So I have been considering reconciliation. It is a fairly simple concept. One person hurts another. The first gives up their superiority and humbles them self to apologize for the infraction. The second humbles them self to accept the apology and gives up their right to be angry at the other. From that spot they begin to rebuild their relationship. Simple.... but really hard to do. And all reconciliation is the same as this. They are harder because they involve issues that are deep in people identities rather than a slight or mistake. But all reconciliation situations can involve identity issues. It is amazing how easy it is to hurt or damage someone else.
So why am I talking about this. The best way for reconciliation to happen, and I think in the harder cases of racial and gender reconciliation people must have a solid identity to do the work of reconciliation out of. You can not reconcile well unless you reconcile as someone worth reconciling with towards someone worth reconciling with. We must value ourselves and our neighbor as our self. To reconcile we must meet on an equal footing, which means we cannot be putting the other below us, or ourselves below them to do it.
Using the example of racial reconciliation.
The majority must realize that they do have a culture that is worthy of identifying with. That their culture honors God and brings an aspect of who God is to the world that no other group does. They also need to know that their culture has some things to answer for and apologize for. That sin has entered this would through them in a unique way as well.
What annoys me is how often that those in the majority culture (whites in the US) who care about racial reconciliation have this idea that they have only things to make up for. That all they can do is defame themselves until the other groups are placated. That to be white is to be only something that is evil, something to be repented of.
The minority must realize similar things. One that regardless of what the majority has done they have awesome things to bring to this world. Also that they have their own issues to deal with and make up for. That they have to humble themselves as well.
I see, on TV, how many of those that speak out about racial issues on the minority side do it from this point of superiority or entitlement. They speak out for their group and expect the majority to roll over and destroy themselves. Or they blame the majority for all their problems.
I don't want to sound racist or anything. And I am sure there are many out there that fit this, but...
What we really need if we want to see real reconciliation between the races is people that are convinced of their personal worth and the worth of their group. But if they stop there all you have is the KKK and Black Panthers. We need people that take the next step that see the worth of others and other groups as equal to their own. And people that take that outlook to a mindset of serving others over their own best interest.
ONLY then can we truly have reconciliation.
So whites on TV... please value your ethnicity. Please do not bend your identity to other groups and their demands on you. Yes keep working towards the betterment of minorities, but don't minimize your importance to God or their worth to God with how you try to serve. Don't think you can fix it, only God can, just love, respect and partner with others to see how to fight for change.
And to Minorities, please keep showing us where we need to grow. I know the majority has a tendency to miss things, big things. Please do not defame yourself by giving us all the power in your life, to both destroy and rebuild. By giving us the power you keep us in a place we do not belong, a place we should never have taken. Please stand tall in your ethnicity. And help us learn how to interact with you on an equal platform.
----
Now I need to say, I am really really just starting in my understanding of racial reconciliation. So please help me grow in this. If I have said something incorrect please give the the benefit of the doubt in my wording, and if it is still wrong please correct me. But I feel that my observations are accurate even with my limited knowledge here. This is a hard area to care and learn about, but it is worth it from what little I have seen so far.
God please help me to see what I have not seen. To see as close to the way you do as I possibly can.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Crappy Day
Did you ever have a day that just sucked. Not for you, like the whole day is bad.
Friday was one such day.
I get into work, and the ambulance is there. Someone crushed his hand a little bit before I got there. Great start to the day.
Earlier that morning the Waste Water Treatment Plant on sight had some issues and my Boss was called at 3 am. Not as big of a deal but both kinda set the tone for the day.
Then I went on duty with the rescue squad as an observer. We picked up a guy who was having chest pain. The paramedic on the crew couldn't see what was wrong, his history fit what we found, but the monitor gave a few flags so we alerted the hospital. We dropped him off and moved on as usual. We picked up someone else later that night and took them to the same hospital. We got back in time to find that they pronounced him. The hospital Docs and machines said nothing was found, but he died.
Usually we don't know what happens, in this case I would almost prefer it. Now I just see him looking up at me helplessly on the ride to the hospital. I felt awkward each time he looked at me like that, I didn't know what to say. Now I wish I had said something, I just don't know what.
And in between the calls one of the girls on the crew slammed her hand in the door and had to get stitches.
What the crap?
Just a bad day.
Friday was one such day.
I get into work, and the ambulance is there. Someone crushed his hand a little bit before I got there. Great start to the day.
