John H Armstrong

A Strange Encounter with Evil in Phoenix

Last Sunday evening in Phoenix I was enjoying a lovely dinner with Jeff and Patti Gokee, along with their two sons, Ben (11) and Cooper (8). A man unexpectedly came up to our table to verbally assault Jeff and me for what we had been conversing about with Ben and Cooper. It was surreal, shocking. I confess that I have never had a total stranger approach me in a restaurant with curses and insults during dinner. The place grew silent as people watched in amazement. Jeff and I both thought it was a joke until the man began to call us names and assault us angrily with everything he had but his fists. 

To understand this verbal assault you must know that Ben (11) wanted to discuss some pressing theological concerns with me and his dad has encouraged him to ask at dinner. His questions were about his brother Cooper (8), who has been in a battle with leukemia for several months now. (You could easily tell that Cooper has been undergoing some serious medical issues by his physical appearance which is the result of chemo treatment.) Ben asked, “Did God give my brother this cancer?” I answered, “No, God does not send us evil diseases. He did not give this cancer to Cooper.” But Ben said, “If he is God then didn’t he allow this cancer since he could have stopped it?” I answered, “Yes, Ben this true.” I said that God had originally given us nothing but good but that creation was now touched by sin and evil because of the fall. The fall was allowed because God loved us and wanted us to love him back without constraint. But as a result of allowing sin God had planned to use evil like cancer for his glory and our good. He would reveal his love to us even in the darkness of human pain and cancer. I added that God is good, always good, but for some reason he sometimes allows evil to touch us for reasons that we can not explain. I concluded that someday we would see why he had allowed this evil to touch Cooper but this might not be clear at all until we are safely home with Christ and his people in the new heavens and new earth. 

Jeff added a story about a man he had met in the morning where he had preached in Prescott, Arizona. This man had been in a battle with leukemia that began six years ago. He should not have survived but he is still alive. Jeff told how the man had been sleepless for days and was in intense pain in the hospital. One evening he asked God to comfort him and he felt as if someone can into his room and touched him and put him to sleep. Ten hours later, to the amazement of all the health care folks, he awoke refreshed. Over time he was proven to have been healed. We told Ben and Cooper that we believed it was right to pray against this evil and to intensely desire for God to touch Cooper’s body with healing. 

During this conversation this still unidentified man came by our table and began to shout at us with intense anger. He told us that we were feeding lies to these young boys and we should be ashamed. He used several profanity laced sentences to tell me I was a preacher and I was in this line of work to make money. He added that I should be exposed as a complete fraud. As I said, it was a stunning moment. The whole place was watching. I tried to say something to the man as he walked away but he would not listen. I said, “Sir, I hope you feel better for sharing your honest concern. I would love to talk to you.” He turned and called me a name again and pointed at me and yelled, “You just ought to be ashamed!”

What do you do? What can you say? 

First, we calmly talked about what happened. We concluded that the man must have had a very bad experience with Christians, and ministers in particular, and that he was deeply hurt and angry person. We felt deep sympathy for him and prayed for him. We also felt that something more than a human spirit had been present at our table. I am not one to “see” the demonic everywhere but when I see evil so brutally exposed I usually recognize it. Jeff and I have both seen the demonic openly in India and we both felt we had seen it again in Phoenix. 

Second, we talked to the boys about what happened and how to respond. We asked them what they felt and why. We also told Ben and Cooper that they should always feel free to ask questions and talk about anything that troubled them about God and faith. We said that keeping these hard questions inside can lead to the reaction that we had just seen in the restaurant. I think we saw evil turned to good. Christ was honored and glorified. 

Now, five days later I am still amazed at what happened last Sunday evening. It was one of the most remarkable encounters in a public setting that I’ve ever had in America. As we were leaving the restaurant the waiter came over and said, “God bless you!” Some people just say that but he said it with deep feeling. I believe he, and others, were watching to see what we did and how we handled it. By God’s grace I think we bore witness to the love of God. I still pray for this man and ask God to forgive him and heal him. I believe he has no idea how deeply he has been hurt. His pain is real. So is the pain of many, many people who have had a bad experience with Christians who talk about God. May we all be filled with pity and compassion for the lost and angry people we meet in our journey through this world. 

