Taryn R. Hutchison's Blog: The Glorious Muddle, page 34

How Do You Smell?

Some days, it’s easy to get discouraged. Our world is riddled with a plethora of problems. The fabric of our society is rotting and decaying around us and that doesn’t smell very good. As Christ-followers, we’re supposed to be the salt that preserves and slows the decomposition. But it doesn’t always feel like we’re making a difference.



But then there are days like today when I get a whiff that’s beautiful, appealing, and pure. I smelled the aroma of Christ today.



“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.” II Cor. 2:14-16.



This morning, I sat in on the servant leadership meeting with the Cru (Campus Crusade) students. On our small campus, these students have boldly planted their stake in the ground and declared their allegiance to Christ. There is no turning back for them; no anonymity. They are all in positions of influence around campus where their faith in Christ is known and observed to see if it’s real. Students approach them to talk about Jesus. During a brief sharing time today, I heard stories of sorority girls filing in and out of their sister’s room to talk about spiritual things; of a football player beginning a relationship with Christ last week; of a student with a heavy burden coming to his RA for prayer; of freshmen students thronging to the first meeting.



Everyone of us has people who watch us, people who we can influence. We can spread the aroma of the knowledge of him wherever we are: in our small jobs, in our families, in our neighborhoods.



The sweet smell of Jesus draws students to these servant leaders. They are making a difference in their corner of the world, helping to reverse some of the decay on campus. They are the aroma that brings life. We can be that aroma, too.

Unexpected (Fan) Mail

Every week, I carve out a little time to respond to something I'm almost embarrassed to talk about, something which still takes me by surprise. Some may call it fan mail, but I consider it ministry. It’s an opportunity for me to continue the conversation with people - perhaps on the other side of the country or even the world - who have been affected by my writing to the point of taking time to let me know that. I try to get to know them and their needs, to turn the conversation away from me and encourage them.



“Are you an author?” a lady asked me last week in a gallery on the Art Crawl line-up downtown.

 

"Who? Me?" I stammered. "I guess so. Yes, I am."



“We read your book in my book club and you look just like your picture.”



That had never happened to me before.



A few days before that, I got a phone call from a man who’d read my article in the Amy Writing Awards booklet. After initially feeling more than a little creepy that he tracked down my phone number, I decided he was just a dear older gentleman who hasn’t forgotten how to use an antiquated phone book. But to be on the safe side, I did talk about “my husband” frequently – a trick I also employed in my single days.



Last week, a lady in Kansas emailed me that she’s reviewing my book at her church's women’s conference. Another first for me.



Every time one of my articles runs in the local paper, “fans” tell me they eagerly wait for each new article I write. And then there are comments that come via my blog and the ones where I’m a guest blogger.



Always unexpected, it’s become one of my favorite aspects of the writing life.

There's No Place Like It

Click here to read my guest post on baaaaa.com's blog. The tagline reads "bleats, from God's sheep."

Beginning Again

I love this time of year. It marks the beginning of the end of summer. Signs appear already that foretell fall’s imminent arrival. The early mornings are now cooler (which I like) and darker (which I don’t like) than July. This past July broke the record for the hottest month ever in the United States and I couldn’t be happier for it to end.



You may think I’m crazy to be happy about summer’s end, and perhaps this time of year delivers the exact opposite emotion to you. But to me, it means the end of the heat and humidity.



And it also marks the return of students to the campus where I work.



As a child, I loved the seemingly-endless summer days filled with bike rides and swimming in the river and writing stories and playing with our animals. But even then, I had to admit the start of a new school year invigorated me.



I loved the smell of crisp new textbooks, buying a new outfit every fall, picking out school supplies, the excitement of wondering whether I’d like my teachers and my classes. To some, the unknown brings fear, but to me, it means thrill and anticipation.



Spring is the season of new life. Trees and flowers that appeared to be dead return to full vibrancy, pointing us to Christ’s life conquering death. But autumn also seems like a resurrection of sorts to me.



A new school year means new beginnings. A chance for a fresh start.



