:: in a mirror dimly :: A theology and culture blog with the Bible in one tab and a news feed in the other.

While walking down my road last night at sunset I paused along the river–I live on “River Road”–and marveled at the brilliant red reflecting on the river. Turning toward the hills and mini mountains around my home the trees along the ridge lines stood in perfect silhouette against the blue, yellow, and orange of the sunset. It was one of those, “Life is good moments.”

And then I remembered this little thought I had the other day.

It all started with an interview I heard of Eric Weiner (great last name), the author of The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World. One person he interviewed said that the key to living a happy life is to stop for five minutes each day to think about death. Did I mention that the person who said this was not an American?

So I decided to give it a shot. While standing on the river bank I thought about death. Not just my own death, but the death that sweeps over our world, especially in the troubled nations of Africa where injustice and death hit so many lives. It’s kind of a heavy thought.

As a Christian I believe that death is not the end though, and here is where thinking about death got kind of interesting. I admit that I struggle with the right words here, but what if this world is just the tip of a huge iceberg that is life with God? This world will be but a distant memory, or a shadowland as I believe C.S. Lewis said.

This is the part that I find challenging: what if all of the pain, sorrow, and death in this life is but a drop in a bucket compared to what awaits us on the other side? I never want to belittle or ignore the suffering that is very real in this life. That would be horrible. But I wonder if we lose a sense of proportion, of the scale of this world compared with the next?

Sometimes I get bummed out that one day I and all of my family and friends will be dead. Gloomy thought. No way to get around it. As I watch older generations pass on, it’s just there. But if those years of sorrow are but a prelude to better times, the shadows before the sunrise, I think I can go along with that.

• What Is It About Mormonism?
  Very interesting NY Times article. I think part of what makes me uneasy about Mormonism is the way they aggressively proselytize. I know Christians have done this too, but I make a point of not doing so. The smiling missionaries just make me wonder. All i
  (tags: religion politics)

Over five years ago I married Julie. With Julie came National Public Radio. NPR is pretty big in her family. We sit around at family dinners swapping stories we all heard on NPR and then mock one another for doing so. I love it.

I don’t know when I started turning on the radio for myself, instead of just listening whenever Julie had it on, but in the past year I’ve become a bit of a news junkie. I realized this when I practically read the Philadelphia Inquirer cover to cover at my Mom’s house over the Christmas holidays. That was a first.

Somehow I got addicted to NPR and to the articles on my Google home page from the BBC, New York Times, Time Magazine, Google News, and of course Reuter’s Oddly Enough. It’s so bad that I need to unplug the internet router just to make sure I get my work done on the computer.

And then January 3rd was the worst. With the Iowa Caucus in full swing, I kept refreshing several web sites to compare the rankings of each candidate. And in the aftermath I’ve been reading every article I can find about the New Hampshire primary. I have searched high and low for recent polls that will show just how bad Hillary is tanking–oh please, oh please, let Clinton fatigue set in.

When friends from New Hampshire visited us a few weeks ago, I listened to their assessments of Obama, Clinton, and Edwards very closely, often interjecting little bits I’ve gleaned from who knows where. After hearing all three speak at events in New Hampshire, they rallied strongly behind Obama. Edwards was too negative and Clinton didn’t impress them at all.

When did this interest in news come about? I used to be a pretty two-dimensional guy who liked sports and Christian theology. Now news and politics are creeping into my spheres of interest…

After all I’ve read in the news lately, I have a few announcements to make:

1. Despite all of the speeches and policy statements, I think we base our vote on whether or not we like a candidate. We need to have a good “feel” about our candidates of choice. Kerry gave off bad vibes, and that, probably more than anything, contributed to his loss in 2004.
2. I don’t see how anyone other than John McCain can stand as a respectable Republican candidate. Sure I disagree with some of his policies, but he has experience in the Senate, knows how to work across party lines, has disagreed with his own party at times, served as a soldier and suffered as a POW, and seems to be less corrupt than the other candidates in the field. The more I read the opinion folks in Arkansas have of Huckabee, the more I realize that he would be a catastrophic president, especially on the heels of Bush.
3. Obama is campaigning with his character and his message of hope, while rallying grass roots support (as opposed to Clinton’s big political machine with special interests rallying to her cause). Sticking to a positive message, highlighting his sound judgment in the precious few experiences of his Senate career, and hitting on his bold plans for America may be enough to push his way past Clinton. Also, keep in mind that Obama is just as smart as Clinton, pulled himself up out of difficult circumstances like Edwards, has religion like Romney and Huckabee, can play up the nice guy bit like Huckabee, but unlike all of them, he comes across with a warmth, and genuineness (sorry, lousy word choice) that none of them can equal. Obama is smart enough and has the character to be president, even if he’s lacking in experience, but the good vibes he creates may be what puts him over the top.
4. And so, who am I rooting for at this point… Well, I’ve actually had my sights set on one candidate for quite some time now, so I’ve had a chance to read through his policies and to check up on his back ground. In fact, I’ve been posting links concerning him sometimes here on this blog. And so, my pick for president: I think the current state of America calls for a guy like Obama. He’ll probably have a lousy first year or two, but after that I believe he’ll catch on to the job. At a time when we need to repair the damage of the Bush administration to America’s reputation, the environment, and our society’s inequity, Obama will provide a change of course, while not necessarily leaving Republicans out of the process. He may be the only one who can undo the damage done by Karl Rove’s divide-and-conquer strategy. This is a time to heal and repair, and I think a guy like Obama, who leads from the bottom up, is the best person for the job.

