Living the Race

A Long Absence

2012-06-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

After over three months, it is time to return to posting!

A few of you may be wondering why I stopped posting. I'll be honest with you all: I stopped because in my schedule of work and fellowship with the church, I was either too tired or too preoccupied with other things on my mind in my free time to pick up the book, read, and then write.

Scream at me if you so desire. Rant at me in the comments section of this blog if it makes you feel better. I won't hide from the fact that I decided to not do something that had seemed second nature for a while.

Having said that, I will continue writing on The Screwtape Letters until the book is finished, and we'll see where to go from there. If anyone of you who have read this blog in the past decide that they want to have another book gone over, please let me know about the book, and I'll get my paws on a copy to work through on this blog. After all, Lewis is highly interesting but by no means the only author God gave the gift of prose to.

Look forward to chapter 11's summary in the next 24 hours.

The Screwtape Letters, chapter 10

2012-03-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

I've done it to myself again: I have not been able to post the next chapter when I said I would. However, I was called upon to do substitute teaching yesterday in addition to working eight hours at my cashier's job; I was quite simply too exhausted from such a day to do anything but fall asleep last night. However, here is the next chapter of the Screwtape Letters!

Wormwood's patient has apparently fallen in with some people who are, for lack of any better words on my part, habitual skeptics. Another tempter by the name of Triptweeze has given this information to Screwtape, who is of course delighted by this news. Screwtape goes on to mention that these new friends can with Wormwood's help turn the patient to standing in a false position that is directly opposite to his faith. By continuing his friendship with these people, the patient will display many cynical and skeptical attitudes which are not his, but he will pretend that they are. Screwtape goes on to mention that many human beings turn into the things which they imitate, but he cautions Wormwood to prepare against a counterattack by the Enemy.

First up for the junior tempter is to delay the moment when the patient realizes that his friendship is a temptation. Keeping in mind that all friendships are not temptations (it really does depend on the type of friendship, mind you; do your friends bring true joy and happiness into your life and do you return that joy and happiness to them in kind?), the instructions from Screwtape are clear: keep the patient in a haze and unaware of the real danger of this group of friends to his faith. The warnings from Christian writers about Worldly Vanities, Choice of Friends, and Value of Time at this point are scarce, though Screwtape understandably does not like hearing warnings against Mammon (material possessions) which are apparently more common. The patient may classify such things as "Puritanical", the word usage of which Screwtape delightedly celebrates as the means by which tempters 'rescue' thousands of humans annually from temperance, chastity, and sobriety of life.

However, once the patient realizes the problem of being friends with the skeptics, Screwtape warns Wormwood to adapt his tactics according to the patient's response. Either the patient can be induced to live two seemingly different lives (there have been songs written about this phenomenon, and compromise is often mentioned in association with it in very unflattering terms), or the patient can be tricked into believing himself as the individual who believes that he sees very cleverly the big picture which no one else sees in either his friendship circles or in the sanctuary on Sunday morning, that he is the perfectly complete, balanced, and complex person in comparison to all others in his knowledge. A current of underlying self-satisfaction is what Wormwood is to aim for with the second course of action. The final resort for Wormwood if the first two tacts fail is to instill a vague accusation in the patient that his putting off of these new friends is intolerant, that he is being rude somehow. In continuing this friendship, Wormwood is aiming not only to drag down the patient's faith, but also to destroy his obligations to work and home by depleting his finances and stealing his time.

Believe it or not, there is a very real danger present in our friendships with the wrong crowd. I do not mean that we as Christians cease to strive at bringing new believers into a relationship with Christ and the church of believers that exists all around the world. Far from it. I believe that one of the main themes presented here is "Choose your friends wisely". Although friends can be innocuous and very good for all of us (being the social creatures that we are), friends who encourage us to actively participate in habits and deeds which stand in direct opposition to what the Father has called us to be and do can destroy our faith. I sincerely doubt that Lewis is telling us to avoid such people altogether. However, we must look at such people and invite them to join us in our walk with Christ. Acceptance or denial is then the choice presented to them, and they may choose one or the other. Believers should not be asked to compromise their relationship with Christ for the sake of friendship with someone else, though; such compromise is dangerous for a believer to engage in, however 'Puritanical' and 'intolerant' it may seem. For myself, I do not wish to lead two lives in two separate settings. I did so for several years as a collegiate athlete, being a rough-and-ready American football player who loved physical violence and vitriolic language six days of the week before going to church on the seventh day and seeming to be a very respectable and well-spoken individual to the men and women who sat on either side of me.

This is not to say that collegiate athletics are to be avoided. I say again that I have led two seemingly separate lives and the strain on myself from such a fallacy was beginning to destroy me. Christ asks us to walk with him and not with the world in which we live or the people surrounding us who do not also walk with Christ. He calls us to be uncompromised in our lives with Him so that we may carry His Good News to those people. If you have questions about living a double life or want to comment on my experience or your own and how this is a temptation to be avoided, please feel free to comment on this post.

The Screwtape Letters, Chapter 9

2012-03-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon, readers. My last post served as something of a place-holder, but I will be honest with you all: I simply did not have anything within my soul to move forward with a new posting. This is quite ironic, given that Screwtape's next letter deals in part with a very similar issue, and...well, you'll just have to read on!

Screwtape has informed Wormwood about the Law of Undulation and the troughs and peaks of the human experience of being in a relationship with God. Now he sets to the task of instructing Wormwood how to best exploit both the peaks and the troughs. Dealing with the troughs, Screwtape writes that some of the primary means of drawing a human soul into sin through temptation and thus down into Hell are through pleasures. Before any of you scream that all good things are evil and forswear any kind of fun for fear of being damned, Screwtape himself notes that it is pleasure twisted and experienced in the troughs which gains human souls in the easiest manner. Sexual appetite experienced during the peak might seem to be useful to Wormwood, but the human powers of resistance (given to us by God when He created us) are also then at their highest. Screwtape snarls about peak sexual appetite as leading to "that milk and water phenomenon that the humans call 'falling in love'; I imagine he is less than amused at this occurrence in a human life, and perhaps not least because God created us with this particular hardwiring. The same can be said about alcohol, and perhaps also about material possessions; alcohol may be enjoyed with relish and delight in the company of friends and family during the peak (indeed, there is quite a lot to be said for both alcohol and caffeine in this regard if a person has ever enjoyed a glass of wine in the evening with friends or coffee/tea/espresso with family on a holiday morning) without any sort of harm being done to the person's spiritual well-being and standing with God. With regards to material possessions, I might suggest that many Christians desire to gain wealth through their work or small businesses or properties in order to give it away, to spend the wealth on others, to lavish a material blessing on people for whom such a thing is quite unlooked-for in their lives. In this and other ways, the appetites which human beings possess is a great threat to the Tempters in Screwtape's department, as they are appetites created in us by God the Father when He first breathed the Breath of Life into Adam's nostrils and crafted Eve from Adam's rib.

