Who Believes?

I came across some interesting data concerning college and university professors and their belief or nonbelief in God in the latest issue of The Christian Century magazine. A recent survey conducted for the Social Science Research Council found that 10.0% agreed with the statement, 'I don't believe in God." 13.4% agreed with "I don't know whether there is a God and I don't believe there is any way to find out." 19.6% agreed with "I don't believe in a personal God, but I do believe in a Higher Power of some kind." 4.4% agreed with "I find myself believing in God some of the time, but not at others." 16.9% agreed with "While I have my doubts, I feel that I do believe in God." Finally 35.7% agreed with "I know God really exists and I have no doubts about it."

Other differences that the researchers discovered is that professors at elite institutions showed the least amount of religious belief, and those at community colleges showed the greatest. Biologists and psychologists demonstrated the least inclination to believe in God while those in the fields of nursing, marketing, elementary education, finance, and accounting demonstrated the greatest inclination. The low belief level of biologists and psychologists does not surprise me. Anything surprising to you in these findings?

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Thought for the Day

I share Einstein's affirmation that anyone who is not lost on the rapturous awe at the power and glory of the mind behind the universe "is as good as a burnt out candle."
--Madeleine L'Engle

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Who Am I?

I have begun reading a book, Who Am I?, by Jean Bethke Elshtain, Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the University of Chicago. Such a simple question is actually quite profound and how we answer that question has enormous ramifications that ripple through all areas of our lives.
In her introduction, commenting on a poem with the title, "Who Am I?" written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer from his Gestapo prison cell, she notes that in his uncertainty to the question he ends by writing, "Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine." Elshtain comments,

I am thine. I am not my own, We no longer believe any such thing. Indeed, such a pronouncement--I am not sovereign in my own domain; I am a creature; I am not simply the sum total of my choices; I am tempest-tossed; I am not in full control; I am unsure of what I will do tomorrow--these sorts of pronouncements make us candidates for assertiveness training and other interventions and ministrations designed to bolster an obviously weak, even sick, "self-image."

Who, then, are we, we prideful late-twentieth-century creatures? Lord knows, we no longer thing of ourselves as belonging to anyone or anything. We do not belong--we own' we possess. And that, to say the least, is not the same thing...Who are we? We are creatures who have forgotten what it means to be faithful to something other than ourselves.

Those words caught my attention. I think often about the "self" and its meaning for modern people and the implications of the meanings we create for "self" in our post-modern or as some like to say, our hyper-modern world. What thoughts do you have about this. Who are you?

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Thought for the Day

The strength of a man consists in finding out the way in which God is going, and going that way too.
--Henry Ward Beecher

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Prayer for the Day

Thou that hast given so much to me,
give one thing more, a grateful heart.
Not thankful when it pleases me,
as if your blessings had spare days;
but such a heart whose very pulse
may be thy praise.
--George Herbert

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Thought for the Day

A thankful heart is the parent of all virtues.
--Cicero

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Imagine Mission

When it comes to mission, I can imagine a lot. I can imagine half of our budget going to missions. I can imagine several mission trips every year to various places of need. I can imagine ongoing connections with projects outside of our national borders, inside our national borders, and in our own backyard. I can imagine us taking a much bigger role in Habitat for Humanity. I can imagine involving ourselves along with our sister church in South Africa in a project in their community. I can imagine working on a mission project with our sister church in Puerto Rico. I can imagine sponsoring many more children through World Vision. What kinds of things can your imagination envision?

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Thought for the Day

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
--Dorothy Bernard

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More on the Imagination

Robert Huston Smith in his book, Patches of Godlight: the Pattern of Thought of C. S. Lewis, summarized Lewis' view of the imagination. He wrote,

Although the imagination might entertain, its noblest and most essential function was that of guiding the mind toward the higher truths that gave meaning to existence. Lewis insisted that those who suppose imagination to be only a psychological or physiological activity of the mind are wrong. When functioning as it should, in secular as well as religious contexts, imagination is the most important means by which higher truths can be communicated...He was concerned to dispel the popular notion that whatever is imaginative is, by its very nature, false or nonexistent. What the ordinary person fails to conceive is that there are some aspects of reality that can be conveyed in no other way than imaginatively.

