Improvisation

Bertrand Russell, English philosopher, writer, atheist, when asked why he did not believe in God said, “I have not been given enough evidence.” But, his unbelieving mind, his secular humanist quality did permit him to say, and in this we can all agree, “If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.”

A young man was very sick in the hospital, the overwrought father, frantic about the son's condition, came into the room which the janitor had just finished cleaning. The father began to complain to the janitor about the dirty condition of the room. Instead of the janitor talking back to the father, telling him he had just finished cleaning the room, and he knew it was clean, he just proceeded to clean the room all over again. The janitor said to my friend, the chief nurse, I realize a problem, I had rather him see me clean the room again than to challenge him.

Nothing has ever replaced common sense, people respect degrees more than they respect wisdom. It takes much empathy when dealing with people, particularly with children and the elderly. My aunt said, “momma would have lived much longer if Dr. Rand (her doctor) had not died.” She got better just by talking with him. In this time of assembly line healthcare, when the doctor is too busy to spend any time with you, when your diagnosis and treatment is done more from the computer than from the doctor's knowledge, you realize what treatment will be like under Obamacare. Like one doctor at the disaster at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, “you cannot think of the hundreds in the hospital needing you, you just take one patient at a time, and concentrate on that patient.”

We know the greatness of the world comes through improvisation, the great musician plays the music as written, but is the improvisation of the score that causes greatness. Any actor can recite lines, any politician can read a speech, any talking head can read a teleprompter, but it is in the improvisation of character traits, personality, that we see greatness.

When Christ returns, I want to be doing something for His Glory...not that He does not already know, but praying, writing, speaking. Think of the pastors on the golf course, in the movie theater, hanging out at the country club, messing around with a hobby when Christ returns. The whole world heading for hell in a hand basket, the supposed preacher of righteousness, leisurely looking on. God cannot afford a casual Christian. “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22)

We are experiencing several generations who object to living by rules; rules at home, rules at school, rules in the marketplace. There is virtue in obedience, toward God, parents, those in authority over us. One young girl who worked for me, Christina, worked for me in the morning, was a trainer of dogs in the afternoon. She said, “it never fails, I can tell exactly how difficult it will be to train a family dog when I see the behavior of the family children.” A foolish son is the calamity of his father (Proverbs 19:13) Solomon, writer of the Proverbs, knew what he was talking about, one of his sons, Rehoboam caused him much grief.

Tough love is the greatest love in the world, like the coach standing on the sled, yelling at the football players as, with their shoulders, they push the sled. He knows that eventually, even though some may vomit with the pressure, they will thank him for making them the team members they are capable of being. It is the soldier in the fire fight, in the heat of battle, that thanks his superiors for the awesome struggles of training, it is not just the rules, not just the fundamentals but that extra measure of improvisation, that makes a difference in the man/product.

For the past 50 years, America has produced a permissive society, our student excel in one area, self-confidence, they think they are exceptional whether they are or not. We are told we are the greatest, even though we have seen our industry and our wealth move into other countries. We have seen our students move further and further down the line in achievement instead of moving up. My missionary son told me that in Asia, where he and his family served as foreign missionaries. Students felt it was such a shame to fail in high school, not to be admitted to a good university, that they would jump off a building and commit suicide.

Politically, in this country, no one gets fired for incompetence, mistakes costing the taxpayers millions of dollars. Governors and other high ranking politicians found guilty of corruption in North Carolina, but because they are Democrats, very little happens, a few go to jail (in prison at present, Valence, Black, Wright, Decker, all Democrats). According to Judicial Watch, the 10 Most Corrupt Federal Politicians: Boxer, Emanuel, Ensign, Frank, Jackson Jr. Obama, Pelosi, Rangel, Rogers, Waters... 8 Democrats, 2 Republicans. There is no doubt that each of these elected officials, pay the price for election along with the 50 assistants assigned to each, did some work for their electorate. It is always the improvisation, mostly greed for the world and the things of the world, which leads to their legacy of debauchery. This is the same satanic trap with snares most of us.

It is not just in the military that we are trained to “snap to attention” around those who have the rule over us...bankers, law enforcement, judiciary. Hillary Clinton said we must be kind to China, our banker. During the visit of the Chinese president, Michelle wore a bright red dress, celebrating red China. The Chinese pianist, Lang Lang, played on the piano music “supposedly” to insult America about the Korean defeat at the Battle on Shangganling Mountain, calling the American fighters “jackals”. We can now understand why our borders are open, a national debt of $14.3 trillion, Chinese shooting our weather satellites out of the sky. Everywhere on the national scene we are too busy with improvisation, Obama playing golf and basketball, Wall Street and Bankers spending their bonuses, tax money paid to them for failure.

The most expensive improvisation, individually or collectively, is that of deceit. In a time of financial turmoil, fat cats paying $5,000 for a seat at the Superbowl to watch millionaires run up and down the ball field. Unconcerned citizens watching advertisements which cost $100,000 a second.