Buechseli

How to deal? Sadness, Regret, and the Myth of the Happy-go-Lucky Christian...

2012-02-07T06:35:00.003+08:00

Most fairy tales have a common beginning and a common ending.

The beginning of a fairy tale goes like this: "Once upon a time, in a land far away...." (you know the rest). The story goes on to narrate the adventures and misadventures of some heroic character, that suffers unjust treatment and somehow manages to overcome every adverse situation, ultimately achieving some sort of retribution that rights all wrongs...and in the end, the main character "lived happily ever after".

As a child, I enjoyed the simplicity of this statement...because it allowed me to let my imagination take over, and envision different happy scenarios. Even if the fairy tale was the same, in my mind, I could insert a different kind of happy-ending every time. Nowadays, I still love happy endings, I love them in fairy tales, books, movies, and also, in real life.

Unexpectedly however, it is my love for happy endings that led me the to gain insight about the topic of sadness and regret during perhaps one of the most crucial times of my life.

My fairy tale: Meeting my husband

If you talk to my husband, he will testify to the fact that I am not the most romantic woman in the world, quite the contrary, I tend to be more practical than anything else. This has been the case for most of my life; when I was in my teens, and early twenties, I never believed in love at first sight, and, as a matter of fact, I understood love at first sight to be some form of youthful infatuation that was unworthy of my time and energy... (yeah, I know).

Anyhow, it was a December evening, and I had been invited to a friend's birthday dinner. I wasn't expecting anything uber-exciting; I envisioned a good Italian meal, hanging out with my friend, and nothing more...However, when I arrived at Olive Garden's, I noticed among the guests a handsome, tall, blond man with a gorgeous smile. Somehow, we had the chance to converse a bit, and it turned out, we had a ridiculous amount of stuff in common. I was so excited to meet him, and I remember thinking at that moment, that perhaps there COULD be such a thing as love at first sight...(NOTICE: I still was a bit skeptical).

Almost exactly a year later, I found myself celebrating my birthday with this handsome, tall, blond man, who was now my boyfriend. We had started dating earlier in that year...and we were crazy about each other. I could see myself spending the rest of my life with him, and I could sense the feeling was mutual. So that day, on my birthday, I remember feeling like everything was falling into place; I had found "the one", I was about to start my last semester of college, and my life was starting to converge into the point where I could be "happily ever after".

The weird part of "happily ever after"

Tim (the tall, handsome, blond guy) and I got engaged during a wonderful trip together. It was precisely at this point in my life, that instead of being happily ever after, I found myself struggling with feelings of sadness and regret. I did not understand why I was feeling sad. I felt that I should be happy about my circumstances, and since my circumstances did not match my emotional state, I decided to seek advice from a counselor.

I remember the first appointment with the counselor, I felt really self-conscious, like I was the oddest person in the planet, I was wondering; "why am I sad, when I have the greatest fiancé, and I am about to graduate college"? As I sat with the counselor and talked to her, the reason for my sadness became crystal clear. It was like I was looking into the magic mirror, which allowed me to see beyond my present reflection, and to understand everything in a better way. I realized that the source of my sadness was not my present circumstances, or the wonderful journey that I was about to begin by Tim's side. The source of my sadness was the loss of something that I thought I would always have....

Four years before I met Tim, my family and I had relocated to the United States. This move was unexpected, and it meant we had to leave important aspects of our lives back in El Salvador, and start our lives over in the U.S. The transition was not hard, however leaving El Salvador was very painful; I gave up the comfort of home, and the plans that I had for my future. Up to the point when we left El Salvador, I had never-ever envisioned myself living abroad, much less settling abroad; I loved El Salvador. However, since life doesn't always go according to planned, we had to relocate and settle in Texas. This meant that my future would be completely different that what I had envisioned...and it was this loss, that was causing all the sadness and regret that I was feeling. Most importantly, through my conversation with the counselor, I figured out the reason why I was not able to deal properly with the sadness and regret that followed my departure from El Salvador; it was because I felt guilty about being sad...I felt like I should be happy, and I never allowed myself to deal with the sad feelings.

From that experience, I learnt valuable lessons about sadness and regret:

1. Sadness & Regret do not always come as a direct result of something we did or did not do…it is the result of living in a world, where circumstances and people change (which can result in hurt)

2. Sadness & Regret can take place at different points in time in our lives, without circumstances and feelings corresponding one-to-one

3. Sadness & Regret weigh our heart down, and can keep us from experiencing our life to the fullest

4. Sadness & Regret in our lives isn’t always our fault, but we can feel guilty about it, and it is important to learn how to deal with it in a healthy way.

How to deal?

So the question is, how can we then deal with sadness and regret in a healthy way?

2 Corinthians 7:10 says: "Godly sadness causes us to turn away from our sins and be saved. And we are certainly not sorry about that! But worldly sadness brings death."

Through this verse, we cans see that according to the bible, there are two kinds of sadness; Godly sadness, and worldly sadness. Godly sadness is the one that brings us closer to God, it reconciles us with God and other people, it heals us and it leaves no regret. Worldly sadness on the other hand, isolates us, it is hurtful and fills us with regret, this is the unhealthy sadness that keeps us from living our life to the fullest.

In christian circles -and even in non-christian circles- it is very common for people to feel guilty about being sad, and this creates a cycle of sadness, guilt, and regret that paralyzes people and causes them to isolate themselves from God and others. This is not a healthy way to deal with sadness.

Turning Worldly Sadness into Godly Sadness

It is important that we realize that it is normal to be
sad sometimes. We do not always have to be
happy-go-lucky. Nevertheless, we need to be able
to discern the nature of our sadness; whether it is worldly
sadness or Godly sadness. The good news about
being sad is that, God welcomes us just as we are.
He is not going to turn us away because we have
tears in our eyes...The Bible says:
"a broken and contrite heart,
O God, You will not despise" -Psalm 51:17

King David -who wrote this Psalm - was an expert in sadness and regret. He had a lot of reasons to be sad and regretful in his lifetime...however he always found his way back to God...even in his lowest points, because he knew that in God he could always find comfort. To me, this is a happy ending.

I still love happy endings, and now I can say I believe in love at first sight (thank you Tim)...however, I am a bit more careful when it comes to happily ever after.

Goodbye New Year Tree....

2012-01-31T05:12:00.000+08:00

Today, I went to Starbucks for my customary Iced-Chai. I know it's banal, but going to Starbucks is one of the highlights of my week...it makes me feel special. I know it sounds weird...but before you judge me, let me explain;

I am a creature of habit...and as such, I usually shop at the same stores, eat at the same restaurants, and go to the same coffee shops every time. When I visit my regular spots, I tend to follow a routine, I order the same things over and over again...I never get tired of them (my husband will probably attribute this to my stubborn nature, but I would like a second oppinion).

Starbucks is a prime example of my routine-following ways; I order the same drink every time, Iced-Chai...always. No exception - not ever. I have been going to the same Starbucks for two years now. Nowadays, the baristas know me by name, and they don't even ask me for my order anymore, they know what I am going to drink...and when they see me walking towards the counter, they start preparing my drink, they greet me with a smile, take the money, and hand me my Iced-Venti Tazo Chai Tea Latte.

I particularly enjoy this routine, it makes my life easier, comfortable and as we all know: "sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, and they are always glad you came"...sorry, I couldn't help the Cheers reference. (For all my friends who are either too young, or who weren't raised by the T.V; Cheers is an 80s SITCOM ... and the quote is from the theme song of the show).

My problem with Change (I don't mean coins)
Anyway, as a routine-loving person, I tend to dislike change; once I get used to something, I never want to get un-used to it. At this point I would like to clarify something; I am not a hoarder, or a person who prefers stagnation over progress...I am all for changing things for the better, this is not the change I dislike. The change I dislike is the one that involves replacing that which is predictable, with the unpredictable. I think I am not alone in this, a lot of people -whether it is consciously or unconsciously- dislike and even avoid this kind of change.

When Change leaves a Void
Why do so many people -myself included- find this kind of change intimidating? Based on experience and observations, it seems to me that the reason why this change is especially intimidating is because it leaves a void behind. When we are used to something/or even someone (the way I am used to my routine, or some people are used to a person or a habit in their lives) it means that we like the place that it /(s)he holds in our lives...it/(s)he fills a need, it/(s)he fills a space, that otherwise would be empty...void.

I think this is true even for people who claim to love change...in a way, their love for change is a constant in their lives...this constant change means that they are always facing the thrill of the unknown...and this fills their life with anticipation and excitement...in absence of this constant change, there would be a void, there would be emptiness...and most of us tend to avoid that facing that void (no pun intended).

Why we need to rethink our void-avoidance
According to the online dictionary, the word "void" can be defined in various ways, for example; "containing no matter", "empty", "completely lacking", "useless", "unfilled", and "not occupied". I have more or less kept the order of appearance of all the definitions in order to make a point. When we think of void, we first tend to think of words such as emptiness, uselessness, and lacking...and those words carry negative connotations for us...they evoke a sense of loss and helplessness.

However, a void is not always negative; if we look at it as the state of being "not-occupied", the notion of void suddenly seems to have the potential of something positive...and indeed it does.

The potential of a void

I remember a conversation at a dinner party with some friends a while ago, we were asking each other "hard questions"...and one of my friends was asked the following question: "If you could change something about yourself, what would it be?" My friend answered the following: "If I could change something about myself, I would have stopped pursuing some things in my life sooner rather than later".

This answer steered the conversation in a very interesting direction, we talked about how sometimes we fail to let go of something in our lives...and in the process of holding on, we probably miss out on other opportunities, wasting time, energy, and resources. We avoid necessary changes, just because we do not want to face "not having something"to fill the space. Basically, the fear of letting go, the fear of change, is the fear of having a void in our life. We think that having a void in our life equals that we will be "lacking" something...This understanding prevents us from creating a place (un-occuping the space) for something that might ultimately be better for us. Had we embraced the void, had we un-occupied the space, we would've created a place for that which was better for us sooner, rather than later.

Buds and Roses

Another example of how voids are viewed from a negative perspective is the notion of "ending". An ending is a change that leaves a void, or emptiness. Nothing comes after the end, right?

Dr. Henry Cloud wrote a book titled "Necessary Endings", in it he talks about the notion of pruning...of how roses need to be pruned, because they produce more buds that they can sustain...thus, if a gardener wants his roses to blossom, some buds need to be pruned in order for other buds to blossom. In our lives, we face similar decisions, we need to face some changes that leave voids...however those voids are not negative, they are necessary because those voids create the conditions for other aspects of our life to blossom.

Facing Christian faith seems sometimes like facing a Void

In many ways, faith is like a void. Not the negative, one-sided notion of void...but the real notion of void.

From what I have come to understand, a void has two aspects;

1) The absence of that which should ordinarily fill a space, and

2) the potential for what could take its place.

In Hebrews 11:1, the bible defines faith as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen".

Faith calls us to create a place for something that is not there yet...it calls us to hope, to embrace the potential of what is to come through Jesus. If we have a wrong understanding of what faith is, we will avoid it...like we try to avoid the voids in life...however, if we could re-examine our notion of faith, taking a closer look, and seeking a better understanding, perhaps we wouldn't avoid it, and we could even embrace it.

Today I went to Starbucks for my customary Iced-Chai. For the last month, there has been a little tree with pink flowers to celebrate Chinese New Year...today they took it down, this reminded me of the changes we face, the voids we fear, the endings we avoid, pruning and faith.

A bit random, I know...

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2012-01-03T02:20:00.001+08:00

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Trees, Decisions and Rationality

2011-07-06T03:04:00.004+08:00

One of my dear friends recently shared with me about one of her many trips around the world, where she visited Lebanon. One of the highlights of her trip was to go and see the cedars of Lebanon.

Cedars of Lebanon are evergreen trees…they are from the coniferous family (like pines) and they have been used since ancient times for building.

Rulers in the ancient times would order the wood for religious and civil constructs. In the bible, the most famous of are King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem and David's and Solomon's Palaces. Because of its significance the word Cedar is mentioned 76 times in the Bible, and played a pivotal role in the cementing of the Phoenician-Hebrew relationship.

Beyond that, it was also used by Romans, Greeks, Persians, Assyrians and Babylonians.

Trees are pretty cool…they bring a lot to our lives…they give wood for furniture, houses, fuel (for heat and cooking), they give fruits for eating, they give shade and some trees are the oldest living things in this planet being thousands and thousands of years old.

Trees also appear as important elements in bible narrative. They feature as literal elements and as symbolic elements.

Trees in the Bible as literal figures:
1.Trees in the Garden of Eden for fruit (Genesis 3:8)
2. Trees as boundary markers (Genesis 13:18, 12:33, 1 Sam 14:2, 1 Chr 10:12)
3. Many Cedar’s of Lebanon were used in the construction of the temple of Solomon (1 King 5:6-10, 6:15-20).

Trees in the Bible as symbolic figures:
1. Trees symbolize powerful Kings (Dan 4:10)
2. They symbolize a fulfilled wish (Prov 13:12)
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,   but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
3. Trees symbolize righteous people (Ps 92:12-13, Ps 1:3)
There is a tree in the bible that has both symbolic and literal meaning. Is the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The bible talks about it in Genesis 2:

Adam and Eve

"15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

This tree plays a crucial role in the history of mankind; it serves both a literal and a symbolic element in bible narrative.

