I must be brief for time is of the essence, to put it mildly...
Anyway, I have to take 2 block classes on cultural studies and I found out Thursday night I have a paper due in it come Monday. I found out Friday afternoon that I have to have multiple chapters ready by Monday. I found out this morning that the bookstore nor the library have any available copies.
Great.
So, as I was walking back to my room I was desperately praying God would help me find the book. I tried multiple people but nobody had it that would be able to loan it to me. So, I left on a note on the door of my last hope and turned to the internet.
God is tech-savvy. Did you know that?
I believe I managed to find a complete copy of the book online, and then my last hope came into my room declaring I can borrow hers if I need.
Double blessings!
As for the paper - we have four different topics to pick from, and I am picking un-Levitical holidays. Thus, I am off to write a paper!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Over a Month - Tsk! Tsk!
Good grief! It has been over a month since my last post. I feel as if I had abandoned my loyal readers... reader... occasional bored person surfing the internet at 3 AM... whatever! In my defense I have tried multiple times to create a post but to no avail.
To be perfectly honest, I haven't had much to say. For those of you that know me, I'm sure you are shocked. I have had a lot to think and mull over, but nothing to say. As deep and profound things go, I still have nothing to say. Nor do I have anything of a silly, funny, or even frivolous nature to say.
So, rather than attempt to be profound or deep, or witty and funny I shall simply be plain and simple and let you in on one of the musings at the back of my mind.
Everything that happens in life that seems disjointed really isn't. I embarked on reading a book I was sent called "At the Back of the North Wind" by George MacDonald. So far, I've only gotten 3 or 4 chapters in and I find that I am failing to see how everything is connected. I always do at the beginning of any MacDonald book. However, true to form he always draws it all together at the close.
It is true to his form and true to life. God may plan various events in our lives to happen that at the time appear disjointed (and may for a time to come) but in the end they are all drawn together to make perfect and beautiful sense. It's like a jigsaw puzzle that you start with out seeing the picture of it finished first. You only can get a glimpse here and there of what the image is, and the further along you go, the more you see. That is how George MacDonald's stories unfold and that is how life often looks from our point of view.
If you'll follow me on my slight detour, I'll elaborate on this a little further.
If George MacDonald's stories are like jigsaw puzzles, then I submit that Tolkien's are like tapestries. His are also very true to life in that everything that happens was caused, influenced, or affected/effected (sometimes both!) by something else. The events that lead to Frodo getting the Ring were no more isolated and random seeming as history itself.
That could be another analogy - MacDonald's writing is like being there and watching it unfold as if you were looking over the shoulder of the main character. You might see slightly more than he does, but not much. In contrast, Tolkien's writings are like reading a history written much after the fact and with full knowledge, comprehension, and understanding of why. Where does all this leave C. S. Lewis? I cannot neglect to mention the first author who took me beyond the world! Oft he writes as one who has interviewed the people that were there, or as a first hand, objective observer, barely involved or not at all involved (typically the latter). His writings are like reading accounts of events as recalled by the best story teller you know.
So where am I going with this? I suppose it is all to point out that through paying attention to how these authors narrate I have broadened my perspective on how to look at life. We live and see events as George MacDonald was inclined to record them, but we are woven in as Tolkien demonstrated, and it is all being told with perfect accuracy and objectiveness while still being the most captivating thing you can imagine.
It amazes me how it takes three men, stacks of books, and more than a century between them all to write as God has planned and orchestrates every second. Everything that happens in our life that seems disjointed has a purpose for happening. It is all being woven into the grand tapestry of time itself and it is all being told by the Master Story Teller and in the most riveting fashion!
To be perfectly honest, I haven't had much to say. For those of you that know me, I'm sure you are shocked. I have had a lot to think and mull over, but nothing to say. As deep and profound things go, I still have nothing to say. Nor do I have anything of a silly, funny, or even frivolous nature to say.
So, rather than attempt to be profound or deep, or witty and funny I shall simply be plain and simple and let you in on one of the musings at the back of my mind.
Everything that happens in life that seems disjointed really isn't. I embarked on reading a book I was sent called "At the Back of the North Wind" by George MacDonald. So far, I've only gotten 3 or 4 chapters in and I find that I am failing to see how everything is connected. I always do at the beginning of any MacDonald book. However, true to form he always draws it all together at the close.
It is true to his form and true to life. God may plan various events in our lives to happen that at the time appear disjointed (and may for a time to come) but in the end they are all drawn together to make perfect and beautiful sense. It's like a jigsaw puzzle that you start with out seeing the picture of it finished first. You only can get a glimpse here and there of what the image is, and the further along you go, the more you see. That is how George MacDonald's stories unfold and that is how life often looks from our point of view.
If you'll follow me on my slight detour, I'll elaborate on this a little further.
If George MacDonald's stories are like jigsaw puzzles, then I submit that Tolkien's are like tapestries. His are also very true to life in that everything that happens was caused, influenced, or affected/effected (sometimes both!) by something else. The events that lead to Frodo getting the Ring were no more isolated and random seeming as history itself.
That could be another analogy - MacDonald's writing is like being there and watching it unfold as if you were looking over the shoulder of the main character. You might see slightly more than he does, but not much. In contrast, Tolkien's writings are like reading a history written much after the fact and with full knowledge, comprehension, and understanding of why. Where does all this leave C. S. Lewis? I cannot neglect to mention the first author who took me beyond the world! Oft he writes as one who has interviewed the people that were there, or as a first hand, objective observer, barely involved or not at all involved (typically the latter). His writings are like reading accounts of events as recalled by the best story teller you know.
So where am I going with this? I suppose it is all to point out that through paying attention to how these authors narrate I have broadened my perspective on how to look at life. We live and see events as George MacDonald was inclined to record them, but we are woven in as Tolkien demonstrated, and it is all being told with perfect accuracy and objectiveness while still being the most captivating thing you can imagine.
It amazes me how it takes three men, stacks of books, and more than a century between them all to write as God has planned and orchestrates every second. Everything that happens in our life that seems disjointed has a purpose for happening. It is all being woven into the grand tapestry of time itself and it is all being told by the Master Story Teller and in the most riveting fashion!
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