For an apprentice of Jesus the "baptized" imagination is a powerful and necessary means of understanding and discerning God's will. We undervalue it and/or underutilize it to our own detriment. God has given us imagination so that we might let it roam God's creation and discover things we could never discover in any other way. The vitality of the church depends, in part, on the imagination of its people.

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Thought for the Day

The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this. Irritations get into his shell. He does not like them. But when he cannot get rid of them, he uses the irritation to do the loveliest thing an oyster ever has a chance to do. If there are irritations in our lives today, there is only one prescription: make a pearl. It may have to be a pearl of patience, but, anyhow, make a pearl. And it takes faith and love to do it.
--Harry Emerson Fosdick

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Imagination Meets BHAGS

As I mentioned in an earlier blog some time ago, Jim Collins, author of Built to Last and Good to Great, coined the phrase Big Hairy Audacious Goals, otherwise known as BHAGs. He noted that great companies all had them, although they hadn't used his terminology. What I want to propose is that when a good imagination develops BHAGs appropriate to it, the potential is enormous. Perhaps you could say that a BHAG is the imagination sculpted to more specific form.

Sadly, most churches suffer from YGITS syndrome: Your God Is Too Small syndrome. For many reasons, probably, we don't expect much from God and so don't ask for much. And even those things we ask for we ask like timid children rather than with the trust and boldness God commends to us. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened." The scriptures endorse a combination of bold asking and stubborn persistence when we approach God in prayer.

Think of youth ministry, for example. What if we were to let our imaginations run free and develop some BHAGs in this area? Medfield has very little for teenagers in town. We have a vibrant youth ministry thanks to Wendy, but we have no space for teens. What do you imagine that we might do to address the needs of youth in our church and in our town. I can imagine us buying or renting a space for youth ministry where teens can hang out, do Bible study, play games, do homework, staffed by a team of youth ministers. I can imagine a lot more, too, but how about you? What can you imagine and what kind of BHAGs would you like to see?

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Thought for the Day

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
--William James

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Imagine...Some More

Jesus understood the power of the imagination to transform. He was a great storyteller and knew that we can only be drawn into a story with our imagination. His parables relied on the power of the imagination. "There was a man with two sons..." and we have just entered the story of the prodigal son. You could say that God is not just after our reasoning abilities, our feelings, and our will; but God is after all of these and our imagination. In fact, it is probably more accurate to say that if God has our imagination, God has our intellect, emotions, and volition. So what we need are "baptized" imaginations!

Over the next several days I want to let my imagination run wild and share with you ideas and visions that come to my mind concerning the mission and ministry of our church. I invite you to let your imagination run wild and share your ideas and visions as well.

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Thought for the Day

Love talked about can be easily turned aside, but love demonstrated is irresistible.
--W. Stanley Mooneyham

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Imagine...

Over the last ten to fifteen years I have become a big believer of the power and importance of the imagination. In fact, I think you could say that what captures your imagination captures you. Concerning our relationship with God, the question we might ask ourselves is, "Has God captured my imagination?"

A related question concerns the church: Has God captured our collective imagination? Frankly, a major problem that churches have is what we might refer to as "a failure of imagination." The God of the universe knows us by name, promises to lead us and make us fruitful, but for a variety of reasons, we don't let this reality seep into our imagination and let it take root. One of my favorite passages is Ephesians 3:20: "God can do anything, you know--far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us" (The Message).

Imagine what our church is capable of if we had a "conversion" of our imagination. What are your wildest dreams concerning our ministry and mission? If God captured our imagination, how far might we exceed our wildest dreams? By a factor of ten, a hundred, a thousand?!

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Thought for the Day

You can win more friends with your ears than your mouth.
--Anonymous

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Prayer for the Day

Grant, O Lord, that your love may so fill our lives that we may count nothing too small to do for you, nothing too much to give, and nothing too hard to bear, for Jesus Christ's sake.
--Ignatius Loyola

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Random Thoughts

Tomorrow night the TV program 60 Minutes will focus on the genocide that is occurring Darfur. You might want to watch this program to get a clearer picture of the devastating things that are going in that region of the world.

Several people have told me how good the movie "The Departed" is. Although quite violent, I am told that the story and the acting are superb. Anyone want to weigh in on this movie?

While a definite Red Sox fan, I must admit that during the regular season I don't find watching games particularly stimulating. However, once the World Series arrive, I find the games a great deal more exciting. I'm going to root for Detroit.

