Ann and I are in Abilene for Thanksgiving. We stopped in Atoka to visit with Scott and Allison and Neyland and Turner. We also visited with Carter and Lori in Dallas. They moved there recently. We got to see their new home that is located in downtown Dallas. They are now urban dwellers.
While here in Abilene I have had some computer time and added a picture album for 2009 to this site. If you want to see 200+ pics you can click HERE.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking there’s another time or place where following God will come easier. … You have everything you need for your contentment or misery within the confines of your own heart. That will go with you wherever you go. Every place has its pitfalls and absurdities, just as each has its opportunities and measure of grace.
The Myth of Certainty by Daniel Taylor
I am currently re-reading “The Myth of Certainty” by Daniel Taylor. I am sure that I posted the quote below in the past but it is worthy of repeating.
The goal of faith is not to create a set of immutable, rationalized,precisely defined and defendable beliefs to preserve forever. It is to recover a relationship with God. He offers us a person and a relationship; we want rules and a format. He offers us security through risk; we want safety through certainty. He offers us unity and community; we want unanimity and institutions. And it does no good to point fingers because none of us desires too much light. All of us want God to behave Himself in our lives, to touch this area but leave that one alone, to empower us here but let us run things ourselves over there.
Faith in God, then, is not a belief system to defend but a life to live out (though systematic thinking about our beliefs can help us decide how to live). Mistaking this active life of faith for an institutionally backed and culturally bound belief system is similar to reducing the Mona Lisa to paint-by-numbers. Anyone can see that the paint-by-numbers picture has a relationship to the original, but how foolish to think they are the same thing. This is not at all an argument against the church, whose role I take to be crucial. Rather, it is an argument for the personal, risky, never-completed nature of our relationship to God. My desire is for an open-eyed commitmentto the life of faith, and the responsibilities it entails, that includes a sensitivity to the great tensions under which faith must live in the modem world.
As a belief system, the Christian religion is subject to the many ills of all belief systems; as an encounter with God, it transforms individual lives and human history. God does not give us primarily a belief system; he gives us Himself, most clearly in the person of Jesus Christ, so that truth and meaning can be ours through a commitment to that love with which He first loved us. The risk is great, but the reward is infinite.
When I feel like I just don’t have IT together, it is often helpful to at least get something together. Last week I made a tool box which got all my tools together and organized. I now have most every tool I need for odd jobs around the house in one place. Even if I can’t get IT together, I’ve got my tools together and it feels good.
We returned home yesterday after 5 nights with Clark and Vanessa in Racine, Wi. It was my first visit to Wisconsin and I must say I was impressed. The land was beautiful and the people were friendly. We did some tourist things.
We visited the Jelly Belly factory and indulged in the many flavors of jelly beans. The Lake Michigan beach at Racine and the Wind Point lighthouse were a treat despite the high winds and cool temps.
Clark and I got to fish some. Racine is known as one of the best fishing areas for salmon and trout. We fished on the Root River which runs through the center of Racine. The salmon are moving up the Root River to spawn and fishing was great. I caught two really nice Chinook salmon. We described our experience as “urban fishing” as we were right in the middle of Racine only minutes form Clark’s house. From what I learned, the spawning has just started and continues through October. The salmon are followed by steelhead trout and it is a fishing frenzy. The area has a great population of brown trout also. If you don’t have waders and a fly rod you are not a real fisherman.
It is good to be home. There is a lot going on. I am in the process of finishing up our new bathroom. Hopefully it will be functional by the end of this week. There are several projects that have arisen as a result of the new bathroom that will keep me busy through the next few months. We continue to have good success with our guest house and as a result there is quite a bit of time required to clean and maintain. It is all good.