Integrity in Broadcasting

Dear Lord; Good afternoon Father.  As You’re aware Lord, I’ve had something on my mind the last few days that’s been bothering me.  The funny thing is, my aggravations are regarding an event I’ve never really had much interest in; the Super Bowl.

I’ve never been a big football fan.  In fact, other than a couple of games I went to when I was in college, I’ve never even attended a live game… It just never really caught my interest.  This year really wasn’t much different, until I read a news story about a commercial that had been rejected by Fox Broadcasting Company for “delivering a religious message”.  As I’ve seen some pretty racy and scary Super Bowl commercials over the years, I went and sought out the “offending” segment :

Really??  This was deemed to contain too much religious doctrine??  Wow… I am so terribly sorry Father.  We’ve truly fallen from You as a society.  From a country that has “In God We Trust” on our currency, this truly makes no sense to me.  Fox certainly isn’t worried about offending viewers with the content on shows like “Family Guy” or Fox Sports’ Internet show “Cubed”, but they’re concerned that someone might take a reference to a Bible verse as an affront?

Fox issued a statement last week that stated :

“As a matter of company policy, Fox Broadcasting Company does not accept advertising from religious organizations for the purpose of advancing particular beliefs or practices. The Fixed Point Foundation was provided with our guidelines prior to their submission of storyboards for our review. Upon examination, the advertising submitted clearly delivers a religious message and as a result has been rejected.”

Ok, so the reason they’re airing commercials for the new movie “The Rite” is because it’s not from a religious organization?  Wow…  I’m completely at a loss on this one.

I realize that as a private company Fox has the right to choose what they do and don’t air on their network within FCC guidelines, but if a little of that “concern” about offending viewers were redirected to examining some of the programming and advertisements they do broadcast, I have a feeling the lineup would be far different than it is now.

Heavenly Father, thank You for letting me rant on about this today.  As always, You’re a wonderful listener.  Please fill our hearts and minds with Your Presence and Understanding, so that everyone can experience that Hope :

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Dear Lord; This morning Father, I want to share a story with You; A very powerful story that brought both my wife and I to tears last night.

It was a long day yesterday Lord.  Between the ice storm which led to school delays and then closings, and a number of other typical daily stresses, Shannon and I both came home a bit worn down.  Grabbing the mail on the way in the house, Shannon spotted a hand-addressed envelope from the kids’ school.  She opened it up, and inside was a letter written to us by one of the office staff regarding Jonathan.  She quietly read the letter, laid it down and started to cry.

The letter was a personal note from one of the school administrative staff detailing a conversation she’d had with Jonathan the previous Friday.  Apparently, Jonathan was assisting with shuttling some computer equipment between his classroom and the office, and helping with putting it away.  At some point during this process, he started talking to one of the ladies in the office and asked her if she was familiar with a man called Jesus Christ.  While surprised, she replied that yes, she was very familiar with Jesus.  He then went on to tell her all about his disease (Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis), his surgeries, treatments and chemotherapy as an infant, and how he’d gotten through all those trials and was doing very well now.  She told him how wonderful he looked and that she was glad everything was doing so well, at which time he then left to go back to class.

What Jonathan didn’t know however, was that her husband had been battling two forms of serious cancers for many years, and that it was only through the grace of Christ that he was still alive.  Along with that, she indicated there were others within earshot going through similar trials who also took interest in his story.  She wrote that Jonathan’s unprompted testimony was exactly what she and others needed at that moment, and she was sure he was meant to be there to deliver Your message.  Her faith had been renewed, by the witness and encouragement of our little boy.

When I came home shortly thereafter and read the letter, there were tears in my eyes as well.

I talked to Jonathan later that evening about the conversation that prompted the letter (of course, not revealing what she’d written to me), and asked him : “What made you ask her if she knew Jesus?”.  He answered that he really didn’t know, and honestly didn’t remember what led up to it; It just came to him at the time.

You spoke through him Father, and to him it seemed perfectly natural and reasonable at the time.  May we all be that open to Your Voice Lord, and not be afraid to share it with others.

Thank You Father.  This touched me in a way that only You can.  Please bring Your Healing and Comfort to those going through these trials, and let us all be as effective and powerful a witness to Your Grace as the words of a child were that day.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Chipping Away at Our Shell

Dear Lord; Good morning Father… And a frozen one it is!  The weather here has once again shifted and covered the Delaware landscape with Winter’s bounty.  This morning though, it’s not snow that layers the ground, but a shiny frozen sheet of ice and sleet.  This of course, makes traveling dangerous Lord, so please watch over those who are going out into this weather and keep them safe from harm.

As I was chiseling the ice from my “truck-sicle” this morning, waiting for the heater to add it’s inner glow to the effort it dawned on me that this was an interesting analogy to how You come into our lives (Ok, so this may be an odd tangent, but bear with me…).  We’re like the truck shrouded in ice; spiritually cold and covered in misunderstanding, pain and sin.  Little by little You scrape at our frozen shell, slowly revealing Your Light and Warmth to us until our inner heat kicks in and bridges that gap.

