Author: Jon Gauger

Crawling across the plywood of our attic, I spied the tan plastic bag and knew exactly what was inside: Daytimers.

Before there was Google Calendar and Evernote…

Before there were Palm Pilots…

Back when Windows referred to the glass in your living room—not an operating system—we needed a way to keep track of our schedules.

Many of us in the business world used Daytimers—a spiral bound pocket book with calendars and appointment pages.  And in that tan plastic bag up in my attic were several years’ worth of old Daytimers.

You know what caught my eye as I flipped through those planners—more than a quarter of a century old?  It wasn't the business stuff, the appointments and meetings and billing issues.  It was the personal stuff—things that define a family.  Example?  I  found notated on one page where our baby girl, Lynnette, learned to say, “See you later” when talking on the phone.

In another planner, I found a note affirming our little girl performed both major bodily functions in her toddler toilet.  And as any parent can tell you, that's definitely a milestone worth recording.

As I flipped through more pages, I saw notes marking a movie my wife and I went to see…the date we went to a Cubs game…the list of guests invited to a surprise birthday party for her.

I frankly cannot point to a single business item that caught my eye or tugged at my heart.      Yet…the kid stuff…the me-and-my-wife stuff…..that mattered a whole lot.

All that meticulous tracking of billable hours that seemed so important at the time…just wasn't very important at all.

Life, I was reminded in that attic moment, is made up of daily, ordinary, routine things that are anything but insignificant viewed through the lens of time.

Strange how a coating of dust creates so much clarity.

I should have known the pleasant looking cowboy before me was an imposter.  But his gloves, hat and gun all looked legit.  He invited us to a sandpit where we could pan for gold (okay, it was actually pyrite—but it looked like the real deal).

I have to confess, it was exhilarating swirling the shallow pan, exposing the yellow glow of gold—just like I'd seen in the movies.  We carefully dumped our gold into miniature cloth sacks, pausing now and then to see what kind of fortunes we'd amassed.

I saw “we” because it was me, two young nieces of mine, along with our five year old granddaughter.   Wasn't long before we'd each collected some gold.  And that's when the cowboy kicked into action. 

He thrust a sack bulging at the seams right at our faces. “Tell ya what,” he drawled slyly.  “I'll trade any of you your puny little sack of gold for mine, here.  What do you say?”  Niece number one said no.  Granddaughter Joslynn said no.  But Niece number two quickly grabbed the bag out of his hands, gleefully trading her own. She was sure she'd gotten the bargain of a lifetime until she unlaced the string and discovered it was packed with nothing but sand.

I was immediately drawn to the scene in Eden where the serpent offers Eve an impossibly good exchange…which proved too good to be true. But it was too late.  She had already traded away her gold for a kind of sand.

The truth is, we ride a dangerous trail, you and I.  And despite pleasant appearances, we have an enemy determined to take our gold—and never give it back.  It could be the gold of your joy in Jesus.  Don't give it up.  It could be the gold of your sexual purity.  Don't give it up.  It could the gold of your contentedness at work.  Don't give it up. 

 Proverbs 4:23 says it another way:  “Guard  your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

My young niece got her bag of fake gold back, thanks to the cowboy.  But the enemy you meet out on the trail knows no such kindness.

Hang on to your gold, pardner!

 

He's back at it again—my buddy Jack.  He's the one that's trying to build bridges with his neighbor across the street.  In a previous blog, I promised to keep you up to date. Here goes.

All winter long, Jack has taken his snow blower over to his neighbor's driveway and blown it out.  In return his neighbor—we'll call him Steve—has blown out Jack's driveway.  But the best part is they've had opportunity to work on their driveways together.  Even shoveled side by side.   They wave at each other in their cars—and often chat when getting the mail.

Jack and his wife and have been praying that God would open a door of opportunity   for them to take the next step in this growing friendship. So imagine the smile on Jack's face when he told me they took their neighbor out to dinner!

It was a popular steak place.  And they had much more than dinner together.  They shared conversation—meaningful dialogue—and plenty of good laughs.  But there was plenty of sobering stuff, as well.

