6 more days

when I saw that dad had updated this blog, I was afraid that he had written a political blog post. Considering that being a JesusPerson does not mean having a certain political viewpoint, specially displayed in the fact that Dad and I do not agree in this election (yep), I am glad he didn't.

That, and who needs another political blog post? [ok i do admit that i've already written one on my own blog]


p.s. jon and kate plus eight, the bachelor, dancing with the stars, to name a few, are some of Dad's favorite reality shows... :)

pastor swap

Someone asked me which Reality Show was my favorite My Favorite Reality Show is called Pastor Swap; a black, liberal, Harvard & Yale Divinity schools pastor changes places for one month with a white 3rd grade educated pentecostal, snake handling poison drinking heaving pastor from the hills of Tennessee. Unfortunately the show was canceled after one episode. Something about the black pastor dying of snake bite and the white pastor inducing a riot his first Sunday when he introduced his favorite rattlesnake, Clyde, to the audience and asked "Who's first?"

Well it would be better than some...

whether you like weather

in That Hideous Strength, by C.S. Lewis, there is a couple who is described as liking weather. when asked what type of weather, they respond that they like all kinds of weather. i wish i did. i like some parts of most types of weather, but not all of all types of weather. i've experienced tornadoes (in florida it is called tornadic activity), hurricanes, earthquakes, snow storms, thunder storms, gentle warm soft rain as found in hawaii, and sunny days at beaches on both coasts and in the caribbean. i prefer sunny days at the beach, any beach, although my favorites are found in granada & san diego. my preferences might be shallow. after shoveling nearly 70 inches of snow this winter i might be bias.

but even recognizing my preferences or weather limitations, i admit that all weather has the hand of God.

i don't always understand the weather, especially when weather causes tragedy. why doesn't God stop the weather that hurts? why isn't every day a sunny, warm day everyplace on the earth?

i don't know.
i don't understand.

this life still has mysteries.

christmas in the white house

the first lady recently fulfilled one of her traditional roles of hosting a televised tour of the white house christmas decorations. if hilary clinton is elected president will former president bill clinton be in charge of the white house decorations and will he appear on the annual televised tour? I look forward to that!

as much as i like barak obama, i've been very disappointed in his attacks on hiliary clinton, then equally disappointed in the way he responded when she attacked him; as if he didn't start the whole thing.

i'm amazed that republicans are already attacking senator clinton; they must assume she is the candidate to beat.

prediction: if hilary is elected president, and the economy rebounds, she will serve two terms. if barak is her vp, then he will be the first vp in my lifetime to serve two terms as president. (president nixon was elected twice but did not complete two terms in office) if someone else is her vp, and many of the other democrats would make great vp's, i.e. biden, richardson, etc, then barak might still be the president who follows her.

other predictions: if romney is elected, he will do well with domestic issues but not foreign. if giuliani is elected he will be a so-so president. if mccain is elected he will do the best job of taking care of iraq, but not in a way anyone expects. he is also the only republican who will have democrats in his administration. clinton is the only democrat who will have republicans in hers.

so what does any of this have to do with a blog that is at its basis a discussion of spiritual issues. a lot.
all of the top presidential candidates have faith backgrounds. across the two parties you will find a cross section of christianity; methodist, catholic, mormon, episcopal, baptist. you can find out more on beliefnet.com
the past simplistic claims of the religious right that only republicans are believers no longer holds up. i'm glad. i want the candidates to be confronted by faith. i want them to think about how their faith will impact their responsibilities as president. i hope all of them call up jimmy carter and ask for his imput. it's not the president's job to promote christianity, that's my job and yours, but i don't want a president who leaves his or her faith outside the door of the oval office.

destruction is easy

it took less than 10 minutes.
my neighbor's house was destroyed this morning
intentionally.
they are going to build a new house on the property.
we live at a lake surrounded by a combination of old cottages
and new homes.
all the new homes are sitting on sites of previous cottages.
our neighbors inherited the cottage from her family.
it was orginally built 50 years ago from lumber recycled from a hen house.
over the years the family added rooms with very little thought to design.
now a new house will be in place assembled from all new materials
following an archetect's plans.
the new house is scheduled to be completed may 19.
it will take six months to complete the project.
the old house was destroyed in ten minutes.
we stood, cameras in hand and watched the bull dozer take it down.
an hour later and half of it is loaded into the back of an open semi trailer
to be dumped.
by days end the lot will be cleared and next week the foundation will be dug and in place.
a real life example of the contrast between building up and tearing down.
it's easy to tear down.
in my career i've supervised a lot of people.
my experience as a supervisor started my senior year in high school when my
boss made me his relief manager at the fast food restaurant.
I picked my own team to work with me every saturday and sunday so he could
have some time off.
i found it easy to criticize one of my crew who was not doing a good job.
it was much harder to help the person correct his or her mistakes.
tearing down is always easier than building up.
the job of the church is to build up.
too often we spend a lot of time tearing down.
destruction takes ten minutes
building takes six months

more bible

a recent industry poll indicates that 55% of people in churches
want to understand the bible in greater depth

over half
of the people
already in church
have a desire
to know
the bible
better

this news excites me
this news disturbes me

it excites me because i am a bible teacher
i love to teach the bible
all levels of the bible
last year i taught two survey courses in the bible
one old testament
one new testament
the classes were exciting
people were reading portions of the bible they had never read before
yes, we covered the minor prophets
yes, we covered numbers
yes, we covered revelation
yes, it was fun, it was exciting, it was energizing to me the teacher

but the news disturbes me
does it mean that my compatriots (other bible teachers) and i are not doing a good enough job
the bible is the biggest selling book in this country and in the world
it outsells everything
yes, even after all this time, more bibles were sold last year than any other book
more copies of the bible were purchased than copies of the newest harry potter book or newest grisham novel or lastest self-help tome
i know this because "wife of fish" is now in the bible selling business, at least the editing portion
the bible is still an interesting book to many, many, many people

there is an old, very old, country song adamsfishyodor learned once upon a time while spending a weekend in athens, ohio
the song is titled, "dust on the bible"

dust on the bible
dust on the holy word
the teachings of the prophets
and the sayings of our lord
so get the dust off your bible
and redeem your poor soul

during the early years of his ministry
billy graham gave out specially made bibles with red Moroccan leather covers
the color was chosen because he believed the bible needed to be "read"
perhaps a bit corny, but it was the early '50's

even after 30 years of teaching the bible
there is still work to do

twenty-one

little fish turned twenty-one.
big stuff.
screaming jon visited to help celebrate.
almost daughter loren also came. (she's been little fish's room mate for three years so she qualifies as an "almost" daughter.)
they are the next generation of christian leaders.
screaming jon is also a pk.
neither he nor little fish are planning to become pastors even though they started their own church last fall.
any church who has them involved (almost daughter too) will be blessed to have them.
i suspect they will shy away from churches that are too slick or try too hard to be relevant or make big claims to be "unique."
i suspect they will want someplace with good music, good teaching, and good friends.