Straight Up: A Matter-of-Fact, Forthright, Candid, Blunt, Plain-Spoken View of the Way Things Just Might Be

By Abraham Adams

In Abraham Adams' debut, the thought-provoking "Straight Up" provides a
deep dive into the existential questions of mankind and our relationship with God. The serious
talk is seasoned with Abraham's own brand of humor to bring about an enjoyable daily "take" on
life. The work covers 17 topics that address one's relationship with God: where to see his
presence in everyday life. It will likely make you think. Ultimately, THAT is the purpose of
"Straight Up". Utilize this book as a daily devotional based on it's insightful personal
introspection that will, yes, make you think.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667858012

Book preview

Men

Caspar Milquetoast

The Unseen Order of Things

Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they CREATE our courage and wisdom.

==

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, then go do it because what the world needs is people who have come alive (from Wild at Heart by John Eldredge).

I don’t know if this applies to you or not, but in looking back, other people and yes, even my Faith (with its expectations), filled my mind with this and that. At some point, I realized I was putting energy into what they were communicating I should do … but I didn’t feel the least bit alive. I was doing THEIR Calling, not mine. I was tethered.

==

We are never more alive than when we embrace an adventure beyond our control, or when we walk into a battle we aren’t sure we will win. We have heard this: Ships are safe in a harbor, but ships aren’t built for that.

We can never know with certainty what today will bring, but we OUGHT to embrace the image of being a ship on the high seas vs. tethered to some pier in some safe harbor. My hope is that - whatever today brings - I respond appropriately … NOT like Caspar Milquetoast - a timid soul - but like Captain Jack Aubrey.

Or Maximus Decimus Meridius.

Or Benjamin Martin.

Or William Wallace.

Or Strider a/k/a Aragorn.

These were men that were living peacefully but then conflict arrived. And they reacted. They fought their sudden bewilderment and vulnerability, then reacted. And by reacting vs. hunkering down in some bewildered and vulnerable state, they led by using a God-created virtue: Courage.

==

A lion in a cage ceases to be a lion, and a man that doesn’t follow his heart, ceases to be a man.

None of us will likely come face-to-face with what any of those men faced. But we will come face-to-face with something that conflicts with Right. It conflicts with Civility. And it conflicts with Common Decency and Common Sense.

At the very least, we can dis-approve of it. We can NOT, EVER accept it in our minds.

And when the time comes, we can exercise the courage necessary, knowing courage is a virtue, and virtues don’t spring up from nothing, they come from God.

The Unseen Order of Things calls for a commensurate, proportional response. We all need to figure out for ourselves what that is.

==

Caspar: My God! Why cause yourself so much anxiety. Relax my good man. Here, have a brandy.

Captain Jack Aubrey: (Smiling) No, but thank you. Duty calls.

Maximus: No thank you. I must prepare for battle.

Benjamin Martin: (helplessly watching his house burn down and his slaves being shot, he just looks into Caspar’s eyes, then he dashes into the house to get his guns and tomahawk)

William Wallace: You timid soul, you. Maybe ya could stay here, behind the women. Hopefully they’ll protect ya." (Then he wheels his horse and leaves Caspar in his dust)

Aragorn? He says nothing, but pulls out his sword and follows his heart into battle.

May we all do the same.

Men 2

There was a man - true story - who had done wrong in his life.

Aren’t we all guilty of doing wrong?

The difference for this guy - who I knew personally - was that (because of the wrong he had done) he felt unworthy.

Shame had a grip on him.

Yet, when I gave him something, he was very grateful. He would smile and say, Thank you, Brett. Like that: Thank you, Brett.

And later on some time, he would do something kind for me. I don’t think it was to pay me back; rather, he had tasted something in life that he liked. I bet he did kindnesses for others that I never knew about.

But when it came to God? That’s where he drew the line. In his mind he could never deposit enough into God’s bank account to pay for the bad things he had thought or done. He was too ashamed.

He exhibited this to me in his total discomfort at going into a church.

==

I can’t say he’s the exact kind of guy God wants to help because God wants to help as many as want His help.

He may help you in your life - probably already has - but you don’t recognize it as anything more than luck. When you connect it to God, it takes on a greater weight, and it’s called Grace.  Face it, Luck only names it; it doesn’t explain it (M. Scott Peck).

==

If you roll a ball, it will keep rolling until something interrupts. His life was going to keep on being lived with regret and remorse and unworthiness - heavy things to wake up to and carry around every day - until he found a way to unload them. The ball was simply going to be further along tomorrow, no change.

He’s gone now and I don’t think there was anything I could have said to convince him that - as his parents were to him - God was to him. They loved him when he was home and when he was out.  But if you don’t go home, you won’t experience their love.  They love you; you just aren’t there to experience it.

