I am very well aware of how long it has been since I posted on this blog. I have felt as though there was nothing to say...and then there was no time to write it so that it was said well. So I took a break, wrote a couple of sermons - so I did do some writing - and am looking again for things to say. Time away has been good but it's time to get back to it.
I continue to reflect and pray and listen as we get deeper into the choices around the community center. I am listening to the conversations that are going on around the church and find there is a wide diversity of concerns. Some are just a matter of understanding the details, and some are more troubling because they reveal an underlying fear/inward focus that we know is a deadend for the mission of the church.
The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Making followers of Jesus Christ so that the world will be CHANGED. We are part of what gets changed as the world changes. There is so much more that needs to be changed in me, and I want to be part of this transformation but sometimes I''m not sure we all think that. Sometimes I think we look out from our lofty perches and say You need to change, but I'm fine right where I am....
If the mission of the church is to be about those in the world who do not know the love of God, and not to take care of ourselves, then we have to lift up our heads, lift up our eyes and look around to see where we go. FUMC has been blessed to see need in lands far away but we are being called to look a little closer to home too.
I think the best question is why this? Why this broken down building, why this partnership, why this vision? I can't say this enough: This is what God has given us to do. This notion has been lurking around for six months. And believe me when we first heard about it, we (the pastors) were VERY skeptical...and it laid on the shelf for a good six weeks with all of us saying huh? But it also wouldn't die. In each of our prayers, we asked what will you have us do now, God? And the move of the Spirit kept coming back to this idea. Think of the message this gives to this community...this broken down, hopeless building CAN be restored and put to usefulness for good for those who care. "Those people" (insert you) care enough to do this. And it fulfills the feeding, clothing, visiting, call we all have as Christ-followers.
Some have asked, can't we rent another building and do this another way? Of course, but where is the building? Do you know of a place that is in the middle of a neighborhood? A neighborhood in need? Please test your ideas! God will move us to where we need to be...but I'm not seeing anything else in the windshield. So this suggestion becomes a way to undermine the vision we feel we have been given...if you honestly believe there is another way...please bring it forward!
I don't know what the future holds, but I do know that through conversations with other churches, there seems to be a light that dawns as the vision unfolds and people get excited for this "answer to their prayers" about how they can serve the community or fulfill the gifts for ministry that they feel they have been given. Our faith tells us this is God at work, this is the confirmation that comes as we discern everyday.
Save your anger, share your thoughts, the future is open and God is in it!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Whew! Like Giving Birth or Something
Well, it was one week ago that I was onstage with 12 other actors, performing in the play "The Diary of Anne Frank." And that a culmination of 10 weeks of hard work! I am so very happy and honored to have been given the chance to repeat my interpretation of Petronella Van Daan. The story of these people in 1943-44 Amsterdam, as the Nazi's were taking control, is truly one of such amazing courage! The courage to go "underground", to hide right under the enemy's noses, to get up day in and day out and know that there is no where to go...I can't imagine the inner fortitude that took. I sometimes wonder if I would have just given up...
So in the last week, I find myself kind of missing my "stage family" and feeling a little like postpartum depression has set in. I'm moping around wondering what's next on the horizon. But so, so thankful for for it all!
So in the last week, I find myself kind of missing my "stage family" and feeling a little like postpartum depression has set in. I'm moping around wondering what's next on the horizon. But so, so thankful for for it all!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Wandering Around the Desert Some More
There is a group of churches that have been meeting together once a month for last couple of years. Christian Ministerial Fellowship - CMF for short. The purpose is pretty much to learn together about community programs and resources and to share a meal together. In the past few months the discussion has arisen of exactly what our purpose is and how we can be more effective as a group - to meet the needs of the community. Every church has been dealing with increased requests for assistance and what better purpose of the Kingdom of God than to help those in need? So we have been discussing how to work together towards that end.
In the meantime - I received an email from a Community Organizing group that they are having a meeting of all the churches in the area "to see how we might work together in the community."
And today we received a letter from the Samaritan Center saying they were finding it difficult to make ends meet. The letter told us to do what we could to serve the community and in the meantime if we could send them some money or sponsor a food drive that would be great too.
SO there is a theme here-many different groups are trying to tie many other groups together to work together to make a difference in the world they serve. I have this image of the Israelites wandering in the desert trying to find the mountain that was right in front of them. We all continue to deal with more and more people in need of help of one kind or another - utilities, gas, rent, groceries, bus tickets, motel rooms...not to mention feeding hungry kids and mentoring kids that need a role model.
We have our own part in this wandering. As we continue to discern the call of the Community Center and what exactly we can do and should do...the Isrealites were their own worst enemy - they perpetuated their time without a home. But the promise is that the Isrealites DID make it to the promised land...God did lead them out of confusion and into the light...so community of faith - let us listen and guide each other so that we don't wander long. The world needs us to get it together...
In the meantime - I received an email from a Community Organizing group that they are having a meeting of all the churches in the area "to see how we might work together in the community."
And today we received a letter from the Samaritan Center saying they were finding it difficult to make ends meet. The letter told us to do what we could to serve the community and in the meantime if we could send them some money or sponsor a food drive that would be great too.
SO there is a theme here-many different groups are trying to tie many other groups together to work together to make a difference in the world they serve. I have this image of the Israelites wandering in the desert trying to find the mountain that was right in front of them. We all continue to deal with more and more people in need of help of one kind or another - utilities, gas, rent, groceries, bus tickets, motel rooms...not to mention feeding hungry kids and mentoring kids that need a role model.
We have our own part in this wandering. As we continue to discern the call of the Community Center and what exactly we can do and should do...the Isrealites were their own worst enemy - they perpetuated their time without a home. But the promise is that the Isrealites DID make it to the promised land...God did lead them out of confusion and into the light...so community of faith - let us listen and guide each other so that we don't wander long. The world needs us to get it together...
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Time and Routines
Well folks, here we are...in the second week of school, about the time that a routine begins to emerge and at my house when we ask "so what is your schedule today" a few less times. I have shared in the past, that I never feel the passage of time more than when the school year begins. It takes me back to my own first days of school, but now I also have to turn the page in my own head that I am now the parent of two high school students! It just wasn't that long ago that I sent my last child off on her first school bus ride and I cried because she didn't look back at me. She was ready!
The start of the school year also changes the routine at church. We go back to classrooms for Sunday School, attendance at worship goes up, and studies and small groups begin. There is a change that settles over us...picture this, God's finger begins stirring the pot, and there is chaos at first, things bumping into each other, but soon there is an order to the new stirrings. And in that order, there is time and space to hear God say "It is good."
So where in your emerging Fall routines can you hear that voice, where in the order of new routines can you settle and find peace? Give thanks, give thanks, and remember God is calling you...