On this day in 1879, Thomas Edison invented the first workable electric light.

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105).

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Thought for the Day

Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.
--St. Augustine

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Antidote to Feeling Overwhelmed

From time to time I get that overwhelmed feeling: there is so much to do, and so little time to do it in, how will I ever get everything accomplished? No doubt, you feel that way sometimes, too. One of the things that helps me during these periods are some scripture passages that give me permission not to understand everything and have my act together, and encourage me to trust more deeply in God. Here are a few of them, that you are welcome to try out for yourselves if you are so inclined.

1. "For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength" (Isaiah 30:15).
2. "I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety" (Psalm 4:8).
3. O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
My eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
but I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time on and forevermore (Psalm 131).

I hope that if you're feeling overwhelmed and wondering how you will fit everything in today, these verses will give you a sense of peace and encouragement.

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Thought for the Day

The secret of contentment is the realization that life is a gift, not a right.
--Anonymous

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Prayer for the Day

Grant to us your servants: to our God--a heart of flame; to our fellow men--a heart of love; to ourselves--a heart of steel.
--Augustine

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What Makes for a Happy Wife

Sociologists Stephen Nock and Brad Wilcox recently presented a new study, "What's Love Got to Do with It? Equality, Equity, Commitment, and Women's Marital Quality," which is based on the National survey of Families and Households findings. In an interview in Christianity Today they shared some of their findings, a couple of which I will share here.

1. The biggest predictor of women's happiness is their husband's emotional engagement. The extent to which he is affectionate, to which he is empathetic, to which he is basically tuned into his wife, this is the most important factor in predicting the wife's happiness. This basically drowns out every other factor in our models.

2. Spouses who share weekly [church] attendance had happier wives. Spouses who share a strong, normative commitment to marriage--that is, who are opposed to easy divorce, who believe the kids should be reared in married households--have wives who are markedly happier. This factor is as strong as who works outside the home or who earns the lion's share of the income. It's also extremely important that the wife considers the division of housework to be fair to her. A sense of equity is extremely important, but equity is not equality. Women want things to be fair in their homes, but they don't equate fairness with equality.

Any thoughts or comments?

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Prayer for the Day

My dearest Lord,
be thou a bright flame before me,
be thou a guiding star above me,
be thou a smooth path beneath me,
be thou a kindly shepherd behind me,
today--tonight--and forever.
--Columba

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Married and Outnumbered

The 10/15/06 issue of the New York Times featured an article, "To be Married Means to Be Outnumbered." The author, Sam Roberts, writes, "The American Community Survey, released this month by the census Bureau, found that 49.7 percent, or 55.2 million, of the nation's 111.1 million households in 2005 were made up of married couples--with and without children--just shy of a majority and down from more than 52 percent five years earlier." He goes on to say that "The numbers by no means suggests marriage is dead or necessarily that a tipping point has been reached. The total number of married couples is higher than ever, and most Americans eventually marry. But marriage has been facing more competition. A growing number of adults are spending more of their lives single or living unmarried with partners, and the potential social and economic implications are profound."

Profound indeed! Roberts' quotes a number of different people with varying political and religious persuasions as to its meaning, and of course there is no consensus on what it means, and whether this is a good or bad trend. As you filter this information through your own intellectual and spiritual grid, what sense do you make of this trend? How do you think that this will affect our society and childrearing?

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Prayer for the Day

O God, the Father of the forsaken, who teaches us that love towards people is the bond of perfectness and the imitation of yourself: open our eyes and touch our hearts that we may see and do the things which belong to our peace.

Strengthen us in the work which we have undertaken; give us wisdom, perseverance, faith and zeal; and in your own time and according to your pleasure prosper our work; for the love of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
--Lord Shaftsbury

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What Makes People Happy?

There was an article in the Boston Globe Op-Ed section yesterday entitled, "More Money, More Problems," with the by-line, "An economic historian argues that affluence does not a happy society make." The author, Christopher Shea, was reviewing the work and latest book of British economic historian, Avner Offer, The Challenge of Affluence. Offer maintains that the wealthiest societies like Britain and the United States, have come to a point where their physical well being and their quality of life has actually been hurt by their wealth and that consumers don't make decisions that enhance long-term welfare, but are tempted to focus on short-term pleasure. Shea, summarizing Offer's argument writes, "Temptation...can take the form of everything from TV and video games luring high-school students away from their studies to the latest plasma TV''s persuading families to spend rather than save. (The American personal savings rate is now around zero.) And citizens of affluent societies, whether they're rich or poor, don't have the time either to develop new mores or public policies to deal with the new temptations." How do you make sense of this? What do you think the relationship of money to happiness is? What do you think are the basic ingredients to happiness?

