Truth--"Tell It Slant"

Here’s a great poem by Emily Dickinson about truth. 

Tell it Slant 

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies;
Too bright for mind's infirm intent,
The Truth's superb surprise.

As Lightning to the Children eased,
With explanation kind;
The Truth must dazzle gradually,
Or every man be blind. 

To tell the truth “slant” is, I believe, the most effective way to do it. If you just go up to somebody and say “Hey—God loves you!” that person is apt to go suddenly wide-eyed, turn on his/her heel, and get away from you quickly.

In fact, I remember a similar situation when I was a freshman at the University of Texas in Austin many years ago. Simply being there was a culture shock, since the freshman class was comprised of about a thousand people more than my entire home town. Contributing to the spinning of my head was the fact that professors were slinging truth and half-truth and not-truth at me as fast as they could talk. I was dizzy trying to figure out which was which.

One beautiful day in October or November, a student stopped me on the sidewalk as I was on my way to class, deep in agonized thought. He said, “Have you had the wonderful experience of asking Jesus Christ into your life?”

I was completely bamboozled, not to mention shocked, and said, “Yes.” I walked on. People didn’t do that kind of thing so directly where I came from, and I could hardly believe anybody would do it. My home town was a lovely, nurturing place to grow up, full of loving people. But most of them were shy about directly discussing God, for some reason. It was the time, I suppose. People don’t seem to be that way so much now, and I’m glad.

So what is the best way to present the truth about God’s love to people? How do we “tell it slant” in a way that makes people listen? It's a delicate and difficult question. I’m going to think about it and write more about it soon.

*I borrowed the picture from this site.

Truth--"Tell It Slant"

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/09/truth-tell-it-slant.html

A Moveable Feast

I just read somewhere that Good Friday is “a moveable feast.”  Hmmm, I said. What does that mean?

Ernest Hemingway wrote a novel called A Moveable Feast, which is a collection of memoirs about his years in Paris. Someone wrote that Paris is “a moveable feast.”  Somehow, though, I don’t think it is a moveable feast in the same sense as Good Friday. Maybe Hemingway moved around Paris feasting on…things.

When I looked it up, Wikipedia said a moveable feast is a holiday whose date varies, depending on different things—as opposed to a “fixed feast” like Christmas, always December 25.  The date for Good Friday, it said, depends on the date of Easter, which is also a moveable feast.  According to FashionGets.com,

Easter is considered to be a moveable date because the first council of Nicaea in 325 AD declared it to be the Sunday after the full moon after the vernal equinox. It was then changed by the Gregorian calendar in 1582.

That information was not quite confusing enough for me, so I also considered this mind-boggling erudition, found here:

The tables which appear here and, in more detail, in the Book of Common Prayer can be used to determine the date of Easter. These tables were compiled by the then Astronomer Royal, the Revd James Bradley (1673–1762) for the Calendar Act 1750 (by which the Gregorian Calendar was adopted in Britain), and the effect of them is mathematically identical to the more complicated tables devised in 1582 for Pope Gregory XIII’s reform.

In another sense, a website called “Moveable Feast” is about an organization in Baltimore that delivers healthy meals, groceries, and nutrition counseling to people who suffer from AIDS. There’s a similar organization with this title in Lexington, Kentucky.

Oh, dear. What to do with all that?  The thing is, a moveable feast changes around, whereas a fixed feast does not.  The title has an important ring to it. Of course, we don’t call holidays “feasts” in America these days, although we often do feast on holidays.  I like thinking of Easter and Christmas as feasts of love and sharing. And I like thinking of a group whose purpose is to nourish people with AIDS—a feast of feeding, loving, giving.

The picture comes from Lemuria Books’ website.

A Moveable Feast

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/08/moveable-feast.html

Love God--Love Others

Our culture insists we should love ourselves, make time for ourselves, do something for “me” for a change.  This state of mind is supposed to lead to a stronger self-image. A book by Robin Meade, published in 2009, is entitled Morning Sunshine! How to Radiate Confidence and Feel It Too.  In preparation for writing this book, I remember seeing that she was soliciting suggestions for “what you do to gain self-confidence.”  (I have not read this book and am not likely to.)

The more we concentrate on ourselves, the more self-absorbed and selfish we become, and our true self-confidence gets shaky. I remember as a self-conscious teenager, for a time I thought people were constantly judging me, staring at me, talking about me. Some wise person—I’ve forgotten who—told me other people were too busy worrying about themselves to worry about me. That thought helped me gain a little better perspective.