 

The ACT 3 Weekly: Churchless Christianity?

Several times each year I mention what I believe is the most important online writing that I do. I refer to the ACT 3 Weekly articles I write for our web site. (These are read by several thousand subscribers as well as by visitors to our home page.) These articles run between 1,000 and 1,400 words and address topics and themes that are directly related to our vision of missional-ecumenism, the vision that drives this ministry. I have been writing these longer articles for at least ten years. I have been blogging for about seven years. These weekly articles have often been delivered as public presentations (via lectures and dialogues) and some have even been used in multi-authored published works. Still others will likely become full-length books in the future. I do far more research, and do more extensive editing, on these articles than I can ever do with my blogging. My first priority in daily writing is this series. This material is actually the long-time staple of our serious effort to help the church, to serve church leaders and to think more clearly about mission and ministry. 

I began a new series last Monday (January 9). The subject is Churchless Christianity. Ten years ago this subject would have been irrelevant except in some (Muslim and Hindu) contexts outside of North America. Now churchless Christianity is fast becoming an issue that the American church needs to understand and squarely address. I explain the problem and then offer some biblical and theological answers for how to proceed over coming weeks. I think all Christians ought to be discussing this issue, especially our leaders. I believe many of you will find these articles helpful. 

You can read the first issue (01/09/12) at ACT 3 online. You can also subscribe to this ACT 3 Weekly series at the ACT site. A podcast is usually made (last week was an exception) and you can subscribe to this if you prefer an audio version that lasts about ten minutes. 

Please pray for me during these days. I am working very hard on re-visioning the web site of ACT 3 and hope to have a new home page and blog site soon. I am also working on my presence on Facebook and Twitter. Check me out on both if you're interested at all. 

 

My Bride Still Delights Me

Forty-one years ago this evening I married a beautiful young woman of 22 years of age. I, a senior on Christmas break at Wheaton College, could not believe this gorgeous lady would marry me. As I stood at the front of the Wheaton Bible Church watching her come down that long aisle I was simply staggered by God's blessing in my life. 

Today we remember all the blessings that were given to us in the years since that wonderful evening of December 26, a cold Saturday night in 1970. We had only truly met (we talked for a few seconds about five months before but we really did not notice each other at all) in May of 1970. We fell in love very fast. I do not recommend it but it was sheeer joy. Our parents were totally supportive and thus we got married rather quickly. If truth be told we hardly knew each other, at least in terms of our respective bad habits and ways of coping emptionally. Our cultures were very different too. I was from the deep South and Anita was a Chicago girl through-and-through. Oddly, both our dads were dentists who both graduated from Northwestern Dental School. (They had never met since they were there at different times.)

 Our love has grown over these forty-one years. We have faced challenges, as all couples do over time. But one thing I am sure about today more than ever. I made a good choice. (I think Anita would agree!) It would be better to say that God kindly directed me to a woman who was loyal, loving and so much fun to be around. She was gorgeous to me when we first talked warmly, and with real interest, in May of 1970. She is, and I am not making this up, more gorgeous to me now than she was then. She ages well, loves me much better each year and supports me like no one else in my life. And no one watches my back side, and my front side for that matter, like Anita. She can see through people like I cannot. She warns me about people who will hurt me and I am learning to listen better with time. She even tells me how to drive but I listen less to this counsel. Surprised?

God bless you my precious wife of 41 years!!!

The Unity Factor: One Lord, One Church, One Mission

Some months ago my board asked me to prayerfully consider writing a new, small book on missiona-ecumenism. I finally finished this in the fall and today the book is available for purchase. 

I determined to not write the same book as Your Church Is To Small by simply making a short version. I wrote an entirely new book on the same subject but with a different audience and purpose in mind. 

If you would like copies of the book for distribution we can offer you a very inexpensive price if you will use them to reach others with this message. 

