In Deuteronomy 27, Moses commanded the people to keep all the commandments and when they get to the promise land to write them clearly on large white-washed stones from which an alter is made and burnt sacrifices are performed.

The account of the event was scribed in the book of Joshua (8:30-35). Half of Israel stand in front of Ebal, where the alter is made and towards where curses are announced while the other half stand in front of its twin mountain, Gerizim where the blessings are directed.

It’s important to note that the Bible makes it clear these people included the elders, officers and judges. These are the people of political and social responsibility. Others of spiritual responsibility, the priests and the Levites with specific mention of those who bore the Ark of the Covenant, stood in the middle valley between them.

Here they gave a blessing and a curse. The curse was towards the mountain Ebal and the blessing towards the mountain Gerizim. Today Ebal stands bald and lifeless while Gerizim is green and lush[1].

There is so much more detail here, and the word picture is elaborate on many levels. But I’ll only address a few of these points and hope that it interests you enough to do more research.

First, the law was written on heavy white-washed stones. The stones are heavy and burdensome, but they can still be carried with you. They can be broken. They are solid and immalleable. These are all properties of the Law. Another thing – the people weren’t allowed to use hammers or chisels. These are laws that are unshapable by man.

As a sacrifice is made on top of these stones the blood drips down over all of them, covering the Law. An alter wasn’t built on the mountain that received the blessing, but specifically the mountain that received the curse. Righteousness requires no sacrificial penalty because it doesn’t get cursed, and thereby doesn’t require atonement.

Jesus sacrificed His life to cover the Law and all the nooks and crannies – the grey areas – between them. The Law is pure and clean, like the white-wash on the stones, but we aren’t perfect enough to keep them all the time. With sin comes the curse. God made the sacrifice available for this atonement. Many years after this event, His own blood covers that curse.

Second, there is a clear dividing line between blessings and curses; right and wrong are indisputable. One mountain demonstrates the richness of life while the other exists in barrenness. The mountains aren’t connected. They even have different physical demeanor to separate them.

These blessings and curses are real. Our actions have consequences – actions that are categorized as righteous or sinful. Obedience to God produces blessings while disobedience brings a curse.

Rabbi Riskin identifies the very existence of our choice of actions to be a blessing as well.

Undoubtedly built in within the very structure of free will is the possibility of one’s taking the wrong path and bringing about the curse of destruction. However, without free-will, the human being would be no different from a rat in a maze, a mere puppet or pawn; with free will – despite its concomitant dangers – the human being is a partner to the Divine. [2]

Third, the spiritual leaders are in the valley dividing the two mountains. For anyone to say “what feels right to me is accounted to righteousness and what feels right to you is also accounted to righteousness” is missing the whole meaning of righteousness. It isn’t what feels right or wrong, it is subject to a universal law. Relativism and basing truth on feelings only confuse the issue. God gives us His word (such as that represented in the Ark) and He provides spiritual leaders (such as the Levites) to identify that dividing line for us.

Lastly, the people celebrated during this event! It was an occasion of joy and feasting. When God identifies our purpose in life and gives us boundaries it isn’t an issue of what we aren’t allowed to do but an essence of being a part of His people. Boundaries protect and guide and work as a benchmark – this is true no matter what aspect you’re talking about. From database design to surgery to school playgrounds. Everything needs some type of boundary to excel and become beneficial for everyone.

[1] A Tale of Two Mountains By Yosef Y. Jacobson, http://www.algemeiner.com/generic.asp?print=true&id;=2292
[2] Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17) By Shlomo Riskin, http://www.ohrtorahstone.org.il/parsha/5764/reeh64.htm

OK. Here’s the first part of a hot rant response on the career path program that occurred in my work place. Before I begin, I want to mention that the owners of the company are incredible. You will hardly ever find two more dedicated and wonderful people who love their work almost as much as they love helping others. They paid to have this executive level program brought to everyone in the company because they believe that it helps us in our walk of life.

Secondly, I want to mention that statistics can be deceptive. Without a full report on the target of the assessment and mention of the process with who was admitted and who was rejected from the sample, it’s difficult to ascertain a full body of truth from the numbers. All the same, statistics and psychoanalysis are interesting and shouldn’t be entirely rejected.

