When Jesus gave us a promised helper, the Spirit of Truth, he made it possible for us to enjoy his presence continuously. This gift, from the Way, the Truth, and the Life is fully capable of leading us; along the Way, into all Truth, so that we may enjoy the most abundant Life possible; just as the Master said. Those who put Jesus on the cross to die thought that his influential presence would somehow be diminished when, in fact, his ministry has been augmented by the spirit complement that indwells and also envelopes us.

There are those who would usurp the authority of the Spirit. They are the great pretenders, that habitually elevate their personal evaluations, to the level of absolutes. They may think they’re justified while attacking the underpinnings of another person’s faith. They might feel as though they are qualified to perform the equivalent of psychological or theological surgery on the souls of others. And they might presume to impose their individually circumscribed and personalized science, philosophy and religion on our brothers and sisters.

Jesus did not call us to remove anything from the hearts and minds of our siblings. He instead demonstrated how we may put ennobling truths into the minds and hearts of humankind. These truths are usually found, in a highly concentrated form, within the parables Jesus shared with his disciples and the Apostles. Today, I offer for your consideration, a contemporary parable that focuses on the quality of such concentration.

If you have ever known someone that suffers from depression, or if you have experienced it personally, you probably know something of what is sometimes called the binocular trick. This analogy is used to describe habit where the individual magnifies or exaggerates problems, while they demagnify, disqualify, or minimize their blessings. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, perceived blessings and curses may be as well.

A lens is a concentrator. In the case of telescopes it also serves as a light gathering device. The first person to apply for a patent for a telescope was Dutch eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey. In 1608, he laid claim to a device that could magnify objects three times. His telescope had a concave eyepiece aligned with a convex objective lens. One story goes that he got the idea for his design after observing two children in his shop holding up two lenses that made a distant weather vane appear close. Others claimed at the time that he stole the design from another eyeglass maker, Zacharias Jansen.

Jansen and Lippershey lived in the same town and both worked on making optical instruments. Scholars generally argue, however, that there is no real evidence that Lippershey did not develop his telescope independently. Lippershey, therefore, gets the credit for the telescope, because of the patent application, while Jansen is credited with inventing the compound microscope. Both appear to have contributed to the development of both instruments.

Adding to the confusion, yet another Dutchman, Jacob Metius, applied for a patent for a telescope a few weeks after Lippershey. The government of the Netherlands turned down both applications because of the counterclaims. Also, officials said the device was easy to reproduce, making it difficult to patent. In the end, Metius got a small reward, but the government paid Lippershey a handsome fee to make copies of his telescope.

In 1609, Galileo Galilei heard about the “Dutch perspective glasses” and within days had designed a scope of his own — without ever seeing one. He made some improvements — his creation could magnify objects 20 times — and presented his device to the Venetian Senate. The Senate, in turn, set him up for life as a lecturer at the University of Padua and doubled his salary, according to Stillman Drake in his book “Galileo at Work. Legend has it that Galileo was the first to point a telescope skyward. He was able to make out mountains and craters on the moon, as well as a ribbon of diffuse light arching across the sky — the Milky Way. He also discovered the rings of Saturn, sunspots and four of Jupiter’s moons.

A parable is, in essence, the means to convey truth to people with a wide variety of capacities to comprehend. In substance a parable is also known as a parabolic analogy. It is called that because it is analogous to the way a lens, an acoustically tuned amphitheater, or a satellite dish makes use of curvature and forms a directing arc to concentrate the light, the sound, or the radio waves on some target.

There are three kinds of light: physical light, intellectual insight, and spirit luminosity. Jesus, the master story teller, made use of the narrative’s directing arc to focus us on the truth of the matter. When we read these stories we make use of physical light to enhance our intellectual insight. When we are responsive to the Spirit of Truth’s divine leading, our spirit luminosity brings the components of truth: the facts, meanings, and values into precise focus.

Obie-Wan Kenobi once described the Light Sabre as an elegant weapon. We might add: Especially when it is energized by just the right combination of physical light, intellectual insight, and Spirit luminosity. In the Gospel According to Matthew, the author wrote: If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! I’ve come to believe the triune energy complement of the high precision metaphorical Light Sabre is the best way to pierce the darkness within the minds and hearts of those in perpetual slumber. 

Most of us thrive in light. We lay on the beach absorbing it. Those of us with a true love of learning, search continuously for more forms of enlightenment. And then there are some of us who habitually avoid the light. I was one of those. In 1969 I was scanning the FM radio dial and heard a sound that resonated with me. It was like electric bagpipes but somehow more pleasing. The band was singing “Darkness, darkness, be my blanket – Cover me with the endless night – Take away, take away the pain of knowing – Fill the emptiness of right now.” Within weeks I had an after school job at that radio station.

