RootsRain

Photo © 2006 NYTransplant, Flickr.It’s a wonderful blessing from God when He puts people into your life that are both a joy to be around and also a great help to your soul. Emily and I spent the afternoon with Will & Alison at the Starbucks at Riverplace in downtown Greenville and it was like going to a mental spa. We talked a lot about helping friends and dealing with money and being hospitable and starting a university in Europe and, well… a lot of things that have been on my mind.

We also went through Will’s outlines for his book he’s planning on writing about “eating and drinking to the glory of God” and I must say I’m anxious to read it… so… in another few years… ummm… once it’s done…

The book looks very promising. I’m always impressed by Will’s organizational abilities… Each chapter covers a single important topic related to food (trying new things, vegetarianism, food and hospitality, international foods, etc.), but all within a larger framework of Creation-Fall-Redemption. It’s ingenious. If someone out there wants to pay Will to write his book fulltime, it would not be wasted money!

Of course, the day ended very well when Will let me borrow several books, one of which I’ve almost finished reading already. Friends with extensive libraries are a blessing, too.

One of the best things about being around Will & Alison is that it makes me want to be more gracious. I always come away from times with them feeling like it was important to them to spend time with me and that, even though we laughed probably way more often and way too loudly than you should in a Starbucks, I went away deeply edified.

It puts in perspective, for me at least, how rank, down-and-out sinners could flock to Jesus and love sitting at His feet. He didn’t come with condemnation for them. He simply let people be around Him… let them expose themselves to who He was. In His presence is joy and that’s why He was attractive to them. He edified them and made them feel like there was far more to life than what they’d thought—that holiness wasn’t some depressingly unreachable requirement, but, through Him, was the color missing from their monochromatic lives.

In short, it makes me want to be more like Christ after being around Will & Alison, which, I suppose, is the best you could ever say about anyone.

I realize I’m slipping into the role of “neglectful blogdad,” and I apologize. But this time it hasn’t been because I’ve been playing too much Ghost Recon. No no no. I’ve actually been spending most of my free time reading or haggling details on a house negotiation (I started looking for houses again and put an offer on one… still waiting for the builder to realize it’d be in his best interest to accept).

But since I’ve been feeling rather thoughtful lately but yet nothing’s appeared on my blog, I figured I’d take a second to jot down some of the things that have been weighing somewhat heavily on my mind:

• Money. How much is too much? If money is amoral, is there any advantage to buying expensive things when others have very little or not enough to live on? It sounds like a pathetic, rhetorical question directed against wealth, but I don’t want to frame it that way. Seriously. Is there any advantage to having a lot of nice stuff? Is there more advantage in giving it away? What do I say against the thought that money is the best money-maker? Should I amass more in order to give more? Can I as a fallen human even be trusted to do that? How much should I be responsible for planning on that? Should I leave that up to God? Along with these thoughts, how much is appropriate to leave for your children? How much is appropriate to give them while they’re alive (especially while you’re raising them)?



• Politics & Social Life. Is the American Dream really a good thing? Is the European model of mutual surrender of liberties for a socialist cooperative better? Is it more Christlike? Does it reflect Christlikeness on this earth better, or does it simply breed hopelessness and calcification? Does capitalism offer tons of God-less hope plus breeding greed and selfishness? Is there really no answer between these? How do I vote if one side bases ideas on capitalism and the other on socialism? Is the prosperity that capitalism brings something we should desire or would it be better to give up some prosperity in favor of being more sensitive and cooperative? Does socialism actually encourage those sorts of things or am I staring down the barrel of the law of unintended consequences?
• Covenant Theology vs. Dispensationalism. What does covenant theology offer? Is there any way of reconciling the two systems? Is Covenant Theology a harmony playing along with Dispensationalism? (I’m still collecting facts on this one and I’m quite in the dark regarding covenant theology.)
• Israel. Is Israel’s claim to Palestine just? How much is that claim dependent on Dispensationalism? If Covenant Theology is correct, does Israel still have a claim? Should I visit Israel sometime soon?
• Reading. Is all this reading really helpful? Is there something I should be spending more time on, like actually going out and helping people? How much is reading actually just looking over the menu? Shouldn’t I be eating?
• Vocation. Is web design my life calling? Is just being trained and capable in an area enough to consider that your life calling? Am I cut out to be a teacher? Are jobs I’m interested in simply desires to dabble in something new?
• Purpose. Can I honestly say that going to work, spending time with Emily (and/or eventual children), going to church, reading Christian books, occasionally doing some church service thing, etc. are all that’s required of me? If I put hours of thought, planning, and execution into my finances, shouldn’t hours of thought, planning, and execution be put into figuring out how I can make those around me more like Christ? How I can do good to people rather than just letting them be people I live nearby? Should this consume most of my energy and thought? Can doing good to people consume my thought like getting out of debt did? Could I ever be the kind of person who actively, intentionally lives for others instead of for himself?
• Effort. How much of my effort and schemes are right when trying to live life? How much is scheming actually self-reliance? When my mind just won’t let me sleep at night because I have so many ideas and I’m really excited, is that a problem? Is that not trusting God?
• Corrupted human effort vs. Spirit-leading. When you dig deep and discover that even the things you do that seem good are done from evil motives, how do you respond? How do you decide what to do next, knowing that everything you do contributes to your sin and the spreading of your sin to others around you? How do you choose between alternatives? Is that the role of the Holy Spirit? Is that why being filled with the Spirit is so necessary? Because everything we do is sinful we have to have someone else making choices for us?
• Justice & Sacrifice. How should I apply justice? Is it at odds with sacrifice? When do you turn the other cheek and when do you insist on something being corrected? Has salvation made it possible to offer sacrifice full time rather than justice? If justice and sacrifice are not diametrically opposed (as the Cross has taught), then how does that apply in my dealings with others? How much leeway can I give? How does this apply to government? Does it at all? In a larger question, can I parallel what I ask government to do based on what a Christian should do? Can organizations be expected to act like people?

It’s a lot to think about. Hopefully I’ll be able to post some book reviews of things I’ve read recently that I’ve been trying to bring to bear on these issues.