More Repentance

(Me talking to myself while traveling alone on the highway)

Why do you look past the people around you, claiming to see the Kingdom of God in the near distance?

Oscar Romero

If you've never heard of Oscar Romero you should check up on his story. He was an archbishop who died for his people in the front of his church....assassinated 30 years ago yesterday.

I was introduced to his story several years ago and found it incredibly powerful. One week before his assassination Romero spoke these words:

"No one can quench the life that Christ has resurrected. Neither death nor all the banners of death and hatred raised against him and against his church can prevail. He is the victorious one! Just as he will thrive in an unending Easter, so we must accompany him in a Lent and a Holy Week of cross, sacrifice, and martyrdom. As he said, blessed are they who are not scandalized by his cross.

Lent, thus, is a call to celebrate our redemption in that difficult combination of cross and victory. Our people are well prepared to do so these days: all that surrounds us proclaims the cross. But those who have Christian faith and hope know that behind this calvary of El Salvador lies our Easter, our resurrection. That is the Christian people’s hope."

I refuse to publicly endorse films simply because there is such a broad range of what is acceptable and appropriate. Without necessarily endorsing the film (as in "YOU NEED TO GO WATCH IT"), I found the Romero film to be quite powerful for me. Romero's story calls one to think about how we as Jesus followers ought to deal with (even fight) the evil and horror of our world.

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Why Don't Women Sing?

Women's music has never been all that popular, but sometimes I come across a well done piece and wonder why there is not more of it....

I've always loved this piece written by Morten Laurdisen, especially the men's version. From what I can tell this is simply the men's version in a higher key. Coming from someone who has done a lot of men's music...this is lovely.

Maybe this amateur women's ensemble will inspire more women to sing together....

Overrated People and Blue Ribbons

Another question for the cosmic intelligence: Why do we honor, even idolize, incomplete people?

Our children grow up and we teach them to want to be that Olympic runner, professional soloist, famous pianist, remembered artist or composer, and in worst cases, glamorous actors and actresses. We ought to remember that those who excel so greatly in a specific area are often confined to excellence in that area only...they have devoted their whole life to becoming good at one single thing.

Granted, this kind of focused drive and commitment, that produces excellence and professionals, is commendable and worth honoring. I'm just not sure we ought to be giving our blue ribbons to these people...I think they may deserve second place ribbons, but not first place ribbons.

There IS a kind of underrated person in our society that I believe deserves that blue ribbon. This underrated person is rarely given any ribbon at all. In fact he is rarely noticed because he does not stand out. He is only average...yet he is incredibly rare! He is only average because he is only an average pianist, average athalete, average carpenter, average mechanic, average speaker, average writer, average artist, average business man.....yet he is ALL of these things and maybe much more.

I call these people "BIG people." The world renown pianist is small beside this "incredible hulk" The world renown pianist's world is only as big as his single overdeveloped skill, while this very average man's world includes music, mechanics, carpentry, writing, painting, fathering, pastoring, and a very long list of things.

We need to begin giving our blue ribbons to "whole people" instead of "incomplete people." If we do this, our children may start wanting to be whole people instead of country singers, sports athletes, and celebrities. Children inherently desire blue ribbons...be careful where you pin them!

Pin your blue ribbons on people that are willing to speak to a small crowd one day and hoe in the garden the next day...people that can breath deeply the smell of expensive perfume one day and breath deeply the smell of the earth the next...people who can stand on marble floors one day and dig their toes in the grass the next...people that will sing in the community choir one day and change the oil in their car the next...people that can hold a goblet one day and caress a dog behind the ears the next...people that can read a book one day and build a house the next...people that can violently hit a softball one day, and gently clean a cut the next.....

All of you tenth graders(and parents of tenth graders) out there....this may be the greatest argument for finishing school. If you have any teacher worth his salt, he will be devoted to helping you become a "WHOLE" person. You will travel in your imagination with that teacher to Africa and the slums of cities...you will identify with the underprivileged...you will learn how plants grow...you will learn how to speak in public...you will learn how to sing...you will learn how eggs hatch...you will become a whole person. Forgive me but...you have your whole life to look at a cow utters and two by fours. You have your whole life to become a professional farmer or carpenter. You are only 16...give yourself a chance to be a whole person.

I plead with our society to think about where we pin our blue ribbons. I plead because I am a driven incomplete person...I am an incomplete person because I saw society pinning too many blue ribbons on incomplete people. I will fight you...I will fight you till the day I die by pinning blue ribbons on people that rarely get blue ribbons.

Look well...look well ye young ones, because I am going to pin a blue ribbon even today. I do not own all of the blue ribbons, but forgive me for bragging on my dad today. I grew up watching my dad teach one day and unload a wagon of hay the next...I grew up watching my dad play softball with the best of us boys one day and give my brothers and I a sound spanking the next...I grew up watching my dad preach one day and hoe in the garden the next...I grew up watching my dad read books in the early hours of the morning and saw wood all afternoon...I grew up hearing my dad sing one day and change the brakes on the van the next...I grew up watching my dad wear black dress shoes one day and a welders helmet the next...I grew up beside a whole man.

Go find someone worthy of a blue ribbon today...and make sure a child is watching while you pin the blue ribbon on that "whole" person!

Who Are the Evangelicals?

BRRRRRIING!!!(telephone ringing)....

Hello(me)....

Hi, I'm an Evangelical and I'm wondering....


Should Mennonites endorse the Matthew 5 project?

(This question is not exclusively for my Mennonite readers)

Who Knows What Your Problem Might Be....

Last night I sat on my couch....

Elbows on my knees....head in my hands....

staring at my feet.

I gazed at my feet for nearly fifteen minutes, pondering an issue at school

Suddenly it hit me....

You knucklehead...you're wearing two drastically different socks!