When a human being’s belief system is challenged by another, the typical response is not to enter into a rational discussion, but to engage in revealing anger.
"Anger never rises out of genuine commitment; it is always a product of threatened security"
~John Shelby Spong, "Eternal Life: A New Vision"
Tim King, over at Post Christian Blog posted an awesome article today. He posted a list of affirmations that we need to remember to affirm.
- I live every day in fullness and without want
- I am doing what I was born to do and am perfectly suited for
- I am gifted at (listening, embracing, teaching, loving, encouraging)
- I am compassion incarnate
- I am an excellent communicator
- I am a gifted ambassador for the embodiment of Jesus in the world
- I will continue, for a lifetime, to do what I love: to read and research and learn
- I am a powerful and resourceful creator
- I have great abundance
- I am focused and persistent
- I am a person that is filled with joy
- I am disciplined and passionate about living life to the full
Thanks Tim for the reminder.
Your life can change in the blink of an eye. Mine did. It was Saturday, August 8th, 2009, around 1:00 PM. I was mowing our big back yard with my lawn tractor as I have many times for the past 10+ years. I think I’m a little OCD (CDO, alphabetical!), so when I mow I want to mow as close to the trees as possible. I was watching the base of this mesquite tree, bending over forward watching the deck to get as close as possible, again, I’ve mowed around this tree many, many times. Suddenly, my head hits a low hanging limb that I had forgotten was there! I hit the limb hard enough to put a nice scrape on the top of my bald head. But, what came next was so much more serious. Hitting the limb pushed me just far enough to lift my left foot off the brake, while at the same time causing my right foot to press down further on the throttle pedal. Uh oh, not good. Not good at all! As a result, the tractor continued under the large limb, pressing my upper body almost double in the seat. The seat back is fairly high so the limb could not simply sweep me off of the tractor, which would probably have been preferable. Instead, I was pressed down and to the right on the seat while the tractor continued on. As I went under the large limb, I heard a loud crack! It was my upper back in the cervical area. Immediately, I felt a tremendous pain in the upper back, right arm, and right leg. It felt like the right side of my body was on fire!
The tractor continued on its way for about 10 feet and cleared the limb. Somehow, and I have no idea how, I began steering with my left hand and made it the 150 feet to the house. I guess I knew I needed to get there.When I reached the house, I got off the tractor, who knows how, because my right side was going numb and didn’t work so well. I somehow opened the gate and started up several steps which lead to the deck next to our pool. When I hit the last step, I collapsed to the right, for obvious reasons, and ended up in the ground cover at the west end of our pool (side note: If I had gone the other way, I would have ended up IN the pool). I lay there for an interminable amount of time before I finally rolled to the left, avoiding the pool and somehow pulled myself back to the vertical. I hobbled through another gate, through the back door into the kitchen where I collapsed on the floor. My wife, Gena, was reading and immediately came to my aid. I told her what happened and she started to call 911. I yelled for her not to do that yet. I wanted to see if I was really hurt badly (not thinking too clearly, obviously, as she will tell you). You see, it was her birthday. We had planned to go out to eat at a nice restaurant for dinner later that day. I didn’t want to disappoint her and somehow thought maybe I would get to feeling better in a while. She told me she wanted to make the call, but I insisted that she not. After about an hour and a half, I was finally able to sit up. Feeling was beginning to return to my right leg. My right arm, however, was very numb. At least the horrible pain in both was lessening. The real pain now seemed to radiate from underneath my right shoulder blade, near the cervical spine. As time passed, I felt I was getting better. I promised my wife I would go to the Emergency Room on Sunday if I wasn’t better. About five o’clock, I decided I was good enough to take my wife out to dinner, much to her protestations. But, we went! She drove.I made it through dinner, with some difficulty. I slept in fits Saturday night. I was very uncomfortable. Sunday came and went without me going to the Emergency Room. I promised my wife I would get an appointment with our family doctor on Monday.
I saw our family doctor on Monday. He ordered x-rays, an MRI, and a prescription for pain. I dislike taking pain medicine. Don’t like the way it makes me feel.The doctor called me the next day with the results. He told me that the disc at C-5/C-6 appeared to be bulging slightly so he wanted me to see an Orthopedist. I made an appointment for the next Friday, the earliest he could see me. The next three days, I slept very little. The pain in my upper back precluded any significant rest. I went to see the Orthopedist. He checked me out, looked at the scan and x-rays, consulted with a cervical specialist in the same group and told me it appeared that I had a cervical strain/sprain at C-5/C-6, and that I was extremely fortunate. He said the area in question, which has come to be known as the "Christopher Reeve" area, is the most common area for traumatic spine injury and that when severe trauma occurs there, one is paralyzed from the chest down with little chance for recovery. He recommended that I begin a program of physical therapy to restore health to the area.
