Ahoy!

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(Okay, so I figured out how to do the picture thing again.) These are some pictures that have been a long time coming. Over thanksgiving break I traveled with my parents to Seattle, and spent one day with some family friends in Tacoma, who own a really big boat (yacht/tug boat), and the above picture is of, yep, you guessed it, me driving through the Pudget Sound not too far from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. It was pretty amazing to drive something that big (powered by a big, gruff, Cummins diesel engine), in a body of water that big, with other boats that were at least 50 times the size of the one I was in! There were also seals and sea lions swimming around us at one point. The second picture is of me and my parents standing in front of an art display on a walking bridge over the interstate. Everything behind us was made from blown glass . . . pretty amazing! The third picture is another of me and my parents, and the boat in the backround (over my right shoulder) is the one I got to drive. (I think I could get used to that kind of life.)

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* ADVERTISEMENT *

Since I can't figure out how to put a list of other people's blogs on my page (actually, I think I even forgot how to put pictures in a post already, too), I wanted to publish an annoucement for another newly created blog that is well worth checking out (and that is posted on more regularly than mine); the address is: www.thedawnpiper.blogspot.com or you can get there by clicking on the title of this post.

Bonhoeffer On Work

I don't feel I need to or have anything to add to the following, but I believe the ideas expressed here are well worth dwelling on over a cup of hot chocolate while we try to pretend that our Christmas break will never end.

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"Work plunges men into the world of things. The Christian steps out of the world of brotherly encounter into the world of impersonal things, the "it"; and this new encounter frees him for objectivity; for the "it"-world is only an instrument in the hand of God for the purification of Christians from all self-centeredness and self-seeking. The work of the world can be done only where a person forgets himself, where he loses himself in a cause, in reality, the task, the "it." In work the Christian learns to allow himself to be limited by the task, and thus for him the work becomes a remedy against the indolence and sloth of the flesh. The passions of the flesh die in the world of things. But this can happen only where the Christian breaks through the "it" to the "Thou," which is God, who bids him work and makes that work a means of liberation from himself.
The work does not cease to be work; on the contrary, the harness and rigor of labor is really sought only by the one who knows what it does for him. The continuing struggle with the "it" remains. But at the same time the break-through is made; the unity of prayer and work, the unity of the day is discovered; for to find, back of the "it" of the day's work, the "Thou," which is God, is what Paul calls "praying without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17). Thus the prayer of the Christian reaches beyond its set time and extends into the heart of his work. It includes the whole day, and in doing so, it does not hinder the work; it promotes it, affirms it, and lends it meaning and joy. Thus every word, every work, every labor of the Christian becomes a prayer; not in the unreal sense of a constant turning away from the task that must be done, but in a real breaking through the hard "it" to the gracious Thou. 'Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus' (Col. 3:17)." ~ Life Together - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Eating Together"

"Every mealtime fills Christians with gratitude for the living, present Lord and God, Jesus Christ. Not that they seek any morbid spiritualization of material gifts; on the contrary, Christians, in their wholehearted joy in the good gifts of this physical life, acknowledge their Lord as the true giver of all good gifts; and beyond this, as the true Gift; the true Bread of life itself; and finally, as the One who is calling them to the banquet of the Kingdom of God. So in a singular way, the daily table fellowship binds the Christians to their Lord and one another. At table they know their Lord as the one who breaks bread for them; the eyes of their faith are opened." ~ Life Together -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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In this book, Bonhoeffer begins to give us a picture of what does and should take place in the gathering and eating together daily; breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We see by God's faithfulness, in providing for us our daily bread, a divine interaction at every meal between the Creator and the created; and we see the covenant bonds revealed with our brothers and sisters as we eat of the same bread together.
It is becoming funny to me just how often I hear other Christians tell me how much closer they feel to God out in nature hiking in the mountains, or ripping down a ski slope (especially in Bozeman, Montana), which, I believe, is a legitimate blessing to them from our God as He interacts with them in the beauty and adventure of His Creation. But why don't I ever hear someone tell me how close they feel to God when they sit down to each lunch on Tuesday afternoon? Why doesn't my own heart realize the presence of God's providence when it sits right before my eyes, and the smell wanders to my nose setting off my saliva glands, and my tastes buds wait in anticipation as my belly groans to be filled . . . once again.