I am convinced that every step along the way in this little journey was guided by the choreography of the Spirit. I went from scanning the FM dial, through the appealing music, to a job at that very radio station. After finishing my all night show one morning, my boss walked into the studio and told me “The Youngbloods are coming into town tonight and we’re going to broadcast them live. It’s going to be Washington DC’s first live quad-cast. And oh, by the way, because we don’t have a quadraphonic audio board, you will have to build it.”

Now if you think I was going to build it,and then let somebody else run it, think again. Especially when no one at the station had a greater affinity for the sound of that particular band than me. Twenty-four hours without sleep, no problem. A steady diet of meatball subs and caffeine, no problem. Being eighteen years old, and doing the mix for my favorite band, definitely no problem. I was just inches from one side of the glass facing the guys that were inches from the other side of the glass facing me. If I wanted to hear more of Banana’s bass or Earthquake’s harmonica, I just twisted the knob to make the music fit my ear. I really loved that job.

The next day, The Youngbloods played an outdoor concert on P-Street Beach in Washington, DC. Jesse was writing songs that meet people where they live, to take them someplace far, far higher. I will never forget how after the he loaded the truck with all the band’s equipment by himself, without complaining. He did this while the rest of the band and I played Frisbee alongside Rock Creek.

As time passed, I began to really appreciate another song by Jessie Colin Young and The Youngbloods. It went like this: If you hear the song I sing – You will understand (listen!) – You hold the key to love and fear – All in your trembling hand – Just one key unlocks them both – It’s there at your command – Come on people now – Smile on your brother – Everybody get together – Try to love one another – Right now.

I can’t imagine a better, more individualized way to fill the God-shaped void that was once inside of me. I was no longer singing about the “emptiness of right now,” as if I had some special relationship to it other than one of reminiscence. I don’t want to miss out on anything just because I am not adequately responsive to Divine Leading. Sure, I know how to develop and execute my own plans. But, I’ve learned, from experience, that God’s plans are always better.

I once had a long conversation with an old friend named Troy while I was on a long drive. I have lots of projects that are just inching forward. And, it really bugs me if anything is running behind my self-imposed schedule. My friend is a systems analyst that has guided some of the largest computer initiatives on the planet. Accordingly, he is experienced in managing projects that have a great number of moving parts. During that long drive he told me two things that I will never forget.

He said that “God doesn’t just want to be your upstairs advisor, he wants to be your partner.” At that I thought, “Well, senior partner obviously.” Then, Troy said something else that I really didn’t understand at first. He said “One-hundred percent of ten percent is more than ten percent of one-hundred percent.” I thought “No it’s not!” But in reality it is.

That completed ten percent is of tremendous value. There is a qualitative difference. It is more serviceable in the way that you get to make use of it.

What would happen if George Costanza was the relevance guy at VeryBigSearchEngine.com. Why then a search for major celebrations during December would likely place Festivus at the very top of the results page and Christmas might not place at all. Now this could be simply because the calendar editor placed the birth of Jesus in August and ignored the tradition of celebrating it in December.

Suppose someone posted an article on the Life of Jesus. The relevance rankings would determine your ability to find it using a search service. These rankings are conditioned by the search algorithms, some group’s doctrine concerning reliable sources and of course the quality of the subject article. The essay may not even be indexed depending on the editor’s attitude towards religion or the editorial policies of the search service provider. 

A large thesaurus could contain tens of thousands of synonyms and hundreds of thousands of cross references. And, while one would think the content of an article would itself be the primary relevance factor; naming, tagging and formatting also affect placement in search results to varying degrees. It very much depends on the person authoring, packaging, and submitting the article. 

Jesus touched on this with the question: “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

In the days before its Declaration of Independence in what is now the United States, Edmond Burke wrote a Report to King George. He described the colonist’s ability to recognize an ill principle in this way. “Here they anticipate the evil and judge the pressure of the evil by the badness of the principle. They honor misgovernment from a distance and snuff out the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.” 

Clearly the “tainted breeze” in our day, and throughout our world, is that of the special interest that would eclipse or discount the interests of average citizens. It was the unmitigated selfishness of those living high while demanding increased revenue that brought the global economy to the edge of oblivion in 1929 and 2008. Such individuals should not be seen as somehow more respectable than the person robbing a convenience store; also in the interest of “increased revenue.” In the first case, the revenue supported the pampered executive’s featherbedding, and in the latter case, it was likely used for the most basic elements of survival.

Throughout history, and during our present time, information is power. One of Martin Luther’s greatest challenges was a priesthood insistent on playing the Judeo-Christian scriptures close to the vest. Slaves, in the early United States even found it necessary to hide their bibles. Freedom of the press has always been limited to the guy that owned the press. And today, the question of net-neutrality will be pivotal to future societal evolution.

The Internet will either be free and unfettered, the self-interested will determine what information is conveniently presented to you in accordance with their priorities. Implicit to the consent of the governed is informed consent. Tampering with factual accounts has serious democracy implications. So does the ability to get a handle on information free of someone’s dollar skew. 

