Also an interesting speech http://www.crmvet.org/comm/zinn05.htm
Friday, January 29, 2010
Howard Zinn, 1922-2010
The great Howard Zinn's death has the ominous feeling of bringing too close the end of an era when some western intellectuals had the magnetism of rock stars, and when their ethical and principled stand against the dominant powers of the moment moved millions to see things differently, and to act.
A good book for any one who interacts with children.
Hi all,
I'm starting a mom's group and am excited to get started. I'll be facilitating our meetings the last Saturday of every month.
The first book that we've selected to read is called, "Parenting with Love and Logic."
Here's a link for you to check out:
http://www.loveandlogic.com/
It's a great book and it really works quite well with Safina. She's incredibly logical in her conversations at this stage of development.
Anyway, if any of you are interested in getting a copy of this book, I'll send one your way, or bring you a copy when we come in October. The web site also has a lot of useful information.
~juliana
P.s. my brother, Jason, who is not a parent thought this was a really useful book too.
I'm starting a mom's group and am excited to get started. I'll be facilitating our meetings the last Saturday of every month.
The first book that we've selected to read is called, "Parenting with Love and Logic."
Here's a link for you to check out:
http://www.loveandlogic.com/
It's a great book and it really works quite well with Safina. She's incredibly logical in her conversations at this stage of development.
Anyway, if any of you are interested in getting a copy of this book, I'll send one your way, or bring you a copy when we come in October. The web site also has a lot of useful information.
~juliana
P.s. my brother, Jason, who is not a parent thought this was a really useful book too.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Aman went home to Jesus
18th January 2010
In the early hours of today, Aman went home to Jesus. If you happen to call yourself evangelical (“true to the gospel”) you might initiate a debate with me on that. Aman was born into a Muslim family and died in a Muslim family and probably never heard about the remarkable story of God becoming flesh to bring us life. To me he was a bearer of that very message... similar to how a baby in a barn brought that message of hope to shepherds 2000 years ago.
A while back, while I was considering adopting a disabled child, as a pre-requisite I committed myself to spend at least 15 minutes of every day with Aman – carrying him, engaging with him and establishing a relationship with him. In addition to loving and being loved by him I wanted to experience a small part of the difficulty that his parents experience in raising him. I gave up very soon, primarily because it hurt my back to hold him for long. Also, after long efforts of animated discussions with him, he would barely respond to me. Occasionally he would gift me a slight smile and I would treasure those.
Aman was an angel sent to show me that God is love. His helplessness was an immediate reminder of a God who became that – helpless; to show me His heart... to invite me into relationship with Him.
Hey Aman, you lived well... you accomplished your task... you surely are a good and faithful servant of the King. You bore His image very well... Thank you... see you soon!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Today's links 24/1/2010
1. Slam poet Taylor Mali’s “Totally Like Whatever, You Know?”
(HT: Justin Taylor)
2. How a Reformed Church Overthrew Communism in Romania....the truth is stranger than fiction
3. The results of a study that has concluded that "children spanked up to the age of 6 were likely as teenagers to perform better at school and were more likely to carry out volunteer work and to want to go to college than their peers who had never been physically disciplined, whereas children who continued to be spanked into adolescence showed clear behavioral problems."
4. Home-Schooled Children Excel as Adults: Another study that found that "home-educated adults in this study were very positive about having been homeschooled and toward homeschooling in general, actively engaged in their local communities, keeping abreast of current affairs, highly civically involved, tolerant of others expressing their viewpoints, attaining relatively high levels of formal education, religiously active and wide-ranging in their worldview beliefs, holding worldview beliefs similar to those of their parents, and largely home educating their own children."
(HT: Veith)
5. The Scary Idea of unmerited free grace - A nice quote from Tim Keller's book: The Prodigal God
"Some years ago I met a woman who began coming to Redeemer, the church where I am a minister. She said that she had gone to church growing up and she had always heard that God accepts us only if we are sufficiently good and ethical. She had never heard the message she was now hearing, that we can be accepted by God by sheer grace through the work of Christ regardless of anything we do or have done. She said, 'That's a scary idea! Oh, it's a good scary, but still scary.'
I was intrigued. I asked her what was so scary about unmerited free grace? She replied something like this: 'If I was saved by my good works - then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with rights. I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace - at God's infinite cost - then there's nothing He cannot ask of me.'
She could see immediately that the wonderful-beyond-belief teaching of salvation by sheer grace had two edges to it. On the one hand it cut away slavish fear. God loves us freely, despite our flaws and failures. Yet, she also knew that if Jesus really had done this for her - she was not her own. She was bought with a price."
(HT: Vitamin Z)
6. The Results Fit the Expectations: The story of Passion 2010, a conference in Atlanta, and what happened when 20,000 young people were presented with a big challenge. Do go over to the link, and read through. Maybe, as the point was made, we are not expecting enough from our young people and children.
