Redemption
In Memory of Maria
Two days ago, my bladder awakened me at 3:50 am. Stumbling into the darkened bathroom, I did my duty and returned to bed, encouraged that I still had a few hours to sleep.
As I dozed off, suddenly a large BOOM thundered through the neighborhood, rattling the windows, and causing me to bolt up wide awake.
What in the world was that? I’d never heard such a thunderous noise in the nearly thirty years we’d lived on Arlington Place. Must have been a sonic boom made by an airplane overhead.
Still befuddled, I dozed back to sleep.
A few hours later I found out. My friend and personal banker, Maria McDonald and her husband Bill, were found dead in a home that had been obliterated by a horrific blast just a mile away from us.
Today I write in memory of Maria.
There are many bad things taking place in the world that modern communications remind us of daily. People are being slaughtered and are fleeing the Middle East by the hundreds of thousands. We are in the midst of a hard-fought and ever-changing election campaign that will determine the next president of the United States.
But when you lose a friend, the world stands still. You think about life, death, and the reality of eternity. Suddenly human love and affection takes center stage over all the international headlines.
Losing Maria has done that for me.
Here’s what happened.
Bill and Maria McDonald (70 and 65 respectively) lived a mile from our home (as the crow flies) in Port Orchard, Washington–a small town of about 13,000 people located in the center of Puget Sound. In a community of this size, you know many people–even though 60,000 folks are scattered among the trees and the metropolis of Seattle is just across the water.
Two days ago Bill and Marie’s triple-wide mobile home, situated on two and a half areas behind Mullenix Elementary School, simply exploded–leaving most of the debris, according to a first responder, “no bigger than match sticks.” (At this point, the source of the explosion is unknown.)
Though there is heavily forested land between our home and theirs, we felt the blast hit our house causing the windows to shake. Shirley’s parents, who live seven miles away, heard the sonic boom and got out of bed to see what was happening. People in Renton, Washington–forty miles away across the water–heard the explosion.
Now we know why.
The McDonalds’ two and a half acres look like a war zone. Neighbors’ windows were shattered and pictures fell off walls. At the elementary school, 1000 feet through the dense trees, windows were broken by the impact. Recovery crews are finding bits of the house and even family pictures up in trees and on power lines a quarter mile away.
The home is gone–as if destroyed by a tornado.
The blast was so unusual that it made the national news and certainly dominated the local coverage. If you’d like to see an early report on what happened, you can watch it here on the local KOMO News broadcast.
I heard about who had died when I visited my mom that afternoon. She’d gone to the bank earlier that day where Maria worked. It was closed but cameramen were present. They broke the news that Maria and her husband had been killed in the vicious blast.
My mother was one of the first to be interviewed on camera about the death of Maria.
I met Maria McDonald decades ago ago when she started working for Kitsap Bank. This well-known local institution has been our family bank since 1950 when my young doctor father walked through the front door and shook hands–the only terms necessary for getting a loan in those days–with bank president Frank Langer.
Ever since, Kitsap Bank (with numerous locations around west Puget Sound) served as the Boehme family bank.
Maria, from a Guamanian background, started working at Kitsap Bank twenty-two years ago. She was a gentle, kind soul, who was known for her business acumen, sense of humor, service at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church, and her great cooking. She had recently helped organize a Lenten soup supper at the church.
Husband Bill was also active at St. Gabes, an Air Force veteran from the Viet Nam War, worked with the Knights of Columbus and owned a satellite communications consulting firm.
Bill and Maria have five children and twelve grandchildren.
At a memorial mass held yesterday, both were fondly remembered for their faith and love.
Jarrod Roth said for many:
“There’s something about them that sets them apart from many others in a special way. It’s the way they connected with people. In a loving way, in a self-less way, uplifting way, it was a very humble way of living their lives. In a way it made them larger than life…They’ve touched all of us. They’re gone but not forgotten.”
I never met Bill, but certainly agree about Maria.
