From Within and From Without

Yesterday I found myself in the middle of the lion’s den. Someone invited me to a meeting thinking that I shared the same world view as the organizers. I didn’t. I was an unwilling spy. I observed the way they talked, the way they urged everyone else to join their campaign. I had only known this species in their hostile state so I was impressed at their friendliness, ease with technology and their gift of gab (although it was English they spoke a different language). I did see a problem with some of their assumptions but who was I to expose myself? Still, I would like to have a real conversation when both our shields are down.

A day before, I was informed that someone in my own inner circle was moving to another church. You think you know people well enough but I was unaware of his unmet needs within the church.

How little we understand people outside of our circle. How little we know the people in our own circle.

The Turtle and the Grasshopper

There was a turtle, a grasshopper and a highway. The grasshopper convinced the turtle that there was more food on the other side but the turtle warned the grasshopper of the danger of the cars whizzing by. The grasshopper teased him and jumped back and forth from side to side showing him that his fears were unfounded because there wasn’t any car in sight. Persuaded that it was time to face his fears, the turtle started his journey to the other side. All the while, the grasshopper is jeering and running rings around the turtle. Varoom! A car drives by and the grasshopper is squashed like a pancake. The turtle is protected by his shell and survives. But the angry driver (who was forced to swerve because of the turtle) picks up the turtle and lays him upside down on top of a fence to die a slow death.

Questions:
When opportunity presents itself, are people too smart to realize they’re playing with danger? Are people too slow to grab the opportunity? Instead of making a killing, do we always expect the worst and turn into roadkill? When can we trust enough to turn down the divisive walls and learn from each other?

We think we know but we really don’t until we live among them.

TGIF people!

Raoul

“When we lower out shields, we become vulnerable and open to both help and harm equally. In order to bond on a spiritual level, we have to lower our ‘shields’ and become authentically vulnerable with the other person.” — Warren Lamb, PHD in his book Unbound.

2 From Art of Sierra Madre, CA

Thanks to Mel of Washington. DC for this joke.

Video of the Week

Thanks to Don of Kelowna, B.C.

Parting Shots

Thanks to Mel of Washington DC for this joke.

Thanks to Naomi of North Hollywood, CA.

The post Gossip appeared first on Traveling Archive.

I’m sharing a touching video (see below) about a little girl who sees for the first time. It reminded me of the Gospel passage of Jesus healing a blind man (John 9) which I studied recently. If you don’t want to hear heavy stuff move on the joke section. I just have to get this off my chest.

We’ve all experienced a desire for things seemingly unattainable: a brand new home, a car, hi-tech toys, the latest fashion assortment, etc. … and they need not just be material things. They could be relationships: a loving family, a Prince Charming, a best friend, etc. For the blind man, it was a humble request to function just like everybody else.

Imagine what it was like to wake up everyday in darkness. To not even know how your food looks. To not be able to run free. To rely on sound and smell, taste and touch because those were your only tools.

Then one day, a stranger opens your eyes and you see light for the first time. You see your hands — “so that’s what they look like.” You see art and writing on flat paper. You see colors — “so that’s red blood, green grass and brown dirt. (“I can’t believe nobody told me my blue shoes don’t match my green robe — just kidding!“)

But before you have time to discover more things, you see angry, disbelieving faces, talking loudly at you because somehow you are finally like everybody else. Who invited you to their club? They ask you questions but you have no answer. They insist you fit into their limited realities and dismiss the preponderous possibility of a miracle. You suggest an answer they refuse to consider.

“You were born completely in sin! How is it that you dare to teach us?” Then they expelled him.
— John 9: 34

Many of us, even those in high scholarly places, carry wrong (deeply ingrained) assumptions that lead to the inability to realize we could be wrong thus depriving us of ever finding the truth.

Jesus said, “I have come into the world to exercise judgment so that those who don’t see can see and those who see will become blind.”

Some Pharisees who were with him heard what he said and asked, “Surely we aren’t blind, are we?“

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t have any sin, but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
— John 9: 39-41

Did you get that? Jesus challenged them to dig into their assumptions and if they insist that they didn’t need to be taught, then yeah — “they’re blind indeed!”

Let’s ask ourselves: Are we blind to our assumptions? Do we refuse to listen because ideas do not fit our reality? Are we noisy parrots that have little original thought? Are we blind?

Since birth, the blind man was in the minority of a population that could see the physical world. After he gained his sight, he experienced an unexpected paradigm shift because he was again in the minority in a world that was spiritually blind.

TGIF people!

Southern Talk

Contributed by Naomi of N Hollywood, CA

North Carolina
A man in North Carolina had a flat tire, pulled off on the side of the road,
and proceeded to put a bouquet of flowers in front of the car and one behind it.Then he got back in the car to wait.

A passerby studied the scene as he drove by, and was so curious he turned around and went back. He asked the fellow what the problem was.

The man replied, “I got a flat tahr.”
The passerby asked, “But what’s with the flowers?”
The man responded, “When you break down they tell you to put flares in the front and flares in the back. I never did understand it neither.”

Tennessee
A Tennessee State trooper pulled over a pickup on I-65.
The trooper asked, “Got any ID?”

The driver replied, “Bout whut?”

Texas
The Sheriff pulled up next to the guy unloading garbage out of his pick-up
into the ditch. The Sheriff asked, “Why are you dumping garbage in the ditch? Don’t you see that sign right over your head?”

“Yep,” he replied. “That’s why I’m dumpin’ it here, ‘cause it says:
‘Fine For Dumping Garbage.’”

Y’all kin say whut y’all want ‘about the South, but y’all never heard o’ nobody retirin’ an’ movin’ North.  Have ya?

TGIF Videos

Girlfriend Massage vs. Wife Massage
Sent by Raffy of Manila

You can already guess which is the preferred massage.

Watch Video

Baby Sees For the First Time
Sent by Leo of Taipei, Taiwan

There are shorter videos that lead up to that amazing moment but the buildup is just as good. It’s a modern man-made-miracle.

Watch Video

Parting Shot

Thanks to Mel of Washington, D.C. who shared this photo

More exciting than Curling

The post Southern Talk appeared first on Traveling Archive.