Writing

May 24, 2016 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

What’s the difference between surviving and surviving?

Reader, patience please. Before you accuse me of completely losing it, I know that I probably should have entitled this post, What’s the difference between surviving and just surviving? However, I was trying to catch your attention and spark your interest with an obvious oxymoron. DId I reel you in? I believe that there is a big difference between surviving and just surviving. For the remainder of this post, I will label these two positions, real survival and just surviving. The difference is in perspective and attitude.These differences are as easily found and exhibited in organizations as they are in individuals. Individuals and organizations can also find themselves in two other situations. The first or desired position is one in which individuals are very successful and thriving. The last or least desirable position is one in which individuals and organizations are languishing in defeat and failure, the end result of which is death. These are the thriving and defeated positions, respectively.

Just surviving is a form of life without the substance. It is the pretense of life without the fruit. It is deceiving others and trying to deceive yourself. It is trudging through the battles of daily life with little or no enthusiasm. It is barely coping when you should be grieving and healing. Just surviving can also be having a good reputation without the positive merit, rigor or results to support that reputation. This qualifies these individuals or organizations as frauds. “All show, and no go!”

There are many examples in the scriptures of just surviving. Jonah was miraculously saved from the belly of a fish, which represents real survival. He then went to Nineveh and preached repentance, witnessing one of the greatest revivals the world has experienced. Jonah went up on a hill overlooking the great city to see what God was going to do, waiting for God to destroy Nineveh and its inhabitants. When God spared the great city and all its residents, Jonah responded to God with a “I thought about telling you so! I knew you wouldn’t destroy this city.” Jonah went from really surviving to just surviving.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. (Jonah 4:1-3, KJV)

Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, strongly urges the Christians there to mature and get rid of the attitude of just surviving.

For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (I Corinthians 3:9-15, KJV)

The seven candlesticks from St. John’s Revelation, by Albrecht Dürer, circa 1497; courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The apostle John acting as God’s secretary transcribed two dire warnings to churches in Asia Minor to repent of the attitude and mask of just surviving.

And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. (Revelations 3:1-3, JKV)

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (Revelations 3:14-19, KJV)

How many individuals today are putting on a show? How many have donned a mask, and are just going through the motions? How many modern organizations are neither “hot nor cold”? They have lost their first love. They open their doors each day, but only half-heartedly greet anyone that stumbles through the doors. They have little desire to go out into the streets and invite others to come into the fold. They have settled for just surviving, when they have before them the prospect of real survival, and even the possibility of thriving. As my aunt used to say, “What a waste! It’s a crying shame!”

Rebekah Basinger and I have had a conversation since late March in our blogs about organizations just surviving. See Rebekah’s Surviving, thriving, and six degrees of separation, and Beware “Iceberg beliefs” that can sink your organization, and my The Paradigm of Surviving and Thriving.

Rebekah opens her “Iceberg beliefs” post with the following vignette concerning a seminary president: “Ours has always been a hand-to-mouth existence,” the seminary president commented with a shrug and a sheepish smile. “I can’t imagine that thriving is in our future.” This attitude is very common in small values-based, service organizations. The source of this common, under the surface belief is often attributed to Christ’s commissioning of his disciples in the Gospel of Mark:

And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits; And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats. And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Mark 6:7-11, KJV)

It seems to me that as Christians, we often have a tendency to belabor the “fact” to be Christians we must wallow in the dumpsters and live from hand-to-mouth. We have convinced ourselves that if we as individuals, and corporately as organizations, are to follow Christ, we must give up everything to follow Christ’s example. We quote:

And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (luke 9:57-62, KJV)

Jesus is indeed calling us to a life of commitment first. However, He has also promised that if we put Him first, He will take care of us. We are not promised that our lives will be a bed of roses. In fact, He has promised that we will be reviled by men and treated harshly, just like He was. However, if we trust in the Lord, His angels deliver us. We will not “want any good thing.”