As our personal banker, Maria managed all of our YWAM and personal accounts. I always enjoyed coming into the Kitsap branch near our home and seeing Maria perched on her chair in the right corner of the building. Her smile always invited me to come over to work out some kind of problem.
One of those problems drew us close five years ago.
I was traveling and speaking in Puerto Rico in 2011 when Shirley called to tell me that our home had been robbed. It took place in broad daylight and involved some “professionals.” During the only hour of the day when no one was at home, the thieves entered our house and quickly searched through every room on two floors–probably in less that ten minutes.
Our compound of buildings also houses two Youth With A Mission offices.
The police later told us that they were looking for three things: 1) Money (including checkbooks), 2) Jewelry (to pawn), and 3) Fire arms (for you know what).
In ten minutes of ransacking, they took four check books in desk drawers and Shirley’s engagement ring. She felt extremely violated when she came home later that day and found numerous drawers open and her jewelry box plundered.
She urgently called me to ask what to do.
I told her to call Maria and put a stop on everything. When I came home, it took weeks to undue the damage that ultimately cost us $1000 in bad checks. The engagement ring never turned up though I looked through every pawn shop in the area. The thieves were eventually caught and went to jail.
We did learn from the police department how to hide and scatter valuables in your home. If, there’s a next time, the robbers will waste their time.
But back to Maria, our personal banker.
She was the one who lovingly walked us through that ordeal. She not only did the work of cancelling old and creating new accounts, but she also shared her heart and soul with us.
She too had been robbed. So had her daughter. Almost like a grief counselor, she walked us through the process of dealing with our loss with her strong faith, caring personality, and warm smile and comfort.
Every person should have a personal banker like Maria.
That’s why when I heard she’d been killed in the explosion, I nearly cried as if she was a member of the family. In small communities, some friendships are like that. You might not know people socially or intimately, but the friendship is deep and meaningful.
Friendship, on all levels, is a gift from God (Proverbs 17:17).
I learned after the blast that Maria was just two months from retiring from the bank. She and her husband looked forward and planned to travel and enjoy their large family.
All that vanished in an instant.
There are some important lessons here.
First, you can work all your life to attain a goal or an imagined future, and that plan can change in a heart-beat. Thus the importance of placing your life in God’s hands, seizing every day for what it is, and knowing that eternal life for the redeemed is your ultimate destination (Psalm 90:12).
Secondly, life really boils down to two things. Be a good steward of the things God has given you (Titus 1:7-9). You will not have them forever, but God wants us to use them for His glory for our brief time on earth. Even more importantly, serve the people around you (1 Corinthians 9:19). They are your greatest treasure and possess infinite value.
Stewardship and serving are twin pillars of a wise life.
And finally, make sure to befriend and share Jesus with those with whom you have daily contact (2 Timothy 4:2). They include the clerk in the store, your lawyer, your CPA, the neighbors on your block, and your friends at church and at play.
Talk about God’s kingdom. Point them to Jesus. Love and encourage them.
I write these words to remind myself to press on.
In memory of Maria.
The Calm Before the Storm
As 2014 comes to an end, an interesting display of journalistic optimism is in the air. According to many sources, “Happy Days Are Here Again.”
On a personal level, I agree that hope is vital to life. As followers of Christ, we should always be focusing on the “half full cup” of blessings that God has given us instead of the half empty mug of disappointments because “we can do all things through Christ” and “the future is as bright as the promises of God.”
Yes, from an eternal perspective, the blessing of knowing Jesus far outweighs the daily pains of human existence.
But I believe there is a reason for the current global giddiness, and, in truth, another reality lies ahead.
We are simply experiencing the calm before the storm.
A number of positive articles about the state of the world have gotten my attention recently. One was an article in USA Today that touted the “good times” that the nation is experiencing. USA Today is America’s most widely read newspaper.
On December 23, the New York Times got into the act with an article called, “Economic Vital Signs in 3rd Quarter Were Strongest in a Decade.” The Times seemed practically delirious with excitement about the future. I will italicize some of the hyperbole that gushes forth from their commentary:
“The American economy grew last quarter at its fastest rate in over a decade, providing the strongest evidence to date that the recovery is finally gaining sustained power more than five years after it began.”