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Prayer for the Day

You are never tired, O Lord, of doing us good; let us never be weary of doing you service. But as you have pleasure in the well-being of your servants, let us take pleasure in the service of our Lord, and abound in your work and in your love and praise evermore.
--John Wesley

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Prayer for the Day

O God, who has bound us together in this bundle of life, give us grace to understand how our lives depend on the industry, the honesty and integrity of our fellow men; that we may be mindful of their needs, grateful for their faithfulness, and faithful in our responsibilities to them; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
--Reinhold Niebuhr

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Wrestling with God

Philip Yancey's most recent book, Prayer: Does It Make a Difference?, explores prayer and the attendant struggles that we all have with prayer in our own various ways. He comments about the "polite" prayers that are prayed in most churches, and shares a prayer that quieted one church service that he attended. One young woman during the prayer time prayed with a quavering voice, "God, I hated you after the rape! How could you let this happen to me? And I hated the people in this church who tried to comfort me. I didn't want comfort. I wanted revenge. I wanted to hurt back. I thank you, God, that you didn't give up on me, and neither did some of these people. You kept after me, and I come back to you now and ask that you heal the scars of my soul."

Yancey calls this a "testy prayer," and notes that the Bible is full of them, prayers prayed by Abraham and Moses, for example, that aren't the polite kinds of prayers that "good Christians" tend to pray. In fact he likens prayer to wrestling, and quotes E. M. Bounds who wrote, "Prayer in its highest form and grandest success assumes the attitude of a wrestler with God." How do you experience prayer in your own life? Do you ever wrestle with God like Jacob wrestled with the angel, or the way that Abraham and Moses argued with God?

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Prayer for the Day

Make me remember, O God, that every day is Thy gift and ought to be used according to Thy command, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
--Dr. Johnson

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Malfunctioning Church

Miroslav Volf, a scholar at Yale Divinity School and the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, has an interesting article in the latest issue of Christianity Today with the title, "The Church's Great Malfunctions." He writes, "Too often...Christian faith neither mends the world nor helps human beings thrive. To the contrary, it seems to shatter things into pieces, to choke what's new and beautiful before it has chance to take root, to trample underfoot what's good and true."

He believes that the church malfunctions in two major ways: "idleness of faith and oppressiveness of faith." The idleness of faith might be summarized as not walking the talk. Business leaders who teach Sunday School and then are indicted for fraud and all kinds of other unethical business practices is an example of this kind of malfunction. Whenever Christians forget that "the ends that Christian faith holds high do not justify setting aside its strictures about the appropriate means, they engage in the oppressiveness of faith.

Do you have any thoughts about these malfunctions of faith, or do you see others as well?

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Prayer for the Day

Lord, you commanded peace:
you gave peace.
You bequeathed peace;
give us your peace from heaven.
Make this day peaceful,
and the remaining days of our life.
--Traditional Gaelic prayer

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Consequences of War

I recently came across the following quotation from Gino Strada, M.D., in Green Parrots: A War Surgeon's Diary, Charta, 2004. It's worth thinking about.

Real data, with insignificant margins of statistical error: nine times out of ten, in each war (of the late twentieth century), the people who were hit were not carrying weapons. Thirty-four per cent of the victims were children under the age of fourteen: one victim in three was a child...Where are human rights for the victims of war? "In the last decade alone," according to a United Nations agency, "more than two million children have died as a direct result of armed conflict, and more than three times that number have been permanently disabled or seriously injured." Furthermore, "An estimated 20 million children have been forced"to flee their homes and more than one million children have been orphaned or separated from their families." All this is happening before our very eyes. Every year three million children, six children a minute, die or are wounded or mutilated, or they have their lives destroyed or overturned by war, while here we celebrate "Children's Day" and show off with the Delcaration of the Rights of the Child. Can the civilized conscience endure all this...?

Pretty sobering stuff. What do you think?

