Stay-at-Home Parents

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Galatians [6:14]

Recently, when playing golf, I spontaneously made the sign of the cross. My playing partner saw me make this simple gesture and said, “I thought you were a Methodist; are you Catholic?” He had assumed because I made the sign of the cross that I had changed denominations.

No, I hadn’t, but I sometimes feel compelled when I feel the presence of God to outwardly thank God for existing and being in my life. Long ago, a friend of mine, Joe Bongiorno, explained to me what the sign of the cross meant to him. And I thought to myself, What a magnificent way to show my love for God. For me, it became a simple and personal way to recognize God and the importance of God in my life. A simple gesture to recognize the driving force of creation and all that is born of love.

Admittedly, while a stronger believer in the Methodist way, I admire the Catholic Church. Yes, I just said that. It doesn’t mean I am disloyal to my tribe, the Methodists; it means that I am a Christian first and admire any and all that is good from other denominations.

Some will criticize the Catholic Church.

There are things that the denomination has done to engender this criticism. Certainly, the child abuse debacle is one of those things. It is a horrific stain on the denomination.

There are also the indulgences that were sold in the Middle Ages and the Spanish Inquisition. The burnings at the stake for those who were considered heretics. And let us not forget about the scandals of the popes during the Holy Roman Empire. Yes, there are many horrific things that we can choose to judge the Catholic Church by.

But all denominations have had their problems.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist religion wasn’t always the righteous man of legend. He reneged on a marriage proposal and was thrown out of the United States in the eighteenth century. Martin Luther’s writings late in life contained anti-Semitic views that were later used to justify the massacre of six million Jewish people.

The Thirty Years War saw both the Catholics and Protestants fighting one another, leaving one quarter of Germany dead.

These acts, whether done by both Catholics and Protestant humans and are not acts of God. They are flawed and misguided acts of evil enacted by humans. Similar to humankind, all religious denominations have skeletons in their closets.

We always have the choice to focus on the good or bad in people and their beliefs. I choose to focus on the good. This doesn’t mean we should ignore the bad, but we should also not forget the many great contributions.

It was the Catholics who died bravely in the Coliseum.

It was Peter, the first Catholic, who nursed a backwater belief structure into becoming a powerful voice for Christ. And let us not forget Paul, who roamed the known world preaching the good news of Christ, despite many beatings and personal suffering.

Sure, we Protestants could take a position of judging the Catholic Church. But without the brave Catholics, there is much we would miss.

The Nicene Creed—a powerful statement of all Christian beliefs—was created by 150 Catholic bishops in a remote corner of Greece. Mother Teresa tended to the “untouchables.” Catholic charities here in the United States feed the poor, act as advocates for social justice, and are always one of the first to lend a hand during natural disasters.

It is more about how we look at and judge life. We always have the opportunity to either light a candle or curse the darkness. To only focus on the bad would mean missing the noble acts of millions of pious Catholics. It would mean missing the fact that Catholicism is growing worldwide. Since 1965, Catholicism has grown 70 percent and is expected to continue its growth. Not here in the United States, but in other parts of the world. Its message and ways are still bringing people to Christ, just like it did 2,000 years ago.

I can make the sign of the cross and still be a Methodist. But I am a Christian first and remain an admirer of the Catholic Church. I don’t ignore the harm done by some of the humans in the church, but I do want to remember the legacy of the many Catholics who have made the world better.

Blessings, until next time,
Bruce L. Hartman

Dr. Bruce L. Hartman is the author of Jesus & Co. and Your Faith Has Made You Well.

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Taking Responsibility and Being Accountable

“Each of us must take responsibility for doing the creative best we can with our own life.”

Galatians 6:5

I love the movie, Pursuit of Happyness. It reminds me about taking personal responsibility for my life. Sometimes I am good at it and sometimes not as good as I would like. Movies like this remind me of how I should be and what I ought to do.

