The Tide of Hope

"Although we cannot see it...
the time of greatest hope is always'
low tide...
the very moment before the tide changes and begins to come back in."
                              (author unknown)


Please excuse the point of personal privilege.  I was baptized on this day.  It has always reminded me about water, my love for the ocean, and the eternal lesson that we are washed in the hope of God.  No matter how low the tide goes--and surely it does in life--never to fear in baptism which is the tide in the ebb and flow, the rising waters in God's Kingdom.  Does it help to know that we who live in this life are given a clock that is set by a Kingdom?  We are baptized with waters from one world to live with that love and grace--the rising tide of hope from God's Kingdom.

We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water.
Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation.
Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage
in Egypt into the land of promise. In it your Son Jesus
received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy
Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us, through his death
and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.

We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are

buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his

                                      resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.                                                                Book of Common Prayer

Indiana Jones Shuts down the Gov't?

Indiana Jones on the Bridge of Doom

Harrison Ford just outdoes himself with each movie with each scene--the daredevil finds his way out, doesn't he?  And it is always a way that we never expect.  He takes this machete and cuts the bridge down over the immense chasm below to free himself from those who surround him on both sides.  That's a new one alright--the only way out is down!  Of course, he and Shorty his pint size friend hold on and escape.

The threat to shut the government down reminds me of this tactic.  Just threaten to cut the whole dang thing and get out of the way.  Nothing matters but your personal principle.  Alot of folks will be tossed into the drink--painfully--over efforts to defund something already passed, but deemed as such a pariah by opponents.  Get out the machete and cut it down is the method!  I guess that is the only option we leave ourselves when we "cut ourselves off from others."  Play on words intended...each cut also cuts us.  Maybe John McCain got it correct when he told those in the opposition that if you want to get rid of a law, you win elections.  So go for it!  

  Once again we learn that when we insist on our way, we lose our way and those of others.   The machete can also be used to cut paths to others---to build a bridge so that we can walk over to the other side.  Thornton Wilder reminds us:  "There is a bridge between the land of the dead and living and the way across is love." 

Drink deeply from America's Cup!

Celebration Reigns with America's Comeback 

Everyone wants to be called "the comeback kid."  It means more than just winning--it takes the super special all-out effort.  Winning becomes a true triumph.  No exaggeration!  The victory of Oracle in the America's cup will be very difficult indeed to match--let alone surpass.  Down 8 to 1--they came back race by race to a 9-8 comeback of super human proportions.  That can do, will do, did do spirit is what we drink from America's cup.

Nothing I say is meant to take away from that victory.  But it deserves that single line to emphasize this incredible victory which also shows us something about our faith. St Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians:

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory 

through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 This is a different kind of victory--of forgiveness over sin, life over death--which is given to us as a free gift.  No comeback needed.  Nothing earned.  Just given!  

Great White Suirprise Appearance!

We all know the movie Jaws and the terror it brought to us. Well, now imagine learning that this same type of shark was just spotted where it rarely goes---right where you fished as a kid and took your own kids fishing! 

A very large Great White Shark was spotted off Damariscove Island, several miles out to sea from Boothbay Harbor.  The island has and abandoned life guard station and sits right on the edge of deep sea water.  It does not surprise me in the least that it wandered in there off the southern tip near the motions buoy to feed off of a whale carcass.  That a lobsterman acutually saw it and got it on camera so it could be identified was remarkable--very unlikley to make the sighting, get the shot and have it turn out well enough to have it a confirmed sighting.  Go ahead and see for yourself--just google--"boothbay great white" and watch the video.  That brought it to life for me as one who went through those waters routinely in a power boat--smaller than this shark. 

You can see the red roofed coast guard station directly above in the left had point of the island.  Just off the opposite side, the "longer finger" is where the shark was sighted.  I trolled for mackerel in and out of this small harbor. 

Isn't this the real story---of the wild side of the ocean that reveals its awesome power of nature in so many forms, be it the waves, the currents, or the creatures--all of them beyond our control and reminding us of our place in the scheme of God's creation. 

