By DAVID BROOKS
Published: September 28, 2009
Centuries ago, historians came up with a classic theory to explain the rise and decline of nations. The theory was that great nations start out tough-minded and energetic. Toughness and energy lead to wealth and power. Wealth and power lead to affluence and luxury. Affluence and luxury lead to decadence, corruption and decline.
Read the rest .
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has collected several dozen buckets of data — from the size of the yoga industry to spending on the Iraq War to the Chinese defense budget — and given us a sense of their relative weight.
I thought was worth sharing.
The institutions—both those already so stripped and those being stripped—are finding, in the loss of discussion and differences of opinion and experience, a uniformity that, like uniformity everywhere, is stultifying.
Sometime last year I met my friend's wife for the first time and she asked where we lived. Her second question was, "What do you do in La Jolla?" I proceeded to tell her that I didn't actually work in La Jolla, but that I was a teacher in a neighboring community. As I was rambling on about my profession I got the the feeling that I had completely missed the question. She was attentive and alert and warm as I spoke, but I couldn't help feeling that I wasn't answering her question.
I wasn't.
She asked what I did in La Jolla. What did I do in La Jolla? The question was honest and simple enough. Why was it so hard to answer?
As usual, we spent Sunday morning at La Jolla Shores having breakfast with our friends. We were blessed this morning to catch up with some we hadn't seen in about a month. They were excited to see us and have their friends there with them.
This is church for us. Friends, food, fellowship, prayer.
After sharing a meal together and talking about how we are doing and seeing what needs we can pray for and try to meet we all circled on the grass to pray together before leaving. A couple of us prayed, and one friend in particular asked if he could pray at the end. Part of his prayer went something like this,
"God, we don't deserve your love and kindness. But if you can, we'd really love to be in heaven with you someday. Do you think you could just let us come and sit in the back row?"
The back row. I think heaven is going to be full of people like this. Surprised to be there. Expecting to be sitting in the back row, only to discover special VIP seating reserved especially for them, the least of these.
Friday is a defining moment in the history of justice. The members of the United Nations Security Council will be presented with the results of the International Criminal Court's Darfur investigation — an investigation that they requested. Their response will determine whether there is going to be an international standard of justice that holds perpetrators accountable for the worst crimes in the world.
The evidence the prosecutor has presented is clear and compelling. Millions of people have been displaced; hundreds of thousands have been killed; and at the center of it all stands , who has been indicted on seven counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity. ()
Proverbs 31:6-7 (New International Version)
6 Give beer to those who are perishing,
wine to those who are in anguish;
7 let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.
I'm getting more and more tired of hearing people share about their conviction to NOT give money to "pan handlers" because they just don't know what they're going to use the money for, or they know exactly what they are going to use it for - alcohol.
Perhaps rather then giving them a buck or two then, we should buy a beer for them and sit and listen and love them. The way I see it, the worst that could happen is we might be accused (as Jesus was) of being "a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." (Matthew 11:19)
I saw this add today in the May 4 issue of Newsweek. What a great question.