Kicking it into High at 35

As I celebrate my thirty-fifth birthday, I think back to my childhood and am amazed by all the changes in our world.  We have come a long way on some roads and traveled backwards on others.  Here are my reflections.

Technology

After wearing my little fingers out dialing a big, heavy rotary phone as a kid, I never imagined that I would have a telephone that was smaller and more capable than CAPT Kirk’s communicator.  I am still working on my transporter room, but otherwise, we are well beyond the USS Enterprise.

As a kid, I loved watching Lee Majors play Colonel Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man – Bionic Man – on TV.  On my 35th birthday, there was a news story out of Chicago about a real bionic man who has two robotic arms that he controls like two natural arms.  The bionic arms cost six million dollars!  Really!  Six million dollars - look it up http://www.local6.com/news/4643968/detail.html . 

The first computer I remember seeing on TV was the one that Wonder Woman used at the Pentagon.  It took up several rooms and worked extremely slow.  The computer’s slow processing added drama to the episodes.  The heroes often waited for crucial answers that would help them save the world while it appeared the villains would prevail.  The first computer I saw in person was not very big, but it took me two days to program it to display this message – “Happy Birthday!” 

Today, my Dell computer fits neatly under my desk and plays music while I surf the internet and write letters and watch movies (yes, I watch movies on the computer).  My computer reminds me of all my friends’ and family’s birthdays automatically.  My four year old daughter, Carlie, has a Gateway in her room that she can operate pretty effectively.  It only took her two minutes to makeher computer display the “Happy Birthday!” message.

Atari was state of the art video game technology in my youth.  While visiting with my nephews a couple of years ago, I watched a full quarter of a football game with live scores streaming across the bottom before I figured out that they were playing a video game.  They were playing online against somebody from Pingling, China (I really don’t know where their opponent was, but he -or she - could have been in Pingling).

TV and the Movies

I have two hundred channels on my television and they all come in clearly.  I have more channels in Spanish today than I had in English as a kid.  To be completely honest, if you had told teenage Jason that he would have twenty four hour access to thirty five dirty movie channels and would never watch any of them as an adult, he would have laughed at you.  In those days, staying up late on Sunday night to hear “Sexually Speaking” on the radio with Dr. Ruth was the only access we had to such things.

My parents used to always watch the network nightly news.  I haven’t watched network news in seven years (and I really haven’t watched those dirty movies, either – and as far as I know, the dirtiest thing Cammie has watched is Oprah).

When the President gives a speech, I don’t have to watch it, but now I usually do (but not on one of the networks).

I remember when the Fox Network’s top shows were the Simpsons and 21 Jumpstreet. 

Despite all that has changed, my daughter’s favorite cartoons are Scooby Doo and the Superfriends (thank you Boomerang).  She also watches Sesame Street with many of the same characters who were there thirty years ago.  I like that.

Carlie and Jay Allen also saw the new Fat Albert Movie.  The Fat Albert theme is currently Jay Allen’s favorite song.  He can’t talk yet, but he goes around the house saying, “Hey, Hey, Hey!” to the top of his lungs.

He will always be Opie Taylor and Ritchie Cunningham to me, but Ron Howard is now bald and more powerful than Fonzi ever was.  You have all seen his movies, but some of you may not remember Ron Howard’s television characters.  In the old days, Hollywood used to put shows on television that told a coherent story and entertained the audience.  Many of those shows were situation comedies and offered a safe escape from reality.  The only reality TV showed during primetime in the old days was Monday Night Football.  That was back in the era of Howard Cosell.  If Howard narrated some of the current reality TV shows, they would be much more entertaining.

My generation watched Good Times, Happy Days, All in the Family, and the Dukes of Hazzard growing up.  All the boys loved Daisy Duke and Wonder Woman was the raciest show on television.  She had bullet proof bracelets and a shiny bra.  Years later, the actress who played Penny on Good Times got confused and wore one of Wonder Woman’s bullet proof bracelets as a bra during the Super Bowl Halftime.  I saw that halftime, but I don’t count that as a dirty movie (for those of you who still don’t believe me).

