Two Empowering Verses

In light of recent events including the absolute ownage by both my engineering classes and other unpleasantries throughout the week, here are two verses that i've "meditated" on:

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."

Isaiah 40: 29-31 (future tattoo)

"Now when my heart is troubled, and what shall i say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!"

John 12: 27 (emphasis added)

Why Would I Need Salvation?

Not referencing any Biblical verses, why would someone like me need to be saved? I don't murder, cheat, steal, smoke, hate, cuss, commit adultery, or covet. I'm obedient, polite, respectful, helpful, loving, serving, and I even give a buck to the hobo down the street once in a while. I'm happy with my friends, family, and position in life. Sure, I'd like to be rich and not have to worry about a job or money for the rest of my life, but I believe that when a door closes on one opportunity, a window opens somewhere else. I know I'm lucky to have grown up with both my mom and my dad, to have received thousands of dollars worth of stuff over the years, and to have enough resources to live an above-average lifestyle while making $0 a year.

Sure being a Christian has its benefits. There is love, joy, and peace in a Christian household. There is patience, kindness, and goodness in a fellowship of believers. There is faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control grounded in a belief that God will, essentially, provide the next meal. But how is that different from a Jewish household or a Muslim household? What difference is there between believing in Jesus (and that he was raised to life) and just believing in his teaching as a good prophet?

Basically, what have I done since birth that I should feel some sort of remorse for? Yes, I've fibbed here and there, and gossiped during that seventh grade slumber party, but I've reconciled all of that with the people whom it hurt. What evidence is there (not referencing the Bible) that I need to "make right" with God? What evidence is there that God was hurt? What evidence is there that I, personally (not mankind), need to be saved? And saved from what?

Really Paying the Price

Have you ever wondered about passages like Exodus 22:16-17? This article might be helpful.

Melting Hearts
Crime and Accountability

April 2, 2008

As she sat in her boyfriend's car, a young Texas woman named Dee Dee Washington was shot and killed—an innocent bystander of a drug deal gone bad. For 14 years, the man who fired the shot, Ron Flowers, never admitted to killing her—not until, that is, Ron was admitted to the InnerChange Freedom Initiative® (IFI), the prison program launched by Prison Fellowship in Texas.

IFI applies principles of restorative justice by confronting offenders with the harm they have done to their victims. During one of IFI's Victim Awareness sessions, Ron finally admitted that he did commit the murder, and he prayed that his victim's family would forgive him. He wrote a letter to Dee Dee's mother, Mrs. Anna Washington, expressing his repentance and deep remorse.

For her part, Mrs. Washington had written angry letters every year to the parole board, urging them to deny Ron parole. But when Ron confessed, Mrs. Washington felt an overwhelming conviction that she should meet the man who had killed her daughter.

Prison Fellowship staff carefully prepared Mrs. Washington and Ron for the meeting. Mrs. Washington finally could ask the questions that virtually every victim wants to ask: "Why did you do it?" "How did it happen?" Ron reassured her that her daughter was not involved in the drug deal. As Ron told her about the day that he killed her daughter, Mrs. Washington took his hands in hers and said, "I forgive you."

I was in Houston for Ron's graduation from IFI. As Ron crossed the stage to receive his diploma, Mrs. Washington rose from her seat and walked over to embrace Ron, the man who had murdered her daughter. She then told all of us in the audience, "This young man is my adopted son."

After Ron's release, Mrs. Washington helped him adjust to the community, sat with him at church, had him over for dinner, and even stood by him when he was married.

Only God could bring about such reconciliation and healing.

Unlike our criminal justice system, which focuses solely on public safety and order, restorative justice is also about repairing the harm caused by crime. An important part of the reparative process is victim-offender reconciliation. These meetings allow "victims, offenders, and community members" to discuss what happened and its "aftermath"—to seek repentance and forgiveness.

This is more than an ill-defined sense of "closure." Coming face-to-face with victims can cause offenders to think about their actions and their consequences in a way that punishment alone never can.

Anyone who has spent time around inmates knows that many view themselves as victims—something that is harder to do when you have spoken to the real victims. Research suggests that inmates who meet with their victims are more likely to pay court-ordered restitution than those who do not.

You see, as I have said countless times, crime is a moral and spiritual issue. That being the case, rehabilitation can happen only when offenders see their offenses as more than rule-breaking: They must see them as a transgression against God and other people.

While promoting order is the God-given role of government, there is more to justice than police, prosecutors, and prison. Justice also means repairing the harm caused by crime, which requires going where government cannot go—to the human heart.

A Non-intuitive View on Relationships

Why I Don't Watch Grays Anatomy

"You deserve to be with somebody who makes you happy, somebody who's not gonna complicate your life, somebody who won't hurt you." -from the television show Gray's Anatomy

It's possible that I'm taking this quote completely out of context (I came across it on someone's blog as a sort of "credo of love"), but it seems like one of those things we think we deserve that really we wouldn't even want.

Now, you don't want to be with someone who is always making you unhappy or someone who is always complicating your life unnecessarily or someone who is always hurting you.

But I am married to the most amazing person I know and the idea that all she does is make me happy or that she never complicates my life or that she never hurts me...well, that's absurd. If that were my ideal, I'd be with someone far less interesting and exciting or else I'd be someone far less interesting or exciting.

You folks that seek out chaos and confuse it with love, I'm not talking to you.

But you folks who think love is the final scene in "Sleepless In Seattle", I am talking to you. All that scene is is two strangers in love with the idea of being in love.

Give me someone who makes me happy and also makes me so much more. Give me someone worth complicating my life over. Give me someone I care enough about to be hurt by as well as someone who loves me enough to not want to hurt me.

Give me the love that doesn't feel like work, but takes work nonetheless. Give me a third choice besides Gray's Anatomy drama and Gray's Anatomy platitudes. Give me the challenges of real life love.

Credit: PastorKes at "The Dope Is That There's Still Hope".