What is Truth?

By Duccio di Buoninsegna - Web Gallery of Art:   Image  Info about artwork, Public Domain, Link

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” John 18:37–38b ESV.

For many years now, liberals in the colleges and universities have been teaching that there is no truth, though they would phrase it truth is relative. They may say things like, "you have your truth, I have mine." Looking at the words of Pilate above, this apparently is not a new concept.

By the time I went to university in the mid-70's, this concept of relative truth was already fully entrenched. To fulfill some liberal arts requirements for my degree, I took a couple of philosophy classes. The first one I took was entitled Society and Morals. In that class, the professor stated that for the sake of discussion, we would assume there are no moral absolutes.

Now, before I go further, I have to say that I am a slow learner. By that I mean that I have to process things before I really grasp them. I want to see the ideas in action. Weigh the pros and the cons. This usually took a couple of months, so that most of the time my brain was a semester behind. It would be in the following semester that what I was taught the previous semester would finally click. At that point I would know things, not because I memorized the answer, but because it was ingrained in me.

Back to the class. Our first topic of discussion was capital punishment. The professor began the class by saying, "most of you would agree that it is wrong to be killed unjustly." Now, if he asked this question two months down the road, I would have raised my hand in disagreement. But instead, I just agreed.

But, based on the premise of the class, I do disagree. If there are no moral absolutes, why is it wrong to kill someone, justly or unjustly? And another problem with the question was unjustly was not defined.

What the professor was doing here, though he might not have said this, was postulating that there are no moral absolutes, but  rather morals are a matter of popular opinion. And I say this, because he began his discussion with, "Most of you would agree that...". A few years later on I saw part of film series by Francis Schaeffer called, How Should We Then Live? One quote stood out to me that I have never forgotten: "If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, then society is absolute.” In Schaffer's book by the same name he writes, "If there is no absolute moral standard, then one cannot say in a final sense that anything is right or wrong." ¹

I think many of the people who believe that truth is relative do not really believe that. I think, for some, it is just a way of shutting down discussion—of not having to really think about what you believe.

At this point, this opinion-based morality is fully entrenched. Hence the ubiquitous opinion polls on newscasts and AITA posts on social media. We have no basis to judge right and wrong, so we just go for popular opinion.

Christianity is based on revelation. Christians believe that the God who created the universe revealed Himself to humankind. The writer of Hebrews sums it up this way:

¹ Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. ³ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Hebrews 1:1–4, ESV. In other words, God has revealed Himself through scripture and through His Son, Jesus.

If there is revelation (and I believe there is), then we can know some truth. If there is no revelation, then Christianity is little more than a bad joke. Francis Schaeffer spoke of this revealed truth that is not relative and that we can know as true truth. He writes:

“It is an important principle to remember, in the contemporary interest in communication and in language study, that the biblical presentation is that, though we do not have exhaustive truth, we have from the Bible what I term “true truth.” In this way we know true truth about God, true truth about man and something truly about nature. Thus on the basis of the Scriptures, while we do not have exhaustive knowledge, we have true and unified knowledge.”²

Now, why am I thinking about these things these days? I suppose it has to do with American politics. Let me begin by stating that I identify as neither liberal nor conservative; neither Republican nor Democrat—but that would be another blog in itself.

Back when Trump first ran for election both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump the candidates accused each other of lying. At the time, I felt that Trump could not be accused of lying (even though I thought he did lie—he was a politician after all) because he had no concept of truth. In fact, I thought he was the ultimate liberal because he acted as if truth was something you made up on the spot. Truth is relative after all. And I felt it disingenuous that many liberal thinkers, who have been teaching that truth is relative for so long, could have the audacity to accuse someone of lying. As Pilate asked Jesus that day, "What it truth?"

Now I, like many people these days, am troubled by some of the things (though not all) that the current  administration is doing. The challenge is that many liberals (and others) who believe in moral relativism, have ceded the ground already. After all, if morals are determined by popular opinion (as my college professor once taught), and if the President won office by a decent majority (which it seems like he did), then are not his positions morally correct? shudder!

When I compare some of the actions the current administration is taking to the revealed word of God in the Bible—which the President himself says is a very good book—I find a bit of conflict. Jesus talks about loving our neighbors—and even enemies. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus teaches us to take care of the poor and disenfranchised. Over and over and over (and over and over...--see list at the bottom) again in the Old Testament, God tells us to take special care of widows and orphans and foreigners, without mentioning the need to check on their documentation first. Yet the President has let us know that he will go after those who had the audacity to call him on his behavior. He dismantles agencies designed to protect the poor from being taken advantage of by the rich. His policies seem designed to help the wealthy (who don't really need financial help) get wealthier to the detriment of the poor, who could benefit from a few "bread crumbs" that fall from the tables of the wealthy. I volunteer at our church's monthly food distribution. The past two months, the lines have been longer than usual.  (Update 4/4/2024: Today we again had over 150 people show up for food distribution. Though we had requested more food from the food bank, we received less than usual.) People are hurting, and it doesn't seem to be a good time to be cutting supplies to food banks in the name of efficiency. And while I support the administration's efforts to deport criminals, the broad sweeps that ICE makes ends up sending some people back to possible persecution, which is why they fled to the US to begin with (the hypocrisy of Marco Rubio wanting to sanction Thailand for sending the Uyghurs back to China). And in at least one case, a person was sent "back" to a place they had never lived (Yes, this person committed a crime, but she also did her time in prison. And it's not like the President is against violent crime. One of his first actions as President was pardoning and releasing convicted violent criminals who tried to overthrow the government. But I guess trying to overthrow the government is not as big a deal as drug offenses). And while the President uses claims of discrimination as a reason to eliminate DEI programs, some of which may be valid, there seems to be no problem with ICE using discrimination (racial profiling) as a reason to detain people. I guess discrimination is okay if you want to harm someone but not if you want to help them.

