::: WHAT DO YOU SEE :::

Some days I wander the streets and pathways of the Choi Ming and Kin Ming Estates where I live, and I see these faces that I wonder about.

I see families. I see Buddhist monks, I see students, and I see Muslims in their evening clothes. I think to myself, are those their pajamas?...their house clothes?...their worship clothes? Then I realize I am an ass!













(click photo to enlarge)

I notice that the place I currently live is probably the working class area. Across the street the more polished people, and across the tunnel even more shiny people. Believe me it is not that I think the working class dull, they actually seem to have more fun...at least more of an actual living, breathing life.

I know no Muslims. Chances are you do not either. I don't mean that you never say hello to any or that you don't work or go to school with any,...I mean, "KNOW." Have dinner with them at their home, share a ride with them, attend their birthday or other kind of parties. And, I am willing to guess you have no idea how this feels.


HANG WITH ME HERE

I have to be honest...I am ashamed of myself at this point. I knew the minute that this article posted why they were arrested. Incidentally it had 200 comments to the others very few at the site I read about it at. Check it out here: 6 MEN ARRESTED AT MSP

I am mostly ashamed that in America, the home of the free, we are so shackled into our self-patriotic ideas that we have no idea what other "religions" do. When you hear AMERICAN do you think of white, middle class, born here, two jobs, two cars, a few kids, and a nice home?...I did. Again, ashamed.

I mean soapbox for a second here...We say that people who are Christians are 'Religious.' People that are Jewish are called "Jewish" and if we are angry at them Muslims are called "Terrorists" but most of the time, "Muslims." Every-day speak.

If the definition of "Religion" and people who follow that 'religion' are 'religious', then all of them are the same. All follow a "system of belief", a system of living,so to speak. All practice rituals of the so-called system, therefore all are 'religious.' Please be careful how you use this term. It can be insulting to be called religious. Truth is friend, that if you do any one thing every day...like brush your teeth every morning...that you are by definition "Religious."

But, we have this idea in our heads that all are something. All can be classified. Around our house we joked as I entered College that we were looking for a scholarship called "The Half-Italian, Lived in Brasil for a year, Brown haired guy who used to live in New Jersey but now lives in Texas Scholarship." You have to be something to be anything it seems.

I am offended by those like me. I am offended by those who make jokes about these people who have come to our country and legally have joined our communities. I have joined in the stereotyping too. And I hate that. And, I will again I am sure...mostly out of routine and the stupid feeling of always needing to make someone laugh.

STILL WITH ME?...IT CONNECTS, I SWEAR

Immigration is something that in Texas is something that is talked about a lot. We have a lot of Mexicans. They do not want to be called Spanish Speaking, Hispanic, or anything other than Mexicans. Well the table has turned and I am the immigrant. I would love to someday have a Permanent Resident's card for some other country. Not saying it will happen but the idea is quite intriguing to me. To live somewhere long enough to be called a Permanent Resident. To be welcomed and a card carrying person of Hong Kong. I like the sound of that.

But, the way the two things connect is that I am the one who sees potential for myself and dreams of life with my family here. Beginning new traditions and celebrating the old ones. I am the one who is drawn here by what it has to offer me. I am the one who desires to be here. I am the one who thinks every now and then, what is the fastest way this can happen?

Again, it is very much just a thought. And perhaps its thought for a thoughts sake...to get me to think. But I empathize more now with those from other countries and backgrounds in the U.S. Wouldn't it be amazing if we cared so much about our country and it's people that we took it as our patriotic duty to welcome our neighbors by learning about them and their "religious" activities. A man can dream right?

BUT...WHAT ABOUT...

My Northeastern friends may say yeah, but their people flew planes into my buildings and my friends died.

Noted.

Recently Pope Benedict, who has a reputation of conservative and deep theological thought, wrote in his book SALT OF THE EARTH the following...

"...we must recognize that Islam is not a uniform thing No one can speak for [it] as a whole. There is a noble Islam, embodied, for example, by the King of Morocco, and there is also the extremist terrorist Islam, for which, again, one must not identify with Islam as a whole, which would do it an injustice."

Interesting.

Being on the other side of the world, in a city that receives flights direct from the middle east frequently throughout the day, allows me to be challenged to not be the theological know-it-all who thinks he knows everything cause he has a Degree or Masters of Divinity, or Ph.D. The guy who says, "Yay for me, I went to Seminary," or "I know Greek and Hebrew." You know, that guy who so pompously is so convinced that he has looked at the issue from every angle. To think in my short amount of years I have most of this figured out. (My blood pressure is going up as I type this).

AND THEN THERE'S THIS

I really appreciate what my Pastor has said in a talk he shared with us:

"I've gotta tell y'all, When I entered the ministry 28 years ago, I was a lot smarter than I am now. Man I knew so much more. For certain, than I know now. And I've been a youth pastor, I'd been to four years of seminary, I'd written Exegetical papers, I read boucous of books and I had opinions about everything. I knew stuff. Knew for certain stuff. I thought I knew what caused homosexuality and how it could be cured, and I would have told you how. I thought I understood God's whole mind and heart about marriage and divorce and remarriage. And I had papers written where I could show you what was right. I thought I knew all about how women were supposed to function in the church and their role in ministry and what they could and couldn't do. I had opinions on how to change our culture, what the church should look like, how people should worship, what people should believe about how to dress in church...I used to wear three piece suits back in those days! What movies we ought to see, what TV shows we ought to watch, what political stripe we ought to wear. I had opinions about earrings and tattoos and I could prove to you from Scripture. And I knew exactly what was going to happen at the end of time...because?...I made a chart! Still have it! You want to know?...I knew. I gotta tell you 28 years of ministry kind of mitigates, a lot of certainty about a lot of things. And I have discovered on this journey of faith, that while certainty about some things that may be more superficial fades, certainty about what is fundamental grows. And I stand before you today as one who is a lot more humble. I am much more willing to say, "I don't think I know." But at the same time I stand before you as one who is more convinced than ever that...God is alive...Jesus is His Son...the Scriptures are true...and the key to life is following Him. There's a lot of things that I am not so sure about anymore. Not because I don't believe I can have a Biblical conviction about it. It's just that I've been humbled by recognizing that the Scripture is complex, and it has nuance, and it has different approaches and angles. And I must be ever about the journey of going deeper into the Word and being led by the Spirit to truly understand it. To have convictions about what is true, but to be willing to say when I am not exactly sure or certain, "I don't think I know!"

Now, that man...He is a shepherding Pastor. Interestingly enough...he is the pastor to the President of Dallas Seminary. Many of our elders and lay leaders are DTS profs. Many of our members are Seminary students.

I really hope they were listening that day.