Never Thoughts

God's audition

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:01:00 +0000

Questions - its all what you do with them . . .

Everyone has questions about life, love, spirit - things that go beyond the grave. It is what we do with them that matters.

Now you can take your questions as starting points - exciting incentives to chase down the answers that these questions bring. Life becomes more adventuresome when you write down your questions, narrow them down to the top three and start pursuing them through books from both sides of the spectrum or conversations with people smarter than you. Realize that this will take you years - buy a notebook, pursue with zest and always be open to learning.

Sadly, more often we treat our questions as speed bumps - like judges in a cheap talent show we poke our questions at the things we encounter in order to stay put and not be stretched. In our usual discussion about faith and reason, both sides of the issue are guilty of this.

"Yeah, but how do you actually think that God made the universe in six days?"
"But if creatures evolved, how come the Bible doesn't talk about it?"

We use our questions as weapons - lobbing them to the other 'side' so that we don't have to look at the things that we have locked down and taken as gospel. Atheists and Fundies are so guilty of this it is shameful.

We have to remember that questions are the soil in which we sow our understanding, not the stage upon which God auditions for our devotion. You actually inhibit the realization of your answers when you take the seat of the critic when it comes to God. Augustine asked us to believe in order to know and not the other way around.

Now of course this doesn't mean put yourself at the feet of people, professors or priests - they are all just as fallible and fallen as are PhD's and experts of the sciences. One believes in the God who is bigger than our ideas of Him so that our ideas can arrive at conclusions that are higher still.

So what are your questions? Better yet, what are your strategies for reaching their answers? They can be found.

Wishful thinking . . .

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:38:00 +0000

This time of year we hear a lot about wishes for the coming year and within thirty days it just turns into wishful thinking. So much of life comes down to the tension between what we wish to be and what is just wish fulfillment.

As a Christian I am familiar with this territory. My skeptic friends usually pose this question: "how do you know that your faith isn't just wishful thinking?"

But when it really boils down, everything is wishful thinking. I mean if you are an atheist, the idea that there is no God is the best way that you can reconcile that there is evil in the world or there are pedophile priests or the fact that you didn't get what you prayed for. It actually unifies your thoughts about the world if there were no God. So in a strange way, the atheist too engages in wishful thinking.

The believer
The atheist
The agnostic
The transcendentalist
The materialist

The list could be as long as my arm - we all find ways to justify our particular view of the world. But note that it is the view that comes first and the justification second. We want a worldview that fits what we see - and that is the wish fulfillment we engage in (and not the other way around).

And perhaps the most interesting take on this is that, in the end, one of these views is correct . . .

Christmas in the heart

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:31:00 +0000

Humans are fickle . . .

It is funny when you think about how fickle we are. We just spent the last few weeks building up to a day in which we exchange presents and our feelings of love with friends and family. The Christmas music we listened to spoke about that warm feeling we get when we draw near to the ones we love. We got festive with lights and TV specials and making cookies - all designed to get in the Christmas spirit (as varied as that may be).

So much energy devoted to such an intangible. We love the 'feeling' of Christmas. I heard many people saying that it didn't 'feel' like Christmas because of the weather. Funny how important a feeling is.

And that is precisely where we have it mixed up. For the most important things in life we are content to pursue a feeling. Most would agree that life is not so much about the nice cars or the big houses or fat bank accounts as much as it is about having someone who loves you. In essence, the point of life comes down to something you feel. We are creatures of experience - we want to feel more than we want to have or to know.

But then we talk about God and it needs to be something external - beyond our experience. We need evidence. Interesting how the weight of experience is not as important when we consider a life of putting God first in our lives. Wouldn't that be an area that experience would make all the difference? As if because you felt a connection to God this was not as good as seeing demonstrable proof of it. We have it backwards, we should pursue the experience of a dialogue with God BEFORE we need the proof of His presence. Our belief can be fueled by the sense of that experience - not diminished by the proof of its existence.

Do they know relief efforts?

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:42:00 +0000

Talk about deflating . . .

Almost 30 years after Band Aid released "Do They Know It's Christmas?" a band from Africa is releasing a single "Yes We Do" and it packs a little punch.

Apparently some unemployed musicians from South Africa are a little miffed about the patronizing efforts of the West. According to a wire report from allafrica.com, singer Boontown Gundane was oozing with contempt for the Band Aid effort all those years ago. According to an interview on Hayibo.com, Gundane doesn't quite understand the point of the song:

“Just because we don’t have Boney M or Christmas advertising in September doesn’t mean we are oblivious to it,”

According to the website Gundane then went on to compare Africans to the Irish . . .

“They made it through disasters like the potato blight and the invention of the Protestant church without forgetting Christmas – why did they think we would forget it?”

The Band, calling themselves Plaster Cast are ironically using the proceeds from the song to donate to literacy, discipline and contraception in schools across Britain. Gundane had gone so far as to say that the success of the song will turn him into an expert on British politics and economics the same way that it has with the artists for disaster relief. Gundane went on to say 'If I'm not sharing a platform with the Queen and David Cameron by this time next year, or headlining at Glastonbury, then I will have done something very wrong' according to allafrica.com.