It is during our trough periods when such appetites are truly dangerous. Wormwood's attack on his patient has a much better chance of success, Screwtape notes, when the patient's whole inner world is drab, cold, and empty. Sexual appetite is then twisted and perverted into unwholesome lusts, and alcohol is not consumed with friends in the course of conversation and laughter but as a means to forget a particularly wretched day, and material goods and possessions are not acquired because they can be used to glorify God but because of the skewed logic that having more will somehow make a person happy. "An ever increasing craving for an ever decreasing pleasure is the formula", Screwtape says to Wormwood. "To get the man's soul and give him nothing in return-that is what really gladdens our Father's heart". Take pornography addictions, for example. The longer that a person views such things, the greater the appetite for more twisted and degrading forms of pornography becomes. Or alcohol, for another. The longer that a person drinks to become drunk, the more powerful the alcohol must be and in far greater quantities in order to satisfy, however temporarily, that person's desire for a powerful sedative.

Screwtape suggests, however, that there is a far better means of exploiting the troughs. By keeping knowledge out of the patient's mind about undulation, Wormwood may then lead the patient to believe that the feelings he first experienced in the weeks right after his conversion were expected to occur forever. His present state of dryness should be made to seem equally permanent, and that once these two wholly false concepts are fixed in the patient's mind, Wormwood's job is to then keep the patient away from Christians experienced with undulation's trough periods and have him try to recover those old feelings by sheer will-power. This method Wormwood is to use if the patient is the despondent type; should the patient be more hopeful, the key is to persuade the patient that the low period is not so low after all and that it was all a phase, and he ought to be more moderate ever after. Screwtape writes that "a moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all-and more amusing"; by this I believe that Screwtape writes of Christians who simply go through the motions on Sunday and look on the works of other Christians in their neighborhood and halfway 'round the world as overly zealous.

Screwtape finishes up by suggesting to Wormwood that the linchpin in keeping his patient foggy is to use jargon, not logic, to achieve this sense of moderation or the use of will-power to recover old feelings. In other words, neither of the two courses of action which a human being might take in response to a trough period make any bloody sense when examined critically. As stated in chapter 8, one of the cures for a trough period is to simply knuckle down and do God's will even when all trace of Him seems to have vanished from the earth. The other is to continue asking very pointed questions in an internal conversation (or external; in fact, it may be better to bounce these thoughts off a very good and trusted Christian brother or sister) about why a person's faith must be moderated in the face of spiritual dryness. Why compromise when circumstances are set against us? Is that not what the Enemy wants, after all?

If you have experienced or are experiencing a trough period and would like to comment further on this or any other post, you are welcome to share your thoughts with myself and the other readers. Keep reading...and praying...and serving God with every chance you get. I will have the 10th chapter on Friday, March 9th.

Shock and Sadness

2012-02-20T22:10:00.000-08:00

If anyone is wondering why I have been silent on this blog for the past two weeks or so, it is because my attentions have been demanded by a confusing time at my church.

I must explain that my church building holds two seemingly separate churches that are still part of one congregation. Strange? Yes, and a conversation with my father earlier this night provided me with more insight into the incredibly complicated relationships and dynamics of such a setup: when two bodies of worshipers with two differing styles of worship co-habit the same building with two independent leadership teams, there are bound to be disagreements and arguments and differences of vision for the future and the church's mission.

Because of this precarious balancing act of sharing space, the cooperation between the leaders of the church has become very strained. The pastor of one fellowship was asked to resign under the larger task of restructuring church governance and leadership, and as a result many of the new believers and recent members have been deeply shaken and saddened. Our departing pastor was a surrogate father to many of us and a dear friend during his time in ministry, and dealing with the sudden void in our spiritual lives has many of us asking whether God has abandoned us. Some members will undoubtedly leave the church following this event.

I wonder, however, if this may be a message from God for the smaller fellowship to finally leave the church building. For nearly thirteen years, a spirit of evangelism and mission has moved in our midst and if we are to be the church which God has called us to be, then might the time have finally arrived to truly GO as Jesus said to the disciples and make disciples of all men?

Understand that I am not advocating a church split. In fact, church splits seem to be the worst possible way for the church to grow; somehow, churches in the Anabaptist tradition seem to prefer this way of growing (masochistic, yes?) rather than by sending missionaries far and wide to tell people the Good News that Jesus has come to take away their sin and make them part of the Kingdom of God. Instead, I am pondering a new type of Mennonite church reaching out to a lost and hurting city in a lost and hurting nation in a lost and hurting world in the manner of the first missionaries: by calling everyone to join in the Great Commission to tell the whole world what Jesus has done for them in their own lives.

Many of the divisive and potentially explosive factors which can destroy a church seem to be in existence within our congregation: factions, attitudes of self-righteousness, comfortable numbness to the suffering of the world, and pride, which may be the most dangerous of all. If you can relate to any of these within your own congregation, reading through some of Paul's letters to the church in Corinth and to his friend Timothy may help you when you pray for your church. I might also suggest something incredibly gutsy: go to your pastor and tell she or he that the church is in danger of becoming divided against itself. Tell your pastor what you are observing. Tell your pastor that many of the same situations and factors worked to divide many First-Century churches (just read through the New Testament and a few church history books if you need citations). Beg for a united church which serves God by calling the lost to Christ both close to home and in places where the Gospel has never been heard of before.

I am writing this now to explain myself and warn others about the primary danger facing any congregation: losing sight of what God has called us to do here on Earth will destroy this family of brothers and sisters in Christ. I am passionate about this because I want to see lives changed by Christ and entire cities transformed by what He has done. I saw the beginnings of it in Costa Rica as a missionary several years ago, and I want to see it again.

The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 8

2012-02-07T07:23:00.000-08:00

Greetings, everyone. Treat yourself to a decent history book sometime this month; I suggest a book which reads like a novel if nothing else. Now to continue with the Letters...

