Random Reflections From An Everyday Sinner

By Bill Clark

Random Reflections from an Everyday Sinner is a collection of thoughts and reflections about experiencing life from one common man’s perspective. It speaks of interpersonal experiences in life and the struggles of incorporating belief into a pragmatic and productive world view.

The collection of writings are primarily the result of encouragement from my wife, friends, and acquaintances made over a lifetime of extensive work-related travel, Church involvement and general encounters with family members and others navigating through life.

“Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” --Oscar Wilde

The writings were also therapy. After experiencing the death of parents, 50+ years of working and getting “retired” by a corporate takeover and experiencing other common traumas of life, I needed to slow down and readjust my perspective on life. I needed to learn how to stop just reacting and become a better contributor to my own mental health and to the lives of those I encounter.

There are a handful of universal truths in these writings. You’ll know them when you read them. But mostly, this is just a record of experience and opinion. Hopefully you’ll read these knowing they are intended as encouragement and not as an invitation to philosophical combat. If you disagree with something written here figure out what your position looks like, so you can encourage yourself and others.

“Happy people plan actions, they don't plan results.” --Denis Waitley

Respectfully,

Bill Clark

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Aug 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9781400325634

Bill Clark

Bill Clark ended his career as the Chief Operating Officer of a consumer goods manufacturing company. He’s been the lowest person on the work ladder and he’s been the boss. Bill has a Master’s degree from the University of Oregon.  Bill has been the President of Business Councils and non-profit organizations.  He’s taught adult Bible classes for more than 25 years. Bill has been happily married to Jody for more than 23 years.  They have 5 adult children and 7 grandchildren.

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SINNERS AND SEMANTICS

Synonyms for Sinner – transgressor, delinquent, evildoer, reprobate, scamp, thief, trespasser

Based on how they sound when you say them, my favorites on that list are reprobate and scamp.

But when I look at their meanings… Reprobate: depraved, unprincipled or wicked person; Scamp: unscrupulous and mischievous person; rascal, rogue, naughty young person; I realize that I don’t like them that much after all.

I have entitled this group of writings, Random Reflections from an Everyday Sinner.

I have something to confess though. I generally think quite highly of myself. After all, God wants me to have a solid self-image and this is one area where I’m sure I don’t let Him down very often.

I have a couple of books of one-liners and insults which I read STRICTLY FOR THE HUMOR. I have had thoughts about getting a couple of the one-liners put on t-shirts but my wife won’t let me. Things like:

I’m not saying you’re stupid…I’m just saying you’ve got bad luck when it comes to thinking.

I don’t understand your specific kind of crazy but I do admire your total commitment to it.

So…since I demonstrate such tolerance and understanding for others by not getting those t-shirts printed, I feel it’s only right to show myself that same type of tolerance. Rather than blatantly label myself as a transgressor, delinquent, evildoer, reprobate, scamp, thief, trespasser I feel that it’s fair to insert a few adjectives first.

Let’s use words like occasional, modestly, accidental, unintentional, and intermittent before those other descriptors to soften the blow a bit. After all, I’m no worse than the next guy…usually.

This is the game I play with myself. Even without being overly critical of myself, I can honestly state that many times I suck at being a good fellow human being and a non-sinner.

Everything short of perfection is still flawed. Jesus will present me as perfect one day but I’m clearly a little short at the present moment. The old line, Please be patient. God’s not finished with me yet, is only meaningful if you have put yourself in His hands and asked Him to help transform your mind and spirit.

Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

– COLOSSIANS 3:2-4 NLT

Accept what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be.

– ANONYMOUS

THE CLASS REUNION…

Next year will be time for my 50 th year class reunion from High School. I don’t know if we’ll have it because those of us who aren’t deaf, blind, dead or just too darn busy might not get it organized.

I’ve lost touch with everyone in my graduating class and I was the Student Body President. I have moved all over the country since graduation. I got busy with work, kids, grandkids and just life in general.

But even though I haven’t seen or heard from anyone in my class since we had our 20th class reunion I know that they once existed. I saw them, I talked with them, I remembered with them and then I left them and got on back to doing my life. Do I miss them? Nope. I never even think about them unless something like this 50 year reunion thing comes along.

I do have a best friend from high school though. He was in the class one year behind me. We don’t talk often but when we do it was just like we were together yesterday. Whenever we talk I can count on him still being my friend and he can count on me as well.

What’s the difference?

Darwin (name not changed because he’s not innocent) and I invest in each other. Sometimes we don’t talk for nearly a year… but we still keep in touch. He’s like a brother.

My old classmates? No investment, no contact, no thoughts…

I should have been a better friend to my old classmates. I owed it to them to stay in touch. Not because they would benefit from my time, wisdom or charming personality but because they have value and I don’t act like they do.

I was comparing my relationship to my old classmates to today’s society’s relationship to God. There IS a God. Saying there isn’t doesn’t make it so. I know He exists because people saw, talked with, remembered with and then wrote down their interactions with Him. He came to earth in human form in the person of a carpenter from Nazareth named Jesus. He proved his claims through numerous miraculous works but the most amazing proof was not staying dead after he was killed.