Reading this, I laughed inside but I also felt annoyed. What is this guy talking about? He is from South Africa . . . the song was meant for Ethiopia - the two are on the same continent but worlds apart. Perhaps it might be insulting for someone in South Africa to be asked "Do They Know It's Christmas" but the question wasn't about you. It was about the Western idea of 'Christmas' as a commercial farce that trumpets the values of warm homes, rich dinners and expensive gifts. Do the people of Ethiopia even know about this idea when they are experiencing a [a then] decade-long drought and famine?

And why couldn't we give our food, warmth and presents to someone that really needed it?

Sorry, I get the irony of Plaster Cast but we need to be careful of becoming snobs of relief efforts that have nothing to do with you or your people.

You can read more at:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201112230943.html
or
http://www.hayibo.com/yes-we-know-its-christmas-say-african-musicians-as-they-finally-record-a-response-to-band-aid/

Hmmmmm . . .

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:57:00 +0000

This one is an interesting one. People have been looking at the Christian relic "The Shroud of Turin" scientifically for the last 50 years and alternatively poking holes and establishing the credibility in this piece of fabric.

A quick summary: A shroud is a piece of cloth that you wrap around dead people in ancient times. This particular shroud is a piece of fabric that bears a faint impression of a man about 5' 7" tall who was crucified. Wounds appear in the man's head, hands, side and feet as well as lash marks on the back and legs. Early in the 20th century it was discovered that the image is quite remarkable when photographed and examined as a negative - as if the very essence of the man was projected onto the fabric. There is really nothing like it - if it is the burial shroud of Jesus, perhaps it shows us the energy that passed through the physical body upon His resurrection.

For decades scientists decried it as a forgery, but early examinations revealed it was not the result of ink or dyes. Each 'twill' had been affected in some way that went beyond pigment. However, in 1988 when pieces of the fabric were tested by three independent agencies, it was determined that the cloth comes from the 13th century - not the time of Jesus. But again, there are team scientists who have claimed that the pieces were selected incorrectly and that they tested pieces of the cloth that were sown into the shroud after a fire had destroyed part of the relic.

Hmmmm . . .

So yesterday, imagine the intrigue when the Italian National Agency for New Technologies concluded that the shroud is the result of “a short and intense burst of VUV directional radiation.” Some have even gone so far as to suggest that it was something like a hundredth-second 'burst' of laser like like that somehow allowed the cloth to retain the image of a crucified man.

This of course would nullify the 1988 result that suggests it comes from the 13th century. Unless you think that lasers were the stuff of medieval times.

Not quite something that is conclusive about anything, but definitely something that makes you say, "hmmmmm . . ."

"I choose to believe"

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 03:32:00 +0000

It was probably in late summer . . . Christmas, that is. The birth of Jesus of Nazareth.

He was born in Bethlehem, spent some time in the south until things blew over and then was raised in Galilee. The word Galilee means 'circle' - meaning it was circled about by non-Jews. It was viewed as a very liberal place - not the area for an orthodox Jew. People from this area had very interesting accents - kind of how you can spot someone from Mississippi or West Virginia today. Not to say anything against people with accents, but it was a definite choice by God to pick the backwoods over center city. He was an average baby - one of thousands born in a corner of the world that night.

And this is a signal to us . . . a flare for those with flagging faith.

It seems that God is not the 'knock down the doors and captivate you with my presence' kind of God . . . at least not yet. It is stumbled upon in unlikely places - the uneducated, the poor, the ones who have been picked over . . . sinners. So those whose faith is low and seeking more - faith is found in the unlikely places:

- Like the breath prayer that says, "God help me."
- Like the breakroom when you whisper, "show yourself to me."
- Maybe the stairwell on your knees, all alone with a prayer: "I choose to believe and follow you alone."

The unlikely God with the unconventional methods calls to us in the most unusual ways . . . it is only fitting that our faith be just as unpredictable.

God in the gaps or gaps in the God?

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:48:00 +0000

Christians have been guilty over the centuries of looking for the 'God in the gaps' - meaning that we look for anything that is beyond the reach of current scientific understanding and say that God is responsible. As an example, in medieval times sincere Christians would look at something unexplainable like lightning and would write God into the causation.

That is . . . until Ben Franklin rolled around.

See, the problem with the God in the gaps idea is that Christians marry themselves to a certain explanation of God and then have to backtrack when science catches up and provides a better (and non-spiritual) answer. It is bad for Christianity because not only do Christians have to backtrack, but the backwards energy makes it seem like the idea of God is evaporating when it is really just errant Christian thinking that is evaporating.

Well what I have noticed lately is that the God in the gaps fallacy can be reversed - there are those skeptics that look for the gaps in the God. This is the problem of agnostics or atheists in which they find something about God that is either unexplainable or unable to comport with our sense of right and wrong and they dismiss it outright.

An example of this is the seeming brutality of God from the Old Testament. Since it doesn't match our expectations of what a God should act like we find fault and walk away from this God. Yet how could we expect this God to be expressed in any other way than by an ancient people who routinely found themselves in border skirmishes?