The more we are concerned about other people, their needs and longings, the less we worry about ourselves. The more we give ourselves away to God and to serving other people, the stronger and more free we are.

Here’s a little story in Luke 10:

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 

But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 

 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” 

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

The two most important commandments, according to Jesus, are to love God and other people. Nowhere does it say “love yourself and worry about your self-confidence.” It says to give yourself away and you’ll find life—a sort of paradox. It’s funny how much paradox is all around us even when we aren’t aware of it.

**I borrowed the picture of the God billboard from this linked site.

Love God--Love Others

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/01/love-god-love-others.html

Peace

Everywhere I look now, I see the peace symbol--on purses, shirts, hair ornaments, caps, books, shoes, cars, you name it.  When I first noticed this phenomenon, I thought, oh, good grief--here we are back in the sixties with the flower children. 

But the more I think about it, the more I realize this is a good thing. Peace is elusive today. You can hardly find a quiet, calm spot, not a physical place, not a quiet moment in your spirit. People long for peace. We are universally wired to need it. Let there be peace signs on every surface, I declare, and let there be tremendous awareness and deep longing.

One of my favorite Bible verses is this:

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

This verse is found in the first chapter of Colossians, verse 17.  In this chapter, we see that Paul was writing his letter to the Christians of Colossae, an ancient Greek city, who were said to have confused beliefs.  Paul was afraid they would not see the true nature of Jesus. So he wrote a statement of the principles of Christianity to clarify it for them.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

This verse is part of Paul’s statement of beliefs--a testimonial prayer for the believer’s life.  It proclaims the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the supreme power and love of God, who redeemed us from darkness through Jesus. It means God created the world and everything in it, and that he is in control of it all. His awesome love overcomes chaos in every situation. We can choose to live in his love, in his Spirit, in his peace.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

This understanding gives us hope and a sense of security, helps us even when it may appear that our lives are falling apart. Because God is love, I know I can depend on him. I will not be washed over by chaos. He makes peace possible.

**I borrowed this picture of a human peace sign from Wrangler News.

Peace

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2010/11/peace.html

The Homeless--Any Prospects?

Every night, nearly 200,000 homeless veterans sleep on the streets. “A disgrace,” says former Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Jesse Brown, “that we have men and women who served in American uniform who are out on the streets with no place to go and few prospects for a better life.”

The little bit of information above came from the web site, linked here, of Dignity Memorial, a homeless veterans’ burial program that provides free, appropriate funeral services for qualified homeless veterans. That’s a generous gesture.

But what about their lives? Are they to be left alone under a bridge or on a park bench until death, and then washed, dressed, and buried in a decent way? I believe I see some irony here.

A Google search shows this linked web site of National Homeless.org. After much beating around of the proverbial bush about studies and assumptions, the author says

the total number of homeless people in the United States is “approximately

3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them children,” according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. That is a disgrace.

The United States has the reputation of being one of the most advanced, wealthiest, least hungry nations in the world; many generous Christians live in this country, and the church is not persecuted. Why would so many people be destitute? Is our love too small?

Mark Labberton is the author of a Christianity Today article entitled “The Lima Bean Gospel.” He posits that the church today does not give much evidence of obeying the gospel call; maybe it isn’t politically correct to be zealous, and we worry about that. Labberton says:

Jesus Christ, the Lord of Creation, Redemption, and Fulfillment, calls the church the salt and light of the world. Jesus seems to have had in mind a community engaged in vigorous, self-sacrificing mission that goes to great lengths to enact costly love, that inconveniences itself regularly to seek justice for the oppressed, that creatively serves the forgotten, all to portray that the kingdom of God is at hand.

Depending on where we look in the world, however, that church seems to have gone missing.

We should take a close look at ourselves. When Jesus said we should love God with our whole beings and love our neighbors as ourselves, he meant it; he said those two commandments embody all the ten commandments.

If we truly loved our neighbors as ourselves, we would be loving sacrificially. It's pretty clear that we are usually quite willing to go to great lengths to ensure satisfaction of our own needs. So, logically, if we loved others as ourselves, we'd be more than willing to help people who suffer dire need.

The fact that we, the whole body of Christ, are not willing to act in sacrificial ways shows that our concept of God's love is indeed too small.

