Life that doesn't end with death was the subject of an interesting Ted Talks podcast today. In Indonesia, big, raucous funerals form the center of social life. Anthropologist Kelli Swazey takes a look at this culture, in which the bodies of dead relatives are cared for even years after they have passed. Click HERE.
Adam Rosenfeld, (married to our niece and living in Israel) posted Don Miller's blog "Why I Pray to Jesus (Whoever That Is)" It ends with these powerful words......
What if we know Jesus, but hardly know Him at all? What if most of your pre-conceived ideas about Him are wrong? What if He is dangerous, gentle, unpredictable, non-American, eternal, death-defying and non-human? What would that do to your faith? What if you couldn’t control Him at all but could talk to Him all the same? Would you follow? This Jesus excites me, not because I know all about Him, but because I don’t. Click HERE to see this blog.
Interesting post from a 22 year old. (my daughter Melody is 22 so I sent her this link) Click HERE to see the list of birthday wishes.
Met for a few hours with a friend today at Paneras. Friends are good. Conversation is good. Life is good.
Philip Yancey's book "The Invisible God" has been helpful. Yancey lives in Colorado and is an avid mountain climber. I think he is genius at applying life lessons from life experiences.......
"Climbing a mountain presents a constantly shifting point of view. At the beginning of the climb I face a sheer wall of granite - thousands of feet high. I'll never make it, I think. But as I get closer I see a thin path following seams in the rock and by taking that path, I hike comfortably up what had looked like an insurmountable cliff. As the cliff zigs and zags the view below changes as well.
At first I hike through aspen trees. Climbing higher, I notice that the aspens actually encircle an alpine lake, previously hidden - though not situated far from the beginning of the trail. Later I find that both forest and lake nestle in a lush valley dotted with lakes, meadows and other groves of trees. Later still I see that this valley fits into a cut on the side of the mountain and streams of water spilling from a lake tumble down several thousand feet to feed a river that runs through a canyon near my home twenty miles away.
Only when I reach the summit does the entire landscape fit together. Until then, any conclusions I might draw would prove mistaken".
My takeaway from this illustration? There are things I will never fully grasp until I reach my "life" summit, no matter how things look along the trail. But I have a confidence - a hope that I will reach the summit sometime soon and then it will make complete sense.
Navigating through this retirement thing. Sharing my life, thoughts, struggles; and moments in between.
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