COSMOPOLITAN CALLING

"I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves, on the town garbage heap, at a crossroad so cosmopolitan they had to write his title in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. It was the kind of place where cynics talk smut, thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. That's where he died. And that's where Christians ought to be and what Christians ought to be about."

— George MacLeod, quote shared at last night's City Rhythms: Fashion & Finance hosted by Redeemer's Center for Faith & Work

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT

"'In the end, we stopped the Communists cold,' Reagan later said. It was a brag, but few those days would have argued with his right to it.

And I would add, simply, that it was in this drama that Reagan's character was fully revealed. In a time of malice he was not malicious; in a time of lies he did not falsify; in a time of great pressure he didn't bend or break; in a time of disingenuousness he was clear and candid about where he stood and why. And in a time when people just gave up after a while and changed the subject, he remained on the field through all the long haul."

— Peggy Noonan, When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan (2001)

TEN THOUSAND HOURS

I stand here in front of you today all because of an idea

I could be who I wanted if I could see my potential

And I know that one day I'mma be him

Put the gloves on, sparring with my ego

Everyone's greatest obstacle, I beat him, celebrate that achievement

Got some attachments, some baggage I'm actually working on leaving

See, I observed Escher

I love Basquiat

I watched Keith Haring

You see I studied art

The greats weren't great because at birth they could paint

The greats were great cause they paint a lot

— Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist (2012), Ten Thousand Hours

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow.

The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

— Abraham Lincoln, 1809–1865

BIGGER DREAMS, SMALLER YOU

Grandma sitting before mom and dad, partaking in a Korean New Year tradition of paying respect to your elders.
After having lived a full life, laboring for years and raising all of your children and then some, at the ripe old age of 60, would you finally retire or move to a foreign country to start over? At my grandmother's funeral this past weekend, the reminder to never forget the selfless courage displayed through my grandparents' lives kept ringing in my ear, as if there was a cymbal inside that's never been touched 'til now. I grew up knowing, like most second generation kids, the definition of what it meant to be an immigrant—to move to a country not of your native tongue and learn the trade of survival with only the aid of big dreams. What I didn't know was that my grandfather was 60 when he decided to forsake all earned comforts and bring his wife and family over, and that coming to America then would be the equivalent of me moving to Africa now (well, not now, but when I'm old and retired) with the intent of starting a life completely over, in a country not of my native tongue, to learn new trades of survival, with only the aid of bigger dreams, and then penniless to start—for the sake of new freedom, new opportunities, and a new life for someone else.

If that's not grace, and if that's not courage, shown by the hands of human effort, sheer will, love of others, and selfless abandon, guided only by the promises of heaven—of unfathomable riches, security, and a deeper rest tucked away in Christ, as my grandparents lived their entire lives to demonstrate—then I don't know what is. I am a product of that grace, a witness of that love, and a beneficiary of that gospel courage. And I will never forget it.