Earlier that morning the Waste Water Treatment Plant on sight had some issues and my Boss was called at 3 am. Not as big of a deal but both kinda set the tone for the day.
Then I went on duty with the rescue squad as an observer. We picked up a guy who was having chest pain. The paramedic on the crew couldn't see what was wrong, his history fit what we found, but the monitor gave a few flags so we alerted the hospital. We dropped him off and moved on as usual. We picked up someone else later that night and took them to the same hospital. We got back in time to find that they pronounced him. The hospital Docs and machines said nothing was found, but he died.
Usually we don't know what happens, in this case I would almost prefer it. Now I just see him looking up at me helplessly on the ride to the hospital. I felt awkward each time he looked at me like that, I didn't know what to say. Now I wish I had said something, I just don't know what.
And in between the calls one of the girls on the crew slammed her hand in the door and had to get stitches.
What the crap?
Just a bad day.
The Virtues of Self-Hatred
I am a white male, I have a lot to hate myself for. Think about it.
White:
- Superiority Complex
- Destruction of other groups within our ethnicity
- Conquest of other ethnic groups
- Native American near genocide
- Slave Trade (with help from a few other groups)
- Use of Slaves
- Jim Crow Laws
- Holocaust (and hesitation to act against it)
- Economic Rape of Latin America
- Success no matter the cost mindset
- Crusades
- Lynching of African Americans
- KKK
- Setting up the American System that so many hate
- Idea of Color Blindness
- obliviousness
Male:
- Most Crimes
- Most Sexual Assults
- Demeaning Women
- Staying silent when we should act
- Superiority Complex
- Obliviousness
- Gender Blindness
- Ignorance
- Conquering of other groups
- Success no mater the cost mind set
There are more for each group.
Look at that. Several are even repeats so it is even worse. Shouldn't we hate ourselves... everyone else seems to.
And think about it, if we hate ourselves that actually makes life easier. Groups I was born into have screwed the crap out of the world, I am blamed and expected to fix all this crap. It would be so much easier to just agree with the world. If I join them in hating us, hating myself then what they say means nothing.
--
"STUPID WHITY YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, YOU SCREW WITH EVERYTHING!!!"
"Yeah, and not just that but we demean women too. We just suck."
--
"Men are just after sex"
"Yeah, pretty much"
---
I mean no one can hurt you if your view of yourself is so much lower than theirs is.
You can avoid doing anything about all this too. I mean if you care and think you are actually able to do something about it you have to think and plan and care. If you think you are unfixable you can just enjoy all the escapes we have developed and just not care. That is so much easier.
Self-Hatred opens us as white men up to a world where we can enjoy it. We can enjoy our own company, our pity parties, our movies. We don't have to fix anything or care about the crap in this world, after all every time we try to do something it is just for our benefit anyway, and we can't do anything without screwing up someone elses life, lets just accept it.
And our self respect will be constant, no ones chiding or attacks will ever make us think less of ourselves than we do now. I mean isn't that what everyone wants, us to hate ourselves for enough generations until we have suffered as much as them?
I mean why care? If we try to help people, apologize for the past, spend our time and money to help people excel, we still can't stand tall, cause someone else will attack us for being just like every other white male.
I mean not that our motivation should be respect for helping people, it would come out of obligation for all the crap we have pulled.
I mean who out there is truly calling for equality of the ethnicities? A world where every person can stand tall proud of their ethnicity and gender but with respect and admiration of the others. No one is really proposing that are they? I haven't heard it. The White man is the devil, men are the devil, or adding insult to injury whites fire those right back.
Isn't it just simpler to accept what everyone says and hate yourself so noone elses opinion maters?
White:
- Superiority Complex
- Destruction of other groups within our ethnicity
- Conquest of other ethnic groups
- Native American near genocide
- Slave Trade (with help from a few other groups)
- Use of Slaves
- Jim Crow Laws
- Holocaust (and hesitation to act against it)
- Economic Rape of Latin America
- Success no matter the cost mindset
- Crusades
- Lynching of African Americans
- KKK
- Setting up the American System that so many hate
- Idea of Color Blindness
- obliviousness
Male:
- Most Crimes
- Most Sexual Assults
- Demeaning Women
- Staying silent when we should act
- Superiority Complex
- Obliviousness
- Gender Blindness
- Ignorance
- Conquering of other groups
- Success no mater the cost mind set
There are more for each group.
