Month: January 2008

Call to Heroism

Could it be that our cultures of mistrust, cynicism, and idolatry of fame and power have caused a “crisis of heroism?”  “There are, in fact, few heroes.  We have no shortage of celebrities, but heroes are increasingly scarce.”  The phenomenon of the modern celebrity has widened the gap between fame and greatness.  In the past, heroism was connected with real achievement and profound displays of character, virtue, wisdom, athleticism, the arts, etc.  Today, we do not have many heroes, we have celebrities who are “well-known for being well-known.”  A big name rather than a big person….

Heroism is birthed from a transcendant call.  The Caller “challenges us directly to rise to our full stature as human beings.”  His call is to rise up by His grace and power and to become the people we are intended to be.  This call to inner greatness and heroic character is not a self-help scheme or a do-it-yourself project.  We are called by a “decisive divine word whose creative power is the deepest secret of the change.”
-thoughts from Os Guiness, The Call, chpt. 10.

Bük

Laura and I celebrated our 10.3 year anniversary this past weekend.  Thank you Joanna for keeping the boys and being such a tremendous blessing!!!!!  We went to a place called Bük, which is right in the middle of Nowhere, Hungary.  The big attraction is the thermal spring (you know Hungary has the second highest concentration of thermal springs in the world).  Well, we didn’t actually enjoy the thermal waters, but we enjoyed the country side a lot!  Bük is close to the border of Austria, so we drove across and caught sight of the Alp foothills.  Here’s some pics:



Here’s a view of the abandoned border stations!!

time for each other

Several years ago some dear friends encouraged Laura and I to have a weekly time with each other when we can really talk and share important things.  It’s been so helpful.  But in the past few months we haven’t been making it happen.  One of our resolutions is to re-establish this time together.  With kids, work, and activities, there is always one more thing we “need” to do.  Always one more thing to squeeze into the schedule.  But this is something we love and we feel we just can’t do without.

Our friends P & K also do this, and they have really encouraged us.  Tonight we sat in their kitchen talking about this, and we identified seven things which have made these “marriage meetings” valuable: 1) calendar coordination, 2) parenting plans, 3) express appreciation and affirmation, 4) positively share needs and difficult issues, 5) financial update, 6) share what we are learning, and 7) pray together.  I guess there are 3-4 of these that we make sure we always cover. 

“They say they will love, comfort, honor each other to the end of their days.  They say they will cherish each other and be faithful to each other always.  They say they will do these things not just when they feel like it, but even–for better or worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health–when they don’t feel like it at all.  In other words, the vows they make at a marriage could hardly be more extravagant.”  -F. Buechner