The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. (Psalm 34:7-10, KJV)

Real survival is the experience of having come through extraordinary trials, and landing on your feet. Some people have called this resiliency. Resiliency is described as the ability to take a hit and keep standing, or to fall down and get back up. I see real survival as bravely hanging on to the last thread of life by one’s fingernails. In this form, surviving is akin to winning. It may not be thriving, but it is definitely not losing. I believe that two posts, Aphasia is not the end of the world and Epilepsy is not the end of the world, that I wrote almost six years ago express some of my experiences with “real survival.”

I opened the aphasia post with a reminder to myself that the only things that I had lost in my battle with aphasia were “a few words.” I still had everything that mattered, I continued the post with a litany of blessings:

a loving and supportive family;
a compassionate and praying church family;
considerate and helpful friends and neighbors;
concerned and respectful colleagues and friends from more than forty years in higher education;
a team of knowledgeable and caring medical personnel;
a group of individuals on whom I can lean;
a real social network, not a virtual one.

I concluded the post with this statement; “In addition to all these people, I still have my mind.” It was my testimony of real survival in the face of a traumatic brain incident and an insidious deficit known as aphasia. However, I missed one very important thing. What I missed in that blog post was to remember that I still had a loving, caring and all-powerful heavenly Father.

View of detail of Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, Photo taken by White House Staffer, as such is in Public Domain: courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In my epilepsy post, I recounted part of the story of the HMS Resolute. Although this British warship was equipped for Arctic exploration, it found itself trapped in the early winter ice of an upper Canadian bay. The sailors had to abandon ship and walk across miles of frozen bay to safety in a small settlement that was later renamed Resolute Bay. Later in the summer when the ice started breaking up, the abandoned ship was freed and claimed by American naval ships. In a sign of good will, the American government returned the ship to Queen VIctoria in 1856. Twenty years later when the HMS Resolute was finally decommissioned from the royal navy, Queen Victoria had the warship dismantled. The queen also ordered three desks to be made from her timbers. One of the desks was given to President Hayes as a sign of friendship and gratitude. The Resolute desk still sits in the oval office or the president’s private office in the White House today. It is a testament to the good will between two countries, as well as a symbol of real survival and the will to carry on in the face of untenable odds. I ended this post with the declaration of real survival: On top of all the things that I listed, “I have the will to press on toward that unknown that looks like the end of the world.” As stated here, it sounds as if I am echoing William Ernest Henley in his poem Invictus. Although I do have an “unconquerable soul,” it is not my soul. As Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, ^“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 KJV)

Since I have been so long winded with my keyboard, I must hold off on discussing thriving and defeat until another post. Please stay tuned for the next installment. Thank you very much. I really do appreciate the gift of your time and attention.

May 20, 2016 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

Decisions, decisions, decisions! Three paths, which one should I take?

Have you ever begun a journey with one destination and itinerary in mind, but in the midst of your travels, you hit some minor snags or a major detour and have to change your itinerary? Since it happens to me so frequently with my writing, I have discovered at least three solutions to this particular problem. The first one is to stop writing entirely. This approach removes any possibility of getting lost in my thoughts. However, I find this approach totally unacceptable since it also completely eliminates the possibility of discovering something new and exciting. This seems to me to be close to the approach that the third servant takes in Christ’s parable comparing the kingdom of heaven and the actions of three servants when their master is out of sight:

For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey…But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money…Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. (Matthew 15: 14-30, KJV)

Writing is really the one way that I have left to express myself and make a difference in this world. In spite of my health battles the past seven years, I still have a dream. Higher education can be a vibrant force to change the world in which we live. I would still like to be part of those activities. I see so many errors being made in higher education. I see mistakes of commission and omission. I see negligence, ignorance and willful malpractice. I want to help solve the many problems that are so prevalent. However, the once normal process of engaging in live, extemporaneous debates is no longer an option for me. When I am trying to speak, words are only coming hesitantly. My verbal aphasia is stubbornly hanging on. When I share this with people, they express surprise. They say that they would have never known it from our conversation. What they don’t know is that I am putting on act. When I am preparing to talk to someone, particularly if the particular conversation has been arranged sufficiently ahead of time, I try to think of what questions I might be asked, and I go over answers in my head. I rehearse those answers several times before the actual conversation. When the conversation occurs, I play my role to the best of my ability. I am reminded of Macbeth’s soliloquy from Act 5, Scene 5, just after Macbeth is told of Lady Macbeth’s death and the advance of Macolm and McDuff toward Dusinane:

19    Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
20    Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
21    To the last syllable of recorded time,
22    And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
23    The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
24    Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
25    That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
26    And then is heard no more: it is a tale
27    Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
28    Signifying nothing.

