Happy New Year

2010 is gone and 2011 is here! There has been some debate on whether or not last year, this year, or some other year was/is/will be the end of the decade, but I'm not getting into that. What I will get into is a recap of my last year and predictions for this year.

Last Year:
Started out the year in Brasil, learned the art of making coffee related drinks, worked at a book shop, got a diploma, avoided major catastrophe in my life, got addicted to Doctor Who, learned I could pass for a Seventh Day Adventist... decent year. Except for the Brasil bits, it was kinda dull and went by fairly quickly. Did have a few highlights, like seeing my friends and their child, Brasil, meeting some of the OCD people who work at bookshops, teaching a free ESL class... but nothing OMJ AMAAAAZING! Then again, those sort of things don't happen very often, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised or disappointed by my serious lack of them.

This Year:
Well, I've spent the first two days down with illness likeness. (Don't make comment on my weirdly grammars. Tis my own dialect. ;oP ) New Year's Eve was fun though. Hung out with some of my friends, a person I went to school with, people I hadn't seen in a while. Good times. Also going to a play this week called "Thirty Nine Steps". Not sure what it is about, but worth a go, especially for free.

Other than that, I make this prediction for 2011: I will end it in the same position in life I currently hold. ie: single, living at home, a few pittance in the bank, still not traveled to Europe. I may have a different job by the year's end, but I doubt anything else will much change. Unless my car dies. Then I'll probably get a different one.

I've rambled through my ill fog long enough.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 1523!!! LONG LIVE THE KING!

A Twice Free People

Very close to four hundred years ago, a group of people gathered round a feast to celebrate a good harvest. They gathered with kin, old friends, and new ones as well. They gathered to give thanks to a most beneficent God who had given them everything they had.

These people, though I seriously doubt they knew what would come of it at the time, were celebrating a brand new holiday to be called Thanksgiving. I doubt these people foresaw a great nation springing from their humble colony. I doubt they thought about the traditions they were setting forth. And I am positive it never crossed their mind that the fourth Friday in November would become the biggest hope for retailers to turn a profit in the fourth quarter. I think they were just thankful they were alive and able to eat.

But what brought these people here? What brought farmers, merchants, laborers, and their families to leave the last traces of civilization across the sea and settle in a wild new world inhabited by a completely unknown (and possibly unfriendly) people? It's actually a pretty simple answer. Freedom.

These were a group of people who were being told how they could and could not worship God and what they should and should not think about Him. They were being persecuted for doing right. Instead of bowing to the oppressors and whining about how rotten they were, they did what they had to do and left.

In the name of God and freedom some pilgrims came to America to worship God as they saw fit and be free from oppression and tyranny. The first year was horribly hard. People died, morale was I am sure quite low, but they endured. They had two choices - live or die trying. By God's grace some lived and more people came over and things were hard, but they relied on God and did what they had to do and in the end thrived.

Now let us fast forward to present day. What state are we in? Every day the world tries telling us what we must think about sin, Creation, and God. Every day the rights and privileges the Pilgrims risked their lives for and our Founding Fathers guaranteed to us are being stripped away. We are being terrorized by our own government. Good men are imprisoned while murderers roam free. We forfeit our freedom for safety and in the end receive neither.

The Pilgrims fled tyranny and oppression so they and all who came after them could be free. They lived and died, abandoned their lives for the cause of Christ and freedom, and here we are giving up every last stitch of our personal freedoms and dignity and integrity for something less substantial than a security blanket. At least you can hold a security blanket. Our Founding Fathers gave up everything and staked their lives for our freedom, and we hand over our freedom over a possible threat of discomfort or danger. Someone whispers a buzz word and our mouths fall silent lest God's truth, once proclaimed proudly from the street corners mind you, offends and we "get in trouble."

The whole of human history has been obsessed with the word "freedom", and we as Christian Americans are the only ones in possession of true freedom. Yet, we give it up at every turn. We yield to the tyranny of sin at the slightest temptation, we silence ourselves for fear of "political correctness", we hand over our constitutional rights in the name of safety. Have we forgotten that this is a fallen world and it is appointed unto a man once to die? Have we forgotten that God does not allow anything outside of His will? Have we forgotten that He moves men and holds the hearts of kings? How then, as the doubly blessed, twice free peoples we are stand idly by and let a tyrannical government take these things away from us? Where is our voice? Where are our prayers? Why are we cow-towing to sinners and slaves of Satan when we are the Children of God?

The Theory of Circles and Strings

I have this theory I'm working on. I'm going to call it the Theory of Circles and Strings.

People seem to have this ridiculous idea thanks to things like timelines and words like "progress" and "moving forward" that we all move in straight lines. I submit we move in circles.