Screwtape's admonition of Wormwood regarding the patient's "current religious phase" is paired with a very important sentence for us as Christians: "Has no one ever told you about the law of Undulation?" Indeed, I should think that most of us (I am included in this, yes, for I am ever forgetful) have not fully understood this law, if it should be called a law. I am certain that Lewis regards Undulation as a law, and there is much sense in this as most human beings experience peaks and troughs of physical, emotional, and spiritual patterns in their life. Part of this, Screwtape mentions, is that humans are "disgusting hybrids" who are at once physical and inhabit time, and spiritual beings directed to an eternal object. Screwtape's vitriol aside, he is quite right: we as human beings inhabit both time and eternity. Peaks and troughs are now understood a little better now that we understand our dual nature, but Screwtape's next letter section should give a very solid idea as to what God wants to do with us as opposed to the demons' desire to consumer our souls. It is this:

God desires "a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct".

This is why the tempters work so hard, if we remember the previous chapters. This is why Screwtape is doing his best to give instruction to his nephew Wormwood on how to draw a human soul into sin throughout his life before finally dragging that soul down into Hell. This is why a war rages right now for every decision of every person in every moment. Ah, now that I have finished ranting, back to the chapter.

The troughs of the human experience are where the most work is done for God, Screwtape warns. Also to put to rest a question that newer believers may have, God does not make use of the Irresistable and the Indisputable to override the human will. God desires a relationship, not domination of ourselves. This is why he withdraws himself from our conscious experience and very quietly whispers to us in the midst of our greatest struggles that He is still with us and still loves us. In these times, He also asks us to continue to do His will on earth. Screwtape writes that "Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."

Thinking back to my readings of the gospels, I think that Jesus may have experienced troughs as well as peaks. Consider this: the gospel authors mention that Jesus withdrew frequently to remote settings and spent much time in prayer. During these times, Jesus drew on the strength and endurance of God for the coming day's ministry, and I believe that is because the previous day had drained his human self. Think too about his words on the cross (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) and we get a picture of a Jesus who experienced the peaks of ministry through sermons, healing, and driving out demons along with the troughs of physical exhaustion, emotional distress, and spiritual longing for the Father. We are called to follow Jesus as Christians; can we follow in His footsteps through the troughs as well as the peaks?

The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 7

2012-02-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

Greetings once again! As promised, here is chapter 7, and even better, on the day that I promised! Now, to work on the time of day (night) which I post...

Screwtape's opening sentence addresses an issue that perhaps far too many Christians have either forgotten or willingly dismissed: the ignorance of Wormwood's existence in the patient's mind (I am quite sure that to disbelieve that demons, fallen angels, and the powers of Hell itself which the Enemy commands is a near-fatal mistake for any Christian). Wormwood is given further reflections from Screwtape's own experience that concealment has not always been the case. He does mention that either belief or disbelief in demons by human beings takes away some of the courses which tempters can then guide their patients on. However, the perfect work that Screwtape mentions on page 31-the Materialist Magician-sounds all too similar to my ears of the many individuals who trumpet the near-mystical properties of technology to solve the problems of the world. Once that has been accomplished, Screwtape says that the end of the war will be in sight.

However, Wormwood must conceal himself and work with the common misconception of a cartoon demon to keep his patient from awakening to his predicament. In the meantime, Screwtape ponders the choice between guiding the patient into extreme patriotism or extreme pacifism. The primary reason for doing so is to blind the patient to the "Enemy", or God; admittedly, any mission or church-plant or outreach done for the sake of mission or church-plant or outreach blinds the participants to what God is doing. In the patient's case, extreme patriotism may make him vicious to 'enemies of the state' as much as the foreign aggressors. 'Enemies of the state' would include, funnily enough, extreme pacifists as well as spies and defectors. Extreme patriots would charge headlong into actions that may harm themselves as well as others. Extreme pacifists, on the other hand, may perhaps avoid anything that may be seen as aiding the war effort to the point where he or she refuses to invite the neighbors over for tea (or coffee, or wine, or any other drink that may accompany a social gathering of the sort) because the neighbors have donated their time, money, and resources to the war effort in some fashion.

The devil's overall mission with both groups of people is to create factions, which I have mentioned in some of my previous writings. The parties of Paul and Apollos in the church at Corinth are cited by Screwtape as examples of factions within the Church itself (not the Catholic Church, not the Church of England necessarily, but all churches worldwide) which have done considerable damage to the body of believers. With the patient, the idea is not necessarily to bring him into a faction, but rather to make one of the two extremes of patriotism or pacifism a part of his religion at first, then slowly twist the extreme so that the religion ends up being a means to the ultimate ideal of either patriotism or pacifism. Screwtape declares that once the movement matter more to the patient than prayers, the patient will be in the power of Hell. He wraps up his letter by mentioning that Wormwood might see a pretty cageful of falsely religious people who used Christianity as a means to gain the world, a rather chilling statement about the true state of some contemporary Christians in our own times.

Any thoughts?

Current readings

2012-01-31T09:36:00.000-08:00

Before I post chapter 7 of the Screwtape Letters tomorrow on February 1st, I wanted to give you the readers an idea of what I am reading in addition to Lewis' book.

First up is the Bible, and the current book is the book of Micah. The past two weeks have seen me working through the books of 1st and 2nd Timothy, but this week the reading focus has moved to the Old Testament prophet. Why? A very brief explanation is that I am part of a Life Transformation Group with two other young Christian men that meet once per week to discuss our Scripture readings and hold each other accountable for our actions and words that week.

I am also reading a historical book by Todd Standage, "A History of the World in Six Glasses". Standage looks at beer, wine, spirits (liquors), coffee, tea, and soft drinks; their origins, the societies and cultures which first embraced them, and their effects on the world culture at large as a result. I have been quite fascinated by the information, but anyone who wishes to find painstaking detail on anything other than the drinks mentioned in the book will not necessarily find it, since the book is a broad overview of historical themes related to the drinks for the most part.