Shooting in Kenya

Victims flee from Westgate Mall

No Man Is An Island 

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
                                by: John Donne

Just one week ago, the Navy Yard news rocked us with the sudden slaughter of twelve people.  Now, what are we to say as the death toll rises to +60 in Kenya---and far from the psychotic episode of a deranged killer--now, we have militant Muslims murdering anyone who isn't Muslin in this mall.  Yet, I do not hear the leading Muslim leaders speak out and condemn it.  Exactly what does it take?  Can anything be farther away from whatever we mean by divinity and the sacredness of life?  Oh John Donne...prophet for every age, the bell tolls for us with every death...and we the human family are diminished.  Certainly from the Christian standpoint, we are diminished by every death, except for the death of Christ which opens to the Garden of resurrection. We break in this life with each death into the wholeness of new life in the risen Christ.  There's no formula for that--it is the way that good triumphs over evil, not by destroying it, but making it a part of the Body of Christ and raising it up.

Lord have mercy, 

Christ have mercy, 

Lord have mercy upon them all. 

The One that Got Away--Or Did It?

The papers will read that rookie Michael Wacha lost a no-hitter facing the last batter--who barely beat out an infield hit.  Those of us who watch baseball movies watched an ere resemblance to the last play in For the Love of the Game with Kevin Costner--the pitcher just misses the ball but the infielder throws out the runner.  Not so this time--alas--only in Hollywood!

Now the question becomes one for Wacha.  Will he live with missing the no hitter?  Or will he live as the brilliant young rookie who threw hitless ball right down to the last player?  What we make of our stories matters for everything.  The kid could chase a no hitter for the rest of his career and blow game after game reaching beyond himself.  Or, he can live knowing he has the skill to throw hitless ball at 26 hitters--not the chump who lost it with the last batter.

Living the faith means living the story Jesus has for us--not what we do on our own.  We can live a lifetime chasing our own demands and goals,,,forever falling short....or, we can live the life of grace. As one author put it--live with the love by which Jesus knows you.  Isn't that the real game in town? 

Susan Cerandon Meets Julia Roberts

“You know every story, every wound, every memory. Their whole life's happiness is wrapped up in you... every single second. Don't you get it? Look down the road to her wedding. I'm in a room alone with her, fixing her veil, fluffing her dress, telling her no woman has ever looked so beautiful. And my fear is she'll be thinking, "I wish my mom was here."    Julia Roberts to Susan Sarandon 

This movie always brings tears to my eyes and not because of its heart-wrenching plot.  Every once in a while, Hollywood gets it right...and this time, they did so big time.  We bear each other's stories--the plot of our lives is played out with others.  We honor these stories and keep them sacred as we go forward with our lives.

Julia Roberts or Hollywood did not quite get this story correct.  Sure she will miss her mother.  People are irreplaceable.  But she will find her mother's story in Julia and in herself as she goes forward into life.

There is a truth about our faith. Jesus Christ is the place where our stories meet God's story.  I am not talking the generic human story.  I mean you and me and the specifics of our story.  Our stories, so unique, irreplaceable in Jesus' hands are forever embraced by God.  And mark these words how our lives go on into eternity through him.  We are not step children. All of us are direct descendents in Jesus Christ. 

Keep an Eye on Pope Francis I

A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: “Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?” We must always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the human being. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their situation. It is necessary to accompany them with mercy.

When was the last time you saw a Pope step into the aisle of an airplane for an off the cuff discussion with the press?  Pope Francis I is off and running to break the mould of the isolated and controlled Pontiff—no pre-submitted questions for stock answers of his choosing.  He’s out there…open and leading with mercy.  And in this way, in this new millennium—who does he remind you of, wandering the countryside and speaking from the heart, the heart of God? 

Earth-Rise

Beginning of New Day on Earth from Outer Space

We go through life with sunrises etched in our minds--we know what one looks like even though we may not get up to see it.  But what about the earth -rise?  The first pictures from outer space showed us for the first time the earth rise--the beginning of a new day looking at ourselves, literally standing apart, separated from our island home, earth.  Until it finally rose and we could see the fullness of our planet earth. 

 This is earth, or "mother earth" from which we took our birth. 
Now what do you think? Looking back on our planet, who are we who arose from this place?  Is there the slightest inkling of our vision of ourselves in the cosmos? 

I hear John's Gospel echoing throughout time--that "the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not over come it." Behold that Light in space, suspended in the void of death--there is Life! 

We who behold this life of life upheld in space can see that we are made to reflect that light--in the darkness of places and events on this earth, we are made to reflect this Light that rises out of the void and vacuum of space.  Therein is our mission in life, to reflect that life--and in the beginning, God called it good! 

