fire and hailstorm.

Yesterday was Easter! Hallelujah for a reminder of redemption and forgiveness. I was recently reminded of the myth some believe that people are graded on a sliding scale, that God will let us through those pearly gates if we've done "ok." Thank the Lord Almighty this is not true, as 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.' (romans 3.23). Ghandi, Mother Theresa, myself, and you included, we have done things and harbored badness of all sorts in our hearts that we can't believe to comprehend how far it could separate us from the One who spreads Shalom.

My pastor, Richard Dahlstrom, gave a wonderful illustration of our terrestrial shortcomings, relating us to Peter in John 21. In a nutshell, throughout the, Peter chosen by Jesus to be his disciple. Peter follows enthusiastically much of the time. Peter says foolish comment/reveals selfishness in his heart. Peter still loves and follows Jesus. Jesus tells Peter he will deny Jesus on the day of his crucifixion, Peter doesn't believe it. Peter denies Jesus thrice on the day of his crucifixion, bringing Peter to shame.

After Jesus' death, as shown in ch. 21, we see the desparity and exhaust of Peter, as he is going back to his familiar activity of fishing. He catches nothing, all night he is out and doesn't catch a thing. The resurrected Jesus sees the disciples out in the boat and calls out for them to throw their nets on the other side, which they do and produce a net full of over 100 fish. After what may have been this embarressing and humbling encounter, Jesus proceeds to discuss Peter's devotion to himself with Peter. Though I've heard this story a zillion times, it struck home when Richard explained the word for "love" that is used by Jesus and Peter. Jesus uses a translation that means supernatural love, while Peter admits with the word he uses that he can only love with "natural," human love. This is where it gets good. Peter tried and failed, tried and failed to love Jesus as much as he could, yet at this point we know he failed. Jesus had the perfect opportunity (from the human perspective) to excuse himself, tell Peter he's leaving to find a real, devoted, and obedient disciple. And yet, he doesn't do this. Rather, he said to Peter, "follow me." He still wanted and chose Peter as his follower. And what a good message for us to hear! As we cannot love God completely or wholly, on our own, and yet he calls us to be His Beloved followers, holy and dearly loved (colossians 3.12). Happy Easter to us, Love, God.

Back to the physical, today was a different Monday than usual, as we have Mondays as part of the weekend usually, but worked today as a post-Easter weekend make-up kind of day. Also, it was the first day of weather caution and advisory all year. At one point, while sitting on the OSB-sheathed roof of a 2-storey house waiting for another piece of wood to install, in rain and hail, I decided, "hey, what am I doing up here?" and I got down. Shortly after our supervisor suggested we take it easy on outdoor roof work until the weather subsided. Phew.

By the way, that photo up there ^ is photoshopped from a photo I took in the chapel of St. Mark's cathedral here in Seattle. I just couldn't help myself, as this hinged altar looked like a crazy human scale.

In later news, I've taken to reading the news more. It's enlightening.

Also, are you familiar with the controversy surrounding the mineral coltan, used in electronic batteries and cell phones? It's causing human and environmental exploitation as it is being mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is also fueling civil war there. Check before buying your next electronic! (here's a resource).

My agenda for life now includes finding where to go to grad school, trying to get Polaroid to sponsor my travels, and run on a much more regular basis. Perhaps not in the hail, though. Also, read and learn more about civil rights and issues with social justice in our world today. It is overhwhelming, and the only way to become more familiar is to be proactive in doing so. As a Christian, this is part of my worshipful duty

(Proverbs 31.9 - speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy).

Heal my heart and make it clean

Open up my eyes to the things unseen

Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours

Everything I am for your kingdoms cause

As I go from nothing to

Eternity

(from "Hosanna")

Grace and peace to you.