a day to remember

Seven years ago this morning my grandmother passed away after an eleven year war with Parkinson's Disease. It destroyed her body while her mind and sense of humor and love for all of us stayed strong almost to the very end. I can remember her strong and fun and gung ho for anything (you would have to be with three grandsons like us) and I remember watching that slowly be taken away. She was a beautiful amazing person and a fighter even to the very last.

My family honors her memory and does what we can to help make sure others don't have to experience what she / we did by giving to Parkinson's research. Major drug companies don't help out much becaue there is far more money to be made in weight loss/anxiety/erectile disfunction (that should bring some interesting googles) than in eliminating wasting diseases like Parkinson's.
I was just thinking about her today and thought I'd encourage anyone who happens by to take a minute to check out a couple of the places where we give and maybe send a little help their way. Like we hear all the time, "Every little bit helps". Thanks for the indulgence.

The Michael J Fox Foundation
The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

looking ahead to the end of all the loss
j

a different point of view

I have alwasy been fascinated by the way different cultures portray biblical characters and stories. Especially in art. Lots of us get stressed when Jesus looks like a white guy, but in a lot of ways, that makes sense coming from American artists. (I still think a lot of it is goofy, but I digress) Andrew Jones pointed me to a resource for Chinese art work that pictures the stories of the Bible from a marked Chinese perspective. Some of them are really beautiful. A couple of samples.
Jesus Walks on the Water on Porcelain

Jesus on the road to Emmaus (my favorite I think.) This is a woven tapestry.


You can see all of the pieces at the Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre

To me it's great to see the story of Jesus all over the world.

Enjoy.
j

practicing chrisian atheism

Great article from Miguel De La Torre on ethics daily.

The Christians of the first century were thrown to the lions on the charge of atheism, because they rejected the god of the dominant culture of their time.

What Christianity needs today is more of this kind of “atheists”--those willing to lose their life or livelihood for refusing to believe the god of today’s powers and principalities.

Hence the real question for us “atheists” to ask is not if God exists, but who is this God whose existence we affirm or deny.

It is my contention that some gods are better off dead than alive.

A good discussion of the obligation of Christianity to be contrary to the culture, even the prevailing "christian" culture if necessary.

Go figure, linking to the Baptist Center for Ethics. Not sure how this one slipped through.
j

great post

From Dwight Friesen a few days ago

rev. hosea

A quote

In addition being part Gomer, I find that I am simultaneously part Hosea. I love the church and keep running after her, and trying to buy her back. While I also carry hurt, disappointment, even embarrassment regarding my love for whoring-bride (which includes me). At times I feel the fool for believing that "this time it will be different." And am shocked to discover that my best intentions at wooing her back create still more children; they too flavor our stories.

Go check out the rest of the piece.
j

battle cry of the Slow

From In Praise of Slowness (yes, finally getting to it).

What we are fighting for is the right to determine our own tempos.

Exactly.
j

old grief

I haven't been around much the last couple weeks. Truth is, I haven't felt like writing or doing much of anything else for that matter.

Grief is such a weird thing. It seems to lurk in the shadows, waiting for the right moment and then it hits and tends to pile on. Missing my grandfather (that sounds wrong). Missing Pop on Opening Day. Finding a picture I hadn't seen of my dog that died last summer. Hearing a name and seeing a picture and remembering all of the hurt of broken relationships and accusations and a situation that spun so out of control so fast, there was no way to repair it. Unkept promises. Open questions. Expectations unfulfilled. Hope deferred.
Old grief is hard. It's not the sobbing wailing hurt of new loss. More of a sad resignation that life is what it is and has been what it has been and here I am. The sad smile of remembering what was and was lost. It's being stuck with people you don't really want to be with, but you can't seem to get away from.
I know on the other side of these feelings are determination and hope and vision and possibility and life, but not tonight. Tonight I'm hanging out here. Not wallowing, just experiencing. Life is all of these moments too, we just don't ever want to have them.
Joy comes in the morning.
j

the lowest moment in the history . . .

. . . of church marquees. This is beyond unbelievable.

Apparently a church in Tenn decided the death of Pope John Paul II would be an appropriate time to do some community outreach by bashing Catholics on their marquee. It is so offensive, I refuse to quote it or put up a picture. You'll have to see for yourself.
Link

How dumb do you have to be to think this is a good idea? Even if you agreed with this statement, why in the hell would you display it for the world to see?

I bet there are days when God considers taking up lightning bolt hurling.
j

had to pass this one along

From Tony Campolo via Jordan Cooper

Ducks
From Tony Campolo

Perhaps my favorite Kierkegaardian story is his parable of the ducks. He describes a town where only ducks live. Every Sunday the ducks waddle out of thier houses and waddle down Main Street to their church. They waddle into the sanctuary and squat down in thier proper pews. The duck choir waddles in and takes its place, then the duck minister comes forward and opens his duck Bible (Ducks, like all other creatures on earth, seem to have their own special version of the Scriptures.) He reads to them: "Ducks! God has given you wings! With wings you can fly! With wings you can mount up and soar like eagles. No walls can confine you! No fences can hold you! You have wings and you can fly like birds!"
All the ducks shouted, "Amen!" And they all waddled home.

Life is slowing down. I'll be back to posting soon. So both of you take heart.
j

my life's definition of irony

I bought the book In Praise of Slowness three weeks ago. I haven't had time to stop and read it.

So there you go.
j

whooooooooooooooooooo!

I've been banging my head against a coding problem for four days and I just made the breakthrough. I'm home alone and it's to late to call anyone, but I had to celebrate somewhere. Have a cold whatever on me.

back to work
j

it has begun

16-6.

i love this day.
j

my wife is flippin' cool

Reason # 459

Today K took the younger kids to the mall. Part of that adventure is always a stop at the playland in the middle of the place. While the kids are playing, K started up a conversation with another of the moms. The conversation revolved around how hard it was for this mom to take care of her child and how her culture didn't teach her how to deal with kids. K gives the woman her number and says they should get together sometime so the kids can play. While K is being her normal, encouraging self, the woman sheepishly asks her, "Are you a Christian?"

Folks, that's it. No bracelet, no T-shirt, no cross, no Bible, no tattoo, no book, no speech, no doctrinal accuracy. Just someone loving on a complete stranger for no other reason than the reality that God is desperately in love with that stranger. This is the gospel that shook the known world back in the day and it is the one that has been almost lost in the midst of whatever the heck we're doing these days.

"You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden."
"Are you a Christian?"

(Kip says) That's what I'm talkin' about.
j