Picasso I Am Not

VD

Wishing you the very best kind of love on Valentine's Day.

Important encounters...

I wish I could write and think like CS Lewis. There is a lot of good stuff here....

It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would strongly be tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations.

It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal...But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

This does not mean that we are perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner - no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment.

Definitely something to chew on.....

White men can't dance

The annual father/daughter dinner dance has taken place once again. This year it was just Jlyn and me since Nat had a birthday party already scheduled. Don't worry, we are going out tomorrow night....just the two of us. I figure, why not get in two dates instead of one. Although I'll have to eat better tomorrow. Tonight was another "eat till you hurt" situation. Jlyn's favorite restaurant is Olive Garden. I don't mind it much either. Except on a Saturday night when everyone else and their mother is wanting to eat there. An hour later and we got seated. It was fun to see all the little girls dressed up and with their dads however.

So back to the point of this. I love to people watch. I noticed a lot of what you might call "attempts" at dancing. Trust me, I am the last one to critique someone else when it comes to skizzles on the dance floor because I am lucky to get out of there with out injuring myself or those around me. That is the beauty of slow dancing. Now that I can do and do well. Fast - not so much. I was in good company tonight.

Anyway - saw some old friends...and their daughters that I used to watch in the nursery and enjoyed seeing a bunch of girls of all ages gettin' down on the dance floor with their flailing dads close by. Inspiring....simply inspiring.

Luv

The life-act of the Christian takes part in the strict and proper sense only to the extent that it takes place in the form of love. It is again only in the form of love that it breaks the dominion of the sinister forces to which the man alienated from God, the neighbor and himself is subject. And we must now continue and conclude by saying that it is only in the form of love that it has an absolutely indestructible content and therefore an absolutely certain continuance; that it is participation in the eternal life of God. Only as and to the extent that the Christian loves does he find himself already, in the temporal present of his existence, at the goal set for his and all existence and all the history enacted in time, and therefore in their eternal future. To be more precise, it is only as and to the extent that the Christian loves that the eternal future of his own and all existence becomes and is near even though it is distant, present even though it is future, at the heart of the temporal fulfillment of this existence.

Thus love is the indestructible element in the life-act of the Christian. It is, as we are forced to say, the promise fulfilled already in the present. Love alone abides. Everything else which may and must be done, even by Christians and on the basis of a supreme spiritual endowment, abides only to the extent that is done in love and is thus itself the act of love.

Karl Barth

This Beautiful Mess

Rick McKinley was our pastor when we lived in Portland. He has written a book called This Beautiful Mess. In it he talks about how the kingdom of God breaks in and shows evidence that God is alive and working in the midst of our messes. He also includes pieces of writing by members of the church at the end of each of his chapters.

This is my favorite poem from the book:

When my brothers were too young to be wise

When my brothers were too young to be wise
but too old to name things creatively,
they invented a game called:
Let's take turns jumping off Tom's roof
and throw the cat after the person who jumped.
At least they took turns...

Later, when my brothers were too young to be wise
but old enough to put their scientific knowledge to use,
they played a game called:
Let's pour gas over this giant pile of weeds
and then light it on fire.
At least the doctor said
that their eyebrows will grow back...

Later, when my brother was old enough to be depressed
but too young to know how to cope,
he would play a game called:
Let's go to Tom's house and do a lot of drugs
and drink all his step-dad's beer.
At least there was that one English teacher
who asked if something was wrong...
but what could you say?
We are so poorly equipped to deal with these troubles,
and there are so few doctors of the soul these days...
What is there to do?
I know some people who fight it all their lives,
kicking against the goads until they bleed to death.
Others, like Dad, ignore it,
thinking that hard work, sunshine, and
the passing of time will resolve it.
Still others, like Mom, ostracize and cast blame
by leave condemnatory evangelical polemics taped
to your bathroom mirror.

But now my brothers and I are old enough
to begin to be wise,
yet still young enough to climb the cold roof
to talk and to smoke.
So I will play a new game with you called:
Let's go together and bear one another's burdens.
At least I will not laugh at your pain,
I will not try to fix your problems,
I will not ignore your suffering
or condemn you with my piety...
I will simply lie here next to you in the cold
while we breathe our smoky prayers to God.

-Raeben Nolan

there are so few doctors of the soul these days...

Learn your lines

Everybody has them - movies that you love and lines from those movies that you have chosen to memorize and utilize at the most opportune time. I have my own favorites - see if you can identify the movies these prized sentiments came from:

1. Yer killin' me smalls.
2. Hey rookie, you were good.
3. Wait, shhhh, you smell something?
4. I want to get to the bottom of this asafp but first I'd like to butter your muffin.
5. You wear tights? No, I wear the required uniform. Tights? Shut up.
6. What's the matter? Mommy not here to dress you?
7. It's right there in the photo. The paddy decks - one one one.
   
8. Talk to me Goose.
9. Yo Adrian, I did it.
10. Luke, I AM YOUR FAAATHER. NOOOoooooooo.....
11. I'll never let go Jack.

And one from TV

12. That's what she said.

Since I'm blogging away from our main computer I'll just include a picture of me as I sit here typing. I know, you can hardly contain yourself.