One person can make a difference

There are numerous examples from history that conveys the impact that one person can make.  Consider people like Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, or Galileo Galilei.  Without a doubt, one person can make a difference.  Furthermore, I’ve had fun thinking about how ordinary people have made a profound difference in the lives of others, and they weren't even aware of it.  I have two examples to clarify what I mean.

Chick-fil-A’s founder, Truett Cathy, tells the story in his book “How Did You do it, Truett?” of how he was interacting with an employee of a Ritz Carlton hotel.  He thanked the employee, to which this employee sincerely replied, “my pleasure.”  Truett was so impacted by this phrase that he subsequently instructed that all Chick-fil-A employees use this phrase when a customer thanks them – a custom that we still practice to this day.  This nameless Ritz Carlton employee changed the terminology of every Chick-fil-A restaurant, through simple kindness.

My second example is the story of a girl I read about many years ago now.  This girl was seriously considering suicide, but she happened to notice a youth pastor opening the car door for his wife.  She was deeply impacted by this courteous act.  In that moment, she realized that not every man was as harsh, cruel, and uncaring as her father.  Her life was spared, not because of some eloquent speech, but simply because a husband was chivalrous with his wife.

I love thinking about how someone may be inspired by the little things we do; things that we think no one even notices at all.  A person may actually think, “This person was hurt in a very deep way, but they chose to forgive; I can forgive, too.”  Or “This person is always serving and attentive to the needs of others; I want to do that, too.”  I could go on and on with various scenarios.

Because I’m talking about the influence of one human being, it would be thoughtless of me if didn’t mention one of my heroes, Rebecca St. James.  I first learned of Rebecca in the year 2000.  I was impressed with her for several reasons, but high on my list was that Rebecca repeatedly proclaimed in her ministry that she was a virgin and that she was going to refrain from any sexual expression until marriage.  In 2011, Rebecca got married.

I love telling this story for several reasons.  The first, of course, is I’m thrilled that God led her to the man of her dreams, and the road of marriage.  But another reason is because I’m certain that her bold stand inspired many other people to choose to wait until marriage as well.  As Billy Graham once said, “Courage is contagious.  When a brave man [or woman] takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened.” 

Kevin

My remarks on "Avengers: Age of Ultron"

I’ve wanted to talk about “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (also known as Avengers 2) for a while now, and I’m pleased that I am finally able to do so.  I won’t hold you in suspense: I really enjoyed this film.   In a nutshell, I think this is a stellar, compelling, and entertaining movie.

You may be asking, “How does this film stack up to the original Avengers film?  Is Avengers 2 as fantastic as Avengers 1?”  My answer is no, this film is not as good as Avengers 1.  But don’t take this as a disparaging comment on the quality of Avengers 2; this is actually a high compliment on the magic of Avengers 1.  

Let me try to illustrate my point.  The 1972 Miami Dolphins not only won the Super Bowl, but they are the only team in NFL history to have a season where they never lost a game - up to and including the Super Bowl.  The next year, the 1973 Miami Dolphins also won the Super Bowl, but they lost two games in the regular season.  Even though both were great teams, the 1972 Dolphins were on a higher echelon than the 1973 Dolphins.

In the same way, the Avengers 2 doesn’t equally match its predecessor, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad film by any means.  The original Avengers movie was magical.  It had the perfect blend of action, suspense, humor, and drama.  I think it’s one of the greatest superhero films of all time.  Conversely, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is also a great movie, but it doesn’t surpass the greatness of the original Avenger film.  Some may disagree with me, but that’s how I see it.

There is one facet in “Age of Ultron” that is vastly superior to the first Avengers film and that is the main villain.  While Loki was a fun villain to watch in the original Avengers film, Ultron beats Loki by a wide margin.  Every scene Ultron is in is riveting.  You sit there mesmerized by this character that has absolutely no mercy, remorse, or conscience.  You see, Ultron is actually the pet project of Tony Stark.  Stark wanted to create an artificial intelligence peacekeeping program led by Ultron.  But Ultron reasons that humans are the impediment to peace, and thus he subsequently seeks to destroy all of humanity.  If there was ever a villain that you ‘love to hate’ it is Ultron.

