Due to feeling pressure to update, and not wanting to, I’m shutting the blog down for awhile. If you keep the blog on some sort of feed you’ll notice if I start up again. But, don’t hold your breath.
April 9, 2009
Resurrection thoughts or It’s not about the damn bunny
In some ways I’m revisiting an earlier post in writing this, but I think it is worthwhile as Easter is upon us. In my mind I have been thinking over and over again that if the resurrection hadn’t happened, then Christ’s death wouldn’t matter, because he’d be dead. I’m not trying to downplay the significance of Jesus’ s death by any means. But, the fact that after he was dead and buried, he inhaled and came back into life matters tremendously. His inhalation means that everything prophesied about him in the Old Testament is true. Everything he told his disciples is true. That he is God and man at the same time is true. That he is prophet, priest, and king is true. But, the resurrection had to happen. It is through the resurrection that I can draw near to God.
What this means for me who believes in it all, is that I can push back against the darkness in this world and in my life, because he inhaled. I can fight for my heart and the hearts of others, because he inhaled. I can believe that I’m worth fighting for, because he fought for me and he won when he inhaled. I can fight for hope, live in hope, pursue hope with vigor, because he took a breath after dying on a cross, shedding his blood, carrying everything wicked, thoughtless, indifferent, shameful thought our deed I will ever think or do with him. He made life possible for me. The resurrection means he won.
Another shout out to Andrew Peterson’s High Noon
When Jesus took in that breath
And shattered all Death with his life
So long, you wages of sin
Go on, don’t you come back again
I’ve been raised and redeemed
You’ve lost all your sting
To the victor of the battle
March 11, 2009
Another plug for The Writer’s Almanac
Besides interesting poetry, there are fun little snippets from history about those who have contributed to the written word. I never knew the book below was written by a woman. To check our or subscribe to The Writer’s Almanac, click here.
It was on this day in 1818 that Mary Shelley published her gothic horror novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. In 1816, 19-year-old Mary and her lover Percy Shelley were staying with Lord Byron in Switzerland. It rained a lot, and they were stuck in the house. They read ghost stories, and Lord Byron got the idea that they should each write a ghost story themselves. Byron and Percy Shelley gave up quickly, but Mary spent many days trying to think of a story. One night the two men had a conversation about the spontaneous generation of life and the possibility of re-animating a corpse. Mary went to bed, but she couldn’t sleep, and she had a vision: “I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion.” And she went to work writing. Two years later, on this day in 1818, Frankenstein was published in London, and it became an instant best-seller. Mary Shelley was 21 years old.
February 19, 2009
Sometimes I hear the gospel in songs, and I weep.
This song was playing as I drove today. It got to me. Especially the parts in bold.
If you don’t own music by this man, you should.
Andrew Peterson
Love and Thunder
High Noon
High noon in the valley of the shadow
When the deep of the valley was bright
When the mouth of the tomb
Shouted, “Glory, the Groom is alive”
So long, you wages of sin
Go on, don’t you come back again
I’ve been raised and redeemed
You’ve lost all your sting
To the victor of the battle
At high noon in the valley
In the valley of the shadow
Now the demons, they danced in the darkness
When that last ragged breath left his lungs
And they reveled and howled
At the war that they thought they had won
But then, in the dark of the grave
The stone rolled away
In the still of the dawn on the greatest of days
High noon in the valley of the shadow
When the shadows were shot through with light
When Jesus took in that breath
And shattered all Death with his life
So long, you wages of sin
Go on, don’t you come back again
I’ve been raised and redeemed
You’ve lost all your sting
To the victor of the battle
High noon in the valley of the shadow
Let the people rejoice
Let the heavens resound
Let the name of Jesus, who sought us
And freed us forever ring out
All praise to the fighter of the night
Who rides on the light
Whose gun is the grace of the God of the sky
High noon in the valley of the shadow
When the shadows were shot through with light
When the mouth of the tomb
Shouted, “Glory, the Groom is alive”
So long, you wages of sin
I said go on, don’t you come back again
I’ve been raised and redeemed
All praise to the king
The victor of the battle
High noon in the valley
In the valley of the shadow
February 16, 2009
Good things
For my birthday 2 years ago, my friend Amy Hatcher gave me this Gerber Daisy plant. Several times a year it blooms for me and the flower lasts an impressively long time. This bloom opened up on Friday.
February 2, 2009
Why New Testament History & Theology is Important
Today in class I learned one of those little jewels of information.
Jesus was born in 6 B.C.
How could he do that, I wondered? My friend Hayden said it’s because he is God.
My professor said that the theologians did the math wrong. King Herod at the time only ruled until 4 B.C., so if Jesus was born in 0 B.C., then Herod would have already been dead and the order to kill all of the boys would never have happened, Joseph and the fam never would have had to flee to Egypt, etc. I didn’t really want to know all of that. Jesus being born in 6 B.C. is funny all on it’s own.
January 25, 2009
Last Chance Harvey
I saw this movie with Karen yesterday, and it was wonderful. It showed a desire for companionship and relationship. It portrays the risk and fear that is involved with starting a new relationship or with trying to reconcile a past one. There’s wit, charm, and redemption, all things I like in a good movie.
My favorite line is said by Emma Thompson’s character and is something to the effect of I think I’m more comfortable feeling disappointed, and I guess I’m mad at you for taking that away.
The movie is well written and Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman do their usual best. Go see it!
January 21, 2009
Things I don’t relate to
I am sitting in a class on Job this week. Yesterday we discussed Job’s anguish in losing his children, etc. One thing he asks,
“Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?” (10:10)
I can’t say I’ve ever felt exactly like this.
January 16, 2009
5 days ’til B-day
In just 5 short days the beer I brewed with my Dad will be ready. It really is the the gift that keeps on giving, at least 47 times. Cheers!