I guess it’s not surprising that many in society don’t acknowledge God or completely dismiss the notion of God’s existence. They’ve never met Him. They are really busy. No time for that sort of thing. Even though God doesn’t show up on our doorsteps nowadays, He does offer us (actually encourages and requires) a multi-faceted way to get acquainted. He left us a written account of His life and His history with mankind, He offers a spiritual renewal for true belief, there is the testimony of those who know Him today and there is secular evidence that the accounts of the Bible are true and accurate.

Are there gaps in the hard knowledge? Of course. Who could write a complete biography of an omniscient, omnipresent, all powerful Creator of the Universe? Who would spend time reading it if you could?

If we have my high school reunion I’m going. It will be because I’m curious how my old classmates are doing, what they look like and because I need to reestablish relationships with some of them.

The people in our society need to do the same thing with God.

They need to see Him. They need to establish or re-establish relationships with Him and they need to stay in touch.

For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God…Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.

– HEBREWS 7:19, 21 NLT

STAYING ON COURSE

In my younger days I ran/walked in a handful of 5K and 10K races. I was never in the lead pack so I had to rely on staying within eyesight of someone in front of me and hope they knew where they were going or more frequently, I watched the spray painted markings on the streets that were there for directional assistance.

The interesting thing about those races is that the course is marked out ahead of time. They don’t just randomly let you take off and promise you will run 5K. They show you where to go. In this Hebrews passage we see that God has a course marked out for us as well. Our free will lets us choose to take that course, wander off on our own, or follow someone else’s lead to who knows where.

…And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

– HEBREWS 12:1B -2 NIV

In an article by Teresa Welsh of the Kansas City Star dated October 23, 2017 we read:

Rookie marathoner wins race after lead runners are led off course by motorcycle

He’d never before won a race, and it was only his second marathon. But on Sunday, Italian runner Eyob Gebrehiwet had a stroke of luck. Gebrehiwet was trailing the lead pack just over the 13.1 mile mark in the Venice Marathon. The lead pack of runners were following a motorcycle, which was guiding them along the course.

But then the motorcycle took a wrong turn, leading the former leaders off course. By the time the runners realized the mistake and turned around to rejoin the race on the proper course, they were a minute behind the new lead pack. This allowed Gebrehiwet to dominate the new group. Near the 25-mile mark, he was two minutes ahead of his closest challenger. Gebrehiwet, who is of Eritrean origin, is the first Italian to win the race since 1995.

Life is more than a single race. Life is a perpetually ongoing journey. By focusing on Jesus we are promised that if we diligently pursue it, we cannot only know the path marked out for us but that our efforts will be rewarded at the end.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

– I CORINTHIANS 9:24 NIV

"You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?

– GALATIANS 5:7 NLT

UNSOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook, the dominant player in a wide open social media market recently started a new ad program on television to help improve its image.

To quote from the commercial,

We came here for the friends, and we got to know the friends of our friends, then our old friends from middle school, our mom, our ex, and our boss join forces to wish us happy birthday. Then we discovered our uncle used to play in a band, and realized he was young once too. And we found others just like us, and just like that we felt a little less alone.

Social media, when it was first introduced provided a nice platform for exchanging information and innocuous comments with friends. It was intended to enhance our sense of community. But in a decaying social structure it was only a matter of time until it would be twisted 180 degrees to become a platform for increased divisiveness.

You see, the leadership at Facebook, along with tech savvy politicians and other forms of organized professional persuaders found that there was money and advantage to be gained from the use of these platforms. And because of the original focus of social media, the users were subtlety robbed of their independence of thought. They became great herds of sheep swept along by the persuasive propaganda of the professional persuaders.

Social media became the platform where fake news could be passed off as fact without anyone questioning the truth of the claims made. Only when the news became so obscenely error filled did some begin to question the sources. They began to take sides along lines of group think rather than honest analysis and fact checking.

Again, from the Facebook commercial,

"But then something happened. We had to deal with spam, clickbait, fake news, and data misuse."

One big, tragic case of the medium becoming a victim, right? Nope. It was a well-planned, well executed business model used to promote selfish aims…and they got caught doing it.

Rather than accepting responsibility, the abusers of social media have worked to soften the cynicism of the public and keep their mechanism for influence intact.

That’s going to change. From now on, Facebook will do more to keep you safe and protect your privacy, so we can all get back to what made Facebook good in the first place: friends. Because when this place does what it was built for, then we all get a little closer.

Society will not (cannot) change collectively. Only individuals can change society when they are rightly and collectively focused on behaviors that bring healing, a sense of community and growth.

Get the truth and never sell it; also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment.

– PROVERBS 23:23 NLT

WARNINGS

How many items do you have under your kitchen sink or elsewhere in your house that carry warning labels?

Some labels seem intended for the not-so-bright among us:

• Caution: The contents of this bottle should not be fed to fish. – On a bottle of shampoo for dogs.

• For external use only! – On a curling iron.

• "Do not use in