I find relationships something that can grow or stunt an individual. This song is written by The Swell Season, two people who ended a their relationship and continued to make music. So enjoy the video. Then, read the extended quote on "second innocence". This is from website of Marketa Irglova (the female vocalist) to announce her marriage to another man. A fascinating pair...
"I believe there is a thing called a second innocence. The first comes with naivety, which we loose as we progress from childhood into adulthood. The second comes later in life when an amount of wisdom is attained. When one has seen both the kind and the cruel faces of life and yet chooses to remain positive and focused on the light. I think the same is true in matters of the heart. When it is broken for the first time, it hurts the most, for we have let our loved one into the very core of ourselves and our hearts for the lack of knowledge of pain. We allow them to enter without trying to protect ourselves for we are so trusting in our innocence. Once we learn of heartache we loose that innocence, we put up shields and build fences around our hearts. The love that comes after does not have it as easy as the first. It takes us time learning to trust it, for even the emotional body has memory. We let it in but only so far at a time. Until we eventually leave ourselves open and vulnerable once again. We merge with our soulmate and become one. It is then the yearning for the sacred communion of marriage comes, for it is merely an outward expression of what is already true inside." -Marketa Irglova
9.03.2011
8.20.2011
12.02.2010
Of every longing heart
Come thou long-expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free; From our fears and sins release us, Let us find our rest in Thee. Israel's strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth Thou art; Dear Desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart.
9.22.2010
Thoughts on Distraction... Confessions from a guy with (unofficial) ADD
Okay, so I don't dump videos on people... and I don't know how many people actually still stop by occasionally, but I had to vent on something. Story time:
Our youth group has a yearly kick-off scavenger hunt. This year, we went to a local mall and were about to get on with winning (my group anyway) when the mall 5.0 stopped another group that was noticeably not shopping. Bummer... the hunt gets "shut down." But we have a least an hour before we run out of time. So.... I get creative and fills some time.
I am leading a group of three high school guys. So what do guys like? Food. What haven't we had? Dinner. Hmm... Problem: No more hunt. Solution: Five Guys. I take my group of guys to get burgers in the food court.
We are sitting eating our burgers in the food court and we talked, but the guys were eventually staring at the ceiling. (Well, not just the ceiling.... thankfully. Maybe.) They were looking at these pairs of 42 inch TV's hanging around the food court (at least 8 pairs... I could describe it more, but I will let them tell you who they are). While I would love to embed the video, I will just let you follow the link to get the full multimedia impression. Then come back.... really.
Distractions from the Sky
So Akoo is so advanced it monitors ambient crowd noise to adjust volume for "maximum impact." Is it just me, or is this a nice way of saying, "We are going to intrude into your conversation to hold your attention." I mean, that is what it does, right?
One by one the guys slowly were fixated on the glowing distractions hanging from the ceilings like bugs to a zapper.
I have a hard enough time staying focused on conversations and meaningfully interacting with people normally. Now throw a bunch of people around me with lots of colorful bags, clothes and their conversations competing for my attention. Throw in some music, and I am in trouble. A TV and the conversation might be headed to cardiac arrest. Now have the TV's paired with different programing on each, with music that is designed to turn up and down (depending on how much you are trying to drown it out and be a decent friend/acquaintance/human being), and it is clear that there is a conspiracy afoot. Well, that would imply something hidden.
This is not hidden.
They say they are designed for "maximum impact."
More like maximum distraction.
So, this conspiracy is nothing new. I struggled (struggle) with not letting my iPhone dictate lulls in conversation. But it goes to something deeper.
In Hebrews the writer seems to be speaking to a people that has become distracted. Some words stick out to me. "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it" (2:1). "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (3:13). "About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing [...] But solid food it for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil" (5:11, 14). I really can go on, but these are enough examples from Hebrews.
I am not calling Akoo evil. Maybe. I am definitely not saying that Akoo was what the author had in mind with the original audience/context. I am saying the TVs designed to distract me and the guys were distracting us, at times quite literally, from solid food. I mean, who wants to NOT enjoy Five Guys? In the end, those TV's are designed to stir up desires. Desires to text in songs. Desires to judge the artists and their messages (well maybe not that). Desires to obtain new stuff. And in the process I am missing out on the goodness of a REAL meal and the goodness of three REAL guys God placed right in front of me. If I am not careful, I could be left alone staring at a screen. A room full of people with no meaningful contact... staring at screens. Does anything sound like the deceitfulness of sin here? (Isaiah 55 anyone?)
The cool thing about Hebrews is that the author constantly reminds the people where to place their attention: "Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [NOT TVs], let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race set out before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..."(12:1-2a ESV). The NIV says, "let us fix our eyes on Jesus."
I want real food. Not empty distractions that always stir up idle desires and never satisfy. I can and do enjoy music and laughing at videos, but this is just a caution. It is easy to let phones and TVs run conversations instead of people (how odd is it to have typed that?). Consider this me exhorting you "while it is still called 'today'" to fix your eyes on Jesus, enjoy your burgers, and interact with the people God has placed in your life.