Look at that. Several are even repeats so it is even worse. Shouldn't we hate ourselves... everyone else seems to.
And think about it, if we hate ourselves that actually makes life easier. Groups I was born into have screwed the crap out of the world, I am blamed and expected to fix all this crap. It would be so much easier to just agree with the world. If I join them in hating us, hating myself then what they say means nothing.
--
"STUPID WHITY YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, YOU SCREW WITH EVERYTHING!!!"
"Yeah, and not just that but we demean women too. We just suck."
--
"Men are just after sex"
"Yeah, pretty much"
---
I mean no one can hurt you if your view of yourself is so much lower than theirs is.
You can avoid doing anything about all this too. I mean if you care and think you are actually able to do something about it you have to think and plan and care. If you think you are unfixable you can just enjoy all the escapes we have developed and just not care. That is so much easier.
Self-Hatred opens us as white men up to a world where we can enjoy it. We can enjoy our own company, our pity parties, our movies. We don't have to fix anything or care about the crap in this world, after all every time we try to do something it is just for our benefit anyway, and we can't do anything without screwing up someone elses life, lets just accept it.
And our self respect will be constant, no ones chiding or attacks will ever make us think less of ourselves than we do now. I mean isn't that what everyone wants, us to hate ourselves for enough generations until we have suffered as much as them?
I mean why care? If we try to help people, apologize for the past, spend our time and money to help people excel, we still can't stand tall, cause someone else will attack us for being just like every other white male.
I mean not that our motivation should be respect for helping people, it would come out of obligation for all the crap we have pulled.
I mean who out there is truly calling for equality of the ethnicities? A world where every person can stand tall proud of their ethnicity and gender but with respect and admiration of the others. No one is really proposing that are they? I haven't heard it. The White man is the devil, men are the devil, or adding insult to injury whites fire those right back.
Isn't it just simpler to accept what everyone says and hate yourself so noone elses opinion maters?
What do you care about?
So I have a rant or 2 I want to write about, but I want to set the stage with a few other posts.
How can you tell what people care about?
Time and Money.
If you care about something you will spend your time and money on it. Time is the only recourse we cannot get more of, and we trade time for money.
Look at your budget, where your money goes is one of the best indicators of what you really care about. Where does your time go? That is a great indicator.
I don't wanna hear any of this crap about "I advocate" or "I write blogs that shows I care" or whatever.
If we care about any issue we show it through how we spend our time and money.
That means that I personally have a lot of growing to do, because right now I don't pass that test for caring about the poor or racial reconciliation. But I am growing in those areas.
That is why so often you hear advocates attacked by phrases like "Well if you believe this why aren't you doing X."
If we truly care about something we should be willing to sacrifice for it. I just needed to say that before I discuss my rant soon.
How can you tell what people care about?
Time and Money.
If you care about something you will spend your time and money on it. Time is the only recourse we cannot get more of, and we trade time for money.
Look at your budget, where your money goes is one of the best indicators of what you really care about. Where does your time go? That is a great indicator.
I don't wanna hear any of this crap about "I advocate" or "I write blogs that shows I care" or whatever.
If we care about any issue we show it through how we spend our time and money.
That means that I personally have a lot of growing to do, because right now I don't pass that test for caring about the poor or racial reconciliation. But I am growing in those areas.
That is why so often you hear advocates attacked by phrases like "Well if you believe this why aren't you doing X."
If we truly care about something we should be willing to sacrifice for it. I just needed to say that before I discuss my rant soon.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Escapism???
Escapism: "the avoidance of reality by absorption of the mind in entertainment or in an imaginative situation, activity, etc. "
Sometimes I wonder if I am a bit escapist. I watch anime fairly regularly not in the last month or so though). I own quite a few movies. I own a Wii. My comfort zone is my own mind (I have talked to a few of you about that concept, I don't know if I have mentioned it here).
And I can't wait to turn off my PC and cell phone for 2 weeks. To be in another country, completely inaccessible.
But even with that I have had some awesome conversations in the last few days with people I care for dearly. And I do not want to be apart from them.
I don't want to leave those I love, that is part of why graduating scares me, and why a few of us are looking to move to the same city and serve together...
And at the same time a friends desire to leave and move on is finally starting to make a little sense, although I still morn the fact that people must leave.
And yet there are others, some I love and others honestly I don't have much closeness with that I am happy to see leave, either because I can see what lies before them and I want that for them, or my life gets easier with them gone.