Before we are too quick to dismiss God, we need to check whether we are really asking the question about who God is or whether we are only seeking the God we expect to find.

So what really IS the occupy movement?

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:21:00 +0000

I work with High School students and it shocked me last Wednesday to joke with a few of them and say, "yeah, so now you will start your own occupy movement. Ha ha ha . . . . ha . . . . . . ahem"

Blank stares.

They had absolutely no idea what I was talking about - they had heard nothing at all about what the occupy movement was. I am extremely non-political - I like a little about what everyone is saying so I don't line up on one side or another . . . but this was interesting. They had no idea what was going on in the world.

Which made me think - what do people know about this phenomenon? I don't mean politically, if you want to hear political jargon this blog isn't going to help you. I am more interested in where this came from and where it is going.

My personal understanding on this goes like this . . .

About 45 years ago Communist leaders in eastern Europe enacted a series of reforms called "The Prague Spring." It represented a thawing of the rigid structures of Communism to allow more personal and political freedoms. It filtered through academia and the arts and began a movement among students. The Soviets responded with force in the fall.

Fast-forward to 2010 and in December last year students and workers in the Arab world began protesting the absolutist structures in their own countries. They called it the "Arab Spring" in a nod to the demonstrations of the Prague Spring. When you hear "Arab world" think Egypt, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan among others. Essentially the entire northern tier of Africa and the fertile crescent. Unemployment in these countries was high and resentment over government inaction led to protests. Demonstrations there have brought in regime change in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia with major reforms in several other countries. Syria is currently in trouble with the Arab league because of how aggressive they are being with protestors.

So anyhow - seeing what was happening in the Arab world, political organizers sent the message through primarily social networks that similar demonstrations can be used to effect change here in America. Citing the number of people out of work while leaders of corporations are getting 'bailed out,' organizers of a similar kind of movement decided to 'occupy' the centers of privilege that have ignored the vast majority of people in the US (the oft-quoted 99%). Leaders of a Canadian magazine purchased the domain for the occupy website in early June. Then in July the same magazine called for an organized protest for September 17th. They wanted about 20,000 people to take up residence in the Wall Street section of New York City.

Participation in September was more in the neighborhood of 1,000 but the movement began to gather steam in early October as media began running stories of run-ins with police. The movement purposefully has stayed away from a centralized message and structure so as not to imitate the very thing it is protesting. The Occupy movement encompasses people who are upset with capitalism, upset with the treatment with women, angry over joblessness and homelessness, irritation with proposed 'austerity' measures and dozens of other messages.

Last weekend most of the Occupy movements were evicted by their host cities citing social and sanitary problems that were taking place at the encampments. Most Occupy participants have now vowed to take the protest out of the encampments and into the streets.

As an example of this new phase, I was in Philly yesterday and heard that the Occupy movement was going to march up Market Street and demonstrate near 30th Street station to show people that the place needs to be renovated and that people need jobs. At least they told commuters where to not drive . . .

So there you have it - a hopefully impartial account of where it has come from and where it may be going.

Personally, I don't think we can solve our own problems. I know that sounds so cynical, but our humanity is like blight. Our humanity is the one thing that continues to inhibit our ability to treat the ailments that are caused by our humanity. We need something outside of ourselves and our politics to lift us out of the mess we are in. You don't treat blight with sanitized blight. We need something or someone outside this thing we call humanity to lead us out of the mess we are in. I mean, that is why Jesus came to begin with . . .

. . . and why He'll come again.

My Mom Dated Joe Paterno

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:44:00 +0000

It is true. My mother dated Joe Paterno. It was back in the 50's - she went to school there between 1952 and 1956. He was a young assistant with Rip Engle at the time. I think I remember her saying that they went to see a boxing match and grabbed some sandwiches. It wasn't love at first sight - she said he was kind of goofy.

I think it is a good thing it didn't work out. I would be considerably shorter and have a bigger nose. Although I would have pretty decent seats for games - tough trade-off.

I mention this because of all the controversy swirling in the recent events surrounding Joe's retirement. How sad that one person's sin has so much consequence.

Do you think that Paterno's assistant coach thought through all of this when he planned to commit these horrible acts? Was it a fair trade in his mind? Could you imagine saying, "I will trade my integrity, all the accolades I have been given, the lives of these young boys, their families and their psychological well-being as well as the reputation of my school and close associates so that I can indulge in my desires?"

And see, that is the power of sin. Sin is such a churchy word. It gets mocked in some circles and portrayed as a word that isn't worthy of our sophisticated current understanding of the human psyche. Baloney. It is the perfect word for something like this - a deep desire that keeps taking more and more real estate in your soul until it has to be acted upon regardless of the consequences. Sin is sin because it puts me first. We are all capable of what happened here - and we are all in need of something outside of ourselves to fix what is wrong.

So the man that my mom dated is still the same guy, but now he has a blemish on his record because of the selfishness of one man (and perhaps even the selfishness of Paterno himself). It reminds me of a quote that a friend of mine once said: "sin makes you stay more than you wanted to stay and pay more than you want to pay." And not just for you - but for those around you as well. Just ask Joe Paterno.