My ability to analyze situations is still intact, but quite a bit slower than previously. I need time to think things through. My memory for some things is still exceptional. I can pull events and articles out of my memory bank if I am given the time to think about them. Remembering to turn off the light when I leave a room is completely lost on me. Thus, I must give the option of surrendering writing an absolute “thumbs down.”

The second answer for my writing is to finish a topic completely before publishing blog posts on the subject. This response has some merit. However, it requires a great deal more patience than I usually have. Waiting doesn’t always have to do with patience. Inaction can be caused by fear of rejection or ridicule, the fear of being wrong and the desire for perfection (sometimes known as paralysis by analysis), too much concern for the final destination and not enough for the journey, The famous poem, Katrina’s Sundial (aka “Time is”) by Henry Van Dyke speaks to some of the causes and results of inaction.

Time is
Too slow for those who Wait,
Too swift for those who Fear,
Too long for those who Grieve
Too short for those who Rejoice,
But for those who Love,
Time is not

When I find myself caught up in the enthusiasm of a topic, I want to get a post out there for reaction from others. This is my academic training kicking into place. In the world of the academy it is common place to put your thoughts out into the market place of ideas for critique. “I question that conclusion!” may be considered the unofficial mantra of the academy, A debate is the formal presentation of an argument in a disciplined manner. Modern debates are the descendants of the dialogues of ancient times. The oldest dialogues in scriptures are probably those recorded in the book of Job. They begin in the very first chapter:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. (Job 1:6-12, JKV)

With God’s permission, Satan went out and wiped out Job’s children and all his wealth. What was Job’s reaction?

Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly (Job 1:20-22, KJV)

God won the first round. Satan didn’t give up. In Chapter 2, Satan challenges God by suggesting that if Job’s health were taken away, then he would turn on God. God said, “Okay, Satan, try it, You can do anything, short of taking his life.” Satan took the challenge and hit Job with everything, short of death itself. What was Job’s response?

So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. (Job 2: 7-10, KJV)

God won round two. However, the dialogues are not done. In Chapter 2, we are introduced to three of Job’s friends:

Painting of Job and his three friends by Tissot; courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great. (Job 2: 11-13, KJV)

These were good intentioned friends. They saw Job was really hurting and they wanted to help him. Probably the best thing they did was keep quiet for seven days, because when they opened their mouths, they proceeded to stick their feet in them. After a week of silence, Job finally speaks in an eloquent soliloquy in Chapter 3. In Chapters 4-31 we have three rounds of heated debates/dialogues between Job and his “friends.” When it becomes clear that there has been no winner in these debates, Elihu, a young servant speaks up and takes all four of the combatants to task in Chapters 32-37. Finally, God speaks directly to Job in Chapters 38-42. When Job admits that he has been wrong and that God has been right all along. God rebukes Job’s three friends and blesses Job.

One of the primary intentions of a debate is to hone one’s own arguments in order to convince your opponent and any observers. In the course of a debate, one has the privilege of pointing out the weaknesses in your opponent’s position, while strengthening and fortifying your own position. The idea of two people knocking off each other’s rough edges is definitely encouraged by Solomon when he writes:”Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” (Proverbs 27:17, KJV) However, as we have seen in the story of Job, when humans argue or dialogue, both parties can be wrong.

