Some words from Tony Dungy

Former NFL coach Tony Dungy, in his book “Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance” writes, “For some reason, there is a stigma on women who have a lot of sexual partners, but society seems to look at it very differently when it comes to men.”

I must admit that I too have noticed this tendency.  Just consider some of the fictional male characters that are known for their various sexual exploits: James Bond, Sam Malone, Don Juan, Barney Stinson, Charlie Harper, and Joey Tribbiani (and of course there are many historical examples as well).  The culture doesn’t look down on men like this.  To the contrary, they are applauded and praised.

 

Dungy continues, “We’ve allowed ourselves to be fooled into thinking that it’s acceptable because “that's what men do.””  Gentlemen, the truth of the matter is, God doesn’t wink at or condone sexual promiscuity simply because you are a male with sexual urges.  Coach Dungy goes on to say, “But the Bible tells us to “run from sexual sin!  No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does” (by the way, he's quoting from 1 Corinthians 6:18 in the NLT). 

The Word of God presents us with multiple commands to remain sexually pure until married life, whether we are male or female (and then the only sexual contact is to be with your spouse).  In fact, one verse says not to have “even a hint of sexual immorality” (Ephesians 5:3; NIV).  Have you ever seen how little a “hint” is on a cooking show?

I wear a gold abstinence ring on the third finger of my right hand.  Many years ago, after I showed someone my ring, this person candidly replied, “I could never wear such a ring, because I'm not pure.”  Perhaps your life story is like the person I’ve described.  You are not sexually pure anymore.  Furthermore, I’ve heaped loads of guilt on you by presenting God’s stand on sex (let me underscore that: it’s not my stand on sex; it’s God’s).

I love what Romans 5:20 says, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”  No matter what you have done, you can be forgiven!  1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  This doesn’t mean that we can simply go out and sin all we want (see Romans 6:1-2, the verses immediately following Romans 5:20), but it does mean that God is ready, willing, and able to forgive you for what you have done, whether that is sexual sin or some other kind of sin.

Kevin Bauer

An intriguing challenge

Periodically, the radio station K-love plays sound bites of listeners giving testimonials of how K-love has impacted their lives.  Yesterday, I heard a female listener talk about how K-love's "thirty day challenge" changed her life.  Let me explain.  A while back, K-love put out a challenge: listen to Christian music exclusively for the next thirty days.  See what kind of difference it makes in your life.

I have to tell you, ever since I heard that clip, I have not been able to think about much of anything else other than making the same challenge to you, dear readers.  I think K-love came up with a great idea.  Let's go from now to May 12th and listen to nothing but Christian music.

You may be asking why I'm advancing this challenge.  Christian Artist Rebecca St. James once said, "Music is so powerful.  I think a lot of the time we underestimate how powerful it really is.  We say, 'well, I'm not really listening to the words; I'm just listening to the music.'  But it sinks in.  So I don't really listen to much secular music at all.  I'm really careful about what I absorb." Rebecca's words would be my answer as to why I think this is such an important exercise.

Some of you are resisting this idea.  You don't want to commit to doing this.  If you choose not to do this, that's perfectly fine (it's not like I can check up on you anyway).  But I would really encourage you to participate with me in doing this - yes, you read that right, I'm going to do this exercise with you.  I really believe that a lot of good will come from this.

Are you in?

Kevin Bauer

Remembering Leslie Nielsen

It was back in November of 2010 when actor Leslie Nielsen died.  I didn’t have a blog back then, but if I did, I would have discussed him.  I was reminded of him again the other day when I saw a trailer for the disaster comedy “Airplane” on a DVD.  The fact is, Nielsen left us a legacy: the glorious gift of laughter. 

Laughter is a gift from God.  I love to laugh, and I would suspect that most of us do not take advantage of this gift as much as we should.  Leslie Nielsen had an amazing talent for making people laugh.  One reason for this is because he had the skill of saying a ridiculously humorous statement with a completely straight face.  For example, in “Airplane” his character is having a conversation with the pilot.  The pilot says, “Surely you can't be serious.”  “I am serious,” Nielsen’s character replies.  “And don't call me Shirley!”  Once again, he said this with such a serious face that one couldn’t help but laugh.

Who could forget a vintage Nielsen moment in one of the “Naked Gun” movies?  I think it was in the original film where Nielsen’s character not only completely butchered the lyrics to the “Star Spangled Banner” but also sang it completely off-key.  I should have uploaded a clip of it from you tube or something, but I didn’t.  Check it out, it's hilarious! 
 
