Dear Reader,
Happy first day of October, the month of which Anne of Green Gables author L.M. Montgomery semi-famously wrote, “I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
Indeed.
Out here in the West, we’re still dealing with occasional smoke from new fires that have sprung up, but the cooler weather (highs of 50s and 60s) has been a welcome change, as have the bluer skies. Fall in Montana is short, so we enjoy the changing colors while we can.
With the first day of the month falling on Friday (publishing day), I had the grand idea of putting together a pseudo-epic essay. I’d begin with my personal joys of October (fall colors, World Series, Halloween/Reformation Day, etc.), then devolve into the world of another, darker October - a red one - from 1917. From there, I had planned to draw analogies (with help from Rod Dreher and his book, Live Not by Lives: A Manual for Christian Dissidents) to today’s creeping “soft” totalitarianism in America and just have a good old time of it.
But then I thought, “It’s the first day of October. Why do that to my readers the first day?”
You’ll be happy to know I ended up going a different direction. Maybe I’ll revisit the idea later in the month, maybe I won’t; regardless, I’m confident (unfortunately) that there’ll always be plenty of material to consider.
So, enjoy a lighter (or heavier?) Second Drafts on this glorious first day of October, and know that you narrowly escaped starting the month mired in a discussion on Soviet Marxism (a fate I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy). What could happen today worse than that?
As always, thanks for reading,
Craig
P.S.: As a reminder, you’re welcome and encouraged to email me directly with feedback, ideas, links, etc. at cmdunham [at] gmail [dot] com. Just know that, unless you specifically tell me not to, I may quote you here (though it will always be anonymously).
Hot Takes
A few items of interest this week:
“China Faces a Potential Lehman Moment. Wall Street is Unfazed” - Barack Obama’s “too big to fail” philosophy may or may not be that of the Premier of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping. Here’s why it matters to watch:
“The implosion of Lehman Brothers, 13 years ago this week, showed how the collapse of a single entity can send shockwaves around the world. Echoes from that event are resounding today as a massive property developer on the other side of the world teeters on the brink of default. The risk is that the collapse of Evergrande, a Chinese real estate company with a staggering $300 billion of debt outstanding, could set off a chain reaction that spreads overseas.”
Financial types are saying Evergrande’s potential collapse is not that big a deal:
“‘I don't think the Evergrande meltdown, and the financial problems of Chinese property companies more broadly, will reverberate back on the US economy or markets,’ Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, told CNN.
‘We think that the 'China's Lehman moment' narrative is wide of the mark,’ Simon MacAdam, senior global economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note on Thursday. MacAdam said even a ‘messy collapse’ of Evergrande would have ‘little global impact beyond some market turbulence.’”
I’m no economist, but I’ve talked with a few guys who are and they’re not as convinced that the default of a company the size of Evergrande is not going to have international implications on the global economy.
More interestingly (at least for me as alluded above), is whether Xi Jinping will bail out Evergrande as Obama did the American banking and car industries in 2008-09. My uneducated guess is he’ll let it fail so as to step in and take over.
A Chinese flag waves in front of the Evergrande Center building in Shanghai, China. “Dump the Draft Forever Instead of Making Women Register” - Sure as shootin’, the House of Representatives voted last week to extend draft registration to women:
“‘Last night, we made history,’ boasted Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), an Air Force veteran who pushed the registration amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. ‘The military selective service system hasn't been used to draft Americans in decades – I hope it stays that way. But should our nation face a catastrophe so large we need to activate our selective service system, we must be ready to have all hands on deck. That includes women.’”
How’s that play with the population? Not as well as it did five years ago.
“‘In 2016, 63% of Americans supported drafting women, as well as men, if the military draft were reinstated,’ Ipsos reported last month. ‘In this most recent poll, only 45% of Americans are in favor.”
In poll-speak, 18% is a big change. But here’s the quote that confounds me:
“Admittedly, over half of men favor registering women, but that's more likely because they want to share the pain than that they're enamored of conscription itself.”
Admittedly? Do young men of our nation really want women to be drafted “to share the pain” of getting drafted and possibly have to fight a war? As I wrote back in July,
“If women want to voluntarily join the military, fine; however, if legislation passes so that the military may draft our daughters, it will be just one more step diminishing the worth, beauty, and glory of childbirth, motherhood, and homemaking in the name of ‘progress.’”
Now I wonder if such a draft would diminish the masculinity of our men?
The bill now goes to the Senate…as will another letter to my Senators.
Draft cards.
“What Comes After the Ex-Gay Movement? The Same Thing That Came Before.” - Back in July, I wrote about my friend and former pastor Greg Johnson and his journey as a celibate same-sex attracted man. Christianity Today just published this excellent article by Greg, and it’s well-worth a read:
“This is not Jesus as a means to an end of heterosexual functioning and comfortable family life. This is God himself as the end for which we were made. With this real God, the locus of hope is found not in this life with heterosexuality, but in the coming age, when we shall stand before our Savior.
Without that relationship with a Savior, there is no point in speaking of a biblical sexual ethic, either to straight or gay people. No gay people are going to embrace such an ethic unless they fall in love with Jesus. A heart smitten by grace is not only willing but also eager to follow the one who died for us.”
In addition to being a helpful historical and heartfelt piece, the article also serves as a well-written promotional for Greg’s forthcoming book, Still Time to Care: What We Can Learn from the Church’s Failed Attempt to Cure Homosexuality, due out December 7. I encourage you to pre-order your copy now.