I wish that President Reagan had on his bullet proof vest the day he was shot.  We almost lost the greatest visionary of our time between 1st and 2nd period of my fifth grade year.  My generation saw the President shot, saw two Space Shuttles blow up, and saw the plane crashes of 9-11.  We also saw some ridiculous things like OJ’s great chase in the white Bronco and the OJ trial.  I seriously doubt that we live to see OJ find “the real killer.”

John Travolta has traded Welcome Back Kotter, Grease, and Saturday Night Fever for Scientology.  I liked him better in the old days, but I have to give him credit for hanging around.  I can’t even count all of his movies.

Twenty six years after Star Wars became the top movie of the seventies, Episode III is taking the box office by storm (no pun intended) this year.  Episode III came twenty six years after episode IV.  George Lucas is a creative genius, not a mathematical genius.  I haven’t seen episode III, but no worries - I can digitally record and watch the Sith on my home theatre system in a few months.  I can also watch the other five Star Wars Movies at home at a time of my choosing.  I can’t tell you how much easier my life would have been as a child if I could have watched my favorite shows at a time of my choosing.  I would be a better person today if I had not have missed the finale of the A Team on that summer night in 1987.  I got grounded that night instead.  Digital video recording is the best thing since the horseless carriage!

Pop Culture

Most of the rock bands of my youth have lost members to an early death.  Who would have thought that sex, drugs, and rock and roll could cut your life short?

The generation in front of me won the sexual revolution, but their occupation plan has been a cultural disaster.  It seems that if you burn enough bras, the traditional family will go up in smoke. 

When I graduated high school, Rock Hudson was the only celebrity we knew who had AIDS.  Despite the fact that homosexuals and drug users were its first victims, medical authorities assured us that all of us were at risk.  Science is still baffled that AIDS has stayed confined (for the most part) to populations with high risk behavior.

We did a lot of pledging and praying and studying the Ten Commandments when I was in school.  If anybody knows where they keep the Ten Commandments these days, there are a bunch of folks who need to review them.

When people were standing in line for gas in the seventies, we were told that gas was headed for $2.00 a gallon.  Sure enough, thirty years later, it is at $2.00 a gallon.

Do you remember how backwards we were in the 1970s?  We used to think that diet and exercise was the key to good health!

The Rubik’s cube is still the greatest puzzle of our time.  I don’t care if you solved it – give it to your kids and let them solve it – it’s the greatest. 

Prince, who was formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince, sang about partying like its 1999 in the mid-80s and we loved it.  When1999 finally arrived, we were all scared to death of what Y2K would do to our computer based society.  Much ado about nothing – Prince and Y2K.

When I was growing up, Michael Jackson had a dark complexion, curly hair, sold millions of records, and shared a bedroom with four young boys.  The four young boys were his brothers and the balance of the Jackson Five.  Today, Michael has white skin, straight hair, hasn’t sold a record in a while, but he still shares his bedroom with young boys.  The last room he was seen with his brothers in was a courtroom.  Most of us have let Michael go – the rest are still outside that courtroom celebrating.

Things have definitely gotten strange.  Today, body odor is in style.  At least we had to try to be in style.  It took months to grow your hair into style in the 80s.  These days, I am never more than twelve hours out of style.  The less I groom, the more stylish I become.  That is just wrong!

Sports

The year before I was born, the Atlanta Braves lost to the miracle Mets in the playoffs.  When I was twelve, they won the first Division title of my lifetime.  During high school math class, I calculated that I would see the Braves win four Division titles if I lived to be eighty and the Braves kept Joe Torre as manager.  The Braves fired Joe Torre and won 13 straight division titles.  High School seniors can’t remember the last place Braves or big Sid Bream’s slide into home.

The Olympics were a big deal before we had twenty four hour sports coverage.  We beat the Russians fair and square in hockey in 1980 after they cheated to beat us in basketball in 1972.  They made a movie about that hockey team so you young folks would understand – it’s called Miracle. 

