Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? Somehow I didn't until this year, but I spend so much time in libraries now that it's hard not to pick up on these things. I suppose it makes sense-- the first important poem in (semi-) readable English begins with a reference to April, which was also later called the "cruellest month" by T.S. Eliot in the first line of possibly the most famous (and most overrated) poem of our time. Anyway, in honor of all that, I'm going to NOT post another one of my poems (and split my infinitives with pride-- poets can do that!). What I am going to post is a list of good poems by much better poets than myself for you to check out if you're interested. All of these poems should be easy to find online if you don't want to spend your time hanging out in a library like I do. As a side note though, I do find that reading a poem out of an actual book seems to be more enjoyable than reading off a screen-- don't know why that is exactly, but try it and you'll see!
Starting at the beginning, I want to talk about a longer poem that I referenced in my last post but I feel is too big to include in a list. Possibly the best free verse poetry I've ever read is found in The Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot. Yes, The Waste Land is more famous, but the The Four Quartets is better-- and much more encouraging. Trust me. I can't recommend it highly enough; it takes a little bit of effort but it's well worth it. So start there if you can, but if all you have time for is shorter stuff, here is a brief list of some inspiring shorter poems that should make a great jumping-off point into the wide world of poetry (and if you want a much longer list just let me know and I can easily furnish that as well)!
John Donne-- Holy Sonnet 14 (Batter my heart...)
George Herbert-- Redemption
Andrew Marvell-- The Coronet
William Wordsworth-- Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
Percy Shelley-- Ozymandias
John Keats-- Ode to a Nightingale
Emily Dickinson-- "Hope is the thing with feathers"
Gerard Manley Hopkins-- "As Kingfishers catch fire"
Robert Frost-- The Road Not Taken
-- Two Tramps in Mud Time
Richard Wilbur-- Hamlen Brook
Mark Strand-- Keeping Things Whole
So there you go. A closing thought: our modern way of life tends to cause us to miss the beautiful in the midst of the mundane. I think one of the (many) reasons poetry has such value is that it is intrinsically an appreciation of the beauty God has embedded all over the place in this world. Reading (and writing) poetry helps me remember to look for the beauty of the world... and then I just start seeing it. To appreciate the beauty that God has made is a way to worship him, and that's why we're here, no? Also, we are God's poetry (see Ephesians 2:10-- "workmanship" in that verse is the Greek poiema which is the word we get poem from), so we were made to experience the creative and specific design of beauty because it's who we are! So enjoy the rest of National Poetry Month... and don't stop there.
Showing posts with label randomness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label randomness. Show all posts
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Trying
I'd like to begin today with an extremely random quote: "Do or do not; there is no try" --Yoda. Our favorite green jedi munchkin utters this line while trying to get Luke Skywalker to use the force strongly enough to lift his X-wing out of the swamp that inexplicably exists on (in?) the asteroid where Yoda lives. At least I think that's how it goes; I haven't seen the old Star Wars movies in quite a while.
Anyway, that particular line has always been one I've loved to quote, partially because Yoda is one of the only voice impressions I can do with any level of proficiency whatsoever and partly because it just seems applicable in many situations. You have to watch out for Yoda, though. As the main philosopher of the Star Wars series (along with Obi-wan, I guess), he's always saying things that are obviously meant to be profound costumed in a mystifying array of vague spirituality, ambiguity, and reversed syntax. When you look closer, though, his statements usually fall somewhere on the spectrum between pure nonsense and outright falsehood.
This one is a prime example. Now, I think it's true that people tend to use the phrase, "I'll try" to indicate that no one should expect them to succeed, either because they aren't up to the task or because they don't actually plan to expend that much effort on it. So in that sense, Yoda's instruction could be legitimate. A jedi saying they'd try would be a cop-out of that order, since the force should enable them to do basically whatever they want (an interesting issue never really addressed in the films, by the way-- why can't they fly? why can't they all shoot lightning out of their hands? If Vader can choke people with his mind, why does he even bother with a lightsaber? But I digress.) Here in the real world, though, there is no force. Here, we have God.
The most powerful force in the universe is not a formless power that can be used to good or evil ends. Far from it, He's a person (three of them, actually) with a very specific will for how things are going to go in his world. His sovereign will puts us in the position where we clearly do not have control over our own success or failure.
I'm not trying to get into the whole free will vs. sovereignty argument here. I think it's self evident, though, that our best-laid plans tend to "gang aft a-gley" as Robert Burns said (rough translation: they go straight to crap a lot of the time). A much more intelligible quote from another poet sums it up quite nicely, I think: "For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business." --T.S. Eliot. Now, Mr. Eliot wrote some really depressing poetry (and some very snobbish literary criticism) early in his career, but then an amazing thing happened: he met Jesus. The quote above is from after that happened, in the midst of his crowning accomplishment, a very long poetic meditation on the value of life (and other things) called The Four Quartets, which I highly recommend.
I think T.S. Eliot was wiser than Yoda. I also think that the preceding is a sentence that has never before been written in the history of literature. I'm ok with that. All I know is that the Bible is filled with verses backing up the idea that we have very little control of the "do or do not" part of life. For us, there is only try!
"Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?" Lamentations 3:37-38
"Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." Psalm 127:1
"Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished, you have done for us" Isaiah 26:12
Far from being depressing, this is freedom. If our success or failure as men or women-- as Christians, as people-- depends on our own efforts, we are screwed. But God takes the pressure off! He is already doing things; the things that we have accomplished are all things that he did. Instead of worrying about whether we succeed or fail, we get the privilege of discovering and participating in the plans of God.
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" Ephesians 2:10 (ESV).
I quoted from the ESV here because the NIV makes the verse sound unnecessarily Yoda-ish by inexplicably translating the Greek word for walk as "do" in this verse (and in no other place for whatever reason) and adding another "do" before good works, where there isn't even a verb in the original! Their carelessness caused me to misunderstand this verse for years, thinking that I had to somehow make God's plans happen.
What if instead, God is already at work in His world? What if his plans are already in motion, and we can just walk right into them as we pursue relationship with Him? What if all we have to do is try, and He handles the success and gives us failure when we need it? What if we can trust that He is strong and He loves us, and the rest is not our business?
Can we really be led by the hand of God, hear his voice, and work alongside Him in his perfect plan?
It's something I'd like to try.
Anyway, that particular line has always been one I've loved to quote, partially because Yoda is one of the only voice impressions I can do with any level of proficiency whatsoever and partly because it just seems applicable in many situations. You have to watch out for Yoda, though. As the main philosopher of the Star Wars series (along with Obi-wan, I guess), he's always saying things that are obviously meant to be profound costumed in a mystifying array of vague spirituality, ambiguity, and reversed syntax. When you look closer, though, his statements usually fall somewhere on the spectrum between pure nonsense and outright falsehood.
This one is a prime example. Now, I think it's true that people tend to use the phrase, "I'll try" to indicate that no one should expect them to succeed, either because they aren't up to the task or because they don't actually plan to expend that much effort on it. So in that sense, Yoda's instruction could be legitimate. A jedi saying they'd try would be a cop-out of that order, since the force should enable them to do basically whatever they want (an interesting issue never really addressed in the films, by the way-- why can't they fly? why can't they all shoot lightning out of their hands? If Vader can choke people with his mind, why does he even bother with a lightsaber? But I digress.) Here in the real world, though, there is no force. Here, we have God.
The most powerful force in the universe is not a formless power that can be used to good or evil ends. Far from it, He's a person (three of them, actually) with a very specific will for how things are going to go in his world. His sovereign will puts us in the position where we clearly do not have control over our own success or failure.
I'm not trying to get into the whole free will vs. sovereignty argument here. I think it's self evident, though, that our best-laid plans tend to "gang aft a-gley" as Robert Burns said (rough translation: they go straight to crap a lot of the time). A much more intelligible quote from another poet sums it up quite nicely, I think: "For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business." --T.S. Eliot. Now, Mr. Eliot wrote some really depressing poetry (and some very snobbish literary criticism) early in his career, but then an amazing thing happened: he met Jesus. The quote above is from after that happened, in the midst of his crowning accomplishment, a very long poetic meditation on the value of life (and other things) called The Four Quartets, which I highly recommend.
I think T.S. Eliot was wiser than Yoda. I also think that the preceding is a sentence that has never before been written in the history of literature. I'm ok with that. All I know is that the Bible is filled with verses backing up the idea that we have very little control of the "do or do not" part of life. For us, there is only try!
"Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?" Lamentations 3:37-38
"Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." Psalm 127:1
"Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished, you have done for us" Isaiah 26:12
Far from being depressing, this is freedom. If our success or failure as men or women-- as Christians, as people-- depends on our own efforts, we are screwed. But God takes the pressure off! He is already doing things; the things that we have accomplished are all things that he did. Instead of worrying about whether we succeed or fail, we get the privilege of discovering and participating in the plans of God.
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" Ephesians 2:10 (ESV).
I quoted from the ESV here because the NIV makes the verse sound unnecessarily Yoda-ish by inexplicably translating the Greek word for walk as "do" in this verse (and in no other place for whatever reason) and adding another "do" before good works, where there isn't even a verb in the original! Their carelessness caused me to misunderstand this verse for years, thinking that I had to somehow make God's plans happen.
What if instead, God is already at work in His world? What if his plans are already in motion, and we can just walk right into them as we pursue relationship with Him? What if all we have to do is try, and He handles the success and gives us failure when we need it? What if we can trust that He is strong and He loves us, and the rest is not our business?
Can we really be led by the hand of God, hear his voice, and work alongside Him in his perfect plan?
It's something I'd like to try.
Monday, December 26, 2011
'Twas the Night after Christmas...
...and I finally felt like writing a blog again. It turns out that trying to be a writer for a living has left me somewhat less than eager to sit down and type out big entries on my blog. I think there's only so much structured thought (and staring at a screen) that my mind can handle. With that in mind, this entry (and perhaps more and more of those to come) will be very unstructured and random. The nice thing about having a blog with very few readers is that you can do things like that with no real ramifications. This blog has certainly gone through several different phases of more/less structure, and it will continue to be whatever I want and need it to be going forward. Right now that means making it more personal and less conceptual, although I have no idea how that correlates to how beneficial it is for anyone else. It might make me more likely to write more often, but I don't know if quantity is even as important as quality. All I know is, if you want to read it, I'd love to have you do so! I do continue (even late at night) to hold myself to some standards of writing, so I will at least promise that-- I won't get completely lazy :)
It's funny to me how even the best things in life can become so formulaic that we do them without thinking. I know I've talked about this before, but I seriously tend to do this with just about everything. Blogging is a prime example. I like to share my poetry and thoughts, but sometimes I have such a rigid idea of what a blog post of mine can be that I don't write anything for a long time just because what that formula prescribes doesn't sound good to me! That, in a word, is silly. I want to do it less. Random posts help me break out of it.
An interesting issue that brings up in my mind is that randomness can also become a formula. This is a huge deal in the discussion of modern poetry, which I've been reading a lot of and a lot about recently. Basically, poets around the turn of the 20th century got so tired of all the poetry "rules" about rhyme, meter, etc. that they just discarded them and tried to start all over without rules. The thing is, they rejected the rules so rigidly that modern poetry quickly became just as stereotypical as what it tried to rebel against, only with fewer readers.
Now, I don't think poetry has to have rhyme or meter to be poetry. Free verse can be wonderful if the words are chosen with the same diligence innately required by adherence to rhyme and meter. It turns out, though, that it's also easy to use the whole "I don't follow the formula" thing as a cop-out for producing work with less effort and attention to quality. As I look back at some of my poetry, I see that I too have done this. I have traveled to the Wasteland and seen that many Waldo's have gone that way before, and continued on my journey.
Speaking of poetry, I have a B.A. in English with a concentration in poetry... and somehow I'm still woefully ignorant of good poetry throughout history. I realized this with an unpleasant shock the other day, and I have a desire to fix it. I own the Longman anthology of English poetry, so I just started at the beginning. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm in the 18th century now. I wonder why I didn't care about my education while I was actually doing it?
Speaking of that, I also unpleasantly realized that I haven't really cared about much of anything for a lot of my life. I've been afraid, I guess. I just want to stop living life like that. I want to do things I really care about, and I want to really care about the things I'm doing. Those are two subtly different things, in my mind, but I don't feel like explaining why. Maybe you feel the same way and you'll just get it.
The more I begin to fear the Lord, the less I fear everything else. This is what I think it means to be wholehearted. Fear divides you, unless you fear the One whose great desire is to put you back together. I don't want to live life in fragments, and I think God can make that happen.
I'm ready to care.
You know, I think you can only relax when you really care. If you won't work hard on anything, you can't relax because there's nothing to relax from! I know that when I've gone through times of just coasting, I couldn't even enjoy my downtime because it was all downtime. I constantly had the feeling that I should be doing something else (which was true). Entertainment, relaxation, procrastination-- they just won't get you where you're going. Take it from someone who knows. (By the way, that reminds me of a cool song called "Let the Drummer Kick" by Citizen Cope. Someone on Youtube made a really cool animation that goes with it.) To belatedly finish the thought I was just working on: if you work when you need to, all the fun things you get to do become amazing blessings rather than desperate attempts to escape your gnawing conscience. It's wonderful.
