Yet Shall I Praise Him

Things are not where I'd like them to be right now on many fronts. It's on thing when circumstances or situations aren't where we'd like them to be, it's another when people, individuals with their own free will who make their own choices, are involved.

Where people are, there is often pain, especially when the heart is involved. My reasoning brain understands that love means sacrifice but when it comes to pain in the heart I am woefully weak. Does that mean I am not truly giving of it or does that mean I don't give of it in a healthy manner? In other words, do I give with expectations and attachments?

If you've been here for a while you may have encountered me mentioning The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Oliver Clement.  Aside from the Bible and, perhaps, the Dao De Jing, no other book has been read as much by me. It changed my Christianity and has pushed me more toward the 'eastern' Christianity, the very same one toward which Hank Hanegraaf was drawn, found in Eastern Orthodoxy.

My goal for 2020 is to work the Psalms. Not all of them, just certain points, or even entire Psalms, of focus. Inspired by Patrick Henry Reardon through his book, Christ In The Psalms, my eyes were opened as to how Christ unlocks the mystery of the Psalms. Though they tackle all of what it means to be human, these are the human cries understood as of those of the Incarnate Christ in His humanity. Once this sunk on in it was as if the scale fell off my eyes.

As a declared Christian since 1996, it has been a challenged starting over, if you will, I have 20 years of knowledge, both schooling and self-study, and it has created this edifice that is often difficult to penetrate as my brain tends to go toward the the history, the linguistics, the language, the meaning and all the other 'technical' aspects of Scripture. I also throw up roadblocks by what I see as a lot of 'feel good' religion, those daily greatest hits, that show up in your inbox.

But I am choosing to work on surrender, to allow the scars and the wounds and the protective hedges to come down and allow the Spirit to do the deep work. I say all of that as on this day, the last of 2019, because this passage from Augustine in Clement's invaluable work continues to resonate and was one in which I will find myself swimming. It is worth quoting in full to get the rhythm and the feel for those last few sentences.

"I sought the substance [of God] in myself, as if it were similar to what I am; and I did not find it. I sense then that God is well beyond my soul. To touch him then, 'I pondered on these things and I stretched out my soul above itself'. How in fact could my soul reach what it needs to look for beyond itself if it did not stretch out above itself ? If my soul were to remain within itself it would not see anything but itself and, within itself, it would not see its God...

'I stretched out my soul beyond myself' and only my God remains for me to grasp. It is there, in fact, above my soul, that the dwelling of my God is. That is where he dwells, from there he sees me, from there he created me . . . from there he raises me up and calls me, from there he guides me and steers me into harbour. He who dwells in the highest heavens in an invisible abode possesses also a tabernacle on earth. His tabernacle is his Church still on its journey. It is there he must be sought because in the tabernacle is found the way that leads to his abode. Actually when I stretched out my soul above myself to reach my God, why did I do it?

'Because I will enter into the place of the tabernacle', the marvellous tabernacle, even to the house of God...The tabernacle of God on earth is made up of faithful people...The prophet [David] entered the tabernacle and from there arrived at the house of God. While he was marvelling at the saints, who are as it were different parts of this tabernacle, he was led to the house of God, carried away by a certain delight, a kind of secret charm, as though from the house of God were coming the bewitching sounds of a musical instrument. He walked in the tabernacle and hearing this music within, whose sweetness drew him on, he set himself to follow what he heard...and he arrived at the house of God...How did you come to the secret of that abode? 

The reply: amidst songs of gladness and praise, amidst the joyful harmonies of the holiday-makers...in the house of God it is always a holiday...it is celebrated by the choirs of angels, and the face of God, seen unveiled, gives rise to a joy beyond description. There is no beginning to that day of festival, nor any end. Of this eternal festivity some ineffable sound is heard in the ears of the heart, provided that no human noise is mixed with it. The harmony of that festival enchants the ear of anyone who is walking in this tabernacle and contemplating the marvels that God has worked for the redemption of the faithful. It leads the hart to the waterbrooks. 

But we see God from a distance. Our body that is doomed to corruption weighs our soul down and our spirit is troubled by many thoughts. Sometimes, spurred on by the longing that scatters the vain images that surround us, we succeed in hearing those divine sounds...However, since we are weighed down by our heaviness we soon fall back into our habitual ways. We let ourselves be dragged back to our usual way of living. And just as when we drew near to God we found joy, so when we fall back to earth we have reason to groan. 

'Why art thou so heavy, 0 my soul: and why art thou so disquieted within me?' We have just tasted a secret sweetness, we have just been able with the fine point of the spirit to glimpse, very briefly, it is true, and in a flash only, the life that does not change. Why then are you still distressed? Why this sadness? You do not doubt your God. You are not at a loss for an answer to those who ask you, 'Where is your God?' Already I have had a foretaste of the immutable. Why are you still distressed? Hope in God. 

And the soul replies in secret: 'Why am I in distress, unless it is because I am not yet in that abode where this sweetness into whose bosom I was fleetingly transported is for ever enjoyed? Can I perhaps from now on drink from this fountain without fear?...Am I even now secure against all my inordinate desires? Are they tamed and vanquished? Is not the devil, my enemy, on the watch for me? And you would have me untroubled while I am still exiled from God's house!' 

Then...the reply comes: 'Hope in God. While awaiting heaven find your God here below in hope... Why hope? Because I shall witness to him. What witness will you give? That he is my God, the health of my countenance. My health cannot come to me from myself. I will proclaim it, I will bear witness to it: My God is the health of my countenance...' Augustine of Hippo, Commentary on Psalm 41 [42] (PL 3 6,464-7)

Or, to quote Psalm 42 from the KJV:

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance." (v. 5)

After the plea for help, the remedy:

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." (v. 11) 

As Sister Joseph, one of the moms of the church in which I was baptized always reminded me and whose Trinidadian accented voice proclaims:

'Keep pressing!' 

The Cycle Of Abuse

My daughter, along with her three kids, spent the week with us last week. Let's just say that a frantic phone call early Sunday morning drove that to happen. Two wounded people in a highly dysfunctional relationship, emotionally and mentally stagnant due to past trauma, both in grown up bodies with grown up responsibilities. 

