X is for Xenophile

 My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is X so let's get right to it shall we?

 A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreciator

J was for Jester

K was  for Kindergarten Clear

L was for Library Lover

M is for Muppet Man

N was for Narnian

O was for Optimist

P was for Poet

Q is for Quintessential Worker

R was for R.I.T.A. Republican In Theory Anyway

S was for Stonehill Fan

T was for Teacher

U was for U of I Parent

V was for Voracious Reader?

 

W was for White Sox Fan

X is for Xenophile

Xenophile is the antonym of xenophobe. A xenophile is an individual who is attracted to foreign peoples manners or cultures.  I am a xenophile.  The reason I am a xenophile is pretty straight forward.  God is a xenophile.  As an evangelical Christian I try to emulate God.  Generally this is by imitating Christ, however being a xenophile which is certainly a trait of Jesus is also a trait of God the Father.  

Well you might ask how I know God is a xenophile.  I think there are many ways that I know that but I think John 3:16 provides conclusive evidence of my assertion:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)

 This is the 2nd post I've written this year about John 3:16,  In the first I focused on the love aspect and today's focus is on the world part of the verse.  The Greek word that world is  translated from  is Kosmos.  When it comes to John 3:16 there are many interpretations of what John meant when he used that word.  Two of these interpretations is that world means all of humanity, the other is that world means all of creation. I personally feel that it means the former, however since the latter is all encompassing either definition includes all of humanity.

I have been reading a book about the attributes of God called Knowledge of the Holy. It was written by A.W. Tozer.  Tozer makes it very clear that we are very different than God.  God has always existed. Since God has always existed he was never born and he will never die.   God is all knowing.  Since God is all knowing, he has never learned anything.  There is attribute after attribute of God that shows how different we are from God.  When God says in Isaiah 55:8+9 that my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways he reiterates that in our fallen state that we are different as different can be from the character of God.  

Yet John 3:16 says that God loves the world.  In fact it says that God loves the world so much that he gave his Son.  That makes God a xenophile as he is attracted to foreign people. their manners and their cultures.  God's love for us transforms us and gives us our identity.  When 1 Peter 2:10 speaks of this transformation  it says once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.  God being a xenophile is the first step in our sanctification.

Emulating God in the matter of being a xenophile is why I went to Russia for two years in the early 1990's.  It is why I studied to be an English teacher.  It is why I always try to speak to people in their own language even if it's just a greeting.  It is why I'm not very interested in the MAGA movement because Isaiah 40:15  says that to God all nations are a drop in the bucket.  I've spent more than enough letters differentiating myself from my country's current president, so I won't go any further on the last point.

One of the difficulties I have had with my  A to Z posts this year is bringing them to an end.  I classified my theme this year as autobiography and autobiography never ends.  At least it doesn't end while I am alive to chronicle it.  In the same way these alphabetical glimpses of me are just autobiography in progress.  There is certainly more I can say about being am xenophile and there is more I can live that will further define my view. If my view on this or any other subject seem incomplete it is because I am a work in progress.

To get to the A to Z Challenge webpage click here.  

To see the A to Z Master List click here.  

Coming up: Things Get Weird

 

 

Weekly Writer's Workshop: For God So Hugged The World

Here are the prompts for this week’s Writer’s Workshop:

1.  Write a post based on the word hugging. 
2. Write a post in exactly 13 sentences. 
3. How do you cope with days where you’re stuck in the house due to bad weather? 
4. What are your favorite food items to order online? 
5. If evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe were discovered, would it alter your core beliefs or sense of self? 
6. List your five most recent favorite things.

I am combining 2 prompts today, #1 and #5.  It's not exactly one from column A and one from column B, but it gets the job done.