We start moving in these circles, or spiraling circles if you will, around the age of 5 when we start school. This government mandated circle starts out very large as everyone is required to go to school. As the years drag on however people drop out for various reasons and so the spiraling circles get smaller. After 13 to 19+ years of the Academic Spiral we find we have spent the vast majority of our lives sitting at a desk longing to go outside for recess. We spend our formative years sitting at a desk, listening to someone talk; as our bodies and minds grow, change, and develop. The whole time it's home to school to home to school to home to school. We sleep, wake, go to school, go home, do homework, and repeat.

Once we leave the Academic Spiral we find ourselves on the Career Spiral. Once again it starts out very large as many of those drop outs from school are now amongst the working peoples (and have been for a while). We spend this whole time getting up, going to work, working, coming home from work, going to bed, and doing it all over again the next day. We spend the VAST part of our adult lives going home to work, home to work, home to work, home to work. hardly a variation, unless we switch jobs for some reason. And even at that, it's the same sort of spiraling circle, just in a different location.

Regardless of whether or not we "move up" in the company hardly matters to the Career Spiral. We simply keep going around and around, watching the spiral shrink as people retire, go on disability, die, win the lottery, or whatever. We continue on this spiral until we near the age 65, give or take.

There's usually some point on this spiral where most people stop spinning long enough to look around, which is typically a shocking experience and leads to some form of crisis. We stop, we look around, and we realize that we have become our parents, our children have had children, and there is this grinning little five year old face looking into yours, about to start the Academic Spiral, and it looks ever so familiar and you sadly remember you used to have a face like that. We then run to the nearest mirror and peering in we realize that we are no longer that young, thin, energetic person with hopes and dreams, but rather a lined and wrinkled, not so thin person with no energy, problems, worries, and a mortgage.

After the Career Spiral we enter the Retirement Spiral whose size is constantly influx thanks to athletes and other people who can't figure out whether or not they actually want to retire. The size and duration of the retirement spiral is completely irrelevant because it invariably ends in a pine box at the bottom of a rectangular hole.

Invariably, and with growing frequency as we get older, we ask: What happened? How did we get... old?

Remember as child how we used to spin and spin and spin as fast as we could, and no matter how hard we tried to stay in place we always moved away from the place we started? I think it's like that. We spend our lives spinning, thinking we're not really going anywhere, and the next thing you know we are the grandparents and our lives are almost gone.

Frightening isn't it?

I think there are a few kinds of people on any given spiral - those that who get eaten by it and turn into zombies, those who simply go along with it and generally end up slightly cynical with a dash of regret and bitterness, and those who turn the spiraling circles into a string.

String people are those individuals who seem to utterly escape the spiral. The string is sometimes a straight line, a squiggle, or even occasionally a spiral, but never for long. They are those lucky individuals who never go to work, but go to do what they love every day and get paid for it. These are not the work-a-holics (those are the zombies), but the people that love whatever it is they do. They also seem to be the people that never get old. They die young at 105 years old. And even after they die they live on because the mark they left on the lives of the people they came in contact with cannot be forgotten or erased. They're the people that feel like they're always with you, even years after they're gone.

I envy the string people. I want to be a string person.

But the question is: How do you become a string person?

Being a Book Collector

Some people collect stamps. Some collect trains. Others collect coins, tin signs, old tools, dust, or stickers. I am one of those people that collects stuff. Namely, books. Books are one of my hobbies. But not just any books mind you, a certain kind of books. And the whole thing started with a quest for books by C. S. Lewis.

Some years ago I found a website that had a very long list of books written by C. S. Lewis. I currently have 23 books by Lewis, with 3 more on the way. Those 3 excluded, I still am shy 32 books of owning the complete works of C. S. Lewis. Sadly, almost all of my Lewis books are paperback. I do have a copy of the rare (ie: $$) "Allegory of Love" which is one of two hardcovers (the other being "Miracles" with "The Screwtape Letters" crammed in the back). Sadly, I could only afford to get the second edition of "Allegory of Love", but it's in great condition! So I'm not complaining. I wouldn't mind getting a first edition, but whatever. I'm hoping one day to find myself the happy possessor of hardcover set of the Chronicles of Narnia. I'm thinking if I finish off my paper back collection and I get bored with some extra cash, I will go about getting all hardcover editions of his books and/or as early an edition as I can get my hands on.

