A Christian Worldview from Silicon Valley

In a recent WSJ article that touched off a parenting firestorm, Amy Chua writes:

“Chinese parents believe that they know what is best for their children and therefore override all of their children’s own desires and preferences.”

Although I also have Chinese parents, I was raised by a looser standard than Chua’s (my mom does agree no one should play any instrument other than the piano), so I’m more inclined to consider my children’s desires and preferences.  However, I do resonate with parts of what Chua says here:

“…children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences.”

As children grow from being merely incapable of making good choices to sometimes rebelling against good choices, the parent often needs to impose the good choices for a time.  This is common when it comes to health, safety, manners, etc., but it also applies to our spiritual lives.

For instance, some folks want to expose their children to various religions and let them make their own choice.  Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  While my children should know that different people have different beliefs, I also want them to know what I believe is the truth, and we have brought our children up to follow Jesus.

The same goes for various spiritual habits, such as going to church, reading the bible, praying (even aloud, even in ACTS format!), contributing to the offering, respecting elders (an important Asian value), and visiting the sick.  How many children, or even adults, find it a challenge to do these things?  But practice and perseverance help us overcome the challenges, and we can be blessed and bless others as well.

As Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Last night my husband and I were blessed to see the Billy Joel/Elton John Face 2 Face concert in San Jose.  It was awesome being in the same space as those two rock and roll legends sharing the same stage (and dueling pianos, no less!).

There’s a reason people aspire to be rock stars.  Who else gets the adoration they do?

But all that rock star worship is but a pale reflection of what heaven will be like.  God of course, being Who He is, is worthy of some serious worship.

So why aren’t our church services as worshipful as rock concerts?  I think not being face to face has something to do with it.

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Cor 13:12).”

Imagine being in the same space, “face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who loves me so.”

What do you think about being face to face with Jesus?

Last week, I had an x-ray done. It was routine, nothing to worry about. I was ready, I was comfortable. The lab technician was just about to start the x-ray, when she said, “Now don’t breathe!” Suddenly, I felt a great urge to breathe deeply, as though I’d run out of oxygen. What changed? I hadn’t needed extra oxygen 2 seconds before.

Today, I checked into the Cardiology department for an EKG. Again, just a routine procedure, not for any particular concerns. Easy peasy. I’m laying there, with these glued tabs all over me, and wires connnected to the stickers. I was totally comfortable. Truly. Until she said, “Now don’t move!” Huh? Why can’t I move? I need to move. I really, really need to move, and now. Okay, at least I need to breathe, and deeply.

The good news is that I did control myself in these two instances, not breathing and not moving, at least enough that they only had to repeat one x-ray of the four they first took. But what made me feel so compelled to breathe and move when just before I wasn’t even thinking of those things?

And what does that say about my ability to live under national law, God’s law, any law?

Nowadays, simplicity is a hot topic of exploration. In the USA, our conspicuous consumption has gotten the better of us, and people are interested in downsizing. My own wake-up call came when I told my children’s playmates they weren’t allowed in the garage: “It’s not safe out there!” Too much stuff stacked floor to ceiling and scattered densely along the narrow aisle-ways made for dangerous navigation.

Christians who wish to simplify often turn to Richard Foster’s excellent book, Freedom of Simplicity. One of his most provocative recommendations is this: If you need something, ask God to supply this “daily bread” without your having to buy it. If it comes during a week’s time, thank him. If not, reevaluate, and if you still need it, buy it. This ends impulse buying and reminds us that God is our provider.

When my daughter needed some fabric to complete a requirement for her Girl Scout Silver Award, I took the opportunity to clean out some of my excessive collections of craft supplies that were cluttering our garage. I consolidated several boxes, and ended up with three piles: trash, materials for my daughter, and cross-stitching supplies. Cross-stitching is a structured kind of embroidery I used to enjoy, but no longer find compelling. However, I knew that my husband’s coworker loves the craft, so I asked Keith to deliver the boxful of charts and other items to her. Terry’s reaction astonished us.

In the weeks before I got the bug to clean my garage, Terry had felt God was trying to teach her two things: “to come to Him first for every thing, not just the big things but every single thing as a matter of habit, every time” as well as “to see material possessions the way He does.” One evening while surfing the Internet, Terry  found a cross-stitch chart she really, really liked. But this time she just stopped and prayed, “Lord, I have enough. You have given me everything I need.  I do not need or want any thing more. You are all I need and all I want.  If You want me to have that chart, then I will eventually have it, but I am not going to buy it.”  She was serious about that decision, mentally placing the chart at His feet and going on about her business.

It was several weeks later when Terry received my box and took it home to look through. She says, “My husband and my son must have thought I had completely lost it over in my chair that night, when I turned a chart over and recognized it was the one. I could not stop the tears of joy. How real He is, and how loved can one person be? No one on the planet knew I wanted that chart.”

In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul is finishing a section on spiritual gifts and their use in the church when he writes: “When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.”

There are many lessons to be learned in that simple sentence, but one idea I infer from it was that the early church — or at least the church in Corinth, which Paul had a lot to do with — shared with and learned from each other when they assembled. Most of today’s churches, including ours, are much more practitioners of assembling and being led by full time pastors/teachers, people I sometimes jokingly call “professional Christians.”

