Stephen W. Hiemstra's Blog, page 212

Firoozeh: FOBs from the Far Side

Firoozeh Dumas. 2003. Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America. New York: Random House.

Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra

As a graduate student at Michigan State University, I quickly learned several things about Iranian women. They distinguished themselves as the most intelligent and fashionable women on campus. What’s more, they generally could cook and managed money well. When I found one from Ahwaz willing to laugh at my jokes, I knew that I had found the woman of my dreams.

Introduction

In her memoir, Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas gives us an inside picture of the life of an Iranian immigrant. Dumas writes:

“To him [her father, Kazem], America was a place where anyone, no matter how humble his background, could become an important person. It was a kind and orderly nation full of clean bathrooms, a land where traffic laws were obeyed and where whales jumped through hoops. It was the promised land. For me, it was where I could buy more outfits for Barbie.” (3-4).

Dumas can’t help herself, every sentence in her book includes a twist! In the cited paragraph, she juxtaposes her father’s expression of the American dream (a classic Horatio Alger rages-to-riches story) with a child’s rendering of the dream—a place where a Barbie outfits can be easily and cheaply acquired. Dumas is not your typical FOB (fresh off the boat) Iranian because she clearly knows what an Horatio Alger story is—her twists reveal a highly sophisticated humor palette.

Tidbits

As someone who has vicariously enjoyed the Iranian-American experience, this book had me repeatedly laughing out loud. Dumas writes of her future husband:

“François was of normal weight—although he did outweigh me, which fulfilled one of my two requirements for dating a guy. The other requirement was a total lack of interest in watching sports on television.” (143)

At one point, I met both conditions and on weekends I have repeatedly heard my wife, Maryam, muttering a little breath prayer—“Thank you, Lord, that Stephen does not watch football.”

When it comes to sports, Dumas writes about a new Olympic category:

“If worrying were an Olympic sport, my parent’s faces would have graced the Wheaties box a long time ago.” (155)

I don’t know how many trips to the doctor’s office that implies, but in our house my mother-in-law could easily have qualified for a volume discount.

Assessment

Firoozeh Dumas’ Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America is a delightful read chronicling her experience growing up in Southern California having immigrated with her family from Iran at the age of seven. While a lighthearted memoir, its inviting picture of Iranian culture comes at a time of continuing political dramas between the U.S. and Iran over issues far removed from daily life, a point quietly underscored in a blurb written by former President Jimmy Carter. Anyone interested in the Iran-American experience will find this memoir fascinating.

 

[1] “A humorous and introspective chronicle of a life filled with love—of family, country, and heritage.” Jimmy Carter. The Carter endorsement is particularly poignant because his presidency was forever changed by the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-81 and a failed hostage rescue attempt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_ho...).

Firoozeh: FOBs from the Far Side
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Workout Prayer

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Merciful father,

Thank you for each and every new day.

The chance to witness a new sunrise and to feel the warm breeze of summer afternoons.

The opportunity to participate in new life, to care for the old, and to experience both.

May your Holy Spirit inhabit this temple (1 Cor 6:19) all the days of my life.

May I remain a fit custodian praying to you

even as I workout in the gym, swim my laps, and compete on the field.

Bless my heart that it might be ever open to feel the pain of others.

Bless my mind that it might attend to your commandments and not be seduced by sin.

Bless my legs that they might carry where you would have me go.

Bless my arms that they may carry the burdens of your children.

Teach me to care for your people the way that I care for my own body.

Grant me strength for the day, grace for those I meet, and peace—the peace that passes all understanding (Phil 4:7).

In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

Workout Prayer
Also see:
Giving Thanks 
A Place for Authoritative Prayer 
Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/Lent-2018

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Positivistic and Normative Information

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

In my training as an economist, my philosophy of science professor taught us to distinguish several types of information. Most important among these types were positivistic and normative information. Positivistic information observed information about what is (facts) while normative information focused on what should be (values). One might observe, for example, that a farmer owned one hundred pigs (a statement of fact) while the value of those pigs might depend on whether your religion accepts pork as a reasonable food that people might eat (a value statement). Christians usually eat pork while Jews, Muslims, and vegetarians typically do not.