Jesus put forth as the second great commandment, "love your neighbor as yourself." In the account in Luke 10:25-37, one of the scribes seems to be trying to limit the number or kind of people we have to love by asking Jesus to define what is meant by the term neighbor. Jesus then goes on to tell the story we know as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In this story, Jesus is saying that even your enemies (which is how the Jews of the day might have viewed the Samaritans) are to be considered neighbors. Of course, this story would not have occurred in our current administration's world, because the Samaritan man would have been deported due to the Alien Enemies Act.

Just to make sure we were not unclear about this concept of who we are to love, Jesus stated: ⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? (Matthew 5:43–47 - ESV).

And for those who think somehow that the words of the Apostles carry more weight than the words of Jesus, Peter says much the same thing:

⁸Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. ⁹Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. ¹⁰For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; ¹¹let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:8-12 - ESV)

I don't see Jesus anywhere teaching us to silence those who have a different point of view than we do. I don't see him calling us to take up arms against our opponents. (Sometimes Christians will take the verse where Jesus suggests carrying swords (Luke 22:38) as a reason for Christians to take up arms against their enemies. But the same passage tells where Jesus was actually against the disciples using the sword and shows Jesus healing the one who was maimed. (Luke 22:49-53 - ESV))

Now if the government were purely secular, none of this would matter. But the President and many of his supporters are claiming that many of the changes they are making are due to the way things had been done in the past that were UN-Christian or against the teachings of the Bible. They are using the Bible to justify their moral positions. The President even created a task force against anti-Christian bias, and that is why the President has received a lot of support from Evangelicals. However, many seem to conflate the term "Christian" with "those who think like me" as opposed to those who believe it describes people who strive to live according to the teachings and example of Jesus. For example, those  Christians who believe we should love our enemies. Or those Christians who believe we should give immigrants a hearing. And what about pro-life Christians who speak out against genocide in Gaza? What about those who want to bring justice to the marginalized and oppressed, but choose to use the term DEI to describe this? What about those who seek environmental justice—ensuring that that health of the poor is not compromised by the activities of the priviledged? Individuals and organizations that do these things believing that it is in line with the Bible find themselves on the wrong side of this administration. Yes, Mr. President, I do believe the Bible teaches these things and that we should stop anti-Christian bias against those who want to practice what the Bible teaches regarding them.

I agree with many Republicans that there are probably a lot of things in Washington that could use fixing (though I might disagree on some of the details). But I think compassion is a better tool to use than a chainsaw, and I think the teachings of Jesus support this point of view. But another quote from Schaeffer seems to fit what is currently happening in America: "Hitler stated numerous times that Christianity and its notion of charity should be 'replaced by the ethic of strength over weakness'". ³ This seems to be the same line of thinking used by the current administration. This administration tries to coerce people into following its agenda using military or economic power as tools. For example, I agree that there was probably abuse in US-AID (we saw some when we lived in Haiti), but not all of its funds were being misused. And by canceling contracts, we have taught our partners in other countries that the US is not to be trusted. Is this a sign of American greatness? Is this what the government wants to teach us in America, that the government is not to be trusted? People voted for the President and the Republicans because they were told the new administration would make their lives better. But instead what they've taught us is that they are not to be trusted. They are a government that doesn't honor contracts—that doesn't honor their word.

Rather than try to use tools of compassion to win people over, this administration chooses to bully others, and in the process creates more enemies. Contrary to what many may think, the phrase "might makes right" is not from the Bible. Jesus used His power not to wipe out His enemies but rather to conquer death in order that all may have the opportunity to have eternal life. Jesus sacrificed Himself for the benefit of others, many in our government's administration want to force others to sacrifice for their own benefit.

Our current administration has made a big deal about making the government more efficient. There is a whole new department charged with doing this. I actually don't have a problem with this concept. However, the department itself is not very efficient because it doesn't really care about efficiency. If they did, they would analyze programs, find out where the inefficiencies are and find ways to correct them. Instead, they focus on eliminating agencies and programs that don't conform to the administration's ideologies, and close down departments and agencies which are there to help ensure there is no corruption that would create inefficiencies.

But ultimately, the job of the government is not to be efficient, but to ensure there is justice for all—not just a privileged few. This is actually a very Biblical principle. But that does not seem to be a concern with this administration (though they certainly aren't the first administration to be like this). Because one of the biggest inefficiencies is corruption. There are laws against many forms of corruption, but the agencies charged with policing them are being gutted and individuals whose job it is to do these kinds of things are let go. Wealthy donors give to candidates in order to get favorable tax breaks, contracts, or other benefits. From their perspective, it is very efficient. They get a good return on their investment. It is also efficient for the candidate, as it doesn't cost them anything. But it is both inefficient and unjust for the hard-working taxpayers—many of whom have to work two jobs just to put food on the table—in order that the wealthy donors can become even more wealthy. Again, there are laws against these kinds of things. I remember when I worked for the federal government, we weren't allowed to do things that even had the appearance of a conflict of interest. The current administration ignores these laws and even flaunts it. Though I have not been persuaded to go out and buy a Teslar.