I also seem to have quite the Tolkien collection (which I never set out to acquire...) including a very lovely suede leather with gold foil Lord of the Rings and a leather and foil copy of the Hobbit. I also recently(ish) got a big, beautiful copy of the "Silmarillion". Not to mention two new releases (yes, you read that right) of "The Children of Hurin" (or "Narn I Hin Hurin" for us nerds) and "Sigurd and Gudrun" which is a big poetry book loosely based off of a set of Norse legends. Go figure! Tolkien seems to be the one of whom I get duplicates. You see, I have 2 copies of 4 books. I believe there is only 1 duplicate in my Lewis collection (I managed to get "Screwtape Letters" twice).

Besides my OCD obsession with having to own all the books in a series (regardless of how many my sister has and is willing to let me borrow them whenever), I also seem to be acquiring quite the interesting hodge podge of what I call "reference books". Whatever you're thinking of is dead wrong. These are books like "Lord of the Rings Weapons and Warfare" or "The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth" and "Trees", "Names for Baby", "Weapons", "The Complete Tolkien Companion", and who can forget, "Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures". Yes, this would be the nerdy reference collection.

What I am really looking for to add to my little list of "reference" books are: a book on warfare (as in basic principles of ancient war, strategy, etc.), a book on flowers and plants (what sort of climate, soil, etc. they need/location. If it showed regions where these things grew and explained why that would be fantastic!), a detailed book on clothing throughout human history (it's fabric, color, and function with explanations on how it was worn), a book on sword play, a book on archery, and a really hackin' awesome book on topography. If the topography book included how topography effects weather, human development, and mindset that would be great. While I'm at it, let's throw in a good book on weather. And if the weather book can go into how/why it effects humans (achy joints and all that) that would be really fantastic.

To add to it all, I'm also looking to get a mini theology library. I've been told a long list of good resources for this, that, and the other and I figure it wouldn't be a bad thing to keep a few good theology books lying around. I think I've got 7 or 8 I'm seriously looking to get sooner or later...

The biggest problem I face (as most collectors do) is where to put my collection. I don't have very much room right now. My gorgeous, hand made, designed-by-me book shelf is bordering stuffed to the gills status. This oak, cherry, and mahogany book shelf is nearly full with 113 (soon to be 116) books, 6 feet of CD's, and a nice stereo with 2 speakers (because I have no where else to put it). I can still cram a few more books into because it is 1 foot thick and I can double layer books, but even so!

In any event, I am a collector of books. I have read nearly every book I've bought cover to cover (got a few newer ones I haven't been able to get to or finish yet!) and I have read loads of books I haven't bought (high school reading lists... blech!). I'm very picky with the books I buy (because I only buy books I like and I am very persnickety with books I like). I get the book I want with the cover I want for the price I want. ;o) I have almost bought as many books as I've written poems (poems are up by 41)!

The Rumors of Glories to Come

After five, nearly six days of glorious wonderments and splendors lost were just created, God the supreme ruler, creator, and sustainer of all things, the most powerful and terrible king of all times and worlds created His crown jewel: man. Man was the most magnificent piece of His creation because Man bore His image. No other thing created could make such a boast; not even the angels. Everything else He had created was made with a word. Man was different. He spoke no word, but reached down to the freshly created earth and formed man. This was yet a corpse of dust until God leaned towards the figure. If the angels had known what a kiss was, perhaps they would have thought God had kissed this dust creature, but no; God breathed. God breathed the breath of life into man. No other creature, not even the angels could make that boast.

And so for a short while the man Adam walked upon the earth as the first and only image bearer of God. He was the flawless, glorious even. Truly the marvel of all Creation. Soon, God formed a suitable help-meet for Adam. An equal creature designed for a different role that perfectly complimented Adam’s work. Fit for man in every way. Adam saw this second crown jewel and called it woman, and named her Eve. Together for a short time they walked and played and worked together in perfect harmony as the crown jewels of Creation and image bearers of God Himself.

But this would not last.

One day a serpent came and spoke with Eve. It was assuredly a magnificent looking creature, but it spoke honeyed lies. Oh, much of what it said was truth, but it skewed the truth and caused Eve to doubt her Creator and do the one act forbidden to her. To make darker that blackened hour, Adam – the first and father of all mankind, did the same and from that bleak hour forth, man was a fallen race.

But even in that black hour, hope began to shine.

Hundreds upon Thousands of bloody and dark years passed. Much of mankind forgot its maker and took no thought for the other bearers of His image. Yet threads of hope and light continued to shine, calling out to all who would believe that salvation would come.

One day of no particular significance, an angel who was a messenger from the Sovereign King appeared to a very young lady who was barely more than a child. The messenger told her hope was coming and through her. This girl had found favor with her Maker and so she was chosen to be the conduit of salvation to her race. As the messenger said, so it came to pass. Nine months later a baby was born who would grow up to claim His whole purpose for His birth – to be the Redeemer and Champion for the human race. Upon His thirty-third year this Champion of Men’s souls paid the greatest ransom price to ever be paid in the war for men’s souls. He laid down His perfect self as a sacrifice. He bore a punishment so cruel that humans cannot imagine it and He did so without uttering one complaint.