Sometimes life is hard and I want to run to a game, a movie, anime, away. Other times life gets hard and I want to step up and overcome the situation.
I have said and desired for many years someone to love, care for, grow with, and be challenged by. And yet I also want to be alone.
What do you do with feelings like that? Do you ignore them? That feels like you are denying yourself. Do you embrace them? Many are diametrically opposed.
Do you say screw it and run away to another town, state, country? Do you stay?
Do you retreat into your mind, where one minuet you can have a close friend or friends to share experiences with and the next no one, whatever you want at the moment? But can you cast your mind aside and still think, reason, and plan?
Do you throw you mind completely away and live out life as you want in the moment, without regard to the pain you could cause others?
Caution vs. Excitement
Risk vs. Reward
Life vs. Death
Honor vs. Humiliation
Hope vs. Failure (rejection)
Wanting vs. Having
Safety vs Danger
Existing vs. Living
Love God, Love Self, Love Others, Love Creation
Love neighbor AS self
How do you reconcile all this into a life style that worth living?
I don't want to get to the end of my life and say "Well that was a safe life, I took no risks, and had a predictable life, where I wasn't super happy, but I was never sad, and I never hurt anyone."
But I don't wanna say "WOOO I had a blast, and I don't care how many people were hurt, it was worth it for the ride!!!"
But sometimes the little step from safety to living life feels like the leap from safety and courtosy to selfishness and thrill seaking.
Rather than try to wade through all this... isn't it easier just to run to another country for a few weeks? Get lost in the newest game or movies?
Heck in your mind you can live life however you want... and "noone" gets hurt.
Is standing up for the weak worth the danger?
Is asking that girl (guy for you ladies) out, or telling her(him) how much you admire them worth the risk of hurting them, or being rejected?
Or is it worth the time and effort to figure out how to love your sisters/brothers when you have no interest in them (that one might be harder)?
Is being there for your friend as they struggle worth the time and emotional energy from you?
Is it worth it to take a job (career path) you might love for less pay than the one that will pay you the most?
Is it worth it to stand up for what is best for you community even if you are the only one that thinks so?
I'd like to think yes to all those, but how many times do my actions, or your actions, indicate otherwise?
Sometimes I wonder if I am a bit escapist. I watch anime fairly regularly not in the last month or so though). I own quite a few movies. I own a Wii. My comfort zone is my own mind (I have talked to a few of you about that concept, I don't know if I have mentioned it here).
And I can't wait to turn off my PC and cell phone for 2 weeks. To be in another country, completely inaccessible.
But even with that I have had some awesome conversations in the last few days with people I care for dearly. And I do not want to be apart from them.
I don't want to leave those I love, that is part of why graduating scares me, and why a few of us are looking to move to the same city and serve together...
And at the same time a friends desire to leave and move on is finally starting to make a little sense, although I still morn the fact that people must leave.
And yet there are others, some I love and others honestly I don't have much closeness with that I am happy to see leave, either because I can see what lies before them and I want that for them, or my life gets easier with them gone.
Sometimes life is hard and I want to run to a game, a movie, anime, away. Other times life gets hard and I want to step up and overcome the situation.
I have said and desired for many years someone to love, care for, grow with, and be challenged by. And yet I also want to be alone.
What do you do with feelings like that? Do you ignore them? That feels like you are denying yourself. Do you embrace them? Many are diametrically opposed.
Do you say screw it and run away to another town, state, country? Do you stay?
Do you retreat into your mind, where one minuet you can have a close friend or friends to share experiences with and the next no one, whatever you want at the moment? But can you cast your mind aside and still think, reason, and plan?
Do you throw you mind completely away and live out life as you want in the moment, without regard to the pain you could cause others?
Caution vs. Excitement
Risk vs. Reward
Life vs. Death
Honor vs. Humiliation
Hope vs. Failure (rejection)
Wanting vs. Having
Safety vs Danger
Existing vs. Living
Love God, Love Self, Love Others, Love Creation
Love neighbor AS self
How do you reconcile all this into a life style that worth living?
I don't want to get to the end of my life and say "Well that was a safe life, I took no risks, and had a predictable life, where I wasn't super happy, but I was never sad, and I never hurt anyone."
But I don't wanna say "WOOO I had a blast, and I don't care how many people were hurt, it was worth it for the ride!!!"
But sometimes the little step from safety to living life feels like the leap from safety and courtosy to selfishness and thrill seaking.