Kevin         

My Memorial Day blog

Let me be candid with you: there are some topics that are so important to me that I find it difficult to write the words.  Some topics carry such weight, importance, and responsibility to me that I find it almost impossible to get the words from my heart to the page (or, in this case, the computer screen).  Today is one of those topics.  Today is Memorial Day, 2015.  Today we honor the brave men and women who heroically gave their lives in service for the United States of America.

Mark D. White, in his book “The Virtues of Captain America” writes that Captain America has the habit of expressing honor with the gesture of a salute; this includes the saluting of a fallen soldier.  “The salute,” White writes, “is an outward sign of respect.”  Like Cap, I salute the brave individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice.

It’s important to take some time to stop and ponder the meaning and importance of this day.  If you have the day off, enjoy it.  But let the amazing importance of the day sink in.  Fellow human beings displayed heroism, selflessness, and self-sacrifice in the most extraordinary way that a person can.  Incidentally, in closing, I find myself inspired to strive to follow their example.  This doesn’t mean that I will give my life on the battlefield, but I can choose to be courageous, unselfish, and altruistic, just as they were.

Kevin   

A thought on dreams

One day last week I was watching a sitcom from yesteryear.  This particular episode had a character state that he had three dreams he wanted to accomplish in his life.  He had essentially crashed and burned on two, but the opportunity had presented itself to realize dream number three.  He was thrilled at this prospect.  Unfortunately, by the end of the episode, he had failed on that dream as well.  Thus, it was clear that this poor guy wasn’t going to accomplish those three dreams he had for his life.  It wasn’t for lack of trying on his part, but it just wasn’t to be.

 

Can you relate to the character in this episode?  Do you feel like a failure because you haven’t accomplished your dreams at this point in your life?  This isn’t the right way of looking at it.  I submit to you that while the realization of dreams is wonderful, it isn’t the barometer for if your life is a success or not.  Perhaps I’m wrong here, but I suspect if accomplishing every dream in life was the gauge to be considered a success, few people on this planet would be in that category.

Let me use myself as an example.  While, thankfully, I have seen some of my dreams come true, to be transparent with you, there are more unrealized dreams than realized dreams in my life.  I could rattle off several aspirations that I have in life which, at least as of so far, haven’t come true.  Does this mean that I am a failure?  No, once again, the accomplishing of dreams isn’t the measuring stick for evaluating success or failure in life.

Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying: I’m not suggesting that it’s wrong to try and accomplish the dreams you have in life.  I certainly won’t be giving up on my dreams (and you shouldn’t give up on yours).  But, at the end of my life, if I am able to say that I was faithful to what God called me to be and do in my life, I will be pleased with that – even if I never saw another of my dreams materialize.

Kevin

Is "forgiven" the best word ever?

On one of the broadcasts of his radio show “Guidelines”, Dr. Harold Sala told how there is actually an unmarked grave that simply has the word “forgiven” written on it.  Nothing more, nothing less.  There is no name, no year of birth, no year of death, no dash; nothing except that single word.

While we may not know the story of this person, as I see it, there are few words that are more beautiful than the word “forgiven” to capture a life.  Think about it with me.  For example, a husband and wife enjoy married life together, but even the healthiest, most stable, vibrant marriages will have friction and hurt feelings sometimes.  That’s when it’s so powerful, liberating, and joyous to hear these words from your spouse: “I forgive you.”

Friendship is a wonderful gift, but the best of friends can say something they shouldn’t have said, or do something they shouldn’t have done.  Bitterness, anger, and fury can easily come pouring in.  But the repentant friend returns, seeking reconciliation.  Forgiveness is extended.  Estranged family members who were once angry, cold, and distant can be completely restored to close fellowship through forgiveness.  I could go on, but you get the point.

But, as wonderful as these examples are to contemplate, it could very well be that this grave is communicating how this departed individual was forgiven by the God of the universe.  Could there possibly be anything better than a person who can honestly state, “I am forgiven by God”?  The beginning of Psalm 32:1 reads, “Blessed is he [or she] whose transgression is forgiven.”  Let me be real with you: even after being a Christian for decades, I still make unwise, selfish, sinful choices.  And yet, like the prodigal son in the story Jesus told in Luke 15, I return to my Father, and I receive love, restoration, and forgiveness.