I wish he had gone home by giving God a chance.  Wish he had gone to his knees, then paid attention for signs of God’s Grace.

==

I also wish God were more forthcoming and obvious like He was for me. Maybe He was there in my car in 1978 when my parents couldn’t be. Maybe he has been with my kids when Karen and I couldn’t be. Maybe – just maybe - He has been carrying them both with their own private toils and snares.

Maybe He was there for my parents when their parents couldn’t be there for them (God had to be there for my grandfather … it’s the only answer).

At some point you look back and realize there is no maybe about it.  We just didn’t see it as God.

==

At some point, I really wish my friend had smartened-up. When you’re thirsty, you drink. When you get sick, you take medicine. When you need to lose weight, you stop eating this and start eating that. When you want to feel better, you cut out the junk and start exercising. You solve the problem.

When you can’t make any of that happen, you go to God.

Yah, right, then what happens?

Maybe you just see things differently. Maybe you get willpower. Both come on the heels of asking for help.

Maybe a light comes on to brighten something that was previously dark to you … something you should have known but didn’t until just now.  Happens to me all the time and I’m in my last trimester. God continues to open doors and lighten rooms. And I thank him right then and there, just like my friend thanked me.

==

All I really know is that I pray, and my prayers get answered. My friend couldn’t get past his unworthiness, and it became his ball-and-chain in life. He dragged it to his grave.

He should have gone home, but he chose to stay out.

==

His decision.

That decision is very difficult … but at some point, it’s as difficult as whether to drink when you’re thirsty.

Men 3

I’m a guy so I cause problems.

Especially when I drink, so I periodically go on the wagon. When I drink, I feel bad. I wake up living with a depressed mood. I work at making up for it by doing some physical activity or accomplishing something.

I need to feel good.

And the cycle repeats and yes, it’s a vicious cycle. Round and round I go, going nowhere.

For me, alcohol is poison because of the toxic person I become.

One time, I walked 45 minutes to apologize to a couple for what I had said last night.

Another time, I went through the neighborhood and apologized to most of them. Nobody accepted, but I think it was necessary.

Another time, I went to the restaurant and apologized to the owner for my behavior last night. It was a friend’s 40th and we all hit it hard. He fluffed it off, but I didn’t.

==

It’s good to make amends. Better to not put yourself in that position but we all need to learn that on our own via our own mistakes.

Then I went to Mexico with my wife and used the excuse (with myself) that we were in Mexico and proceeded to over-do it on Mojito’s.

I texted.

Then I apologized.

Then I realized this really good guy had a really big problem.

So, I’m working on it. If you’ve been in this position, you can relate. Hey, it may not be drinking or the inability to stop communicating great thoughts … it could be laziness on another front.

==

Laziness labels it but the question we ought to ask ourselves is this: what’s causing the laziness? Is it fear of something?

Do I consume alcohol out of fear of something? Fear of being rejected for not drinking? Or worse, fear of not being part of the group? I didn’t drink with a group of 10 on a trip to Nashville and felt completely isolated that entire weekend. Didn’t like it.

I like having friends, and fear not having friends.

Need to figure it out. I’m doing that one drinking occasion at a time, and succeeding, but hey, you need to figure out your problems.

We all need to put our energy into solving our problems, not ignoring them, or fretting about them. Life is difficult. We need to solve our problems and teach our children how to solve the series of problems that will come their way.

==

Our problems. Where will we be a year from now?

I hope to be a social drinker who doesn’t hoot & holler or insult others or embarrass my wife and children, destroying whatever reputation we have left.

When Sherman marched, he left behind ground. That’s about it.

But everything got re-built. It can happen. Sherman? Fact is, he DID help end the war, then helped build the trans-continental railroad from Council Bluffs to San Francisco.

Something good came out of his March to the Sea.

I don’t want to march anywhere; all I really want to do is stop causing problems.

I want to be less disappointed with myself.

I want to be less freakin’ depressed.

There was Hope for Atlanta and there’s Hope for me.

There’s Hope for you.

Men 4

Took a trip recently and was on the road a lot and this came to mind: I’m very fortunate to have married a girl.

An old-fashioned one, and by that, I mean a sugar-and-spice one.

She’s not one of those over-the-top liberated ones. Rather, she’s very close to high noon … it’s just her natural place to be.

She’s not shackled to or hobbled by some Cause. She’s free to be herself and there is sexiness in that.

She’s not angry about anything. Never bought the message that she had been slighted by MEN. You know the way some women say that word.

MEN, like we’re rats.

In fact, she doesn’t feel the least bit slighted by anything.