The start of the school year also changes the routine at church. We go back to classrooms for Sunday School, attendance at worship goes up, and studies and small groups begin. There is a change that settles over us...picture this, God's finger begins stirring the pot, and there is chaos at first, things bumping into each other, but soon there is an order to the new stirrings. And in that order, there is time and space to hear God say "It is good."
So where in your emerging Fall routines can you hear that voice, where in the order of new routines can you settle and find peace? Give thanks, give thanks, and remember God is calling you...
Saturday, August 21, 2010
5 Reasons Teens Are Avoiding Church
5 Reasons Teens Are Avoiding Church
Please read the above article, it is very interesting. Soapbox Alert! We have needed to fill some spots in teaching Sunday School this year. Mostly in the 4th and 5th grade class. We have made it as easy as we possibly can...teaching in a rotation, 3 weeks on and 6 weeks off. The more teachers we have, the longer time between teaching comittments. We sent out about 12 requests to parents, and past teachers, newly retired, those who God put before Beckie and I as we thought about who would be good to ask...we recieved 2 who said yes. Now, if you are one who received an email, this is not a personal attack....but I am hoping there will be a "big picture" moment here for all of us. The reasons we received for why people couldn't teach, bears out this article...if Sunday Scool isn't relevant to the parents and the church, then how can it be relevant to their children?
As the Church, we continue to find that our voice is slipping away in a world filled with many. Church - how important is it To YOU that your chlidren know the story of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ? If is isn't important to you, than why are we still doing this thing called Sunday morning? We have to about more than ourselves. We have to rise to the call that God gave us in Jesus...Go and make disciples...that means you AND me...see you Sunday..
Please read the above article, it is very interesting. Soapbox Alert! We have needed to fill some spots in teaching Sunday School this year. Mostly in the 4th and 5th grade class. We have made it as easy as we possibly can...teaching in a rotation, 3 weeks on and 6 weeks off. The more teachers we have, the longer time between teaching comittments. We sent out about 12 requests to parents, and past teachers, newly retired, those who God put before Beckie and I as we thought about who would be good to ask...we recieved 2 who said yes. Now, if you are one who received an email, this is not a personal attack....but I am hoping there will be a "big picture" moment here for all of us. The reasons we received for why people couldn't teach, bears out this article...if Sunday Scool isn't relevant to the parents and the church, then how can it be relevant to their children?
As the Church, we continue to find that our voice is slipping away in a world filled with many. Church - how important is it To YOU that your chlidren know the story of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ? If is isn't important to you, than why are we still doing this thing called Sunday morning? We have to about more than ourselves. We have to rise to the call that God gave us in Jesus...Go and make disciples...that means you AND me...see you Sunday..
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Looking Up
I don't know if it because of the weather patterns we have been in or it is the season of Summer when we are angled just right to the sun, but have you noticed the skies lately. For the past several weeks, I have found my eye and my mind captured by the beautiful sky around us. Some days I can see Monet or Renoir's impressionist clouds that have little definition and purple haze at the bottom. Other days the clouds tower and are sharp and infocus like the oils of the famous outdoor artists that painted the unsettled western US two centuries ago. And the sunsets are always amazing shows this time of year.
As I take note of the skies, I also find my mind wanders to the hand of God that paints on this canvas. There is all kinds of science about why the clouds tower and why they are flat, high pressures and low...but what about the artist that designed the highs and lows to be able to communicate such beauty to us? Are they meant to inspire us, or is it all just random science, a process set in motion eons ago that continues on today. And I know that if God's hand is at work in the beauty then it follows God is at work in the storms too, and that gets complicated.
Mom had a storm last week that took out some of the oldest trees on our little hilltop. A 100 yr old Catalpa tree and a 100 yr old Oak tree. Beautiful old friends that hold many memories of tree climbs and who offered strong limbs to hold block and tackle for engines and shade for horse and rider. It is painful to watch them die slowly as the wounds from the storm will overcome the entire tree and not just the limbs that have broken off. Truly the landscape has changed.
But my faith tells me God is at work in all things...the beauty and the loss, and the calm and the storms. Is the witness simply that he is with us, when the wind is howling and the limbs are twisting beyond the physical capabilites as well as when the beauty causes us to catch our breath and pause for a moment. God whispers in both moments..."I am with you." It is that whisper that gets me through the final cutting down of the trees and the tears shed for lost friends and family...it is that whisper that allows me to look up and know I don't go it alone. Look up and be amazed by that grace.
As I take note of the skies, I also find my mind wanders to the hand of God that paints on this canvas. There is all kinds of science about why the clouds tower and why they are flat, high pressures and low...but what about the artist that designed the highs and lows to be able to communicate such beauty to us? Are they meant to inspire us, or is it all just random science, a process set in motion eons ago that continues on today. And I know that if God's hand is at work in the beauty then it follows God is at work in the storms too, and that gets complicated.
Mom had a storm last week that took out some of the oldest trees on our little hilltop. A 100 yr old Catalpa tree and a 100 yr old Oak tree. Beautiful old friends that hold many memories of tree climbs and who offered strong limbs to hold block and tackle for engines and shade for horse and rider. It is painful to watch them die slowly as the wounds from the storm will overcome the entire tree and not just the limbs that have broken off. Truly the landscape has changed.
But my faith tells me God is at work in all things...the beauty and the loss, and the calm and the storms. Is the witness simply that he is with us, when the wind is howling and the limbs are twisting beyond the physical capabilites as well as when the beauty causes us to catch our breath and pause for a moment. God whispers in both moments..."I am with you." It is that whisper that gets me through the final cutting down of the trees and the tears shed for lost friends and family...it is that whisper that allows me to look up and know I don't go it alone. Look up and be amazed by that grace.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday Afternoon
It is rare Sunday afternoon that doesn't have some pressure or schedule ticking away at it. If there is a nap, it has to happen between 1:35 and 2:10, and who has what to go to? when? How will you get there and when will you be back...but today I am free...to nap when I want, hang out, read blogs and write in this one.
As a great treat, Zach came upstairs (the basement is his man-cave) and he had heard a Cat Stevens song in a movie and was asking about it. We got into the "archives" of our CD collection and found one of his "greatest hits" albums I have, which led to Sweet Honey and the Rock, James Taylor, and all other 70's-80's music I've got. What a great blessing to share this music with my son and for him to enjoy it and find my adolesence mixed with his. It was a moment of peace and perspective that I will hold onto for awhile. Thank you God.
Sarah is on Trailhike. An annual trip for the new 9th graders in our congregation. A "right of passage" I suppose. A time to form community, build relationships - (may I add, get past petty dramas) and behold the beauty of God's creation. She is in my prayers this afternoon as she is as far away as she has ever been and as out of my grasp as she has every been. Fly little butterfly, fly!