Look and Really See!

Ever notice how you scare a wild animal—it darts off—and then stops to look back at you?  There is some element of curiosity that just wants to know who that other creature is!  That happened this morning as a deer darted up the path, stopped and looked back at me.  Just at a safe distance.  Then there was the fox in Maine that was trotting along the road.  I stopped, got out with my telephoto camera—but it had run off.  So I followed it down through the underbrush until I gave up and went back to my car.  There it was waiting for me!  One last peek—then off it strode. 

How often do I get a good look and truly see the people around me?  Some cultures disdain looking into the stranger’s eyes. Most of the time, I am into my own schedule, filling the day without letting the day come to me—very much asleep to the people around me.

That’s what impresses me about Jesus.  He forgot safe distances.  He looked and really saw those in need.  Who touched my robe—that’s what he wanted to know.  For heaven’s sake—forget that pun!—he was in a crowd and he wants to know the individual person who touched his robe! 

Look and see…

Really see. 

There is God in the world in the eyes of the stranger we truly stop and welcome. 

Life in a Day

Doris Grumbach, author and journalist, wrote a book that caught my attention about life in a day.  She retreated to her home in Maine, and there...she went through a day with intentional observations of the world outside and within herself.  Our days fly back like merry go rounds and we forget that life is more than taking the ride, she says in a paraphrase.  What she actually came away with is the fullness of each moment as she kept herself alert.  There are times to sit back, soak it in and watch--nevertheless, there are also times to push the day, fill it with the endless lists of responsibilities (which we all know are legitimate!).  To spend the day with yourself is to learn the difference between going with the day and pushing the day toward its end.  As I have watched Jesus in scripture, I find that he knew that balance between engaging the world, people and all the demands---but then he balanced it by disengaging, going with the day by withdrawing by himself to pray.  In that way, he was acutely aware of individuals without losing his way to Jerusalem, the Cross and beyond to us now! 

Here's looking at you from Doris Grumbach! 

Sunrises That Never Set

There is that moment before dawn when the sun so hits the mountains....that it looks like the crowning of birth, when we poke our heads out into the world and are told we must stay and cannot go back.  Once into the world, we fear the dark and the unknown future, until it really DAWNS on us where the light is that never sets, and our birth is a life into eternity. Only God could have made this happen,,,where the sunrise never sets. 

DC Gunman shoots at all of us

Statue of Jesus in Rio

The Way through this World 

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom
nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon
us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so
pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Was this really happening again….

That’s all I could think as the news shot through me yesterday.   

I felt numb and unresponsive.  Questions spoke inside me.  

The Navy Yard?  With that security? 

How in the world could this have happened at the Navy Yard? 

I am numb to the words—“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who died.”  That benediction feels empty and void, so helpless for the ones who got the dreaded news. 

I have only reached that place where what happens in this world does not have to define me and how I live.  The Prayer Book offers the way through this world.  Faith, the act of faith….it provides us that Ruler and Guide that leads through a world that shutters with violence and then goes back to bring us tomorrow.  Is that just as empty as “prayers and thoughts for the family?”  Perhaps.  But it means that we who are still alive have a mission and purpose bigger than life itself, that the most infinitesimal act of love carries us through this world to the next….where we shall hear together, that we have passed through “the great tribulation”  and  “shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.  For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: 

and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”  (Rev. 7: 14-17

 The Book of Common Prayer 

 

Baby's Best Friend

It took 5 months before this dog began to act very aggressively toward the baby sitter. Their docile domesticated dog began baring his teeth and had to be restrained.  Red flags were raised for the parents who put an I phone in the sofa ready to record.  What they heard deeply disturbed them--painful cries from their baby boy.  The baby sitter was arrested, the baby protected, and the dog got filet mignon.  Nobody how the dog resolved it--it is still a nightmare for those parents and any others.

What we have acted out here is "man's best friend," in the most generic sense.  More than one scholar on anthropology of people and dogs have reported of the bond of mutual survival between people and dogs.  Surely survival is deepest in both and the bond reinforces it in people and their pets.

With eye upraised his master's look to scan,
The joy, the solace, and the aid of man:
The rich man's guardian and the poor man's friend,
The only creature faithful to the end.

George Crabbe

Where does your Faith come from?