“A Proclamation on National Voter Registration Day, 2021” - The Biden administration (and Democrats everywhere) continue to fan the flames of alleged voter suppression, when in reality, American citizens (sometimes called “adults”) could make this a non-issue by taking a little responsibility. From the proclamation:
“Today, the right to vote is being suppressed and subverted in many parts of the country by shameful attempts to restrict Americans’ access to the ballot and the rolling back of decades of voting rights progress. This assault — largely targeting Americans of color, as such assaults so often have through the darkest chapters of our history, is an attack on our democracy, on our liberty, and on who we are as Americans.”
Here's the thing, folks: it's the end of September, which is over a year before the mid-term elections. If you can't get your act together in the next 13 months to make sure you're registered to vote, know that you're part of why the political chicanery about supposed unfair voting laws and the media propaganda concerning them exists.
In 30 seconds in a check-out line in Wal-Mart this week, I entered my name and zip code into Facebook's voter registration system to find out that, indeed, I am registered (if I wasn't, there was a button to click to make it happen).
Don't be a so-called "victim" who gets weaponized by the press. Take responsibility and make a plan now to register to vote. You have 13 months, for crying out loud.
Autumn’s Humility
One October day, while passing through Columbia, Missouri, and visiting my alma mater of Old Mizzou, I took Megan to an old rock quarry just south of campus, a place I used to frequent as a student when I wanted to get uninterrupted time alone with God. The splendor of fall in the Midwest was in full bloom and we were fortunate enough to be sitting on a rock cliff overlooking a small part of it.
It was a perfect autumn scene, complete with cool but not cold temperatures and a “soundtrack” of a running stream below and the call of a bird or two in the stereoscope of nature. The slightly overcast sky made the colors of the trees flame even more.
And yet, it was all dying—the leaves that is. All the color and the beauty were a result of the slow death of each leaf. As I sat there with Megan, I started thinking about how much that phenomenon reflected the Christian life. We are most beautiful, most attractive, most stunning on the outside when we are dying—to ourselves, our wants, our desires, our lusts, and our very nature on the inside that says, “preserve, preserve, preserve!”
Jesus says that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24). He also says that whoever wants to save his life for his sake will lose it, but whoever loses his life for him will save it. (Luke 9:24).
It’s a paradox—in dying we receive life. But while we desperately want to win, we don’t exactly like Jesus’ methods. He says we win when we…lose. But as we die to ourselves and humbly allow God to build his tower and give us his name, we don’t lose—we win.
Walking Humbly
At some point, we have to realize that we are sinners who came to Christ with nothing to offer but our sin. He takes our sin because he is gracious and merciful and loves us. He adopts us as his children, freeing us to live lives of meaning and purpose. Those are all actions outside us. God transformed us and he is still in the process of doing so: “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
Walking humbly also means that we truly look out for the needs of others above our own. If we do this, we can have an amazing impact on our peers, not so much because of our gifts, but simply because of our genuine interest in others. Because our culture can be so self-focused, we can stand out if we choose to step out of our self-enamored lives and success strategies in order to champion those of others instead.
Two Models of Humility
The Apostle Paul noticed two such others-focused people. In Philippians 2:19-30, Paul commends two co-laborers, Timothy and Epaphroditus. Why the commendations?
Paul says about Timothy: “I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare” (2:20), and “Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.” (2:22). Timothy’s authentic—not obligatory—concern for others sets him apart, and he “proved himself” by humbly serving.
About Epaphroditus, Paul says: “For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill” (2:26). He instructs the Philippians to “Welcome him (Epaphroditus) in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me” (2:30).
Even when Epaphroditus, a messenger of Paul’s, was sick, he was worried that others were troubled because he was possibly a burden. And, in becoming ill, Epaphroditus risked his life and almost died trying to make up for the Philippians the encouragement and support that Paul lacked in Rome.
As we look away from ourselves all the time and toward the needs of others, we will find a strength we did not know we had. As we seek to make our lives a blessing instead of a burden to others, we will find satisfaction we previously did not know. Without Christ this is impossible, but with him, he develops our character as we grow in our humility.
This new way of living can enable us to make a name for ourselves, one that God will gladly bestow upon us in addition to the one he has already given us as a child of his.
That second name?
Humble.
Peaches’ Picks
This past weekend, our church hosted author and social critic, Os Guinness, for a couple of talks and a sermon on Sunday morning. I’d read The Case for Civility a few years ago and The Call in seminary (I’d also read The Search for God and Guinness, which is a fun history about his famous brewing family). I haven’t read his more recent books on the Magna Carta, liberty, etc.
While Guinness was okay (I swear, guys with accents get a free pass in so many ways), his discussion on evangelicalism made me think of Francis Schaeffer’s classic book, The Great Evangelical Disaster, which is basically the source material for most of what Guinness talked about, only written 35 years earlier (Guinness is self-admittedly very much influenced by Schaeffer and his work at L’abri).
So, out of the 10-12 different Schaeffer titles we own, Peaches and I decided to pull our copy of his 1984 treatise, which in its analysis and explanation of American evangelicalism could have been written yesterday. As readable as it is prescient, Schaeffer’s writing is prophetic stuff (in the best sense of the word), and we’d encourage anyone who cares about recent history (going back to the late 1800s) and current state of the American church to pick up a copy and consider it for yourself.
Fresh & Random Linkage
“Chris Pratt, Charlie Day to Star as Mario Bros. in 2022 Movie” - File this one under “Movies We Didn’t Need Made.” Come on, Hollywood, I expected more from quarantine screenwriting.
“Baby Name Trends of 2022” - In the words of the maître d from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “I weep for the future” (not to mention their 1st grade teachers) if some of these names become attached to actual people.
“Brooklyn-Based Designer Charlie Baker Weaves Enormous Nests for Humans” - I want to be this man’s friend and I want him to weave me a nest in the tree in my front yard. So very cool.
What's “insane” in this video is that this weenie and everyone else in the store are doing nothing to stop this robbery. This would never happen in Montana.
Until next time.
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