May you have a great Sunday afternoon too!
As a great treat, Zach came upstairs (the basement is his man-cave) and he had heard a Cat Stevens song in a movie and was asking about it. We got into the "archives" of our CD collection and found one of his "greatest hits" albums I have, which led to Sweet Honey and the Rock, James Taylor, and all other 70's-80's music I've got. What a great blessing to share this music with my son and for him to enjoy it and find my adolesence mixed with his. It was a moment of peace and perspective that I will hold onto for awhile. Thank you God.
Sarah is on Trailhike. An annual trip for the new 9th graders in our congregation. A "right of passage" I suppose. A time to form community, build relationships - (may I add, get past petty dramas) and behold the beauty of God's creation. She is in my prayers this afternoon as she is as far away as she has ever been and as out of my grasp as she has every been. Fly little butterfly, fly!
May you have a great Sunday afternoon too!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
What Is This Spirit?
I am still being inspired by the Sunday worship we shared with Washington Metropolitan AMEZ church. Yes the music was wonderful, and the preaching top notch, but that isn't all that I continue to celebrate. It was the spirit of joy and compassion and fellowship that was genuinely present among us that day.
For me personally there was a freedom in my soul that I haven't felt in a long while. One that allowed me to dance or raise my hands in praise without a sense of being self conscious. I was able to pray from the depths of my heart and was led by the Spirit as to what to say to all those gathered at the cross. And yet...
I continue to find a newness in my preaching that I don't know where it comes from except God above. A willingness to step out of my comfort zone and my manuscript and simply lead in a thought. For this highly introverted person, that is a big one!
And this weekend I find it spreading to my family. There was a gospel sing at Adam's St. Nursing Home. Mark did not remember in time to assemble any kind of group, but Zach and Sarah had worked up a song for camp and so he asked them to do it for the folks. Zach complained pretty much the whole morning that they were the only young people there, and that he was giving his Saturday away for...this?! Zach and Sarah sang well and were praised to be "the future."
But that isn't where it ends, there were multiple choirs from several Missionary Baptist churches around and they sang from their toes and led us all in moments of worship. The most wonderful were acapella solos of "How Great Thou Art" and "His Eye Is On the Sparrow" At the end of which were standing O's...but Zach and Sarah also were part of the voices saying amen and thank you Jesus. As we headed back to the car, Zach said: "I take back all my grumblings...it was worth it all."
So I am getting reacquainted with the Spirit of God that breaks down walls and stretches us to new places and kneads the clay of our hearts into new creations.
Thank you Jesus!
For me personally there was a freedom in my soul that I haven't felt in a long while. One that allowed me to dance or raise my hands in praise without a sense of being self conscious. I was able to pray from the depths of my heart and was led by the Spirit as to what to say to all those gathered at the cross. And yet...
I continue to find a newness in my preaching that I don't know where it comes from except God above. A willingness to step out of my comfort zone and my manuscript and simply lead in a thought. For this highly introverted person, that is a big one!
And this weekend I find it spreading to my family. There was a gospel sing at Adam's St. Nursing Home. Mark did not remember in time to assemble any kind of group, but Zach and Sarah had worked up a song for camp and so he asked them to do it for the folks. Zach complained pretty much the whole morning that they were the only young people there, and that he was giving his Saturday away for...this?! Zach and Sarah sang well and were praised to be "the future."
But that isn't where it ends, there were multiple choirs from several Missionary Baptist churches around and they sang from their toes and led us all in moments of worship. The most wonderful were acapella solos of "How Great Thou Art" and "His Eye Is On the Sparrow" At the end of which were standing O's...but Zach and Sarah also were part of the voices saying amen and thank you Jesus. As we headed back to the car, Zach said: "I take back all my grumblings...it was worth it all."
So I am getting reacquainted with the Spirit of God that breaks down walls and stretches us to new places and kneads the clay of our hearts into new creations.
Thank you Jesus!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Time Flies
Can't imagine that it has been so long since I've been able to post. We've been to Annual Conference and then returned to a funeral, a wedding, Mid High Mission Camp, the kids at church camp, preaching and Mark and Zach at work camp! Among the completion of the Adult Confirmation, and the beginning of "The Jesus I Never Knew." So, lest you thought I was being lazy...I've been busy! Dancing with Jesus all the way. But today I get a break and I'm ready for it.
The oil continues to spill in the Gulf Coast and we continue to wait and watch and listen to the politicians. At the closing of the kid's camp, David Israel was giving the closing message to the kids. It is such a tender time, they have been in the place that is made for them, built around them and their place in life...and God has been made real in many ways for them, and now they are returning to "the world." David shared with them that their challenge (and all of our challenge) as they went forward from that place was that we can be one of two things. We can blame or be thankful. It is a choice in most all things.
We can blame the world, they can blame their parents, we can blame government, our bosses, or the kids.....and he specifically talked about the Gulf. That it won't be the same for the next 100 years and that they could blame my generation, and have every right to do so...but blaming won't get it cleaned up or move us forward into the future. An attitude of thanksgiving sees the opportunity to go forward and make a difference. He challenged them, that they are an example to the littlest of our children and that someday they could blame them for the way things turned out. So we were all challenged to go and make a difference in the world out of gratitude, thankfulness for all that brings us to the places we are in. Worth thinking about.
Peace by yours today.
The oil continues to spill in the Gulf Coast and we continue to wait and watch and listen to the politicians. At the closing of the kid's camp, David Israel was giving the closing message to the kids. It is such a tender time, they have been in the place that is made for them, built around them and their place in life...and God has been made real in many ways for them, and now they are returning to "the world." David shared with them that their challenge (and all of our challenge) as they went forward from that place was that we can be one of two things. We can blame or be thankful. It is a choice in most all things.
We can blame the world, they can blame their parents, we can blame government, our bosses, or the kids.....and he specifically talked about the Gulf. That it won't be the same for the next 100 years and that they could blame my generation, and have every right to do so...but blaming won't get it cleaned up or move us forward into the future. An attitude of thanksgiving sees the opportunity to go forward and make a difference. He challenged them, that they are an example to the littlest of our children and that someday they could blame them for the way things turned out. So we were all challenged to go and make a difference in the world out of gratitude, thankfulness for all that brings us to the places we are in. Worth thinking about.
Peace by yours today.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Garbage Patches and Oil Spills
Every day I grow more concerned and sad about the oil that is pouring into the gulf. I get that it is the first of its kind and that the depths they are operating take great time and calculations, but I feel like we are running out of time. The disaster is about to become global and then all those apocalyptic movies begin to play in my head...have we finally done it?
