This Life
I take a walk to local coffee shops, restaurants and other spots that offer wifi. I notice many things on my short jaunts around town as I search out new wifi locales to do some work online and continue exploring the city. I see people from all walks of life. I see men and women in all shapes, sizes, colors and ethnic backgrounds pursuing various paths.
There are quiet and sleepy neighborhoods a few short blocks away from hip, trendy and busy strips. I see the bar scene, the gay scene, the biker scene, the family scene, the dog-lovers scene and all points in between. I see men dressed as women and women dressed as men. I see the missionaries in their white shirts riding their bicycles with "elder" before their names. They are elders but I'm almost twice their age. Both Baptist and Jehovah's Witnesses come to the door sometimes with the pretext that I'm somehow lost or don't know or do something they do or know. I see people who pursue a brand of religion which is not inviting, instead rather separatist and more akin to racist. I see people homeless by choice and homeless by circumstance. I see trouble makers and trouble evaders. I see people doing what they must to get by, to pay the cost of being alive. I see people just beginning their discovery of the world around them... and people who are still licking their wounds from being chewed up and spit out by this world. I see people in their prime. I see people just waiting to die. I see and recognize myself in all of these people... and sometimes I don't recognize myself at all.
You who personally know me also know I don't shy away from having a conversation or trading insights / points of view with any of the people who happen to cross my path.
Although variety reigns in the cityscape, does the homogenous blend of civilization the countryside has to offer bring with it the notions of what is good? I used to think so. Yet I've discovered people are people no matter what their upbringing, programming or locale.
Today I noticed an ice cream man strategically stationed beneath some shady trees about 50 yards from an elementary school. Parents know they will have to battle their children in reasoning why 'not' to buy some ice cream on this hot and balmy day. Location, location, location.... even for the traveling ice-cream man.
I've been reading about Alexander the 'Great' and other 'warriors' of times past. These men had things in their hearts and a vision for the world... so long as they were atop the strung of the apparatus. I see written in the narrative, and even more obviously in the movies depicting such men and their exploits, the theme of bringing freedom to the masses and to help reform or better a system of life distant peoples are living in. I see religions doing this too... but is that really what the calling to do good, love and accept all others as they are is calling one to do? Did Alexander and those before and after him truly bring 'freedom?' I see it as the same pecking order called by a different name with a sliding scale of 'rights' and 'freedoms' tied to obligations and expectations.
There is a freedom the world's point of view knows nothing about.
When One called all men to be at peace with one another, to do to others as you would have them do to you and other irregular and opposite guidelines the world is accustomed to adhering to, was it to 'change' people from the outside in or from the inside out? Was it to make a monotony or a mass of single-minded clones? Single-minded in some aspects surely, like viewing others as yourself and treating them better than yourself, but surely not monotonous and mechanized as one would perceive. The changing of what is inside eventually makes its mark on the outside, in the manner in which people dress, address others; in their actions and their aims.
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Yeshua replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
- Matthew 22:35-40
If you love me, keep my commands.
- John 14:15
To the Jews who had believed him, Yeshua said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
- John 8:31-32
In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God.
- 1 John 5:3-5
Believe and obey what is good and benefits you.... taste an unknown freedom and overcome the world.
There are quiet and sleepy neighborhoods a few short blocks away from hip, trendy and busy strips. I see the bar scene, the gay scene, the biker scene, the family scene, the dog-lovers scene and all points in between. I see men dressed as women and women dressed as men. I see the missionaries in their white shirts riding their bicycles with "elder" before their names. They are elders but I'm almost twice their age. Both Baptist and Jehovah's Witnesses come to the door sometimes with the pretext that I'm somehow lost or don't know or do something they do or know. I see people who pursue a brand of religion which is not inviting, instead rather separatist and more akin to racist. I see people homeless by choice and homeless by circumstance. I see trouble makers and trouble evaders. I see people doing what they must to get by, to pay the cost of being alive. I see people just beginning their discovery of the world around them... and people who are still licking their wounds from being chewed up and spit out by this world. I see people in their prime. I see people just waiting to die. I see and recognize myself in all of these people... and sometimes I don't recognize myself at all.
You who personally know me also know I don't shy away from having a conversation or trading insights / points of view with any of the people who happen to cross my path.
Although variety reigns in the cityscape, does the homogenous blend of civilization the countryside has to offer bring with it the notions of what is good? I used to think so. Yet I've discovered people are people no matter what their upbringing, programming or locale.
Today I noticed an ice cream man strategically stationed beneath some shady trees about 50 yards from an elementary school. Parents know they will have to battle their children in reasoning why 'not' to buy some ice cream on this hot and balmy day. Location, location, location.... even for the traveling ice-cream man.
I've been reading about Alexander the 'Great' and other 'warriors' of times past. These men had things in their hearts and a vision for the world... so long as they were atop the strung of the apparatus. I see written in the narrative, and even more obviously in the movies depicting such men and their exploits, the theme of bringing freedom to the masses and to help reform or better a system of life distant peoples are living in. I see religions doing this too... but is that really what the calling to do good, love and accept all others as they are is calling one to do? Did Alexander and those before and after him truly bring 'freedom?' I see it as the same pecking order called by a different name with a sliding scale of 'rights' and 'freedoms' tied to obligations and expectations.
There is a freedom the world's point of view knows nothing about.
When One called all men to be at peace with one another, to do to others as you would have them do to you and other irregular and opposite guidelines the world is accustomed to adhering to, was it to 'change' people from the outside in or from the inside out? Was it to make a monotony or a mass of single-minded clones? Single-minded in some aspects surely, like viewing others as yourself and treating them better than yourself, but surely not monotonous and mechanized as one would perceive. The changing of what is inside eventually makes its mark on the outside, in the manner in which people dress, address others; in their actions and their aims.
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Yeshua replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
- Matthew 22:35-40
If you love me, keep my commands.
- John 14:15
To the Jews who had believed him, Yeshua said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
- John 8:31-32
In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God.
- 1 John 5:3-5
Believe and obey what is good and benefits you.... taste an unknown freedom and overcome the world.
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