You Are Never Too Old for Stories

 I love stories! If you ever went to Sunday School as a small child, you heard Bible stories. They were often accompanied by ancient pictures hung so high around the classroom that you must tilt your head way back to see them. I guess that was to keep our grimy fingers off of them. The lucky ones of us attended a church where they had a flannel-graph of the characters and the child who was most trusted got to stick the character on the flannel board when the teacher gave them the ok.

Then at some point we aged out of Bible stories and flannel-graphs. I don’t know who decided this. Maybe they just ran out of G-rated stories for littles since most Bible stories are definitely of the rougher variety. When I was a teen going to church, I loved it when I got to listen to an animated version of a Bible story told by an inspired youth director. They were so enthusiastic that they often included choreography which was frowned upon in my church. As an adult, I must admit that I still love an artfully told Bible story in the sermon. It takes me back to the time and place in which it was written and gives me a new understanding of a story I have heard a hundred times before.

As you can tell, I was privileged to hear the Bible through many different folks. In my daddy’s final years of life he told me that it was Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible by Dr. Jesse Lyman Hurlbut that led him to know Christ. Dad later became a minister. He told me that his mom used the scant money she had to buy this book from a door-to-door salesman. This would have been in the 1930’s(almost 100 years ago!). Dad said he devoured that book. It contained 168 stories of a continuous narrative from Genesis to Revelation.

Sometimes I feel that we ruined the Bible when we divided it into chapters and verses that can be quickly plucked out of time and cultural setting and posted on social media. The essence is lost and it becomes a weapon to reinforce our point of view. I believe the Bible was meant to be read as stories and not as a rule book or as history lessons and definitely not in individual verses plucked out of context, although I have been guilty of all of this.

Knowing the setting of a story is vital, yet somehow these stories transcend time and place and touch our hearts today. They take us into worlds we can never know and teach us lessons from other cultures and timeframes. Just as every book or movie must first introduce us to the cultural mores before it tells us the story, so must those Bible stories. And I can’t help but think that this is the correct way to read the Bible. We must step back into the strange traditions and rituals of the time when the story took place to truly understand it. For example, look at the ever-popular story of Daniel in the lion’s den. If we did not understand Daniel’s backstory and his heritage and the traumatizing events that took him to this strange land, we would not be getting the full story. And if we didn’t get the full story we would be missing out on much of the application to our own lives.

Reading the Bible without any knowledge of the culture is not really reading for understanding. It is an eyeball exercise in piety. The Bible is uniquely recorded by people from different centuries, cultures, socio-economic status and careers; including everything from kings to fishermen and felons to prophets. And the various characters include slaves, beautiful queens, hookers, virgins and eunuchs. The attitudes encompass everything from gratitude to bitterness and anger. The stories are so riveting that they are the stuff of movies like The Ten Commandments and the beautifully inspired stories in the series called The Chosen. Maybe it is time for us to take a trip through time and re-visit those ancient stories. And we need to do this in a most delightful way. Enjoy the journey.

Moving Furniture in the Rain

 On this week of Valentine’s Day it is appropriate that I introduce you to some beautiful people that have blessed my life. I have been privileged to know many amazing, kind and loving people. As we all know, there are many people who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. And for me, the ability to discern the authentic people from fake rule-followers came at a steep price.

It was a period of life many years ago, in which I felt shunned by my Christian family and friends that I met these special people. My isolation came from my guilt and gave me eyes to see the truth I never would have known without going through that. I learned that sadly, many folks including myself, were only rule-following Christians and had no use for folks who strayed from that path. I took the road through heartbreak and poverty and while I was sorry for my mistakes, I wouldn’t trade it for the insight I gained from it. I learned to see the world in a way that I never would have if I hadn’t veered off the path that was laid out for me. It made me change the channel. It made me look for and listen to other points of view other than the one I was born into and I am so thankful for this.

It was authentic Christ followers who stepped up and helped me when I was alone. Meet Pat and Bob Bicknell. Bob was the head of the music department for Wayland Baptist University and he and Pat had two lovely children, Sharon and David. Pat saw my loneliness and was a friend to me. She saw my lack of income and came up with a way for me to earn money while staying home with my baby. What a blessing! She employed me to sew smocks for her daycare workers and she also employed me to pick up her kids from school and keep them until she came home from work. I spent many hours caring for Sharon and David while thoroughly enjoying the companionship and added income.

