Amazing how God speaks through His word

Am working through painful issues in relation to someone I know, who I have wanted to believe was a follower of Christ, but am finding to be harder to believe over time. I continue to pray for the salvation of my loved ones who do not know Christ. And I continue to hope and pray that God will not let me fall away. Here is the verse that came to me today, via biblegateway's verse of the day. It was a combination of truth - shedding light on something I didn't understand - wisdom, chastisement and encouragement. Chastisement, especially regarding the unwholesome talk. (sigh) The first paragraph jumped out at me as a description of the nature of the problem this person may be experiencing. As simple as it sounds, it's taken me a long time to accept that only God can change a person (including me) on the inside; no one else can. I'm still learning.

Ephesians 4:17-32

Living as Children of Light

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Quotable quotes

"Joy is the best makeup. Joy, and good lighting."

Grace (Eventually), by Anne Lamott

"When God is going to do something wonderful, He always starts with hardship; when God is going to do something amazing, He starts with an impossibility."

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott

"You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

Traveling Mercies , by Anne Lamott

Forget the cheese

I recently finished reading Anne Lamott's book, "Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith." My favorite passage came in the opening pages of the book which I wanted to share with you here. It's good food for thought, and contains kernels of ideas that have been rolling around in my head quite a bit these days:

"There is not much truth being told in the world. There never was.
This has proven to be a major disappointment to some of us. When I was a child, I thought grown-ups and teachers knew the truth, because they told me they did. It took years for me to discover that the first step in finding out the truth is to begin unlearning almost everything adults had taught me, and to start doing all the things they'd told me not to do. Their main pitch was that achievement equaled happiness, when all you had to do was study rock stars, or movie stars, or them, to see that they were mostly miserable. They were all running around in mazes like everyone else.

On the other hand, sometimes you encountered people who'd stopped playing everyone else's game, who seemed to be semi-happy, and with it, who said, in so many words, I saw the cheese, I lived on it for years, and it wasn't worth it. It was plain old Safeway Swiss."

***

Here's to holding onto what's true; and remembering that achievement does not equal happiness.

It's Spring!

Eating porridge, playing chess.

Are apparently the keys to a long life.

This very random article indicates a guy placed a $50,000 bet and won, after turning 100.

Hope for the Hokies

An interesting site for those who want to learn, pay respects, hear some good, hope-filled music for troubled times.

It's called: Hope for the Hokies.

The Passing of Icons

What's up with all these human icons passing away recently? Or maybe it's been happening all the time and I am just noticing it now. Very possible.

Kurt Vonnegut...

and now Boris Yeltsin.

(Incidentally, it's very unlikely you'll see those two names strung together like this again. I love being unpredictable that way.)

Speaking of unexpected passings, strangely, I am not as emotionally affected by the Virginia Tech incident in a way that some of my friends seem to be. A Korean-American friend of mine expressed how personally she felt the tragedy because she identified so much with the upbringing and background of the killer and his family...as for me, I think my relative dispassion may have something to do with the fact that while a second-generation Korean-American, I do not feel like the killings had ANYTHING to do with the fact that he was Korean. People from all cultures do crazy, angry, vindictive things. Unfortunately, a lot has to do with the fallenness of human beings. We can blame the killer, the people who failed to love him, those he failed to love, the hate in his heart, the desire to get revenge...but I don't blame Koreans or Korea - and maybe it could have been prevented, but (in a modest attempt to bring me back to my original point), death does reach us all.

There is always an element of sadness or loss to the experience which is undeniable, whether you knew the person personally or only from a distance...I guess it's just very sobering to be reminded of one's mortality, how short life is and how deeply affected by and "agents of affect" we are to those around us. I thought alot about my own mortality when I was in Uganda. Death was so commonplace there. In way, it made things more real, more...visceral. Here death is treated so sterilly (not a word, I know), that it's easy to take life for granted. It's easy to become numb to living.

Maybe that's why I like reading about those who lived well. Maybe that's why such stories seem to capture the headlines.

We see better in hindsight, the life well lived.