Love This Quote

I came across these lines from a poem by Gottfried Arnold, a radical eighteenth century pietist, as I was flipping through a textbook of pietist writings tonight. And they made me smile, because they have reflected things I have often felt of late.

The power of the Cross has made me a fool.
I marvel that men do not laugh in my face.

Things that Made Me Smile Today

• Chocolate Creme Oreos.
• Sitting in the sunshine on the front steps of my house, letting the sun bake my bare feet.
• Finishing a good novel.
• Finishing a non-fiction book - I buy a lot of these, and usually read 1/3 to 2/3 of them, before they get set aside in favor of a novel or the latest non-fiction purchase.
• An invitation for Vietnamese food for dinner with my mom and brother.
• A sleep last night that was restful instead of restless.
• Pasta salad for lunch. Homemade - the only thing that would have made it better was if we had had white pasta available instead of the slightly heavier whole wheat pasta.
• The public library actually having in stock a slightly obscure book that I've heard a lot about lately.
• A couple of different sermons by Donald Miller that I downloaded from here.
• The fact that the same church has an extensive sermon series on "The Kingdom of God" which I am hoping will clarify some things that I have been thinking about lately.

There were also a couple of cartoons that made me smile when I came across them in some notebooks where I keep these kinds of things that make me smile.

The first one has two characters. The first person says to the second person, "The problem with today's world is too much freedom. We need less freedom so we Christians can put an end to all the things we don't agree with. Who asked for a free society, anyhow?" The second person replies, "The church. We wanted to worship as we please without being persecuted." The first person looks disgruntled and responds, "Oh... there's nothing like a little historical perspective to ruin a good tirade." I love this. Of course, I am a history major, with an ironic sense of humor.

The next cartoon has two characters again, a child and an adult. The child says, "The pastor told our class that if we study our Bibles, we might grow up to be a minister like him. He also told us how much he makes, how many hours he puts in, and how much he's appreciated by the congregation." The adult then asks, "So what did we learn?" and the child replies, "Never go near a Bible!" Again - the pastor's kid in me couldn't resist the humor in this kind of statement.

There have been other things, but these are the main ones that made me smile. These, and plans to relax and watch television or a movie after dinner, preferably while wrapped cozily in the best throw blanket ever - a blanket that is basically a cable-knit sweater, but not a sweater, a blanket. And then, I've got writing to do - either a piece I'm tentatively calling "Who is this Jesus?" or continued research and work on some stuff on redemption that I'm pulling together. These are the ingredients to a good evening - especially when the dinner that kicks it off is Vietnamese food.