wisdom of Bin Laden

Reuters:

"The militant leader also vowed in an audio recording posted on the Internet on Saturday to expand jihad to liberate all Palestinian land and said his group will never recognize Israel." (italics mine)

umm... i believe he just did. heh.

Benazir Bhutto

Is it just me, or did anyone else get the distinct impression that Benazir Bhutto expected, rather- intended, to be assassinated? I don't mean to imply that she planned it. There was certainly no need to help all those folks who wanted to see her dead. It's just that I kept thinking I sensed a sort of messianic/martyr aspect to her personality. Her death could very well be the catalyst that is needed in Pakistan. Time will tell.

new blogger!

My new friend, Pete, has started blogging about the spiritual journey he is on. Pete is 72. I couldn't be more thrilled at the way he has courageously stepped out in faith at a time in life when I'm sure few of his friends would be willing to do the same. We need more Petes! Please go by and visit him, encourage him, and share your journey as well. The post modern/emerging church conversation doesn't have enough voices from Pete's generation. Let's see what we can learn from him. I'd appreciate it if you'd also take a moment to write a post of your own directing folks his way.

a question

I've been thinking of taking my feed reader links off my blog.

How often do you refer to the links on other people's blogs (other than checking for your own)?

love- I wonder how the Father felt

question

do all 8 year olds seem to be insane, or is it just ours?

dan folgelberg

I just found out that Dan Fogelberg is dead. This makes me sad.

not an inn!

check out Ben Witherington's take on the Christmas story in Christianity Today.

"Bethlehem was a one-stoplight town, and we don't have a shred of archaeological evidence that there ever was a wayfarer's inn in that little village in Jesus' day. All this silliness about 'no room at the Holiday Inn' for the holy family or the world giving Jesus the cold shoulder is not at all what Luke is talking about. It's a story about no inn in the room! It's a story about a family making do when more relatives than expected suddenly show up on the doorstep. It's a story most of us can relate to in one way or another. Jesus was born in his relative's home, in the place where they kept the most precious of their animals."

ugh

this morning cupcake was down in the field and could not get up on his own. Keith literally pushed him up onto his feet again. I spent the day with a lump in my throat, crying a few times out of sight of Ruby, but when we all got home this evening, cupcake was still up. the next time it happens may be the end. we aren't prepared and won't be prepared. i dread waking up tomorrow morning. and i don't know how to leave town friday and feel even a little bit okay about it.

at the dentist today we learned that Ruby has 2 cavities. we don't have dental insurance. it just gets better and better.

almost made it

I got so far. One week before Christmas is the longest I've ever come before becoming overwhelmed and dreaming of January 5th when the decorations are down and it's all over. Ah, well- it happened today. Still 2 more days of school to go; a choir party (with the inevitable snacks courtesy of the moms) and dentist appt. for the daughter tomorrow afternoon- followed by the shopping i haven't been able to finish. we leave friday for christmas with my family. my house needs to be cleaned. the gifts i'm helping my daughter make are not finished. not one present has been wrapped. And i really need to go out alone shopping, but i don't see how that's going to happen. i'm tired.

i'm disappointed in myself. not for not being ready, but for letting it bother me.

decorating for Christmas

sometimes nature does the decorating for you

Wrangler

Wrangler is our quarter horse. Like many other horses, when he gets bored he looks for a way to get out of the fence. He has nowhere to go, he just gets out and waits for us to put him back in. A few weeks ago he was getting out almost every night (that is, until Keith found and reinforced his escape route.) I snapped these photos one morning, just after I got downstairs and saw him in the backyard, yet again.

I opened the door and called, "Hey, what are you doing in the yard?"



To which he responded like this.

missional living through the eyes of an atheist

Lanie Peterson periodically posts pieces by her "atheist husband." I couldn't resist passing this one along.

Everything You Need to Know About “Missional,” I Learned at an Outdoor Rave:

*Everyone will forget to bring something they need. Everyone will
remember to bring something someone else needs, even if they aren’t
trying to.

*Don’t spend all your time in one tent.

*Have at least one friend who smokes, even if you hate smoking. He
will have Fire, which is useful for other things.

*Others will see and hear things you do not. You will want to talk
about these Things with them, because sometimes they are real. You
will see and hear things that others do not. You will want to talk to
others about these Things, because sometimes they are not real. If
this is too hard to understand, stay home and read Horton Hears a Who.

*Sometimes hearing what you need to (instead of what you want to) is
best left in the hands of a professional.

*Letting a mystical experience happen when it wants to will motivate
and guide you. Trying to make one happen every day will just wear
your dumb ass out.