For the next six days the book is available as an E-Book for free. Check this out at: https://www.facebook.com/clpress?sk=app_201143516562748. If you want to read it get it now as a free download. 

Your response will help us get this vital message to a growing number of Christians who need to learn about the power and potential of missional-ecumenism. 

 

First in Our Household

A home without children is quiet, sometimes too quiet. Most of the time my home is very quiet. But sometimes it is filled with the laughter of my grandchildren, who are a delight. But it is always filled by the presence of our “third” child, Neo. Neo is ten and half years old but doing pretty well for a senior dachshund. She has actually become more active the last three years because of her cousin, Latte. Latte spends a lot of time with Neo. When Latter and Neo are together they teach each other various new social responses. The worst such social behavior is what I call a dachshund “bark off.” Latte usually begins it though Neo has learned well and clearly is no angel. The “two girls” sit on top of our living room sofa and “guard” the house from anything that moves. When I am trying to think, read or write they can drive me to distraction and I yell at them to cut it out. But then they are so cute you can’t be mad at them, at least for long.

Anita decided Neo would help us begin our Christmas season early this year. She took this photo of our beloved furry friend last week. Does she look excited to you?

Doing Reformed Theology

I am sometimes asked, “Are you a Reformed theologian?” This post is a brief attempt to give an honest (and simple) answer to this question.

First, this question infers that I am a theologian. The answer to this part of the question is both yes and no. Every Christian is a theologian in some sense, either a good one or a bad one. If you think about your faith, in this case the Christian faith, then you are a Christian theologian. There are trained and untrained theologians. There are lay theologians, teaching theologians, writing theologians, etc. I do formally teach theology but I am not a professional writing theologian who has been highly trained an academic doctoral context for this noble purpose. I have limitations and freely admit it.

The great danger I see here is twofold. Untrained theologians can become rather self-confident because they have read a few “old” books, listened to their favorite teachers, and then strongly adopted what they believe to be true Christian theology. When they do this to the exclusion of all other Christian thought it then divides and creates real harm inside the church. It even impacts our mission before the world as well. In my estimation both Calvinists and Arminians, to use one evangelical example, are guilty of this problem. It is so easy, if you have adopted one side or the other in this centuries old debate, to read only your side favorably and then label the other side negatively. When this is done serious reflection and continued growth is often the great loser.

Trained theologians are sometimes guilty of a very different problem. They sometimes show an almost complete disdain for non-professional theologians. (There are wonderful exceptions to this tendency!) What we all need to keep in mind here is the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Pastors and professional teachers of theology should be especially careful to see their theological work as “service to the whole body.” They are not engaging in a profession apart from the catholic church.

Second, the question I’ve put to myself (because others have done it for me as well) is this: “Am I truly Reformed?” The answer to this is again a qualified yes and no. This will require a careful answer.

If being Reformed means that I accept one or more of the great confession(s) from the 16th century, say the Westminster or the Belgic, as the final word on biblical theology then the answer is a strong no. While I have affirmed the “Three Forms of Unity,” and serve as an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Reformed Church in America, this does not mean that I agree with every word of these fallible human confessions. I find a broad agreement with them for sure but I am not required to hold them without exception. Even the most conservative Reformed denominations allow “exceptions” for elders and ministers.

The problem I am getting is best stated by a friend who left an independent church many years ago and said to me, upon joining a very conservative Reformed church, “In the Westminster Confession I have found the most nearly perfect expression of faith ever penned. I need no more theology than what I have found here.” That is not only a wrong way to use a creed but it is not truly Reformed.

If being Reformed means that I am “young and restless” then I am neither. I am 62 and no longer restless about life or theology. I find this recent emphasis, which has grown in some conservative circles, to be unhelpful to the greater goal of missional-ecumenism. It puts up old barriers and thereby destroys relationships with people who are deemed “wrong” about a wide range of ways to frame the faith. I believe a more ancient-future faith paradigm is faithful to the overall witness of Scripture. In such a paradigm we can use and respect ancient creeds but we can also look to the future with faith and hope as we continue to think and confess the Christian faith in every unique circumstance.