The children suffer. As a grandparent, it is quite obvious to see the signs of this in their changing behavior. Jumping on furniture, not listening, running around like crazy or the opposite, withdrawing and saying things such as 'I'm stupid' out loud about themselves. It's gut wrenching.

My daughter moved back home when she found out she was pregnant a little over six years ago. She was on bed rest for 19 solid weeks and we made sure she was ok. The little miracle babies, the twins, were born at 32 weeks to the day. After a brief stint in the NICU they stayed with us for the next two years.

And it was glorious. I have never connected with babies on that level and they are more dear to my heart than most anything I've ever experienced so I am not used to this level of pain thinking that they may not be happy or, worse, may be in danger.

It's one thing when two grown adults, both emotionally damaged, are struggling but it is another when children are involved and the cycle of abuse is clearly seen and it seems out of my hands to do anything to prevent it from happening. It's enraging and causes me to question more things than I care to admit.

It also reveals to me how attached I am. One of the goals of any spiritual path is non-attachment (apatheia, according to the Church Fathers). This doesn't mean not caring, it means not attaching one's self to the results which, when it comes down to it, is idolatrous which is why we do not feel peace when things aren't going as we'd like them to go.

I'm not sure at this point what the solution is. All I know is it hurts like hell and I've never felt pain like this before. By clinging, the pain intensifies. How does one 'let go' in a situation like this?

"The only thing that burns in hell, Is the part of you that won't let go of your life. Your memories, your attachements, They burn'em all away. But they're not punishing you he said,... They're freeing your soul."

Signs, Signs, Everywhere The Signs

So why can't I make the leap? Grandkids? Wife? Don't feel like dealing with the evangelicals/charismatics in the family? Not up to debate? Too much effort, more easy to be a 'passive' Orthodox believer without the commitment? 

Not sure. All I know is the more I listen to these sermons the more I know that I am aligned with th't is theology and not that of the 'modern' church.  The excitement, the rock concert (or rave) vibe. the enthusiasm that is equated with "true" worship is not my thing. 

When a pastor calls for everyone to raise their hands or raise their voices to show God our "true" worship I usually do the opposite. I'm not one to do something just because someone tells me to do it. I don't always want to talk about God, God, God as after a while it ceases to lose its import. 

After five years of immigration battling when someone says 'look what God did' I am initially irritated. Not that I don't believe it but that this whole thing short changes the how of it all. I put in the hours and hours of work and stress and effort, guided perhaps by His hand (or He cleans up my mis-steps), but there is no snapping of fingers and it is suddenly done. 

I want to get into the minutiae of what took place. That, to me, is where God 'does' what He does. I am often accused of taking the credit but the opposite is true: I like to think of myself as a pliable instrument. "I" am doing the work here in the flesh but behind it all is the mystery of His machinations toward an expected end, though often that end is different than our expected end. 

This is not a name it and claim theology, at least not without the work. Perhaps we envision the end and move toward that end but this isn't a claim it and sit back. If anything. that 'naming' gives us the goal toward which we must strive. We may rest in Him but the work is done by us. 

I think I am averse to this whole 'American' Christian culture so perhaps the appeal of Orthodoxy is the fact that it is old and unchanging but I would argue it is the depth of the theology, of the tradition, which has been passed down (and not 'tradition' as empty ritual), that is appealing. 

It goes so much deeper than that of the pop theology that gets blurred with modern day self-help messages, where the goal of the faith is self-serving. There is no 'death' in much of modern Christian teaching. 

I am effectively done with the the 'popular' Christian faith and though it may have its merits it simply does not hold my interest and I find solace in the writing of the Fathers and the messages of such priests as Patrick Reardon and John Behr. 

Everything Happens For A Reason

My wife and I got into a, uh, discussion the other night about the statement, often well intended, that 'everything happens for a reason.'

I personally cannot stand the statement. Acts of heinous disregard for the value of human life all happen for a reason? Absurd, especially if we are Christian (though truth be told many Christians fall prey to this without giving the statement much thought).

The 'everything happens for a reason' statement if we are not careful makes it sound as if God planned for someone to be murdered, killed in a car crash or far, far worse, as if it was all pre-planned. Again, on that assumption it is absurd.

I hold to the view that we were created in the image of God, i.e. we are created in Christ. Christ is what it means to be truly human; we find our reality in Him. However, as fallen creatures, we are subject to sin and the darkness that is in the world. It is this that leads to the all the heinous and hideous activities we see around us; it is not God that does, or causes, this.

So 'everything happens for a reason' needs to be qualified. I refuse to believe that in the plan of God I would be sexually traumatized at a very young age which would send me spiraling down the path of addiction for decades. 

Did He know this? That is a different question. I don't know that He knows as we know but I would say that if He knows all then all possibilities are already present in Him. There is no deliberation in Him, all things, all possibilities, already exist.  Does this destroy free will? I don't believe so. I believe we have the ability to choose freely but we are limited in the choices we make based on how we are constituted. 

And our choices continue to 'collapse the wave function' of other choices. The infinitude of possible choices becomes further and further restricted with each choice we make.

Until we meet Christ. He introduces us to the unlimited possibilities of humanity. Not our humanity, fundamentally flawed, but a humanity that transcends death. We can taste of this here and now in Him but it gives us a hope in the possibility of a future beyond this mortal coil.

I would put the statement something like this: things happen and then we find a reason. Or, more theologically, things happen and the Father, as a loving Father does, has our back and what was intended for evil works for good. 

As for the 'why' of things happening. I admit this is the biggest challenge of all as we may truthfully never know. If knowing the 'why' is required for our healing we may be slow to heal and even when we do know it doesn't always help.

It is only when we find ourselves resting in Him, allowing His life to work through us, that we begin to heal and in healing we move toward becoming whole. 

Immigration, Five Years Later. Inadmissible, Removal, Terminated.

My wife and I were fortunate enough to go on a dream vacation in February/March of 2015 to Bristol, England and Lille, France. We traveled around with a friends and family for a solid two weeks and visited Brugge, Bath and Cardiff. Trip of a lifetime. I'll start with the end to get to the beginning.

