Life Lessons from the National Parks

JANUARY 19, 2012

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.    1 Timothy 6:7

There was a significant burial at Pearl Harbor (more formally known as World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument) recently.

Frank Cabiness’s cremated remains were placed inside the U.S.S. Arizona, the battleship he served on which was sunk by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. It took nine years after his death for his family to fulfill his wishes, because they didn’t have the means to travel to Hawaii, but they made sure to finally get it done. “He said it was because that’s where he belonged,” said his son, in an article in The New York Times.

Many Arizona crewmembers who lived during the attack at Pearl Harbor have chosen the ship as the final resting place for their ashes; same with the nearby Utah, the only other battleship sunk that day that remains in the harbor. Most of the 1,177 sailors and Marines who died on the Arizona—more than any other ship or unit—are entombed on the vessel, which sank nine minutes after a Japanese bomb hit it.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my family and I visited the Arizona memorial in September. As we solemnly stared at the wall listing the names of the dead, we watched as veteran after veteran saluted their fallen comrades.

I’m glad the Cabinesses were able to fulfill their father’s wish to be reunited with his lost shipmates. As the family can surely attest, though, his ashes were all that joined them. He didn’t take any possessions with him, even his most precious mementos.

Of course, as with all of us, whatever Mr. Cabiness left behind had to be dealt with somehow. The Times article notes that his survivors proudly retain the only thing he managed to leave the Arizona with when he escaped death 70 years ago—a watch stopped at 8:15, the moment when he hit the water after jumping from the ship.

Financial experts plead with us to make wills, to plan for the disposition of property and care of minor children. You decide how you want to distribute your earthy goods and who you want to raise your kids, and put it in writing, they caution, or the government will make the choice for you—and the results may not be what you wanted.

What’s usually not mentioned in the discussion of estate planning is a much more important matter that also must be taken care of this side of the grave. It concerns the only thing that does last beyond this life: the soul. We all must make provision for it before death, lest we lose our choice in its final disposition.

And yes, there is a choice:

I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction… Deuteronomy 30:15

Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…  Joshua 24:15

Indifference is a choice many make, the choice of not choosing, you might say. Maybe you don’t especially worry what happens to your possessions after you die: “I’ll be gone, what do I care?” But not choosing your soul’s ultimate destiny leads to unthinkable consequences:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.  2 Corinthians 5:10

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books where opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books…If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 21:12, 15  

Of course, you can choose not to believe—that’s also an option. That’s what the rich man did in a parable Jesus told in Luke 16:19-31. He supposed that a good time on earth would translate into the same after death. Instead, he found his soul in torment in hell. “Have pity on me,” he pleaded with Abraham far away in heaven, “for I am in agony in this fire.” But the patriarch replied, “Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”

“Warn my brothers, so they don’t end up here!” he begged. Abraham noted they already had all the information they needed to avoid his fate. “But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent,” the rich man finally implored. “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets,” Moses concluded, “they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead” (which is just what Jesus did!).

Why do people dither in making wills? The expense, possibly. Usually, though, I think it’s because they don’t want to think about death. The irony of that is—it’s inevitable! The odds of death are 100%! The question then becomes, why put all you’ve worked for and perhaps your children at risk?

We need to ask ourselves the same question about our soul. One major lesson from the parable in Luke is that it still remains alive after our body dies. So why bet the farm through either apathy or outright disbelief, and leave the unavoidable outcome to chance? “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Just as with a will, the time to do something about it is now, before it’s too late, because there’s no do-over after death.

God already has made provision for our souls. He’s made it clear He wants you and me with Him. He doesn’t send people to hell all by Himself; those who turn their back on Him have chosen that future themselves. And He doesn’t enjoy it in the least: “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live” (Ezekiel 33:11).

Hopefully you’ve made a will. Would you go a step further and make a will for your soul, if you haven’t already? Choose to join me, not in body but in spirit, in a glorious heaven where there’s no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4), and where we’ll be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Because that is where we truly belong.

Comments (2) Jan 19 2012

December 2, 2011

 Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.  Luke 15:4-7

And what, you may be wondering about the title, does the Occupy movement have to do with the national parks?

Bear with me. On Thursday, a group of protestors from Occupy Washington, joined by a group from Occupy Wall Street that had walked from New York, began a march from D.C.’s Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial to King’s gravesite in Atlanta. As I mentioned in a previous post, the memorial is on the National Mall, which is part of the National Park Service (NPS). King’s grave is located at The King Center, which is operated in partnership with NPS’s King National Historic Site.

The march is to mark the anniversary of Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955. This led to the yearlong Montgomery bus boycott, a watershed event during the push for civil rights that some compare to the Occupy movement (an Associated Press article notes that King’s children have said their father was planning a poor people’s campaign and occupation before he was assassinated in 1968). Rosa Parks’ act is commemorated at many civil rights historical locales in the NPS.

This piece of news got me thinking about the Occupy slogan, “We Are the 99%,” and the Biblical passage that mentions that percentage. Okay, so the verse I quoted at the beginning doesn’t actually say “99%,” but Jesus is talking about leaving 99 out of 100 sheep to look for the one that was lost, which is the same as saying 99% and 1%, right?