Rather than try to wade through all this... isn't it easier just to run to another country for a few weeks? Get lost in the newest game or movies?
Heck in your mind you can live life however you want... and "noone" gets hurt.
Is standing up for the weak worth the danger?
Is asking that girl (guy for you ladies) out, or telling her(him) how much you admire them worth the risk of hurting them, or being rejected?
Or is it worth the time and effort to figure out how to love your sisters/brothers when you have no interest in them (that one might be harder)?
Is being there for your friend as they struggle worth the time and emotional energy from you?
Is it worth it to take a job (career path) you might love for less pay than the one that will pay you the most?
Is it worth it to stand up for what is best for you community even if you are the only one that thinks so?
I'd like to think yes to all those, but how many times do my actions, or your actions, indicate otherwise?
Surrounded by Death... and Life
So the last year it has been hard in many way. On is that I have felt like death is waiting at every turn. I mean wouldn't you:
- April 07 - 4/16
- Summer 07 - Beating or whatever in Greensboro (see first blog post)
- Fall 07 - Guy jumps out of Pritchard to his death
- November 07 - Uncle Dies
- Feb 08 - NIU Shooting
- Spring 08 - Car hits 5 people I know that are good friends of a few of my friends, one dies
It got to the point where I could not go to the prayer meetings for these events. I wanted to pray with my community about these events and support those struggling with them. But after the prayer night for the guy in Pritchard I avoided the other ones. I did go to a morning one for NIU but anything at night I skipped. Being a room with my friends greiving and praying for another death, I just couldn't do it.
But recently I have been blessed seeing life all around me and within the last year:
- 2 Babies born to people involved with IV @ VT
- 1 Baby born to a friend from back home
- Wes and Lindsey's Wedding
- Graduations
- Several friends got engadged
- Chris and Kathryn's Wedding
- My grandparent's 50th wedding aniversary
So yeah, I think death has been more prevelent or visible in the last year, but God is protecting his people in many ways and even in our world filled with death and pain, there are signs of his grace, love and plan.
Sometimes you just have to stop looking at the crap and look for the good things.
- April 07 - 4/16
- Summer 07 - Beating or whatever in Greensboro (see first blog post)
- Fall 07 - Guy jumps out of Pritchard to his death
- November 07 - Uncle Dies
- Feb 08 - NIU Shooting
- Spring 08 - Car hits 5 people I know that are good friends of a few of my friends, one dies
It got to the point where I could not go to the prayer meetings for these events. I wanted to pray with my community about these events and support those struggling with them. But after the prayer night for the guy in Pritchard I avoided the other ones. I did go to a morning one for NIU but anything at night I skipped. Being a room with my friends greiving and praying for another death, I just couldn't do it.
But recently I have been blessed seeing life all around me and within the last year:
- 2 Babies born to people involved with IV @ VT
- 1 Baby born to a friend from back home
- Wes and Lindsey's Wedding
- Graduations
- Several friends got engadged
- Chris and Kathryn's Wedding
- My grandparent's 50th wedding aniversary
So yeah, I think death has been more prevelent or visible in the last year, but God is protecting his people in many ways and even in our world filled with death and pain, there are signs of his grace, love and plan.
Sometimes you just have to stop looking at the crap and look for the good things.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
What is in a Name????
So I have been thinking...
How presumptuous is it to say "God you are _____."???
Put whatever you want there.
We hear things that are wrong like bad, uncaring, and such all the time. But even if we say things that are true like love, just, our father, 'with us' or anything else that is true. These statements can only reduce or degrade God from who he is into that name. Even giving him the gendered pronoun "He" belittles him. He is not a he, he has no y chromosome, he has no need of that kind of description, in fact for many it harms their ability to understand and meet him. It is an insult to who he is to name him.
So at this point you should be mad or confused... or both. And I am okay with that, in fact I am hoping for that. Please bear with me til I finish this.
Take any name:
Jesus
"I Am"
Prince of Peace
King of Kings
Emmanuel
Jehovah
El Shaddai
Father
The Trinity
Christ
Redeemer
Creator
There are so many more. I submit that all of these abase our Lord. You call me Allen, a man, whatever name that is true of me (I don't want to discuss false names right now) you have given me a good name. You have captured me, described me. Webster's defines "name" as "a word or phrase that constitutes the distinctive designation of a person or thing." So when we name God we are trying to designate him, define him. Any name we as limited beings can give him is grossly inferior to describe who he is.