Speaking of music and wonderful, music is wonderful. Almost everything I was given for Christmas has to do with music (or else food, but that's a different topic). I think that should tell me something about music. I care about it! It's part of what God's called me to, and I want to be better at it and appreciate it more.
Speaking of absolutely nothing in particular, I had one of the greatest text message conversations of my life the other day. I had been at my parents before going to a party, and afterwards my mom texted me asking how it was. I told her it was pretty good and pretty much what I was expecting, and I asked her how her day was. She told me four things she did that day and said that I wasn't being very descriptive. That's when it hit me: men and women don't understand each other.
If you ask a guy how his day was, you will get an evaluation. It will probably be short. If you ask a woman how her day was, you will get a description. It may be quite long.
Obviously, neither side understands the question they're asking, so both end up vaguely dissatisfied with the answers they get. I think I can solve the problem, though-- we just need to stop asking questions. Next, I'll be tackling world hunger. Believe it or not, I also do some of my best and most organized thinking late at night like this. But tonight is a holiday.
Two last things, and then off to try to live for the rest of the year like Jesus really did come to live with us and die for us... and also to try not to forget the giver for the gifts.
1. Today at church we played O Holy Night, and it was a powerful moment of worship. Less than 3 minutes later, we were playing Jingle Bell Rock... and there was nothing weird about that. We praised God with all we had, and then we laughed and danced like crazy people. Or put another way, we cared about something deeply and invested our hearts in it, and then we were able to have joy in the ridiculous and simple. Before today, I wouldn't have thought that Jingle Bell Rock could be a worship song. I think it was this morning. I can't even believe I'm saying that. But what if we honored God in that moment just as much as in the rest of the service?
2. Penguins are pretty much the most comical creatures alive.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
It's funny to me how even the best things in life can become so formulaic that we do them without thinking. I know I've talked about this before, but I seriously tend to do this with just about everything. Blogging is a prime example. I like to share my poetry and thoughts, but sometimes I have such a rigid idea of what a blog post of mine can be that I don't write anything for a long time just because what that formula prescribes doesn't sound good to me! That, in a word, is silly. I want to do it less. Random posts help me break out of it.
An interesting issue that brings up in my mind is that randomness can also become a formula. This is a huge deal in the discussion of modern poetry, which I've been reading a lot of and a lot about recently. Basically, poets around the turn of the 20th century got so tired of all the poetry "rules" about rhyme, meter, etc. that they just discarded them and tried to start all over without rules. The thing is, they rejected the rules so rigidly that modern poetry quickly became just as stereotypical as what it tried to rebel against, only with fewer readers.
Now, I don't think poetry has to have rhyme or meter to be poetry. Free verse can be wonderful if the words are chosen with the same diligence innately required by adherence to rhyme and meter. It turns out, though, that it's also easy to use the whole "I don't follow the formula" thing as a cop-out for producing work with less effort and attention to quality. As I look back at some of my poetry, I see that I too have done this. I have traveled to the Wasteland and seen that many Waldo's have gone that way before, and continued on my journey.
Speaking of poetry, I have a B.A. in English with a concentration in poetry... and somehow I'm still woefully ignorant of good poetry throughout history. I realized this with an unpleasant shock the other day, and I have a desire to fix it. I own the Longman anthology of English poetry, so I just started at the beginning. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm in the 18th century now. I wonder why I didn't care about my education while I was actually doing it?
Speaking of that, I also unpleasantly realized that I haven't really cared about much of anything for a lot of my life. I've been afraid, I guess. I just want to stop living life like that. I want to do things I really care about, and I want to really care about the things I'm doing. Those are two subtly different things, in my mind, but I don't feel like explaining why. Maybe you feel the same way and you'll just get it.
The more I begin to fear the Lord, the less I fear everything else. This is what I think it means to be wholehearted. Fear divides you, unless you fear the One whose great desire is to put you back together. I don't want to live life in fragments, and I think God can make that happen.
I'm ready to care.
You know, I think you can only relax when you really care. If you won't work hard on anything, you can't relax because there's nothing to relax from! I know that when I've gone through times of just coasting, I couldn't even enjoy my downtime because it was all downtime. I constantly had the feeling that I should be doing something else (which was true). Entertainment, relaxation, procrastination-- they just won't get you where you're going. Take it from someone who knows. (By the way, that reminds me of a cool song called "Let the Drummer Kick" by Citizen Cope. Someone on Youtube made a really cool animation that goes with it.) To belatedly finish the thought I was just working on: if you work when you need to, all the fun things you get to do become amazing blessings rather than desperate attempts to escape your gnawing conscience. It's wonderful.
Speaking of music and wonderful, music is wonderful. Almost everything I was given for Christmas has to do with music (or else food, but that's a different topic). I think that should tell me something about music. I care about it! It's part of what God's called me to, and I want to be better at it and appreciate it more.
Speaking of absolutely nothing in particular, I had one of the greatest text message conversations of my life the other day. I had been at my parents before going to a party, and afterwards my mom texted me asking how it was. I told her it was pretty good and pretty much what I was expecting, and I asked her how her day was. She told me four things she did that day and said that I wasn't being very descriptive. That's when it hit me: men and women don't understand each other.
If you ask a guy how his day was, you will get an evaluation. It will probably be short. If you ask a woman how her day was, you will get a description. It may be quite long.
Obviously, neither side understands the question they're asking, so both end up vaguely dissatisfied with the answers they get. I think I can solve the problem, though-- we just need to stop asking questions. Next, I'll be tackling world hunger. Believe it or not, I also do some of my best and most organized thinking late at night like this. But tonight is a holiday.
Two last things, and then off to try to live for the rest of the year like Jesus really did come to live with us and die for us... and also to try not to forget the giver for the gifts.
1. Today at church we played O Holy Night, and it was a powerful moment of worship. Less than 3 minutes later, we were playing Jingle Bell Rock... and there was nothing weird about that. We praised God with all we had, and then we laughed and danced like crazy people. Or put another way, we cared about something deeply and invested our hearts in it, and then we were able to have joy in the ridiculous and simple. Before today, I wouldn't have thought that Jingle Bell Rock could be a worship song. I think it was this morning. I can't even believe I'm saying that. But what if we honored God in that moment just as much as in the rest of the service?
2. Penguins are pretty much the most comical creatures alive.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Stepping In
Disclaimer: this post is not meant to be read while eating. Consider yourself warned.
The more I try to follow Jesus, the more I realize that he is always speaking to us, whether we are listening or not. He can use any means, any situation, and nothing is too plain or ordinary for him. He doesn't have to part the heavens; he'll do whatever it takes to get to us.
I know that because this week he spoke to me through a piece of poop.
No, not like an audible voice or anything. I'll explain. First of all, though, just a brief sidebar: I will be using the G-rated or PG-rated terms for fecal matter throughout this post (poop and crap, respectively), but I wish it to be known that I find neither of them as satisfying as the PG-13/R-rated term for which they are both euphemisms (although there's no denying that poop is an intrinsically funny word). I think it has to do with the idea of onomatopoeia-- when you step in some of said substance, it doesn't sound anything like "poop" or "crap"... but it does sound an awful lot like "Sh....." (at least I think so). Also, the occasional use of real swear words instead of their socially acceptable equivalents can be more helpful (and probably no more or less offensive to God, who sees our hearts) in relieving real frustration such as what I'm about to describe, I've found. But, I really don't want to get into the moral discussion of the proper uses (if any) of profanity. Although, having said all that, it probably can't be helped at this point. ANYway...
To restate my earlier premise, God used some crap to get my attention. I was moving a bunch of stuff into my new apartment, and I had to park my car on the street (I guess 3rd-floor tenants don't get driveway spots). So, I was carrying a big box of random stuff through the treelawn. As you may know, when carrying a big box it is pretty hard to see the ground near your feet.
So yeah, I stepped all up in that stuff (a prime example of a situation where using the real word would be more satisfying). Not one of those glancing blows where you just wipe it off real quick, but one of those where you look down and the whole pile is smashed flat and a large portion is still adhering to and squishing around the side of your shoe. Very frustrating, and not at all what you want to be tracking into your new apartment, especially when to get there you have to walk up a common staircase past two other people's doors whom you'd like to have a cordial relationship with.
Something had to be done, so I left my shoes at the door, took the box up to my place in my socks, and got some paper towels. Unfortunately, I was wearing basketball shoes. As a former shoe salesman, I know that the benefits of this shoe style include superior impact absorption (for jumping), great ankle support, and good traction. Well, the traction part turns into a big disadvantage if you step in some crap, because all those little rubber zigzags make for some pretty impossible crevices to clean with paper towels. So there I was, sitting on my new doorstep, very intently scraping poop out of the treads of my shoe with a tiny stick.
And then God said, "What if you were this diligent about getting rid of the crap that's in your heart?"
At least, that's the best wording I can put to the conviction I felt in my spirit. How often am I content to just leave my sin sticking to me and track it all around my own life and the lives of those around me? It's not big... just like poop isn't real big. It isn't the size that's the problem... it's the content, the dirt, and... the smell.
We're supposed to be the fragrance of Christ in the world, both to believers and those who are still searching, and ultimately as an offering to God himself (see 2 Corinthians 2:14-16). But if we walk without really caring too much or taking time to address the sin stuck in the treads of our lives, even the little/private/thought-life/insert excuse here stuff, I guarantee our aroma will be a much different one.
Even if most of the rest of us is clean, it doesn't take much to change a fragrance. I can pray and worship God and witness all I want, but if I'm self-centered the rest of the time then what do I smell like? I'll leave you to fill in that blank. By the way, another sidebar I don't want to get into now: this same principle may well be why the church is often not respected by our culture. We can do all kinds of good things, but it doesn't take many people like those idiots who protest at funerals and such to change the aroma of all of us...just a thought.
Back to my other idea, though. The verse that God initially brought to my mind through all of this was a different one from 2 Corinthians-- the part where it talks about their reaction to the correction Paul had brought them in his other letter (7:8-11):
"Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it--I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while--yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter."
See, we don't need to dwell painfully on our sin forever, but to bring it to God. God's conviction brings earnestness, eagerness to clear ourselves, indignation, alarm, longing, concern, and readiness for justice-- all of which are exactly what I felt when I stepped in that crap, by the way. I was diligent, eager to clean it off, angry, alarmed, concerned, and ready to see justice done to the perpetrator! (I believe I prayed something to the effect that the owner of that dog would have to watch it get run over, actually. I'm not saying this was part of the godly sorrow, just that it seemed like justice at the time. It probably isn't.)
The bigger question, though, is why my stepping into sin doesn't have this same effect on me. Why do I seem so unconcerned about the uncleanness and the aroma? Why don't I have that same earnestness to be clean? I have one idea-- come back with me to my story for a moment.
The reason I was at the apartment in the first place on this day before moving in was to meet the gas man and let him in so he could turn the gas on. He was (not surprisingly) late, but it turned out to be good because I had just finished my lengthy cleaning process and gotten all the stuff up into my place. He arrived just as I was coming down to my car with a couple bags I was going to fill with more stuff to move on a future trip. "Go on in," I said, "it's open... I just have to drop these in my car real quick." So I was hurrying back to my car, only thinking about getting back into the house to show him where to go. You see where this is heading?
Yup. I stepped in it again. The exact same place. It wasn't quite as bad this time, but only because it was already completely flat from the first time. What I said at this point I will not even paraphrase. My point is, though, that I felt a lot less desire to clean it off right away, having just gone through that whole process.
I think it gets harder to deal with our sin seriously because we keep coming back to it. We step in it again, sometimes within hours or minutes of getting clean, and we'd just rather hide it than go through the painstaking process of actually cleaning it out and the additional shame of not being able to avoid the exact same mistake we already made. The ancient philosopher Heraclitus famously said "You could not step twice into the same river," the idea being that the water flows on and is different when you come back. But you can step into the same crap as many times as you choose to, or as many times as you forget where it is or don't pay attention.
That's why it's so important to have godly sorrow, the kind that brings earnestness and repentance and leaves no regret. Each time we come before God with our sin is no different than the first time. His love for us is the same, no matter how many times we fall, and only He can clean us to the point where we convey the aroma of Christ and give us awareness of how to stay out of the crap next time.
So anyway, I did clean off my shoes again, and it was while doing so that I felt like God told me that second part. The instrument He used to reveal all this to me was perhaps the most unglamorous one possible, and then just in case I forgot he used that same piece of s**t (couldn't resist any longer) again. He is always speaking. Will I listen? He has much better things for me to step into. :)
The more I try to follow Jesus, the more I realize that he is always speaking to us, whether we are listening or not. He can use any means, any situation, and nothing is too plain or ordinary for him. He doesn't have to part the heavens; he'll do whatever it takes to get to us.
I know that because this week he spoke to me through a piece of poop.
