This bottom photo was taken yesterday, during a space walk on the current Shuttle Mission. Can a job get any cooler than this? I think not! And what about the top photo, how about the view from this bedroom window. Truly stunning! It is beyond me how anyone can become blase about the space program. I mean, it may be somewhat inefficient, but its nothing compared to working at the UN.
As I have mentioned here, my perspective on life has been altered significantly in the past weeks by the declining health of my parents. This morning, I was reading this, and was struck by the words of Henri Nouwen describing meals at L'Arche Daybreak Community in Toronto:
"During times of prayer at the end of each meal, it becomes clear that these Daybreak meals have the quality of a memorial. We lift up not only our own life to God in gratitude, but also the lives of those of whose weaknesses we are aware, and especially the lives of those who are dying or have died. Thus, we make all par of our "fellowship of weakness".
Reading this made me think, yet again of this verse, upon which my faith is centered. I am thankful today for a God who knows our weaknesses, and makes Himself known in the midst of weakness.
Tonight I find myself in Riverside, California, 70 miles from home. We are watching a softball game, in which my 11 year old daughter and her team is playing for the State Championships. Unbelievable. Long way from home. I need to be less cranky about the long drive in traffic (always here in LA), and embrace these fleeting moments of life.
I will admit, there is nothing quite like the green grass of a ball field, right at twilight. This is a lovely world, sometimes. But, to keep it in the proper context, check this out, and then pray, and maybe even give.
I will let you know the results soon.
My old (not that old) friend KC, who is now pastoring at a church in Sacramento, is one fellow who constantly seeks the heart of Christ, and wants to model servant leadership in the best way he knows how. I am so very glad I know him, this morning, I checked his blog and found this and below it, this. As I read these thoughts, I could hear the crack of a wooden bat at a high outside fastball. KC hit it out of the park. I love this guy.
KC's thoughts of Miss Mears stuck me. Henrietta was a woman who was unabashedly focused on introducing people to Christ; it was all that really mattered to her. We have a building at our church named after her. She was influential in the life of many great Christian leaders; Bill Bright, Billy Graham, and Rafer Johnson.
In contrast to this focus, over the past six months, our church has been going through an almost unbelievable time of pain and sadness for many. I have discussed this before here and here. It seems unrelenting.
This past week brought about the resignation of yet another member of the Session, or governing body of the church. But this was no ordinary resignation, this was a resignation filled with fanfare, declarations of persecution, and publicity. Within hours of this resignation, announcements were made on several websites that serve to promote the one-sided view of the staunch supporters of the senior pastor. I will not link to these sites, as they lead to further division of the Body, rather than uniting it.
What should be happening instead? All this blustering, fawning of persecution and secretive plots against the church has me thinking. Thinking about the cross. A single event that towers over history, a day and a weekend that changed everything, everywhere, forever. And yet, we sad, broken, sorry Christian people behave often as if none of this really happened. We are not any different than the world around us. Its all about (me) us, our agendas, our perceptions of who is right and who is wrong. Humility is lost. Excuses abound. Grace has vanished.
Can I state for myself alone that I would be absolutely lost without the transforming grace of Christ. All I own, all those I love, all I hope to do going forward from this day is meaningless without being framed in the light of what Jesus has done for me - and for all of humanity. Its all meaningless without knowing that our lives are lived with a divine purpose in mind. Its all that matters. We have lost our focus. We all need help.
You know how you get those emails at the office that are sort of annoying; like the "pass this on or you will be hit by a bus", or "write your congressman about this", or "hello, I am the widow of the Nigerian Consulate in Bhugmamaland and I have US $50 million to give you, if you will only write back and give me your bank account PIN"?
Well today, I got an email that made me weep. It seems that Ben Stein has written his last column, but it might have happened a while ago, I can't be sure. Either way, take a minute and read it. You will be glad you did.
Its like Ben crawled inside my head, and read my mind. Take a minute, read it, and be blessed. I would love to have a meal with Ben.
Santa Barbara, California, is, in my feeble mind, just about as close to Heaven on earth as one can get. Nancy and I spent two days, without kids here this weekend. Wonderful. Perhaps this is why one of my favorite Americans had his family ranch close to Santa Barbara; it really is God's country. Amazing Mexican food here! Ok, enough sounding like a travelogue.