As Labberton points out, our God is the creator of the universe, including “300 kinds of hummingbirds” and great diversity among human beings. He says Christianity has been accused of being too bland and weak to offer any answers to the huge diversity of overlapping cultures today. We act as if our love—our gospel—is small.

The only answers, he argues, that will show Christ to the world “will require us to consider again that very thing Jesus says is central to God's kingdom, the most life-enlarging and non-homogenizing reality: love.”

The Bible says we should show our love in actions, not just talk about it:

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence. 1 John 3:17-19

Love is the most powerful force in the universe. If the Christian church worldwide wanted to, it would act out this love, the sacrificial love of Christ. And then 200,000 homeless veterans would not have to wait around until they die to get help. Over 3.5 million other homeless people, including children, would not have "few prospects."

*I borrowed this picture from the "Oldtimer Speaks Out" blog; Oldtimer said the picture came from Flickr .

The Homeless--Any Prospects?

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/every-night-nearly-200000-homeless.html

A Callarmanian Love Theory

An October 8 Associated Press article says, “A lousy marriage might literally make you sick. Marital strife and other bad personal relationships can raise your risk for heart disease, researchers reported Monday.

“What it likely boils down to is stress (,) a well-known contributor to health problems, as well as a potential byproduct of troubled relationships, the scientists said.

“In a study of 9,011 British civil servants, most of them married, those with the worst close relationships were 34 percent more likely to have heart attacks or other heart trouble during 12 years of follow-up than those with good relationships. That included partners, close relatives and friends.

“The study, in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, follows previous research that has linked health problems with being single and having few close relationships. In the new study, researchers focused more on the quality of marriage and other important relationships.”

If we are being scientific about love, we must note that a Callarmanian theory posits these points:

· We were created by a loving God for a close love relationship with him.

· If we are not in a loving relationship with God, we are heartsick.

· We are weighed down by guilt, loneliness, feelings of inferiority, emptiness, and plain old unhappiness.

· These things ooch out into every corner of our lives, even the darkest ones.

· We feel stressed about life in general.

· We feel alone in the world, saddled with responsibilities beyond our ability to cope.

· We are mostly concerned about our own well-being.

· Sometimes we do despicable and harmful things in our efforts to find solace.

· God loves us and wants us to love him.

· But he is holy and perfect. No human is capable of perfect love.

· Through Jesus Christ, we are made acceptable to God.

· Jesus said what God mainly wants is for us to love him completely and to love other people.

· He can help us love him and through him to love others unselfishly.

· When our main concern is loving and pleasing God and then secondly loving and caring for others—including our spouse—we are more likely to be happy in “marriage and other important relationships.”

· Then our hearts will be healthier.

The heart is an original creation by my granddaughter.

A Callarmanian Love Theory

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/10/callarmanian-love-theory.html

A Sword, Not Peace

The Bible has some hard teachings. At my church yesterday, a man read this passage, looked up, and said, “Does that mean we’re not supposed to love our wives and children?”

Matthew 10:34-37

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn
"a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.”

Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Various ones of us in the class tried to explain it, but I’m not sure he ever accepted our ideas. Our main consensus was that it’s as if we were the children in a family—the love we would have together for our parents. That kind of love is different from the love among brothers and sisters; it goes beyond, somehow, involving love in a different sense—of safety and sacrifice and nurture, maybe.

Here’s what Oswald Chambers says about it in today’s My Utmost for His Highest devotional entry:

The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26 ). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion— those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.

A Sword, Not Peace

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/05/sword-not-peace.html

To Say "I Love You"

In one week, two grown men confided to me that their fathers never told them “I love you.” The father of one of them has been dead for years; the other is still living. These two men were obviously saddened by that fact. They seemed to feel incomplete—not whole because of it. They implied that they had been kept from something important in their lives because of it. The man whose father is dead cried when he told me; the other man seemed angry.

I did not know what to say. This morning, several weeks later, I had a thought about it.

We are called to love. Jesus said that what God wants the most from us is love. He said the greatest commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-33). And who is our “neighbor”? He means love other people—the people around us.

It doesn’t say “Get others to love you.” And it doesn’t say, “If you know somebody loves you, make sure they say it.” It tells us to love others. That says nothing about them loving us or saying they do. No conditions are attached to it, I notice. We don’t have to wait until they love us first. Love others.