After I graduated I needed help moving to a nearby town to live and work in my first teaching position. I felt like I knew the Bicknells well enough to ask them for help to move. I will never forget Dr. Bicknell struggling to move my washer and dryer through a small door on that rainy that day. I still feel bad about that and I know now that it is only the most beautiful people who will help you move your furniture in the rain.

In the following years I remarried and the Bicknells moved away from that college town. Forty years later, I have tried to find them to thank them but can only find a tiny digital footprint leading to a general area of Texas. I will see them again someday though. And when I do, I will run up and hug their necks. What beautiful people!

What Made the Wise Men So Wise?

 

They knew the night sky well enough to notice a rogue star when no one else did.

They paid attention.

They were not Jewish but knew of the foretelling of the King of the Jews.

They were informed.

Even though they expected a King, they bowed at the feet of an infant.

They were humble. 

When Herod told them a bold-faced lie, they went on their way.

They understood human nature.

When they had a dream telling them not to report back to Herod they listened.

They listened to God. 

Educators: The Eyes of Little Texans are Upon You

 

National Holocaust Museum

While going through the museum, questions kept creeping into my brain. What led someone to think this genocide was ok or that it didn’t happen? So many drank the Hitler Kool-aid and they were who kept him in a power position. Why didn’t they realize that their unquestioning devotion was what placed him in that position? What were the precursors to this genocide? What led those who stood up against this carnage to do what they did? What, pray tell, made folks do nothing? And where would I have fallen in this scenario? I’ll let you research for yourself the answer to these questions. My questions were answered and it was eye opening.

What I want to share with you is that those who took a stand against this genocide were labeled “up-standers”. So I noted what the careers of the up-standers were and I was pleasantly surprised that the majority of the female up-standers were educators. But to keep a level-headed perspective on the situation also I note this quote from my favorite educational psychologist, Israeli, Haim Ginott.

I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no person should witness: gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot by high school and college graduates. So, I am suspicious of education. My request is this: Help your children become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths or educated Eichmanns. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human.

So according to Haim Ginott, an education does not immunize you against becoming an agent of hate. However, educating children on ethics and making children more human is critical.

Clearly, this puts educators in a pivotal position. Maybe the most important thing teachers teach each day is empathy, understanding, patience and kindness. Teach what you were hired to teach, but remember what is truly crucial is how you teach. It is how you handle yourself and others that speaks louder than any words that are preached from an old-school Baptist pulpit. Remember, as an educator, you are in a powerful position of influence.

As a young public school teacher who felt that teaching God’s love was so much more important than teaching science, I came to the following conclusion after a great deal of soul searching. There is no call to cease teaching reading, writing, science, history, athletics, ag, music and math to begin preaching because actions speak so loudly to students. A Christian education is taught when I do my job to the best of my ability, with integrity, showing children love and kindness regardless of whether I teach in a public or private Christian school. Children watch how their teachers interact and this is where ethics are taught. This is not taught from a textbook. Those eyes are on you, educators.

Hugging Rattlesnakes

 I have lived with the most innately discerning human for 37 years today. Being lacking in this area, I am ever-amazed at his abilities. He seems to see through to the motives of people and only on a rare occasion is he proven wrong. Discernment is like being able, at a glance, to recognize a beneficial snake from a venomous one, on the fly, while you are a little freaked out. I feel discernment is a very crucial skill in our world and especially for Christians.

How can we as Christians love everyone yet still have the discernment to know when someone is manipulating us? Because I am old, I have seen many instances where Christians were suckered in and manipulated by someone who does harm to them or to their church. I also have seen precious people who adamantly believe they should love and accept everyone be totally lost when they are forced to take a stand. They have no ability to discern. On the other end of the spectrum, I have seen Christians who build tall walls around them and their family because they aren’t able to discern the beneficial from the poisonous. These opposite approaches to living the Christian life have the same issue. We need discernment.

How do you determine a beneficial snake from a poisonous viper? It is through education and experience. Without education we either kill all the snakes, good and bad or we accept all the snakes and end up in the emergency room or worse. The analogy holds up for discernment. But the hard way to learn discernment is experience. Trust me, life is short and we really don’t want to learn everything the hard way. Thankfully, discernment also comes through education and the Bible is the ultimate source of stories of good and bad discernment and how to live as a Christ follower in an evil world. The problem for most of us is the Bible is tough to understand so we opt for an easier path.