Last but not least, I am reading through chord sheets for my guitar practicing. Before any wrong assumptions are made, I am not a member of a band nor do I have the skills currently to play in a band. I mostly practice because I enjoy the music and I want to be able to play along to the songs that I enjoy the most. Some of the music includes Keith and Kristyn Getty, Chris Tomlin, the Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline, Petra (a truly old band), Jeremy Camp, Switchfoot, Decemberadio, Robin Mark, and Relient K. I would love to add some Paul Baloche albums, but those can wait. If you have any music recommendations, either for myself or for other readers looking for contemporary Christian rock and worship music, please reply to this post or to any others that I may post in the future.

May God truly bless you this day.

The Screwtape Letters: chapter 6

2012-01-23T16:41:00.000-08:00

Greetings to everyone! Without further ado, we turn again to Screwtape's advice regarding his nephew's patient...

The possibility of the patient being drafted for the war effort has produced a deal of anxiety, which Screwtape mentions quickly is quite advantageous to Wormwood's efforts of temptation. The idea is to block off the "Enemy" from prevailing upon the patient to be concerned with what he does, and fill the patient's mind instead with notions of what may happen to him (presumably negative). It is for his current situation and trials which Screwtape says that "he is to say 'Thy will be done', and for the daily task of bearing this that the daily bread will be provided." In other words, Wormwood's primary objective is to keep the patient focused on anything but what he is to cope with in this very moment, and even more importantly, to keep the patient from both realizing what he must do and Whom he must draw his strength from to withstand the present "tribulation", though we may use the word "trials" and arrive at the same understanding.

Screwtape's next encouragement to Wormwood is to either focus the patient's attention on trivial matters outside of himself-anger at a neighbour or passion at the sight of a lovely woman-or to focus that attention inward on himself. Either way, the goal is achieved when the "Enemy" is no longer the focus of the patient's prayers and actions. Screwtape has already encouraged Wormwood to do this in chapter 4, and the fact that Screwtape brings the subject up again should be a reminder that the Devil and his minions will continue to use whatever tricks work best, or be most insistent with one or two avenues of attack against us.

The next two paragraphs highlight the need for Wormwood to direct his patient's "malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know." In so doing, the patient will turn his real virtues into imagined ones.

I believe that this chapter points out the great dangers which we Christians in the Western Hemisphere face...and never seem to realize until we are rasping out our last breaths. Oh, to be a missionary to the far-flung corners of the world seems a fine and noble thing, and indeed it is. Yet we North Americans in particular (and I do not discount myself; I am as guilty as anyone of this) fail miserably at being a good neighbour to the person who lives right next door to us. I tell you now that I have been on missions in Costa Rica and have come away changed, but I can never seem to say much more than a "good morning" or "Hullo!" to the various tenants of the apartment building in which I live. I can advocate for missions to Europe where many people are eager to hear the Good News all over again, but I have often failed to deliver the Good News to people living just up the street from my residence.

Where do you stand on this issue of focusing what God wants us to do right now, rather than worrying about what will become of us?

Coming soon...

2011-12-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

Once the New Year's festivities have ended and I have had some time to reflect on the reading, I will go over Screwtape, chapter 7.

Happy New Year, folks!

The Arrival of a New Year

2011-12-30T17:44:00.000-08:00

Everyone who reads this post may or may not be anticipating the arrival of 2012 for whatever reason. Personally, I am looking forward to the New Year not because of any resolutions or "the end of the world" which some people are predicting, but because I am curious to know what God has in store for me and for everyone in the world.

For folks who live in Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, and the Philippine islands in the Pacific, there is probably no better place to be when watching the sun come up on January 1st. For myself, I will most likely wake up earlier than usual to watch the sun rise over the mountains and shine down into the valley...that is, if the weather is clear.

This year began with fear and anxiety on my part: fear of failure in academics and student teaching and anxiety about what the future held. Although I am no more certain of what may come in the days, months, and years ahead in my life, I have discarded my fear of failure for the courage which only the Lion of Judah can provide.

Ever think there was a reason for that name? God told Joshua over and over again in Joshua 1:5-9 that he should be "bold and very courageous", for God would be with him where-ever he went.

I have not made any resolutions for this coming year which I have not made already in past years and months. I have not determined that I will feel a certain way or behave much better than what I have, although there will always be room for improvement in my habits and actions. If anything, I want to increase my good habits in my Christian walk: prayer, study of the Scriptures, and working with others who earnestly seek to do God's will and not theirs. To give to others, even out of my relative poverty. To listen for God's instructions and obey when I hear.

What about you? What do you wish to do and be for the Kingdom of Heaven?

The Screwtape Letters: chapter 6, and a reflection on the Gospel of Luke

2011-12-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

I have reflected at times on the suffering, fiscal and physical, of the citizens of the United States, Iraq, and Afghanistan over the past decade. If tempters such as Wormwood and Screwtape are fed with the suffering of their patients especial to periods of war and conflict, surely Lewis as a contemporary writer in the early 2000s may have drawn richly from the "War on Terror". The fear which has been instilled in the populations of many countries the world over as a result of this nebulous concept of waging war against an idea has been perpetual and, in my humble opinion these days, quite ridiculous. Looking at this ridiculous and perpetual fear through the eyes of the two tempters, however, I think Screwtape would have rejoiced at the events which have transpired since September 11, 2001 and what the mindset of political authorities has done to ordinary citizens.

Screwtape begins his fifth letter to Wormwood with a rather grandfatherly tone in recognition of Wormwood's "deliriously joyful drunkenness" over the anguish of his patient's soul at the onset of another European war (I surmise that Lewis is using the Second World War, though it is possible that the First is being referenced instead), and we get a glimpse of the "food" which sustains all of the subjects of "Our Father Below", a title which Lewis substitutes for the Devil. Yet, the cautionary words for Wormwood are not to rejoice in the first few sips of this heady draught, but to remain sober and decide how best to use the war to procure the damnation of the patient's soul so that Wormwood might drink the "brim-full living chalice of despair and horror and astonishment" for as long as he wishes.

Screwtape suggests that the Enemy makes use of a war in such very unfair circumstances and conditions (I have never known that a war was supposed to be fair, but this is beside the point). Men and women not in the Enemy's service look beyond themselves and strive for causes that earn them redemption in His eyes because those individuals were doing the best with what they knew. Men and women far advanced in the Enemy's service willingly go to die in such situations where they knew they WOULD die, prepared mentally and spiritually for that death. And many thousands, much to Screwtape's dismay, face the possibility of physical expiration not in the contented wordliness of a nursing home surrounded by a numbing lie in regards to the sorry state of their soul, but in constant awareness of the everpresent possibility that death is only a step away. Screwtape reflects that "in wartime not even a human can believe that he will live forever" and so "our best weapon, contented worldliness, is rendered useless".

