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Fringe: The Fringe Condition of Poverty God Favors (Matt. 5:3)

I recently learned of a book entitled The Other Wes Moore. [1] The book tells the true stories of two men.  Both men are named Wes Moore.   Both grew up in Maryland. Both were raised by single mothers. Both had run-ins with police as youngsters.  But that’s where the similarities end.  One Wes Moore became a graduate of John Hopkins and a Rhodes Scholar.  He eventually served as a White House Fellow under former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.   The other Wes Moore was sent to prison.  He is serving a life sentence for his involvement in the killing of a police officer.  The book The Other Wes Moore tries to understand why these two men with the same name and similar backgrounds had such different lives.  The author concludes that the difference was caused by one thing: one Wes Moore had people on his side, and the other did not.  Though the successful Wes Moore’s father died when Wes was only three, he had other family members and teachers who intervened in his life and supported him.  The imprisoned Wes Moore saw his father only three times. It was during the third and final visit that this Wes Moore’s father looked up from a drunken stupor and asked, “Who are you?”  One Wes Moore grew up with people who were on his side.  The other did not.  That made all the difference.Read More »Fringe: The Fringe Condition of Poverty God Favors (Matt. 5:3)

Fringe: The Fringe Condition of Meekness God Favors

Many of you know that I grew up in a small town of less than one thousand people in rural New Mexico.  There wasn’t a lot to do in that town of Cloudcroft.  We had two or three restaurants, a couple of gas stations, some tourist shops, and a putt-putt golf course.  That was it.  No chain restaurants.  No malls.  No theaters.  No bookstores.  No coffee shops.  No parks or zoos.  We didn’t even have a stop light.  Only rarely could we receive a radio station and for years there was no cable or satellite TV service.  It was like living in one of the most out-of-the-way corners on the earth.  But every summer my family would visit my uncle and aunt and cousins who lived in Omaha, Nebraska.  Omaha was everything Cloudcroft was not.  If Cloudcroft was the place where nothing was happening, Omaha was the place where everything was happening.  If Cloudcroft was on the edge of the world, Omaha was at the center of the world.  It was the New York City or Los Angeles of my youth.  My cousins would take us to the Omaha zoo, one of the largest in the country.  We’d watch movies in giant theatres.  We’d attend the enormous Fourth of July parades and fireworks exhibitions.  We’d visit the neighborhood pool and swim and jump off the diving boards.  And we’d eat out in restaurants with large menus and great food.  During those few days I’d feel like I was part of civilization, I was in the loop, I was participating in what was really happening in the rest of the country.  But at the end of the visit, I’d always have to get in the car and head home.  Once back in Cloudcroft, I’d wrestle with a feeling that my cousins were getting it all and I was getting nothing.  My world was so small and theirs was so big.  Stuck in my small town, I was missing out on everything good the world could offer.  If life was a pie, my cousins were getting all the slices and I was getting none.

Read More »Fringe: The Fringe Condition of Meekness God Favors

Fringe: The Fringe Condition of Hunger and Thirst God Favors

Are you hungry?  Are you thirsty?

Let me tell you about a time when I was thirsty.  One of my high school football coaches graduated from the “Pain-is-Pleasant” school of coaching.  He believed the more harmed we were in practice the more hardened we’d be for games.  This was especially true during two-a-days.  Each August, we’d gather twice a day for long practices in hot weather.  What I most remember about those practices is my thirst.  Our coach did not believe in water bottles, water jugs, or water at all.  He thought that having water available during practice was a sign of weakness.  Thus, even during the hot two-a-days, there was no water to drink.  After two hours of drills, plays, and sprints, every electrolyte our bodies possessed had been squeezed out and shot in the back of the head.  In the closing minutes of our practices, when we ran the length of the field again and again, I frequently remember almost passing out.  And when the coach mercifully ended practice, we’d run into the locker room and drink.  We wouldn’t drink from the water fountain.  We’d turn the showers on cold and stand under them and guzzle until our bellies were gorged.

Have you ever been thirsty like that?Read More »Fringe: The Fringe Condition of Hunger and Thirst God Favors