The pride of Atmore, Alabama, Evander Holyfield won the boxing gold medal in the 1984 Olympics, but he was disqualified for fighting dirty.  That was a bad call, but he still lost his medal.  Years later, Mike Tyson bit Evander’s ear off during a fight. 

Boxing fans of my generation remember when Mike Tyson was unbeatable.  He knocked out his opponents so quickly, there was controversy about paying to see a full fight when everybody knew it was going to last less than five minutes.  Some guy named Buster Douglas knocked Tyson out while I was in Basic Training at Fort Jackson, S.C.  When our drill sergeants told us the news, none of us believed them.  That sounded as strange to us as the free breast exams that female trainees were getting from their drill sergeants.  Now, Tyson is a pathetic shell of his former self and there is a rumor that he is going to fight Sylvester Stallone in the next Rocky movie.

Politics

After years of practicing hiding under our desks for the unfortunate and inevitable missile attack by the Soviet Union, we beat the Soviet Union without having to use any of our nuclear weapons.  I have met several Russians in the last few years and I am happy to report that I haven’t had to shoot any of them.

Nobody from 1980 would believe it, but since I joined the Army, we have been to war with Iraq twice and haven’t been to war with Iran once.

When I was really young, President Nixon resigned for violating the trust of the American people.  He resigned as I was learning to talk, so I had nothing to say about it.  When I was a young adult, President Clinton violated the trust of his family, the country, and all of his supporters and he refused to resign.  His shamelessness left me speechless.

I am old enough to have heard language that is just unacceptable today.  I heard that language as a child in Alabama and I did not understand it.  As an adult, I now understand it and I despise it.  Thankfully, I have seen our country embrace two African American Supreme Court Justices, an African American (actually Caribbean American) four star general and two African American Secretaries of State.  I am proudest of our current Secretary of State from Alabama.  I am sure she heard the same language I heard when she was young, but she sure didn’t let it slow her down.  I predict that one birthday in the near future, I will write about our first African American, first female, and first Alabama born president.  I also predict that President Condoleezza Rice will be all of those.

Personal

I have had hair down to the middle of my back and had all my hair cut off.  I have been fat and skinny many times and have landed somewhere in between.  I have been out of shape as a young man and in great shape as an older man.  I joined the Army in 1989.  I flew in my first airplane in 1991 and jumped out of my first airplane in 1992.  I graduated college and married my high school sweetheart in 1992 just like I said I was going to the first time I saw her in 1987.  We now have two adorable kids, just like I promised her we would.  All of that amazes me more than anything mentioned above.  Life is moving quickly, but we are managing to keep up.

I don’t know what the next thirty five years have in store for me, but I am dedicated to filling them as full as the first thirty five years.  Thanks for being part of this wonderful life of mine

 

Benefields go Coastal

Cammie and I decided to take a little vacation by ourselves while my mother bravely watched our children.  We initially booked a cruise, but backed out a few weeks prior due to the tantrums our son, Jay Allen, started throwing the very week we planned our vacation.  We knew it would be harder to return from a cruise than from the beach (I could actually picture myself swimming back to Florida), so we went coastal – to Coastal Georgia, that is.

We started our vacation in historic Savannah.  Being the thrifty people that we are, we sought and found a great deal on a hotel (www.priceline.com).  When we got to the hotel, we noticed everybody was staring at us in a strange way.  Maybe the ribbon worn by the manager and hotel employees explained the staring.  It said, “Welcome, Paranoid Schizophrenic Researchers Convention.”  Maybe that explains the great rate the hotel gave us.  Maybe we were not just guests, but were subjects!  Maybe they were trying to make us paranoid by staring so they could study our reaction!