Two approaches down and one to go! Thus, we are left with the third solution, which is to publish posts as soon as they come to me and I finish writing that post. This approach reminds me of the days when my wife and I would take a Saturday drive looking for antique shops which we had never previously visited. We usually had a good idea of where we were going. However, often we would see signs for shops that were not on our original radar screen, and we would turn down a different road to see what that road had to offer us. If I follow this modus operandi in terms of my writing, I will occasionally have to explain to my readers what I am doing and why I am not following my announced itinerary. In military terms, I will have to retreat, regroup, form a new plan of attack and forge ahead. If you haven’t guessed it already, for this particular series of posts, I am proceeding on Path 3.

To stay in touch with what I am thinking and writing, I invite my readers to subscribe to this blog by supplying a working email address in the box in the right margin. You can also follow me on Twitter. @ByBaylis is my Twitter handle. SInce I made such a fuss about dialogue in this post, please engage with me. If something strikes you as way out of bounds, let me know and include an explanation so that we can debate it. If you like something, please let me know that also. Affirmation feels good. However, be warned. It might encourage me to write more. Please stay tuned. I don’t know what’s coming next out of my computer. I won’t know until I wake up tomorrow morning and start writing again.

April 11, 2016 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

Today is April 11! This is no April Fools’ Joke. We’re Back in Business

Can you believe it? Today is Monday, April 11, 2016. Winter and the month of March are officially over. We are ten days past the traditional April Fools’ Day of April 1. So this post and the four announcements contained in it are no April Fools’ Joke. You can trust them. They are for real! Some of the announcements are not as positive as I would have liked. However, they definitely represent a positive movement that was much in doubt through most of the past year. So without further ado, let’s get right to the announcements.

This first announcement concerns my health. It is a positive announcement since we made it past March and I didn’t have any new health setbacks. In previous posts I have explained that in each March since March 2009, I have spent at least one week in a hospital with some major medical problem.

However, since last Thanksgiving, I don’t think that I have fully explained to my blog audience my current experiences. In the week before Thanksgiving, I started feeling sets of two or three, very quick 120-volt, low-amperage electric shocks in many different areas of my body. After the shocks stopped, I would then feel a burning sensation at the location of the shocks which would last from a few seconds to almost a minute. The burning sensation would then take off, traveling a nerve path to another spot in my body. The burning sensation would settle in that spot and then morph into a normal type of pain for that location. For example, I would get three shocks, followed by a burning sensation in my left shoulder blade. After a short period of time, the burning sensation would travel up through my shoulder, down my arm, past my wrist and the back of my hand, before settling in the large knuckle of my left index finger. At this point, the burning sensation would change into an arthritic pain, which would last until I could work it out by massaging my knuckle.

The electric shocks are not a new experience for me. In January 2013, I began feeling electric shocks and burning sensations like this is my left pectoral muscle. They started slowly with one or two daily. However, by mid-March, the shocks increased in frequency and intensity to such an extent that my doctors were afraid I was having a heart attack. I was rushed to the hospital. After extensive testing, it was determined that I wasn’t having heart problems. I was having a gall bladder attack. My gall bladder was completely blocked with stones and so full of infection that it was playing havoc with other parts of my body. They laparoscopically removed my gall bladder and the electric shocks immediately stopped. My neurologists suggested that the electric shocks I experienced were what is called referred pain. This suggests the pain is originating in one location, but exhibits itself elsewhere. With that history in mind, my doctors began looking for any type of problem that they could find elsewhere in my body. After many tests, they couldn’t find anything seriously wrong with me.

The pattern of six or more shocking episodes continued daily for two weeks. Then one day during the first week of December, I woke up to a new experience. After the first episode of electric shocks and the associated burning sensation traveled a nerve path to settle into its final resting place, I started feeling severe paresthesia (the sensation of numbness or pins and needles) in that limb or area of my body. When I called my GP, he asked what my blood pressure was. When I told him it was unusually high, he told me to get to the ER. Of course, it had snowed the previous evening and our car was snowed in. Thus, my wife called the local ambulance service. When the EMTs arrived my blood pressure was 210/140 with a pulse of 110, and my A-fib was making my heart do flip-flops that weren’t being controlled by my pacemaker. My whole side was also numb and tingling like pins and needles. The EMTs wrapped me and immediately loaded me into the ambulance for a ride to the ER.