7. A hilarious video on Moms.
(HT: Pramod)
Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.
(HT: Justin Taylor)
2. How a Reformed Church Overthrew Communism in Romania....the truth is stranger than fiction
3. The results of a study that has concluded that "children spanked up to the age of 6 were likely as teenagers to perform better at school and were more likely to carry out volunteer work and to want to go to college than their peers who had never been physically disciplined, whereas children who continued to be spanked into adolescence showed clear behavioral problems."
4. Home-Schooled Children Excel as Adults: Another study that found that "home-educated adults in this study were very positive about having been homeschooled and toward homeschooling in general, actively engaged in their local communities, keeping abreast of current affairs, highly civically involved, tolerant of others expressing their viewpoints, attaining relatively high levels of formal education, religiously active and wide-ranging in their worldview beliefs, holding worldview beliefs similar to those of their parents, and largely home educating their own children."
(HT: Veith)
5. The Scary Idea of unmerited free grace - A nice quote from Tim Keller's book: The Prodigal God
"Some years ago I met a woman who began coming to Redeemer, the church where I am a minister. She said that she had gone to church growing up and she had always heard that God accepts us only if we are sufficiently good and ethical. She had never heard the message she was now hearing, that we can be accepted by God by sheer grace through the work of Christ regardless of anything we do or have done. She said, 'That's a scary idea! Oh, it's a good scary, but still scary.'I was intrigued. I asked her what was so scary about unmerited free grace? She replied something like this: 'If I was saved by my good works - then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with rights. I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace - at God's infinite cost - then there's nothing He cannot ask of me.'
She could see immediately that the wonderful-beyond-belief teaching of salvation by sheer grace had two edges to it. On the one hand it cut away slavish fear. God loves us freely, despite our flaws and failures. Yet, she also knew that if Jesus really had done this for her - she was not her own. She was bought with a price."
(HT: Vitamin Z)
6. The Results Fit the Expectations: The story of Passion 2010, a conference in Atlanta, and what happened when 20,000 young people were presented with a big challenge. Do go over to the link, and read through. Maybe, as the point was made, we are not expecting enough from our young people and children.
7. A hilarious video on Moms.
(HT: Pramod)
Friday, January 22, 2010
A Christian Health Care option?
My sister-in-law posted a link to this "Christian Health Care Plan" on our family blog (which, you will notice, looks almost exactly like this one!). It sounded like a fascinating idea
With so many public health specialists, and health insurance specialists among us, I would be really interested in knowing what you think about this, and your thoughts on whether something like this would be possible in India?
With so many public health specialists, and health insurance specialists among us, I would be really interested in knowing what you think about this, and your thoughts on whether something like this would be possible in India?
Monday, January 18, 2010
The rest, as they say, is History
I was moved to tears today as I listened to this 17 minute speech, and thought of all the discrimination that still exists today.
I was also struck by the number of quotations from the Bible, and saw, perhaps, again, for the first time, the amount the Bible has to say about equality and justice.
I was also struck by the number of quotations from the Bible, and saw, perhaps, again, for the first time, the amount the Bible has to say about equality and justice.
Friday, January 15, 2010
10 Resolutions for Mental Health
(From a lecture by Clyde Kilby in 1976)
10 Resolutions for Mental Health
1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.
2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end.
I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death when he said: "There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."
3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities.
I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
4. I shall not turn my life into a thin, straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.
5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.
6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.
7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."
8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.
10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.
(HT: John Piper)
10 Resolutions for Mental Health
1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.
2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end.
I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death when he said: "There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."
3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities.
I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
4. I shall not turn my life into a thin, straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.
5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.
6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.
7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."
8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.
10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.
(HT: John Piper)
Anand's dedication ceremony
Though Anand is now over two years old, we had never actually had a dedication ceremony for him. This was primarily because we were always in a state of flux, moving between many places, and in search of a church we could be a part of. We also wanted to have people from both our 'families-of-origin' present as a part of this ceremony.
Just before Prem's wedding, we realised that we had a window of opportunity to have Anand dedicated. Arpita's mother was in Bangalore in order to visit Ashita and attend the wedding, and my family had come together as well.
And so, we grabbed the opportunity, and Anand was dedicated the day before Prem's wedding.
There were really three things we wanted to do.
1. We wanted this dedication to be a celebration of the fact that we have been adopted into God's family, and are now His children. We spent some time expressing our gratitude for the various benefits that have accrued to us because of this reality.
2. We knew that in addition to dedicating Anand, we wanted to dedicate ourselves. We wanted to express our prayer for grace to be good parents, in addition to expressing our prayers and desires for Anand.