Somehow, this chapter dove-tails quite nicely into the overall theme of Luke's Gospel, which he addresses to one Theophilus, a Christian in the first century CE who perhaps requested more information about Jesus from Luke or was given the very detailed account of Jesus' ministry simply because Luke decided that another account based on eyewitness testimony was necessary for the Good News to be given legitimacy in the minds of the very educated audiences. Whatever the case, Luke's attorney-like style does not conceal Jesus' testament that the systems and structures of governance and faith-based religion were being exploited for the temporal gain of those persons in charge, and that those seeking the Kingdom of Heaven must seek to give themselves and their own personal gain up for something greater than themselves.

What then, about the time of year in which I write this post? Merry Christmas indeed to all people, yet the reality of this time of year is far different than what many North American Christians experience in the comfort of their homes. Perhaps this is why I waited until now: hundreds of thousands of American citizens are homeless, and millions of people the world over are starving and dying of thirst. Billions are waiting for the Gospel, for true Good News.

I might call that far greater anguish and terror than the prospect of war.

As always, please respond to this post by leaving a comment if you have questions or oppose something written here. I by no means have all the answers and I am not trying to be the Ultimate Authority (that is reserved for God), and I welcome any feedback.

The Screwtape Letters, chapter 4

2011-11-30T05:32:00.000-08:00

After some harsh rebukes for Wormwood, Screwtape addresses the subject of prayer by Wormwood's patient in chapter four. I want to address a few things about prayer which may seem obvious to some of you and not so obvious to others.

Screwtape encourages the temptation of the patient to anything other than serious prayer. By serious prayer, I am guessing that Screwtape means when the patient completely shuts himself off from the cares and concerns of the rest of the world and engages the Father one-on-one in true quality time between Father and adopted Son.

Prayer is not about feelings, but rather about the concentrated effort which talking to God requires of us. To borrow from a missionary in Costa Rica, "Is this God talking to me, or just last night's pizza?" I say this because prayer is not about getting some good feelings, but instead about honest labor, often on behalf of someone else.

God is present in the room, in the very space where prayer takes place. Enough said.

Finally, prayer is very much affected by the place in which a person prays. Consider that a sociable person in the company of several very good friends will pray far more earnestly in that setting than he or she will when alone in the privacy of their own room. Also, a person who does not feel at all comfortable praying in church save the rare instance that he or she is called upon to do so will spend hours in prayer where no one else may see. This is not an advocation of "to each his own". Rather, the encouragement is for a Christian to pray in the place where they are most dedicated to the task at hand: direct communication with God on behalf of others and self. Though this is not necessarily covered in the book, I wanted to include this reflection because regular prayer is as much a discipline for Christians as marching is for military recruits.

The next post will be a look at chapter 5 and a reflection on the gospel of Luke.

Reminders

2011-11-29T09:12:00.000-08:00

Read the fourth chapter of the Screwtape Letters yet? I have; I'm just really tardy in getting around to writing anything!

The recent holiday (okay, two Thanksgiving dinners for me) has quite shifted many routines out of whack. This is more of a reminder to myself to cover the fourth chapter for a change instead of just posting something. Don't let me forget, folks!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-20T13:21:00.000-08:00

A time to give thanks for the blessings of the past year is coming a bit earlier than normal. Not that I am complaining, really; the big meal four days early? Are you kidding? No complaints here!

Whatever you're doing the rest of the week, wherever you are eating the meal, whoever you're with at the table, give thanks if you are able to God for everything He's done for you. The last eleven months, for better or for worse, have left you alive and with the means to read this post. Life, health, food, family, education, and the season of autumn; I cannot think of anything else that I would rather have right now.

Is there something which you are particularly thankful for? Let us know with a comment attached to this post.

The Screwtape Letters, chapter 3

2011-11-15T06:34:00.000-08:00

At long last, we arrive at chapter 3!

In this chapter, we are made aware of the patient's home life to a certain extent. We know that the patient lives with his mother or his mother lives with him (hard to tell at times), and that their interactions are less than harmonious. To sabotage the patient's new spiritual life, Screwtape suggests several methods to Wormwood to increase the discord between the two. I will look at them each individually and in order, starting with:

"1. Keep his mind on the inner life." Doubt me not, this may seem like a decent thing to do...until we read on and discover that Screwtape means for the patient's focus to be entirely on himself at the expense of the world and people around him. There is mention of the "most elementary duties" being neglected in favor of "the most advanced and spiritual ones", and this may cause some confusion to us as well. So let's break down these duties in terms of what they might look like. An elementary duty for any Christian is the very simple act of helping someone in need without thought for self-gain. For instance, helping someone pick up the papers which they have dropped on the floor, or covering the coffee bill for a person who has left all their money at home are good examples of helping someone without thought for self-gain. Now, an example of a most advanced and spiritual duty might be the very careful planning and scheduling of intentional fasting during Lent. There is nothing wrong with either one, but Screwtape is hinting at having the patient's spiritual life becoming unbalanced, particularly so that the patient's relationship with his mother becomes severely fractured.

"2. It is, no doubt, impossible to prevent his praying for his mother, but we have means of rendering the prayers innocuous." Screwtape's suggestion here follows in the same vein as the previous bit of advice; namely, that the patient focus on the spiritual rather than the basic needs of the person which might be more urgent. To put the matter another way, praying for the salvation of a starving man's soul without giving the starving man the nourishing soup and water which he desperately needs immediately may result in a corpse, and so does the starving man little good for the present. Now the counter-argument may be that prayer is necessary. Yes. This is most true. Yet after having read through the Gospels, not once did Jesus attend to just the physical or the spiritual needs of the people he met and taught; he attended to both, often in the same sitting. As regards the patient and his mother, the challenge to the reader is to start with the very basic needs of the person they are praying for before moving on to that person's future and eternal life (or eternal death). The particularly chilling thought about the seriousness of Screwtape's point comes in the last sentence; many cases of domestic violence in the United States and around the world have occurred in the most spiritually-minded homes.

"3. When two humans have lived together for many years it usually happens that each has tones of voice and expressions of face which are almost unendurably irritating to the other. Work on that..." How many of us have had a classmate or co-worker or housemate who drove us nuts with certain habits, certain ways of phrasing their sentences, or a certain expression or body posture? Screwtape presses on this particular issue by encouraging Wormwood to use those expressions and tones to set both of the residents against one another. This process is further enhanced in...

