Some quotes to start the year...

Near the end of the year, a friend sent me some quotes by Nobel laureate Alexander Solzhenitsy, who, prior to and actually for the first year or two of his imprisonment, was a committed communist. Arrested for questioning Stalin, he saw humanity at its worst and at its best during his time in Russian prisons. After reading the first couple of quotes, I looked for more. I'm posting a handful of them here. Read them slowly...re-read them...memorize them...chew on them...my question: Would Solzhenitsyn have penned these nuggets without the quiet, the perspective, the force, the halt - of prison???

1. Do not pursue what is illusory - property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and can be confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life - don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.

2. Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.

3. Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice

4. It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.

5. Talent is always conscious of its own abundance, and does not object to sharing.

6. The Universe has as many different centers as there are living beings in it.

7. Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words.

8. Even the most rational approach to ethics is defenseless if there isn't the will to do what is right.

9. When truth is discovered by someone else, it loses something of its attractiveness.

10. Our envy of others devours us most of all.

11. How can you expect a man who's warm to understand one who's cold?

12. If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

Authority

Maybe it's the fact that I have 2 teenagers; maybe it's a book I'm currently reading entitled, "Generation Me" - either way I've been thinking about what authority is, was - what it means...authority figures are (or more accurately, used to be) parents, bosses, coaches, the law...but that doesn't seem to be the case today...for many young people it seems that either they themselves or their peers are the authorities in their lives...thinking a bit further on that, I wonder whether, if I'm truly honest with myself, I'm not the authority in my life? I can say I live by rules or under God's authority, but if I look at the way I make decisions, I decide...sometimes those decisions are congruent with laws, God's ways or even in the best interest of others. But more often than I may like to admit, my decisions favor my best interests...if I want to follow the guy I claim to follow I have to ponder again his words...If you want to find your life lose it...I had someone ask me this week what that meant...what would you say it means? For me, that means I must put others' interests ahead of my own...Jesus summed up what he called the law and the prophets by saying we should love God and love people...love acts in the best interest of the beloved...I've caught glimpses of the joy that comes when I set my agenda aside and live for others' interests...glimpses that are pretty amazing...that prove that it is more blessed to give than to receive...I have a LONG way to go, but I'm catching glimpses...I catch a lot more glimpses of this in my wife than I do in myself...I'm thankful for those glimpses...

The Simple Life

Recently, my wife was "skyping" with our daughter who is spending a year as an au pair in Switzerland. With the Christmas season upon us, our daughter was saying how it would be different this year, spending Christmas with other people in another country. She is looking forward to celebrating other traditions. During their conversation, she made the comment that we don't really have much in the way of family traditions. My wife reminded her, saying that one memorable tradition in our family has been our times camping on Vancouver Island. We've probably been to the same campground 8 or 10 times. Upon arrival, we (this is Dad's tradition...) set up tent(s) and then (our son's tradition...) head for the water hole to jump off the rocks or off the waterfall...
other traditions during our week camping are hotdogs at Costco, all-you-can-eat ribs at Montanas, and lots of card playing - hearts and spades...each year it seems we've added to the traditions with some new activity, meal or excursion. As I've reflected on this tradition, it's been somewhat comical (and in some ways a sad commentary on our 21st-century American culture) that camping has become the one week we live without cellphones, tv, or internet. We unplug and slow down...We sleep in tents, don't shave, take fewer showers (OK...we don't need all the details)...in short, we rush all year, live with constant excess, to then "PAY" for a week of simplicity...isn't this somehow backward? Shouldn't we live simple lives that are periodically interrupted with celebration (sometimes planned and sometimes spontaneous) that even sometimes spills over into excess?

Scary

Check this out...I dare you...look at the July 4, 2008 (The prayer Americans refuse to pray) post...at http://www.francischansblog.blogspot.com/...

Lost in Translation...

My father-in-law was an MD. He went to med school later than most. Upon completion he began private practice, before deciding to leave what would have become a lucrative career and invest in something that would mean more than financial gain. He and his family took their 4 children to Mexico, then Peru, to provide medical care to a missionary base and the local people surrounding the base. Having married his eldest daughter, I can tell you his investment paid off in ways he could have never imagined...The organization he worked with until the day he died is called Wycliffe Bible Translators. Wycliffe has a goal of translating Scripture into every language group's own language. I've been thinking about this work of translation lately. I believe that it is also my life's calling - not in the Wycliffe way - but translation nonetheless. What I am to do is to take God's words and "translate" them into the "language" of the people in my "world". So many "religious words" - words like faith, church, even God - today raise people's walls and barriers. When those words are used, dialog ends. So, translation is the work of explaining ("fleshing out") ideas and words in a way that barriers are torn down and not built up or reinforced. For I believe God is a God who pursues us. We too often run from an image of God that is inaccurate; an image that has been erected by misinformation, misrepresentation or even deceit. God aches over that misrepresentation. He longs for people to know him as he really is. We need more translators...

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall?

We usually picture Humpty Dumpty as an egg, right? Well, I've been thinking about the Humpster lately, given this global economic crisis we're in...I think much of the problem stems from EXCESS at a variety of levels: government, corporate, and...if I look in the mirror, personal. Things have been pretty smooth sailing in our economy for the past 20-25 years. Along the way, most of us have bought into a "more is better" line of thinking...I'm convinced that if at a fork in the road you find a signpost marked "more" and choose that path, it never ends...So, now we're dealing with the consequences of these excesses. It seems like the first two stages of grief have been experienced by most Americans either individually or collectively: Denial and anger...now we are finally beginning to ask, "Now what?" Well, without getting too embedded in the, "How did this happen?" and, "Where is this going?" conversations, it seems people genuinely are beginning to think about tightening their belts. This is a good thing...if we all follow suit, maybe we can come to a point where we can think in terms of "economic sustainability"...During the last month, I've had this picture in my mind that has helped me with perspective...the picture is of a 10 or 12-year old boy in Uganda (I call him "David"). David has lost both parents to AIDS and is responsible for his 5-year old brother and 3-year old sister. So, I call David on the cell phone and say, "David, you wouldn't believe this economic crisis we're in the midst of..." David looks at the phone and says, "Crisis...what crisis?" Maybe it's times like these where our lives (like Humpty Dumpty) crack open...and maybe when lives crack open, there is more room for more of God...will I give him that space? In that sense, I believe he wants us to have MORE...of him...

Conversations at 39,000 feet

I've become less and less thrilled with travel over time (I love being places - just hate getting there...), but last night's flight was an exception...I was at a conference in the Los Angeles area for two days and flew back to Portland last night. Ready to read my book, I sat down to a warm greeting from a guy named Ron and never got to my book during the 2 1/2-hour flight. He shared a quote that I said I'd never forget...Bitterness is the poison I drink hoping you will die... So, I got something better than good reading time...I got a phrase worth pondering...Oh, and that book I'm reading...Revenge...