Yes, I am a Reformed Protestant Christian. But I am first, above all else, a Christ follower who loves the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. This means that Reformed, at least for me, is a modifier of my Protestantism, informing my view of the church and its faith in my own context. It seems to me that the proper priority of these commitments is both missional and ecumenical. Some think this type of confession is ludicrous. I believe their confidence is too deeply rooted in their presuppositions about creeds and traditions. I also believe that their personal sense of how certain they are about their own theological system and tradition is a sign of their overconfidence in human systematizing. I love this tradition but I do not hold it in this way. I follow the post-Reformation statement, which no one is sure where it came from originally: “Reformed and always reforming.” I hold this view because this is how I believe we can and do perceive truth in our present state.

My own denomination (Reformed Church in America) recently began the process of adding a fourth doctrinal statement to the three major creeds/catechisms from the Reformation era. I refer to The Belhar Confession. This modern confession comes from South Africa. It deals with modern concerns about racism and systemic forms of sin in the church and culture. The consideration of adoption created a huge stir in Reformed Church settings. It barely passed after a long process of adoption. A few other groups have looked at it, but chosen not to take action. Many conservative Reformed Christians simply do not like Belhar. The two primary arguments made against it, so far as I can tell, go as follows: (1) It does not rise to the same level of doctrinal maturity and wholeness as our past standards and thus it is not, strictly speaking, a creed. (2) It implicitly opens the door to approving homosexual practice since the principal South African author of Belhar now approves homosexual practice. It is argued that by approving it we are adopting a creed that will in itself make it easier to embrace this change too. Without a long explanation about these two points I find the first argument seriously worth consideration while I find the second weak and deeply rooted in fear and false logic.

My point in bringing up The Belhar Confession is that the oldest Reformed denomination in America is now in the process of formally adding this twentieth century creed to its historic standards. This says something important about what the word Reformed really means, at least to one family of Reformed Christians with whom I share fellowship. A Reformed church and theologian is thus never to become static. Let me express this more fully.

I believe we do need new creeds. We don’t need them every few years, or decades, but now and then history calls for new ways of expressing the faith in the context the church confesses the faith and serves the gospel. The Christian faith can never be adequately captured by, or expressed in, one creed for all time. This means that even the ancient creeds, which are given prominence by the whole church, are not infallible. We can and should continue to think, grow and reflect upon biblical truth within our own culture and context. This requires good theology, not a rote recitation of a human creed as an infallible instrument that defines the faith once for all time.

We must remember that confessing the faith is always an ongoing process, one that must be carefully related to the missional situation in which we find ourselves at the moment. I can think of many illustrations of this point but none is more relevant to the last century than the German Church situation in the 1930s and the need for The Barmen Declaration. This short and impressive doctrinal statement challenged Nazism through the simple power of the gospel of Jesus in a very challenging context. This statement of simple faith, written when dark clouds of judgment loomed, was a masterful Reformed response to the times.

Thus I conclude: I am a Reformed theologian in the truest and best sense of this word. I believe the historical creeds and confessions have given us great and important insights that should be preserved going forward. But I also believe that the precise form of our confession and apologetic for the faith must continue to change. This is not relativism. It is most assuredly not liberal or conservative in the way we often carelessly use these terms to undermine real discussion and growth. What this is, in my humble view, is an expression of true confidence in both Word and Spirit. God alone will lead us forward in faith, hope and love. My Reformed faith can embrace deep mystery, engage with all parts of the Christian church and thereby seek the unity of the whole church in love. It can do this because this Reformed faith can engage in continuing dialog with the goal of unity in mission kept before us as we move into a future under God’s providence. This kind of Reformed theology is being done the world over by great minds and hearts. But many conservatives in America fear this kind of Reformed theology very deeply. In my understanding this fear is rooted in cultural constructs that create profound emotional discomfort. This is never in the best interest of Reformed theology or true faith, hope and love—the marks of the type of Christian faith that serves Jesus and his mission holistically.