All that paranoia made us hungry, so we hoofed it over to River Street for dinner.  A double ear-ringed gentleman with a beard and a sports coat stood outside the River House Restaurant handing out coupons (a good strategy to increase the Sunday night crowd).  For some reason, he neglected to hand us a “buy-one, get-one-free entrée” coupon, so I asked for one.  The modern day pirate then told Cammie she would have to dance for the coupon.  I laughed, Cammie laughed, but he persisted.  I then wheeled around and looked Mr. Pirate in the eye and said, “She’s not dancing.  We are Baptist and it’s more likely that we will make love on this sidewalk than it is that my wife will dance for you!”  To which he responded, “Here’s your coupon.  Enjoy your dinner.”  We do not resent the fact that some people think Baptists are crazy, we use it to our advantage. 

We made our way inside and had a great seafood dinner with no dancing involved, and thus concluded our first night on vacation. 

I woke up early the next morning and went for a little run to better acquaint myself with Savannah.  It was an uneventful run, except when a car sped through the crosswalk and almost ran over another gentleman and me.  Note to self – watch crazy drivers on cell phones when crossing the street in Savannah.

After I retrieved Cammie, we made our way to breakfast on River Street and then headed back to the hotel room to check out.  In the same crosswalk where I made the note to self earlier, a crazy van driver on a cell phone ran a red light.  With my head on a swivel, I saw the impending danger and pulled Cammie back even with me by her arm.  It gave her quite a start, but before she could ask why Ipulled her backwards, the crazy van driver blew by us – less than three feet away.  You could say that we were three feet from spending the rest of our vacation in the emergency room.

Now charged with all the adrenaline associated with a brush with death, we decided to stroll through historic Savannah.  At 11:30am, we signed up for a walking tour that started at 1:00pm. I have no explanation why, but we spent the 90 minutes before the walking tour walking.  But remember, we were child free and just escaped two crazy drivers, so there were no limits on our energy. 

During our 90 minute warm up walk, I decided (for the first time in many years) to buy a cigar in anticipation of UNC’s championship celebration later that night.  I found a Churchill in the Savannah Bulldog brand at the Tinderbox on Bull Street.  The Savannah Bulldog Cigars are named for the two bulldogs that diligently protect the Tinderbox, Pinky and Max.  I almost stepped on Pinky on my way in, and if I did not know that Pinky is a trained security professional, I could have sworn that he was asleep.  Max was due to relieve Pinky in a few minutes, so the store security apparatus remained in a high state of alert throughout the day.

Our Savannah Walks, Inc. tour (37 Abercorn Street , 888-SAV-WALK, www.savannahwalks.com) started on time with a crowd of about 30 people, including a Paris Hilton look alike.  Our guide, David D'Arcy, predicted early on that many people would be surprised that we actually walked so much on our walking tour.  His words proved true as our group began to stretch out over several dozen yards as we moved from site to site.  As the history buffs among us listened intently to David’s oratory on the most significant and interesting pieces of Savannah ’s history, one member of our group had a hunger attack and ran to the nearest food stand and bought hot dogs for her and her son.  She walked the rest of the tour with a very colorful mustard and ketchup stain on her shirt.  The parents who brought their young children onthe tour paid little to no attention to David as they tried to run herd on their rowdy children.  Cammie and I smiled at our collective wisdom in leaving our precious, well-behaved little people with their grandmother (Lord help her).  There were only about six people who managed to keep pace with David during the whole tour despite his best efforts to keep the group together.  Despite some of the challenges of the group members, it was a great tour.  We enjoyed the great weather and the great history of Savannah.

There is more history in Savannah than you could take in if you lived there for years, but we absorbed as much as we could in a day.  I highly recommend the walking tours over the trolley and horse drawn carriage tours, but if you want to eat hot dogs or resent the walking part of the walking tour, you can tour Savannah on the seat of your pants.

After a quick trip to the candy stores, we left Savannah and headed to Jekyll Island.  We stayed at the last resort on Beachview Drive , the Holiday Inn.  We did not know it when we arrived, but one of the locals let us know that Jekyll Island is the place to go if you are a newlywed or a nearly dead.  Giving our choices, forgive us for claiming to have just gotten married (12 years have gone by really fast!).