No, not like an audible voice or anything. I'll explain. First of all, though, just a brief sidebar: I will be using the G-rated or PG-rated terms for fecal matter throughout this post (poop and crap, respectively), but I wish it to be known that I find neither of them as satisfying as the PG-13/R-rated term for which they are both euphemisms (although there's no denying that poop is an intrinsically funny word). I think it has to do with the idea of onomatopoeia-- when you step in some of said substance, it doesn't sound anything like "poop" or "crap"... but it does sound an awful lot like "Sh....." (at least I think so). Also, the occasional use of real swear words instead of their socially acceptable equivalents can be more helpful (and probably no more or less offensive to God, who sees our hearts) in relieving real frustration such as what I'm about to describe, I've found. But, I really don't want to get into the moral discussion of the proper uses (if any) of profanity. Although, having said all that, it probably can't be helped at this point. ANYway...
To restate my earlier premise, God used some crap to get my attention. I was moving a bunch of stuff into my new apartment, and I had to park my car on the street (I guess 3rd-floor tenants don't get driveway spots). So, I was carrying a big box of random stuff through the treelawn. As you may know, when carrying a big box it is pretty hard to see the ground near your feet.
So yeah, I stepped all up in that stuff (a prime example of a situation where using the real word would be more satisfying). Not one of those glancing blows where you just wipe it off real quick, but one of those where you look down and the whole pile is smashed flat and a large portion is still adhering to and squishing around the side of your shoe. Very frustrating, and not at all what you want to be tracking into your new apartment, especially when to get there you have to walk up a common staircase past two other people's doors whom you'd like to have a cordial relationship with.
Something had to be done, so I left my shoes at the door, took the box up to my place in my socks, and got some paper towels. Unfortunately, I was wearing basketball shoes. As a former shoe salesman, I know that the benefits of this shoe style include superior impact absorption (for jumping), great ankle support, and good traction. Well, the traction part turns into a big disadvantage if you step in some crap, because all those little rubber zigzags make for some pretty impossible crevices to clean with paper towels. So there I was, sitting on my new doorstep, very intently scraping poop out of the treads of my shoe with a tiny stick.
And then God said, "What if you were this diligent about getting rid of the crap that's in your heart?"
At least, that's the best wording I can put to the conviction I felt in my spirit. How often am I content to just leave my sin sticking to me and track it all around my own life and the lives of those around me? It's not big... just like poop isn't real big. It isn't the size that's the problem... it's the content, the dirt, and... the smell.
We're supposed to be the fragrance of Christ in the world, both to believers and those who are still searching, and ultimately as an offering to God himself (see 2 Corinthians 2:14-16). But if we walk without really caring too much or taking time to address the sin stuck in the treads of our lives, even the little/private/thought-life/insert excuse here stuff, I guarantee our aroma will be a much different one.
Even if most of the rest of us is clean, it doesn't take much to change a fragrance. I can pray and worship God and witness all I want, but if I'm self-centered the rest of the time then what do I smell like? I'll leave you to fill in that blank. By the way, another sidebar I don't want to get into now: this same principle may well be why the church is often not respected by our culture. We can do all kinds of good things, but it doesn't take many people like those idiots who protest at funerals and such to change the aroma of all of us...just a thought.
Back to my other idea, though. The verse that God initially brought to my mind through all of this was a different one from 2 Corinthians-- the part where it talks about their reaction to the correction Paul had brought them in his other letter (7:8-11):
"Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it--I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while--yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter."
See, we don't need to dwell painfully on our sin forever, but to bring it to God. God's conviction brings earnestness, eagerness to clear ourselves, indignation, alarm, longing, concern, and readiness for justice-- all of which are exactly what I felt when I stepped in that crap, by the way. I was diligent, eager to clean it off, angry, alarmed, concerned, and ready to see justice done to the perpetrator! (I believe I prayed something to the effect that the owner of that dog would have to watch it get run over, actually. I'm not saying this was part of the godly sorrow, just that it seemed like justice at the time. It probably isn't.)
The bigger question, though, is why my stepping into sin doesn't have this same effect on me. Why do I seem so unconcerned about the uncleanness and the aroma? Why don't I have that same earnestness to be clean? I have one idea-- come back with me to my story for a moment.
The reason I was at the apartment in the first place on this day before moving in was to meet the gas man and let him in so he could turn the gas on. He was (not surprisingly) late, but it turned out to be good because I had just finished my lengthy cleaning process and gotten all the stuff up into my place. He arrived just as I was coming down to my car with a couple bags I was going to fill with more stuff to move on a future trip. "Go on in," I said, "it's open... I just have to drop these in my car real quick." So I was hurrying back to my car, only thinking about getting back into the house to show him where to go. You see where this is heading?
Yup. I stepped in it again. The exact same place. It wasn't quite as bad this time, but only because it was already completely flat from the first time. What I said at this point I will not even paraphrase. My point is, though, that I felt a lot less desire to clean it off right away, having just gone through that whole process.
I think it gets harder to deal with our sin seriously because we keep coming back to it. We step in it again, sometimes within hours or minutes of getting clean, and we'd just rather hide it than go through the painstaking process of actually cleaning it out and the additional shame of not being able to avoid the exact same mistake we already made. The ancient philosopher Heraclitus famously said "You could not step twice into the same river," the idea being that the water flows on and is different when you come back. But you can step into the same crap as many times as you choose to, or as many times as you forget where it is or don't pay attention.
That's why it's so important to have godly sorrow, the kind that brings earnestness and repentance and leaves no regret. Each time we come before God with our sin is no different than the first time. His love for us is the same, no matter how many times we fall, and only He can clean us to the point where we convey the aroma of Christ and give us awareness of how to stay out of the crap next time.
So anyway, I did clean off my shoes again, and it was while doing so that I felt like God told me that second part. The instrument He used to reveal all this to me was perhaps the most unglamorous one possible, and then just in case I forgot he used that same piece of s**t (couldn't resist any longer) again. He is always speaking. Will I listen? He has much better things for me to step into. :)
Friday, September 24, 2010
How To Be a Good Customer in Three Easy Steps
Today, as I'm sure no one in the world knows, is my six-month anniversary of being hired as a server. In fact, I'm not even sure why I know that myself. It sounds like I'm in some sort of weird relationship...
Anyway, the experience has been and continues to be a very interesting one, and it certainly has given me a lot of new perspective on how I approach interactions with people who are serving me. Based on my experiences so far, I am ready to offer three basic rules for how to be a good customer. These apply specifically to a restaurant setting, but I'm sure they can easily be applied to any customer service situation. By following these three easy rules (and their corollaries), you can ensure that you are well-liked and appreciated by any customer service professional you encounter.
Rule #1: Remember that your server is a person.
--Corollary 1: The proper response to "How are you today?" is not "Coffee." When a person asks you that question (even if, horror of horrors, you haven't yet had coffee today), the standard social practice is to exchange pleasantries and then go from there. I mean, if this is a restaurant, do you really think I'm not going to get around to asking what you want to drink? Hey, even if you don't want to further validate my personhood by asking how I am doing in return, at least answer the question before moving on (and believe me, the extra five seconds or so you feel like this politeness might delay your precious coffee are nothing compared to how said coffee will plummet down your server's list of priorities if you aren't polite).
--Corollary 2: Servers, like all normal humans, can only be in one place at a time. Therefore, they also engage in the standard human practice of prioritizing the activities they need to perform. Chances are, they also have four other tables that require attention. Therefore, you will have to wait for things sometimes. Don't blame your server; blame physics. Helpful comments like "I'm still waiting for such and such random request I made to be fulfilled" do not cause the laws of physics to be suspended even temporarily.
--Corollary 3: Your server cannot read your mind. Therefore, if you would like something to happen, you're going to have to ask. Your incredulous stare and wrinkled up nose and high pitched cry of "You put this all on the same bill??" will not somehow go back in time and inform me that you wanted the check to be split if you didn't say anything about it. Nor will I be able to somehow know that "they always make this dish for me some other random way that isn't in the menu" before I bring it to you the normal way... unless you say something. There are 25 other servers that work here, and I've never seen you before, and even if I have, it still isn't my job to commit your favorite idiosyncratic order to memory. Also, servers have no other form of extrasensory perception either-- if your food is cold, I'm sorry, but I had no way of knowing that because I didn't touch or taste it on the way out to you. The plate was warm, and the cooks are the ones responsible. In summary, servers do not deserve blame for failure to possess superpowers.
--Corollary 4: Servers, like other citizens of free countries, make decisions on their own free will. So feel free to try commanding me like I'm your slave, but just remember that I have the freedom to delay, demean, or disregard your request. I do so at the risk of my tip, but I'll let you in on a secret: I already know that the demanding people are NOT the ones who end up tipping well in the end anyway. It's a value judgment. I don't have time to be running back and forth on your every whim when I know you aren't going to be a good tipper. Meanwhile, my nice tables that I can make bank on would just be sitting there waiting, and that just isn't going to happen. Requests work just as well, if not better, than commands.
**Personal pet peeve related to this topic: "Please and thank you." As in, "do this crazy thing I want, please and thank you." This clever ruse perpetrated by rude people takes two normally polite phrases and combines them into one impolite one, making what seems like a request into a command about which the recipient has no choice. Adding the thank you makes unquestioning obedience a foregone conclusion. But what if I don't do it? Will you want to take your thank you back? Also, if I do follow your bidding, you probably won't say thank you again thinking that the first compound one covered it, which is also rude. General rule: Please = polite. Thank you = polite. Please and thank you = annoying.
Rule #2: Remember that you are a person (i.e. not God).
--Corollary 1: The customer is not always right. Sometimes, they are wrong and we're just letting them think they're right. Even if they were always right, this would not be an excuse for being demeaning or overly demanding of their servers, who are people exactly like them and don't deserve the rudeness.
--Corollary 2: The whole restaurant does not revolve around you. Darn physics, it gotcha again. Basically, if your server has five tables, they each have just as much right to his or her time as you do, and it would be helpful if you understood this. Making your server run around like a crazy person is not only rude to him or her, but also to everyone else he or she is serving (and those people, by the way, are noticing how rude you're being).
--Corollary 3: Order off the freaking menu. You are not so special that not one of these 70 choices is good enough for you (And if you are, why are you at this plain old little restaurant?). Hey, if you don't eat pork and you want turkey bacon instead of regular, ok. You're a vegetarian and you want extra hash browns instead of meat, I can deal with that. But there is absolutely no need to start picking ingredients from other dishes and haphazardly combining them into your own creation. Go to BD's for that. Do you have any idea how the cooks look at me when I send back your order? They hate you, and they hate me for trying to accommodate you. We have a menu, and those are the choices. If you don't want any of them, there are plenty of other restaurants.
Rule #3: Tip well.
Honestly, you can do whatever you want with the other rules if you follow this one. I don't care how demanding and incomprehensible you were, if you leave 25% or more, you can sit with me anytime. Conversely, you can follow all the other rules and still be remembered as a worthless cheapskate if you don't follow this one. Remember, this is a server's livelihood, the proverbial bottom line. This is how to make an impact in the life of a server.
So that's it! Follow those three easy steps, and you will be the toast of the customer service industry in no time. Thanks for reading, and good luck!
(By the way, I realize that some of my suggestions might sound slightly angry... and I'm ok with that. Truth be told, some of these things are frustrating, and writing about them is helpful in processing that. Just know that, all in all, I actually enjoy being a server and that most people aren't like the ones I'm using as my "hypothetical" examples, nor am I suggesting that anyone who reads this blog is like that. I assume that my readers are the very models of decorum and courtesy, and it's written using the collective "you" just for effect. Just don't let me catch you being one of those people, please and thank you :)
p.s. Am I right? Wasn't that annoying?
p.p.s. Did you like how I closed the parenthesis with a smiley, though? That's an online grammar innovation that I am, as far as I know, the pioneer of. It has nothing to do with customer service, but smiling at people who are serving you is helpful too... ok, I'm done now.
Anyway, the experience has been and continues to be a very interesting one, and it certainly has given me a lot of new perspective on how I approach interactions with people who are serving me. Based on my experiences so far, I am ready to offer three basic rules for how to be a good customer. These apply specifically to a restaurant setting, but I'm sure they can easily be applied to any customer service situation. By following these three easy rules (and their corollaries), you can ensure that you are well-liked and appreciated by any customer service professional you encounter.
Rule #1: Remember that your server is a person.
--Corollary 1: The proper response to "How are you today?" is not "Coffee." When a person asks you that question (even if, horror of horrors, you haven't yet had coffee today), the standard social practice is to exchange pleasantries and then go from there. I mean, if this is a restaurant, do you really think I'm not going to get around to asking what you want to drink? Hey, even if you don't want to further validate my personhood by asking how I am doing in return, at least answer the question before moving on (and believe me, the extra five seconds or so you feel like this politeness might delay your precious coffee are nothing compared to how said coffee will plummet down your server's list of priorities if you aren't polite).
--Corollary 2: Servers, like all normal humans, can only be in one place at a time. Therefore, they also engage in the standard human practice of prioritizing the activities they need to perform. Chances are, they also have four other tables that require attention. Therefore, you will have to wait for things sometimes. Don't blame your server; blame physics. Helpful comments like "I'm still waiting for such and such random request I made to be fulfilled" do not cause the laws of physics to be suspended even temporarily.