But obviously, people want to hear those words, “I love you.” The words have a sort of magical power. They transform. Could we tell the people we love that we love them—even if we know they might not respond? It’s a hard thing to do. Why should it be so difficult to say three words?

Let’s think about that old goat, our stubborn father—or a difficult grandfather—maybe an indifferent mother or hard-hearted sister. We could gather up our courage and say the words: “I love you.” Saying the words opens our hearts—throws us out in the open, unprotected. It might make a world of difference in our relationships, in their hearts, in our own hearts.

So what if they never can say it back? We could keep on saying it anyway, from time to time, raining love on them. Who can resist a love attack for long?

The all-important question I have for that angry man whose father is still alive is this: can you fling yourself off the safe narrow ledge and say to him ‘I love you’?

The picture is from National Geographic.

To Say "I Love You"

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/03/to-say-i-love-you.html

What Is Absolute Truth?

Sometimes I hear people say things like

• "Truth is in the eye of the beholder."

• "There's no such thing as truth."

• "Truth is related to what you believe or don't believe."

• "Truth is relative."

That kind of belief is very shifty and meaningless. People who say those things are trying either to avoid truth or to make it what they want it to be. Absolute truth does exist.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

The most elemental, basic truth is love. It is the most powerful force in the universe.

Our hearts were created to cry out for love. We need it. We thrive on it. We shrivel up and die without it. People have been willing to sacrifice everything and even give up their lives for it. Love is the basis of all truth. The Bible says if we have every possession in the world but don't have love, we have nothing. Love is everything, and without it we are nothing. (That's in First Corinthians 13.)

The Bible says (in First John 4) that God is love. It says that if we have love in our lives, we have God, whether or not we know it. If you've known any love, then, you've known God--whether it is love of your children, your parents, your spouse, your friends, or your puppy.

Since love is who and what God is, he is truth.

In Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning, he describes the process by which he was able to find meaning even while he was suffering terribly in a concentration camp during World War II. Stumbling over rocks and ice during a forced march one morning just before dawn, Frankl saw an image of his wife, and she seemed very real to him, as real as the sun rising. He says:

A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth--that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. . . . For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory." (48-49)

We can depend on his love, because it is true, unfailing, and unchanging. It never ends.

The word of God is truth. In Psalm 33, King David says that "the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does" (verse 4). In verse 11, he says "the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations."

The Bible is God's living word--it has all kinds of relevant things to say to anyone of any age, race, or nationality. Bob Just, a well-known journalist, wrote that "the Bible is amazing because truth is amazing. The Bible is not only adventurous; it's also touching, meaningful, instructive, ironic, sarcastic, humorous, gentle and stern--and ultimately both spiritual and human at the same time. It is also strangely modern despite its ancient text." He says it is "God's love letter to us." He calls it "a living document because the God who guides you is a Living God." And the secret to understanding and believing it "isn't knowledge. The secret is love."

God is the truth upon which all other truth rests.

Frankl, Viktor E. Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy. 4th ed. Trans. Ilse Lasch. Boston: Beacon, 1992.

Just, Bob. "No Fear: Overcoming Bible Trauma." WorldNetDaily. 10 Apr. 2004.

What Is Absolute Truth?

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-is-absolute-truth.html

Q & A: Love

Q: Why are you running so hard?

A: Trying to get away.

Q: From what?

A: Things. Things that make me uncomfortable.

Q: What kinds of things?

A: Emotional junk. You know the kind—lovey stuff that people say.

Q: Like what?

A: Like what you’re always saying—about love.

Q: And things about God?

A: That, too, I guess. Don’t want to talk about it. It’s just a story.

Q: Gets you out of your comfort zone?

A: Don’t want to talk about that. I’m perfectly comfortable.

Q: Know what you are really running away from? Love. Joy in living—or dying—or whatever. I can’t understand why anybody would run from love—why anybody would choose cold misery over love. Can you explain that?

A:

Q & A: Love

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/01/q-love.html

Dogs: Man's (and Woman's) Best Friends

We have been dog owners for all the thirty-six years of our marriage. During all that time, whenever we became dog-less through doggie-death, another stray would show up soon and take up residence with us; these have all been big dogs, usually two at a time. We have actually sought out, on purpose, only three dogs—Flash, Alex, and Taz. During those years, we have always had at least one cat, once as many as nine, including kittens.

