In the Arena

On April 23, 1910, President Theodore Roosevelt delivered an address at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, entitled "Citizenship in a Republic."

Early in his address was a passage that is referred to as "The Man in the Arena."

It begins: It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly.

"It is not the critic who counts."

The job of the critic is to critique, even to criticize. We often call it being the "Monday morning quarterback."

Whether the arena is sports, art, food, or movies, the critic's job is always the same: make careful observations and render his or her opinion of the performance.

Roosevelt would remind us, however, that it is not the critic who counts, but the person in the arena itself.

Jesus was always the person in the arena.

He enters the home of a prominent Pharisee on a Sabbath Day and all eyes are on Him to see if He will dare to heal a man in violation of Sabbath laws (Luke 14:1-6).

The crowd brings before Him a woman caught in adultery to see if he will uphold the law and consent to her being stoned to death for her sin (John 8:1-11).

The religious leaders complain that Jesus doesn't teach His followers to follow the Jewish purification rituals (Mark 7:1-8).

When the crowd in the Nazareth synagogue takes issue with Jesus' assertion that He is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, they attempt to toss Him over a cliff at the edge of the city (Luke 4:16-30).

Jesus was always the person in the arena. He always had critical eyes focused on Him.

So do His followers.

If you as a follower of Jesus have friends, neighbors, relatives, or co-workers who are not followers of Jesus, be assured that you have critical eyes focused on you.

People who don't follow Jesus watch His followers to see how we will respond and react to the events in our lives.

Do we complain about the boss? Do we curse at the computer or copy machine? Do we speak disrespectfully of our spouse? Do we grouse about our children? Do we gossip about the next door neighbor? Do we lie or cheat or steal?

We become the gauge by which people evaluate Jesus and those who claim to follow Him.

As it was with Jesus, so it is with us. We are always in the arena.

Jesus didn't win friends when in the arena. His compassion for the hurting and disregard for religious rules and traditions earned Him the hatred of His critics.

Likewise, Jesus' followers, those who choose compassion over complaint, mercy over malice, and right over wrong, might earn the contempt of their critics.

But they should know what Jesus and Teddy Roosevelt also knew. It is not the critic who counts. Rather, it is the person in the arena.

What are your arenas? And how will you conduct yourself in those arenas? The critics are watching.

Top Ten Reasons to Do Disaster Response Ministry

Hurricane Katrina is where I cut my teeth in Disaster Response Ministry. I helped the Indiana District of our national church body, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, plan its response to that disaster.

Over my years since Katrina I have learned a lot about disasters. I have been LERT (Lutheran Early Response Team) trained and CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) trained. I've learned about Incident Command and Disaster Preparedness. All of that training has been valuable and I've been able to share much of what I've learned with others.

I've also learned what I'm good at in a disaster. For example, I don't handle a chainsaw. I generally handle a Comfort Dog and spend time with the victims of disaster. I've learned that I'm better with people than with power tools.

I've especially learned that there's a lot that I still need to learn.

Nevertheless, I have come up with a list of the Top Ten Reasons to Do Disaster Response Ministry.

10. You travel to new places. Granted, you may not see these places at their best, but every deployment gives the opportunity to visit a part of the country that may be new to you. Even in driving from one shelter to another, you see the sights along the way. I've enjoyed beignets in the French Quarter, seen from afar the Statue of Liberty, felt the damp chill of New England in December, and paid my respects at the memorial to the victims of the 1995 Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City.

9. You meet great everyday heroes: police officers and firefighters, EMS crews and 911 dispatchers, ER nurses, volunteers from across the nation, and local residents who all pitch in to help in the crisis.

8. You hear powerful stories of faith and courage in the face of overwhelming adversity. These stories will inspire when you hear them and will inspire others when you share them.

7. You are privileged to work side by side with others whose hearts overflow with compassion for the hurting. Friendships are forged in the course of serving in a disaster. You are part of a team and you grow close to your teammates as you rely on each other during the deployment.

6. At the end of each day, your heart is filled with gratitude for the blessings that God has bestowed on you. Caring for the hurting, the grieving, the confused, and the frightened puts your life in perspective and keeps you from taking God's goodness for granted.

5. In my case, I get to partner with the Comfort Dogs from Lutheran Church Charities. These highly trained and skilled golden retrievers serve as the bridge for Disaster Response Ministry. The comfort that they provide to the victims of disaster has to be seen to be understood. With their unconditional love and the gift of hope they inspire, these dogs bring healing to hurting spirits.

4. You marvel at the "God Moments" that occur each day of the deployment. The day may begin with "Why are we spending time at this location?" The day will end with "That's why God had us go there."

3. Caring for people in disaster increases your capacity to notice and care for the people in need that you encounter each and every day. That neighbor or co-worker or friend may be in their own personal crisis. It won't make the headlines, and they may not bring it up to you, but you will learn to recognize the look in the eye or the body language that cries out, "Help me!"

2. You hone your Christian caregiving skills. Phrases like "How can I help you in prayer?" become natural. So does using your ears more than your mouth. You discover the healing power of a hug or a hand on a shoulder. You find your "go to" Bible passages that speak hope to the hurting. (Mine is Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd ... ")

And the Number 1 Reason to Do Disaster Response Ministry is: You receive the blessing of being the vessel that brings the Compassion, Mercy, Presence, and Proclamation of Christ to those who are hurting. You make a difference in the name of Jesus. What more could you want at the end of the day?

Health Tip for Today: Do the will of the One who sent you

Healthy Eating! It's all the rage in a nation that wrestles with obesity.

On a daily basis we are told by the experts what foods are the best for us (as in the "Top 10 Healthiest Foods" pictured here) and in what portions we should eat them and how many times a day we should eat them and how we should prepare them and on and on and on...
Even though there may be disagreements about the details of healthy eating, one thing that everyone who eats agrees on is this: in order to be healthy, we need to eat food.

The same can be said of our spiritual health. It also requires food. Jesus even tells us what food we should eat to nourish our spirits.

I know that some of you are assuming that I'm referring to the Word of God. That would be a good assumption.

Others of you might have the Lord's Supper in mind. Another good possibility.

In fact, our spiritual life depends on God's Word and the Lord's Supper as indispensable means through which God gives us His grace. To remove them from our spiritual diet is to starve our soul to (eternal) death.

But in John 4, while the woman at the well is off telling her fellow villagers about this man she met who told her everything she had done in her life, Jesus has a chit-chat with His disciples. They have urged Him to eat some of the food they have purchased. In response He tells them that He has food that they don't know about. They think that someone gave Him some food in their absence. He explains that His food is to do the will of the One who sent Him.

In other words, what nourished Jesus spiritually, what kept Him healthy in His soul, was to obey His Father's will and finish His work.

Jesus then pointed to the mission of reaping the harvest of people in whom the promises of God had been planted. The fields, He explained, were ripe and just waiting to be harvested. People were ready to be gathered into eternal life.

Jesus says His food is to do the will and work of God and links it with the mission of the church. If the will and work of God and the reaping of the mission harvest nourished Jesus, they will also nourish His followers.

Simply put, if you want to be spiritually fed, be in mission.

If you want to be spiritually healthy, be in mission.

If you want to do the will and work of God, be in mission.