*Telling other people they should dance is a bad way of getting them to
dance. Dancing is a good way of getting other people to dance.

*Sometimes, someone will overdo things. If you feel so euphoric that
you don’t see someone who is overdoing things, then that person is
probably you.

*The access to divinity that’s inside you is harder to persecute than
the access to divinity that’s in your pocket. The sooner it leaves
your pocket and gets inside you or someone else, the better.

*The bigger the flyer, the crappier the party.

*Old schoolbuses that have served their time in purgatory make for
prime gathering points once they are enjoying their retirement.

*Everyone who brings their dog will be astonished at how quickly all
such dogs form a “dog society” and form a gleeful marauding pack.
Remember that people are not so different, for better or for worse.

*The greater and more desperate one’s hope that one has not been sold a
bunk load of acid, the higher the likelihood that it is in fact just a
cut-up index card which will do nothing.

*Gather firewood and bring it to the campfires of people you don’t
know, especially ones on the verge of going out.

*Publicity walks headlong into the wind of Skepticism. Stealth walks
with the wind of Curiosity at its back.

*Keeping things underground and word-of-mouth is a great way of
screening out fake people who would turn the experience into Like Just
Another Club, Except Outside.

*The large green laser down at the end of the campsite that’s shooting
through all the campfire smoke is also hitting clouds and generating
UFO reports among the locals. No amount of planning can entirely
prevent being misunderstood.

*Bad weather has a way of separating the wheat from the chaff. The
people whose feet are caked with mud, whose makeup is running
horribly, and whose clothes are soaked through are probably worth
meeting, because they are the ones who will help push your car out of
a rut when it’s time to go home.

Amahoro meeting in Phoenix

I'm passing along a message from Claude Nikondeha about an upcoming Amahoro Africa meeting in February.

Greetings friends from Phoenix!

Okay, I am really hoping you can plan on being with us Feb 21^st& 22^nd. We are hosting an Amahoro Africa weekend in Anthem, AZ. On Thursday (Feb. 21st,) we will host an introduction to the Summer Institute – our theological tool (in the form of interactive seminars) for the emerging leaders in Africa. We will have an amazing team of innovative thinkers and leaders share the concept and demonstrate the seminar. This will include Ron Martoia (author of Static, a must-read) will share on Theology, Tim Keel (pastor of Jacob’s Well (known as leading emerging church) in Kansas City and author of Intuitive Leadership (another must-read) will share on Context and Ted Baird (pastor of Fellowship Church in Anthem and host for the event) will lead time around the idea of Praxis. The idea is to offer a sample seminar, using the values of Amahoro Africa, to those who could be potential teachers / conveners of a Summer Institute. So we definitely see you as potential teachers / leaders / conveners of this conversation in Africa! Our hope is that western leaders / friends would partner with an African leader / friend in hosting a week long seminar in Africa…equipping emerging leaders with a helpful framework (Theology in the form of story, discussion about current African context and then practical discussion about what praxis may look like in their various communities.), and connecting them to one another for support and on-going friendship in Jesus. So we hope you will consider coming because (1) you are interested in potentially leading A Summer Institute and (2) you are willing to be part of the team to first hear / experience this and offer some constructive critique! Attached is the flyer for the event.

The following day, Friday, we will host our first ever Amahoro Africa Fund-Raising Dinner! This will be a time of celebration, story-telling and dreaming about the future work with African leaders. We would love to have you around the table with us.

Amahoro,

Claude Nikondeha
AMAHORO AFRICA
Empowering Emerging Leaders
623 217 3361
www.amahoro-africa.org

whose peace?

Lately, while on the elliptical, I've been listening to Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," read by Sissy Spacek. (She does an excellent job. She mis-pronounces only a few words - the ones it would take years in the deep South to master.)

I was recently struck by comments made by a member of the Maycomb Lady's Missionary Society. This woman has a particular fondness for talking about the savage and uncivilized lives of the Mrunas who are being "served" by a certain missionary. This missionary, we learn, was doing his best to teach the savages to live civilized, Christian, lives. To fix them, in other words. No mention was made of their knowledge of Christ. The whole of this woman's desire was to see them turned into people like her.

While I know some early foreign missionaries (eg. Hudson Taylor) were successful because they adapted to the culture around them, I also know that there were once many missionaries (along with their supporters) who did the opposite -- tried to change the foreign culture to reflect their own. I remember thinking to myself how backward we used to be in our approach to missions. That I'm glad we don't approach other cultures like that anymore.

