Fully Alive in God

¡Feliz a ñ o nuevo!  Happy New Year!   A lo menos en el calendario secular, están empezando su nuevo a ñ o de manera buenísima, empezando con alabanza.  Posiblemente alabanza y oración son partes de sus resoluciones para el nuevo a ñ o.  You are starting of the New Year right—way to go if your New Year’s Resolution was about having a better relationship with God! ¿Tienen Uds. Resoluciones para el nuevo a ñ o?  Have you made New Year’s Resolutions?   Posiblemente han hecho algunos, y si son como mi, cada a ñ o son muy parecidos—comer mejor, hacer mas ejercicio, y ¡O si!  Tener una mejor relación con Dios .  My resolutions often involve eating better, exercising more and, if I’m good, praying more.   Una de mis amigas puso en Facebook el otro día que su meta es de “ser una persona mejor” este a ñ o, lo que me pareció bien razonable.  Y en el radio el viernes escuch é un comentarista discutiendo como toma “fuerza de voluntad” para perseguir metas para el a ñ o nuevo, y que solamente tene

Happy New Year!  At least by the secular calendar, you are starting off the year with a great start, getting in some worship right at the beginning of the year!  Maybe worship and prayer was part of your New Year’s Resolution. Do you have plans for New Year’s Resolutions?  Perhaps you have made some, and if you’re anything like me, every year they tend to gravitate around the same goals—eating healthier, getting a bit more exercise, and oh yeah, having a better prayer life.  One of my friends posted on Facebook that her sole goal this year was “to be a better person,” which seemed quite reasonable.  And on NPR on Friday I heard a commentator discussing how it took “willpower” to pursue New Year’s resolutions—that we only have so much willpower, so the fewer things we focus on at a time, the better our chances of being able to stick to a given goal. [1] The idea is that, rather than making a list of all your possible attempts at improving yourself, you might stick to one or two goals b

¡A nosotros ha nacido un niño! Este adviento, un grupo en la parroquia estudio las pinturas de John August Swanson, pinturas de la Navidad para entrar de nuevo en el momento de este nacimiento tan milagroso… el nacimiento de Cristo.  Eran colinas verdes, estrellas que bailaban en un cielo de azul profundo, y ángeles luminosos nos mostraron el camino.  Animales exóticos acompañaron todos los actores en el cuento bíblico, y cada uno de ellos fueron vestidos en ropa que nos hacia recordar la túnica de color de Jose— ¡tanto, tanto color!  The paintings helped us see the nativity story in a totally new way, and in the process we learned that the time when Jesus was born was not an easy time for the Jewish people.  La época en que nació Jesús era una época de opresión del imperio romano en la palestina de Jesús. [1]   Y se vuelve de Nuevo el mundo y de Nuevo estamos en un periodo de oscuridad, tratando de ver la luz.  Estamos recordados que Jesús nos trajo a luz y que viene de nuevo.  We ar

Unto us, a Child is Born! This Advent, we used the bright colors and intricate style of John August Swanson to try to get into the world of this amazing, miraculous birth… the birth of Christ.  Rolling green hills, Swirling stars in deep blue skies and luminous angels pointed our way, and whimsical animals accompanied each colorfully dressed actor in the Biblical story.  In this process, we learned from the scholars at Emory University that Jesus was born into a particularly oppressive time in the life of the Jewish people, during the Roman Empire rule, and so this little baby right from the start, provided a glimmer of hope in a dark time. [1] And as the earth turns again, and again it is dark, we are reminded once more that Jesus came and brought that light into our lives.  We are reminded that Jesus is coming again.  Isaiah speaks a familiar prophecy—a child is to come!  A magnificent child, Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace!  Again, words spoken in a very dark time in the hist

No s e si Uds. están de acuerdo, pero yo creo en Milagros.   I believe in miracles.  Justo cuando he decidido que Dios no esta actuando en el mundo ahora mismo, algo pasa que cambia mi mente y puedo ver lo bueno que es el Señor. Take just the other day—el otro día estábamos manejando Alene y yo y de repente, el carro en frente se par ó .  Usamos los frenos y el carro detrás vino con las llantas chirriando y se fue a nuestro lado izquierdo y paro detrás del coche en frente… nos dimos cuenta de que una escalera estaba en la carretera y nos paramos al lado.  Con suerte, el carro dos carros atrás se par ó en la carretera y el hombre sac ó la escalera de la carretera.  Milagrosamente, ninguno de nosotros fue dañado y el carro atrás de nosotros aun vino a decirnos, “¡Ni toqu é su carro!”  Estaba muy feliz. En las palabras de Malcolm Boyd, “If you don’t have a guardian angel, get one!” O “si no tiene Ud. un ángel de guardián, ¡mejor encontrar uno!” Para mi, esto fue un milagro… getting in

I don’t know about you all, but I believe in miracles.  Just when I think surely all that God-breaking into the world stuff surely doesn’t happen here and now, I get another reminder of just how wonderful God is. Take just the other day—Alene and I were driving to Goleta to take part in a book study when suddenly the car in front of us slowed to a complete stop in the middle of the fast lane.  We braked suddenly, perplexed until we saw that a ladder had been dropped in the road and the car was slowing to avoid it.  As soon as we braked, the SUV behind us came at us with screeching tires and managed to careen onto the shoulder to our left, just to stop right behind the car in front of us, now on the shoulder.  We pulled to the side, to check all was well, while the car behind us had the sense to stop the now slowed traffic on the lane long enough to pull the offending ladder off the road.  Just a second or inch longer, and we could have all been injured, if not killed.  As it was, the