Internet Famous!

Well, Steven has always aspired to being internet famous and now he is having his minutes of fame! He wasn't awarded the Mental Floss internship, but they have asked him to do some freelance work on their blog--and his area of expertise is band! So check out his article on psuedo-trombones. And keep him in your prayers as he enters the dangerous world of the Swamp down in Florida--and unless things have changed since my AU Band days the danger comes not from the football team but from the extremely rude, crude and obnoxious fans (in four years of college football, Florida was the worst experience I had with our opponents fans! Have I mentioned how much I like Florida to lose -- simply becuase their fans were so awful!)

Is God Fair?

(Disclaimer: I have permission to share the following!) Yesterday, I received an e-mail from someone who is struggling with faith in God. The e-mail asked the following question:

i really am not sure where i am with God. well as you know that is not anything new but my thoughts are. so here it is--is God fair--at least to Mary---and maybe to us all---God tells Mary a virgin that she is preg.--and that he is the father..embrassing to tell friends as they think it is Joseph--not fair to Joseph--he had not even been with her but he takes the fall, they haveto leave and at times run for thier lives, they have the perfect son who tells them so when he is left behind and they are worried and could you image being the perfect one"s sister? and then joseph is killed off somehow and mary is left alone and then she has to see her son killed the way he was--as no one else would ever be--and to be innocent and to be left in the world alone. was God fair to her? it seems that she paid a hugh cost to bare his son... maybe i am on my way to hell for thinking this way--i do not know. i do know i do not understand my God. I know no one does and maybe that is my problem and always has been. i try and place everything in black and white ( how i wish i had never been baptist!) but i feel if God loved Mary so little as to put that on her how can he said that he loves me like a father loves his child? does a father not want to take away the pain not cause more? am i just too much in my head again? i feel my life is not where it should be--i see the wrong going on around me--i am trying so hard to do what i think is the right thing to do and yes in my l. world i want justice! don't we all? and yes i will except my justice--just give me the punishment and let me get it over with. i never thought i would ever been where i am tonight--questioning my God, my faith ( whatever is left of it) and not really knowing me.

I think the writer asks a very good question--Is God fair? And is fairness the same as justice?
Here is my response:

Well, let me first share that you aren’t anywhere that most Christians with any strength to their faith have not been at one time or another. There is a whole segment of theology called ‘theodicy” that asks these very questions—Not just why do bad things happen to good people but also what does it mean to say God is loving and just in light of this world we live in. These are good questions to ask and they have everything to do with the character of God. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers to these questions.
Personally, I don’t think God is fair. The Bible doesn’t even make that claim. In fact, I honestly don’t know what “fair” is or what it would look like. When my kids complain that something isn’t “fair,’ it generally means something didn’t happen the way they thought it should happen. Sometimes it is because no everybody is treated the same (despite circumstances) and other times it is because people are not treated differently. But the Bible is pretty clear that God is not fair in the way we think of fairness. Just read Jesus’ parables—the parable of the talents (is it fair that one gets 10, one 5, one only 1, and we can presume many without any at all?), the parable of the wages where those that work all day get the same pay as those who show up at the end of the day, etc. Actually, Jesus’ parables generally focus on something that isn’t fair to conventional wisdom.
But the Bible does promise that God is loving and just.
Which gets us to your questions about Mary and Joseph. I can’t answer for your heart, but I can share what I see in that story. First, I believe both mary and Joseph made choices. Mary said, “Let it be.” And Joseph didn’t say much but he responded in obedience and broke all the rules in marrying Mary and raising Jesus. Was it fair what God asked? No. Was it just and loving? Well, if we just look at Mary and Joseph, perhaps not. But when we look at the world—the bigger picture—then it definitely was.
What God clearly asks is for us to be willing to sacrifice—to endure pain and suffering—for the sake of others. And where the fairness comes in is that he doesn’t ask anything of us that he wasn’t willing to do himself. Mary and Joseph’s sacrifices were nothing compared to Jesus’!
I read a quote today that was so appropriate to this conversation. Dorothy Sayers said, “Whatever game [God] is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself.”

What do you think--Is God fair? Is God just? Is there a difference?

Re-Creation

Here is an open invitation to anyone with a heart for reaching a new group of folks at Trinity!
We are currently in the planning phase of a new service that will hopefully reach 20-somethings. And as part of this process, I have started a new blog to discuss issues related to reaching this group of folks. So if you have ideas, thoughts, or just a heart for reaching new folks, visit my new blog "Re-Creation" and share your thoughts, prayers and ideas.

Indecision 2008

Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm still unsure of who I plan to vote for in the presidential election. It doesn't help that by the time the Alabama primary rolls around, the nominees are pretty much set in stone. But if you know how you feel about issues but not who you want to vote for, you may want to take the Presidential Test at VAJoe.com. I was surprised by the candidate it recommended for me!

Why bother with real life?