Kevin

Melanoma update

Earlier this month, I told you that my father, Jerry Bauer, had developed what the doctor called thin melanoma.  I did what I had never done in this blog before: I requested that you would pray for this situation, if you felt led to do so.  Today I wanted to update you on what has happened since then.

On May 6th, Dad had a procedure to have the melanoma removed from one of his arms.  The doctor was confident that they had gotten all of the cancer, but they weren’t completely certain until they saw the results of the pathology report.  This report came in yesterday: the cancerous melanoma is indeed completely gone from his arm!  This was a scary situation, but because the melanoma was discovered so soon, it was able to be removed entirely.  Praise the Lord, all is well!

 

I wanted to thank those of you who prayed for this situation.  God bless you for graciously taking the time to pray not only for my dad, but also for the entire family; as I said in the blog back on May 3rd, this kind of news affects the whole family.  Thankfully, the whole family is now rejoicing.

Kevin

Lord of the rings?

In 1999, a game simply called “Superman” was released on the Nintendo 64.  This game is more commonly referred to as “Superman 64.”  This video game is notorious for being abysmal in every possible category.  The story makes no sense; the controls are finicky; glitches abound; the puzzles are so confusing that the game is nearly impossible to defeat.  On and on we could go with how dreadful this game is.  Personally, I think it’s the worst superhero game ever made.

 

The most well-known aspect of this game is that Superman flies through airborne rings.  What’s more, it’s not even just for a basic tutorial level or something like that.  No, there are 14 levels in the game; 7 of them have Superman flying through seemingly endless rings.  As a Superman fan, it’s sad that the Man of Steel was reduced to this.

You may be asking me, “Kevin, why are you bringing this up?”  Well, for one reason, you know how much I love superheroes; I've wanted to bring up Superman 64 for a while now, because I wanted to be on the record for saying this game is, as I said, the worst superhero video game ever made.  But there's another reason.  And this may sound silly to you at first, but stay with me.  This idea of working hard to go through rings is a picture of how some people think they become right with God.  Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about.

Years ago, I heard about a man who made the decision to do nothing more than bow his face prostrate to the ground, only to get back up, and then do it again.  Certainly, he would have to eat, drink, and sleep, but aside from that, he was going to do nothing except this act of constant bowing.  Question: why would someone do this?  Because he was jumping through hoops (or, to use the video game imagery, flying through rings) in hopes of gaining God’s favor.

But sadly this man is not alone.  Some people see their need for God, but rather than cry out to Him in repentance, they get it in their heads that they must shape up, check off all the spiritual boxes, work hard, and only then will God accept them.  So they begin to perform for God.  They begin to jump through hoops – fly through rings – in hopes of gaining God’s approval.  But the Bible never teaches this.  Performance never put anyone in a right relationship with the Lord.

Greg Grandchamp in his book "In Pursuit of Truth" writes, "We can work and work and work, but it just won't get it done.  You cannot earn your way to heaven no matter what you do.  And that includes the things you do in church.  Many religions have you jump through hoops.  Useless.  They hand you the rules and regs as you walk through the door.  Pointless."

What does the Bible say about this?  That's the important question.  The Bible says that God saves a person “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy” (Titus 3:5).  Ephesians 2 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  Notice that last phrase “lest anyone should boast.”  That statement is so true.  Can you picture someone saying, “I did this, that, and the other thing.  I jumped through all the hoops; I flew through all the rings.  Therefore, God and I are OK now”?  Sorry, but that’s not how it works.  It happens by God’s grace, through faith, not by any works.  You see, someone already did the work.  Someone already flew through all the necessary rings.  The old hymn puts it this way: “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

You might have wondered why I titled today’s blog what I did.  As you might have guessed, it has nothing to do with J.R.R. Tolkien’s work (even though I do like Tolkien).  First of all, one of the definitions for “lord” in the dictionary is “a ruler, master.”  On the one hand, some game developer’s years ago thought it was a good idea to have Superman attempt to be lord or master of flying through rings (bad idea).  But it’s also a double meaning.  You don’t have to be the lord or master of all those rings in your life that you keep trying to fly through.  The good news is you can simply accept the gift of God’s grace today.