Jack told me all about Steve's troubled upbringing: a mother with five husbands…a father who died young….being told as a young adult that the last name he had used all his life wasn't really his. Then there's the half-sister that won't even speak to him.   The pain was so great….

Unexpectedly, the meal at the restaurant continued for nearly two and half hours—and Jack and his wife were honestly sad when the evening came to an end.  (1:30)

At this point in our conversation, Jack paused and then looked me in the eye almost whispering, “Everyone is hurting over something.”

Jack is right.

The question is, are we willing to engage those hurting people?  Are we willing to blow out their driveways and hear their sad stories…and love them enough to do it all again over another dinner—all in the name of Jesus?   Those are Jack's plans.

He would never claim to be a teacher, but Jack is taking me to school on reaching out to my lost neighbors.  So much to learn.

Me?  I'm still pondering lesson one: Everybody is hurting over something.

Are you a drug addict?

Don't answer too quickly.

It's possible you've never smoked a joint in your life…never popped a pill the doctor didn't prescribe.  But you could still be addicted.  I'm not talking about heroin or cocaine or meth.  I'm talking about the drug of connectivity—the need to have access to your email or Facebook page.

Recently, I was reminded of my own addiction. They did a major re-work of our email system at work on a Friday, and–BOOM–I was without remote access to email all weekend long.

You wanna know the really sick thing?  I actually sat on the couch with my phone on the armrest, alternatively staring–then glaring—at it, hungry to hear the thing ding.

I found myself checking it again and again…hoping something…someone might be getting through.  (Sure I could still text…but my addiction is with email, remember?).

The experience only underscored an embarrassing truth.  I am addicted to connectivity. I expect to be…desire to be…absolutely MUST be interrupted by chimes and ringtones.   Their lack creates a roar of silence that is uncomfortable, if not intolerable.

Now here's the disturbing question.  Why am I not equally addicted to connectivity with God?  Why does it not drive me crazy when I either rush or miss my morning prayer time with Him?  Why am I not compelled to continually check in with Him throughout the day?  Twenty-four/seven access to the King of the Universe is guaranteed.  And Scripture itself suggests this kind of behavior is actually expected: “Pray without ceasing,” we are told.

So how is it I must be connected to a stream of tedious information from friends and work that is temporary at best…while the Eternal sits unattended?

More to the point: How can I initiate a healthy addiction: a sense of need to commune with the Lord of the Universe?

O, God….set my heart aright.

I long to long for you, like David did.

Like a deer panting for water.

Amen!

She was born in 1903 in what was then Austria-Hungary. Alice Herz-Sommer was raised in a German speaking Jewish family. Early on, she displayed enormous talent at the piano and at sixteen, she was the youngest student of the Prague German Conservatory of Music. She toured Europe, impressing thousands.

Then came 1943 and the rise of Hitler. By now, Alice was married and had a young son. German soldiers ultimately hauled off Alice and her family. Not before she watched hopelessly as her neighbors ransacked her home, gleefully helping themselves to her clothes, art and furniture. Her husband was taken to Dachau, while Alice and her son were imprisoned at the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

Here, the Nazis imprisoned many gifted artists, demanding that they perform concerts for them, a propaganda effort to convince the world that Nazis treated their prisoners well.

Ultimately, Alice was released from the prison but not before her mother was killed by the Nazis, and her husband died of Typhus at Dachau…six weeks before the camp was liberated.

Alice went back to giving concerts…playing piano…teaching at the Jerusalem Academy of Music for 40 years. She is said to have practiced playing the piano three hours a day until the week she died at the incredible age of 110–the oldest known Holocaust survivor.

Alice once said, “I look at the good. It us up to us whether we look at the good or the bad….”

I don’t know what darkness has descended upon your soul lately, but I do know this. Alice’s life message is remarkably consistent with Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.”

Bad stuff will happen.
What we focus on then is ultimately a choice.
Ours.

At 37 thousand feet, you see life–not just terrain–more clearly.

I’m writing this piece shoehorned into an airplane whose rows are so tightly spaced the seats do not recline.  But it’s only a two and half hour flight to Denver, so I suspect we’ll survive.