Blogging for ACT 3 and My Future Plans

I have been an active and committed blogger since 2005. I have “quit” scores of times (in my mind). I have once or twice spoken about quitting. The sole reason I haven’t is because I meet people who tell me that reading these posts has made a difference in their spiritual journey. If you have found any reason for deeper faith, hope and love through this blog then I give God the thanks and praise.

Recently I thought again about these blogs and my own life and vision. After some careful consideration I am not quitting the blogs but I am changing what I do, how often I do it and what my more narrowly defined purpose will be. My best friend is my wife Anita. We talk about this stuff and she helped me clarify my direction and I do listen to Anita. (By the way, this new photo really captures something of our friendship if you look at it really carefully!)

Each week I write what is called the ACT 3 Weekly. This is available as an email sent by subscription at ACT 3. Just sign up and you will get this each Monday. It was once an article of 1,200-1,600 words. It is now about half that size. I am convinced that all the Internet material we can process requires shorter length, which I've personally found to be much, much better. My present series is on “Faith and the American Culture.” I am addressing the problem of individualism and how it impacts community and unity. Back issues can easily be found on our home page. There is also a convenient place to sign up for the future issues. I put my heart and soul into these articles and they are more carefully written and edited than my blogs. They are also available as podcasts for those who want to hear them. They range from 6-8 minutes a week in time.

As I take stock about my life, mission and time I realize that putting five to seven hours a week into reading, writing and producing seven blogs is just way too much time to spend on this process. I am not working at full strength and this amount of time is more than one day’s work. I need this time to write the more permanent things I do; books, ACT 3 Weekly articles, material for teaching, etc. For this reason I will do the following on this blog site going forward:

1. My posts will not appear every single day. I put myself in this bind and need to get myself out of it.

2. My posts will still include occasional personal items (my friends read these posts and I want to share things with them) and some fun stuff (football, baseball, etc.) but I will use material from other sources more often, both my own material and that of guests. I will tell you about events and useful resources that I find/found helpful. I might comment more on books that I am reading, for example. I tend to jot notes to myself about my reading so sharing these can lead to simple and easy-to-write blogs.

3. I will send up “trial balloons” by journaling some of my ideas that might become more permanent by first putting them here and then by getting comments. This will help me frame things better.

4. I will sync my blogs and facebook page and then use the two more for short, simple observations, etc.

I’m reading a new book, Microstyle (Norton, 2011), by Christopher Johnson. Johnson urges writers to “think big” and “write small.” We live in a 140-character universe, like it or not. I am going to adapt to this while I still write deeper and richer pieces that are more permanent.

The case in point is my forthcoming book, The Unity Factor: One Lord, One Church, One Mission (Grand Rapids: The Christian’s Library Press, 2011). This 52-page book took me several weeks to write and several more to edit. But it is much more permanent and useful than my blogs. It can be read in 30-40 minutes. It will also be available as an e-book and can be readily given away in either format. It will be around and still read months from now when blogs are all but dead and done. I will take this idea and apply it to my ACT 3 Weekly series and several of those will likely become carefully edited and revised books because they have proven to be of more use over time.

So, please keep checking for new blogs but also understand that I am adapting to the times and to my own time and lifestyle. For now this seems reasonable. If I’ve learned one thing about being faithful to your own life’s vision, and God’s specific calling, it is this--everything must change or your work and vision will die. As a writer I want to be a good steward. I think this is the way for me to be that steward right now.

A few simple requests:

1. Pray for me. I love to hear from intercessors who lift me up to the Father because they know me and love me.

2. Keep checking out this blog site. It will not go away. It will simply adapt and change.

3. Pray for my more permanent writing work and please visit ACT 3 and sign up for the weekly articles.

4. I will be making some more video casts and posting these now and then. I made some new ones about our Missional-Ecumenical Leadership Cohort groups this last week. These cohort groups will be a major part of ACT 3 going into 2012 and beyond.