In the end, I don't want a tease. I want the real thing. Real food. Real people. Real satisfaction. Real relationship with Jesus. I don't want programed distractions. I am bad enough on my own.
Anywho, excuse me, I need to text in my favorite video...
(just kidding)
Our youth group has a yearly kick-off scavenger hunt. This year, we went to a local mall and were about to get on with winning (my group anyway) when the mall 5.0 stopped another group that was noticeably not shopping. Bummer... the hunt gets "shut down." But we have a least an hour before we run out of time. So.... I get creative and fills some time.
I am leading a group of three high school guys. So what do guys like? Food. What haven't we had? Dinner. Hmm... Problem: No more hunt. Solution: Five Guys. I take my group of guys to get burgers in the food court.
We are sitting eating our burgers in the food court and we talked, but the guys were eventually staring at the ceiling. (Well, not just the ceiling.... thankfully. Maybe.) They were looking at these pairs of 42 inch TV's hanging around the food court (at least 8 pairs... I could describe it more, but I will let them tell you who they are). While I would love to embed the video, I will just let you follow the link to get the full multimedia impression. Then come back.... really.
Distractions from the Sky
So Akoo is so advanced it monitors ambient crowd noise to adjust volume for "maximum impact." Is it just me, or is this a nice way of saying, "We are going to intrude into your conversation to hold your attention." I mean, that is what it does, right?
One by one the guys slowly were fixated on the glowing distractions hanging from the ceilings like bugs to a zapper.
I have a hard enough time staying focused on conversations and meaningfully interacting with people normally. Now throw a bunch of people around me with lots of colorful bags, clothes and their conversations competing for my attention. Throw in some music, and I am in trouble. A TV and the conversation might be headed to cardiac arrest. Now have the TV's paired with different programing on each, with music that is designed to turn up and down (depending on how much you are trying to drown it out and be a decent friend/acquaintance/human being), and it is clear that there is a conspiracy afoot. Well, that would imply something hidden.
This is not hidden.
They say they are designed for "maximum impact."
More like maximum distraction.
So, this conspiracy is nothing new. I struggled (struggle) with not letting my iPhone dictate lulls in conversation. But it goes to something deeper.
In Hebrews the writer seems to be speaking to a people that has become distracted. Some words stick out to me. "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it" (2:1). "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (3:13). "About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing [...] But solid food it for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil" (5:11, 14). I really can go on, but these are enough examples from Hebrews.
I am not calling Akoo evil. Maybe. I am definitely not saying that Akoo was what the author had in mind with the original audience/context. I am saying the TVs designed to distract me and the guys were distracting us, at times quite literally, from solid food. I mean, who wants to NOT enjoy Five Guys? In the end, those TV's are designed to stir up desires. Desires to text in songs. Desires to judge the artists and their messages (well maybe not that). Desires to obtain new stuff. And in the process I am missing out on the goodness of a REAL meal and the goodness of three REAL guys God placed right in front of me. If I am not careful, I could be left alone staring at a screen. A room full of people with no meaningful contact... staring at screens. Does anything sound like the deceitfulness of sin here? (Isaiah 55 anyone?)
The cool thing about Hebrews is that the author constantly reminds the people where to place their attention: "Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [NOT TVs], let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race set out before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..."(12:1-2a ESV). The NIV says, "let us fix our eyes on Jesus."
I want real food. Not empty distractions that always stir up idle desires and never satisfy. I can and do enjoy music and laughing at videos, but this is just a caution. It is easy to let phones and TVs run conversations instead of people (how odd is it to have typed that?). Consider this me exhorting you "while it is still called 'today'" to fix your eyes on Jesus, enjoy your burgers, and interact with the people God has placed in your life.
In the end, I don't want a tease. I want the real thing. Real food. Real people. Real satisfaction. Real relationship with Jesus. I don't want programed distractions. I am bad enough on my own.
Anywho, excuse me, I need to text in my favorite video...
(just kidding)
12.10.2009
11.19.2009
10.26.2009
“ I am a child of unbelief and doubt even now and (as I well know) I shall be to the grave. What fearful suffering this desire to believe has caused me and still causes me as it increases in strength in my soul as the contrary proofs multiply! However, God sends me at times many minutes during which I am entirely at peace… and during such minutes I have composed for myself a confession of faith… this is it: to believe that there is nothing more beautiful, more profound, more sympathetic, more reasonable, more manly and perfect than Christ, and not only nothing like Him exists but I say with jealous love, that it even cannot exist. And even more: If someone were to prove to me that Christ is not the truth, I would rather remain with Christ than with the truth.”
-Dostoevsky letter to the woman who gave him a NT on the way to prison in Siberia. (Overman,127)
I heard this quote first from a dear Russian friend of mine. He said that I needed to understand that he was a child of his generation and that this rang true for him. As we read in the pages of the Fabric of Faithfulness about a faithful, unified worldview that stands the test of time, a bit of sadness rose up in me. Maybe more a longing. I would love to cast judgment on many of the characters. The more I tried the more frustrated I became. While I can see some in our program have a solid fairly unified worldview that will take them far, I have seen mine shaken when I least wanted it to be and when I most needed a solid one.
