The eyes of faith are prejudiced

I grew up in a Christian, church-attending, bible-believing home.
Yes, I believe that stuff.
At some point around my mid-twenties I started to think that the central tenants of Christianity were so rationally sound that it would be reasonable for ANYONE to believe if they just had someone to explain it to them clearly.
While I still believe, here in my forties, that there is a "rational soundness" there I have come to understand that my upbringing, my early immersion in the stories of the Bible, has created a faith based bias in me. I am prejudiced.

By way of simple example, imagine someone with NO knowledge of the Bible or Christian belief reading this tidbit:

2Kings 6
¹ The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. ² Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live."
And he said, "Go."

³ Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?"
"I will," Elisha replied. ⁴ And he went with them.
They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. ⁵ As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

⁶ The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. ⁷ "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

Or this childhood favorite:

Jonah 1

¹⁵ Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. ¹⁶ At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

¹⁷ But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

I, of course, accept these stories at face value. I feel no sense of rational discomfort over them...and I confess that may put me in the minority, even amongst "believers".

But I think it is important to remember, when having conversations with folks who don't share my particular prejudice...the prejudice of faith, that there are pieces of the story that defy rational explanation.

At the end of the day it won't be rational argument that convinces people. It will be lives lived, love expressed, and credence given to those who don't share my biased view of things.

"See you later" auntie...

My wife's aunt, Marlene Hanson passed away in May just six days shy of her 75th birthday.
"Auntie" was an amazing lady in so many ways that it would be hard to describe her love, generosity, and care in anything shy of several chapters.

We celebrated her memorial service last weekend in southern California.

I'm not sure I could have remembered her name the first few years Lib and I were married. She was always just...Auntie. (Auntie as in the light switch position: "On-tee"...NOT as in the tiny picnic pest: "Ant-ee")

Auntie's kitchen was the first place I met Libby's family and her home instantly became associated with my in-law's clan.

She never visited us without wanting to help decorate or landscape or extend her gifts of hospitality to our home.

She LOVED taking people out to eat and DISLIKED letting them pay.

She will be dearly missed by all of us until we have the chance to meet again in heaven.

Aside from the obvious grief at missing our dear Auntie I was struck by something unexpected as we spent time with family and friends last weekend. I had probably been to her house less than a dozen times in 18 years of marriage to Libby so it seemed odd that I should feel such a sense of attachment to her home but I was sad to drive away from it for what may be the last time.

I think it may be that I always knew I had a "safe place" there and now my world has one less safe place.

Oh we still have family in southern Ca., and we'll still have many reasons to visit, but not to visit Glendale. No reason to visit the house on the hill.
I think I perhaps knew, without knowing, that if I found myself anywhere within a tank of gas of Auntie's, or anywhere in southern Ca and in need, there was a place I could go where I would be welcomed and cared for and...safe.
Again, it isn't that those places don't exist...there are a number of them in somewhat close proximity...but there is now one less.

When my mom moved to Oregon from the house we grew all grew up in in Sunnyvale we lost that location...but we gained a location up north. Sad to see the house go but excited for mom's new adventure. But this is different. This time the person and the place are gone.

It makes me wonder what part this "geographical component" plays in many of our relationships. Maybe I'm just getting old but I don't like having one less friend and one less safe place in the world.

Could it be that her gift of hospitality was so strong that we not only miss the person, but the influence of her gift on the body, or in this case the family, as well? And that her home was an embodiment of her gift?
That has a familiar ring to it. I think I have felt THAT before.

We do know that Auntie has gone ahead of us to get her garden ready so that she can have us all over when we get to heaven. Maybe, until then, we need to step up our own gifts, and in particular our own hospitality, to make up for her being gone.

First triathlon of the summer!

Back in 2006 I had my first experience running a triathlon...I find it humorous as I write that because a LOT of people call it "running" a triathlon when really that is only one of the stages, albeit the most painful...and this past Sunday I stepped back into that world.

The Broomfield MiniHaha is a great "first timers" race. The swim is 300M (12 laps), the bike is 11 miles and the run is 2 miles. In 2006 my time 1:15:09, good enough for 18th in may age division. I was hoping to break the hour mark this year.