For God So Hugged The World

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)

My older sister asked me once what  John 3:16 meant.  So, I told her what the verse said, and her reaction was, "That has nothing to do with football"

I saw my sister right after Christmas as I was at the wedding of my oldest niece, her daughter.  There was an hour or so between the end of the wedding and the reception.  So my family being who we are, took a side trip to a local library between gigs.  While we were there my daughter Lucy emerged triumphantly from the lobby to say that she had found a 1984 Thesaurus in the free stuff bin,  She spent the next few days of the trip regaling us with synonyms from the book.  I have asked her to read me the synonyms for hug. Here goes: embrace, hold, clasp, press to the bosom, hold close, clutch, squeeze, cuddle, snuggle, nestle, and (wait for it) cling together.

As I contemplated the meaning of John 3:16, especially what it meant for God to so love the world, I thought of hugs.  I thought of a child who seemingly gave up on physical expressions of love to their parents initiating a hug with me for no particular reason.  I thought of how hugs show one's love for another but also leave room for a reply. 

 I thought of Jesus in that sense as a hug from God.  To put it back in the context of John 3:16,  our sins had separated us from God.  We were on a path to perishing without a chance to have that relationship mended. God reached out to us, extending his Son as a way to eternal life.  We must reach back to God completing that hug by accepting Jesus as the only way to God.  

This brings me rather clumsily to prompt 5: If evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe were discovered, would it alter your core beliefs or sense of self? 

My short answer is no.  My core beliefs and my sense of self,  emanate from my understanding of biblical Christianity.  Larry Norman a pioneer of Jesus Music broached the subject in the bridge of his song U.F.O.

And if there's life on other planets 

Then I'm sure that He must know 

And He's been there once already 

And has died to save their souls.

Those lyrics have always resonated with me. I have never meant much of a subscriber to the notion of life on other planets.  I like the science-fiction element of extraterrestrial life but that's where it ends. However farfetched I might find it, if confronted with proof that there is life on other planets, I would lean in on Norman's thought process.  To extend my previous thoughts on John 3:16, I can imagine the Lord of the Universe loving other intelligent life so much that he would reach out and hug them through the person of his Son as well.  

Just like I don't jettison my faith when difficult times come my way, I plan to always trust in God no matter what other things may come to challenge my world view.  

A Snapshot of the pioneering christian rock musician Larry Norman taken following concert in Defiance, Ohio on October 20, 2001.

By Ekiledal - http://upload.wikimedia.org/, Public Domain, Link

Thanks to John Holton of The Sound of One Hand Typing for this week's prompts.  To participate more in this Week workshop click here.

Publishing My Concerns, 35 Years and Counting.

 In April 1990 I wrote my first letter to the editor.  It was published in the April 27th edition of the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper.  Over the years I have written many letters to the editor of various newspapers.  After writing one for my college newspaper that was fairly well received, I was asked to be a regular columnist for the paper.  I had previous experience before 1990 in editorializing when I was self-publishing a small newsletter and mailing it out to my friends.  I have also freely shared my opinions on this blog and other computer venues since the geo-cities days. But,  April 1990 is what  I will always consider the beginning of my public spouting of opinions.

 Recently, I obtained a copy of that original letter. My letter was inspired by a column I had read in the Daily Herald a few weeks earlier. I am reprinting it here in it's original form, including the size of the columns when it appeared in print.   Please note I did not write the headline.

Reaction to Trump

As I read Burt Constable's column 
 on April 15 about Moslems reaction
 to Donald Trump's Taj Mahal, it got 
me wondering what a Christian's re- 
action to the Taj should be.

As Constable mentioned, the Taj,
Trump's $1 billion dollar gambling den has 
chandeliers alone that cost $14 mil-
lion. Fourteen million dollars. Do 
you know how many people you can
feed with that money? How many
non profit organizations could go out
of debt? You could probably even pay four or 
five pro athletes' salaries on that a
year, but that's another story.

Donald Trump's very name has

become synonymous with conspicu-

ous consumption, greed and arro-

gance. He is now linking himself

with gambling more and more.

The Bible is clear that it is of little

good if you gain riches at the ex-

pense of your soul. But Trump has 

shaped an empire that glorifies and

leads people towards wanting to

make more and more and spend it on

their own pleasures.  