Here is one example of the stuff that makes reading the Bible more of an adventure than a pastime, and definitely not for the faint of heart. In the beginning of Genesis, God designed one man for one woman. Then a few chapters later we see Ol’ Abraham taking more than his fair share of women. Yet he was flippin’ Abraham, the Big Kahuna of faith! So confusing! Mysteriously, if we prayerfully seek God we will begin to sort through the culture and sin and understand the important lessons about God in this book of stories of flawed humans realizing it doesn’t read like a novel. And it shouldn’t be read like a simplistic rule book either.

Eat This Book, by Eugene Peterson is a book about how to read the Bible and is very helpful in understanding it. This book is challenging reading for me but I must say that I have begun to grasp some points that Dr. Peterson made. One of the main concepts in his book is that the Bible is largely written in stories(narratives) and should be read as such. We shouldn’t pluck a verse out of a story and call it quits. The very essence of God is expressed in each of these narratives. For example, Esther is a book of the Bible that never mentions God but the character and values of God are woven through this story. It is a wonderful story and I highly recommend reading it. However, if we approach this reading of Esther literally, we will be out skewering our enemies on tall poles. Each narrative in the Bible is set in a different time, culture and location. We must take this into consideration before we attempt to interpret any story of the Bible. So if we educate ourselves to the setting and culture in which the story is written, we will certainly begin to understand more about God and how to recognize a viper.

As Christians, we have to decide how to treat sin and our fellow sinners. I believe the best advice is in the actions of Jesus. He did not treat them all the same. He did not hug all the snakes. On one hand, Jesus said, “He who is without sin should cast the first stone” choosing not to condemn. But on the other hand, Jesus set his foot down adamantly against many proud pious folks, calling them snakes and broods of vipers. How did he know what to condemn? He was so brilliant. But He was God. He could look into the heart. And I am not and cannot. Thankfully he left us with the Holy Spirit and a Bible full of stories and advice. This is our resource so we must seek it out wisely.

Christians must be smart and discerning. We cannot accept everyone at face value. We must look through the facade. We must see past the fashionable clothing and alluring words and consider the motives of the heart. But we must also realize we are still sinners and not above anyone else. We have simply accepted a beautiful gift that others have rejected. It is like walking on a tight rope, there is always tension because it is not easy. If there is no tension when it comes to discernment, chances are we are choosing not to discern but choosing to accept all or reject all. We must discern the non-venomous snakes from the venomous and the best way to do that is through prayerfully, relentlessly studying the Bible.

Velvet Jesus

 

Gift giving season is upon us and everyone approaches it a little differently. In our primarily German immigrant family, most of us are very pragmatic and want a list to check off. However, my brother who was nine years my senior, was very different in his approach to gift giving. With my brother, it was all about the joy he received by giving and the sky was the limit when it came to spending. He could deal with the bills in January(or not). 

He delighted so much in selecting just the right gift that we were all drawn in by curiosity as to what he got us. Sometimes he got creative with the wrapping too. When I was very young,(and we are talking 1960’s), he secretly used his paper route money to buy our family an electric toothbrush set for Christmas. He wrapped the main body in a large package with all our names on it. Then he labeled separately wrapped gifts with our name containing each colored toothbrush head. He kept bragging about his secret present so I snuck a peak before Christmas to find half a toothbrush. Confused sigh. 

Another Christmas when he was older, he came home with a huge present for my mom. He stowed it away and carried on about how surprised she would be. Later, he showed it to me and my dad under a shroud of secrecy. It was a gigantic painting of Jesus done on black velvet. We appropriately carried on about how much she was going to love it, so much so that mom dreamed about that present on Christmas Eve. She claimed that she dreamed he got her a hideous painting of Jesus. Much to her delight and surprise on Christmas morning she found this one to be beautiful and told us about her dream.

I don’t remember what happened to Velvet Jesus but we had him hanging in our living room for quite a few years. My brother was not worried about the eventual disappearance of Jesus because he was excited about the next gift he was going to give. He was such a great gift giver! His excitement made me anticipate opening his gift more than the others every single Christmas. So thinking back, I see that his gifts were not all that great but his delivery was stellar. Maybe it isn’t about the perfect gift but the perfect effort and attitude.