In other news, the Norris clan continues to span the globe in search of adventure. This week, our 14-year old daughter Kelly is here, on a one week mission trip with her high school fellowship. You can view all the action and updates right here And Heather, the 11-year old wonder, has participated in an amazing team (look at the photo on the far right, that is her team!) I love the web!
In other thrilling news, you will recall that I have been the wandering churchie in the past. This weekend gave my wife and I another shot at being the Mystery worshippers at Santa Barbara Community Church. After my lengthy reviews of other worship services, I have but one thing to say......Wonderful. Heartfelt worship, a casual yet inviting environment, excellent exposition of the Word, and a genuine community of Believers. Thank you God. One warning, wear Rainbows to this church, or be uncool.
I just sat down to check blogs, and spotted this on Fox News. The Benton sisters, injured in the London bombings, spoke to the media today, and it was eloquent. I feel better about America, and the state of our collective souls, just listening to them. I hope that my daughters can have their character and poise, when they reach this age.
Wait, I am sounding like my Dad again. What has become of me, in my middle age?
Last night, my daughter Heather and I (pictured at left) drove together to the airport to pick up our dear friend and house guest Jill. I love these times in the car with my girls, as it provides us with precious time together to talk about whatever runs into our minds.
As we zoomed down the 710 freeway, this conversation took place:
Heather: "Dad, you know the kid in school with only one arm... (this is a wonderful boy who, through some minor birth defect, is missing the lower portion of one arm)....I was just thinking, Dad, how would he drive a car?"
Me: "Well heck, with one arm, I suppose" (to which I then demonstrated driving with one arm - please don't tell the CHP!) You know, people with handicap's find amazing ways of compensating"
Heather: "Yeah, he is a great kid, they even have a special jump rope for him at school; he can hook one end of it over his shoulder, and he can jump rope just fine"
Me: "That is very cool, I would love to see how that works."
We then drove on for a while, and Heather wanted to play one of the CDs her Mom has in the car, and she went to this song, which is my favorite. I told Heather it was, and she said, "Its my favorite too." I silently thanked God for Heather, I still cannot believe she is my daughter. I love my girls!
The deeper message here for me is, that even in the midst of messy church behavior, Christ is Lord, He is honored by our worship, and we need to continue to seek His face.
I am a sinner. I disappoint those I love often. I cannot make it through this life on my own power. I hope I can have a life that learns to adapt, so I too can hook one end of that jump rope over my shoulder, and jump rope just fine.
President Bush's nomination of John Roberts indicates that the Senate Judiciary committee will be having a partisan free-for-all in the coming days.
How should John Roberts respond to questions from Senators? Look here for an interesting model.
In summary:
"Ginsburg’s hearings demonstrate that there are many valid reasons why a judicial nominee may decline to answer the questions posed by individual senators. Justice Ginsburg declined to answer, or gave only generalized answers, to a vast number of the questions she was asked during her confirmation hearings. Despite this, Justice Ginsburg was confirmed by a vote of 96-3, which suggests that the Senate recognized her reasons for caution as valid and appropriate. In light of this precedent, the Senate and current judicial nominees should carefully apply those same reasons for caution (discussed above) to establish a common understanding of the rules for a confirmation hearing. This understanding will help in avoiding much of the delay and conflict that has become part of the confirmation process."
Tonight, my wife and I finished watching this, which we had recorded several weeks ago from PBS. It is amazing. Really. Buy the DVD, you will be very glad you did. You Pastors who stop by this blog, this series would make wonderful grist for a discussion of how the church can be effective in the world. Interesting note - not one of the "New Heroes" discussed on PBS had any visible form of Christian faith attached to their work. Think how much more effective the Gospel might be if tethered to social action in developing countries.
Today, as I was running errands in the car, I thought about how many times I use the phrase "life is short" in describing to others why some stuff in life is just not important, like staying later at the office, making more money, or focusing on unimportant details. And the events of the last week or so with my parents brings this all into sharper focus. Will we have lives that make a solid difference, that lift others up, and that leave our corner of the world brighter and more full of God's grace? I sure hope so.
