Five Authors

I was reading an application for a program today.  One of the questions was "List five authors that you like to read (in a non-work capacity).  Why do you like to read those authors?"

I struggled to think of five authors that I like to read consistently.  Add in that the program was a religious education program, and that probably skewed the answers I would like to give (is it pandering to list the man who runs the program who happens to be an author?).

Here are the authors I came up with:

1.  C.S. Lewis - I enjoy reading his fiction works and I like to think through his apologetics.
2.  Tim Keller - Love his clear writing.  Also makes me stop and think.
3.  Dante - I'm not finished with the Divine Comedy yet, but I already know I need to re-read it.
4.  Agatha Christie - love mysteries that can keep me guessing.

I couldn't come up with any others.  I read a lot, but not really anyone consistently.

So for a final answer:
5.  Shane Claiborne - I don't always agree with him, but he makes me consider and justify why I don't agree with him.


 Who would you pick?

Rapture on May 21st?

A preacher has predicted that tomorrow, May 21st, the rapture will occur.  For those who don't understand this Christian insider term, "the Rapture" is when those who believe in Christ are taken into heaven before the "Great Tribulation."

This hasn't always been considered to happen before the Tribulation, and in fact, the timing of the Rapture (pre-Trib, mid-Trib etc). is hotly disputed in many Christian circles.

The publicity of this prediction bothers me.  While on one hand Jesus' return is to be greatly celebrated, on the other the amount of ridicule that will land on Christians if the prediction is wrong will be great.

I do not believe the Rapture will occur tomorrow - in fact it may be the one time I could guarantee it will not occur.  Why?  Because the Bible is clear that no one but God knows the day and the hour.  This prediction is in direct contravention of scripture.

Why would God not want us to know when the Rapture would occur?  If we knew when it was, we could all put off following Christ until right before it happened.  Instead of living holy lives, we could live wild lives and repent at the last instant.  Some of us already try to do this by hoping for a death bed conversion and repentance.

So while the Rapture is something to look forward to, we are to continue on in the work God has called us to, so when Christ appears, he finds us faithful servants.

Diamonds

From Nick & Nancy Stinnett:  South African diamond miners move and sift thousands of tons of rock and dirt looking for a few tiny diamonds.  Too often we do the opposite in our relationships; we sift through the diamonds eagerly searching for dirt.

Infertility & Singleness

Infertility has been a topic on the Christian radio station I have been listening to lately.  It seems Focus on the Family and a few other ministries have taken on the topic to provide counsel to couples experiencing this difficulty.  It is an area in which much compassion and understanding needs to be poured.

There does seem to be one angle that is missing in this discussion: that of singles.  As a single woman, when I was asked about infertility during a foster care class, I wondered why it was an issue.  But the more I thought about it, I realized it was an area I needed to re-consider.

Singles are already working through a counter-cultural lifestyle, which may have not been their choice.  Whether they have married and divorced, never married or been widowed, singles are wrestling with the lack of romantic relationship within a culture that strongly values coupling.

Within the Christian Church, the pressure to couple is even worse than that of the culture.  Singles classes are designed in part to pair people off into couples.  Church Adult education involves parenting classes, marriage classes and small groups full of couples.

To this external pressure add the internal pressure: singles desire romance.  We singles are willing to go to extremes to find love, as the online explosion of dating websites testifies.  One can go to lunch on a date set up by a matchmaker, "date" several people  in less than an hour in a speed dating event, or put an ad in the newspaper.  But for some, love is elusive, and that causes pain.  One friend confided to me that looking at anniversary announcements was particularly painful as she aged, because each birthday made it more impossible for her to ever be married that long.

There is another dynamic going on too - the failure to have children.  As each year goes by without a permanent relationship, singles also lose out on the opportunity to have children.  Sometimes the prospect of parenting arises through accidental pregnancy, but in general, many singles find themselves without partners and without children.

While Christian couples may feel both internal and external pressure to have children, singles feel mostly internal pressure, but there can be external pressure too from parents and others.  So while childless couples may be emotional at the thought of Mother's Day, many singles may feel the same way.

For me, my ideal was to get married and have children.  But as time ticked by and I am not married, I decided I could still have children.  After exploring several options, I decided adoption and foster care would be my best options.  In my mind, I did not want to find myself at age 50 without children.  Other singles have commented that the spousal relationship was their primary desire, not the children.

