LIFE…

This is not my wife… but it makes me smile anyways…

I just finished reading The Hidden Smile of God and was extremely encouraged. I have never been big into reading Biographies and typically lean toward books that deal with concepts, culture, or some sort of philosophical meandering (which I typically put up after 30 pages since I have no idea what they are talking about). It has just been over the past two weeks that I have really begun to enjoy reading about Saints from years gone by.

So, now that I have finished, it is time to begin another. This Biography is called Roots of Endurance and chronicles another three Great Saints of the Faith.

Random Quotes will follow…

Valentines Day was the one year anniversary of hearing my then “girlfriend” say “I love you” for the first time.  I had first told her a month before during our first time together since our time at camp, but had to wait until February 14,2008 to hear it over the phone.

Well, this year it was nice to be able to have her as my wife. We spent the day pretty relaxed. We woke up at our leisure, had cereal for breakfast, then lazed around. I had ordered flowers, so I spent the morning and into the afternoon anxiously awaiting their arrival. After finally getting the  flowers, we made our way to the Cheesecake Factory to to spend 1 hour and 45 minutes waiting for a table.

While things could have gone a little better (or at least according to MY plan), it was probably my favorite Valentines Day. Looking forward to many more with my wife.

Dr. Harold W. Hoehner passed away yesterday. Honestly, I know nothing about him other than that he wrote a great Commentary on the Book of Ephesians. If he was capable of writing that work, I am sure he is a great man.

Tribute to Harold W. Hoehner

Ideological Indifference for the Sake of Integration… Great title right? Well, that is what comes to mind when I read through President Obama’s Prayer Breakfast Remarks.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________
For Immediate Release February 5, 2009
Remarks of President Barack Obama National Prayer Breakfast As Prepared for Delivery

Good morning. I want to thank the Co-Chairs of this
breakfast, Representatives Heath Shuler and Vernon Ehlers. I’d also like to thank Tony Blair for coming today, as well as our Vice President, Joe Biden, members of my Cabinet, members of Congress, clergy, friends, and dignitaries from across the world.

Michelle and I are honored to join you in prayer this
morning. I know this breakfast has a long history in
Washington, and faith has always been a guiding force in
our family’s life, so we feel very much at home and look
forward to keeping this tradition alive during our time
here.

It’s a tradition that I’m told actually began many years
ago in the city of Seattle. It was the height of the Great
Depression, and most people found themselves out of work. Many fell into poverty. Some lost everything.

The leaders of the community did all that they could for
those who were suffering in their midst. And then they
decided to do something more: they prayed. It didn’t
matter what party or religious affiliation to which they
belonged. They simply gathered one morning as brothers and sisters to share a meal and talk with God.

These breakfasts soon sprouted up throughout Seattle, and
quickly spread to cities and towns across America,
eventually making their way to Washington. A short time
after President Eisenhower asked a group of Senators if he
could join their prayer breakfast, it became a national
event. And today, as I see presidents and dignitaries here
from every corner of the globe, it strikes me that this is
one of the rare occasions that still brings much of the
world together in a moment of peace and goodwill.

I raise this history because far too often, we have seen
faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another – as
an excuse for prejudice and intolerance. Wars have been
waged. Innocents have been slaughtered. For centuries,
entire religions have been persecuted, all in the name of
perceived righteousness.

There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that
some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from
different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe
to different accounts of how we came to be here and where
we’re going next – and some subscribe to no faith at all.

But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember
that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate.

There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being.This much we know.

We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to
“love thy neighbor as thyself.” The Torah commands, That
which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” In
Islam, there is a hadith that reads “None of you truly
believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for
himself.” And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus;
for followers of Confucius and for humanists. It is, of
course, the Golden Rule – the call to love one another; to
understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect
those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

It is an ancient rule; a simple rule; but also one of the most challenging. For it asks each of us to take some measure of responsibility for the well-being of people we may not know or worship with or agree with on every issue. Sometimes, it asks us to reconcile with bitter enemies or
resolve ancient hatreds. And that requires a living,
breathing, active faith. It requires us not only to
believe, but to do – to give something of ourselves for the
benefit of others and the betterment of our world.

In this way, the particular faith that motivates each of us
can promote a greater good for all of us. Instead of
driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together
to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace
where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift
up those who have fallen on hard times. This is not only
our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of
America, and it will be the purpose of the White House
Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that
I’m announcing later today.

The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious
group over another – or even religious groups over secular groups. It will simply be to work on behalf of those
organizations that want to work on behalf of our
communities, and to do so without blurring the line that
our founders wisely drew between church and state. This
work is important, because whether it’s a secular group
advising families facing foreclosure or faith-based groups
providing job-training to those who need work, few are
closer to what’s happening on our streets and in our
neighborhoods than these organizations. People trust
them. Communities rely on them. And we will help them.

We will also reach out to leaders and scholars around the
world to foster a more productive and peaceful dialogue on faith. I don’t expect divisions to disappear overnight,
nor do I believe that long-held views and conflicts will
suddenly vanish. But I do believe that if we can talk to
one another openly and honestly, then perhaps old rifts
will start to mend and new partnerships will begin to
emerge. In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps
we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of
zealotry and make room for the healing power of
understanding.

This is my hope. This is my prayer.

I believe this good is possible because my faith teaches me that all is possible, but I also believe because of what I have seen and what I have lived.

I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I’ve ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.

I didn’t become a Christian until many years later, when I
moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It
happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden
revelation, but because I spent month after month working
with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God’s spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose – His purpose.

In different ways and different forms, it is that spirit
and sense of purpose that drew friends and neighbors to
that first prayer breakfast in Seattle all those years ago,
during another trying time for our nation. It is what led
friends and neighbors from so many faiths and nations here today. We come to break bread and give thanks and seek guidance, but also to rededicate ourselves to the mission of love and service that lies at the heart of all
humanity. As St. Augustine once said, “Pray as though
everything depended on God. Work as though everything
depended on you.”

So let us pray together on this February morning, but let
us also work together in all the days and months ahead.
For it is only through common struggle and common effort, as brothers and sisters, that we fulfill our highest
purpose as beloved children of God. I ask you to join me
in that effort, and I also ask that you pray for me, for my
family, and for the continued perfection of our union.
Thank you.

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