Flash was an adorable Bassett hound mama dog who had just given birth to six puppies. Our children were begging for a Bassett hound for Christmas. The owners of Flash and her puppies offered us a puppy, but when I went to get one, I could see that they were not going to look like Bassett hounds; their daddy was somebody else. So, I offered to take the mama. The owners were delighted at this unexpected turn of events. I took a picture of her and put it in a Christmas card with the assurance that this doggie would be ours as soon as she finished her motherly duties. She was a wonderful, loving pet. We had her spayed, and she lived with us for about two years before getting run over by a car while wandering with our current stray. (We live in the country where dogs run loose.)

Several strays later, our daughter wanted a black lab puppy for her high school graduation gift. We found the perfect one and had her registered: Alexandria (Something) Callarman, who became known as Alex. We had her spayed, and she lived with and loved us for thirteen years. (You’re right: our daughter went off to college when she finished the local junior college and left Alex right here with us.) Even though Alex weighed about seventy pounds, she had to sit in our laps sometimes. She went wandering often with the strays and was eventually killed on the highway.

After Alex, we had two strays, Bubba and Jack; actually, they overlapped with her. They lived with and loved us for about twelve years altogether. After they died, both of old age, we decided it was time to become dog-less for a while. That lasted for about six months.

During the time that our yard and garage were unguarded, we realized that possums and raccoons were coming often to eat the cat food. One night, hearing noise, I looked out and saw a skunk and a raccoon having a shoving match over the cat food. They tried to shoulder each other out of the way politely for a while. Then the battle escalated. They were rear to rear, pushing each other as hard as they could. We decided it was time to get a big dog or two.

Since no stray had appeared, we looked on the Internet and found Taz, a big neutered male black-lab mixture, at Rescue the Animals. From the moment we got him, he became our best dog yet, although he has a close rival in Spot, a big stray who came along to join Taz. That was almost three years ago.

Taz was owned by someone who kept the gigantic dog indoors and fed him nothing but dry dog food. He had (and still has) impeccable manners—has never once jumped on or slobbered on anybody. The first night, we had to keep the garage light on all night because he was afraid of the dark outdoors. He would rather be petted than eat; he seems to live to be near us. When we come out, he dashes over as fast as he can and sits politely as close as he can, hoping we will talk to him and pet him; he will sit as long as we will keep petting him. I rub his silky ears and neck and call him my “sweet baby.” He loves that.

Soon after we got him, we discovered that he is obsessed with chasing a tennis ball. We keep a supply for him, since they often get lost. He has all the neighbors, the grandchildren, the meter readers, the plumber, the electrician, and the air conditioner man trained to throw the ball for him. When we come home from somewhere, he grabs the ball, brings it to the car, and deposits it in the floor of the car in hopes of some good throwing.

Like Flash, Alex, and all those strays, Taz loves us with no strings attached. If we hide his ball so that we can get some outside chore done, or because we get tired of throwing it, he never holds a grudge. He understands and accepts the fact that we won’t let him in the house, and he adores us anyway. I believe God created dogs with this ability to love without conditions, without manipulation, without inhibitions, so that we can see a picture of his kind of pure love. We should love God and each other in the same open, clear-eyed, unconditional way that our dogs love us. That’s how love is supposed to be.

Dogs: Man's (and Woman's) Best Friends

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/01/dogs-mans-and-womans-best-friends.html

Happy New Year: Passion

Today, we’re going to have a little vocabulary study. We’re going to take a look at the word passion. (I’m an English teacher, remember.)

Merriam-Webster says passion is an emotion that is deeply stirring—an emotion that compels action. Without it, life is meaningless and dull.

Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose-Driven Life, says, “The driving force behind all great art, music, literature, drama, and architecture is passion.” As we go through our lives, he says, “passion is what sustains [us] in reaching our goals. It turns the impossible into the possible.”

People are passionate about any number of things: history, ships, writing, swimming, photography. Some people are passionate about orchids. Orchidelirium is the name the Victorians gave to the action-driving “flower madness” that seems to be almost like gold fever for botanical collectors. Books have been written about it. Wealthy orchid devotees of the Victorian era sent explorers out to find rare flowers--heavily armed, to protect themselves against other zealous seekers. You can find a number of web sites about orchids; the one linked here is a good example of this kind of passion.

