New Life'n

Seven years later

Where are they now?

Yes, that day was life-changing

It was a landmark -- a dividing line.  There was everything before that day, then there was everything after.  A BC/AD thing.  There's not many days like that in your life. 

Some days that are the end and the beginning, you say 'things will never be the same,' knowing it at the time. 

Other days are dividing lines that you don't appreciate until later -- that's what this day was.

And today is the anniversary of that day.  When everything really did change.  From that day on I began to see myself differently.  It commenced the journey of unselfishness (it's a long journey).  My world began to not revolve around me so much.  And I started to experience the joy of bringing someone else joy.

That day set in motion the days when I would see grace and forgiveness personified and in action -- and personalized for me. 

My life changed on 9-11.  September 11, 1969, when I met Brenda, my bride, and the best picture of Jesus that I have on earth.

The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight -- 1 Peter 3:4

10 tips for new college students

Here's the first 3 from John Mark Reynolds:

1. Ignore advice to “remake” yourself the first day you get to college.

2. Do something each week that puts you in contact with people older and younger than your peer group.

3. If you have a decent relationship with your parents keep it up.

The rest are HERE.

I'd add: Be careful of taking life-direction advice from fellow students.  At least that's what I told my daughters.  Sometimes students can get so carried away with how smart they think they're getting that they suddenly know God's will for their friends.  See 1, 2 and 3 above.

Just do it

He once said, "thank God for mono."  Over 40 years ago in college he thought he wanted to be a doctor.  Then mono knocked him into bed for 3 weeks.  On his back for those 3 weeks he listened to the radio and heard a preacher bring the Bible alive in a way he'd never heard before.  "I want to do that" was his reaction, and he's been doing it ever since. 

My son-in-law is a high school pastor and one thing they do is show John Piper videos to the students.  What is it about a 62-year-old guy that 16- and 17-year-olds would relate to?  Maybe it's the passion, the intensity, the fire in the eyes, the conviction that what he's doing is incredibly important...  Oh yeah, and what he says:

Did you know those stately, revered founding fathers Jefferson and Hamilton hated each other?

There's been some political roughhousing this week, eh?  If you've gotten into it, reading the headlines or watching network or cable news, you've probably taken sides and feel some passion against the other side.  What seems normal to one seems outrageous and irresponsible to the other.  I've gotten into it and I feel it. 

And the last few days are also when I've been in the chapter "First in Peace" in "His Excellency: George Washington" by Joseph P. Ellis.  I thought partisan mentalities grew over generations as America developed.  Nope.  Within the first 3 years of George Washington's Presidency, partisanship busted out all over everything.  It had to.  Because people have beliefs they are passionate about, and people disagree and get mad at each other.  Not everybody, but most.

In America, politics was all romantic after the Revolution -- the founders were all on the same team.  Then the governing had to start, and with it the partisanship.

There will never be a President who goes into office with the reputation and respect that George Washington had.  And even he couldn't stop the partisanship.  It got even worse his second term.  By the end of his Presidency, the Father of our Country and hero of the Revolution had been insulted and trashed, by both enemies and friends, as badly as any politician since.

In America, the partisanship started with Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.  Washington wanted to retire after his first term as President, but changed his mind:

The immediate reason for his decision (to run for a second term), reached with great reluctance, became obvious in several spirited conversations with Jefferson and Hamilton...

Jefferson accused Hamilton of plotting to commandeer the government after Washington's departure...(with) himself as king, emperor, or dictator...Hamilton charged Jefferson with working behind the scenes...to capture the federal government for its slave-owning supporters.

The hatred between the two men became palpable, mutual, and personal...

Although no one knew it at the time -- indeed no one yet possessed the vocabulary to talk or think about it sensibly -- political parties were in the process of being born.  The split between Jefferson and Hamilton was destined to foster the creation of the two-party system and a central feature in the American political universe. 

In other words, our political parties began as an effort to try to add a layer of depersonalization to passionate human disagreements.  To keep us from strangling each other.  It worked.  But the replacement for the strangling can still get pretty ugly.

Trusting

We drove to New York City last week.  Friends gave us their GPS to use.  Even Brenda (the non-gadget-lover) ended up saying, "we've got to get one of these." 

It talked us right to our hotel.  "Turn left in 500 feet onto Harbor Boulevard."  All the way it constantly informed us how many miles to go and what time we'd get there.  Genius.

Isn't it incredible to hold something in your hand that knows exactly where you are and how to get where you need to go?  It knows the way, the truth... 

Only I wouldn't believe it.  I'd already planned our trip and had a good idea how to go.  But several times the GPS lady insisted I do something a bit different than my plan.  I was freaking out some -- "this doesn't seem right!"  I'd never been that way before and STILL I insisted on trusting my own judgment!

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death

Apparently this has been guys' tendencies for at least 3,000 years.

So convincing us to ask directions may not do any good -- we won't believe them anyway.