PERICOPAE

"Women hold up half the sky"

I just started reading an excellent book entitled, Half the Sky. The book (recommended by Eileen on her blog, http://eisparklz.blogspot.com/) has powerfully moving stories about women facing human rights challenges in many parts of our world. This book suggests that micro-lending is one way we can help others rise above their otherwise bad circumstances. 

I received a Gift Certificate from a friend for Christmas this year and this made it possible for me to make a loan to someone in Nigeria using a revolutionary new website called Kiva (www.kiva.org).

You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone across the globe who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks.  Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going.
       
The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named Modinot Daramola in Nigeria.  They still need another $375.00 to complete their loan request of $675.00 (you can loan as little as $25.00!).  Help me get this entrepreneur off the ground by clicking on the link below to make a loan to Modinot Daramola too:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=162817

Join with me and others in changing the world - one loan at a time.

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What others are saying about www.Kiva.org:

'Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.'
-- BBC

'If you've got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you've now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.'
-- CNN Money

'Smaller investors can make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva.org.'
-- The Wall Street Journal

'An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity...All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.'
-- Entrepreneur Magazine   

Enjoying the Sabbath.... discovering the rhythms of rest and delight!

I'm delighting in God's creation and resting from all work with gratefulness to God my father.  In the words of Dallas Willard, "This is a God bathed world."

I found this Amanita muscaria mushroom under our Monterey pines this morning.  It's about as big as my hand and has a beautiful red cap. The quintessential toadstool.

An attempt at Sabbath keeping....

It's been weeks since I have really rested.  Work has been brutal, with it's long hours and unforeseen challenges.  I promised myself a respite of sorts from all that has to do with work.  I have longed for this day of retreat, a day of thankfulness and regeneration.

God says to me, "Enter my rest."

I got up early and went to a morning service at the church my parents attend regularly.  The message title was "How needed is the Holy Spirit?"  I was wondering how the Dallas Theological, Mdiv. would field this question.  In this case, Pastor Jesse was not a disappointment.  He is a young, passionate, Spirit empowered man, whom I also find to be gentle and humble.

God says to me, "Enter my rest."

I tried going outside on our back deck to enjoy the warmth of sunshine, but in spite of it being sunny, it's a blustery day.  It was peaceful though, as I shared the moment with our cat at my feet. Just when I began noticing the clean smell of the breezes, I had a gnawing thought that I should be outside mowing down the weeds, that have taken over, what once was a well-groomed lawn.  My wife knows me well and poked her head out the door and said, "If you are thinking thoughtful thoughts that's good, but if you're thinking about mowing the lawn come inside at once."

God says to me, "Enter my rest."

To attempt a complete day of ceasing from work does not mean that work is wrong. 
 Marva Dawn insists that our work is worship when we do it to the glory of God, but that Sabbath keeping is about "the rhythm of the worshipful life, alternating between regular days of work and a special day of ceasing, resting, embracing, and feasting." Eugene Peterson has said, that the Sabbath is set apart to "pray and play" or was it "play and pray?" The order probably makes no difference in God's economy.

God says to me, "Enter my rest."

Blessed art thou, O Lord God, King of the universe, who hast sanctified us by Thy commandments, and commanded us to kindle the Sabbath lights. May the Sabbath-light which illumines our dwelling cause peace and happiness to shine in our home. Bless us, O God, on this holy Sabbath, and cause Thy divine glory to shine upon us. Enlighten our darkness and guide us and all mankind, Thy children, towards truth and eternal light. Amen

––opening prayer of the traditional home service for Sabbath eve

churched....

Halloween night, my wife and I went out with two other couples for dinner and the movie, The Secret Life of Bees.  It was a good time to get out and be with close friends.  All our kids are beyond the age to make a big deal about the evening, so any excuse to avoid trick or treaters and staying home with the lights turned off appealed to me.  The restaurant staff was in full costume though, including a Sarah Palin look alike.

I generally don't pray out loud in restaurants, believing that prayer is sacred and not to be done for show, but in private, where our Heavenly Father can see us.  In this instance however, everyone else at the table joined hands to pray for the meal.  Feeling awkward, I clasped hands with the others and J.T. thanked God for the food.  My silent prayer was that he would be quick about it, because I didn't want to draw the attention of others.  J.T. prayed and immediately after, realizing the discomfort, began singing Kum-Ba-Yah.  We all chuckled with comic relief.

I bought a new memoir today, by author Matthew Paul Turner.  The book is entitled, Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess, and reading it reminded me of the antics many of us have encountered from being "churched."  Like the author who finds the humor of his upbringing in the church, we still desire to love God and others regardless of all the nonsense we've been through in the past and even now, still sometimes experience.  It's great to be able to laugh about our own fumblings toward being the people God wants us to be!

the liberation of desire....

Last Sunday my wife and I were visiting with friends after church and P.F. recommended a book that she had been reading.  Later that day I tried to look up the book online, but couldn't remember the authors name or the book title for that matter.  I sent P.F. an email to ask her about the book and found her summary of the book very compelling.  Most of the following is excerpts from our correspondence.

She said, "The name of the book is Addiction & Grace, by Gerald May, MD.  Scott Peck called it exquisitely written, and it truly is.  The point of  the book is that our attachments keep us from loving God and our  neighbor.  It is these addictions that create other gods for us,  and because of our addictions we will always be storing up treasures somewhere other than heaven, and these treasures will kidnap our hearts.  The book calls us to basically accept our incompleteness  (rather than trying to fill it) and states that we can't personally achieve the state of perfection, that we must state our condition of  incompleteness.  And that this incompleteness within us does not make us unacceptable in God's eyes.  He says that our incompleteness is the empty side of our longing for God and for love.  It is what  draws us toward God and one another.  He says that if we don't fill  our minds with guilt and recriminations, we will recognize our incompleteness as a kind of spaciousness into which we can welcome the flow of Grace.  He says that we can think of our inadequacies  as terrible defects if we want, and hate ourselves.  But we can also think of them affirmatively, as doorways through which the power of  grace can enter our lives.  He covers the characteristics of addiction and how to heal.  There are so many deeply profound  thoughts in this book, I can't recommend it enough.  It is a book of hope!  Get it or borrow it!!!"

I commented, that what she was describing so well was the practice of "detachment."  And that the teaching of detachment is found in many religious faiths, especially in the Buddhist faith.  I remarked, that Scott Peck always did have a Buddhist bent.  The first line in his book, The Road Less Traveled is the Buddhist sentiment, “Life is difficult.”  Others have called it the "art of letting go."  Also, Larry Crabb wrote an excellent book called, The Pressure's Off: There's a New Way to Live. 

She said, "I think the one thing that is different between other spiritual tradition's idea of detachment and the one put forth in Dr. May's book is that human effort to detach is futile.  We can't do it, no matter how spiritual we try to become!  That we need Grace, God's holy intervention, along with our own actions, to succeed at letting go.  The problem is that we choose attachments to fill up those spaces where Grace could have come in.  My favorite definition of detachment is in Dr. May's book; he says it's "the liberation of desire" or freedom, and through freedom we can come ultimately to love."