• FACTBOX: Candidates Obama, Huckabee on key issues | Politics | Reuters
  Now that we’re in the Iowa hangover before the NH binge, take a look at this comparison between Obama and Huckabee. Ick Huck, Ick!!! Did you ask Bush for policy suggestions??? OK, I overstate my case, but still…you gotta do more than wave a Bible at me.
  (tags: justice politics)
• Obama and Huckabee win first 2008 vote | Politics | Reuters
  Obama pulled out a handy win most likely because the lower tier candidates wanted him to be their supporters’ second choice. I find that angle of things very interesting.
  (tags: politics)
• Charming and Aloof, Huckabee Changed State - New York Times
  “Mr. Huckabee largely kept his own counsel — in politics, ethics and a singular clemency policy that continues to haunt him.” Is there a Facebook group called: Evangelicals Not Voting for Huckabee”???
  (tags: politics)

• The Complex Christ | Signs of Emergence: 2008 will be about…
  Kester thinks the emerging church will end as a popular project: “I think people have become tired of a whole lot of talking, and want to see things actually happen… and when stuff actually happens, it tends to be quieter and create less internet hum th
  (tags: emerging emergingchurch emergent)
• The Disseminary: The Theology Cards
  This is a great idea. Hilarious and helpful.
  (tags: theology christianity)

• Amazon.com: Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit’s Power: Books: J. P. Moreland
  Noted apologist JP Moreland aims to bring the Holy Spirit into more of our theology. Sounds like a very interesting read.
  (tags: theology)
• sethskim.com: The Intelligent Reformed Charismatic Theologian
  If anything the title of this post should turn heads. This has a great story by JP Moreland about experiencing healing. Very, very cool.
  (tags: theology)
• Kingdom Triangle :: J.P. Moreland
  Moreland’s web site about his theology book that takes the Holy Spirit into consideration.
  (tags: theology)
• Edwards in Iowa: Closing With Class - TIME
  Words to ponder from John Edwards: “The top 1% of Americans are taking twice as much of America’s income as they did 20-25 years ago… The biggest corporations have an iron-fisted hold on your democracy.”
  (tags: justice)

For years after college I just assumed that the police, my parents, or my pastor would rush into my apartment and drag me back to their home or an institution shouting, “You’re not an independent adult, you fraud. You’re still just a kid in a grown up body!”

While working at a bookstore during my seminary days a woman said to her child, “Why don’t you ask that man to help you find the book you wanted.” I looked around. And then I realized she was talking about me.

Now I’m closing in on 30 in a few years and I’m finally comfortable with being an adult, a young adult in his 20’s, but an adult nonetheless.

Here’s the thing: I think I mentally entered the real world of “adulthood” about 2 or 3 years ago. I felt like something clicked, I had a new perspective of the world, and that fear of the posse raiding my house to drag me away vanished. I can almost remember the exact moment when it happened.

I’m not an expert on adulthood, nor the national spokesman for adults, but I think that my own little right of passage came at the moment when I realized that you, me, and everyone in the world has wonderful qualities and horrible flaws that simultaneously exist, and yet we get on with life. We accept each other, offend people, fight things out, forgive, and then move on. We look past the flaws to the good in people, hoping for the best.

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Sometimes we need to just get a thought out there. We toss it up for grabs and sometimes people catch on and run with it. Other times the idea hits the ground with a thud.

Throwing out a half-baked or simplistic idea on a blog is often labeled a “Musing” or “Thought.” In fact, I have a whole category on this blog called “Thoughts” because, ya know, sometimes I just think of things to share and don’t quite know where they fit.

Sometimes that flies. Sometimes that really can work for a blog. In fact, Musings may be one of the most popular words used in blog titles.

But are these generalizations, these simple, unembellished thoughts and musings just a sign that I as a writer am acknowledging my lack of creativity, my inability to sit and think of where my post fits into common knowledge, and just how exactly I can label it for the benefit of my readers?

I can’t speak for anyone but myself–and I’m really not opposed to bloggers using the word “musings.” I have found lately, as I have less and less time and brain capacity to blog (until that blessed February writing deadline hits that is), that I want to just drop an idea out there, call it a musing, and hit “Publish.”

Reading that paragraph, I’m thinking, “Wow, that is really lazy. That just doesn’t fly.”

Part of writing is the title and the category. I hate both of these. I just want to slap something simple and accurate into the title and click on the “thoughts” category. Thoughts can be categorized in any number of ways, and a good post needs a catchy, concise, and accurate title. Readers need some simple category clues to sort information. These things just make blog posts more accessible and valuable.

Of course these are just my own half-baked musings on titles and categories.

Perhaps I should make a new category “hypocrisy.”

• Can Biden Defy the Iowa Odds? - TIME
  I heard an interview with Biden’s wife and she made a good case for him. According to this article he really is the candidate with the most experience.
  (tags: politics)