During his first administration, the President passed a bunch of tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans saying that the benefits would trickle down to everyone and that they would lead to increased tax revenues that would make them pay for themselves, neither of which happened. Instead the gap between the wealthiest and the poor has grown. And the Republicans have the audacity to extend the cuts saying that everyone will benefit. And yet, because the tax cuts have not brought in tax revenue as planned, the President wants reduce the deficit by gutting programs that help most Americans in order to keep the tax breaks that allow the wealthiest to get even wealthier. He even wants us to feel sorry for Elon Musk because all the protests are hurting him financially. Yet, even after the protests, Musk is still the wealthiest man in America and has more wealth than most people will earn after working for hundreds of years. (Think about it—a billion is 1000 million, and his net worth as of this writing is over 300 billion!) This does not sound like a government that is interested in justice for all. Perhaps the Republicans should actually listen to what they say when they repeat the "Pledge of America," which they insist is essential for all patriotic Americans to do. Let that last sentence echo in your minds: "With liberty and justice for ALL!" Not just for the wealthiest Americans. Not just for white Americans. Not just for "Christians". Not just citizens. (That word is not in there.) I call on the President and the Republican leaders in congress to actually honor that Pledge they insist we all recite!

I have had the opportunity to live in some countries where there is authoritarian rule. In one case there was a pretense of democracy to cover the fact that the monied elite ran the country with the support of the military. People who dared to speak up against abuse of power disappeared. Saying negative things about the government landed you in prison with no options for early release. Monopolies used their power to stifle competition, often with help from their buddies in government. Many of the changes pursued by the current administration are making the US look a lot like that. Freedom becomes just a word that is used to justify a system where the powerful exploit the weak, and the weak have no recourse.

Isaiah could have been writing about us.

    ²¹How the faithful city
has become a whore,
    she who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
but now murderers.
    ²²Your silver has become dross,
your best wine mixed with water.
    ²³Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
    Everyone loves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
    They do not bring justice to the fatherless,
and the widow’s cause does not come to them.

Isaiah 1:21–23 (ESV)

For many years I could see that as America abandoned belief in absolutes, there would come a day in which Christians might be persecuted for their faith. As Francis Schaeffer writes "No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an absolute by which to judge that state and its actions."⁴ I used to think it was some of the Democrats that might take us in this direction. Now it seems that many Republicans are moving this way.

Many times when people try to point out abuses by our current government, people will defend it saying, "But the Democrats..." I don't care what the Democrats did, they are not in power now. And if we use what we perceive as others' abuses to justify our own abuses, we are no better than them. My parents taught me, "Two wrongs don't make a right," but apparently that is no longer true. And we end up with a system where two sides are in a race to the bottom, and when they get to the bottom they dig even deeper to see how much lower they can go. For example, Hamas is judged a terrorist organization, I believe rightly so, because of their lack of regard for the lives of civilians. But if our response to that is lack of regard for the lives of civilians to an even greater degree, how are we better than them? Does that not make us also a terrorist organization—even a worse one? Are we going to label ourselves as a terrorist state? (I am not anti-Semitic. I am not anti-Israel. But neither am I anti-Palestine nor anti-Palestinian. Don't let people fool you into thinking you have to pick one OR the other.)

This past week Columbia University acquiesed to the government task force on Anti-Semitism in order to keep receiving federal funds. Now the task force has turned their eyes toward Harvard University. Task force member Josh Gruenbaum stated, “Hate in any form goes against the foundational principles of America. While Harvard's recent actions to curb institutionalized anti-Semitism - though long overdue - are welcome, there is much more that the university must do to retain the privilege of receiving federal taxpayer's hard earned dollars.” I agree that hate goes against America's foundational principles, Biblical principles. However the actions of the administration don't match up to their words. Unless sending Israel munitions so that they can kill thousands of innocent Palestinians and destroy the Gazan infastructure is considered some kind of act of love.

I suppose this shouldn't surprise me, because many who claim Biblical support for the things the government is currently doing will say that this country was founded on Christian principles. But I totally missed the part where Jesus taught us to commit genocide and forcibly displace those who have the audacity survive the pogroms (as we did with the Native Americans) or where we should treat fellow humans worse than animals (as we did with the slaves). So if the current administration wants to treat the Gazans like we did the Native Americans—so that the President can have some property to make more money off of—then I guess this is in line with these supposed "Christian" principles on which our country was founded. Currently Mahmoud Khalil, a legal resident of the US, is in jail. He has broken no law but he has dared to speak up up behalf of the Palestinian people, which would include many Christians, as Israel is trying to destroy them with the help of the US. It is in the nature of authoritarian governments to silence dissent. This is not a mark of a democracy.

After the current President was elected, many Republican leaders who had opposed him, came pledging fealty to him. Their lust for power caused them to abandon any principles they had stood for when they were running in opposition to him. When this happened, the image came to my mind of the temptation of Jesus. In one of the temptations, Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and says to Him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." (Matthew 4:9 - ESV). The newly elected president had the keys to power. But unlike Jesus, these leaders gave in to the temptation.