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Prayer for the Day

Teach us to pray often, that we may pray oftener.
--Jeremy Taylor

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Virtual Affection

Jeremy Rifkin has an interesting editorial in the Op-Ed section of today's Boston Globe entitled, "Virtual Companionship." He notes the decline in literacy among college graduates which some experts attribute to increased time spent watching television and surfing the internet, and the increased isolation of young people. Older children spend as much as 95 percent of their time viewing the TV by themselves, and for younger children ages 2-7 it isn't much better: they watch television by themselves as much as 81 percent of the time. He writes, "Our children are seeping further into virtual worlds and losing the emotional attachments that come with face to face real time participation with their fellow human beings."

The solution? Rather than reducing the time that children and young people spend alone in front of a computer or television screen and engaging with other people, those on the technological cutting edge are developing "affective computing." At a lab at the MIT media lab they are carrying out experiments with Laura, a virtual person. Rifkin quotes what he describes as a typical comment: "I like talking to Laura, especially those little conversations, about school, weather, interests, etc. She is very caring...I found myself looking forward to these fresh chats that pop up every now and then. They make Laura so much more like a real person."

He concludes his article by saying, "Frankly, it's hard to know whether to laugh off such technological pretensions as sadly pathological or whether to be truly frightened. There is no doubt that a growing number of young people find themselves enmeshed in virtual worlds where make believe substitutes for real-life experience. With 'affective computing' looming on the horizon, the truly lonely can look forward to interacting with silicon companions, emotionally programmed to empathize and even care, to be a friend, and an intimate confidant."

This taps into my concern that all of the IMing, facebook, and even emailing will lead to superficiality in relationships, that it will have over the long haul a negative impact on our ability to truly love our neighbors as ourselves. What do you think?

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Thought for the Day

The gospel message says; "You don't live in a mechanistic world ruled by necessity; you don't live in a random world ruled by chance; you live in a world ruled by the God of Exodus and Easter. He will do things in you that neither you nor your friends would have supposed possible."
--Eugene Peterson, Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work

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Pot Pourri

I had a good time at my reunion at the Air Force Academy. The weather was great, and the only negative was that Air Force lost to Navy. Well, there is always next year... I had a chance to visit with friends I haven't seen for a long time, and I always enjoy that.

Religion is in the news. Yesterday the front page of the Denver Post included an article on the influence of religion on politics. I didn't have time to read it, but thought it was interesting. Then I discovered that the Boston Globe was carrying a front page article which was the first of a four part series on the influence of religion on government called "Exploring Faith." The New York Times also began a series of articles on religion and politics. The title of yesterday's article was "As Exemptions Grow, Religion Outweighs Regulation," and today's article is 'Where Faith Abides, Employees Have Few Rights." I haven't read any of the articles yet, but the titles don't sound particularly sanguine toward religion. Any thoughts about this?

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Prayer for the Day

My God, I give you this day.
I offer you , now,
all of the good that I shall do
and I promise to accept,
for love of you,
alll of the difficulty that I shall meet.
Help me to conduct myself during this day
in a way that pleases you.
--Francis de Sales

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Colorado Bound

I am heading out to my 35th Air Force Academy class reunion this morning. It seems that the only time that I go to Colorado is when I attend a reunion. I like connecting with old friends and I am always amazed at how easily we slip into our old friendships, even though we haven't seen each other for years and may have only communicated by email a time or two.

After my class reunion, I am looking forward to visiting with a high school classmate and her husband who live in Ft. Collins. They very graciously offered me the use of their cabin in Rocky Mountain National Park when I was on sabbatical and I haven't seen them since.

I am uncertain about blogging the next three days. I will not have a laptop with me, but if I have easy access to a computer with internet service, I will make an effort to blog. I would appreciate your keeping me in your prayers as I travel. Also, a former roommate of mine, Darryl, who will also be attending the reunion recently informed me that his wife, Doris, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. I would appreciate your keeping them in your prayers also.

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Prayer for the Day

Our Father, here I am, at your disposal, your child,
to use me to continue your loving the world,
by giving Jesus to me and through me, to each other and to the world.
Let us pray for each other that we allow Jesus to love in us
and through us with the love with which his Father loves us.
--Mother Teresa

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Raising Kids and Torah

I read an interesting article in the October 1, 2006 New York Times Magazine entitled, "So the Torah Is a Parenting Guide?" The article written by Emily Bazelon discusses the book, The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children, by clinical psychologist Wendy Mogel. I was impressed with the article and the wisdom about raising children that Mogel has captured in her book. Mogel writes, "Jewish wisdom holds that our children don't belong to us. They are both a loan and a gift from God, and the gift has strings attached. Our job is to raise our children to leave us. The children's job is to find their own path in life. If they stay carefully protected in the nest of the family, children will become weak and fearful or feel too comfortable to want to leave."