Before the Gulf Oil spill I was learning about something called the North Atlantic Gyre and a newly discovered "garbage patch" there. There are 5 gyres across the globe, current centers that collect debris from the outer edges. Kind of like the center of whirlpool but much much slower and subtler. In these Gyres scientist are just discovering what happens to plastic in the ocean. It never goes away but breaks down into smaller and smaller particles, ingested by fish that are eventually caught and on our table so that we are eating our own plastic! Something prophetic about that...
Anyway - dear reader - here are some web sites and videos for you to see - please educate yourself, think about this amazing creation God put into our hands to be cared for by each one of us...no politics here - God gave humankind dominion over the world - not domination - let us live up to that gift. Please go and check these out:
http://www.5gyres.org/
www.vimeo.com/10137337
www.vimeo.com/10053284
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1m9yr3DV6Y
Before the Gulf Oil spill I was learning about something called the North Atlantic Gyre and a newly discovered "garbage patch" there. There are 5 gyres across the globe, current centers that collect debris from the outer edges. Kind of like the center of whirlpool but much much slower and subtler. In these Gyres scientist are just discovering what happens to plastic in the ocean. It never goes away but breaks down into smaller and smaller particles, ingested by fish that are eventually caught and on our table so that we are eating our own plastic! Something prophetic about that...
Anyway - dear reader - here are some web sites and videos for you to see - please educate yourself, think about this amazing creation God put into our hands to be cared for by each one of us...no politics here - God gave humankind dominion over the world - not domination - let us live up to that gift. Please go and check these out:
http://www.5gyres.org/
www.vimeo.com/10137337
www.vimeo.com/10053284
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1m9yr3DV6Y
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Servant Girl at Emmaus
(a painting by Velazquez)
She listens, listens holding
her breath. Surely that voice
is his - the one
who had looked at her, once across the crowd,
as no one ever had looked?
Had seen her? Had spoken as if to her?
Surely those hands were his,
taking the platter of bread from hers just now?
Hands he'd laid on the dying and made them well?
Surely that face - ?
The man they'd crucified for sedition and blasphemy.
The man whose body disappeared from its tomb,
The man it was rumored now some women had seen this morning alive?
Those who had brought this stranger home to their table
don't recognize yet with whom they sit.
But she in the kitchen, absently touching the winejug she's to take in,
a young dark skinned servant intently listening,
swings round and sees
the light around him
and is sure.
Denise Levertov
/
I got to go home this past weekend to spend a little time with Mom. She is doing well and counting the days until wheels get back under her feet. We had several jobs to do and among them cleaning out some old magazines. There was one container that we didn't get in the first round and so I lingered over them a little bit and enjoyed looking at paintings and reading the "how to's" in these artist's magazines. On one page was this painting and the poem. It captures my imagination so much I had to share.
Read the poem and then look closely at the photo. In the upper left corner through a window you see a dinner happening - the setting is the evening of Easter Sunday...the disciples that were walking to Jerusalem were having dinner, but didn't recognize the stranger that had joined them. But there in the midst of the kitchen and wine jugs and baskets of bread...the servant girl recognizes Jesus. The outsider, the servant, the "least of these" has no questions about who this is that is eating at the table she serves.
So often those "outside" of ourselves can see so much more clearly than we ever can...take a listen to those people in your life...they may just recognize something you are missing...
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Just Another Day for Earth
When I traveled to Africa I developed a new and renewed joy around Earth Day. While in Mozambique I had such appreciation for the natives recycling of our water bottles. In the markets they held everything from paint, to oil, to shampoo, to gasoline. If we put one down and left it unattended at the work site, it was claimed in a short period of time and taken home as a great prize. They also recycled soda cans, making them into candle holders for thier homes. I returned to the US to be horrified at the trash on the side of the road and the careless ways we deal with our trash. I began dropping off my recycling much more diligently than before.
Now we have curb side recycling and it is easier than ever to deal with my trash. I recently read this from National Geographic.
Now we have curb side recycling and it is easier than ever to deal with my trash. I recently read this from National Geographic.
Plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.
Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.
So why don’t more people drink water straight from the kitchen faucet? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that’s not true. In the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water.
People love the convenience of bottled water. But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a refillable steel container instead of plastic.
Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate.
Water is good for you, so keep drinking it. But think about how often you use water bottles, and see if you can make a change. Betty McLaughlin, who runs an organization called the Container Recycling Institute, says try using fewer bottles: “If you take one to school in your lunch, don’t throw it away—bring it home and refill it from the tap for the next day. Keep track of how many times you refill a bottle before you recycle it.”
And yes, you can make a difference. Remember this: Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.
So let us endeavor to fulfill God's vision when God gave humankind DOMINION - NOT DOMINATION-over all the earth. Reduce/reuse/recycle!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
No religion? No Problem. or not?
Found this while looking for a picture for the slide show on Sunday...from the Kansas City Examiner - Just some food for your thoughts...
By Dr. Bob Beltz
Earlier this week USA Today ran an article entitled, “No religion? No problem.” The author, Nica Lalli, has apparently just written a new book about her unbelief. The article expressed her relief that the trend toward a growing lack of faith in the United States makes her feel like she is not alone in her non-religious orientation. In the piece she gives the statistic that the fastest growing “religion” in America is non-religion. In the survey she references the percentage of people specifically stating that they have no religion is up to 15% of the US population. Ms. Lalli speculates that the 2.5% - 5% that refused to even answer the survey should also be placed with the non-believing group, bringing the grand total to 20%. She notes that this figure represents sixty-one million Americans, almost as many people as voted for Barak Obama, and which put him in the White House.
I can identify with Nica. I used to be an atheist. Most of my friends in college were; and many still are. But what I’d like to do in this article is to tell you the primary reason why I am now a believer. Here it is: I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is what I celebrate on Easter. That might sound redundant, but many people celebrate Easter who don’t believe in the resurrection. You don’t have to believe in the resurrection to let your children go on Easter egg hunts, and get Easter baskets, and eat chocolate covered marshmallow eggs. I did all that when I didn’t believe. But now…I believe. I started believing as a university student– a time when many young men and women stop believing. At first it was a bit of an existential leap of faith, but over time I found myself needing reasons to either keep believing, or quit. For me, the resurrection was the keystone. Let me briefly point out three reasons why I believe Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and on the third day (or portions thereof) rose from the dead, thus proving himself to be the Christ, the Son of God.
