Adversity

I went to Ohio this weekend to visit some great relatives. It was a really lovely time. I enjoy being with my family. There is something comfortable about being with people you are related to.

At one point my aunt, cousin and I went on a long walk down a beautiful beach on the coast of Lake Erie. I love our lakes... they are spectacular. On the car ride to the shore we were talking and I mentioned that I couldn't read until I was 10 years old. My relatives hadn't known that. I told them how my eyes hadn't worked and that whole story. They were quite blown away by at it made comments about how I'd over come adversity.

When we were walking on the beech I had a long think about people and adversity. It went something like this...

Humans go through struggles, adversities. Everyone. Not withstanding. Yes, there are different levels to which people experience adversity, but everyone has. And when we relate to people we should assume that they have been through challenges... and over come. This fact of adversity should inspire in us a deep sense of awe and respect for those around us. When we assume that others have been through hardships and have overcome them, this should encourage us to treat them well, with much love and care. Eventually this will simply become how we treat all.

And when we consider our own struggles, the things we've overcome, the things we've weathered, we should never assume that ours have been harder, more challenging than others. We should, in fact, be humble. Sharing our experiences as a way of helping others understand what has shaped us, and made us who we are. Yet as we share our experiences, our pains and victories, we can pause and say "Yes, God has created a person who is capable of over coming adversity"

The "going through", the "overcoming" of hardship and struggle will never fail to inspire. Let us all be inspired by the unspoken victories, the unspoken adversities experienced by the people we meet.

And let us stand inspired, awed, and respectful of that strength endowed by God to His creations to over come the challenges of our lives. Let this remind us of the dignity of the Human person.

It's not as beautiful when typed here as on the shore... but I hope it provides some food for thought.


I am pressed but not crush, persecuted not abandoned

Transitions

I don't think there are many people in the world who like moving. When I say moving, I mean moving house. It is a lot of work, often frustrating, overwhelming, and rarely enjoyable.

I didn't move when I was growing up. We moved into my family home when I was 2 weeks old. My mom sat in her favorite rocking chair and held me while the movers put things where she indicated.

The first time I moved was 3000+ miles from home as an adventurous 18 year old does.

Since then I have moved a lot. And I don't like it.

Many people think that I would. They seem to have this perception of me which is incorrect...

While I do travel a lot, I do find it hard. It isn't a walk in the park being homeless. But it is also a gift. As I sit in my newest space, one which is slowly becoming my own, I realize that the truth is I hate moving.

Yet somehow there is a truth beyond that truth, a bit like the layers of an onion. It doesn't matter that I don't like moving. And this is the gift, the fact that it doesn't matter how I feel. We, in the west, have a complex about having to "like" things. On every level it actually doesn't matter that I don't like the process of packing and unpacking everything I own.

The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years before the entered the promised land. The wandered; to wander is to be aimless, lost. But they weren't lost... their guide was a pillar of cloud or of fire. They had to follow, for it knew where it was leading them.

I am wandering. But let me wander, following the pillar of cloud and fire. Let me follow the Spirit of God wherever He may go.

And yes, it probably will mean packing a lot more in my life.

If moving is what draws me and others closer the Christ... bring on the boxes.



The key to the issue of packing is simplicity.

.to begin.

"I shall not live till I have seen God,
and when I see Him, I shall never die"
-John Donne

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" -Optimus Prime; Transformers 1