Upon re-entering the United States, my wife, who is a green card holder, was flagged at Customs. I knew something was wrong instantly when it took longer than I am used to having traveled international many time before. When two other uniformed customs agents walked up and asked her to come with them I knew something was very wrong.

She was whisked away to a room near the baggage reclaim area and I was given some government speak about why. Completely baffled. So I waited. And waited. And waited for what seemed like hours. I would occasionally get a quick peek in between the slats of the Venetian blinds but it was no help.

Once or twice someone would pop out and I'd ask what's going on but was each time given the same government speak.

Finally, after several hours she was released. She was not detained but was deemed inadmissible for what we would later learn were charges, both misdemeanors in the eyes of civil law, from 30 years ago. Two misdemeanors of 'crimes involving moral turpitude' (aka CIMT) render a green card holder inadmissible. 

Here's what we learned: a green card holder is technically reapplying for re-entry into the country having traveled abroad. As opposed to a US Passport holder who is free to come and go, a green card holder is not a citizen and is therefore placed under scrutiny. Two misdemeanors 30 years old renders a permanent resident who has been in the country for 36 years inadmissible. 

And while she was not detained permanently, the inadmissible charge flagged removal proceeding against her. 

We had been married 15 years at the time and, for reasons I'll try and explain later, we never went far in attempting naturalization for her. One of the many things we learned is that marriage does not automatically grant someone citizenship. We never gave it any thought but for many, maybe even most, of the people I've talked to about this they are always puzzled operating on the assumption that marriage grants citizenship.

Nope. It's just a different checkbox on the naturalization application. It may help but it's not automatic. 

So a permanent resident of 36 years, whose parents naturalized, with a marriage of 15 years and a successful entrepreneur in the local community is suddenly told she is not worthy enough to obtain re-entry.

Once you learn the travails of our 'how not to travel' adventure you'll understand the devastation this wrought and with it the education in how the immigration system works which of course sheds a different prism on the media and government narrative of attempts being made at fixing the immigration 'problem' which is but of our own making.

I'll provide deeper details once I get a certain later in the mail but the novel worthy adventure is not over.

Stay tuned...

Closure

25 years ago I had a 'peak' experience - substance free - at the top of Yosemite Falls. After several months on the road and 26 years of bottled emotions, a catharsis came. I fully experienced, for a few hours at the top of Yosemite Falls, what the mystics call the 'oneness of being.' 

I knew of it intellectually; I had now tasted of it experientially. It was brief as was the bliss and ecstasy at having completed the hike which to seasoned travelers was strenuous, certainly, but just a drop in the bucket compared to the grandeur of the remainder of the park.

My wife and I traveled to California to visit someone whose life had intersected mine after a 20 year journey - he, along with Christopher McCandless and Robert Pirsig, had, unbeknownst to me, traveled the same terrain as I - and we spent the balance of the week on the east part of the state.

One of the reasons, and a certain denouement for me and peak experience for my wife, was to re-hike to the top of Yosemite Falls to see if I could touch the image of that earlier experience.  And we did, now 25 years older. 3.2 miles vertical via switchbacks and 3 1/2 hours later we arrived. 

Curiously, I felt nothing. Not in a negative sense just no rush of flashbacks. It did not look familiar, unable to compete with the image I had bowed down to for all these years. As we walked the terrain up top it slowly came back but with the river dried up I had little frame of reference.

As Johnette Napolitano sang, though in different context, the 'images of everything between now and then' found closure. Complete closure. I am at peace. 

Life is made up of moments and it is those moments that sustain us. 

God's Sense Of Humor

Just when I thought I couldn't take another day, I had a total and complete meltdown letting the 'F' bombs fly at will. While they feel good at first launch, the aftershock isn't so sweet. 

Rather than communicating what I feel or making peace with it through prayer or meditation, I let it build and build in hopes that maybe it will work itself out. And then it doesn't. And then I crash.

And the very next day, once it's out, those little 'signs' show themselves, God's little jab to say, 'Chill, rest in Me' (a la Psalm 46:10, my favorite Scripture).

Pain Points Us Toward Faith

God will allow us to wander and stray on our own and we can cruise along loosely thinking we're good until something happens.

Our 13 year old Golden Retriever is starting to show her age and we know a hard decision is coming soon. She has moments of falling down, lays around the house for much of the day and the responsiveness and alertness is fading.

She'll have moments where the energy returns - rolling in the grass, playing fetch as best she can - but those moments are getting farther and farther apart.

Driving to work this morning I just couldn't listen to my usual shuffle of songs and specifically put on some Israel Houghton, songs that have a specific context of worship in church, and while I didn't break down and cry I could feel the release coming. 

There is something about worship that does set us free, something that sets our spirit higher.

I know what's coming soon and it hurts as much as it has for the four other dogs that have been a staple of my life over time since the day I was born. 

As Robert Pirsig in his book Lila wrote, with a line that has always resonated with me:

…They were all walking down the road … when one of those raggedy nondescript dogs that call Indian reservations home came onto the road and walked pleasantly in front of them … [the woman] asked John ‘What kind of dog is that?’. John thought about it and said, ‘That’s a good dog.’… The woman …wanted to know what genetic, substantive pigeonhole of canine classification this object walking before them could be placed in. But John Wooden Leg never understood the question. He wasn’t joking when he said ‘That’s a good dog’.

A Light Peers Through

Work done on the sinkhole and the downspouts on the side of the house. 

Picking up some documents today for the other issue in play, updates to follow.

Learning to just breathe.

Fumbling Toward Insolvency, The Terms Have Changed

Thanks for those who have offered up support and prayers. It really does make a difference.

A month goes by quickly! 

I ditched the 203K idea. Couldn't see rolling a mortgage that will be paid off within five years into a larger balance with the repairs into an interest rate that is nearly double my current mortgage. It didn't feel right and I put it on hold.

Within a week I stumbled across a review on Yelp for a local plumbing contractor and called. They did not do the work I needed but recommended someone who did. The company came out and quoted a bid that was half of what the other two had quoted. I almost fell out.

With a handshake we called it done. Still waiting for the work to be done but I've verified the company as my electric company has them on their recommended list. Even if it isn't the permanent fix, it will alleviate the situation from worsening.