Freshmen are arriving today, full of trepidation and excitement. Their values and life goals will be shaped while they’re in college; their possibilities are limitless and yet to be written.



I wonder which of the freshmen will be introduced to Christ through the Cru students. Who will grow in their relationship with Jesus? Which ones will respond to His call to help reach the world?



The campus where I work has been in the throes of death, or at the least, in hibernation since graduation in May. This week it is springing to life. Students are beginning to return. Rather than hearing birds singing as in the springtime, I hear laughter again.



And it sounds beautiful.

It's the Little Words

“Preach the gospel always, and if necessary, use words.” You’ve probably heard this quote, maybe even used it. It’s widely attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but never verified, and certainly taken out of context.



If St. Francis indeed made the statement, he must have thought it frequently necessary to use words. He trained large numbers of young men to go with him to preach on the street corners in 12th century Italy.



That quote has become a convenient escape clause for us.



Yes, it’s true that our lives need to match the faith we profess. We need to live with integrity, meaning that we are the same at home AND at work, on Sundays at church AND on Mondays on the interstate. Our public and private selves merge; we become undivided people.



We share the good news both by being tangibly involved in peoples’ lives AND by speaking truth.



No words are ever wasted in the Bible. The little ones carry a lot of weight.



Word AND deed.



Truth AND love.



Neither are any words inadvertently omitted. Notice the absence of the little word "or." We were never given the option of choosing whether to travel the route of speaking the truth of the gospel OR showing the love of the gospel.



And where are we to do this? Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, AND the remotest part of the earth.



We begin with one small stone, in our town, our Jerusalem. Like ripples that spread out from there, we go on to Judea and Samaria (our country), with the impact radiating out to the world.



“We have enough needs right in our own backyard. What’s the big deal about reaching the world?” Have you heard this sentiment? I have.



Our perspective is skewed. Jesus promised us power to be his witnesses, to testify to his life, everywhere. How would the gospel ever have reached you in your land if earlier saints had ignored this? Maybe the church has been remiss in recent history with an emphasis on preaching to strangers while ignoring the needs of our neighbors. But is that any reason to let the pendulum swing to the exact opposite extreme?



How can we communicate news – good news – apart from words? If you are kind to people, serve hungry people soup, or even go to a foreign country and help build houses, how will they intuitively guess the reason you are so nice? 



Many of us attend church our entire lives and still get confused about the finer points of theology. Yes, the gospel is simple, but the depths and complexities of it take a lifetime to plumb. Do we really expect others to figure it all out on their own?



Words are critical. But they must be backed up by action or else they’re empty hypocrisy. And not just one isolated incident, but consistent and authentic action. Anyone can be nice for one hour.



When my friend, Greg, went to Bosnia for a year, he expected the Bosnian people to see there was something different about him because he modeled Christ’s love. Instead, he found people - with no knowledge of Jesus - to be some of the most gracious and generous he’d ever met. His landlord even had a great marriage – apart from knowing Judeo-Christian values.



Greg concluded that kindness wasn’t enough. “The gospel must be shared with words,” he told me.



Good deeds are not enough. Greg had words that brought life. Do you?

Democracy: It's Not Dead Yet

Yesterday I witnessed Americans turning out in droves to cast their vote; more than I’ve ever seen for any presidential election. Cars lined up for a mile waiting to turn into the polling place in my town. People stood in a queue that wrapped around the voting venue, out the door, and spilled onto the sidewalk.



Amazingly, people waited patiently, not a small feat for instant-gratification-loving Americans. At the end of their sojourn, weary yet pleasant workers greeted them with a smile.



The ballots were cast at unorthodox locations: Chick-fil-A restaurants.



Some Americans turned out to vote because First Amendment rights were being threatened. Some came to stand for the Biblical definition of marriage. And some just to support their favorite chicken sandwich with their wallets.



A handful of people stood in front of the restaurant with picket signs, also casting their vote and exercising their free speech. One sign read, “Chick-fil-A serves Hate and Intolerance with their Chicken.” (I wonder if they considered that it might be intolerant to attempt to ban Chick-fil-A from whole cities.)



I felt like I was witnessing something historic.



