“What we have here is a lack of communication!” That’s the caption I’d give this photo of mine. I’ve put it on iStockphoto.com where I sell my photography. I thought it symbolic of the break in communication that often happens between we humans. What are some reasons you see for communication breaking down between people. Let’s get some input on the subject.
Dave
Diann and I just returned from visiting our son Dan, our daughter-in-law Teri, and our grandson Casey. One of the fun things we did with Casey was fly a kite! It was his first experience with a kite and he really enjoyed it.
After our adventure with the kite I explained to Dan and Teri that when Casey gets older I’m going to fly a kite with him again. Next time I’m going to rig up a little toy guy with a parachute and affix it to the kite. When the kite’s up high I’ll attach a paper cone to the kite line, the wind will send it up to the kite, trigger the mechanism and drop the little guy with the parachute! Casey’s gonna love it!
My amazing plans for Casey and the kite are way beyond anything Casey can now comprehend. It seems to me that’s the way it is with God and us. What does He have planned for all of eternity for those of us who want to spend it with Him? We don’t have a clue! His plans are way beyond anything we can now comprehend! I can’t wait!
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
I’ve changed my identity! No, I’m still “Pastor Dave” and am the husband of Diann, the father of Julie and Dan, grandpa, and all around nice guy. The part of my identity that’s changed is that I am no longer a chicken farmer! That’s right. After having raised chickens as a hobby for at least a quarter of a century I’ve switched to raising white homing pigeons! Why the switch? It wasn’t that I was fed up with an identity of a fowl kind (just couldn’t resist one more chicken pun). The fact is, I was trying to raise both chickens and pigeons in my coop but they didn’t co-exist very well so I opted to keep the pigeons.
You may not realize it, but this is quite a switch in identity for me. I can’t tell you how many chicken items I’ve been given as gifts. Everyone who knows me well at all knows I raise chickens. It has always made for great small talk. Now, all of a sudden, I don’t have chickens! I actually gave it serious thought before I packed up the chickens and took them to the animal auction in Dundee, Michigan.
We all have much about us which is part of our identity. Some of it is good, and some of it isn’t. The good parts of our identity we want to keep, but the bad parts we should be willing to let go of - but do we?
In some strange way we can hold on to the bad parts of our identity just because they’re so familiar. “I’ve always been loud,” or “I find it hard to forgive people,” or “I never seem to be able to stick with anything,” or “I’m always running late,” or “I’ve always struggled with that addiction, or “______ ” and you fill in the blank.
How would people react if we really tried to reform ourselves in a given area? It might be very uncomfortable for us if they called attention to how we are no longer the way we’ve been for so long. In a broader sense we’ve been sinners all of our lives, and there’s a perverse sense in which it’s become part of our identity. The old self we know may be more comfortable to live with than a new self we have yet to meet. And then there’s the fact that many old friends may actually like the old “us” better! That’s part of the price of following Christ (who is always about the business of making us new).
Actually, I’m really enjoying seeing my white pigeons flying overhead in the morning, their white feathers glowing in the morning’s light. The chickens never looked that good! A change in identity can be good, especially when that identity change makes us more like the One who made us!
Dave
The Pew Forum polled 35,000 people about their religious views and the result is a very comprehensive and interesting study. The good news is that 92 percent of the people believe in God. The bad news is that a majority of people exhibit a high degree of fuzzy thinking, to put it kindly. Probably the best example is the fact that 70 percent believe that many religions lead to eternal life. More specifically, 57 percent of evangelical protestants (which I would classify myself) believe this, that many religions lead to God. That’s over half!
I call this fuzzy thinking, illogical thinking. It makes no sense for someone to claim they are a Christian and, in the same breath, claim that other religions lead to God and to His heaven.
I would assume that someone who claims to be a Christian claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I would also assume that this person therefore believes that what Jesus taught is true. Listen to what Jesus taught! “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) One of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, picked up on the same principle and said of Jesus, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
How, then, can a Christian say that other religions are also effective ways to God? What’s really amazing is that 21 percent of those who claim to be atheists also claim to believe in God or a universal spirit! Go figure! People simply are not thinking clearly!
Comments on the report include the assessment that people are non-dogmatic. This, I take it, is meant as a positive statement. It seems that the term “dogmatic” has taken on a negative connotation. “Dogmatic” comes from “dogma” and refers to a set of beliefs. There is not necessarily anything negative about having beliefs or a belief system. Everyone has beliefs. Some, for instance, are dogmatic in their belief that there are many ways to God!
In our culture we are increasingly failing to differentiate between the ability to reject someone’s belief without rejecting the person. The fact is, we don’t have to agree in order to act agreeably with each other!
We live in a pluralistic society, but religious pluralism can be understood in two ways. It can refer to the diversity of beliefs people hold. This is a fact of life, and we as Christians should defend the right for people to believe what they want to believe, that we will love and respect each other in spite of our differences. Religious pluralism can also be understood to mean that all religions are equally true. As thinking people who see the distinctive and mutually exclusive beliefs of different religions this understanding of pluralism makes no sense.
I follow Jesus Christ. I am convinced He is the way, the only way to God. He said this and I believe this. But because I follow Jesus I also am called to love the people He’s put around me whether they agree with my beliefs and love Jesus or not. Accepting people, even though we don’t accept their ideas or beliefs, is true Christian love, and we should exhibit this love at every opportunity we can!
Dave
My publisher decided on a different title for The Fountain. It’s going to be titled Kathryn’s Fountain. She had several reasons, including the fact that a search of the old title brought up lots of stuff while the new title will direct people to my novel. I think it’s a good idea.
