View From My Desk Meme

I was tagged by Lingamish to provide a photo of the view from my desk. Lingamish is a coworker whom I've never met IRL, who lives in Africa, and who seems to have VERY good internet access by the volumes of things he posts in his variety of blogs! (We hear complaints of poor web access from other places in Africa, but Lingamish gets none of our sympathy on that front.)

We've turned one of the kids' bedrooms into a large home office with our computers just a few feet apart. You can see (even if he can't) that my beloved has a BIG screen and a BIG closed circuit TV as aids to help him cope with Stargart's disease. He does a great job with that, and manages almost always with a cheerful attitude. Also, if you look very carefully you can see his mug has a Lingualinks logo on it.

One reason our computers are so close to each other is because I read his work email to him out loud each morning before going to the office. It is tedious, and we get annoyed with each other during the process, but it does help him to cope because reading is so slow for him.

And speaking of computers near each other, when asked (like at a wedding shower) what bit of advice I have for the new couple, I aways tell them: if you and your spouse both have computers, put them in the same room.

Even More about Faith

A few posts ago I mentioned a young friend who has lost her faith. On a personal level, I've been puzzling about how to relate to her now that she claims to no longer be a Christian, a child of God, or a believer--whichever term you want to use. More about that in another post, maybe

I've already mentioned that the unreasonableness of Christianity is what she cites as the reason she has fallen away. Her words: "You can't prove Christianity by reason. It always comes down to faith."

The irony about that is that if Christianity were provable by reason, we wouldn't need faith--but, indeed, faith is what God asks for.

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Also, Jesus' words come to mind,

"...you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure."

This is part of what doesn't make sense in Christianity, part of why God asks for faith and not for understanding. If it were understanding that he wanted, we could earn heaven by just learning enough and deducing enough. No, somehow faith is what he wants. But if you actually don't believe--because of problems with reasonableness or problems of suffering or disappointment with God or, or, or--then how can one get faith?

(Personally, I believe, but I can sure relate to that guy in Mark who said, "I believe, but help my unbelief.")

When she explained to me about her loss of faith, she told me, "There is a saying: 'For those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who do not believe, no explanation will suffice.'" The funny thing about that is when I researched this saying, I learned it is attributed to a magician, or mentalist, called Joseph Dunninger. No Christian there.

Unrequited Love

...is one human malady that God actually knows something about.

Happy Birthday, Ron!

Last night we attend a fun birthday party for Ron, a friend from church and home Bible study.

There was a fun and yummy cake with two photos of Ron.

And liturgical dancers from a church in Kansas City. There was also lots of other music from family and friends.

It was a blessing to hear testimony of how Ron has blessed many people over the years, especially hearing from his family. I posted more photos on a web album, but likely only folks from our church would be interested in seeing them.