Proverbs 16:20-25

Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good,
and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
The wise of heart is called discerning,
and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.
Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it,
but the instruction of fools is folly.
The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious
and adds persuasiveness to his lips.
Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.

This morning I gave thought to these words and discovered good. Trusting God doesn't FEEL like anything in particular, but I know I AM trusting God, because I have no other option. I still FEEL kinda terrible about the situations that I feel terrible about, but I KNOW God is the one who will act, and blessing will ensue. Eventually. Hopefully in my lifetime. Anyway--

My goal in these situations is to be wise and discerning, but that's useless unless I marry it to sweetness of presentation. I want to be for good sense, but I'm competing against the destructive yet attractive counsel of folly that surrounds us every day. So I need to keep my heart centered in that trust of God so that my wisdom, if any, will be delivered with discretion and be persuasive. If I succeed, and consistently choose gracious speech, I could bring physical and emotional healing to others. But if I just shoot off my mouth in the way that comes naturally to me, I will bring only death.

I love Proverbs. I haven't spent much time in it in a while. It's so practical for everyday situations. You could just read a chapter or half a chapter a day and look for one thing to implement that day, and in a month or two you would be a lot wiser and have a lot better-running life.

Call + Response: Stop global slavery in your lifetime

Call + Response is a movie made by Justin Dillon of Tremolo. The conceit is that it's a sort of virtual benefit concert, interspersed with true stories of slavery and rescue, and commentary from intellectual and political luminaries as well as celebrity faces. It was screened at Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore, to a packed house, with additional information provided by Debbie Wright from the International Justice Mission. Despite the excellence and variety of the music, the movie was not fun to watch, but the reality is that John Brown's truth is STILL marching on as the slave trade continues around the world. And in Southeast PA.

We may and should admire the great abolitionists of old such as Harriet Tubman and the Great Emancipator, or the martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement. But in the 21st century, we can not just admire but emulate them. We can't all kick down doors, free the slaves and put the bad guys away, but we can all do something to create an atmosphere where slavery is not cool, and more importantly, NOT PROFITABLE. We are the plan. Watch for more inspiration, information, action points and events. Don't miss this moment! History is on our side!

From "Saving Tiamaat" by Gwyneth Jones

"We spent the rest of the night together, hiding in the tenderness of the Blue Planet, where war is shameful and murder is an aberration; where kindness is common currency, and in almost every language strangers are greeted with love: dear, pet, darling; sister, brother, cousin, and nobody even wonders why. What an unexpected distinction, we who thought we were such ruthless villains, such fallen angels."

Science fiction not only shows us how things could be better (what we can strive for) and how things could get worse (what we should avoid); it also can remind us that not everything is so bad the way it is. The universe is a beautiful place, and this particular corner of it no less so than any other. And man, if not an angel, still carries the image of God somewhere within...

Why Zombie Movies Are So Popular

I think I know why people love to hate the living dead. Don't we all have things in our lives... habits, bad relationships, regrets, hurts... that we thought we put to rest a long time ago? Until... with an ominous rumble of thunder or a dramatic crack of lightning, they crawl back out of the grave, all smelly, and start lurching around and EATING OUR BRAINS! I hate when that happens! Wouldn't we all love to take a chainsaw to those nasty old things?

Friendship

I have been thinking a lot this week about relationships. Not Facebook "relationships," but real ones with friends and family.

I have thought for a long time that I had mastered the fact that relationships involve risk. Being in contact with other people, getting all up in their business and letting them get up in yours, sharing stories and experiences and laughs and frustration... it puts you in a position where they can hurt you. And I thought I had decided that I was okay with that. I thought I had no arbitrary lines in the sand. I thought was willing to pay whatever it cost to be and stay in relationship, short of endangering my or my family's safety.

But no. As it turns out, there are things up with which I will not put. There are a few things I'm still not very willing to experience. I'm not very interested in being lied to. I'm not real excited about being used and/or objectified. I kinda don't like that look I get sometimes, like I'm from Mars. Being ignored makes me crazy. I'm wary of obvious needs that I obviously can't meet. And I really hate standing there and watching someone crash and burn.

Some people would say that this is a good thing, and maybe it is. I guess there are things up with which nobody should put. But the problem is the way I've been handling it. I've caught myself just going into lockdown, saying, sometimes even out loud, "You are bringing this thing that I can't deal with, so I don't want to deal with you." I am allowed to ask for what I need. I am allowed to challenge behavior that hurts me or others. But I do not want to allow myself to just walk away.

What's the alternative? Wade in deeper. Share even more. Give people even more ammunition. Accept people and challenge behavior, knowing that I won't be able to control the outcome. The only way I can do this is to trust God that no matter what happens as I wade deeper into this scary situation, no matter if what I most fear comes to pass, He will be there. He will be bigger than the hurt and the grief that may ensue.

We all have fears, I guess, and this is mine: not that I won't be able to pay the rent, or that America will be taken over by godless Communists, but that people I love will hurt me or hurt themselves or hurt each other. And it could happen. In fact, it will happen. But I think God is asking me to trust Him with that fear and to put it on the altar. I no longer have the right not to get hurt or see hurt. It will happen and I will be okay because nothing can separate me from the love of God.

The Power of Positive Thinking?

I'm going to a discussion group at church now where people talk a lot about "thinking positively". Ugh. Reminds me of Norman Vincent Peale. I'm really not interested in playing those "positivity" games that were invented by snake oil salesmen and then co-opted by preachers in white shirts. Life isn't always pretty ponies and butterflies. But "thinking negatively" doesn't sound like fun, either. Is there a third way? Mark suggested "hopeful thinking". Circumstances are sometimes good and sometimes bad, but God's always present somewhere.

The Bible never says that love will never end and right will always win and I'm going to win the lottery. What it says is that God will be with me through all of it. Hopeful thinking, truthful thinking, means that stuff happens that I don't like, that I do stuff that I don't like, but that God is still at work. That's a kind of thinking I can commit to: whole-truth thinking.

Elie Wiesel: Night

This is the most grim book I have ever read in its grim genre. This is not just a book about the evil of the Holocaust. It's a book about the evil that lies within the heart of every human being, and the patterns of evil that keep recurring throughout human history. In just a few words, Wiesel has plumbed the depths of human suffering and human depravity, without answers and without redemption. His stories brought to mind Frankl's observation about life in the camps: "The best of us did not survive." Would any of us have been a better Jew or a better German? Let us pray we are never tested.

The International Arts Movement

Thursday night we got to go to the HQ in NYC and see a performance like this. It was a lovely experience. The pure aesthetics of sight and sound opened up my head and heart so that when Scripture was read at the end-- Isaiah 40-- it could sink deep into me. God made a beautiful world AND He spoke life-giving words, and we need both beauty and truth.

We also met a lot of interesting people: a woman who is looking to produce experimental theater, two Catholic priests who network artists and enrich the lives of the poor with art; an art professor; and a singer-songwriter who also directs IAM. I am especially interested in the work of the priests, who are missionaries from France, and who believe that the poor and lonely among us don't just need food, they need experimental film, jazz music and so forth. I really appreciate their efforts to demythologize and de-elite the fine arts!

I also want to give you a guided tour of the IAM website. You can follow them on FB or Twitter, you can go up to NYC to participate in various cultural and networking events, but what is most interesting to me is buried here. There are pdfs about how to have an auction or a salon, or how to have a discussion about aesthetics; there are podcasts about the business of being in the arts; and it's all FREE (despite mostly being found in the STORE). Go get something!