Isqua Istari

Mom and Dad left for Africa this past Tuesday. We (my parents) have been in the process of adopting two four year old children (Amos and Lynda, not related to each other) from Uganda for the past nine months or so. We got stalled on paperwork for a while, and the beurocracy takes a while to push things through. Then, once all the papers were in order the judges in Uganda went on strike. Anyhow, after quite an ordeal the plans were finally laid. Suzie and Abby are in Tucson with our aunt, uncle, their kids, and our grandparents while Mom and Dad are away. The three boys (Ben’s still in school) have the house to ourselves for two weeks, one of which happens to coincide with Kevin and Luke’s spring break.

I just recieved an e-mail from Mom and Dad, as follows:

———-
We met the kids yesterday and they are gourgess. We have adusted to the
10 hour time change and are doing well. our court date is 4/2 and we
hope to return home with Amos and linda on the 9th

Ron and Monica
———-

So now you know everything that I know. The bad spelling indicates that Dad probably was the one who typed it up. I’m not much better, so let me say by way of exoneration that he probably didn’t have a spelling checker. Please keep them in your prayers, health, safety, getting along well with the kids, etc.

I’m a fan of Calvin and Hobbes. Yes, I respect (though often disagree) with their individual philosophical and theological views, but in this case I refer to their joint effort moderated by Bill Watterson. The comic strip was one of the driving forces (and primary materials) in my desire to learn to read, and has remained a favorite of mine up to the present. I recently bought “The Complete Calvin and Hobbes” and finished reading it just yesterday evening.

My similarity to Calvin (in personality and tastes anyhow) always surprises me. We are both selfish, intelligent (but lazy), thoughtless (but shrewd), crude, and dedicated to total self-indulgence. His enviromental tirades are probably the furthest point of departure, but even those rest on a shared appreciation of beauty. Really, the only major point of diversion is that of Jesus Christ. He is the reason I’m not (for lack of a better comparison) a six-year-old terror.
Those of you who know me may well point out that I can still be plenty selfish, but thank God he saw fit to continue forging me into something better than I was. Jesus’ life in me is solely responsible for anything I do or think which is pleasant or good. That said, I think it’s good to remember what an odious person I am from time to time, as it makes me appreciate what Christ has done all the more. Reading Calvin and Hobbes, and laughing at the rediculous hubris displayed therin, helps to do that.

On the other hand we are different in several ways, and I think there is something to be learned from Calvin. We could all learn from his boldness (even recklessness), his sense of injustice, his frakness of speech, his piquant acuity, and his sense of adventure. So often I find myself (don’t we all?) shying away from speaking what I think, acting on conviction, or taking risks. Calvin knows nothing of constraint, which is his greatest strength and his direst fault.
In a similar way to Jesus actually! Jesus is always going around unconstrained. He disobeys common sense, upsets the peace, condemns the pastors, praises the prostitutes, walks through riots (and even solid doors), even death could not hold him for long. I want to go about un hindered like Jesus, and unconstrained.

So if you see me making a pest of myself, just think of Calvin, and laugh. You could hit me with a slushball or a waterbaloon while you’re at it! But think about the people you laugh at, dispise, or look up to. Are you so different from them? Think about Jesus, dwell on Him.

An interesting question was raised in the comments of this post about the identity of good and evil. My response:

I find the metaphor of light and darkness very helpful here. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) Dichotomy and congealment both imply a form of equality between good and evil, which I reject. There is only really Good and otherwise, light or darkness. Evil, absurdity, they are only temporal, and will be done away with. There is no dichotomy, Good overpowers evil as easily as light overpowers darkness. There is no congealment. Light and darkness can not coexist. Good and evil are completely mutually exclusive.

This is not to say that Good may not display characteristics which WE THINK are Evil. God (the very definition of Good) has (at various times according to the Bible) condoned genocide, lying, gender inequality, pillaging, military conquest, sexual slavery, carousing, violence, and human sacrifice. I’m not saying that we’ll always like the Good. I’m just saying that, fundamentally, Good and Evil can’t mix. When you mix light with darkness, all you get is light. God abides no rivals.

“Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” (1 Thess 5:5)
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)
“And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” (Rev 22:5)