Last week, I blogged about my fear that we are a nation headed toward Fascism. My angle was the violation of the First Amendment's freedom of speech. The whole brouhaha began when Chick-fil-A’s president merely answered a question posed by a reporter, honestly expressing his personal belief, while refusing to discriminate against anyone with a different belief who eats or works in his company.



Since then, I’ve read many other editorials which have pointed to a bigger First Amendment right being threatened in our Western world: the free exercise of religion. It’s not just evangelical Protestant Christians who are being discriminated against.



Recently, the Department of Health & Human Services' (HHS) mandate went into effect, requiring that all employers pay for contraception services and abortion-inducing drugs. This forces Catholic organizations to either abandon their consciences or drop health care coverage for employees.



In Cologne, Germany, circumcision was banned as a violation of a newborn’s human rights; thereby infringing on the exercise of religion for Jews. To follow Mosaic law, all male Jewish boys must be circumcised at eight days old. Of all nations in the world, Germany is the last country that should attempt to step on the free expression of Judaism.



Last night, my faith in democracy was restored. Americans spoke up.

Democracy Lives

Yesterday I witnessed Americans turning out in droves to cast their vote; more than I’ve ever seen for any presidential election. Cars lined up for a mile waiting to turn into the polling place in my town. People stood in a queue that wrapped around the voting venue, out the door, and spilled onto the sidewalk.



Amazingly, people waited patiently, not a small feat for instant-gratification-loving Americans. At the end of their sojourn, weary yet pleasant workers greeted them with a smile.



The ballots were cast at unorthodox locations: Chick-fil-A restaurants.



Some Americans turned out to vote because First Amendment rights were being threatened. Some came to stand for the Biblical definition of marriage. And some just to support their favorite chicken sandwich with their wallets.



A handful of people stood in front of the restaurant with picket signs, also casting their vote and exercising their free speech. One sign read, “Chick-fil-A serves Hate and Intolerance with their Chicken.” (I wonder if they considered that it might be intolerant to attempt to ban Chick-fil-A from whole cities.)



I felt like I was witnessing something historic.



Last week, I blogged about my fear that we are a nation headed toward Fascism. My angle was the violation of the First Amendment's freedom of speech. The whole brouhaha began when Chick-fil-A’s president merely answered a question posed by a reporter, honestly expressing his personal belief, while refusing to discriminate against anyone with a different belief who eats or works in his company.



Since then, I’ve read many other editorials which have pointed to a bigger First Amendment right being threatened in our Western world: the free exercise of religion. It’s not just evangelical Protestant Christians who are being discriminated against.



Recently, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) mandate went into effect, requiring that all employers pay for contraception services and abortion-inducing drugs. This forces Catholic organizations to either abandon their consciences or drop health care coverage for employees.



In Cologne, Germany, circumcision was banned as a violation of a newborn’s human rights; thereby infringing on the exercise of religion for Jews. To follow Mosaic law, all male Jewish boys must be circumcised at eight days old. Of all nations in the world, Germany is the last country that should attempt to step on the free expression of Judaism.



Last night, my faith in democracy was restored. Americans spoke up.

The Cost of So-Called Free Speech

No doubt you’ve heard about the maelstrom surrounding Chick-Fil-A. It all started with an article in the Biblical Recorder, reposted in Baptist Press News - an online magazine I’ve written for several times. (On the one hand, I wish I’d written something that would go viral. But not at this cost.)



It came as no surprise to learn that Chick-Fil-A espouses Christian values, what with all its 1,600 restaurants being closed every Sunday. In the interview, company President Dan Cathy was asked about his company’s support of the traditional family unit as opposed to gay marriage. He answered, “Guilty as charged.”



Period. He didn’t rant about being anti-gay. He didn’t spew hate-filled venomous words directed at gays. He merely expressed his opinion.



As a result, some Chick-Fil-A restaurants are being denied business licenses. Whole cities are trying to close them down.



A famous celebrity tweeted that she wishes cancer for anyone who eats at Chick-Fil-A. Really?! Cancer? She went on to describe the chicken as antibiotic-filled tortured chickens for Christ.