Facts and Values

The usefulness of this distinction between facts and values arises when people disagree primarily on details, not the broad sweep of things. An old saw goes that we are each entitled to our own opinions (statements of values), but not our own set of facts (statements about what is). In the postmodern era as the consensus on basic values has broken down, the line between facts and values has also become blurred.

Breakdown in the Modern Consensus

A deconstructionist, someone who questions all authorities and focuses on power relationships, might argue that facts depend on whose value system is being imposed. The statement that a farmer owns one hundred pigs might, for example, be a provocative statement in a country where pork consumption is not accepted.

When the Gospel of Matthew writes—“Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them” (Matt 8:30), the implication certainly is that this region is outside Israel (where pork consumption was not accepted) and may also imply that the people in this region are morally corrupt or simply Roman. An Muslim commentator on American grocery marketing today might likewise conclude that the United States is obviously a Christian country because no Muslim or Jew would accept open sale of pork in a grocery store.

The point is not that we cannot observe whether or not pork is being sold. The point is that the interpretative gloss on such an observation quickly leads to a change in the conversation serious enough to make the distinction between value and fact less helpful.

Breakdown in Consensus Influences Professionals

The breakdown in consensus about basic values not only makes conversation about disputable matters more difficult, it also leads to challenges to authority figures, like professional economists. One forgets that professionals are specialists whose experience focuses on making fine distinctions that an ordinary person might not be sensitive to. When large values are in flux, small values get less attention and making such distinction adds less value. Thus, we see that professionals continue to earn high incomes, but the focus of their work has changed and it carries less status in a social context.

The New Testament makes frequent reference to the distinctions between Jews and Gentiles. Jews distinguished themselves from Gentiles not only by their religious beliefs, but by their dress, food laws, and other customs. As Christians in the first century began to evangelize outside the Jewish community to Gentiles, these distinctions made it harder to focus Gentiles on God’s character and Jesus’ teaching. The separation of the Christians from the Jews ironically came not over these customs but over the absence of Christian political support for a Jewish rebellion against Rome.

Starting Point for Science

Returning to the observation that now in the postmodern era the consensus on basic beliefs has broken down. What exactly were the beliefs that brought us the modern era and science? Going into the nineteenth century, nearly everyone in Western countries subscribed to belief in one God who created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). This fundamental belief proved important to the growth of science because one creator implies one set of scientific principles that were assumed to apply to all of creation.

If more than one god were believed to exist, then this unity of principles would seem quite arbitrary and one would not spend a lot of time and effort to impose such an idea. Why wouldn’t another set of principles exist in the realm of another god? Consequently, the idea of objective truth is reasonable in the context of the first verse in the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deut 6:4) It is not surprising that in the early years of the modern era the best scientists were often religious individuals, Jews and Christians, influenced not only by their intellect, but by their faith in one benevolent God who created and loves all of us.

Positivistic and Normative Information
Also see:
A Roadmap of Simple Faith
Christian Spirituality 
Looking Back 
A Place for Authoritative Prayer 
Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter: http://bit.ly/Lent-2018

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Moore Engages Secular Culture, Part 2

Russell Moore. 2015. Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel. Nashville: B & H Publishing Group. (Goto Part 1)

Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra

In writing about culture, we never leave it and it has changed more rapidly in the past generation than in any previous historical period. For most of human history, people have lived primarily in small, rural communities where everyone knew each other. Boomers were the first generation to grow up primarily in urban areas while many of our parents grew up on a farm or came from a small town. Other than technological changes of recent years, our cultural context is remarkably similar to that of the first century Roman empire.

In part 1 of this review, I give an overview of Moore’s book. In part 2, I will drill down into three of his arguments: the end of cultural Christianity, the attitude about human dignity, and the focus on family stability.

