The “Woe-Is-Me” Blues

September 30, 2020 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Come quickly to help me,
my Lord and my Savior.
Psalm 38:22 (NIV)

I have very fond memories of my grandparents taking me on childhood visits to see Aunt Kate and Uncle Frank. It was typically an afternoon visit when the Dutch American tradition of mid-afternoon “coffee time” was strictly observed, though Aunt Kate always make tea and served some form of Dutch treats with it. Kate was my grandfather’s sister and was afflicted with what I assume is the same genetic form of hearing loss that also afflicted my grandfather and was passed to my father and then to me. She wore an early type of hearing aid that looked like a transistor radio that hung around her neck with a wired earbud that made it appear to my child-eyes that she was always listening to a ball game on the radio. Uncle Frank was legally blind, though he was a renowned gunsmith and he sightlessly crafted things with his hands that I couldn’t manage to craft with 20-20 vision and all the tools in the world. I once struck up a conversation with a complete stranger at a bar in Minnesota and somehow we ended up talking about Uncle Frank. The guy was seriously in awe and wanted me to try and get him Uncle Frank’s autograph (Frank had long since passed away).

As I grew older, it fascinated me to visit Kate and Frank and watch them navigate life together in their little house. She was his eyes. He was her ears. I never heard a word of complaint from either of them regarding their disabilities.

Illness and physical ailments are part of life’s journey. I recognize that, for some, it is significant to the point of being all-consuming. I count among my many blessings the fact that I have enjoyed relatively good health thus far in my trek. The genetic Vander Well hearing loss has been more annoying than debilitating in any way.

I have known many individuals along the way, like Kate and Frank, who have had to live with various forms of illness, weakness, and impairment. I have also observed the diverse ways that individuals handle their difficulties from those who courageously and wordlessly adapt to those who wallow ceaselessly in victim-status.

We are nearing the end of the first section in the anthology of ancient song lyrics that is the book of Psalms. The compilers ended “Book I” of the anthology with four songs with confession as a central theme. Today’s chapter, Psalm 38, is the first of them.

David is seriously ailing. The reason and nature of his wounds and illness are lost to history, but the warrior-king is ill to the point of distress and he hears the whispers (real or imagined) of those who are waiting for him to die so they can politically maneuver themselves into positions of power. He enjoyed a relatively long life and made his mark as a strong and heroic warrior. I can imagine that being physically diminished had to have been a struggle on multiple levels for him. So, as he always did, he channeled his emotions into song.

I have noticed that it is very human for those who have enjoyed health an strength to spiritually question sudden and drastic changes in their fortune. Job questions, agonizes, and laments at great length. So, it’s not surprising that David would wonder if there was something he did to bring on his own ill-fortune.

I have learned that one of the great things about the Psalms is that they often give words to my own very human feelings and emotions. I can identify with David’s own human emotions and struggles. Sometimes I encounter individuals who think that being a follower of Jesus is some kind of psychological crutch to avoid life’s harsh realities, but I have found it to be just the opposite. I can’t be a follower of Jesus if I’m not willing to fully embrace suffering life’s harsh realities. In doing so, it’s nice to know that others, like David, have been there before. I get to sing the blues along with him.

At the end of his “woe-is-me” blues David utters a simple plea for God to be near, and to help. I can almost feel him so depleted of life energy that all he can muster is a meager cry for help.

Sometimes on this life journey circumstance reduces us to compacted prayer,

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Simple, Complex Mystery

September 29, 2020 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Turn from evil and do good;
then you will dwell in the land forever.
Psalm 37:27 (NIV)

A while back I found myself in a conversation with a friend who is a very strong Enneagram Type One. Ones have a very strong moral center with an instinctive “gut” for sensing right-and-wrong, black-and-white, and this influences their own lives. It also influences how they perceive and approach the rest of the world. I, however, am an Enneagram Type Four and Fours tend to see the world in the broad spectrum of gradients between black and white. We Fours live well in the gray, which gives us tremendous empathy for others wherever they find themselves on that spectrum.