It should come as no surprise, then, when the President was telling his plans for Gaza after the genocide was complete, that he posted AI genertated pictures of gold statues of himself in the new Gaza. Yet many Christian leaders seem to have no problem with the idolatry. Perhaps they fear being thrown into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3). Or maybe they've heard stories about what happens to those who don't worship the image of the beast and wonder if this is something similar (Revelation 13:11-18). And there may be good reason to fear. The Department of Government Efficiency has probably downloaded enough data from government databases to make life miserable for anyone deemed an enemy of the state, i.e. people who disagree with the administration.

The current President won the election with a decent margin, and the Republicans took a majority of congress. Many of them claim to be Christian or to support Christian values. I'm just asking that as Christians they consider using the way of Jesus as a model rather than the ways of this world. To build a government based on serving the weak, helping the poor, ensuring justice for all, and forgiving our enemies rather than using power and money to oppress others so as to gain more power and money. Make America great again, not by stockpiling weapons and amassing soldiers, but by shining as a beacon of justice and hope and extending to others the grace and mercy that God extends to us. Jesus said that we should bring light to the world not by persecuting those who disagree with us but rather by our good deeds: ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14–16 - ESV).

If the President truly wants to make America great again, perhaps he can to look to the kind of American greatness that Emma Lazarus envisioned over 100 years ago when she penned The New Colossus, inscribed on a plaque which was placed in the Statue of Liberty:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
'Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!' cries she
With silent lips. 'Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'

Emma Lazarus was Jewish, and her poem captures God's heart for the foreigner that we see in the Old Testament. This is the kind of greatness that drew many to American shores. Now, descendants of these people want to use "greatness" to exclude others who aren't like themselves or who disagree with them.

I believe that there is true truth that can be found in God's word, the Bible. But most people have abandoned any hope of knowing such truth, and I believe that America is suffering for it. Pray that the President and other elected officials will seek after this true truth that we can find in the Bible.

NOTES

1. Francis A. Schaeffer (1982) "How Should We Then Live?" in "The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Volume 5: A Christian View of the West, p166

2. Francis A. Schaeffer (1982) "Escape from Reason" in "The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Volume 1: A Christian View of Philosophy and Culture, p218

3. Francis A. Schaeffer (1982) "How Should We Then Live?" in "The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Volume 5: A Christian View of the West, p170

4. ibid., p88

Scripture marked "ESV" or "English Standard Version" from
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)


Biblical References to Care for the Foreigner/Sojourner/Alien
Scripture from English Standard Version
The ESV uses the term sojouner where other translations variously use the term alien or foreigner.

Exodus 22:21
“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:9
“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:12
“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

Leviticus 19:33–34
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 23:22
“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 24:22
You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.”

Numbers 15:15–16
For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord. One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.”

Deuteronomy 1:16
And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him.

Deuteronomy 10:18–19
He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 14:29
And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

Deuteronomy 16:9-11
9 “You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you. 11 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.

Deuteronomy 16:14
14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.

Deuteronomy 24:14–15
“You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.

Deuteronomy 24:17–18
“You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

Deuteronomy 24:19-22
19 “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

Deuteronomy 26:12–13
“When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.

Deuteronomy 27:19
“ ‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Job 31:32
(the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),

Psalm 146:9
The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Jeremiah 22:3
Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

Jeremiah 7:5–7
“For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

Jeremiah 22:3
3 Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

Ezekiel 22:7
Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you.

Ezekiel 22:29
29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.

Ezekiel 47:22–23
You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God.

Zechariah 7:10
do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

Malachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Matthew 25:35
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

The Ides of March

The Ides of March became famous as the day that Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44BC, a date that became cemented in history as a result of the play by William Shakespeare: 

  CAESAR
      Who is it in the press that calls on me?
      I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
      Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear.

  Soothsayer
    Beware the ides of March.

  CAESAR
    What man is that?

  BRUTUS
    A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

  CAESAR
    Set him before me; let me see his face.

  CASSIUS
    Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.

  CAESAR
    What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.

  Soothsayer
    Beware the ides of March.

The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Vincenzo Camuccini, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Fast forward 2019 years.

The Ides of March, 1975

It was Saturday, and on that evening, as I had most Saturdays for the previous two months, I was with a bunch of young people in the Fellowship Hall of the Baptist Church of Cheshire. As per usual, there was a time of singing, after which someone would share a devotional (though I would not have known or used that term in that point of my life) and afterwards would be some kind of activity followed by a trip to Napoli's Pizza in Wallingford—the latter two things being the main reasons I was there.

The person who gave the devotional that evening was a young man by the name of Ed Kenerson. Ed had been around these Saturday evening get-togethers in its early years, and he had returned to share that evening. At one point, he asked if anyone would like to receive Jesus into their lives. I did not totally understand what that meant, only that we often recited a verse about it in one of the songs we would sing:

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12)

I raised my hand. I thought it was a relatively minor thing. In my mind I thought to myself, "it's time to stop running from God." I did not know how the trajectory of my life was about to make a major change, like pointing a canon in a totally different direction than what it had been pointing to previously.

That was 50 years ago today. It's easy for me to remember because we had been reading Julius Caesar in English class, and so the phrase "Ides of March" was stuck in my brain.

As for some of the ways that decision affected my life, I wrote more about that here.