Bible Belt No More

Moore grew up in Biloxi, Alabama and, as a pastor, was well aware of the cultural ways of the Bible Belt. He observes:

“…cultural Christianity is herded out by natural selection. That sort of nominal religion, when bearing the burden of the embarrassment of a controversial Bible, is no more equipped to survive in a secularizing American than a declawed cat released into the wild. Who then is left behind? It will be those defined not by a Christian America but by a Christian gospel.” (24)

Here Moore is taking aim at residents of the Bible Belt, presumably conservative Evangelical Christians, but this natural selection process appears equally to weed out the sons and daughters of mainline denominations, as membership numbers attest.

But Moore’s highlights the moral turpitude of cultural Christians in a story about the two groups of kids in his church’s young group. The first group were the “churched” kids who knew “how to get drunk, have sex and smoke marijuana without their parents ever knowing about it.” (71) The second group were “mostly fatherless boys and girls, some of whom [were] gang members, all of them completely unfamiliar with the culture of the church.” and did not even try to hide their sinful activities. (70)

What attracted the attention of this later group was not the materials produced by the denomination to relate to them—they laughed at them. What attracted their attention was the gospel itself. One kid asked: “So, like, you really believe this dead guy came back to life?” (71) The fact that the gospel resonates better with the unchurched kids than the churched kids led Moore to abandon hope for cultural Christianity and the Bible Belt so closely associated with it.

Human Dignity

One the great ironies of the postmodern era is the pervasive campaign against human dignity veiled in language suggesting something quite different. Moore writes

“Abortion, torture, euthanasia, unjust war, racial injustice, the harassment of immigrants, these things aren’t simply ‘mean’ (although they are that too). They are part of an ongoing guerilla insurgency against the image of God himself, as summed up in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus identified himself with humanity—in all of our weakness and fragility.” (120)

Abortion, for example, has limited the supply of labor in the United States and motivated immigration—teenagers used to do most of the work now done by Hispanic workers. Many immigrants are killed or raped in coming to the United States from Central America to escape economic hardship and abuse by drug gangs. Those persecuted elsewhere have also been given priority in the granting of green cards and citizenship, but Central American immigrants have been legally discriminated against and treated badly day to day in spite of being hardworking and practicing Christians. Such treatment is out of step with our American heritage and is an assault on human dignity.

Moore talks about the “culture of death” today in United States and focuses on the unborn as being the image of God most dramatically abused in America today. Unable to defend themselves, the unborn are disposed of like trash for no other reason than that they are inconvenient. When we separate humanity from nature and body from soul (121), the question of convenience increasingly motivates many assaults on human dignity affecting the weak, the infirm, and the disadvantaged.

Family Stability

Moore’s comments on sexuality are probably his most controversial, but his logic is unmistakably biblical. He writes:

“Throughout the cannon of Scripture, there’s a close tie between family breakdown and spiritual breakdown. That’s why idolatry and immorality are linked repeatedly in the Old Testament. The mystery of the Christ/church pattern itself was revealed, it should be remembered, to a congregation in the shadow of a fertility goddess (Acts 19:21-41)…sexual immorality has profound spiritual consequences (1 Cor 6:17-20)…the body is a temple, set apart to be a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.” (170)

Sexual immorality, veiled in the language of liberation and personal freedom, has actually led to a culture where women are denigrated and abused, putting them under the subjugation, not of husbands and fathers, but of strangers and men in power. If abortion on demand is always available, women, not men, assume responsibility for reproduction. Moore sees the postmodern sexual ethic not as something new, but a resurgence of good old fashion paganism.

It is indeed ironic that the #MeToo movement shows the depth of this problem in that the women stepping forward as having been harassed and abused are not the poor and the defenseless, but the celebrities and powerful, who have been the primary beneficiaries of the women’s movement and who already had access to the courts and had the resources to pursue legal action.

Assessment

Russell Moore’s Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel challenges us to distinguish the gospel of Jesus Christ from different manifestations of Christendom in American culture. Moore advocates engaging the culture, not simply criticizing it, to expose aspects of the culture that present opportunities for Christian witness. His narrative style facilitates this engagement and makes his writing both entertaining and accessible.

