(Un)Creation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be…and there was…” God created humankind in his own image; in the image of God he created him. (Gen 1)

The Book Of My Life

I have debated with myself for a couple weeks whether to begin my story with a short summary of my life or just skip to writing things I’ve thought about, questioned, and learned along the way. But as Malcolm Reynolds said in the 2003-2003 TV series Firefly, “You can’t open the book of my life and jump in the middle.” Without some background, some context, I’m not sure if the rest will make sense. So here goes.

I Have Decided…

When I was a child, we used to sing a song in Sunday School called, “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus.” The lyrics go like this:

I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, I still will follow,
Though none go with me I still will follow,
Though none go with me, I still will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.

My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
My cross I’ll carry till I see Jesus,
My cross I’ll carry till I see Jesus;
No turning back, No turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me,
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
No turning back, no turning back.

Nearsighted And Farsighted

I’m continuing to ponder the ways that we see others and ourselves. These are all thoughts that I have worked through over the years as I have wrestled with how to see myself and others–especially difficult people.

In the last few days, I have been thinking about being nearsighted and farsighted in how we see others and ourselves.

The Rest of the Story…

We had an awful weekend. It discouraged us. Sometimes it just feels as if life is a series of struggle and heartbreak, and we get weary. I asked God for encouragement, and it came, and my spirit was strengthened.

Shalom, Shalom

I’m sitting here trying to decide whether or not to take my dog Danny for his daily walk. He looks forward to his walk so much that I hate to disappoint him. It was misting, and I don’t mind walking in mist, but the mist is turning to a heavier–but not heavy–rain. I do not want to walk in heavy rain. I checked the weather radar and the rain will soon turn to snow. If it’s still early enough, I might take Danny when the rain turns to snow.

The Omega 13

I like Science Fiction. (I like Fantasy too, but this post is about Science Fiction.) I think Science Fiction is interesting because underneath the technological background it often deals with very spiritual themes of what it means to be human, where we came from, where we are going, how we relate to others, and search for meaning and for God. Science Fiction presents some very interesting things to ponder.

Death (Life) By A Thousand Problems

I stayed up too late last night.

My Hebrew class gets over at 11 p.m. I enjoy the class. It is taught by a woman who is also learning Hebrew–she is taking a class using the same book. She is just farther into the book than we are. If we ask questions that she doesn’t know, she asks her Hebrew teacher. Also, sometimes people join the class that have greater knowledge of the language, and they are able to help us. We do a lot of reading and learning vocabulary words. It is very helpful and fun to have others to study with.

The Blind Dog

When I was young, I read a story about a blind dog. He was able to roam free in his house and yard because he had such a good memory that he never bumped into anything more than once. If he bumped into anything, he’d avoid it from that point on. This worked fine for permanent things like trees or buildings, but the problem is that some items aren’t permanent. Sometimes a chair wasn’t pushed up to the table, or or a rake was not put away, or a car was in the driveway and then drove away. If the dog bumped into it, he’d avoid that place from them on, so as he walked across the room or house, he’d weave a curious path around things that weren’t there.

Sacred Marriage?

Not long ago, a friend on a forum shared a difficult situation he was going through, and I told him what I learned through a similar situation in an attempt to encourage and help him. After hearing his story, I thought, “Wow, next to his suffering, I’ve hardly suffered at all.” Then he wrote that after hearing my story, he felt that next to my suffering, he had hardly suffered at all. We laughed about that.