I don't regret that decision to follow Jesus. There was a time I thought about turning back, which I mentioned in another blog. There are times I get fed up with churches, but not The Church. Sometimes, the way other Christians behave makes me think, "If that is what being a Christian is about, then I don't want to be one." But I never made a decision to follow other people, I made a decision to follow Jesus. It's His life we are to emulate, not the lives of others. Over the course of the last half-century, people have often failed me. Jesus has not.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12 - ESV)

Through all the good times and hard times of the last 50 years, Jesus has brought consistency to my life. His light—His presence—brings me peace even in times of inquietude. And I especially need that these days, when so many people seem to seek after false messiahs.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 - ESV)

God, give me grace and strength and wisdom to stay the course, until such time that you call me to be with You.

3 in 1

Recently, I got a haircut. I usually start the haircut on my own using clipper attachments, then Ingrid fine tunes it after I am done doing what I can do. After we were done, I got out the bottle of 3-in-1 oil to lubricate the clippers.

3-in-1 Oil

As soon as I open the bottle of 3-in-1 oil, the smell of it brings back memories. In my childhood home we had a utility closet in the kitchen. The closet had many shelves and drawers that were crammed with all manner of things, among them being hair clippers and a can of 3-in-1 oil. My mom had briefly worked as a hairdresser before she was married. And after my parents married, she was in charge of all the haircuts and perms in the family. Whenever she was done with the hair clippers, she would brush out any stray hairs from the clippers and then put a few drops of 3-in-1 oil on them. This is the main thing I remember this oil being used for. We had a more typical oil can in the basement for use with motors and other things.

But as I got the oil out this time around, I was wondering how it got its name. A quick look at the label seemed to offer up this explanation:

   ✔ Lubricates
   ✔ Prevents Rust
   ✔ Removes & Protects

That last one is a bit cryptic: removes what? Does it remove hair? Maybe that's why I'm bald.

Before we went to Thailand, I used to keep a regular oil can in the garage. But these days I don't do as much mechanical work and so having a small can of 3-in-1 is enough for what I usually do: lubricating things and sharpening knives with my Arkansas sharpening stones.

Another nice thing about 3-in-1 oil is that the name is a reminder of the God I worship. We Christians recognize God as being three "persons": the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So when I pick up my bottle of 3-in-1, it can serve as a reminder that our triune God is present with us all the time, even when doing mundane things like trimming a few locks from the top of my head.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14 - ESV)

Traditions

 After church, almost like magic a green papaya appears out of nowhere. Sometimes I think they grow in the rafters of the roughly framed old houses. Within minutes I hear the thumping noise of the mortar and pestle. The papaya salad will soon be ready.

Making Papaya Salad

Meanwhile, if there are any chairs around they are stacked and set to the side. Thin mats are placed on the floor. Bowls of sticky rice are brought out along with various side dishes. The smell of fish sauce and other things familiar and unfamiliar fills the air. The bowls are placed on the mats in clusters around the room. The papaya salad is scooped onto plates to join the other fragrant dishes. Soon, people sit in circles around the clusters of bowls. There may or may not be plates and utensils for everyone.

People grab a wad of sticky rice with their left hand. With their right hand, they grab a smaller mass and massage it into a smooth ball. This is used to help grab food from the dishes in the middle. If there is some kind of soup, Asian-style spoons will be available for use. Welcome to a traditional Mennonite meal in Isaan, Thailand.

After-church Lunch in Isaan

I did not know much about Mennonites growing up—I'm not even sure I knew the term. I think the first Mennonite I met was my first girlfriend. She was normal enough, except that her last name was not one I had ever heard of before, though it turns out that it, along with many other last names that were unusual to me, were quite common in Mennonite communities (when I visited her home, I checked out the phone book and there was column after column of names that before that time had been unknown to me). 

Mennonites get their name from Menno Simons, one of the leaders of the Radical Reformation in the 16th century. There were several other leaders of these Anabaptist groups that faced much persecution. Because of this persecution, many of them fled from various places to West Prussia where a dialect of Low German became their common language. In the last half of the 18th century, Catherine the Great opened parts of Russia (now Ukraine) to European immigrants and many of the Mennonites relocated there.

Eventually, many of these Mennonites relocated, either by choice or because of further persecution, to places in the western hemisphere where they formed colonies and retained their language and culture. By this time the term Mennonite had as much, if not more, to do with their culture than their religious faith. In the late 1800's, there was a revival among some of the Mennonites in the Ukraine that gave birth to a branch of the Mennonites known as the Mennonite Brethren (MB). Many of these relocated to North America where they tended to stay together in various communities, hence the phone books packed with "Mennonite" names that were not so common elsewhere.

I broke up with that girlfriend and did not think much more about Mennonites until we moved to Fresno in 2001 and eventually ended up joining an MB church. It is there that we discovered that Mennonite was as much a culture as a religion. Fairly early on after joining Butler MB church, we were hosting a small group at our home. Some the members of the group would get to talking about who is related to who and how. They found out they had common relatives in a place called Corn, Oklahoma. Corn. Is that really a place? Later we discovered that this name game of discovering common relatives was frequent occurrence at Mennonite gatherings. This was a bit of challenge for us, as we were Mennonite by choice, not by birth.

