Lamar Howell's Weblog

Guys, what if you heard there was a girl waiting for you outside and she was the girl of your dreams and destiny? Seems idealistic, but what would you do to find out if this were true?  Would you ask to first see her birth certificate, a map of her DNA or her fingerprints? Or would you run outside to look at her lovely smiling face, brush the hair away from her forehead, get close enough to smell her perfume, and ask her for a dance?

Girls, what if you got a message that the perfect, good-looking guy of your dreams was in the mall parking looking for you? Would you ask that he first text you a copy of his driver’s license or social security number, or maybe his police record? Or would you want him walk confidently into the department store, take both your hands, look longingly into your eyes and softly whisper your name?

Of course we wouldn’t do any of those legal things. We would simply want to meet our potential partner. I am married and I know my wife so well. But I don’t know her because I’ve proved her existence by forensics or legality. We can’t even find our marriage license! I know her because we have a relationship.

It’s the same way with God. We pretend we want proofs of his existence, while he simply wants us to walk from the darkness of doubt out into the sunshine of invitation and meet him. It’s really a cop-out when we ask for something like his signature across the sky, or demand he justify his commandments or defend his actions throughout history.

God doesn’t have to show his fingerprints or nailprints, or his Divinity license to every generation. He proves himself like a sweetheart does—through relationship. Rev 3:20 Look! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door of their heart, I will come in, and we will share deep friendship together.”

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I recently witnessed people at a rally aiming cameras at protesters, as if to say: “Watch your step. Your every move is being recorded!”

Is that really good for freedom of speech, when it is monitored and held over your head as a threat? Even the police were recording the protesters. It is disconcerting to think that one’s constitutionally-protected actions on a public street may end up on Youtube or in police video files.

When every move someone makes in public is subject to review, and that review fodder for prosecution, doesn’t that sound eerie to you? It does to me.

I marvel at how cameras are being used and how their use has evolved. A camera was once an instrument for creating or finding art in nature, making permanent the memories of families or friends, or capturing sacred events like weddings and baptisms. Now we hear about a new phenomenon called sexting, a form of harassment in itself. To a much lesser degree, but nonetheless troubling, cameras are now used for public embarrassment. One example was the online posting of a lady falling into a mall fountain while texting.

What if we used cars the same way. My car is bigger than your car, so you’d better not get in front of me! Or do we? Trucks often run up on my tail if I am slow and in the left lane, but a Smart car or Fiat has never ridden my bumper. Hmmm. . .

What does it really mean when someone walks up to you from the side and videotapes you in an argument or in an altercation with someone else? Isn’t it abuse – of either the camera, or of our fellow Americans?

When you cannot stand on a public street and disagree with someone’s actions without being held up by someone wielding a thin rectangular weapon of plastic and circuitry, my friend, I am afraid that we are no longer free, and even if we are, freedom has become a risky business.

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This is a true story. In 1970 in the Polish village of Mszonow (pronounced M’show-noof) two trains made a fateful passing. One was a German train on route from Berlin to Moscow; the other was a Russian train heading to Berlin from Moscow.

Inside the German train, commuters in one section of the long train were singing a song. (more…)

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