3. We wanted every family represented that evening to be a part of the ceremony. We wanted to acknowledge that we were a part of a loving community that would bless and influence Anand in many ways.
And so we gathered together after dinner on Jan 1st. We were a small community of people who cared for Anand, and wanted to dedicate him to the Lord. After singing a song together, we went through this dedication that Arpita and I had written out together.
We want to thank each of you for your love and care for us as a family. Please do continue to pray for and with us, as we continue together on this exciting journey.
Just before Prem's wedding, we realised that we had a window of opportunity to have Anand dedicated. Arpita's mother was in Bangalore in order to visit Ashita and attend the wedding, and my family had come together as well.
And so, we grabbed the opportunity, and Anand was dedicated the day before Prem's wedding.
There were really three things we wanted to do.
1. We wanted this dedication to be a celebration of the fact that we have been adopted into God's family, and are now His children. We spent some time expressing our gratitude for the various benefits that have accrued to us because of this reality.
2. We knew that in addition to dedicating Anand, we wanted to dedicate ourselves. We wanted to express our prayer for grace to be good parents, in addition to expressing our prayers and desires for Anand.
3. We wanted every family represented that evening to be a part of the ceremony. We wanted to acknowledge that we were a part of a loving community that would bless and influence Anand in many ways.
And so we gathered together after dinner on Jan 1st. We were a small community of people who cared for Anand, and wanted to dedicate him to the Lord. After singing a song together, we went through this dedication that Arpita and I had written out together.
We want to thank each of you for your love and care for us as a family. Please do continue to pray for and with us, as we continue together on this exciting journey.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Jesus' Happy Birthday!
It is now about 3 weeks since my last post, and I can understand how difficult it is to start posting when you have not done so for a long time!
So for those of you who have not posted for a long time, let me suggest frequent posts whenever you get the time. Sustaining momentum is easier than starting to move....something to do with the laws of inertia that I seem to remember from looooong ago.
Here are some photos and videos from our family celebration of Christmas. The aim was to help Anand learn the story of Jesus birth through repetition. We also wanted him to experience the joy of anticipation that something exciting was about to happen, and the joy of seeing the promise fulfilled.
We tried to do this using candles and a crib.
We had dinner by candlelight for the last week before Christmas. We started out with one candle, and every couple of days or so, we would add on another one, until we had 5 candles on Dec 25th, with a new white candle representing Jesus. This was supposed to represent the increasing light of God's working in human history until Jesus birth as the Light of the World. I doubt Anand 'got it', but he enjoyed the candles, and especially blowing them out every day. He saw them as representing "Jesus' Happy Birthday candles"!
For family prayers that week, we read passages from the Old and New Testaments that talked about Jesus' birth.
After prayers, we did our version of the Advent calendar. Anand had painted,(with expert help from his architect aunt) a barn that we placed on a thermocol base. Everyday, we would give him a piece to place in the barn...for example, the animals one day, Mary and Joseph, and the shepherds, and the wise men, and finally a baby to place in the manger on Dec 25th. This was actually really exciting. We enjoyed watching his thrilled expressions and anticipation every day, and by repeating the story every day, we think he learnt a little of it by heart.
And finally, here's Anand enjoying "Jesus' Happy Birthday Cake" from Aunty Neema, on Dec 25th.
So for those of you who have not posted for a long time, let me suggest frequent posts whenever you get the time. Sustaining momentum is easier than starting to move....something to do with the laws of inertia that I seem to remember from looooong ago.
Here are some photos and videos from our family celebration of Christmas. The aim was to help Anand learn the story of Jesus birth through repetition. We also wanted him to experience the joy of anticipation that something exciting was about to happen, and the joy of seeing the promise fulfilled.
We tried to do this using candles and a crib.
We had dinner by candlelight for the last week before Christmas. We started out with one candle, and every couple of days or so, we would add on another one, until we had 5 candles on Dec 25th, with a new white candle representing Jesus. This was supposed to represent the increasing light of God's working in human history until Jesus birth as the Light of the World. I doubt Anand 'got it', but he enjoyed the candles, and especially blowing them out every day. He saw them as representing "Jesus' Happy Birthday candles"!
For family prayers that week, we read passages from the Old and New Testaments that talked about Jesus' birth.
After prayers, we did our version of the Advent calendar. Anand had painted,(with expert help from his architect aunt) a barn that we placed on a thermocol base. Everyday, we would give him a piece to place in the barn...for example, the animals one day, Mary and Joseph, and the shepherds, and the wise men, and finally a baby to place in the manger on Dec 25th. This was actually really exciting. We enjoyed watching his thrilled expressions and anticipation every day, and by repeating the story every day, we think he learnt a little of it by heart.
And finally, here's Anand enjoying "Jesus' Happy Birthday Cake" from Aunty Neema, on Dec 25th.
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