Moore Engages Secular Culture, Part 2
Also see:
Books, Films, and Ministry
Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2zRkNMJ

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Prayer to Deepen Faith

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Heavenly Father,

I believe in Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. Come into my life, help me to renounce and grieve the sin in my life that separates me from God. Cleanse me of this sin, renew your Holy Spirit within me so that I will not sin any further. Bring saints and a faithful church into my life to keep me honest with myself and draw me closer to you. Break any chains that bind me to the past—be they pains or sorrows or grievous temptations, that I might freely welcome God, the Father, into my life, who through Christ Jesus can bridge any gap and heal any affliction, now and always. In Jesus’ previous name, Amen.

 

Prayer to Deepen Faith
Also see:
Giving Thanks 
A Place for Authoritative Prayer 
Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2BKihblfaith

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T2PNEUMA RELEASES “SPIRITUAL TRILOGY” IN KINDLE AND EPUB

CONTACT

Stephen W. Hiemstra, author, T2Pneuma Publishers LLC (T2Pneuma.com), Centreville, VA 703-973-8898 (M), T2Pneuma@gmail.com

CENTREVILLE, VA, 2/24/2018

Spiritual Trilogy: A Compilation by Stephen W. Hiemstra is now available in Kindle (978-1-942199-21-2) on Amazon.com and in EPUB (978-1-942199-27-4) on Google Play or Kobo.com according to T2Pneuma Publishers LLC of Centreville, Virginia. Details available at: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

DISCUSSION

This trilogy combines three books published previously: A Christian Guide to Spirituality, Life in Tension, and Called Along the Way. Together they chronicle a spiritual journey during the period from 2013 through 2017. The first two books focus on the question—who is God?—while the third book focuses on the question—who are we? The call to faith and ministry is personal but it is also corporal, being informed by the community of faith at one time and in one place.

The original books have been reproduced as published. Offering them together makes them available more economically and draws attention to their common purpose. Because spirituality is lived belief, it is important to reflect on what we say we believe and what we actually practice. This reflective process is inherently stressful but it is a normal part of our Christian journey as we prepare in this life for the next.

Hear the words; walk the steps; experience the joy!

Author Stephen W. Hiemstra (MDiv, PhD) is a slave of Christ, husband, father, volunteer pastor, writer, and speaker. He lives with Maryam, his wife of 30+ years, in Centreville, VA and they have three grown children.

Key words

Beatitudes, Christianity, spirituality, Christian memoir, Jesus, Bible, devotion, spiritual growth, and faith.

******************

What people are saying… 

Stephen provides a helpful, accessible guide using the classic catechetical structure of the Apostles’ Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments.

– David A. Currie, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

(In reference to A Christian Guide to Spirituality)

We live in a fallen world. It leads to life in tension, and sometimes a life full of stress. Stephen Hiemstra takes us on a needed tour of the kind of character it takes to face such a life.

–  Darrell L. Bock, Dallas Theological Seminary

(In reference to Life in Tension)

 

Have you ever wondered if the church in America is mortally wounded? Is God really dead as the infamous 1966 Time magazine cover reported? This memoir offers evidence to the contrary.

— Aaron Gordon, Pastor

(In reference to Called Along the Way)

Other paperback books by T2Pneuma Publishers LLC include:

A Christian Guide to Spirituality
Una Guía Cristiana a la Espiritualidad
My Travel Through Life
Life in Tension
Called Along the Way

Please mention T2Pneuma.com on social media.

T2PNEUMA RELEASES “SPIRITUAL TRILOGY” IN KINDLE AND EPUB

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Learning from Experience

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

From the fourth century before Christ, philosophers have distinguished experience (Aristotle) from theory (Plato). Experience has the characteristic of being concrete and personal while theory transcends individual experience to distinguish relationships and general trends.

