Paul Random

Christians Should Be Risk Takers

My friend Gary has worked for a major American defense contractor for 35 years. Of late, he’s pouring himself into a project to help return man to the moon and from there, onto Mars.

As a child of the 1970s and 80s, I grew up in the afterglow of NASA’s pioneering flights to the moon. My father saved all the newspapers from Apollo 11. To this day, I don’t think there’s a more inspiring front page of any publication that did a better job of capturing the awesomeness of man’s willingness to take a risk than the July 21st 1969 edition of The New York Times.

“Men walk on the moon,” reads the giant headline. “Astronauts land on plain; collect rocks, plant flag.”

Reporter John Noble Wilford than penned an eloquent and yet blunt lede: “Men have landed and walked on the moon.”

Talking with Gary the other day, I asked why so much time has elapsed since America’s last trip there. He said it was something of a mind shift, that Americans used to be more adventuresome, more willing to take risks.

The Apollo 17 mission, the last to land on the moon’s surface, wrapped up on December 19, 1972. As astronaut Eugene Cernan departed the lunar plain, he said:

“As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”

At this point, NASA is expecting to send men up to the lunar surface in 2027.

Gary’s observation got me thinking. Have we grown too comfortable as a nation? Are we less willing to extend ourselves, reach for goals beyond our grasp? Are we afraid to fail?

President Trump seemed to be referring to this in his second inaugural address:

We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars. 

Ambition is the lifeblood of a great nation, and, right now, our nation is more ambitious than any other.  There’s no nation like our nation.
 
Americans are explorers, builders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneers.  The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts.  The call of the next great adventure resounds from within our souls. 
 
Our American ancestors turned a small group of colonies on the edge of a vast continent into a mighty republic of the most extraordinary citizens on Earth.  No one comes close.

As Christians, we should be willing to step out in faith and venture into the unknown. It was C.S. Lewis who observed, “If you never take risks, you’ll never accomplish great things. Everybody dies, but not everyone has lived.”

In today’s divided world, taking a risk might be talking with our neighbor about Jesus. It could be calling your representative and urging them to vote a certain way for a piece of legislation. It’s standing up to the gender insanity in public schools, refusing to enable the lies by using certain pronouns.

In reality, all of life is risky, but when we retreat into our bubble and try and avoid every bad thing, we actually take the biggest risk of all. When we risk nothing, we risk everything.

Getting married is risky, giving your heart to someone else, knowing they could disappoint you or break your heart when they die. But passing up a fragile love is to pass on by one of the great thrills of life.

Having a lot of children is risky but not having or adopting any ensures you’ll be deprived of childhood laughter, wonder and the joy of innocent dreams.

It’s risky to take a new job, start a business, relocate to the other side of the country. God calls some to live in the same place all their lives, but if He’s calling you somewhere else, saying “No” will leave you always wondering what might have been.

It’s risky to be a missionary, or a pastor, or plant a church. But talk with anyone who has answered these calls, and they’ll tell you stories of miracles amid the many challenges.

Jesus warned us about doing little or nothing with our gifts (Matthew 25:14-30), and that nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37).

Christians are called to be both sober and courageous, risk-takers who recognize God will be with us through all the storms and strife of life.

There is No Constitutional Crisis

Years ago, the late radio talk legend Rush Limbaugh exposed the mainstream media’s penchant for coordinated messaging by stringing together soundbites echoing the same word or phrase uttered by dozens of national hosts concerning a particular topic on a specific day.

It was as if a talking points memo had been faxed or emailed from a single source. It very well may have been.

Well, as Ronald Reagan liked to say, “There they go again.”

It’s known as the “Illusory Truth Effect” – the idea that by repeating a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it, and sometimes even the people who are saying it.

The new phrase of the week is “constitutional crisis” and it’s being repeated over and over by liberal pundits upset with a wide range of efforts currently being employed to reform the government.

In fact, #constitutionalcrisis was trending on X Tuesday morning with tens of thousands of references to the phrase.

