real

Religious faith is always personal, but it’s never private. It always has social consequences, or it isn’t real.

~Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

I've been thinking recently about the practical application of my faith because without some sort of consequence in my everyday life, it's really meaningless. Grant, my best friend on planet earth, was in High Point for my brother's graduation from high school, and he came to Raleigh on Tuesday night to spend the night. I got to see a lot of him. He and I always talk about topics almost as broad as you can imagine, but in particular this time there was discussion about redeeming culture, the death of folk-Christianity in American culture, and living in community. I've also been listening to Tim Keller sermons recently, and he is forever talking about the redemption of culture and the physical earth from the hold of sin and death.

One big thing that I forget sometimes is that someday there will be a new Jerusalem, and it will be the kingdom of God on the earth. Our bodies will be resurrected; we will live as we were designed to at the beginning. Our lives now are not disconnected from that coming kingdom. We are building the kingdom right now. I believe that whatever work we do here in our lifetime will be present in the new Jerusalem. Also, consider Jesus' resurrected body. The scars from his first life were still on his body. We are going to have the proof of our faithfulness on our bodies when we are resurrected.

Keller said something amazing in a sermon of his that I was listening to the other day. He is talking about 1 Corinthians 15 and notes verses 54 and 55 that say, "Death has been swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" What happens when we swallow something? We digest it and become bigger. So if death is swallowed by victory, it means that death becomes part of victory, making it bigger and stronger. Receiving back our loved ones from the grave in the new Jerusalem will be so much sweeter because we had lost them once. Victory will become more meaningful, more overwhelming, because we have known loss. Life will be more valuable because we have know death. This blows my mind.

Be complete.

simple

 I want to live deeply, and what is deep is rarely simple.  To have a deep understanding is to explore all the hidden complexities of something. We are constantly inundated with all of this rhetoric about "living simply," but only animals have a simple existence. Eat, sleep, defend your nest/den from invaders. This is a simple existence. If you want it then have a good time. If you don't believe that anything exists other than your material being, then stop acting like life is deep and start living however you want. Nothing and no one else matters. But if you believe that there may be more to this than some chemical reactions between your ears, then stop trying to ignore the beautiful complexity of who we are. Dive, swim, poke, prod, jump, enjoy. There is much to understand, so think and ask questions.

Be complete.

books and summer

This is not going to be a real post. This is more like a make-a-comment-if-you-ever-read-this post so that I know you people are out there. I have questions for you to answer.

I'm reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell (again) and Paradise Lost by John Milton right now. Both will probably produce future posts here. My journal is full of thoughts about them.

1. How many of you have read Velvet Elvis? 

I would love for other people to have read it so that some real discussion can exist.

2. What is everyone reading right now and what do you hope to read during the summer?

I've got a lot of books on the list.

3. What new music have you picked up recently or what old music have you rediscovered?

I've been listening to Death Cab's new CD called Narrow Stairs, I recently discovered Band of Horses, and I've been enjoying old Caedmon's Call music and a lot of Radiohead.

I'll be in Greensboro starting tomorrow until probably Sunday night or Monday morning, so if you're in the Triad we'll have some coffee or something and talk about what we're learning.

Also, I love visitors in Raleigh. It's a cool city so come check it out.

I love you all immensely. Manchester won the Champion's League today so I am happy.

Live in peace.

satan

"We know from Milton's prose works that he believed everything detestable to be, in the long run, also ridiculous; and mere Christianity commits every Christian to believing that 'the Devil is (in the long run) an ass.'"

~from A Preface to Paradise Lost by C. S. Lewis

gas tax

Don't support the gas tax cut proposed by Clinton and McCain. If you're only moderately intelligent, then you will understand the following article.

Clinton Gas-Tax Proposal Criticized

I'm growing increasingly tired of the election crap going on. I can't get excited about anyone really, so I have no idea who I'm going to vote for in November. Someone give me a good reason to vote for any of these candidates.

Does anyone know anything about any of the third party candidates? I could cast a vote for a third party just to support the principle--an effort to overthrow the two party system (don't get me started). 

I saw Expelled by Ben Stein the other day in theaters and enjoyed it immensely. You should probably go see it if you too are skeptical of the Darwinian hegemony which exists in the scientific and educational communities.

More random blurbs: new Coldplay and Death Cab singles are out so take a listen. I'm not really excited about the Coldplay one, but I don't want to judge too fast. Death Cab can do no wrong in my eyes. I have a really big problem being critical of anything they put out. Coldplay's is called "Violet Hill" and Death Cab's is called "I Will Possess Your Heart."

NC State's classes are about to end, so I'm going to have to buckle down and actually do something. I've applied for a job at the University's library and hopefully will be working there for the summer. I'll be in Raleigh all summer, so come and visit. As a city, it is superior to Greensboro in almost every way (except for the boring middle-aged people category).

