Moms like mine

Recently I have come across 4 cases of men who were 24, 27, and 40 who were involved in sexual assualt cases involving a minor. All of the men say they did not know the girl was a minor. Too bad they didn't have moms like mine. She taught me as a young man about the wiles of women through the story from the Old Testament of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. She taught me about caution in putting myself in situations that could backfire, like entering a house when no one else was around. Later in life, I would hear of girls who would deliberately lie in order to make someone lose a job. All four of the men above have either been labeled as a sex offender or have cases pending in court. Too bad they didn't have moms like mine.

Pathways

Someone asked me once if I thought that knowing Greek and translating had helped me on my faith walk or if it had any advantage for me. I don't know how to answer that really. We are who we are because the motivation points, opportunities, personality, interests, and incentives are combined differently. So, what might really help me in my faith, doesn't really help anyone else. One person's trash is another person's treasure. So, in answer to the person's question, yes, I have been helped by the path I decided to take or that the Creator afforded me the opportunity to take. But, if the person was also implying the question, "Did it give me an advantage over anyone?" then I would have to say that one particular path for developing faith is not comparable to another path. We're different people. We are led home in different ways.

Exacting humility

As I write, New Orleans has about 9 hours until the storm of a lifetime will hit their fair city. Fair for now. They'll get back with us all on that in 24 hours. On the radar I see a very fierce storm headed for the city. In one interview today, the lady said she was going to stay with her daughter, who presumably could not leave for financial reasons, and die with her if need be rather than leaving and coming back to bury her daughter. I understand. The mayor was warning people to leave town for the past 24 hours saying, "This is the big one." On radar it does appear to be the mother of all storms.

I have this feeling when I watch this storm approaching. It is the same feeling I have had before. It is the feeling that I get when I think of a recent event over which I had no control. I can only bow my head in the humility of knowing that nothing can stop devastation. I bow my head because prior knowledge is so useless if life wants to exact devastation from someone or a group of people. People in Thailand know this from their storm of last December.

I suppose the lingering question in all of this is why the Creator of the universe and the creator of weather on Earth wants to exact humility from people be creating devastation that cannot be stopped by human means. I really don't have the answer for that one. Perhaps it follows the "first shall be last" principle. Or perhaps it has to do with which eyes one wants to see life out of, physical or spiritual. Those are only 2 guesses that could apply. I would hope that there is an answer. In the meantime, I bow as "the big one" bears down on New Orleans. Being borne down on will definitely make a person bow. I will be bowing with many others in about 24 hours.

Work in progress

People have learned much through the centuries. I was watching an archeology show on TV the other night. I enjoyed how the narrators traced human skeletons from a million years ago to the present. I learned much as well. There were 6 different kinds of humans. Some of them coexisted and some seemed to develop over time from others before them. They even showed how the jaw changed when language was developed and how the cranial cavity enlarged after people seemed to have spread from Africa. This, of course, is a very different story from the one I grew up hearing about the origins of humanity. The story of humanity still needs a great deal of tweaking since we have only found pockets of places with bones. Human existence was nearly snuffed out about 70,000 years ago. But, that might have been intentional. After that point, homo sapiens began their rise to supremacy. I guess the story I heard as a youth was the one about the recent history of one branch of humans. And maybe the sphinx is 15,000 years old rather than 4500 years old. And maybe the Black Sea does have a civilization at its bottom that goes back to around 10,000 BC. And maybe the Creator has been working with humans for a lot longer than we want to admit. And maybe I need to give Him a whole lot more credit for bringing this world to the point it is than I have before. And if I understand a picture drawn to this scale, how can I not be tolerant of others. We have been a work in progress for a really, really long time.

Cool wind

There is an expression, "What a difference a year makes." Well, it is true in smaller increments as well. In this case 6 months. I was reminded that the one who reconciles people works behind the scenes, in people's minds. It had a relieving effect on me and I am not even directly involved except on occasion. I guess I just know that one of the main businesses of the Creator is bringing people together that really don't have a motivation to work together. I really would have not thought this person would have made a move today to work together with someone else in a million years. So, this case had the Inner Motivater's stamp all over it. It was soothing to see. Restoration is like a cool wind blowing against the face to cool it. Refreshing.