I was reminded of Claude Nikondeha's comment that Africans don't call themselves Christian because the term arouses memories of colonialism- of being forced to change their names to "Christian" names, forsake their generations-old rituals, dress like Europeans. Being "Christian" has nothing to do with faith. They prefer to call themselves Christ followers, instead.

Then several days ago I heard a discussion about giving to the needy. The comment was made that it's more difficult in some ways to give to people within the community because it can be easily observed how well (or how poorly) they spend their resources . It was revealed that there's a current need in the community, and that some effort was being made to coordinate various helps as they come in. We learned that the needy couple have some spending habits that don't seem especially wise (to us) in light of the fact that their power has been turned off. A couple of honest people commented that they stopped wanting to give as soon as they learned of these spending habits. It was said that more would be learned about how to insure that the money would be well spent before any donations would be requested.

I left that conversation disturbed. Maybe we aren't any better than we used to be. Is it any different to insure local charity money is used "properly" by needy families than to send a foreign missionary to "fix savages"?

Did Jesus ever address cultural issues that were unassociated with salvation? The woman in sin was instructed to "sin no more," but Jesus didn't say, "and put on a veil, while you're at it." When the new church became involved in serving meals to the needy, did they also give lessons on managing money? Is it our place to impose our "correct" cultural norms on folks before we give to them in the name of Jesus Christ? I know these aren't new questions, but I don't think they ever become irrelevant.

Isa 52:7 says,

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

When we regulate how our donations are used, are we really acting as messengers of Peace? Or are we dispensing the kind of "Christian peace" that Europe took to Africa? It is written that He will be called the Prince of Peace. I'm wondering today, whose peace Isaiah was referring to.

Please find the current list of all Brother Maynard's Advent synchrobloggers here.

sun and ice

If you're in the middle of an ice storm, I want to say I'm sorry.

It's hard to fathom that just a few states away the trees and power lines are snapping like twigs while we're breaking record highs here. Yesterday it was 82. I washed the car in shorts and a t-shirt. Supposed to be 82 again today.

hope remembered

Christmas 1998 was a particularly difficult one for us. As I ponder/meditate on the theme for this first week of Advent, I am continuously reminded of something I wrote those 9 years ago. Concluding there must be a reason I can't get it out of my mind, I am posting here the piece I wrote shortly after that Christmas. Please find the current list of all Brother Maynard's Advent synchrobloggers here.

hope

Though my doctor said everything was fine on Tuesday, I spent Wednesday and Thursday in prayer and tears. Something was wrong. I knew it. Compelled to sing the 23rd Psalm to my unborn baby, I had the feeling that I was saying good-bye. An ultrasound confirmed that Keith and I had lost our child.

I gave our baby to God in prayer the day we learned I was pregnant. Each night, my precious husband prayed aloud for me and the baby to be “safe and healthy and whole.” We were amazed, as I’m sure all new parents are, at how quickly we came to love that tiny new life. We entrusted him to our heavenly Father, and I’ve never doubted that God loved him even more than we did.

Four months have dragged past. Just when I think I’ve shed all the tears, I find myself crying again. Several concerns in addition to the miscarriage have weighed heavily on me. But one day keeps moving me into the next, with or without my permission, and it’s best that way.

This year I decided to make our Christmas cards. I thought it would get me into the spirit of the season. It didn’t. It actually made me wonder why I was celebrating at all. I jotted and doodled and fidgeted with one idea after another. Nothing worked. Gingerbread warmth and candy cane glee didn’t fit this year. It’s not that I was angry or bitter. I just couldn’t think of anything nice to say. I prayed for a Christmas message that was honest but not cynical. I had my doubts. God answered, in spite of me, with a question. "What does Christmas mean to you?"

I struggled to come up with a sincere answer. Christmas doesn't always mean happiness and laughter and sugary sentiments, that's for sure. I think of Easter as the celebration of salvation. But Christmas... I honestly couldn’t see the point of it—for me—this year. Reaching as far into my heart as I could bear, I groped around and found one word. Hope.

I could celebrate because Christmas means hope. Hope is not a promise that prayers will all be answered with yes. It isn’t knowing that tomorrow will be better than today. Hope isn’t even the assurance that we won’t want with all our hearts to give up sometimes because life’s too hard. Jesus was born into this world—a world that can be a horrible, frightening, and sorrowful place—so we would know that God isn’t going to let us go. No matter what. We hope, because God loves us enough to go through it with us. That is reason to celebrate.

On the front of our cards was a burgundy dove, a green olive branch, and the word hope. The passage inside reflected what Christmas meant for me:

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lam. 3:21-23).