I spent the next seven hours in the ER undergoing extensive testing. I had EEGs, EKGs, CAT-scans and x-rays. The ER doctor wanted to do an MRI. Although I have an MRI-compatible pacemaker, it can take days to arrange to have everyone necessary in the MRI imaging lab to conduct the MRI on me. You know you could be in trouble when the ER doctor says “You’re the most complicated and interesting patient, I have ever seen in ER.” When the ER finally got my BP and heart palpitations under control with medications, but couldn’t control the electric shocks with additional pain and seizure medications, they sent me home with strict instructions to schedule an appointment with my neurologist and cardiologist as soon as possible. When I did see them, they increased my heart, pain and seizure medication dosages slightly again. When those changes produced only marginal results, the doctors began practicing medicine. They ordered more tests. Since two one-hour EEGs provided no useful information, my neurologist ordered a 48-hr EEG. The results of that test definitely suggested that I had brain activity when the electric shocks and burning sensations hit. The problem was that the activity was not located where the neurologists expected it be. This could have been due to the injuries my brain suffered during the several traumatic brain incidents that I have had, or to the plasticity of my brain in attempting to rewire itself to answer the demands that I keep placing on it.

My neurologist also ordered a two-test combination consisting of an NVC (Nerve Conduction Velocity) test and an EMG (Electromyogram), which provide information about abnormal conditions in one’s nervous system. In the NVC test nerves are stimulated with small impulses at one electrode while other electrodes detect the electrical impulses “down-stream” from the first electrode. If the impulses do not travel at the expected speed, then there is nerve damage in that area. In the EMG, needles are inserted in muscles in specific locations. By stimulating the muscles via these needles and measuring the response, any nerve damage can be spotted. Both tests were completely “normal.” This is good news and bad news. The good news is that I have no small or large nerve damage. The bad news is that this means my problems are most likely in my head.

As we progressed through February and March into April, I noticed one large improvement in my condition. I began having more extended periods of lucidity, when I could think and write. The shocks, burning sensations and pain have not gone away. However, I am becoming accustomed to them. After banging your head against a wall for so long, eventually you don’t feel it any more.

Thus, I am in a position to attack the large backlog of blog posts that I have accumulated, as well as the multitude of book-length manuscripts that I have outlined waiting for an opportunity to work on them. To readers of this blog, I covet your prayers and thoughts for continued long periods of clear thinking and a bountiful stream of meaningful words.

Announcement No. 2 concerns the future of this blog By’s Musings. This is the first posting for five months. At that time, I indicated that I intended to publish posts regularly. However, I wasn’t counting on the difficulties that I outlined in Announcement #1 above. This time when I say I intend to publish posts regularly, I have taken additional steps to make sure that occurs. One of those steps is to invite a number of my friends and former colleagues to share guest posts. Later this week, the first guest post will be published. It has been written by Professor Erik Benson, from Cornerstone University. When I hired Erik in 2005, he immediately impressed me as a teacher who brought history to life in the classroom. You didn’t want to go to sleep in his classes because you never knew what you might miss. To Erik, history was not restricted to the classroom. He brought the field into the classroom and took history and the students out into the field. Over the intervening years, he has also impressed students, who voted him “Professor of the Year” in 2013. In addition, he has also impressed his colleagues as an integral part of the leadership team for the CU CELT, the Cornerstone University Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, since 2006.

The title of Erik’s guest post is “The Value of the Liberal Arts to the University.” It is already in the queue, ready to published at 5:30 am on Wednesday, April 13, while I am, hopefully, sound asleep. During my periods of lucidity noted above, I have completed the first draft of post that I have titled, “Education: A Public Good or a Private Good?” I believe the answer to this seemingly innocuous question has deep ramifications that impact the control and cost of education in America. This refers not only to higher education, but to elementary and secondary education. I hope it will engender much discussion. It is in the queue to be published next Monday, April 18, at 5:30 am. This is an appropriate day for this posting since April 18 this year is TAX DAY! (This is a public service announcement to remind all my readers of the source of funds for public education.)