We must learn to see beyond individual or institutional attitudes, beyond vestings and bias factors. To the content spewing and trolling broadcaster, if it bleeds it leads. To the next-gen fisher of men, engaged in precisely directed, full duplex narrowcasting, we are inclined to fine tune our offerings. The consumer of information relevant to the Gospel has lots of choices. And consumers of all types are becoming increasingly annoyed by irrelevant stuff that clutters their screens; distractions that are thrown in their faces just when they are trying to focus on the subject at hand.

The avenues of spiritual, intellectual and practical reality merge into the narrow road. That road leads to a door that can only be unlocked with sincerity. And such sincerity is the product of faith that is tempered through experience. It is the Master Key to the Kingdom. 

Where wisdom is clearly lacking; where humility lessons are everywhere, there is new opportunity for those willing to bring a historical perspective and learn from history. It is important to keep the kind of perspective that will support services rendered on behalf of those Jesus called “the least of my brethren.” We are often surprised to discover that so much of what we know today was known by our ancestors. Their grasp of rudimentary chemistry and physics, the taming of fire and the industrial technique of early man suggest a science of sorts. It would appear that a substantial investment was made in pooling the experience of more than one generation. We can draw from an even greater experience, for Our Father in Heaven is the First Source of all Reality.

As a teenager, my relationship with my father was always contentious. My questions about things that seemed important were often dismissed in ways that left me without soul satisfying answers. Although he was one of the most generous people I’ve ever known, I had developed no real appreciation for that until I was born-again into a larger, truly universal family.

My rebirth occurred right around Christmas of 1972. It was a long labor. Before that, my highest conception of any Supreme Deity, if one existed at all, was that it was the sum total of our collective human experience. As I began to consider the possibility of a Supreme Being, one that might even have personality, my focus shifted from the ancient Hindu concept of the It Is to the things Jesus revealed about the I AM.

In those days my personal bible was the record library of the FM radio station where I hosted an all night show for a year or so. It was a twenty-three hundred watt flower pot, inside the Washington Beltway, that featured album rock. Because of the free form way, in which the station operated, I could simply spin what interested me. It was a time of spiritual growth as my interests and my selections were gradually moving away from themes of darkness and death to those of light and life.

Jim Morrison’s shouts of “Cancel my subscription to the resurrection” no longer appealed to me. While I continued to love the music of the Doors, I was developing a real affinity for the Moody Blues. The song Have You Heard reached me. I was especially touched by the lyrics: Life’s ours for the making, Eternity’s waiting, Waiting for you and me.

My first flight instructor was George. He was into Scientology in a big way and, although I had read some of the Hubbard stuff, I found a statement contained within one of his books rather off-putting. He wrote: “Don’t mix this with modern psycho-analytic theory.” I remember thinking “How self-serving.”

George however, was an impressive individual. One television commercial that aired in Washington featured George flying a little red biplane wearing a leather aviator’s cap and a white silk scarf that was trailing him. He spun the plane into a dive and, in the voiceover, George said “My life was in a spin; but then I found the modern science of Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard.” At that point George had put the plane back into straight and level flight. It was a great commercial. Although I had already read Dianetics and found some of it useful, the commercial didn’t persuade me to buy into Hubbard’s package deal. But it really was a great commercial!

Years before, during my first flying lesson, and with his elbow propped up on the wing of a Cessna 152, George had said: “Don’t try to memorize what I say to you. Just make sure you understand it. At that point memory will be automatic.” I thought “What a great teaching technique,” and I immediately recognized the culture from which George drew his inspiration.

At some point, during one of the many flights that followed, George said something else that stuck with me. He said “after you get your pilot’s license, be sure to get a seaplane rating.” When I asked why, George said “Because it’s the easiest to get and it’s definitely the most fun.” In the days, months, and years that followed that conversation, I was drawn to every picture in every magazine that featured a seaplane. Some would have a person sitting on the wing while fishing. Others would have kids swimming around the plane. I thought: “I get it now: Island hopping for one vacation and lake hopping for the next.”

Then, I had the dream. It was an impressive dream. It was kind of like a short clip that seemed to be spliced onto the end of every dream I had for a period of years. I had landed a seaplane on some lake that was too small to support a takeoff run. And it always ended with me going around in circles hoping for that rare gust of wind that would finally get me airborne. Now if that ain’t a metaphor for something, I don’t know what is.

Here’s what I do know. There are times when we look at a problem as if we’re wearing blinders. We may think the only thing that’s going to get us out of a bad situation is a gust of wind or a winning lottery ticket. Waiting and hoping for luck to come our way may give rise to a teachable moment. Then, we must be responsive to Divine leading.

The Phil Keaggy song Disappointment described God’s appointment this way: “Well, He knows each broken purpose leads to fuller deeper trust. And the end of all His dealings proves our God is wise and just.” It is that wisdom, that flows from the heart of our loving Heavenly Father, that is our best evidence of the Supreme Being.