What’s your dream job?
To be on a team of teachers committed to the message of Christ without any of the night shadows that have accompanied the isms and schisms of the last 2000 years.
dailyprompt
Scaremongering, imperial, serial colonialist rapist, and genocidal characteristics make great leaders.
What makes a good leader?
If I were in the current governing class in the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, the People’s Republic of China or Israel that would be my answer. But I am from a far away galaxy where leaders are compassionate servants of the people with a dependence on plows not weapons of mass destruction, and do not use walls to divide citizens and do not use the levers of power to enrich themselves and their friends.
The corporate entity disguised as human
If you could un-invent something, what would it be?
God once gave the Babylonian state the ability to emulate human attributes. The king and his advisors stumbled catastrophically. Since then practically every nation has made the same mistakes while claiming to be sources of goodness.
The ability to stop doing bad things and turn to doing good things
“‘Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you: break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.’” (Daniel 4:27, NASB)
A massive twist of fate
Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?
My wife and I lost a son when I was at college. As the end of my baccalaureate years closed in I was losing my respect for the campus community and felt less in common with the religious community whose interests I was supposed to champion. I would have left college with an unmistakably great academic record, lots of professional promise, record-breaking achievements, but with an opinion of the campus community that it did not deserve.
The entire community came to mourn with us. They brought food, they brought money, and they brought themselves, most just to sit silently with us. The love we felt was undisguised, genuine and is unforgettable. Every aspect of the community’s support was perfectly loving.
Fulfill my parents prediction and justify their investment in me
What is your mission?
- Be honest
- Let no one make me second fiddler
My parents are human; I hope yours are too. They gave me their best materially and spiritually. It’s a good thing no one can interrogate them to find out exactly how well I am doing because they confirmed before kissing life goodbye that my choice of paths to maturity were on the money.
Sunshine, rain and music
When are you most happy?
Three things make me truly happy; sunshine, rain and the pursuit of creating music.
I like the sunshine because it powers our life here on the planet, and particularly on this day, the winter solstice, as the sun begins its journey back towards rising in the east where I can see it rise over the horizon, instead of coming up behind buildings later on in the day, I am supremely happy.
I love the rain because it cleans the air and causes food to grow to feed a hungry planet. I like the sound of the rain beating on the roof and I like the smell of the earth when it is touched by rain. I think it is my love of water, especially the ocean and its movement and sounds.
I like the pursuit of creating music because music is latent in almost everything I do: I am gifted to detect rhythm, harmony and melody in so many things around me. Sound is life! There is my happy package.
More reasons for silence
What skills or lessons have you learned recently?
Shutting down my voice and pen have been a strategy for doing no harm. Today, I can say there are great reasons for silence.
- While there is always a crime in progress, I don’t want to step up and out when it is happening in plain sight and people are paid high salaries to prevent crime
- When I am in school, I let nothing unseat me
- Everything is neither breaking news nor public
Life has buttons for pause, stop, rewind, and fast forward.
Countertuitive; less of a distrusting stance to new acquaintances
What could you do less of?
As much as there is a need for strangers to trust one another there is a mass rising of people who are targeting benevolent individuals with scams and outright malicious designs. Society can boast about having new levels of connectivity while thefts and a host of other violations of people’s rights seem to be increasing. When we are in distress help sometimes appears before we send out an SOS, but these days when help arrives – police and emergency services – the trust is not always there. I do not need that kind of caution, whether it is official agents, strangers or random people, when I offer or need help.
Life is Fun, But Not a Joke 