1. Literal because it is an actual tree, with branches and leaves and all of the normal tree characteristics.
2. Symbolic because it has the role of a decision point in bible narrative; God said to Adam and Eve that they should abstain from eating its fruit, that if they did eat of the fruit of the tree, the outcome would be death…

There was a certain criterion of expected behavior that was attached to it, it is perhaps the first symbol in the history of mankind. Anytime there is a message and an expected behavior attached to an object, this object becomes a symbol. The tree in the garden became a symbolic element for a moment of choice with two clear outcomes; life or death.

In Western Christian art, the fruit of the decision tree in the garden of Eden is commonly depicted as the apple, however some scientists argue that this is not possible, as the apple tree rarely grows in Mesopotamia, which is the area where the garden of Eden is believed to have been located.

Even though it is not clear which kind of fruit-tree the tree of good and evil was (in a literal sense), it is possible to say without a doubt, that in a symbolic sense, the tree of good and evil is a DECISION TREE.
What is a decision tree? A decision tree is a schematic representation of a set of choices used in economics, management and the business world in order to anticipate possible outcomes for a decision...thereby enabling people to make better decisions.

If you want to learn more about decision trees go to:
http://www.time-management-guide.com/decision-tree.html

Seeds of a decision tree
The underlying assumption upon which a decision tree rests is that of rational choice. Gary Becker, the Nobel Prize winning economist, postulated that people make decisions based on rational choice, which means that given a set of options, people will choose the course of action that renders the most advantageous outcome for their own purposes.
Lately, however, psychologists, and other behavioral scientists have challenged the assumption of rationality.

In 2010 an MIT behavioral economist called DAN ARIELLY did some studies on why people act in ways that do not always reflect RCT…and he found out three things:
1. People act irrationally because THEY DO NOT HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION…
2. People act irrationally, because THEY ARE OVERWHELMED BY THE CHOICES
3. People act irrationally, because THEY ARE STIRRED UP EMOTIONALLY OR BY EXTERNAL FACTORS

If you want to learn more about Dan Ariely's books go to his blog at http://danariely.com/

IRRATIONAL US

In his books, Dan Ariely describes several experiments in which he demonstrated that people did not always act in accordance to their own criterion of what is beneficial for them, or even worse, people did not act accordance with their own values. One of my favorite examples has to do with Coca-Cola and money.

Like many other dorms, the MIT dormitories have refrigerators in every floor for the use of all residents. In one of the buildings, Ariely went to every floor and put inside each fridge, a six-pack of coke, and also, he put on top of the fridge the equivalent value of the six-pack in US dollars (approx. six dollars). After doing this, he checked periodically to see whether the coke cans, and the money were still there. To his surprise, the cokes didn't last longer than 72 hours the entire building, and even more surprisingly, he found out that no-one had touched the money that he left in every floor.

Dan Ariely found out that people will "fool themselves" to betraying their own values by stating for example, "stealing a coke is not stealing", however they wouldn't dare to steal the equivalent in money value of that coke. The bible says it in this way:

The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
-Jeremiah 17:9

We can see examples in daily life and also in the bible, which show that people do indeed make irrational choices; one such biblical example is the case of Jacob and Esau.
Jacob and Esau were twin brothers who were born to Rebeccah and Isaac. In Genesis 25, the bible narrates how Esau was born first, and Jacob was born second. During bible times, being a firstborn meant carrying the family name and inheriting double portion of the family’s estate. Thus, it was a great privilege.

Any person acting rationally would’ve valued the first-born right as something of great value both financially and emotionally. However, the bible narrates that Esau traded his first-born right for a plate of lentil stew.

The Bible narrates in Genesis 25:29-34
“One day Jacob was cooking a stew. Esau came in from the field, starved. Esau said to Jacob, "Give me some of that red stew—I'm starved!" That's how he came to be called Edom (Red).
Jacob said, "Make me a trade: my stew for your rights as the firstborn."
Esau said, "I'm starving! What good is a birthright if I'm dead?" Jacob said, "First, swear to me." And he did it. On oath Esau traded away his rights as the firstborn. Jacob gave him bread and the stew of lentils. He ate and drank, got up and left. That's how Esau shrugged off his rights as the firstborn.”

It is clear that Esau was stirred up emotionally and was overwhelmed by hunger and tiredness when he came to the decision point where he traded his first-born right, this passage of the bible illustrates how people fail to act rationally, and furthermore… there are certain decisions that can’t be taken back, the bible calls it the “Esau Syndrome”.

“Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God's lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God's blessing—but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.”

- Hebrews 12:15-17

Esau traded something of greater value, for something of lesser value because he was stirred up by external factors…he traded a better future for immediate gratification, and the bible cautions us against doing the same thing.

So how can we avoid ending up like Esau? The answer is in the chapter 12 of Hebrews and it can be subsumed in one word; discipline…

Hebrews 12:11 says the following:
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Discipline in the bible is closely related to trust and submission to God, even beyond our own understanding. This in my opinion, should be more evident in light of the fact that we are not always able to do what is best for ourselves.

Thus, according to the bible it is necessary to take time evaluate our decisions, not in the light of our immediate gratification, or our own interpretation of ‘what is desirable in our own understanding’ but put our trust in God…in his discipline.

DO YOU HAVE FRENEMIES?

2010-01-05T07:24:00.000+08:00

I've never liked candy very much (I know, I am kind of odd like that). However, when I was younger, there was one brand of candies that I loved to eat...the lifesavers. These candies came in various flavors wrapped together in a roll. I think one reason why I liked the lifesavers is because they were packed in a fun, colorful way. My friends and I would use the candy as a kind of friendship-ranking system. Since packages had certain amount of lifesavers of different colors and flavors, we ordered our friendships according to those colors and flavors that we would be willing to share with each other. For example, the red lifesaver was the best flavor, and because of this you would only share those coveted red lifesaver with your closest friends. The orange life-saver was not so highly coveted, and because of this, you could share it with other friends that were not necessarily your best buddies. Lastly, the green lifesavers that were not so hot, you could give to anybody. It is fun to think back to the dynamics of childhood friendships. As we grow older, friendships (and relationships in general) get more complicated...and we can no longer explain them or categorize them according to the color of candy we are willing to share.

Last year, Merriam Webster added the word “frenemy” to the dictionary. The definition of a frenemy according to this entry is a person “who pretends to be a friend but is actually an enemy”.

Normally, the emergence of a word in any language comes from a need to be able to identify an object or phenomenon. Thus, we can assume that the fact that the word frenemy is now in the dictionary indicates that we have developed the need to find a word to identify those people who call themselves our friends but end up acting like our worst enemies.

DR. JEKYLL OR MR. HYDE?

The essence of a frenemy is a lack of clarity in the relationship; sometimes they seem to love you and care about you, and sometimes they act in a manner that contradicts this fact, and they end up hurting you with their actions or words...it is like the same person turns into two different -almost completely opposite- individuals. Frenemies are inconsistent in their relationships...and because of this inconsistency, they are hard to spot.

GOD’S PURPOSE

God wants us to have good friendships and relationships that build us up, and not relationships that damage us and bring us down. However, this is not always what we experience, sometimes our friends and the people that are close to us end up hurting us and betraying us, and we experience a lot of pain from those situations. There are times in which we make the sad realization that a friend is not really a friend, but a frenemy.

The bible mentions this kind of friends;

There are “friends” who destroy each other,
but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. –Prov. 18:24 TM

So basically, not everyone whom we call our friend is a good, sincere, true friend, and because of this, God tells us in his word:

“Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.” –Prov. 4:23

So what is this verse saying?

First, lets look at the meaning of the verb to guard, and the noun heart.
In the Old Testament, the word “guard” comes from the Hebrew samar שומר and it means to “preserve from harm” or to simply put, “to be careful with something”…normally you guard things that are very valuable, because the things that are not valuable do not need to be guarded.The word heart in Hebrew is leb לב and it refers to the seat of emotion, thought and decision. So what this verse is trying to tell us is that you need to be careful whom you give access to your thoughts emotions and decisions.

In any friendship or any type of relationship we always give our friend access to our thoughts, emotions and decisions, and because of this, it is necessary for us to be careful and to treat our heart as something valuable, and not give it away lightly to people who are not trustworthy.

CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS WISELY

The quality of our friendships, is going to affect the quality of our life
Good friendships/relationships = good life
Bad friendships/relationships = bad life

Why is this a simple equation? Well, because the people you allow to influence your thoughts, emotions and decisions, are going to affect the type of person you become and ultimately determine the kind of life you aspire to.

“He who walks with the wise grows wise,
but a companion of fools suffers harm.” –Prov. 13:20

So we know what it means to guard our heart and why we need to guard our heart…
Now, we need to ask ourselves;

How do we do this? How do we guard our heart?
I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up my parents had a safe box in the house, where they kept their jewelry and stuff they considered valuable …however, you cannot take your heart and deposit it in a safe box, or in a bank, it is physically impossible.
So what do we do?

In order for us to guard our heart we need to develop one very specific skill; CHARACTER DISCERNMENT; to be able to look and understand the inner qualities of a person reflected in the way this person treats you and others.

Let’s look at an example;

Prophet Samuel and King David

1 Samuel 16
Samuel Anoints David
1 The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king."
….
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD's anointed stands here before the LORD."
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, "The LORD has not chosen this one either." 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, "Nor has the LORD chosen this one." 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, "The LORD has not chosen these." 11 So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?"
"There is still the youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep."
Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down [a] until he arrives."
12 So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one."
13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.

DO NOT LOOK AT THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE

We have an example of God teaching Samuel character discernment. Samuel was about to anoint the next king of Israel, and God tells him not to look at the outward appearance. Why? Because God knows we tend to do that…people to rely on outward appearance –not just physical appearance, but other external attributes too such as personality and popularity– in order to choose the people who influence our lives. Is not that the case with celebrities and their market appeal?

When you are entrusting people with something very valuable such as the welfare of a nation, character is the most important thing to look at…in this case David was going to be entrusted with an entire Kingdom and needed to have the right character. Similarly we entrust our friends with our most intimate thoughts, dreams, fears and feelings, so we need to choose wisely.

In the movies, it is very easy to distinguish the “good guys” from the “bad guys”; the outward appearance makes it very easy to guess what the inner qualities will be like…the hero is -as a general rule- handsome, has an imposing presence and a noble nature which fits to his exterior. On the other hand the villain has no striking physical appeal, is correspondingly evil and an overall loser. The only thing is that real life is hardly ever like a Hollywood move, and sometimes the quiet, unimpressive type like David turns to be the person who can be entrusted with the most delicate matters.

HOW DO WE EXERSICE CHARACTER DISCERNMENT?

In choosing our friends, we exercise character discernment when

• Instead of looking at how popular this person is, or how big their network is, we look at whether this person treats others with respect and honesty.
• Instead of looking at personality ethics, we look at the character ethics of this person.
• Instead of looking at wealth and appearance, we look habits of this person, are they good or bad habits?

This idea about character discernment has been discussed very well in a book called SAFE PEOPLE (http://store.cloudtownsendstore.com/safepeoplebook1.html). According to the book SAFE PEOPLE are those people that you want to have in your life, as friends, or in romantic relationships, and UNSAFE PEOPLE are those people that are not trustworthy in friendships or other relationships because they do not understand the value of your heart. One of the main messages is that we need to develop and exercise the skill of character discernment.

Nowadays, we are constantly seeking to learn and develop new skills because we believe that this is going to help us have a better life. However we seldom think to develop the skill of character discernment…and this is an important skill to develop because it will influence the kind of relationships we have, and ultimately the kind of lives we will live. Here is a little summary that I adapted from the book to help us get started in trying to develop character discernment.

UNSAFE PEOPLE: FRENEMIES

• Do not admit their weaknesses
• Are religious instead of being spiritual
• Are defensive instead of being open
• Are self-righteous instead of humble
• Only say “sorry” but they never follow up by changing their ways
• Demand trust instead of earning it
• Lie instead of telling the truth
• Driven by insecurity

You are friends with an unsafe person if:

• You feel like you tell this person things about you, but this person hardly ever shares about him/herself
• The main focus of the friendship is to satisfy the other person’s needs
• You do not feel free to be weak/imperfect in front of your friend for fear of ridicule
• You feel like you need to live up to a certain “image” in order to remain friends
• You feel like you need to be a mirror to your friend (i.e. always echo his/her opinions, moods and choices)
• You are constantly being lied to by your friend
• Your friend does not respect your values and boundaries
• You never know on what ground you stand

Well, this is not a comprehensive list, but it might be enough to help us begin to understand where we need to look in order to find trustworthy, safe people. The good news is that all of us have at least one good friend, and that friend is JESUS.

