Scott's latest Read ---Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley

Scott has been reading something a little meatier these days than my Emma. Thought you might like to read a brief reflection.

Many years ago, I purchased a book about Christian Church History and placed it on the bookshelf. It has been shipped to Australia and now Thailand, and I have finally felt compelled to read it.
Even though I am not an avid history reader, this time I was really drawn to the book on the shelf and jumped in. I think the Lord really opened up my mind over the course of the months it took to complete the book to the strengths and weaknesses of organised religion over the ages.

I know in the past I have struggled with many of the Christian traditions of my society slowly being eliminated by the government and activitists arguing "Separation of Church and State." But the more that time has gone on, I believe the Lord has helped me see that I was putting the emphasis on the wrong things. Yes, we want our societies to be God fearing and God-honoring. But, in history, the church has often defined what is God-honoring through rituals and symbols and displays. Take for example the Ten Commandments. In America over the past few years, it has been a serious battle to keep plaques of the Ten Commandments in government buildings. The evangelical church has mobilized and fought to keep them.
We are missing the point, I believe. It is not about public displays of the Ten Commandments or Christmas Trees on the town square or maybe even prayer in school that is important. What is important is believing and following Christ--growing in our own relationship with the Lord--and helping others do the same.
I appreciate the mission of our YFC movement! I believe we are "majoring on the majors". I know, for me, I will be much more careful in the future to make sure that I don't focus on Christendom, but focus on Christ!

Emma

Well, I have just recently finished reading Emma by Jane Austen. I had a small copy and kept it in my handbag (Aussie word usage) to read while waiting at all the places I find myself waiting...like the hospital to get Faith's prescription refilled. By the way, I was there for an hour and a half this time. Anyway, I am so glad I picked up that book to read and didn't talk myself out of it again because I have often thought those types of books to be frivolous. Didn't someone always say not to judge a book by its cover...well, I judged and refused it a long time ago...until this summer. And then I nearly put it down after a few chapters (it has 55 chapters), because I initially found the main character too much to stomach. She was too full of her self, too opinionated, too judgemental, too controlling. Hmmmm....maybe a little too close to home. And sometimes I felt like I just wanted to smack some consideration into her pretty little head. But I read on...after all it is a CLASSIC. As I continued reading, I discovered Jane Austen introduced characters who were worse than Emma was. These other "bad eggs" and the short list of "good eggs" actually made a huge impact on Emma's life in such a way that I began to soften towards her and consequently was able to finish the book. Perhaps the reason this book is a classic has to do with how Miss Austen captured human character in a way that seems to transcend society, culture, and generation. I know that Pride and Predjudice opened up a lot of great converstion for Faith and me after we had both read it. I am looking forward to the same after Faith reads Emma. On a second thought, the last sentence written in the Afterword of Emma reads about Jane Austen's writing..."She wrote a book that only a woman could write, but that every man should read." Perhaps it would serve my sons well to also have the opportunity for conversation. I am also very thankful that God allows people into our lives through the Holy Spirit to challenge, encourage, and enable us to grow up in Him.

Even though I am a rather random person, I still love sequence and order and things that make sense. So in beginning to blog, it is hard to know where to start when beginning at the beginning is overly daunting. (This thought brings me to the decision to scrapbook or not...which is another topic altogether.) So, I have decided to begin with what is recent and weave in the past as it applies. Please feel free to fire away questions if you wonder about something specific.

Well, I can at least tell you that we live in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We moved here December 2, 2005. We live in a fairly Western style neighbourhood (moo baan) that is rather full of middle class Thai's and foreigners (farangs). Our family consists of six farangs and we stand out quite substantially in our moo baan. First of all, we are Westerners and secondly there are six of us. Life in a modern Thai moo baan provides many new and different experiences for each one of us.

On Wednesday of this week I had a new one. I was riding my bike down the street and I came across a Thai acquaintance of mine. She is actually a friend of our landlady's. I don't actually know her name, but she always greets me as if we are the best of friends. She was with another friend and they were picking leaves off a "not so small" tree for their dinner. "Aloi maak!" (very delicious) , she said as she continued to pick leaves after our customary greetings. The funny thing was, I began to think...this is not her home. What is she doing? Then she climbed up on the gate to get into a better position for picking the young leaves only because they were the best. She would mix these leaves together with a chili sauce as her vegetables with dinner that night.

And I remembered my earlier observations that the Thai society is a "share society". Our doorbells are on our gates along the road. Anything outside the gate is fair game. One lady came early another morning to cut some flowers growing along our road. I was out earlier than usual that day and she seemed rather embarrassed with her scissors in hand...so she asked and I wasn't bothered at all...so she cut a few a moved on. Somehow, every possible mode of transportation is given a share of the road. This makes driving rather chaotic at first blush, but we have grown to accept it and even take advantage of the sharing.

So what about this sharing? Is this a right or wrong issue? Is this an example of cultural relativism that is so prevalent in the Asian societies? Or do we as Westerners just need to learn to think a bit differently and not cast judgments so quickly on the way things are done? Was my acquaintance all that out of line to be picking the young leaves off an unsuspecting home owner's tree?