Saturday, August 28, 2010

How to Love Muslims (A First Step)















If you are a Christian, consider for a moment how you might respond to the following statements:
1) Christians are cannibals; in their worship they eat flesh and drink blood.
2) Christians are atheists; where is the statue of their god?
3) Christians protest funerals of soldiers, holding signs that read "God hates fags."
4) Christians murder abortion doctors.
5) Christians are hypocritical.
6) Christians are judgmental.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

A Moment Realized

A moment, the moment it's realized to be
Slow time that passes too quickly to seize,
Strange presence familiar of loved ones and things,
An island awareness amidst the rote sea,
A dream upon waking from deeper a dream,
Reveals what is real by what seems not to be

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

To Suffer With

Compassion - sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it
(from Latin, com- meaning "together, with" + pati meaning "to bear, suffer")

We found out a few days before the kids started back to their small private school that both of Gracie's best friends would not be returning this year. The first we knew of at end of last year. It was disappointing, but there would be other opportunities for the girls to see one another, and Gracie still had one good friend left to spend the school year with. And now, we had learned that this second friend would be attending school out of of town.

Needless to say, Gracie was quite discouraged. Sure, there were other girls (a couple) in her class, and there were bound to be one or two new girls (there are), but these were her two best friends. I put her to bed that night, knowing that she needed some comfort, but not quite sure of what to say to her. For a while, I just laid with her. Finally, I offered, "Do you want to pray the Psalm?"

Sunday, August 15, 2010

They Drank the Water

Ladies and gentlemen, my hundredth post.

It was the last night before Gracie and Noah started back to school. We decided to take everyone to see The Karate Kid. Monica told the story today in worship:

Just before we pulled onto Manchester Expressway from the interstate, while we were sitting at a red light on the exit ramp, we noticed a ragged man sitting against a road sign and holding a cardboard sign of his own that read: "Homeless and Hungry. Please Help." I thought about the man. I thought about my kids sitting silently in the backseat. I thought about how stopping to help might make us late for the movie.

I rolled down my window. "Give us five minutes. Be right back."