My birthday

Today is my birthday. If it dries up enough, Lois and I will go out to Point Reyes for a nice walk. Tomorrow Angela and Shaun will join us for dinner.

later...

Point Reyes was great. We started at the south trailhead of the Coast Trail, turned toward the beach at the Palomarin trail and went down the beach. We picked up a bottle that looked like it had spent a lot of time at sea!

Unfortunately, it didn't have a message in it. But that would have been a little hard to do because the screw on cap was still sealed!

It had barnacles on it and it looks like it is a little crooked, that is, the base is not straight, so when you sit it on a table, it leans a little to one side.

Best of all, it doesn't have any brand markings or names on it, and it looks a little crude in its manufacture. We got the idea that it is not from the USA.

So we brought it home in hopes of figuring out its story some day (right!). Since the theme is "getting old", it works for a hopeful retirement project (still a long way off!).

Afterwards Lois took me to Caffè Trieste in Sausalito for a bite to eat complese with a live Jazz band and Marimba. Along with the Marimba the guy waiting the tables just gave me the feeling that I should go up to him and say, "Usted ¿De qué parte de Guatemala es?" But, by his looks, you might wonder if he spoke Spanish. ¡Qué el lector entienda!

This is the way I like to celebrate my birthday.

One man one goat

Sorry about posting twice in one day. But I couldn't pass this one up. Click on the link and go to picture number 4.

We are fighting for "One man, one vote." But "One man, one goat" may have at least as much to do with the future of humanity according to Isaiah 60:1-7 as does democracy!

How I got started thinking about Islam

On a trip to Dakar, Senegal, I came across an artist who paints on the back of glass. I found this picture interesting and asked the artist about it. He said it was Abraham and Ishmael.

That was the first I was ever exposed to this interpretation of the life of Abraham. I have used this picture to lead me to try and understand what God thinks of Muslims and of Christians. This seems to me to be even more important than what Christians and Muslims think of God, though that is of fundamental importance, too.

A quick look at the Atlas the other day reminded me that we westerners do not see the world in terms of religion. Our way of evaluating a country or a region is to ask how many goods and services they produce. Or to ask what language they speak. But at least the Atlas's I looked at had no map of religions. But what people think about God is proving to be important, at least in today's world. People are killing each other over that.

In the Abraham/Ishmael/Isaac story, one that is important to approximately 1/2 of all humans on earth today, we can see how what God thinks of humans is important. Read Genesis 22.

Or read this article about the Feast of Sacrifice by Gilchrist. I think the article is marvelous.

May God continue to take initiative in each of our lives and may we be open to what He wants to do. Without that, we are lost and so are our children.

More on the hope for humanity's future

I don't want to get the focus off the question that I raised at Eid: "What is important for the future of humanity?"

I got a lot of comments on that posting. Make sure you read the comments. That's where I say a little about what I believe is important for the future of humanity. My hope depends on Christians and Muslims living next to each other and developing a relationship in which God has a role. There are many ways this can happen, but it seems to me that we are doomed to jihads followed by crusades followed by terrorism followed by "just wars", ad infinitum unless we can figure out how to break down the "dividing wall of partition". For that you may want to take a look at Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

It is not easy to imagine how this is going to happen!

We I did get one very interesting reply to my posting was an article from the Internet regarding whether the son that Abraham offered was Ishmael as is popularly believed among many Muslims or if it was Isaac as the Bible declares. It is from a Christian polemical site, so it would be interesting to know if thinking Muslims actually agree with what is written there.

This of course gets into a polemic that can degenerate into an arguement about "who is right". While one may be right and the other may be wrong (or did Abraham offer both sons and have this experience twice?), such polemic hasn't been able to settle this question during the last 1300 years. If our disagreements continue define our relationship, the future of humanity is at risk.

I don't think that is what God was thinking about when he rescued Abraham's son, whoever it was. What was He thinking?

Dick Hillis

Lois and I spent almost all day Saturday remembering a man of God whose life touched ours profoundly: Dick Hillis, the founder of OC International. When we went to Brazil in 1977, we were sent out under OC International.

Dick Hillis died on December 14 and his memorial service was January 14. It was an all day affair with BOTH of his families (he and his first wife, Margaret, had 6 kids and many many grandchildren) including the OC family. It was wonderful to reconnect with many precious friends and fellow travelers, since we were part of the OC family for 16 years! Read the link!

Here are some things I heard that challenge me:

• When OC started out, Dick surrounded himself with people in their 20's and built the mission with their help. One said: "Even though we were in our 20's, he expected us to do our jobs well. He gave us jobs that were over our heads. He praised us when we did well and he confronted us when we didn't. He expected hard work and he expected God to guide us. He always took the hardest job.
• Dick told us, I will give you 10 days to decide whether God is telling you to join us in Taiwan. Get counsel from people who know you well. Bathe everything in prayer. Find examples, especially Bible examples, of people faced with a similar decision and learn everything you can from that example.
• He wanted to build the church by building a foundation under national leaders. Raise up others so that they will be successful.
• Spend yourself on a cause that will outlive your own life.
• If you are going to make it as a missionary, learn to laugh at your mistakes!
• Dick was there when I was in trouble or hurting.
• He served, not to be great, but to make others great.
• "Where are all the men? 80% of missionaries are women. You men are all chickens!" (He said this to High Schoolers at Mt Hermon before WWII.

What stood out to me most was that he was a fork in the road person. His challenge changed the course of the life of many people. And this was because he had a great love for Jesus that was noticeable to all, and that he depended on God to enable him and to take ordinary lives and use them in extraordinary ways.

I was reminded of his favorite verse (2 Cor 4:5) "we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake."

I hope I can follow His example!

Eid and hope for the future of Humanity.

Ever since I was introduced to the Muslim world through my Latin American friends, I have had a special fascination with Eid, the Muslim holiday that was celebrated yesterday.

Eid, by its place in the Islamic calendar and by the things that are done on Eid, can remind Muslims each year that their ancestor Ishmael was spared death because God provided a substitute (yes! that is their variation on the story of the rescue of Isaac in Gen 22).

My fascination (and my hope) grows when I read in Isaiah 60:7 that God promises that the rams of the children of Ishmael will be "acceptable on my Altar".

Does that refer to the rams in these pictures of the Eid holiday? Take a moment to look at them.

Islam can be a challenge to our Christian faith. For many Muslims "devotion" to God is critical for the future of humanity and they see Abraham’s willingness to offer his son as a supreme devotion to God.

Our Christian faith says that Jesus is critical for the future of humanity.

What do you think is critical for the future of humanity?