Am I missing it?

This last weekend I watched No Country for Old Men and The Darjeeling Limited, both of which disappointed me. I just read Rolling Stone's review of No Country for Old Men (here) and I really didn't think that the movie was as deep as they gave it credit for being. Have I missed something? They claim that the story is a picture of America as a whole with our eroded values and increasing appetite for violence. While I don't need a movie to convince me of those things, but I have a hard time seeing the typical American in the state that the movie depicts, even if it is figurative.

As far as The Darjeeling Limited, I'm not sure it even deserves as much space and energy as I've given it here. So, I'll stop.

Please enlighten me if I need to be...

Pink Fluffy Monsters or Firecracker Bunnies??

The process of choosing a team name has become rather all-encompassing for one of our team members and we have two options. But we need your help to choose the winner! Please vote on which you like better (or, for those of you who know one of us, which seems to fit us better). The choices are...Pink Fluffy Monsters or Firecracker Bunnies! Now you can understand our delimma in choosing between these to classic names. For those of you who are visual learners I have included graphics that will undoubtedly find their way onto a t-shirt by the end of this.


Are we:

(1)

or...

(2)

Up for an adventure?

I have just been introduced to the world of adventure races, competitions that combine several outdoor sports in one multiple-hour race. Usually the race includes running and cycling, but beyond that they vary widely. A friend and I are competing in one in July. We are currently accepting team name suggestions, so bring 'em on! The options so far are Pink Fluffy Monsters and Firecracker Bunnies. So, if you are bored with your regular old workouts or just want to try something different, come along!

Birds or Bats?

I hate birds! I just had a little run-in with one in my house and that thought ran over and over through my head as I frantically tried to open the windows in our second floor so the bird could find his way out. I much prefer bats to birds and living in this house has given me the opportunity to interact with both of them on ocassion. The house is three-stories, one hundred year old and seems to invite all sorts of species to find their way inside. The second floor is completely gutted and the sofets (part of the overhang of the roof) have holes in them so animals periodically end up inside. It is not an odd thing to hear something hitting the window and then the floor. First it's a resounding "boom" and then a more muffled one. After a few of these it's easy to know it's a bird trying to get out by flying into the window and being knocked onto the floor. When you see a bird to this repeatedly you begin to realized that the thing is probably not smart enough to avoid flying into you as you try to direct it out the window. That's why I don't like them; the thought of a bird in my face is just about as much as I can take. Bats, on the other hand, you never hear hitting anything. They just chirp or squeal and get quiet as you get close to them. As soon as you open a window they know it and fly right by you and out to freedom.

An Evangelical Manifesto

This document was released about a week ago to declare "who Evangelicals are and what they stand for." Much talk and debate has since ensued over the focus of the Manifesto and who has signed or not. You can read the summary or the full document here.

The Contentment Myth

I've been thinking about contentment lately and I have this sneaking suspicion that it doesn't mean quite what I think it means. When someone talks about being content my mind automatically jumps to, "I can't need or want anything. If I do, then I'm not content with what I have." Paul talks about being content in every circumstance, yet Hebrews 11 lauds these heroes of the faith who were longing for a better country. Surely these people weren't content if they were longing for a better place. Was Paul saying that he never wanted anything different, anything more?

Specifically in Philippians 4:11-12 Paul says, "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." Notice he included hunger and need, situations where he obviously wanted something more. Likewise Paul does not say, "I have learned not to need anything." Ultimately what he's saying is, "Jesus gives me the strength to face situations where I am in need."

Hebrews 13:5-6 also talks about being content, "Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'" This reminds me of Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" God has provided in the most amazing way! Why should we doubt that He will continue to provide?

Maybe the contentment idea is not about not wanting, but about trusting God to provide. Maybe rather than taking away something we have (need) we should let it be and add something to it (trust). Why should we not trust our loving heavenly Father? Think about it, He gave us Jesus-part of himself-so that He (the Father) could be with us-filthy little creations stained with sin. If He wants to be with us that badly, why would He withhold something from us that will be good for us? He wouldn't! However trusting Him and His timing and His goodness is the difficult part because we have to give up control-our idea of what life should look like.

So many times I have gotten the message that I need to be less, long for less, desire less. Though it seems the words of Philippians, Hebrews, Romans and Psalms do not say, "You are longing for too much. Just temper those desires and when you get it right, God will meet them." Instead those books (or the passages above) seem to make God big, "Look at this: God will never leave. He will always be there for you. What do you have to worry about? You can trust Him for all things. He gave His son for you!" Everything else seems tiny compared to that.

One important step that I often skip over is asking the question, "What is at the root of what I am desiring?" or "What do I really want?" For example my desire to have a husband is not just for the sake of having a husband, I actually really long for someone to know me deeply. And being married does not ensure that someone knows you deeply. Further, I would guess that even if I were married, the longing to be known would seem just as strong as it does now. Maybe this could be because this desire to be known was placed in me by an eternal Creator who is not bound by any human limits. So there are really these deep desires running below the surface of our lives, like streams running underground. What we feel (or see) is just a little bit of what is really there.

However it is in these deep desires that we can know more of who God is because we learn more about how we were created. What does the fact that we have these deep longings tell us about God. If we have them they must be able to be filled. How great our God that He can fill these deep, eternal desires of our souls!

Glass Trees

The name of this blog came to me in the most unexpected way. I had been wanting to start a blog for a long time, for a place to share my writing and thoughts. But I needed a title, and not just any title. I needed something creative and original. So I thought. I had ideas but nothing seemed to just fit. Until...we had an ice storm. This last winter my Kansas town was pounded with a storm that coated everything with two inches of ice. "Everything" included the power lines, consequently many of the residents were without power for several days. Some went for over a week without electricity.

During those few days I felt like I was living in some sort of imaginary land. One day I went for a walk in the park to explore the storm's impact. The ice crunched under my feet with each step. I heard tree limbs cracking and falling from the weight of the ice every few minutes. While snow absorbs sound, I realized that ice reflects it because each time a branch fell the cracking of the tree would echo throughout our neighborhood. I ventured as close as I dared to trees to investigate what the ice had done. Evergreens drooped with sadness from the weight of the ice around each individual needle. They seemed to be mourning the other trees' loss of limbs. On a larger scale, the coat of ice brought a heaviness to the air, the type of heaviness that most imaginary lands have. One day as I was walking to work, marveling at how intricately the ice seemed to be placed around each little limb of each tree it hit me, "Glass Trees."

We got to live in an imaginary land of glass trees for a few days. Life slowed down. Community with friends was richer and more simple. All of our surroundings sparkled like glass as the sun shone on them. How amazing! This would have been so difficult for me to imagine; many had never seen anything like it. Yet, it was incredibly simple for God to put a little ice on the trees and stop "life" as we were used to living it. Maybe our life didn't actually stop for those days, maybe it began.

So with the title of Glass Trees, I hope to share my thoughts about living life, a true life. Often times this life looks different than we expect. Sometimes we resent God for making us live it, but other times, when we look, we find Him in it.

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