Made a visit to our attorney in Detroit which led to a phone call with our local attorney and we may have found the removal for the blockage as it pertains to immigration. Will add details of this once the news is in.

At some point in the future, we'll put our journey into writing in an effort to help others with not only the process but the mental and emotional stress that it adds. 

Thanks again if you're following this story as it unfolds. As rough as it seems we are also abundantly blessed with a daughter and three beautiful grandchildren who add unfathomable joy (and chaos) to our lives. Can't imagine life otherwise. Plus, it's what keeps us goin

Fumbling Toward Insolvency, The Terms Are In

Met with the 203k approved loan provider. It's a re-finance with the repairs included at 97% of the value of the home at the end of the loan term. 

The interest rate, HUD backed, is roughly 6-7% which is 2-3% higher than my current 15-year mortgage. Tack on $7K in closing costs and roll it into 30 years and holy crap that's a lot of interest to pay for home repairs. 

I've got a home equity LOC at almost 10% that will cover some of the repairs and can do some credit card dancing for the next few years but that will destroy by debt ratio and my credit score with it and will tack on extra balance transfer fees as I shuffle the balances around though that will be far less than the interest I'll be paying. 

This is a pretty major decision as it will put all future large purchases to a grinding halt and will throw a car lease ending in March will add even more pain. 

For someone who doesn't care about 'stuff' how did I end up here? I have some answers but not all of them. 

The root cause has to do with decisions made in weakness or out of lack or because it's what I thought we are supposed to do rather than a well thought out plan.

The journey continues...

Losing My Religion

"There's somethin' happening here

What it is ain't exactly clear."

Well, damn. I am losing my religion. It's an intellectual curiosity at the moment, a place of comfort, but I'm not sure I actually believe it.

I may be influenced by the American culture around me but the whole political religious thing has me nauseated. So too the fluffy, moral therapeutic deism that passes for faith. Or the tendency toward Oneness and the overemphasis of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, as if that is the whole point.

I dunno, something is missing. And I'm bored with it.

In fact, I've gone back, if you will, to my Dao De Jing and various Zen books to shake me out of it.

Could be a symptom of what's been going on personally, I acknowledge this, but I have no interest right now in setting foot back in church.

And that prophecy is messing with my head. This body? This church? I don't want to be there so am I falling away from the faith?

Is that why all this is happening? Am I back to third grade theology that it's all about me and if bad things are happening it's punishment? Sure feels that way.

Fumbling Toward Insolvency, The Saga Continues

This is the week we meet with our financial advisor on the 203k. After the cop drama from last week, curious to see where this one goes.

Still no resolve on the immigration front and time is rapidly running out or, more accurately, time is running more and more toward a multi-thousand dollar attorney bill.

We did schedule vacation for the Fall to head West for a story I've been tracking for 20 years. Can't really afford it but it's something of a last hurrah that may sustain us should things take a turn for the worse come first of the year. 

I remain hopeful but tire of waiting on people. This is part of the curse of the INTJ and the reason we will learn something in order to become self-sufficient and independent of relying on others to accomplish things. I'm sure we miss out on relating when we do this but after trust is broken a few times by some opportunists, mistrust turns into self-suffiency which can breed more mistrust in a never ending cycle.

The saga continues...

Fumbling Toward Insolvency (Part 6)

Came to understand why one of the lenders hasn't called me back.

We are pursuing a 203k loan through HUD to see if we can roll up all the repairs needed into a refinance option for the home and take out another 30 year loan at a reasonable interest rate rather than a set term with a much higher payment. 

The company seems to be the only one approved by HUD and it is based in a house outside of the main avenue of town. A little, uh, non-traditional but we're going to go with it to see where it leads.

Finally get a call back after last week's canceled appointment and come to find out the individual with whom we are to be working spent the weekend in jail after having been charged with a potential first degree finally involving alcohol, a police officer and a dog bite in the a**. Literally.

Is this a sign not to deal with them? 

Or was this individual removed and we'll get better service? 

The journey continues...

Fumbling Toward Insolvency (Part 5)

The journey continues...

Even banks don't want anything to do with us. We don't receive callbacks, especially after disclosing all the financial information regarding the house.

Current value is just under $60K, we owe just about half that on the mortgage. Essential are about half of what we owe, realistic repairs and upgrades needed to make the house saleable total about what the house is valued at.

Even the buy your house for cash people won't return our calls and I've tried several.

We are stuck in the middle. If we don't fix it, it's only a matter of time before it become uninhabitable; if we do fix it, we will be paying on it until we die.

I suppose we could abandon it and flee the country never to return but that won't happen, unless we are forced to for other reasons.

What a strange journey this has been.

And we've booked a flight to California to trace another story that has been evolving for 20 years which peaked about a year ago when I found a connection to the story which dates back to 1932, still living and still well. I am nervous and thrilled at this, even though we can't really afford it.

But there is a window of opportunity and I'd rather not live with the regret. 

My dog is 13 and is showing signs of age, some days better than others. 

New grandbaby, not sure I envisioned all of this when I set out but it is the reality we face. Rather than run, I am trying to embrace it and walk through it in hopes that on the other side is a story worth sharing. 

Fumbling Toward Insolvency (Part 4)

The finances are taking a toll on the relationship.

There are things we (or is that I?) want to do and right now we can't do them. We can't even go out to eat without it being painful. Every dollar spent on 'entertainment' is one less dollar toward our goal. 

Beyond paying off debt, which is the most essential goal as it is the most detrimental, there are desires we have, places we'd like to go, things we'd like to see and even people we'd like to be able to help.

A January court date will cost $3K just for the lawyer road trip alone, not to mention the hours and hours of work involved in gathering up documentation and researching for the appearance, as well as all the work involved on our end should it go forward. Quite daunting and the local work being done is not panning out and our patience, and time, is rapidly running out.

And no one really seems to give a rip.

No one calls us back for the trenchwork, sewer replacement work, quotes are not what we were led to believe they were, insurance doesn't cover any of the work that needs done, need new tires before winter, can't afford an oil change and the pressure is mounting daily.

Fumbling toward insolvency is more like waiting for it all to collapse.

