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Fear cripples. Faith empowers.

What is her motive? This question is quite often more important to us than the action or deed. For example, there is the saying, doing good for the wrong reason and, the end doesn’t justify the means also falls under this category. So why are we skeptical of motive? Is it because we know our own heart?

When I see a friend or acquaintance, I am often asked how was your last trip?

Now, I am not crazy about pat answers, to this or to the American question – How are you… Or its less formal – How’re ya doin? We ask this as a matter of reflex. I don’t think we Americans always mean it. Its a reflex. Now don’t get offended, I’m just stating an observation. So, similarly, rather than being asked how I am, I seem to provide said acquaintances with a different question: How was your trip? But like ‘How are you’, the context of the question is often such that the briefest of answers is usually sought. So, Here is what I should say:

It was long and tiring and fruitful and I am blessed to live such a life as to be able to work with amazing people who are bringing change and hope to their culture as they live as followers of Jesus in a place where that is pretty unusual.

Huh, that could be said about most places, couldn’t it?

I am catching up on health care stuff since I have been away. The FT of London seems to think that it passes because the president got to work and finally started guiding it instead of depending on the congress to figure it out. Committees.  I am also hearing that the nation is divided right down the middle on health care. No surprise there. The nation seems to be divided right down the middle on most every issue. Divided. So the health care plan has passed and there will be a period of time where people figure out how it affects them. Then, there will be adaptation. I was asked what I thought about the requirement to have health insurance. My response? They make you buy car insurance, don’t they? Isn’t is irresponsible to be an uninsured driver? Why isn’t it irresponsible to refuse to buy health insurance? As self-employed people, we chose a high deductible plan to keep the monthly premium down, its a viable option. There are possibilities out there. But when people refuse to be responsible and their irresponsibility costs the rest of us (through their getting treatment at tax payer expense because they have no insurance), then the government should take action. They have. Will it help? We’ll see.

Kind of related, while on my recent trip, I was amazed and not a little ticked of at times by Christians ASSUMING that I was against health care and against the president. Whatever I think about health care and the president is NOT decided because “Christian” spokesmen like TV preachers say x, y and z about the issue or the man. I read and think for myself, I do not follow the pundents, I certainly do not follow the radio hosts who hold conferences to sell tickets to hear themselves say the same stuff they say on their shows. Wanna think about it? Listen to “New Law” by Derek Webb, click here.

I was listening to the BBC this morning and there was this commentary by a reporter who talked about losing memory, multi-tasking and make lists. I couldn’t get the reporters name as I was busy shaving and had no way to write down any info. But the point was simple: making a simple list of things to do and finishing one thing before moving on to the next is more efficient than multi-taking. She even talked about the time wasted, as she said, “checking email sixteen times a minute.” I was stuck at a desk for several hours today and discovered that if I sign out of communication applications while try to work on the list of things to do, I was, or at least seemed to be, more productive. Are you thinking about your lack of productivity? Maybe you need to turn off the communications applications and focus for a while and then set a couple of times a day to check the email, read the latest Tweets and see who has posted what on your Facebook. (related stuff here and here)

(Fb? go to original post) Going from one end of town to the other last evening, I had an interesting experience on the public transit.

On the M3, I sat across from a Roma family all the way from Arpad Hid to when I got off at Hatar u. station. When I got on, I noticed that the man of the family was having a – shall we say – animated – conversation with another man across the car from him. Two stops later, this other man gets off and I noticed that the woman of this family begins speaking with her man. Around them are two teen aged girls, one of whom is holding a baby and the other trying to sleep, and a boy of about 8. The woman becomes more agitated and I surmised from the gestures that she made that she was referring to the earlier conversation and as she spoke, tears began to fall down her cheeks. The man seemed to reply to her in a soft manner. The tears continued to fall. My stop came up, I got off.

I walked to the 50 tram and found a seat. It was one of those three seat sections near the door, I was next to a small quiet man. In front of him was a trolley like folks use for their marketing. On the platform outside was a woman smoking a cigarette waiting for the buzzer that indicated that the doors were about to close. In the doorway stood a woman on her phone. The buzzer sounded, the smoker got on the tram and sat down next to the shopping trolley. In a moment the talking woman came over and grabbed the trolley. Smoking woman got up and phoning woman sat down very triumphantly. Then she began to try to sms (text) and tried to make a call or two. She was clearly frustrated about something. She put her glasses and phone away, gave a heaving sigh and wiped a tear from her eye. She got off at the next stop.

Replacing her and the small man was a family. The man of this family sat down alone across the aisle and his small wife and teen aged son stood for a brief moment and then without communication she moved to the seat next to me and her son across from her. I watched their interaction. The son was agitated, as sons get when they fear for their mother’s well being. I could sense their tension. I could see that she was trying to assure her boy that “it was okay.” The man got up abruptly and got off, they followed silently.

I was struck by these encounters. I saw their need. The need of common people. The need of the oppressed, especially women. They need Grace, they need Peace. That which comes through the Gospel.