The Onset of Senility?

Nothing makes a middle-aged guy feel like he has graduated to old age like losing his wallet and cell phone on the same day.

The saving grace in both instances involved being able to pinpoint the parameter of misplacing the items.

In the case of the wallet, I remember paying for lunch in the work cafeteria, but I noticed it no longer was in my pocket during my afternoon stroll around the building. Panic ensued.

I checked in the dining room, notified the front desk, told security, informed people in my office. Then I felt the Lord prompting me to look in a desk drawer. There it was! Never in 11 years of working here had I put my billfold in a desk drawer, but for some absentminded reason I did that day. It’s an embarrassment I can live with.

That night when I got home from small group at church, I noticed my phone no longer in the pouch attached to my belt. This is when those am-I-losing-my-mind thoughts really kicked in. Yet I knew the phone had to have fallen out in the car or driveway, or at church. The next day on the way to work I stopped at church and found the phone inside, a few inches from the door.

The dread in losing such items is partly the potential cost of replacing them, but primarily the inconvenience: canceling credit cards, getting a new driver’s license, reprogramming all those stored phone numbers. Thankfully, I didn’t have to go through any of that.

I felt better that next day when I got to work and a much young co-worker told me she had spent 15 minutes that morning looking for her lost car keys. Of course she found them in the most obvious place where she left them the night before: the ignition.

The Rescue Aftermath

The world celebrated as rescuers pulled the 33 trapped Chilean miners to freedom last week after more than two months underground. That so many people could emerge after being trapped for so long apparently unscathed brought joy to anyone watching the proceedings on the Internet or TV.

Now reality has set in, following the tearful reunion with relatives and the international glow of the limelight fades. The miners have returned to their homes, but many live in squalor conditions in gang-infested areas.

The difficulty in adjusting won’t be so much returning to a normal routine, but rather going from the center of the world’s attention to obscurity. Certainly, book and movie deals beckon, but those are likely to cause turmoil. While these men could survive in confined quarters without tearing into one another, now jealousies from the lure of riches probably will tear them apart. Instead of being lured by fame and riches, I hope these men can be thankful for their rescue and live grateful lives to the glory of their Creator.

Flaunting Polygamy

It comes as no surprise that Utah officials are investigating Kody Brown and his four wives. What choice do they have after the Lehi advertising salesman went on national television week after week to promote his lifestyle in a reality show? Was he expecting a free pass?

The Beehive State agreed to outlaw polygamy 120 years ago in order to join the United States. Mormons gave up the practice, but fundamentalist sects, including the Brown family, continue its practice today.

TLC, which has brought us midget families (the Foloffs) football team-sized families (the Duggars) and multiple birth families gone awry (the Gosselins), thought a man and his four wives would be a captivating new attraction. And indeed they are.

Rather than HBO’s fictional Big Love, TLC’s Sister Wives shows us real folks. Husband Kody is charming and affable in an aw-shucks sort of way. The wives all seem personable, caring, and intelligent. They go about their daily lives as if this is a normal family arrangement.

Of course they are delusional. The practice is illegal because it’s immoral. As my friend Jeremy said, “Why don’t they have a show about a drug lord’s family? It’s the same thing.”

These people all need counseling. One wife was upset that Kody kissed new youngest wife Robyn during their courtship rather than waiting until the “marriage.” News flash: taking on a fourth wife isn’t legal.

The show, at least the early episodes, depict the Browns — and their combined 16 children — as having unselfish emotional ties, devoid of jealousy and dysfunction. But why would any woman want to share her husband with three other women? And why would a man already sleeping with three women have the urge to bring a fourth under his roof? The whole idea is demeaning to women. And these homes usually aren’t so stress-free.

Earlier this year I interviewed Brian Mackert, who grew up as one of 27 children in a polygamous family in Salt Lake Valley. He told me the children — and the four wives — in the home constantly jockeyed for the affection, love, attention, and blessing of the father. The situation lends itself to an environment in which the patriarch has no sexual boundaries. Mackert’s father also sexually abused his son’s four sisters.

The Traumas of Life

In recent weeks the Lord has brought various people my way who are going through the traumas of life. One person has a debilitating health issue. Another has survived a violent attack that left her maimed. A woman is raising several grandchildren by herself. A friend’s spouse committed adultery barely a year into the marriage. An acquaintance fled an abusive spouse. Others are dealing with long-term depression, drug dependence and lust issues.

These are all Christians, although the faith of some of them isn’t very strong right now. Helping others is a primary calling for those who follow Jesus. When those in the faith feel overwhelmed, it’s easy to feel helpless. If no one around notices the problem, or if the oppressed person fails to express difficulties to a friend, that person can easily become isolated and drop out of church. That only makes them feel more alone.

I’m grateful to be able to engage people going through life’s messes. We all encounter troubles at some point. I’m finding prayer and counseling to be a more worthwhile pursuit than “relaxing” at home in front of the television screen.