One of my favorite magazines is Mental Floss. So when they announced they were looking for interns to research and write for them, I sent the article to Steven and sure enough he decided to apply. Now I don't know if he will get the internship or not, but I am surely proud of his work. So check out one of his submitted articles. This particular article is about Fantasy Leagues.

Free at Last! Free at Last! Thank God I'm Free at Last!

Well, it was rough but I did manage to break free from my prison this morning and grabbed a ride back to the church from a friendly guy with a limo (he gave me a coupon for one free hour of limo rental with the purchase of an hour--what do you do with two hours in a limo?!). So it was a day of firsts, my first arrest and my first limo drive.

Thanks to your help, we were able to raise enough money to send 3 kids to camp plus some extra. My total this morning was around 2300, That was a bit shy of the 2600 that they gave me as a goal but they seemed happy enough.

And I'm truly glad to be free and at home!

Thanks everyone.

Remembering 9/11

Unless you haven't turned on the TV or radio or opened up the newspaper or an internet browser, then you are aware that this is the 6th anniversary of 9/11. I'm amazed that it has been six years. It doesn't seem that long ago in so many ways. And the fact that September 11th falls on a Tuesday has really made me stop and remember that day.

I was on my way to Nashville. Normally, I listened to Morning Edition on NPR but that morning I needed a bit of a wake up jolt so I was listening to top 40 radio when they said that they thought a plan had crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings. At this point they still thought it was an accident and the second plane had not hit. So I turned the radio to NPR. I was driving through the intersection of Winchester Road and Moores Mill when I heard the first report. I listened for two hours while I drove to Nashville as the horror deepened. I didn't see any images until I stopped at Alpine Bakery for my morning coffee, but I don't know that I needed them.

My first class that day was on the prophet Jeremiah with Renita Weems. Dr. Weems had a family member in NYC who worked in the World Trade Center, so she was a bit distracted. The dean of the Divinity school also had a son or a brother in the same situation. And as it became clear what had happened, he put a note on the doors of the Divinity School telling about his relative and his unknown status but also that the school would be a haven for any Muslim students who were afraid of retaliation. Luckily, no one had to take him up on that offer.

The second class that day was the most surreal. The professor was out of town and we were scheduled to watch a video. The class was Third World Spirituality and the video was on the non-violent peace movements. I can't tell you how weird it was to think about Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. on that strange day.

So where were you?

iStill love the radio too!

I always love the articles at Mental Floss, but one of the blogs today struck me as very serious. The author was discussing how he loved his iPod but he still loved the radio. Then he quoted a teenager who asked, “Why would I want someone else to pick my playlist?”

Why would you?

Well, it seems to me that as that freedom of choice is only as good as our exposure to different choices. If all I ever heard was what I wanted to hear, then my views of life would be pretty myopic. Some of the best ideas, music, books, and thoughts that I have ever been exposed to were not those I choose to hear, but rather those that others introduced me to . . . sometimes against my will.

Granted I don't listen to most Huntsville stations because they play the same things over and over and over again. BUT if I never listened to stations, records, etc. where someone else made the choices I would have missed out on so much in this life.

Let's hear it for listening to other people's play lists!

Do you suppose they'll let me wear an orange and blue jumpsuit?

Given last week’s game they might consider that punishment!!!

Thanks to everyone who has donated towards my bail! Thanks to your help, we have raised almost enough money for two children to go to camp! But I still need help raising another $1000 for Muscular Dystrophy.

For those of you just waiting to see me behind bars, Thursday is the day they are taking me away. And I promise a picture of me handcuffed even if I raise the bail—so please help me and Jerry’s kids by visiting the website or you can print out the form and give the money directly to me (some have mailed it either to my home or to the church and that is fine too!)

Thank you for your help!!! And if you want to see me behind bars be sure and check my blog out later in the week!

Another great loss!

I was so sad to learn today that Madeleine L'Engle died yesterday. In addition to writing "A Wrinkle in Time," she was (for me) one of the great Christian communicators of my lifetime. So in her memory, here are some of the wonderful things she said!

"What I believe is so magnificent, so glorious, that it is beyond finite comprehension. To believe that the universe was created by a purposeful, benign Creator is one thing. To believe that this Creator took on human vesture, accepted death and mortality, was tempted, betrayed, broken, and all for love of us, defies reason. It is so wild that it terrifies some Christians who try to dogmatize their fear by lashing out at other Christians, because tidy Christianity with all answers given is easier than one which reaches out to the wild wonder of God's love, a love we don't even have to earn."

Those who believe they believe in God but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself.

I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights. It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly.

So I go to church, not because of any legalistic or moralistic reasons, but because I am a hungry sheep who needs to be fed; and for the same reason that I wear a wedding ring: a public witness of a private commitment.

When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability.... To be alive is to be vulnerable.

It's a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally. It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet, and what is sand.