What?? No pictures??

The wedding invitations are made!

Kristi designed her wedding invitations using ideas from different ones we've received and the unending options detailed in magazines. While the initial motivation may have been $$$ . . . the reward and "savings" has been memories of she, Julie and others designing, making changes and then committing to the final project.

Friday and Saturday evening a few friends and family gathered to assemble 225 invites. Thanks Mary, Lisa, Alyssa, Sharon and Carmen for using your gifts and sharing your love with us.

My only regret is that the camera, which was intentionally set out to capture a few moments, was never used. (I think that was my (dad) job). So we have no pictures to tell the stories of assembling and give a preview of the invitations. However, we have in our hearts and minds the joy of working together along with the pleasure of the completed project. As I watched, and I was truly an outsider to this project (for good reason), the love, joy and friendship these women shared was a great encouragement.

Now it is on to labels, addressing and postage! :-)

PS: we do have an official photographer for June 12. :-)

To forgive, to reconcile, or not

Last week in the N.T. class I teach at Malone University we had 60 minutes to survey Romans! :-( One advantage of being the teacher is that you get to choose what to emphasize. It reminds me of something I learned from Don Meyer, a basketball clinician whose system and philosophy I integrated while coaching: "It's not what you teach, it's what you emphasize." Sorry for the little flashback to days gone by. :-)

Anyway, assuming that most, if not all, students would be familiar with "... all have sinned ..." from chapter 3 I chose to start with 5:1-11 with a goal of having them considering the enemy love principle: "For if when we were God's enemies we were reconciled ..." I had hopes of introducing students not only to being forgiven and having new life but to consider a parallel teaching in II Corinthians 5:16-21 which instructs us that God gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

Well I never got to my "agenda"! What seemed to be a simple question became a mutually teachable moment. (One of my greatest joys as a Bible teacher is when the truth of Scripture exposes the reality of daily life.)

I suggested that forgiveness and reconciliation are not necessarily the same experience or response to the gospel message of Jesus. It is possible to forgive, a choice of the moment which we may repeat each day as we desire to live in love with or toward those who have wronged or hurt us. This in itself is a dynamic step of love which is not necessarily easy.

When we forgive we release, we give up the "right" of vengeance, the eye for eye philosophy. By releasing this "right" we also begin to release the anger, hate and control which being wronged can cause. Jesus insists that to be a follower is forgive.

Further I suggested that reconciliation is the ongoing commitment to be right and just in relationship with others. Finally I offered that while we always forgive sometimes reconciling seems impossible. (And this is just from the perspective of when we were the one offended or wronged!)

I was "surprised" at the authentic, vulnerable responses and questions. Some argued that there are situations when we've been so wronged that it is impossible to forgive let alone even consider any kind of reconciliation. One quote haunted me yet seems so real, "I don't want to be in the same country as ______!"

I quietly closed class with a reminder that forgiveness is the way of Jesus, it is the heart of God; and, reconciliation is the "new" life we are promised. We don't go back to the way it was, we strive for "new."

On my ride home my mind wandered and wondered. It seemed that for some the teaching of being a people who forgive was either something "new" or something that is simple, profoundly impossible because . . . I know full-well that sometimes forgiving is not what I want to do, nor can I say what I have always done.

Yet the words of Jesus remain, see Matthew 6: 12-15. What has the "church" (and those of us who teach and preach) done and taught that makes forgiving seem impossible or not required by some? What is forgiving I wondered?

This morning I sit humbled with the reality of lack of forgiveness and forgiving; the hope for reconciliation yet the reality of what must change to be reconciled . . .

Have mercy on my soul, mind, heart and strength Lord Jesus!

Cruise memories

The poem below us an attempt to share some of what we experienced on our cruise. A little context first. One concern on a ship is motion sickness caused by the constant rocking of the ship in the ocean. While noticeable it didn't really bother us. On deck early Sunday morning while enjoying fresh coffee, sunshine and warm ocean breezes I started writing a poem to capture my experience. I finished the poem here at home.

Morning Coffee on Deck

swaying, gently rocking
tipping side to side
balance impossible
longing for stillness
the rhythms of the sea

leaning side to side
always moving
movement unending
yearning for stillness
captured by the rhythms of the sea

a bit queasy so looking for land
desire to fight it, resist it
my own balance I prefer
letting go as stillness nears
embraced by the rhythms of the sea

trust it
losing self
resting in the caress
safe in the embrace
stilled by the rhythms of the sea