--Corollary 3: Your server cannot read your mind. Therefore, if you would like something to happen, you're going to have to ask. Your incredulous stare and wrinkled up nose and high pitched cry of "You put this all on the same bill??" will not somehow go back in time and inform me that you wanted the check to be split if you didn't say anything about it. Nor will I be able to somehow know that "they always make this dish for me some other random way that isn't in the menu" before I bring it to you the normal way... unless you say something. There are 25 other servers that work here, and I've never seen you before, and even if I have, it still isn't my job to commit your favorite idiosyncratic order to memory. Also, servers have no other form of extrasensory perception either-- if your food is cold, I'm sorry, but I had no way of knowing that because I didn't touch or taste it on the way out to you. The plate was warm, and the cooks are the ones responsible. In summary, servers do not deserve blame for failure to possess superpowers.
--Corollary 4: Servers, like other citizens of free countries, make decisions on their own free will. So feel free to try commanding me like I'm your slave, but just remember that I have the freedom to delay, demean, or disregard your request. I do so at the risk of my tip, but I'll let you in on a secret: I already know that the demanding people are NOT the ones who end up tipping well in the end anyway. It's a value judgment. I don't have time to be running back and forth on your every whim when I know you aren't going to be a good tipper. Meanwhile, my nice tables that I can make bank on would just be sitting there waiting, and that just isn't going to happen. Requests work just as well, if not better, than commands.
**Personal pet peeve related to this topic: "Please and thank you." As in, "do this crazy thing I want, please and thank you." This clever ruse perpetrated by rude people takes two normally polite phrases and combines them into one impolite one, making what seems like a request into a command about which the recipient has no choice. Adding the thank you makes unquestioning obedience a foregone conclusion. But what if I don't do it? Will you want to take your thank you back? Also, if I do follow your bidding, you probably won't say thank you again thinking that the first compound one covered it, which is also rude. General rule: Please = polite. Thank you = polite. Please and thank you = annoying.
Rule #2: Remember that you are a person (i.e. not God).
--Corollary 1: The customer is not always right. Sometimes, they are wrong and we're just letting them think they're right. Even if they were always right, this would not be an excuse for being demeaning or overly demanding of their servers, who are people exactly like them and don't deserve the rudeness.
--Corollary 2: The whole restaurant does not revolve around you. Darn physics, it gotcha again. Basically, if your server has five tables, they each have just as much right to his or her time as you do, and it would be helpful if you understood this. Making your server run around like a crazy person is not only rude to him or her, but also to everyone else he or she is serving (and those people, by the way, are noticing how rude you're being).
--Corollary 3: Order off the freaking menu. You are not so special that not one of these 70 choices is good enough for you (And if you are, why are you at this plain old little restaurant?). Hey, if you don't eat pork and you want turkey bacon instead of regular, ok. You're a vegetarian and you want extra hash browns instead of meat, I can deal with that. But there is absolutely no need to start picking ingredients from other dishes and haphazardly combining them into your own creation. Go to BD's for that. Do you have any idea how the cooks look at me when I send back your order? They hate you, and they hate me for trying to accommodate you. We have a menu, and those are the choices. If you don't want any of them, there are plenty of other restaurants.
Rule #3: Tip well.
Honestly, you can do whatever you want with the other rules if you follow this one. I don't care how demanding and incomprehensible you were, if you leave 25% or more, you can sit with me anytime. Conversely, you can follow all the other rules and still be remembered as a worthless cheapskate if you don't follow this one. Remember, this is a server's livelihood, the proverbial bottom line. This is how to make an impact in the life of a server.
So that's it! Follow those three easy steps, and you will be the toast of the customer service industry in no time. Thanks for reading, and good luck!
(By the way, I realize that some of my suggestions might sound slightly angry... and I'm ok with that. Truth be told, some of these things are frustrating, and writing about them is helpful in processing that. Just know that, all in all, I actually enjoy being a server and that most people aren't like the ones I'm using as my "hypothetical" examples, nor am I suggesting that anyone who reads this blog is like that. I assume that my readers are the very models of decorum and courtesy, and it's written using the collective "you" just for effect. Just don't let me catch you being one of those people, please and thank you :)
p.s. Am I right? Wasn't that annoying?
p.p.s. Did you like how I closed the parenthesis with a smiley, though? That's an online grammar innovation that I am, as far as I know, the pioneer of. It has nothing to do with customer service, but smiling at people who are serving you is helpful too... ok, I'm done now.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Summer thoughts
In my last entry, I mentioned that I haven't been writing much partially because I often feel like I don't have anything to say. After thinking about it some more, I think the next part of the story is that I don't feel like I have anything to say because I put too much pressure on myself to come up with something profound and world-changing. I mean, I'd love to be full of amazing insights and witty commentary on the world, and some days maybe I am. What I'm coming to think is really valuable, though, is just a willingness to be real.
The people I enjoy being with the most are the ones that I know are being genuine with me. I've been on a journey of learning how to be more real with people myself, and I think part of that is not expecting myself or anyone else to be amazing all the time. So in that spirit, here are some random thoughts that may or may not shed any light into who I am or any other mysteries of life.
1. People who do amazing things usually are not looking for acceptance. They live, create, and work for the joy of it, and incredible things just happen. Acceptance and approval are just side effects. Unfortunately, what often happens next is that they get hooked on the feeling and then try to do what they used to be doing in order to get approval and popular recognition. Then they stop doing amazing things.
2. In order for someone to love you, they have to know who you really are. That means you have to be who you really are, or at least attempt to. Otherwise, the person being loved is someone that doesn't really exist, a fake self of your own creation. Actually though, people won't love this fake self that much anyway... it'll be more like admiration, because fake selves tend to have only good points and no weaknesses. Again, it's essential to be genuine. You might think you want to be impressive, but you really want to be loved.
3. I catch myself trying to be profound even when I've just said I'm not going to.
4. My motto in life: "Stay away from the drama" (bonus points for people who know what song that comes from).
5. It's pretty hard to beat cool summer nights as far as perfect weather goes.
6. My ranking of the seasons: 1) Winter. I'm always hot all the time, and winter is the one time I can avoid this. Plus, snow is pretty much my favorite thing ever, as I believe I have rhapsodized about on this blog somewhere. 2) Autumn. It sounds much cooler called by its proper name, and the crispness and coolness in the air is amazing. 3) Summer. Despite the cool nights (which, awesome though they may be, are rare) and the ability to run around and do crazy stuff outside, the extreme heat brings this one down the list. 4) Spring. Maybe it's just because we hardly have this one in Cleveland or because its main characteristic seems to be incessant rainfall, but I've never been a fan.
7. My ranking of Starburst colors: 1) Pink, the undisputed king (queen?) of the starbursts. 2) Yellow, the underdog that I always get to eat the most of because no one else likes them that much. 3) Orange, nothing fancy, just orange. 4) Red, because I don't like things that are supposed to taste like cherries. They don't, and what they do taste like is this cough syrup we used to have when I was little. I've never been able to get past that.
8. I've always been extremely competitive. As I've gotten older, though, I've started to realize that the people you're playing with/against are more important than winning (a shocking revelation, no? It took me a long time to figure it out). I still try to do my best, but that really makes it much less of a big deal when I don't win.
9. I do still beat myself up when I don't feel like I personally did as well as I should have, though. Not saying this is a good thing, just that the competitiveness isn't all the way gone.
10. One of my very favorite things to do is just sit around and have long conversations about things that really matter. It's impossible to generate those times, but when they happen it's amazing. It's totally worth going through the times of superficiality and whatever else it may take to get there.
11. Writing gets a lot more fun the less pressure you put on it. A deadline is one of the biggest forms of pressure ever invented.
12. I just got texting on my phone this past month. It's amazing. I don't really know how I made it so long without having it. (For those of you who are wondering, this does not mean I'm any more likely to ever get Facebook. I never had any antipathy toward texting, I just didn't have money to pay for it. Facebook is a completely different story.)
13. Another thing I love doing in the summer is lying down in front of a fan. My family will tell you that I do this often, at completely unpredictable times. These are things you learn to do when you don't have A/C.
14. Fourteen is a really random number of things to list, so I'll stop here. I also like making abrupt exits.
The people I enjoy being with the most are the ones that I know are being genuine with me. I've been on a journey of learning how to be more real with people myself, and I think part of that is not expecting myself or anyone else to be amazing all the time. So in that spirit, here are some random thoughts that may or may not shed any light into who I am or any other mysteries of life.
1. People who do amazing things usually are not looking for acceptance. They live, create, and work for the joy of it, and incredible things just happen. Acceptance and approval are just side effects. Unfortunately, what often happens next is that they get hooked on the feeling and then try to do what they used to be doing in order to get approval and popular recognition. Then they stop doing amazing things.
2. In order for someone to love you, they have to know who you really are. That means you have to be who you really are, or at least attempt to. Otherwise, the person being loved is someone that doesn't really exist, a fake self of your own creation. Actually though, people won't love this fake self that much anyway... it'll be more like admiration, because fake selves tend to have only good points and no weaknesses. Again, it's essential to be genuine. You might think you want to be impressive, but you really want to be loved.
3. I catch myself trying to be profound even when I've just said I'm not going to.
4. My motto in life: "Stay away from the drama" (bonus points for people who know what song that comes from).
5. It's pretty hard to beat cool summer nights as far as perfect weather goes.
6. My ranking of the seasons: 1) Winter. I'm always hot all the time, and winter is the one time I can avoid this. Plus, snow is pretty much my favorite thing ever, as I believe I have rhapsodized about on this blog somewhere. 2) Autumn. It sounds much cooler called by its proper name, and the crispness and coolness in the air is amazing. 3) Summer. Despite the cool nights (which, awesome though they may be, are rare) and the ability to run around and do crazy stuff outside, the extreme heat brings this one down the list. 4) Spring. Maybe it's just because we hardly have this one in Cleveland or because its main characteristic seems to be incessant rainfall, but I've never been a fan.
7. My ranking of Starburst colors: 1) Pink, the undisputed king (queen?) of the starbursts. 2) Yellow, the underdog that I always get to eat the most of because no one else likes them that much. 3) Orange, nothing fancy, just orange. 4) Red, because I don't like things that are supposed to taste like cherries. They don't, and what they do taste like is this cough syrup we used to have when I was little. I've never been able to get past that.
8. I've always been extremely competitive. As I've gotten older, though, I've started to realize that the people you're playing with/against are more important than winning (a shocking revelation, no? It took me a long time to figure it out). I still try to do my best, but that really makes it much less of a big deal when I don't win.
9. I do still beat myself up when I don't feel like I personally did as well as I should have, though. Not saying this is a good thing, just that the competitiveness isn't all the way gone.
10. One of my very favorite things to do is just sit around and have long conversations about things that really matter. It's impossible to generate those times, but when they happen it's amazing. It's totally worth going through the times of superficiality and whatever else it may take to get there.
11. Writing gets a lot more fun the less pressure you put on it. A deadline is one of the biggest forms of pressure ever invented.
12. I just got texting on my phone this past month. It's amazing. I don't really know how I made it so long without having it. (For those of you who are wondering, this does not mean I'm any more likely to ever get Facebook. I never had any antipathy toward texting, I just didn't have money to pay for it. Facebook is a completely different story.)
13. Another thing I love doing in the summer is lying down in front of a fan. My family will tell you that I do this often, at completely unpredictable times. These are things you learn to do when you don't have A/C.
14. Fourteen is a really random number of things to list, so I'll stop here. I also like making abrupt exits.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Literary Lists
As we near the end of the year, it seems like all kinds of organizations are busy giving out awards. I'm not sure why we as humans have such a compulsion to do this, but awards are everywhere. Most Valuable Player. Best Picture. Employee of the Month.
Ok, maybe not that last one so much (as Demetri Martin says, "Employee of the month is a great example of how someone can be a winner and a loser at the same time"), but we do love to give each other awards. Maybe we like it because it makes us feel safe or because if we praise another person's efforts, we feel justified in soaking in everyone's admiration when we do something praiseworthy. Maybe we're just an awful lot like Wemmicks.
Anyway, I'll leave any further commentary on why we do the whole award thing and its ramifications to the Wemmicks. If you don't know what those are, you'll be doing yourself a favor if you find out and read about them, trust me. For now, the thing that got me inspired to write this entry is a specific aspect of the awards process. A lot of awards, particularly in sports and entertainment, have finalists. Instead of voting between every single football player, for example, a group of finalists is selected to be voted on. These select few qualifiers are the cream of the crop from which the eventual award-winner is sure to be chosen.
But really, I'm not sure why we always have to narrow it all the way down to just one winner. I actually kind of like the idea of recognizing the top 3 or so entrants in a category as all being excellent. And besides, I don't have delusions of grandeur so bad that I think I have any authority to confer any big awards. I do, however, like sharing things I enjoy with others. Also, I wouldn't want to share only one thing in a category, when there are several I like. I think the idea of a top 3 is much nicer :)
So, today's category is: literature! Despite the fact that my house is nearly being overrun by them, I still really like books (and reading in general). As I sit in my room and look at the books I have while I type, I see several different categories emerging. I'll give you a top three books or authors in various genres for you to check out if you want, along with brief explanations for my choices. Also, feel free to tell me about your picks: just click on the comments link at the bottom of the post. And the categories are:
Books of the Bible:
(note: I realize this may be slightly heretical since all of Scripture is equally valid and inspired [see 2 Tim. 3:16]. However, I wanted to include the Bible in these lists and lumping any other books with it in a category is even more blasphemous! So, these are just the books of it that have meant the most to me in my journey so far, not that they are any better or worse than any others.)