Dover Beach

By:  Matthew Arnold

 Ah, love, let us be true

To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Talk about a sharp contrast between the picture of the tranquil beach and the Dover Beach of Matthew Arnold!  Yet, he paints the picture of where we stand today...

wanting the harmony of the beach, feeling the "confused alarms and flight/where ignorant armies clash by night"...and think nothing of gassing their own people.  

Little solace comes from Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Tuchman where she points out in her book The March of Folly that we are a human race given to warring against our very selves---we have gassed our children through the ages.

It seems to me that all is quite hopeless if we take our faith from the world.  "There was an argument that went something like this.  If there is a watch, there must be a watchmaker.  If we have the world, there must be a Creator."   However, what are we to say if the watch is severely broken--that the watchmaker is broken?  

The other way to take our faith is from revelation--God's gift of sharing God through history to say that we don't argue from the world to God....but we have this faith because God has willed to share God with us.  CS Lewis in that anything but simple book, The Case for Christianity, points out that in a world of folly, given to war against itself, nevertheless...we have this belief in God because it is planted in us...God wills to give God to us.  

Another poet, Madeleine L'Engle wrote that: 

"That was no time for God to be born in a world in the grip of Rome, 

yet love still took the risk to be born." 

 

 

Blazing the Trail!

The Boy Scouts said it would take far too much to blaze a trail through the underbrush to connect the subdivision with the Church grounds--the sacred grounds for my dog's walks.  So as I reported in an earlier post, I blazed it myself and hung large yellow ribbon along the way to mark the ground's contours--that in itself took more than an hour.  So what got into me when I rose early and hit the woods to clear the trail? 

Now, we're not talking national park quality--just a trail, with enough cleared to walk it without tearing up the woods.  I steered clear of what I suspect is a fox den and where the deer have their own path.  The new trail winds around with branches, logs to mark the way.  My dog walked it the other day and it opened a whole new world of scents for her. 

Something there is in us that seeks a trail.  Even Dante had its traveler enter the woods in a place where there was not trail--and thereby created one by walking into the woods itself.  Frost came to a place where it went in two directions--and the choice--made all the difference for the walker.  Christians are called the People of the Way--following the Way of Jesus, the Way of the Cross.  For me, it was all about connection.  To connect with the small island of woods in the middle of a subdivision, with the wildlife--to vanish from suburbia without seeing or hearing anything from the anthill of people. There is refreshment for the soul in that connection.

Oh sure, plenty of parks and hikes a few hours away.  But this one, well, it is right here for me to recall what matters, a taste of creation no matter how small renews the spirit.  Funny how we discover these places by looking through the eyes of the soul. It is after all alot more than just woods.

Some Merry Go Round!

Ride Hurts Children in Norwalk, CT Festival

"I can imagine it's a horrible feeling," he said. "This is supposed to be a great time of your life here and it turns out to be something different."





Let’s be clear.  They came to the Oyster Festival as they have done for years.  As we all did growing up.  Suddenly the ride just died…and kids got flung everywhere.  Second only to the sheer fright of those kids had to have been the parents who looked on helplessly.  The one father quoted above certainly got it right.  You show up for life expecting one thing and it hands you something drastically different.  We give thanks that nobody was seriously injured physically.  It will take its toll emotionally.  The kids and their parents will ride that ride for the rest of their lives. 

And what do we say for ourselves who go into life with one set of expectations and the tables turn on us?  Joan Didion wrote a little book called Salvador when there was great internal strife.  She said that you could fly into the city, see all the marks of western culture—the grand hotels, the playgrounds for the rich, the sparkling beaches—but you never knew when the ground you stood upon could swallow you alive in violence.  In our day and age, we could say we’d be enveloped in ours sleep with an odorless, colorless gas and never awake. 

The only way through this world is to pin your expectations on that Someone, that Place which is from everlasting—with light uncreated that the darkness never puts out.  I have heard it put this way. 

Ask God to change the way of the world and what happens, and you hear silence. 

Ask God to go with you through the suffering and you fall into an ocean of mercy. 

Gold!

Schmidt family discovers $300 in gold in Florida

“I cried like a baby,” describes Hillary Schmitt, 20, after her brother, Eric, showed her and the rest of the family the handful of gold on the boat. “His pocket was hanging (with gold) about down to the ground… It was an intense moment. We were all just screaming and crying.”

Who wouldn’t be running around crying with that fortune!

Now, I don’t want to rain on this parade.  Really! 

