Intersections

    Introduction      Most of you know that my background has been in the legal field. I earned my bachelor’s degree in public affairs from IPFW, including political science, philosophy, and public policy classes. One of my classes was specifically in law & philosophy. At the time, I thought I was a hot shot, wanting to discuss what my books and classes were discussing. But now - not only can I not remember it, but I’ve also learned over the years… no one cares. This is unfortunate because we have so many laws; we should figure out why they exist. Right?        The Purpose of Laws      So - in my opinion, laws are made - whether they’re religious, natural, or legislated laws - really, what we’re doing here is regulating relationships, how things relate to one another. For example, a law on the books says it’s illegal to fish with your bare hands. Not sure how that one came about, but… it’s real. You may be wondering what ki...

  It has arrived - the final week of our series on Job. This reading seems to tie it all up, and hopeful even. But let’s take a step back for a minute. The title for the sermon today comes from verse 5, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eye has seen!” He had survived the suffering and accepted God’s power. Job had been told about all of this, as the Scripture says, but now… it was real. It wasn’t enough to hear of the grace; it needed to be experienced. On the outside looking in, Job appears to be blind. But maybe it was the darkness of his soul that we offered in our prayer earlier. If there is no light no hope, are we blind or just without resources? Blindness has several definitions. The first is the apparent lack of eyesight. But more relevant, it means unquestioning - as in loyalty without question, having no regard for rational thought (as in a blind choice), or even without all information to consider data without bias (like in science for a single- or double-blind test...

We can miss the joy of daily life while working to save up time and/or money to enjoy life. Every day, tiny miracles around us go unnoticed because we can lose perspective in the bigger picture, dreams of someday, or even just hope can seem far away. We moved into our current house right about a year ago. We, especially Tadj, were looking forward to all the gardens around our house. We didn’t know if bulbs were in the ground that we would see pop up in the spring or what other plants there may be. Come spring, though, when all the blooms were popping out of the ground, we were blessed with lilies and other beautiful flowers all over our yard. More recently, unknown to me, someone had planted sunflowers in the garden. It might even have been the birds. Sometimes, doing interrupts being. We have plenty of things to do on any given day. But how much have you thought about the being? How many times have you sat with yourself to just be who you are? Does that make you uncomfortable? It s...