Between Two Places

March 10, 2010

I float
   Between two worlds
Silence washes over me
Blessed release
      From the noise
              Of too many lives
                      Too many thoughts
                               Too many people
The ocean crashes against my world
Violent
    And reassuring
That here there is a minute of peace
      A measure of solitude
            A moment to be still
The salt in the air
Clings to my skin
A gentle reminder of quieter times
                                  And quiet places

   

The Intimacy of Connections

February 16, 2010

I was having a good discussion with a friend of mine yesterday, and I came to a simple conclusion: connections matter.  Perhaps another way to put it: intimacy matters.

There is something deeply powerful and profound in knowing someone and being known by that person.  Hearing about someone's day is a mighty thing, and having them hear about yours?  Equally so.  However, there are several layers to it:

  1. Get to know you: This is a layer that we visit with everyone we meet.  We gently graze the surface and try to learn more about them.  In fact, this phase is so common and important that you will continue to do this with people you know for the rest of your life.  There is always, always something new to learn about someone.
  2. Understand: You really start to understand the different things that make a person tick.  You start to recognize their likes and dislikes ahead of time and can predict some of their behaviors.
  3. Connection: A simple conversation can transform into a deep, meaningful conversation without any effort.  The person can not have talked to you for months or years and still be able to explain who you are and what you're going through by just a simple conversation.  At this point, they know your faults and your weaknesses and still appreciate you for them.

This is not an easy process to progress with.  The first step is almost rote for most of us.  Step two is usually entertaining to master.  But step three requires a deep vulnerability and willingness to enter into the hearts and lives of others, and let them into yours. 

I don't recommend reaching level three with too many people.  That should be a special thing for special people, those that you know, love, and can count on.  Only at this level do relationships really, truly grow and blossom into powerful, organic things.

 

   

The Book of Eli

January 30, 2010

To be fair, there are some spoilers here.  You have been warned.

I confess that I went into "The Book of Eli" with much uncertainty.  The previews seemed to indicate that Eli, the protagonist of the film, had a special book that would create much change in the world.  I feared that this would be another one of the pseudepigrapha (read: The Gospel of Judas, Gospel of Peter, etc.).  

Additionally, this is a dark film.  It is set in a post-apocalyptic world.  The film is gritty, dirty, and (thanks to the filmography) quite literally dark.  There were scenes that are gruesome, scenes that aren't at all appropriate, and scenes that will make you squirm with discomfort.

But oh there is a quiet, subtle chord weaving its way through the darkness.  Hope blossoming in the wreckage.  A quiet flower blooming in the desert wasteland.  A good word, nay, THE Good Word, carried on through a single man, divinely inspired to do God's will.

To be sure there were a few points that resonated deep within my soul.  Eli claims that the war was started because of the Book, but he was certain that if people had really lived by the Book, it would not have been that way.  Later he says that he should have been living by the things the Book taught him, instead of seeking to protect the Book itself.

How applicable, how true, how deeply honest this lonely man doing a prophet's labor for a God who loves His children that had nearly destroyed themselves.  

Would I recommend this film?  Absolutely.  But be warned, it is not a film for the weak hearted.  But it is a film for those who want to be awed by how God can work in strange and unexpected ways. 

   

Thoughts and Words

January 23, 2010
Thought, without expression, is as words spoken into an empty room.
   

Thoughts Into Dust

January 23, 2010

One quiet moment
My thoughts pour out
With no mold to hold them
   and give them form
                             they melt
        in the heat of the day
Evaporating in the busyness of life
Forgotten before they took flight
              Lost before being
                                          found
If I think and therefore I am,
What if my thoughts have no bearing
                                            And wither into dust?