Shadows

We are fortunate enough to have plenty of beautiful hardwoods in our yard.  For a few days each fall, we are blessed with a vibrant display of reds, yellows, oranges, even purples and pinks.  It also means that our yard is dotted with tall gray poles that have nary a leaf all winter.  Some well placed shadows joined hands with those trees to play a nice little trick on me the other day.

I was sitting on the loveseat, looking out the back door.  There was a birdhopping along the trunk of a tree, giving the occasionally peck as he traversed the length of the trunk, going up and down.  Interestingly, there was another bird on an adjacent mirroring his actions.  I've seen two males act this way before, fighting over territory or a female.  There was a larger tree behind the two these birds were occupying.  Suddenly, one bird flew to the larger tree and the other bird joined him.  The birds were face to face.  For several seconds they stayed in this posture then returned to their original trees.

After witnessing this "dance" a few more times, my amazement died.  I realized that the second bird and its tree were only the shadow of the first, being cast onto the trunk of the much larger tree.  

Shadows have a way of concealing reality from us.  Things which rather not be discovered hide in shadows.  Our vision can be hampered by shadows, hiding the real truth from us.  That's why it is so important to walk in the light of Christ when on a faith journey.  Darkness will try to hide his face.  Darkness will strive to lead us astray.  The shadows can even begin to look appealing if we let them.  To quote DC Talk, I'm gonna choose to walk in the light.

What's up with your blog?

To the 4 people who read my blog with semi-semi-semi-regularity, you have probably noticed that my posts lately have been coming with even less regularity.  Lots of factors are involved, lack of time being the main.  The activities that have been taking up most of my time have also given me reason to consider the purpose of this blog.  Or at least its original purpose.  I don't know what will happen to Just a Thought, but my gut tells me it will morph more into an online journal of my own faith journey.  That's of course assuming I can carve out time to actually post.

Just in case you're curious, here's one of the things that has been occupying my time - the Kenan Fellowship.  I've made it to the interview round of the process.  My interview is Tuesday afternoon. We'll see how it turns out.

Acting on Instinct

Season 8 of American Idol is in full swing.  The finalists will be picked this week and next week we, the viewers, begin our part of the process of voting on the next American Idol.  One contestant is completely blind.  A clip of him playing the keyboard while he was singing was shown tonight.  I found it interesting that as he was playing, he instinctively "looked" down at his hands and the keys at various times throughout his performance.

I don't know his story.  I don't know if he was born blind or lost his sight later in life.  Whatever the case, something within him cause him to act in a manner that was consistent with the function and purpose of eyes.

There are aspects of our lives that seem to happen by instinct.  Mothers have it, 'cept they call it "intuition."  Some of us have personalities that drive us to make decisions by what our guts tell us.  When frightened or placed in otherwise stressful situations, the "fight or flight" instinct kicks in.

As people on a faith journey following Christ, we sometimes find ourselves in a battle of warring instincts.  There is the sinful nature that taints our soul that tries to lead us into actions that seek to only satisfy self and ignore the needs of others or the will of God.  Then there is the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, leading us to imitate the self-sacrificing attitude of Christ, changing us to take on his character.

Which instinct is strongest in you?  Which purpose and function are you fulfilling?

I've been there

I have a student who has been issued a laptop by the school because of some disabilities that affect his handwriting.  On Thursday, he and another student were trying to put the finishing touches on a project when he experienced what all of us who depend on computers have experienced at least once.  His computer stopped working properly.  He had no way to access any of his prior work.  He and his partner were obviously distraught and called me over to see if I could fix it.

After he described what was happening, I immediately knew his problem - a bad video inverter.  I only knew this because I had experienced the same thing.  I wasn't able to fix his problem, but I could at least diagnose it and then empathize with him because nothing is more frustrating than to be dependent on a computer and not be able to get your stuff.

How many times in life has someone come along and provided comfort because they had experienced the same thing as you?  How about the other way around?  That's the beauty of community and relationships.  We usually only focus on sharing the bad things in life, but sharing the good things makes the good things even better.

There is one who can empathize with EVERYTHING we have ever experienced.  We can take all our problems and all our joys.  We can even take him our sin that we are powerless to do anything about and he will be there for us.  He'll even take that away if we ask him.  That's why I'm on a faith journey with Jesus.  He'll be there.

Dual Citizenship & Dissociative Identity

As our country undergoes a major transition politically and economically, I find myself spending a lot of mental energy processing my views historically while at the same time trying to predict the trajectory they are currently following.  What are my beliefs as follower of Christ living in 21st Century America?

Obama's election to our nation's highest office has been an interesting event for American Evangelicals.  Putting it simplistically, Evangelicals normally swing Republican because of "moral issues."  However, many younger Evangelicals have proudly supported Obama because it was a vote to reclaim the forgotten social action heritage of many Evangelicals.  If we are all honest, we would state that NO political party has the market cornered on what it is right.  If you are an optimist, then you pick the candidate or party that has the most right things from your perspective.  If you see the glass half empty, then you pick the lesser of two evils.

Without going into too much political and economic analysis, neither of which I am qualified offer, I struggle with how our nation's leaders are addressing the current economic crisis.  I do not agree with all the government bailouts or huge stimulus bills that really won't do anything for the economy.  They will all inevitably lead us into more dire times.  Where's the money the government's throwing around going to come from?  It's going to come from us, the taxpayers.

Another part of my struggle relates to how do I really feel about capitalism.  At the risk of sounding harsh and uncaring, if a company begins to fail because of poor management, inferior products, or anything else, then let it go.  I think in the long run, everything will right itself and all parties will be better off.  The real issue I'm struuggling with is the concept of creating wealth.  

Can wealth really be created?  For what purpose?  Is it right for a follower of Jesus to make money for the sake of making money and keeping it to themselves?  I think everyone will say"No" to that one, yet isn't that we're advocating?

All these thoughts are in their infancy.  And for them all, I find myself in my idealism faced with an impossible decision.  I cannot align myself even half way with the political and economic choices in front of me.  I guess that why we have Anabaptist groups, Amish, and Mennonites.  How does one live as a citizen of the Kingdom of God and one of the earthly kingdoms too?  Even more specifically, CAN one live as a citizen of both or is a split personality the only possibility?

The Fruits of Wrath

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:8-11

We sang a song last week that thanked God for "crushing" his son Jesus in order to reconcile us to him. At first that sounds violent and unloving. What we don't see when we look at this in isolation is that it was the love of Jesus that motivates his action. God the Father agrees with the plan. Because of Jesus' act of self-sacrifice, God rewards him with the resurrection and name above all names.

For me though, the power is in the wrath.  I'm not one to talk about God's wrath much; I prefer to speak more about his love that works to help us escape the wrath.  BUT, I can't help but be struck by the thought that Jesus was crushed to enable us to be reconciled and live in peace with God, live with God's peace in us, live in peace and not worry about our eternal destiny.  And because of that it makes me want to live for him more, makes me want to be more like him, makes me want to tell more people about him. . .  Funny how the right combination of wrath and love can do that.