5. Sign up on my facebook page if you like. It too will eventually require change too as I get nearer the 5,000 limit and have to develop a “fan” page. (I hate that term “fan” page but then facebook “friends” is another misnomer that I can’t quite adopt either! Consider me opposed to “individualism,” at least as we have developed it in American social culture.)

The Battle of Franklin

I recently spent some time in the Nashville (TN) area. I was about 15 minutes from Franklin, Tennessee. I had an appointment with a good friend in Franklin so I did some reading about the Civil War significance of this town. I was astounded by what I learned. I decided, after my brief research, to spend several hours visiting the Civil War sites. (I have visited more than a few Civil War battlefields and sites since I was trained in American history and retain a great interest in the subject.)

On November 30, 1864, the bloodiest and fiercest five-hour battle in the Civil War was fought in this town, which had only 750 residents at the time. In terms of the number engaged it was clearly the most destructive in the entire war. And of the five hours of combat more than four hours was fought in the dark of night, something that almost never happened. General Isaac R. Sherwood (111th Ohio Infantry) later wrote, “At midnight on the battlefield of Franklin, the finger of destiny was lifted pointing the open road to Appomattox” (meaning the end of the way a few months later).

Without providing a detailed sketch of this battle, which you can get on your own by research if you’re interested, the Battle of Franklin should never have happened. The Confederates (Army of Tennessee) brought 33,000 soldiers to fight in Tennessee. They wanted to liberate Nashville in order to break the supply lines of the Union Army. 22,000 of these men engaged in the Battle of Franklin. The Federal Army, which had literally snuck past the Confederates the evening before, was headed to Nashville to defend their stronghold. They dug in at Franklin because a bridge ahead of them was out so needed to wait in order to repair it. They numbered 23,000.

Late in the day of November 30, which was a bright and warm day of around 60 degrees, General John Bell Hood, decided to attack the Union Center about a mile or less south of Franklin where the troops were dug in with fortifications. Hood’s charge to the center of the Union line was a lot like Pickett’s famous charge at Gettysburg except it result in using more troops and even greater casualties. It was a brutal assault with very little chance of success. By the end of the battle five generals were dead and eight more wounded. Another was wounded and captured. I stood on the porch of the plantation home (photo below) where these five generals were laid on the morning of December 1, 1864. I walked in the fields of battle. I visited the cemetery where over 1,400 (only a portion) of the Confederate dead were buried. It all seemed surreal in a real sense. I simply cannot fathom these events with any degree of imagination that can do justice to the accounts I heard and the land and places I saw.

In the museum shop I looked over books and my eyes landed on one that interested me. It was an account of nine Confederate soldiers who were devoted Christians. Each explained their feelings and response to fighting in this bloody, terrible and tragic war. What interested me was the question each had to answer regarding why they felt they should fight in this war as a Christian. All nine had the same response to this question. First, they fought because their home land had been invaded. They believed their own state (Alabama, Tennessee, etc.) was their true homeland, not the union of the several states that made up the United States of America. Second, they all believed the Bible sanctioned slavery and it was just and right to die defending it. Most of those who died never owned a slave! They were too poor to own slaves. But they had been taught from childhood that slavery was biblical and they died believing this to be true.

I wondered deeply, as I walked across fields and into several homes that remain from this battle, “What do Christians believe today that is so deeply ingrained in them that it could cause them to fight and die for a cause that is neither worthy of their death or of a great bloody war?” Please never believe that how the Bible is used or interpreted makes no real difference. It did in 1864 and it still does today. The names and issues have changed but the dangers remain. Invoking the Scriptures in order to defend a war is always questionable business regardless of what theory of armed combat you endorse as a Christian.

My sunny, beautiful day in Franklin moved me to the depths of my being. It brought home the reality of how sincerely wrong some earnest Christians can be and what the cost will be in some instances. It also reminded me of how truly silly the nonsense is that we hear almost daily about how divided our nation is in 2011. We know nothing of the great divide of 1861-65 when we speak about our present struggles.

