Life Review: Picts of arrival to Sweden

We began this blog in Sverige in Feb 2012. Here are some picts from our arrival in Sverige. 

Our Apartment...

Our Terrific view...

A tiny, but effective shower...

Here's my boss, Hans Christian Holmberg, and my former Ph.D. Student, Dr. Jesper Sjokvist.

My desk at work.

What GREAT memories!!

A Few Funerals

It occurred to Brenda and I a few days back that we are attending a LOT of funerals these days.  I think we have had 4 in the last 4 weeks. All of these funerals have been of Christian Believers, so none of them were overly sad, though clearly there is sadness at the physical loss of a friend.

Funerals are interesting. Often there is a summing up of the person's life.  The last lady was a remarkable woman who had a large number of descendants and many wonderful testimonies to her wonderful impact, particularly spiritually, on everyone around her.

I was pleased at the way that funeral went. A few years back, I wrote out my own funeral. With some obvious differences, I was pleased that my plan wasn't too different from hers.

I have been to a few funerals for non-Believers, and that is an exceedingly sad time indeed.  I have read several times lately the story in Luke 16 about the rich man and Lazarus who died. One of the take-aways from that parable is the reality and horrors of hell. Most of us, me included, don't give it much thought. Maybe if we did, we'd have a greater impetus to share the Gospel.

If you have no hope, if you think we die and then there is nothing, please seek out a Follower of Christ and ask them how you can have Eternal Life.

Because one of these days, a bunch of people will surely be attending your funeral.  And we don't want that to be an exceedingly sad time indeed.

Life Review: My ONE Graduation Speech

This past Saturday, 11 May I spoke to the 14 Graduates of the Grace Christian High School, and their 200+ parents, grandparents, and friends. In truth I was a bit surprised at the very large crowd in attendance.

Here is a summary of the 20 min, 35 second talk (Yes, I went over a tiny bit because my timer went to sleep).

What Matters Most??

Abe Lincoln- These words will not be long remembered.  Will be short.

We have two diff audiences today: Parents+Grands and Graduates.

We have 5 kids- so we have been through this very ceremony 5x.

First to parents I shall VIOLATE my own Advice to you:  Unsolicited advice is like teaching a pig to sing. It doesn't do any good, and it irriates the pig.  

A BIG Mistake of MINE- failure to Bar/bas mitzvah my kids- Adulthood.- Moving on- THIS CEREMONY

Ps 127—G^d’s Hands

Graduates

Any Latin Scholars ??- What is “Vocare”- calling.  G^d is calling you to do some basic things… but MOSTLY to a Life in Him.

Consider what things/thoughts/actions matter most? Think about Why people jump off buildings.

Again  You are NOW out on your own—parents don’t like that thought- but it is true.

ADVICE—YOURS for TAKING or LEAVING- You are NOW adults.

)   First advice Eccl 12:12**-- Love G^D and KEEP His Commandments!

2)   Mentoring 52 Ph.D.s>>Love it- don’t marry it.

3)   Ask Questions--but for RIGHT reasons!  Ask to learn, not to excuse.

4)   Life apart from G^d is incomprehensible/purposeless.  We MUST be connected to the L^rd who is OUR SHEPHERD.  Deut 2- 2:7- The L^rd knows you as you go through the wilderness and HE promises that you will lack NOTHING!

5)   ALWAYS look to eternity—hard to do. LiFE IS SHORT.  Matt 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth…

6)   Build your house on THE ROCK.  Matt 7 

7)   Matt 16:26- What does it profit to Gain Batchelor's, Master's, Ph.D and lose own soul??

8)   Want to life without fear?  Love Jesus! Gettysburg story

 Baruch Eta Adonai Elohenu

It seemed well received by the parents and Grandparents. We shall see...

"Your work is your Identity"--NOT!

I was a bit taken aback at a recent Dept of Labor Advert that declared clearly, "Your work is your Identity". That ought to give us pause.

I must confess, when I meet a new person, one of my questions often is, "What is your day job?" Indeed, one of the most revealing things about a person is their occupation. And, for many of us, our occupation is our KEY identity. Among professors, we often go to GREAT lengths to describe not just our day gig, but details beyond most people's interest. I guess professoring is pretty prestigious, so we want to make SURE that folks know just how prestigious we are.

But, upon further review, I realize my thinking is wrong, as is many others. Our identity is NOT in our work, no matter how mundane or amazing our work may be. What we do is what pays the bills, and perhaps gives us an opp for ministry, but beyond that it says little about us as a person.

We are, and forgive the cliche, Children of our Father, the G^d who created the Universe. We have other minor identities, but this is the KEY one. If I could fully engage this identity for myself, but more importantly for others, the world would look largely different.

Our racism, sexism, whateverism, would fade greatly, and, truly would VANISH. We would see each person as a brother/sister or potential sister/brother. Jesus DIED for every person (please suspend our Calvinism for a moment here), and every person is an ETERNAL being with great worth to G^d... and to us, if we see them rightly.

L^rd, by your grace, help us to see others as of MUCH greater purpose than our occupation.

Two Types of Sinners- What kind are you?

I was recently preparing to teach from Mark 6 about the beheading of John the Baptizer. As I was prepping, and praying and meditating, it occurred to me that John had gotten his trouble for a bad reason--at least that's my hypothesis. John was calling out Herod, a pagan, for violating Jewish law. Now, there is NO DOUBT that what Herod did was clearly wrong, from multiple perspectives, but as an unrepentant SINNER, what would you expect. In fact, as an Unrepentant sinner, I'd argue that Herod's sin was consistent with his unrepentant fallen nature. Sinners will sin, because they have an unchanged nature. There is NO POINT in criticizing an unrepentant sinner for sinning, any more than it makes sense to criticize a black bear for acting like a bear, or a cat acting like a cat. If the church would get that in our collective heads, we would be far better off.