I wish I could end there.  I really do.  But someone is going to read what I’ve said and conclude that I’m stating that a Christian doesn’t have to do any kind of good works at all.  Read my lips: that’s not what I believe.  I said that you don’t have to do any good works to become a Christian.  Good works are vitally important, but don’t get confused on the order.  A person receives the gift of God’s grace first; then he/she does good works out of the love, gratitude, and appreciation they feel to the Lord.  The motivation is completely different.

Kevin

"In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord"

Today’s blog is going to be a bit different.  I wanted to share with you all that on Friday afternoon my father, Jerry, learned that he has melanoma.  It’s thin melanoma on one of his arms.  The doctors say that he has an eighty-eight percent chance of surviving for ten years.  So, even though that’s a good percentage, this obviously is still a big issue that is not to be taken lightly.

 

If you are a praying person, I would really appreciate your prayers in this matter.  I say this because I don’t assume that everyone who reads this blog believes in the power of prayer.  Some of you may come to my blog because you like that I talk about superheroes or something like that, and you just tolerate whenever I talk about something else.  Fair enough.

But, if you do feel led, please keep my dad, Jerry, in your prayers.  Pray for Dad not only physically, but emotionally as well.  From everything I’ve picked up on from the time I’ve been able to spend with him since I learned the news on Friday, he seems to be in good spirits.  But I would imagine there are good days and bad days when it comes to your emotions with something like this.

Furthermore, would you please pray not only for Dad, but also for the entire Bauer family?  Obviously, this doesn’t just affect one person; it affects everyone in the family.  In light of this, you may be asking, “How has this impacted you?”  Candidly, when I was told this news, it shook me.  Fearful thoughts came flooding in.  My mind went to the very worst case scenario of contemplating a life without my father; a man that I love and appreciate very much.

But then I chose to walk by faith.  I chose to put my trust in the Lord anew.  Psalm 77:2 says, “In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord.”  I reaffirmed that even though this news rocked me, I was going to worship God, no matter what.  Some of you might find what I’ve just said to be sanctimonious, preachy, and religious jargon, but I’m just being real and honest with you in how I reacted.  I serve an amazing God.  Does this mean that He will completely heal and eradicate my father’s ailment?  Not necessarily.  You can’t put God in a box like that.  However, I’ve found the Lord to be a safe haven to run to when the storms of life strike.

Kevin

Superhero Day

Did you know that April 28th was - and is - National Superhero Day?  Honestly, I had no idea until I heard the announcement on the news.  I wasn’t able to submit a post that day, but in honor of this event (and because “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is now playing!), I wanted to write a few words on the subject of superheroes.

When some people think of superheroes they think of their special, superhuman powers.  But in my opinion, that is secondary.  After all, Batman has no superpowers, per se.  Yet he is a legend among superheroes.  To me the most compelling superhero is the one who demonstrates that he/she has the character, heart, and valor with or without powers.

For example, in the film “Captain America: The First Avenger” we see that Steve Rogers is willing to sacrifice himself by lying on a grenade on the battlefield to protect others even before he became Captain America (the grenade wasn’t rigged to explode, but Rogers didn’t know that).  In "Spider-Man 2" (not to be confused with "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"), Peter Parker temporarily loses his spider powers.  But when he learns that someone is trapped inside a burning building, he runs into the inferno, and ultimately rescues this person, showcasing that he is a hero whether he has powers or not.

Another example of this is Hal Jordan.  The movie that first introduced me to Hal Jordan's valor is "Green Lantern: First Flight".  For a portion of the film, Hal fought the forces of evil without the special power ring that gives him the ability to be Green Lantern.  Jordan makes it abundantly clear that he is a man of bravery, heroism, and valor whether he has special powers or not.  In fact, just thinking about this film makes me want to watch it again!

I could go on and on.  But the classic example in this discussion has to be Superman.  The Man of Steel is incredibly powerful.  I think almost everyone knows the amazing powers he has, but these powers don’t define him.  In my mind, he is known more for his innate goodness.  Because of this, some think Superman is dull and uninteresting.  I disagree.  You don’t want to see an evil, narcissistic, bloodthirsty Superman.  It would be terrifying for everyone on Earth if Superman didn’t possess his morality.  Superman isn’t a hero because of his superpowers; he is a hero because of his virtue, integrity, and selflessness.

Kevin