When authors sign a contract with a publisher that publisher takes on a great deal of cost and risk in bringing the book to publication. They also have expertise in this whole area of publishing that we writers don’t. That’s why I want to be as cooperative as I can with my publisher. We both want the book to do well!
Besides being in conversation via E-mail with the publisher herself, I’m also in contact with the editor assigned to my book, Hannah. Now I’m in conversation with Christina who is handling promotion. She tells me the release date will be Nov. 1 but that they will be sending out pre-publication copies called ARC books to people for review quotes.
A couple of the well-known authors I contacted to read a copy and possibly give a quote or blurb of endorsement turned me down. I still have a couple of ideas of some others to contact, but the time is getting short. These quotes or blurbs on the cover or back can really help — I know, I look at them on books I’m considering buying. So, the process continues!
Dave
A worm and an angel have more in common than do an angel and God, that’s how great God is. Dave
This morning, as I took my prayer walk, I was inspired by the sun shining through the trees and morning mist, the shafts of light streaming down to the road. I was walking toward the beams of light, which were so obvious from where I was coming. When I arrived at the place where the beams met the road I no longer could see them.
I took the picture accompanying this post but wished I could have had someone take the picture with me in the sunbeams. It would have looked so spectacular! Ironically, I was in the sunbeams but couldn’t see them. They were only visible from a distance.
The glory of the sunbeams reminded me of the glory of God, as if some slivers of light had escaped from heaven. I got to thinking how these glorious sunbeams are like the glory of God. When we are in the midst of a difficulty, we ask for God’s glorious presence. Often we don’t experience it in an major way. It’s usually later, with 20/20 hindsight, that we realize God was, indeed, with us!
The next time I ask for God’s presence in a particularly challenging situation, but don’t feel His reality as I’d like to, I’m going to try and remember that He’s there with me anyway. After all, we can be walking in sunbeams and never know it!
Dave
Every morning I reflect on the day’s reading in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Each day’s reading is good but I feel prompted to share with you my thoughts on a recent reading (forJune 17). Chambers wrote about criticizing others.
It’s an easy habit to fall into, criticizing others, and it’s a bad habit! I’m not talking about the times it’s our responsibility to think critically. If we’re responsible for the performance of other people we are required to view things objectively and sometimes that will require us to talk with the person about changes that need to be made. These times, it seems to me, are far less frequent than we’d like to think!
My experience has been that when I get in the rut of thinking critically of others I end up feeling miserable myself. It’s difficult to throw mental mud at someone within your own mind without it getting all over yourself!
I’ve done a great many funerals and one of the nicest things I’ve heard people say of the deceased is that “He/she never said a bad word about anyone.” Wow! That certainly is high praise. I’d like to be more like that, hopefully before I’m dead!
Of course the main reason we shouldn’t be so judgmental is that this is the way Jesus wants us to be. Oswald Chambers writes, “Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, ‘Don’t.’ OK, let’s hear it in Jesus’ own words. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” (Matthew 7:1) There’s not much room for flexibility in interpretation in that is there?
God has put a call on each of our lives but that call does not include being judge of the world, or even the little piece of the world around us. So, it’s time to lighten up, extend a little more grace and mercy to people, cutting them some slack. I’m feeling better already!
Recently Rupert, my friend and fellow pastor at M-P, showed me a book he’s reading for his PhD program. We got to talking about a point which the book makes, that we put too much focus on the “how” in our lives. When I think of a problem or a challenge I immediately want to answer the “how” of it. “How will I get the money?” or “How will I find the time?” or “How will I explain what I want to do?” “How?” “How?” “How?”
I suspect it would have been very easy for Moses to have asked “How?” when he led the huge crowd of probably over a million people of God to the edge of the Red Sea, saw the Egyptians in hot pursuit, and knew they had to cross. When Moses considered leading this huge group of people into the wilderness he must have been tempted to ask “How?” in reference to the feeding of so many.
I sometimes resist acting in positive and creative ways because I don’t have a completely satisfactory answer to the “how” of it. I’ve come to realize that when I have a greater concern of how I am going to do something rather than the doing of it, I’m beaten before even starting. It’s easy to give too much leadership to “How?” in life.
“What am I supposed to do?” is the first question that we should be asking. Its answer deserves our total commitment. The “How?” question needs answering eventually but it must never be allowed to take away from the “What?” question. Giving leadership to the “What?” question will best guarantee that we will find an answer to the “How?” question.
Dave
My editor, Hannah, and my publisher, Catherine, have been keeping me updated via e-mail as to the current stage of development of my novel. Hannah’s incorporating my changes that I sent her. I carried through on most of her suggestions and feel the changes will make for a better story.
Christina, their marketing director, is working on the project. At this point I’m anxious to find out what she has in mind. A puzzle piece figures into the novel so I want to do something with that concept. I’ve included in this post a puzzle piece image I’ve created. I hope to incorporate it in a bookmark or perhaps on a display board at book signings.
I’ve also contacted a couple of authors about doing a book cover or book back blurb in which they endorse the book. One is too busy at this point and the other has yet to respond. It would be nice, but time is getting short. My publisher hopes to go to press by July 1.
They tell me the novel will come in at about 180 to 190 pages. The graphic designer who will do the cover has just read the novel and says she’s inspired. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with for a cover design.
I just signed up to be part of the Monroe County LIbrary System’s tenth annual author and book fair called Writers on the River that’ll take place at the main library in Monroe, Michigan, on Sunday, November 9th. That will probably be my first book signing.
These are exciting times for an author! I’ll continue to keep you posted.
Dave