To keep the blog publication ball rolling, I have two draft posts, entitled “My Life in an Amusement Park: Living on a Carousel and the Unit Circle Parts I and II”, in the queue, scheduled to be published respectively on Monday, April 25 and May 2, at 5:30 am. The formula, x² + y² = 1, for the unit circle is the basis for much of mathematics. Surprisingly, it is also the basis for many aspects associated with a majority of amusement park rides. Who else but a mathematician would see the similarities between amusement park rides and the mathematics of the unit circle, and find them fascinating? In Part I of this post, I will explore many of the connections between the rides and the mathematics. In Part II, I will discuss why they are important in my life. Stay tuned to find out what carousels, roller coasters, tunnels of love, Tea Cup rides and the swing rides have in common, and why they are built on mutations and perturbations to the familiar formula for the unit circle.

OOPS, I am so sorry readers, but we’ve gone far beyond the maximum number of words blogger gurus suggest for posts. For the remainder of the announcements, you will have to stay turned for the post, “We’re Back in Business, Part II.” which is in the queue to published on Friday, April 15, at 5:30 am. In that post I will cover Announcement No. 3, which concerns my coaching/consulting practice, Higher Ed By Baylis LLC, and Announcement No. 4, which deals with my website Higher Ed By Baylis. Thanks for staying with me and please come back for more.

November 2, 2015 By B. Baylis 2 Comments

My Plan for Digging Myself Out of a Deep Hole

This post has been in the works for a long time. My blog posting pen has been essentially silent for a year. I apologize for the great delay. The delay was essentially due to ongoing medical problems, which were beyond my ability to remediate. Even my doctors didn’t really know what was going on. They refer to me as “Their special case!” Once during an extended EEG, I had a series of sensory dysfunction events. I asked my neurologist if they saw something in the EEG results. He replied, “Sort of! There was a lot of spurious activity going on in your head.” I asked him what he meant by that. He replied, “There was a great deal of brain wave activity recorded. However, it was occurring in parts of the brain where we weren’t expecting to see that kind of activity.”

During my long year’s absence from the blogging scene, I have generated a list of more than 300 blog posts which I want to write. I have committed to myself to knock off at least three of these posts per month for as long as I am able to write. If I add no more potential posts to my To Write List (UNLIKELY!)), it would only take me eight years to dig myself out of the hole that I am in. If I could dig myself out, I would be one happy little groundhog. With God’s help that is what I will be endeavoring to do.

Why only three per month? It could be more. I chose to allow myself the option of succumbing to the tyranny of the urgent, and writing no more than one emergency post per month. These would be topics that come up at the last minute and have a sense of urgency in terms of the timeliness of their publication. I would write these posts to put out small fires.This post is an example of such an urgent topic.

Almost all of my fires of the past six plus years have been health related. Even in the face of seemingly unrelenting illnesses, I know that God still cares for me and has a job for me to do. I know this because I serve the same God as King David and the Disciple Peter, These men of God urged everyone to rely completely and only on God.

²And he [David] said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; ³The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. ⁴I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. (2 Samuel 22:2 – 4, KJV)

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. (I Peter 5:7, KJV)

Jesus speaking to all His disciples shortly before His crucifixion, summarized the source of the power and joy that He was offering to them.

⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. ⁵I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. ⁶If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. ⁸Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. ⁹As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. ¹⁰If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. ¹¹These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. (John 15: 4-11, KJV)

Note the stark contrast in verse 5, “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” Please pray with me that both you and I can abide in Christ. If we do, then He will abide in us, and we will be able to do much for Him. If we don’t abide in Christ, we risk being pruned and casted aside. What will it be? Abide or Aside?

In my November 2014 post ” Which would you find more acceptable in your back yard: A toxic waste dump or a murder of crows? ” I indicated that a post entitled Who is my Neighbor? was to be the next post in the series of posts on neighbors and the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) debate. I am announcing that I am finally getting around to writing that post which will be published next week. Please pray with me that God will give me the power and insight to answer the question: “Who is my neighbor?”