All this because one person expressed an opinion which the Politically Correct Gestapo didn’t like.



Political correctness says that all opinions are equally valid, no matter who expresses them. But when a Bible-believing Christian states an opinion, then the true spirit of political correctness is revealed. The reality is that all opinions, with the exception of Judeo-Christian value statements, are valid.



It brings to mind George Orwell’s Animal Farm. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” That book, along with his 1984 in which Big Brother monitors every activity of every citizen, foretold the story of Communism.



In Communism, all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party. I know what that is like. I’ve lived in a country trying to work their way out of that.



But I’m also reminded of Communism’s polar opposite: Fascism. In this case, a dictator with complete power forcibly suppresses all opposition and criticism.



Last year, I visited Berlin and walked across Bebelplatz, the site of the infamous Nazi book burning held on May 10, 1933. The Nazis burned around 20,000 books that evening, books which did not tout the Party Line. Is this where we’re headed?



In another story this week, Bibles weren’t burned but might as well have been. A hotel in England’s Lake District removed the Bibles and replaced with the racy novel “Fifty Shades of Grey.”



Aren’t all people in a free society entitled to hold a whole variety of opinions and express them without fear of censor? We have lost that.



More than that, we've lost reverence for God and His Word.



Maybe as a nation we are headed towards Communism or Fascism. I’m no political expert and I don’t like to get political in these blogs. If that’s the case, then God is bigger than any mere man-made system of government. I’ve seen with my own eyes how persecution has made churches, albeit underground ones, stronger. Nobody and no government can stop the gospel from being proclaimed. Even if we become mute - perhaps by being imprisoned or killed - the very stones would cry out that Jesus is Lord.



In God I trust, not in any government. How about you?

Confrontation with Evil

How can we make sense out of senseless evil and violence? Whether you live in Aurora, Colorado or on the other side of the world, at times like this, we are reminded that we are not that different after all. We are all stunned.



There are no words.



Instead of attempting to post something, anything, that feels trite in the face of unspeakable tragedy, I will re-post two blogs from people I've never met. Two people whose lives are forever changed after that vicious, senseless attack. One was in the theater. One waited in the hospital for news of a victim.



Both still believe in the goodness of God. I hope you can, too.





 

What, Me Worry?

As usual, Oswald Chamber’s words today, penned a century ago, spoke to me. “God is my Father. He loves me. I shall never think of anything He will forget. Why should I worry?”



I don’t think I’m consciously worrying about anything. There’s nothing exactly stressful in my life right now, but still, so many thoughts competed for my attention last night that sleep became a mere nap. Certainly jet lag from our recent trip played a part in that, and it is my first day back to work after a two-week vacation. But mostly my To-Do list consumed me. Nagging thoughts such as:


I can’t forget to take my notebook to work tomorrow. If I keep reciting, “Notebook, Notebook, Notebook,” as I drift off to sleep, it’ll be my first thought in the morning. (This brilliant idea boomeranged.)
As soon as I get home, I have to read that stack of mail. Agh! When will I ever find time to answer all those personal emails?
I have to vote Tuesday night. And I have a meeting Thursday night. And somehow, I have to figure out what to cook for Friday night. Yikes! How will I get the house clean by Friday?

This morning, Oswald’s words on divine control were a balm to my overtired, frantic heart.



Why should I worry? Really, is there any rational reason for it? Isn’t worry actually just another way of saying that I don’t trust that God can do it? When I'm anxious, I stop believing that He can take care of me. Anxiety and trust can't possibly co-exist.



God is my Father and he does love me. There’s no place for worry in my life.



This last week, as I watched our sweet granddaughter cry out, “Papi, I’m sinking!” and then saw her momentary fear melt away when her daddy put his strong arms out to catch her in her inflatable tube, I realized Lucy was modeling how I should respond in fearful situations. I need to trust that Abba Father is enough.



There's no way, with my finite mind, that I can think of something that the God of the Universe will forget, no matter how many times I recite it to myself.



No worries. Hakuna matata.



Better yet, the words to Phil. 4:6-7 sprang to my heart: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”