Between holiday travel and work and “work”, I’ve been busily neglecting my posting here. It’s always easy to let the daily grind distract you from more meaningful things, but in light of the terrible tragedy in Southeast Asia here’s a minor post:
The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami weblog is a great resource for people looking for a way to help those that need it the most. I’ve given what I can and I ask that you do the same.
Word Press starting freaking out today, so to those of you whose RSS readers got pinged a couple too many times today, I apologize. It’s been taken care of and won’t happen again 
.
For those interested, Climb To The Stars has the fix and more info about the problem.
What about God? Where is He in your picture of life?
Faith used to be enough for me, really. Years ago, things like the problem of pain and suffering didn’t phase me at all. My faith was like a rock: solid and unmoving. “God has his reasons”, I’d say. And that was enough for me. It honestly was.
Things are different now that I’m older and a bit wiser. Well, probably not wiser, but maybe more aware of how dumb I am . Things that were once clear have been clouded by life and circumstance.
But I do know a few things. I know that I love my family more than anything in this world. No price is too high to pay for their safety: no sacrifce too great to keep them happy. I also know that my love for my family is merely a shadow of God’s love for the world. And that’s enough for me.
The way I see it, Jesus told us to do 2 things in this life: Love God with all our being, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Everything else follows from that. I used to be a real stickler for the legalistic details, but I like to think that I’m getting better at seeing the difference between what a person does and who that person is.
Do I love God? Absolutely. I used to love Him because I was afraid to do otherwise, but things have changed over the years. The more I learn about Him, the more my knowledge is stripped away, leaving my faith raw and exposed underneath.
Martial artists have an anecdote that might help clear up my foggy metaphor. When you begin studying, you learn how to punch. You take your hand and hurl it at the target. And that’s a punch.
The more you study the more you analyze your punches. There are about a bazillion different types of punches, each one unique. You’ve got crosses, jabs, hooks, reverse, overhand, blah blah blah. You study each punch individually, learning where they’re applicable and how to use them efficiently. You think about them so much that you reach a point where you can’t punch without completely analyzing the situation.
Then, one day, you realize that a punch is just a punch. You take your hand and hurl it at the target.
My relationship with God is getting like that. I learn more and more about Him, only to have it stripped away and replaced with love for Him and love for mankind. And I think I like it that way.