? Goodness no! I’m just saying we need to learn the right way to do it. People like Jesus and Paul used scripture in oral communication of course. Mostly, though, it was with other people who were also familiar with scripture. Jesus seems to quote scripture most fluidly in heated exchanges with the Pharisees. Most of the time, though, he was not just flinging scripture around, but very pointedly mixing scripture skillfully into normal conversation, not quoting chapter and verse (there were no chapters and verses in the first century), but naturally mingling scripture into the conversational flow. When Paul was among fellow Jews, quoting scripture was a predominant part of conversation. When he spoke to the Athenians he was careful not to quote scripture, but to engage them in normal conversation with the intent of finding the proper opening for scriptural truth at the proper moment.

My point is that unless one also knew the same scriptures, there was usually no way to know they were quoting or paraphrasing the Bible. It was not as though they were reciting for show or to impress others, but rather scriptural truth just naturally and normally influenced their thoughts and the resulting words. Their normal conversational exchanges accurately reflected God’s truth as well as did the manner in which they conducted themselves. They did not just obnoxiously blast away into the faces of their listeners. I guess you could say that their use of scripture looked  more like “concealed carry” that strutting around with a six-shooter visibly strapped on their hip and frequently out of the holster.

I really think that many people who are guilty of assault with a deadly weapon are covering for insecurities, whether their weapon is a handgun or a Bible. Textbooks are written about people who explode in rage and go blasting away in an office, school or other public settings. They are people with deep personal issues and a ton of complexes and insecurities.

Not all socially-challenged folks irresponsibly shoot people, of course, but we have all seen those who relish walking around brandishing a weapon because it is their attempt to attract attention, compensate for their personal insecurities and for others to see them as tough. Likewise, spewing forth a barrage of Bible verses often seems to be a cover for insecurities on the part of people incapable of engaging in ordinary conversation.

At a funeral yesterday Cheryl and I sat next to a gentleman who was clearly socially-challenged. Even in the Christian setting of a funeral, carrying on a normal conversation was a stretch for him. Yes, we tried. He constantly was leaning into Cheryl’s side, or looking at me with a weird smile. However, a constant stream of Bible verses, Amen’s and other “Christian” phrases flowed from his mouth, even when the minister officiating was speaking. He was intent on letting those of us around him know that he was part of “in crowd” when it came to God. Sadly, the constant scriptural rounds being fired from his mouth did not complement the words of the speaker, but rather distracted and competed with him. Keep it holstered.

Let’s use our powerful sword responsibly and maturely to give life, not to be guilty of assault with a deadly weapon.

I just finished a book that I enjoyed immensely. The title of the book is Sixteen Seasons, an imaginative title that speaks to the sixteen seasons (four years) spent by an American family in Tajikistan as witnesses of Jesus Christ. It is very well written, even eloquent at times. Author David James has a gift to combine humor, transparency, reality and biblical insight.

One reason I liked the book is because I happen to know the author. David James is a pen name due to the sensitive nature of his work in a country that is closed to traditional missions. James and his family eventually had to leave their beloved adopted country, but now serve among a related group of people in another country.

Many of you Gracewegans would know David James by his real name because he spoke to us in a conference a few years back and we have repeatedly prayed for him and his family. David and his wife are from the Kansas City area and those of us who know them have been greatly impressed by their genuineness, humility and depth of biblical spirituality.

Reading Sixteen Seasons brought back many personal memories of living with a young family in a foreign culture. We lived in three different countries with our little girls and experienced many of the same joys, delights, frustrations and heartaches as David James and his family. There were times I laughed out loud or wept silently as he touched chords in my heart that only someone who has been through similar circumstances could possibly understand.

Even though the culture described in Sixteen Seasons is literally on the other side of the world from my personal experiences with a young family, I have traveled enough in his region of the world and in similar cultures that I can appreciate just how accurate his word pictures really are.

The reason I am recommending this book is because so many have expressed interest in what a family goes through when relocating to a completely different culture for the cause of Christ. Sometimes folks get a false, romanticized image of what it must be like to be a missionary. Unfortunately some of those people end up in strange places ready to serve God, but have never truly counted the cost or understood the depth of what is in store. James gives you the good, bad, ridiculous, fabulous and tragic. We will probably require people to read this book in many circumstances before relocating in this part of the world or even for an extended mission.