Could we have another American Civil War? Of course we could. I pray it never happens and one reason I write about peaceful and reasonable solutions to problems is to dampen down the enthusiasts who speak in apocalyptic terms about our present social and religious problems. The last I read the words of our Lord he said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” not “Blessed are those who are angry and want to take back their country for God!”

Neo: My Star Dachshund

I sometimes write about my wife, my children and even my grandchildren, but what’s up with the dog in various photos that you see of me? Well, what’s up is “Neo,” my ten and a half-year old miniature dachshund. Neo is our youngest child and the one who never left home. She brings tremendous joy to our empty-nest household. Neo is our fourth mini-dachshund in forty years of marriage. Anita was into German Shepherds when we met but our apartment would only allow a small dog so we got a dachshund, staying with the German breed of course. As night follows day we kept getting dachshunds and just love these little wiener dogs. (Neo has a little outfit that is a hot dog bun with mustard on top of it that she wears in public when we really want to get a laugh. She asked for it one Halloween I understand, telling us she wanted to be a Hallo-wiener!)

Neo is by far the sweetest little doxie that we ever had. She loves Anita beyond belief. She loves me too, but not like she loves her “momma.” Anita decided to see if she could teach “an old weiner dog new tricks.” Neo proved to be the star and Anita was again shown to be a great trainer when she put her mind and energy into it. 

Anita decided to enter Neo in a local dog show in Carol Stream. Out of 26 dogs Neo finished second in a competition that required her to wait and eat food only on command. This poor little dog had to look at a plate of food for nearly a half hour while one dog after another caved in to this temptation and ate. Look at the selection of tasty treats on that plate. I mean I would have struggled to hold out for thirty minutes. Even the judge was impressed.

You see, dachshunds are notorious for not being able to resist any food they can see and smell. But this little girl of mine resisted and resisted and proved to be a real star. Even when she lost to the eventual champion the results were a bit tainted. (Yes, I am biased but Neo really won!)

So Neo won second prize, as the photo will show. She proved that an old weiner dog can learn new tricks! And she made her momma very happy, even though it was a wet and chilly day in Carol Stream.  Can’t you tell how happy Anita was from this lovely little photo?

After the show was over Neo, and her cousin Latte (Stacy’s three-year old mini-dachshund) stuck around for a little of the post-show action. Neo passed a “Good Citizen” test and appropriately got a certificate for that too. This now allows her mom and dad to buy a bunch of dog stuff from a catalog. (What’s wrong with this picture?)

After Neo’s full day at the park she then met the event mascot who was there to wish Neo, and her cousin Latte, a nice day! The little girls, by this time of the day, were ready for a stroller ride. After all, Neo had resisted a plate of food on a down/stay for more than a half hour. She had a stroller ride coming don’t you think?

So hooray for Neo and Anita. Good job girls. I’m proud of you both. You add a lot of real joy to all our lives, proving that God’s gracious gifts extend to many parts of his kingdom, human and animal.

Chronic Fatigue and the Challenge to Education

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal underscored the problems schools and parents face whose children suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Amy Marcus tells the sad story of increased conflicts between parents and school districts as they seek to educate children with CFS who cannot cope with the daily routines of class and study.

By federal law public schools are required to provide a “free appropriate public education” in the “least restrictive environment” to children with special needs. But is CFS a “special need?” Most agree that it is. But it was not always this way. Until the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDPC) took CFS seriously this was not the case, perhaps for several decades at least. The CDCP estimates that one million Americans have CFS. As many of you know I am one of those Americans.

Amy Marcus correctly says CFS is a condition characterized by debilitating pain and severe fatigue, among a cluster of other related symptoms. These related symptoms include many things but the Mayo Clinic, which at one time did not recognize this illness seriously, now recognizes the illness in the way that has become common in the medical community.