John 15:13-14a
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends…”

Jesus as a friend;
• Loves us and reaches out to us every day (constant)
• Accepts us as we are but also helps us to overcome our faults
• Is not selfish, or absent, but sacrificed his life for us
• He commands us to love others as he loved us
• Gives us confidence to approach others

JESUS, OUR LIFESAVER

Like I mentioned earlier, when I was little, we used to eat the brand of candies called livesavers. They looked like little doughnuts and came in different flavors. Their shape emulated the devices that were once used in order to save people from drowning. Have you ever felt like you are drowning in a bad relationship? Well, I guess then it is a good time to reach for a floating device, a lifesaver.
Jesus is the lifesaver; he can transform our life, and he can transform and redeem our relationships…we only need to ask him. We are called by Jesus to have a safe friendship with him, to look for safe people and to be true friends and safe people to others.

What do you believe? The Story of the Balloon Boy

2009-10-26T00:14:00.000+08:00

Pic. by Associated Press http://news.yahoo.com/

What does it mean to believe?
Online dictionaries give the following definitions:

1. To accept as true or real
2. To expect or suppose
3. To have confidence in the reliability of something

However, my favorite definition is the one I found in the sign language dictionary:

Believe = Think + Act

In sign language, the word “believe” consists of two gestures, the gesture for “thinking” followed by the gesture for “acting”. I find this definition really appropriate, because it summarizes the essence of what it is to belive…you think a certain way about something or someone, and then you act based on that thought…a good illustration for this fact is the story of the Heeney family and little Falcon.

These last couple of weeks, there were several reports in the news that told the story about a little boy named Falcon.
Falcon is six years old; he lives in Colorado with his parents and two brothers…sounds pretty normal so far…but the story is full of twists.
It turns out that Falcon and his dad and brothers like to build things for fun….the latest project was a hot-air balloon which they were getting ready to finish two or three weeks ago.
One day the dad and two of the kids, Falcon and his older brother were working on the balloon in the garden…the dad left for a minute and the balloon somehow started flying.
The original story that the Heeney’s told the authorities was that when Mr. Heeney (Falcon’s dad) came back to the yard, he noticed that the balloon was gone, and so was Falcon. He asked the older son “where is your brother?” and the boy answered him…”I don’t know…I think I saw him get inside the box of the hot air balloon”…

The family called 911 and they called the news channel in order to ask for help to bring the boy back down from the air safe and sound…
Soon the news started reporting about the balloon and everyone in the United States started following the developments of this situation…

The reporters and the people in general where worried about the boys safety, whether the balloon could crash with another flying object, whether the air up was too cold and the boy would freeze or get too cold, and of course, if the boy would fall from inside the hot air balloon…

The authorities closed down the airport, launched two military helicopters and countless policemen to try to bring the boy to safety. After a few hours, the balloon landed on a field and everyone ran to try to get the boy to safety…and the boy was not there. So the policemen tracked down the route where the balloon had flown in order to see if the boy had fallen out of the balloon…and they couldn’t find anything…until finally they found the little boy…do you know where?

Falcon was found safe and sound in his garage…where he had been hiding all along.

Even though this story seemingly has a happy ending…and everyone was relieved to see that Falcon was safe and sound, the authorities soon became suspicious of the parents…and there has been an ongoing investigation to determine whether the whole incident was real or not, I guess we will find out in time.

Regardless of the outcome of events, the story is a powerful example of how what we believe to be true can shape or actions in a powerful ways. In this case, the resources of the entire state of Colorado were set in motion in order to “rescue” a boy because people believed he was in danger. Everyone was supposing that the boy would be in flying in the air, they thought that he would be in danger…and this is why they took radical measures to prevent any danger for the boy; they closed the airport and launched military helicopters to try to extract the boy from the balloon in mid-air.

Our beliefs set the guidelines and boundaries of our actions not only when it comes to other people, but also when it comes to ourselves too. Beliefs are views, guiding principles, judgments and decisions about ourselves, people close to us, our community and how the world functions and they help determine our actions.

We all operate all the time under a series of assumptions or beliefs, whether we are aware of it or not. A lot of who we are and what we do can be explained in terms of what we believe, and this is an important thing to understand; therefore I will repeat it…a lot of who we are, and what we do can be explained in terms of what we believe.

Why is it important that we understand this? Because we need to make sure that we are operating under the right beliefs, and not under false beliefs…this is going to shape our life for better or for worse. Let me illustrate;

Once upon a time there was an Italian sailor named Christopher Columbus. During his lifetime, people used to believe that the earth was flat and that the world consisted of Asia, Europe and Africa…no North America, or South America or the Caribbean…which is kind of sad. But anyway, Christopher Columbus did not share in the false belief that the earth was flat, he thought the earth was round, and he didn’t let false beliefs operating around him determine his actions…he sailed away to prove his point…and found America. In short, a man who believed the right thing literally changed the shape of the world and the outcome of history. This is very powerful.

So at this point, let me ask you a question, what are some things you believe? Are you aware of your beliefs and how they work to shape your life?

We get our beliefs from three main sources; experience, evidence and our environment…however those sources are not always sufficient and can be misleading, because our understanding is limited.

Proverbs 3:5 warns us against relying solely on our understanding of things;

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding”

Now that we’ve touched on God’s word, let’s talk about what we believe as Christians…
Christians are also called BELIEVERS…however this is a bit arbitrary because everyone believes…every person in the world whether secular or religious has a set of beliefs.
So what is the difference? Well, we could say that Christians have a specific kind of belief and this is called FAITH….faith in God.

Let’s talk a little bit about faith, what is faith?

The bible says in Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and being certain of what we do not see.”

So basically, faith is a belief, but the kind of belief that is not based on what we see in daily experience, evidence or environment, faith is believing in what we have not seen yet.

Faith is believing in what God has already done.

Unlike other things we believe, which result from things we’ve previously experienced and are based on concrete, material evidence, faith is based on a certainty which precedes any kind of material evidence or previous experience.

How does faith originate? How do we get faith?

The bible tells us that we receive faith when we hear God’s word and we believe it.

Romans 10:17:

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”

According to the bible, faith is not just a warm, fuzzy feeling on the inside; it is a conviction that leads to action, actions that reflect our belief in God’s word.

James 2:14-18 says,

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. IF one of you says to him, Go I wish you well; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

According to James, faith cannot be passive, it has to be active. I ask myself, and maybe if you want to you can ask yourself too; how is your faith, is it dead or alive? Is it active or just passive?

It is really easy to fall into the trap of a passive faith, which stays at the level of thoughts and never translates into concrete actions…but according to the bible, we should strive that our faith is evidenced by our actions…

One last verse:

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

God is pleased by faith…and the first expression of faith is to come to him believing that he is there for us….I pray and hope that this faith can always find an expression in our life.

God is a great God...he can do things beyond what we ask or think in our lives...all he asks is that we believe.

Herd Mentality, the Sheep and the Shepherd

2009-05-11T15:29:00.000+08:00

Recently I stumbled upon a blog-article from Steve Dubner, one of the authors of the book “Freakonomics”. The article was titled “Herd Mentality, the Freakonomics of Boarding a Bus”. In the article, Steven Dubner narrates a passage of his every day life...from an economist's prespective.

Dubner and his daughter ride the bus together…they live in NYC, and as it is the case in most big cities during rush hour; the buses are crowded and full of impatient people trying to get to their intended destinations. For Dubner, the bus stop closest to his house is also a bus stop next to a subway station, which means that the amount of people waiting for the bus tends to be higher at that particular stop than in other bus stops.

I cannot imagine trying to get through a mob of people with a three year old by my side…and apparently Steve couldn’t either…he figured out a way to avoid this situation; by walking 250 yards down to the bus stop located one block before the crowded bus stop…thus avoiding the crowd and increasing his chances of finding seats for himself and his daughter.

As a conclusion to his article Steve Dubner asks himself; “why aren’t more people not doing this?” As a good economist, Dubner wonders why more people are not adopting a small change in their commuting habits (walking 250 yards) which would increase their likelihood of finding a seat…do they not mind standing in the bus? Are they intimidated by the prospect of walking 250 yards? What is it?

The answer (according to Dubner) is herd mentality.

What is herd mentality?

Pat Thomas, general curator at the Bronx Zoo explains herd mentality as" the idea that the individual members of a herd relate, behave in a similar fashion," ... "so that they don't stand out and appear different than their group mates."

In human experience, herd mentality can describe how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items.

According to Dubner’s blog-article, people would rather stay where the “herd” is (which in this case is the crowded bus stop), than behave differently and act out as individuals…even if this behavior is beneficial for them…

I don’t know about you, but this statement kind of scares me…and makes me wonder:

How much of our life is determined by Herd Mentality ?

Economics, Finance, Fashion, politics, and peer interactions are areas of our lives where herd mentality plays a role in the decisions we make…

Scientists at the University of Leeds conducted an experiment trying to explore the dynamics of herd mentality. In their experiment, they put people in a large hall and instructed them to walk around randomly…however, they had instructed some people to follow a specific route.

The participants were not allowed to communicate with each other…but in the end it turned out that the individuals who had been instructed to walk a certain route were followed by the others…thereby causing the whole crowd to follow the route and walk in an organized way…as opposed to randomly…without communicating!

Several experiments (including this one) conclude that in crowds of 200 individuals, a group of five percent was enough to influence the rest of their peers.

Source: http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html

Who belongs to the top five percent?

Experts in the study of change call the individuals who embrace a new trend and adopt a different behavior the trendsetters or innovators.

Trendsetters and innovators are the first ones in a group to follow a specific direction a.k.a the top five percent…

Trendsetters/innovators are followed by the early adopters, afterwards comes the early majority, followed by the late majority, and lastly, the laggards.

Several studies confirm that any group behavior will follow this progression;
1. innovators/trendsetters, 2. early adopters, 3. early majority, 4. late majority and 5. laggards.

Christ and the Crowds

What is a crowd?

According to wordnet.princeton.edu; a crowd is a synonymous to a herd…and it basically describes a great number of individuals gathered in close proximity to each other…

Have you ever been to a concert? Or maybe even using public transportation during rush hour? There is soooo little space… It is incredible how close people get to each other in those situations…in the midst of crowds people constantly brush against each other; and sometimes even bump into each other…

The book of Mark narrates one instance in which Jesus found himself in the midst of a crowd…according to the passage “the crowd was following and pressing against Jesus” (Mark 5:24) and out of nowhere… a woman who was chronically ill approached Jesus and touched the edge of his cloak.

As he was walking in the midst of a crowd, Jesus noticed that someone had touched his cloak…and he asked “who touched my clothes?”
The disciples were baffled by this question…they answer “you see the people crowding against you (bumping into you) and yet you ask ‘who touched me’” (Mark 5:31)…I can see the disciples almost asking Jesus “are you kidding???”

But Jesus wasn’t kidding…he continued to look around, until the woman who had been healed came forward and kneeled before him…

Crowds & Anonymity

The French sociologist Gustav Le Bon in his research about crowd behavior noticed how crowds foster anonymity (Contagion Theory)… I can totally see that; when I find myself in a crowd, I just try to move ahead in what seems to me like an ocean of walking bodies (I don’t even notice faces anymore)… but Le Bon’s theory about crowds and anonymity doesn’t apply to Jesus; Jesus didn’t let the woman get lost in the crowd…he recognized her and showed her empathy and compassion.

The poor woman “had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse”. (Mark 5:26) Jesus reassured her by saying “Daughter, your faith has healed you, Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:34)…those are beautiful words… especially considering that this woman had been waiting to hear those words for over 10 years.

We can see in the bible several instances in which Christ interacted with the crowds…he spoke to multitudes, he fed those multitudes, he walked through the crowds…he was used to dealing with lots and lots of people at the same time… and contrary to what research shows about people’s tendency to get lost in the crowd and adopt a herd mentality, Jesus never ever allowed himself to get lost in the crowd and he also never allowed anybody else to get lost either…

According to scripture, when Jesus saw the crowds, “he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”(Mat 9:36) Jesus said of himself; “I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep know me…I lay down my life for the sheep”. (John 10:14)

These verses shed so much light into Jesus relationship to the crowds…he sees himself as the Shepherd and the crowds are the sheep; a Shepherd doesn’t follow the sheep, he leads them, and he also cares for them…for a shepherd, sheep are never anonymous…and each one of them has great value in his eyes.

Matthew 18:12-14 explains this shepherd-sheep relationship in the following way:

"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep,
and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine
on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?
And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep
than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.
In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that
any of these little ones should be lost.”

Jesus, just like a good shepherd, will not let anybody get lost in the crowd…he will not let you or me get lost…

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you”
Psalm 32:8

It is important to notice that the relationship of the shepherd to his sheep is not one sided, it is mutual. The shepherd tends his sheep, but he is able to do so because the sheep recognize and follow the shepherd. Jesus said “my sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me” (John 10:28)

How can we as sheep listen to Jesus our Shepherd?

1. By Reading God’s Word

“ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for
every good work:”

2nd Timothy 3:16-17

“Sanctify them in your truth, your word is truth”
John 17:17

I am sure most of us have daily routines in which we set time apart to meet with friends, go to the gym, study…etc…we can do the same with the word of God…set time apart to read and meditate on it.

A good resource which can be easily incorporated into our routine are the email-devotionals…a few suggestions for subscriptions are “Our daily bread” http://www.rbc.org/odb/email/, or in touch www.intouch.org...