Sixteen Seasons will be coming to the Graceway bookstore or you can get it directly here.

I also linked to this on my FaceBook, but some of you won’t see it there. Of course you could always friend me.

Click here for the link.

Parallelism is a huge part of the beauty and genius of scripture. Basically, parallelism refers to laying out parallel words, phrases, sentences or other literary units to compare, complement, complete or contrast with each other. Sometimes you will hear terms like chiastic structure, form or redaction criticism used to speak of the literary analysis of any writing, not just the Bible. Here is a quick and basic overview if you are interested.

Upper and lower cases of the Greek letter Chi

Chiastic form is a term derived from the Greek letter Chi that looks quite similar to a stylized capital X in our English alphabet. As you look at the diagram below, you can see that the diagram forms half of an X, of Chi.

This is important because key to understanding the words of scripture, or any words, is context. To properly understand the Bible we must understand the historical, cultural, grammatical and literary context of the words of scripture. From a practical standpoint, parallelism assists us to see clearly the main points, how they are related and to remember the message. As you might imagine, this type of study can be as simple or complicated as you want.

Also, despite the wonderful insight we can gain from learning about literary structure in biblical times, some use such information in an attempt to discredit the historicity or accuracy of the Bible. Like any good tool, its value is in the hands of the individual who uses it.  Parallelism is not a secret code or silver bullet, but simply a literary technique useful to writer and listener/reader alike for the enhancement of communication was well as creative beauty.

In biblical times, no one walked around with a big black Bible under the arm. In Old Testament times, most biblical revelation was preserved on scrolls by scribes. Handmade, large, and rare, scrolls were not immediately accessible to just anyone. As the various books of the New Testament were completed, they were circulated on papyrus scrolls. Only after the first century did it become common to begin to assemble biblical books on papyrus or vellum in a form that would approximate what we think of as a book today.

Instead of owning a personal copy of scripture, people listened to scripture as it was carefully read, whether in the temple, synagogue or church. Literary devices such as parallelism or chiastic structure assisted listeners to understand and remember what they were hearing. This is still true in oral societies to this day.

Western literate cultures process information in what many would consider to be linear and logical forms, while many oriental cultures process information by thoughts patterns that are sometimes described as “spiral.” This is not to infer that one is better than the other, only different. Eastern thought processes are more similar to the way people in biblical cultures processed information. Huge portions of the Bible are written in various poetic, literary styles. Writers of scripture wrote understanding that their words would largely be heard with the ears, not read with the eyes.

Please understand that recognition of such literary devices and their use in no way detracts from the divine inspiration of the Bible, nor does it imply less historical accuracy as some might attempt to infer. To the contrary! God chose to work through human instrumentality employing the forms and techniques of the time and culture of the biblical writers. This is the whole point of context. We should also understand how blessed we are today to have immediate and personal access to the words of God, whether in a big black Bible under the arm or on our smart phone!

So, with this brief and simplistic background, here is my own simplified adaptation and wording of of the parallel structure of Luke 1:5-20 that I have studied in the works of various scholars and commentators. Notice how the thoughts parallel each other, A to A’, B to B’. C to C’, etc.

A good way to read this is in spiral form rather than linear. In other words, read both A points, then the B, and so on, working your way to the middle – in this case H or verse 13. This is the writer’s way of signaling that this is THE point. This is also the way the original recipients of biblical scripture would have intuitively processed the content.

Enjoy! I’ll probably be posting more examples as we move through our study of Luke, so check back from time to time.

A – Day apppointed – 1:5

B – Righteous before God – 1:6

C – Stricken in years – 1:7

D – Obedient service – 1:8-9

E – Multitudes affected – 1:10

F – Messenger of God – 1:11

G – Trouble and fear – 1:12

H – The message – 1:13

G’ – Joy and gladness – 1:14

F’ – Messenger of God – 1:15

E’ – Multitudes affected – 1:16

D’ – Obedient service – 1:17

C’ – Stricken in years – 1:18

B’ – Blessed by God – 1:19

A’ – Day appointed – 1:20