Taking off the summer

From my blog.

I've finally conceded that I lack either the time or the motivation to blog until August.

Of course, now that I've said this, I'm sure a wellspring of beautiful, God-inspired revelations will spew forth from my mouth and I won't be able to contain it.

Or I'll see you in August, one or the other...

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America the Beautiful

Being American is not so much protecting your own rights as it is protecting the rights of your neighbors. And the land. Yes, definitely the land that we share with those neighbors.

Our truest patriots have always been selfless. Look at the men who signed the Declaration of Independence. They didn't fare well. What about those who have given their lives in war and peace for the defense of our nation? Not everyone gets to come back to the states.

What makes our nation great is how we join together for a common good.

Is it just me, or is that what makes America beautiful?

I was told recently that the ideals shared in Church (Jesus-talk, I think was the point) bodes well for how we should live our lives personally, but it would be disastrous for the United States to adopt policies that make sense in Church. This specifically was directed to the respect for life and the avoidance of violence and oppression. In your personal life, you should turn the other cheek (Jesus-talk) but if the United States did that, we'd get run all over (sensible, logical, and nationalistic talk)

To put it another way, Christ is for sissies. America, is not. What America really needs is to beef up our own infrastructure, stop caring about everyone outside of the USA, and be serious about doing what we do best - dominating the world and pushing people around with our might.

I would beg to differ. Look, I love Intercontinental missile defense systems as much at the next guy, but being American isn't just good for America (and bad for Korea, China, Uganda) - being American can be good news for everyone. It might help if I conjure a biblical image.

Remember that country Israel? The one we read about, not necessarily the one that exists today. But the one in the Bible. Prophets of old spoke of a place that was different. It was a nation not ruled by mere humans. But by a god. Not just any god, but THE god, YHWH. This god had a distinct idea about who his people (Israel) would be. Their role, as the chosen ones, was to be a blessing to the world. It was through this nation that others would find healing and prosperity.

In a world tired of war, greed, and destruction, people would flock to Israel to learn how to be peaceful, loving, free, and above all, alive. The only problem is that Israel didn't pull this off very well either, so, you know...the whole forgetting who they were, needing to be reminded thing kept happening. The whole Bible is a journey remembering who we are and remembering who God is.

I would love for America to be that country. To be a country where all the other countries in the world place their trust, come for help, and expect not manipulation but cooperation. To be a place that is holy and special and distinct.

Isaiah 52:7 says,

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"

To come back to my point, America can do something that isn't for sissies, its for the toughest among us. Are you tough enough to give up your own rights for someone else's? Are you tough enough to live on less so that some kid doesn't starve? Are you tough enough to not match nuke for nuke? This is the kind of country Israel is and its what the Kingdom of God looks like.

I believe America is beautiful. It has been, and it can be. Because wherever we go, we can bring with us a selfless nature and a determination to make the world a better place. We can proclaim peace, bring good tidings, and proclaim salvation - not domination. America might not be the biblical Israel. But it sure can emmulate it.

I believe in that America, and I think you do too. This country is supposed to be about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I know a God who has always been about those things - and he knows more about them than I do. So I'm going to try to make America as much like the Kingdom of God as I can.

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Libraries.

Books. Remember them? Ink, paper, and a little glue.

One summer, I think my Freshman year in College, I decided to read crazy books. I've always been a sucker for classics and after watching Conspiracy Theory (with Mel Gibson, remember that crazy movie?) I decided to give Catcher in the Rye a shot.

That is one crazy book. JD Salinger. Then came Catch-22. Joseph Heller. 1984. George Orwell. Brave New World. Aldus Huxley.

And finally, I read Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury.

It was a strange, wonderful, and enlightening summer. Since then, probably the craziest book I've read since was A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Did I mention I love Jesus and still do?

Imagine my surprise when I find out the guy loves libraries and is working to save them. Not Jesus, Bradbury.

The link is here, HT to Mental Floss.

Dude is still alive! And while the article quotes Bradbury as saying the internet is meaningless, its obvious that information (in print form) has a dear place in his heart.

It has yet to be determined if the work-horse of the digital age (magnetized metal) can compete with the longevity acheived through putting your thoughts on paper.

All this got me thinking about two things:

1. Libraries are important - as a professional librarian, my Mother often took me to the library. I don't remember reading books much there. Despite her best efforts, I'm afraid my short attention span did not encourage me to do anything besides run around through the shelves, find places to hide (libraries have lots of wonderful places to hide), and rely on my imagination to stave off boredom. The treasure trove of information in the books went first to my brother, who, as legend has it, could read a newspaper in second grade. So be it, but libraries are still important to me if only for the event horizon I can see created by the wealth of knowledge in one place.
2. Books are vitally important to people because of their reliability and the catalytic properties. The best books change the very nature of your world. But they aren't as important or as catalytic as relationships.

Relationships are more important than books. The interaction between two people is more important than a person and a book. Sure, books are awesome and great. But God sent His Son, not his book.

Sure, the Bible is important and has given to us by God, but why? The only reason the Bible is important is because it talks about the Son. It talks about relationships.

In reading my crazy books that summer, I discovered that no book, no matter how crazy, flawed, or difficult should be overlooked. They are all valuable and worth enjoying or wrestling with. The same is true about people.

I hope you never miss out on books, or people. Either way, I have to say the one person/book I continue to wrestle with, love, and enjoy, is Jesus. I think you'd enjoy him too, some think he's crazy though.

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What a world we live in.

Have you watched the news lately? Its kinda crazy.

Feels like things are tearing apart... I don't know why, but people seem so desperate.

Maybe its the Iranian chaos. We watch (most of us) as spectators in a world that won't, or can't, change what is happening there. Is it not a blessing that America is a country where elections happen without bloodshed? Is a sham election worse than no election at all?

Maybe its the swine flu. I kinda laughed at the first wave and all the news coverage, but in truth it won't go away. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic. The first time they've done that since 1968 (I think). All our medical technology still can't hold back everything.

Maybe its the economy. I have friends who are losing jobs. Men who are working in New Jersey while their family stays in Alabama.

Maybe its the government. I have friends who celebrated and lamented Obama's democratic victory. Regardless of whether you are conservative or liberal, I think many of us watch anxiously while the results of our (yes, our) decisions as a country change the world.

Maybe its the guns, the healthcare, the poverty, the foreign policy, the tornadoes, the hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, crime, drugs, bills, rock and roll, death, new life, religion, or whatever it is that is bugging you.

Have you ever read Ecclesiastes? The book starts like I want to...

meaningless! Its all meaningless! Just read the first chapter. It is.... familiar somehow. Aren't we supposed to know better? This is 2009 - shouldn't we have improved the world?

¹⁶ I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge." ¹⁷ Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

¹⁸ For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief.

Much sorrow... much grief.

You know, our society lives under the illusion that simply because we are moving forward in time means we are improving. We call it progress. But do we really believe that things are better now than they were? Or that they are worse than they once were?

How do you measure something like that!?

¹⁸ Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. ¹⁹ Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. ²⁰ He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.

Gladness of heart. Can you hear it? Feel it? Desire it?

Wouldn't you love to be so occupied in God that nothing could shake your world? In my best moments I'm well assured in my God. In my worst moments, I question and worry my little head off.

The end of the Book of Ecclesiastes ends focusing not on us, but instead on God. Read it for yourself.

The end of the matter is not for us to say, but instead for God. Take heart - we have a Lord who loves us and has not forsaken us. If you are yourself worried about the times we live in, you weren't the first. And you won't be the last. But God is good, and will always be with us.

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