The Empty Tomb: Faith in Jesus is rooted in history. It either happened or it didn’t. As an unbeliever, I never gave much though to why I didn’t believe. I just didn’t. I find this to be the case for most unbelievers. I do recognize that there are many thoughtful atheists, but there are many unbelievers who don’t do much thinking at all. I have come to the conviction that the documents contained in the New Testament are historically reliable. Even extra-biblical sources acknowledge the historicity of Jesus and his execution under orders from the Roman Procurator of Judea, a man named Pontius Pilate. If you can get that far with me, lets look at the circumstances surrounding the death and burial of Jesus. Two members of the Jewish Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, went to Pilate and asked for the body of the dead Nazarene. This in and of itself took tremendous courage. The men who knew him best were all in hiding, fearing that they would be next on the Roman gibbet. Joseph is described as being a wealthy man who owned a garden where a tomb had been newly carved out of stone. If you travel to Israel today, you can still see many such tombs from this time period, including one that some claim was the actual tomb of Jesus. The body was prepared for burial using linen strips and the spices that held them in place. It was placed in the tomb and a typical stone, carved for such a purpose, was rolled down an inclined trough that ran in front of these kinds of tombs. The religious leaders of Israel, who thought Jesus was a fraud, remembered that he claimed he would come back from the dead. In order to prevent a charade from taking place, they went back to Pilate and asked for three-days of security at the tomb. Pilate sent a Roman security force and ordered the tomb to be sealed with the official seal of Rome. This all took place of what we now call Good Friday. If you can picture the above scene all in place, take a look at what we find early morning on Sunday, in Jewish culture of the time, the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, head to the tomb to do for Jesus what Nicodemus and Joseph had actually already done. When they arrive, the place is in a state of chaos. The Roman seal has been broken – an offense punishable by death. The Roman guard is shaking in stark-raving terror and later flees the site – another offense punishable by death for the guard. The one to two ton stone has not only been rolled away, but the language of the text indicates that rather than being freed from its stop and rolled down the hill, it has been rolled back up the trough and moved some distance. And finally, the tomb itself is empty. There are a number of questions a thoughtful person should ask themselves at this point, whether they are a believer or non-believer. Who moved the stone? What happened to the guard? Who broke the seal? Where is the body. Oh, I should point out that the tomb was not empty. “Huh?” you ask? The tomb still contained the graveclothes, which would have molded into a cocoon-type shell. But the shell had no body in it! No wonder we are told that when John looked in the tomb with Peter, they believed! The linen cloth that covered the dead person’s face was even folded and lying away from the graveclothes. Hang on to those questions for a few minutes.
The Eyewitness Testimony: As if the above were not baffling enough for your average unbeliever (remember: I used to be one!) You also have to account for the staggering number of reports of eyewitnesses who saw Jesus alive. Remember the original OJ trial? Half of America thought he was guilty, and half thought he was innocent. The evidence was not adequate for a jury to reach a guilty verdict because one piece of critical evidence was missing. No one saw it happen! There were no eyewitnesses. What do you think would have happened if the prosecution could have brought in an eyewitness? What if they could have produced two or three eyewitnesses? How about a dozen? Would there be any doubt that he did it? Or what if Johnny Cochran could have brought in five hundred eyewitnesses who could place OJ in a different city on the day the murders occurred? There were over five hundred eyewitnesses of the resurrection. Jesus appeared on numerous occasions over a period of forty days, giving what Luke the physician called “many convincing proofs.” That leads into the third reason I believe in the resurrection.
The Exceptional Transformation of the Disciples: The biblical narrative is quite clear in its description of the cowardice of most of the followers of Jesus at the time of the crucifixion. Most fled. When Peter stood outside the house where Jesus was being tried, he repeatedly denied even knowing him. Ten days after the forty-days of “many convincing proofs” Peter stood in the middle of Jerusalem during the Feast of Pentecost and boldly proclaimed that Jesus has risen from the dead and is the savior of the world. It is estimated that as many as a million people, from dozens of nations, converged on Jerusalem during this feast. Something radical has happened to Peter. And what is true of Peter is true of the other disciples and followers of Jesus. They go everywhere and tell everyone about Jesus. One striking fact about all this that has always driven the reality of this home is the historic record that of the original twelve disciples, minus Judas, ten were put to death for preaching the message of Christ. Only John lived a full life and even his later years were spent on the Roman penal colony of Patmos. If you add James, the brother of Jesus, and Paul, who claimed the risen Jesus appeared to him on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus (where he was headed to arrest and imprison those who claimed Jesus had risen) you have an amazing list of early martyrs. Peter was crucified upside down. Paul was beheaded. Thomas – the doubter – was killed in India. James was beheaded and Nathanael was flayed. Go down the list and you will see that they all were put to death for proclaiming the resurrection and then calling people to faith in Jesus. Many people have died for a lie they believed to be the truth. They “drink the Kool-aid.” But few people will die for a lie they know to be a lie – especially when crucifixion and flaying are involved. Yet all these men died for claiming to be eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Jesus!
There have been a number of strange theories through the centuries that attempt to explain one or more of these three reasons I have given. Most of them take more faith to believe than the original story. But when I look at the weight of the evidence, I have come to the conviction that the most reasonable explanation is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, just as he said he would. For me, this is the starting point in processing everything from the existence of God, to the truth claims of the Christian message.
One final reason I believe in the resurrection is very personal and subjective. My own life has been transformed through faith in Jesus and the relationship I have had with him for nearly forty years. This atheist became a believer. Jesus is very real and very personal to me. I sense his presence in my life. I experience his “speaking” to me through the scriptures and in my innermost being. I’ve encountered him at a very personal level. Someone else might say the same about believing in a rhubarb plant, but I have evidence that supports my experience.
If you are reading this and you are a follower of Jesus, I hope this piece is an encouragement to you. If you are part of the 15%, I challenge you to carefully explore these things. But remember, it was CS Lewis who once warned that an atheist can’t be too careful about all this. You might find, like he did, that you come “kicking and struggling” to faith by the sheer weight of the evidence.
Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed!
By Dr. Bob Beltz
Earlier this week USA Today ran an article entitled, “No religion? No problem.” The author, Nica Lalli, has apparently just written a new book about her unbelief. The article expressed her relief that the trend toward a growing lack of faith in the United States makes her feel like she is not alone in her non-religious orientation. In the piece she gives the statistic that the fastest growing “religion” in America is non-religion. In the survey she references the percentage of people specifically stating that they have no religion is up to 15% of the US population. Ms. Lalli speculates that the 2.5% - 5% that refused to even answer the survey should also be placed with the non-believing group, bringing the grand total to 20%. She notes that this figure represents sixty-one million Americans, almost as many people as voted for Barak Obama, and which put him in the White House.
I can identify with Nica. I used to be an atheist. Most of my friends in college were; and many still are. But what I’d like to do in this article is to tell you the primary reason why I am now a believer. Here it is: I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is what I celebrate on Easter. That might sound redundant, but many people celebrate Easter who don’t believe in the resurrection. You don’t have to believe in the resurrection to let your children go on Easter egg hunts, and get Easter baskets, and eat chocolate covered marshmallow eggs. I did all that when I didn’t believe. But now…I believe. I started believing as a university student– a time when many young men and women stop believing. At first it was a bit of an existential leap of faith, but over time I found myself needing reasons to either keep believing, or quit. For me, the resurrection was the keystone. Let me briefly point out three reasons why I believe Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and on the third day (or portions thereof) rose from the dead, thus proving himself to be the Christ, the Son of God.