Part of the journey for me is to figure out what that would look like for a guy like me. I own a small commercial real estate appraisal and consulting firm in Old Town Pasadena. How do I use my business, the money it generates, and the experience I have to do something unique and lasting for the Kingdom? Perhaps helping with land use decisions in the developing world, is this possible? Suggestions are welcome! Also, look here in the coming days, to see what interesting things my friend Tod might have to say about all this. Lets link hands, and figure out what God might be calling us to do.
The IDE Foot Pump (flowers not included)
As a commercial real estate consultant, the new Google Earth is amazing beyond comprehension. This software will take you anywhere you want to go on the planet in seconds. Download it today, play with it (waisting about 2 hours easily), and enjoy a truly remarkable product of the Internet age. I am awaiting "Google Universe" next.
From the words of Henri Nouwen:
My father, Roland, who you will learn about more in the weeks and months to come, is 85 years old, and served in the 5th Air Force during World War II as a B-17 pilot. More later on that.
This past Sunday was my turn to teach the Sunday school lesson to the 11 o'clock Kindergarten class at our church. I have virtually no memory of Sunday school growing up, as my parents were far more "culturally Christian" than evangelical. That is much of the way it was during the 60's and 70s, at least for me. I learned yesterday that Kindergarten lessons are not silly, and really do connect directly to real life.
Anyway, the lesson was on Genesis 39 and 40; and Joseph's character and behavior, first as a slave for the King, and secondly as a slave in prison. The theme of the morning was, in kindergarten parlance, "I will never get tired of doing what is right". I told the story of Joseph, using my wonderfully cooperative daughter Heather as an example - running errands all over the room (with a smile on her face). I think the kids enjoyed it.
But as my pastor friends have told me, sometimes the sermon is really for yourself, and not the intended audience. And so it was (and is) with me.....
Over the last several months, my Dad's general health has declined significantly, to the point where he and my Mom (84 years old), require much more emotional involvement, time, and care. I am so very blessed to be standing in this with my wonderful wife, who is one of the most compassionate people I have ever met, and with an outstanding social worker who specializes in senior care. As an only child, I don't know what I would do without them. We will work as a team to provide my folks with the best care possible. I hope to share my journey with you here, in order to journal my own thoughts, and to illustrate God's faithfulness. His presence gives me hope, purpose, and compassion to care. That conviction is not something I come about by my own strength. Indeed, His Grace is Sufficient.
It is going to be a tough road, not smooth and easy, as I would prefer. But I know that this road is where Jesus wants me to be. I am not alone in this journey.
And so, pray for me. Pray that I would "never get tired of doing what is right!"
If you have had a similar journey, let me know.
what I think is wrong with the church I have attended for a number of years. Then today, I stopped by the blog of Keith Smith, and felt a strange chill - as my silly little life was put into sudden perspective.
As I noted recently, the greatest tragedy in the sad church split that I have been discussing recently has been the inability of those in leadership to really focus on the things that are important, namely the unity of the church around the Lordship of Christ. The ordination vows in the Presbyterian church include the following question of those being ordained to pastoral ministry :
"Do you promise to further the peace, unity, and purity of the church? "
As I have learned, "unity and purity" can mean different things to different people. By way of example, let me share with you a true story:
A pastor I have know of and have respected for many years was, a number of years ago, pastoring a solid and growing church when a faction that didn't like his leadership tried to force him out, by taking a vote of "no confidence". The pastor was stunned and heart broken. As he prayed about what was best for God's temple, he decided that it would really be best if he resigned. Though he felt sure that he could defeat his foes, and also had the support of the local Presbytery, he also believed that this would seriously damage the church over the long run. His career, his income, his reputation . . . none of these mattered as much as the church he loved so much. So he resigned.
Now this is upside-down logic if I have ever seen it. In corporate life, or secular culture, this pastor was what might technically be described as "whimping out". I mean really now, what a chicken, to cower in the face of detractors. Egads. Pathetic. I trust you sense my sarcasm.
What I have witnessed in the past several months at my church, has been the opposite of this story. "Spin" has been the order of the day. Excuses, and blaming, and conspiracy theories have taken the place of humility, repentance, dialog, and a pursuit of unity. It is all very, very sad. And I fear that to those looking in from the outside, this is just another example of the hollow claims that Christian folk can live in community that is any different from the rest of the world. I would hope going forward that we can all, including myself, do better than this. By the way, I have feet of clay that reach up to my neck.
For deeper thoughts than I am capable of on the topic of church/Christian conflict, go here and here.
