If I Were Joseph

Joseph. We don’t know much about him. We know his girlfriend/fiancé/betrothed was pregnant. And he didn’t know what to do. Realistically, he was probably pretty annoyed/upset/pissed. But an angel came to Joseph. The angel told him basically “Take it easy. Don’t get all upset. Mary was made pregnant by the Holy Spirit. She was not unfaithful to you. And the son she will have will be Jesus, and he is the Messiah, the savior, the Son of God.”

Yeah, right.

I’m pretty sure I wouldn't have believed it. And even if I did, while I hate to admit this, I think some petty jealousies might have arisen in me. Thinking “Mary gives birth to the child, the God, and I’m nothing but a caretaker.” I probably would have tried to make it more about me, because, unfortunately, sometimes I do that. And so do a lot of us. But Joseph, thankfully, was different. As the Bible says, “Joseph was a righteous man.” And so he took Mary as his wife, and raised as his own the child that was not his.

This world needs leaders, people with drive and ambition who want to make a name for themselves while working for the greater good. But they also need people like Joseph, who was willing to be less important, because the end was more important than his own needs. He basically said “I will raise this God-child as my own. Even if history remembers me as more of an extra than anything more.” I’m not sure I could have done that. I’m not anything like Joseph. Right or wrong, that’s just not me.

And really, we don’t know much more about Joseph. He apparently died before Jesus started his ministry. Which is too bad, because he never got to see what Jesus would become, what Joseph helped to make happen. But from a Dad’s point of view, he was pretty amazing. What kind of man would accept Mary after she became pregnant? And then raise the child as his own? All the time knowing, that even if Jesus were the Messiah, he was just an accessory, a footnote mostly, in the life of the most important man to ever live. I’m sure I would have demanded a greater role. And I would have been a fool.

Christmas is a wonderful time. Even though we know that December 25 is certainly not the actual day Jesus was born, we still revel in the fact that He was born at all. And because of what He stood for, in this season, thoughts of love and good will fill us, more than any other time of year. And while yes, Christmas season can become just a little bit too commercial, too over-hyped, just a little too much, I still think Jesus would look at what's in the hearts of most of us and be happy that, at least for this time each year, we remember what Jesus came for, and what He was.

So in this Christmas season, when we celebrate, as we should, the Child’s birth, we focus on Jesus, and Mary. But just once maybe, give a mental shout-out to Joseph. What he did was selfless, wonderful, and loving. But because he did, Jesus grew up to be Jesus the Messiah.

And that changed everything.

I Don't Know the Answer

I don’t know the answer. Not even close. Honestly, I have no idea how to solve it. But I do know the question, which is “How can we lessen the gun violence in this country?"

This little girl was Emma Nowling. Last week, at the age of 7, she was shot and killed at soccer practice, by a family friend. The shooter came to practice, and Emma gave him a big hug. A little while later while Emma and her mother were in the car about to leave, the shooter fired into the car, killing Emma and wounding her mother. He then shot himself. How horrible. Honestly, I’m not sure how many tragedies are in this one short paragraph.

Why did he do it? Nobody knows for sure, but they do know he had severe mental problems. It seems he thought someone was trying to control him through his mind. So he obtained a legal permit, and a legal weapon, and killed a 7-year-old girl. Nobody knows why. Nobody will ever know why.

I know many will say this is not a gun issue, it’s a mental health issue. In a way, of course, that’s correct. But the point doesn’t mean much. We’re told instead of having any kind of gun legislation, we should address mental health. But really, how are we going to do that? Ignoring the practicalities of it, think how much it would cost to address the mental health of every American who needs it. Where is that money going to come from? The people in government who tell us we should address it, are the same ones who will never ever vote to pay for it. Or maybe instead of worrying about every single American, we only deal with the ones who want to buy guns? No, those people vote against that as well. In other words, saying “it’s a mental health issue” is a good way to direct the attention from guns, without ever having to do anything.

But back to the first paragraph, I honestly don’t know how to prevent things like this. I’m not an anti-gun guy by any means. I don’t think we should outlaw all firearms. But I do know that America has a huge gun violence problem.

I don’t want the government to arbitrarily impose some solution to this problem. But here’s what I do want. I want to be able to discuss it. Really, that’s what I want; to be able to discuss it. Without the hatred and name-calling that normally goes along with it. I want to be able to look at meaningful ways to deal with it. I want it to move away from things like the facebook posts, which do more harm than good. And as with any honest discussion, all options should be considered, not matter how far “right” or “left” they are.

An honest discussion. That’s all I want. It won’t fix anything, at first. And we'll never stop the problem completely. But maybe, just maybe, if we as a nation can discuss it like reasonable adults, just maybe we can come up with some solutions that will help with the problem, without shredding the second amendment. An honest discussion: is that too much to ask? Unfortunately, I think I know that answer. Realistically, getting gun control zealots to sit down and talk with the likes of the NRA is probably never going to happen. In the same way, I'm pretty sure any pro-gun person who started reading this blog, didn't get past the first paragraph. Because they don't want to hear anything that might even approach "gun control." So chances aren't good. But hey, maybe, hopefully, I’m wrong.

It sure would be nice if we didn't have to read about tragedies such as Emma Nowling.