If you aren’t familiar with the movie, it is a true story about a single father who has to care for a two-year-old boy without money or a job. For one year, Chris Gardner struggled mightily. He was an unpaid intern for a large brokerage firm, pursuing his life’s dream of becoming a stockbroker. He was forced into homelessness because of a bad business deal he had made. His wife left him and their son. While some of his problems were of his own making, many were not.

He never gave in to feeling sorry for himself

He accepted his lot and worked hard to correct his life. While at his internship he acquired many new customers for his firm. His personal style of friendly collegiality was critical to new customers. They knew they could trust Chris. While trouble swirled around him for that difficult year, he kept an attitude of taking responsibility for himself—no excuses or self-pity, just hard work.

Fast-forwarding to today, Chris is wealthy and gives graciously of his time and money. He did land a job with the brokerage firm where he served as an intern. He became the first African American to start a large brokerage firm, selling it twenty-five years later for a large amount of money. Today, he speaks around the country about faith and accepting personal responsibility. Not from the eyes of someone who hasn’t been there, but from the dark moments of his early life.

I am fortunate to know other people in similar situations.

Not necessarily as dire as Chris’s, but tough. Like Rich, who created his own mess and fixed his problem. Or Bill, who keeps helping the world when it doesn’t always help him back.

I marvel at these people. Life hasn’t always been fair to them, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t fair back. They quietly accept that it is their problem to fix. You help them when they are down, and they take your help with grace, then pay you back many times over. Not with words, but with deeds.

One man whom I know well hit hard times.

His son had just died, and his wife had left him. On top of that, he had been let go from his job. He was also an alcoholic. In a matter of a year, he went from having a good life to one of trouble. Like Chris, he didn’t make excuses. He knew he’d screwed up and checked himself into rehab, spending eight months away from his life in a place far from home.

He is in recovery today and has been for a few years. He’s since started his own business, which is thriving. I had loaned him a small amount of money to get started and helped him think about how to run his new business. He paid me back on time. He fixed his problem and moved forward.

Today’s verse, written by the apostle Paul, describes who is responsible for our lives. It is us. Some will have big problems and some small. But ultimately it is our life to lead, and our problems are ours to solve.

There are three sources of help—God, our neighbor, and ourselves. Some will see God as more than just a “genie” and will work with God. This is the way God works. God helps those who help themselves.

All of what God does is done with love. Enabling isn’t something God will do. Sometimes love is not giving what shouldn’t be given.

It is the same with friends—only we can create the action our friends suggest. Only we can stop the behavior that got us in trouble in the first place. We have to be standing beside our friends and shoveling our way out of our ditches.

Otherwise, we wear people out.

When we only have our hand out, our friends grow weary trying to find a way to get us to see that we hold the solution. Eventually, they may tire and move on.

People like helping people those who work with them. This is the greatness I see in humanity. People love helping people who creatively, and with ingenuity, work their way out of problems. Those that act get more.

We all have come upon desperation or tough times. Times we have to be creative and work hard. If we haven’t, we are way past due. Our character is improved and strengthened when we fight back against tough times.

What I have observed about successful people is that they take responsibility and are accountable in all things. They do what they ought to do, not what they want to do. They see failures as chances to learn and grow.

I love the movie, Pursuit of Happyness because it reminds me of I what I ought to do. Or as the Apostle Paul says in the book of Romans, “Each of us must take responsibility for doing the creative best we can with our own life.”

Blessings, until next time,
Bruce L. Hartman

Dr. Bruce L. Hartman is the author of Jesus & Co. and Your Faith Has Made You Well.

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How Going to Church Can Help the Exhausted Majority

“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

Matthew [18:20]

We travel a lot and oftentimes find ourselves in a different city on Sunday. Not wanting to miss church, we attend a local service. Sometimes it is a Catholic Mass or a Protestant church. Though we are Methodists, we are Christians first and enjoy the variety of the various denominations we encounter.