I'm tired.

Perhaps I should stop with the false sense of God 'doing' something for us and just flow with the Dao and let it all go.

Fumbling Toward Insolvency (Part 3)

The estimates are in:

$14,000 to excavate and replace the broken main drain and run a liner

$8,000 for downspouts around the house

$4,000 to replace the front porch 

$4,000 to add to the back porch to prevent water running to the house 

$20,000 to support basement walls and install drainage

On the wish list:

$10,000 to replace bathroom

The kicker:

House is worth $70K if we are lucky. We owe half that on the mortgage.

Insurance covers none of this.

Buy your house for cash companies don't even want the house.

The Dao De Jing has lately been ringing in my ear:

Lay plans for the accomplishment of the difficult before it becomes difficult; Make something big by starting with it when small. Difficult things in the world must needs have their beginnings in the easy; Big things must needs have their beginnings in the small. - Chapter 63, D.C. Lau translation

Often, from a theist perspective, we are called to pray through the difficult but sometimes we miss the common sense and it is here where I find the Dao finds resonance. Perhaps there is something in Proverbs or Ecclesiastes to align with this but I struggle here when these problems of our own doings and our own choices.

I post all of the above not for doom and gloom but to look at it and face it, in print, not completely without hope, but wondering how we got here.

I won't bore you with other details such as immigration and other debts that were accumulated in fashions worthy of a 'how not to' book but I'm reminded of a Talking Heads song and there is something comforting in the absurdity of it all:

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down

Letting the days go by, water flowing underground

Into the blue again, after the money's gone

Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

Fumbling Toward Insolvency, Continued

Talked with a financing company yesterday about a 203k option. I know nothing about this but the goal is to roll my mortgage payment into the entire repair bill for one loan with one monthly lump sum payment extended out as far as possible with the lowest interest rate possible.

Considering that my mortgage currently sits at 4% for the remainder of a 15 year loan I'm not sure this is advantageous, especially if the loan rate is upwards of 10%. It would all depend on the length of the loan and the total amount that will get paid over time.

This stuff gets complicated quickly.

Or do we use the equity line of credit sitting at a $0 balance currently just to get things underway with the eventual balance transfer to a 0% option (which is what we did roughly a year ago).

Can't tell you how many 0% balance transfers we've done over the years. While the 3 to 5% charge hurts it is far less painful than the monthly interest charges we'd otherwise incur.

Do we do the 0% same as cash for 18 months option in hopes that we can do a balance transfer (assuming enough of a credit line) before it expires and the interest is tacked on if not paid off?

And in the midst of this what will the immigration issue cost?

For that moment of gratefulness in the midst? We have not had to face this:

http://www.wfmj.com/clip/14833673/boardman-canfield-clean-up-after-flooding

There is no gloating in this. During a heavy rain, the street in front of our house will flood. I've literally woken up in the morning to find cars stalled out in it.

I feel their pain and feel the weight of the concern every time it rains.

The journey continues...

Fumbling Toward Insolvency

The journey into financial insolvency continues. I say this not out of desperation but out of facing the reality before us.

First, the good news.

I am currently employed and at the moment we are sustaining with our current debt load, making progress albeit slowly. We still have a home and two working vehicles and overall our health and mental state is good. We have food on our table and a solid support system of family and friends. 

As for the essentials, we are blessed and in this we remain grateful.

So why put my business out here? Several reasons. Therapy is one. Why to the public at large (even if never read)? There is something 'honest' about just putting it out there. As a hardcore INTJ whose business has always been private there is something intoxicating about this. Is this when INTJs flip out because their plans went completely off the rails and that foundational level of planning and comfort is shot? 

Maybe someone will relate and even find help in the shared journey or, assuming we make our way out of it, hope in the same.

Maybe, just maybe, others out there have been in similar situations and can provide help, advice or even some guidance. 

Part of it is to simply trace the journey to wherever it may lead.

An $8,000 credit card charge that arose shockingly with about 15 minutes to decide whether or not to pay it threw off the entire plan to have all credit card debts paid off by the end of 2019.

Add to that another financial issue which added another $5,000 and a reduction in income of roughly $400 per month toward the current credit card debt has pushed our plan out toward the end of 2021.

On the horizon is a new car purchase and the fact that our income taxes have been adjusted so that hopefully we will break even rather than force the budgeting for a $2-3K return every year.

The immigration debacle still looms large and unknown. Over the past four years this has cost us our tax returns and accumulated savings which is upwards of $10K and it is not done. Even if all goes well this round, there is another round to go.

Throw in twin grandbabies, unplanned and unexpected but the most amazing thing to have happened to us in the past five years, and another on the way and the unknown hovers before us.

Now for the reality:

Our basement foundation is slowly giving way and with the wettest 12 months on record the situation is rapidly becoming dire.

Our front porch is crumbling rapidly and a sinkhole is growing in front of it which will speed up the demise. Our side porch is also starting to move and we are seeing cracks in door frames, doors are sticking or closing when they have not done so before and we are even seeing cracks in ceilings around our home.

Our fear is that it will suddenly happen and collapse.

We do have a sump pump and a french drain in whatever state it's in so at this point we are not seeing water in our basement other than trickling through the cement block and the glass black windows.

But the walls are showing cracks and it is only a matter of time before something really goes wrong.

Without going too much into details we have debt that is more than our house is worth and though we owe less than the house is appraised for (not counting the repairs needed) taking on a large scale loan is a frightening thing.

We're looking at roughly the following:

$20,000 to get draining and wall repair in the basement
$10,000 to repair the front porch and surrounding ground
$20,000 to repair the side of the house (excavation, ground leveling and drainage)
$10,000 to repair the side porch and surrounding ground
$3,000 front door
$1,5000 fire place
$10,000 to replace the bathroom

Almost $80,000 to fix up the house.

The house is worth less than that and is currently unsaleable in its condition.

Do we wait for it to collapse? What then? Pay for the existing mortgage, removal of the collapsed house and build new? Think it's expensive now?

We'll pay on this stuff until we're dead or end up belly up and living who knows where on Social Security, broke and houseless.

Though we aren't there yet those are the fears that linger until a decision is made.