Personality Types

In developing a classification of personality types, psychologist Carl J. Jung (1955) further refined the distinctions made in the process of reflection. Jung (1955, 90-92) distinguished introvert from extrovert, sensation from intuition, thinking from feeling, judging from perceiving. Using these distinctions to classify an individual’s preferred reflective tendencies, sixteen different personality types can be identified.

One can develop hypotheses about how that each of these types would learn and respond to particular challenges. For example, Myers and Myers (1995, 149) write:

“The five types that favored the stable and secure future were all sensing types. The warmest of the sensing types, ESFJ, characteristically favored service to others. Seven of the eight intuitive types favored either the opportunity to use their special abilities or the change to be creative…”

Personality types are not predictive in a deterministic sense because people do change their classification over time, but they indicate tendency or probability.

While individuals often prefer one or the other yielding classified personality traits, our experiences are shaped by the theories that we hold and these theories may even permeate our language. An Eskimo language may, for example, distinguish many kinds of ice and snow while an African language might make no such distinctions having relatively few opportunities to experience ice and snow.

Presuppositions Matter

Plato took interest in this influence of theory on language and asked the question: how do we perceive the idea of a horse? If you had never seen a horse, how would you describe one? In the Bible, one of the first things that God did with Adam was to create new creatures and show them to Adam to see what he would name them (Gen 2:19). Naming is often interpreted in the Bible to indicate authority or sovereignty over the items being named[1]; naming also provides form—the idea of a horse or the prior experiences with horses—to our experiences. In a broader sense, culture shapes our language and thinking the same way, providing form to outline and bear our experiences.

Example of Police Shootings

Philosophers call this idea of culture providing form to our language and thoughts a presupposition. Presuppositions can take the form of cultural assumptions, even racial stereo-types. In recent months, presuppositions have been controversial in the context of police shootings where in ambiguous and threatening situations police are more likely to shoot suspects from one racial group than another, even when they themselves come from the same racial group.

The presumption that a person from one racial group may be more dangerous than another is discriminatory because information about a group is being substituted for information about the individual. But the source of this presupposition is unclear—does it reflect experiential knowledge (the group is objectively more dangerous) or theoretical (discrimination). If this presupposition is experiential, then no amount of police training will make it go away, because police officers would have to place themselves in greater danger to comply with their training. But if it is theoretical, then training will presumably change future police behavior because the presupposition is unconscious discrimination. Obviously, we care a lot about the source of this presupposition, but to date the public discussion has simply assumed a theoretical source.

Presuppositions in Church Attendance and Biblical Interpretation

Presuppositions influence our attitude about church attendance and how we read our Bibles.

For most Americans in the 1950s, American culture presumed that women worked primarily in the home and families attended church on Sundays. The “blue laws” mandated that most retail stores were not open on Sunday. In my grandfather’s home town, a farmer combining his corn on Sunday would likely have received a pastoral visit the following week. Today, the stores are legally open seven days a week because the culture presumes that women and men both work during the week away from the home and church attendance is no longer assumed.

Biblical interpretation is also informed by our cultural presuppositions. Today, for example, many people read their Bibles without believing the miraculous events that are recorded. Behind this skepticism is the metaphysical presupposition that the physical world is the only world and science has not been able to reproduce many of the miracles recorded in the Bible.

Luke 10, for example, reports that Jesus restores the sight to a blind Bartimaeus (Luke 10:46-52). Was the miracle the restoration of sight or something else, like a restoration of faith? If Jesus restored Bartimaeus’ sight, then Jesus’ status as the Son of God is validated. If he merely restored his faith, Jesus may be nothing more than a great teacher or prophet, as many have claimed.

Christians who have experienced God’s hand on their lives have no problem believing that Bartimaeus had his sight restored, a counter-cultural presupposition. How do you interpret the miracles recorded in the Bible?

References

Jung, Carl J. 1955. Modern Many in Search of a Soul (Orig. Pub. 1933). New York: Harcourt Inc.