The conversation with my friend basically boiled down to our contrasting temperaments. My friends saw the issue we were discussing in very simple, black-and-white terms which made things very simple for him. I saw the issue in all the subtle complexities that it presented for people in everyday realities. It was a spirited conversation that ended up with us agreeing on the essential issue but having to agree to disagree on what to do about the issue.

Along my life journey, I have struggled with simplistic contrasts. We don’t think about it much, but our lives are full of them. As children, we’re taught that Santa will find you “naughty” or “nice” which will be the determining factor in your Christmas haul. When we grow up there are all sorts of other binary ways we continue to approach life. In fact, we’re having major social upheaval in our world because of all sorts of issues that we and the media have reduced to simple binary, black-and-white issues. I’m “mask” or “no masks.” I’m “racist” or “BLM.” I’m “conservative” or “progressive.” I’m “Democrat” or “Republican.” And, we’re making choices about how we perceive and treat others based on how their binary choices line up against ours. It breaks my heart.

In today’s chapter, Psalm 37, I am confronted with the reality that even the Great Story often reduces life and matters of Spirit into simple, binary, black-and-white terms. The entire song is dedicated to contrasting the “righteous” and the “wicked” and bringing it down to almost Santa-like “naughty-or-nice” terms.

Simple contrasting metaphors are a foundational spiritual building block throughout the Great Story. In the days of Moses, God places before the Hebrew people “Life” or “Death” and asks them to choose. Hundreds of years later the prophet Elijah stood on Mount Carmel and asked the people, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If God is God, go his way. If Baal (an ancient deity in Mesopotamian cultures) is God, go his way.” Hundreds of years later, Jesus spoke of Judgement Day in terms of separating humanity into “sheep” (good) and the “goats” (bad).

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking back to the conversation with my Type One friend. In my spiritual journey, I learned that following Jesus begins with very simple “yes” or “no.” Here is another simple, contrasting metaphor Jesus used:

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)

My journey with Jesus began on a cold February night when, to the lyrics of modern psalm proclaiming “I have decided to follow Jesus,” I made that simple decision. I don’t know how to describe the way my life changed that night. There were all sorts of simple binary choices I then began to make about my life, words, relationship, and behavior based on that foundational yes-or-no decision.

At the same time, the further I traveled down life’s road I found that the journey of being a Jesus follower has been a never-ending, daily experiment in figuring out what it means to continue walking that “narrow road.” Sometimes I find things coming down to a very simple black-and-white choice. More often, I find a gradient of complexity in things. So, seeing the world in simple binary terms isn’t such a simple binary issue. I’m sure my Type One friends find it much easier than I do, but that only feeds my point. There are nine Enneagram Types and we’re not all Ones.

In the quiet this morning I find myself back at the mystery of things being “yes, and.” This journey of following Jesus is both simple and infinitely complex. Lest my Type Four heart get lost in the infinite mystery of living in gray, I always have Psalm 37 to pull me back and remind me that sometimes life does simply come back to a black-or-white choice to do either the thing I know is right or the thing I know is wrong, recognizing that there are natural consequences of life and Spirit that will follow the choice I make.

Another day of choices in a very complex world lies before me. Pray I simply make good ones.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Captive Brain

September 25, 2020 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Psalm 36:7 (NRSVCE)

One of the things I’ve learned about myself on this life journey is that when I get anxious about something it is possible for my mind to dwell ceaselessly on it. Others don’t see it, and may have no idea that my thought life is myopically focused on the conflict I’m having with another person or the uncomfortable meeting I’m scheduled to have with a client. My brain gets fixated and I struggle to think of anything else.