If you are praying folks, please pray.

Explaining The Trinity To Your 5 Year Old

Think you know your theology? Try explaining it to a 5 year old. We have a Children's Bible for our grandchildren who are five going on six. 

It's what we read to them as part of story time at bedtime. They've been involved at church since a very young age so are remarkably attuned to God and know about Jesus. 

We were reading about Easter and it's the first time I've had to explain to them about Jesus being killed. They knew this already so that obstacle was out of the way. 

But they started to ask why and I stumbled through trying to explain how Jesus, being God's Son, came down to conquer death, i.e. the 'death of death'.

The concept of 'sin' doesn't make much sense to them yet and I wasn't about to try and explain that. 

So the questions flowed. Who killed Jesus? Why? How did he die on the cross?

And then trying to explain how when he died he wasn't really dead. Well, his body was dead though where was it for three days? Then I tried to explain how our body isn't who we are. It's our soul. Or spirit, something deep inside of us.

I tried to explain death without using the word 'hell' because at five the idea of hell is freaky. They know too much about the devil. I think I'm hesitant to use certain terms in their impressionable minds as when I was a kid I used to think God was out to get me and that I was a child of Satan. I did not learn about God in a positive way until many years later.

And then he was resurrected. Who was resurrected? Where was his body? Where did it go? 

All of the ideas I have in my head about the Trinity are very difficult to explain without resorting to theological terms such as 'one essence, three persons' and 'two natures in one person'. 

It is a worthy challenge because if you can't explain it to a child it means you don't get it. Truthfully, a childlike mind no doubt more easily grasps it or isn't so bothered when it doesn't seem to add up.

The Basement

Ah, yes. The basement. That thing we've been putting off for years, that thing we missed in the inspection report given to us before we moved in (19 years ago, mind you), that thing we've tried to deny in hopes that something would happen where we wouldn't have to deal with it.

So much for that. I called a 'we'll pay cash for your house' company and after giving them the details their 'we'll call you back' was a dodge. They never called back. Even they don't want the house. The joys of homeownership.

As one who took years before I purchased an actual cell phone and operated with a voice mailbox and had an actual mailing address only operating with a PO Box, home ownership wasn't something I desired. It was something I wanted because of privacy. No drunken neighbors upstairs, can't hear the couple fights next door, no cops in the middle of the night, just privacy.

Repairs and home improvements? Hadn't given that a single thought. Now, along with the outside of the house which is the root of the problem, the symptoms, those things we overlooked or denied, are costly as well.

The deeper I dig (no pun intended), the more it unfolds what the issues are. We knew so little about owning a home and jumped the gun in preparation that these things didn't unfold until years later. We were just excited to not be in an apartment to start.

The clay pipes are obviously clogged or broken and so the French drain isn't doing what it is supposed to do. The earth is moving over time with the water that just sits and goes nowhere.

Yes, the time has come. 

As this goes it would appear we are more or less going to be building a new home. 

Join me on the journey. It's going to get interesting.

The Joys Of Homeownership

Let's talk about my house. In the midst of all the philosophizing or theologizing is reality. I've always felt this is complaining and just a problem that needs solved but I think also this helps put me in touch with the real world where people, not just ideas, live. Perhaps someone will relate, find inspiration or be helped as this unfolds. 

We've lived in our little two-bedroom home since 2000. It's been a great home, has housed my wife and I along with our daughter (and dogs), including our two grandbabies for the first two years of their life. 

We haven't done a whole lot to it aside from a new roof (had to cash in some 401(k) money to do that), ripping out the carpet in the living and dining room and refinishing the wood floors thanks to YouTube and painting the dining/living room.

It's got a cottage like feel but after nearly 20 years we've reached a critical point. The basement. Oh, the basement. When it rains, our backyard doesn't really drain anywhere and it moves toward the house. We've got a French drain and an inside sump but my guess is that the clay pipes are either clogged or busted up and the water just sits. 

And it is starting to show through the concrete blocks in the basement. It has been for years but the cracks are getting worse. Apparently we've hit Stage 2 (out of 4) wall failure. 

Here's the backyard after a rain. The bare patch was last year's grub invasion. Ah, the joys of home ownership. It is not a good investment, it requires an investment. 

Fights with neighbors, complaints to the city, the police called several times because my car is parked in the street (along with it being egged, written on in mustard, having notes left on it and having bags of trash thrown on it), the joys of the suburbs.

The porch was built several years ago after the original collapsed during a snow storm. The concrete slab was left in place and the porch built over top of it. Not sure if that was the best move or not.

I'll follow up with the basement photos soon. Tough to really see but the problem is water.

We've had many contractors and basements people come out and give estimates and it ranges from $5 to $20K depending on the goal, from cover up to something more akin to fixing the issue.

We're at the point now that we either decide to stay and fix, fix and sell, sell at a loss or hope and pray for a miracle of some kind (the nature of miracles is that we have no idea what that would even look like).

I post this only because we are sort of at that point where we've thrown our hands up in the air. We'll keep going but it's a bit of surreality we've not invested in fixing it up as we should have as many of our funds have been diverted elsewhere (which are stories that will be unfolded in the future) in this adventure called life.

Immigration journey...

I posted this on Quora but it seemed fitting to post it here. Future posts will add some detail to this series of events. It is enlightening and will shed light onto the current immigration debates taking place in the media.

What has been your most expensive travel mistake and what did you learn from it?

Arthur Ort, 20 years wrestling with religious truth, voracious reader

Updated Wed

The chain of events started when we arrived at the gate in Heathrow after an 8 hour red-eye from Boston in February of 2015.

“Can I see your UK Visa?” we were asked after the customs agent looked at my wife’s Jamaican passport.

“We don’t have one,” I replied.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you in,” was the reply.

Our worst fears were realized.

As a US Passport holder this wasn’t an issue. I was good to go. For my wife, a Jamaican citizen and US Green Card holder, this was not to be. We had the Schengen Visa which had taken us on some late night, rapid fire trips to New York, Washington DC, Cleveland and Chicago to obtain. With the Schengen Visa arriving the Wednesday before our departure, we thought we were finally good to go.

The following night while surfing the Web I found a site that mentioned the need for a UK Visa as the UK is not a part of the Schengen countries.