On a recent Sunday, we attended a Catholic Mass. From the moment we walked in, we felt a wave of hope and genuine Christian goodwill. The congregation was varied and represented all ages.

A skillful service

Upon reflection, I noticed the priest was unusually inviting. It was evident in his manner of talking and the way he recognized people in the pews. It was his flock to serve, and he took this responsibility full fold. He smiled and was humble in how he spoke. His message about the Gospel wasn’t diluted but was delivered in a hopeful and encouraging manner. He cared, and the people in attendance cared as well. If only every service was as skillfully and joyously delivered as this one, perhaps more people would attend church.

Today, only 20 percent of Americans regularly attend church, according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. And each year, fewer and fewer attend. Since 1967, church attendance has fallen by 1 to 3 percent every year, leaving many churches out of money and unable to survive. In fact, some of our existing denominations may no longer exist by 2030.

Amazing statistics, when you think that just a few decades ago, going to church was part of most family rituals. It makes us wonder if the exhaustion and frustration the majority of Americans feel today is correlated with this lack of church attendance.

The exhausted majority

As I discovered, most Americans claim they are tired of gun deaths, mean-spirited politicians, and a lack of quality news outlets. Fully 70 percent of Americans describe themselves as exhausted, resulting in a new American phenomenon called the “Exhausted Majority.”

I think going to church could help.

According to Pew Research, 80 percent who attend church on a regular basis claim they feel closer to God when they attend.

Remarkably, even with this low attendance, 90 percent of Americans believe in a higher power, and 70 percent profess to be Christian, according to Pew Research. These statement of faith are not much different then what existed in 1967. So why the decline, when churches make us feel better by bringing us closer to God and help our children develop a faith life?

Pew Research states that 44 percent of those who don’t attend church find a connection with God in other ways, like through social media, books, church at home, or daily Bible readings. Another group doesn’t attend because they feel the message is diluted or because they see the church as not living up to its values.

However, I feel that going to church on a regular basis will dim the effect that crazy headlines have upon us. We will move from being discouraged to hopeful. No longer will our dinner discussions focus on the inane ways of the world but will instead center on the ways of God.

So how do we find a church?

It will probably require a visit to a few churches to find one that speaks to you. Here are some helpful tips to know if you were in the right place:

• Did you feel closer to God after attending?
• Was there a mix of people of all ages and backgrounds?
• Do they have small group Bible studies?
• Do they have outreach programs?
• Was the pastor inviting and caring?

If you can answer yes to all these questions, then you might have found a church to attend.

Denominational affiliation

Many people pick their church based on their past denominational affiliation. That may be a tough way to find a church. Denominational selection should be a secondary consideration, as all churches that strive to be a wonderful place of worship believe and support Jesus’s two commandments: “Love thy God and love thy Neighbor.”

Church is a wonderful place to reconnect with God. To sustain this relationship, there are other things we can do, such as:

• Read the Bible daily. This will help draw you to the ways of God and away from the ways of the world. Heck, if you read the Bible just fifteen minutes a day, you can complete the Bible in a year.
• Pray continuously. Every morning, speak to God about your day. Express your dreams and worries. Then patiently watch the answers you get throughout the day and into the coming week. God will answer.
• Serve Others. Make helping others a priority. Perhaps through your church or a non-profit. You will feel better when you have helped others. It is part of the human condition—when we enact goodwill toward others, we feel better about ourselves.
• Read about other Christians. There is no better way to change from despair to hope than spending time discovering positive people who have been great Christian leaders. Change how you spend your leisure time, and make it a time of discovery.

In my book, Your Faith Has Made You Well, I talk about moving away from the lure of dramatic headlines to developing a strong faith. When we begin focusing on our relationship with God and our neighbors, we develop an improved sense of well-being. We move our focus to what we can control and to God.

Our world brightens, and we begin to feel more fulfilled.