Internal/External

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 03:37:00 +0000

Yesterday I was thinking about this and I wonder if I have come to a writable thought.

All of us have questions about the nature of faith and whether what we believe is true or not. When these questions continue in our minds without some sort of action, they begin to rot and lead to decay of what we believe. This decay leads to indecision and we become paralyzed internally - not wanting to admit that we don't have the certainty that we may have once had but not wanting to admit that things have changed.

So we look for inspiration from apologists to tell us that what we believe is worth following.

But all of this is on the outside. These are questions that deal with whether "it" is true as if our beliefs are something that we attach ourselves to. Is is possible that this kind of faith is no good to us because it is always evaluated. Like a judge we are always sifting through the evidence.

Isn't the true believer internalizing the faith? Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within us. We act on what we believe and so it becomes true in our lives. It becomes the truth because of how it changes us. The reality of the Gospel is not "did it happen" but rather "is it happening inside of me?" I mean did Jesus really do what He did so that I can comfortably put my trust in Him? Or did He come to this earth so that I too might die to myself.

The greatest apologetic for the faith might just be how much it changes me from the inside-out. Which, when you think of it, is much harder to put your mind around.

Adam and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 13:01:00 +0000

So I was thinking.

What if the current fog of uncertainty that we walk through plays out because of the garden of Eden. I mean, it was Adam and Eve who chose to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A strange name for a fruit tree. As best I understand it, the tree is emblematic of a route to understanding that bypasses a relationship with one's maker. Instead of going to the maker, one can have their own understanding. This is a problem if good decisions are made in the context of a relationship with one's maker.

So, I haven't had a lot of time to soak on this . . . but, what if that is what is being played out among us today? What if we continue to make this decision in our time? Is it possible that God purposefully hides Himself as a way to encourage us to choose Him (completely on our own will) - so that by 'finding' Him (in the context of a relationship) we reverse the course of the events in the garden?

Just some thoughts . . . would love to hear yours.

Redeeming Mischief Night

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:41:00 +0000

When I was growing up the 30th of October was called Mischief Night. It was essentially the night that young people got together and decided to soap up windows and rearrange porch furniture and perform all kinds of unsavory tasks under cover of night. It was really a stupid thing to do especially when the very next night we would be seeing all of these people again the next evening to ask for candy. But we did it anyway. Talk about chutzpah.

I love the adventure in it - the risk of being caught. I really felt alive running from the guy who just got a bunch of tomatoes on his siding. Definitely not the most Christian thing to do, but exciting nonetheless.

As I got older it wasn't mischief anymore, it was a misdemeanor offense. So when children came along I thought, "yes! I get to relive mischief night with my kids!" The only problem is that helping your children participate in mischievous acts means you are really weird. In fact I think there is a felony in there somewhere.

So I was forced to re-think mischief night and my wife and I came up with a cool new twist.

We make little signs with candy attached to them, sneak up and tape them on people's doors. We write "you've been ghosted" on them, but you can come up with whatever positive message you like. Then beat the door and ring the doorbell a half dozen times and run like mad. Seriously, kids love this stuff. Just last night I ran with my little 6 year old and her little heart was ready to come out of her chest.

And it wins with the 12 year old too. They love being out at night in all-black with the fear of being caught. We loved running as fast as we could behind a bush to watch friends and neighbors look bewildered as they pull the sign from their door.

Each child can have a specific task - my 9 year old loves to be the watchperson.

With some friends it can escalate - to the point where they lie in wait and you have to sneak in unknowingly. Good times.

So there you go - a freebie for family fun that will give you plenty of exercise and great memories for years to come.

Do you have questions or are they doubts?

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 01:26:00 +0000

I have been mulling over what doubt really is. Some would say it is a lack of certainty. While that is true in many instances, it doesn't seem to encapsulate what doubt really is. Some say that doubt is good - that in the same way that black velvet dramatically shows off the splendor of a diamond - doubt is the backdrop to our faith. I don't know if I go for that either, however. Yes, faith needs a doubt (in the same way that warm needs cold or high needs low) - oppositional ideas are best drawn out by their counterparts.

But if doubt is so great why does Jesus continually chide the disciples for their lack of faith? In fact, you could say the entire Christian religion is unique in how much value it places on faith. How can we be so content to harbor doubts?

I need to think some more about this, because I don't think that we can ever say that we have no doubts. I think we would be lying to say that we don't have doubts. But something may be helpful here - is it really doubt we struggle with or unanswered questions?

I am starting to think that whatever we come to believe about the world requires us to have questions and then go on to answer those questions. If we wonder whether someone will feed and take care of us, we get that answered when our mothers call us for dinner or tuck us in bed as kids. As young adults we wonder what our life will look like and that answer gets slowly answered over time. We have no doubts when the question is answered, but when the answer is slow in coming the question begins to rot and becomes doubt.