Luke 15 became a favorite of mine years ago when I taught children at church and at a summer program at my house. I used a lesson put out by Child Evangelism Fellowship entitled “Three Lost Things,” based on the trio of missing things mentioned in the chapter’s parables—a sheep, a coin and finally, and perhaps most well known, a son (aka, the Prodigal Son).  Each of them is lost, then found, and then there’s a party! “Rejoice with me,” the shepherd and the woman who misplaced her coin say to their friends and neighbors (vv. 6, 9). Music, dancing, a special feast, and general merriment accompany the son’s return (vv. 22-25). It’s a great lesson to teach because everyone, even kids, understands losing and finding, and everyone loves a party.

The word “lost” or “loses” is mentioned seven times in Luke chapter 15, using a strong Greek verb emphasizing possessiveness, indicating these were not trivial or inconsequential things that had gone missing. The shepherd valued each sheep, the woman treasured her coin, and the son—well, his father saw him coming “while he was still a long way off” (v. 20), so he must have been on the watch for his dissolute but precious boy.

As I’ve mentioned before—and you might already know—a parable is a story about everyday life that illustrates spiritual truth. The stories here are about the incredible worth of one—one sheep, one coin, one son. The truth they present also is about the incredible worth of one—you. And me. And every single person who’s ever existed, is now living, or is yet to be born.

Kind of hard to wrap your mind around the concept that we are all individually prized like that, isn’t it? That God is so interested in us. As King David put it, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain” (Psalm 139:7).

And because God is so engaged—or, in another way of putting it, preoccupied—with us, He’s always looking for us. Isn’t that something, that the God of the universe should put Himself out for each one of us? The reason He came as God in the flesh, Jesus declared of Himself, was “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

But what about those other sheep, you might be wondering, those 99% who stayed put, who the shepherd left behind to look for the drifter? Why leave all the others to go look for one measly straggler? Isn’t 99% in the hand worth 1% in the bush, so to speak? Why all the fuss over the “bad” sheep?

And what about the upstanding older son who did what was right, while his idiot younger brother went buck wild? Why should the “bad” kid get all the attention? Shouldn’t Mr. Responsible be lauded for his good behavior? He certainly thought so: “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!” (vv. 28-30). Talk about favoritism!

Does God, like the Occupy movement says of corporations and the government, care only about the 1%, and not the 99%?

Absolutely not.

Each night, a shepherd counts heads. If one’s missing, he must hunt for it—sheep, unlike other animals, can’t find their way back on their own. But a good shepherd wouldn’t leave the others vulnerable; that would have been a given in the story. Of course he would secured them before he searched for the laggard.

The father of the parable, the embodiment of a loving God, answers his angry offspring with a gentle reminder: “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (vs. 31). It seems one can be a little lost even within the safety and security of the fold, forgetting that what is needed is there for the asking.

This Christmas season, whether you’re a 99% stayer or a 1% strayer, reflect on how much God loves you. He’s written it over and over again in His Word, and demonstrated it by sending His Son when you and I didn’t even deserve it (Romans 5:8). Just like the father sent his servants scurrying to prepare a feast for the admittedly unworthy prodigal (v. 21).

Whether you’ve allowed God to find you, or whether you’re still out there wandering around, mistakenly believing you can find your own way to Him, remember that He’s always on the lookout for you. He’s longing to show you grace, compassion and abundant forgiveness (Isaiah 30:18, 55:7), no matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been.

“We had to celebrate and be glad,” the father explains to his older son, “because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again: he was lost and is found” (v. 32).

What a great reason to party!

Of that, I’m 100% sure.

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Comments (1) Dec 02 2011

March 7, 2011

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, [saying], “Where is this ‘coming’ He promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water…But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:3-4, 8-9

Get ready to have a better experience at Yosemite.

If the number of annual visitors to the national park continues on its upward trend, it just might reach the benchmark figure of 4 million for 2010 (final statistics are not in yet). Nearly half of the visitors come during June, July and August, and the most popular place they go is Yosemite Valley, where Half Dome, El Capitan and Yosemite Falls are located.

The 4,000,000 mark hasn’t been reached since the mid-1990s. Back then, park officials simply closed the gates when there were too many cars. Then the park began using summer staff, mostly young people employed only for the peak summer months, to guide motorists to parking and help them find less congested areas to visit.

This year, a new $1.2 million traffic-tracking system will be introduced. Underground sensors at park gates and an extensive computer network will send out constant updates on crowded areas. Visitors can get the updates via cell phone or online. Park personnel also will be able to project traffic flow and anticipate when the number of visitors peak at certain spots, and direct people accordingly.

Oh, the crowds will still be there. It’s not like this new system will keep them away. The National Park Service doesn’t want to keep anyone out anyway; they just want to manage the crowds better. It’s all about finding balance between accessibility and environmental impact, about meeting the needs of today’s Yosemite visitors while preserving the park for generations to come.

