Ordinary Visionary

Some Thoughts on Diplomacy

Here is a passage of scripture that has gotten me thinking again about the value of talking (relating?) to our enemies. This passage recounts an act of diplomacy that would likely be considered foolish and 'inexperienced' today, yet is preserved in scripture as a timeless reminder of how an educated, cool-headed leader can do more with words than bombs in certain military situations.

In the spirit of disclosure, I should state that I am decidedly anti-war, anti-death-penalty, and pro-choosing-life (as is consistent with a culture of life). So when I read this passage today in second Samuel wherein an unnamed woman lead men and women alike to the wall to confront Joab and persuade him to withdraw his troops, I was comforted by the outcome of her diplomatic efforts. Here is a leader with little experience, exercising both oratory prowess and strength (dare I say a spine of steel?) in a show of civility and diplomacy toward her city's enemy…

2 Samuel 20:16-22 (New Living Translation)

¹⁶But a wise woman in the town called out to Joab, “Listen to me, Joab. Come over here so I can talk to you.” ¹⁷ As he approached, the woman asked, "Are you Joab?"

"I am," he replied.

So she said, "Listen carefully to your servant."

"I'm listening," he said.

¹⁸ Then she continued, "There used to be a saying, 'If you want to settle an argument, ask advice at the town of Abel.' ¹⁹ I am one who is peace loving and faithful in Israel. But you are destroying an important town in Israel. Why do you want to devour what belongs to the Lord?"

²⁰ And Joab replied, "Believe me, I don't want to devour or destroy your town! ²¹ That's not my purpose. All I want is a man named Sheba son of Bicri from the hill country of Ephraim, who has revolted against King David. If you hand over this one man to me, I will leave the town in peace."

"All right," the woman replied, "we will throw his head over the wall to you." ²² Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off Sheba's head and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the ram's horn and called his troops back from the attack. They all returned to their homes, and Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem.

And some commentary on this passage from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary:

Justly is that place attacked, which dares to harbour a traitor; nor will the heart fare better which indulges rebellious lusts, that will not have Christ to reign over them. A discreet woman, by her prudent management, satisfied Joab, and yet saved the city. Wisdom is not confined to rank or sex; it consists not in deep knowledge; but in understanding how to act as matters arise, that troubles may be turned away and benefits secured. A great deal of mischief would be prevented, if contending parties would understand one another. Let both sides be undeceived. The single condition of peace is, the surrender of the traitor. It is so in God's dealing with the soul, when besieged by conviction and distress; sin is the traitor; the beloved lust is the rebel: part with that, cast away the transgression, and all shall be well. There is no peace on any other terms.

I am not a number.

I am really excited about whatever is going down at STATUS this Sunday. I just caught this quote at their website:

In a culture that values numbers and results, anonymity can often be the result. For us to actually find community we must take run the risk of honesty, vulnerability, accountability and failure.

Be there... 7 or 9.

Linkable: Best of Blogs

I found a few thought-provoking quotes at the Blue Fish Project blog. I especially liked:

Grace is that bizarre missing ingredient that mucks up all human foibles, flaws, and fears. Grace is the thing that turns lives upside down. It is a sweet, beautiful irritant.Grace is scandalous. It makes murderers into apostles, it makes victims into forgivers.

Link: the blue fish project: Best of Blogs.

Quotable: Velvet Elvis

I just finished reading Velvet Elvis for the second time and here are some of the words that really spoke to me this time around…

Somewhere in you is the you whom you were made to be.

We need you to be you.

We don't need a second anybody. We need the first you.

The problem is that the image of God is deeply scarred in each of us, and we lose trust in God's version of our story. It seems too good to be true. And so we go searching for identity. We achieve and we push and we perform and we shop and we work out and we accomplish great things, longing to repair the image. Longing to find an identity that feels right.

Longing to be comfortable in our own skin.

But the thing we are searching for is not somewhere else. It is right here. And we can only find it when we give up the search, when we surrender, when we trust. Trust that God is already putting us back together.

Trust that through dying to the old, the new can give birth.

Trust the Jesus can repair the scarred and broken image.

It is trusting that I am loved. That I always have been. That I always will be. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to prove anything or achieve anything or accomplish one more thing. That exactly as I am, I am totally accepted, forgiven, and there is nothing I could ever do to lose this acceptance.

(Quoted from page 150-151). Buy the book. Read it twice.

Fair Trade Consumer Electronics?

Since I stopped working for Apple over a year ago I haven't kept up much with the hype and the flurry of news surrounding any product release or company scandal. It used to be like part of the job for me to read all the news articles that came out about Apple and to pore over product documentation so that I could seem crazy smart on the sales floor. As much time as I spent on the job both in and out of the store, it never really seemed like work, which is what made this so funny (in a I-shouldn't-be-laughing-at-this kind of way).

I just caught wind that Apple has been the subject of allegations regarding their iPod factories in China, where workers reportedly work for 15 hours a day and make $50 a month. Clicking around articles about the charges, I came across a comment someone left on a Slashdot post:

"... who can consider working on Apple products 'work'? Instead it is like Christmas play time every day. When you work on an Apple product, you are like an elf in Santa's North Pole! Sure you only get 50 bucks a month, but you can go visit the marmalade forest and make bubblegum pie whenever you want! And furthermore, you get good karma, which ensures that you will go to heaven and receive 72 virgin PowerBooks with infinite Altivec and a double dual core. We should be envious of these lucky women. They are an inspiration to us all."

Yikes. Talk about brand idolatry. The same article that quoted this Slashdot reader also quoted Leander Kahney from Wired Magazine.

"[Meeting a minimum standard for workers is] the right thing to do of course, but it's also smart business -- something Jobs should surely understand," he writes. "For Apple's demographic -- well-heeled urbanites -- human rights and labor practices are, presumably, important matters. They buy fair-trade coffee, but iBooks and iPods are not an issue?"

