Bryan Thompson :: Blogged

What do you think about when you hear the word Shalom? 

Most of you are aware that I have decided to return to the books over the summer and complete my journey on what has turned into the Ten-Year College Plan. I have decided to finish through a degree completion cohort at Evangel University here in town. For those of you who may not be familiar with Evangel, it is a Christian university, so several of the courses deal with faith and how it relates to us in our career fields. 

And so it goes that the class I just completed in this cohort (my major is in Communications) is called "Communicating Through the Eyes of Faith." In the course, the assigned reading was Communicating for Life , by Quentin J. Schultze. Although the book deals with communication in terms of media, I found it very insightful for life in general. I would highly recommend it, if you are looking to be challenged.

The book deals with a variety of topics, such as using our voices to help the voiceless and authenticity in our communication, but the word Schultze keeps coming back to is an ancient Hebrew word most of us have heard a thousand times: Shalom.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Shalom as peace, but upon further study of the Hebrew definition, I discovered there was much more to Shalom than peace, although peace certainly is important. The actual word embodies a whole worldview that's wrapped up in what the New Testament calls the Fruit of the Spirit. Everything including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, and self-control is wrapped up in this one powerful word that has sadly been lost on much of the Christian church.

In fact, this is the word (Shalom) that was said to embody all of Scripture, which is why the Jews called the Scriptures the "WORD" (Shalom) "of God." Get it? I think I confused myself for a minute. Powerful stuff. "Shalom" is God's word, or "God's CHOICE of words," you could say. I never really thought about the "Word of God" meaning that God has a favorite word.

As you think about the word and concept of Shalom, how does it relate to every aspect of your life? The question the book forced me to ask myself is, "How is what I'm doing demonstrating Shalom in the world I find myself in? Does what I do even matter? How do the words I use in everyday life help to spread all of the concepts wrapped up in the word Shalom? Do people see through my diplomacy and smiles? And if they do (and all of us have to put on the smiles once in a while), what is it that hides beneath? Is it shalom?"

These are probably simple questions to some of you, and perhaps you've long been asking yourself these questions, and it's made all the difference in your life. But, if you haven't asked these of yourself, I would encourage you to do so.

How does Shalom change you? I'd love to read (or hear) your thoughts.

A couple of nights ago, my wife and I woke up to an unpowered apartment. The apartment was stuffy, there were no lights on in the apartment, and none of the electronic devices were working (like alarm clocks - which I've come to realize are highly unnecessary with a nine-month-old in the next room). It was official: we were powerless.

I knew it couldn't have been any of the breaker switches in the next room because everything was off. We figured the apartment itself may have had some difficulties with electricity. That would have seemed rather odd, though, because it was a clear night. No storms anywhere. So, we called 9-1-1 to get the phone number for the 24 hour service techs. My wife made the call and told them the situation, in which case the service technician directed me outside to the electric meter to flip the major breaker switch. As it turned out, we had run the air conditioner that night for the first time since November, and something in that switch from heat-to-cool must have triggered the breaker. As I flipped the switch, I immediately heard my Yorkshire Terrier bark like crazy - which let me know that things were now working again.

Thankfully, we weren't without electricity for long, but something my wife said to the service technician stuck out to me. When she called, the first thing she said was, "We have no power in our apartment and we have a nine-month-old baby!"

Clearly, this was an emergency, and that was communicated clearly to the service technician on the other end of the line.

And in my groggy 2 AM frame of mind, I began to think, We really ARE dependent upon modern technology, aren't we? I know, that's pretty obvious; but really think about that for a minute. Most of us in this country don't know what we would do if suddenly, we had no vehicle, no email, no internet, no cable television, no TiVo, no DVD player, MP3 player, or iTunes; no microwave ovens or EasyMac, or even refrigerators.

And yet one-third of the world we share time and space with have none of these things. In fact, not only do they live each day without electricity, but they also live without gas for their heat and food. They live without any real hope of medical attention or education. The AIDS problem in the nations of Africa has risen to an all-time high, and many other poverty-stricken countries are following suit. Children in these heartbreaking villages are burying their mothers, their brothers and sisters, and their fathers (if they do in fact know their fathers).

And it gets even harder to swallow. To these children and families, these situations are happening all the time. It's not a one-time deal like it is for those of us viewing on our electronically-powered television. For these kids and families, this is the life they have always known. They've never known anything different.

So what does this mean for us? Does this mean that we should feel unbelievably guilty for owning possessions and electronic devices that make our lives easier? I don't know. I didn't do anything to be born into a middle-class North American family. I just was. I know that thinking about these types of issues, though, does make us think about "Blessings" and "thankfulness" in different ways.

So think about it? What are your electronic devices saying to you?