And then there was a new beginning....

This is mobile blogging. I don't know how much time you have spent in my head, but there is a lot going on in there. Sometimes it is scary, "Would you guys keep it down I am trying to write!" And it is pretty much like that all the time. So I write stuff down. Dozens, tens of dozens, maybe hundreds of notes all over the place. I figure if I can write them on this here iPod I have a better chance of getting them finished.

So this is really just a test. I'll let me know.

Vacation 1 - Hello from Princeton

Well, we have returned from a fun filled trip to Deeetroit and Washington. Washington was a bit of a too short visit - with train delays and all, but I actually think a good time was had by all. Interestingly enough, at not much less than the cost of one of those Disney vacations - and we were not living high off the hog either. This is Jas on the comfee train. It really wasn't too bad but for Pete’s sake one of those cheepy flights would have been cheaper. The seat folds into a bed and there is an upper bunk too. The delights of trying to sleep in a blender cannot be underestimated.

Vacation 2

The main goal of this trip was Greenfield Village - a mid 19th century town created by Henry Ford so folks could remember the type of life people had before his darn invention destroyed whatever we had of a culture. Jas got to play a bit of ol' time baseball in the town green.

Vacation 3

Henry Ford thought that Edison was the cat's pajamas so he toted his original lab, office, barns and just about anything he could get his paws on out to Michigan. This sign is a classic. I am almost sure I tried to take the identical picture of Matt many years ago when we lived near here. I don't know if Matt (at 4) would have gotten the joke. Jas jumped on it once he read the sign. It says “I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident. They came by work.” Thomas Edison

Vacation 4

Always ready for a laugh, Jas also volunteered for this shot. This is inside what used to be called "The Edison Institute," a collection of the various technological developments over the past 150 year or so. Many cars but also locomotives, appliances and miscellany. It is now called "The Henry Ford." I guess the current management thinks of Edison as the cat's pajama bottom or something.

Vacation 5

Now while the 1937 Cord is rotating in the background, and with no regard for how much do-re-me it took to get here, Jas spent hours on a set of little build-em toys that they provided and a few slopes to test them on. He made several different versions (one with like 12 wheels, which left the other kids wheeless). But this is pretty much all he wanted to do. For someone who wants to be a writer (and he is pretty good at it) he sure took to this building and experimenting business.

Vacation 6

We did take time out for a moment of silence under one of the all-too-many planes which Dad (Grandpa) said "I used to fly one of those." While there is a possibility of him actually flying the military version of the venerable DC-3 under which we are standing, the pictures I recall were very much like the Boeing 247 which we saw in the Smithsonian in Washington on the last day of the trip.

Vacation 7

Not that the train trip was without value. We were able to see such things as the oldest continuously operating train station in the US. The site of some heroic feat of trainmanship during the Civil War. We did spend about a day in Washington. Thank goodness, I thought I would never get to see the Air and Space Museum for the 15th time. We were offered a guided tour of the Library of Congress (where Matt is working for the summer) but our wires got crossed so we never got there. We did spend some time with Matt and Kaitlin (his sweetie) which was nice. Next time we need to plan more time.

The next road trip may involve more road or even a plane or maybe a train but not overnight. We will see. I hope you enjoyed the tour. Jas is off at camp for a long, long time (till mid August). That leaves us just a couple of weeks for any more adventures.

To Mom - July 2nd 2005

Long time no hear from, well maybe not that long, but greetings none the less.

First, the news: Matthew is working at the Library of Congress over the summer. He will return to college in the fall and graduate in January. Hopefully his work this summer will help him get a job in the Government, which is what he really wants. He has a girlfriend with whom he seems to be very serious. She is a very nice girl and thinks the world of him. So, other than poor taste (ha ha) she is wonderful. They seem to really enjoy each other’s company. Who knows, she could be “Mrs. Right”.

Magda is in Brazil. Boy do I hate that! She thinks Brazil is just the cultural center of the universe. She is studying Portuguese and Portuguese literature and afro-Caribbean studies at New York University during the school year, so summer in Brazil seems almost reasonable. She has done well at college so far and is even thinking of taking more “normal” course for next year. I just hope she comes back in one piece.

JP is coming along very well. At 11 he is inching his way into teenage secrecy and rebellion, but overall he remains very pleasant. He has finished 5th grade and is very popular with the girls and boys in his class. Most of them have volunteered to pick him out of a line-up or finger him to the cops. His writing skills are exceptional. He says he wants to be a writer. So, we have a librarian, Brazil-o-phile and a writer in the family – that’s it, I am going to starve in my old age. JP and I are planning a couple of road trips for the summer. We are going west for one of them – Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago. It should be fun. JP will be in camp for five long weeks – ugh, I hate that idea. But I am always happy to see him when he is at my house.