The Empty Tomb: Faith in Jesus is rooted in history. It either happened or it didn’t. As an unbeliever, I never gave much though to why I didn’t believe. I just didn’t. I find this to be the case for most unbelievers. I do recognize that there are many thoughtful atheists, but there are many unbelievers who don’t do much thinking at all. I have come to the conviction that the documents contained in the New Testament are historically reliable. Even extra-biblical sources acknowledge the historicity of Jesus and his execution under orders from the Roman Procurator of Judea, a man named Pontius Pilate. If you can get that far with me, lets look at the circumstances surrounding the death and burial of Jesus. Two members of the Jewish Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, went to Pilate and asked for the body of the dead Nazarene. This in and of itself took tremendous courage. The men who knew him best were all in hiding, fearing that they would be next on the Roman gibbet. Joseph is described as being a wealthy man who owned a garden where a tomb had been newly carved out of stone. If you travel to Israel today, you can still see many such tombs from this time period, including one that some claim was the actual tomb of Jesus. The body was prepared for burial using linen strips and the spices that held them in place. It was placed in the tomb and a typical stone, carved for such a purpose, was rolled down an inclined trough that ran in front of these kinds of tombs. The religious leaders of Israel, who thought Jesus was a fraud, remembered that he claimed he would come back from the dead. In order to prevent a charade from taking place, they went back to Pilate and asked for three-days of security at the tomb. Pilate sent a Roman security force and ordered the tomb to be sealed with the official seal of Rome. This all took place of what we now call Good Friday. If you can picture the above scene all in place, take a look at what we find early morning on Sunday, in Jewish culture of the time, the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, head to the tomb to do for Jesus what Nicodemus and Joseph had actually already done. When they arrive, the place is in a state of chaos. The Roman seal has been broken – an offense punishable by death. The Roman guard is shaking in stark-raving terror and later flees the site – another offense punishable by death for the guard. The one to two ton stone has not only been rolled away, but the language of the text indicates that rather than being freed from its stop and rolled down the hill, it has been rolled back up the trough and moved some distance. And finally, the tomb itself is empty. There are a number of questions a thoughtful person should ask themselves at this point, whether they are a believer or non-believer. Who moved the stone? What happened to the guard? Who broke the seal? Where is the body. Oh, I should point out that the tomb was not empty. “Huh?” you ask? The tomb still contained the graveclothes, which would have molded into a cocoon-type shell. But the shell had no body in it! No wonder we are told that when John looked in the tomb with Peter, they believed! The linen cloth that covered the dead person’s face was even folded and lying away from the graveclothes. Hang on to those questions for a few minutes.
The Eyewitness Testimony: As if the above were not baffling enough for your average unbeliever (remember: I used to be one!) You also have to account for the staggering number of reports of eyewitnesses who saw Jesus alive. Remember the original OJ trial? Half of America thought he was guilty, and half thought he was innocent. The evidence was not adequate for a jury to reach a guilty verdict because one piece of critical evidence was missing. No one saw it happen! There were no eyewitnesses. What do you think would have happened if the prosecution could have brought in an eyewitness? What if they could have produced two or three eyewitnesses? How about a dozen? Would there be any doubt that he did it? Or what if Johnny Cochran could have brought in five hundred eyewitnesses who could place OJ in a different city on the day the murders occurred? There were over five hundred eyewitnesses of the resurrection. Jesus appeared on numerous occasions over a period of forty days, giving what Luke the physician called “many convincing proofs.” That leads into the third reason I believe in the resurrection.
The Exceptional Transformation of the Disciples: The biblical narrative is quite clear in its description of the cowardice of most of the followers of Jesus at the time of the crucifixion. Most fled. When Peter stood outside the house where Jesus was being tried, he repeatedly denied even knowing him. Ten days after the forty-days of “many convincing proofs” Peter stood in the middle of Jerusalem during the Feast of Pentecost and boldly proclaimed that Jesus has risen from the dead and is the savior of the world. It is estimated that as many as a million people, from dozens of nations, converged on Jerusalem during this feast. Something radical has happened to Peter. And what is true of Peter is true of the other disciples and followers of Jesus. They go everywhere and tell everyone about Jesus. One striking fact about all this that has always driven the reality of this home is the historic record that of the original twelve disciples, minus Judas, ten were put to death for preaching the message of Christ. Only John lived a full life and even his later years were spent on the Roman penal colony of Patmos. If you add James, the brother of Jesus, and Paul, who claimed the risen Jesus appeared to him on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus (where he was headed to arrest and imprison those who claimed Jesus had risen) you have an amazing list of early martyrs. Peter was crucified upside down. Paul was beheaded. Thomas – the doubter – was killed in India. James was beheaded and Nathanael was flayed. Go down the list and you will see that they all were put to death for proclaiming the resurrection and then calling people to faith in Jesus. Many people have died for a lie they believed to be the truth. They “drink the Kool-aid.” But few people will die for a lie they know to be a lie – especially when crucifixion and flaying are involved. Yet all these men died for claiming to be eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Jesus!
There have been a number of strange theories through the centuries that attempt to explain one or more of these three reasons I have given. Most of them take more faith to believe than the original story. But when I look at the weight of the evidence, I have come to the conviction that the most reasonable explanation is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, just as he said he would. For me, this is the starting point in processing everything from the existence of God, to the truth claims of the Christian message.
One final reason I believe in the resurrection is very personal and subjective. My own life has been transformed through faith in Jesus and the relationship I have had with him for nearly forty years. This atheist became a believer. Jesus is very real and very personal to me. I sense his presence in my life. I experience his “speaking” to me through the scriptures and in my innermost being. I’ve encountered him at a very personal level. Someone else might say the same about believing in a rhubarb plant, but I have evidence that supports my experience.
If you are reading this and you are a follower of Jesus, I hope this piece is an encouragement to you. If you are part of the 15%, I challenge you to carefully explore these things. But remember, it was CS Lewis who once warned that an atheist can’t be too careful about all this. You might find, like he did, that you come “kicking and struggling” to faith by the sheer weight of the evidence.
Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Post Easter Week in a Post Easter World
It is the week after Easter...things are very quiet as we all recover from the joy of Easter Sunday. We kind of wander around looking for something to clean up or something to do that has the same meaning as the preparation of a week ago, but it isn't there...
