Hawaii 2010

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Monday, June 16, 2014

Monsoon Monday

We are Forest Gump!

Monsoon is a phenomenon involving humidity with increases the possibility of wind and rain. We are in a drought here in the desert southwest and I would love to see some rain during this summer's season.

As an anniversary of my date of commitment in the faith approaches I have been reflecting on the two sided journey my life has taken. I have lived in Arizona almost as long as I lived in the South. I am not native to either side of the country. I am always a transplant. My love of the south and my love of the west are now part of my life experience. Both have been learning experiences.

I once visited a junior high friend who lived in a long cabin less than a mile down the road from his childhood home. He became a respected local judge and never left home. I have no idea what that is like.

I think of the double sided faith tradition I have lived in, 20 years in the very traditional and very theologically rigid Presbyterian Church where all truth was discovered and codified and is now only being defended. And now twenty years of in-dependency where you have every flavor of the faith around you all the time.

Read an article that admitted that most pastors feel like failures because most of their experiences are frought with problems related to the huge societal and social changes that are affecting church survival and attendance, as well as church tension and stress. I guess I feel more like a survivor than a success, and that's OK because all the changes and loss of places and friends have allowed me to have a perspective on life that I value, and an understanding of my own purpose and God's purpose for me. Francis Sheaffer said it long ago in a booklet. "There are no little people and no little places".



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