"4. In civilised life domestic hatred usually expresses itself by saying things which would appear quite harmless on paper (the words are not offensive) but in such a voice, or at such a moment, that they are not far short of a blow in the face." Screwtape is pushing for such domestic tension here that the questions about mundane home routines become blown all out of proportion in a full-fledged verbal assault by each person involved. If Wormwood does things right and utilizes the third method to the fullest in this scenario, the patient and his mother will soon not be able to be in the house and share each other's company for even five minutes. I think I might leave examples to your imagination, as many of us have come from homes where this situation occurred at least once.

Notice that the assault is comprehensive in its approach, and that Wormwood is not being asked to pick out any one method of temptation, but rather that all four approaches seem to work very nicely with each other if done right.

Rather terrifying, isn't it? But my encouragement to anyone who is reading this post and seeing their own home life reflected in horrific accuracy is this: ask for the Lord to intervene and He will. After all, if we are told anything by Jesus about prayer, it is that we pray in full faith that when we "ask, and it shall be given", peace between ourselves and another person really will be given!

Chapter 4 comes with the next post!

The recent events at Penn State

2011-11-12T08:46:00.000-08:00

I'm going to go out on a limb and put Lewis on hiatus for at least another few hours. If people really want to read more information about the child molestation scandal unfolding around former Penn State football assistant Jerry Sandusky, please go to ESPN.com. For those people that want to get a bit of summary and an interpretation of the events, continue reading.

My gut reaction to the revelations of Sandusky sexually abusing at-risk boys (single-parent households, low-income households, and so on) was to call for the man's head. The state of Pennsylvania does not have a death penalty as far as I know, so I imagine that Sandusky will be given a very lengthy prison sentence that will end with his death in a prison cell. So much for that.

Now on to the university: the board of trustees perhaps believes that the correct and immediate actions have been taken by firing Joe Paterno, Gary Schultz, Tim Curley, and Graham Spanier. I believe that the board of trustees has made a huge error, considering that all four of these men and the graduate assistant (at the time) Mike McQueary were probably not trained at all to know exactly what to do in the event that they witnessed or were informed about sexual abuse of children on campus property. Penn State is a massive higher education institution which serves young adults who are no longer considered minors for almost everything except the consumption of alcohol before the legal age of 21; knowledge of reporting and handling child abuse cases is mostly confined to the Education Department and the Social Services Department which train students to be teachers and social workers. After all, many child abuse cases are first discovered because a teacher or social worker in a K-12 school setting suspects that a child is being abused after seeing a significant change in the child's behavior corresponding with signs of physical trauma appearing on the student where the teacher or guidance counselor or social worker can document in writing what they have seen and observed.

None of the four fired men was trained to handle a child abuse case. I have been trained as a teacher to act on my suspicions of child abuse and immediately begin documenting evidence and reporting that evidence to school authorities, which will then require me to cooperate fully with authorities investigating the evidence and the reports from myself and others. With all regard to the trustees who have taken action and to the media who have done a very thorough job of covering this series of events, everyone is dead wrong. Paterno was a football coach, not a teacher or social worker. Curley and Schultz were university administrators, not men with education degrees trained to spot such things and follow up on their suspicions. Spanier was a university president charged with advocating for the university students, not fingering child molestors that were once part of the Penn State staff.

Not that any of this mattered to Sandusky, who set them all up to be fired in disgrace. The reaction by the board of trustees will haunt them whether they know it or not as the knee-jerk response it was. The reaction of many media personnel to vilify all four men fired rather than the man who committed the crimes is idiotic and hypocritical at best; I'm looking at you, Ivan Maisel, Lester Munson, Mark May, and Pat Forde. None of you have been trained to handle such a case, and you all would have made mistakes. Just like the human beings that you are.

Sandusky will be put in jail, the board of trustees will be viewed very negatively by alumni and students, and the media writers will hold their jobs (unfortunately). Am I falling for Paterno's cult of personality? No. I am reacting to the situation as someone seeing four firings as a very poor course of action in the absolute wrong direction.

Soooo...what happens now? Penn State will face Nebraska in their last home game of the season without two members of their coaching staff. After the season is over, who knows? Some folks have suggested (Munson) that Penn State's football program, indeed the entire athletics department, be scrapped for two years or more and started over from scratch. Quite a wonderful punishment to the hundreds of student-athletes and coaching staffs who had absolutely nothing to do with Sandusky at all, isn't it? Sheer idiocy on Munson's part, and if he has the guts, Lester Munson will contact me right now and explain to me how he can so boldly tell so many young athletes to give up the sports which they love so much and sustain their academic endeavours to become young professionals in a field other than athletics.

To all the writers saying "here's how it should have been handled and because the four men did not do so, they deserved to be punished", check your egos and do a lot of soul-searching. ANYONE can make the mistake Paterno did, since no one else suspected Sandusky of such atrocities either. That includes all media writers who may have interviewed him, and that includes the four above which I have mentioned and their peers. I certainly could have done the same thing in Paterno's shoes, or Curley's or Spanier's or Schultz's, even.

In the end, perhaps the strenth of the reaction and lashback is because Penn State is viewed as a place and institution where nothing may go so horribly wrong. That includes my own reaction, which is written in some measure here. I must conclude by stating that Penn State IS what Paterno and others who shared his vision wanted it to be: a university where the students and academics truly are important. Penn State will in fact not be tarnished from this scandal, and proper blame will be placed where it should be placed: at the feet of an old man who was never what he seemed, and sought to gratify only himself and his own selfish interests.

Long absences

2011-11-03T06:58:00.000-07:00

If you read this blog regularly, you may have noticed that I have not made a new post for quite some time. I do apologize about that. I will be returning to a more-or-less regular posting with the Screwtape Letters; let me know through your comments if there is anything in particular which you the readers want me to address or if you wish for me to take a break from Screwtape and write about something else (I understand that not everyone enjoys Lewis' works).

So where have I been? Mostly running around on errands and doing my best to prevent my night job from getting me too discouraged. In light of those various responsibilities, I felt it necessary to get away from the blog for a bit. I do hope that you all will not punish me too much for doing so; as long as breaks do not become a habit from good routines, all is well, right?

