The Path

(photo by wayne mclaughlin)

We don't all walk the same path. We have different callings; different temperaments; different interests; different orientations.
There are a variety of professional paths; and a variety of social paths.
Some people walk on one path to success; other folk walk down another path to success.
There are different religious paths.
In the (mystical) Gospel of John, Jesus says, I am the Path, the Truth, and the Life.
Since Jesus is the embodiment of the Love of God, we could say that anyone who walks the path of Love
is traveling by the power and direction of Jesus.
Sometimes different paths lead to the same place.
Different people can call the same Path by different names.
In divine geography, Jesus is omnipresent; therefore, all paths of love are the Path of Jesus.
What path are you traveling right now?

A leaf

Sometimes just meditating on a leaf
can bring calmness.

The green of life...
The order and symmetry...
The surging life force...
The spreading out...
The connections...
The flexibility...

What is the Spirit saying to you
through the leaf?

(photo by wayne mclaughlin)                 

more cupcakes

  photo by wayne mclaughlin

More cupcakes from N's b-day party last year.

This & That

I was watching TV the other day with Norah. We were watching The Dinosaur Train. (Grandparents learn about all kinds of TV shows and cartoons they never heard of before.) I was shocked! The whole program was about dinosaur poop! That's right--dinosaur poop. It had a scientific orientation--a didactic cartoon. But poop? Of course pooping is a big part of a toddler's life experience.

May you heard about our new governor in Alabama. He shot off his mouth the other day about his faith, saying that anyone who was a Christian was his brother or sister, but if you weren't a Christian you were not his sister or brother. Well, not a politic thing to say. He was swiftly reprimanded by the media and had to meet the next day with several rabbis and ministers to apologize. In politics you can't alienate a whole group of people. But the dirty little secret of Evangelical Christianity is that 'born again' Christians do not see non-Christians as brothers and sisters in the family of God. Most people in Alabama belief just that. But to say it out in the open like our Governor did was shocking to non-born-again folk. One of my seminary professors told us that in the Bible the Fatherhood of God is proclaimed on two levels: All people are children of God according to creation; but only those who trust in Jesus are children of God according to redemption. Our Governor forgot about (or didn't understand) the relatedness of all people by the fact of creation. The Evangelical Christian stance is logically exclusive--it fences people out who don't believe the same way. It speaks out of both sides of its mouth. Yes, we are equal in the sight of God, they say. But we are more equal than you. That is, we have a closer relationship with God than non-Christians. In the end (the Evangelicals say), we will end up in eternal bliss and you will be water-boarded with fire forever. When the Governor apologized he said he didn't mean to disenfranchise anyone. But Evangelical theology is a theology of disenfranchisement. 

Something else on my mind: This guy that shot the Representative. He is a white, heterosexual, citizen, non-alien, non-immigrant. Don't you see the problem? Why hasn't Fox News demanded that we get rid of all those white, heterosexual, legal citizens? 

That's all.

cup cakes

photo by wayne mclaughlin

Yummy cup cakes at N's B-day last year.

glasses

photo by wayne mclaughlin



It's transparency that God calls us to.

Not too early

photo by wayne mclaughlin



I was tempted to buy this shirt since it proclaims my philosophy of life, but I didn't purchase it.

I hitched 'em

I caught this minister going back into the chapel after finishing a wedding and greeting guest. He's saying to himself, "Whew! I'm glad that's over."

Or forever hold your peace

I caught this couple on their way to their wedding
at the Botanical Park in Birmingham.

Describing Men

I grew up on the old King James Version of the Bible. Well, I wasn’t actually ‘on it,’ but you know what I mean. Of course the KJV’s language is the Shakespearean English. (It was published in 1611.) We don’t speak that way anymore. At least I don’t, do ye?

But I do wish the modern versions would have kept some of the quaint language of the KJV. For example, in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament, a literal translation is sometimes more interesting than the Anglicized version. Here is an Anglicized version (The New Revised Standard Version) of 1 Samuel 25.22 reads:

                                God do so to David and more also, if by morning I leave

                                so much as one male of all who belong to him.

 But not as interesting as the KJV of 1 Sam. 25.22:

                                So and more also do God unto the enemies of David

                                if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light

                                any that pisseth against the wall.

Now isn’t that more descriptive?

Tracking God

The Christian Century reports that the problem of nativity vandalism can be solved. You know about nativity vandalism, don’t you? Well, who hasn’t lived in a community where the little baby Jesus or Mary comes up mission from the big Nativity Scene in front of the church during December. It’s usually Mary or Jesus; I don’t know why they don’t ever steal Joseph; or a shepherd. What to do?

Well, now there’s a solution. Security firms now can plant a GPS device in each character in the scene so that anything stolen can be traced. Churches that publicize their use of tracking devices report that vandalism stops.

So, imagine: if Jesus gets away from you, you can now find him again. Jesus said he came to find and save the lost. But what if he gets lost? It’s not a modern problem. People have always been searching for God. Where is God? How do I find happiness? How do I find meaning in my life? Maybe you know someone who is looking for God.  

It’s my opinion that all people are searching for God. And I also think that God has planted within each of us something like a spiritual GPS that guides us to God. Humans were made for communion with God. 

God is the One. And it is Oneness that we desire. Without the sense of the One, we are split apart—alienated from our self and others. 

The church teaches us that our search for God is fulfilled when we wake up and realize that God has been searching for us. Jesus is the human symbol of God’s search for us. Through the life and death of Jesus, God has tracked us down. We are no longer lost. The vandalism of the human soul is reversed. We are brought back to our nativity.   

steeple chase

These guys are very religious. They pray even while on the job.
















Another view:

 Here's the church,
here's the steeple;
on the outside are some people.


photos by wayne mclaughlin

a thorny question

Some women don't shave their legs.

gears

photo by wayne mclaughlin



The inner workings manifest themselves outwardly.

Or as Jesus said, "It's not what goes in, but what comes out that is important."

It is what is in our heart that matters.

A Great Feet.

Here is the Vulcan's foot compared to mine.

Birmingham view from The Vulcan

When you take an elevator up to the foot of the Vulcan, you get a great view of downtown Birmingham. I took this picture in December.

Muslims protect Christians

Here is a story about Muslims loving their neighbors as themselves.
And their neighbors are Christians.
Most Muslims are like these folks, but we don't hear about them.

See: Muslims stand up for Christians' rights. 

The Vulcan

This statue is called The Vulcan. It is the largest cast iron statue in the world. It's about three miles from our apartment. The Vulcan symbolizes the steel and iron industry that literally built Birmingham. (Vulcan was the Roman god of work.)

You can see The Vulcan for miles as you drive around Birmingham.

Here is another view:

photo by wayne mclaughlin

what year is it?

since this was our first year living in the central time zone
we didn't know quite what to do...
do we watch the countdown in times square and begin 2011 with them
in the eastern time zone,
or do we wait until midnight in the central time zone?


well, we did both...
we had guests visiting from indiana,
and we watched the times square ball drop--toasted each other--and declared
it a new year.


then we changed the tv channel to the mobile, alabama sight
and watched the giant moon pie drop at midnight, central time.
once again we toasted each other and declared a new year.


so, i think i am now in the year 2012!


i've always wanted to live in the future
(that's what i do when i worry about something)...
so, i'm quite happy.



i'm not worrying about 2011--it's already gone for me.


HAPPY NEW YEAR,
AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!