So I wonder if doubt is just a fermented question. The question we have not answered. Maybe we are too tired, apathetic or scared to seek it's answer. Doubt does not mean that there is uncertainty out there, it means that there is uncertainty within.

How do we get rid of doubt?

Face the question. Answer it.

Protests?

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:10:00 +0000

I was standing in line for the bathroom at a Burger King in New York City.

Why? Because we were about to spend a day in the city and my children needed to use the bathroom. So naturally we looked for the cleanest and most convenient place to use a toilet and settled on the Burger King across from the protests in New York City.

Now I am a fan of protests - there is something dramatic about a group of people standing up and saying, "we've had it!" It could be any issue and I would find it enthralling - intriguing - just what makes a person risk something to speak out against the norm? I find it courageous and exciting. Even those that I disagree with, I have to applaud them for their passion.

So the protests that were going on were secondary to my search for a bathroom as I stood in a line about 20 people long for the men's bathroom with one son who just couldn't hold it any longer. He was about to protest he had to go so bad. As we stood there (for a very_long_time - it actually wound up about 45 minutes) I noticed two very weird things, almost Orwellian.

It looks like the good people at BK realized that one bathroom for 3 floors of food service creates long lines. So they put a TV in between the men's and women's room. The TV was tuned into some kind of MTV. So basically my kids had images of barely clothed women moving to a beat that we couldn't hear while some guy in tattoos sings about the joys of thug life.

I was tempted to change the channel. So I checked out everyone else's reaction. I thought if everyone else thinks this is ridiculous then we can change it. But I was astonished. Like a giant video pacifier, about half of the people were glued to the screen. In fact one of the protesters sat at a table and stared at the screen. Staring is too soft a word. You would have thought there were a pool of saliva at his feet - he was completely glazed over watching the screen.

Maybe he was tired. Protesting is draining.

But then as I saw others, I was weirded out thinking that everyone is okay with this. It is times like these that I feel like an alien on my own planet.

Standing in line I wanted to change the conditions - I wanted to protest against the garbage coming through the screen. But each time I think about that, I have to remember I am an alien on my own planet.

If the Christian message is true, then it must be conducted through my demonstration of it, not my demonstrations about it. I effect change by the way I move through this planet - that is a movement - a collection of people acting like Jesus (who left no instructions for political movements, field guides or talking points). The conditions change when I engage other people in line and make conversation and show grace.

But I am still figuring it all out . . .

The Other Steve Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:45:00 +0000

Like many people I was very sad to hear about Steve Jobs' death. I was actually surprised at my reaction. I wouldn't have called myself a fan of his or a friend. But when I found out about his death, I felt like I just lost something.

I think many have felt this way and we can't really put our finger on it. None of us felt this attachment while he was alive (although his periodic reveals of new products were exciting) but now that he is dead we feel the lesser for it.

I was encouraged at how he overcame the odds of being adopted and not staying in school. I was bolstered in my own difficulties in hearing how he was ousted from a company he formed only to be begged back into it.

But there is a strange side to Steve Jobs that is unnerving. He credits taking acid a few times in life for his ability to think outside the box. Weird. And some say it was his embrace of alternative healing methods that likely made his condition worsen.

He was a very interesting and complicated kind of person. A riddle in some respects. In some ways that is refreshing and in other ways a little disturbing. I don't know why - perhaps it is because that is not what you expect from someone like Jobs.

And I can't help but think what it is like for him now. I know, my skeptic friends would answer, "he is gone, done - its over." But what is it like for him right now if that is not the case? What kind of Steve Jobs shows up in that scenario?

Don't Laugh at Strip Clubs . . .

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:52:00 +0000

Last weekend I was reacquainted with the unpleasant truth that who you hang out with determines the quality of your life.

I blogged earlier about how a friend of mine won a drawing which enabled him to invite three friends to the Falcons/Eagles game in Atlanta. The prize included airfare, the team hotel, a huge dinner, game shirts, access to the field - it is really pretty amazing how much we got out of the deal.

To make the weekend even more sweet, on Sunday we went to Martin Luther King's church "Ebenezer Baptist" and were really challenged by the message. After church we decided to catch a Braves game while we were at it. The way the Braves continue to struggle, it was easy picking up club-level seats for $10 a piece. Just think of it! We were going to a Major League Baseball game AND a National Football League game on the SAME DAY!

A few days ago I blogged about how that whole day was a series of amazing conversations that we had with a homeless man, an ex-convict and a group of demonstrators. We were really living! Walking 30 minutes to and from the Braves stadium we were lit up with discussion about all the things we were seeing and hearing. We talked about everything from justice to racism. It was fascinating what we were trying to figure out about life.

This is because the quality of your life will largely be determined by the quality of your friends . . .

We met two guys on this trip who were just as excited, just as fortunate and just as eager to get all they could out of the trip. However, after dinner on Saturday night they decided to head out and have some fun of a different sort. After some time at a bar north of Atlanta, the guys went to a strip club where the attraction was watching older ladies take off their clothes. I couldn't tell if he was talking about old old or just older than him (he was 23). But it was clear that they spent hours laughing at women disrobe because they were past their prime.