Curiously, my wife overheard a conversation about the need for a UK Visa as she was filling out papers for the Schengen Visa while we were in Chicago as I drove around the block several dozen times waiting for her. One was not needed was the consensus on the subject.

That was apparently not true. I had a meltdown. We were were flying out early that Saturday.

I called my wife’s sister-in-law who is a British citizen who had worked for Customs twenty plus years ago when she lived there and she said that sometimes the agents have latitude as to who they’ll let in.

With airline tickets, train tickets and a two-week itinerary planned canceling just didn’t seem like an option. With the feeble hope of her words we decided to brave it.

We got through Boston without incident so thought maybe, just maybe, we’d be ok.

At 7 a.m. in the morning (2 a.m. eastern US time) in Customs at Heathrow my wife was denied and escorted away. I went out to face my wife’s sister and her husband and tried to explain what had just unfolded.

Several hours later, a canceled Euro Pass and the purchase of a pair of plane tickets to France (hundreds of dollars on such short notice) our stay was extended.

We were able to experience the vacation of a lifetime through England, Wales, Belgium and northern France with her sister in Bristol and a good friend in Lille, France.

On the last leg of the journey, a p.m. return trip from Charles de Gaulle to Heathrow after our two weeks were up we were met with words that sounded very familiar when we presented our tickets to board:

‘We can’t let you board,” said the gate agent.

Denied again, this time at the gate. The transit visa through Heathrow expired at midnight on the day of travel, not 24 hours upon landing. The flight was held, our luggage removed. Add a hotel room to the bill.

So very grateful for Isabella from Air France who booked the hotel for us and changed our flight times to the next morning or we would have had to book new tickets as well.

After a whirlwind night, an early flight from CDG to Heathrow and a scramble and last minute decision to avoid having to go through security and missing a flight, we ditched our luggage at Heathrow and headed back overseas, elated at being free.

Upon arrival in Boston, we were once again met with words that were becoming hauntingly familiar:

“Please come with us,” my wife was told by two individuals who approached her at the booth where her passport and biometrics were scanned.

I was left dumbfounded. She was, once again, detained. You’d think my wife was a universally wanted criminal.

Hours later we learned that immigration law is different than US law and ‘did the crime, did the time’ does not apply. Petty crimes from thirty years ago in the moral purity of immigration law as it applies to those deemed worthy to be in the US are still relevant today and have the potential to make a green card holder inadmissible and, ultimately, removable.

Four years and thousands of dollars later (and still accumulating) we are still dealing with the trip with an immigration court date looming in January of 2020.

What have we learned? Aside from the particular ‘how not to travel' advice of that trip and more about immigration law than I can ever have imagined, we have felt at a deeper level than the media narrative at least one of the ways in which immigration law is broken.

We met incredible people through this journey, from the initial customs agent to those customs agents at Heathrow we talked with, to Isabella at Air France at CDG, to all the people we met through our doing it wrong travels and through all the people we’ve met navigating immigration law.

Though it is not easy, we have learned to find joy, hope and celebration in the midst of trials.

Systems fail and bad decisions are often made but people remain awesome.

P.S. Our luggage that we assumed was lost forever showed up at Pittsburgh the Tuesday after our return.

Sometimes when you (think you) hit bottom...

The day after my last post, I made a decision to change my mindset. It wasn't instant and it wasn't some pep talk that did it (I'm an INTJ, I'm just not wired that way). But I decided, with a sprinkle of faith, that I would pause before allowing my thoughts to run away with me. That was the decision.

It was conscious and it was intentional and it actually brought me some peace I haven't felt in quite some time.

Without going into the details of my work (which I may, over time, do but that will turn into a book), I walked in to one of our facilities and ran into the one of the ownership's family who I've grown to know a little bit. For some reason she thinks I am positive and always cheerful. I can't say I always feel that way but sometimes God will allow people to see you a certain way.

We talked for a while and ended up on the subject of gratefulness and she proceeded to remind me how fortunate (religious folk would say 'blessed') we are to be employed and employed at a company where management cares about people. And it hit me hard. She wasn't trying to push this on me, it was just conversation, but I was instantly convicted. For all my complaints about work are, in the end, my issue and my attitude, though perhaps not visibly displayed, has been ungrateful.

Later that day, another high ranking management team member gave a leadership presentation at a local community development agency using John Maxwell's 15 Invaluable Law of Growth. Our pastor is a certified Maxwell Life Coach and it's good stuff by my 'self help fatigue' often sets in and I struggle to listen to more of it as after a while it's easy to miss the good stuff in the midst of the sameness of it all.

But today, I was open. I have much respect for him and was excited to hear his presentation. He touched on two of the laws and they too hit hard.

Good management of bad experiences leads to great growth. I have not been managing bad experiences lately and have not been growing. In fact, I have been allowing the pain to control me and dictate my mood, my decisions and my overall well-being.

And like a punch to the gut, gently, was the law of the rubber band. A rubber band only works when it is stretched and it is right at the point of tension where growth, where stretching, occurs. I have not been allowing myself to stretch; I have been an old, worn rubber band ready to break.

And then...as if that wasn't enough.

On Quora, where I frequently find myself lately, I voiced an opinion about a Biblical topic of which I have a surface level understanding and was met with an incredible exposition and, after some banter in the comments section, words of cool refreshment poured straight out of Scripture that reminded me without Him I can do nothing.

It was the coup de grâs, the trifect, the three pointer at the buzzer. It was the Holy Trinity giving me a nudge. 

I am in His embrace even in the midst of my struggles laid out over the past few months and years here and He is letting me know that it's ok and to let go, to surrender. Because when we do, we find Him there and, as Scripture says, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Circumstances don't necessarily change; we do and our circumstances look different.

New Directions

Today is Monday, May 20, 2019. I'm taking this blog in a different direction, we'll see where it goes.

As much as I wax philosophical about religion and matters of faith, even life in general, the reality is that we are struggling. Not without hope but struggling. This is the reality that all of us are either facing or running from or some combination of both.

But even though it is rough right now, there is good and we are grateful when we get outside of ourselves and see the sun above the clouds.