The renowned mathematician

Pascal said that within each heart

there lies a God shaped vacuum that

can only be filled by Him. Why is 

Donald Trump not satisfied with all

he has amassed? Because he is shov-

ing money, power, and Taj Mahals

galore in that vacuum and still com-

ing up wanting. If he was not, why 

the overriding desire to gain the 

whole world?

Christian's need to be appalled by

buildings like Trump's Taj not be-

cause they desecrate a symbol but

because they desecrate a system:

giving everything of yourself for the

express glory of God. Trump lives 

like the dollar sign should be our 

symbol rather than the Cross.

It was not lost on me that my first foray in editorializing was about Donald Trump who is a frequent topic of my opinion based writings.  It is somewhat surprising that my description of Trump form 35 years ago still resonates with me.  The truth is that from before I wrote this piece until He began running for President in 2015, I didn't really pay much attention to Trump. I watched the occasional episode of The Apprentice, but that was about it.  Even when I wrote this piece, Trump was more o a counter example of what Christians should be focusing on. I just enjoy taking ideas like Constable's that Moslems should be offended by calling a Casino the Taj Mahal and turning it on it's side, in this case to  explore if people other than Moslems should be offended as well.  I chose Christians, particularly Bible believing Christians, because that what I was, and am still.  

I still like to employ that strategy in my opinion pieces.  It's like Editorial Jazz, I take a piece and riff on it it in a different direction that reflects the point I want to make.  In fact I am contemplating writing another letter to the Daily Herald using my first letter as a starting point to ponder Trump's popularity among my people, Bible believing Christians.  If I ever produce those 300 words or so I'll post it here as well.  Haven't come to the point where I know exactly what I'll say yet, but as I sometimes do I already have a title, "Trump hasn't changed, have Evangelicals?". 

O is for Oskar.

 I don't know a lot about cancel culture, but I seem to hear and read a lot about it.  My best understanding of it is that with cancel culture people can be reduced to the worst thing (or most recent bad thing) that you've done and  other positive achievements are overlooked or forgotten in light of the bad.

Oskar Schindler was not a product of cancel culture.  He seemed to be more of the opposite.  Nazi, serial philanderer, spy, war profiteer are labels that could easily mar any good  you could otherwise accomplish.  But in Schindler we find an extremely flawed man remembered and revered for his greatest accomplishment.

Oskar Schindler

Years lived before 1921: Thirteen

Years lived after 1921: Fifty Three

I personally was raised thinking that life was like a moral bank ledger where you hoped your black ink outweighed your red.  I no longer feel that way.  In some ways like the hundreds of Jews that Schindler saved from death in concentration camps I was saved  by a conscious choice not of a flawed man but by a perfect God.  

For more A to Z challenge click here.

N is for Nobody (Person), Nowhere (Place,) and Nothing (Thing)

Negative Words Can Have a Positive Meaning

You may wonder what I mean by that title.  How can negative words have positive meaning?  First, let's define terms.  I am not talking about discouraging speech.  These words are nobody, nowhere, and nothing.  Wait, you say, those words don't have a negative connotation.  They just describe absence.  They do that.  But also they certainly can have a negative connotation at times.  Just listen to this common self-talk:

                                    Why would THAT girl talk to ME?  I am just a nobody with a job that's going nowhere. In short, I'm a real nothing.  


Today, I want to use those words for positive emphasis by looking at the story of Jonah for the Bible.

1. There is NOBODY that God doesn't care for. 

 In the book of Jonah, God sent Jonah to a place called Nineveh to preach repentance.  The Ninevites were not only an enmy of Jonah's people but were thoroughly wicked.  If there was eve ra group of people God couldn't love, the Ninevites would certainly be it. Yet God loved them enough to send a prophet to them to warn them of their need for Him.  God had created them just like he created Jonah, me, and you.  He loved them and wanted them to have a relationship with him just like he loved us.