Many people wander around aimlessly, passionate about nothing, their lives characterized by dispirited emptiness. Those who have found a passion are fortunate; it gives life meaning. God pre-programmed us to be capable of passionate devotion, so that we would seek him and fall in love with him. God-passion gives life the ultimate in meaning. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

Passion, as Warren says, is a matter of the spirit. He says the reason “many of us have trouble infusing our daily lives with passion” is that “we don’t know our purpose.” And he said, “At its root passion is a spiritual issue, not a matter of financial greed or romantic pleasure.” Warren’s web site has help for those who want to go deeper with God.

I spent many years of my life trying to avoid passionate devotion to anything other than my family. For some reason, I couldn’t allow within myself a force that is greater than I am, something that might cause me to fall headlong into it. As a result, I diddled along through life, trying not to see its emptiness. I think I was afraid. My faith story tells how I came to know and love him.

Oswald Chambers says in My Utmost for His Highest, “No one on earth has this passionate love for the Lord Jesus unless the Holy Spirit has given it to him. We may admire, respect, and revere Him, but we cannot love Him on our own. The only One who truly loves the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit, and it is He who has ‘poured out in our hearts’ the very ‘love of God’ (Romans 5:5 ). Whenever the Holy Spirit sees an opportunity to glorify Jesus through you, He will take your entire being and set you ablaze with glowing devotion to Jesus Christ.”

And…to conclude our word study, Paul says in Hebrews 12:29, “our God is a consuming fire.” God is the ultimate passion—love. The more I throw myself into that consuming fire, the more free, rich, and full my life is.

Picture: http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/books/62/082126205X/index.html

Happy New Year: Passion

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/01/happy-new-year-passion.html

Saddam Hussein--Executed

I just learned that Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging, just before ten p.m., Eastern time. I have mixed feelings about that.

While I realize that he was a murderous fellow and deserves punishment, I have a hard time believing that we are right in ratcheting up the violence constantly. It seems to me that more violence on our part just stirs up the Muslims to a higher level of violence. If we could somehow demonstrate Christian love to them, it seems their violence might dissipate. Jesus preached nonviolence. "Love your enemies," he said. "Pray for those who persecute you."

I tend to agree with Shane Claiborne, who said in The Irresistible Revolution, "Our arms are just not big enough to carry both the cross and the sword" (249).

Look at the results of the medieval Crusades. Claiborne says, " We can learn from the bloody pages of history. The more vigorously we try to root out evil by force, the more evil will escalate. For every Muslim extremist killed, another is created. Likewise, the more passionately we love our enemies, the more evil will diminish" (249).

He points out, "It is no surprise that statistics show Muslim people are less open to Christianity now than they were a year ago. Pharisaic extremists are alive today in every religion--in Islam, in Christianity, in Judaism" (250).

Saddam Hussein--Executed

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2006/12/saddam-hussein-executed.html

World Trade Center: The Movie

The second night after Christmas, my daughter and I put the children to bed early and watched a movie--World Trade Center. We cried, and we talked about it a lot the next day.

The tag line for the movie says it is “A true story of courage and survival.” Directed by Oliver Stone, it is the very moving and intense story of two of only twenty survivors rescued from the rubble of the World Trade Center buildings.

Will Jimeno, played by Michael Peña, was a rookie in a select group of New York City Port Authority policemen supervised by John McLoughlin (Nicholas Cage). Clad in fire gear, they were headed into the first-hit building in a brave effort to save as many as they could. They did not know the second building had also been hit. When the first building began to collapse, they were in the concourse between buildings. They ran for the elevator shafts and were buried there for about 22 hours before being rescued. The other members of the group were killed in the collapse.

The movie shows the courage of the two men and their families in the face of this terrifying experience. McLoughlin’s and Jimeno’s thoughts were of their families, each other, and their partners who had been killed. The CBS News site at this link tells the true story and features a video of a “Sixty Minutes” interview on November 24, 2004, with McLoughlin, Jimeno, and several of the men who rescued them.

An important part of the film is the heroic story of then-former-Marine Staff Sergeant David Karnes who was largely responsible for their rescue, along with another Marine known only as “Sgt. Thomas.” A senior accountant in Wilton, Connecticut, Karnes felt called by God to don his Marine uniform, gather up his military rescue equipment, and go to New York City to help. His fascinating story is told in this linked article in the Wilton, Connecticut, newspaper, the Wilton Bulletin of August 10, 2006.