Jekyll Island is pretty calm and pretty tame and a great place to take your family.  It is small enough that you can tour the whole island on bicycle in one day of leisurely riding, as long as you keep the gnats out of your eyes. We rented some bicycles and did just that, except for keeping the gnats out of our eyes. 

Cammie and I had similar agendas during our first night at the beach.  She wanted to enjoy some interrupted sleep and I wanted to enjoy the NCAA basketball championship uninterrupted.   We both accomplished our goals, but I had to cheer silently during the game due to Cammie’s condition of slumber. 

I want to take an aside here to thank my childhood friend, Frankie Porterfield, for making me a UNC basketball fan back in the days of Dean Smith, Michael Jordon, Sam Perkins, James Worthy, Jimmy Black, and Matt Doherty.  His influence on me all those years ago made even this year’s vacation better.  I enjoyed a UNC championship and a Savannah Bulldog cigar that first night at the beach.  I hope Frankie enjoyed the game as much as I did.

Cammie and I discovered Jekyll Island’s major shortfall the next morning. There are few to no places to get breakfast.  We drove into the town of Brunswick  and ate at the Cracker Barrel, where our waitress was country as cornbread.  She said honey and sugar enough to sweeten our whole day, but that would have been too perfect.

The last time Cammie and I went on a vacation by ourselves, we returned expecting Jay Allen.  To avoid that situation during this vacation, we decided to have our semi-annual fight over money right after breakfast.  Completely out of place during our fight, I looked out the car window to see the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard sitting at the traffic light beside us.  The fight pretty well shut down any possibility that our third child would arrive anytime in the next year, but I do have a name ready for a boy or girl as a result.  Bobby Lee Benefield may or may not make an appearance, but that name will be waiting on him or her if he or she doesJ.

We are much more efficient in our fighting and getting over it routine at this point in our lives than we were as newlyweds.  We were both done being mad by the time we got hungry for dinner (coincidence?).  Already committed to riding our bicycles everywhere (and that is hard to do mad), we pedaled off to dinner in perfect harmony.  We enjoyed another great meal at Seajay’s on Jekyll Island and then rode around the island again.  We logged about 25 miles on our bikes that day and I include that fact only because we were proud of ourselves for riding so far.

Our last morning at Jekyll Island was great, too.  We woke up early and collected sea shells for our daughter Carlie.  I actually prayed that we would find a sand dollar for her, and we did.  I forgot to specify that we needed a dead sand dollar, so the one we found at the end of our beach walk was alive.  I have no doubts that God was teaching me a lesson after I lectured Cammie on communication during our money fight.  We threw the live sand dollar back, got back on our bikes, and rode off to go get our truck.

As luck would have it, the truck wouldn’t start, so we had even more bike riding to do.  Knowing that the truck would start if we waited a couple of hours (it does not like ocean environments and has pulled this stunt before), we went to the beach to hang out for a little while.

As soon as we got to the beach, dozens of dolphins started playing just feet from the shore.  I have never been that close to so many dolphins in my life.  I am really glad we didn’t pay for a dolphin tour, because I am sure we would not have seen as many as close.  I know that many of you have heard the myths about dolphins andmoms to be, but I don’t think Cammie attracted these (but Lord help us if she did).

The dolphins ended our time on Jekyll Island on a high note, so we drove to Saint Simon’s Island for lunch.  We decided to eat at Barbara Jean’s Crab Cakes. On our way in, we saw Heather Whitestone McCallum on her way out.  Unfortunately, we took too long to figure out who she was and missed an opportunity to speak to her.  For those of you who don’t know the connection, Heather and I are both Jacksonville State University graduates and she was Miss Alabama before she was Miss America in 1994. 

Seeing Heather was interesting, but it didn’t satisfy our hunger.  We made our last meal on vacation really count.  Barbara Jean’s Crab Cakes (www.barbara-jeans.com) served up the best meal we had during our entire trip.  We ate so much it hurt, but, with thanks to John Cougar Mellencamp, it hurt so good. 