1. Psalms-- I almost always feel that the prayers of David and the other psalmists are the cries of my own heart. I have taken more encouragement from this book than any other, by far. Plus, the poetry of it is beautiful, which is another plus since I love poetry. I could go on about this book forever, but I'll just say that you could do much worse than starting each day with a psalm. That's what I do.
2. Colossians-- As you may have noticed from my recent posts, I just keep coming back to this one. It's so simple, yet the challenges in it are more than we can master in a lifetime. I like how it takes all of Paul's theological prowess and just brings it right to the bottom line.
3. Matthew-- The story of Jesus' life is indispensable, because he is the model we are supposed to follow. Add to that the Sermon on the Mount, a great assortment of parables and miracles, and you've got yourself a book you can live by.
Nonfiction Authors:
1. C.S. Lewis-- Put simply, the man's prose style is unparallelled (in fiction or nonfiction). His thoughtful yet extremely readable expositions of doctrine and faith put him squarely at the top of my list. Even when I disagree with him, reading his words makes me glad to be associated with Christianity.
2. Dan Allender-- His books have been a huge help to me in navigating the messy and henceforth largely unknown world that is my emotions. He is quite insightful and able to cut through confusion to a strong central point.
3. Wayne Grudem-- Known mostly for his Systematic Theology, this guy is very definitely systematic. I don't know of a better teacher for doctrine and theology. Also, I probably identify with him so well because of his exhaustively analytical and logical style. Some have said that I am, in fact, a bit analytical myself. Maybe.
Fiction Series:
1. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, plus the Hobbit and Silmarillion (J.R.R. Tolkien)-- Anyone who knows me even a little should have seen this one coming a mile away. The breadth and depth of this story is amazing, and I think it holds some valuable spiritual lessons as well. Where it really succeeds, I think, is in creating a world with its own hidden lore that feels as if it really existed and could be explored further if you could just find some more books about it. I don't believe it can ever be matched.
2. The Sherlock Holmes mysteries (Arthur Conan Doyle)-- I've always loved mysteries, and there really aren't any better than these. Finely crafted, suspenseful, and funny as well, they are the perfect reading for a dark and stormy night.
3. The Time quartet (Madeleine L'Engle)-- I know, I know, you were probably expecting the Chronicles of Narnia in this spot. They are great, but there's seven of them and I only really love three, plus C.S. Lewis already made the finals on another list. So, how about A Wrinkle in Time and its companion stories about the wonderful Murry family? The strange fantasy world of these stories is truly fantastic, and I really like the mind-bending plots as well. And despite the fact that they get a bit mystical, there are some solid spiritual lessons to be found here as well. A dark horse favorite of mine, and really worth reading.
Poets:
1. Robert Frost-- My all-time favorite, and unmatched master of making rhymed poetry profound and haunting. He was truly a craftsman, and the way he blends form and content is inspiring to me as a poet. There will never be anything like his poetry as far as I can tell.
2. Mark Strand-- A more contemporary poet whose work I think will stand the test of time and one day rise above the rest of his generation to be included in the canon of great literature. He sees life from a different angle, and he shows it to us beautifully and with just the right amount of words.
3. John Donne-- Kind of an old-timer, but absolutely unrivaled in spiritual depth and density. I'm not sure anyone ever has or will work so much theology into poetry so successfully. His poems can be a bit of a puzzle, especially due to slightly antiquated language and convoluted syntax, but the knots are always worth untying.
Children's Authors:
1. Shel Silverstein-- I could have easily included him on the poets list as well, but his pictures and poems together are what really make him unique. They've been making me laugh for years. You have to watch out, though, because right in the midst of all the humor he sometimes says something so poignant and profound that you can go from laughing to crying before you know it if you aren't careful. Quite an achievement, if you ask me.
2. Dr. Seuss (aka Theodore Geisel)-- These books are just classics. They have a charm and offbeat humor to them that really sets them apart, both in the words and pictures. Also, I challenge anyone to read the last page of Fox in Socks correctly the first time through without laughing. I'm not sure it can be done, but I love it.
3. Donald Sobol-- Wait, who? Another guy whose creation's name (Encyclopedia Brown) became more famous than his own. Maybe it just happens to mystery writers a lot. Anyway, as I said, I love mysteries, and these were my favorite as a young kid. They don't always seem too baffling now, but at the time they were just the right kind of challenge, and I identified with the main character. I get nostalgic just thinking about these stories.
Children's Authors (Picture book subdivision):
(note: call me childish, but I still love kids' books, and I wanted to include some more. These coming ones, while they do have words, are most memorable for their amazing pictures.)
1. James Gurney-- Creator of the Dinotopia series, which is actually quite a memorable set of stories as well. However, I know for a fact I will always think first of the astonishing pictures of this island of dinosaurs whenever these books are mentioned. It is so beautiful that I won't even waste my time trying to describe it.
2. Graeme Base-- His fanciful and fun picture books with their poetic accompanying stories are some of the most lasting memories of my childhood. Beautiful artwork, funny writing, and a touch of mystery: a perfect combination.
3. Martin Handford-- Not so much an author, I suppose, as an illustrator, but I'm pretty sure his Where's Waldo books can claim more of my time than any other picture books. I spent countless hours searching for Waldo, the Wizard Whitebeard, Woof, and the various other characters, and I loved every minute. The drawings are still very cool (and hilarious) to me now.
And last, but not least,
Comic Strips:
1. Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)-- As I mentioned previously in the post announcing its arrival at the bottom of my blog, this is without question the finest comic strip ever created. It is so far and away above its competitors in my mind that this is one category I almost did just pick a winner in. By way of my promised further explanation, the main reasons I think this strip is so great are that it's extremely funny while also being very smart, while also remaining truly real (even though Hobbes' reality is purposefully never resolved). I love Calvin's immense vocabulary (for anyone, but especially for a six-year-old), and his immature take on the big questions of life, which are somehow still profound even in the midst of being hilarious. I can't even really explain how this was pulled off, I just know it was. The artwork is fantastic too, especially when any of Calvin's alter-egos (Spaceman Spiff, Tracer Bullet, Stupendous Man) enters the scene or when Calvin's imagination (think dinosaurs) is allowed to run wild. All told, the sheer quality of this comic makes reading today's pathetic comics page kind of depressing, but it's so worth it.
2. The Far Side (Gary Larson)-- This is one of the strangest and therefore funniest comics ever, to be sure. The one-panel design has its limitations, but they are actually used to their fullest capacity. It's bizarre and unexpected, but that makes it great. Also, it was really the first media of any sort that I know of to tap into the innate humor of the cow. Enough said.
3. Peanuts (Charles Schulz)-- It should really say something about the quality of this comic that it's still running long after its creator's death. I know it trailed off a bit at the end, but the early ones really were funny and endearing like few other comics have been. No list of comics would be complete without this strip. Its characters are iconic and its enjoyment timeless. Now enough of this listing... I want to go watch a Charlie Brown Christmas!
Ok, maybe not that last one so much (as Demetri Martin says, "Employee of the month is a great example of how someone can be a winner and a loser at the same time"), but we do love to give each other awards. Maybe we like it because it makes us feel safe or because if we praise another person's efforts, we feel justified in soaking in everyone's admiration when we do something praiseworthy. Maybe we're just an awful lot like Wemmicks.
Anyway, I'll leave any further commentary on why we do the whole award thing and its ramifications to the Wemmicks. If you don't know what those are, you'll be doing yourself a favor if you find out and read about them, trust me. For now, the thing that got me inspired to write this entry is a specific aspect of the awards process. A lot of awards, particularly in sports and entertainment, have finalists. Instead of voting between every single football player, for example, a group of finalists is selected to be voted on. These select few qualifiers are the cream of the crop from which the eventual award-winner is sure to be chosen.
But really, I'm not sure why we always have to narrow it all the way down to just one winner. I actually kind of like the idea of recognizing the top 3 or so entrants in a category as all being excellent. And besides, I don't have delusions of grandeur so bad that I think I have any authority to confer any big awards. I do, however, like sharing things I enjoy with others. Also, I wouldn't want to share only one thing in a category, when there are several I like. I think the idea of a top 3 is much nicer :)
So, today's category is: literature! Despite the fact that my house is nearly being overrun by them, I still really like books (and reading in general). As I sit in my room and look at the books I have while I type, I see several different categories emerging. I'll give you a top three books or authors in various genres for you to check out if you want, along with brief explanations for my choices. Also, feel free to tell me about your picks: just click on the comments link at the bottom of the post. And the categories are:
Books of the Bible:
(note: I realize this may be slightly heretical since all of Scripture is equally valid and inspired [see 2 Tim. 3:16]. However, I wanted to include the Bible in these lists and lumping any other books with it in a category is even more blasphemous! So, these are just the books of it that have meant the most to me in my journey so far, not that they are any better or worse than any others.)
1. Psalms-- I almost always feel that the prayers of David and the other psalmists are the cries of my own heart. I have taken more encouragement from this book than any other, by far. Plus, the poetry of it is beautiful, which is another plus since I love poetry. I could go on about this book forever, but I'll just say that you could do much worse than starting each day with a psalm. That's what I do.
2. Colossians-- As you may have noticed from my recent posts, I just keep coming back to this one. It's so simple, yet the challenges in it are more than we can master in a lifetime. I like how it takes all of Paul's theological prowess and just brings it right to the bottom line.
3. Matthew-- The story of Jesus' life is indispensable, because he is the model we are supposed to follow. Add to that the Sermon on the Mount, a great assortment of parables and miracles, and you've got yourself a book you can live by.
Nonfiction Authors:
1. C.S. Lewis-- Put simply, the man's prose style is unparallelled (in fiction or nonfiction). His thoughtful yet extremely readable expositions of doctrine and faith put him squarely at the top of my list. Even when I disagree with him, reading his words makes me glad to be associated with Christianity.
2. Dan Allender-- His books have been a huge help to me in navigating the messy and henceforth largely unknown world that is my emotions. He is quite insightful and able to cut through confusion to a strong central point.
3. Wayne Grudem-- Known mostly for his Systematic Theology, this guy is very definitely systematic. I don't know of a better teacher for doctrine and theology. Also, I probably identify with him so well because of his exhaustively analytical and logical style. Some have said that I am, in fact, a bit analytical myself. Maybe.
Fiction Series:
1. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, plus the Hobbit and Silmarillion (J.R.R. Tolkien)-- Anyone who knows me even a little should have seen this one coming a mile away. The breadth and depth of this story is amazing, and I think it holds some valuable spiritual lessons as well. Where it really succeeds, I think, is in creating a world with its own hidden lore that feels as if it really existed and could be explored further if you could just find some more books about it. I don't believe it can ever be matched.
2. The Sherlock Holmes mysteries (Arthur Conan Doyle)-- I've always loved mysteries, and there really aren't any better than these. Finely crafted, suspenseful, and funny as well, they are the perfect reading for a dark and stormy night.
3. The Time quartet (Madeleine L'Engle)-- I know, I know, you were probably expecting the Chronicles of Narnia in this spot. They are great, but there's seven of them and I only really love three, plus C.S. Lewis already made the finals on another list. So, how about A Wrinkle in Time and its companion stories about the wonderful Murry family? The strange fantasy world of these stories is truly fantastic, and I really like the mind-bending plots as well. And despite the fact that they get a bit mystical, there are some solid spiritual lessons to be found here as well. A dark horse favorite of mine, and really worth reading.
Poets:
1. Robert Frost-- My all-time favorite, and unmatched master of making rhymed poetry profound and haunting. He was truly a craftsman, and the way he blends form and content is inspiring to me as a poet. There will never be anything like his poetry as far as I can tell.
2. Mark Strand-- A more contemporary poet whose work I think will stand the test of time and one day rise above the rest of his generation to be included in the canon of great literature. He sees life from a different angle, and he shows it to us beautifully and with just the right amount of words.
3. John Donne-- Kind of an old-timer, but absolutely unrivaled in spiritual depth and density. I'm not sure anyone ever has or will work so much theology into poetry so successfully. His poems can be a bit of a puzzle, especially due to slightly antiquated language and convoluted syntax, but the knots are always worth untying.
Children's Authors:
1. Shel Silverstein-- I could have easily included him on the poets list as well, but his pictures and poems together are what really make him unique. They've been making me laugh for years. You have to watch out, though, because right in the midst of all the humor he sometimes says something so poignant and profound that you can go from laughing to crying before you know it if you aren't careful. Quite an achievement, if you ask me.
2. Dr. Seuss (aka Theodore Geisel)-- These books are just classics. They have a charm and offbeat humor to them that really sets them apart, both in the words and pictures. Also, I challenge anyone to read the last page of Fox in Socks correctly the first time through without laughing. I'm not sure it can be done, but I love it.
