A Christian Worldview from Silicon Valley

So here it is New Year’s Eve, and tomorrow many of us will get our annual “do over.” Personally, I’m excited! I’m going to get in better shape, I’m going to read my Bible more, I’m going to pray more often… in fact I’m going to be better at everything I do.

Theoretically I could make that resolution any day, so what makes January 1 magical?  The reality is that we humans, either through nature or conditioning, deal with change much better when it is ceremonialized. Granted, January 1 isn’t much of a ceremony, but it speaks in some way to our emotions. It marks the date and is a special day — the first day of a new year.

So take advantage of it. Resolve to do something good. Love God more deeply. Love people more deeply. Be more like Jesus. And have a very happy New Year!

Whether you are a fan of New Year’s resolutions or not, please consider making a habit of reflecting on God moments in 2008.

Ken and I were talking about the reality of God in our lives, and how we might not see Him if we aren’t looking for Him. At some point we decided to make a conscious effort to recognize God in our daily lives, whether we acknowledged Him to ourselves or to others, so we started asking each other at bedtime, “Did you have a God moment today?”

A God moment could be a time we shared about God with someone else, or a time when we particularly sensed God in action that day.

In 2006, PACC studied the book “Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life” by Marjorie J. Thompson, which described a way of looking for “God moments”:

Try out a half-hour self-examination this weekend, directing the following questions to God:

• When have I been aware of your presence, guidance, or grace this week? How did I respond?
• When have I been especially unaware of your presence, guidance, or grace this week? Why?
• What habit of the heart do I need to acquire in order to live more faithfully?

How have you been blessed by God moments in your life?

Many years ago the poet Burns wrote a poem to a mouse. He did so because he (Burns, not the mouse) was plowing a field when he accidentally ruined the nest of the field mouse, who (the mouse, not Burns) then ran away in terror. That poem gives us one of the most memorable and most quoted lines of all time:

The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft agley…

A good English translation of those would have it:

The best laid schemes of mice and men, Go oft astray…

Whether in Scottish or English, I, being on the man and not the mouse side of the equation, experienced this very thing on Friday, December 22, and I have a question about it.

What was supposed to be a “hop on the plane and fly to Phoenix then get a ride to Mesa” morning turned into a “don’t get on the plane, have breakfast, get on a different plane going to Burbank, wander around, buy books at a used book store, take a taxi to Hollywood, watch a movie in a famous theater, look at the footprints at Grauman’s, talk to Freddie Kruger, get picked up by my brother-in-law and niece, pick up my niece’s recovering-from-major-surgery friend and her sister, drive to Phoenix (10 hours, because of traffic), go to the airport, rescue our luggage, borrow a car and drive to Mesa.

The original method would have taken us about 18 hours less than the method we used, but that scheme (plan) went, as Burns would say, agley.

Now here is the question: What did God have to do with that? And what about when your plans “gang agley?” What does God have to do with that?

P.S. Merry Christmas to all!!

I wrote over at another one of my sites - Christian Groups Silenced by Law School.

In short, the University of Montana Law School has derecognized a Christian group, the Christian Legal Society, because the group wants its leaders to abstain from sexual relationships out of marriage.

The lawyers in the school say the CLS is being discriminatory. So, they have decided to discriminate back by shutting the group down.

"A student group cannot be forced to compromise its beliefs in order to maintain a presence on campus,” says litigation counsel for CLS’s Center for Law & Religious Freedom.

I am not an activist or a lawyer.

But, maybe sometimes I need to be.

We have a couple of lawyers here at PACC. Perhaps they’ll weigh in.

When do Christians need to be activists?

When do you feel compelled to say ‘enough is enough?’

Vivian sent this to me (Bill)

—

I just finished reading “Three Cups of Tea : One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations … One School at a Time” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, and it’s got me thinking.

The book jacket says, “Although he was a homeless ‘climbing bum’ … Mortenson sold what few possessions he had to launch one of the most remarkable humanitarian campaigns of our time….. Today, as the director of the Central Asia Institute, Mortenson has built fifty-five schools serving Pakistan and Afghanistan’s poorest communities…. he provides not only hope to tens of thousands of children, but living proof that one passionately dedicated person truly can change the world.”

I asked my family last night at the dinner table, what kind of world would it be if everyone lived like that?

I’d like to find out. What is God calling you to be passionately dedicated about?

—

Anybody want to share?

On Sunday mornings we are studying the Gospel of Mark with two questions in mind:

1. What is Jesus like?

2. How can I be more like Him?

Vivian was kind enough to put together a list of all the qualities we have come up with through the first half of the book - Chapter 8. I listed them at 130 Gifts Jesus Gives Us for Christmas.

The first one -

Jesus is an example of one who is a teacher.

In Japan, the high schools are ranked by education quality. For a time, I taught at the number two school in the prefecture. (Through no fault of my own, mind you. I think they were just desperate for a blonde-hair, blue-eyed, living being.)

At any rate, I once surveyed my students, asking them what qualities they looked for most in a teacher.

Their answers surprised me just a bit.

There were two qualities that stood out that might at first glance seem contradictory.

The type of teacher they wanted most was one who was strict and one who was kind.

The students wanted someone to draw boundaries for them and be strict and fair about enforcing them. Then for those who kept within the boundaries, they hoped for kindness.

Jesus is this kind of teacher. He demonstrates the standards of life that he expects from us. He is strict in that those standards cannot be compromised. He is also kind, loving, gentle, and more with those who stay within those boundaries.

Jesus is a strict, yet kind teacher to me, today.

When I teach, I want to be like Him.

What kind of teacher is Jesus to you?

(Bill)
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My wife dislikes the word blog, which all of you astute readers will know is derived from combining the words Web and log, then removing “we.” There is something ironic in that.

But blog it is, and bloggers we will be, those of us who are part of PACC. Several people will contribute to this page, and if you follow it and pay attention you will be entertained and educated and maybe even edified, all in one fell swoop. Or at least all in one place.

-Lewis