Of course, that’s not healthy, and in learning that I do this I’ve had to subsequently learn how to stop myself. When Paul wrote to Jesus followers in Corinth he told them that he “takes every thought captive,” and I’ve realized that I have to do the same thing with my anxious mental myopia. I have to catch myself obsessing. I have to consciously choose to turn my attention elsewhere, and then I have to deliberately give my mind something positive on which to dwell.

In today’s chapter, Psalm 36, David does much the same thing in his lyrics. His song starts out being focused on his treacherous enemies. But, then after a couple of verses, he shifts his focus. It’s like a completely different song as he begins describing God’s goodness, faithfulness, and steadfast love. As I got to the end of the song I’d kind of forgotten all about the heinous enemies back in the first verse until in the last verse he asks God not to allow those treacherous enemies he’d been focused on get the better of him. David’s mental focus was not on his enemies, but on God’s faithful protection and provision.

In the quiet this morning, there are so many things on my plate, so many tasks on the list, and so many things on which my mind could spin into its manic myopia. I confess, I almost skipped my quiet time this morning, but that would have been a big mistake. I needed to consciously allow my mind and spirit to read and meditate on these good words and the important lesson of which I desperately needed to be reminded.

Some days, I just have to take my mind captive and allow it to be captivated by goodness of God.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Guernica

September 24, 2020 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me!
Psalm 35:1 (NRSVCE)

In January of 1937, Pablo Picasso was commissioned to do a painting for his native Spain to be displayed in the Spanish pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair. His initial sketches for the project show very little difference from the theme of his other works at that time.

On the 26th of April, Nazi German and Italian Fascist air forces bombed the town of Guernica, Spain at the request of Spanish Nationalists who desired to strike against their Spanish political rivals in the region. According to local accounts, it was market day and most of the villagers were gathered in the town center when the bombs began to fall. In his diary, the commander of the Nazi squadron recorded that the town was still burning the following day. It was utterly destroyed. There were no military targets in the area. Guernica was the most ancient town and the cultural center of the Basque region. It was a terror attack designed to wipe out political rivals.

On May 1, Picasso read eyewitness accounts of the attack. He immediately abandoned his original ideas for his commission and began to work. The 25.5 foot wide and 11.5 foot tall painting, entitled Guernica, was finished in 35 days. Containing images of the suffering of people and animals wrought by violence and chaos, the painting prominently displays a gored horse, a bull, screaming women, dismemberment, and flames. Picasso painted it in black and white using a specially requisitioned matte house paint that was void of any gloss to give it the feeling of a black and white photograph recording a moment in time. Guernica is considered among the most moving and powerful paintings of all time.

Photo courtesy of Museo Reina Sofia via Flickr

What do artists do in response to powerful forces beyond their control? They create. They channel and express their emotions, even their most raw, painful, and socially unacceptable emotions, into their creative work.

I find today’s chapter, Psalm 35, among the most unique songs David ever wrote. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, David’s life is quite a story. He had a lot of enemies throughout his life. There were military enemies from neighboring regions who wanted him dead. There were also internal enemies everywhere he turned. His own King wanted him dead, and therefore all of Saul’s political allies were against David. David’s own son rebelled against him, turned David’s political allies against him, and led an armed rebellion against him. David’s life journey was not an easy road.

Psalm 35 is David pouring out his emotions to God in song. You can almost feel the desperation as he begs God to take up his cause. Surrounded by those who want his life on every side, and betrayed by friends and family who he loved, David begs God to take up his cause. He pours out his soul in raw anger at his enemies, asking God to destroy them. It is not an easy read.

One of the things that I love about the Psalms is the diversity of them. David wrote liturgical, religious songs for corporate worship events. David wrote the blues when he was down. David wrote songs of intense joy when he was delivered. David wrote songs of intense contrition when faced with his tragic flaws. David wrote songs of intense anger when enemies outside his control were closing in all around him.

