Clean Clothes and Closed Books

Currently Hearing: Hammock Radio on Pandora
Just Finished Reading: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Just Started Reading: Works of Love by Søren Kierkegaard

So, now that my summer classes are finally wrapped up, I have been able to remember what it feels like to not operate under an ominous, ticking clock that is ready to explode as soon as it strikes "0."

That being said, I have enjoyed my days and nights by getting laundry done, reading, writing, and trying to shrink a pair of leather shoes. The War of Art, which I just finished at LaunderLand that other afternoon, was a great inspiration. I am hoping that it will serve as a sort of catalyst to win some inner creative battles, as Pressfield puts it.

School begins in ten days or so, which should be interesting. It feels like forever since Spring quarter let out. As Ferris Bueller said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." I guess I had better use this time off to settle in and do some gazing.

Better Off Alone Together

Currently Hearing: I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone by Crime in Stereo

I had totally forgotten about this poem. It's way too good, and, God willing, I hope to be able to recite this to my wife one day.

"Wound" by Larry Levis

I’ve loved you
the way a man loves an old wound
picked up in a razor fight

on a street nobody remembers.
Look at him:
even in the dark, he touches it gently.

Brought to Life

Currently Hearing: The Cradle by Colour Revolt

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." - Henry David Thoreau

This quote is resonating with me today. It seems, as of late, that God has been reaching in to places of my heart that I had been so out of touch with for the past few years. I think God is pricking these places because he wants to heal them - to make me fully alive and remind me that this side of me exists. The most significant periods of my life are those times when I have felt the most deeply. When I think back, I can remember those seasons with somewhat astonishing detail (for how bad my memory is). I am thankful that God is healing me so that I can view life a certain type of eyes and develop a fresh way of "seeing," taking less and less for granted and having a heart that swells with amazement at the story in which God has chosen to place me. I don't want to look back at my life only to see a dull, amorphous blob of years.

God, give us grace.

Godless Chicken or Godless Egg?

Currently Hearing: xx by The xx

"My own proposition, derivative from the Bible, is that atheism is never the conclusion of any theory, philosophical or scientific. It is a decision, a free act of choice that antedates all theories. There are indeed philosophies that are atheist in the sense that they are incompatible with faith in God. But they are reached only by a will to atheism. This will, and the animation into which it is translated ('There is no God'), are the inspiration of these philosophies, not a conclusion from them."

From John Courtney Murray's The Problem of God, p. 95.

What are your thoughts?

Danny and Annie

I dare you to watch this and not feel.

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

This Is for the Days

Currently Hearing: We've Been Talking by Enemies

This is for the days when
everything feels
as if it’s kissing you with
an open mouth.
For the days when girls’
eyes seem brighter
and their faces take on
the perfect shape.
And watching the neighbor’s
son on his skateboard
is like looking at a film
from your past.
For the days that seem to
write their own
soundtrack – the grass
scratches your skin like
a needle on a record.
May we forever feel that
we are virgins,
and that these days are more
than numbers falling
off of a calendar
and onto the dusty floor.

Won't You Come Down, Heaven. Won't You Cut Through the Clouds...

Currently Hearing: Come Now Sleep by As Cities Burn
Currently Reading: Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell and The Problem of God by John Courtney Murray

I have been having some really incredible conversations lately with friends that have made me experience all sorts of emotions - anger, hurt, confusion, frustration, excitement - and the list goes on. It has, in many ways, made me see my own sin and impatience in dialogue for which I need to repent and grow, and has also reminded me of the importance of community in one's spiritual formation.

So much of our conversations, which have, for me, been largely sparked by a course I am taking this quarter in seminary entitled "Christian Worldview and Contemporary Challenges." I have been exposed to some books and articles written by Christians showing the seeming flaws in atheist/agnostic logic, and some books and articles written by atheists/agnostics showing the seeming flaws in Christian logic. I'm not exactly sure exactly how to articulate everything, especially considering I have been reading for about four hours now, and I can barely write my name.

One issue that has been particularly interesting to me for a while has been the idea of interpretation and one's view of Scripture. There are so many differing interpretations of Scripture in Christendom, and this is something that is praised for the freshness that is brought to the table and feared when it seems to step beyond the bounds of traditional interpretation. Is there a place to draw the line? Christianity has become so diverse that anything seems fair game. In addition, it can hardly be argued that one person is able to read the Bible as a pure document without bringing their own baggage to the text. The early church worked very hard to establish confessions for the sake of "gate-keeping," but the boards in the fence seem to be slowly being removed in order to make way for more and more who profess to believe in Jesus - a figure whose life, divinity, actions, and state after his death are topics of much debate among those who all claim to be a part of the Church.

I hope I don't sound like I am walking away from my faith. That is hardly true at all. Rather, I am mostly just pondering the state of God's people and thinking out loud. I also hope I don't sound like a fearful isolationist Christian that would rather hide in a group of like-minded fellows than ever think about the reality of the current situation of his faith. Again, that is hardly the case. Really, I suppose I'm just widening the circle of my community for some more of that good old fashioned faith-shaping.