Being Stupid on Facebook...

The Dark Tower...reading as a journey.

On being uncomfortable on purpose this new year...

A New Year filled with Books

A book review, with thoughts about 2016...

When we were young.

"And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again..."

  -Foo Fighters---Everlong

We walked the streets until full dark, city lights kicking on to illuminate our steps. Walking with unhurried steps, no fears of what tomorrow holds or concern for the future. We will never grow old, so time wasted is no time at all, we have plenty of it, we have it to burn.

The days passed in a blur of emotions, moments made from long drawn out conversations, car rides and broke down couches we sat on, we dreamed. The hands we clasped, the embraces we held, the poignant moments we etched into time itself. The images still carved into stone, erected into our past, the street corners, the boulevards, the hallways, the empty alleyways, the quiet rooms, standing tall and waiting.

The minutes turned into hours and the hours turned into seasons. The seasons passed by without much notice and became our past. Then those seasons turned into fond memories. The memories turning into embellished stories we shared amongst the few who knew, the few who were there and passed the days with us, who bled the blood, who tasted the tears and laughed for joy.

Now we have new streets, and new cities. We have different seasons passing, framed in a new lens of time, seen with different eyes, aged and sharpened, hardened and sobered.

Now our hours quickly turn into minutes and our days into fleeting glances as we hold hands with different people, embrace new friends, and make new memories that quickly mix into the background of aging quietude.

The sparks burn low and our eyes shine bright, we walk the streets and in the distance we see the city limits.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

“Here in the dark, I cherish the moonlight
I'm in love with the way you're in love with the night
And it travels from heart to limb to pen...”

-Handwritten by The Gaslight Anthem

Mark 4:1, “And again He began to teach by the sea...”

The sea is a fascinating concept in Scripture. From it's mysterious springs in the Garden of Eden that change into a 4 headed stream, watering the entire planet to the deep sea creatures mentioned in the Old Testament, old as time itself. Or we could look at the curious mention of the sea of glass and the elimination of the sea in the book of Revelation.

Have you ever noticed how Jesus interacted with the sea in His setting? He called fisherman to be part of his posse. He crossed by boat over the sea several times in the gospels, and a lot of strange things happened over those stormy seas, he helped fishermen with their catch and he skated across the waters like running through soft grass. He slept through hurricane winds and dared his disciples to join Him in stepping into the sea in the middle of the night.

The sea is a scary place. We need the things the sea offers, water, food, refreshment, cleansing, growth, and countless other necessaries. Yet the sea is a danger. You can walk for miles and miles by foot and if you get tired you can sit down. You can swim for miles and miles if your boat falls apart but if you don't have something to cling to you have no place to sit down. You will soon be overwhelmed by the waves and drown.

I don't know that we are as scared by the sea as people were in Jesus' day. Every time, every culture has their own fears that are unique to them. What are your fears? The night is a common one, full of the unknown, where dark creatures lurk. Is it something of a completely different variety? Such as people? Some people fear interaction with others more than death itself and it is a constant source of discontent in their soul. Or illness? Maybe someone in your family has a disease that is genetic and you fear becoming just like them. Much like the fictional Dr. Reid in Criminal Minds fears becoming just like his Schizophrenic mother.

What's interesting about Jesus is that He doesn't simply chase away those fears, He doesn't even chastise those who have them for having them. We see one such example with the sea in the Gospels. In Matthew 8 when the storm is raging and Jesus is sleeping and His sleep is interrupted He sleepily calms the storm and then gripes at the disciples, “Where's your faith?”...then he questions why they were afraid in the first place.

Notice the order. He reminds them of their faith and then laments why this is such a problem in the first place. Look through the Bible, the gospels in particular and see how Jesus interacts with fear and you might learn how to attack your own fears. We all have them. We are all disciples waking Jesus up, much as a child wakes a parent in the middle of the night to come into their bed and sleep with them.

Peter understood this and addressed it head on in 1 Peter 5….”Cast all your cares/fears/anxieties on Him for He cares for you...” I once heard in a sermon that I remember to this day that the purpose of this verse is not to diminish our fears and make light of them as if we are horrible for having them but to tell us where to place them because we all have them. As the preacher said, “You can't cast them if you don't have them...”

Enough Talk…

“Shut up when I'm talking to you...”

-Linkin Park

Matthew 5:37a, “But let your 'yes' mean 'yes' and 'no' mean 'no'...”

There's an awful lot of interpretation in everyday life for seemingly straightforward instructions. Apparently there's a lot of ambiguity left to chance with ordinary phrases used in daily conversations. I've seen this a lot otherwise I wouldn't believe it myself. Let me give several clarifying (hopefully) examples of what I mean.

You have a job and you start to work at your job on Monday morning at 8am. This is a new job let's say, for the sake of discussion, and you have someone meeting you at the front of the office building to guide your through the introductions and show you around. They start the same time as you.

One person shows up in the parking lot at 7:45am and another shows up in the parking lot at 8:00 on the dot. What's the problem? The problem for the person showing up at 8:00 is that unless you work in the parking lot you're late.

Another person makes an appointment, with the doctor, with the car mechanic or with the sweedish meatball expert, take your pick. They cancel at the last minute. Some will call with a verifiably decent excuse. Others will simply call and cancel, no excuse. Some will fail to call at all. So the appointment where that person was going to offer you a service, charge for it, and make money, is now gone. Maybe the cancellation is no big deal but maybe it is, maybe they need that money.

Last example, you catch a ride with someone and they agree to a meet up at a specific spot at a certain time. You are running late and you call and tell them. Now, whatever the reason for your lateness you have inconvenienced your ride in multiple ways. They have wasted time, in waiting for you, they have spent gas in driving to where you are meeting and now, if they wait for you, they have to spend more time and gas waiting for you and risk being late to where you are both going.

All these are minor examples, they happen every day. But I see some people treat them as if it's no big deal that they have inconvenienced other people and make lame excuses for it. I see the opposite as well, some people are terribly sorry and genuinely embarrassed by making others wait for them.

How much different would life be if we kept all our obligations, no matter what? Granted that's not possible but what if we really worked to make it so. Sacrificing getting ready and looking our best, to taking time off in order to keep our appointment we forgot about. Would that make an impact on how we set about scheduling our time and keeping our commitments?

It would be interesting to see what the results would be, they might just be great...