We drove happily back to Warner Robins to find that my mother had survived her time with her red-haired grand daughter and her toddler tornado grandson.  It was great to be home with our whole family, but I have to admit that planning on next year’s vacation has already begun.

I hope all of you are doing well and if you are planning a vacation, I hope sharing ours with you helps. 

 

How Should Christians Feel about Terry Schiavo

I have had many Christians ask my opinion about Terry Schiavo's situation.
Each of us has to make up our own mind. As Christians, let us turn to the
Bible to do that.  I have no doubts Satan is trying to influence many people
on this issue and there is no doubt the father of all lies is using as many
lies as he can muster.  Do not let Satan influence you on this important
issue.  Do not believe all the media reports - do not believe the lawyers,
the politicians, or anybody else who stands to benefit from bringing this
issue to a tragic close.  We (Christians) have an obligation to discern the
truth through prayer and Bible reading.

First, is starving Terry to death murder?  Under what other conditions can
we starve a human being to death?  I know of none.  We would not starve our
infant children to death, but there are courts in our country ordering
Terry's parents to let her starve to death.  I believe this is murder
(whether the courts agree or not) and the Bible says

EXODUS 20:13 "You shall not murder.

PROVERBS 28:17 A man tormented by the guilt of murder

    will be a fugitive till death;

    let no one support him.

How did we get to the point that some people in our society do not believe
that starving Terry is murder?  We have been on this slippery slope for a
while.  The path our country is following is spelled out for us in Romans.
The character of our country will determine the fate of this young woman.
The fate of this young woman could determine our fate as a Christian nation.
If we allow the forces in this country that are trying to devalue life and
remove God to succeed, the Bible tells us what will happen in Romans.  Let
me say that more directly.  If Christians in this country continue to
tolerate a judiciary influenced by Satan (and that is what I believe we
have) to kill babies and kill the disabled, God will hold us accountable for
those judges' actions and our inaction.

ROMANS 1:26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even
their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same
way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed
with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and
received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

ROMANS 1:28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to
retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do
what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of
wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters,
insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they
disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless,
ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do
such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things
but also approve of those who practice them.

ROMANS 2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning
yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know
that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So
when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do
you think you will escape God's judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the
riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's
kindness leads you toward repentance?

Should we feed a disabled woman with a poor quality of life or let her
starve?  Jesus himself answers this question for us. 

MATTHEW 25:34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you who
are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for
you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a
stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I
was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

MATTHEW 25:37 "Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we
see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38
When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and
clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

MATTHEW 25:40 "The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you
did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'


MATTHEW 25:41 "Then he will say to those on his left, `Depart from me,
you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his
angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite
me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison
and you did not look after me.'

MATTHEW 25:44 "They also will answer, `Lord, when did we see you hungry
or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did
not help you?'

MATTHEW 25:45 "He will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did
not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

MATTHEW 25:46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the
righteous to eternal life."

Is there is any doubt left that Terry should be fed and cared for, look at
the words of Jesus to Peter.  Three times he instructed Peter to feed his
sheep.

JOHN 21:15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon
son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"

    "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."

    Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."

What kind of person are we allowed to starve to death, according to the
Bible?  I can not find any category of person that we are commanded to let
starve.  In Romans, we are given more instruction on who to feed and how to
battle evil. 

ROMANS 12:20 On the contrary:

  "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."



RO 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I think these verses are good marching orders for Christians to weigh in on
this issue.  If Michael Schiavo is a misguided man being deceived by Satan
(which can happen to any of us who fail to call on God when Satan approaches
us), or if he is a true villain, it is imperative that Christians maintain
the moral high ground on this issue.  The most powerful force at work in
this tragedy is love and therefore, should be our weapon of choice. 

For my part, in looking at the two sides of this tragedy, I can clearly see
which side is acting out of love. 

Better than David and Goliath

If we were writing the Bible today, the story of Ashley Smith would have to be included.  The young widow from Atlanta whose faith yielded better results than all of the police officers in Georgia and the FBI combined is a hero of the Faith of Biblical proportions. 

