One might notice, as you read through each of these posts, that I have what many would percieve as a very conservative view of life and God. I must say, however, that this was not always the case! In some future posts I will address some of the things that have happened to me over the years, what I have done to deal with them, and how they have brought me back around to the teachings of my youth. For the time, though, please consider this article I wrote for a March 2003 publication. The headlines mentioned date from that time, but I think most of you will remember them…



In one sense, this story is not personal. After all, it hasn’t affected me or anyone I know personally in any way. But in another sense, it is very personal to each of us! As I sit and write this, the news is full of the tragedy of over one hundred lives lost in two separate nightclub incidents within a week of each other.

I’m sure by now you all know the stories. In Chicago, club-goers panicked while trying to get away from the effects of mace being used to break-up a fight and became entangled in the stairwell when the exit became blocked from the crush of the crowd. Rescuers had to enter from other exits and pull the people away from the top to get to those beneath. Twenty-some people were crushed to death, and many more injured. Later that same week, an unapproved pyrotechnic device started a blaze in a Rhode Island club where almost a hundred died trying to get out the same doorway they entered. Aside from the needless loss of life, why does any of this bother me? Because it has all happened before!

In 1940, 198 people died in a fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Miss. Two years later, 492 were burned to death in the Coconut Club in Boston. 1977 saw 165 die in a club in Kentucky. 1990 – 87 dead – New York City… 1928 – 40 dead – West Plaines, MO… the list goes on and on.

My point is this… in each of these instances lessons were learned and changes made. Exit lights were installed, codes written and enforced, and the public made aware to BE aware! And still, these things happen! Why? Because we either forget… or we fail to teach the next generation!

In the December 2002 issue of Readers Digest an article written by David McCullough describes how we Americans, at least, are losing our history. He tells of an undergrad telling him after a lecture how she never realized before that the original thirteen colonies were all on the eastern seaboard… how a recent survey at colleges and universities showed that most of those surveyed believed Ulysses S. Grant to be the American general at Yorktown… and how none of the nation’s top 50 learning institutions now require American History as part of the curriculum! And he goes on to explain that without that knowledge… without knowing not only WHAT happened before, but also WHY it happened… these people will be doomed to repeat the same mistakes!

I have noted on numerous occasions how each generation learns from the one before and builds on that knowledge. But if we ignore the lessons of the past then we must, forsooth, repeat them!

The same exact idea holds true for our religious beliefs and faith! How many crazy ideas have you heard people speak that were purported to be spiritual! Recently, many of the youth of this congregation, along with myself and other adults who had occasion to know him, had to deal with the tragic death of a young man who had been a part of our last two mission trips. He had apparently fallen into a ‘cult’ that told him that the only way to be really ‘close to God’ was through death! And his personal knowledge of the Bible and the teachings within were not yet complete enough to show him the truth that WAS THERE!

Someone recently told me that the youth of today are more than just the ‘church’ of tomorrow… they are the church of today, as well! That is a very true and powerful statement. So it stands to reason that if the ‘Bride of Christ’, the church, is to survive, it will do so through the youth of today… and tomorrow. But only if we can pass on the truths that Jesus gave us two thousand odd years ago… a story that will never age… a story that will have the same impact a thousand years from now as it does today – and as it did when Jesus, Himself, walked the roads and countryside of Galilee and Jerusalem!

And yet, we are all prone to feel so superior, so much more intelligent than our predecessors that we fail to accept ANY of the teachings they offer us. And that is a very dangerous mistake! That is why these news stories bother – nay, scare – me… they are such blatant proof that we haven’t learned anything!

The Old Testament records over and over how God’s ‘Chosen People’ would forget their past and wander away from Him until He decided to ‘remind’ them… usually in a very strong way! And unless we are very careful and become more assiduous in passing on the lessons and words of Jesus, then the very same thing could happen here!

The proof is in the headlines!