In the quiet this morning I find myself thinking about our emotions. Emotions can have significant negative consequences when they lie hidden, suppressed, and ignored within us. Finding healthy ways to get out my negative emotions has been one of the greatest lessons of my life journey. Many people think of God as a strict moral judge who will be shocked and punish us for expressing our “negative emotions.” I don’t find God to be that at all. Like David, I find God to be a loving creator who is not shocked, dismayed, or surprised by any of my emotions – even the negative ones. I can cry, scream, rail, and vent to God, who is Love incarnate, because love is patient, kind, and gracious.

I imagine God listening to David’s angry rant of a song, that we now call Psalm 35. I imagine David getting to the end and being almost out of breath from the pouring out of his emotions. I imagine God smiling and saying, “There. Nice. Feel better?”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Story Behind the Song

September 23, 2020 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
and was saved from every trouble.
Psalm 34:6 (NRSVCE)

Everyone has a story. In Monday’s post, I referenced pieces of my story that a lot of people don’t know. Along life’s journey, I’ve found that it’s very typical to only know pieces of other people’s stories. I’ve come to believe that real relationship begins when we begin to share and discover the lesser-known pieces of our respective life stories. Until we know one another’s stories, relationship remains somewhat in the shallows.

The truth can be said of characters in the Great Story. I find it common for people to assume that those told about in the Great Story are some kind of spiritual superheroes, but nothing could be further from the truth. With the exception of Jesus, I find that most every other character is tragically flawed like me, and I believe that’s the point.

David is mostly known for the oft-told story of him slaying Goliath, and that is typically told to children. I have observed that if people know anything else about him it’s that he was King, and perhaps it’s remembered that he had an adulterous affair with a woman named Bathsheba. We love a good scandal, don’t we?

There’s actually a lot to David’s story. While he was anointed as King as a kid (God instructed the prophet, Samuel, to anoint David the king), it would be decades before he actually ascended the throne. Years of David’s young adult life were spent on the run from the reigning king, Saul, and living in the wilderness. He had no real place to call home and, seemingly, everyone wanted him dead.

It was during those wilderness years that David went to a neighboring region called Gath. He was hoping to find an ally in the King there and as well as a safe place to reside from Saul’s henchmen, but his audience with the King of Gath suddenly went south. David realized in the moment that the King of Gath’s advisors had very little reason to provide him asylum while having every reason to serve up his head on a silver platter to King Saul. He’s alone inside the walls of the city surrounded and outnumbered by his armed enemies. How’s he going to get out of this alive?

David pretended to be certifiably crazy. He started acting like a mad man. He frothed at the mouth so spit was running down his beard. He put together such an impressive improv performance that the King of Gath wanted nothing to do with him and just wanted him thrown out of the city before whatever mental disease David had started spreading.

Having escaped with his life, David wrote a song to thank God for getting him out of a tight spot. That song is what we call Psalm 34 according to the liner notes.

Knowing the story adds a layer of context to the song lyrics, which creates added meaning for me as I read or listen. While I may never have been surrounded by armed enemies wanting to kill me (though at least once I’ve had an enemy who literally wanted to beat the crap out of me — but that’s another story), there are plenty of experiences along this life journey when I unexpectedly find myself in tight spots. David’s story, and his song lyrics, remind me that “this poor soul” can throw up a popcorn prayer and trust that God will hear me just as He did David.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Sui Generis

September 22, 2020 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
Psalm 33:3 (NRSVCE)

Wendy and I attended worship with our local gathering of Jesus followers on Sunday. We’ve been sitting at home watching the live steam most Sundays since March. There are three spaces set aside for worship with proper space for physical distancing. The music and teaching are streamed from the main space to the other two. The auditorium that is where we usually call home is one of the spaces in which the live worship is streamed.

We walked in and sat down. I knew we were a minute or two late, so I was surprised when we weren’t greeting with the usual decibel level of worship music. It took me a second to realize that while the video of the worship music was live, the audio wasn’t being successfully streamed from the other room. Everyone sat and waited for our faithful tech volunteers to figure out the problem.