Now I am a different type of sinner. I am a repentant sinner. I FIRST realized I was a sinner at a young age, and recognized that I, as a sinner, needed to repent, and NEEDED a SAVIOR. In my need I cried out to G^d, and by his GRACE and MERCY, because of the BLOOD ATONEMENT of our perfect G^d-man, Jesus the Christ, G^d forgave me and I entered into an eternal life of relationship with Him.

I still sin, and if you see me, you are OBLIGATED to bring my sin to my attention, and help me (Matthew 18), since any sin I commit is against you too, as part of the Body of Christ.

So, there are TWO types of sinners: Repentant ones like me, and UNrepentant ones. Please do NOT make the mistake of "casting your pearls before swine", because that Scripture already tells us, it can bring bad responses (Matt 7:6). Just ask John the Baptizer.

10 things I LOVE about my Wife

This blog was one of the easiest to write. It probably only took me about 10 minutes.

#1 Brenda is one of the MOST considerate people I have ever met. She considers other’s feelings and needs ahead of her own.

#2 She is very considerate of me--my needs, weaknesses, faults.

#3 She has a HEART of SERVICE.  She is “in her sweet spot” when she is serving others. I don’t understand it, but I LOVE it.

#4 She has developed a great sense of HUMOR. This is extremely valuable. She sees the humor in events that buoys me and gives me perspective.

#5 She has an ADVENTURESOME spirit. She is excited to travel the world and live in places like Sverige and Botswana.

#6 She was, and is, an Exemplary MOTHER to our children— though I am not sure how many we have.

#7 She is an excellent HOUSE KEEPER in all respects. You don’t appreciate this, until you have to do it.

#8 She asks good questions that helps us both see things more clearly—in which she often exceeds my vision by a LOT.

#9 She BUILDS me UP in her support of my stuff.

#10 She is an example of SACRIFICIAL LOVE. She puts others ahead of herself. She will sacrifice her own time, comfort, energy in expressing love to others.

I could go on, but her upbeat, positive approach to life supports those first 10 Qualities. If you are looking for a role model, look her way!

Thanks be to G^d for giving me this super gift of Brenda!

Ahhh, a Little Fishin'

One of the things Brenda and I had hoped for in our new home was water view and access. We had been looking for months, and at one point had made a deposit on a home, but felt so uncomfortable that we gave up our deposit.

We live reasonably close to a very large lake, Lake Tuscaloosa. Because of demand for lake-front property, the prices are very high. Too, many of these homes are 100 feet or more ABOVE the lake surface, which tends to make the views great, but the access more problematic.  We considered Smith Lake, where houses are much cheaper, but I hate driving which ruled out many spots on Lake Tuscaloosa, and all of them at Smith Lake.

G^d provided us a place on, what I call, Walden Pond (after Thoreau's book). It has a little lake/pond that I would guess to be about 5 acres. On two Sundays I had taken some/most of the grandkids fishing, but I hadn't got to make over a very few casts in trying to teach them fishing.

This past week, I had a morning free, so invited a friend, Craig to do a little fishing. The point wasn't to fish, but to fellowship together since we seldom get to spend any time together. It was an overcast morning with rain storms predicted at 11 AM-- a great situation for fish to bite.

Before we had even gotten in the canoe Craig had a strike. We launched the boat and Craig immediately started hooking small bass. After a few short minutes, I realized Craig, a skilled angler, knew what he was doing and promptly switched to a bait similar to his.

Craig caught a BUNCH of fish in the 2 hours we fished, and I caught some.  We wound up with about 40 bass of 10-12 inches.  But, most importantly we had a couple hours of PURE RELAXATION, enjoying G^d's creation.  We only saw one person during the fishing time, and got off the lake just as the downpour began.

Lake rules limit us to 4 bass.  And so Brenda and I enjoyed 6 of the 8 filets

at supper that night.

When you know you're Leaving a Place

I recently had lunch with a young Christian Prof who has accepted a job at another university, but will continue at his present university for the next year. Unsolicited he offered this, "When you know you're Leaving a place, you see things differently. Things that used to bother me are no longer important."

WOW, What a great perspective!  I have written about this before, but I wear a bracelet that used to say "Guest".  I wear it to try ot remind me of the Prof's observation.  ALL of us, regardless or our spiritual position, are leaving this place, and it will be "very soon, very soon". And our attitude ought to be, "things that used to bother me, are no longer important."

Indeed. We are MOSTLY bothered by things that will be totally immaterial in a few years. We are leaving this place, so don't put so much effort into thing that aren't important.

Now, I just need to keep reminding myself of that fact.

Gettysburg: Communicating "Above the Line"

I do a lot of communicating. At the Leadership Conference at Gettysburg, we talked about "Communicating Above the Line".  I like the thought, though not all that successful at it.

In brief, communicating above the line" means we devote our efforts primarily to communication about Purpose and Philosophy (above the line) rather than about policies, procedures and practices (below the line). If you reflect a bit, I think you will agree that much of the word from our work leaders, and most others concerns "below the line", with Purpose and Philosophy spoken of much less.

Communications, I learned in school, is a KEY to leadership.  I also learned that clear, comprehensible communication is more difficult than we assume due to the large potential for error. Every communication has:
1) A Message,
2) A Sender, and
3) A Receiver.

Errors can occur at any point. In my view, there were numerous communications blunders in the several battles that comprised the Gettysburg Campaign.  But, if can communicate clearly the Purpose and Philosophy, then those errors will be reduced in number and impact.

What was Jesus' Purpose and Philosophy? I think you can easily answer those. What was his "below the line" directions- He wasn't all that particular about policies, procedures and practices. Think about it.