October 26, 2015 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

Visual Story Board for Manuscript Title, Part V – Student Version

Image from GraphicStock. Used with permission

This post is the last in a series on the development of the title of the manuscript, An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning: Student Version, on which I am currently working. By working, I mean interacting with my computer. This process is not as straight forward as it was prior to 2009. I am still generating ideas in my head. After my most serious bout with seizures in December, 2009, the ideas have almost always been in the form of visual images. Since I am not an artist, the coins in the realm of communications are words, I must translate the pictures I see into words.

This translation is a multi-step process. I first do a very rough draft in my head. I then mull over that draft several times before sitting down at my keyboard and inputting a more refined rough draft into the memory banks of my computer. I print out a copy of my work so that I can review it away from that machine that beckons me to investigate all the wonderful new reports on education, sports, world events, food and cars that it has to offer.

I usually leave my office, taking the hard copy of my document to review later. I have found if I try to edit the material immediately, I do not find problems or alternative ways of expressing my ideas. I am too invested in what I have just committed to my computer. I must wait minutes, hours or even days before I can truly edit my own work.

Why do I need the printed paper copy of a document to edit? There are several reasons. The first reason is that I am not a digital native. I will admit that, although I consider myself fairly fluent in digitalese, I am still a digital immigrant. In addition, the aging process has taken away some of my reaction time. Even spoken or hand written communications take much longer now than just 7 years ago.

Aging and other health concerns have also caused changes in how I do things. My middle range vision, i.e., computer screens, is deteriorating. If I enlarge the screen type font large enough to easily read it, some documents will not fit on the screen. In addition, the lines of type do not always run straight across the page for me. I get mixed up as to which line I am reading. With my changing vision, I have had to go to two pairs of glasses. One pair for distance vision and up-close “book” reading, and one pair for middle range (computer screen) and reading distance. I tried trifocals, but I couldn’t use them. They gave me severe headaches. Exchanging glasses has quickly become a pain, especially when I forget where I put the other pair of glasses.

This post concentrates on the phrase Student Version. With this phrase I am attempting to identify the target audience of the book. It is intended for mid-to late-adolescents. This phrase actually comes directly in verbal form from my pre-Traumatic Brain Incident days. As far back as 1990, colleges were looking for ways of addressing those traditional “college-age” individuals whom they were trying to attract to come to their institutions. Colleges had to walk something of a tightrope in addressing these individuals. Officially, in the eyes of the law, most of these individuals were not adults. They were still children in the eyes of many of their parents. Many parents were financially responsible for these individuals. Parents also wanted to protect “their children” from the harsh realities of the real world for as long as they could. The “children” were getting ready to leave the nest. They wanted to be on their own as much as possible. So as not to offend the parents or the young people, colleges started using the term “student.” This gave the young folks a sense of freedom, while still not completely off-putting the parents. In the ’90s at college recruitment or orientation days, we talked to parents about “their students.” When we addressed the prospective students, we used the term “students” to give them a sense of maturation. The term may not have completely satisfied everyone in either group. However, it didn’t disgust them either.

As these prospective students engaged in the college selection and preparation processes, there was one question that kept surfacing:

That’s the primary reason for writing this book. I wanted to help prospective students and their parents answer the questions that arise naturally in the processes of selecting, applying to and preparing for college or careers. This book is addressed to the students. I am also working on a second volume, addressed to the parents. I am intending to call it An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning: PG Version. The abbreviation PG stands for Parental Guidance. This is not the parental guidance that the movies rating system suggests. The book is intended to provide guidance to parents as their students navigate their paths to college or a career. The PG Verision will contain all the material in the Student Version, but it will contain additional information. The added bonus material is meant to help guide the parents as they work with their students. I will encourage families to work through the common parts of the books together.

October 20, 2015 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

VIsual Story Board for Manuscript Title, Part IV – Biblical?

