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And now there is our friend Peter Ahlstrom:
I’ve read your blog daily for about a year, and occasionally commented. Tempting Faith got me started. You caught my interest with your stand on helping the poor, and on fasting from politics to rediscover what’s really important.My background? I grew up outside church, and was an atheist for a while. Then a friend nagged me till I visited his church. There I saw so much that was "real," loving, and joyful, that I turned around 180 degrees.
But, though I now believed in God, it took years to begin learning to love him. And, in theory, I believed in "loving my neighbors," but firmly drew the line at helping the poor. To me, that was doing them no favors.
That strongly conservative thinking continued through a 20-year career as college, public, and finally technical librarian, through four years of work in the Space Shuttle program (half in the Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center), and then through most of a second career as an aerospace/defense "master planner."
But God kept "clubbing me over the head" (through a lot of experiences) until he got me curious enough to "dig" to see what the Bible itself meant by "love your neighbors." That search changed my thinking radically, helped by experiences like living in a tent trailer for six years with my wife and children after most of us defense workers were laid off during government budget cuts. (The plant where I worked went from 17,000 workers to below 4,000.)
Should I write a book on all that? Actually, I have - a study on "loving our neighbors" that tells many of the experiences we went through and cites over 3,000 Bible verses. Any of you who’d like to see it are welcome to, at our family’s web site, www.sparkleofnature.com.
Best wishes to all of you, with all your varied views. David, my family’s very curious to see what direction God takes you in after your Uganda experience (knowing that it may take time). All four of us pray for you daily.
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Comments
Can you imagine Isaiah and Zechariah on an ancient version of "Crossfire," arguing over whether the Temple ought to be rebuilt following the exile?
Even in the Psalms, most of which were written specifically for Temple worship, God's dwelling is most often described as a tent. The majesty of the dwellings we build for God matter far more to us than to God. The Church is defined by its faith in Christ-- nothing more, nothing less.
If God is unimpressed with our megachurches, imagine how impressed God must be with our McMansions!!
Peter, I'm glad you don't live in a tent anymore, but I'm even more glad that you used the experience to draw nearer to God, and have maintained that closeness even as your financial circumstances improved.
Peace.
Posted by: aquaman | May 16, 2008 11:24 AM
Aquaman, that's a funny crossfire fantasy. Nehemiah and Jeremiah would be a good match-up, too. I think you have to be a partisan idiot, though. A prophet is never honored on his own channel.
Posted by: Doug | May 16, 2008 12:07 PM
Thanks for all your comments. Here are answers to a couple things you asked me -
Brian: Yes, we're still up in western Wyoming, but about twice as far from Denver (where you are) as from Salt Lake. So the latter gets most of our shopping and doctor trips. (You do need those when your home town has 18,000 people, yet is the BIGGEST city for almost 200 miles in ANY direction). And, yes, I did get my MA from Denver, though I'm sure it was quite a few years before your brother. But I thought that connection was unexpected but very nice.
Doug: No, we didn't move into a temple, but it sure seemed like it!!! You should have seen our kids' eyes bug out, and light up, when they saw that they'd each have a whole bedroom in an apartment, instead of a just a 2 or 3 x 6 foot mattress in a camper! (Plus each bedroom had almost as much floor space as the entire camper.) Believe me, it DID feel like a temple! A real good lesson in appreciation.
Best wishes to all you who commented. Looking forward to meeting some of you in person some day! Thanks again,
Pete
Posted by: Pete Ahlstrom | May 16, 2008 9:34 PM
whereabouts in Wyoming, Pete? my wife's company - Toromont Energy Services - builds/sells gas compression units in the Casper area
Posted by: canucklehead | May 17, 2008 12:03 AM
Hi Canucklehead, or can I just call you Tim?
We're about 225 miles west-southwest of Casper, in Rock Springs (often lovingly called Rock Bottom or Hard Rock by locals). Your wife probably has a good number of sales to companies that work over here. Rock Springs is the center of a major natural gas boom right now, one that stretches 50 to 100 miles in all directions. Lots of growth is going on here, though whether it'll fulfill all the predictions that it'll be the largest town in the state in 5 years are to be taken with a few grains of sand, and there are plenty of those around. Even if true, Calgary will still dwarf it.
But it's true the place is exploding - new business and homes going up like dandelions all around, new features like air pollution and ozone alerts, and very few businesses able to find enough people to fill their jobs (even Wal Mart, which needs 500, is usually about 200 short. I keep telling them that Amelia Earhart isn't dead, she's just in their line to buy supplies or get her GPS fixed.)
Good to hear from you - Pete.
Posted by: Pete Ahlstrom | May 17, 2008 1:04 AM
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