No substitute

After having been around scholarly journals over the last 15 years, I have learned to recognize the necessity of quality in one's work. Being around journals is not the only way to recognize quality. It's just the way to recognize quality in the field that I work in. This last week, I came across a report that cost 30,000 dollars. It was of the poorest quality for a variety of reasons. It was produced by a group of people that supposedly knew their field. Beyond the waste of money, it cost someone dearly in the accomplishment of goals and morale. There is just no substitute for quality.

When it comes to watching people's lives, it becomes easier, the older we get, to spot quality. When it is not there, a breakdown occurs for those people I watch. A really sad thing is if that breakdown has a ripple effect into my own life. My life is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But, it doesn't need any help in deteriorating either. So, I have learned to watch people's lives without letting that watch influence my own. That's because I have learned the same lesson in a different arena. There is just no substitute for quality.

A different story

I have basically ignored the direct leading of the Creator because it dealt too much with emotion, which I have always thought is secondary to rational thought. In fact, I heard a lecture four days ago on coming to faith through the intellect. The last two years tell a different story. If the creator of dreams and the orchestrator of events wants to act on someone's psyche or in events that drive people to act, he does so. I have to wonder how much I have missed by adopting a different philosophy for most of my life. Well, no matter. Although it did take a brick upside the head to get my attention, I am listening now. In fact, Michael W. Smith's song "Here I Am" is a song I listen to before beginning days that have a certain foreboding to them. It helps me focus my attention on listening to a voice from within rather than trying to always use words from a book as a frame of reference. I am really a better person for having made the switch over the last 2 years.

From blog to blog

August 4th blog records thoughts about peaceful storms. August 14th blog is about a head on a platter. Well, it took 10 days to test the words in the earlier blog. I saw the storm brewing in the distance. But I did underestimate it. I knew the situation was bad. But, I can say, "Absolutely nothing is as bad and utterly defeating as losing your own flesh and blood." So, the storm this time didn't do its usual smashing, causing me to fret and concoct 4 battle plans to combat it. Instead, there was a peace. The great provider would show me the ram in the thicket if one was needed. I still haven't heard from anyone in authority if the storm has passed or not. Appearances tell me it hasn't. But, as bad as this storm has been, it is not the one that sends me to the other side. That will be for another storm, another time.

Head on a platter

One of the English sayings that comes from the New Testament is to want someone's head on a platter like Herod's wife wanted of John the Baptist. Well, Friday was such a request for mine my director said. At least she gave me a little more time by asking to be able to talk to me first. John didn't survive his request. I don't know if I will either, but tomorrow may tell the tale. What I hope happens is an analogy to an Old Testament story of Daniel or the one of his 3 friends. God intervened for them. Life on earth really has its ups and downs. I know this by now, but the down part of the roller coaster ride never really feels any better even if you know it is coming or has arrived. So, may the one who gives second chances, restore. May it be so.

White fields

Funny. The week started with an event that tasted sweet like fruit. But today, that is a whole other story. My dad used to hold up a white sheet of paper in front of people he was speaking to. The only marking on it would be a dot in the center of the paper. Naturally, people would tell him, after he asked them what they saw, that they saw a black dot in the center of the paper. He would make the point that most of the paper showed a white field, but that they wanted to see something that was barely visible. Today, I think that the little black dot is what caught my attention even though a whole field of white was visible. I told my wife the day was a train wreck. If I looked at the written evidence, I would draw a different conclusion than I did about the day. But, if I went with what I read on people's faces and some of the bad feelings detected in the air, then I think the day was a train wreck. I already know how to make a comeback in the future and how to face the day tomorrow. I will be looking at the white field of paper around me.

Fruit tasting

Sometimes it seems that the Maker of Days gives a person a chance to pause and enjoy a little fruit from the slice of life around him. Such a day was today. The team I work with received an invitation to eat from a person who is considered important in both my workplace and around town. The person was more than cordial and actually made the team feel that their work was important. Rewards like that come so seldom. But I'll take them when they come. The encouragement felt good. It tasted sweet like fruit.