Bazelon summarizes another of Mogel's points which is congruent with cognitive behavioral therapy: "Changed behavior can lead to changed feelings...Based on this principle, Mogel urges parents to press children to contribute at home even if they whine and resist. And she discourages long rational-minded explanations about why a child can't have something she covets...be clear about what your kids are entitled to and stick to it. From rules, kids learn their roles in the household, and from chores they learn practical skills--when they go off to college they will know how to do their laundry. And if your children know that their behavior at home matters, they have an opportunity to feel good about themselves that's not tied to academic success."

To help overinvolved parents keep perspective, Mogel recommends the 20-minute rule. This rule states that parents spend no more than 20 minutes per day "thinking about your child's education or worrying about your child, period."

Some of you might want to check out this book or if you can get a hold of the article, at least peruse that.

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Prayer for the Day

Let this day, O Lord, add some knowledge or good deed to yesterday.

--Lancelot Andrewes

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The Secular and Worship

I have become interested in Eastern Orthodox theology over the last couple of years and have gained an important perspective that the Western church, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, does not provide. Alexander Schmemann, an Orthodox theologian, scholar, and priest wrote a very good book in the mid-60's entitled For the Life of the World. He has helped me to see more clearly that the whole world is God's world, that the division between the secular and the holy is a false division, and that this division has worked its mischief in the church and the way that we live and experience life.

What I found particularly interesting and helpful was his definition of secularism. At the time the book was published the issue of the church becoming more secular, as for example Harvey Cox's book, The Secular City, was popular. Schmemann writes, "Secularism...is above all a negation of worship. I stress:--not of God's existence, not of some kind of transcendence and therefore of some kind of religion. If secularism in theological terms is a heresy, it is primarily a heresy about man. It is the negation of man as a worshiping being...: the one for whom worship is the essential act which both 'posits' his humanity and fulfills it."

Secularism is the negation of worship. Interesting. The more I thought about it, the more true it seemed to me. The older I become, the more I understand that humans are worshiping beings, and the fact that one does not believe in God does not expunge the inner drive for worship. One just finds a different object to worship and disguises it with various sophisticated strategies.

What do you think about his definition of secularism? Does it make sense to you or would you define it a different way? Does it make any difference?

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Prayer for the Day

The things, good Lord, that we pray for, give us the grace to labour for.

--Thomas More

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Prayer for the Day

Make us worthy, Lord,
To serve our fellow-men
Throughout the world
Who live and die in poverty and hunger.
Give them, through our hands,
This day their daily bread;
And by our understanding love,
Give peace and joy.

--Mother Teresa

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Debriefing

Sometimes I experience what I would say is "delayed reaction." During the week that we were in New Orleans working on Fred's and Fran's house, I was so busy, tired, and in some ways preoccupied with making the blog work, that I really didn't let myself feel. Whereas many in the group experienced sadness while we were there, I must have had my emotional governor working out of awareness that kept the feelings at bay. It was only during the 9:30 a.m. worship service yesterday that these feelings emerged and I began to feel the sadness. I felt them even more acutely in the 11:00 a.m. service. I am feeling them at this moment as I write this blog. I am curious about your responses to the testimonies given at church yesterday and by the daily blogs I made during that time. How did you find them? What do you think about sending another team down there in several months? Do you think that would be a good idea and would you be willing to go?

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Back Home

We arrived in Logan last night at around 9:00 p.m. after a long but uneventful day of travel. We were all looking forward to getting a good night sleep in our own beds! I want to thank everyone for your prayers and ask for your continued prayers for the people in New Orleans. Everyday the major newspapers carry front page articles in some way related to the ongoing impact of Hurricane Katrina. Yesterday the front page article in the major paper was the the problem of vermin and rodents in some areas as a result of Katrina. The FISH camp people said they expect to be in existence for another four years, at least, so the issues aren't going to go away any time soon. We're thankful for God's provision and faithfulness, and for Fred and Fran. Let's keep them in our prayers.

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