Increasingly, when I'm with my side of the family, we talk politics. And the Broncos. But this post is about politics. Here are my top 5 growing political convictions (subject to change at any moment of course!):
1. Our current system consists of 2 dominant parties more interested in self-perpetuation at the expense of the other than in effective leadership. Whoa.
2. The ideological extremes are "right out" (too simplistic), and solutions are to be found in or about the middle.
3. Everyone prioritizes their issues, and so in conversation you need to talk not only about the issue but about where the person is coming from (world view, etc.) as well.
4. God does not belong on the right. My take (I know this is debatable and perhaps overly simplistic): the right has co-opted him, the left has ignored him and the church has gone along for the ride. God ought to transcend the party system and he should reign over the public square. No one party should have a monopoly on God.
5. Voting and making decisions should go like this: pray, read a lot (and thoroughly), talk with your community (especially those who disagree), pray again, then vote. Vote for the best candidate or proposition. And if all else fails...vote for my friend Bob. Greenie in '08!!!
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
Relocation
Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Jesus...a long list of relocaters in the Bible.
Humbly, I submit my version of our relocation story here
Humbly, I submit my version of our relocation story here
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Who's Your Daddy?!?
Recently my friend BG asked me a good question: "Now that you are a Dad, how has that changed your view of God?" Bouncing along in a golf cart, here was my reply:
1. My kids will project their experience with me into their experience with God (heaven help us!). So I've known this from working with students, but I have a new appreciation for it now, and it makes me want to work hard to be more God-like, as opposed to making the God my kids come to know more Rob-like.
2. I marvel at how God the Father fully embraces and expresses contradictions. Here's what I mean: God is fully just and fully merciful, or he's both meek and majestic, or he's gracious and truthful, etc. Try as I might, as a Father I usually can't manage both ends of the spectrum; I end up somewhere in the middle. So I guess you could say that I have an appreciation for how God manages complexities!
3. This is the one you probably expect me to say, but I have a new understanding of the depth of God the Father's love for me/us. I really love my kids, and that love is ever-increasing and fierce (I worked hard on that adjective, but that's how I feel). And here's the kicker: as much as I love my kids those ways, how much more does someone with an unlimitted capacity for it love me and you?!? Marvelous.
1. My kids will project their experience with me into their experience with God (heaven help us!). So I've known this from working with students, but I have a new appreciation for it now, and it makes me want to work hard to be more God-like, as opposed to making the God my kids come to know more Rob-like.
2. I marvel at how God the Father fully embraces and expresses contradictions. Here's what I mean: God is fully just and fully merciful, or he's both meek and majestic, or he's gracious and truthful, etc. Try as I might, as a Father I usually can't manage both ends of the spectrum; I end up somewhere in the middle. So I guess you could say that I have an appreciation for how God manages complexities!
3. This is the one you probably expect me to say, but I have a new understanding of the depth of God the Father's love for me/us. I really love my kids, and that love is ever-increasing and fierce (I worked hard on that adjective, but that's how I feel). And here's the kicker: as much as I love my kids those ways, how much more does someone with an unlimitted capacity for it love me and you?!? Marvelous.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
A Good Walk Spoiled
Think of all the things that go through your head as you prepare to hit a golf shot:
What's the yardage?
Which club?
How's the ball sitting in the grass?
What kind of shot?
What's for lunch?
What about the wind?
How's the round going so far?
Who's watching? (and waiting to erupt in laughter)
Where's the hole located on the green?
Where's the divot mix?
Figure all that out, and then you gotta hit the darn thing.
What's the yardage?
Which club?
How's the ball sitting in the grass?
What kind of shot?
What's for lunch?
What about the wind?
How's the round going so far?
Who's watching? (and waiting to erupt in laughter)
Where's the hole located on the green?
Where's the divot mix?
Figure all that out, and then you gotta hit the darn thing.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Foolish or Desperate?
Today I heard a pastor use the following as an illustration (my paraphrase):
An obviously poor couple comes into a convenience store and uses $20 to buy lottery tickets. What foolishness! What a foolish thing to do!
My first reaction was to ask this question: Is it foolishness or desperation? Because to call it foolishness implies that they are making a single isolated choice, to buy a ticket or not. In this case, they do in fact make a poor (or foolish) choice. The odds of winning are astronomically high and already poor people should be buying food not scratch-offs.
But what if we put that single choice in a larger context? What if we understand that there may be a larger social and economic (and possibly a few other adjectives) system that is at work making them (or keeping them) poor? What if instead of simply making a choice to in effect wager $20 on the lottery, they are trying by any means necessary to make life work for themselves? What if they feel like they've tried everything, that too many doors have been closed or shut in their faces and that they might as well take those long odds?
I'm just saying, there may be more here than a one-time decision to buy a ticket or not, and that's something that needs to be wrestled with. Especially by and in the church.
An obviously poor couple comes into a convenience store and uses $20 to buy lottery tickets. What foolishness! What a foolish thing to do!
My first reaction was to ask this question: Is it foolishness or desperation? Because to call it foolishness implies that they are making a single isolated choice, to buy a ticket or not. In this case, they do in fact make a poor (or foolish) choice. The odds of winning are astronomically high and already poor people should be buying food not scratch-offs.
But what if we put that single choice in a larger context? What if we understand that there may be a larger social and economic (and possibly a few other adjectives) system that is at work making them (or keeping them) poor? What if instead of simply making a choice to in effect wager $20 on the lottery, they are trying by any means necessary to make life work for themselves? What if they feel like they've tried everything, that too many doors have been closed or shut in their faces and that they might as well take those long odds?
I'm just saying, there may be more here than a one-time decision to buy a ticket or not, and that's something that needs to be wrestled with. Especially by and in the church.
First Post
The other day I found myself telling a friend that the biggest change in my life in recent years is that I have changed from someone who either avoided or tried to (quickly) simplify complexity to someone who is trying at least to abide in the midst of complexity. This blog is my attempt to make sense of the complexity that I live in in all sorts of areas, to define the tensions and to live in an articulated middle. If that sounds too complex to you, think of what it sounds like to me! Enjoy.
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