Timidity

Perhaps the some of the greatest points of confidence in the past can become the points of uncertainty and paralysis in the future. Perhaps that is a function of the aging or maturing process. Perhaps that is the function of finally seeing those points from other angles that have been hidden before. Perhaps it is a function of fear of outcome. Perhaps the inability to read the future weighs heavily on desired but not probable outcomes. May the one who guides us all fully fulfill that function to help us see and carry on.

Peaceful storms

Life evens out at times. When that happens, I have learned to treat it as the eye of the hurricane, the calm before the storm. But, really I have learned a more primary principle than this one. Storms have a built-in cleansing effect. So, even though I know storms are coming, fear is not present. I only know this from experience. Michael W. Smith puts this priniciple so aptly in his song, "Healing Rain." The song gives such encouragement to me: "Healing rain, let it fall, let it fall, I'm not afraid. It comes with fire, I'm not afraid, it takes me higher."

I don't anymore wish for just the evened out times. I let the storm do what it is supposed to do in my life. Cleanse and heal. The master knew what he was talking about: "I give you peace. I leave you with peace." Peace is not only in the eye of the storm. Its healing rain pelts me with hundreds of drops of peace.

Let the storm rage

Some seasons are rainy seasons. The trick is to move out of the rain and just enjoy the rain for what it is and does. Storms are good. I guess that's why they don't come often. But they do come enough.

Right now there is a storm raging according to some people at my workplace. I am out of the rain at the moment, so I am enjoying this one for what it is and does. And there is a peace inside me as this storm rages. I have even shaped some of the effects of this storm. But the Storm Maker has allowed me to have total inner peace. For this I am thankful.

I am reminded of this saying: Sometimes God calms the storm. But sometimes God lets the storm rage and calms His child.

Snake Pit 2

I suppose that I should be bothered by the snake pit I have chosen to be in. But I am not. I don't know why that is exactly. I have not really encountered being in a snake pit like this one before. I have only temporarily been in some smaller snake pits. Only one other time did I think that the pit had poisonous snakes in it. This is very different.

But this pit is different. The stakes are higher. If I get bitten, I will feel the bite and have to leave the pit. That will cost me. Even if I don't get bitten, I still have to sit around and identify the snakes. The poisonous ones have to be identified from the non-poisonous ones and I have to shout out to the pit watchers which ones to try to handle to take out of the pit.

I don't know if a person can be around snakes for very long without getting bitten, but I know that this pit is one that was put in. I guess that's why it doesn't scare me one bit. It's why I actually enjoy going into it each day. Asking the maker to help the pit-watchers act quickly is the only request I have these days. The rest of the so-called danger is really up to the one who placed me in the pit. My job is easy when I entrust my well-being to him.

Acceptability

OK. I have railed against the slow-to-change jargon of the religious community and the suspicious nature of this community toward change. So, exactly what would I like to see happen?

I think that I would like for people to trust the spirit within them from God to live decent lives. I think I would like for people to see that spirit in a modern context instead of always quoting from an ancient context and trying to apply what happened then to what happens now.

If that took place, then translations of ancient texts would be in the people's language as people wanted their peers in society to easily know what makes them tick. People could then read for themselves and see easily in the language of their current society how to live decently for God and get on the path that leads to him. Instead, we get, and perhaps want, translations that have to be explained and commands that have ended up being codified.

I do see individuals and pockets of people that live daily depending on God to enable them daily to stand in the face of life's curve balls. I don't rail at all when I think of them. I hope that they multiply by the thousands.

Language behavior

Studying how society uses language is interesting. The term language behavior has been coined to describe society's use of language. Society is fickle and hypocritical about its language use. Everyone has heard someone say about the way a friend delivered some news, "You didn't have be so harsh or cold in the way you said that." Not long after hearing those words, the same person has turned around and said, "Why didn't you say what you meant. I don't understand polite." Yes, how fickle.