Minutes ago, why wife, Diana, observed that this budget airline offers a type of first class option: four seats across instead of six.  It was actually tempting.

Now I don’t mean to offend those who choose to pony up for wider seats and meals served on china instead of plastic (someday I think I’ll try it—really).  But I often wonder.  No matter where you fly within the U.S., it’s only a few hours.  Must we insist on maximum comfort at all times?

Let’s broaden out the question a bit as we talk cars. You can spend 25 thousand on a new car or 250 thousand.  Both cars will get you where you want to go safely and reasonably comfortably.  The 250 thousand dollar car will certainly have nicer suspension and many more conveniences.  Yet, in the end, whether I drive a glorified go cart or a Rolls Royce, I am still only using the car to get me where I’m going.  The car—as nice as it may be—is not the destination.  It’s the tool that gets me there.

We could ask similar questions about the clothes we wear, the houses we own.  And maybe we should.

I fear that increasing numbers of Christ followers (myself included) are buying into the worldly demand for maximum comfort at all times at any price.   And in so doing, we forget that we are “strangers and aliens on this earth.”

Every longing look at luxury takes our gaze away from our eternal destiny and locks our focus on a world that is “passing away.”

Hear me clearly.  There is no sin in having or owning nice things.

But when those nice things own us, we’re looking in the wrong direction.

What holds your gaze?

You could almost wipe the saliva off my mouth. That’s the intensity I felt walking into the International Center at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado. I was there to attend Jerry Jenkins’ Christian Writers Guild conference.

Plot structure, point of view, character development—this was the stuff I was longing to dig into. And dig we did (ur…not sure that last sentence would garner the approval of my instructors).

Anyway, we came to the last night of the conference where writer and Editor, Dr. Dennis Hensley spoke. Oddly enough (or, in retrospect, perhaps realistically enough) he spoke on failure.

If you’re new to the wisdom of “Doc Hensley,” he’s written 54 books, more than 150 short stories and 3,500 newspaper and magazine articles. From my hastily scribbled notes that night, here are a few of the thoughts he shared:

• Success at anything comes slowly.
• Mighty works come with time.
• Success is never automatic—even in the service of the Lord

Tracking with me here? Now listen to this next observation from Dr. Hensley:

A legacy of failure among great leaders is common knowledge! So learn from your mistakes. Make adjustments! Improve. It does no good to dwell on past failures and poor starts.

He’s right, of course. I’m learning that Doc Hensley usually is. Which is why he also pointed us to another word of encouragement from Paul in Philippians 3:13,14:

…forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.…

To which Doc Hensley simply added…

• Past performance is no guarantee of future failure.
• Past failures do not guarantee future failures!

Aren’t you glad?

I don’t know where you’re at in life right now. But if you’re like me, you’ve got a past failure or two or three, crumpled up in a back pocket of yours. And once in a while, you pull out one of those failures—and unfold it in your hands–reliving what might have been but wasn’t. Like cheap newsprint, it re-inks your hand and stamps your whole soul with feelings of inadequacy.

May I gently suggest you empty your pockets of those failures? Choose instead to "press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Press on!

An unsettling notion has lately come over me with regard to marriage.

Understand I am grateful for Diana, my wife of 30 years, and the person she is—and is becoming.  She is a guiding influence on most everything I touch—from the way I dress to the way I write…to the way I am learning to clean house.  Or sit on the couch and just talk.

The unsettling notion I speak of has very little to do with her…but very much to do with me.   And quite possibly you.

Why all the sober talk at Valentine's?

It’ a growing hunch that goes like this:

Precept #1The Bible clearly teaches principals of stewardship.  Ultimately, you and I are not “owners” of anything.  We are just tenants—for a time.  We are caretakers.

Precept #2 The Bible clearly teaches we will stand before Almighty God to give him an accounting for “what we did in the body whether good or evil.”   When we do this, we will stand alone.  My wife will not be with me.    But…

Unsettling notion of the day:  How I TREATED my wife will very much be a subject of examination.    This is what I find so sobering.