The swim in this event is in a pool which means folks are grouped in heats by estimated swim times. I had submitted a 6 minute time but my fastest training swim was more like 5:20. You typically will have as many as five people in your heat, in your lane, so as you get ready to enter the pool everyone compares times to determine how to best order the group. My group decided I should go first...which is good. You run the least chance of having to have to pass people that way.

I got started in the swim and glanced at the clock when I finished my first 50M. I came in at 40 seconds which was faster than I wanted to go. (You run the risk of wiping out all of your energy in the swim just to pick up 40 or 50 seconds when the next leg, the bike, offers the best chance to cut down your time by multiple minutes.) I managed to slow my pace a bit over the remaining laps, even allowing another racer to pass me at the wall once, and exited the pool at 5 minutes 30 seconds...about what I had hoped for although I probably could have finished in about 4:50.

I felt good as I made the jog out to T1. (For those new to the sport T1 is "transition one" where you go from swimming to putting on shoes, shirt, helmet etc for the bike leg.) I got out fairly well, not sure how well as this event doesn't use timing devices that give you split times, but I felt good getting on the bike. I started passing people almost immediately.

The bike leg makes a couple turns going slightly down hill then starts into about a mile and a half climb of varying steepness. I was cranking! I had exited the pool near the front of my own heat and I was passing people from the previous heat most of whom had had at least a five minute head start on me. I got to the top of the hill feeling good and flew down the back side of the 5.5 mile loop.
Coming around the loop the second time I was feeling good and VERY glad to be done with the hill climb as I crested and started down. On the first downhill section I set my sites on a guy ahead of me in a bright green bike jersey on a pretty expensive looking bike.
I got past him faster than I thought I would but I had to slow down as I came up on a sharp right turn with a slower biker in front of me.
That gave him the chance to get me back on the second downhill section.
"I knew you'd be back." I said, as I looked at him coming up on my outside.
I fell in behind him for a short stretch but then my competetive nature took over and I decided to kick up the speed and go by him.
To make a long story short I passed multiple people on both laps and probably maintained close to a 19-20mph average over the 11 miles. I was feeling REALLY good.

Of course then came the run...
I got in and out of T2 pretty quickly, change of shoes, ditch the helmet, throw on a visor and go.
I was even moving decently without the usual hobble that you get when you first get off the bike.
But I knew right away this was going to be painful.
My doctor had already advised me a year earlier that my knee was bad enough that I ought not to run at all. I had talked him into agreeing that I WAS going to run but that I would train for it the least. My knee felt fair to midlin as I made my way...slowly...through the first mile. I remember clearly thinking that I did not feel nearly as winded as I thought I would but that my legs seemed to be lead weights.
At the mid point of the run is the one water station so I grabbed a cup and walked briefly while I drank it....another place I might have saved 15-30 seconds had I kept up my slow jog...I managed to keep my self moving without walking for the remainder of the run.
With less than 100 yards to go I heard someone coming up behind me.
"Let's go specialized (my bike is a Specialized) you had me!"
I tried to keep pace with "green jersey" but there was no way.
I knew I had caught up to him from way behind on the bike so I figured my overall time would be better than his anyway...SO NYA NYA NYA!!!

I did find enough gas in the tank to "sprint" up the last 30 yards or so into the finish...
1:02:45
I missed my goal by less than three minutes!!!

I was both elated and bummed at the same time. Elated to have finished...it is quite a rush if you've never done a tri...and bummed to have come so close. (I did help a wee bit to have my time be good enough to finish in the top ten of my age group.)

Because of the way the pool heats had worked out I was able to get back to the pool in time to cheer on my buddy Scott who was doing his first triathlon ever. It's fun to be done and then get to cheer on a friend through transitions and finishing.

So now, after a couple days of recovery, we're ready to start training for the next one in August which, in turn, will lead to another in September. If you're ready to give it a go let me know and we'll help you get started. There is nothing quite like competing in a finishing a triathlon.
Yes, I know, you're worried about the swim. Everyone is. But it can be done.

You just have to be willing to tri.