Once you start receiving the devotionals in your email…you can dedicate a few minutes while you sit on your computer to read and meditate on God’s word…

2. By listening to the Holy Spirit within us

Another way in which God speaks to us is through the Holy Spirit within us….the bible says;

“But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.”
John 16:13

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has
revealed it to us by his Spirit”
1 Corinthians 2: 9-10

How does the guidance of the Holy Spirit look life in our daily life? Author Bruce Main introduced a good expression to explain the way the Holy Spirit guides us…

In his book ”Holy Hunches”, Main notices that on several occasions people have been guided in their daily life by means of hunches or nudges… it is not a fire bush talking to them, it is that inner prompting to do something…”to put our faith into action”… he says “God-inspired (Holy) hunches can happen to ordinary people doing ordinary things”…that’s a pretty broad category; it includes everyone….

I like the expression “Holy Hunch”…because it is not something we hear with our ears, or see with our eyes…it comes to us as the verse in Corinthian says…by his Spirit…to our spirit.

Conclusion: I’m listening…

One of my favorite T.V. shows is called FRASIER. In the show; Kelsey Grammer plays Dr. Fraser Crane; a radio-psychiatrist, whose job was to give advice to people who called on his show. The phrase Frasier uses every time he answers the phone on his radio show is “I’m listening”…

God is on the line wanting to speak to us….are we listening?

As sheep it is vital for us to listen to Jesus our shepherd…and that we do not just follow the herd.
Jesus wants us to be part of the crowd, but not led by the crowd…he wants us to listen to him, our shepherd, and whatever obstacles we face…God has provided a way for us to overcome them.

“For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness;
but of power and love and discipline.”
2nd Timothy 1:7

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me”
Psalm 23:4

King David said “the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…” it is my prayer that we also experience God’s provision and guidance in our life as we follow his voice with renewed purpose.

Confessions

2009-05-02T23:41:00.000+08:00

I guess this is one of those confessions that I might regret ever making…and it is kind of embarrassing to admit…but here it goes; when I was young, I wanted to be a marching band girl…the kind that walks in cute little pleated skirts and twirls the baton to the beat of the drums with a smile on her face and the perfect posture all along… I admit it…I am guilty as charged.

When I was growing up, there was a school near my house that had marching band practice in the afternoons… they would rehearse going up and down the street where I lived. I remember how I would ask my mom to let me go out and watch the band walk by…I loved everything about the marching band, the music, the drums, the coordination, the batons, and the elegance of the performance…as much as a four year old can appreciate such things.

After watching the band, I would run inside the house, take the broom stick and try to mimic the baton routines that I had just seen…I was seriously obsessed with being like those girls…

To my dismay, I never managed to convince my mom to buy me a baton (probably because she thought I would poke my sister or something)… but my sister and I succeeded in convincing our mom to buy us pleated skirts like the ones the band girls wore…and we wore those skirts ALL THE TIME…

As I grew up, my interest in becoming a band girl disappeared… my school did not have a marching band, and realistically speaking…had there been a marching band in my school I would probably have been too embarrassed to even try out. Once I reached my teen years I stopped thinking that marching band girls were that cool…until today, when I stumbled upon the following article:

Girl beats off muggers with marching Band Baton

QUARTZ HILL, Calif. – Don't mess with the marching band. That's what California authorities are saying after a 17-year-old girl used her marching band baton to beat back two would-be muggers.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Michael Rust says the Quartz Hill girl was walking to school April 24 when two men approached her from behind, tried to grab her coat and demanded money.

Instead, one got a punch in the nose and the other a kick to the groin. Rust says the girl then beat both of them with her band baton before she ran away.

The men had not been caught. But Rust says there's a clear message to take from the encounter:

"The moral to this story is don't mess with the marching band girls, or you just might get what you deserve. Final score: marching band 2, thugs 0."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_marching_band_beating

Now that is a cool marching band girl...

This article reminds me of those movie scenes where the thug tries to attack the proverbial defenseless old lady…and the old lady ends up beating the thug with her purse and rendering him helpless.

I don’t know why such scenes give me a warm, fuzzy, feeling on the inside…I guess I get a certain satisfaction when I see that the turn of events totally takes people by surprise…there is a certain irony about it…and the thugs are completely baffled, because they encounter exactly the opposite of what they had anticipated…

The bible narrates a similar instance, in which Jesus caught the disciples by surprise by choosing to do exactly the opposite of what they had expected of him…

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet (John 13)

1 Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.
2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.
4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,
5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.
6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”
8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”
Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”
9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”
10 Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.”
11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing?
13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am.
14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.
15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.
16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message.
17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

Entertaining & Etiquette

When was the last time you had guests over at your home?

I am sure that the last time you had guests over at your home, you prepared in advance for the occasion and tried to make your guests feel as welcome and comfortable as possible, right?

At the time when Jesus walked on earth, good hosts would normally have a servant available to wash the guest’s feet at dinner parties or similar social occasions.

This was a necessary action in light of two important facts; first of all Jewish people would walk in dusty roads all day long, and when they sat at the dinner table, their feet would be at the same level as the rest of their body (they did not use chairs like we do) so it was a necessary hygienic measure to have not only clean hands but also clean feet at the table. Secondly, it was an act of hospitality which signaled appreciation on behalf of the host for the guest’s presence in his home… in a way it is like saying “I am glad you could make it”, or even “I am honored to have you at my table”.

The passage narrated in John 13 begins with a very poignant statement about Jesus feelings on that night when he was having supper with his disciples. Jesus was aware that he was not going to be with his disciples for much longer…that he was leaving them…and of course he wanted to show them his love in a very practical way; by wrapping a towel around his waist and washing their feet.

Jesus; The servant leader

Jesus was in a position of authority, the bible says that “Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power”… and in spite of this, he chose to dispose of all human conventions and instead of taking the role of a magnanimous host showing appreciation for his guests, he took the role of a humble servant who cleanses the dirt that people gather from the ground.

I can imagine the disciples not knowing how to react in light of this major faux pas…in their minds Jesus, their Master and Lord shouldn’t be performing this kind of service to his lowly disciples…

Peter managed to muster up some courage and tried to stop Jesus from washing his feet. When we read about it in the bible it seems like Peter is trying to save Christ from the indignity of becoming like a mere servant…but Peter did not understand that Jesus had come to serve…he was a servant leader who taught by example.

Jesus is the King of Kings, he has all the authority and power, yet he chooses to act as someone in a position of powerlessness and service.

After washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus asks a very crucial question: “Do you understand what I have done for you?”… “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

Jesus doesn’t want us to literally go around washing people’s feet…but he does want us to let go of our conventions in order to show love and appreciation for each other.

Concluding Thoughts

Paul encourages the church to be like Christ in his humility…

5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2 5-11

According to Paul, we shouldn’t hold on to any kind of status, position, or social conventions but we should follow Christ’s example…

Have you ever thought you are too cool/old/young/smart/clean/mature in order to serve others?

Or conversely, have you ever thought that someone is too bad/lost/immature/annoying/dirty for you to reach out in love to that person?

I know I am guilty of having done that…but when I think that Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords did not think of himself as being too much of anything in order to humbly serve others…I can only pray that God will help me gain humility…because those who go down the path of humility are brought up in God’s sight…and Jesus is an example worth following.

H1N1; my next door neighbor....

2009-05-02T05:06:00.000+08:00

Today as I was walking home, I noticed a group of policemen and reporters standing at the door of the Metropark Hotel in Wanchai, which is almost next door to my appartment building.

I had no clue what was going on…I didn't think much of it though.

I walked to the building and saw a lady wiping the floor with chlorine... I still did not connect the dots, I went home and started watching T.V.

A couple of hours later my husband came home, he told me “the street is full with policemen, apparently someone with the swine-flu fell over in the hotel next door”…in that moment, it all made sense to me… I couldn’t believe that I missed all the sings…

I guess in retrospect it all seems too obvious; the H1N1 virus is all over the media…and I knew that it had come to Asia…there were warning signs all over...but I missed them, I guess I never imagined it would get so close….

Warnings

This incident made me wonder; how many times have I heard warnings and I failed to pay attention?

Warnings are preventative statements which guide us to safety in different settings of life…and we know them since childhood…from our parents, teachers and other authority figures. Warnings are given to us in most cases by people who care for our wellbeing to a greater or lesser extent…right?

This I came across a documentary named “Zeitgeist”, and what I saw reminded me of a warning given to us in the Bible; Peter warns Christians in 2nd Peter 2 that there would be people who would deny Christ’s divinity…he calls them false teachers.

The documentary “Zeitgeist” is one of those teachings…it begins with a description of different mythological figures of antiquity. It records how various civilizations had similar accounts of a “savior god”…which sound very similar to Jesus Christ…putting into question whether Christ is really the only true God-savior.

The way I came across “Zeitgeist” is because as a result of watching the documentary, someone asked the question, “How do we know that Jesus is the real God”? So I figured I should try to understand where the question is coming from….

As I watched the documentary, there were accounts of several Egyptian, Indian, and Greek mythical gods who were said to have the same traits as Jesus did. I wasn’t familiar with any of them until something caught my attention… a very specific comparison made between a Greek god named Dionysius and Jesus.

I remembered a course that I took my third year of college called “Classics”…it was an overview of Greek Mythology and Literature.

Dionysius

Dionysius is an important figure in ancient Greek culture because he is linked with the classic Greek theatre.

Oedipus Rex (a piece that most people read in high school) was written by Sophocles to be performed in the theater festival; a festival in honor of Dionysius celebrated each spring.

Dionysius is said to be the god who discovered how to make wine and he is also the god of nature and fertility (source: Encyclopedia Mythica http://www.pantheon.org/articles/d/dionysus.html) …every spring as the green sprouts emerged after the winter and the animals were mating; the Greeks would interpret this as the resurrection of Dionysius. This is what I had learned about Dionysius at the University in my “Classics” course.

As I watched the video, I couldn’t help but notice that some concrete statements were made about Dionysius; the video stated that Dionysius is said to “turn water into wine” which according to my understanding of the mythological account is a gross generalization…

Dyonisius is said to have discovered and perfected the process of wine creation, which he later on spread through Asia-minor. This act is completely different to a miraculous act of transubstantiation (turning one substance into a different substance) performed by Jesus…the Bible narrates in the New Testament how Jesus turned water into wine…not by a process, but by a miraculous act. (I have included the text which is John 2).

Jesus Changes Water to Wine

1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there,
2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4 "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."
They did so,
9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
10 and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

Having studied a bit of Greek mythology, I could see how the statements made about Dyonisius in the “Zeitgeist” documentary are deceitful…it is clear to me that the producers of the video have the intention of presenting the Biblical account of Jesus’ life and resurrection as nothing but a repeated version of other previous mythologies…when it is not at all the case…

Broad generalizations such as the ones used in this documentary are dangerous; history has shown that they lead to prejudice and exclusion. As an individuals, people normally wouldn’t pass judgment on someone based on stereotypes or generalizations about their race, ethnicity or culture… Now, it is should be the same case with faith…we should encourage people not to base their conclusions about God or Jesus on broad generalizations.

I am not familiar with Indian, Persian or Egyptian mythology…but I am sure that when looking at them in detail we will find that the statements made in the documentary about those mythical figures are not completely true…that generalizations have also been used in those cases to make the mythical figures seem exactly the same as Jesus… this means that you cannot trust the statements made in the video...Jesus is not a mythological figure.

There is ample historical evidence that Jesus was an actual person who lived and walked on earth 2000 years ago. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus recorded the existence of Jesus (37 A.D.), another Roman historian named Cornelius Tacitus recorded Jesus’ existence too (112 A.D). I do not think that other historians have documented the existence of Dionysius or other mythological figures; because they are mythology….but Jesus is real.

Concluding Thoughts

1 Timothy 2:5 says:

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

In John 17:21, Jesus prayed for his disciples:

“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.”

Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician once said:

“There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.“

It is so important for us as Christians to be aware of the value of the truth we know…and to guard it and defend it…

1 Peter 3:15 says:

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”

Jesus is real, Jesus is God and he saves…some might want to deny these facts…
We can consider ourselves warned.

It is time for a Change….

2009-04-20T02:04:00.000+08:00

The spring season is a season filled with change in many ways; flowers and sprouts start appearing in nature, households undergo the famous “spring cleaning” and daylight savings time begins.

What is change?

According to wordnet.princeton.edu change is:
 Any variation or alteration; a passing from one state or form to another; as, a change of countenance; a change of habits or principles.
 A succession or substitution of one thing in the place of another; a difference; novelty; variety; as, a change of seasons.
 A passing from one phase to another; as, a change of the moon.
 Alteration in the order of a series; permutation.

Change and Life

Different accounts, scientific and faith-based, of how life in this planet originated and perpetuates itself identify change as a key element for the existence of life.

The Bible narrates in the book of Genesis how God formed the Earth and creation by gradually changing the “formless and empty darkness” which was there in the beginning into a place where light, sky, water, vegetation, animals and humans exist. (Genesis 1). God changed the conditions of the void by creating living and inanimate matter; we see a change taking place.

