Faith

There’s a problem we all face – everyday. We have to set some boundaries on where the “world” begins and what influence the “world” is going to have on our lives. While the outward signs of our lives show we are in control, it is really what is in our hearts/minds that trips us up.

The Apostle John was not the only one in the “olden” days to point this out. You can check with David, Solomon, Peter and Paul (Jesus too for that matter). When John says “don’t love the things in the world (1 John 2:15)”, it puts a little speed bump in our lives. When my need for physical desires, things or my importance are the most important things in life, then it’s like hitting the speed bump full speed. We need to slow down for the speed bump – evaluate what is really important.

Remember, it’s what’s inside that controls us, even while we put up a “good front” for the people around us.

Look out! Here comes another speed bump!

Kinda reminds me of being in english class, and having to say the words correctly for each tense of the world. Also, like the Greek classes in college – only there, we had more tenses (tension too) for words. Wasn’t enough to remember past, present and future. We had “perfect”, “future perfect”, etc. Enough to make some of us a little anxious when it came to completing our greek homework.

Connected with an old college-mate who is now President of Fuller Seminary. As we were talking, we reminisced about Henk who was not taking greek, but could sight-read like it was his native tongue. When we would get stuck, we’d look for Henk to find out what those words really meant in English. To top it off, Henk’s native tongue was Dutch, so he was reading Greek and translating it to English that we could understand.

We found out rather quickly that he had learned Greek while in high school in Holland – kind of like our high schoolers taking French or Spanish.

What made me think of swimming was watching the Olympic Trials last night. Then on the news, to hear that there were people complaining that the new swim suits (more like body suits) were helping the swimmers. Sorry, but I don’t think that one of those suits would make me swim faster than I do now. My way of thinking says that practice and exercise will eventually help me get faster. True, the suit may shave seconds and milliseconds off my time, but the suit is not what does the swimming!

Don’t worry, I’m not going out for the 2012 Olympic Team. Maybe a little work or muscle-building and endurance would help, but the suit does not do it! (Remember the Jackie Chan movie?)

This is also like what John says in the middle of 1 John 2 (verses 12-14). In effect, you get better because you have learned from life, how to live. As we practice how we ought to live, we get better. So, keep practicing the “right way”, and it will become the “way” you live. That kinda means I have to keep reading His directions so I keep walking in the light…

This is just my way of inviting you to see the difference between walking in the “light” as opposed to walking in the “dark”.

When I was younger, and heard of famous blind people like Helen Keller, my mind tried to grasp what it would be like to walk through a house that some one “re-arranged” (the worst thing you could do for a blind person). There are some vague memories about a movie about a blind person. I would close my eyes and try to walk through our house in San Francisco, and hope that no one had moved anything.

Often, the strikes in the shin, or some little thing left on the floor became painful reminders that if I was really blind, someone did not care about how it changed my life. On the other hand, it was a painful reminder to me that I could have the same negative impact on other people’s lives – just rearrange it to suit me without telling or talking to anyone else. Notice the me?

More recently (see my blog on being in a cave), walking in the dark has become an exercise to “try and see” as much as possible while wandering around the house. It keeps me from waking some kid who might be asleep on the living room floor. But, sometimes we need the light. We can stumble around and hurt ourselves or others, but we miss the ease with which we could get something done with the lights on. (no jokes about “the lights are on…”)

What has me at this point again is 1 John 2 verse 11 where he says we “walk in darkness and don’t know where we are going because the darkness has blinded us”. Helps me remember to carry a little “light” with me so I can see where I’m going.

Watch out for the broken glass on the floor…