But this quote, was to me the scariest of the whole article:
"Forget about two- or three-car garages and finished basements -- today that's just not enough space for U.S. households overflowing with excess furniture, camping gear, sporting equipment," Joseph Quinlan, chief stock-market strategist for Bank of America Corp., said in a note to clients the other day. He even suggested that the ability to put all that stuff in storage units is a "critical prop to global growth" because consumers will keep spending only as long as they have a place to put their purchases. "If U.S. consumers run out of storage space," he quipped, "the global economy is doomed."
Can you hear the creepy science-fiction music in the background. What kind of a society have we created?
Dear Editors:
I am writing in response to your article concerning a “power struggle” at Hollywood Presbyterian church. As a member of this congregation for more than 20 years, and an elder, I was disappointed by your superficial reporting. I have spoken with the writer of this article, who relied upon highly biased input. His primary source was the church’s former director of communications, who was fired by the Session after he publicly renounced the church and its current leadership.
To be clear, the problems at Hollywood have never been about worship styles, or an evangelical congregation in a mainline denomination. Our painful struggle has long been focused on our Senior Pastor, who has alienated key members and leaders for some time. To be fair, the complaints against the Pastor have been from a minority of members, but this minority is comprised of solid evangelicals who worked closely with the Senior Pastor for many years (both elders and staff).
Supporters of the Senior Pastor have chosen to politicize these problems, by accusing the Presbytery of a “liberal plot” to overthrow the church leadership. This is a baseless charge which has distracted many from the real issues. Our local presbytery has known of our problems for some time, and acted to attempt to reconcile a church that was very sick well before the situation called for their involvement; last year’s $840,000 deficit was just one symptom of a deep dysfunction in the church leadership.
Sadly, the pastors in the eye of this storm have not had the dignity to stand up and call for the unity of the church around the person of Christ. Their silence, combined with their efforts to defend themselves, no matter what the cost to the church, have created a far greater divide in our church. This lack of focus on the person and mission of Christ in our church is the greatest tragedy in this long and painful episode.
Steven Norris
More on errors, and my conversations with folks from Christianity Today soon.
Living in the U.S., one could make the cold-blooded calculation that 21,000 dead and 55,000 injured from all terrorist acts over 10 years (actual statistics) is a drop in the bucket and that the war in Iraq has mainly increased the rate of death. This may be true. But if as many suicide bombs went off in Manhattan as have gone off in Israel, Manhattanites would have demanded martial law and the summary execution of suspects on street corners. Their greatest goal in life would not be, as it is now, the closing of interrogation rooms on Guantanamo but instead the erasure of terrorists hiding across the East River.
No matter how fat the diet of stories about Iraq suicide bombings or Gitmo shoved down our throats and no matter how many distraught opinion-poll results come back up, no serious person can allow post-9/11 American security to be reduced to that. The death march of homicidal zombies in Iraq is trying to push us toward accepting the idea that acts of unrestrained violence against other human beings is now a normal part of politics. It is not normal. Any civilized person should want to resist the normalization of civilian killing as a political act -- whether in Iraq, Spain, Indonesia or Kashmir. These matters have been at the heart of John Bolton's marooned nomination to the U.N. Mr. Bolton's adversaries criticize his impatience with large bureaucracies tasked to the war on terror, such as the State Department, and worry he won't respect the U.N. "system." The U.N. itself has never been able to even agree on a definition of terror. A high-level U.N. panel bluntly concluded last year: "Lack of agreement on a clear and well-known definition undermines the normative and moral stance against terrorism and has stained the United Nations' image." Little wonder, then, that our own news coverage of these repeated slaughters of civilians in Iraq also lacks any normative or moral context unfavorable to the perpetrators. And little wonder that in such a world the only "side" many people in the U.S. feel comfortable with is heading for the exits.
"The press chorus then devolved into a cacophony of competing screams. (And Dean knows screams!) After several seconds, a booming voice cut through the noise. It belonged to Brian Wilson, a Fox News correspondent who was standing in the middle of the crowd. He asked Dean "if people are focused on the other things that you've said about hating Republicans, about Republicans being dishonest and then this latest comment about the Republican Party is full of white Christians. You say you hate Republicans -- does that mean you also'' hate white Christians?
Dean didn't respond......."