When the Creator presented me with my wife, she was optimistic about living life with a man who would love her and care for her, putting her interests above his own, willing to sacrifice anything for her comfort.  Most of all, she had the thoroughly biblical hope that I would model Christ for her.

Is that the kind of life I have lead?  Am now leading?  Does this kind of care describe my caretaking?

Or is it something less?  (Maybe far less—as is the case with me sometimes). 

Because our spouses are only ''on loan” to us…the question must be asked, “When the Father says ‘”Time is up”…are you going to return your spouse better…or bitter for the years you've been together?  More like Christ?  Or more disenchanted?

Your wife–she’s only “on loan” to you.

Your husband–he’s only “on loan” to you. It’s only for a time.   And then the accounting.

 

I suppose we all ought to find that unsettling.  Unsettling enough that we recommit to "be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God–for Christ's sake–has forgiven you."

What happened to the advertisements?  Do you ever wonder why certain products used to be seen advertised on television or in magazines and newspapers….and now they are like “product non grata”–like they don't even exist.

When was the last time you saw a commercial for 7-Up?  Here's a national brand…but seems to have fallen off the map, promotionally..

What about Certs—the peppermint breath mints that give you two–(CLACK)–two (CLACK)–two mints in one!   And speaking of mints, where are the commercials for Tic Tacs?

Now I'm sure there's some logical explanation for all this.  Some 24 year old with his MBA making 120 grand a year as a marketing manager can explain that “products have a cycle” and these have reached a unique stage in that cycle.

Yet still, I ask…when the products are still being sold…still being consumed by the public, why are they no longer advertised?   It can only mean…either….

A. The brand or product is so wildly successful, there's just no need to pump more money into promoting it.  OR…

B.   It's no longer financially worth advertising for product X.  Essentially what they're saying, is, “We'll just be satisfied with our current numbers for the product.  OR…

C. Maybe in the world of digital media, there are more cost effective ways to advertise than mass media like network television.  OR….

D. Maybe the product itself or as a category is just plain on the way out.

 

The same questions are fair to ask about the visibility of Jesus in our culture…in our lives.  To put more of an edge on the question…How well do we—Christ’s followers—advertise the Christian lifestyle?

Have we concluded that Christianity is so wildly successful there’s just no need to pump any effort into our personal witness? Or are we satisfied with our current numbers—ie. Most of the world is going to Hell, and that’s okay with us.

Or is it answer “D”…we’d never say it, but we believe our “product” is just plain on the way out.

Jesus said “Go and make disciples."  That's a command without expiration date.

 

By now you’ve probably heard the outrageous quote. Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo—very likely a 2016 presidential candidate–told Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom that “extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay” have “no place in the state of New York.”

In one remarkable sentence, all pro-life people and all those who support a biblical view of marriage were labeled “extreme.”  What’s more, these folks were essentially asked to leave the state.

But this uncharitable blast is at odds with reality.

Poll after national poll shows Americans are divided almost evenly over the issue of abortion.  So…does that make half the nation “extreme”?

Thirty-one of the fifty states have passed constitutional amendments banning legal recognition of same-sex unions.   Does this mean 31 states are now “extreme”?

Please note, now, that if you count the A&E condemnation of Phil Robertson’s stand on homosexuality, this is the second time in a month that conservative Christians have been told—“The public expression of your viewpoint is just not welcome at all.  Kindly shut up.”

Could I just ask anyone who agrees that Christians are “out of step” and ought to “keep their values to themselves”….where is YOUR tolerance?  You’ve preached this gospel so loud for so long…as long as it advanced your objectives.  But apparently tolerance is only afforded those who have the—quote—“correct” viewpoints.  Christian people are just not worthy of tolerance—is that it?

What gives you the right to determine the case is closed and the only right conclusion is yours—when a vigorous public debate is alive and well—despite attempts to belittle it or squash it?

Telling someone that disagrees with us, “You have no place in this state” feels remarkably like hate speech.  Because it is.

I’m reminded of 1 John 3:1: “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”  Attention Christ followers: Fasten your seatbelts.  There’s a rough ride ahead.

Throwing rocks at traditional Christian values is step one.   Be assured there’s a step two.