So to the first step – DiSC assessment. Well, I believe this is another facet of generalization that has similar pinings as astrology. I’m born in early August, which sticks me at the Leo portion of the astrology circle. But to be honest, I am more like a Capricorn than anything else. I haven’t tried business matters, so I’m unable to determine how well I’d do there, but when I think I know what’s best, I’m stubborn as a mule; it takes a very persuasive argument to lean me towards anything else. I also over think everything and you’d have to get through me first before you come close to hurting my family. Oh, and I’m also much like a Taurus – it is so me. I might have been civilized over the past seven years, but I am so passionate about certain aspects of life that I can’t keep my mouth shut, which often leads me to trouble. Although I strongly believe people of all ages can change if they want to, I also believe that there are certain universal truths that should never change. I steam up quickly and hotly. But I also forgive others at a drop of a hat when they ask for it or when new evidence comes to light – I look for reasons to forgive them.

OK – cutting to the chase. It could be just me; I won’t rule out that there are some people in this world like “The Pretender” who could slip into almost any role, and when I took the DiSC assessment, I sat almost perfectly in the center of the wheel. Supposedly that means I have the ability to become any personality I want to with the right motivated effort and environment. But I believe that God gave us an incredible ability to change.

He wouldn’t give us commandments, especially through His Son, if He didn’t believe it was possible for mankind to follow them to some extent. None of His commandments say we have to be able to fly or that we aren’t allowed to love if we want to be saved. He does say, however, that He doesn’t expect us to perfectly follow the basic ten commandments – so He sent someone to intercede for us. Interestingly, the message in the Gospel of repenting is common throughout the entire Bible. If He believes we can change – repent means to change direction back to Him – then we can. He made us and knows what we’re capable of. End of story.

The trick is you have to head towards a goal. In this case, it’s obvious that the Bible is referring to turning back to God and His righteousness. But it seems reasonable to me that anyone having faith enough can move in any direction they choose. The problem I have is having faith in a world of will-nots and can-nots. It’s difficult to believe that I can change into who I know I can, and should, be when people are constantly telling me I will-not change because I’m too old or I can-not change because that’s just not the way things happen.

Bah! Who said it would be easy!? In a society where instant gratification is the norm, they’ve lost touch with the real issues. People don’t always change on a dime. We are wired to repeat an act until it becomes a habit, then repeat a habit until it consumes who we are, but with God all things are possible. I’ve seen people drop some really nasty habits without anything other than sheer willpower. They had no help from patches or therapy, and in some cases, not even help from a friend or an accountability partner.

I’ve been systematically tamed out of passions to the point that I’m more effectively controlled in the business world. That’s not entirely bad. Even a wild stallion, as magnificent a creature as it is, is useless until it’s been tamed. Meekness, I’m finding, is a valuable trait when used properly.

However, after watching people in the work place it’s obvious that there are benefits at times to breaking the rules. People at work have become praised, if not marked as little heroes, for their willingness to do something clever that hadn’t been suggested to them. That means there are certain unspoken “soft” boundaries, that although the general mantra in the work place is “do as you’re told and nothing else”, we can find something outside of that rule to bring laughter and joy and ease to others. Just don’t toot your own horn. Even when you fix something important, it backfires in animated proportions.

My biggest challenge is keeping focused on the vision and keeping a motivated faith on it. My second biggest challenge is to regain the outside-the-box mentality that’s been put aside for the sake of business, then learn how to wield it properly to the benefit of others to bring more joy and humor to the world.

Each night my children and I spend anywhere between fifteen minutes and two hours together. Most of that time is spent reading before bedtime, but that time is also used to reconnect.

Many years ago, my wife and I attended a Gary Smalley seminar where he briefly mentioned the importance of touch. It’s something we all need to live. So I thought to myself that if I don’t supply my children with enough positive words and touches each day then there may come a time in their teen years that they look for that need elsewhere and end up experimenting with touch in ways that isn’t allowed outside of marriage.

So I asked my kids, “Do you get enough loving touches throughout the day: pats on the head, pats on the back, hugs, kisses… stuff like that?” They all answered “no”. So I wondered – how much do they need? Then came the question. “How many times do you feel you would need to know you are loved?” The eldest child only thought briefly before saying her answer: “Twenty times!”.

That’s quite a bit of touching to take place over the two to three hours I have available for them during the week days. With the size of my family, if everyone got 20 touches a day that would add up to 100 touches a day – not including our dog.

If that were spread throughout a three-hour-twenty-minute period it comes out to touching someone every 2 minutes.

I only remember getting a meaningful touch about once every other week growing up, which was still more than most of the kids I knew. I’ll bet our society has even pulled back to the point that children are only given a meaningful touch once a month, and that’s reserved for when the child initiates the hug.

One last thought – giving my children that access to my personal space makes me a tangible figure for them. I become more real and more accessible in ways beyond the physical. Hopefully they’ll learn that and come to their real accessible Dad during the more trying years ahead.