Science also explains how in an embryo is created through the differentiation and specialization of different cells which come from the union of two gametes. One cell multiplies and changes into millions of different kinds of cells to create a living organism; a zygote becomes an embryo, which turns into a fetus and later a baby; we see a change taking place.

Regardless of the lens we choose to look from…we can agree that change is a part of life, change results from the temporary nature of our earthly existence, change happens to everyone and everything in this planet…change is a precondition for life.

Two Kinds of Change

In our lives, we experience changes without even realizing it; seasons change, conditions change, we grow older, we go from one stage of our life to the next, we sometimes experience loss or unexpected out-of-the-ordinary situations. In order to study the phenomenon of change, scholars have categorized change in two kinds; cyclical change and structural change.

Cyclical change, as described by its name, is a change that occurs on a regular interval…for example seasons, fashion trends or business cycles…this kind of change is not permanent and can be reversed.

Structural change is a change that is unusual such as a revolution in a country, loss or death…this kind of change is permanent and cannot be reversed.

Source: http://www.radicalchangegroup.com/2008/11/02/58-the-types-of-change/

Change and T.V.

One of the biggest money-makers in the t.v. industry are the shows that capitalize on documenting change, such as makeover and improvement shows…as an avid t.v. viewer, please allow me to name my top 5 shows dealing with change:

5. Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style; it is a Bravo produced show where fashion-impaired ladies get the tools to reinvent their wardrobes from Tim Gunn.
4. Extreme Makeover; it is a total revamp of a person’s appearance which includes months of training, plastic surgery, wardrobe reinvention plus hair and makeup.
3. Extreme Makeover Home Edition; this show deals with the renovation of the house of a deserving family…it is a joint effort of the t.v. show and the friends of the family.
2. What not to Wear; people are recommended by their family and friends for this show…another show which deals with the fashion-impaired.
1. Pimp my Ride; a show dealing with car-makeovers.

So Please MTV, Pimp my Ride!

I especially like the format of “Pimp my Ride”…the show begins by introducing us to a person who has a car in dire need of repair…usually the car is falling apart and barely driving. After detailing all the malfunctions and glitches of the car the owner issues a plea to MTV asking for help, the first scene of the show always ends with the phrase “so please MTV pimp my ride”…the next scene shows the host Xzibit coming to the person’s house first to inspect the car and to announce that a change is coming; MTV has heard the plea and is going to Pimp the Ride.

It is so funny and endearing to see the people’s reaction when they open the door and see Xzibit standing in front of them…they are ecstatic; some will scream others will jump and scream, and others will scream, jump and embrace Xzibit like he was a long-lost brother. These people understand the implications of Xzibit’s presence at their front door; he’s coming to bring about a much needed change…He’s coming to get the defective automobile, and he’s going to take that car to get work done in one of the best garages in California…the participants in the show are aware that the next time they see their car, it is no longer going to be defective; not only will it be repaired but also immensely improved a.k.a. pimped. This change brings joy, anticipation and excitement to people’s lives…and I like watching all these emotions unfold.

Just like the introduction of the show follows the same format over and over, the conclusion of the show also follows one recurring format; once the car is in a new and improved, the owner is invited to the garage to witness the “great reveal”. The mechanics explain step-by-step the repairs, improvements and changes made to the car and the owner of the car responds in amazement and gratitude. The host of the show, Xzibit presents the person with his car keys and before letting him/her drive away he tells them; “You’ve officially been pimp’d”.

Jesus the Great Mechanic

Recently we celebrated Easter…a time when we remember Jesus’ life here on earth, his death on the cross, and his resurrection after three days. However, many times we overlook the fact that Easter is also celebration of change; through his sacrifice, Jesus has dramatically changed the course of history and the potential outcome of our lives. In the show “Pimp my Ride” the cars are changed at two levels; first the mechanics fix those things which are malfunctioning or have deteriorated over time, and second the mechanics improve the car by adding equipment that the car did not have even when it was new from the dealer; such as extra-powerful stereo or GPS navigation system, which enhance the car’s condition beyond the owner’s expectations.

Similarly, Jesus brings change to our life at two levels; first he repairs the damage caused by sin and the works of the enemy our life, the Bible says in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”, and John 10:10 says “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Second, Jesus improves our life through giving us the opportunity to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit; our God-given GPS navigation system, and by opening the way to the throne of the father. Paul says in Ephesians 3:13-21 that we can know the depths of God’s love and be strengthened in our inner man through his Spirit and that God is “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”…in other words; the changes that Jesus brings to our lives can exceed our expectations.

Jesus at the Door

As I mentioned before, one of the most memorable instances in the show “Pimp my Ride” are the scenes where Xzibit knocks at people’s door in order to bring about change…similarly in Revelation the Bible contains a passage where Jesus is pictured standing at the door and knocking…

Revelations 3: 14-21
"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler
of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I
wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—
neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth…So be
earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone
hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he
with me."

When I read this passage, I cannot help but contrast the enthusiasm of the people portrayed in the t.v. show when Xzibit is at their door and the indifference of the church of Laodicea when Jesus was at their door… the bible describes the church’s reaction to Jesus as “lukewarm”, in other words apathetic, unexcited or even neutral…and this has not changed very much with time. Christians are still very passive, indifferent or neutral when it comes to Jesus’ presence in their lives…I sometimes get more excited watching a car get fixed than reading God’s promises in the bible…and I know I am not the only one.

How can people (including myself) be so excited for a temporary change such as their car getting fixed and ignore the person who wants to bring about changes that benefit their entire lives not only on this earth but also for eternity? Unlike the t.v. shows such as “Pimp my Ride”, the changes that Jesus brings to people’s lives are permanent, structural, eternal. A car lasts 20 years…eternity lasts forever.

How can we respond adequately to the changes that Jesus wants to bring to our life? John the Baptist once instructed people on how to respond to Jesus’ gift of salvation…he said in Luke 3:8 “produce fruit in keeping with repentance”. Repentance is a word which implies change…it is actually a complete 180 degrees change in direction; it is a U-turn. Jesus himself tells the church in Laodicea to repent…to be earnest. Repentance includes a heartfelt desire to embrace the changes that Jesus wants to bring about in our lives…it is the equivalent of making a U-turn when we are driving in the wrong direction, or giving Xzibit the keys to a car which desperately needs repair.

Concluding Thoughts: The 10-Cow Makeover

Readers Digest once published a powerful story which narrates the story of a widower who lived with his two daughters in a small village in Asia a long time ago. One of the daughters was beautiful; her charisma and grace was known in the entire village and the neighboring areas… The other daughter, although noble-hearted, lacked allure and charm. The two young women were ready to be given in marriage, and as it was the custom in those days, the father was expecting suitors to show up and offer cattle in exchange for a wife.

One morning, word came to the old man that a wealthy dignitary was coming to the village to find his future wife. The wealthy man had been on a long quest to find a suitable woman to share his life, and had travelled near and far in his mission. The old man thought to himself; “surely when he sees my daughter, this man rich in possessions but poor in love will forget all his previous distress and forfeit his travels; he will settle with her and ask for her hand in marriage”, he rushed to his house and prepared for the event.

As the dignitary entered the old man’s house; his face light up, his eyes grew teary and his mouth uttered the following words; “Good man, at the sight of your daughter, I who am rich in possessions but poor in love, have forgotten all my distress and travels, I am in love with your daughter and wish to settle with her and ask for her hand in marriage, allow me to offer 10 cows as exchange” The old man who was prepared answered without hesitations, “Dear sir as a father, I am prepared to give you her hand in marriage.” The price of 10 cows was the highest price anyone had ever paid for a wife, but the old man was not surprised, since his daughter’s beauty was legendary.

The old man was smiling, satisfied that all his predictions had come to pass, when something happened that took not only him, but the entire village by surprise; the dignitary approached the two daughters who were standing side by side, and turned to the other daughter, the one who was noble-hearted and asked her “would you be my wife?” Without any hesitation, the young woman took his hand, looked at his family for one last time, and left with the distinguished man to become his wife.

Time went by, and word came to the old man, that his daughter and son-in-law were coming to the village in the customary visit that daughters pay their fathers. In villages a family-visit, concerns the entire town, and so all the people had gathered outside the old man’s house, to see the daughter arrive with the fool who paid 10 cows for a noble-hearted but unattractive wife. The dignitary appeared first, illustrious and poised as usual and stretched his hand to his wife to lovingly usher her into her father’s house.

The sight that caught people’s eyes was not that of an unattractive, noble-hearted woman, but that of an exquisite creature, who stood dignified, lovely and self-assured by her husband’s side. Astonishment and admiration filled people’s minds. The old man in his amazement couldn’t contain himself; he asked his daughter the reason for her change. The woman looked at his father and at everybody else, set her gaze on her husband and answered; “I realized the price he paid.”

I like this story because it is a makeover story, and it also illustrates what repentance should look like. Jesus paid a price for each and every one of us, so that our lives could be changed…however we need to respond and change our ways…and we will be restored, made-over, or as put in my favorite lingo; we will officially be “pimp’d”.

“"If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me” (Jeremiah 15:19)
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 3:2)
“Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.”

It is time for a change….

Memories of Easter

2009-04-12T05:11:00.000+08:00

As a child, I spent every Easter on the beach. The “Semana Santa” (Easter Week) celebrations in El Salvador, my native country, do not include colored eggs, bunnies or baskets…however for most people it does involve a sojourn in the local beaches, time spent with family and friends and the participation in some form of religious tradition (church service, mass or processions).

In my case, every year my entire family (by family I mean the Latin American version of extended family which includes aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives) would gather at my grandfather’s beach house and spend the week together. The time spent with family and friends surrounded by palm trees, water, and sun is one of my favorite childhood memories. My cousins (who for the most part were older and seemed so cool at that time) usually invited friends over to spend the week with us, so the house was always filled with laughter, card games, food, music and some form of youthful excitement. Every day the entire family would eat meals together, swim together and enjoy the distance from the daily routines by following a vacation routine.

Our days would begin by putting on our swimsuits, going for breakfast and later going for a swim…after working up our appetite by playing, swimming and sunbathing we would go back for the second meal of the day. Generally, after lunch the grownups would lie in the hammocks and take a siesta (nap), while the rest of the pack would watch t.v., play card games or do whatever other activity would help us endure the wait for the next swim of the day… Swimming was the highlight of the whole week…my cousins, siblings and I would look for starfish in the water, ride waves or simply enjoy the sun. After the afternoon swim, we would return to the house, eat dinner, and play some more card games, watch t.v. or gather round a bonfire.

I loved those times…the only instance when I remember being unhappy during Easter vacation was on Easter Fridays… every year, we were not allowed to go swimming to the ocean or the pool until three p.m. of that day. I remember languishing by pool, wishing the time would go by faster and hoping for the ninth hour. When the clock showed that it was 3 o’ clock in the afternoon, I would jump into the water like I was up in flames, and swim like I had never been to a pool before. This happened year after year, Easter after Easter. The somewhat unorthodox practice of “pool and ocean abstinence” was the way in which the adults in our family wanted to teach us children about Christ’s sacrifice, and help us understand in a practical way the meaning of that day. I remember that as a child, this helped me understand that Easter Friday was not a “happy” day…and that Jesus had been in a state of suffering until 3 p.m. which came to an end when he said “it is done” and yielded his spirit.

Even though time has passed, and now my Easters include bunnies, baskets, colored eggs and church service, I still retain my childhood practice of remembering Christ sufferings until 3 p.m. on Easter Friday. Ironically, now that I am a grownup, the roles have been reversed…the highlight of my week is the practical discipline which helps me meditate on Christ’s sacrifice…had somebody told me that when I was a child, I would have thought they were crazy. The Bible narrates how something similar happened to a church…Paul told the church in Corinth that as they grew in Christ, some things which originally seemed foolish to them would become the very things that they value and practice.

The Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:18-30)

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.

But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”

Current Affairs

It seems like things have not changed much in people’s heart since Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians. Several people have reservations regarding the Christian faith; they get offended or embarrassed by it. In modern societies, scientific theory and thought dominate the dialogue of what is considered plausible and acceptable as truth.

The movie “The Passion of the Christ” shows a very powerful scene where Pontius Pilate, after having met with Christ, asks his wife the following questions: “Truth, what is truth? Do you hear it? Do you recognize it when it is spoken?” Pilate had just encountered Truth, and yet he had a hard time recognizing this fact due to his preconceived notions and beliefs. Christ said of himself: “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). The answer to Pilate’s questions had literally stared him in the face, but he did not see it. This happened with many of Pilate’s contemporaries as well; the Jewish folk, the high priests and the Romans could not reconcile Christ with their preconceived notions and beliefs regarding the Messiah who was to come.

God sent Christ to die on the Cross, to pay for our sins and ransom our souls…during Easter, we commemorate this sacrifice…but do we believe it? Do we receive it? Or do we only think about it for a while, put it aside, and choose to rely on our preconceived notions and ideas about life and human existence?

The message of the cross is so powerful; it is the purest expression of divine love and divine justice merged in one act of sacrifice, yet it is hard to comprehend. Like Tim Hughes wrote “I’ll never know how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross”.

