the glory and the horror

Kimbell and I were jamming tonight, and reminiscing about one part of Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land where Pythagoras explains harmonics to Donald Duck. If anyone knows where to get that on DVD, Kimbell would very much like to buy it. I might be interested in it as well. Right now, there are copies on Amazon.com, but they start at $48 or something insane like that.

For Edward:

By context, I mean that the helping of the poor requires more than just the shotgun approach of giving them some food or money as we drive pass them on the overpass. It requires committment of time and energy and resources beyond the 5 bucks or granola bar that I tend to do. It means talking to the person, finding out how you can help them in ways more than just food or money, like pointing them towards job training stuff, or trying to help them contact family, or something like that. Kathleen and I had the recent experience of one guy who wanted food and money, which we gave him some of, but he sorta refused to go to Dallas Life Foundation’s shelter on the other side of town after we suggested it, although he would have a been a great candidate to get some help there. It’s sticky points like that where a relationship and context might make the difference. I kinda wish I had left my cell phone number with him in case he wanted help getting out to Dallas Life or something, just to keep the lines of conversation open…

But even in all that, I don’t think we should just ignore people who are in need when we only have the 5 bucks or half a sandwich to give, because as a Christian, I feel the Church is called to meet needs, regardless. It’s just learning to do it wisely, and meeting more than just the perceived immediate need of food or money. After all, I don’t want to miss the chance to entertain an angel.

So after Christmas, I bought myself a new PDA, a Palm Tungsten C, and I must say I’m quite satisfied with this purchase. I got it used plus some extra accessories off Ebay, and it’s definitely been very nice to me. I even scored an external keyboard for more heavy duty typing, and that’s been REALLY good, especially in terms of taking notes and the like during pathology small group.

The kidneys are incredible organs. Complex little buggers. And you don’t even need both of them. You could lose one and a half kidneys, and never even notice it (besides the big scars you’d probably have, since it’s hard to lose kidneys without surgery, usually).

Lately, church has been doing this thing on the DaVinci Code, and clarifying/explaining some of the heresies and strange theology it brings up, and it seems a bit reactionary. Some of it has been pretty cool, in terms of examining Christianity and culture, but some things just seem a bit overblown. It’s a novel, and it’s a good story from what I hear. But I’m not sure why it’s evoked such an intense response from some corners of Evangelicalism. I’d be pretty happy if we just got people to give more of themselves and serve people who are in need, both inside the Church and outside the Church.

I’ve had the recent privilege of helping some homeless people out, and I’m torn about how to handle it sometimes. I was raised to generally not give cash handouts to homeless folks/panhandlers, and I generally still balk at it. I’m more than happy to buy them food, or fill up their car, or whatnot, but cash, well, the usual excuse is that I don’t know what they’re doing with the money, and I don’t want to be enabling them to continue to make unwise, self-destructive, and sinful decisions. At the same time, it seems that the Biblical injunction is not to only help those who will use your help wisely, but help those in need. The Good Samaritan didn’t know if the Jew he helped was going to thank him, or use his second chance at life well. For all we know, that Jew would have gone on looking down on Samaritans.

I don’t know what I’m trying to say, but helping the needy seems to REQUIRE context. Context, meaning continuing communication, a relationship, a true and sincere caring for the other as a dignified human being created in the image of God.

To totally change the subject, Kathleen and I have been praying fairly regularly for our friends in other countries, and I’m really enjoying our time. It’s fun to be focused that way.

Try out my new commenting system, courtesy of Haloscan.

Fascinating article from First Things called “Europe’s Problem – And Ours“

“European man has convinced himself that in order to be modern and free, he must be radically secular. That conviction has had crucial, indeed lethal, consequences for European public life and European culture; indeed, that conviction and its public consequences are at the root of Europe’s contemporary crisis of civilizational morale. That crisis of civilizational morale, in turn, helps explain why European man is deliberately forgetting his history. That crisis of civilizational morale helps us understand why European man is abandoning the hard work and high adventure of democratic politics, seeming to prefer the false domestic security of bureaucracy and the false international security of the UN system. That crisis of civilizational morale is why European man is failing to create the human future of Europe.”

hmmm. my commenting system seems to be busted.

There are medical students and spouses at my church who have expressed an interest in spending time with doctors and/or doctor’s spouses, and developing a set of shared life experiences. They want to know what “life” is like as a doctor, or being married to a doctor. How does it affect their marriage? How will affect their family? How will it affect serving in church? How will it affect serving the community (in non-medical capacities)? How will it affect being a good neighbor? What are some of the temptations and things that trip people up?

These are just some ideas about what they would talk about, but it is by no means limited to these topics. The idea is to share life, from the mundane, like commuting and putting kids to bed, to the profound, like examining the role medical missions should play
in church planting. It would be similar to an adopt-a-college-student type program, except with medical students.

We would like to leave things open and flexible for the doctor and student to shape and mold the relationship as God leads, and as they begin to get to know each other. My desire is for an authentic friendship, one where both parties feel safe, known, and knowing.

I’ve been praying for this for several months, and I hope you will be prayerfully considering getting involved in this endeavor. I realize that this sort of relationship does not happen overnight and that it cannot be forced. At the same time, we want to be purposeful in seeking out the wisdom and experience of those who have gone before us.

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Just a little blurb on something I hope my church will be able to get going. There’s a definite interest from the medical students, and there’s some support from the church leadership, so I hope this’ll get going.

Man, I have such a hard time getting myself going in the morning sometimes. Even if I get a good night of sleep. I just don’t feel like getting up…

but on the other hand, when I don’t have class until 11 am or later, it works out fine

So I was listening to NPR this afternoon, and they were doing a bit on what people (legislators, citizens, etc.) in Vermont thought of Governor Dean during his time there. In particular, one “proud liberal” legislator said that Dean had cut the funding to the only 2 adolescent halfway houses in the state.

So this got me thinking. Somewhere, in the Body of Christ, there are people who are gifted specifically to do things like run adolescent halfway houses. Somewhere, these people are out there, and maybe they don’t know it yet, but they’ve got the skills and desire to extend grace to these kids, and be Christ to them like few can. These kids are the ones who are often the abandoned of society, coming from families that either don’t exist or don’t want them. These are often the troublemakers, and seen as hard to get along with. These are who we are called to love.

A correction to the Mark Thames quote on Dec. 19.

It’s actually:

“You’re less important than you’re told, but you’re worth more than you think.”

Thanks, Kimbell.