“Bolstered by robust spending among consumers and businesses alike, economic output rose at an annual rate of 5 percent during the summer months, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, a sharp revision from its earlier estimate of 3.9 percent. The advance followed a second quarter where growth reached a rate of 4.6 percent after a decline last winter that was exacerbated by particularly harsh weather.”
“The revision was led by an upswing in investment by businesses, a powerful force for growth in most economic recoveries but one that has lagged in the latest rebound. Higher consumer spending, including increased outlays on health care, and a narrower trade balance also contributed to the summer improvement. The gain makes the third quarter the strongest since the summer of 2003.”
I think you get the idea. Economic Nirvana has finally returned.
Then three days later, the UK Telegraph ran an article by Fraser Nelson entitled “Goodbye to One of the Best Years in History.” Its subtitle read “It Might Not Feel Like It, But We are Safer, Richer, and Healthier Than at Any Time on Record.”
At any time on record? Are things really looking up?
Here is Fraser’s British analysis of global goodness as seen from the view across the pond:
“Judging the world through headlines is like judging a city by spending a night in A&E – you only see the worst problems. This may have felt like the year of Ebola and ISIL but in fact, objectively, 2014 has probably been the best year in history.”
“Take war, for example – our lives now are more peaceful than at any time known to the human species. Archaeologists believe that 15 per cent of early mankind met a violent death, a ratio not even matched by the last two world wars. Since they ended, wars have become rarer and less deadly…The ISIL barbarity in the Middle East is so shocking, perhaps, because it comes against a backdrop of unprecedented world peace.”
“We have recently been celebrating a quarter-century since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, which kicked off a period of global calm. The Canadian academic Steven Pinker has called this era the “New Peace”, noting that conflicts of all kinds – genocide, autocracy and even terrorism – went on to decline sharply the world over.”
With peace comes trade and, ergo, prosperity. Global capitalism has transferred wealth faster than foreign aid ever could…Global life expectancy now stands at a new high of 71.5 years, up six years since 1990. In India, life expectancy is up seven years for men, and 10 for women. It’s rising faster in the impoverished east of Africa than anywhere else on the planet. In Rwanda and Ethiopia, life expectancy has risen by 15 years.”
The Ebola crisis has led to 7,000 deaths, each one a tragedy. But far more lives have been saved by the progress against malaria, HIV and diarrhea. The World Bank’s rate of extreme poverty (those living on less than $1.25 a day) has more than halved since 1990, mainly thanks to China – where economic growth and the assault on poverty are being unwittingly supported by any parent who put a plastic toy under the tree yesterday.”
“Prosperity is bringing benefits without trashing the planet. Since 1990, the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are down, in spite of our economy being about 60 per cent larger – thanks to more efficient technology. Our roads are safer, as well as greener. Traffic deaths are down by two-thirds since 1990, and are lower now than when the Model T Ford was on the road.”
Nothing is irreversible. And there will be a great many people for whom life is tough, and looks set to remain so for some time. We still have a lamentably long list of problems to solve. But in the round, there’s no denying it: we are living in the Golden Era. There has never been a better reason for people the world over to wish each other a happy and prosperous new year.”
Greatest year in history. New Peace. Golden Era.
I think you get the idea, and I think I know, at least in America, why secular progressives are trumpeting this new message of happy times.
They are deliberately trying to set the stage for a Hillary Clinton presidency in 2016 to keep their hold on power.
Let’s set the record straight about what’s really happening in the world right now.
1. First of all, free enterprise and civic freedom in nations grows mostly through the biblical worldview and the liberty that is found in Jesus Christ. The growth of global capitalism, elevating people out of poverty, is primarily a result of the Christian faith. So is the progress of modern medicine, fueled by science that emerged out of Christian Europe. None of these good changes were produced by statism–my word of choice for secular progressivism or atheism. In fact, the intense regulations of Big Government worldwide are stifling creativity and freedom which could bless billions more people.