Leading the charge is The New York Times, which despite its waning influence, remains the source for many radical talking points. In many ways, it’s the left’s bible.

To be sure, since being sworn in on January 20, President Trump has issued hundreds of executive orders and made many decisions that he and his team believe fall within his executive authority.

Garnering particular attention and significant angst from numerous camps has been the President’s efforts to cut government waste and uncover potential corruption. It’s all being led by Elon Musk and housed under the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

With a federal debt of $36 trillion and climbing, and a desire to cut $1 billion a day from the current budget, officials are eager to expose any improper use of American taxpayer dollars.

Last week, Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa released information on some of the ways our money is being spent through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“From funneling tax dollars to risky research in Wuhan to sending Ukrainians to Paris Fashion Week, USAID is one of the worst offenders of waste in Washington… all around the world,” Ernst posted on X.

Some of the examples include $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Columbia, $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru, $1.5 million for a DEI program in Serbia, $20 million to Iraq to fund the expansion of the Sesame Street children’s public television program.

By labeling these executive actions and investigations a “constitutional crisis,” critics are obviously hoping to swing public opinion. The latest polling finds that a majority of Americans favor efforts to uncover waste and corruption.

The scope of President Trump’s authority – or any chief executive’s power – is a hotly debated topic of conversation, and especially when the Oval Office occupant expresses interest in an ambitious agenda.

When it comes to interpreting the president’s jurisdiction, judges can often come to different conclusions.

But is it a crisis?

In their inspired wisdom, our Founding Fathers created a government that consists of three branches – the executive, legislative and judicial. In short, it’s the “separation of powers” and was designed to make sure that no one person or body has too much power.

Labeling the current debate a “constitutional crisis” is a deliberate attempt to escalate and inflame what is a common and ongoing conversation.

Given the current context, Merriam-Webster defines a crisis as an “unstable” moment. In reality, all three branches of government are currently operating peacefully. The only thing “unstable” would be those critics looking to incite protest in the streets or worse. And the only crisis that’s ongoing is giving money Americans don’t have to people and efforts that are contrary to our nation’s founding values and morals.

As Christians, we must continue praying for our leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-4), take a big deep breath (Phil. 4:6), and trust that our ultimate fate is in His will and His ways (Col. 1:16-17).

Image from Getty.

Some Super Bowl Ads Were Actually Pro-Life and Pro-Family

At the cost of $8 million for 30 seconds of airtime during Sunday’s Super Bowl, advertisers had a lot riding on their investments. 

Who came out on top, and who missed the mark?

Art and advertising are in the eye of the beholder, of course, but according to the annual USA Today Ad Meter, Budweiser’s 90-second, $24-million spot slightly edged out Lay’s 60-second, $16-million touching “Little Farmer” commercial.

It’s a sign of the times that many parents hold their breath and maybe even the remote when the game goes to break each year. This year’s offering had its share of cringy and crass. From Hellmann’s Mayonnaise and WeatherTech floor mats to Novartis, plenty of mothers and fathers reached to mute, pause, or change the channel on Sunday evening.

But there were bright spots, no pun intended. In many of the instances, they were pro-life, pro-child and pro-family.

The NFL’s “Somebody” commercial drove home the importance of encouraging young people, stressing the need for them to be respected and protected. The 60-second ad ended with these white words on a black screen:

Everybody can be somebody if they have somebody to show them the way.  

Dove Soap featured a carefree three-year-old girl on the run, noting it was her “unstoppable” chubby lugs that made it possible and how she might consider those same legs “unbearable” at fourteen. It’s up to mothers and fathers to help their children see their bodies as gifts from God. 

Google’s “Dream Job” made clear that parenting, and in this case, fatherhood, is a role as important, if not more so, than any Fortune 100 CEO. Practicing for an upcoming interview, the dad talked about homelife as long hours working with a small team, multi-tasking, negotiating and collaborating.

Rocket, the “fintech” platform company probably best known for its mortgages, used the Super Bowl to launch a new campaign titled “Own the Dream.”