2. There is NOWHERE on Earth you can hide from God.  

God no only created us.  He created the world and the creaturs of the world.  If God calls you to do something and you go the opposite direction, do you think God won't find you?  That's what Jonah did.  He didn't love the Ninevites like God did and did not want God forgiving them so he split.  Jonah was called to go to one end of the known world.  So, Jonah quickly booked to the opposite end of the known world.  Hiding from God is something that so many of us do, one way or the other.  In the end, God finds us.  That's definitely in the job description of one who came to seek and save the lost.

Because God found Jonah and sicked a storm on him, we may think that God is out to get us.  And, He is.  But not to get us like punishment, but get us like--bring us home!  When the others on the ship heard Jonah's testimony about serving the God who created the universe, and then saw the power God had to bring and calm a storm, many of them found him, and worshiped him for the first time.  So after Jonah was found in the ship, God again "found" him in the fish and brought him back to the purpose he had called him for.

3. There is NOTHING you can do that God can't forgive.  

Jonah goes back to Ninevah and preaches repentance to the people of Ninevah.  The Ninevites, if you remember, were wicked people.  But Jonah chapter 3, says that the Ninevites believed God.  In Jonah chapter 4, Jonah says, "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love."

I think everybody thinks that they've blown it at some point.  That they've done something so bad that if anyone were to find out, no one would be able to be in the same room with them.  They feel separate, alone, and utterly unforgivable.  Guess what?  They're wrong.  In every instance, God knows exactly what they did, and has already died to forgive their sins.  Our view of justice gets in our way of accepting that. This was true of Jonah, as I said before, he didn't think the Ninevites deserved to be forgiven.  He was right of course.  None of us do.  But God loved us SO much, he chose to forgive us anyway.   As Judd Hirsch famously says to Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People, "You can live with that, can't you?"

For more A to Z blogging click here.

Wasted leftovers, any advice?

Our family does not do well with leftovers, because, I guess we forget about them.  So we waste a lot of food, which makes us feel so bad.  Wasted money down the drain, wasted food, etc.  As many of you know, I have been working evenings so that I can homeschool the kids during the day, while Amy works.  To say it's been a juggle is an understatement.  But one of the reasons we are going through this season in our family is to beome more financially responsible and more honoring to the Lord.  This pile of wasted food flies in the face of our goals!  Any tips on how to avoid this problem?

Chucking leftovers and the money that went to buy them definitely does not work for us.  Asking the good people stopping by from WFMW at We Are That Family if they have any suggestions. 

perfect soloution for imperfection

 We were visiting a church yesterday, when the pastor said to tell person sitting nearest that they are not perfect.  I was sitting nearest to Spider Droid and I decided to switch it up a little.  So, I leaned over and said "I'm not perfect."    S.D. leaned  back into me and uttered one of his new found favorite phrases: "Not my problem."

In his own 10 year old obnoxious laden way he nailed it right on the head.  My imperfection is not ostensibly any other person's problem.  Later in the sermon, the pastor spoke to that issue by saying that God loves you.  God's love is the only way to perfect the imperfect.    I am so glad that when Jesus made a way to deal with my imperfection, He uttered "It is finished"  rather than "Not my problem."

30 Hour Famine Guest Post

I have invited a girl from our co-op to write 2 posts about an upcoming 30 hour famine she is participating in. She will write a follow up post after the event.

Journey to Fasting

My name is Brie, I am a 16 year old, high school, homeschool student eager to learn about a slew of different things. I am the worship leader for my church youth group, and I am passionate about learning more about the Fathers heart, and studying His word.


Another passion of mine is serving people in any way possible. Whether it’s babysitting, praying for them, or even just helping someone to their car, serving has always been a huge passion and part of my life.


My youth group and I have recently taken up a large serving opportunity together. We want to see God’s kingdom move and we want to be a part of it. So we are all binding together and taking apart in World Visions ’30 hour famine’.


We are trying to raise funds to aid our dear brothers and sisters in Africa with the recent droughts and famine. Then, on June 1st through the 2nd with whatever funds we have collected, and are going to fast and pray for 30 hours straight. Afterwards we are all going to have a giant feast (since we’ll be starving of course) and then we are going to combine whatever funds collected and send them to World Vision!


