A dear friend, classmate, and collegue -- Kari Morris-Guzman, was involved in a tragic accident last week while her and her husband (Aaron) were driving through Colorado. Their convertible went into a ditch and flipped, pinning Kari and Aaron under the car and crushing Kari's 5th vertebrae, which left her with no feeling below her shoulders.

Although Aaron was extricated with only minor injuries, Kari remains in the spinal cord injury (SPI) unit at Craig Hospital in CO.  Kari's condition has been improving a little, but slowly. The need for prayer is HUGE, and I for one am really focusing on Kari being weaned off of the ventilator she's still on.

Her friends and family are very technology-savy, and have not only set-up a website at weloveyoukari.org, they are also sharing daily updates via Kari and Aaron's blog.

Kari serves as the youth pastor at Brookside Free Methodist Church in Redlands, CA, and is also very involved (along with her husband) in music ministry there.

Thank you SO MUCH for joining me in praying for Kari and Aaron and their family.

We love you, Kari!

Have you ever grieved over friends, who had pledged their lives to Christ and appeared to have been living for him, but who then gave it all up?  Have you ever been dumbfounded over faith that was a mile wide but only an inch deep?  Have you ever wondered why a person's faith in Christ was not able to withstand a crushing adversity or crisis they had encountered?

For as long as I've tried to follow Jesus, I've been taken back by the numbers of friends and acquaintences whose faith has been shipwrecked.  I suppose the causes are many, but it all leaves me haunted by the words of Jesus:

And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (Lk 18:8, NRS)

This phenomenon is no respector of paradigms --  the survivability of faith remains as much a problem in the emerging church as it has been in more traditional communities of faith.  But why?  Is it a kickback to the "easy-believism" of recent decades?  Is it nothing more than rampant selfishness?  Whatever the reasons, it seems we have failed to embed the following resolve into the spiritual DNA of those we've nurtured in the faith:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power...and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore..." (Eph 6:10,13-14)

And yet so many people seem unable to stand.  And when they do fall, they're not interested in getting back up! What is it, then, that will make a difference?  Is soley encouraging people to work out their own salvation the answer? I don't believe so. 

Within the "belonging before believing" paradigm that characterizes much of the emerging church, what should our proactive response to all this be?  (I'd honestly like to hear your thoughts)

As a student of John Wesley, I can't help but think that holiness may well be the key.  Without holiness, Wesley believed we end up with something less than true Christianity. Wesley considered repentance "the porch of religion," faith "the door," and holiness "religion itself" (The Works of John Wesley, Jackson edition, Vol. 8, pp. 472f). Holiness is meant to characterize our Christian faith. Yet many of us are the product of an age where the evangelical Church emphasized decision over discipleship.  "Fire insurance" was more important than the fire-which-purifies. Becoming a Christian was more of an "event" than a life-long commitment and journey. Perhaps the reason why many people's faith is a mile wide but only an inch deep is because that is exactly what we've passed on to them, even if unknowingly.

So what's your take on all this?  Why does people's faith often seem so fragile, and why is it so easily shipwrecked?  And what should we do in response?

I LOVE the hiking trails in Mammoth Lakes!  This view is part of my daily hike each morning.  Being in the High Sierras is my favorite kind of therapy!

It amazes me how popular these series of posts continue to be.  And even more fascinating has been the increasingly positive sentiments in favor of the clergy wearing clerical attire in public. 

In response to What Does a Clerical Collar Say, part 3 -- a friend recently emailed me with an interesting article by Ken Collins: Why Clergy Should Wear Clericals. Take the time to read Ken's thoughts on the subject and then weigh in with your reaction.  I'd really enjoy hearing your responses.

And in case you're wondering... yes, I'm seriously considering wearing a collar myself.  In fact, as a bit of an experiment, I've been wearing a rather prominent wooden cross while in public over the past 6 weeks.  I've been curious what people's reactions would be, as well as seeing if I could consistenly give up some of my precious anonyminity. So far, so good.  But I'll keep you posted.

The U.S. Congress recently began considering the further lengthening of "daylight savings time." If approved, "standard" time will be limited to the months of December, January, and February. The Bush Administration, however, has made known their opposition to the plan (along with several student safety groups).

Is this simply a pragmatic attempt to increase our workable daylight hours and save energy costs, or is it a symptom of something that ails us?

via

DAYLIGHT DIARY

• The theory of "daylight saving" dates to Benjamin Franklin. It was first used by Germany and Austria in April 1916 to conserve energy during World War I.

• The United States adopted it in March 1918 but repealed it a year later because the measure wasn't popular with rural America.

• Daylight Saving Time was readopted in the United States from 1942 to 1945. It was called ''War Time.'' From then until 1966, when Congress attempted to standardize its use, some states used it and others didn't.

• Parts of Indiana and Arizona still don't participate.

via

Salary.com has just released the results of a fascinating survey -- revealing that the average worker wastes just over 2 hours per day out of their 8-hour work day (not counting lunch time and breaks).

With more and more attention in our culture being drawn to the ethical sins of the business world, I wonder if this trend will continue to grow or, in fact, become rarer and rarer?

Read the Salary.com piece, and then weigh-in here with your thoughts.

via

Photoblog: Niagara Falls #1 (updated photo)

This was my first time to the Falls.  I enjoyed it, but I still prefer the much smaller variety of waterfalls found throughout the High Sierras.

"I don't have a religion, I have a relationship." 

How many times have you either heard this (in one form or another) or perhaps said it yourself?  Well, I fear that the whole concept is seriously flawed.  And those who tout this common mantra are (perhaps unknowingly) little more than pseudo-spiritual charlatans.

The truth is, we live in a world filled with religion -- which is part of the real problem -- for we live in a world filled with far too many religions.  And this shouldn't surprise us for ours is a world overrun by radical individualism -- and so you have 'your' religion and the next person has 'theirs' and we blindly pat each other on the back as an authority qualified to make such boastful claims. Besides, "Jesus is our friend, our bud, our home boy", right?  And while we repeatedly sing of our 'personal' relationship with Jesus, we increasingly lose sight of the corporate, communal expressions and implications of our faith.

Further, the notion that 'religion' is nothing more than an older, institutionalized, destructive, 'man-made' system of belief -- a system that needs to be rejected -- is pompous nonsense. Religion, in it's most basic vernacular meaning, conveys much more than what many 'spiritual' charlatans (most of whom are frustrated fundamentalists and evangelicals) demeaningly suggest.

The reason for my trip to Ann Arbor was to co-officiate a wedding for a young adult couple in our church.  It was a delight to both meet and minister alongside of Rev. Timothy Ziegler of the historic First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor -- the bride's former home-church.

Ahhh! Just what a weary traveler loves to see!