So while some couples and some singles are content with their childlessness.  Others are not.  The church needs to recognize both couples and singles may be struggling with infertility and should seek to help out both by providing comfort, care, and understanding.

Busyness of Time

Life is a constant scheduling adventure for me.  To say I have things planned down to the second is not much of a stretch.  I work full-time as a criminal defense attorney, attend seminary as a full-time student, sing for a community choir, participate in a variety of ministries at my church, and keep in touch with friends and family.

Most of the time, I manage to get through.  And I am amazed at the number of things I can accomplish and maintain my sanity.  It is at these times that I have to remind myself that God is in control, and it is only by His grace that I do manage to do all this.

But at other times, I feel overwhelmed.  I dream about skipping out on a few obligations.  It is then that exercise, daily time with God, prayer, and relationships start to fall to the wayside.

In the midst of this busyness, I still find time to agonize over adoption, foster care and whether I will ever marry.  It feels as though these negative thoughts always find time in my schedule to appear.  Should I be in seminary?  Is it necessary to help out in those church ministries?

It is then that I am reminded that Proverbs 16:9 says, "In their hearts, human beings plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps."    God is in control.  His plan will prevail, regardless if it is a plan I would chose or not (and I often choose wrong).

Isaiah 28:29 tells us that "All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent."

So as I see time passing rapidly by, I am comforted to know that God, the creator of time and one who stands outside time, has a plan for me.

Una Vocis Concert

Tomorrow Night, Una Vocis will be performing at Holy Family Catholic Church at 7 p.m.

We have several a cappella numbers and a few in Latin.  We have four Eric Whitacre songs and two lengthy pieces.

Hope to see you there!

Teetering on the Edge

Since mid-April, I have been extremely busy, even for me.  I have had events and projects each weekend and a massive amount of homework due.  I've been teetering on the edge of exhaustion and too much to do!

Fortunately, homework over the past two weeks has been light, but I still had two books to read and write about.  I had a sermon to rework for church, a busy time at work, and more progress to be made on the adoption/foster parenting front.  I had my last SEEL retreat on Saturday, and while it was bittersweet, it is nice to have all of my Saturdays back - maybe the lawn will actually get mowed soon!

My choir rehearsals have increased to two per week for the concert scheduled Saturday. After this week, my schedule gets much lighter, which is good as I have to write a couple big papers for the end of semester.  So, if I can make it through next Sunday, life will be good.

The classes this quarter have been heavy reading and writing classes.  The one on multiculturalism is a nearly identical repeat of the class I had last summer (I'm still not impressed with it), and I really don't understand why there are two classes on the topic.  My other class, on the lifecycle, has been interesting and I've learned a few things. The combination of the two is a bit much.  For some reason, the distance courses seem to give the professors the license to require a book per week to be read and reported about while also posting two or three times per week and watching video'ed lectures.  This is one area that needs to be reevaluated by the university!

Some quick links

I've read a few interesting articles on the web the past few days, and thought I would pass them on:

NYT wrote that Haiti has a problem with mother's prematurely stopping breast feeding as they believe their milk is bad.  Naturally this lead to severe problems for the children, who sometimes do not survive.

India, on the other hand, is still having trouble with girls. The caste system requires that girls give dowery to their husband's family, so families seek to get rid of girls out of an inability to pay the dowery. For the rich this means selective abortion (even though disclosure of gender via ultrasound is forbidden in India); for the poor, this means starving girls to death after birth.  It struck me that India is about 20 years behind China with this same problem - which is now starting to erupt with Chinese men finding they cannot find a partner due to the small female population.

Finally, I discovered the list of the most expensive homes in America.  The asking price for these homes would go a long way to ease the first two problems, listed above.  But, why consider that when you could get a china room or a gift wrap room?

I also discovered this week the organization kiva.org  The basic idea is that you can loan $25 to microfinance various projects around the world. The projects range from buying motorbikes for a courier/taxi service to agricultural pursuits to restaurant/food vendors.  Some of the loans are guaranteed, but some are not.  It looks like a nice way to spend $25 bettering the world (and you may even get the money back!).