Posts

Showing posts from November, 2013

Waiting...

Image
Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength They shall rise up with wings as eagles They shall run and not get weary They shall walk and not grow faint Teach me Lord to wait (Isaiah 40:31) Was on a hike yesterday.  15 kilometers, up and down.  By the time we were a kilometer or two from the parking lot, my knees ached, my hips were screaming and my feet were protesting.   Upon realization on how old and broken down I sometimes feel at the grand ole age of 51, the scripture about waiting on the Lord popped into the head...actually, it was the walking and not fainting part that popped in...and then I started to ponder it. Here's what I got... Have you ever received a promise?  A certainty from God concerning a plan, or destiny, or much hoped for answer to prayer?  I have.  In 1998 God promised me that He had and was preserving my marriage for a purpose and that it was good to wait for the salvation of the Lord.  But the actual manifestation of a preserved an

East v West on Forgiveness

Image
Western culture values independence. Eastern culture values interdependence.  Western culture raises up children that become adults who hold to a "I'm great, you're great, we're all great" mindset, and if it turns out that someone is not so great as one would like, well, that is attributed to a flaw in their disposition.   And if that flaw in their disposition caused a harm to another, then even the forgiveness the harmed person is asked to extend serves the independent value set.  In other words, in order to keep being great, it's a therapeutic benefit to self,  to forgive.  More importantly, forgiveness itself remains an individual choice in Western culture. Eastern culture on the other hand raises up children that become adults who hold to a "we're in a community, and in order for the community to be great, we each must do our part" mindset.  And if it turns out that someone in the community has not quite done their part and this ca