Being one of those people, I’m clearly not opposed to that. Those who have particular gifts, especially gifts of teaching, ought to use them for the building up of the body of Christ (see Ephesians 4.11ff). But we should remember that the gifts we normally see used on Sunday are not the only gifts, and that even those who do have those gifts in abundance do not have them exclusively.

And so it was, with all that in mind, that we had a “One Another” service at PACC yesterday. We sang to God and to one another, we shared our struggles and joys with one another, we prayed for one another, we served communion to one another and passed the offering basket to one another, and we taught one another. Everyone who was there participated actively in at least one way, and most participated actively in multiple ways.

Perhaps when we post this e-mail on our PACC blog, people will comment on how they felt about that particular service, but I get to tell you now. I loved it.

It was an encouragement to me to hear the lessons that people shared, whether from a personal experience, from scripture, or from a God-honoring insight. It was heart-warming for me to observe a number of small groups of Christians sharing with each other and praying for each other. It was humbling to watch parents serve communion to their children, husbands serve their wives, wives serve their husbands, and friends serve their friends. Every part of the service touched me in a positive way.

So thank you, church, those of you who were able to be there, for being the church, for building up the body of Christ and for loving one another. The tender moments, the funny moments, the thoughtful moments, the moments of celebration, all worked together for the glory of God. And he must have been pleased.

Although I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, it’s that time of year when folks think of getting back in shape after the excesses of the holidays.  However, what kind of shape should we as Christians be focused on?

Our ladies’ Bible class recently studied James chapter 5:

13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

We all know from experience that prayer does not always result in physical healing.  But perhaps we as the church put too much focus on physical health.

How might our lives be transformed if we put more focus on our spiritual health, and confessed and prayed for each other as James exhorts us to do?

“Celebration of Discipline” lists several ways to get a spiritual workout.  Our minister Lewis is encouraging us to address our spiritual fitness by resolving to read through the Bible in a year, which is sort of like core strength training.  I’m thinking of looking more into this confession and prayer stuff.

How are you thinking of getting spiritually fit this year?

I have a routine of sorts, a commitment that I have made to myself and a promise to the Creator God.

I won’t eat each day until I have spent time in the Word and time in prayer. My standard is to spend as much time feeding on the Word and in conversation with God as I might spend at the table feeding my physical body.

My prayer time is spent walking. If I were more time conscious I’d walk faster or even run and pray to get more out of my time/effort. I used to do it that way. Not any more. Now I just walk, saunter, trod, mosey along because my intent is to pray, think, listen, and pray. To exercise my spiritual self, not my physical self. My prayer walk is not particularly pleasant to the senses. There are lots of houses on one side, busy roads on the other, parking lots and even a large factory and some office buildings. There is one stretch that is especially unpleasant when I look down, so I don’t, remembering that the reason I am out on the walk is to look up. Sometimes, I also push Mia along. Perhaps some day she’ll ask me what I am doing, and I will tell her. (more…)

I like to play indoor games, pretty much any kind that relies more on strategy than chance. It’s fun to play people who give their all, even to something as trivial as checkers.

What ruins a game for me is to have an opponent who gets so consumed by the competition that a loss makes them bitter and angry. I’ve seen such players display poor sportsmanship so that they lash out verbally or throw components of the game. Who can forget John McEnroe and his insults and racquet-throwing? 

Running for a political office is another kind of game, albeit one with much higher stakes. We’ve seen candidates do all kinds of things in the wake of an election, hoping somehow to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Does the phrase “hanging chad” ring any bells? Or remember how last year’s electoral corruption threw the supposedly stable country of Kenya into a frightening degree of turmoil?

Something in us wants to fight to get our way, to be recognized for our effort and ability. I’ve been chased all over the chess board, long after I should have just tipped my inept king over and admitted, “Enough!”

It takes a strong person to admit defeat, and to do so with grace and humility. Knowing personally how difficult that can be, I appreciate the way John McCain, during the U.S. presidential election 2008, conceded defeat to Barack Obama as soon as polls closed in California: 

The American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly. . . . I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences, and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited. . . . It is natural — it’s natural tonight to feel some disappointment, but tomorrow we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again. 

A thrice-quoted statement in the Bible speaks to this: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5).

I wonder what shape God’s “grace” will take in terms of McCain? in terms of me?

How do you know when God is trying to tell you something?

That’s a question a lot of Christians ask, and probably a lot of non-Christians, too. The truth is, although it sounds like a cop-out to some people, you just know. Take my brother, for instance, who knew that a knock on the head was a message from God.

My brother and sister-in-law (Bill and Dee Dee) live in Virginia where they are alpaca farmers. (If they did this same activity in the west it would be called “ranching.” In the east, raising anything on the land, including animals, is called “farming.”) Anyway, they have a place called Rivanna River Farm, around 20 acres of very pretty land with hills and trees and the Rivanna River running through it. And they raise alpacas.

Anyway, here’s the part about the knock on the head… (more…)