Words, words...

I picked up this cheap toy today. My up-front reason is that I need something new for my children's meetings, but I must admit, the clincher was that I wanted all of you to see this:


"Usage Elucidation"?


Admittedly, it is "not for children under 3 years", but that still seems a bit stiff.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a real words fan. I appreciate being able to "elucidate" my meaning when talking (I had to look the word up, and I'm still not sure I'm using it correctly- the "luc" part is light, i.e., "shed light on"). But, you can overdo it pretty easily.
At our Project Timothy seminar recently we ran across this one:"Personal Mastery- learning to expand our personal capacity to create results we most desire and creating an organizational environment which encourages all it's members to develop themselves toward the goals and purposes they choose."
Our instructor pointed out that this means "being able to do what you're trying to do".The jargon is okay for specialist studies, but it's a bit hard on our members for whom English is a second language.
I guess we Christians need to take heed as well. If we are trying to explain our faith to someone, we need to make sure the explination is understandable to our hearers, who may not be up on all our church jargon.

Shirts Again

Who Thinks These Up?


Maybe there is a company in Hong Kong that comes up with this stuff and sells to the highest bidder.
There is, despite a huge range of mottos, from sublime to ridiculous to unintelligable, a common denominator to these shirts: the wearers invariably look down in surprise when I ask "What does your shirt say?" They seem not to notice that there is anything written on them. Considering the nature of some of the messages, that is a risky way to clothe oneself.

End of an Era

Roll over, Descartes

Hakodate is a unique city, as you can see from this, one of it's delightful souvenier items- mini cheesecakes with a selling line to remember.
Hakodate lies just across the Strait of Tsugaru from Aomori City. We can get there in a few hours, but it's a pricey trip because of the need to cross water. Why bother? Because Hakodate was one of the first Japanese cities to open to the outside after the 250 years of political isolation of the Tokugawa Shogunate (this period ended in 1865). On July 28, 1945, American bombers annihilated the city of Aomori with fire bombs, then flew across the strait to hit Hakodate. Due to heavy cloud cover, Hakodate was spared. So now, Aomori is a relatively boring new city, while Hakodate has many old, historical buildings. These include many of the Meiji-Victorian type popular when the country first opened and began to adapt to western styles. And, it became possible for us to explore them when our daughter Mary enrolled in the Far Eastern University of Vladivostok, Japan branch, 4 years ago.
Four years! It went quickly. And, when we attended her graduation 2 weeks ago, I was dismayed to realize that we were loosing our base in Hakodate- no more free housing when we visit; in fact, little excuse left to visit at all.
Of course, Mary didn't get the housing free. However, it was so cheap that we saved an estimated $15,000 over the 4 years she was there.


Mary With Her Landlady


The apartment was provided through this wonderful lady, who was renting it on behalf of the absentee owners. Mary got it for the cost of annual taxes- obviously rather low, due to it's age, size (12'x30'), and condition. She also got this kimono from the same generous lady, who showed up at her grad to see Mary in all her silken splendor!
So, a bittersweet day- the end of one era and the beginning of another.


Mary's Apartment- the Brown One in the Middle

Tradition and Fads

Here we are at the last of four sessions of a training course called "Project Timothy". Laurie and I are both rather old for the Timothy role, but it has been good to be part of the seminar over the last 18 months.
As we chewed over this morning's topic ("systems thinking"), I began to reflect that tradition and fads are really the same thing. If you try to take a set of attitudes and actions across a generational/time boundary, it is a tradition. If you attempt to do the same over a social/cultural boundary, it is a fad. Either way, you are trying to make something fit into a new situation without asking whether it is appropriate or not.
In Matthew 13:52, Jesus said "Every teacher of the Law who has been instructed about the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old". Teachers of the Jewish law had been arguing with Jesus about what is or is not God's Word to man. Jesus answered with 6 parables about God's Word; parables that speak of it's power to transform the lives of those who seek to know it's meaning. The old traditions of the Jewish teachers contained treasures of truth from God. Jesus' Words, too, are treasures from God. It is not a question of old or new, but of prayerfully seeking to understand God's Word, then obey it so it transforms your life; so it becomes your greatest treasure.
There is a lot of argument in churches now. Some want to dump all the old stuff; others reject the new stuff. Forget about old and new- seek the treasure in both.

My Cat Don't Love Me Any More...

Our venerable cat Cleo (aged 13 years) always sat on my lap during family devotions. She sheds a lot. That can be a problem, especially on Sundays, when I'm wearing my black suit. On top of it, she developed VERY bad breath. Then she started acting weird about food and got really skinny. The vet pointed out what should have been obvious- she has bad teeth, and now infected gums, and eyes (from washing, cat style). He gave me some nasty-tasting medicine which I give her by prying her sore mouth open and jetting the stuff into the back of her throat with an eyedropper. And the eyes get stinging eyedrops. So lately, Cleo hasn't been sitting on my lap. In fact, everytime I get near her , she looks at me like this....


If Looks Could Kill


Which brings me to something I have been pondering lately concerning love and hate. I've been teaching from Genesis, and thinking about God and Satan, love and hate. Generally we consider love and hate to be opposites, but I'm beginning to think that hate is love gone wrong. There is still a lot of strong emotion and caring in hate. Perhaps the real opposite of love is indifference. And, if that is so, we can't say "I am a loving person because don't hate anyone". Instead, we find our lack of love staring us in the face as we begin to notice all those around us we should be showing concern for, but are ignoring.