Naked. And. Afraid.

Maybe you have watched the new survival themed television show, "Naked and Afraid." It is not dissimilar to some of the other survivor type reality shows. Well, it is different in one regard. The man and woman (strangers) are dropped into some survival setting with nearly nothing...each one gets to choose only one item. Oh, and get this...they are buck naked. Fortunately, the network blurs out the exposed parts that your Momma (and the network censors) always said you should keep covered up. Rear camera angles...not so much blurred. Some of the folks are married (although not to each other.) Both folks have an above average level of survival skill experience. They have to survive for 21 days on some remote island, jungle, desert...whatever...relying on their individual survival skills and each other. The first episode I watched (honestly I couldn't make it through the whole episode) was on immediately following the broadcast of Nick Wallenda walking across the Grand Canyon. So...my cable box was already tuned to that station.

By the end of the 21 days (not all have made it to the end) both of the survivors look quite different from when they began. They usually have lost significant weight and look quite disheveled to say the least. It's almost like they have been in a battle. Naked. And. Afraid.

In the 3rd Chapter of Genesis, we read the story of Adam and Eve's disobedience of God's command not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden...the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

"Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God from among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." Gen 3:8-10 NIV

Prior to this, it seems that neither the man nor the woman ever thought twice about the fact they were without garments or coverings. Of course, the "nakedness" of our first parents really had very little to do with a lack of clothing. Their disobedience had been uncovered and they were now fully exposed. And they were afraid. They even tried to cover themselves (their sin) with garments of their own making. We see very early in Scripture that man and woman are unable to cover their sin by their own efforts. God steps in and covers their nakedness with garments of His making...the skins of animals. This required the shedding of blood as the animals were sacrificed in order to provide the covering.

A lot has happened in the world of garments since that time. We are quite proud of our coverings. We spend a lot of money for our coverings. Surely, our clothing provides protection from the elements but, our clothing is still primarily to cover up our nakedness.

Do you ever feel naked...and afraid? Do you ever feel like you have been stripped down and left with nothing? Maybe your life feels a bit like it is falling apart. You feel like you are so exposed. You feel vulnerable, uncertain, unprotected...and maybe all alone. And it feels like everyone's piercing eyes are trained on you with looks of judgement or pity or scorn. You feel naked...and afraid.

We all struggle. Life comes at us sometimes like the soothing warmth of a morning sunrise. Ah, those days are so good. And we rejoice. Other times it comes at us like a raging hailstorm, pelting us with stones of pain or failure or regret. Some days life is just so hard. Life can strip us of all the things in which we find comfort and peace and contentment. Sometimes we find ourselves naked. And that can be scary.

I'm no bible statistician but, I'm pretty sure one of the most repeated messages from God is something like this: Fear Not...Do NOT Be Afraid. God sees you. God knows your circumstance. And like the emergency responder who has plucked you from the icy waters, armed with a warm blanket wrapping it tightly around you with caring, strong hands...God wraps his mighty arms around you with His blanket of lovingkindness.

Sometimes, I'm like Adam wanting to hide from my Heavenly Father. I feel naked and I am afraid. But just like when God asked Adam, "Where are you?" ...He knows exactly where I am. And he knows exactly what I need.

I need Him.



Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Don't judge a book by its cover

What's inside?

Who is not familiar with this admonition? Not to insult your intelligence; but, I do want to dissect this phrase just a bit. The phrase says that we shouldn't prejudge based solely on what the outward appearance may suggest. Is the phrase always applicable? Is there ever a time when a book should be judged by its cover?

Stereotyping exists. So does prejudice and discrimination. Is stereotyping always inaccurate? Is it a pejorative term? Does stereotyping typically lead to prejudice and discrimination? The subject of stereotyping is very complex and has been studied from many different psychological perspectives. I don't propose to be an expert on the topic. I just know it exists. The reasons why are as varied as the stereotypes themselves. Let's look at a few statements that could be considered stereotyping.

Women are bad drivers.
Jews are greedy.
Hispanics are lazy.
Hispanics are very hard workers.
Asian students are more intelligent than their non-Asian counterparts.
Blacks are poor swimmers.
Germans make good engineers.
People from the American South are "rednecks."
People from California are liberal.
Yankees are rude.
All my ex's live in Texas (Sorry, I just needed to lighten the mood)

We have all heard these statements. In fact, there are bad drivers that are female... you could find a Jewish person that is greedy... there are lazy as well as extremely hard working Hispanics... you could find an Asian student that is at the top of her school class.... I am sure there are some blacks that cannot swim... Germany does have some very talented engineers...rednecks do exist in the South... a liberal may not be hard to find in California...and yes...all Yankees are rude (OK, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.) Oh, and I have no ex's in Texas.

To say that women are bad drivers suggests that ALL or, at least the majority of women are poor drivers. Wrong, all-inclusive suggestions apply to the other statements as well. We know that these statements, made in a general sense, are false.

These are commonly heard stereotypes but I wouldn't ever try to defend any of these statements because I do not agree with them. Unfortunately these are not the most offensive stereotypical beliefs that are out there. There are certainly worse ones.

