Wednesday, June 29, 2005

I am heading to Boston on Friday.

I am hoping the trip will be good for my soul. More than hope, I need it to be good for my soul.

I am also hoping to have some good things to say when I return . . . I hope that I will be able to put into words what my life has felt like for the last two weeks and what that has meant to me. I want to be able to turn the **** into something worth expressing and writing about.

My heart longs for redemption . . . . to be made whole.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

"We seek the comfort of another. Someone to share and share the life we choose. Someone to help us through the never-ending attempt to understand ourselves. And in the end, someone to comfort us along the way."

Thursday, June 23, 2005

I am not alone here.

Not even close.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

I've almost made it to the other side of something.

But I think it is just getting deeper.

It just might be harder next time.

No might . . . it will.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Catch 22

Some words from "Catch 22" . . .

"They'll have to try like hell to catch me this time. They will try like hell. And even if they don't find you, what kind of way is that to live? You'll always be alone, no one will ever be on your side, and you'll always live in danger of betrayal. I live that way now. But you can't just turn your back on all your responsibilities and run away from them, Major Danby insisted. It's such a negative mood. It's escapist. Yossarian laughed with buoyant scorn and shook his head. I'm not running away from my responsibilities. I'm running to them. There's nothing negative about running away to save my life." -pg. 461

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Moral Vision

Some thoughts from Richard Hays' Moral Vision of the New Testament :

"The appearing of the kingdom of God in Jesus ruptures the status quo, just as new wine bursts old wineskins. Illusions of stability and authority - both the authority of Roman rule and the authority of the Jewish religious establishment - are stripped away. History cannot be seen as a closed system of immanent causes and effects; God's abrupt intervention fractures apparent historical continuties, and human life is laid bare before God. The cries of the demons are the sure sign of a cataclysmic disturbance in the cosmic order : "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?". The answer is yes : in the coming of Jesus, God has mounted a decisive campaign against the powers of evil that oppress humanity. But the campaign is waged in a mysterious way that no one could have expected, culminating in the cross."
~pg. 89

"To be trained for the kingdom is to be trained to see the world from the perspective of God's future - and therefore askew from what the world counts as common sense." ~pg.98


Saturday, June 18, 2005

So I am not sure if only blogging once a week makes me a "blog slacker", but here I am over a week later sitting at Stauf's, enjoying some Nantucket Nectar blogging once again. My to-do list the weekend is rather long and I am hoping the environment of Stauf's will allow me to be more productive. On my plate for the weekend is some reading (Moral Vision & NT and the People of God), I've got lunch up on Morse Road with my friend Royal, helping Fez at NW with some stuff, dinner with my friend Misty, and then who knows what. And that is just Saturday.

The week was good, busy and long. It is never a good sign to start off on Monday wishing it was Friday already, but I made it through. I even made a new friend this week, and that is always fun.

All other aspects of my life seem to be progressing well. I even found myself being social last night (if I am allowed to define social as sitting in the same spot on the same couch for two hours) at the Bell's & Blinn's new house. It was really good to simply be around those people last night. Really good.

I've been here in Columbus over nine months, but it feels like closer to an eternity.

Friday, June 10, 2005

Here I am sitting at Stauf's, one of the finer places in Grandview, doing some reflecting and reading of Richard Hays' "The Moral Vision of the New Testament". I am about seventy five pages in and am really enjoying it.

Work was okay today. The morning started out a little rough, but as the day progressed I loosened up quite a bit and by lunch time I was fine. I got to leave two hours early, which allowed me to take a nice bike ride on my new bike (kudos to Eric for helping me pick it out and putting it together for me), take a shower and now enjoy the relaxing environment of Stauf's before my friend Jackie arrives in Columbus. Jackie, who is a friend of mine from high school, is coming into town to visit for the weekend. I get to show her all the lovely sites of Columbus, including my current location, Easton and the Columbus Zoo on Sunday with Kerri, the boys and Kelly Williams.

So it looks to be a fine weekend here in Columbus, Ohio . . . a fine weekend indeed.