This past two weeks have been so busy. At work, we had the parent-teacher conferences, awards ceremonies, classroom spelling bee, and other various special activities. At home, we had the Lunar Chinese New Year celebrations which included the whole house cleaning and feeding many family members. Time is just flying by and I feel like I'm barely keeping up with it.
We went to celebrate Roberta's 85th birthday this past Wednesday. I like Roberta. She has no one to impress and nothing to strive for. She's dignified yet humble. She told me that it's not the "special" things that couples do on days like Valentine's that make the relationship, but the steady, day to day being with each other.
Here are some quotes from Reaching for the Invisible God:
"God often does His work through 'holy fools,' dreamers who strike out in ridiculous faith, whereas I approach my own decisions with calculation and restraint."
"Over time, I have grown more comfortable with mystery rather than certainty. God does not twist arms and never forces us into a corner with faith in himself as the only exit. We can never present the Final Proof, to ourselves or to anyone else. We will always, with Pascal, see 'too much to deny and too little to be sure...'"
"In my pilgrimage I found a grace-filled church and a community of Christians who formed a safe place for my doubts. I note in the Gospels that Jesus' disciple Thomas kept company with the other disciples even though he could not believe their accounts of Jesus' resurrection - the sine qua non of any doctrinal statement - and it was amid that community that Jesus appeared in order to strengthen Thomas' faith."
"Without an element of risk, there is no faith. ... Faith means striking out, with no clear end in sight and perhaps even no clear view of the next step. It means following, trusting, holding out a hand to an invisible Guide."
"I learned that opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear."
Of course the obvious opposite of faith would be unbelief or even I think being double-minded. Both of which are admonished in the Bible.
We went to celebrate Roberta's 85th birthday this past Wednesday. I like Roberta. She has no one to impress and nothing to strive for. She's dignified yet humble. She told me that it's not the "special" things that couples do on days like Valentine's that make the relationship, but the steady, day to day being with each other.
Here are some quotes from Reaching for the Invisible God:
"God often does His work through 'holy fools,' dreamers who strike out in ridiculous faith, whereas I approach my own decisions with calculation and restraint."
"Over time, I have grown more comfortable with mystery rather than certainty. God does not twist arms and never forces us into a corner with faith in himself as the only exit. We can never present the Final Proof, to ourselves or to anyone else. We will always, with Pascal, see 'too much to deny and too little to be sure...'"
"In my pilgrimage I found a grace-filled church and a community of Christians who formed a safe place for my doubts. I note in the Gospels that Jesus' disciple Thomas kept company with the other disciples even though he could not believe their accounts of Jesus' resurrection - the sine qua non of any doctrinal statement - and it was amid that community that Jesus appeared in order to strengthen Thomas' faith."
"Without an element of risk, there is no faith. ... Faith means striking out, with no clear end in sight and perhaps even no clear view of the next step. It means following, trusting, holding out a hand to an invisible Guide."
"I learned that opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear."
Of course the obvious opposite of faith would be unbelief or even I think being double-minded. Both of which are admonished in the Bible.
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