Sure, many are exhausted, but they don’t have to be. We can only change what we spend our time on. And perhaps focusing on God will become a ripple that makes the world a better place. When we come closer to God, we become optimistic and unburdened.

Maybe today is the day we leave the world behind. Attending church is a good start.

Blessings, until next time,
Bruce L. Hartman

Dr. Bruce L. Hartman is the author of Jesus & Co. and Your Faith Has Made You Well.

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Corrie Ten Boom: Doing God’s Work by Hiding

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Romans 15:1

A woman with a suitcase and in desperate need knocked on Corrie Ten Boom’s door. It was 1942 in the Netherlands, and the Gestapo were close to finding the woman. The previous day, the Gestapo had gone to her apartment looking for her. The woman knew she could no longer go home; she was Jewish, and the Germans had begun the process of rounding up Jews in the Netherlands.

Corrie answered the knock and invited the woman into her house. She told Corrie about her trouble. When Corrie asked why she had come to her house, the woman replied, “I heard from a member of the Dutch resistance that you could help.”

Corrie lived with her father and sister Betsie in Amsterdam. Trained by her father, Casper, Corrie had become the first female watchmaker in the Netherlands in 1922. They agreed to allow the woman to stay with them despite the potential danger she posed.

The Hiding Place

As time wore on, more Jewish people came to their house, and the Ten Booms continued to conceal their visitors. Over time, the Dutch resistance helped build a concealed safe room to hide these visitors. Her house became known as the “Hiding Place.”

As the group of hidden Jews grew in size, feeding them became a problem. The Dutch people had been put on food rationing and were issued ration cards to buy food. Corrie went to a friend who was in charge of the ration cards. She had entered his office thinking she would ask for five books but instead blurted out, “Can I have one hundred?” Stunningly, the man agreed and gave her one hundred ration books.

Over time, the Ten Boom’s secret could no longer be kept. An informant told the Gestapo, who raided the house. The Ten Booms were arrested on February 1944.

Corrie, Betsie, and Casper were sent to concentration camps. While in prison, Corrie received a note that cryptically said, “All your watches are safe.” The Jews she had been hiding had all escaped. Sadly, her father, Casper, died six days after arriving in the camps.

Corrie and Betsie established a Bible study while in the concentration camp, using a concealed Bible that they’d hidden from their captors. Late at night, the group met, read the Bible and prayed. They were never discovered.

Betsie later became ill.

Before she died, she told Corrie, “There is no pit so deep that God isn’t deeper still.” These words of encouragement comforted Corrie through her nightmare.

Shortly afterward, Corrie was released from prison—the result of a clerical error. The following week, all the people in the concentration camp her age or older were sent to gas chambers.

Corrie returned home and set up the house to take in the mentally disabled, who were also being rounded up for execution. Mercifully, the war ended soon after, and the Dutch were free.

During the period immediately after the war, Corrie set up a refuge center to help those who had survived the concentration camps. Later, she went to Germany to meet with two prison guards who were particularly harsh towards Betsie. She forgave them for what they had done. Over the span of her life, she also wrote many books and became an international speaker. One of the books she wrote, called The Hiding Place, can be found on Amazon by clicking the blue link above.

Corrie lived a life of purpose.

From that first arrival at her doorstep in 1942, she directed herself to helping others. She was a forceful and persuasive person who engendered a large following. She endured much during the war years but never gave in to the terror of living in an occupied country or the horror of being in a concentration camp. Corrie faced up to the evil that abounded in her life and, despite efforts to contain her, she never gave in or gave up.

Corrie died in 1983 at the age of 91.

I admire people like Corrie, not just because they are inspirational, but because they are committed to the Good News of the Gospel, regardless of the potential price. They make me question myself: What would I have done in that situation? Would I have been as brave? Would I love my neighbor at the risk of my own life?

I can only hope I would!

Blessings, until next time,
Bruce L. Hartman

Dr. Bruce L. Hartman is the author of Jesus & Co. and Your Faith Has Made You Well.

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