I know strip clubs have been a staple of men's entertainment for eons, but it made me feel ill to think of some lady getting laughed at. Isn't that someone's mom? And of course it was probably all in good fun, but what does that mean? Is it possible that there are certain activities (like laughing at someone's nude body) that have no redemptive value? In fact I might even go so far as to say it cheapens us as people when we take part in something like that. Somehow we become less human when we treat others with no dignity.

And how stuck-up would it be for me to say that we had the better weekend just because we skipped a strip club and went to church? Because it really isn't about the church and it really isn't about whether strip clubs are good or bad. The real point here is how the kind of friends you have and the sort of influence that you put yourself under will determine the quality of life you have.

So people . . . please . . . stop going to strip clubs. And if you must, do not laugh at them . . . it is rude. Better yet, save your cash and give some to Michael who is probably still on Auburn Street asking for money. Get your sleep and find some friends who will guide you to listening to people who are different than you rather than laughing at them. Think of those people in your life who would challenge you up and start hanging out with them.

In the end, the quality of your life will match the quality of the people you hang out with.

Death Penalty Comes Close

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:31:00 +0000

Last weekend I had the most incredible experience. I was invited by a friend of mine to join him and 2 others to go see a Philadelphia Eagles game in Atlanta. He had won 4 all-expense-paid tickets to fly out of town, stay at the team hotel, have a huge dinner, go to the game, walk on the field, talk to the players and just all around have a great time for two days. It was phenomenal.

I got to meet players, I got to get my pictures with people I really have enjoyed seeing on TV. I got to go to an Atlanta Braves game too! It was a once-in-a-lifetime type of weekend.

But these weren't the highlights.

The greatest part of the weekend was what I learned about justice.

You see, we went to MLK's church and heard a sermon about how the justice system in the United States is broken. The minister talked about the life of Troy Davis - scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, September 21st 2011. As I write another appeal has failed. It was in some ways overwhelming to set among hundreds of people who look at the legal system and our justice system with such jadedness. It was eye-opening how much a product of my context I am.

As we walked along on the street we met people demonstrating against the execution. We asked them the history of the case and learned more about it. Walking away a man named Michael shook his head and said, "they gonna let him burn." And so we asked him what he thought and he echoed the same sense of disappointment in the justice system. It was his opinion that because he was black and because a policeman died they won't let him off.

Michael then went on to say how he is stigmatized because he was an ex-con. Listening to him, the whole situation seemed hopeless. It stirs something inside of you when you see a grown man realize that he will never get a fair chance because of the choices he has made in the past.

It gave our group a lot to talk about. At one point I asked them if they thought the highest expression of being human was to establish justice or give mercy. Imagine you knew that Troy was guilty . . . what would be the greatest act - to bring about justice? Or to show mercy? To execute and uphold the idea of law (which is extremely noble) or to pardon in hopes that his life could counteract what he did 20 years ago (equally as noble).

Is mercy naive?
Is justice another word for revenge?

It would be easy for me to argue for mercy, but how would I feel if the victim was my father?

It would be easy for me to argue for justice to be fulfilled, but what would I want if I was in that situation?

So many questions with no clear answers. It was a weekend that the death penalty came close to home. What would you want?

How the NFL may teach us more than just football . . .

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 01:40:00 +0000

So here is a fun little exercise:

Think of the NFL season that just started. Tell me your memory of the NFL season for 2011. Technically you can tell me about your memories of the season because it has started, but you can't really tell me about the season because it hasn't ended. Weird, I know. Read on.

This hit me when I was listening to Dan Patrick on Yahoo Sports Radio talk about who he thinks will win the superbowl this year (incidentally he thought it would be the Falcons over the Steelers). This got me thinking of how crazy it is to reflect back on a season once it has ended. What people think a season will be while it is still going on versus when it has completed are two different stories completely. That is because something has to be completed for it to have been recalled or understood.

So I wondered if the same were true of time . . .

Is it possible to really know something before you have completed it? Can you say that you like a dessert while it has just hit your tastebuds? Or do you need the power of reflection in order to appreciate it - which incidentally happens after the food has gone down your throat.

So . . . and I know this is a stretch . . . but is it possible that life is the same way? If all we have is this life to fully comprehend our lives, it is inconceivable. Except for the fact that we have something beyond it from which we could appreciate it all. If we only live once, how would we have the power of recall to fully grasp it?

Perhaps the second life that faith speaks of is the only way that appreciating this life is possible . . .

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

What a flood of rain teaches

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:25:00 +0000

I wasn't a huge believer that the rain was going to be a huge deal in our area. Afterall, it is rain. Rain comes down, it collects in puddles and grows bigger. If your house is near water, you better pack up the stuff in your basement and hope for the best. Oh, and make sure you have flood insurance.

But I was wrong. Water is a very sneaky thing. It gets into the ground and you think it is gone . . . but it grows when it is fed by hours of rain. The only thing I was thinking about last Wednesday was how much snow would be on the ground if it was February.

At about 9pm my son asked if I should check on the guitar amp we have in the basement. I went down and saw a thin lip of water coming from one corner of the basement. I got a little nervous and we began sucking up water any way that we could. It kept coming. It was evil.

