CUBS 2011

...another fun day at Wrigley. Yes, they lost again.  But, the peanuts were good...they just seem to taste better at the ballpark.

Consumerism

The main problem with this culture...the thing that will destroy evangelical christianity in the next 25 years is it's willingness to be at home with the commercialism and the consumerism of our society.

-- Tony Campolo

Surface

Draw on the surface of things in life, in order to go beneath it.

Comma

Never put a period where God has put a comma.

-- Gracie Allen

It's The End of the World As We Know It

Reason & Spirit

The philosophers of old made reason the sole ruler of man and listened only to her, as the arbiter of conduct. But Christian philosophy makes her move aside and give complete submission to the Holy Spirit, so that the individual no longer lives, but Christ lives and reigns in him (Galatians 2:20).

-- John Calvin

3 Things

I often ask for 3 things: wisdom (to understand what is important and what isn't), courage (to speak or move, even when I don't have wisdom's things all perfectly arranged), and strength (to face accusations caused by my courage -- whether they be legit or not).  I need all 3 of these.  When I choose to stop after any one of them, I feel like I am yielding to a kind of fear.

Sympathy or Compassion

Sympathy vs Compassion.  Which do you want more?  What's the difference?  Which is more empowering?

Greater

To love God is greater than to know him.

-- Thomas Aquinas

Afraid to Speak

They that know have grown afraid to speak. That is why sorrows that used to purify now only fester.

-- C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Mothers Day 2011

To My Beautiful Wife, Tami,

I want to thank you today, for being you.  I am so grateful for all that you are for us, for our kids.  For how you have battled for our relationship, and to hold on to 'higher things'...and for the direct gift that is to our kids.

I want to thank for giving yourself to them, selflessly over and over.  For showing them that the world is not all about them.  And, for showing them that they are loved, that they are enjoyed. 

I love the way you 'hang' with them, being you...and being with them.  I love how you draw them in...to the things you do in this life.

I love the way you commit yourself to the things they need...even the things that feel endless, like chores and picking up and communicating and doing the things in life that 'just need to be done', to BE a family.

They look forward to dinner every night and that is a wonderful thing, the regularity of it.  The warmth of it.  The humanness of it.  And, the taste of it!  I'm glad you foster an environment that makes it good to eat together.  I'm glad you make them clean-up when we're done.

I'm glad for our home and all that you 'motherly do' (it's clean, it's beautiful, it's inviting) that makes everyone just 'want to be here'.

I'm grateful for your hard work outside of the home, even when that seems overwhelming...and for what that communicates about life to the girls and to Conner. 

I'm grateful that even as mother, you also take time to be my wife.  Hard roles, at times, to effortlessly switch in and out of.

I love you, Tami.  And, am so grateful for you this Mothers Day.

Dana

My Dog, My God, and Me

So, I was running with my dog the other day and he saw a squirrel in the woods to his left.  He started straining to his left, pulling me in that direction.  I remember thinking, 'Probably a squirrel...he always does that'.  Then he pulled harder and my next thought was something like, 'C'mon we're running, Murphy! We don't chase every living thing...we're running!' 

Of course, such sentences, when built with actual words tend to linger for a while in my mind.  What he didn't realize was the three squirrels that were on his right, almost right beside the road.  He saw the squirrel on his left and that was all he saw from that point on. And then, there was me, somewhat ungraciously guiding his leash.  ...thinking how not unlike my dog, I am at times when I see something that looks good to me.  Almost instinctually, I just respond to 'it', no longer realizing much of what else is going on or who else is guiding what I am about that day. 

I wonder sometimes what goes on in Murphy's head, if anything at all.  He is such a creature of habit, of instinct, of simple design and being.  He remembers patterns to things, but (or so it seems to me) completely forgets other things.  Like, he will angle in a certain direction as we run together, based on where we have run before.  He will (incessantly) groan and walk back-and-forth with something in his mouth when he is excited about something familiar about to happen to him (like going on a run together).  And, he will forget all about it, if I yell at him for some irritating habit of his, just going right back to it, even seconds later.  Yes, and he rolls in poop whenever he can get away with it.  No matter what I do to 'discourage' that behavior, he just does it again the next time, with no hesitation whatsoever.  I've concluded that one is 'built-in' to his dog-ness. 

And so, I've wondered about my dog-ness (or, human-ness), how different I am at times in what I instinctively respond to, what I go for, what I naturally think about or do (ok, and yes, what I 'roll in').  I suspect we are all significantly creatures of habit.  Just try to take the ones we've developed away from us.  We get kinda grouchy.  And, the older the we get, the more committed we seem to become to 'our ways' of doing things.  At one level, I'm thinking that must look a lot like my dog did when we were running.

