Dan Byl

I just watched Invictus a movie about South Africa and in particular president Nelson Mandela. The story starts with him getting out of jail after being placed there for 30 years for being a political activist and trying to get the white government to treat the Africans as equals.

The movie is a powerful story of forgiveness and the people that around Mandela. As Mandela gains power he invites the white workers to stay and work with him in his new government. He then goes on to keep the South African rugby team which to the Africans was a symbol of the apartheid. He does this so that the white people will not be treated as they expected to be treated. He makes a speech in which he says that “we must give them grace, allow them to keep the things important to them, and give them all the things that they did not give us.” (not an exact quote)

So often we feel more strength in anger, in getting even. We feel powerful and in control, this is the opposite feel that forgiveness often gives us in the moment. We feel like we are giving someone power over us, that we are allowing people to treat us poorly. But the truth is that forgiveness is the real power. It frees us from the hurt and the affect that the offending person may have over us. It allows us to deal with things in our own lives without coming back to the offense. We are able to see the rout of what caused the pain or hurt, to see past the fruit of the tree to see what is causing the bad fruit and fix the problem so that it does not reoccur.

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How many times a day are you asked how is it going or some variation of that phrase? My new favorite thing if the situation allows is to not stop when someone asks me how is my day is going. I just answer great and continue walking, and if I am now next to the person I continue with and you? All the while continuing to walk by. I then see how far away I can get and still continue on a conversation, slowly raising my voice to account for the distance.

Now you may find that rude and slightly obnoxious. Well yes ok maybe it is but do they really care how I am doing. Nine times out of ten it is some acquaintance that I probably can’t even remember there name, and I wonder if they can even remember mine. But in some attempt to avoid being rude feel some sense of obligation to ask me a “no meaning question”

A “no meaning question” is a question that the person really has no intention of hearing the answer to. It is a question that no one will read to far into. It’s a question that can be ignored and it is not an insult. It is a question that has no affect or weight.

So am I being rude, or am I really just giving the person the out they were hoping. They were just trying to say hi and be polite but did not care to actually hear how I am doing. The best part about this is that if the person is trying to not be rude they wont let it end on them. So as long you are able to ask a question they will try and answer.

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I hear people tell me that they can see all the angles, that they now what is going on and that no one can pull the wool over their eyes. I know that I feel this way, I don’t want to admit that I may be limited.

The analogy that I like to use is a house, imagine that you are walking down the street and you see a house on your right that is beautiful. It looks like a fully restored Victorian era home with the white rap around porch and the big French door with dark green shutters. As you walk up to the house you can look down the side of the house you can see the front of the house, the landscaping in the front yard, you stop to take it in and as you walk away you look back and you can see down the right side of the home.

The question you I have for you is how much of that house have you seen? Your initial response may be 75% you say 3 of the 4 sides. But in actuality you have seen maybe 10% of what there is to see. Lets break it down a little bit,
There are 4 sides and a roof, but then you have the interior you may have 3 bed rooms, 2 bathrooms, a dining room, kitchen, and living room. Then there are 2 stair cases a basement, and attic, the garage, and a storage area. And that’s what you see just be looking. As soon as you want to renovate or change anything there are all the inner workings of the home. The foundation the, trusses, the rafters, what is behind the paint.

We so often feel that we know and have seen all there is to see, But our perspective is very limited. The question is who are we getting to help us see The other perspectives, the other parts of the picture.

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I realized that I didn’t put any explanation as to the origin of this story, if you want some back ground follow the link at the bottom of this post to see what inspired this post.

a lone ranger twisted and decrepit walked into town no one had ever seen something or someone quite so hideous.

Narlac a loan orc had some how found his way to cave after the final battle of middle earth had ended. What he did not know was that this cave was a portal to another world. (kinda like the wardrobe of the lion the witch and the wardrobe)

He stumbled into this cave hoping to be hidden but found himself in a pasture on the out skirts of texas. He could see some smoke rising in the distant and smell the scent of roasting flesh.
He began to stumble his way into town. As we limped down the dusty main street he could feel eyes watching him.

Just then the towns sherif stepped out in front of him he looked up to see a six foot three man in chaps and a cowboy hat with to long arms of the law hanging from his belt standing at the end of the street with the clock tower behind him, it was almost noon.

“What you want there fella” yelled the voice of the sherif.
“Just to eat your young and kill everyone I see and maybe burn this town while I am at it” screeched the voice or Narlac. Narlac winced had he really just said that he was thinking it but had he just said it. At that moment the clock stuck twelve. Narlac felt to piercing pains in his chest followed by a thunderous echo of the sherifs to colt 45′s. Narlac dropped to his knees with only one thought running through his head. ” I guess I did, I guess I did.”

Stuffchristianslike.net

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I wrote a blog about giving God room in your youth group a while ago. The thought was, are we giving God room to show himself in our lives, or have we become so self sufficient that we forget to look for him or even forget to trust in his provision or plan for our lives.

I want to revisit this idea. I have had this idea to create a space for creative people to come together and help to inspire each other. I often spend a few hours at the local starbucks. The thought for me is that it is away from my house, away from the normal environment that I live in. The funny thing is that I would love to sit and just talk to people about what is important to them, to learn about there lives and share ideas.

However I am way to chicken to just approach people, what if they just want to be left alone? What if I think they are working on something interesting but really they are just doing menial work? I am to chicken to approach people with no real idea or even common interest.

We have not created a space that is conducive to meeting different people and the sharing of ideas. A place where everyone there has a similar desire to meet new people. It’s funny we get so caught up in our own lives we don’t create or allow room to share in others lives.

Our society is such an individualistic place when was the last time you met someone randomly, and actually began to get to know them?

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I dont like jumping on the band wagon but Pat Robertson is a joke. He spoke up and told the world that he thought God was punishing Haiti for making a pact with the devil. He describes the country and then makes his statement.

This is the video if you want to see it for yourself.

video

I will let you guys be the judge.

Here is my take on it
This is such a disgusting typical christian response, how often do you hear people say things like God is punishing me or them, or this is karma.

I remember when we had some major forest fires in my home town back in 2002, local churches and christians said it was Gods fire. And that we had brought it on our selves. Well ok maybe we live in a semi desert region and they hadn’t done sufficient clearing of dead brush but that is about it.

These disasters are the result of a fallen world, a world separate from God. This is decay, this is our world no longer perfect, this is not Gods punishment.

Lets stand up for the truth.

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