2. Does anybody really believe that world is more safe today? The orchestrated collapse of American influence around the globe has led to chaos in the Middle East and the rise of possibly the world’s most barbaric Islamic expression–ISIS. Tyranny is growing in many places including the United States, the social democracies of Europe, dictatorial Russia, Communist China, and fascist Islamic states. Nine nations have atomic bombs, and the world’s greatest exporter of terror–Iran–is about to become nuclear. Things are not “golden” in the world right now. They are downright scary. Exhibit one: The millions of Christians in Iraq and Syria being slaughtered and chased from the region of their birth. It might be one of the largest genocides in history.
3. Global debt–the product of a secular live-beyond-your-means mentality– is a potential time bomb that could reek as much havoc as nuclear fusion. Worldwide, global indebtedness stands at 55 trillion with hundreds of trillions of unfunded liabilities. In the United States, our national debt has passed 20 trillion dollars that must produce a day of reckoning in the not-so-distant future.
4. And here in America, poor leadership and race peddling for political gain have fueled weeks of rioting in major US cities including the death of two policemen in New York who were shot execution style. There is so much tension in USA’s largest city (New York) that the police have turned their backs to Mayor Bill de Blasio because he doesn’t have their back in maintaining order in the city. Many marches and protests are fueled by communist groups and anarchists. It seems like one little match could send American cities into a blaze of horrific violence.
The New York City killing of policeman Rafael Ramos really strikes home. Rafael was a distance-student of a seminary where I teach–Faith Evangelical College and Seminary in Tacoma, WA–and was only fifteen hours away from completing his degree. His goal was to do a Masters in chaplaincy and use his life to bless many others. (Faith Seminary will be awarding his degree posthumously.)
His future was halted by a cowardly bullet.
Here’s the truth about 2015: Major economic difficulties and collapse, maybe on a global scale, is more than likely in the next year or two. That will create distress, chaos and, possibly, a new world order might emerge out of the disruption of life as we know it.
Happy days are not here again. Don’t believe the secular Pied Pipers. It’s the calm before the storm–and this particular tsunami will not be pretty.
But God is in control. So prepare yourself. Get your money out of the fragile markets and into tangible investments and ministry. Watch and pray and serve the needs of those around you.
Tribulation is coming. So is Jesus Christ.
Fulfilling his commission and hastening his return are the best things we can do to to enter into the true golden era of His heavenly kingdom.
Answering Bill O’Reilly’s Question about Israel
Have you ever watched a television broadcast–maybe a newscast or even a game show–where a question was posed, and when no one seemed to know the correct answer, you leapt to your feet and shouted it out toward the screen?
The other night Shirley and I were watching the O’Reilly Factor which is the number one cable news program in America. Bill O’Reilly strikes some people as arrogant, and interrupts guests when they dodge his questions in the “No Spin Zone,” but he’s the clearest thinking television journalist in America and that’s why his program is number one.
For fourteen years running.
This week he asked a guest a question about Israel. Bill didn’t know the answer and neither did his guest. The question was: “Why is the tiny nation of Israel hated by so many people and nations?
Do you know why?
To be honest, I was surprised by Mr. O’Reilly’s question and his honesty about it. He asked his guest point blank at least two or three times why anti-Semitism was so prevalent in the world. He noted that Israel was a very small nation–and there are many small nations in the world.
So why the hatred toward puny Israel?
He mentioned that Israel was not a country for thousands of years, and then was reborn in 1948 after World War II. O’Reilly seemed sincerely confused as to why Hitler would kill millions of Jews (of all people), and why, at this present time, anti-Jewish protests were taking place in Europe and other parts of the world.
After all, he opined, we don’t hear of the terrorists vowing to wipe Lichtenstein, or Monaco, or the Gambia off the map.
Why tiny, peaceful and democratic Israel?