So, I wonder how God actually views this kind of thing...how He views me.  I picture Him sometimes using His 'guiding leash' with me, not too unlike I do with Murphy.  In spite of all the squirrels he can't go for, Murphy 'loves' to go running with me.  And, in some strange and similar way, I love to go running with my God.  Or, more simply, to be with Him in some way, that is often difficult to describe.  I'm glad He let's me chase my squirrels, that He still takes me running in life, that He guides me where I really need to be going.

And, yes, for the benevolence in His leash.   I didn't used to see it that way -- benevolent.  But as I've plumbed a few of the depths of where my independence gets me, I have realized that there is something wonderful and by design in acknowledging my limitations and my need for His guidance.  This probably isn't a fashionable notion for many, but typically the young reacting to it have to grow up (and get knocked around) a bit more and the old doing the same should acknowledge some of the bitterness they're left with...by going it alone.  I'm not 'there' completely yet (squirrels still interest me, too, and yes, I resent leashes from time to time), but I'm more and more looking forward to the 'rest' at the end of the 'run'.

Ego & Spirit

Passed along from our good friend, Dave Terry:

Imagine this scene if you will. Two babies are inutero, confined to the
wall of their mother's womb, and they are having a conversation. For the
sake of clarity we'll call these twins Ego and Spirit.

Spirit says to Ego, "I know you are going to find this difficult to
accept, but I truly believe there is life after birth."

Ego responds, "Don't be ridiculous. Look around you. This is all there
is. Why must you always be thinking about something beyond this reality?
Accept your lot in life. Make yourself comfortable and forget about all
of this life-after-birth nonsense."

Spirit quiets down for a while, but her inner voice won't allow her to
remain silent any longer. "Ego, now don't get mad, but I have something
else to say. I also believe that there is a Mother."

"A Mother!" Ego guffaws. "How can you be so absurd? You've never seen a
Mother. Why can't you accept that this is all there is? The idea of a
Mother is crazy. You are here alone with me. This is your reality. Now
grab hold of the cord. Go into your corner and stop being so silly.
Trust me, there is no Mother."

Spirit reluctantly stops her conversation with Ego, but her restlessness
soon gets the better of her. "Ego," she implores, "please listen without
rejecting my idea. Somehow I think those constant pressures we both
feel, those movements that make us so uncomfortable sometimes, that
continual repositioning and all of that closing in that seems to be
taking place as we keep growing, is getting us ready for a place of
glowing light, and we will experience it very soon."

"Now I know you are absolutely insane," replies Ego. "All you've ever
known is darkness. You've never seen light. How can you even contemplate such an idea? Those movements and pressures you feel are your reality. You are a distinct separate being. This is your journey. Darkness and pressures and a closed-in feeling is what life is all about. You'll have to fight it as long as you live. Now grab your cord and please stay still."

Spirit relaxes for a while, but finally she can contain herself no
longer. "Ego, I have only one more thing to say and then I'll never
bother you again."

"Go ahead," Ego responds impatiently.

"I believe all of these pressures and all of this discomfort is not only
going to bring us to a new celestial light, but when we experience it,
we are going to meet Mother face-to-face and know an ecstasy that is
beyond anything we have ever ex-perienced up until now."

"You really are crazy, Spirit. Now I'm truly convinced of it."

This story contains a central truth. We as persons get stuck, locked in,
and fixated on a certain point of view about real-ity, and we, like Ego,
have great difficulty developing an alternative reading of reality.
Spiritual transformation involves the capacity to face our confined
human perspective, to look beyond our limited experience, and often, to
transcend what our primary relationships have negatively taught us about
the world and about ourselves. We are invited to be like Spirit and to
expect and to seek out a new reality, a new creation, and Another whom
we have not yet encountered fully.

-- Wayne D. Dyer's adaptation of a story told by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Thank God that there is more than we know. And, knowing that there is more can free us from clinging so tightly to our methods of trying to survive in this world. What do we ultimately have to fear if nothing can stop us from truly being born?

...food for thought as we as we move on in getting free from the lies
of self-preservation.

Nothing We Can't Do...?

"Today we are reminded that as a nation there is nothing we can't do..." as he hailed the pride of those who broke out in overnight celebrations as word spread around the globe.

-- President Obama said of the news of the killing Osama Bin Laden

Really? Sounds a bit like our last President, too, and frankly many before that. What do our leaders trust in...our military, our effort...ourselves? And, we the people, seem to just drink it in, especially when the bad guy 'over there' meets a demise suitable to us.  God save us (literally) from this kind of thinking.  We need to drink a little more from this glass:

   When your enemy falls, do not rejoice;
   when he stumbles do not let your heart exult.
   Lest Yahweh see and (it be) bad in his eyes
   and he turn his wrath away from him.

   -- Prov. 24:17-18

...more of the damage of such things here.  Thanks, Jim, for forwarding.

The Pastor

More good stuff from Eugene, click image for the NPR interview...thanks Tyler!