What is the Test of Truth?

 Yesterday, I got to re-watch one of my favorite movies, Secondhand Lions. If you have never seen it, stop reading this blog and go watch it right now! In the movie, the boy has a difficult choice to make. He must choose to believe the fantastic, outrageous stories of his great uncles, or a plausible story of his mother. Spoiler alert: he wisely chose to believe his uncles. But not because their story was the most credible, but because of the actions of the uncles. His uncles were always there for him and protected him in their own strange ways. His mom, however, deserted him and repeatedly disappointed him. So this boy chose to believe the uncles based actions and not words. 

Today we hear so much talk. It is on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, news channels, email, texts, commercials, memes, music, movies and TV shows. We are constantly being bombarded with an input of words. Did you know that we have ‘smart’ billboards that change messages depending on the demographic passing by? And everyone has an opinion. It never seems to stop from the time we wake until the time we lay our weary heads on our pillows. So who do we believe? Among others, politicians, pharmaceutical companies and fast food chains are working to gain your confidence and they have done their homework. They know how to gain your trust. So do we pick those who align with our own “truth”? If so, how do we know they don’t have an agenda of influence and are telling us what we want to hear to seduce us into investing with them? And what about our children? Who are they listening to? 

We can, and should take control over what we read and watch. However, we do not have control over all information sources unless we lock ourselves in a closet. Eventually, seductive lies will reach our ears. The biggest lie may be the one we tell ourselves when we think that we can control all input for ourselves and our children. We can, however, teach ourselves and our children what to do with all this input. These lies must travel through our brains to change our thoughts and behavior. This is where we have control.

Two thousand years ago in a sermon, Jesus taught us how to discern truth. 

Matthew 7:15-20 NLT  "Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.  You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.  A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

Jesus knew then. He told us to identify the messenger and judge the message by way the messenger acts. This takes intent and purpose. Today, identifying the messenger can be difficult. In many nefarious messages we receive, the source is hidden under an alias. It takes thought to stop and analyze the source of a meme or article before we believe or repost it. 

And the second part Jesus said was to judge by the way they act. Notice that He did not say to judge by agreement with your political affiliation, your personal beliefs or how well the message was relayed. He told us to judge by the way the source acts. He shifted our truth from words to actions. He intended for us to shift our beliefs from flowery words that are music to our ears to actions that we admire. Look for integrity, consistency, hard work, kind actions(not kind words). Remember, anyone can say “I love you”, but only actions prove that love. 

Then we must teach our children to do the same. I can remember how my mom would analyze what people said with me. She taught me, at a very young age, to consider the source and motivations behind the words. We can’t always control the words we hear but we can control our thinking and learn to listen to actions and tune out the noise of words. And we have an obligation to teach our children to do so also.

Actions>Words

Great Ideas

 

Have you ever had a great idea? One that you are passionate about and will solve a problem, help people and even glorify God? One thing I am trying to learn is to stop and talk to God about everything before I take action. I always thought that good ideas that help people and magnify God are always from God.  And while this may be true, I am learning that a great idea isn’t an automatic stamp of approval and a green flag. I must not forget about God’s timing and God’s choice for leadership. God may have a different idea for how this great idea should be carried out. He can see the past, present and future all at once. What seems like a great idea to me here and now, may be a better idea at another time for another person to carry out.  He may want me to bring this idea to someone else to complete.

Here is an example that brought this blog to mind.  In 2 Samuel 7 and 1 Chronicles 17 it is recorded that King David had a great idea. He wanted to build a beautiful cedar palace for the Ark of God and get it out of a tent. I’m sure it must have been David’s love for God that inspired this thought. And it was a great idea! It would glorify God! However, God put a stop to it. It was an act of love for God from David and God nixed it! He told David that He didn’t need a palace to perform great works. And David’s response was not pouting or griping. It was obedience and praise.  I’m sure David did not understand why, but he clearly understood God’s instructions. And he obeyed. We, the readers of this story, have the advantage of seeing why. We know it was Solomon, David’s son who carried out the building of the temple. We see that God had this task in mind for someone else at another point in time. In fact, God may have planted this idea in David to pass on to Solomon, his son.  

But here is the bottom line. Just because it is a great, loving, kind idea that would glorify God, does not mean I don’t need to ask God if I should go ahead with the plans. I must always, always remember to lay it before God. 