There are so many aspects of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross that are beyond human understanding; that are competing with, or even contradicting preconceived notions that we have…but the truth is staring us in the face. In this Easter season, may God open our eyes and let us see beyond our preconceived notions and ideas, and recognize the truth in the form of Jesus Christ the savior. And may we keep in mind that practices and ideas that once seemed foolish can become the most valuable practices and ideas we'll ever know.

The Olympics - A reflection for Palm Sunday

2009-04-05T07:31:00.000+08:00

The Olympics – A Reflection for Palm Sunday

This is a fun age quiz: Which are the first Olympics you remember watching? This should be an easy question to answer…at least for some people…and it will remind you how old (or young) you are.

An article appeared online last year titled “You never forget your first Olympics”, the author Bob Fitzgerald narrates his experience witnessing the Olympics of 1976; the most memorable event for him was the performance of a Japanese gymnast who in spite of having a broken leg, managed to compete and deliver a nearly perfect routine in the rings…he describes it in the following way: “In an almost inhuman display of strength and concentration, the gymnast performed what looked to me like a perfect exercise, even landing a perfect dismount. The image is burned into my brain. I was only five and this is one of my earliest memories.”
(source http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/You-never-forget-your-first-Olympics?urn=oly,97405)

Barcelona 1992

I also have a vivid memory of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. I remember sitting in the living room of my aunt Melly’s house and watching the inauguration ceremony on T.V. with my cousin Anna and the rest of the family. The fact that I was watching the ceremonies at my aunt’s house was very significant for me due to one specific and significant detail: my aunt lived in Munich, Germany…I had been staying with her family for almost a month and this was the first time that I had been away from my native El Salvador for such an extended period of time...

Call me sentimental, but being away from my country awakened in me a sense of patriotism and nostalgia which I had never experienced before in my life (twelve years of life to be exact). I remember watching the delegations from every country march around the Olympic stadium; first the A countries, Angola, Argentina, Australia Austria etc. Afterwards the B countries, then C’s and so on…I was eagerly awaiting for the E countries to come out and march, I was expecting to see the Salvadorian delegation among them…with much anticipation.

Finally, the E countries came out, first the Ecuador delegation, then the Egypt delegation…I expected El Salvador to come next, but to my surprise, it did not happen…I waited, and waited…then the F countries started marching…I was so confused; what had just happened? Where is El Salvador? To my surprise the Spaniards had decided to place the El Salvador delegation among the S countries…the S!!! I remember thinking “that is almost at the end of the alphabet!!!!” I was not happy about the unexpected change, to say the least.

I continued half-watching the rest of the countries march...the ones starting with F, H, G, and so on. I waited, and waited…and at last…the S countries started marching out in the stadium…again my spirits lifted and anticipation started to build up once more…then it happened... the El Salvador delegation came marching out…it was a handful of people smiling and carrying the Salvadorian flag and a banner that read EL SALVADOR…oh what a sight!

Even though the El Salvador delegation was hardly comparable in terms of size and presence to the delegations of other countries such as Switzerland, Sweden or the host-country Spain, in my eyes, it seemed like the greatest thing on that stadium. My heart was bursting with a mixture of pride, hope and expectation at the sight of those Salvadorian athletes which I will never forget, like Bob Fitzgerald would say; the image was burnt not only in my brain, but also in my heart.

Beijing 2008

I am sure my feelings regarding the 1992 Olympics were only magnified by my young age and the fact that I was far away from my country. However, last year as I watched the inauguration ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics I could see traces of those same feelings in people’s faces as they cheered and shouted for their respective delegations. The opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics was packed with feelings of awe, anticipation and excitement, and it was the culmination of 84 months of preparation and much hard work and sacrifice…and controversy aside, it was a moment of national pride for China.

The Olympic Games normally start with a triumphal entry of an athlete carrying the Olympic torch into the stadium…giving a great start to a significant event…the bible narrates a similar story of how the most important week in the history of mankind started with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.

The Triumphal Entry (John 12: 12-19)
The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
"Hosanna!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Blessed is the King of Israel!" Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
"Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey's colt."
At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!"

Beijing and Jerusalem

In 2001, China was awarded the rights for the Olympic games, and from that time onwards the entire city of Beijing became a “work in progress”. Beijing became a permanent construction site…slowly transforming into a cosmopolitan center worthy of hosting a world class event; this process included the completion of great landmarks such as the Birds Nest and the Olympic Village. Jerusalem at the time when Jesus walked on earth was no different from Beijing in 2008; scholars have described it as a “great metropolitan area home to the lavishly restored Jewish Temple, a world-renowned wonder” comparable to modern day London or New York City. (source http://www.time.com/time/2001/jerusalem/cover.html).

According to the official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/official/ioc/n214520633.shtml) the inaugural ceremony for the games was viewed by nearly 4 BILLION people…that is roughly 2/3 of the world’s population (the world population is 6,771,182,070). Just like Beijing in 2008, the city of Jerusalem in 31 A.D. was in a period of Renaissance….and the Passover and the festival of the tabernacles drew thousands of people to Jerusalem...specifically to the Temple; which became the epicenter of attention and activity for all the Jewish folk for a week.

It is in this significant point in time that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and as he approaches, stories of those miracles and signs which he performed precede him; building anticipation among the Jewish folk. The particular circumstances surrounding the Jews at this time in history are noteworthy…they are under Roman oppression, with very little national pride, and their only hope is the messiah who will bring them the much needed victory over Roman rule; restoring their national pride and sovereignty. They have been waiting for this moment eagerly, hearing prophecies and promises regarding the Messiah for decades and decades.

Jesus and the Athletes

It is now easy to see how the emotions awakened in Jesus’ contemporaries regarding his arrival in Jerusalem would resemble those emotions experienced by people watching their country’s delegation arrive at the Olympic stadium; or more specifically, what I felt when I was 12 years old watching the El Salvador delegation walk in Barcelona; a mixture of pride, hope and expectation. On such rare occasions national pride and the anticipation of victory burst inside one’s heart and are expressed in shouts of joy and cheers for the object of one’s hope. For the Jews in Jerusalem during Jesus’ time, Palm Sunday was one of those occasions.

The shouts resounded, “Hosanna!”…but what does this mean? Hosanna is a very special expression, it means “save us” and “praise the Lord who is faithful!”…it is both a cry for help and a shout for praise, and encompasses the realization of a need and the recognition of God's power on behalf of a man. People recognized Jesus as their hope for victory and restoration…like an athlete can bring victory and honor to a country; Jesus was viewed as the one who could bring victory to Israel and restore the nation’s sovereignty.

There is no aspect of an Olympic event which can be equated to the oppression experienced by the people of Israel …however there are many other aspects of human experience which allow us to taste and know what oppression feels like… and the good news is that there is hope in Jesus.

Conclusion: The difference between Beijing and Jerusalem

“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout Daughter of Jerusalem!
See your king comes to you
Righteous and having salvation
Gentle and riding on a donkey,
On a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Zechariah 9:9

There is one big difference between Beijing 2008 and Jerusalem in the time when Christ walked on earth...the victory won by athletes in the Olympics in Beijing was significant, but temporary... Jesus's victory on the cross is the most important victory ever won and it has eternal implications for every person who chooses to believe in Christ as his or her savior.

As we enter Easter we celebrate that victory.

What Jesus did on the cross was indeed to bring victory to Israel, and to us…however, his methods were not understood by many, not even his disciples. The bible narrates that it was only in retrospect “only after Jesus was glorified” that the disciples understood how Jesus was fulfilling God’s promises. Jesus himself said to Peter; "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." (John 13:7)

There may be “things of God” that we (or the people around us) do not understand, or promises which we have yet to see fulfilled… the good news is we can still rejoice, Jesus brought salvation, victory and restoration to us and we will understand his purposes at some point if not now, then later. In the mean time, we can rejoice. Rejoice because Jesus loves us, rejoice because he brought us salvation and we can experience that love and salvation today. Jesus is our champion, we can celebrate and praise HOSANNA.

Jesus Who?

2009-03-22T04:08:00.011+08:00

Recently, the guardian.co.uk posted an article about one man who spent one year living with a pack of wolves.

Shaun Ellis and his friends
souce:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/15/i-lived-with-wolves

It is a very interesting article to read for two reasons;

First, it gives new insight into the lives of wolves and their understanding of communal life.

In addition, it is also interesting to see the effects of a year spent away from civilization in the life of a man. From his experience, Shaun Ellis says that comming back to society after living a year as a "hermit" without any human contact was a complete "culture shock".

I'd like to think that I could be happy living as a hermit...with a bunch of wolves and away from society. However, realistically speaking, even though I think I could do without lots of human interaction for extended periods of time (I am a consumated loner), I couldn't do without the day to day comforts of "civilized life" such as cable t.v., cooked food, and most of all Coca-Cola.

Talking about hermits and people who live away from civilization, here is a hypothetical situation for you;

Imagine one day you are just hanging out in a coffee shop right after church… you see someone come to you and say;

“Excuse me, may I ask you something?” You nod, you probably expect that person to ask for directions or the time, but this person asks you something completely unusual which catches you by surprise…he/she says:

“I have been living in a cave as a hermit all my life. My mom and dad were hermits and were very stuck in their hermit lifestyle…I recently decided to quit my hermit ways (in spite of my mom’s dismay) and wish to live in what people would call “normal society”… I was wondering if you could help me understand something which is not very clear to me…I have been hearing about this very big movement called Christianity, and its leader, a character named Jesus. I can see you are Christian because you just came out of the Sunday meeting so I figured you would be the right person to ask….could you please tell me who Jesus is?

What would you tell this person, how would you describe Jesus?

Now imagine everyone you know was in the same situation as the ex-hermit…nobody knows who Jesus is…

This was the situation during the time when Jesus walked on earth; the people of Israel had no notion of who Jesus was…they knew Jesus from interacting with him on a daily basis, they knew he was the son of Mary and Joseph, brother of James and a carpenter by profession. People saw him grow up from child to adolescent to adult…As time went by, they came to see God in him, but the majority of people interpreted these signs (even the miracles and healings) as evidence of Christ being a prophet, a teacher and a healer…(there was a lot of skepticism) only a few understood the fact that Jesus was the Son of the Living God and God himself and the Messiah…one of those people was Peter. We will look at this passage in detail;

Peter's Confession of Christ

Matthew 16: 13-20

13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter,[c] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[d] will not overcome it.[e] 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[f] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[g] loosed in heaven." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

This passage shows us, how important it is for people to have the right understanding of who Jesus is.

There are two questions that Jesus asks…
1. Who do people say the Son of Man is?
2. Who do YOU say I am?

Jesus was concerned with people’s understanding of him; of who he was and what his mission was in this planet. The previous passage shows that there were many ideas floating around regarding Jesus’ identity: People called him John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or another prophet. And that was not so bad…prophets were people with authority and leadership sent by God….but Jesus made it a point to differentiate himself from being a prophet…he wanted people to know that he was not only human, but that he was God himself, and that he had come to be a sacrifice for our sins…and this was and still is a significant fact for people to understand.

How significant? We can see how vital it is to have the right notion of who Jesus is by looking at Jesus’ response to Peter when he correctly identifies him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus says to Peter “Blessed are you”…the Greek word for blessed is makarios which according to the dictionary “conveys the idea of being especially favored or privileged”…Jesus is saying that Peter’s realization about Jesus’ identity has made him (Peter) a favored man, or as we would colloquially say “a lucky man”….

Have you ever had a realization that instantly made your life better? I had to think of the following article:

Elementary, my dear gamers
By Ben Silverman
Note to prospective tech thieves: if you're going to steal something, you'd better steal all of it. Especially if Ryan Ketsenburg is on the case.
According to school newspaper The Standard, the Missouri State University student managed to track down his stolen Xbox 360 by cleverly using the console's wireless controller, which the thief unwisely failed to snag.
Ketsenburg's amateur detective work began when he awoke one morning to find his Xbox 360 had gone missing. Distraught, the sophomore turned on his wireless controller and found that it still connected to the stolen console. Since 360 controllers have a range of about 30 feet, he knew the system was nearby and proceeded to canvas his dorm building, using the controller's green connectivity light as a guide. Eventually he was able to pinpoint the location of the box, and soon enough, the two were back together.
But the whole experience so irritated Ketsenburg that he doesn't plan on letting the thief off with a measly warning.
"I'm going to try to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, because I had to follow all the rules, so let's make sure it gets done right," he told the Standard.

Source: http://spursreport.com/forums/death-news/67626-student-finds-stolen-xbox-using-wireless-controller.html

What do Peter and the Xbox owner have in common???

I stopped being into videogames since the Super Nintendo and the Sega went out of fashion…so I am not familiar with the Xbox…however, I know how important/vital and fundamental it is to have your console once you are into playing videogames…. people can get really attached not only to consoles, but also to computers, mp3 players and cell phones…I know I am…so I can sympathize with Ryan K. and I can totally imagine his heart sinking when he realized that one of his most valuable possessions was G-O-N-E.

Fortunately for Ryan, the story does not end there…he is able to make two realizations that change his fate:
1. The control is still there and is still connected to the Xbox.
2. The Xbox is still in the building.