I think that’s when it really hit me. I could have very easily been paralyzed by this accident. In the blink of an eye, my whole life would have changed, and not for the good. My wife obviously understood that possibility better than I. She told me that the next time she wanted to call 911, she would not consult me, she would just make the call. I agree that I had lacked a quickness of mind during the situation, and that I should have allowed her to make the call. In other words, I had acted stupidly!
The Orthopedist recommend a physical therapy group called Select Physical Therapy, the same group that had treated my wife for back pain. I checked the internet for the nearest location and found Theraworks, about 5 miles from home. I called them and made an appointment for Midday. What would begin that Monday would be four weeks of therapy.
Monday, I met my therapist, Kasey Aiken. Kasey took down all the facts about the accident, asked me for a description of my pain, and told me what she planned for my rehabilitation. She began that program immediately. Kasey was very good. For each exercise she offered an explanation why I was doing it and what that exercise was supposed to do. She told me she wanted to find what she called the "trigger point" for my pain. She laid me face-down on a table, you know those special tables with a hole for your face, and proceeded to manipulate and to press on the area near my cervical spine and shoulder blade. Soon, she found the "trigger point", and I found pain I hadn’t felt in a long, long time. Kasey told me before she began, that it was very important that I keep breathing deeply while she worked. Now I knew why that was important. When she found the "trigger point", I sucked in all of the air in the room and held it while she pressed "quite hard" on that spot. She finally told me that I had to breathe, at which point I think I released every cubic millimeter of air in my lungs. I’m really glad I was I was face down, that way Kasey couldn’t see me crying. She pressed on the spot for what seemed like two or three hours (I later found out it was only 30 seconds!). She did this procedure for the first two or three visits. After a week of therapy, Kasey felt that the "trigger point" procedure was no longer necessary (thank you Jesus!).
With only nine visits, that’s three visits per week, Kasey had my upper back feeling so much better. So much better that I felt confident that at my follow-up visit to the Orthopedist, the doctor would release me to return to work. I was certainly hoping that would be the case as I was going stark-raving mad staying at home. Daytime TV is awful! I had caught up on the reading I wanted to do and was ready, no, more than ready to return to work. I felt, with Kasey’s help, I would be able to do just that. When I visited the doctor, he was pleasantly surprised at how well I was doing and released me to return to work (thank you, thank you, Kasey). I continued physical therapy for another week after returning to work, making four weeks of therapy. I am convinced it was Kasey’s treatments that got me out of the house and back to work so quickly. I am so grateful to her for giving me back my "work life". I had been unsure as to when, if ever, I would be able to work again. Kasey is a very competent therapist, with all the skills to put you back on the road to recovery. And, she’s cute as a button!
I am now back at work full-time and feel I have fully recovered from the accident and returned to normal; as normal as I’ll ever be! This accident could have changed my life forever, in the blink of an eye.
Maybe the accident did change my life. Not in an awful way as it certainly could have, but in a good way. It made me appreciate my health and my life so much more than I did before. I don’t take life for granted like I did, but try to live every day to its fullest. So, I believe that the accident really did change my life, In the Blink of an Eye…………
I spend my energies trying to get people to spend less time spouting claims about the Bible and more time actually reading it, being honest about it, and valuing it for what it actually is."
~Julia M. O’Brien
I don’t know much, but there’s one thing I’m pretty sure of.
Barack Obama is NOT the antichrist !……….
My friend Kevin Beck defined "Post Christian" on Twitter for a fan. I like it Kevin. Thanks!
"Jesus story as formative narrative, no dogmatic metaphysic, no dependence on institutional delivery system . . . Love all, no conversion, contribute, honor earth, learn, compassion, appreciate mystery, humility."
Catch Kevin over at "Transmillenial". Sign up for his "Presence" and "Parousia" newsletters.
Over a year ago, I wrote four posts discussing quotes from the popular book The Shack. The Shack is still very popular reading material today. I would estimate that 80-90% of the hits I get are, to this day, searching for info about the book. That means that over 20,000 hits on this blog can be associated with The Shack. Here’s the link to the final post.
