A Book, A Visit, and Some Opinions

Before I share some insights into some of the major news items of this past week, I want to do two things.  First, I want to highly recommend a book for your summer reading.  The book is titled, "7 Men" and was written by Eric Metaxas.  (By the way, if you have not read his book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, you need to put that on your reading list.  You will thank me later for having read it).  In his newest book, Metaxas seeks to ask what makes some men outstanding.  He has selected seven men, thus the title, whose lives he begins to explore.  The seven men include: George Washington, William Wilberforce, Eric Liddle, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jackie Robinson, Pope John Paul II, and Chuck Colson.  That is quite a line-up of "Who's Who."  The biographies of each man are very short - 25 to 30 pages in length.  Yet when one finishes each man's story, there is a new appreciation for that particular strength each displayed that made him a man to be remembered.  I highly urge fathers to read this book and perhaps discover that special strength God has placed within them that can be used to help their children and grandchildren walk closer with the Lord.

The second thing I want to also highly recommend is a trip to Springfield, IL, and a visit to the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.  Marlys and I were there this past weekend with two of our grandchildren.  It was my third visit to the Museum in the past four years.  It is an amazing place.  Every time I am there I learn something new about our 16th President.  What a remarkable man he was!  Of course one needs to also stop in nearby New Salem to hear that side of the Lincoln story.  As we walked through the various open cabins, we remarked how families certainly had a closeness in those days that is missing today.  When you think that a family of six or eight or even ten lived in one room.  That was the kitchen, the dining room, the living quarters, and the bedroom all in the space of a 15 by 15 room, or even smaller.  If we were planted back in that generation, I am not certain that we would survive.  Springfield is a very family-friendly place because Lincoln was a very family-friendly man.  He loved his four boys, although sickness took two of them during his lifetime.  He was estranged from his own father, so I guess Lincoln did not want to experience something similar with his own sons.  Anyway, a great place to visit for a long weekend.

Now from the news of the week.  Unrest with Israel's neighbors continues to escalate.  Over the weekend, six rockets were fired from Gaza into the southern Negev regions of Israel.  No damage or injuries were reported, but the quiet of a near two-month lull in rocket activity was broken.  Israeli warplanes struck several Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip with effectiveness.  The leadership of Hamas had sent a letter to the leadership of Hezbollah in Lebanon inviting them to quit the war in Syria and attack Israel instead.  Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu made it very clear that Israel would not tolerate attacks upon its citizens or upon its soil.  I read this morning in an article on the IsraelNationalNews.com website that "Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon hinted Wednesday that Israel may call up its combat soldiers for a major operation in the near future.  Yaalon spoke as he and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu observed a Golani Brigade drill in the Golan. ...  Golani, like many other IDF combat units, is likely to be called to operational service on short notice.  That's why this exercise, like other drills in recent days, has special meaning at this time and in this place."  The Defense Minister then said, "We will not tolerate violations of our sovereignty or harm done to our soldiers and civilians, whether here, in Gaza or elsewhere.  It's important to clarify to everyone on the other side of the border who may be planning to harm us in some way, that we are prepared and determined to act."  When asked, the Prime Minister said, "Nobody will hurt the State of Israel.  We have a very strong, very decisive response.  We need the will to break our enemies and to put the fear of death into them." 

The first of two long-anticipated rulings by the United States Supreme Court on gay marriage issues has just been handed down.  By a 5-4 margin, the High Court has declared that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.  DOMA, as the act came to be known, was passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1996.  DOMA prevented same-sex couples whose marriages were recognized by their home states from receiving the same benefits accorded to other married couples under federal law.  The High Court was split along ideological lines with Chief Justice Roberts being joined by Justices Scalia, Alito, and Thomas in the dissenting opinion.  I believe this ruling is simply another step in the redefining of marriage as it will soon be known within our nation.  It will be interesting to see what the High Court will decide in the case involving California's Proposition 8 where voters overwhelmingly approved a definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.  Will probably share an opinion next week.  For those of us with a sense of traditional, moral, and biblical values, the decision of the Court today represents a another setback. 

As we near the celebration of our nation's Independence, I often wonder what those great men who had a vision for a land of freedom and opportunity would think if they could return to America today.  Would we be what they had envisioned?  Would they stand up and say that we were the fulfillment of their dreams?  Or would they question us as to how we got off track from those principles they embedded deeply within the Declaration of Independence and later in the Constitution?  Will probably never know exactly their response, but I am not certain they would recognize us today.  Times do change: We no longer farm with horses.  Some things should never change: Those principles that were foundational to our nation's birth.  Perhaps it is time we reread the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers, just to name a few.  Perhaps it is time we reread the letters from the pens of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, and Adams.  Not just read, but listen to their voices as we read so as to discern their hearts.  Perhaps that is what Eric Metaxas wants us to know about those seven men.  Perhaps that is what I rediscovered this past weekend in Springfield.