Do You Hear Thunder?

I have chosen to interrupt my comments on technology in this generation to mention something interesting from church last night.

Our church is currently involved in a 12 month program to strengthen marriages and families. Author and speaker Dr. Gary Smalley is part of the team pioneering this program. Last night, Gary spoke at the service. He related the following:

There was a time, years ago, when he was researching family dynamics. He would observe families that seemed to have a particularly strong bond and ask to interview them. The hope was that he could identify some common denominator among strongly united families that could be passed on to others as a method or component to strengthen any family. To his surprise, he got the exact same answer from every family that he interviewed. Gary thought the key might be praying together or eating meals together or worshipping together. Nope. The answer every family gave him was, “camping”.

Gary and his family decided, since this was something they had never done, they needed to give it a try. Up till this point, their concept of camping was staying at a Holiday Inn without a pool. He proceeded to tell the detailed story of a miserable first-time family camping experience. Severe weather, sand everywhere, sand in their bed, sand in their food, etc. In conclusion, he arrived at the definition of camping as scheduled disaster.

True camping is, for some, the deliberate abandonment of comfort. I prefer to think of the experience as an exchange rather than deprivation. Conveniences should be left behind, but you gain the opportunity to challenge your wit and resolve. I think the biggest challenge is to react to your environment, rather than finding ways to isolate yourself from it. This is all part of the reason I enjoy travelling by motorcycle. The experience of travelling by auto is moving along in an isolated, temperature controlled bubble. On a motorcycle, you are part of the environment you are passing through. There is an exchange of comfort, to be sure. But, I digress… back to camping.

I guess this post is about technology, in a way. When you go camping, especially backpacking, you can’t rely on electronic technology for communication, entertainment or even relaxation. As families go, the question becomes, “Can I relate to my children without a TV or a computer in the room?” Am I able to relax without sitting in front of the TV? And, of course, the big one, “How do I deal with being uncomfortable?”

Some of the most miserable times I’ve experienced have been while camping. But, I would never want to lose the incredible times I’ve had while camping with family and friends or the times I’ve had backpacking with my sons.

I suppose camping isn’t for everyone. I only hope that for those who never find a way to enjoy it, they can find something else to challenge them…something they can do with others that pushes them outside of their comfort zone and can create bonds that last a lifetime.

An Army of One

Leonardo da Vinci understood the overlap of disciplines. Nothing stands alone. Science cannot be isolated from philosophy or theology. Reciprocally, because the Cardinals of the Catholic Church destroyed much of his work, it would be fair to say that theology (or at least religion) has affected science.

Da Vinci’s extensive and brilliant studies of human anatomy gave birth to ideas of artificial joints and systems of hydraulics. His concepts are still relied upon today as fundamental patterns for articulated movement. Very recently, cardiologists have realized that his observation of the “twisting” heart (the motion of a healthy heart while regularly contracting) is important to understand in treating the heart muscle.

Part of his brilliance is his ability to go way beyond observation. For him, observing, chronicling and drawing anatomy was not the end, it was barely the beginning. He questioned, “Is there a way to take an entirely different set of materials and components and construct something that can imitate the complex movement of an elbow or a shoulder?”

500 years ago, the Catholic Church saw his studies as a threat, an affront to the beauty of creation. He was regarded as a necromancer with a desire to build a mechanical (or artificial) man. This was theological heresy. A man could not be allowed to create man because then he would be making himself out to be a god.

Advanced technology threatened the core theological values of the day. And this is my point.

The clash of spirituality with present cultural trends is really nothing new.

How should we, as 21st century Christians in the western culture, respond to the technology assaulting us faster than we can assimilate it? Ignore it? Embrace it?

Stay tuned to this blog for more of my thoughts on this, if you’re interested.

Something About an Ocean

First of all, let me say to those of you who have not given up on my blog and are actually reading this because you keep checking it - Thank you.

My computer completely crashed and is now in the hands of Dell for rebuilding, or whatever they do to make it usable again. Thanks to Pete for dealing with them for me, or it would still be a coffee table decoration.

We just returned from South Carolina to be part of the wedding celebration for Dylan and Lauren. It was a great week. Most of you already know about it, because you were there.

Those of you who know me realize that I am an advocate for new experiences. If you ask my advice on whether or not to try something new or go somewhere you've never been, I generally lean toward going for it. For me, personally, the culinary realm may disqualify me. Nevertheless, when I wanted to ride a motorcycle, I bought one and then learned to ride. I had never been on one till then. I thought sailing might be fun, so I bought a small sailboat, then took it out on the lake. I had never even been on a sailboat. As you might expect, there was a struggle through that learning curve, and some irate people in the swim area, but we always managed to make it back to dry land...eventually.

So, my wife had never been to an ocean. Never even seen one. We decided that this trip to South Carolina was the perfect opportunity for her first experience. For the first time in her life, she saw the ocean. She swam in the ocean.

Today, I sold my motorcycle trailer to a man that is fighting three different kinds of cancer. His desire is to take his motorcycle back to Pensacola Florida so that he can ride the beach one last time. There was a time when he would have made the ride to Florida from Phoenix, now he will have to trailer it. For Richard, he is looking for one final beach experience.

In the course of a single week, I have had the chance to be with two people at opposite ends of their ocean memories. My wife making her first memory, and Richard hoping to make it there for his last.

So whether it's something you've never done or something you want to do one more time... don't put it off too long.