We also learned that there are some Mennonite traditional foods. When I first heard the term Verenika, I thought it was someone's name. Turns out its a kind of stuffed dumpling, a Ukrainian ravioli, if you will (I may get ostracized for saying that, but I grew up among Italians, not Ukrainians). Verenika (or varenyky) is a Ukrainian name, but they also go by their Polish name pierogi. Like ravioli, verenika can have different kinds of stuffings. When I first had verenika, it was served with gravy and Mennonite sausage. This sausage was not a smoked sausage, but the Mennonites have that, too. If you are ever in Abbotsford, British Columbia, I recommend going by Rempel Meats to pick some up.

Verenika at a restaurant catering to Russian tourists in Phuket, Thailand

Another Mennonite food/tradition is fritters aka portzelky. These are deep fried dough akin to donuts, except they are not shaped like donuts. By tradition, they are served on New Years day hence they are also known as New Years Cookies. Even though we are not ethnic Mennonite, we rather like this tradition.

Making New Years Cookies in November in Phon Phisai, Thailand
Couldn't wait for New Years day

The third traditional food I'll mention is zwieback. I had heard of zwieback as a youth and I knew it is a crispy toasted bread. The name comes from German zwei ("two") or zwie ("twi-"), and backen, meaning "to bake", in other words, "twice-baked". After joining a Mennonite group, we heard people getting excited that zwieback was going to be served on a special occasion and we were wondering why people feel that way about overcooked toast. We learned that Russian-Mennonite zwieback is altogether different—it is neither crispy nor flat. The "two" in this zwieback comes from how they are double-buns, so to speak, with one stuck on top of the other. Getting them to stay that way during baking takes special skill, and in our own attempts at baking them, we have ended up with a significant number of einback.

Our first attempt at Zwieback (and einback)
in Kalasin, Thailand

There are other Mennonite foods and traditions, but I am getting off-topic.

One of the characteristics of the Mennonite Brethren is their desire to share the good news of Jesus with others. To this end, the North American MBs began sending missionaries to other countries not long after arriving in the US and Canada. These missionaries saw great fruit to the point that at present both DR Congo and India have more people worshiping in MB churches than North America.

One of the challenges of missionary work is not confusing our cultural forms of religious expression with that which is essential to the gospel. To put it somewhat amusingly, does one have to embrace fritters, zwieback, verenika and sausage as an essential part of being a Mennonite Christian? I have visited MB churches in both DR Congo and India and saw no "traditional" Mennonite foods. But if you consider that the MB conferences in those countries are larger than the countries of origin of Mennonites, we see that traditional Mennonite foods are, in fact, minority Mennonite foods. There are probably more Mennonites living where there is a rice-based diet than a bread and potatoes diet, but even they are not all consuming the same kind of rice. (In the Isaan region of Thailand they prefer sticky rice, while in central Thailand jasmine is the rice of choice and both of these differ from the various types of rice I ate while visiting India.)

After-Church lunch in Shamsabad, India
No zwieback for this faspa

Khanom Thian - a treat for Thai New Years day (April 15)
Made with tapioca flour

The separation of tradition and religious belief is not always straightforward and there isn't always agreement, even in one's own culture. For example, what style of music do we use? It seems like it wasn't all that long ago when guitars and drum kits came in alongside and later replaced the organ in churches. Then we see churches in Thailand that don't consider themselves a real church unless they have a building, a guitar and a drum kit. None of which are required by scripture. I remember our first trip to Thailand and we were visiting Khmu church in the North of the country. I was excited to be in a place where I could hear some ethnic church music. But all they had were translated contemporary Christian songs accompanied by drums and electric guitar. On the other hand, when worshiping with older believers in Isaan, I hear them come alive when we sing songs of traditional style and instrumentation.

Worship at a Khmu church in Northern Thailand
with electric guitar and drums

Worship Isaan style with phin and kaen
They use an 8-tone scale instead of 12-tone

Another example of religious tradition is how we serve communion. We once visited a church in Thailand where they used sticky rice instead of bread or crackers for communion. I thought that it was a nice cultural adaptation, but it turns out that they did this especially for visiting foreigners. For themselves, they normally used western style communion cups and crackers because it was associated with higher status—something that was culturally important for them.

Communion with communion cups and crackers
Phon Phisai, Thailand

While traditions are nice, there can be a problem when the traditions outlast the faith that they are supposed to represent. People end up considering themselves to right with God because they follow traditions rather than actually believing in God. Or sometimes the traditions may conflict with God's will, but we give them priority over following God's word. This was certainly a problem in Jesus' day. On one occasion, some Pharisees we complaining that Jesus and his disciples did not follow the traditional handwashing ceremony before eating. Jesus replied.

⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

    ‘This people honors me with their lips,
  but their heart is far from me;
   “ ⁷ in vain do they worship me,
  teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

⁸ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

(Mark 7:6–8 ESV)

The Pharisees were giving greater priority to following their traditions than to obeying God's word.

This is kind of behavior is not that unusual. For example, a person may consider themseleves Christian because they observe certain traditions (going to church on Sundays (or maybe just Christmas and Easter) but not really living according to the teachings of the Bible the rest of the week. Or the Buddhist who participates in some Buddhist rituals but who also regularly shows disdain for one or more of the 5 precepts. We humans have a tendency to hold onto the forms of religion long after we have forgotten the meaning behind the form, like Christmas without Christ.

So if I eat fritters on New Years, cook up a mean pot of verenika, and play the Mennonite name game at social gatherings, but refuse to forgive those who offend me or love my enemies—Biblical teachings of Jesus emphasized by Menno Simons and other Radical Reformers—am I really Mennonite?