In all honesty, I have no idea what to expect, but one thing's for sure, I will trust completely in God’s provision, because he’s never failed me before.

Thanks Brie it sounds exciting. If anyone out there is interested in supporting Brie in this effort, contact me and I will let you know how that can be managed.

Original

O is for Original.

Dictionary.com says:

o·rig·i·nal

   /əˈrɪdʒənl/ Show Spelled

adjective

1.

belonging or pertaining to the origin or beginning of something, or to a thing at its beginning.

2.

new; fresh; inventive; novel

3.

arising or proceeding independently of anything else

4.

capable of or given to thinking or acting in an independent, creative, or individual manner

5.

created, undertaken, or presented for the first time

When I think about the word original, I often think about my children, and how unique they are.  Many things they say and do make me wonder at their cleverness and originality.  I spend a lot of time documenting those things right here, and in conversations with other people. 

I also think about original in terms of the first definition:  a thing at its beginning.  One of the many reasons I love homeschooling is because I love being there when my children learn something.  I love seeing learning in action.  One minute, they don't know something.  The next minute, they know it 

Another way to look at the word original is to talk about original sin.  We are sinners because Adam and Eve started us off running with their disobedience.  But I often wonder, if those two didn't choose the fruit, wouldn't their children have done so, or their children, or, theirs?  Or, say, me?  I often think that if nobody had sinned up until me, I still would have sinned.  I am a sinner.  There's no way around it.  Saved by grace, yes. Transformed daily, yes.  This is a reminder to myself, really.  I am often stuck marveling at my childrens' originality rather than helping them working out their salvation with fear and trembling (Philipians 2:12), because of our original sin. 

Or maybe we can do both?

Celebrate our Fatao Christian Heritage

Last week I received an email to write a blog post about a boy named Fatao who needed emergency heart surgery.  The email was sent to me as a Compassion Blogging assignment.  Fatao is a 6 year old boy from southwest Burkina Faso who has a heart condition known as VSD – Ventricular Septal Defect.  Put simply, he has a hole in his heart.    Read more about Fatao by clicking here. (Spoiler ALERT)

In December 2010 Fatao was registered at a local church into the Compassion Child sponsorship program.  During his first  physical as part of his sponsorship,it was recommended he see a cardiologist.  The cardiologist was able to diagnose the VSD. 

The surgery was planned to take place in India.  Fatao’s parents who work so hard to provide their family had no means to travel with their son.  I could not imagine my 6 year old having any kind of medical work done with out Amy or myself being there for her. 

There was also the matter of paying for the surgery.  The costs involved would be great.  $23,000 dollars worth of great. A heart surgery is not really in the budget of the monthly amount paid by Compassion sponsors.   That is why bloggers like myself were contacted to get the word out to help raise this amount in as short time.  Those who donated would even get the opportunity to write fatao a letter of encouragement that would be read to him prior to the surgery.

Now, I didn’t really get the word out.  I am just getting to it now. However, the word did get out and more than 23,000 was collected and the surgery was a success!  Please pray for Fatao as he recovers from the surgery.

So, why do I even bother to write if the problem has been resolved?  Because there are more kids like Fatao.  Kids like Alexander who had the surgery a few years ago.  More than $10,000.00 was collected for his surgery.  Kids like Rossy from Guatemala and Victoria from Ghana.  In all 4 of these cases, the heart defect was discovered because of a physical that came with the Compassion sponsorship. Physicals that probably would have never been administered if these children were not part of Compassion. 

The $23,000.00 for Fatao has been met.  But by clicking here, you can donate money for the next Fatao, Alexander, Rossy, or Victoria that comes along.  You can also sponsor a Compassion child, insuring that another child will get a physical and perhaps have a rare disorder come to the attention of someone who can help. 

But physical ailments are not the only problem.  Each child in the world, each person in the world, has the same problem as Fatao – a hole in their heart.  The great philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal said (this is a paraphrase), That we all have a God shaped vacuum that can only be filled by him.  Yes ours is a metaphysical hole, but a hole just the same. 