Ok.  I said it was an odd tangent, but I think a valid one all the same.  🙂

Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your Diligence and constant Presence in my life.  Please keep “chipping away” at my earthly shell, so that I may see You with more perfect clarity.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

You shall not give false testimony…

Dear Lord; Happy Monday Father.  As always, I’d like to start today by thanking You for the Blessings You bestowed on me this past weekend.  While we had some disappointments in regards to plans that had been made, I did get to spend quite a bit of relaxed time with my family and some friends.  All in all, it was a quiet but happy couple of days and I thank You for that.

This morning Lord, I’d like to talk about honesty if I may.  It’s been a topic on my mind the last couple of days, as our disruption in plans this past weekend appears to have been the result of some deceit from someone Shannon and I had trusted.  We haven’t been able to confirm our suspicions yet, but it’s extremely likely that we’re correct in this case.  Either way, the situation got me thinking about the importance of truth in our lives in general, and how as Your Children we need to focus on it in our lives.

To begin with, I have to beg Your Forgiveness Lord.  When I started going over the whole subject in my head, I put myself and my actions in a “litmus test” against Your Law and I found myself lacking.  While I like to think of myself as an honest individual, if I truly subject myself to Your Absolutes I lie nearly every day in some fashion.  Whether it’s a “little white lie” to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, or telling my secretary that I’m out if someone I don’t want to hear from calls, they’re lies no matter how you slice it.  And when I expand that examination outward, it appears that we’re a dishonest society in general Lord.

Wow… What an intense realization for a Monday morning.

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”  – Exodus 20:16

Ah yes, the good old 9^th Commandment.  Although we all know this one, we also all violate it at some point as well.  There are many other edicts about misrepresenting the truth in Your Book as well Lord, including :

“Do not steal.  Do not lie.  Do not deceive one another.”  – Leviticus 19:11

“The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.” – Proverbs 12:22

“Those who walk righteously
and speak what is right,
who reject gain from extortion
and keep their hands from accepting bribes,
who stop their ears against plots of murder
and shut their eyes against contemplating evil—
they are the ones who will dwell on the heights,
whose refuge will be the mountain fortress.
Their bread will be supplied,
and water will not fail them.”  – Isaiah 33:15-16

Forgive us Lord, for in this respect we have lost our way.

Heavenly Father, please forgive us for our misdeeds.  Purge our fragile hearts of dishonesty, and help us focus on Your Guidance and Light as we go about each day, so that we may serve Your Will with honesty and Integrity.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

He will not grow tired or weary…

Dear Lord; Happy Friday Father!  Well Lord, it’s seemed like a terribly long week here for some reason.  I’m very much looking forward to the respite of some down-time with my family and friends over the next couple of days, and to some Stillness for You and I to spend some “quality time” together as well.

To finish up the week Father, I’d like to share a couple of things that have been on my heart the last several days.  To start with, I’ve had a song running through my head very consistently all week.  It’s a wonderfully heartfelt tune written and performed by JJ Heller called “What Love Really Means” :

This is a powerful song Lord, with an amazing message of Hope and Faith that touches me each time I hear it.  It’s always wonderful to hear Your Voice through music.  🙂

Secondly, as I mentioned before Father, I’ve felt very drained this week.  Searching for encouragement and focus this morning, I came across a passage from Isaiah which spoke to me :

“Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:28-31

Heavenly Father, You are our Hope, and our Strength.  In Your Powerful Hands I lay my Trust, my Love and my Burdens.  You are indeed a Wondrous God.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Prayers on a Wintry Day

Dear Lord; Good morning Father.  Well, the storm came and went Lord and while those North of us got hit quite a bit harder, we were spared the bulk of it’s magnitude.  We got just enough snow to keep the kids home from school and for Shannon’s workplace to close for the day, but not too much for me to make it out to the office.  Thank You so much for that balance!

As you know Father, I’ve had quite a bit on my mind and in my heart as of late so I thought today I’d use our time together to cover some of those thoughts in prayer.

Heavenly Father, several days ago a friend of some friends of mine and his family suffered a horrendous house fire and lost all their earthly possessions.  While I don’t know them personally, several of my friends know him quite well and are working diligently to try and help them with getting the necessities his family requires.  Please provide Your Comfort and Healing to this troubled family Lord, and Bless those working to help them get back on their feet.

As we’ve discussed quite a lot recently Lord, many of Your Children are living with heightened levels of financial and occupational uncertainly in their lives.  Please send them Your Strength and Fortitude, and help them quiet the “noise” that fear and doubt places in their minds so that Your Voice can guide them down the proper path.

An old friend of my wife is fighting a battle with ALS, and has suffered one setback after another the last couple of months.  This is a truly terrible disease Father, and has caused him and his family significant pain and turmoil.  Please give them the Comfort and Peace that can only come from Your Presence Lord.  Help him see Your Light, and know Your Love in this difficult time.

As always Father, thank You so much for being the guiding light in my life and for listening to my prayers.  In Your Loving Hands I place all my hopes, dreams and burdens secure in the knowledge that Your Path is righteous and just.  Amen.

~Phather Phil