Tell me what you're studying, learning, and reading currently. I'm studying Thessalonians in my regular study time. Also, I am learning and reading about Persian history trying to understand how the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel fit into the larger picture of world history. I think too often we treat Old Testament stories as fairy tales or myths when they are actually small pieces of the history of civilization. I have an enormous tome called From Cyrus to Alexander by Pierre Briant on my desk.

Also, I'm reading Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis which is a retelling of the story of Cupid and Psyche. I should be done with that by the weekend and will be available for comment and discussion. I'll try to make it a goal to write a short review of it on here, but don't count on it.

Please finish well and call me when you are in North Carolina and we'll hang out. 

blank

It's one of those weird nights for me. Do you ever get like this?

I don't want to be by myself, but I don't want to see anyone (which is good I guess because I don't have a phone and if I did, who would I call?). I've been working diligently on a paper all day, and now I don't want to do it anymore. Putting it off until tomorrow won't matter, so I'm not pressured. I've got headphones on to block out the noise of other people's music, but I don't really want to listen to anything. I'm not tired, and I don't want to sleep. But I don't want to read or do anything else that involves being awake. I don't want to sit and I don't want to stand or walk.

I can't figure out what the feeling is. I'm exactly halfway between climbing up the walls and perfectly content, but I have no idea what to do with myself. I get like this sometimes, and it's difficult even for me to describe exactly the feeling. It's not just an England thing, either. I'm like this sometimes no matter where I am. In Raleigh, my solution is to go to a coffeeshop (usually Third Place) and sit in the corner and people watch. It's the perfect blend between being alone and being with people. I'm there in the midst of others, but I don't have to interact with them. It's the comfort of community with none of the work. I think this is why Panera is always so full. Fellowship without the fuss.

I don't really know what this means or says about me or people in general. We want benefits without the cost. It's not that we want a good benefit-to-cost ratio; we want that thing to go to infinity. Make costs zero and no matter what the benefit is, you get infinity. We're consumerists to the core.

Right now I'm reading Daniel, and consumerism didn't register in that guy's brain. "Keep your gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else; however I will read the inscription." Daniel was totally out of control, and the thing that maybe I most love is that he was respected by everyone and oversaw the whole empire. He wasn't some ultra-pious religious freak. He understood literature and government and languages and God gave him wisdom. He was a bizarre kind of prophet considering the usual Old Testament types who lived in caves and married prostitutes. This guy had to be rich as crap and served something like 5 kings and was one of the top rulers of one of the mightiest empires ever to exist on planet earth. But he always worshiped God. Through God's use of him, several kings of Babylon were saved.

This is a disjointed and rambling post. Welcome to my brain. It's even worse up there.

More thoughts on Daniel may be forthcoming. Until them love each other, enjoy friendships, be drunk with God, remember your freedom.

"All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, 'What have you done?'" ~Daniel 4:35

on the way to buy milk

The cold is biting. It always is but somehow I forget every time I've been inside for a while. I look up at the cold black sky. No stars. A crumpled pack of cigarettes is somewhere in my jacket. Where did I put them? I find them with the lighter in my inner pocket. Three left. I pull one out and try to light it. The wind has other plans. Huddled in the corner next to my door and using both hands, I get it lit and walk out into the swirling night air. It's not long after dinner, and I'm only going to the store to get some milk, but the cold and dark and wind make it feel later. It is quiet at first, but by the time I reach the gate I can hear a trumpet playing lazily nearby. The music changes volume and pitch because of the wind and echoes off the building behind me. I stop and listen and lose track of time, cigarette forgotten in one hand, the other on the gate handle. For a moment I'm mesmerized by the ghostly sound of the echoing trumpet--mournful and alone in the cold evening.

A cold gust brings me back. I open the gate and step through, put the cigarette in my lips and zip my coat all the way to my chin to keep out the cold. When I round the corner the street is empty except for a couple parked cars. The trumpet is no longer audible; it's lost somewhere behind me. I survey the road for a second then begin walking up it at a pace just fast enough to show an onlooker I'm cold. One hand holding my cigarette, the other jammed in the pocket of my jeans keeping my keys and a couple coins company.

Strange noises come drifting down the empty street. I can't tell what they are, and I glance over my shoulder to see if I notice anything. Nothing but the wind which blows the sound away for a moment. When it sails back it is the tinny music of an ice cream truck that I cannot see. I stop, watching the end of the street to see if it will pass, listening to the busted-speaker sound it makes. A car on the street behind me turns me away. I watch it pass and forget the ice cream music and my thoughts about how poor a night it is for ice cream. I puff on the cigarette, head down to keep the warmth in my jacket if that is possible, and walk on.

The store isn't far, not even far enough to finish a cigarette. I always forget that. This road is busier, and I watch the traffic hurry from here to there, on the way home or on the way out, to see friends or family or lovers. I reach the door of the little store where I always buy milk. After one last drag on the cigarette, I flick it into the street. Along with it go all the strange thoughts and sounds of my walk here, and I enter the store.