Myers, Isabel Briggs and Peter B. Myers. 1995. Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type (Orig. Pub. 1980). Mountain View: Davies-Black Publishing.



[1] The power of words is again emphasized in a biblical context when we see how serious blessings and curses are taken. For example, after Jacob is caught stealing his brother, Esau’s, blessing from his father, Isaac refuses to take back the blessing—much like God creates the heavens and the earth with spoken words, blessings—once conferred—cannot be retracted.

Learning from Experience
Also see:
A Roadmap of Simple Faith
Christian Spirituality 
Looking Back 
A Place for Authoritative Prayer 
Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter: http://bit.ly/2BKihbl

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How to Raise Readers by Sarah Hamaker, Guest Blogger

By Sarah Hamaker

What’s the best predictor of a child who reads well? Hint, it’s not teaching him to read at a young age.

I’ve always loved books. I read voraciously as a child, churning through biographies of famous Americans and Nancy Drew mysteries (especially the first editions set in the 1930s and ‘40s). I read classics like Jane Eyre and frothy teen romances. I gobbled up Agatha Christie and biographies of missionaries.

That love of reading continued into my college and young adult years. I would read at least a book a week, if not more, while commuting on the Metro to work in downtown Washington, D.C. I didn’t slow down until I had children…and didn’t have as much discretionary time as I once had enjoyed.

Nowadays, I, along with my husband, still read as much as possible, and our home is packed with books. We must have hundreds, if not a thousand, books on shelves scattered around our 1960s rambler.

Our four children also spend much of their free time with their nose in a book. How did we manage to raise readers in a world that has embraced technology and hand-held devices with gusto? Here’s our secret…and how you too can encourage reading and a love of books in your own home, no matter the age of your kids—or yourself.

Instill a Love of Books

Reading to your kids of all ages is important to getting them to forge connections with books, even when they can’t read themselves. When our kids were toddlers, I often sat them down with a stack of age-appropriate books for them to look through on their own. That became my go-to when the child got fussy or needed down time—I brought out the books. We also didn’t push reading, and as a result, while our two oldest (who happen to be girls) learned to read by the time they entered first grade, our two youngest (boys) didn’t master reading until well into first grade. That didn’t worry me—they were interested in books, loved to be read to, and didn’t exhibit any signs of learning disabilities that might make reading difficult. The boys simply blossomed later when it came to reading. I didn’t want to turn them off a love of books, so didn’t push them to practice reading when they clearly weren’t interested or frustrated by the process.

Limit Screen Time

From computers to video games to YouTube to movies, screens have invaded the average American household. Many families have more devices than household members, and we’re not alone in that. But, every since our kids were babies, we’ve restricted the number of hours they spent in front of a screen. With two teenage daughters and two upper elementary school sons, we continue to monitor and limit the amount of technology consumed in our household.

Visit the Library

We go to the library on at least a weekly basis, sometimes, more often if a book someone put on hold arrived. We’ve been known to visit the local library when vacationing (most cities offer a “visitors” library card in which you can check out books). Frequent visits allows us to know the library collection and find new authors we would probably have missed if we only browsed online.

Show by Example

As I mentioned above, my husband and I read. We talk about books we’re reading or have read, we maintain our own household library, and our kids see us reading on a regular, sometimes daily, basis. We put down our own devices to pick up a book, and that speaks volumes as to the importance of reading.

If you’re reading this, and you haven’t incorporated reading into your life, there’s still time, no matter how old or young you are. Try this: tonight, put down your electronic devices and pick up a book to read for 5 minutes. Then each successive day, lengthen that by 5 minutes. Soon, you’ll be spending more time reading and less time browsing online. This works for kids and teens too.

Remember, it’s never too late to learn to love books!

About Sarah Hamaker

A freelance writer and editor, Sarah Hamaker is the author of Ending Sibling Rivalry: Moving Your Kids From War to Peace (Beacon Hill Press, 2014) and Hired@Home (DPL Press, 2008). Her stories have appeared in several Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and her articles on parenting have been published on Crosswalk.com and on the Washington Post’s On Parenting blog. She also won the 2015 American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Award for romantic suspense. Sarah lives in Virginia with her husband and four children, and is a certified Leadership Parenting Coach. Visit her online at www.sarahhamaker.com, where she blogs about parenting issues.

