Archive for March, 2010

For what can be more prejudicial to the interests of intelligence,
than to falsify our real sentiments, to conceal the doubts
which we feel in regard to our statements,
or to maintain the validity of grounds of proof
which we well know to be insufficient?
Immanuel Kant

There are also these proverbs of Solomon . . .
God delights in concealing things; scientists delight in discovering things.
Like the horizons for breadth and the ocean for depth, the understanding
of a good leader is broad and deep. Remove impurities from the silver
and the silversmith can craft a fine chalice; remove the wicked from leadership
and authority will be credible and God-honoring.
Proverbs 25:1-5 (MSG)

Last week on Vancouver Island was fantastic; such good times sharing stories and adventures, swapping scriptures and prayers, listening to stellar songs written and yet to be recorded, and what would a family trip be without harnesses, ropes and eighty foot drops!?

This picture was taken inside the Legislative Assembly of BC, we enjoyed a private tour (timing is everything): ending up in rose gardens, ministers offices, the library, and on the central balcony overlooking the well-manicured lawns and waterfront.

There are those who quote Mother Teresa’s Letters who will never risk living her life.  There are those who live a monastic life who have waded through oceans of pain and worship. There are those who pretend to be Jeremiah, who have far too much to lose. There are those who are authentic, who have given everything they have, to receive what is completely other.

This is a spinning diamond wheel put to marble. I was in my dad’s garage surrounded by tools; crafting something for my brother.

For the past few days, my wife Darlene has been encouraging me through her daily readings of Jeremiah. This morning, at the office (between meetings: next meeting at noon with Bedford Biofuels), I’m here reading Walter Brueggemann’s The Prophetic Imagination, where we read the author’s diamond-tipped precision,

Kings know intuitively that the deception, the phony claims of prosperity, oppression, and state religion will collapse when the air of covenant hits them. The riddle and insight of biblical faith is the awareness that only anguish leads to life, only grieving leads to joy, and only embraced endings permit new beginnings.