Besides the central condition, from which this illness gets its name, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has eight (additional) official symptoms:

1. Overwhelming Fatigue
2. Loss of memory or concentration
3. Sore throat
4. Enlarged lymph nodes in your neck or armpits
5. Unexplained muscle pain
6. Pain that moves from one joint to another without swelling or redness
7. Headache of a new type, pattern or severity
8. Un-refreshing sleep
9. Extreme exhaustion lasting more than 24 hours after physical or mental exercise

Reports on CFS are numerous but a recent one in the UK proved helpful to me. There is no diagnostic or blood test for CFS and no known cure. Diagnosis is based upon a pattern of self-reported symptoms, which tend to flare and subside, or ebb and flow. For me there have been times when I felt “almost” normal and times when the illness seems to overwhelm me like a force that wants to make me give up on life. One has to fight with the emotional and mental aspects of this almost every hour of every day. My best moments are times when I am so absorbed in something that I enjoy, like a baseball or football game, a movie or a book (though concentration is extremely difficult), that I forget (for only a moment) that I feel so badly. I have come to believe that living with a CFS patient is extremely difficult and acquaintances cannot completely grasp how much this has impacted my wife, family and friends. My wife bears the worst of this since she sees me at my very worst and hears me confessing how badly I feel more than almost anyone else.

Increased awareness of CFS has led to more and more calls for research, especially among adolescents. This is particularly related to the problems created by students who cannot cope with school but who want an education and have good minds. Researchers at DePaul University in Chicago now suggest that as many of one in one hundred adolescents have CFS. For educators CFS is one of a growing group of “hidden disabilities” that are increasingly diagnosed in children. Many of these are not “visible” so how do schools deal with them? (Some illnesses included in these include fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivities, Crohn’s disease and migraines.) It is quite likely that you know someone, or have a family member, who suffers from such an illness. If you do you are aware that these symptoms are very real yet the sufferer can do little about them but find ways to cope and face each day without hope of really getting a lot better. (This is especially true if you’ve had the illness for more than a decade!) The good news is that many younger adults will likely improve over time.

A Washington-based institute on research in education says that students diagnosed with various chronic health impairments that sap energy is one of the fastest growing groups of special-education students in America. Their numbers have doubled since 2004. Only autism has grown faster in number.

One high school student with CFS says of her trial, “Some days I can talk about Plato’s Republic. And some days, I don’t remember my address.” That says it quite well as far as my experience goes.

You try to come up with a plan that works for you. There are days that begin well and by 10 a.m. you are done. There are other days that do not begin as well and somewhere, during the day, you find some strength. There is no rhyme or reason it seems. Changing diets, climates and doing nothing have had no great impact on me. I have been to seminars on the mind, classes on biofeedback type thinking and healing sessions. I have been prayed over by gifted Christians and leaders. I have supplemented my body with so many things a list would be too long to provide. Worst of all I still have people who insist they know “the cure” for this strange illness that is most likely rooted in a virus of some yet to be identified type. The best research lies here but even if we discover the virus, and the way it enters the human system, there is no guarantee we can treat it.

There is one medication that helps me cope to a limited extent. I am considerably better with this medication than I am without it. I struggled mightily, for several years, with taking this drug because I was taught that an illness like this is mostly in my mind and I should simply trust God more. I had to fight this until one evening I prayed and took the drug and have never looked back. I’m glad I made that commitment and now give thanks for the moderate help this medicine provides in granting me restful recovery by slowing down my nervous system.

One of the most insightful discoveries has been the suggestion that CFS brings about the inflammation of the central nervous system. I am fairly convinced this is true. I respond to stressful moments, and even to ones that are not all that stressful, as if I feel under intense (unexplainable) pressure all the time. I can’t explain this but things that come at me quickly cause me to shut down and react in unhelpful ways. It seems my system is overloaded. I must learn to sort out things into manageable small doses and know when to say “no.” For me this is a huge learning curve to be managing so late in life.

For children there is less adult experience and maturity to handle this trial. If your child has CFS learn the signs and symptoms and be prepared to cope (with great difficulty) when your adolescent has no desire to engage with activity and mental work. You will need grace and patience to cope. Find people who understand and work at this with all your might in the Lord’s grace. It will be a huge trial I assure you.