Timothy's Thoughts

T hose of you who read yesterday’s post know where I stand on the Chick-fil-a issue. I’ve probably said more than enough on the core issue, but as a writer, I see something more interesting at play here. Who is the villain? Often, we think of the villain as the bad guy who eats nails for breakfast and has no purpose other than to make the life of the hero difficult. In real life, that character doesn’t exist and we certainly don’t see it in the Chick-fil-a situation. Let’s look at the cast of characters. First, there is Dan Cathy who said nothing about homosexuality at all, but stated that they were guilty as charged in their support for the traditional family. There is the news media, who took that statement and turned it into a statement about homosexuality. There is Lisa Henson of The Jim Henson Company who has decided to terminate The Jim Henson Company’s relationship with Chick-fil-a. Lastly, let’s consider Boston Mayor Tom Menino, who today is taking heat from the Boston Herald...

T he great topic of discussion last week was Chick-fil-a and their position on gay marriage. The really silly thing is that they never said anything about gay marriage. All that was said was that they were in favor of the traditional marriage. The news media blew that way out of proportion and accused them of hating gays. So now, we have people who ought to be ashamed of themselves firing shots at Chick-fil-a’s stand for godly business practices. We have people like the mayor of Boston saying that he won’t allow Chick-fil-a to open a restaurant in Boston. That is un-American, but that isn’t even the most disturbing thing. In all the discussion last week, the thing I found most disturbing was reports of The Jim Henson Company cutting their ties with Chick-fil-a and giving the money they had received from Chick-fil-a to G.L.A.A.D. My first thought was, “You mean the Muppet people?” I thought back on watching the Muppets as a kid. And I thought about Labyrinth . At one time, that was my...

O nce again, the Boy Scouts of America has upheld the ban on homosexual leaders. Though the board’s decision was unanimous, it saddens me to see that the news media is reporting that two of its members, James Turley and Randall Stephenson have indicated a desire to change the policy. Even though I spent only a few months in the program, as a former Boy Scout, I see great value in the things Scout leaders teach the boys they mentor. To me, that is the crux of this issue; leaders are mentors. I’m reminded of the instructions Paul gave to Timothy and Titus concerning the qualifications of church leaders. Today, people want to measure a preacher by how well he preaches or how much education he has had. That’s not to say that is wrong, if that involves his doctrine, but one of the things Paul said was that a man should rule his house well. He also said that he must be the husband of one wife. What a man does in his home is important because it indicates how a man will lead the church. Lea...

C omputers have changed significantly over the years. When I was a kid, we had a computer at home, but most of my friends didn’t. These days, people carry more computing power around in their pockets than we had available to us on our computer. Back then, people were convinced that they would lose their jobs to a computer. Today, most people wouldn’t know how to do their job if they didn’t have a computer. But there are also many ways that computers have stayed the same. For all the improvements we’ve seen in computers, the job for the man behind the curtain hasn’t changed all that much. When I was a kid, I was using BASIC to program the TRS-80. The Commodore 64s also used a form of BASIC. Later, when I went to college, I began to learn other languages. We started out with Modula-2, then it was C, a slew of other languages and before I graduated I had learned C++ and Java. There are even more languages today, but one thing I’ve learned is that computer languages are very similar to e...

O il is an interesting thing. A single drop in just the right spot can make a huge difference to the world. I’ve been riding my bicycle recently. My bike is over ten years old and has seen better days. I replaced the cables last year, but they’re starting to rust again. I recently had to replace the tires. The latest problem was a squeaky wheel. Everything seemed fine while I was riding, but when I would come to a stop, it would make a noise loud enough that the neighbors would look up from what they were doing. A little oil and the problem went away. Once more, I feel more comfortable about waiting to buy a new bicycle. Sometimes we feel unimportant. We look around us at people who seem to be doing more, accomplishing more, making more money, and we wonder why we aren’t them. The things we do go unnoticed while the things they do are awarded with high praise. We need to learn to be like that drop of oil. A small thing done in the right place and in the right time can change the worl...

I t worries me that so many people assume that the people who provide the most platitudes are the most spiritual. How often have we seen people going through a tough time and someone tells them, “God will see you through.” Or we ask someone how they are doing and they say something like, “God’s been good to me.” We walk away thinking, “That person is unashamed of his faith.” Until recently, I hadn’t given it much thought. These people used phrases that I normally don’t, but if they’re comfortable with it, what’s wrong with it? Then in Sunday School I heard someone talking about people some of these people being much more spiritual than most of us. “I don’t think I could ever reach that level of spirituality.” And I began to realize that people are measuring spirituality by personality rather than faith. While it is true that “God will see you through” and “God’s been good to me,” the words are weak if they don’t have specific meaning behind them. In reading the Bible, we find that ...

L ike most people in the United States, I’ve been trying to lose weight. How much weight? I don’t know. I haven’t stepped on the scales. But I’ve been having some success. I’ve noticed my clothes fitting better and I was feeling pretty good about it. Well, I was until I pulled one particular pair of jeans out of the closet. The tag says they are the same size as I wear every day, but when I put them on, they didn’t fit. I could fasten them, which is better than the last time I tried them, but they still don’t fit. Funny how a pair of jeans can change you outlook. Our expectations flavor how we feel about things. I put those jeans on with the expectation that they would fit, since I had accomplished so much. When they didn’t, I felt like I hadn’t accomplished anything. I think the same goes for authors. An author writes a book and feels a great sense of accomplishment. It takes a lot of time and effort to write a book. When you finish one, you feel great. Then the author sends it out ...