Busy Bill?!?

Does this say anything?!?!?  I had to follow up the last couple of posts with a post of my own.  We have the guy who has put nearly 10,000 miles on his Harley over the summer barking at the rest of the crew about him being SO busy, yet posting time and time again!  Here I sit with a stack of books nearly as high as my chair, still stinking from my marathon training run, and hearing my chatting kids in their bed.  Did I mention the GRE flashcards that are in my bag, the full time job, and the doctoral applications that are lurking in the wings.  Oh yeah and those coffee orders that need to be roasted.  I am not that busy though!  Trust me, I am not looking for anyone's sympathy because I have stepped up to the buffet of life and overloaded my own plate.  I just have to laugh at the empty nester who is counting down the days to his next vacation (12 days) and throwing barbs about being busy.  Sorry dad, I couldn't let this meatball just slide on past the plate!!

Incidences in my life over the past few years seem to all be fitting together in a timely fashion, including this blog.  As I was sitting in Religious Pluralism class today my professor spoke endearingly of the university where he did his doctoral work.  He mentioned that they were able, even encouraged, to share their own beliefs and challenge the beliefs of others.  The purpose was to force individuals to either solidify their beliefs, or change their beliefs because of the sound beliefs of another.  The great 19th century philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel posited that people are constantly in the process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.  What he meant was, we all have beliefs (thesis) that we use to live (worldview), but will inevitably encounter an opposing view (antithesis) and often modify our original belief (synthesis).  This process is not something that happens once in our lives and is over, but will continue until our death.  

I do not think that anything should really be "out of bounds."  The intent of this blog was to invest in each other's lives and truly attempt to understand our family at their core.  If we can't share our beliefs openly with our family than who can we share them with?  We are to love one another, period!  This does not mean that you have to LOVE my beliefs, but I hope you will love me in spite of disagreeing with my beliefs.  That is fine if you do not agree with everything that I do.  I do not want you to love a projected perception of me that is false.  We need to be authentic and organic with one another if we are going to truly reconcile with one another and truly embrace.  May we not be like the Griswold family turkey on Christmas Eve night, golden brown and perfect on the outside, but empty in the middle.  

I understand that this is not going to happen overnight and that some people are still testing the waters to see what is really going to happen on this sight.  That is great.  You do what you need to do and the rest of us will simply wait for you in your time.  Authentic personhood is not something that can be forced or coerced out of you.  Miroslav Volf, a renowned Yale professor, explains that for the second posture of a reconciliation embrace is one of open arms.  This posture is an opening of one's self to another in anticipation, but with the greatest degree of patience.  I cannot force you to embrace me, or it will not be true reconciliation.  In order for reconciliation to be worthwhile the embrace MUST be mutual.  I highly recommend reading any or all of his books.  ("Exclusion and Embrace: A Theology of Reconciliation" is the one that I am referencing.  

All of that to say, let's not hold back.  I want to know all of you, not just the portions you think I will like.  That is not the real and complete you.