As I contemplated Nielsen’s legacy, I began to ask myself this question: what kind of legacy do I want to leave?  My answer is best summed up by an excerpt from Chris Tomlin's book “The Way I Was Made.”  In chapter 1, he writes this: “you were made for more than this world sells...because we were made for something greater.  We were created to shine the spotlight on God - to spread the fame of God everywhere we go.”  I want my legacy to be a life that “shined the spotlight on God.”  Not just in words, but also in deeds.

Some of you might be wondering why I would want this to be my legacy.  You may be saying, “You just want to divert all the attention away from you and onto God?  Why?  You only live once, right?”  The reason is because if one were to shine the spotlight on Kevin Bauer closely enough, they would find someone who is flawed, sinful, and unworthy.  But if God were to use me simply as a conduit to direct all the attention to Him, they would see Someone who is loving, trustworthy, and kind (to name just a few of God’s traits).

Let me close with a question: what kind of legacy do you want to leave?  Leslie Nielsen left one.  I’m going to leave one.  What about you?  What kind of legacy do you want to leave?

Kevin Bauer

(John 3:30)

Lessons learned from Karone (part 2)

Before I dive in, let me rehash what we have learned so far from Karone:

#1: We can’t let our past determine what we do with our future.  I don’t want to write everything that I wrote yesterday again, but in Karone’s case, she was once an evil villain named Astronema.  But largely because of her brother’s love, she returned to the side of good and eventually became the pink Power Ranger.

#2: God wants us to fight on the side of good.  In the animated movie “Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam” Superman counsels Captain Marvel to be good, even though it's not always the easy thing to do.  Let’s move on to some new material now.

#3: We must learn to forgive ourselves.  In an episode from “Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy”, we learn that when Karone was Astronema, she turned a powerful warrior into stone with her magical staff.  In an attempt to make things right (and to help the Power Rangers out of a jam) she tracks the person down.  He is still a stone figure.  In a poignant scene, she says to him, “I don't know if you can hear me, but I did a lot of bad things in my past.  Angry at the whole universe, I suppose.  But you, you were fighting for justice.  I am so sorry I did this to you.  If I could, I would gladly take your place.”  Then as Karone begins to cry on his stone hand, the man returns to normal, presumably because of her tears of remorse.  The now restored man says to Karone, “I forgive you.  Now it's time for you to forgive yourself!”

These words were particularly impacting to me as I watched all this unfold.  I’m far from perfect; I make mistakes like anyone else.  To be candid with you, I’m tempted at times to withhold forgiveness from myself.  But God says to every Christian, “I forgive you.  Now it's time for you to forgive yourself!”  Later on in the episode, Karone says, “For the first time in my life, I feel like the past is behind me.  My future is a clean slate.”  As Christians, we can say the same thing.  God has given us a clean slate as well!

#4: Change is possible.  This one is really exciting!  We are not bound to what we are today.  If there is something in our lives that shouldn't be there, we can change.  I love the TV show called “Monk.”  Tony Shalhoub portrays a brilliant detective named Adrian Monk who has to overcome his extreme case of OCD to solve crimes.  In one episode, Monk’s father returns to his life.  In an interesting exchange, his dad says to Monk, “Nobody ever really changes; you’ve never changed!”  What a sad outlook on life!  If Karone’s story teaches us anything, it teaches us that if there is something in our lives that we don’t like, we can change.

Kevin Bauer

Lessons learned from Karone

One of the things that I’ve been doing when I haven’t been racking my brain trying to comprehend the mathematical notions in a difficult college math class is unwind and de-stress by watching old episodes of the show Power Rangers.  I used to watch the show regularly when I was a boy, and I have enjoyed getting reacquainted with it again.

One of my favorite seasons that I have watched so far is called "Power Rangers in Space."  This actually was a season that I didn’t see when I was a child.  There are a lot of fun aspects involved in this particular season; high on my list is watching the main villain of that season by the name of Astronema (portrayed masterfully by Melody Perkins).  Like any effective villain, Astronema is ruthless, diabolical, and conniving.  It takes a while, but eventually a revelation is discovered: Astronema is the long lost sister of the red Power Ranger named Andros.  Her name is actually Karone.

When Andros and Karone were children, they were playing ball on their home planet of KO-35.  The ball got away from Andros, and so he went to get it.  As he did, someone came and grabbed poor Karone and kidnapped her.  Karone was subsequently deceived by her captors.  She was repeatedly told that her brother and parents were murdered when she was young and that it was the Power Rangers who had murdered them.  Karone believed the lies and soon began to answer to the name Astronema.

