"New Americans in Ohio"

More interesting facts about the immigrant population in the state of Ohio, here:  http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/new-americans-ohio

10 Reasons You Should Recognize the Value of Immigrants if you Live in Union County

1.  This area was settled by immigrants.  
We are all immigrants, anyway.  Not just in the abstract, distant past, but in a real, current way.  I'm only in my thirties, but can remember very well that German worship services were offered here not long ago.  It's not unusual to hear people talk about the German settlement in everyday conversation.  If you're new to town, ask someone to share with you some of the surnames of people in your building or neighborhood that are part of those families, and likely related to hundreds of other people.

Social Media, Localized

I think Social Media is cool.  I also think the term is a lot broader than most people recognize.  Some social media outlets I like, some I loathe, some I don't like but I use because people I want to reach are there.  As I participate in sites like Twitter, Facebook, or Linked In, or blogs and forums about more specific topics, I've found two key factors that tend to promote, and indicate, quality.

1.  Low Level of Anonymity- users identify with a headshot and a name that is either their own, or a close approximation of it.  They often list at least a general geographic area.  

2.  Unifying Focus- Noise is reduced and relevancy increased on sites that are focused.  A site that focuses on a specific industry or a hobby generally is more vibrant than one whose only theme is "social."

With those two criteria, I'm excited about a startup social network called Nextdoor.  Nextdoor is a private social network that works by requiring new users be mailed a postcard with an activation code to join.  To participate,  you have to live in a specific area, and to prove it, you need to get mail there.  Every user is identified by their name and address, and everyone has an inherent connection, they're physical neighbors.  Once active, users can post any kind of content they want, from warnings about a suspicious car in the area, to requests for a good landscaper.  Provisions exist for events, HOA documents, and dedicated classifieds.  In my opinion, it's a great virtual approximation of a healthy neighborhood.

If social media is to have an aim, it could be to bring people together in "real" relationships.  I think that Nextdoor has potential to do that in a very cool way.  

Demo map from Nextdoor.com

Prayer of St. Francis

Even as a protestant, I've been impressed with the humility of the new Roman Catholic Pope, who chose "Francis" as his name.  Today, I came across a card I have with the Prayer of St. Francis on it and was reminded of what a profound choice the name is.  As a lover of historic and rote prayers of the church, this is one of my favorites:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.  Amen.

February Garden Update

Some sunny days lately have had us out in the yard a little bit, this last week of February.  Non-gardeners don't think much about the garden in the winter, but I sure do!  So, here's what was growing at this late-winter date:

• Garlic- ours is about 2 inches tall, we've not grown it before, so I don't know if it will stay, or die back and start over, but it is neat to see the green tips poking through the soil either way.
• Horseradish-  the fronds of the plant are slowly coming back, with more new green than old brown now visible.  
• Daffodils- we have a couple dozen or so that are a few inches tall.  I'm happy to see them coming on slowly, so they don't get frozen out.
• Maple Trees- this is one of my favorite times of the year to look at a young maple.  Ours has bright red new growth on it, some twigs a foot long!
• Corkscrew Hazelnut- the mustard yellow catechins are just on the verge uncoiling and showing off, we grow this all year to see the catechins in late winter/early spring.

All of this, topped off with a tray full of seeds just getting started inside.  It won't be long until we have tomatoes, peppers, gourds, hostas, and basil all growing in the windowsill.  After a long winter, I'm craving Spring, and happy to see the early signs of it at home.

On God's Side

This past weekend Pam and I attended the local Republican Party's Lincoln Day dinner.  Our Representative in Congress, Jim Jordan spoke, and shared some thoughts on Lincoln.  Among them, a paraphrased quote from Lincoln regarding God being on the side of the Union during the Civil War.  I was intrigued by the quote, did some digging, and found this:

No nobler reply ever fell from the lips of a ruler, than that uttered by President Lincoln, in response to the clergyman who ventured to say, in his presence, that he hoped, "the Lord was on our side." 

"I am not at all concerned about that," replied Mr. Lincoln, "For I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right.  But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side"¹

I found many variations on this same quote, but as the once cited is from 1866, by a biographer who spent time close to Lincoln, it seems most reliable.

As we often hear both sides invoking God in their cause, I think Lincoln had it right, we should spend more time seeking the Lord, and less convincing others that we have His backing.

¹Carpenter, F.B. (1866). Six Months at the White House. p. 282 

No Hope for Redemption?

This week the City of Dublin, Ohio, about 20 minutes away from where I live, enacted an ordinance barring all registered sex offenders from entering their Rec. Center or public pools.  The vote was unanimous, and I'm sure there was a lot of support for the measure.

When I hear of something like this, though, I often wonder if we consider the person being regulated.  We all agree that sexual offenses are especially heinous, and the victims of those offenses suffer life-long impacts. We shouldn't cheapen or trivialize the seriousness of the crimes.

However, as a Christian, I build my life around the idea that there must be hope of redemption for every person.  The idea of permanent registries that bar people from living in certain areas, make gaining meaningful employment difficult, and prohibit the use of public facilities, would seem to lead towards a pit of despair, not out of it.  It is concerning to me that our modern society at once celebrates sexual sin and punishes it more extremely than violent crime, depending on the form it takes.  

For me, though I don't like it, there can be no middle road- I must acknowledge that all sexual immorality is inherently wrong and evil, but that sexual immorality, in all its forms, does not exclude those involved from the hope of redemption and forgiveness.