It wasn't until my father-in-law came with a big sump pump and we broke the seal on our sump pit (thank you Mr. Radon installer for sealing our sump pit) that we saw the water go down. I checked around the rest of the perimeter of the basement - small encroachments of water all around.

Lesson #1 - Water can come from the ground up.

Lesson #2 - I learned this a day later. When said water comes up and gets some of your carpet, there is always more underneath than you think.

When I pulled back the carpet, it was scary to see what was going on underneath it all. So yeah, we had a few days of fans and dehumidifiers and bleach going to stop the advance of public enemy no#2 - mold.

For me it was a creepy lesson on life.

1. Make sure you are prepared for the things that you can foresee.
2. Don't assume that because you have built your walls nice and high that the undesirable things of life can't get in another way.

and . . .

3. Check under your rugs periodically to make sure that you aren't incubating more trouble.

Let's pray for a low humidity and breezy week . . .

The Post Office and the Physics professor . . .

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:45:00 +0000

The post-office lost $11,000,000,000 last year.

They did not just misplace it - because 11 billion dollars doesn't fit in a shoebox too easily. It wasn't PASSIVELY lost - it was ACTIVELY lost . . . as in $11,000,000,000 more was spent than was taken in.

Do you know how much 11 billion is? 11 billion seconds ago Jamestown was a major colony, the King James Bible was being assembled and the Mayflower hadn't landed yet.

If you spent $10,000 cash everyday, it would take you 3,000 years to approach $11,000,000,000.

Now this is no rant about politics - it is clear that stupidity is a human condition, not a political one. But it is to raise the question . . . "if we are so smart and have all the answers to every question in this life and the one to come . . . how come we can't figure out something simple like keeping a post office afloat?"

I am dead serious.

If we are so ridiculously negligent in trying to figure out simple things here on this planet, why would we even trust for a moment that some guy with a Ph. D in physics knows there is no God. I mean really, something as simple as "don't pay out more than you have" seems self-evident . . . but then again, so does the existence of a great designer of all that we see. But I think we missed on that too . . .

So if your trust is in human wisdom and human-centered reason, just take a look at the post office. It's a mess. And if we can't do the easy things well, how are we so expert at the mysteries of life?

Just sayin . . .

I've already done that . . .

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:51:00 +0000

In recapping the VMA awards from last night, it is fascinating to muse over a statement from someone like Britney Spears about where we are as a culture . . .

If you didn't get the chance to see the exchange between her and Lady Ga-ga, it can be found here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7378797n

The short story is that Lady Ga-ga, in another one of her sort of strange attention-getting gimmicks spent most of the show as a guy smoking cigarettes and looking like a 50's greaser. When Ga gave the award to Spears, the two sort of orbited each other with Spears looking at the crowd as if to say, "should I?" Of course the crowd roared in support of another lip-lock that has now become famous between Spears and another pop-queen a few years ago.

Spears pulls up and leans into the mic and says, "I've already done that." and leaves the despondent-looking Ga-ga behind. It was so 7th grade (or maybe 6th).

Imagine that! An idea that has has run it's course. Pretty interesting that the biggest headline last night wasn't the kiss that almost was, but Chris Brown's flying through the air and Beyonce's baby bulge. Is it possible that ideas . . . even RAUNCHY ideas . . . can become passe? Is Spears onto something here?

"I've already done that" hints at the redundancy of pushing the envelope. In other words, the shocking only works once. The reason it only works once is because we didn't really care about bringing in same-sex kissers at every VMA awards - we only cared if it COULD be done. And now it HAS BEEN done. Which led to Spears saying it shouldn't be repeated. Which really makes you wonder if it ever should have been done at all.

The biggest test for some of these actions are the sustainability of them. We give to the poor, we help the homeless, we love the unlovable because it never goes out of style. It has substance. Faith has depth - it has a gravity that doesn't make headlines, but it repeats through our culture over and over.

Shocking acts onstage somewhere are doomed to be one-hit wonders . . . just because we can push the limits doesn't mean we should have in the first place. Spears is off to the next thing, but it will be just as empty . . .

And that is why we need to keep living out the truth - because everything else is empty.

Hurricane a brewin . . .

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:38:00 +0000

Hurricanes are not supposed to get you excited . . . I know.

But I get really excited when a hurricane is coming. Maybe it has to do with living through a handful of them in Ocean City growing up. It pretty much meant great surf before and after - as well as a day of complete wind chaos. And who doesn't love a little wind chaos every now and then?

I remember one particular hurricane - I think it was Belle, not sure though. We were living on 3rd street and the "ocean met the bay" which was an ominous way of saying that the storm surge pretty much ravaged the island. I was sitting on the porch at night in the middle of the storm and a lightning bolt hit an antenna across the street from us - it was right out of a movie with sparks flying and everything. When a firetruck went down the street, the water was so high the truck stalled out right in front of our house. I remember firemen trudging through knee-deep water. It was so bad that the tenants below us came running upstairs because they were a little nervous about what was going to happen next!

