Dreams from my Father

 This evening, I started reading Dreams from My Father, the autobiographical book by the young lawyer Barack Obama.  It has been startling good so far, and I think it's the best book that I've read dealing with cross-culturedness or TCK's since Third-Culture Kids, which I also loved.  It is a book that is rather frank and very open and reminds me again why the President's story speaks to so many people, even those who disagree with his policies.

 A few brief thought-excerpts that struck me in my personal journey and the journey I see others in:
 "...the fluid state of identity- the  leaps through time, the collision of cultures- that mark our modern life." (vii)
 "... [my past] speaks to those aspects of myself that resist conscious choice and that- on the surface, at least- contradict the world I now occupy." (xiv)
 "I enjoyed such moments [of companionship]- but only in brief.  If the talk began to wander, or cross the border into familiarity, I would soon find reason to excuse myself.  I had grown too comfortable in my solitude, the safest place I knew." (4)

The Broken Ugly

The Broken Ugly or Ugly Beauty

Have you seen the falcon soaring,
 High, majestic in its flight?
Death and pain are in its talons;
 They're rending, tearing limb and life.

Have you seen the glow of sunset?
Have you seen the moon’s bright gleam?
Have you wondered at the mountains
 Or joyed to swim the sparkling stream?

Have you seen the Grecian idols,
 Molded bodies, well-taught minds?
Has the joy of children filled you
 Or wonder at some childish ‘finds’?

Have you felt those bruising muscles?
Have you seen that mind crumbling?
Has the joy now turned to terror?
 Or does the ‘find’ now have a sting?

Have you heard of God’s Creation,
 Beauty shining perfectly?
But man’s rejecting God’s commands,
 Brought about the Broken Ugly.

Have you seen the Curse mar Blessing?
Have you seen God’s “good” shattered?
Have you seen the man and woman,
 Choosing death, deceived and flattered?

Have you heard the Gospel story,
 God forgives, life eternal?
But the cost was Jesus dying,
 Bearing wrath and sin infernal.

Have you seen the Man of Mercy?
Have you heard God on the cross?
Have you heard Him cry in anguish,
 Or welcome home a thief who’s lost?

Have you heard Him shout, “Completed”!?
Have you pondered what it means?
Have you seen His pain and triumph,
 And known for you His blood once streamed?

Have you seen the world in this way?
Has the Gospel dawned on you?
True, it shows sin, pain, and death –
 But grace and love and mercy too.

Theological perspective on immigration - with a link

"We must never deny that illegal immigrants are breaking the law. Yet these immigrants’ law-breaking is no reason for the church to remain uninvolved in North America’s largest mission field today consisting of fifteen to eighteen million people, many of whom tremble in the shadows of our society. Civil law is written on soft paper and constantly evolves. God’s law was chiseled on stone tablets and has remained unchanged." - Alejandro Mandes in "Thinking Theologically About Immigration"