Out of His great sacrifice of love the killing blow was dealt to the powers of darkness. No longer could the Prince of this World feign to claim victory. He was defeated. Any charge he could levy against any person that trusted in the sacrificial death of the Savior of Men’s souls would be futile. On the third day when the Savior rose from the dead, first and last to ever do so of His own power, death itself was defeated and life received the victory.

Many of those that had known the Champion had hoped He would establish the eternal kingdom prophesied since times ancient, but this was not the hour for that. The Champion therefore returned home to His Father, promising He would send one who would come and be better to have than He.

How could this be? What could be better than having their loving and beloved Champion with them? This they would learn. When the Champion departed, one came who had the capacity to live within them, and be with them always.

What could be more glorious? The Creator, the Champion, and the Comforter are all one, and now the Comforter was with them always. Never to leave. But what does this mean? What does it mean to have the Comforter who is and is one with the Creator and the Champion living inside all those who believe in the Champion and His ransoming work?

Let me ask you a different question: What was Adam’s relationship with God? Adam walked with God, spoke with God, and was laid bare to God in every conceivable way. He enjoyed perfect fellowship with his Creator and Father. Now let me ask you a second question: What is to be our relationship with God if we are saved? We are to walk with God, speak with God, and be laid bare to God in every conceivable way. We are to enjoy perfect fellowship with our Creator and Father.

Look similar? Let’s look a little closer. Adam’s relationship with God was on a physical level what ours is to be a on a spiritual level. Now as far as I can tell, Adam did not have God living inside of Him. We the redeemed do. What does this mean? Adam could talk to God as we would talk to a friend, that is to say, face to face. Now God is omnipresent, but I am convinced there is a difference between having God with you and having God living in you. I cannot prove this from experience, but it’s a hunch I am willing to stick with. If nothing else I think the Christian’s relationship with God is more intimate than Adam’s was, in a way, particularly after the Fall. We have full, unlimited access to our Creator at all times. His name is on our sins, His Spirit lives inside of us, and we do not even understand or begin to tap into the smallest corner of His resources, yet all of them are ours to use. Every last one!

Adam walked with God in the Garden of Eden, then the Fall and man was hopelessly sundered from God. God set up the sacrifice system as a means of atoning for sins and provided priests to “access” God. This was a very hard and often unpleasant system, but it worked. Man was once again able to communicate with God and get back into favor with Him. But then Christ came. The most wretched, gory, horrific murder ever committed was that of Christ’s crucifixion. On that dark day the very people He had come to save mocked Him, tortured Him, nailed Him to a tree and murdered the only innocent person to ever live. And if the fact He was the only innocent person ever isn’t horrific enough, add to it He is the very God that gave them the breath and strength to do it. He knew more things about them than they could know and He loved them more than life itself, and still they killed Him. He is divine, He is God and they killed God for crimes He never committed so He could bear all of our sins Himself and take the holy wrath of the Father for us. But of course God cannot be killed. Man just likes to think he has that power. Three days after the darkest day in the history of the world, the brightest day dawns with Christ as Victor and very much alive. After He returns to His Father and sends His Spirit to live inside of us. This is the best thing that has happened yet to mankind. God inside Man.

Do you start to see the pattern? Adam had paradise, but then it was lost in the Fall. God created the sacrificial system to atone for sin, but it required perfect sacrifices. Still, better that than Hell. Then God sends Christ to die, which is the most perfect sacrifice of all, and those that accept that sacrifice get God. Everything in human history goes from bad to worse. Everything God does goes from good to glorious.

Where we are now is the most amazing position mankind has been in since the Fall. We have once again communication with God that need not be hindered by anything. We have God. What more can we ask for? And yet in Romans 8:23 Paul tells us this is but the first fruits of what is to come! We got the tiniest of glances what our human form shall be like with Christ after the Resurrection, and we have the book of Revelation to give our taste for heaven the smallest whet, and we right now have the Holy Spirit, God inside of us, just itching for us to access everything He wants to give us and this is just the beginning!

Do you understand this? Can you fathom what is being said here? This is not some quaint thing to say “Oh how nice, a-men.” to. This is the sort of thing you fall silent for in fear and humility, then you scream and shout for the overwhelming joy and excitement that it causes, then you fall silent again because you don’t know what else you can do, but you suddenly have the feeling you want to cry.

Just let this whole concept overwhelm you. Let yourself drown in it, let your imagination soar with the possibilities because I promise you, whatever you’re thinking is but the faintest scratch of the glories to come.