More coming from Lewis tomorrow, as I take a look at chapter 3!

The Screwtape Letters, chapter 2

2011-10-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

When reading chapter 2 the first time (many moons ago), I thought that the language Screwtape used to lecture Wormwood about what to do with his patient's recent decision to follow Christ carried not a sense of urgency, but rather a sense of smug confidence. Screwtape does have good reason to be confident of the wisdom he imparts to Wormwood: many new Christians come into the faith and follow Jesus for a time...and then for one reason or another fall away.

One major cause of this phenomenon is not so much the terrible vices which many believers in church communities regard as terrible sins (gluttony, alcoholism, smoking, drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, profanity, and so forth), but rather the more subtle sins involving such slip-ups as hubris (excessive pride), a lack of charity or giving without thought of gain, a lack of compassion, violent and perpetual anger at everything and everyone, and other such mistakes which almost all people make at one time or another in their lifespan. This is not to say that vices are not bad; all sins may be seen as equally bad, especially when we consider God's view of sin. What Wormwood is to do with his patient is to press forward with his temptations, since many would-be saints of the faith were brought to "our Father Below", Screwtape calls him, through relentless attacks over an entire lifespan which eventually caused their complete downfall.

I am certain that Screwtape does not believe the cause lost with Wormwood's patient. Indeed, the initial conversion is only the beginning of a very long struggle for our souls.

Considering much of the second half of the chapter, I almost chuckle at times at the little imperfections of the congregation in which the patient is situated. Small things to be upset about, really. Yet the chuckle is often rueful, since I'm often guilty of what Screwtape is encouraging Wormwood to tempt his patient with: the sort of pride which makes the Pharisee praying at the temple in the Gospels sniff and mutter, "Oh Lord, thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there". I'm serious; no getting off the hook on this one, as I have done so as recently as two Sundays ago. This part of the book is actually a very good gut-check: deny that oneself is looking down one's nose at the very imperfect individuals praying and singing hymns on either side, and any individual may be certain that he or she is walking in pride (I am ducking my head and raising my hand to say I'm guilty at this moment).

Perhaps I might take this a step further. What about looking down one's nose at the workplace? If this is considered, I am guilty every day. Perhaps even hour, if I am completely honest. The thought is quite discouraging, but I believe that Christ died for our sins, especially for the sins of prideful thought that truly do plague every man at some point.

The Screwtape Letters, chapter 1

2011-10-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

If anyone has gone out and purchased a copy of the Screwtape Letters and loved reading the first chapter, hooray! If you have not yet done so, please do and join in the reading.

One of the principal things which I was struck by upon reading the chapter again was the strategy Screwtape outlines for Wormwood regarding the patient's current situation and doings. Chiefly, the senior tempter instructs his nephew to carefully use the suggestion that reality trumps any silly notions concerning God and eternity in order to distract and deter the patient from thinking on these things. Insidious, is it not? Screwtape's example involving a former patient gives the impression that not only are the suggestions so seemingly harmless, but also that the suggestions are not even suggestions at all but rather flights of human thought and therefore of no consequence. To make delays on spiritual matters seem to be our own doing rather than attacks by the enemy who might not even be there...

There is also the matter of the "materialist" friend which Screwtape points out to Wormwood. I did not draw out a lot of deep theological meaning from this one, but I was reminded of the old adage "choose your friends wisely". In other words, the patient receives quite a bit of influence not just from Wormwood's suggestions but also from the company he keeps. Perhaps it's time to do a gut-check on the friends I've got? Oh, and just to be clear, co-workers are often a much different category than friends.

Questions? Comments? Be sure to leave your thoughts on this post and get some discussion if you wish to further delve into this chapter with me or others.

The Screwtape Letters, part 1: a preface

2011-10-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

No, I will NOT post the entire book online, chapter by chapter. To do so would be an insult to the intelligence and reading abilities of you folks who are reading this blog.

Instead, I will be highlighting a few parts of each chapter and providing either a thought about the key phrases or an interpretation of Lewis' statement. A quick disclaimer: if someone sees something different than what my interpretation offers, that reader should immediately post their thought.

Having said that, here's a few reasons to read the Screwtape Letters.

1) C.S. Lewis, perhaps the best Christian author of the 20th century, wrote this book.
2) The book is cleverly written, and is an absorbing read if nothing else might be said about it.
3) Looking into the life of a very average man who makes the commitment to be a believer of Jesus Christ provides a chance to look at ourselves in much the same circumstances.
4) We take a glimpse at the war which is fought for our very souls every second, every minute, every hour of our lives and of the final victory which comes only through choosing to follow Jesus, who has called us to follow.

A look at chapter 1 will be in the next post, along with any news and thoughts about other subjects.

Overtime, fog, and balance

2011-10-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

I have been working twelve hour shifts for the past three days and have not possessed a lot of time to pour into writing, so please forgive me if all you readers out there wanted to smack me around with a nerf bat for not posting sooner.

Today on the way back from work, there was quite a lot of fog on the highway. I was reminded that the past few days, I had been operating in something of a mental fog. The long hours, combined with the type of work that I do and the fact that I did not really have a decent way to wind down after work before needing to go to bed, took a toll on my mind. I am able to take stock of myself and my surroundings more accurately. Stock of self: not running on a regular basis (MUST be corrected), drinking far too much alcohol (gotta cut back), and not able to tend to my personal budget and Christian disciplines of Bible reading and prayer. Stock of my surroundings: the local school districts are looking for substitute teachers (I'm qualified), one of my friends is going through a time of searching and job-seeking, the church where I am a member and regular attender is beginning a transition, my apartment has a lot of cleaning and tidying-up which must be done, the car needs to be cleaned...the list goes on, as you might guess.

I will not deliver a mind-blowingly deep philosophical treatise; indeed, such things are far beyond my capacity, much less my interest and patience. But here is a bit of truth: God gave us twenty-four hours in every day. How we spend those hours indicates whether or not we have balance in our lives. When we commit to one thing for too much time in a day, we begin operating in a mental haze.

I experienced this sort of thing when I was doing student teaching. Oh, I was fine during the time I spent in the classroom actually teaching and working with the students. Once school was dismissed for the day, my brain began operating at 10,000 RPMs, constantly trying to remind me of all the things that I had to do. I found that I was multi-tasking many different chores and trying to write out lesson plans and worksheets and find a chance to grab some down-time to relax and, and, and...not getting anywhere fast. I have since learned that balance (and a more disciplined approach to time management) are necessary no matter what the occupation is.