Though it is not my heritage, I like some of the traditions that the Mennonites carried over from Russian and the Ukraine. But what attracted me to the Mennonites were those who, like Menno Simons, believed that Jesus meant what he said and felt that Jesus' life was a model of how Christians ought to live. But whether I'm seated around a table sharing borscht and zwieback or seated on the floor around a bowl of bamboo curry and sticky rice, I'm happy to be together with like-minded believers. Because if we are to try to live the kind of life that the Bible teaches us to live, we will need the help of these other believers as well as the power that comes from the Holy Spirit in order to do so.

Though I did not plan it this way, I'm publishing this blog in the same month we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Anabaptist movement. It was on January 21, 1525 that a small group of people defied the state church by participating in a believer's baptism that marked the beginning of that movement.

Street Food

In a blog last month I wrote about a gastronomic quest to find some mille feuille. Today, I will write about another seach for elusive food.

In 2014, we moved to Chiang Rai in province in Northern Thailand. Sortly after we moved there, we were visiting friends in Chiang Mai and they introduced us to a Northern Thai dish known as Khao Soi. Khao Soi, which translates "street food," is a noodle soup with a yellow coconut curry-based broth. It typically has chicken (usually a drumstick) and is served with garnishings: pickles, cut up shallots or red onions, and a piece of lime. The soup is topped with crispy-fried noodles. Sometimes they will also serve garlic. It is typically mildly to moderately spicy. We enjoyed the Khao Soi, and decided we needed to find some place closer to home that served it.

Khao Soi in Chiang Mai, 2014

Eventually, we found a place about a kilometer from where we lived. This was a small, unassuming restaurant that served two dishes: khao soi and another kind of soup. It ended up being our go-to place to each lunch after church on Sundays if we didn't have other plans. The price was right, too. At the time it was about $1 US. (When we went back in 2023, the price had gone up to $1.50.) Good food at a good price.

Khao Soi Restaurant in Wiang Kaen

Khao Soi Restaurant in Wiang Kaen

When we lived in Northern Thailand, we typically traveled to Chiang Rai city, which was a 2-hour drive away, about once every two weeks or so. We did find a very rustic place along the way that served only khao soi. What was unique about this place was the big cauldron of soup on the wood-burning "stove."

Rustic Khao Soi Restaurant in Chiang Rai

In January, 2015, a friend of ours gave us a tour of some places he was doing ministry across the river in Laos. He was excited one day to take us to a khao soi restaurant. We were excited, too, until we saw it. Apparently there are different styles of Khao Soi. The Lao version was okay, but it was not what we were expecting.

Khao Soi, Lao Style, topped with fried pork rind

In 2017 we moved to Nong Khai province in Northeast Thailand (Isaan). Northeast Thailand is culturally different than Northen Thailand—it is more Lao than Thai. We sought out a place to find khao soi, but we could not find any in our district—it was easier to find a good hamburger or decent pizza and those were not easy to come by. I tried searching the internet, but to no avail. One day we were in the provincial capital, about a 45-minute drive from where we lived. We were looking for a particular business, but it was on a busy street, so we had to park some distance away. Just a few steps from where were we parked was a small, dark shop. "Wait...does that sign say khao soi?" We weren't ready for lunch yet, but we went back at a later date. The proprietor was a woman from Northern Thailand who had married someone from Nong Khai. She opened up a restaurant that served Kuai Tiao (a noodle soup found all over Thailand and is common in many places in the US as a Vietnamese variant called pho) along with khao soi.

Khao Soi in Nong Khai

In 2021, we moved to Kalasin province in the central part of Isaan. Like where we had previously lived, there were no khao soi restaurants in our district. One day, we were in the mood for some khao soi and I scoured the internet and eventually found a place. It was at the end of a small alley off a street that barely qualified as such. But it was popular—not so much as a sit-down restaurant, but with people ordering by various motorcycle delivery services. They ended up expanding but, for some reason, ended up closing about a year before we left Thailand. Now where to go?

Khao Soi in Kalasin

One day were were on our way back from Roi Et, the provice south of where we lived, and we stopped a a service station complex to try to find some food. These complexes typically have a Seven-Eleven or other convenience store, some kind of restaurant, a coffee shop, and various other small shops. This was our first time stopping at this service station for a meal (we had stopped there previously to get gas and/or coffee.) We walked into the restaurant and noticed that they had khao soi on the menu. It was good, but it was Isaan style—much spicier than we were used to.

Khao Soi in Roi Et

In 2023, we moved back to the USA—now where are we going to find Khao Soi? If you think it is hard to find in Isaan, what must it be like here? There are actually a lot of Thai restaurants that have sprung up in the US and Canada, but few of them serve khao soi.

One time, after we had returned to North America for our home ministry in 2017, we were traveling south on I-5 from Canada. We randomly pulled off the freeway somewhere in or near Tacoma and saw a Thai restaurant. We thought we would try it, not necessarily looking for khao soi, but it was on the menu—though at ten times the price of Thailand.

Khao Soi in Tacoma

Just after we returned to the US for home ministry in 2020, we took a few days to relax on the coast in Morro Bay. One night, we went out to eat at Thai Bounty. This was an interesting place in that it served both Cuban and Thai food (the owner was a Cuban fellow married to a Thai woman). The khao soi there was good, but unfortunately, the restaurant is no longer open.