John Denver’s emotive “Take Me Home” was the soundtrack to the beautiful spot that began with a mother talking to her preborn baby, showed another baby being bathed in the sink, a father feeding his child, and a couple walking into their new house, which they proceed to fix up and turn it into a home.

In the same commercial, we see deployed military personnel showing off photos of their children, kids living, laughing, and playing – all in the warm glow of a family home. The spot ends with the tagline:

Everyone deserves their shot at the American Dream.

At 82 years-old, Harrison Ford made a surprising appearance in a two-minute-long commercial for Jeep. 

Sitting in a stone cabin in the woods with a fire burning beside him, Ford begins, “The longest thing we ever do is live our lives. But life doesn’t come with an owner’s manual … But that means we get to write our own stories.”

So far, so good.

“Freedom is ‘Yes,’ or ‘No,’ or ‘Maybe,’” he continues. We then see scenes from war. “There are real heroes in the world, but not the ones from the movies.”

Still very good – but then a bit of a turn, literally and metaphorically, as we see several Jeeps drive in two separate directions.

“The most sacred thing in life isn’t the path,” Harrison Ford declares. “It’s the freedom to choose it … So, choose, but choose wisely. Choose what makes you happy.”

Everybody wants to be happy, but Christians aren’t called to make decisions based on their quest for personal happiness alone. Instead, we’re called to pursue God’s call on our lives to love and serve Him and others. 

Believers recognize that the Christian faith is paradoxical: we find our true life when we lose it (Mark 8:34-35), God is strongest in us when we’re weakest (2 Cor. 12:10), and it’s the humble who will be exalted (Matthew 23:12).

Our Founding Fathers declared our right to pursue happiness, but Christian happiness can often be different than what many in the world consider it to be. The world says happiness is a big bank account, Christians says it’s giving until it hurts. Many will say happiness is a large house with few or no children – Christians will tell you that a large family in a small house represents true happiness.

We need to be careful reading too much into advertisements, but Madison Avenue is often a reflection of what they think consumers care about. If this year’s batch of Super Bowl ads are any indication, American companies see us as a divided nation with competing loyalties and priorities. It would be difficult to disagree with that assessment. 

Image credit: Rocket

Little House on the Prairie Reprisal Promises to be Hopeful Family Drama

According to press reports, Netflix is planning a reboot of Little House on the Prairie, the iconic television program based on a series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Originally airing on NBC between 1974 and 1983, the popular family drama won numerous awards during its historic run. Starring Michael Landon, it continues to run in syndication and is available via streaming.

Stories of a new iteration of the legendary series has elicited concerns that you can’t improve upon perfection. Some have also worried creators and producers might even “go woke” and ruin the show’s reputation.

Alison Arngrim, better known as “Nellie Oleson” on the original, says fans should have nothing to fear.

But should we really trust the mischievous and villainous Nellie?

Maybe not Nellie, but Alison Arngrim.

“It’s not really like a reboot, they’re not going back to Walnut Grove,” insists Arngrim. “They’re not going to have Doc Baker and Miss Beadle, and they’re certainly not going to have Al Burton, and all the people who were made up for the show. It is going back to the books.”

Arngrim relays that Trip Friendly, son of Fred Friendly who produced the original show, is committed to maintaining the orthodoxy and heart of the beloved series. He’ll serve as co-producer.

“Concerns that they’re going to run amok away from the books and make it into something weird — not happening. [Trip]’ll pull the plug on it before anything like that happens,” says Arngrim.

Jinny Howe, who serves as a vice president at Netflix, is also eager to reassure fans of the beloved franchise that they can rest easy about what’s coming.

“Little House on the Prairie has captured the hearts and imaginations of so many fans around the world, and we’re excited to share its enduring themes of hope and optimism with a fresh take on this iconic story.”

“Rebecca’s vision threads the needle with an emotional depth that will delight both new and existing fans of this beloved classic.”

Rebecca Sonnenshine is serving as the new program’s showrunner and executive producer.

According to Netflix, the Little House reprisal will be “part hopeful family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West.” Producers promise episodes will be a “kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of those who shaped the frontier.”