And comparatively our struggles pale in comparison to the struggle of others. And this too is a struggle because of our limited view. I struggle because even though my struggle is what we might called a 'privileged struggle' it is still a struggle nonetheless and comparative guilt doesn't help.

So how to get out of the mud? How to reach out and help others? This is the challenge.

I think I have a limited view of helping others. I have a monetary view in mind because our struggles are monetary and we are unable to help others this way without putting ourselves in a bind which will further exacerbate the problem.

So when we have 'gift offerings' at church I feel shame and guilt because I do not feel we can afford it yet there is the warped sense of 'if you do this, God will bless you' as if it is a formula. Yet God also wants us to be responsible, no?

Are we not debtors (our current situation due to some poor choices made a while back) slave to the lender? Should our focus be on responsibly managing what he gives us in the way of finances rather than looking for a 'formula' that equates giving to freedom from debt?

Always questions. I don't think I understand the obsession with finances in the church. And perhaps it is a flaw in me, a sore spot, rubbing salt in the very same wound of the fear I have of everything falling apart.

I put on video exactly what our situation is as a document as we progress. Our house is falling apart, our budget, while we are sustaining, is in a vulnerable even volatile spot, my wife's immigration hearing is on the horizon (which has cost us our tax refunds for the past four years), daughter has a third child on the way in a less than ideal situation, suffering from an impinged shoulder (getting better but still limiting), cars are in need of 'stuff' and in terms of a future we are not well prepared.

So, at 50 years old it feels as if we are starting over and the way my attitude has been lately it appears that 20 years of faith has come up short. And perhaps that's as it should be. Perhaps I have not yet really learned what it means to surrender and I am still self-reliant.

Top 5 (Or More) Before/After Books

The Bible almost goes without saying as the influential book of my life. That being said, below are my Top 5.

• Dao De Jing (Cleary translation; Henricks translation) - this is the one that started it all. I became fascinated with this one when I started seeking. Can't recall when I actually picked this up but pretty sure it was some book of the month club. It seemed 'mystical' and I was already 'facing East' by this time as I had perceived all things Christian as power mongering, manipulative and fearful. God was seen as an abusive task master and the whole 'Jesus saves' thing creeped me out in the worst TBN televangelist stereotyping kind of way. The Cleary version was the version I was reading when I was at a Youth Hostel in Idaho and it all became clear in an instant, just before my peak moment at the top of Yosemite Falls.

• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - this is the book that saved my sanity. I had tried to read it in college because it was one of those books that seems to be a rite of passage. I tried and it didn't sink in. I was more interested in drinking. So while this in some sense pre-dates the Dao De Jing, it was not until years later in the midst of what was becoming a mid-life crisis in my twenties with alcoholism on the doorstep that I picked it up to read it. I literally took two days off of work to finish it. One reading. It didn't fix me; it made me realize that I was not alone.

• Cyclical Time and Ismaili Gnosis - I discovered Henry Corbin through the book Sacred Drift (which enlightened me to the joyous and wild world of ‘heretical’ Islam). This book challenged me and puzzled me and pushed me and frustrated me but it also provided me with an opening to a more ‘mystical’ tradition to be found in Christianity. I always want to see what the author is seeing and without trying to bend it to my beliefs and this book pushed me in ways unfathomable as it introduced an entire universe that was new to me and gave me a 'pro' view of the 'Gnostic' texts of the New Testament. ‘Heretical’? Absolutely. Here was an alternate view to the Incarnation with full embrace of the mystery rather than rejecting it on historical or other grounds. I can’t even begin to tell you how deep this goes. I still revisit this from time to time as I see in Corbin a very 'Eastern' view and have since learned how he was influenced by the Eastern Church, especially Russian authors.

• The Roots Of Christian Mysticism - second only to the Bible in influence, this introduced me to the Church Fathers and literally saved my Christian faith. This book sent me down the path of where I am now and my leanings toward a more 'Eastern' view. Interesting that I was drawn to the Eastern religious traditions yet could never abandon my faith in Christ and here is the meeting of the two. Other than the Bible, this book is the most underlined, rabbit-eared, worn and taped up book I own.

• Mystical Theology Of The Eastern Church - an intellectual sojourn through a tradition foreign to me but one that fit with what I had discovered in reading the Bible. This was a fit; the 'West' view wasn't (and still isn't). It gave concrete language and an intellectual framework around what I had discovered within my own studies and what I found wanting within the ‘western’ tradition in which I was raised.

The books below are up there and a major part of the journey but fell just shy of having the impact the books above have had.

1. The Power of Myth - this one may have been in the mix of the two books noted above, can't recall. This was the book that put words to thinking 'mythically' as the literalism with which I was supposed to take the Bible wasn't happening. At first, 'mythically' meant the whole thing was made up, fiction, a myth. I began the quest into the eastern religions as, it seems, is a rite of passage for many who rebel, drawn to the exotic, the opposite, the mystical flavor of things foreign. I outgrew this when I learned, over time, that he was as fundamentalist as any fundie and I realized he missed an entire tradition within Christianity of the 'charismatic' variety. 
2. Sacred Drift - this one put the 'fun' in fundamentalism as his stories through the world of Islam opened my eyes to the variety contained within it. Anarchy of the religious sort was appealing. Picked this up on a whim at Twice Loved Books in Youngstown. This was my guide of sorts as I began my journey into the world of Islam. It remained a personal favorite until the secrets of the author were revealed via the Web and, true or not, it made me realize that anarchy only goes so far and, taken to its extreme, can be a dangerous weapon that will take us further than we want, or should, go. 
3. Qur'an - Pickthall translation. My intro to Islam which started on the Beliefnet forum. I would eventually 'graduate' to Muhammad Asad's translation which, unfortunately, appears to be wishful thinking from a convert from the West, no matter how educated. This was a seven year journey that would take me to and through 9/11.
4. Theology and the Church - the latest addition. Adding intellectual depth to the Trinity.
5. Christ In Eastern Christian Thought - the latest addition to the book and an entirely new path. I had no idea how deep and how long debates about Who Christ is went on and it through this I've gone much deeper into the Eastern Orthodox tradition and it has brought a bright light into my search.