His part in the 9-11 rescues was clearly a “God thing,” and Stone portrayed it that way. Too often, Hollywood tries to gloss over “God things” or downplay them, but in this movie, we see it the way it probably was, not embellished in any way, no implied excuses or criticism for his following this heart-felt urge.

Stone’s film does not try to tell the whole story of September 11, 2001. But through the story of these two men, their families, and their rescuers, what comes clear is the universal feelings of fear and shock, as well as the uncommon courage and human love on that terrible day.

The picture of the Port Authority policemen in the movie comes from this web site: http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0469641/Ss/0469641/03070.jpg?path=gallery&path_key=0469641

World Trade Center: The Movie

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2006/12/world-trade-center-movie.html

Thursday Thirteen: What Is Love?

It sounds like kind of a corny question: What is love?

Real love is different from the usual, common ol’ ordinary, everyday love. It is different from “luv” that we see splayed out in movies and on TV. It is not the same thing as desire—or sex. In a time when half of all marriages end in divorce, we could use some real love.

How do I know what real love is? I learned it from First Corinthians 13, which has thirteen verses. The writer is Paul, who understood love because he learned it from God, who is love. Here’s what he says, in the modern-day language of The New International Readers Version:

(1) Suppose I speak in the languages of human beings and of angels. If I don't have love, I am only a loud gong or a noisy cymbal. (2) Suppose I have the gift of prophecy. Suppose I can understand all the secret things of God and know everything about him. And suppose I have enough faith to move mountains. If I don't have love, I am nothing at all. (3) Suppose I give everything I have to poor people. And suppose I give my body to be burned. If I don't have love, I get nothing at all.

(4) Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud. (5) It is not rude. It does not look out for its own interests. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people's wrongs.

(6) Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken. (7) It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up.

(8) Love never fails. But prophecy will pass away. Speaking in languages that had not been known before will end. And knowledge will pass away.

(9) What we know now is not complete. What we prophesy now is not perfect. (10) But when what is perfect comes, the things that are not perfect will pass away.

(11) When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I had the understanding of a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

(12) Now we see only a dim likeness of things. It is as if we were seeing them in a mirror. But someday we will see clearly. We will see face to face. What I know now is not complete. But someday I will know completely, just as God knows me completely.

(13) The three most important things to have are faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.

That's what real love is. Is your love like that? Is mine?

Thursday Thirteen: What Is Love?

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2006/11/thursday-thirteen-what-is-love.html

A New Baby

Ooooooooooooo, yikes!!!! We are expecting our eighth grandchild at any moment! It’s a little girl, whose name will be Alaina—unless, of course, they change their minds. They live far away from us, and that’s sad. A couple of us have tickets to fly up to the frozen wastelands to meet her in a few weeks. I feel bad about not being there for her birth. This will be the first one I’ve missed!

A baby is a miracle, a gift from God. We all love her already.

To me, it is amazing that we can know the sex of an unborn child. Then, on top of that, the latest sonogram, yesterday, shows that she has lots of hair, chubby cheeks, and big lips. (All our babies seem to have big lips.) And yesterday, she was estimated to weigh about six pounds, fifteen ounces. The blood flow to her brain is good; her heart is doing fine. Her bladder functions well, and her stomach is full of amniotic fluid. Her head is firmly nestled in the birth canal, but still, yesterday, even with her head in a vise, she seemed interested in putting her hand on her foot.

When I was having babies, there was no way to know all this. Maybe in our skeptical generation, God has enabled us to figure out how to see these things so that we would have even more evidence of his awesome power!

A New Baby

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2006/10/new-baby.html

Fear

"I’m not comfortable with fear.” I read this in a comment on another blog; it was written by a blogger called “Peppylady.” I am not comfortable with fear, either.

I decided that fear is very big and nasty and is responsible for much more than we realize.

Here are some things fear does to us:

It stands between us and our self-expression. It keeps us from saying things we want to say or that we feel we should or could say. That covers any number of situations, from when we should stand up for ourselves to when we should ask for help or try to explain something or find out about something we need to know. We don’t know what to say, and so we often say nothing. We often find it is easier to complain or express anger than to say something complimentary, kind, or loving. We have trouble saying, “I love you.”

Therefore, it stands between people, preventing good relationships. When we hold out a tender part of ourselves to another, offering love, risk is involved. A little voice says to us, “What if he doesn’t say he loves me, too?” We find it more comforting to stay safe and just not make the offer.