I remember another hurricane that we waited out - a day of things blowing all over and heavy rain. When the eye moved in, we went up to the boardwalk and looked around - everything was battered and churning. As the eye wall moved in, the wind picked up and we loved leaning into the high gusts.

Of course I was young and it was all very exciting - the dark clouds brewing, the people on the radio and TV warning of impending doom. My parents even took us to the beach the day before to see the size of the waves. Such drama!

Now of course you hear of people losing their lives and property and it has a little more weight to it. You never wish any of that on anyone of course.

But there is still a good part of me that is anxious to get down there and show my own kids nature's awesome presence. Of course they are still a bit young - maybe the next one!

Where were you when . . .

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:45:00 +0000

I found myself saying it today . . .
"so where were you when the earthquake hit?"

I felt so stupid saying it - because it was really a non-event. I sat in the back seat of a Ford Ranger Pickup Truck while it happened. We were stopped at a stoplight and I was on the phone. I thought that maybe the guys in the front seat were rocking the car for some reason so I quickly dismissed it. It was only until my wife called and told me what happened that I stitched it all together. It was like waking up and recalling a dream - I DID feel the shaking. Weird.

What is really strange is the perspective that is so warped. I am in a car at a stoplight on my phone thinking that my world is governed by such things as phone calls, traffic and to-do lists. Meanwhile several million tons of solid rock grinds against itself miles underneath the surface of the earth. One event that is considered feeble by West Coast standards is felt from DC to Maine. So what is the real 'reality?' What forces really control our lives?

It reminds me that we are not as god-like as we might think. We are (literally) ants that scurry around on rather large rocks that float over a sea of lava. Moreso, we are little creatures that have a beginning and an end and if today was our last there isn't a thing we could do about it.

Usually it is this kind of thinking that pushes you toward a belief or away from one. Those who get pushed away get a glimpse of the meaninglessness of it all. They conclude that the earth shrugs its shoulders from time to time - the natural world is a collection of great blessing and great devastation - there is no rhyme or reason.

For me, it pushes me toward belief . . . the bigger the scale, the more it impresses me that we can't possibly have the mind of God. Huge rocks, scalding lava - all of it the product of things far greater than I can imagine.

My ridiculous idea for saving the solvency of our government

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:01:00 +0000

Right now the credit rating of the US is in question . . . actually it has been in question as long as we keep spending more than we make, but it has taken until now to catch up with financial experts. So here is my naive and ridiculous idea for how we get out of a 15 trillion dollar debt.

1. We learn the phrase, "sorry, I'd love to help but I'm in debt up to my eyeballs." And then we use it on everyone from Third World countries who need more money for dictators that have Bugatis. Stop raiding your country's treasury and you might find the extra money you need to keep your roads safe. Savings? 500 billion.

2. We learn the phrase, "everyone cut your budgets by 20%." And then we use it on agencies like NASA, Planned Parenthood, The Defense Department, Faith Initiatives, Education, Welfare, Medicare. Yes, I think we would have a lot of money saved if we trimmed budgets. We don't care how, just reduce by 20%. Savings? 500 billion.

3. We write a phrase in the constitution, "it is illegal to spend more money than we have." Done.

4. We write a line into the budget: "Official Line Item for Paying off the National Debt in 20 Years." We then appropriate this line item with 1 trillion dollars a year to pay off the national debt in 20 years.

5. We learn the idea, "who cares what political party gets it done, we just need to get it done." And then we practice it.

Oh if only we had the common sense to do something about it . . .

Amy Winehouse

noreply@blogger.com (JohnWilkinson) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:09:00 +0000

So the news hit today that Amy Winehouse died. While the reason is still uncertain, most have speculated that it had something to do with drugs. Just a few weeks back she was booed off a stage because she was completely (and chemically) incoherent. Indeed she had a long history of being rather vocal about her addiction to drugs and alcohol.

So there will be those who were very close to her work and loved her as a person who will mourn the tragedy of her life - being so talented and leaving us so soon. In some way there will be a twinge of "if only her gifts could have sustained her."

Then there will be those who will shrug their shoulders and accept it along with the rest of the nonsense that comes out of the entertainment industries we support. "Those people are all messed up" might be the conclusion of some.

Of course there will be those who leer at her death like those who pass the sports car pulled over by the state police. "Well, you live like that . . . eventually you die. She reaped the benefit of her lifestyle. Not going to rehab? Good luck with that."

I have to admit that each one of these thoughts crossed my mind, but there is something deeper at play here.

Nietzsche framed his theory of eternal return by saying, "einmal is keinmal" or "one time is no time." What he meant was that if we live and die and this is all there is - one time - then it may just as well never happened at all. Everything we do has eternally no consequence - so it is "unbearably light" (as Kundera would say).

But for those who believe - since there is a 2nd part, more than once that we live - every moment, every choice has eternal consequences - unbearably heavy. Yet there enters Christ who comes to lift that burden and offer us grace in the midst of our stupid choices and bad decisions.

And so it is in that spirit that I hope that Amy gave in and accepted that offer . . .