About me: Humm, not much going on. I am slowly cleaning this dump of a house. I have lost 50 pounds. Well, actually I lost the same 2 pounds twenty-five times. But I am reasonably healthy and have learned to enjoy reading more than I had in the past.

Now I don’t want to bore you with stories of “my other children,” but I had three pots of begonias that hung on the house near the front door all last summer and fall and just bloomed their hearts out. Well, since my mom could not tell me if begonias are annuals or perennials, I nursed them through the winter in the house. Oh, they hated it in the house. They got weaker and weaker, paler and paler. First thing in the spring I put them outside – and they died. Too lazy to empty out the pots, I just left them there. After few weeks later they started to grow again. They are now very healthy and happy. One is already in bloom and the others seem to be warming up for an explosion of color. There is a moral to this story; I just don’t know what it is. But you should remember it and apply it to your life.

Well it is Saturday morning after the most hellatious storm Friday night (guess whose car sun roof was open. ) so I am off to puttering around. I hope all is well with you and look forward to seeing you soon.

A Modern Look at Faith

Modern times call for modern solutions. Turning back the clock to a simpler time is idealistic hogwash. I think we need to be very hard-nosed in separating fact from fiction or we risk being led astray by empty promises and the allure of conformity.

This is especially true of those who are hurting or have aspirations that exceed their grasp. Actually, I don't know that “faith” was ever much use in turning people’s lives around. It is hard reality. That loud “smack” when you hit a brick wall that wakes you up.

As it turns out this may be less of a modern concept than it appears on the surface. The list of doubting Thomases is a long and august one. Shall we start with Abraham who did not trust God to give him a son by Sarah? He is most famous for his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. But the lesser known stories of his lack of faith, leaving for Egypt; asking Sarah to claim to be his sister; taking his father along to Haran are overlooked. Abraham was a man of faith but weak faith through the first 70 years of his life. And what was the turning point? It was not God's test of Abraham but Abraham's test of God. “How am I to know this is true?” he asked. He was asking God for proof. He was not ready to have full faith without proof. The proof God gave was the long awaited son born to him and Sarah after both were beyond child bearing years. Abraham’s renowned faith was the result of concrete proof.

Gideon, a remarkable example, was a coward. A “God takes care of those who care for themselves” kind of guy. He was winnowing grain in a winepress. That was so that he could hide from the Philistines. He did not have faith in God to protect him; he was going to keep out of sight. But God called and Gideon's response was “prove it”. He told God he would obey only if he had proof. God was to make a bundle of wool dry when all around it was wet. God did it. Gideon was not going to have faith based on one observation. He said, essentially, “Now do the reverse - let the wool be wet and everything else be dry.” Remember the “vengeful God” of the Old Testament. This is the point where he answers with a well placed lightening bolt. Well, that wasn't God's view. Maybe God doesn't trust people that are too easily convinced. After the second test Gideon was convinced. Gideon’s faith to win a great victory at impossible odds was the result of concrete proof. (Judges 6-7)

A final example is the most direct. Isaiah comes to king Ahaz. Ahaz and the people are very scared of the approaching armies so they need their faith bolstered. Isaiah says “Ask God for a sign.” Ahaz sounded like he didn't know the stories of Abraham and Gideon. He said, “Far be it from me to ask God for a sign.” With clear anger God responds essentially, “Oh, you are too good for a sign! Well, I'll give you one anyway. The mother of all signs.” (Isaiah 7:10-16)

The Bible says “Taste and see the goodness of The Lord.” (Ps 34:8) It is like someone offering you a new entree. No matter how much faith you have in his/er cooking you just don't know about that salmon upside-down cake until you taste it. God doesn't just suggest you to test him, he demands it.
But tasting is a bit different from testing. When you test you stand outside and look at results. When you taste you get personally involved. It's “com'on in, the water's fine”. Alas, there is water and there is water. Do you mean the Jewish Water (which was the context of the original quote), the Catholic Water, one of any number of Protestant waters? Baskin Robbins had nothing on human religion for variety.

The first thing to recognize is that “practice”, traditions and ceremonies, have little to do with faith. Some modern Jewish traditions are in the Bible and very few of the Christian traditions are in the Bible. So there are no promises related to those traditions. Certain behavior, however, is taught by the Bible and has specific promises associated with them.

Come on to me all those that travail and are heavy ladened and I will refresh you. Taste 1: Bring your worries and troubles to Jesus and he will refresh you. He actually may not remove those troubles, but he will assuredly give you strength. Well, feeling good is OK, but that could just be the “placebo effect.”