But from every world religion comes the same warning.  What can you give in exchange for your life?  (Psalms)  When you find the Kingdom of God like ONE coin lost in a house, a pearl in a field—go sell everything and buy it.  God rich young ruler, sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have riches in heaven.    

The Buddha declares that all possessions cause suffering.  Material possessions POSSESS.  The attachment strangles the spirit.,  How can you be enlightened when you have yourself as your own object of attention? 

Forget the world religions.  I know a man who won the lottery when I was growing up.  The new wealth bankrupted him in many ways.  How many stories have been printed about lottery winners who lose their lives?

Ah!!!  That’s right.  Not me or you.  We’ve seen poor and rich and…rich is better.  Just give me that chance.  I wonder if it is true…that just wanting riches has the same influence as having them without the bank account? 

Maybe the Gospel reads—

Go and sell whatever your heart is set on and you will open your heart to the true riches of heaven. 

9/11

September 11, 2013

We are the 9/11 generation.  It happened to us.  The trauma of that day is seared into our souls and we will carry it to our graves—until everyone in this generation passes from the earth and the scars in our souls are buried with us.  Then, this day of infamy will join the list of other generations who knew what we have experienced first hand themselves in our recent memories…

Let us pray…

The endless trench warfare of WWI

There is Pearl Harbor for Americans.

For the people of the Holocaust.

Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Victims of Agent Orange…

And so on….

Return of RGIII

Put the fan club on the top shelf, the back burner, whatever it takes to forget it.  Let's talk about Robert the person who is a talented athlete.  All preseason, he played around the sidelines with the weird white hat saying "Coach, put me in!"  He feigned being ready to roll.  Then came his entrance.  He stood toe to toe with himself as his own adversary--forget the Eagles incredible play that rewarded a new NFL coach.  This was RGIII against himself.  You could see it...the questions hovering over the field as he tested himself and came back slowly.  Only the real game--with "real bullets" as the announcers said--could test him. It matters little that the Eagles won.  RGIII got back into planting his feet, throwing bullets for a TD BECAUSE....he saw that he could run.  Whatever voice there was in his head--he knew he could run and that he was back.  Or as yesterday's post said:

"Junah stopped thinking and played golf."  

So did RGIII.  Welcome back! 

Bagger Vance Wisdom

"Junah had finally stopped thinking and playing golf."

You know you got a good movie when each time you watch it--you enjoy it more than the last time, you catch some new insight, and it sticks with you.  You gotta good movie in The Legend of Bagger Vance.  So what was the turning point in the movie for Junah aka Matt Damon?  The narrator, the grown up Harley the caddy is Jack Lemon, and he says--"Junah had finally stopped thinking and playing golf."  The turning point?  To be at one with the game...to be the game, stand inside it.  Once you start thinking about it, you step out of and reflect on it.  

Talk to those people who have attained greatness in any field.  You will hear the same thing.  They stop thinking and become one with whatever they are doing.  They become an extension of it.  

What about us?  The only way that happens is if we practice...whatever we are about--how do we enter it through our values, how does it ignite our passions--like the sail on a boat, how do we offer ourselves and allow the wind to blow where it will?  Yesterday's post offered a powerful poem by Antonio Machado.  The heart has not gone to sleep, the poet writes, but it is "listening/on the rim of vast silence."    That's when we stop analyzing life and living it--"listening on the rim of vast silence."

 No, my heart is not asleep.
It is awake, wide awake.
Not asleep, not dreaming—
its eyes are opened wide
watching distant signals, listening
on the rim of vast silence.

Back in Business!

The blog is back in business after the internet has been shut down for me!  Thanks for checking back to see what's going on.  So I have a special's special for the post.  It's one my favorites.  I can actually feel the words in this poem.

Has My Heart Gone To Sleep?

Has my heart gone to sleep?
Have the beehives of my dreams
stopped working, the waterwheel
of the mind run dry,
scoops turning empty,
only shadow inside?

No, my heart is not asleep.
It is awake, wide awake.
Not asleep, not dreaming—
its eyes are opened wide
watching distant signals, listening
on the rim of vast silence.

Antonio Machado

What about the Red Line?

Please cut me a break with this post.  I am running the risk of politicizing what I intend to be the world from the religious perspective—and the hints of God in the world.  Needless to say, everything keeps coming back to that red line of Pres. Obama in Syria and that crossing it with chemical weapons would be a “game changer.” 