Khao Soi at Thai Bounty in Morro Bay

But now have have moved back to the US permanently. Shortly after we returned to Fresno, we read an article that says there are 27 Thai restaurants in Fresno. But what constitutes Thai is another matter. Fresno has a large SE Asian population, the majority of which are ethnic Hmong from Laos. There are also Khmu (from Laos), ethnic Lao, Cambodian, Thai and other. We have been to several Thai restaurants, some of which have khao soi on the menu. But NOT the northern Thai version.

Today is my birthday. I had already decided a couple of weeks ago that I would like Thai food for the occasion. Yesterday evening, I was scrounging through Google maps, Yelp, and general web searches looking up Thai restaurants. Then I decided that maybe I should try to find places that had khao soi. Some places I already knew had the Lao version. A reviewer of one restaurant said they had a Mien version. When I could pull up menus, I would look at the descriptions and end up disapponted.

Then—there it was—a description of Northern Thai style khao soi—only it wasn't in Fresno. It was in Madera...close enough.

This morning we were up early to help out with the monthly food distribution at Butler Church. We finished up just before 11 am. Then off we were to Madera. Thai Basil is located not far off the 99 freeway on the north side of Madera. The proprietors set up shop there 2 years ago after running a Thai restaurant in Sacramento for 15 years. They wanted to move to a quieter community and find a place where it was more affordable for their daughter to practice golf. Victor is from Udon Thani in Isaan. His wife is from Trat in Eastern Thailand but went to school at Burapha University in Bang Saen, the town were a team of MB missionaries did a church plant in the early 2000's and to which we have been to many times. So it was surprising that they had the Northern Thai version of Khao Soi on the menu. Victor said that they try to have Thai food and not the variants from nearby places like Laos.

We we happy with the khao soi, and we will probably go back—though we will probably try some of the other dishes. We were drooling as we watched them bring food out to the other diners. It was like going home to Thailand. Happy Birthday me!

Khao Soi at Thai Basil in Madera, CA

Bookends 2024

Bookends: when I look at change through the year through a photo at the beginning and the end.

I began the year with COVID. Between that and the cool weather, it was a good time to stay home and assemble jigsaw puzzles. So this photo becomes the first bookend. Otherwise, we probably would have made a day trip on New Year's day and posted a photo from that.

I suppose this was a fitting way to begin the new year. Like putting together a jigsaw, we had to figure out a lot of things in our lives as we moved from being employed to not being employed. In the United States that also means, among other things, figuring out the health care system with the various parts of Medicare. Then there is the issue of how to make ends meet when you no longer have employment income. We decided to work with a financial planner to help us navigate through this period of our lives, and that has helped a lot.

Health issues were a dominant theme for the year. Beginning with a broken toe and surgery, which affected mobility for a while. Then there was lots of dental work, including surgical removal of a tooth and resulting implant (still waiting for the crown for that). On top of that was cataract surgery, in my right eye—for the first time since 4th grade, my uncorrected vision is better in my right eye than my left.

Another part of our retirement and settling back into Fresno is getting the house and yard back in order after being gone for so long. Exterior painting with all the prep involved has taken and will yet take a lot of time. Fixing broken sprinkler systems. Removing trees for various reasons. Planting more fruit trees. Reinstalling a vegetable garden. Converting the front yard to a xeriscape. All these things are ongoing. So, I'm not really retired, I'm just not getting paid for my work (but I'm also not having to pay someone else to do it—at least not most of it).

Amidst all that, we managed to do some traveling. A road trip to Canada to visit family. Another road trip to Arizona to visit friends and family, but also check out the Grand Canyon. Then, a quick trip to Los Cabos, Mexico, to use up some airline credits before they expired.

There are ministry activities. The main things we are doing is helping with the food distribution at our church once a month. Added to this, we began English tutoring at a local school our church partners with. We do this one morning a week.

Then, all of a sudden the year is over. On the last day of the year, I went to check out our garden. And I saw that some of our marigolds were still blooming.

I bought the marigolds at the Spring Plant Sale of the UCSC Farm and Garden back in April. And they are still blooming! While I enjoy the flowers, they are a reminder of how mild the temperatures have been this fall. We have not had a good frost, or even many days below 40F (5C). While our bodies appreciate the warmth, it is keeping some of our plants from going dormant, which may affect fruit production next year. (Our nectarine tree and grape vine have yet to drop all their leaves.) It also means that our citrus have not sweetened up yet. So, our oranges and Oro Blanco are looking ready to pick, but we're still waiting on some cooler weather so they'll be sweeter.

Maybe this uncertainty in our garden is also a picture of our lives. I still don't feel that I've completely adapted to our new lives. Just like the weather can confuse the plants, so also events that have happened in our lives can leave us uncertain as to which direction to take with our lives. I still don't feel like I've settled on what role I should have in church (our church also is going through times of uncertainty). I'm not bored—there is a lot to do. I'm content to be an introvert at home staying busy with things that need doing there. But I'm not sure this is the best use of my time and talent.

I asked my wife this morning if she had any goals for this year. Like me, she says she doesn't. Should we have one? Do we need one? I did tell her after that I have at least one goal: to stay married to her all year. Other than that, we'll see where life takes us. We did complete 4 500-piece jigsaw puzzles this past week. Maybe that's a sign that the pieces are starting to come together.