3. Donald Sobol-- Wait, who? Another guy whose creation's name (Encyclopedia Brown) became more famous than his own. Maybe it just happens to mystery writers a lot. Anyway, as I said, I love mysteries, and these were my favorite as a young kid. They don't always seem too baffling now, but at the time they were just the right kind of challenge, and I identified with the main character. I get nostalgic just thinking about these stories.
Children's Authors (Picture book subdivision):
(note: call me childish, but I still love kids' books, and I wanted to include some more. These coming ones, while they do have words, are most memorable for their amazing pictures.)
1. James Gurney-- Creator of the Dinotopia series, which is actually quite a memorable set of stories as well. However, I know for a fact I will always think first of the astonishing pictures of this island of dinosaurs whenever these books are mentioned. It is so beautiful that I won't even waste my time trying to describe it.
2. Graeme Base-- His fanciful and fun picture books with their poetic accompanying stories are some of the most lasting memories of my childhood. Beautiful artwork, funny writing, and a touch of mystery: a perfect combination.
3. Martin Handford-- Not so much an author, I suppose, as an illustrator, but I'm pretty sure his Where's Waldo books can claim more of my time than any other picture books. I spent countless hours searching for Waldo, the Wizard Whitebeard, Woof, and the various other characters, and I loved every minute. The drawings are still very cool (and hilarious) to me now.
And last, but not least,
Comic Strips:
1. Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)-- As I mentioned previously in the post announcing its arrival at the bottom of my blog, this is without question the finest comic strip ever created. It is so far and away above its competitors in my mind that this is one category I almost did just pick a winner in. By way of my promised further explanation, the main reasons I think this strip is so great are that it's extremely funny while also being very smart, while also remaining truly real (even though Hobbes' reality is purposefully never resolved). I love Calvin's immense vocabulary (for anyone, but especially for a six-year-old), and his immature take on the big questions of life, which are somehow still profound even in the midst of being hilarious. I can't even really explain how this was pulled off, I just know it was. The artwork is fantastic too, especially when any of Calvin's alter-egos (Spaceman Spiff, Tracer Bullet, Stupendous Man) enters the scene or when Calvin's imagination (think dinosaurs) is allowed to run wild. All told, the sheer quality of this comic makes reading today's pathetic comics page kind of depressing, but it's so worth it.
2. The Far Side (Gary Larson)-- This is one of the strangest and therefore funniest comics ever, to be sure. The one-panel design has its limitations, but they are actually used to their fullest capacity. It's bizarre and unexpected, but that makes it great. Also, it was really the first media of any sort that I know of to tap into the innate humor of the cow. Enough said.
3. Peanuts (Charles Schulz)-- It should really say something about the quality of this comic that it's still running long after its creator's death. I know it trailed off a bit at the end, but the early ones really were funny and endearing like few other comics have been. No list of comics would be complete without this strip. Its characters are iconic and its enjoyment timeless. Now enough of this listing... I want to go watch a Charlie Brown Christmas!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Streetlights Playlist
Recently I've been asking the Lord kind of a strange question: "God, what do I like to do?"
I realize that might sound a little bit crazy, but the fact of the matter is that I've spent a lot of time worrying about what everyone else thinks and what they like me to do and be. So much, in fact, that I had actually lost sight of what I myself actually like to do. I know I talked a bit about this in a previous entry, but I've been trying to figure out what I actually care about as part of discovering my identity.
See, what I'm guessing is that the things I care really deeply about are things that God has placed in me for a reason, things he wants me to do something with. The part I'm still learning about is slicing through the fallen brokenness on top of all those things in order to find what's underneath.
Anyway, one of the things God has shown me that I really like to do and care about is music. That is a pretty broad category, but I still think that's the best way for me to put it. I love listening to almost all music, and I also like making music in any possible way. I have a song in my head constantly (although I unfortunately have no control over which one it is at any given moment), and I'm always humming, whistling, singing, playing or making a beat to something! So, I think God has given me this passion to glorify him.
The most obvious expression of that passion in action would be worship, which is a great way that I can use music for God's glory. I don't think worship is limited to my own singing or playing, though, which got me thinking about my music collection. I've noticed for awhile now that the idea of streetlights is a theme in the music I like to listen to, so I started looking through my library for any song that has to do with that. I found more than I was even expecting! Therefore, I'm pleased to announce and share with you my Streetlights playlist. All these songs either talk directly about streetlights (i.e. use that specific word) or otherwise remind me of Ephesians 5:8-14, my theme verse for this blog (and life in general really-- see first entry). Here it is:
1. Work: Jars of Clay
2. Sleeping In: Nevertheless
3. Illuminate: Project 86
4. Far & Gone: Day of Fire
5. Serial Sleepers: House of Heroes
6. Oh! Gravity: Switchfoot
7. Turn On the Lights: Sanctus Real
8. Shine With Me: P.O.D.
9. Sandbox Praise: Pax217
10. Burn For You: TobyMac (feat. Double Dutch)
11. Murexa: Falling Up
12. Shine: Newsboys
13. Sleeper: Everyday Sunday
14. I Need Love: Sixpence None the Richer
15. In the Light: dc Talk
16. Broken: Lifehouse
17. Light Up Ahead: Further Seems Forever
18. This Love: Stavesacre
I'm actually listening to this playlist as I write this, and it really encourages me, so I hope it can do the same for you. As it turns out, this playlist is almost exactly one 70 minute CD worth of fantastic music. If anyone is interested in hearing it, I would be glad to burn you a CD (which, by the way, is actually legal if it has no more than one song from any album. Record labels see it as free advertising rather than a copyright violation! And trust me, once you hear this music, you'll be interested in buying more of these artists' stuff). Also, I'm sure many of these songs can be viewed/listened to on Youtube, so check some of them out!
I'll finish with one more verse that has to do with the streetlight call. This verse seems to run through all the songs here as well, and it has inspired me for many years, since even before I thought about the idea of streetlights. Matthew 5:14-16-- "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
So it all comes back to worship in the end. Really, that right there is who I am, and who you are. Let that be my song.
I realize that might sound a little bit crazy, but the fact of the matter is that I've spent a lot of time worrying about what everyone else thinks and what they like me to do and be. So much, in fact, that I had actually lost sight of what I myself actually like to do. I know I talked a bit about this in a previous entry, but I've been trying to figure out what I actually care about as part of discovering my identity.
See, what I'm guessing is that the things I care really deeply about are things that God has placed in me for a reason, things he wants me to do something with. The part I'm still learning about is slicing through the fallen brokenness on top of all those things in order to find what's underneath.
Anyway, one of the things God has shown me that I really like to do and care about is music. That is a pretty broad category, but I still think that's the best way for me to put it. I love listening to almost all music, and I also like making music in any possible way. I have a song in my head constantly (although I unfortunately have no control over which one it is at any given moment), and I'm always humming, whistling, singing, playing or making a beat to something! So, I think God has given me this passion to glorify him.
The most obvious expression of that passion in action would be worship, which is a great way that I can use music for God's glory. I don't think worship is limited to my own singing or playing, though, which got me thinking about my music collection. I've noticed for awhile now that the idea of streetlights is a theme in the music I like to listen to, so I started looking through my library for any song that has to do with that. I found more than I was even expecting! Therefore, I'm pleased to announce and share with you my Streetlights playlist. All these songs either talk directly about streetlights (i.e. use that specific word) or otherwise remind me of Ephesians 5:8-14, my theme verse for this blog (and life in general really-- see first entry). Here it is:
1. Work: Jars of Clay
2. Sleeping In: Nevertheless
3. Illuminate: Project 86
4. Far & Gone: Day of Fire
5. Serial Sleepers: House of Heroes
6. Oh! Gravity: Switchfoot
7. Turn On the Lights: Sanctus Real
8. Shine With Me: P.O.D.
9. Sandbox Praise: Pax217
10. Burn For You: TobyMac (feat. Double Dutch)
11. Murexa: Falling Up
12. Shine: Newsboys
13. Sleeper: Everyday Sunday
14. I Need Love: Sixpence None the Richer
15. In the Light: dc Talk
16. Broken: Lifehouse
17. Light Up Ahead: Further Seems Forever
18. This Love: Stavesacre
I'm actually listening to this playlist as I write this, and it really encourages me, so I hope it can do the same for you. As it turns out, this playlist is almost exactly one 70 minute CD worth of fantastic music. If anyone is interested in hearing it, I would be glad to burn you a CD (which, by the way, is actually legal if it has no more than one song from any album. Record labels see it as free advertising rather than a copyright violation! And trust me, once you hear this music, you'll be interested in buying more of these artists' stuff). Also, I'm sure many of these songs can be viewed/listened to on Youtube, so check some of them out!
I'll finish with one more verse that has to do with the streetlight call. This verse seems to run through all the songs here as well, and it has inspired me for many years, since even before I thought about the idea of streetlights. Matthew 5:14-16-- "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
So it all comes back to worship in the end. Really, that right there is who I am, and who you are. Let that be my song.
Friday, September 25, 2009
10 reasons I don't have a Facebook
I am becoming more and more aware that I am part of a distinct minority among people of my generation. That's right, I'm a Facebook resister.
As the members of said resistance grow fewer and fewer, though, people seem increasingly quick to mistake my refusal to make myself a Facebook page for a generalized hostility toward the Facebook phenomenon itself (or towards its members). However, I intend no such hostility. In fact, I even have a link here on my blog that lets people share it on Facebook! Many of my friends are devoted Facebookers, and I don't even taunt them (too much) for it!
So just to set the record straight, I thought I would take a brief moment of my day to explain the real reasons why I do not now maintain, nor do I ever expect in the future to possess, a Facebook. Note that this is not necessarily an exhaustive list, but it should cover most of the important issues as I see them. I also don't claim any of this as fact, just my own opinion. If you think I'm wrong, let me know! I'd be really happy if all this did was spur thought and discussion on the issue. So, I'll count down the top ten reasons I don't have Facebook, from least important to most important. Here we go:
10. My mom has a Facebook. Mom, if you're reading this, I love you and I mean no offense by it. It's just that your membership is a.) the reason I know so much about Facebook without actually having one, and b.) a great example of a larger trend I'm getting at. Namely, I feel that Facebook has become something my generation never intended it to be. Originally, it was just a cool way to keep in touch and share pictures (which are, by the way, the only things I'd use Facebook for if I had one and are undeniably useful and beneficial) among college students and other young adults. Then high-schoolers started joining. Then parents came to check on them. All of a sudden, they were also commenting on pictures and writing cheesy status messages. Before anyone could say "1950's," it seemed like the whole baby boomer generation had Facebook. End result: Facebook just isn't as cool anymore, and has much less of a draw for me.
9. Little kids have Facebook. Like, really little. This is kind of a corollary to #10, and it's disturbing for all of the same reasons, with the added twist that a lot of things happen on Facebook that really are not appropriate for little kids to be hearing and thinking about. Now, I don't think I'd have anything to hide, but I have some friends with significantly different standards of morality than my own and I'd hate to have to shelter kids that might look at my page from them. I love hanging out with little kids, but they certainly aren't my friends in the same way. Why do they have to grow up so fast?
8. I have no real desire for up-to-the-minute status updates on my friends. In fact, this whole thing kind of freaks me out. Except for my very closest friends (who I talk to plenty without Facebook's intervention), I'm not even interested in what people are doing or feeling moment by moment. Even for my close friends, there are still many things I don't need to know. That might sound horribly mercenary, but if you really think about it, I imagine the same is true for you. Sure, taking in a lot of banal information about what people are doing might make you feel like you care about them, but in essence it's just voyeurism.
7. I have even less desire to give constant status updates on myself. If you know me well at all, you probably realize that I usually play things pretty close to the vest and often prefer to keep my opinions and plans to myself. Now, this has been a problem for me in some ways, since I haven't always let people in to what the real me is like. I'm working on it. The thing is, Facebook is a really bad solution to that problem, because trivial status updates are in no way the same thing as being truly real with people. I suppose status updates could be used for good purposes (for example, my pastor has Facebook, and some of his that I've seen are challenging and personal), but this is certainly the exception rather than the rule and I doubt I'd be any better. In any case, I'd rather apply my efforts to real life, or to this blog. I like talking about big issues and hard topics, and I don't hear very much about that happening on Facebook, whereas my blog already provides me with a great space for this kind of thought. Also, I feel like most anything really true or profound on Facebook is just quickly drowned in the sea of immaturity. That's why I chose to keep my blog separate in the first place.
6. I can get all the real benefits of Facebook without having one. For example, because all my friends have one, if any of them post anything truly remarkable or abnormally hilarious, one of the others is sure to tell me about it. Alternatively, because my mom is Facebook friends with most of my actual friends, she also keeps me updated and lets me use her account to look at their pictures sometimes. That wouldn't even be necessary though, since Facebook members are still able to email me the link to their albums, which I can then look at if their privacy settings aren't on some very restricted level. Also, I can use email to get in touch with all my friends at once if I so desire. This works because Facebook users often like checking their email to see how many "notifications" they have. It makes them feel important. And finally, if I feel the need to express myself or have a personal profile page, this blog can serve that purpose quite ably. So in psychological terms, I guess you couldn't say I have a "felt need" for Facebook.