Let’s work with that red line. As soon as it was drawn, it was like drawing the “line in the sand”—cross it, and we will respond militarily—so goes the threat.  That’s my very straightforward point.  Draw a line in the sand and threaten retaliation.  The line in the sand is the point where conflict begins. Simple enough, right? 

Go back to the desert. Look at the footsteps.  Instead of a line, what do you see?  There’s a pathway there, a line of footprints to follow—the journey beyond yourself.  The Jesus I find in Scripture left footprints for people to follow—not lines to cross into conflict.  He was always leaving footprints to entice people to get up and get going with the their lives.  It was not enough to feed the hungry, heal the sick, raise the dead, open the eyes of the blind—no! it was what people did with their lives and the freedom to follow his footsteps. 

Boy's Dream Comes True

Colton Lambert lands MD State record bass

A boy's dream came true when this 12 yr old fisherman landed a state record bass, 11lbs 6oz--some 4oz more the previous 30 year old record.  He had his father by his side to help him land the lunker, thought at first to be a snap before it bolted tearing off yards of line.  No fish story--he really caught it--but a fish story for sure as a memory maker for his life.

Our lives are made of stories, and many of them I am afraid that we try to throw back or just don't know what to do with them.  I was a high school soph in northern NJ and landed a 2.5 lb bass--a monster for me!  I still see the swirls under the tree limb, the perfect cast, and feel the fight.  Too bad I was not wise enough back then to let the fish go...as I was many more years later when I had this experience and penned these lines in Memphis:

Lunker Luck?

Was it just one of those gifts of the gods,

When every cast landed a lunker bass,

Bigger than anything I have ever caught

for forty years? Or nothing but dumb luck,

of the right place at the right time?  Maybe

it only matters that I threw them back,

knowing never to claim for my own,

what could only be the gift of a lifetime.

Swimmer Nyad completes 35 year swim from Cuba in Key West!

Diana Nyad completes 110 endurance swim from Cuba to Key West

“I have three messages. 

One is we should never, ever give up. 

Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. 

Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it takes a team.” 

Diana Nyad

Endurance Swimmer from Cuba to Key West, FLA  

Kyakers escort Nyad's swim   

This was Nyad's 5th and finally successful swim in a 35 year chase for the record to do the swim without a shark cage.  Who possibly knows what drives people toward what records--certainly more than to be in the Guiness Book!  Life stretches out before us, and we have the choice what the race shall be and why we choose to do it in the first place.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded 

by such a great cloud of witnesses, 

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin 

that so easily entangles. 

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

Hebrews 12:2

Labor on this Question Today

          Get off the metro and find the path of life....

“Are we making a living, 

or…

   Learning how to live?” 

 Get off that metro for just one day and ask yourself the question  that matters all of your days--are you learning how to live, to craft a life?  Or is this just a day to kick back, rest, and then start it all over again?  Of course we have to make a living to live.  The point, however, is how we stop in the middle of it to learn how to live—to grow into a life.

Paul was after that message in his letter to the Ephesians.  To be a Christian is to grow up into Christ, what he called the full stature and maturity of Christ—a life that is a labor of love.  (see Ephesians 4)  Now that is a far cry from taking a day off for Labor Day—just to stop the conveyer belt and go back and do it all over again. 

Who Speaks for the Children?

So the primary question is really no longer, what do we know. The question is what are we -- we collectively -- what are we in the world going to do about it.

 And then in the same speech, Secretary John Kerry answered the question by saying: 

And that is at the core of the decisions that must now be made for the security of our country and for the promise of a planet where the world's most heinous weapons must never again be used against the world's most vulnerable people.

 

 Just my opinion.....,

Kerry asked the question, made the case and then President Obama gave his own answer. Condemnation of what he will not confront militarily by the black hole of Congressional debate...in what the President says may be a month.   Does anyone really think that lacking congressional authorization that he would act?  Painfully ironic for a President who has found ways to get around congressional process and approval in any number of cases

So the children of Syria will go to bed tonight more vulnerable than many others with the threat of chemical weapons out there. Is the question one of how to punish Assad and his henchman?  Or is it how we remember the eternal worth of each child so that as Sec. Kerry said--such heinous weapons will never be used on any of the children of the world.  The pathos of preventing that threat is only offset by the loving God who went to the Cross to lead us to the Garden -- that we should never forget, must always seek as the true vision of the world.