To give you the very short version, Karone was convinced of the truth and ultimately she was brought back to the good side.  In the next season, the season known as "Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy" Karone reappears (once again portrayed by Melody Perkins).  Karone’s behavior is a complete turnaround from her past days of evil.  This is evidenced in many ways.  One way is when she volunteers to sacrifice her life in the place of one of the Power Rangers.  She didn’t have to go through with it, as this was just a test to ascertain her character and motives, but her intention to give her own life was crystal clear.  Soon, she actually becomes the pink Power Ranger.  What a remarkable change; from Astronema self-proclaimed “princess of evil” to Karone the Power Ranger fighting on the side of good!

The Apostle Paul knew something about having a regrettable past (see 1 Timothy 1:13-17). But the Lord transformed him, and he was used mightily by God.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away…all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17; NKJV).  While Karone never claimed to become a Christian, watching such a stark contrast unfold reminded me that every Christian had a life before Christ.  Every Christian had a life of being Astronema, if you will. But God changed us and transformed us, and now (like Karone) He wants us to fight on the side of good.

Kevin Bauer

Gifts from God

I was listening to a sermon on the radio today by Eric Cartier (incidentally, that's pronounced "Cart-ee-a").  He was talking about how everything we have is a gift from God.  He mentioned how a running car is a gift from God.  The food that we have in the refrigerator is a gift from God.  Children are a gift from God.  He didn’t mention this one, but I'm going to throw it in for free: the spouse that you have is a gift from God (I want to encourage everyone who reads this to treat your spouse as the cherished gift that they really are).
 
When I get busy with work, school, and the daily pressures of life, it is easy for me to forget everything that God has blessed me with.  So after hearing that sermon today, I began to go through my own list.  For example, how often have you thanked God for your five senses, the ability to see, hear, taste, etc.?  This is one that I’ve been more aware of lately, as I recently had to get a pair of glasses to see things at a distance better.  Yes, those glasses are a gift from God too!  There are so many wonderful capabilities that we have that we usually take for granted.
 
How about just life itself?  This is one that I think about often, because God has literally saved my life on more than one occasion (but that’s another blog topic).  On and on we could go.  I think it’s very healthy to mentally rehearse the fabulous gifts we have been given.  It certainly made my day to go through this list.

Kevin Bauer

(James 1:17)

Musings on singleness

Did you know that C.S. Lewis didn’t get married until he was in his fifties?  According to the C.S. Lewis institute’s website, Lewis was born in 1898 and he married Joy Davidson in 1956.  Joy died of cancer four years later, and Lewis himself died three years after that in 1963 (on the same day President Kennedy was assassinated).  I wonder what your response to that Lewis trivia is.  I know of some people who might subconsciously think that there must have been something wrong with Lewis or he would have married at 21 like everyone else is allegedly supposed to.

I can relate to Lewis in this regard.  In June I’m going to be 30 years old; the likelihood is I’m still going to be single.  I have encountered some people who peg me as someone who is afraid of commitment or someone who has a fear of romantic intimacy.  Whether they intended to or not, they conveyed this message to me: “There must be something wrong with this guy if he is still unmarried at his age.”

This kind of attitude is problematic.  To coin an expression: everyone’s story is different.  In other words, just because one person’s life circumstance plays out in a particular way doesn’t mean that everyone else’s will.  Or to put it another way: just because some people get married at 21 doesn’t mean that everyone is supposed to do so.  Some may get married at 25, 30, or even (in C.S. Lewis’ case) 50 something.  In fact, the Bible tells us that there are some folks who are called to be single forever.  These people have concluded that they can better serve God as a single person than as a married person.

So please do us unmarried people a favor and don't inadvertently make your single friends feel inferior by conveying the attitude that singles are odd if they haven't married when they reach a certain age.  Don't say things like, "You are such a nice person; I just don't understand why you're not married yet."  Such sentiments do not help anyone.  An article from got questions.org puts it this way: "Singleness should not be viewed that there is "something wrong" with the single man or woman...a single Christian is is no sense a "second class" Christian"

Furthermore, if you have crossed paths with a single person who is called to be a lifelong single, don’t look at them with scorn or disapproval; rather applaud them for choosing to live out their lives in faithful service to God.  Give them the encouragement that they need.  They are simply trying to be obedient to God’s calling on their lives.

Kevin Bauer

(1 Corinthians 7:17)

Check out the got questions.org article that I quoted from here: http://www.gotquestions.org/single-Christian.html