Is a new wave of Fair Trade consumer electronics on its way? Is following the 'green' trend the answer to this global issue?

For a certain crowd (particularly Apple's market base, the "well-heeled urbanites") it may be. But I have a sore feeling about the reality of sweatshops. Perhaps I am alone in this, but do you think that enough people would really pay more for a product just to have the peace of mind that the people who put it together have safe working conditions, medical benefits, and reasonable salaries? How much more? And what must it feel like for all of those workers who know that they would have to spend six months' salary to buy just one of the products they make hundreds of every day? What do they see when they look at America through that lens? I have such a heart for these people but my mind doesn't know what to do with the realities of their situations. The phrase Rescue Is Possible has been resonating through my mind this past week, but where is the rescue for this flock?

Quotable: Philip Yancey

“      Throughout church history, Christian leaders have shown an impulse to pin everything down, to reduce behavior and doctrine to absolutes that could be answered on a True/False test. Strangely, I do not find this tendency in the Bible. Far from it. I find instead the mystery and uncertainty that characterize any relationship, especially a relationship be tween a perfect God and fallible human beings.”

Quotable: Captivating

This is an excerpt from Captivating, the book I am reading with my Bible Study. I felt like it really spoke to the root of some of my need for control — control over the few people I place my trust in, and control over the boundaries of my heart.

We also developed ways of trying to get something of the love our hearts cried out for. The ache is there. Our desperate need for love and affirmation, our thirst for some taste of romance and adventure and beauty is there. So we turned to boys or to food or to romance novels; we lost ourselves in our work or at church or in some sort of service. All this adds up to the women we are today. Much of what we call our "personalities" is actually the mosaic of our choices for self-preservation plus our plan to get something of the love we were created for.

The problem is our plan has nothing to do with God.

The wounds we received and the messages they brought formed a sort of unholy alliance with our fallen nature as women. From Eve we received a deep mistrust in the heart of God toward us. Clearly, he's holding out on us. We'll just have to arrange for the life we want. We will control our world. But there is also an ache deep within, an ache for intimacy and for life. We'll have to find a way to fill it. A way that does not require us to trust anyone, especially God. A way that will not require vulnerability.

— Stasi Eldredge, Captivating

Quotable: Rev. C.H. Spurgeon

“      He who dives deep, finds that there is in the lowest depth to which he can attain a deeper depth still.
— REV. C. H. Spurgeon (link)”

Quotable: Papa

“      You make it look so exciting to be smart.
— Best grandfather ever.”

Quotable: Rob Bell v2

I have quoted Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis before, but the truth is I had just opened to a random page in the book and started reading and loved the first thing I laid eyes on. So I am starting from the beginning now and you will probably see more of this to come. This quote articulates the reason I go to STATUS and think it's an invaluable ministry for 20s in this time and place.

I think the best part of my Velvet Elvis is the lower left-hand corner, where the artist simply wrote a capital R and then a period.

R.

Because when you're this good, you don't even have to write your whole name.

What if, when he was done with this masterpiece, R. had announced there was no more need for anyone to paint, because he had just painted the ultimate painting? What if R. had held a press conference, unveiled his painting, and then called on all painters everywhere to put down their brushes, insisting that since he had painted the ultimate painting, there was simply no need for any of them to continue their work?

We would say that R. had lost his mind. We say this because we instinctively understand that art has to, in some way, keep going. Keep exploring, keep arranging, keep shaping and forming and bringing in new perspectives.

…

For many people, the word Christian conjures up all sorts of images that have nothing to do with who Jesus is and how he taught us to live. This must change.

For others, the painting works for their parents, or it provided meaning when they were growing up, but it is no longer relevant. It doesn't fit. It's outdated. It doesn't have anything to say to the world they live in every day. It's not that there isn't any truth in it or that all the people before them were misguided or missed the point. It's just that every generation has to ask the difficult questions of what it means to be a Christian here and now, in this place, at this time.

And if this difficult work isn't done, where does the painting end up?

In the basement.

…

What gets lost is the truth that whoever painted that version was just like us, searching for God and experiencing God and trying to get a handle on what the Christian faith looks like. And then a new generation comes along living in a new day and a new world, and they have to keep the tradition going or the previous paintings are going to end up in the basement.

The tradition then is painting, not making copies of the same painting over and over. The challenge of the art is to take what was great about the previous paintings and incorporate that into new paintings.

And in that process, make something beautiful — for today.

— Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis (010-013)

Bono's Remarks at The National Prayer Breakfast

“      It's not about charity, it's about justice.
— Bono”

Some of you may have read or heard this already, but this is the first time I've read it. I am truly humbled by Bono's ability to communicate a message of what I believe is the world's greatest injustice to the very people who can initiate change. I have copied the contents of the article into the rest of this post, or you can read it for yourself at the DATA website.

Quotable: X

“      See, only a profoundly maladjusted* person could hate you. Hence, he is weirder than I.
— X”

* "And I'd have to add the premise that I am maladjusted but not quite profoundly maladjusted to make it a valid argument… But the reader will get the point."

Quotable: Coworker

“      It's never too late to not graduate.
— Coworker”

Quotable: David Loveless

“      In heaven there will be no computer crashes! Because everybody will be using Apple computers!
— David Loveless”

Overheard In Orlando: Random Girl

A random girl in a bikini (and nothing else) walks into Metro Espresso in a swanky part of downtown Orlando.

Waitress: Um, excuse me I'm sorry but you need to… Wear something.
Girl: Huh?
Waitress: You need to put some clothes and shoes on.
Girl: Are you sure?
Waitress: …
Girl: So, like, can I borrow your apron?