Those of us who grew up watching Charles Ingalls (played by Michael Landon) lead his family through good times and bad appreciated its wholesome themes, episodes that celebrated faith, family, and the resilience of the American spirit.

Most importantly, the faith-friendly storylines allowed mothers and fathers to exhale, complementing rather than competing with what they were teaching their children at home.

It remains to be seen whether the sequel will follow the same well-trodden path or forge a new frontier.

Sonnenshine’s comments give us some hope:

“I fell deeply in love with these books when I was 5 years old,” she said. “They inspired me to become a writer and a filmmaker, and I am honored and thrilled to be adapting these stories for a new audience.”

Image credit: Netflix.

Boys Need Men to Admire

It’s a scene I’ll never forget.

I must have been six or seven years old. It was dusk, very cold, and the snow was falling as I stood in front of A & A Tires on Sunrise Highway in Baldwin, a small town on the South Shore of Long Island.

I was standing there with my sister, who was two years older, and we were waiting for my father’s train. For 44 years, my dad commuted into New York City, a 50-minute ride each way plus a 20-minute walk or 5-minute subway hop to his Manhattan office.

My father’s story was typical for a man of his era. Born during the Great Depression, he grew up in Brooklyn, in a cold water flat over a fish store. It was next to the elevated train that rumbled by his bedroom window at all hours. He said after a while, you don’t hear it, a good reminder of just how adaptable God made us to everything – but also a warning about how easy it is to grow accustomed to anything.

Jim Batura began working at age six, first delivering medicine for a neighborhood drug store, or notifying people they had a phone call down at the shop. Telephone calls were rare and expensive in those days, which meant most of them contained either really good or really bad news. I think that task helped nurture my father’s empathy and develop his emotional intelligence.  

After high school, he was drafted by the Army for the Korean War but assigned to work as a medic at Camp Carson, and then serve as a clerk up in Camp Hale, both Colorado posts. He returned home, got a job, got married, raised five children.

When I was a young boy, Dad’s arrival home each evening was a highlight of my day. He left in the morning before we got up for school. Seeing him walk down those station steps at 5:45 P.M. each night at the Long Island Railroad with his briefcase and wearing his fedora, was the first time I saw him each day.

My father exuded positive masculinity, but he wasn’t the muscle or tough man many people associate with that profile. He was a faithful husband, always gave our mother a big kiss when he arrived home. It wasn’t unusual for him bring her flowers from time to time, just a handful of carnations. My dad worked at the same company all 44 years, cashed out stock options so we could take a yearly summer vacation, helped coach our teams, was a Boy Scout leader, led the singing at church, knew the guys by their first names at the local True Value Hardware store.

Jim Batura was a godly man, and he was my hero.

Masculinity has been under fire recently, but it’s a bum rap and a foolish, illogical controversy.

That’s because boys need strong men to admire, role models to emulate, heroes to hold up.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg created a stir recently when he said companies need more “masculine energy” – a renewed aggression to innovate, explore, and reach for things beyond easy grasp.

“I think a lot of the corporate world is pretty culturally neutered,” Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan. “It’s one thing to say we want to be kind of, like, welcoming and make a good environment for everyone, and I think it’s another to basically say that ‘masculinity is bad.'”

He added, saying, “I think having a culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits that are really positive,” he continued. 

Biblical manhood is more than that, of course. It’s loving the Lord, loving one’s family by caring and providing, and leading them back to Him. It’s being humble, empathetic, honest, self-disciplined, bold, courageous, fearless and confident.

If we wonder why culture is wobbling, all we need to do is consider the dearth of good men our boys have to admire.

That snowy night wasn’t the only one when my sister and I waited for my father, but I probably remember it so vividly because of the storm. When my dad passed away back in 2017, I had the privilege of eulogizing him. I recalled our tradition of waiting for him at the train station, and how he now waits for us on the other side.

Of all the tasks before us in culture, raising up boys to be men should sit high on our list of critical priorities.

Image from Getty.