I do lift up that the day after Easter was pretty big - baseball season opened, and the Duke-Butler game kept us all on the edge of our seats - there was comfort in the rituals of Spring.
As is the custom of churches with more than one pastor, the Sunday after Easter is considered a "low" Sunday and is usally preached by an associate. So I have been working on my sermon and it has the story of Thomas as its center. I'll not reproduce my sermon here - you have to come and hear it, but rather I reflect on the two worlds I find myself in. The disciples are saying "what does this all mean?" They are trying to get their bearings because everything Jesus said has come to pass and I'm sure they are replaying all those hours of teaching to get some sense of what is next....I would also imagine they are also trying out different realities of "what now." Do we go back to fishing, how do we get out of Jerusalem, has dad replaced us on the boat? The details that make us human.
So here in the 21st Century, I know what happened to the disciples, but I wonder what is in store for the church. How do we best teach our children the faith or our ancestors? How do we "compete" with soccer and track and football? How do we make space in our busy lives for the still small voice of God to lead and guide? How do we live as Easter people in a world that thinks Easter is chocolate bunnies and jelly beans?
The palatable answer is: one minute, one relationship, one act of mercy at a time. All those "the Kingdom of God is like..." parables - it starts small but grows large, it is priceless in its worth, it is worth the risk to claim and create, it is infectous once it begins....yes, this I know...but sometimes I wonder if it is enough.
Our family went to the "Casting Crowns" concert in St. Charles on Good Friday - a wonderful night of worship...they sang thier song "If We Ever Needed You" It rings so true for the times we find ourselves. Would you pray with me...
click to hear the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjRQKhzWGQw
I do lift up that the day after Easter was pretty big - baseball season opened, and the Duke-Butler game kept us all on the edge of our seats - there was comfort in the rituals of Spring.
As is the custom of churches with more than one pastor, the Sunday after Easter is considered a "low" Sunday and is usally preached by an associate. So I have been working on my sermon and it has the story of Thomas as its center. I'll not reproduce my sermon here - you have to come and hear it, but rather I reflect on the two worlds I find myself in. The disciples are saying "what does this all mean?" They are trying to get their bearings because everything Jesus said has come to pass and I'm sure they are replaying all those hours of teaching to get some sense of what is next....I would also imagine they are also trying out different realities of "what now." Do we go back to fishing, how do we get out of Jerusalem, has dad replaced us on the boat? The details that make us human.
So here in the 21st Century, I know what happened to the disciples, but I wonder what is in store for the church. How do we best teach our children the faith or our ancestors? How do we "compete" with soccer and track and football? How do we make space in our busy lives for the still small voice of God to lead and guide? How do we live as Easter people in a world that thinks Easter is chocolate bunnies and jelly beans?
The palatable answer is: one minute, one relationship, one act of mercy at a time. All those "the Kingdom of God is like..." parables - it starts small but grows large, it is priceless in its worth, it is worth the risk to claim and create, it is infectous once it begins....yes, this I know...but sometimes I wonder if it is enough.
Our family went to the "Casting Crowns" concert in St. Charles on Good Friday - a wonderful night of worship...they sang thier song "If We Ever Needed You" It rings so true for the times we find ourselves. Would you pray with me...
click to hear the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjRQKhzWGQw
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Future of God
So I watched Nightline last night and they had the reoccuring series "FaceOff" on. This one featured prominent athiests Sam Harris and skeptic Michael Shermer and Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston on the side of God. I will say it was odd to be rooting for Deepak Chopra - I was.
The basic question was Does God have a future? In our ever changing post religious world...does God have a future in our history and in our identities. For the skeptics and athiests, they believe that the evidence of God such as a "deep knowing" and "experience of the Holy Spirit" or the "presence of something greater than ourselves" are reproducible in the lab by administering drugs like oxytocin and endorphins and brain stimulation.
The other side of the argument said that the evidence for God is that we are creative, intuitive, caring, compassionate, imaginative people and that science cannot replicate that. So for them the future of God is in the hope of never ending creation using all those parts of us to create the future that God has instilled in us. (Both sides agree that as a people we should love and care for each other!)
But here is the interesting part...this debate took place at CalTech in front of an audience of 1000 scientific based folks. And it was so odd to have the skeptic and athiest getting louder applause and agreement than those respresenting the affirmative for God! The loudest applause came when the skeptic Michael Shermer said "it shouldn't be a matter of belief but a matter of common creation, that we care for and about one another and the world we live in."
Catch a glimpse of the debate: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerindex?id=10174932
Again I ask - who have you shared your faith with lately? Because the future of God depends on how we talk about him and how we are able to reflect him in the world.
Peace y'all!
The basic question was Does God have a future? In our ever changing post religious world...does God have a future in our history and in our identities. For the skeptics and athiests, they believe that the evidence of God such as a "deep knowing" and "experience of the Holy Spirit" or the "presence of something greater than ourselves" are reproducible in the lab by administering drugs like oxytocin and endorphins and brain stimulation.
The other side of the argument said that the evidence for God is that we are creative, intuitive, caring, compassionate, imaginative people and that science cannot replicate that. So for them the future of God is in the hope of never ending creation using all those parts of us to create the future that God has instilled in us. (Both sides agree that as a people we should love and care for each other!)
But here is the interesting part...this debate took place at CalTech in front of an audience of 1000 scientific based folks. And it was so odd to have the skeptic and athiest getting louder applause and agreement than those respresenting the affirmative for God! The loudest applause came when the skeptic Michael Shermer said "it shouldn't be a matter of belief but a matter of common creation, that we care for and about one another and the world we live in."
Catch a glimpse of the debate: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerindex?id=10174932
Again I ask - who have you shared your faith with lately? Because the future of God depends on how we talk about him and how we are able to reflect him in the world.
Peace y'all!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Hold On
Where did February go? I have turned around twice and it is gone. And now I am at the middle of March and can't imagine Easter is just three weeks away. I am living the modern life that is way too busy and way too difficult to change.
Sometimes I hear a phrase and especially one that I hear more than once in a day, and there is something about it that strikes me as "the still small voice" calling me. The voice of God speaking to me. I recently hear "Hold on" in unusual clarity and began to listen as to what that voice was saying to me. "Hold on" can be an angry voice, that is saying now wait just a minute. It can be a voice that is a command like when a load is about to tumble - stop, wait, hold on! It can also be a plea to just keep that grip - don't let go - hold on, help is on the way, hold on, tomorrow will be better, hold on to your faith.
I hear it as that last voice...hold on...I've got you, don't let go, keep the faith. So as I continue to tumble through Lent, I hold on to the voice that is telling me to hold on.