Bill O’Reilly also lamented the biased reporting on the present Middle East war. Most of the mainstream media is anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian–despite the fact that Hamas started this war, they lie about everything (including their casualties and using children as human shields), and used much of their United Nations aid to build terrorist tunnels to kidnap and kill Jews instead of providing schools and hospitals for the people.
Bill O’Reilly, the most watched journalist on television, had no idea why the nation of Israel has always been and currently is being hated, slandered, and singled out among the two hundred nations of the world.
So I stood up and shouted out at the television the answer:
“It’s all about God’s plan of salvation.”
Apparently Mr. O’Reilly’s education failed to teach two very important worldview truths without which the history of earth makes little sense.
First, the reason for evil in the world is because a Devil exists, there are demons that tempt and deceive human beings, and all hatred, animosity, violence and non-defensive wars can be traced to the influences of the kingdom of darkness.
The main purpose of this dark kingdom is to kill, ruin, and destroy human beings so that they cannot be reconciled to God (John 10:10).
The second worldview truth is the most important one. There is a loving God who is actively involved in trying to reconcile all people into a right relationship with Him. His plan of salvation has been progressively unveiled through Abraham, the Jewish nation, the coming of the Messiah, Jesus (a Jew), and now through his people, the Church.
Israel is His chosen Old Testament people. He gave them his laws, a land on the Mediterranean Sea, and brought the Savior of the world through them.
Followers of Jesus, both Gentiles and Jews, are now the New Testament “Israel” of God (Galatians 6:16). They have been given a “Great Commission” to take God’s message of salvation to every person on earth (Matthew 28:18-20).
So Israel, both old and new, is at the center of God’s salvation plans. The destruction of the Jews and persecution of Christians is at the heart of the satanic strategy to stop it.
Gary Randall points a few important facts about Israel and its Messiah, Jesus.
1. In Genesis 12:2-3 God says to Abraham, “I will make you a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great, And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse those who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
2. Paul wrote in Romans 15: 27 “…For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their ( Jews) spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.” The Jewish people gave birth to the Christian faith and have given us the sacred Scripture, the Prophets, the Patriarchs, Mary Joseph and the baby who was God in the flesh, the 12 disciples and the Apostles. It is inconceivable to claim to be Christian and anti-Israel.
3. Some of the religious left attempt to separate Jesus of Nazareth from the Jews of the world. Jesus never denied His Jewishness. He was born Jew and circumcised a Jew on the 8th day according to the Jewish tradition.
4. Psalms 122:6 “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper that love you.”
5. Jesus went to the house of Cornelius ( Acts 10) and healed his servant. Luke 7:5 tells you why. “For he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.”
6. Acts 10:4 further illuminates this principle in relation to Cornelius-“Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.” To whom were his “prayers and alms ” directed? The Jews.
7. All other nations were created by an act of men, Israel was created by an act of God. Genesis 12:1-3, 13: 14-18, 15: 1-, 17:4-8, 22: 15-18, 26: 1-5. Psalms 89: 28-37.
Isaiah 40:10 is a promise to Israel and to all who serve God;” Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
Verses 11 and 12 promise the Lord’s faithfulness saying those who “strive” against you shall “perish” and those who “war against you” shall be as nothing—nonexistent.”
Let’s add to these promises that in the last days of history there will be a great turning of the currently secular nation of Israel back to the God of their fathers (Romans 11:26).
They will accept their true Messiah–Yeshua (Jesus).
So, to sum up, the world’s hatred for and attention on the tiny nation of Israel is due to the special calling of Israel by God and their place in world history. It’s not because they’re worse than anyone else, or wealthier than everybody (though the blessing of God has brought great prosperity to many Jewish families).
It’s all about salvation.
The tiny nation of Israel is front and center in the news, hated by the terrorists, and protested all over the world because they are a sign of God’s coming salvation. The Devil wants to stop it–using his demons to stir up people to try and destroy the Jews (and also the Church).
That’s not so difficult to understand, especially when you understand the biblical worldview.
The evil plan will fail because God is directing history.
And Bill–that’s truly no spin.