This post is the next to the last in a series on the development of the title of my manuscript, An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning: Student Version. In the series I have illustrated the application of a visual approach to thinking through a pictorial story board. In this post, I concentrate on the adjective Biblical, and some questions surrounding it. Since there are so many Life Planning processes, I wanted an adjective that would specify the type of process I was developing.

This adjective needed to convey a number of things. I wanted it to indicate something about the audience to whom I was addressing the book. The first adjective that I selected was the word Christian. I experimented with this word because I developed this process in conjunction with my work at four different Christian colleges. In those contexts, the students whom I was counseling and mentoring were almost exclusively Christian students. The few who were not Christians had made a conscious choice to attend a Christian college and knew the kind of education in which they were participating.

Yet I hesitated to use the adjective Christian. Why was I exhibiting this uncertainty? The main reason for my uncertainty came from the fact that there are many different forms of Christianity. Each form has its own nuances. In some of those branches of Christianity there is a strict exclusivity: “You are only a Christian if you belong to our group. We are the only group that has the truth.” Christianity does have an exclusivity. Christ is the only way, truth and life. No one can come to God except through Christ. In the Gospel of John, we read:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)

However, there is a wide-open invitation to all to come to Christ. There is no set of restrictive rituals that one must perform to come to Christ. You must just believe that you are a sinner, that Christ died for your sin, and you must accept his free offer of salvation. Christ did not save us to enslave us. He died to make us free, as he spoke to a group of Pharisees and other Jews,

³⁰As he spake these words, many believed on him. ³¹Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; ³²And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.³³They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? ³⁴Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ³⁵And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. ³⁶If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:30-36, KJV)

In Paul’s letter to the Galatian church he wrote

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Gal 6:1 KJV)

I have had my own life journey in Christianity. I have been a Christian for more than 60 years. I spent 40 of those years as a faculty member or administrator at four different Christian colleges, of various denominational and theological stripes. Over those 40 years I witnessed many arguments about whether a particular college should have the right to call itself a Christian college. These arguments arose mainly due to the sectarianism, parochialism, or pettiness of legalists, who have infiltrated the ranks of churches. My personal views are built upon many years of personal studies of the scriptures, theology and the history of the church. I believe in a richness and breadth of Christianity. I did not want to limit the appeal or application of my work to a narrow segment of the universal church, a segment which would force Christians into a small box of man’s making.

In my projected manuscript I didn’t want to restrict my audience to a particular portion of Christians desiring to find God’s plan for their lives. However, I know that not all who call the Lord, “Lord” are of the House of God.

⁴³For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. ⁴⁴For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. ⁴⁵A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. ⁴⁶And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? ⁴⁷Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: ⁴⁸He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. ⁴⁹But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:43-49, KJV)

If we come to Christ and do the things he has said, we will be shown to be like Christ, and worthy to carry the label Christian. Where do we find the things that Christ has said? I do not deny that in the past God has spoken directly to individuals, and even today he may still speak directly to some individuals. The word of the Lord may not necessarily come audibly, but rather through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds. However, our primary source of the words of the Lord today are the Scriptures. When individuals believe that God has spoken directly to them, those individuals, and anyone who listens to them, have the responsibility to test the words they believe came from God against what God has said elsewhere.

Since we know and believe that God is our primary authority, we must look to our current main source of his instructions, which is the Bible. That thought tipped the balance in my thinking toward the use of the word Biblical in the title of my manuscript.

However, as I thought more about this choice. I studied applications where the term Biblical has been used, such as Biblical counseling. There I found significant discussions about the use of the term Biblical, particulary in that context. The primary criticism of the use of the term Biblical Counseling seems to be related to the use of the Bible as the only source of knowledge and methodologies related to counseling, and the exclusion of other sources such as psychology and psychiatry. Thus we have two pictures. The picture to the left includes only the Bible and no other sources. While the picture to the right includes another source of knowledge, but does put the Bible on top in the place of ultimate prominence. I believe that God has given us brains and expects us to use them for His honor and glory. So my thinking leans toward the picture to the right.

Back to my question of this post: “What adjective do I use to describe the process that I am proposing?” May I ask for your help? What adjective should I use? I welcome my readers input.