I think we have a real misunderstanding of the word myth. Or maybe I should say I had a real misunderstanding of the word myth. My concept of the word myth involved only one aspect of the definition that one might find in a dictionary; ie, an imaginary or ficticious thing or person; an unproved or false collective belief that is used to justify a social institution.
So back in my fundy days when someone would call Christianity or one of its beloved beliefs or dogmas a myth, I would find my righteous indignation erupting from within.
Since I began this journey I have discovered that there different ways of thinking about religious or sacred myths. In fact, the dictionary gives us a hint about some of the other ways.
Myths are "stories about divine beings, generally arranged in a coherent system; they are revered as true and sacred; they are endorsed by rulers and priests; and closely linked to religion.
Religious myths or sacred myths are stories about the relationship between two worlds, the world of the sacred and the real world of ordinary experience. A relgious or sacred myth is about God and us. I believe that these myths can be both true and powerful inspite of the fact that they may be symbolic narratives, not actual historical reports. Religious or sacred myths may not be literally true, but they can be really true. They may not be factually true, but can be actually true.
The birth narratives of Jesus, are myths in this sense, the virginal conception, the star, the wise men, the birth in Bethlehem are not stories to report what actually occurred, and so are not facts of history. However, these stories are powerfully true and speak to the significance of Jesus.
The death and resurrection stories contain a mixture of historical memory and mythical narration; the execution story being closer to historical fact than the birth narrative. He really was crucified under Pilate around the year 30. He was a martyr rather than a victim because he died for what he believed. He was killed by the domination system that he dared to question. Jesus’ death and resurrection are symbols of the defeat of that domination system, whether it be political or religious that seeks to enslave us. Jesus’ death & resurrection stories can also be seen as a symbol of the path of return to God; we die to an old way of being in order to be born into a new way of being. That’s most likely what Paul spoke of when he said, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me."
The Christian story, therefore, should be, as a whole, the story about God and us, a myth about God and us, the disclosure of God’s involvement in our lives. Jesus becomes the wisdom and the compassion of God through the stories, the myths. of his life.
The following is a review of Marcus Borg’s book, "The God We Never Knew".
Another excellent book from Dr. Borg. The God we never knew is the God of panentheism, the immanent & transcendent God. The God of right here who is also more than right here. He does a thorough job of explaining panentheism vs the Monarchial model of supernatural theism which most traditional Christians believe.
Borg strongly believes that our images of God matter in our lives. He says, "Tell me your image of God and I will tell you your theology."The traditional anthropomorphic & andromorphic view of God establishes our doctrines and belief. Borg presents another possibility and does so very successfuly.
The close ties which are created in traditional Christianity between God and Jesus are explored with Borg introducing a two-fold characterization of Jesus, the pre-Easter Jesus and the post-Easter Jesus. Borg believes that modern Christianity often forms a composite of these two Jesus’ with disasterous results. He points out how, in his opinion, the two should be viewed.
Another chapter deals with the politics of compassion. Borg believes that the compassion of God, and the compassion of Jesus are often minimized in today’s Christianity and he shows how to emphasize this wonderful quality.
In the last chapter Borg discusses salvation, a much misunderstood term in the Bible. he shows the multiplicity of interpretations of the term, trying to show which he believes to be most important. As is commonly defined by conservative, fundamentalists today, salvation is mostly about whether one believes that he/she will go to heaven when he/she dies. Borg says that two ideas are closely associated with this post-death understanding of salvation. The first is that there are requirements of us to achieve heaven. For others, it may be an emphasis on good deeds or some combination of faith & good deeds. But, something IS required. Second, salvation in order to achieve heaven in the afterlife IS the reason for being a Christian. Sort of like fire insurance. Borg sees a variety of definitions in the Bible for the term salvation and presents these well. My favorite quote from this section on salvation says, "If my participation in an afterlife is dependent on my free-will choice to respond to God, then my salvation is dependent on something I DO." Even conservative Christians often agree that salvation is NOT of works (doing), but by GRACE. Salvation by what I do, then, makes me more powerful than God. That is still a concept Borg nor I can agree with. I believe we are co-creators of our lives WITH God, but not more powerful THAN God as this idea of salvation states. This book is short and well-worth your time.
Stumble it!