5. Farmville. This one should really be pretty self-explanatory, but I can't resist moving past it without saying this: Farmville is a pestilence in the land. Whoever unleashed this monstrosity should be tied down and forced to listen to its theme music until he repents and erases it from the world of Facebook. It shouldn't take that long; the whole "song" is basically a 4-measure loop of horribly twangy sounds that could pretty much reduce anyone to insanity in a matter of hours. (Can you tell that a certain unnamed but aforementioned family member of mine enjoys this game?) On a more serious note, this particular app is also pretty exemplary of the general trend of immensely time-wasting applications on Facebook. This just seems to me to be the most obviously pointless example, but actually the combined force of all these apps produces a powerful life-consuming time vortex in a lot of people's lives (see my post on video games for more on this). I feel like Facebook would prove to be an unnecessary temptation for me in this regard.
4. People accept Facebook without thought. One of the most disturbing things about Facebook to me is that no one seems to question anymore that this is what social interaction in the 21st century should be like. It bothers me that no one is really thinking about what Facebook really is and whether or not they want one. Most people who sign up for it are just blindly following the trend because they crave friendship and interaction, and being heavily marketed to and media-saturated all the while. I'm not abstaining from Facebook just to be somehow cool by breaking the trend and not doing what everyone else is doing. I've thought about what it is and decided that I don't want it. I've been recognizing lately my need for real friendship, and I don't think I can meet that need on Facebook. Now, I doubt anyone else would say they could either, but they might be unaware of how the shallow interactions they constantly engage in are muffling their true desire for deep relationship, truly knowing and being known. Just something to think about.
3. I'm scared I'd get addicted to it. I realize, of course, that it is quite possible to have a Facebook and not be addicted to it. However, I've heard far too many stories of people who hate how much time they've spent on it and wish they had never started. I've also heard many more stories about people who don't even realize how addicted they are to it and how much power it has in their life, which is even scarier. In any case, I feel like I have much better things to do with my time. That's why for me personally, Facebook is scary because I tend to be a little bit obsessive about having things perfect and organized and also about collecting things. I don't feel like I could ever be satisfied with Facebook if I hadn't collected every single person I know as a "friend." I'd want all my settings and profile perfectly in order, and I'd probably want to be the best at all the games too. Again, video games and I have a storied history that I never want to go back to. So all in all, I feel like I could end up wasting enormous amounts of time and really forgetting about letting God make all my decisions (which is my goal), and I don't even want to open the door for that to happen.
2. It's too late. I've been a Facebook resister and a fairly vocal critic of it for so long now that I can never get one. I don't think I'd ever be able to live it down, and I'd feel really stupid for saying all those things and then getting one anyway. I think it's safe to say I've passed the point of no return on this one. I'm in this for the long haul :)
1. I don't want "Facebook friends." Honestly, this is my biggest beef with Facebook. I really feel like it promotes shallowness and superficiality as the solution to the much deeper problems of our generation. We don't need status updates, we don't need to know what Disney character we are most like, and we don't need to express our true personality through our "pieces of flair" (although some of them are legitimately hilarious, and joking around online is great fun). What we need is real friendship with real people. How else are we expecting to "spur one another on towards love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24) or help heal our broken city? To do those things, we're going to have to get face-to-face and side-by-side and be much realer with each other than computer screens allow. (And yes, bloggers need to watch out for superficiality too :) I'm trying my best to practice what I preach and use my blog mainly as a tool for sparking real-life discussion and interaction with my friends.)
Now, obviously we can't have deep, hugely significant relationships with all the people we cross paths with. Even Jesus had different circles of friends: the multitudes followed him, but he placed special importance on the 72 he sent out, and the 12 disciples were his inner circle. Even within that, Peter, James and John were his three really close friends. So, Facebook or not, I think that's the example we should try to emulate. You know what? It's ok to have shallower, "Facebook friend" relationships. We just need to know where our real friends are, and we need to be real and really present (physically and emotionally) in their lives, even though that's hard. You know what else? It's also ok to have less friends. I just feel like the effort to fill the "friends list" causes too many people to have a set of "friendships" a mile wide and an inch deep. That will never satisfy a generation, a city, a nation looking for real love. We need real brothers and sisters and parents, real friends. "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24). Can we learn to be that friend?
As the members of said resistance grow fewer and fewer, though, people seem increasingly quick to mistake my refusal to make myself a Facebook page for a generalized hostility toward the Facebook phenomenon itself (or towards its members). However, I intend no such hostility. In fact, I even have a link here on my blog that lets people share it on Facebook! Many of my friends are devoted Facebookers, and I don't even taunt them (too much) for it!
So just to set the record straight, I thought I would take a brief moment of my day to explain the real reasons why I do not now maintain, nor do I ever expect in the future to possess, a Facebook. Note that this is not necessarily an exhaustive list, but it should cover most of the important issues as I see them. I also don't claim any of this as fact, just my own opinion. If you think I'm wrong, let me know! I'd be really happy if all this did was spur thought and discussion on the issue. So, I'll count down the top ten reasons I don't have Facebook, from least important to most important. Here we go:
10. My mom has a Facebook. Mom, if you're reading this, I love you and I mean no offense by it. It's just that your membership is a.) the reason I know so much about Facebook without actually having one, and b.) a great example of a larger trend I'm getting at. Namely, I feel that Facebook has become something my generation never intended it to be. Originally, it was just a cool way to keep in touch and share pictures (which are, by the way, the only things I'd use Facebook for if I had one and are undeniably useful and beneficial) among college students and other young adults. Then high-schoolers started joining. Then parents came to check on them. All of a sudden, they were also commenting on pictures and writing cheesy status messages. Before anyone could say "1950's," it seemed like the whole baby boomer generation had Facebook. End result: Facebook just isn't as cool anymore, and has much less of a draw for me.
9. Little kids have Facebook. Like, really little. This is kind of a corollary to #10, and it's disturbing for all of the same reasons, with the added twist that a lot of things happen on Facebook that really are not appropriate for little kids to be hearing and thinking about. Now, I don't think I'd have anything to hide, but I have some friends with significantly different standards of morality than my own and I'd hate to have to shelter kids that might look at my page from them. I love hanging out with little kids, but they certainly aren't my friends in the same way. Why do they have to grow up so fast?
8. I have no real desire for up-to-the-minute status updates on my friends. In fact, this whole thing kind of freaks me out. Except for my very closest friends (who I talk to plenty without Facebook's intervention), I'm not even interested in what people are doing or feeling moment by moment. Even for my close friends, there are still many things I don't need to know. That might sound horribly mercenary, but if you really think about it, I imagine the same is true for you. Sure, taking in a lot of banal information about what people are doing might make you feel like you care about them, but in essence it's just voyeurism.
7. I have even less desire to give constant status updates on myself. If you know me well at all, you probably realize that I usually play things pretty close to the vest and often prefer to keep my opinions and plans to myself. Now, this has been a problem for me in some ways, since I haven't always let people in to what the real me is like. I'm working on it. The thing is, Facebook is a really bad solution to that problem, because trivial status updates are in no way the same thing as being truly real with people. I suppose status updates could be used for good purposes (for example, my pastor has Facebook, and some of his that I've seen are challenging and personal), but this is certainly the exception rather than the rule and I doubt I'd be any better. In any case, I'd rather apply my efforts to real life, or to this blog. I like talking about big issues and hard topics, and I don't hear very much about that happening on Facebook, whereas my blog already provides me with a great space for this kind of thought. Also, I feel like most anything really true or profound on Facebook is just quickly drowned in the sea of immaturity. That's why I chose to keep my blog separate in the first place.
6. I can get all the real benefits of Facebook without having one. For example, because all my friends have one, if any of them post anything truly remarkable or abnormally hilarious, one of the others is sure to tell me about it. Alternatively, because my mom is Facebook friends with most of my actual friends, she also keeps me updated and lets me use her account to look at their pictures sometimes. That wouldn't even be necessary though, since Facebook members are still able to email me the link to their albums, which I can then look at if their privacy settings aren't on some very restricted level. Also, I can use email to get in touch with all my friends at once if I so desire. This works because Facebook users often like checking their email to see how many "notifications" they have. It makes them feel important. And finally, if I feel the need to express myself or have a personal profile page, this blog can serve that purpose quite ably. So in psychological terms, I guess you couldn't say I have a "felt need" for Facebook.
5. Farmville. This one should really be pretty self-explanatory, but I can't resist moving past it without saying this: Farmville is a pestilence in the land. Whoever unleashed this monstrosity should be tied down and forced to listen to its theme music until he repents and erases it from the world of Facebook. It shouldn't take that long; the whole "song" is basically a 4-measure loop of horribly twangy sounds that could pretty much reduce anyone to insanity in a matter of hours. (Can you tell that a certain unnamed but aforementioned family member of mine enjoys this game?) On a more serious note, this particular app is also pretty exemplary of the general trend of immensely time-wasting applications on Facebook. This just seems to me to be the most obviously pointless example, but actually the combined force of all these apps produces a powerful life-consuming time vortex in a lot of people's lives (see my post on video games for more on this). I feel like Facebook would prove to be an unnecessary temptation for me in this regard.
4. People accept Facebook without thought. One of the most disturbing things about Facebook to me is that no one seems to question anymore that this is what social interaction in the 21st century should be like. It bothers me that no one is really thinking about what Facebook really is and whether or not they want one. Most people who sign up for it are just blindly following the trend because they crave friendship and interaction, and being heavily marketed to and media-saturated all the while. I'm not abstaining from Facebook just to be somehow cool by breaking the trend and not doing what everyone else is doing. I've thought about what it is and decided that I don't want it. I've been recognizing lately my need for real friendship, and I don't think I can meet that need on Facebook. Now, I doubt anyone else would say they could either, but they might be unaware of how the shallow interactions they constantly engage in are muffling their true desire for deep relationship, truly knowing and being known. Just something to think about.
3. I'm scared I'd get addicted to it. I realize, of course, that it is quite possible to have a Facebook and not be addicted to it. However, I've heard far too many stories of people who hate how much time they've spent on it and wish they had never started. I've also heard many more stories about people who don't even realize how addicted they are to it and how much power it has in their life, which is even scarier. In any case, I feel like I have much better things to do with my time. That's why for me personally, Facebook is scary because I tend to be a little bit obsessive about having things perfect and organized and also about collecting things. I don't feel like I could ever be satisfied with Facebook if I hadn't collected every single person I know as a "friend." I'd want all my settings and profile perfectly in order, and I'd probably want to be the best at all the games too. Again, video games and I have a storied history that I never want to go back to. So all in all, I feel like I could end up wasting enormous amounts of time and really forgetting about letting God make all my decisions (which is my goal), and I don't even want to open the door for that to happen.
2. It's too late. I've been a Facebook resister and a fairly vocal critic of it for so long now that I can never get one. I don't think I'd ever be able to live it down, and I'd feel really stupid for saying all those things and then getting one anyway. I think it's safe to say I've passed the point of no return on this one. I'm in this for the long haul :)
1. I don't want "Facebook friends." Honestly, this is my biggest beef with Facebook. I really feel like it promotes shallowness and superficiality as the solution to the much deeper problems of our generation. We don't need status updates, we don't need to know what Disney character we are most like, and we don't need to express our true personality through our "pieces of flair" (although some of them are legitimately hilarious, and joking around online is great fun). What we need is real friendship with real people. How else are we expecting to "spur one another on towards love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24) or help heal our broken city? To do those things, we're going to have to get face-to-face and side-by-side and be much realer with each other than computer screens allow. (And yes, bloggers need to watch out for superficiality too :) I'm trying my best to practice what I preach and use my blog mainly as a tool for sparking real-life discussion and interaction with my friends.)
Now, obviously we can't have deep, hugely significant relationships with all the people we cross paths with. Even Jesus had different circles of friends: the multitudes followed him, but he placed special importance on the 72 he sent out, and the 12 disciples were his inner circle. Even within that, Peter, James and John were his three really close friends. So, Facebook or not, I think that's the example we should try to emulate. You know what? It's ok to have shallower, "Facebook friend" relationships. We just need to know where our real friends are, and we need to be real and really present (physically and emotionally) in their lives, even though that's hard. You know what else? It's also ok to have less friends. I just feel like the effort to fill the "friends list" causes too many people to have a set of "friendships" a mile wide and an inch deep. That will never satisfy a generation, a city, a nation looking for real love. We need real brothers and sisters and parents, real friends. "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24). Can we learn to be that friend?
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Audience
"Know your audience." It's one of the first things all aspiring writers are taught, but sometimes a rather tricky thing to do. When it comes to blogging, for example, how can you really know who you're talking to exactly? I assume that most (if not all) of the people reading this right now are my friends in real life, but I have no way of knowing which ones. And honestly, that makes it a little difficult to know what kind of tone to take as I talk about serious things that I really care about. I don't relate to all people the same way (although maybe I should).
So, I don't really know my audience for sure. I guess that just means I have to focus on posting things that can be beneficial to whoever might read them. I realize that not everything here will be a blessing to everyone, but that's ok with me. As I think about it, this blog really has several different purposes, each of which have to do with different potential audiences.