With the measure with which you measure out, it will be measured onto you. Taste 2: Try being giving to others and you will be given to. Try opening your hands and offering to others without restraint. You will begin to receive without bounds.

There are many other promises in the Bible but all are based on one fundamental principle. Don’t be afraid to put God to the test. He knows we need concrete results on which to base our faith and will not let you down.

A rational look at the Bible

This Purpose Driven Life provides all sorts of answers, so many and with such conviction that it can be a bit much. Rather than criticize the author, I have not made comments for the past few chapters. I have found that by looking at the outline of the book (major headings and sub headings), it makes much more sense than the actual reasoning the author presents to develop those thoughts. But maybe the road to understanding does not start with sweeping statements of belief. Nor does it start with clear statements of unbelief.

There are two ways of being sure of something: comprehension or experience. A young man looks at the sky and says “A frontal system is moving in and it looks like we will have an occlusion in this area and considerable precipitation.” An old man near by raises his eyebrow and says, “Well, I don't know about that, but that ridge of clouds over there with the dark underside look like one of those big storms we used to have so we better head indoors.”

Both observers were sure of their prediction, one from study to understand “why”, the other from experiencing the “what”. In life most of what we are sure of comes via the “what” of experience rather than the “why” of study. As a person with a quantitative background and a scientific bent, I cannot just accept the Bible as the author suggests. I need to know for myself that it is right and true.

I have taken both of the approaches mentioned above. I have spent many hours trying to comprehend the Bible. But I have also taken the advice of “taste and see” (Ps 34:8). Just like when trying a new food, all the explanation and analysis in the world cannot give you knowledge of the flavor. But one taste tells all.

So, with a rather modest knowledge of the Bible I started trying to do what it says I should do. Now after years of study I cannot say that I understand God or the Bible. However, after years of “tasting” I am dead certain that it “works”.

But what did I expect? Did I expect a scientific treatise or systematic logic? (Actually I did.) But the Bible says of itself what to expect: “[The Bible] is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:16).” It is a practical tool for pointing out errors, showing how to correct them, training us on how to do good works. So far I have found it does that when put into practice and even a bit more.

Purpose Driven Life 12

“Cheated and disappointed” by God (Pg. 94). When we complain about what we don’t have it may be useful to consider what we deserve. Jesus took on our sins and took our punishment. So, what we actually deserve is to be beaten, spat upon, scorned, scourged, stripped, hung from a tree until our own weight forces the breath of life from our lungs. That is what I deserve. So, I am very happy for whatever I have.

But that doesn’t resonate with many people. Perhaps because as a youth I thought that perfection was attainable and then failed often enough to have to admit that I can do no good work. As a youth I sought to save the world. As young man I lowered my expectation to leave it better off for having lived. With maturity I realized it could barely leave it no worse than I found it. Now I would consider it a miracle of providence if I did only little damage. So the image of what I deserve compared to what I have makes resentment toward God inconceivable.

“Do great things for God” (pg 96) Oh, please! Which of my works will be a real help for God. “Gee, thanks, I was having trouble doing that myself.” No, it is all about allowing God to do great things through us. We just have to get out of the way and let him.

The verse “I stand at the door and knock” sometimes engenders a picture of us busy about our lives and over in the corner of the room is a door. God standing outside the door and knocking. I think it is not so much that we don’t open the door; it is that we are holding it closed with all our might, piling up furniture in front and nailing it shut. Denying God is not a passive act; his works are all around us. His blessings cry out to us on every side (Romans, right?). It is a real effort to keep him out, one of turning away, holding down, straining and sweating to keep him out of your life.

“God let Jacob win” (pg. 97). I don’t know if I can buy God throwing the fight. That is not what I read. Jacob could not win and in the end he could only hold on. That is an image I can relate to (it is an image I have carried for years) of being battered and hopeless but holding on to Jesus with all the strength I have left. I think the passage is more about the tenacious faith of Jacob. He had previously gotten by with trickery rather than hard work. But alone in the desert he was at the end of his rope, expecting to get his comeuppance from Esau. He held on to God because he had no other hope.

Purpose Driven Life 11

My normal practice is not to think of God as a person. The anthropomorphic god seems prone to over simplification or misinterpretation – perhaps to apply human frailty to God. But on the other hand both our experience and our language is based on person to person relationships. It would be near impossible to discuss or describe our relation to God without the use of the analogy of a person. There is also richness to expressing my relation to God in terms of human relations. Certainly the Bible used such terms frequently.

So I will no longer complain about the book’s use of an anthropomorphic view of God. This is also part resignation since it appears that this book will use this context to convey much of the truth it has to offer.

Free of my normal stilted language, so much more of the experience of God flows. It is the language of prayer and praise. I wonder if the change in language will have a change in my relationship.