I can imagine the hope and excitement involved in searching for the Xbox…I picture it like the thrill of hunting for something…and then catching it (not that I’ve ever hunted for anything other than bargains) anyway…these two realizations shaped the outcome of events in a favorable way for Ryan.

Similarly for Peter, and for the rest of us, when we come to the correct realization of who Jesus really is, we are blessed, for this knowledge changes the outcome of events in our life in a favorable way.

Who is Jesus?

Since it is vital for us to understand who Jesus is, let’s look at some passages which describe who Jesus is:

1. Matthew 1:23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" which means, "God with us."
-Jesus is God with us-2. Matthew 1:16-17“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’”
-Jesus is the Son of God-
3. John 1:14“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
-Jesus is the Word, Jesus became flesh (100% human and 100%God)-
4. John 1:29“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”
-Jesus is the Lamb of God-

Concluding ThoughtsThese descriptions of Jesus make me think of two paintings… “The Crucified Christ” of Velázquez (above) and the “Agnus Dei” (Lamb of God) by Zurbarán (below) …

These two paintings have a lot in common:
They both were painted by Spanish Artists between 1630-1640.
They both depict Jesus in the same way, as a willing sacrifice against a black background.
Yet they both differ significantly from each other…

These two painters depict Christ as the sacrifice for our sins; one single theme, yet the paintings are so different…reflecting each painter’s individual perspective and understanding of Jesus and his role on earth…

This highlights the crucial question that Jesus asked Peter in Matthew 16:15…”But what about you?...who do you say I am?”

This question clearly shows the personal nature of Jesus' relationship to men. He is not concerned about "public perception", he is concerned about personal relationship. God wants to give us an individual revelation of who Christ is. Societies today are not too different from the time when Jesus walked on earth...

There are still many misconceptions about who Jesus is…people doubt Jesus’ divinity, they doubt his existence, there is a lot of skepticism, some people still think Jesus is just a prophet, and they do not believe he was God…sounds very similar to the situation which is described in Matthew 16....

For people who live in societies where Christianity has been present for centuries, it is easy to assume things about Jesus, God and Christianity without seeking a personal encounter with Jesus...as Christians it is important for us to be mindful of these tendencies and to continually listen to God and seek to know Jesus more and more.

It is moving for me to read Jesus' response to Peter's affirmation of who he is... it is easy to see how happy, touched and excited he is about Peter's answer. As I read this passage I see Jesus humanity and divinity mesh perfectly to express human enthusiasm and divine purpose in one expression "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah...".

Jesus is longing for us to know him for who he is...God still wants to reveal Jesus to each person individually, he is a personal God.

To have the knowledge of Jesus is a crucial realization, which has the potential to change the outcome of our lives. A personal revelation of Jesus will bless us, it will give us a firm foundation to establish our lives and it will enable us to bless others.

Jesus says in Revelations 3:20 "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." This passage reflects the personal nature of a relationship to Christ, and once again, we see Jesus' eagerness to have a one-on-one encounter with men. Jesus is talking to the Church...he's talking to people who know about him, inviting them to know him personally. Jesus stands at our door, he's waiting for us to open up to him...he asks "who do you say I am?"

Little Surprises

2009-03-13T01:11:00.000+08:00

Last Wednesday I told my friend Josephine that I would meet her for dinner near my apartment in Wanchai…she knows that I like Burgers, so we went to this amazing place near the school of vocational education called “Wow Burger” and all I can say is wow!...The meat was really fresh, fries were great…it was just a fun time.

I hardly ever walk on that side of Wanchai, so I decided to explore a little bit, and to my surprise…I saw this tiny little puppy in the window of a pet shop…she was surrounded by cats that were three times as big as her, I was impressed by her being so small and in such a hostile environment (yes, I know I am embellishing.….) anyway, I set my heart to “rescue her” and I told my husband about her.

Friday of that week…I brought the little surprise puppy home…we named her “Mimi”. Until that point, my husband had never seen her and he was really surprised by how small she is…it was love at first sight. Tomorrow will be the first week Mimi’s been with us. In this short time, Mimi has filled our lives with funny episodes. I will be sharing some of those Mimi stories in this blog from time to time.

I was so grateful to hear from our veterinarian that Mimi is a healthy and good natured puppy...just a little small for her breed (a Yorkshire terrier)...which makes her a miniature. I told him that I intentionally sought a small puppy considering the size of my apartment... He was shocked....he basically told me "girl, I cannot imagine the size of the apartment you must live in if your dog is in proportion to it"....well yes....my apartment is miniature size too....

When I told my dad about our new “addition” he was really surprised. His first comment after hearing that Mimi was going to be an inside dog went like this; “at least she will not have any fleas”. I thought he was referring to the fact that she wouldn’t be in contact with other animals or other external sources where she could catch fleas…but then my dad clarified; “your apartment is so small…I cannot imagine the dog and the fleas both fitting in at the same time”…and he burst into a belly laugh…My siblings and I have resigned to hearing those jokes…we even have a name for these kind of jokes; dad jokes. To us they are funny, not because of the content…but because my dad enjoys them so much and thinks they are so hilarious…that we have to laugh too…I am sure every family has similar jokes…or at least I hope so.

Nevertheless, one of the most challenging tasks with Mimi has been potty training her. Most dog training guides say that you should try to catch the dog "in the act" and tell the dog a firm "no" if they are going potty at the wrong place....afterwards, you bring the dog to the right place (a.k.a. the doggy toilet) and if they manage to go; then you praise them and even give them a treat....(house dogs have it really good, don’t they?)

I thought to myself "I can do that!"...and proceeded enthusiastically to stalk my dog…(I didn’t realize that I was stalking her until I wrote this…but how else should I call it?) Anyway, catching my dog in fraganti has been a harder task than I thought it would be. Mimi is the fastest "bathroom goer" ever....ever! My husband and I have started calling her "pooper trooper" because she really is a prodigy in the field.

I realized that catching her while she's at it was going to be almost impossible, so I went back to do some more research...I looked for information on how to correct the potty situation in cases when you find that your dog has already gone where he/she shouldn't...and I couldn't believe what I found...let me quote from the website http://www.barkbytes.com/training/house.htm:

"If you find a mess after the fact:
1. Do not punish the dog.
2. Accept the fact that you were not paying attention to the dog.
3. Do not show the dog that you are upset. Calmly put the dog on his leash and bring him to the location of the accident. With the dog at your side, firmly scold the potty. Do not scold the dog.
4. Blot up some urine, or pick up some stool with a piece of paper. Take the evidence and the dog to the latrine area. Place the paper on the ground and with the dog watching praise the potty for being in the "right" place. Temporarily leave the paper there. (Remove it when the dog isn't watching)
5. Clean up the remaining mess in the house as outlined above."

I could not believe this approach, but as I was (and still am) desperate; I decided to give it a try. I had to warn my husband in advance about my new “method” before he saw me talking to dog droppings and thought that I had gone totally insane.

As it turns out, I have had to do a lot of “poop talking”...this came to me as a total surprise. Having recently watched the movie “Marley & Me” (where I cried my eyes out)…I was looking forward to my and my husband’s first dog, and I knew it was not going to be a walk in the park...however, I never, ever pictured that my first week with our dog would include becoming the “poop whisperer“…and the most ironic thing is that so far my dog’s habits have not changed a bit…

After careful deliberation I have decided that I am going to quit the crap-talk and look for an alternative method of potty training Mimi...she keeps leaving little “surprises” for us in the apartment…but we still love her :).

Overshare!

2009-03-03T21:58:00.001+08:00

Overshare!

Recently, I was introduced to the Sarah Silverman show (yes, I know…I don’t get comedy central in HK). Anyway, I saw the short clip of the show titled “Kickball Day” and it is HILLARIOUS…you can see clips of the show on I-Tunes or at comedycentral.com… I heard not all of them are as good as the one I saw…but as far as the Kickball episode; I totally recommend it.

On that episode, Sarah & friends have a sleepover after the Kickball day…and Sarah gets introduced to the term “overshare”. Overshare basically means that someone is sharing too much information or getting too personal in whatever they are saying. So, in certain social situations, if people want to avoid hearing some story which is either too personal or inappropriate, they are compelled to scream “overshare” and end the conversation...

In the “Kickball” episode, we get to see Sarah use the “o” word with her friends. This is my favorite part of the whole clip; it would not be nearly as funny if I told the story in detail, so you should definitely watch it for a good laugh. This is the website where you can get the link to download the episodes in I-Tunes; (http://www.truveo.com/search.php?query=sarah+silverman+plays+Kickball)

The idea of interjecting “overshare” whenever someone is giving us more information that we wanted to hear has caught up in our youth group…and has become an inside joke.

TMI

The whole “overshare” topic reminded me of an article written by Gerry McGovern titled “Information Overload: Too Much Information, Too Little Time” (http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2002/nt_2002_07_29_overload.htm). In the article, McGovern states that one of the main problems in modern society is the fact that we have so many channels fueling us information (mobile phones, TV., computers, etc.), that our capacity to process the information is not enough to keep up. According to McGovern’s calculations our brains are in a race against technology, and unfortunately we are not on the winning side…“the law of the human brain dictates that every eighteen months the amount of information we are exposed to doubles while our attention span halves.”

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to say “overshare” in these cases??? Take time to process and analyze things before having to deal with the next batch of information??? I remember one specific case; before our final exam last semester I was sitting in an Economics class and our professor gave a review of the whole semester…he concluded the class by asking if we had any questions…*dead silence* …nobody had questions. It wasn’t that we were all geniuses and understood everything…it was just that we hadn’t had time to process the information given to us…and we didn’t even know what questions to ask!!!! We had received more information than our brains were able to handle.

Jesus and Nicodemus

The bible narrates of a similar experience faced by a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee who lived during New Testament times on the earth…one night Nicodemus sneaked out of his house in order to talk to Jesus.

John 3 says;
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
9"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
10"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

All my life I had known the bible verse John 3:16. For evangelical Christians, this is the one bible verse that you memorize and know to locate in the bible. I also knew the story of Nicodemus by heart, but I must admit that it was only two years ago, when my husband Tim preached a sermon about this passage that I saw the context of Nicodemus’ Journey and the famous John 3:16 verse together for the first time.

During the time of Nicodemus, access to information was not as common as it is today; it was a rare commodity, reserved only for the elite. It is remarkable then that the first thing we hear Nicodemus say is "we know"… Nicodemus is no ignoramus (sorry I couldn’t resist ;P)… he was an intellectual of his time; a man trained to obtain information, to analyze it, process it and digest it. We can safely deduce that Nicodemus wouldn’t have been overwhelmed with the prospect of receiving large amounts of information (as much as it was available at the time), he was used to dealing with it.

Nicodemus expresses knowledge about Jesus, he comes to Jesus to make a statement about his stance, but Jesus responds to Nicodemus as if he had asked a question…why?

Just before starting this passage, the bible mentions that Jesus knows what goes on inside the hearts of people. The last verse of John 2 in the Amplified Version reads: “And He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man [needed no evidence from anyone about men], for He Himself knew what was in human nature. [He could read men's hearts.]”

Jesus knew what was inside Nicodemus’ heart…he knew all the questions and uncertainties he was pondering about…In his sermon about this passage, Tim made a comment and said that if he went to a computer class, he would not know what questions to ask, because his knowledge of computers is so little that he would not even know how to ask the right questions. (He’s not that bad)….but I can totally relate; I felt the same way in the Economics class after the final exam review I was overwhelmed and couldn’t process the information enough to come up with a question… and maybe this was the case of Nicodemus, he came to Jesus, but he did not know what questions to ask, however Jesus who knew what was is in his heart answered the unexpressed questions...

God is like that… “for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” Mat 6:8.

In his answer, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needs to be born again… the bible shows how Nicodemus was overwhelmed by this information…he asks “How can a man be born when he is old?” I guess this would’ve been the time where Sarah Silverman would’ve interjected “overshare”….

Going back to Nicodemus' statement he said "we know", he knew a lot of things…but he couldn’t process this one statement…why?

There is a difference between knowing and believing. Having knowledge is not the same as having a conviction of faith. The main message that Jesus is conveying to Nicodemus is that we need to be convicted, that conviction comes from seeking relationship with God and not rituals or rationalization. During Jesus’ time, most Pharisees were seeking God through rituals and reasoning the law…but now God was standing in the flesh before Nicodemus, offering him a way of finding God that he had never heard about before; through a relationship and a new birth.

Our Walk

As humans we tend to want to find formulas for everything, including God, and this was the case with Nicodemus. There are so many religions, and so many flavors of Christianity that some of us might be experiencing an information overload regarding God and faith…too much information…and I guess it would be nice if we could stop it by saying “overshare!”

The good news is that God is patient with us…he wants us to think things through…to process things. He loves us regardless of our doubts about him and is waiting for us…all the time…never tired, never angry, never bored, eager to help us process things through so that we can know him.

We are free to make up our mind, think about things and come back to him, with all of our questions, doubts and observations…he’s always there for us and knows our hearts...so never be afraid to come to him, even if you don’t quite know what to ask in his presence.

