timothyme's Xanga

Jesus on Al Jazeera

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 02:24:45 GMT

Last night, on our way down to spend Christmas Eve with our dad, my sister Bekah and I listened to Tim Keller talk about the truly unique and powerful way that Jesus impacted history. A lot of people have made a deep mark on history, he said, and a lot of people have claimed to be God. But the only person who fits in both of those categories is Jesus.

Today on the website of the Arab language news service, Al Jazeera, they had these photos of "Christmas Worldwide." As I was looking through the photos, I couldn't help thinking back to that talk. What other person in all of history has had this kind of influence? 2000 years later, we celebrate this man who was a nobody for thirty years, preached and taught for three years, and then died. Why? Contrary to what we would have expected, we have more evidence for Jesus' existence than we have for Nero's, or Julias Caesar's, or Plato's. Their positions and status seemed to indicate that they were the ones who would leave a bigger mark on history, but no one anywhere celebrates their birth. What's the explanation?

Christians say he was God. Either Jesus was God--God in human form, living among men--or he wasn't. We know (from sources outside of the Bible, even from sources antagonistic to Christianity) that most of the people who were closest to him, who lived with him, saw him every day died because they said he was God. If anyone knows our worst sides, it's our families, our roommates, our best friends--the people closest to us. The people closest to Jesus died calling him God. Today, people all over the world say the same thing. The fact that they say anything about someone who should, by all human reasoning, be completely forgotten by now, means something. Jesus' life in first-century Palestine and his legacy all over the world today mean something.

Everyone who knows what Jesus said should have strong opinions about him. There's no way to know what he said, to really understand it, and be ambivalent about him.

nature is a laid trap

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:30:59 GMT

I can never go to a wedding without imagining myself getting married; I can never go to a funeral and not imagine myself in the casket. I suppose no contemplative person can.

This past weekend, my friend Luke’s dad died. At the funeral in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, I watched person after person stand and talk about him. They praised his love for his wife and kids, his giving heart, his concern for the people around him. Each of them summed up in a few words, as best they could, their experience of that good man.

Annie Dillard wrote, “We live on mined land. Nature itself is a laid trap. No one makes it through; no one gets out.” Martin Heidegger wrote many cryptic pages saying, among other things, that the only way to live authentically is to accept, not only the possibility, but also the inevitability, of our own death.

As I sat there listening to people at the funeral, it occurred to me a that this is the earthly end of every story. Of my story. “No one makes it through.” One way or another, we all end up in a box. How often do I really think about it? Almost never.

Earlier in the same book, Dillard quotes the Mahabharata saying, “Of the world’s wonders, which is the most wonderful? That no man, though he sees others dying all around him, believes that he himself will die.”

Paul wrote, “Let each one take care how he builds,” and “each of us will give an account of himself to God.” Paul—in fact, every poet and prophet in the Bible—and Jesus himself are telling me that I am accountable for how I spend every minute of my life. And my life, like yours and that of every one we know, is almost over.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:08:30 GMT

ps--if you'd like a visual tour through my last two weeks, click on this photo of the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela:

pretty cool place, that Santiago de Compostela. i'm looking forward to going back.

pickpockets and theives

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:53:02 GMT

As I had lunch an hour ago with Jonas and Marrty, another teammate's wallet was stolen, interrupting our lunch and her life. It's such a frustrating experience, and I found myself mentally revising all my normal habits and trying to see where I am vulnerable. Now, sitting in my apartment, which has been burgled at least twice in the last few years, I find myself doing the same thing. "How can I avoid becoming a victim?"

Maybe there's no avoiding it. Maybe we're supposed to be able to live freely without worrying about people attacking us and stealing from us. Where are things safe? (rhetorical question) The answer is that things are not safe. The answer is that this is not the way the world was supposed to be. "The kingdom of God has come upon you," but we were still told to pray, "may your kingdom come."

"Store up your treasure in heaven, where thieves don't come in and steal, and where moths and rust don't destroy--because wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart will be." Where's my treasure now? There's my heart.

the castellers

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 13:26:39 GMT

One of my favorite parts of Catalan culture, the castellers.

(Click on the photo to see how they build the towers.)

This was from an exposition about a week ago, in Vilassar de Mar. My friends Martty and Angela live there, with their two kids.

An after-work walk

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 16:10:04 GMT

A few days ago, after work, Mel walked home from the hospital where she works. I was impressed, because having driven her there several times, it seemed like a long way. So I stuck it in Google Maps to see how far it really was. It looked something like this.

Then, since she's a pretty good walker, and fairly athletic, I looked to find some other good walking routes in her area. People can get bored always walking the same places. This was the best one I saw. (Don't miss step 17--it's probably the most crucial.)

visitors

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 11:50:54 GMT

i've had the pleasure of hosting two of my favorite people in the last few weeks, both of whom have made me miss home more than usual. Mel was here for a week, and of course it was too short. isn't she lovely?

and then dad came, scarcely two weeks later. he had spent a several weeks in Uganda with Cynthia, whom he hadn't seen since she left over a year ago. he and i had good, relaxed time here in Barcelona, walking around and talking about life and history and the city. i told Mel that it was fun to have him here, because he and i are interested and intrigued by a lot of the same things. "of course you are," she said, "he's your dad." it's true, and i'm proud to be like my dad. (in more ways than just the nose and eyes, brow and beard.) :)

i thank the Lord that you guys are part of my life. thank you both for coming--i miss you guys, and i'm looking forward to seeing you again before too long.

PS--thanks for the haircut, Mel. :)

from page 50, the end of the first paragraph

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 20:55:45 GMT

"En aquellos años robados, el fin de la infancia, como la Renfe, llegaba cuando llegaba."

In those stolen years, the end of childhood, like the trains, came whenever it came.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón, talking about the years after the Spanish civil war

The Gliese 581 super-Earth

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:01:30 GMT

This made me laugh:

The latest discovery has created tremendous excitement among scientists...

The Gliese 581 super-Earth is in what scientists call the "Goldilocks Zone" where temperatures "are just right" for life to have a chance to exist.

Any sentence that starts with something like "The Gliese 581 super-Earth," and then proceeds to anything like, "the Goldilocks Zone," shouldn't go unnoticed. The story goes on to say,

Commenting on the discovery, Alison Boyle, the curator of astronomy at London's Science Museum, said: "Of all the planets we've found around other stars, this is the one that looks as though it might have the right ingredients for life.

"It's 20 light-years away and so we won't be going there anytime soon, but with new kinds of propulsion technology that could change in the future. And obviously we'll be training some powerful telescopes on it to see what we can see," she told BBC News.

"'Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask."

from the BBC

a slice of the deep

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:30:13 GMT

i don't have much to say, really, but i would like to share some quiet with you all.

i imagine none of us have enough quiet in our normal days. Frederick Buechner wrote about frames, saying that a frame allows us to take a moment, a slice of time, or space, and set it aside for observation, or for reflection. is this the artist's primary contribution to the world? is art mostly about drawing our attention to things we would have missed otherwise? (i'm really asking--feel free to respond.)

and i'm really enjoying this book, The Fountainhead. good thought-provocation.