Part of the Compassion sponsorship goes to diagnosing and fixing the sponsor child’s spiritual heart condition.  This spiritual component is why my money goes to Compassion.  There are many organizations that touch the physical need of the poorest of the poor.  Compassion gets to the heart of the matter, by reaching out to the soul at the same time. 
Acts Chapter 2 verse 45  says that in the early church the Christians were  selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.  This tradition continues today in many ways.  One is in cases like Fatao.  Please consider sponsoring a Compassion child and continuing this tradition.

Dare to Dream A night to remember. An IPod to forget.

Last Wednesday I went to the Allstate Arena with 3 kids to go see Disney on Ice: Dare  to Dream produced by Feld Entertainment. 

The evening started out great, until after we got to our seats, I found that I did not have my i-pod touch with me.  I was planning on covering the whole event on twitter. I thought I left it in the car.  After checking the car without producing it, I realized that it had probably dropped out of my pocket on my way into the stadium.

It was hard to get into the Disney mood, knowing I had lost a piece of equipment that had become vital to me in the month I owned it, and further, knowing I could not afford to replace it anytime soon.  But I summoned all the when you wish upon a star attitude I could muster and got in the best Disney mood I could. That sounds good, but it’s not actually true.  What I did do was pray.  God answered those prayers immediately.  The I-pod was found before the show started.  I didn’t know that until Thursday afternoon, but God gave me a peace to enjoy the show, regardless. 

Enough about the I-pod, on with the show
.
Dare to Dream takes 3 Disney Princess movies and takes those tales from the silver screen and retells them on the shimmering ice. 

Act I 

Princess and the Frog.

While I did not like the black magic aspects of the story, we all enjoyed the fast paced narrative, flashy costumes and excellent skating.  Puppy was a little frightened.  But let’s face it, that what puppy does best.

Act II 

Cinderella

This more classical retelling of a fairy tale appealed to puppy quite a bit. She's a sap for a good love story and this is an awfully good one.

Act III

Rapunzel

This was the main event, as far as Puppy was concerned.  In her opinion, the other two tales were just appetizers for the main dish retelling of Tangled. Puppy vehemently objected to the small amount of order changing that the producers committed while adapting this for ice.  Click here for her review of the evening which can be found at Dave Out Loud.






These objections aside, Puppy had a fantastic time.  This is because Dare to Dream is a fantastic show.  While It is essentially for girls, Spider Droid and his friend enjoyed themselves as well. 

The run at Allstate ended today. There will be 21  big beautiful shows at the United Center from February first to the twelfth.  The weekday shows have a special discount available of 4 tickets for $44.00.  The weekend shows have a $4.00 discount available.  Click here for discount info and don’t forget to use the discount code MOM.

Also, if you plan on bringing your IPod touch to the show, be very careful not to misplace it.  I plan to never misplace anything again.  At least I dare to dream that I won’t.

Puppy Uppers

This morning Puppy crawled into bed with me to snuggle. My part of the snuggling was a semi comatose dream state. She would say stuff and I would respond partially consciously. When I was almost fully awake we had this conversation:

Puppy: Daddy

Me: Yeaaaaaaaaaah.

Puppy: You are the best Daddy ever.

Me: The best? (This wasn't a question, as much as a wake up technique I have of repeating everything I hear,just in case I am dreaming. I have had conversations with Amy in the morning. Except the Amy next to me wasn't talking. I was responding to the Amy in my dreams.)

Puppy. Well, . . . God is the best. You are the second best Daddy ever.

I am not sure about the second part, but she sure nailed the first part. For such a great beginning of the day, it turned out rather lousy. Mainly, because I forgot or did not acknowledge the first part. When I forget the first part, there is no way the second part can be true.

Tomorrow is another day. A day that God will be the best Daddy ever. I'm gonna remember that and try for second!

This post is being featured in the Carnival Of Homeschooling:Thankfullness Edition at Momschool.