Something to Talk About

I confess that my life is, at times, taken over by an obsession.  I am a machinery freak.  I love to tinker with them, ride them, drive them, look at them, handle them, shoot them, talk about them, read about them. 

On the other end of the scale, a lot of us don’t talk much about our faith journey – that which has liberated us from spiritual bondage.  Is it because this hasn’t really happened in our lives?  The joy and excitement with which we talk about our machines, or our gardens, or our grandkids may not be reflected in our spiritual lives. Is that because we do not have a spiritual life to speak of? 

I think it’s discovery that prompts genuine witness.  Yes, we’re willing to defend that which we’re afraid of losing.  We will argue for certain beliefs that are important to us but I’m not sure that we are really witnessing when we do that. 

I discovered that it was not necessarily God’s call that I follow family tradition in my career choices - 25 years late.  I discovered that all of the disturbing texts in the Bible are not God’s inerrant words.  Rather, I should be disturbed by the distress of my sisters and brothers in this world.  I discovered that I’m God’s child best when I’m real about myself and that says more about God than it does about me and it saves me. 

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you. 

(Graham Nash)