Let me show this a little better. A line in math goes from infinity to infinity. It is still a hugely inadequate metaphor, but it will work. So when we give God a name we are throwing a box over part of that line.
As you can see we have many names some over lap, some cover more ground that others, but none can fully describe the line. A box is inadequate to describe a line because it has to be finite, to be a box is to be finite, so we define lines with equations in math, even then when you use an equation it is always using that equation in a finite area. We can conceive infinity only in theory we cannot wrap our minds completely around it. It is something we run into with enough frequency we just decide it exists and try to work around it and use it. When we name God we are trying to use a square to define a line.
So why do we name God when we cannot even come close?
He does. He names himself for us and rejoices in us using and saying his names.
How presumptuous is it to say "God you are _____."???
Put whatever you want there.
We hear things that are wrong like bad, uncaring, and such all the time. But even if we say things that are true like love, just, our father, 'with us' or anything else that is true. These statements can only reduce or degrade God from who he is into that name. Even giving him the gendered pronoun "He" belittles him. He is not a he, he has no y chromosome, he has no need of that kind of description, in fact for many it harms their ability to understand and meet him. It is an insult to who he is to name him.
So at this point you should be mad or confused... or both. And I am okay with that, in fact I am hoping for that. Please bear with me til I finish this.
Take any name:
Jesus
"I Am"
Prince of Peace
King of Kings
Emmanuel
Jehovah
El Shaddai
Father
The Trinity
Christ
Redeemer
Creator
There are so many more. I submit that all of these abase our Lord. You call me Allen, a man, whatever name that is true of me (I don't want to discuss false names right now) you have given me a good name. You have captured me, described me. Webster's defines "name" as "a word or phrase that constitutes the distinctive designation of a person or thing." So when we name God we are trying to designate him, define him. Any name we as limited beings can give him is grossly inferior to describe who he is.
Let me show this a little better. A line in math goes from infinity to infinity. It is still a hugely inadequate metaphor, but it will work. So when we give God a name we are throwing a box over part of that line.
As you can see we have many names some over lap, some cover more ground that others, but none can fully describe the line. A box is inadequate to describe a line because it has to be finite, to be a box is to be finite, so we define lines with equations in math, even then when you use an equation it is always using that equation in a finite area. We can conceive infinity only in theory we cannot wrap our minds completely around it. It is something we run into with enough frequency we just decide it exists and try to work around it and use it. When we name God we are trying to use a square to define a line.
So why do we name God when we cannot even come close?
He does. He names himself for us and rejoices in us using and saying his names.
"Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"God said to Moses, "I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "Exodus 3:13-14
God humiliates himself by giving himself names so we can interact with him. Think about it. He desires a relationship with us, we by nature name and interact with people and things with names. If God was rightfully against defaming himself like any of us are (how much do you hate when someone makes light of your accomplishments, position, abilities, character?). He wants that relationship so much that he is willing to reduce himself so we can interact with him. The names we have and use are not wrong (again assuming the ones based in Truth) just not ALL of God. God has chosen to rejoice in our interacting with him in this way.
We get to interact with God on a personal level. He has reduced himself so we can have a personal relationship with him. If you think about it God did it again when he came here in the person of Jesus to teach and to reconcile us to himself. God constantly makes himself lesser than he is, lesser than he deserves for His love of us.
So rejoice in how humble and loving our Father is that he loves us and wants to interact with us so much more than he desires his own rights or how much he deserves respect and possition.
But I do want to make one caution in this. Any name we have for God is by definition finite. We must be sure that we love Him, not any name we have for Him.
How many times have you heard "If God is (Love, Just, Good, etc.) he would dd (or not do) X." or "God would be under a bridge not in the suburb." or any other sweeping statement like that. Those all come from taking one aspect of an infinite God that is true and either misunderstanding or applying it to the exclusion of the other parts of who he is. We need to be sure that this gift of personal interaction with God remains what is was intended for. To interact with God personally, not to alienate his childeren from one another or to missunderstand God and his goals and purposes. To use his names to interact and love him as best we can, not to make our own god out of parts of The One True God.
So this was especially long, but it has been on my mind a while. And yes I found a thesaurus.
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God... Thank you for your many names, and for loving us so much more than we can comprehend to reduce yourself in so many ways just to be in relationship with us and to restore us to right relationship with you.
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