The original topic was judging a book by its cover. Does our outward appearance send some type of message to those that see us? How do you react or what would you assume if you saw:

• A young man with spiked hair dyed red, arms and neck covered in tattoos, multiple piercings, and grungy, black clothing, with the name/graphic of a violent/fantasy video game on his shirt?
• A woman in a very tight, very short skirt, 7 inch heels, very low cut top showing lots of cleavage?
• A woman in a business suit carrying a briefcase and a Venti size Starbucks coffee cup?
• A burly, tattooed man with long beard, do-rag, no shirt, leather vest with various patches/logos/slogan on back, black leather boots, wallet with long chain attached to belt loop of his jeans on a very loud Harley Davidson motorcycle?
• A young man wearing boxer shorts with pants below his buttocks, white tank top T-shirt, gold teeth, NY Yankees hat turned to the side on his head, talking in street language, smoking a Blunt cigar, making what appears to be gang symbols?
• A man in a lifted pickup truck with gun rack and Confederate flag, NASCAR and Browning rifle decals, wearing camo, mullet hairstyle?
• A obese woman in overly tight sweatpants, bedroom slippers, a stained tank top that doesn't cover her mid-riff accompanied by several children and shopping in Dollar General?
• A teenage boy carrying a bookbag, wearing khakis, loafers, button-down oxford shirt with a tie and blue blazer?
• An underweight, teenage girl with very pale skin, black lipstick, all black clothing, long black hair with a stud in her nose and tongue?

Have you ever seen people whose appearance was similar to what I have described? Would you likely have some internal or emotional response if you saw the people as I have described? Would you make assumptions based on these appearances alone? Do you believe your assumptions would be relatively accurate? Some of these appearances are intentionally meant by the person to identify oneself with a particular group. Some are driven by pop culture. Some of these appearances are circumstantial. Some aspects of these looks serve a utilitarian purpose (i.e. briefcases hold papers, pens, folders...leather boots protect bikers' feet and ankles... some students are required to wear uniforms...hunters put rifles in gun racks.)

Sometimes we make judgments when we see people that do not look like or dress like or act like us. Some of these appearances impress us, some titillate us, some evoke pity, some frustrate us, while some intimidate or frighten us. Just like we cannot make assumptions about even the people around us that we resemble or associate with the most, we should not make assumptions about the people we do not have much association with that do not look like or dress like or speak like or act like we do.

So how do we overcome these stereotypes? First, refuse to embrace them yourself. Acknowledge that it is wrong and inaccurate to judge or stereotype groups of people of the same religion, race, gender, socioeconomic status, political party affiliation, sexual orientation, regional citizenship or outward appearance based on the behavior or ideas or appearance of individuals of the same identification.

I have known people that fit reasonably close some of these descriptions above and it was consistent with the stereotype that is commonly associated with people that look that way. But I have also known people that had some of those same appearances that were nothing at all like what the stereotypes would suggest.

So...let's try hard not to judge a book by its cover. I will promise to try as well.

The Parkway

Cruella (Deville) and I on The Parkway

Have you ever been drawn to a place? Is there a place to where you almost seem called to be? For many, it is an ocean side or lake side, or river side location that is special to you. For others it might be a mountain top or maybe a meadow or a canyon. Still others may yearn for wind in their sail as they skip over a calm sea. There is so much beauty around us that it is no surprise that we find ourselves drawn to certain special places. For me...one of those special places is a road. It's not just any road...it is is a stretch of pavement that ribbons 469 miles over the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia to North Carolina. It is the Blue Ridge Parkway. With its back to Shenandoah National Park, the parkway begins at Rockfish Gap near Waynesville, VA and it reaches its end at the Oconaluftee River at the entrance of Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee, NC. What is in between those two points is a road rich in history, culture, scenery, foliage and fauna.

Kancamagus Hwy- Rte 112 in New Hampshire

I have been traveling (camping/ hiking/ lazing) on and around the parkway since the mid 1970's, not long after moving from New Hampshire to Georgia. My wife and kids likely cannot remember a time when they weren't riding on the parkway with Dad (Oh gee Dad, look, there is another mountain or ...tree or...my gosh are we ever going to get off this parkway?) I was skeptical, upon my first visit, that this road would be at all comparable to the great highways like those that that snake through the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Green Moutains of Vermont. In particular, I was certain that this Blue Ridge Parkway was no match for the Kancamagus Highway that cuts 34.5 miles through White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. But I was wrong. The Blue Ridge Parkway's beauty owes no apology to any other of our country's magnificent motorways.

Cabin at Humpback Rocks, VA

One of the things that makes this parkway unique is that it stretches across the backbone and valleys of the southern Appalachians and cuts through the mountain culture of the German and Scotch-Irish people that populated this area from the early days of our country's history. Unlike what happened when the Skyline Drive was built through Shenandoah National Park, this time the Department of the Interior was intentional in not evacuating the people and razing their cabins after purchasing their land. They were determined to maintain as many of the physical structures as possible that depicted the early 20th century mountain culture. In most ways, this isolated culture more resembled life from the preceding century. The depression era road building project began in 1935 utilizing the many unemployed of Virginia and North Carolina through the recently created Civilian Conservation Corp and was a project on the grandest scale. The final section around Grandfather's Mountain, NC, which included the building of the Linn Cove Viaduct, was completed in 1987.

Linn Cove Viaduct

Over the last week, I spent some time traveling along the parkway... once again being reminded of the beauty that is this region. While dodging deer, turkey, rabbits, squirrels and spandex clothed cyclists on my 45 mph journey, my senses were in overdrive as I was in awe once again to behold the majesty of God's creation. We always associate God's proximity to us as being....up. I think the mountains give us a sense of being closer to the One that created them...and us. I'll be back.

John Brown's a-Hanging on a Sour Apple Tree