The here-and-now versus the future: isn’t that the dilemma we face every day, sometimes every minute? We try to figure out how much money to spend for our daily requirements and wants, and how much to save for retirement. We debate enjoying dessert after dinner over how that will impact the number on the scale if we keep it up. We vascillate between doing something now or leaving it for later. The decisions we make range from inconsequential (“I’ll do the dishes in the morning”) to life-threatening (“I’m too afraid of what these symptoms mean to schedule a doctor’s appointment”).

This spills over into our spiritual life as well. Consider these phrases:

–“I believe there’s a God, but I’m not ready to get serious about religion just yet.”

–“I’m a good person, and I think God will let me into heaven when my time comes.”

–“Who really knows what will happen after I die—might as well live it up while I’m here on earth!”

–“I’m not sure all that stuff in the Bible is true—I’ll just take my chances.”

These statements—and others like them—gamble today on what will take place tomorrow. They’re indicative of an indifferent roll of the dice against an unknown future.

No, we don’t always know what tomorrow will bring, and yet we must do some planning for it today. That takes time and resources, but most of all, thought.

So let me ask you: have you prepared for your life after death? I guarantee you, it’s going to be much longer than the time you’ve had on earth. And on what or on whom are you basing your preparations?

I’ll be frank: if you’re basing eternity on fuzzy feelings and a vague hope that it will all work out well in the end, then you’re not any more prepared than the Park Service would be if it ignored its hordes of summer tourists.

Years ago, I read a saying that stuck with me: heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. In John 14, Jesus said He’s got it all ready, and even gave us directions how to get there (vs. 1-6).

He also said that hell is just as real. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 gives a vivid description—conscious existence in torment and agony, forever separated from God, with no do-over.

If you haven’t settled your eternal destiny, please do, right now. I’m not asking you to jump in blindly. Faith requires critical thinking. Study the Bible: don’t just read about it, but go to the Book itself. It can stand up to the scrutiny.

“I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days” (Deuteronomy 30:19, 20).

And don’t worry about crowd control. Heaven has room enough for us all.

Comments (1) Mar 07 2011

February 1, 2010

Be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. Matthew 24:42

I was in the airport when the first reports about the earthquake in Haiti were coming in. Then I hopped a plane to Egypt, where for nine days I didn’t have access to an English newspaper or broadcast.  It wasn’t until I got home that I learned the full scope of the tragedy.

(Don’t expect me to make some sort of pronouncement about God’s judgment or anything—there’s suffering and death on top of terrible poverty and years of corruption, and we need to be weeping along with Haiti (Romans 12:15), and helping, not wasting our time issuing verdicts).

Today I read a small item in the paper about recent seismic activity in Yellowstone. It seems that for the last couple of weeks, more than a hundred tiny tremors a day have rattled a section of the park about ten miles northwest of the Old Faithful geyser. Scientists monitoring the situation are on alert but not alarmed, and they don’t believe the tremors are indications of a larger event to come.

So much talk about earthquakes made me curious about where the word comes up in the Bible. I found several mentions. Amos 1:1 refers to one (a commentary says that earthquakes were so common that for the prophet to have noted it, it must have been unusually severe). Zechariah also cites this event (14:5), as does the historian Josephus, according to the commentary.

Then there is the earthquake that occurred when Jesus died on the cross (Matthew 27:50-54), which tore the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple (Exodus 26:37, 38:18; Hebrews 9:3), caused tombs to open and people to rise up out of them, and impressed a centurion so much that he believed in Jesus on the spot. I also read the account of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail, praying and singing their hearts out when a temblor shook the foundations of the prison, flung open all the doors and unlocked the prisoners’ chains (Acts 16:25-34). Again, it made such an impact that the guard immediately became a Christian.

But perhaps the most compelling citations have to do with what is commonly called the end times, when Jesus returns to earth. When asked by His disciples what signs they should look for, Jesus mentions several things, including earthquakes, and gives further illustrations through several parables (Matthew 24 and 25). The book of Revelation alludes to many cosmic disturbances (6:12-14), and a series of tremors (8:5; 11:13, 19), including one that will be “such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth” (16:18). Sobering stuff.

Now, I’m not going to start predicting the end of the world is near, because Scripture explicitly states that’s impossible (Matthew 24:36, 42 50; 25:13), and we can be easily misled by false teachers who try to set dates (Matthew 24:4, 5, 11, 23, 24). The two abiding principles I do get from all these passages are, 1) when Jesus comes, it will be unmistakable (Matthew 24:27-31) and, 2) we need to act as if it would happen any moment (Matthew 24:42-44, 25:13).

I imagine most Haitians had no idea a massive earthquake was on the way—they were too busy just trying to survive to give it much thought, if any at all. In that, they are not too much different from the rest of us, as we plod along day by day, dealing with Yellowstone-like rumblings and occasional scary upheavals that can leave us shaken and bereft. But there will come a day when we’ll be hit by The Big One, which will be way beyond anything the world has ever experienced.

The question I ask myself is: will I be ready?

Comments (2) Feb 01 2010