Because fear prevents good relationships, it keeps us from showing love to our children and our spouses and other family members. We build walls—protective covers to keep ourselves from being hurt. We are afraid to take the risk of loving. We listen to that mean little voice saying “Don’t let him hurt you.” Our children grow up angry and resentful—and full of fear, themselves. It is less risky-feeling to lash out in anger than to speak of love. We cannot forgive, and so hurts may build up for years.

Then when we get thick walls built around ourselves, we can’t let ourselves feel emotion. And we can’t, therefore, feel other people’s hurts. We are too preoccupied with being sure we are treated right to be able to reach out to help someone in need—even people we love.

The Bible says, “There is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives fear away. Fear has to do with being punished. The one who fears does not have perfect love” (First John 4:18).

I used to think that meant when people loved each other perfectly, there would be no fear. I thought if people could just get to that point of loving unselfishly, fear and intimidation would be gone.

But I found out not many years ago through praying, reading the Bible, and studying that, instead, it is talking about the perfect love of God. God is love. And when his Spirit lives in us, his love is what sends fear away. We don’t have to fear anything. He is God of peace, understanding, and love—not darkness and fear.

He is real. And he is powerful—more powerful than forces of darkness—and very loving.


The picture is from this web site: http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/fear.html

Fear

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2006/10/fear.html

Drew and Jesus

A few years ago, my mother, my three-year-old grandson Drew, and I stopped at a Dairy Queen on our way home from a 45-mile trip to fetch Drew. We were going to eat hamburgers and ice cream cones; it was dinner time, a time when Dairy Queens are usually full of people.

After we ordered, we went to sit down in a large dining area. Only one other person was in that room. I said, “Look, Drew, we are almost alone in here.”

Drew said, “We aren’t ever really alone, Mom-oh. Jesus is always close to us.”

I was very touched by this little boy’s faith. As I thought about it, I was deeply gratified that my daughter and son-in-law had taught him to have faith in Christ, and that he could make the connection to what I said—even though, of course, I was more glad than disturbed about being alone in the Dairy Queen dining room. He knew that he didn’t have to worry or be afraid of being alone.

We did not teach our children about faith when they were little. I thought the most important values in life were family love and moral goodness. I took them to church pretty often, mostly because it seemed like the right thing to do. But through the years, God planted seeds of faith in them and got them through the hard adolescent years without any permanent damage. Family love and moral goodness are good . . . but they are not enough.

More to come….

Drew and Jesus

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2006/09/few-years-ago-my-mother-my-three-year.html

Outlandish Love

Recently, I was reading in the book of John, chapter 11, the story of Lazarus, raised from the dead, and his two sisters, Mary and Martha.

And then this in chapter 12: six days before the Passover, Jesus was in Bethany and ate with Mary and Martha and a lot of other people. Mary poured some expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and dried them with her hair. The fragrance of the perfume filled the house.

These words leaped off the page and spoke to me. I’ve read that many times before, but this time, I really understood why she did that. She had seen his glory—his love—and she loved him extravagantly. I could almost feel her feelings, in a way. He had raised her brother from death...after four days.

I think we’re meant to have that kind of unreserved, outlandish love for him. And our lives are to be a display of it. Amen!

Outlandish Love

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2005/12/outlandish-love.html

Let's Love Each Other

Yesterday morning, our daughter and grandchildren were still at our house, and we were all sitting down to eat breakfast. Our four-year-old granddaughter said to me, "Mom-oh, would you sit by me?"

"Absolutely," I said. "I'm going to sit right here." I was at the end of the table, and she was at the side, to my left.

She patted the table next to her. "Would you sit real close to me?" she asked.

My heart was warmed and very touched. I pulled my chair around the table corner and got as close to her as I could. We ate breakfast elbow-to-elbow and had a meaningful discussion about the processes of making doughnut holes and inserting cream into chocolate eclairs. I love being loved by a four-year-old.

I believe God often uses human relationships like this to show us things we need to understand about him. I think he wants us to see him as a caring father whom we love, and he asks us to sit as close as possible. He loves being loved by us.

If we have ever felt love--we have known something of him, whether we realize it or not. First John 4:7-8 says this: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."

Let's Love Each Other

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2005/11/lets-love-each-other.html