She wears skirts and dresses. She loves shoes and purses.

She loves to shop and go to lunch. Loves to have her nails done and likes to dress in a way that matches her nails.

She doesn’t feel entitled to anything simply because she is part of a gender that was not allowed to vote 100 years ago.

Doesn’t feel suppressed or stifled or conquered by men. Likes it when I hold the door for her; reminds her she’s a woman.

Says thank you as she passes through, at least when I remember to do it. Understands when I don’t.

She loves to bake and cook. Is most happy when she is doing that.

She irons.

She is feminine, and comfortable there.

She doesn’t care about the financial side of our marriage because that’s what I do. Is more than happy to turn that over. Doesn’t worry about any of the things I am naturally responsible for because she does the laundry and I mow the lawn. Unless I’m unable to mow the lawn, then she mows it. May ask Stu to start the mower, but she mows the lawn.

Ditto re: the snowblower.

She won’t drive my truck unless there is no other option. She says it smells like cigars.

She tolerates my bad habits; and she does so because she loves me. She is about as subservient as I am. We’re equal in that regard.

But most of all she wears skirts and dresses and likes her purse to go with what she’s wearing.

I like being married to a girl. A 100% girl.

My daughter is this way too. All girl.

I wish more females were girls. I would talk to them more. Flirt with them more. Be free to do that vs. being fearful of doing that because I’ll get sued for being a chauvinist.

==

There isn’t a hint of gender-neutrality in my marriage.

I still look at her. Especially from behind when she’s wearing a skirt and high heels.

It’s part of being in love. Part. Not all, but part. I believe God created men this way, and women that way, but some women out there didn’t like that so created a Movement.

==

If you thought this was going somewhere further, it’s not.

Admitting to being in love, and why, is where God is. He didn’t create women to be men or be angry with and jealous of men, or envious of them. He created them to be girls. If they rise to be CEO? Great, they likely earned it so deserve it.

It ought to end there but it doesn’t because someone from The Movement will make a big deal out of it as if she had just beaten the shit out of every MAN in the country and Women everywhere should celebrate that!

Some will, but not my wife. My daughter? She’ll roll her eyes and say Whatever.

==

Sometimes I wonder if that video game Angry Birds was about something other than birds … but I don’t think about it very often.

==

Women should know what we’re thinking … maybe they do. They seem to know things we didn’t know they knew.

I know this: I’m a dog and she’s a cat.

She’s from Venus and I’m from Pluto, maybe Uranus.

Somewhere like that.

Men 5

This communique will be a little different.

I took my 91-year-old mother out to lunch the other day and as we were sitting in the booth, I thought I heard the word f*ck come from the bar area.

Then once again but wasn’t sure.

Then a 3rd time, loud and clear.

==

I got up and was in the bar before I had time to think. I don’t remember caring if I thought or not.

There were two 20- or 30-somethings sitting at the bar, and they were the only two human beings in there.

I walked in and it got their attention.

I said, I’m not going to sit over there eating lunch and hear the word f*ck again. I stared at the culprit.

The culprit said Whoa. Sorry. Won’t happen again. We’re good.

I turned around and was leaving and he told his drinking buddy: I’ll say f*ck whenever I damn well please.

Unthinking some more, I turned around and walked back in, a little closer to him this time, and said No. No you won’t.

Then the Maître-d came in and was standing next to me.

I pointed at the mouthy kid.

And if I hear the word f*ck one more time while I’m over there having lunch with my mother, I’m gonna walk outa here, and you’re (pointed at the Maître-d) going to pay for it.

For some reason - and I believe it was God’s Grace - this got the mouthy one’s attention. He apologized once again but I didn’t care and walked back to the booth shook up by the whole thing.

Mom had zero idea what was going on because she can’t hear. She told me the soup was really good.

==

Our waitress showed up while I was still in the shook-up stage and asked Umm, did you have some trouble with the 2 guys in the bar?

Yes. I told them I really didn’t want to hear the word f*ck while I was here eating lunch with my mother.

(Mom was sitting there watching, but didn’t hear a thing)

She was very understanding and apologized and, it’s good to note, she added good for you.

==

The two in the bar? They were gone when we left about 1/2 hour later, but I think they were gone about a minute or two after the manager heard me telling them about my desires regarding having lunch with mother.

==

The moral of the story?

We need to get back to taking up the whip.

Some things are not ok. In fact, the more we accept those things that are wrong, the more they become ok.

==

Not for me.

==

The End.

==

P.S. You might ask: What would Jesus do?

I’ll answer that with a question: What DID Jesus do? (Look up he fashioned a whip … in your bible, or Google it.)

==

Fast-forward to today and the political correctness that