What struck me as we waited was that there were individuals already standing in anticipation of singing, clapping, and participating in corporate worship. I stood with them. Most people were sitting quietly while we waited. When the problem was fixed and the audio began to stream, everyone who was sitting immediately stood without prompt. People began to sing. Some people raised their hands in prayer. It was like the worship version of a Lamborghini accelerating from 0-60 in 2.8 seconds.

The thing that struck me in that moment was the feeling that everyone wanted to sing. There was a feeling of hunger to be there, to worship corporately with others and to sing, pray, and shout in praise and supplication.

Today’s psalm was most likely a song written for ancient corporate worship. If you step back and look at it, the “voice” of the lyrics lends itself to the first three verses being sung by a worship leader calling everyone to worship. Verses 4-19 could very well have been for a choir or select group to then instruct through song about God’s power, sovereignty, and goodness to protect and deliver those who place, in Him, their faith and trust.

The voice of verses 20-22 switch to a corporate “our” and could likely have been for the entire crowd gathered to sing in response to pledge their faith and trust.

There is something unique about a corporate worship experience when those gathered are not just going through ritualistic motions but are truly pouring out from their spirits their gratitude, praise, pain, need, faith, and desire.

Sui generis (pronounced soo-ee jen-er-is) is a latin term meaning “of its own kind.” Usually used as a legal term, its broader definition is something that is “unique” and in a “class by itself.” I once heard it used of certain worship experiences when a crowd of individuals begin to worship and, sui generis, a powerful whole emerges from the many. From many voices one voice. From many spirits one spirit. When it happens it is truly sui generis.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about worship, prayer, and praise. I’m grateful for technology that has allowed Wendy and me to join with our fellow Jesus followers through YouTube during the pandemic. Jesus assured His followers that He would always be present when “two or three are gathered” in His name. Wendy and I have enjoyed some really wonderful moments in our worship gatherings via YouTube. I am also grateful to join with others in one place and pour out our hearts and praise just as people have been doing for thousands of years like when Psalm 33 was introduced to the Hebrew people as a “new song” to corporately proclaim God’s protection and deliverance.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Spiritual Pivot-Point

September 21, 2020 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Psalm 32:5 (NRSVCE)

It’s good to be back!

While I was on hiatus the past few weeks, Wendy and I were able to enjoy some time with friends. Over dinner one night, I was asked to share some of my life story. Parts that my friends didn’t know much about. I shared. They asked questions. I found myself recounting things I hadn’t thought too much about in a long time.

I generally like to let “old things pass away” as Paul wrote to the followers of Jesus in Corinth, and dwell in the “new things” and new places God has led in my journey. There is, however, no escaping the fact that, like all good stories, my life has its chapters of shortcomings, moral failure, bad choices, and the tragic consequences that result. My story includes tragic flaws, secrets, addiction, adultery, and divorce. These things are not secret, and I’ve been publicly honest in owning my own personal failures and their tragic consequences.

But, that’s not the end of my story. And, that’s the point.

Today’s psalm contains the lyrics of another song penned by King David. It’s a before-and-after song. It is a tale with two halves. It’s the song of David’s own personal journey.

Like most of David’s songs, it begins with a one verse introduction letting us know that he is looking back in time and writing the song from a place of redemption further down the road. He then confesses to have at one time kept secrets and sins locked up inside. The consequences were guilt, shame, weakness, struggle, heaviness, and waste.

Then, David came clean. He confessed. He owned up to his mistakes, weaknesses, and shortcomings. David’s own personal story, by the way, includes top-line shortcomings including, but not limited to, adultery, deceit, murder, and gross parental failure. He, however, confessed this, owned it, stopped hiding it, came clean, and sought God’s forgiveness.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

That’s the pivot point of David’s song, just as it is the pivot point of David’s spiritual journey. What comes after, in the second half of the song? Forgiveness, protection, safety, security, deliverance, instruction, guidance, wisdom, steadfast love, and out of these things comes David’s song of joy that we now call Psalm 32.