Perhaps this is why I do not mind overtime, but I do mind when work becomes all that I do in any given day. After all, when else can I read my bible, practice guitar chords and riffs, or write on this blog, eh?

Continuing to work, even when you don't feel like it

2011-10-08T05:03:00.000-07:00

I am employed on a temporary basis by a steel tool-fabrication factory in a town 25 minutes away from where I live. Now, the work which I do is not necessarily the most glamorous. Let's face it, assembling the toolholders and boring bars with the hardware necessary for the customers to use our products is not much fun. However, this job allows those parts to be shipped out, and when parts are shipped out, the plant makes money. That money pays our bills, pays for new raw steel to be shipped in, pays for the machines which we use, pays for machine tooling to replace worn-out or damaged tooling, and pays us all for the hours we work. It is important to keep this concept in mind for myself, as I would not want to show up for work otherwise. This is disregarding the fact that if I don't work, I'm homeless.

Having said that, I remember an incident only two weeks ago where a fellow temporary employee showed up for work, worked for an hour and thirty minutes, then said he was feeling tired, clocked out, and left.

I seem to recall a few things about the state of the national economy: unemployment stands at 9.1%, employers are hesitant to hire people who may not have the right job skills, pay-rates have been slashed for some sectors, and although manufacturing industries are slowly expanding, overall jobs growth is anemic at best. The employee that I am talking about is in his late teens/early twenties. I am in my late twenties.

Besides the generational gap between us, there is a definite work ethic gap between us. I suspect that this is what enabled me to return to full-time university studies while working full-time four years ago, survive on less than $500 a month while attending university full-time three years ago, pull off the best academic year I have ever had two years ago with barely enough money to pay for all expenses without a full-time job, and then finish up my senior year without enough money to pay for all education costs last year...and that was with student teaching.

Thinking back, there were several nights and days when I just did not want to continue working on the paper, lesson plan, journal, article, reflection paper, or assignment that was due the next day. Gritting my teeth and continuing to push through the fatigue and grogginess has given me teaching license eligibility, a bachelor's degree in history, and a coaching certificate in addition to this job which pays the bills and allows me to save a bit of money every month.

This stands in stark contrast to many people my age and younger who just don't feel like staying for the entire shift or showing up to work because of _______ (you may fill in the blank with any terrible excuse you might think of; legitimate family emergencies are not included, obviously). I think of the many low-paying jobs that I have had to share with these folks. I have wonderful references and a good work history because of my work ethic because I stayed and stuck it out when others decided not to show up. What does this say about them?

What does this post say about you? Are you someone who has taken several days off because you felt like it? Or because of poor decisions you made before you got to work that day, like consuming drugs or alcohol? Are you someone who has done tough work and seen other co-workers come and go? Are you a student set to graduate after this term? Are you wondering if you should have worked harder in school? Share your past experiences and what you have learned about yourself or others as a result. Just leave a comment below this post!

Next Phase in Life

2011-10-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, many folks come to a point where the road of life does not fork so much as turn into a free-way of a hundred or more exit ramps all branching off from the same highway. Now, I am sorta kinda past this point myself as I have tossed the dice on a career (teaching) and am preparing for my first few days of being a substitute teacher this month.

I do believe that many of my peers in the United States and also the rest of the world ages 25 to 34 are at something similar to the metaphor I have described above. The first career did not work out, the family business turns out not to be the dream that it seemed, an internship has just ended, work with an overseas mission agency is starting to wrap up, the harvest is over on the farm, or there just has to be something better out there than the current situation; whatever the case may be, I listen to the news and talk to friends in my age group and sense a general movement towards...

Towards what, exactly? A 50,000/year salary, a retirement/pension fund, a house to call home, a spouse and beginning family? Or to something else entirely, such as a life devoted to the faith, a life dedicated to serving others as a volunteer, a life doing something that you truly have a passion for rather than a life doing just enough to get by?

The book of Jeremiah offers some encouragement for any of you readers who are raising your hand and saying "Yes, that's me." In the 29th chapter at verse 11, God says through the prophet: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I'm not exactly "saint" material, nor am I a very Biblically-educated Christian by any stretch of the imagination. Goodness, I only started seriously reading the Bible a month or so ago! I will not force anyone to conform with my beliefs using this blog or try to shove Christianity down a person's throat. I do want to allow readers to see some of the things which keep me going and draw from them if they will. If you object to anything I have written...well, you may always leave a comment under the post.

Autumn is here!

2011-10-03T06:50:00.000-07:00

I'm nothing if not excited about the sudden plummet in temperature and the cold rain which has descended upon the valley between an outlying mountain ridge and the greater mountain range where I live. Autumn means many things that I love: the excitement of American football games played at local high schools and between some of the most prestigious American universities, the changing leaves of trees in my neighborhood, a crisp dry smell that lingers in my nose every time I breathe in (in general, just not today), barn parties, apple cider, pumpkins carved into jack o'lanterns, Oktoberfest beer by Samuel Adams, deer-hunting stories both true and fictional, and the anticipation of a bountiful harvest and Thanksgiving weekend.

If you have something to be thankful for, take the time to write it down somewhere. Should your keyboard be the closest thing to a writing utensil, go ahead and leave a comment on this post. Keep the language clean as children and grandparents may be reading this, and give thanks!

Relief Sale

2011-09-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

I do not now, nor will I ever, shamelessly promote an event which I will be attending/serving at. However, I did want to voice a thought or two about giving money or time to alleviate the suffering of others.

Now, when I say suffering, I don't mean wanting a few more dollars in a paycheck or wishing for the newest technological assistance. I mean the tornado-or-hurricane-destroyed-my-house-and-business type of suffering. The I-don't-know-where-my-next-meal-is suffering. The please-give-me-medicine-or-I-will-die-in-one-hour-from-AIDS suffering.

I think this is why we do Mennonite relief sales in Virginia every year. Not because we just want to catch up with folks that we haven't seen in ages (we can do that at Christmas too, by the way), or because we want real, home-made baked goods. I think members of the Mennonite church truly believe that there are millions of people to whom we can be the living, breathing example of Jesus' hands and feet at work in the very messed up world we humans live in.

Feel free to post your thoughts or reactions if this slugs you in the gut or makes you pause for a bit.