January 2010 Archives

I live in the present, the now. So do you. So does everyone. Yet, some of us live under rules imposed by our past, living in a bondage to people and events long gone. Nevertheless, we live in the present. Others live focused on the future, caring little for the problems of now and thinking only of what lies ahead. Nevertheless, they, too, are in the present.

We are creatures of the present. We may carry our past, like a heavy weight chained to our back, or we may be oblivious to the world around us now in our fixation on the future, the world of our hopes and dreams "then." But either way, like it or not, we cannot escape the "now." And the present makes certain demands on us, like it or not.

So how are we to understand the present? What is the purpose and meaning of our pain, our unfulfilled longings?

Well, I finally did it. I finally got a copy of The Shack, and sat down to read it. When it comes to fiction, I am not on the cutting edge of things. But some folks have asked me to read it and respond. In fact, they asked me back when the book first came out, years ago. So, promptly answering the call of friendship, here it is.

I confess I am not much of a reader of fiction. It's not that I don't like it, but that I have so much other stuff to read, I just don't have time. But I was up to my eyeballs in the theology book I was reading, and needed something "light." So I picked up The Shack.

My first concern was that I would lose interest and not finish. That didn't happen. I read through it in less than 48 hours.

It's funny, the things you can find in scripture sometimes. Like last night, in a discussion centered on Jude, I was reading along in verse 5. Perhaps you know the place: "But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe."

Though I have read this passage many times, last night I first noticed that "Lord" is not in small caps. Significance?

Sunday, January 3, 2010, a man died. A life ended. It was not unexpected, and in fact, came far later than anyone expected. Three days ago as I post this, there was a funeral, and people were given a chance to stand and speak of the man, telling of memories or stories of his life.

I have been thinking for some time about this life, since long before it ended, but especially as I listened to those speaking and I observed his sisters, nieces and nephews, and especially, his own sons.