So how will I know if it is right to go ahead? If I took it to God first, it is on God, and He will let me know. All I have to do is pause and bring it to Him first and trust Him with the rest. 

Injustice for All

 

I had a dream. Oh my dreams are not anything like those of Martin Luther King. My dream was quite silly and I can only recall the smallest bit of it right before I woke up. In my dream I was upset by how unfairly vampires like me were treated. Yep. Nothing like MLK. But it got me thinking about the injustice of so many different groups and I realized that there is no justice for anyone on this earth.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33 [NIV]

Recently, I caught myself being angered over the snubbing of female vocal artists in country music. Another instance of my righteous indignation is that I am angered by how teachers are treated in our society. And another pet peeve of mine is how good leaders are ignored even though they choose to step up when others shrink back and judge. But what good is my anger? It only makes me bitter. And that is a weapon of the Enemy. My gut response to my very justified anger is not helpful. It is destructive. Maybe I don’t kill people or tear down store fronts, but I destroy my own peace. And that drains the God-given serenity from my soul.

So how are Christians to handle injustice? Are we supposed to accept it and pretend it doesn’t exist? I’m so glad you asked, because the Bible has so much to say about this topic that it could never be addressed in this little blog. So I will just hit on a few points. To get the real deal, you need to read the Bible. It is full of stories of injustice and it offers practical advice on how to handle each.

One such story is that of David and Bathsheba. It is full of injustice! It takes place after David has become accepted as the reigning King of the Israelites and is sitting pretty in the throne. He sees a hot woman bathing on her rooftop and wants her.(And it is not like he doesn’t already have wives of his own.) Long story short, David summons Bathsheba who is another man’s wife, gets her pregnant, tries to cover it up in several different unsuccessful ways until he resorted to murder. This story has plenty of injustice to go around. But God sends a justifier. He sends Nathan the preacher, to confront David. Nathan does not go in shouting hellfire and brimstone even though David definitely deserved it. I think Nathan was sent by God to address this injustice because Nathan knew how to be smart and control his righteous indignation. Nathan chose to approach David with a story of injustice about another guy who did a similar thing as David. And it worked like a charm. David was livid at the perpetrator in the story. Then, ever-so respectfully, while David was most vulnerable, Nathan tells David that he was this man. Nathan was not out to avenge the wrongs committed to Bathsheba or her husband, his endgame was repentance and change.

I think Nathan can teach us all how to handle injustice. First and foremost he was called by God to do this. If it is not a calling of God. I should not touch it. And I will only know what is my calling if I stay in God’s word and speak with Him frequently. Second, Nathan was not defending an injustice done to himself but was looking out for others. He had no skin in this game. We are called as Christians to look out for others rather than ourselves. If the cause benefits me and mine, it may not be what I need to be addressing. Third, he could control his anger. This is something that is learned by practice. Anger only brings out angry responses rather than remorse. In the case of justifying injustices, anger is seldom an effective tool.

Nathan used his God-given wisdom to address the situation one-to-one, in a non-confrontational manner. And by Nathan’s preparation, obedience, and the power of the Most High God he was effective! David repented and changed his ways. And the last point: If revenge rather than repentance is what I am looking for, my heart is not ready to confront anyone.

 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

Romans 12: 19 [NIV}

So my take-away is that unless I am called and equipped by God, I do not need to handle injustices. I need to look for the injustice of others rather than myself and I need to check my anger at the door and be smart. Now is not the time to ignore social injustice but it is also not the time for vengeance. Now is the time to listen to what God is speaking into my heart and to defend the defenseless.

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The Good Book

 Psalm 119:105 NIV

[105] Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

One thing that I have been struggling with lately is the pull of reading good Bible-based books in the place of reading the Bible itself. There are so many wonderful scripture inspired books being written right now. I get excited about them and want to spend some of my quiet time reading them instead of going straight to the scripture.  

However, in these faithful book studies, the authors point out that the true source is the Bible and the Holy Spirit speaking to me through it. All other words, from Billy Graham or C.S. Lewis or Henri Nouwen or Martin Luther King or John Wesley, pale in comparison to the words of the Bible itself applied to an open heart by our Holy Spirit. 