In the quiet this morning I am reminded that the Great Story is quite clear about the individual spiritual journey having a pivot point. For Paul, it was on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). For Peter, it was along the shore of Galilee (John 21). For David, it was being confronted by God’s prophet in his throne room (2 Samuel 12). For me, it was a series of events over a five-year period.

Without coming clean and owning my failings I don’t truly experience the pivot-point that opens the floodgates of grace and forgiveness. Without experiencing the powerful current of grace and forgiveness I don’t truly experience flow of spiritual transformation truly moving me forward toward maturity. Without that flow of spiritual transformation moving me forward, the spiritual journey remains mired in stagnant and shallow religion which Jesus described as being like a gorgeous, marble tomb sitting in a pristine, manicured cemetery. It may look wonderful on the outside, but the reality is that once you get past the manufactured exterior appearances, all you find is death, rot, and decay.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

My Times

September 1, 2020 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand;
Psalm 31:14-15a (NRSVCE)

I occasionally have people who ask me how on earth I write these posts every morning, how I come up with my ideas. I confess, there are mornings when I sit with the text a long time, read it a couple of times, and then struggle to find anything to think, write, say, or share. Many times I’ve skipped a day of blogging because I say to myself, “Nope. I got nothin’.” More often than not, I read the chapter and consciously do so with an open heart. As I read I’m mindful of what the text makes me think about, what memories it conjures, what it means for me on this day of my journey right where I’m and what I’m going through, what other stories or texts within the Great Story it makes me think about, and what teachings or events in Jesus’ story dovetail with it. Many times I just start writing about that one thing that came to mind and everything just sort of flows from there.

Then, there are some mornings when I get to the text and certain words leap off the page right into my soul. It’s exactly what I need today.

That’s what happened today.

In the seeming chaos of our world at the moment it’s so easy to get discouraged, anxious, and afraid. Every morning I shake my head at what I’m witnessing around me, what I’m hearing come out of people’s mouths, and the events I watch and read about in the news.

In the lyrics of David’s song, known to us as Psalm 31, David declares his trust in God and then, in faith, says, “My times are in your hand.”

I’ve observed that humans like to think that everything in life should be hunky-dory and if it’s not then there’s a problem. This leads me to want to focus all my attention on the inspirational, Pinterest-worthy words of Jesus that are regularly printed on lots of hokey trinkets, coffee mugs, and decorative plates. However, my continuous journey through the Great Story reminds that the night before Jesus was to be betrayed, arrested, mocked, threatened, unjustly accused, unjustly tried, beaten, whipped, screamed at by mobs, and cruelly executed by having nails driven through his wrists and feet and hung up for hours to die while people hurled insults at Him, he said this to his closest followers:

“But remember the root command: Love one another.

“If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it got its start hating me. If you lived on the world’s terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the world is going to hate you.

“When that happens, remember this: Servants don’t get better treatment than their masters. If they beat on me, they will certainly beat on you.

“In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”

Hate. Beatdowns. Difficulties. Jesus said to expect it, and to act with love before, during, and after.

I’ve never seen these words quoted on a coffee mug.

But as a follower of Jesus, I also know that this life, this earthly journey, this world was never what Jesus focused on nor does He want me to focus on it, either…

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”

I also know that Jesus spoke often about this Great Story having a scripted end. It’s leading toward a destined conclusion and certain events are yet to come. If I really believe that, then I can take to heart Jesus words to his followers when he told them about the hatred, beat-downs, and difficulties they’d face: “Take heart!”

Or, like David sang: “Trust. My times are in His hands.”

What I’m expected to do is love.

Note: I’m taking a hiatus to love some friends and celebrate the end of summer. Be back in a week or so!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Wayfarer

Monthly Archives: September 2020

The “Woe-Is-Me” Blues