Much of my time might be spent subconsciously avoiding such truths. I have been tired staring into the darkness of my desires and the consequences of their fruition. Suffice it to say that in many ways my heart has been jaded. I have longed for the breath of fresh air. A good man is truly hard to find.
And I guess that is some of the ridiculousness, in the actual “worthy of ridicule” way, of this train of thought. It ends up and a Cartesian mess. I become the universe and the universe is me. When I fail, then it falls a part. Right to do all, egoism that fails or mechanical propositions that lead one to deny them to be fully human become more reality than Russian novels.
Remember your creator… it sticks out solidly, “It is not too late for your salvation, but too late to serve as the presence of God in the midst of His creation.” I have lived in a world of self-imposed perfection, partially due to lack of correction, but mainly due to fear. As a child of my generation, I find Christ almost too good to be true, but a life without too empty for the embrace of the alternative.
This is where Christ is so necessary and I am so desperate. This is where I desire to experience the reality, but not the pain, of death so that I may be hidden with Christ in God. To be alive with His eyes to see the suffering around me, but to have the salve of His Salvation and Grace to ease and comfort. For miracles and healings and hope to be seen so that this doubt can be banished finally. Because too often and of late it is the question: why? Why do I do what I don’t want to do and that which I do I don’t? Truly what can save me from this fragmentation as the kid good enough to be passed by without aid and not bad enough to require repair? What can be my portion and render the broken new? Thanks be to Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yes, things that are complex will become simple and the simple complex as time passes and the diapers come off. Yet, if there is a jealous love that remains, then the integrity of that solid frame can survive. And if He makes all things new, then into grace I can fall. These thoughts are really slightly embarrassing as the though naked I am exposed as who I am before you. Our view of man is something that I have had to rethink. I was such an optimist. Maybe functionally a closet humanist. Now I am left with the deflation and rest of fallen people in a fallen world in need of a Savior now and evermore. So here’s to Russians, their long winters, and their even longer books. And here’s to the rest of a coherent worldview and the frustration of realizing places I haven’t functionally had one and the growth that comes from it from the hand of the One who can restore the years the locust have eaten.
-Dostoevsky letter to the woman who gave him a NT on the way to prison in Siberia. (Overman,127)
I heard this quote first from a dear Russian friend of mine. He said that I needed to understand that he was a child of his generation and that this rang true for him. As we read in the pages of the Fabric of Faithfulness about a faithful, unified worldview that stands the test of time, a bit of sadness rose up in me. Maybe more a longing. I would love to cast judgment on many of the characters. The more I tried the more frustrated I became. While I can see some in our program have a solid fairly unified worldview that will take them far, I have seen mine shaken when I least wanted it to be and when I most needed a solid one.
Much of my time might be spent subconsciously avoiding such truths. I have been tired staring into the darkness of my desires and the consequences of their fruition. Suffice it to say that in many ways my heart has been jaded. I have longed for the breath of fresh air. A good man is truly hard to find.
And I guess that is some of the ridiculousness, in the actual “worthy of ridicule” way, of this train of thought. It ends up and a Cartesian mess. I become the universe and the universe is me. When I fail, then it falls a part. Right to do all, egoism that fails or mechanical propositions that lead one to deny them to be fully human become more reality than Russian novels.
Remember your creator… it sticks out solidly, “It is not too late for your salvation, but too late to serve as the presence of God in the midst of His creation.” I have lived in a world of self-imposed perfection, partially due to lack of correction, but mainly due to fear. As a child of my generation, I find Christ almost too good to be true, but a life without too empty for the embrace of the alternative.
This is where Christ is so necessary and I am so desperate. This is where I desire to experience the reality, but not the pain, of death so that I may be hidden with Christ in God. To be alive with His eyes to see the suffering around me, but to have the salve of His Salvation and Grace to ease and comfort. For miracles and healings and hope to be seen so that this doubt can be banished finally. Because too often and of late it is the question: why? Why do I do what I don’t want to do and that which I do I don’t? Truly what can save me from this fragmentation as the kid good enough to be passed by without aid and not bad enough to require repair? What can be my portion and render the broken new? Thanks be to Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yes, things that are complex will become simple and the simple complex as time passes and the diapers come off. Yet, if there is a jealous love that remains, then the integrity of that solid frame can survive. And if He makes all things new, then into grace I can fall. These thoughts are really slightly embarrassing as the though naked I am exposed as who I am before you. Our view of man is something that I have had to rethink. I was such an optimist. Maybe functionally a closet humanist. Now I am left with the deflation and rest of fallen people in a fallen world in need of a Savior now and evermore. So here’s to Russians, their long winters, and their even longer books. And here’s to the rest of a coherent worldview and the frustration of realizing places I haven’t functionally had one and the growth that comes from it from the hand of the One who can restore the years the locust have eaten.
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