Thanks be to God
Amen
Sometimes I hear a phrase and especially one that I hear more than once in a day, and there is something about it that strikes me as "the still small voice" calling me. The voice of God speaking to me. I recently hear "Hold on" in unusual clarity and began to listen as to what that voice was saying to me. "Hold on" can be an angry voice, that is saying now wait just a minute. It can be a voice that is a command like when a load is about to tumble - stop, wait, hold on! It can also be a plea to just keep that grip - don't let go - hold on, help is on the way, hold on, tomorrow will be better, hold on to your faith.
I hear it as that last voice...hold on...I've got you, don't let go, keep the faith. So as I continue to tumble through Lent, I hold on to the voice that is telling me to hold on.
Thanks be to God
Amen
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Work of Prayer
The saga of life as a patient (and a patient's daughter) continues. It was more than a week ago that mom developed some complications, she began to lose her ability to speak and express herself. Each day she was a little worse and there were little things that were changing. And yet the doctors were minimizing these things and saying it was just post-op swelling, blah, blah blah...I knew better but couldn't seem to make enough noise to be taken seriously.
SO I put a plea for prayer. Specifically asking the prayer warriors in my life to pray for mom's brain to heal but also pray that the doctors would be still long enough to let God guide them in the answer. I visualized them pausing just for a moment and that one missing link would pop out and an answer would come...Neuro-surgery and Neurology were the players and one thought they knew better than the other - not surprising - but to their credit, they did not back down and proceded to prove the other one wrong. SO it was during one of the neurologists exams, that the nurse later told me, that he saw something he hadn't seen before. Just a little change in her vision that turned on the light bulb that this might be something else. A 24 hour EEG later and they counted 7 seizures...don't know how many her brain endured before this test.
You see God works in this world through God's faithful disciples. We are given gifts and the free will to use them or not, and when we do and when we let God guide us in using them "all things work together for good" So the neurologist has no idea that there were so many voices behind what I'm sure he considers a flash of brilliance on his own part...no prayers were at work, the Holy Spirit was at work...Mom is back in rehab and beginning again to find her way back to good health and peace. Please keep praying!
SO I put a plea for prayer. Specifically asking the prayer warriors in my life to pray for mom's brain to heal but also pray that the doctors would be still long enough to let God guide them in the answer. I visualized them pausing just for a moment and that one missing link would pop out and an answer would come...Neuro-surgery and Neurology were the players and one thought they knew better than the other - not surprising - but to their credit, they did not back down and proceded to prove the other one wrong. SO it was during one of the neurologists exams, that the nurse later told me, that he saw something he hadn't seen before. Just a little change in her vision that turned on the light bulb that this might be something else. A 24 hour EEG later and they counted 7 seizures...don't know how many her brain endured before this test.
You see God works in this world through God's faithful disciples. We are given gifts and the free will to use them or not, and when we do and when we let God guide us in using them "all things work together for good" So the neurologist has no idea that there were so many voices behind what I'm sure he considers a flash of brilliance on his own part...no prayers were at work, the Holy Spirit was at work...Mom is back in rehab and beginning again to find her way back to good health and peace. Please keep praying!
Friday, January 15, 2010
A Special Place in Hell
I have an ever evolving theology of heaven and hell. I do not know God as a judging, condeming God so I tend to believe that we all get to heaven and that we really make our own hells -
My mother was rearended while she was parked at a McDonald's parking lot. Apparently she was hit rather hard because she hit her head on the steering wheel at impact. The driver of the vehicle that hit her drove off in enough of a hurry to inspire some witnesses to come forward and she has since been found...but that's probably another story...
Mom was OK on Monday, but developed a headache on Tuesday and ended up with brain surgery to remove a subdural hematoma from her temporal lobe. She in Barnes Hospital recovering from a very miserable surgery.
I worked as a Physical Therapist for 14 years, first at Jewish and then at Barnes-Jewish in the rehab department - taking of care many craniotomy patients...
Now the HELL part...One of the most difficult things for a caregiver to do, is to become a patient. Let alone a patient in the hospital they work in...you know too much, you know too much about about what is happening physically to a patient, you know too much about the system that keeps you waiting for 4 hours for "emergency" surgery, you know too much about the risk factors and potential outcomes. I have been in this hell for the last 24 hours or so.
Some would say that hell is a permanent place, but that too doesn't ring true to me, because where is redemption if that is the case? Rather our hells are of our own making and therefore our release from those hells our own to choose. Today, Mom is recovering and my hell is being redeemed to a heaven. I am thankful, I am blessed, I am tired!
Peace to all.
My mother was rearended while she was parked at a McDonald's parking lot. Apparently she was hit rather hard because she hit her head on the steering wheel at impact. The driver of the vehicle that hit her drove off in enough of a hurry to inspire some witnesses to come forward and she has since been found...but that's probably another story...
Mom was OK on Monday, but developed a headache on Tuesday and ended up with brain surgery to remove a subdural hematoma from her temporal lobe. She in Barnes Hospital recovering from a very miserable surgery.
I worked as a Physical Therapist for 14 years, first at Jewish and then at Barnes-Jewish in the rehab department - taking of care many craniotomy patients...
Now the HELL part...One of the most difficult things for a caregiver to do, is to become a patient. Let alone a patient in the hospital they work in...you know too much, you know too much about about what is happening physically to a patient, you know too much about the system that keeps you waiting for 4 hours for "emergency" surgery, you know too much about the risk factors and potential outcomes. I have been in this hell for the last 24 hours or so.
Some would say that hell is a permanent place, but that too doesn't ring true to me, because where is redemption if that is the case? Rather our hells are of our own making and therefore our release from those hells our own to choose. Today, Mom is recovering and my hell is being redeemed to a heaven. I am thankful, I am blessed, I am tired!
Peace to all.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Anonymous
OK, my soap box is coming out....
Just about every week, there is an anonymous note that shows up somewhere, complaining about something. Sometimes it is fairly nebulus and sometimes it is down right nasty. Well enough already! Anonymous notes don't mean very much. As a matter of fact we have decided that anonymous notes go in the trash without anyone reading them. If you can't sign it, if you can't own your comments - then you aren't interested in resolving your complaint, and you aren't really very confident in your comments or you wouldn't be dodging the responsibility of making them.
Cmon now, lets grow up and be adults and if you don't like something that is happening then take it to the right person and do the right thing.
Just about every week, there is an anonymous note that shows up somewhere, complaining about something. Sometimes it is fairly nebulus and sometimes it is down right nasty. Well enough already! Anonymous notes don't mean very much. As a matter of fact we have decided that anonymous notes go in the trash without anyone reading them. If you can't sign it, if you can't own your comments - then you aren't interested in resolving your complaint, and you aren't really very confident in your comments or you wouldn't be dodging the responsibility of making them.
Cmon now, lets grow up and be adults and if you don't like something that is happening then take it to the right person and do the right thing.
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