Apr 4
Joel, this is Marty. I’m calling you from a cellphone, a real, handheld, portable cellphone.
Martin Cooper, speaking the first words ever said over a mobile phone. A Motorola engineer, Martin used his newly invented device to call Joel Engel, a rival at AT&T, on April 3, 1973. Many would say that the mobile phones have been rude and annoying ever sense.
See: This story from the BBC and this one from CNN for more
We’re supposed to have child-like faith. What does that mean?
Children enjoy the simple gifts – sunshine, zip lines and chickens – without embarrassment, fear, or pride.
Children trust that the rope will hold. They hang on tight and enjoy the rush of risk, wind and adrenaline.
Such is the kingdom of heaven.
What’s all this about giving people a “Christian alternative?” Makes Jesus sound like soy bacon.
It took 62 years for somebody to find me, but I thank God. Some people never get found.
As a young man, Charles Bradley saw James Brown perform at the Apollo Theatre. From that moment, Bradley’s heart was captured by the sounds of soul. And he knew he was destined to sing.
That dream was kindled in a moment. The destiny took decades to materialize.
He wrote. He sang in seedy night clubs. Sold his belongings. Hitch-hiked across the country. Supported his passion with odd jobs. For 40 some years.
How sweet it was when he was finally discovered. A record label exec heard Charles perform a James Brown tribute show in a Brooklyn night club…and the years of frustration and unfulfilled dreams were history.
The musician was unlocked from his unappreciated toil. Unfettered. Unmuzzled. Unchained. No longer playing a character in a dingy dive. Now he writes his on songs. Now he’s pouring out his own heart through his own voice.
Found.
Kind of like what happens when God discoveres us. The Son of Man came to “seek and to save.” Roaming the sidewalks and side streets like sheep without a shepherd, we have a notion of what we’re really mean to do. Until we are discovered.
When we are discovered, God releases from the burden of what we’ve become so that we can become what couldn’t be on our own. The faint dream becomes destiny. No longer putting on an act, we’re empowered to love and live from an unfettered heart.
Found.
Thank God. Some people never get found.
Bono talks about Karma and Grace:
You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics; in physical laws every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “as you reap, so you will sow” stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.
We have a thing or two to learn from Bono about how to interact with a doubting world. He doesn’t call secular and pagan ideas “stupid” — he merely says they are in incomplete picture of the whole story. He doesn’t attack the notion of karma as foolish. Instead, Bono just describes it as another term for the laws of nature. Laws of nature suspended by the miracle of grace.
To me, that’s how we make friends with — and make sense to — our friends and neighbors. Don’t call names, offer a wider perspective. Give our world a way to make sense of the fractured pieces sin has left in its path of devastation across history.
More from his fascinating conversation about Christ and religion right here. It’s well worth reading.
Thanks to seancom for posting this article.
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