The bible tells later that Nicodemus returned home without making a clear transition from knowledge to conviction. However, later in the bible Nicodemus appears again next to Joseph from Arimatea, who was a follower of Christ. Nicodemus buys mhyrr for Jesus' tomb…this is the task of a disciple, and Nicodemus undertakes this task. The amount of Mhyrr he buys is the amount fit for a King. So I think that through his actions Nicodemus is saying Jesus is my King, and I am his disciple…I hope for his sake.

I guess Nicodemus' journey reflects every Christian's faith journey; we go from knowledge to conviction, from facts to faith. The challenge is to remain flexible, because as we walk with God there is always this tendency to ritualize, and this impairs our spiritual growth. So this look at Nicodemus has not only value for those who encounter Jesus for the first time, but also for all of us, because we need to encounter Jesus afresh over and over again.

MEPHIBOSETH AND US

2009-02-03T10:53:00.000+08:00

Do you read or write a blog? I enjoy reading blogs every once in a while…and writing them too.

I have recently seen a blog on Yahoo.com; it talks about people like Kelly Osborne, Nicole Richie and other famous and not so famous people.

What all these people have in common is not just the fact that they are celebrities, and it is not talent or accomplishments but the fact that they are the offspring of VERY, VERY accomplished individuals.

In most cases, when I read the blog I thought…”hey I did not know that John Lennon or Frank Sinatra had a son who sings too…(this might be news for you too)….

The person who writes the blog makes very harsh judgments on the talent of those people who have attempted to follow in the footsteps of their famous parents, but have fallen short of people’s expectations.…

As weird as it sounds, I enjoyed reading the blog, but my favorite part was not the blog itself, but the comments that people wrote in response…

One lady wrote that she thought that none of these ‘celebrities’ would have been there in the first place if they did not belong to the ‘family’. What family is she referring to?

Obviously the family of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, John Lennon and all those legendary figures of entertainment and music…basically she’s saying that anybody who has such powerful connections has an opportunity, and edge, an advantage that not very many “common” people have…regardless of talent.

Mephiboseth Ben Jonathan

The bible narrates a similar case of the son of someone famous and talented…we find the story of Mephiboseth in the 1st and 2nd book of Samuel. Mephiboseth was a prince; he was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of King Saul. Let’s read the story in the bible…

2 Samuel 9
David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth
1 One day David asked, “Is anyone in Saul’s family still alive—anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
2 He summoned a man named Ziba, who had been one of Saul’s servants. “Are you Ziba?” the king asked.
“Yes sir, I am,” Ziba replied.
3 The king then asked him, “Is anyone still alive from Saul’s family? If so, I want to show God’s kindness to them.”
Ziba replied, “Yes, one of Jonathan’s sons is still alive. He is crippled in both feet.”
2nd Samuel 4:4 (New Living Translation)
4 (Saul’s son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth,[b] who was crippled as a child. He was five years old when the report came from Jezreel that Saul and Jonathan had been killed in battle. When the child’s nurse heard the news, she picked him up and fled. But as she hurried away, she dropped him, and he became crippled.

4 “Where is he?” the king asked.
“In Lo-debar,” Ziba told him, “at the home of Makir son of Ammiel.”
5 So David sent for him and brought him from Makir’s home. 6 His name was Mephibosheth[a]; he was Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson. When he came to David, he bowed low to the ground in deep respect. David said, “Greetings, Mephibosheth.”
Mephibosheth replied, “I am your servant.”
7 “Don’t be afraid!” David said. “I intend to show kindness to you because of my promise to your father, Jonathan. I will give you all the property that once belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will eat here with me at the king’s table!”
8 Mephibosheth bowed respectfully and exclaimed, “Who is your servant, that you should show such kindness to a dead dog like me?”
9 Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and servants are to farm the land for him to produce food for your master’s household.[b] But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will eat here at my table.” (Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
Ziba replied, 11 “Yes, my lord the king; I am your servant, and I will do all that you have commanded.” And from that time on, Mephibosheth ate regularly at David’s table,[c] like one of the king’s own sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. From then on, all the members of Ziba’s household were Mephibosheth’s servants.
13 And Mephibosheth, who was crippled in both feet, lived in Jerusalem and ate regularly at the king’s table.

Mephiboseth’s story would’ve fit perfectly the “infamous-celebrity-children-who-fall-short-of-their-parents-legacy” blog titled “tarnishing the family name”. Mephiboseth was a prince, however he was not living in a palace and he did not live up to the fame or talents of his father or grandfather who had been warriors and prominent people (at that time royalty was the closest thing to a celebrity).

The bible says that when David asked about Mephiboseth’s whereabouts, the answer was that he was living in a place called “lo-debar” which means “place of nought” (not means nothing by the way…I had to look it up ;) )…so basically Mephiboseth was living in insignificance…coming from a family of kings, that is falling very short of the legacy of his predecessors who had lived in palaces and held the most powerful positions in their country at that time.

Unlike the blog titled “tarnishing the family name”, Mephiboseth’s story does not end on a negative note… The bible tells us that one day, the most important person in the nation of Israel; King David, asked an unusual question, he asked “Is there anyone still alive from Saul’s family, if so I want to show kindness to him”…This is a very unusual and almost unnatural question for a new king to ask about a previous King’s family….

In that time, whenever a new ruler (such as David) came to the power, what usually happened was that the new ruler would kill all the descendants and family of the previous ruler so as to assure that no one would try to come and take the back power. However David acted contrary to what would’ve been expected in this case….instead of pursuing Mephiboseth’s demise, he brought him to the palace and he ate at the kings table regularly says the bible.

How did this happen? If we look back at the story of David, we see that he was best friends with Jonathan…and they made a covenant, or in today’s words; a deal.

Jonathan and David

Jonathan and David’s friendship is remarkable….The loyalty that these two men promised each other goes against any common sense at that time…David and Jonathan would’ve been natural rivals…Jonathan was the natural successor of Saul for the throne of Israel, but David was the “anointed” successor for that same throne…Jonathan recognized God’s will and he did not fight it, as a matter of fact, he saved David’s life and helps him escape his father Saul putting his own life at risk….(you can read the story in 1st Samuel 20).

Years later, by helping Mephiboseth, David does the same thing for Jonathan (even after Jonathan is already dead). .

I want to draw a comparison between Mephiboseth and us, and how the fact that God is our father through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross can make our lives different for the better beyond what we could aspire or hope on our own natural resources & abilities.

First of all, the bible says that Mephiboseth circumstances crippled Mephiboseth, and his life became insignificant…

Mephiboseth was disabled, he had lost everything and because of a tragic event in his past he could not move freely, he was bound to a place, and the name of the place was lo-debar a place of nought (nothingness, zero, insignificance).

Nowadays we can find many people who are disabled, and I do not mean only people who are physically handicapped but people who might be crippled in their emotions or in their thinking. Maybe because of some loss or tragic experience in their past, they do not feel free…

To illustrate this I would like to quote the tale of the experiment with five monkeys...

Five Monkeys
It started with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, the scientist hung a banana on a string and placed a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey went to the stairs and started to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touched the stair, all the monkeys were sprayed with ice cold water. After a while, another monkey made an attempt with the same result-all the monkeys were sprayed with ice cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tried to climb the stairs, the other monkeys tried to prevent it.
As a second stage of the experiment, the scientist turned off the cold water. He also removed one monkey from the cage and replaced it with a new one. The new monkey saw the banana and tried to climb the stairs. To his surprise, all of the other monkeys attacked him. After another attempt and attack, he knew that if he tried to climb the stairs he would be assaulted.
Next, another of the original monkeys was removed and replaced with a new one. The newcomer went to the stairs and was attacked. The previous newcomer took part in the punishment with enthusiasm.
Again, the scientist replaced a third monkey with a new one. The new one went to the stairs and was attacked…
After replacing the fourth and fifth monkeys with new ones, all the monkeys that had been sprayed with cold water had been replaced. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approached the stairs. Why not? Because they were bound by negative thoughts or negative emotions…just like Mephiboseth was physically crippled by a negative incident in his past….the monkeys had been crippled emotionally by a negative incident in their past.

It is no different with the rest of us, negativity in our past can cripple us from attempting greatness in our future. Negativity takes many forms, one of them is sin. Sin cripples people, the bible says that sin ensnares us and binds us the bible describes it in Prov 5:22 and Hebrews 13.
In general a person suffering from a disability cannot change their circumstances very easily and they need external help… Mephiboseth found this valuable help through David’s fulfillment of his deal with Jonathan, his father. Even before Mephiboseth was born, Jonathan made a sacrifice and a covenant requesting that Mephiboseth be treated with “faithful love” 1 Sam. 20:15….

Christ, our Jonathan
Mephiboseth’s life went from a place of insignificance to having access to the most powerful man in Israel. Through Christ, we can also have access to God, who is ALLMIGHTY. We belong to his kingdom and to his family. The bible describes in the book of Jeremiah, and in the New Testament how God, even before we were born, has opened the doors of his kingdom to us through Jesus’ sacrifice. Just like Mephiboseth ate regularly at the King’s table, Jesus invites us to enter into a daily relationship with him.

David was eager to fulfill his promise to Jonathan…this is how the passage starts. Helping Mephiboseth was David’s initiative. Similarly, God’s help to us available through a relationship with Jesus Christ …God is eager to fulfill his promises to us, to bless us and to give us access to himself.

José Benito Escobar Velásquez

2008-10-26T21:16:00.000+08:00

In a 1998 article titled “Values,” Washington Post columnist William Raspberry described the newly arrived immigrants to the U.S. as viewing America “the way a youngster views a candy store: with nose pressed to the glass and an attitude that says, ‘If only I could get in there!’” I can understand that feeling. San Salvador, my birthplace, is the capital city of El Salvador, the smallest and most densely inhabited country in Central America.

The state of the nation is such that about 60 per cent of the rural population still lack accessible health services, and their living conditions are below what is considered the poverty level in the rest of developed countries. Many see as their only hope to leave the country in search for a better environment, a place where the basic rights of health and security are provided. This is where I grew up, in a place where there are no guarantees, where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not treated as unalienable rights. This is where most of my worldview comes from, from the experiences and observations growing up in El Salvador.

While living in El Salvador, I often translated for Medical Missionaries who came from America in order to help my country. Often the clinics would be set up in the poorest and most isolated areas of the country, and it was on one of those occasions through an encounter with a patient that my desire to help people and seek God’s purposes for my life turned from a mere desire into a mission.

The memory of that day plays vividly in my mind like a movie. It is as if I am still there, I can see the patients who had been waiting for hours to be seen; while the American volunteers, working in the heat characteristic of my country, try to make the most of the limited resources in order to help those needing glasses and other medicines. I remember that in spite of the harsh conditions, I had enjoyed working at this place because it was the town where my grandfather and father came from.

That day, I met a patient who changed my perspective on life as I perceived it. When he came, the first thing I noticed about him is that he was a very poor man, no shoes, and old clothes that testified of his living conditions. I started a casual conversation, almost automatically by asking where in La Union was he from. Through this, I realized he came from the same place as my grandmother. I told him about my granmother’s background, and what he told me took me by surprise, “your grandmother must be from the Benitez family” he said. He was right, I was amazed, and asked him “how do you know? ” He said that all the Benitez girls where white…so it was obvious by my tone of skin. Furthermore, he knew who my grandmother was, and he said he was related to my grandfather…who was a distant cousin of his.

Through this conversation, I came to a realization; there is a very thin line that sets apart the less fortunate of those who are in a better situation. This ignited in me the sense of appreciation of what I have been given, a sense of responsibility towards those in need. It was as if time stood still and I could see myself sitting across the table from that man. I looked at his life, which was filled with hardship and scarcity and looked and realized the value of the hard work of my grandfather, for the first time in my life.

While growing up, I was often told how my grandfather at a young age had to become his household's provider and this prevented him from going to school. I cannot recall the countless occasions where I was reminded that my grandfather came from very humble origins, working so that his children would not have to go through life without an education. As a result of all the hard work of my grandfather, my father was able to complete his studies and become a doctor, participating and encouraging me to participate in medical missions. All of these truths became tangible as I was sitting in the table across from a man who lacked the means to provide himself or his family for glasses and who happened to be related to me.

This encounter has been the best experience of my life, because it challenged me to be less complacent, opening my eyes to the value of the opportunities I had been given, such as accessibility to health and education. Since then, my goal is to prepare myself academically, and spiritually to help provide others with similar opportunities. The parable of the talents narrated in Mathew 25, (which I had heard several times before), took on a new meaning in my life. It has become my mission to one day hear the words: “well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your masters happiness!” (Mat 25:23)

The picture is a scan of a newspaper article narrating the journey of my grandfather which was published at a local newspaper. From my perspective, this is article is a good follow up to the article by William Raspberry named “Values.”

This Blog

2008-10-26T20:41:00.000+08:00

This weekend I found myself thinking a lot about my grandfather, who died when I was 12 years old...I decided I wanted to honor him somehow, this is how the idea of a blog came about; from a desire to somehow "crystalize" and journal things that are important to me and share them with my family and friends. I hope to honor God and bless those around me (far and close) with this blog and for that matter with my life.