How to Raise Readers by Sarah Hamaker, Guest Blogger
Also see:
Books, Films, and Ministry
Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2zRkNMJ

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Prayer of Thanks for Restoration

Photo by Stephen W. Hiemstra

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Heavenly Father,

All praise and honor are yours,

for you are a God who saves, who restores the downtrodden, and

who heals the afflicted.

We confess that we are ridden with fear and doubts

on the day of affliction and have trouble seeing a future of heal and vitality.

Yet, thanks to you, even the night passes into day.

the lame walk, and the blind see.

Thanks to you, our fears are vanquished, our doubts allayed, and healing is possible.

In the power of your Holy Spirit, strengthen our faith, restore our confidence, be ever-nearer,

that we might always rest only in you.

In Jesus’ name, Amen

Prayer of Thanks for Restoration
Also see:
Giving Thanks 
A Place for Authoritative Prayer 
Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2BKihbl

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The Role of Authorities in Decisions

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

In order to understand the role of authorities in our decision making, let’s return for a moment to my decision as a college student to follow my father into the economics profession. As mentioned previously, when I decided to study economics, I had no idea what an economist could expect to earn and whether studying economics posed a profitable investment decision. This implies that my decision was not entirely rational in the sense that I exhaustively studied the alternative to studying economics and chose the field yielding the highest prospective salary. What I knew was that my father had studied economics and was able to earn a living.

Notice the high level of uncertainty that I confronted in making this life-changing decision of a career. Those of you who have read my memoir, Called Along the Way, probably recall that I made this decision under duress—I had labored anxiously for months without direction and on the morning that I made this decision I had a bad hangover. These are not ideal conditions for making major life decisions and bring to mind the circumstances facing the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). Still, I took it on faith that if I followed my father into the economics profession, I would earn a similar income and be able to support a family. In a formal sense, I did not (and perhaps could not) make a rational decision based on current expected earnings in the economics profession.

Rationality of Decisions Based on Authority

Two important points can be made about my decision to study economics.

The first point is that most decisions are made within a context of high levels of uncertainty. Uncertainty motivates the gathering of additional information. Because information is costly and time-consuming, the search process is often constrained by the limits of our budget (both money and time). When no limit is imposed, analysis paralysis can arise if we have trouble making decisions.

The second point is that the use of authorities in the decision process provides an obvious short-cut to searching for more information. While some may not languish over decisions but simply adopt the advice of others to avoid the anxiety of decision making, this was not a motivator for me. I knew that if I studied economics, my father could advise on what to do and what not to do along the way, reducing my decision risk. In a sense, I became an informal apprentice to my father. Being an apprentice therefore not only cut my search costs in making the initial decision, but also the prospective costs in making future career decisions.

If I chose another field to study, I could have gotten the same benefits by seeking out mentors to guide through difficult decisions along the way. In fact, when I moved in my career to finance, I did exactly that. Although I changed positions repeatedly in my government career, I always sought mentors to guide me in my career.

Christ as Mentor

In a very real sense, placing our faith in God is analogous to taking Christ as our mentor. When we come to faith, our information set is minimal, but we know that God is good and is trustworthy. By trusting God and taking Christ as our guide, we can avoid many of the pitfalls that come with inexperience as decision makers in this life.

But there is one other important point to make. As Christians, we know that the future is in Christ. Knowing the end of the story reduces the uncertainty that we face in this life. Thus, we not only benefit from the guidance of our mentor, he reduces our uncertainty. It is like we already have tomorrow’s newspaper and know today which stock will go up tomorrow.

The Role of Authorities in Decisions
Also see:
A Roadmap of Simple Faith
Christian Spirituality 
Looking Back 
A Place for Authoritative Prayer 
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