People make value judgments about others just by the way others speak. If the person is using heavy vernacular, we judge and react accordingly. If the person seems eloquent or "articulate," we act a different way from the way we react to the person using his/her vernacular. If dialect different from our own is used, we react a certain way to that as well.

So, I accept the way people view New Testament translation even though I characterize it as disappointing. We are victims of circumstance of our own language. I guess I am out to change that circumstance, but I know I could not change it single-handedly and not quickly. So, I expect people's fickle comments about liking or not liking new translations or individual's translations to be suspicious or not preferential or bizarre. The language of religion follows the customs of religion, so change is slow, value judgments are not quick to follow generational changes, and reactions reflect caution. I don't like the truth offered by this observation, so I for one am out to change religious language behavior.

Modernity

I am doing a rather informal testing of what people expect or want in a translation of a New Testament book. So far, what I'm finding is disappointing to me. It seems people want a somewhat antiquated rendering. When given a choice between modern English with the most current phrasing and most current syntax, and a little older style English, people opt for a little older style of English. Why? I think that sometimes people just resist change. I think sometimes people get stuck thinking that text representing something old should sound old. I found that to also be true when comparing Beowulf translations from Old English in a class of young people. I think sometimes a change in English phrasing and syntax somehow gets related to inspiration of the Bible and people don't want to update that.

When one deals with the New Testament, one deals with preconceived ideas. I find it disappointing to see a great preconception against keeping Christianity, at least where it represented by translations, from being current, modern, ever-changing, up-to-date. Disappointment doesn't necessarily dampen my desire to ever present the message in modern terms. It just makes me temporarily sad. But my Christianity is not affected. I don't answer for anyone else. So, I press on with the my vision for the modern Christian.

Satisfaction

Translating from ancient Greek is something I did in my 20s because I had the time, it was a little fun, it gave me an edge when around smart people, and I could learn a lot from the material being translated. What a difference a decade makes—actually 3 in my case. I have over the last year and a half picked up the book to translate again. I did a fair amount of translating in the intervening 3 decades, but only when I had a reason to translate, when I was on a mission, or when I took on a project. These days, picking up the pen to translate is fun. I don't have an edge on anybody for anything. All people my age are smart in some area or another and there's no competition. What's the point? I still learn a lot from the material, but now I know in what ways the material enriches my life or in what setting to share any enrichment. It is satisfying to see growth in skill level of translation and in knowing how to cast the translation against a bigger setting of other training I have received over the 3 decades.

I hope that the Creator looks through the centuries and reflects in some of the same ways. I hope he has had fun with his creation. At times it was work to do so I'm sure. I hope that he sees growth in people's perception of him. At the beginning (that's a long time ago) people feared him, split him into various spirits or functions, but now, maybe we see him more for who he is and what he has done. He certainly doesn't have to worry about the edge part. One who knew him put it like this: the light has been shining in the darkness, and the darkness can never put it out. So there's no competition. And I hope he's satisfied when I walk through the door one day to greet him because the path I walked on here led me to his home. I know I will be satisfied.

Tone + Words

Language can be fascinating at times. It can soothe, encourage, excite, anger. It elicits a range of emotions. What about language causes such a response in a listener? Words and tone of voice are inextricably intertwined. I guess that is why emotions are logical responses to words. What would happen if tone of voice were removed from one's speech? Or what would happen if words could not be heard but the tone of voice could? The answer to the first question is that one would have to guess which part of the sentence was being emphasized. In the case of the second, one would have no idea of the substance causing the tone. Together, they make for unmistakable clarity. I know someone who has told me that I get hung up on tone of voice. That words are much more important. That's just not true. Only in writing does one give up tone of voice, but even then, one's mind supplies, by guessing, what tone is being used. Tones help a person match words to thoughts. One can only imagine what it takes to be a good writing teacher or a good writer. Two dimensions have to be created. Well, that's enough on good communications 101. Spouses, siblings, and friends have double the amout to watch for in good communication since there are 2 dimensions instead of 1.