Does this mean we should toss the words of C.S. Lewis and the gang? Oh no! One caveat for those books about the scripture is that they can be used as a tool to lead us to the scripture itself. This is why we should continue to read them. But we should be careful that we don’t allot all our precious time to them, disregarding the reading of the Bible itself. We should prioritize and value the Bible above the others.  It is like baseball.  It is good to learn how to steal bases or what to do in a squeeze play.  But it is worthless if you don’t know how to throw, catch and hit the ball. The Bible teaches our heart the basics. 

Hebrews 4:12 NIV
[12] For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

But what if I don’t understand the Bible? How can I read it?  Remember that the Holy Spirit is given to each of us when we give our hearts to God. He is an interpreter. Pray for his guidance and trust that He will show you what you need to find. Don’t compare yourself to others. Look to God. Trust the Holy Spirit and learn from the words of Jesus.  

When I get more excited about reading a book about the Bible than I do about the Bible itself, I have to review the amazing journey the words of the scripture have made throughout history. This reminds me of how God has protected his Word through wars, plagues, fire, flood and decay.  I have to remind myself that the very words I am reading have gone through a miraculous journey of time. I have to remind myself of the fairly recent amazing discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls which verified, magnified and reinforced the truth of the scripture handed down through the ages. I have to see that no other book has endured the test of time like our Holy scripture.  And I have to realize the privilege I have to read them myself. 

Part of Dead Sea Scroll 28a from Qumran Cave 1. The Jordan Museum, Amman.jpg
From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV
[16] All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, [17] so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

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Wile E. Coyote

Walls.  We all build them.  They are built with the purpose of protection.  We form them out of fear and we form them when we are hurt.  And occasionally, when we understand that we can't handle certain situations correctly, we build them out of wisdom.  The problem is not so much the wall, it is in the intent of the builder.  

Often in today's world, we build them in response to manipulative language.  Manipulative language is often based on a trigger word.  Trigger words instantly make gall rise up in my throat and cause me to put another brick in that wall between me and a person or group of people.  Trigger words can be nouns, verbs or names of infamous people or places.  They always invoke a gut response that shuts down the rational thought and sends my mind to the place the author or speaker wants it to go.  Trigger words change with the times and can develop faster than a West Texas storm in spring.  

At this point I would love to give examples of trigger words we see everyday.  However, that would cause a physiological response to happen that would negate the rest of my words.  I can only tell you that these words are used by wily manipulative organizations to sway you. They are used by politicians, advertisers and groups that are soliciting donations.  And by choosing the word “wily” I mean to give you a visual of the infamous Wile E. Coyote.  He had plans, lots of plans, elaborate plans!  It took him hours to set them up.  Luckily for the Road Runner, the plans were always foiled in a surprising and hilarious way.  The dictionary defines wily it as "attaining or seeking to attain one's ends by guileful or devious means". See the link for a visual--> Wile E. Coyote gif

In a famous bible story, a guy built a virtual wall between a city and himself.  He would NOT go to that city no matter what God told him.  In his mind, those people were depraved and everyone knew it.  Stories were probably told around the campfire about evil Nineveh. It was a hotbed of sin.  Nineveh may have been a “trigger word” for depravity back in the day.  Or maybe it was more personal.  Maybe someone in Nineveh insulted Jonah's mom.  It may have been said that they deserved what is coming to them.  Jonah ran from God and hid rather than to go to Nineveh and preach. Jonah didn't think those people deserved a chance to repent. As you may know, that didn't turn out well for Jonah.  He ended up surrounded by a wall of the digestive system of a big fish until he saw things differently.  

So was Nineveh really that bad?  Well, God was not happy with them so I would say yes.  Was Nineveh deserving of a second chance?  Probably not, but God thought so.  Was Jonah deserving of a second chance?  Probably not, but God thought so.  What is the point?  God sees us all as deserving that second chance.  Who am I to build a wall? 

There are people and organizations that are as manipulative as Wile E. Coyote.  Their purposes may be genuine or not.  Their words are meant to give them fame or profit but unfortunately it ends in building walls between myself and groups of people and I begin to view those groups as "them" and not us.  I begin to see them as not deserving a second chance.

In Matthew 10:16 NIV Jesus told his disciples:

[16] “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

That is very timely advice for our 'social network driven' society.  We need to learn to see the traps set by manipulators and wolves out there.  Our job as disciples is not to build walls but to break down walls.  And we may need to be shrewd enough to identify 'Wile E. Coyote' techniques to break down the walls.