Anger, bitterness, pride ... are so unfortunately contagious. And being someone who is naturally pessimistic (I have had to unlearn pessimism and learn the balance with optimism), it has been a huge challenge for me to practice grace the way the Gospel teaches it. It is so hard to love someone who has a hardened heart and is themselves a very unhappy person. And when this unhappy person makes you feel stupid whether they mean to or not? Even harder to love them and practice grace. It's a huge challenge to my identity as well - because if I were confident in who I am, I wouldn't be as phased by this, would I? But I am only human and I have been raised in a culture - in a world - where my identity is dictated by what others think of me.

And so it is only the Gospel that provides an alternative: the Gospel of the ultimate act of love and grace. Grace is the only avenue through which victims won't become perpetrators. It's the only way that forgiveness can be genuine and move forward in healing.

//

Without grace, Christianity is reduced to mere religion and is as hollow as the many Orthodox cathedrals and churches that, today, are little more than tourist attractions [...] I have often thought that before anyone can grasp the doctrine of saving grace, he must first experience grace in its more common form. Such experience tills the soil of the heart and prepares it for the divine. -Larry Alex Taunton

No one who is seriously wronged can "just forgive" the perpetrator. If you have been robbed of money, opportunity, or happiness, you can either make the wrongdoer pay it back or you can forgive. But when you forgive, that means you absorb the loss and the debt. You bear it yourself. All forgiveness, then, is costly. -Tim Keller

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with [Jesus] to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals - one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And [the soldiers] divided up his clothes by casting lots. -Luke (Luke 23:32-34)

Why is it that when a corrupt regime calls itself a democracy, we Americans see that it is not democracy but the people who are the problem (because we recognize what democracy is supposed to look like and we recognize that it is people who are screwing it up)

yet.

when it comes to Christianity, we don't say that it's the people who are the problem, but rather Christianity.

??

maybe it's because nobody knows what the Christian life style is supposed to look like. Actually, this is all illustrated through Jesus' life. If we truly understand the life Jesus led - I mean understand the context of everything in order to understand the meaning behind all he did? Well then, there is no way we cannot be transformed. And we will know what Christianity is supposed to look like. And only then would we be able to pick out the real Christians from the fake ones. And not demean the fake Christians, but rather recognize how difficult it is to lead a life like Jesus did, and lovingly pray for each other meanwhile knowing the people we ought to look up to.

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. [...] Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect [...] -Apostle Peter (1 Peter 3:8-9, 15)

tough mind & tender heart

This is a conversation I've had more than once upon meeting a young, recent college grad and making small talk:
me: so what do you want to do?
I want to work for a nonprofit

Why do so many youth I meet these days want to work for nonprofits? The answer of "I want to help people" doesn't convince me. You could do that anywhere. It would make more sense to me if I heard things like "I want to alleviate homelessness by working with a company/organization/government branch that works with veterans, because in this certain part of the country I live, many of the homeless, I've noticed, are veterans and can't get jobs due to the injuries they received when they fought in Korea or Vietnam. And there is a serious disconnect between the services being offered and the needs of the vets. There's got to be some creative way to remedy this."

Of course, this is a very specific answer. Hell, I didn't know what I wanted to do after graduating grad school. I thought the answer to "saving the world" was Peace Corps. (I have nothing personal against Peace Corps, just an image I get from word of mouth.) But through unforeseen circumstances I am luckily now working in a for profit company that cares for low income housing projects. It is through working in the private sector and interacting with lawyers, brokers, property managers, government representatives, and housing consultants ... do I realize that the very things all those youth occupying wall street and college campuses and whatnot ... all those things they are protesting against, are the very things that can be powerfully fought by: landlords, lawyers, brokers, property managers, government representatives, housing consultants, etc. I think that when people say things like "I want to work for a nonprofit" it says to me that either their goal really is to work for a nonprofit (which I think is a strange goal), or their goal is to help people and they've confused that with equating it with nonprofit work. I might be more convinced if they then further explained to me the nonprofits they have personal rapport with, or have already researched and confirmed that nonprofit's financial integrity. But I would say that the impression I am getting is that more often than not, this doesn't happen. And unfortunately I've seen people in their early 20s only knowing the nonprofit world and (un)intentionally creating this divide between them and the private sector and seriously hindering opportunities for creative, positive, constructive dialogue. Social problems are so multifaceted that solutions require the involvement of all stakeholders.

At times when I meet new college grads or the type of people who, let's just say you'd see occupying wall street, I think of myself and how naive I was with all the good intentions I had. But I'd lack the smarts. I'm not saying I got everything down of course, but rather am pointing out the need for people with good intentions to not forget the importance of wisdom and reason. I think of MLK's reference to Matthew 10:16 and what Jesus was teaching ...

Jesus recognized the need for blending opposites. He knew that his disciples would face a difficult and hostile world, where they would confront the recalcitrance of political officials and the intransigence of the protectors of the old order. He knew that they would meet cold and arrogant men whose hearts had been hardened by the long winter of traditionalism. So he said to them, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." And he gave them a formula for action, "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." It is pretty difficult to imagine a single person having, simultaneously, the characteristics of the serpent and the dove, but this is what Jesus expects. We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart. (A Strength to Love)

So bottom line is: let's continue to challenge each other, particularly those of the younger generation, to work hard, work smart, and to look to Christ as the perfect ultimate example of LOVE to people. It is through his example that we may develop a tough mind and tender heart.

just added a new link in the US group to your right - "I Am Second"

check it out!

fruition

I am amazed, time and time again, at how much knowledge there is to attain always. Never does one week go by when I'm not reminded of how much potential people have in restoring what is broken in our world - whether it be regarding

neighborhoods full of kids who grow up around drug and crime as the norm ...

exposure to how real hunger is in South Africa ...

the ever-present, ever-changing, unattainable status of being attractive in Seoul ...

the need for investment in the capacity of today's young adult generation in Cambodia ... oh, does the list go on!

Now as a Christian there is also the reality of spiritual warfare, and the need for me as a Christian to stay guarded against certain things, meanwhile knowing when to be open to other things. Now I'm thinking of this because I just learned about Tim Tebow, quarterback for the Denver Broncos and also son to former missionaries in the Philippines. After watching interviews and sports commentaries about Tebow, I was just amazed at all the attacks he has to deal with constantly and also this obvious and rare quality of being calm and steady in his responses to all these media outlets. This same quality I see in so many different types of people around the world - usually a fruit of finding the peace in Jesus Christ. This character often seems to come coupled with humility, a fruit of committing to an identity in Jesus Christ.

The genuine Christians - not the nominal ones, just b/c you mark on a survey or personal information card that you're Christian doesn't mean you are - are the ones who need to take up more leadership positions and be willing to be attacked and in SPITE of those attacks .... maintain the very inner calmness, peace, love, humility, etc .. that Jesus has. And for those of you who can't imagine that, think of MLK Jr.; Dietrich Bonhoeffer; William Wilberforce; those model men and women you meet in the most unexpected place/s and time/s of your life :)

I have found that as I study more of how a true Christian is spos to live, the better I can identify the types of character in people I am particularly turned off by, as well as the character in people I particularly admire ... all the while showing me how much I fall short of what I'm spos to be. I think of that saying...

I'm not who I should be, but thank the Lord I'm not who I used to be!

thanks again google, for the only visual images in most of my blog entries