Ashley Smith had every excuse to turn away from God when her husband was killed four years ago, but she did not.  Without knowing all the details of her journey in Faith, I do know that she had an active, live Faith that served her well in a very trying situation.  The kind of calm, wisdom, and Faith that Ashley displayed did not develop from a passive “wish” to understand the Bible and walk closely with Jesus.  Ashley knew the Bible and explained her Faith to a hardened, cold-blooded and hopeless rapist and murderer while her life was obviously at risk.  That has to be the result of reading the Bible and praying to a living Savior. 

After losing a spouse to murder, most of us would struggle to witness to a murderer.  It would be much easier to hate murderers and hope that they would “burn in Hell.”  It would be much easier to hate a murderer that was holding us captive than to wish to see him saved. Ashley did not want her captor to burn in Hell anymore than she wanted to leave her daughter parentless.  Where does a young widow develop such a concern for a man who could take her life and leave her daughter an orphan?

Matthew 5

44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

 

Ashley’s concern for Brian Nichol’s soul and its eternal fate may have been the first concern shown for this evil man in a long time.  The only force that can overcome the kind of evil in Brian Nichols comes from God.  The Holy Spirit guided Ashley Smith to witness effectively to this man that she no Earthly reason to care for.  Ashley’s concern for him may have saved her life and saved the lives of numerous others who might have been in his path had he continued his killing spree.

Some have foolishly tried to explain away the Faith aspect of this dramatic story, but it simply can not be done.  Ashley had no training to equip her to deal with a hostage situation.  In spite of her lack of training, she will be studied as a hostage success story and those who study the situation will not ignore any aspect of Ashley’s success.  If her Faith and genuine concern for her captor allowed Ashley to build the relationship with him that saved her life, honest students of her situation will acknowledge that and learn from it.  Only fools will ignore and criticize it.

Ashley not only managed to escape, but did so at a time of her choosing.  She had earlier opportunities to escape but made a shrewd tactical assessment that she could endanger herself, her captor, and law enforcement officials if she called for help at the wrong time.  She knew God could resolve the situation without further loss of life.  Where does such fearlessness and wisdom come from?  The apostle Paul showed this kind of wisdom in a story from Acts that also ended well.

Acts 16

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paulshouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

 

In my humble opinion, Ashley Smith’s story is one even greater than the story of David defeating Goliath.  Goliath was a champion warrior who challenged all of Israel.  David was an overmatched warrior, but still a warrior who answered the challenge of Goliath.  God guided David to victory with a sling and a stone.

I was not there when Goliath threatened Israel, but I was in Atlanta on the day of this ordeal.  I have never seen so many law enforcement officials patrolling the Georgia highways and the Atlanta area.  Without knowing what exactly had happened, I knew that every police officer and federal agent anywhere near Atlanta had been alerted to respond to something.  They had been alerted by man to answer Brian Nichol’s challenge.

Brian Nichols was a cold blooded killer who threatened all who crossed his path.  Ashley Smith, who was far from a traditional warrior, was alerted by God to answer Brian Nichol’s challenge.  God delivered Nichols to Ashley Smith’s apartment and guided this hostage hero to deliver Atlanta from this terror with pancakes and prayer. 

This would be a great ending to the story, but it is very possible that God will continue to use Ashley Smith.  And let us not limit God to using our hero.  If God uses Brian Nichols to advance his Kingdom, Nichols will not be the first murderer that God has used.  Moses, Saul of Tarsus (better known as Paul), and King David himself were all murderers who God used in powerful ways.  Can we show the courage Ashley Smith demonstrated and pray that God will use Brian Nichols to change lives while paying his debt to society and living out his remaining days on Earth in prison?

A Mustang

I have driven a 1967 Fairlane since 1996.  This week, I upgraded to a Mustang.  I got a great deal and the car is in great shape.  I look forward to driving this car for many, many years.  Check out my pictures - email me if you want to buy my Fairlane:-)