For example, sometimes when I write here it feels like I'm just shooting words out into the clear blue sky, never to be seen or heard from again. There is, in fact, the very real possibility that no one will read some of the things I post. Even if that were true, though, I'd still write here. One huge purpose of this blog, I'm finding, is that it helps me clarify my thoughts on some of the issues that will define my life-- things like how much I'll let God have control of my life, or how Cleveland can be changed. As I write, I'm forced to think about what is important enough to include, and it helps me realize key things that I often haven't even begun to think about when I start an entry. I'm also forming an archive of my thoughts that I can look back on and learn from later (it's my most successful attempt at journaling so far). I'm becoming a better writer too, since writing (like most other things) is something you can only really get better at by doing it. I wouldn't trade all those things for all the readers in the world.
Hypothetical scenarios aside, I do know that I have at least a few readers. For my friends and family, this blog is becoming a way that I can share my story with you. In the past, I realize I've been pretty bad at doing that, for which I hope all of you can forgive me. I hope also that what I write here can provide opportunities for face-to-face conversations about the things that really matter. Just as a disclaimer, when I write about what God is doing in my life here, please don't assume that I have this stuff figured out. I love to discuss and chop it up both one-on-one and in groups to gain the wisdom and perspective of the people I trust. In fact, as God is showing me more of who I actually am, I realize how much I've depended on my family, both natural and spiritual, all along. So if you're interested for whatever reason in sharing my journey, please come with me.
For anyone I don't know yet who (I hope) is reading this, I hope it blesses you. Whether or not you share my religious convictions that shape and influence this whole process, I hope you see authenticity and integrity in what I write. I don't have all the answers, but I can't imagine not looking for them. If you're looking, consider me your fellow searcher. I hope my words are encouraging, even if sometimes challenging. They challenge me. I'm sure you feel the darkness of life into which I do my best to bring a small light, and I hope you'll accept my invitation to do the same.
And for everyone, if you read this and like it, take time to say hi! Leave a comment after a post you like (or don't like). Challenge my thoughts and ideas (but feel free to agree with me as well)! Or, if you don't want to leave your thoughts in public for anyone to see, I love getting email too. Chances are you got this link from an email from me (it's in the signature line of every one I send), but if not, you can always get my address from my profile.
If you really like the blog, follow it! There are buttons that say "follow" in the very top navbar and in the right sidebar near the bottom. Or if you prefer to keep tabs on things using feeds, there's a link to subscribe to this site at the bottom of the page and in the sidebar as well. Either of those methods will make it so you don't have to guess when I've posted a new entry, which is a fairly impossible guessing game to play.
Just for those of you who like the guessing game though, I have added some features to the blog that you can look at even when I don't update it. The "poem of the day," as mentioned previously, randomly posts a great poem from the Library of Congress each day. I've also added a "word of the day" because I really like words, as I'm sure you all know by now. Increasing your vocabulary is fun! Yeah, I'm definitely an English major. Anyway, even more exciting, down at the bottom of the posts section (because it was too wide for the sidebar), there is now also a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip of the day! As you may or may not know, C&H is without question the finest comic strip ever to have existed, a topic on which I'm sure I'll write more later. If I were you, I'd come to my blog every day just for that.
Finally, to end my spiel of shameless self-advertisement, I now have in place a gadget in the right sidebar (and a button in the top bar) that will let you share my blog on your facebook or twitter. I don't have a facebook or twitter account and I'm not really a fan of either (another topic for a future post), but I'm not above using those resources to increase my blog traffic :) If you think what I'm writing would be interesting or important enough to share with your friends on your profile, please do. I think this stuff is important, or at least amusing, or I wouldn't be writing it. Any help you offer would be greatly appreciated.
So, that's it for now, my first effort towards both knowing and expanding my audience. By the way, this is post #10 on this blog, which makes it legit, not just a passing fancy (according to the highly scientific standard I just developed ten seconds ago). I feel like I've done all the cosmetic changes and content tweaks that I'll need for awhile, and I plan to keep writing here for a long time to come. Thanks for reading!
So, I don't really know my audience for sure. I guess that just means I have to focus on posting things that can be beneficial to whoever might read them. I realize that not everything here will be a blessing to everyone, but that's ok with me. As I think about it, this blog really has several different purposes, each of which have to do with different potential audiences.
For example, sometimes when I write here it feels like I'm just shooting words out into the clear blue sky, never to be seen or heard from again. There is, in fact, the very real possibility that no one will read some of the things I post. Even if that were true, though, I'd still write here. One huge purpose of this blog, I'm finding, is that it helps me clarify my thoughts on some of the issues that will define my life-- things like how much I'll let God have control of my life, or how Cleveland can be changed. As I write, I'm forced to think about what is important enough to include, and it helps me realize key things that I often haven't even begun to think about when I start an entry. I'm also forming an archive of my thoughts that I can look back on and learn from later (it's my most successful attempt at journaling so far). I'm becoming a better writer too, since writing (like most other things) is something you can only really get better at by doing it. I wouldn't trade all those things for all the readers in the world.
Hypothetical scenarios aside, I do know that I have at least a few readers. For my friends and family, this blog is becoming a way that I can share my story with you. In the past, I realize I've been pretty bad at doing that, for which I hope all of you can forgive me. I hope also that what I write here can provide opportunities for face-to-face conversations about the things that really matter. Just as a disclaimer, when I write about what God is doing in my life here, please don't assume that I have this stuff figured out. I love to discuss and chop it up both one-on-one and in groups to gain the wisdom and perspective of the people I trust. In fact, as God is showing me more of who I actually am, I realize how much I've depended on my family, both natural and spiritual, all along. So if you're interested for whatever reason in sharing my journey, please come with me.
For anyone I don't know yet who (I hope) is reading this, I hope it blesses you. Whether or not you share my religious convictions that shape and influence this whole process, I hope you see authenticity and integrity in what I write. I don't have all the answers, but I can't imagine not looking for them. If you're looking, consider me your fellow searcher. I hope my words are encouraging, even if sometimes challenging. They challenge me. I'm sure you feel the darkness of life into which I do my best to bring a small light, and I hope you'll accept my invitation to do the same.
And for everyone, if you read this and like it, take time to say hi! Leave a comment after a post you like (or don't like). Challenge my thoughts and ideas (but feel free to agree with me as well)! Or, if you don't want to leave your thoughts in public for anyone to see, I love getting email too. Chances are you got this link from an email from me (it's in the signature line of every one I send), but if not, you can always get my address from my profile.
If you really like the blog, follow it! There are buttons that say "follow" in the very top navbar and in the right sidebar near the bottom. Or if you prefer to keep tabs on things using feeds, there's a link to subscribe to this site at the bottom of the page and in the sidebar as well. Either of those methods will make it so you don't have to guess when I've posted a new entry, which is a fairly impossible guessing game to play.
Just for those of you who like the guessing game though, I have added some features to the blog that you can look at even when I don't update it. The "poem of the day," as mentioned previously, randomly posts a great poem from the Library of Congress each day. I've also added a "word of the day" because I really like words, as I'm sure you all know by now. Increasing your vocabulary is fun! Yeah, I'm definitely an English major. Anyway, even more exciting, down at the bottom of the posts section (because it was too wide for the sidebar), there is now also a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip of the day! As you may or may not know, C&H is without question the finest comic strip ever to have existed, a topic on which I'm sure I'll write more later. If I were you, I'd come to my blog every day just for that.
Finally, to end my spiel of shameless self-advertisement, I now have in place a gadget in the right sidebar (and a button in the top bar) that will let you share my blog on your facebook or twitter. I don't have a facebook or twitter account and I'm not really a fan of either (another topic for a future post), but I'm not above using those resources to increase my blog traffic :) If you think what I'm writing would be interesting or important enough to share with your friends on your profile, please do. I think this stuff is important, or at least amusing, or I wouldn't be writing it. Any help you offer would be greatly appreciated.
So, that's it for now, my first effort towards both knowing and expanding my audience. By the way, this is post #10 on this blog, which makes it legit, not just a passing fancy (according to the highly scientific standard I just developed ten seconds ago). I feel like I've done all the cosmetic changes and content tweaks that I'll need for awhile, and I plan to keep writing here for a long time to come. Thanks for reading!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Lists and Randomness
As I predicted in my first entry, it turns out that sometimes I don't have much going on in the way of serious or meaningful thoughts. But, this is my blog and I'm free to post whatever random stuff I come up with, so in that spirit I've added some lists to the right-hand sidebar of the blog. I noticed that due to my general long-windedness when talking about serious subjects, there was starting to be a huge chunk of boring white space underneath the information over there on the right, so this is the beginning of my efforts to fix that.
So, the first list is of my favorite (read: most used) websites, sites that I think are exceptionally useful, fun, or well-made. Basically, anything I link to in any of my posts will show up there, so that if you like one of the links in the posts you won't have to go searching through all the entries to find it again. Believe me, this will be much more important someday when there are more than five posts here. (As a side note, I bet that a pretty fair percentage of blogs started on free sites like this never end up with more than, say, 3 posts on them before people quit/lose interest. However, I'm not one to do things like that, and I'm in this for the long haul. Someday there's going to be a heck of a lot of text on this blog, and at that point you really won't want to search through all my rantings to find one stupid link. I'm just planning ahead.)
Second, we have a running update on the bands (in order) that currently find themselves in the honored position of having all their cd's in my main case. This is subject to change based on my whims and tastes, and based on whether I ever have enough money again to buy cd's. All of these artists are very anti-bubble (see previous post) in my mind... a lot of them are Christian bands, but ones that are more outside the Christian system and on the indie side of things. A lot of people will not have heard of a lot of the stuff there, but that's fine by me. Check it out if you want, as it's all quality music first and foremost (and by music, I mean music and lyrics. I find that the music that I really like over a long period of time always has interesting/meaningful words, not just creative instrumentation).
Finally, and probably most controversially, I included a list of my favorite movies ever. Not what I think are necessarily the BEST movies ever, just my favorites (which is an important distinction: otherwise I'd have no justification for having Citizen Kane lower than Mystery Men). And yes, these are generally in order, so you can see my rankings. However, the ranking process was far less than scientific, and it may be prone to gross miscalculations and glaring omissions. Those situations are where you should post a comment and remind me of important movies I may have forgotten and/or campaign for movies you like to be moved up or movies you hate to be moved down the list. I welcome all manner of comments about this.
By the way, this list was created with a great deal of help from IMDb, another amazing website now appearing in the links list. (http://www.imdb.com/) This site is definitely the most comprehensive website on the net for information about movies. Ever see someone in a movie and be like, "I know I've seen him before, who is that??" This website can tell you, in painstaking and beautiful detail. It's fantastic. It also has information on objectionable material, so you can avoid a movie with stuff you don't want to see. In fact, by way of disclaimer, that may come in handy with my list, since even though these movies are very clean for the most part, there's a few movies on there with some stuff that you might want to skip. I know I skip certain parts of some of these movies when I watch them, so don't take my recommendation as proof that there's nothing bad in there. Be wise and skip it. Also, feel free to let me know if there's something you think I should remove from the list.
And with all the lists, feel free to suggest sites/bands/movies that I might like that aren't currently on there. It's always fun to see what other people think is the greatest and why. That's all for now... stay tuned for more poetry coming up soon.
So, the first list is of my favorite (read: most used) websites, sites that I think are exceptionally useful, fun, or well-made. Basically, anything I link to in any of my posts will show up there, so that if you like one of the links in the posts you won't have to go searching through all the entries to find it again. Believe me, this will be much more important someday when there are more than five posts here. (As a side note, I bet that a pretty fair percentage of blogs started on free sites like this never end up with more than, say, 3 posts on them before people quit/lose interest. However, I'm not one to do things like that, and I'm in this for the long haul. Someday there's going to be a heck of a lot of text on this blog, and at that point you really won't want to search through all my rantings to find one stupid link. I'm just planning ahead.)
Second, we have a running update on the bands (in order) that currently find themselves in the honored position of having all their cd's in my main case. This is subject to change based on my whims and tastes, and based on whether I ever have enough money again to buy cd's. All of these artists are very anti-bubble (see previous post) in my mind... a lot of them are Christian bands, but ones that are more outside the Christian system and on the indie side of things. A lot of people will not have heard of a lot of the stuff there, but that's fine by me. Check it out if you want, as it's all quality music first and foremost (and by music, I mean music and lyrics. I find that the music that I really like over a long period of time always has interesting/meaningful words, not just creative instrumentation).
Finally, and probably most controversially, I included a list of my favorite movies ever. Not what I think are necessarily the BEST movies ever, just my favorites (which is an important distinction: otherwise I'd have no justification for having Citizen Kane lower than Mystery Men). And yes, these are generally in order, so you can see my rankings. However, the ranking process was far less than scientific, and it may be prone to gross miscalculations and glaring omissions. Those situations are where you should post a comment and remind me of important movies I may have forgotten and/or campaign for movies you like to be moved up or movies you hate to be moved down the list. I welcome all manner of comments about this.
By the way, this list was created with a great deal of help from IMDb, another amazing website now appearing in the links list. (http://www.imdb.com/) This site is definitely the most comprehensive website on the net for information about movies. Ever see someone in a movie and be like, "I know I've seen him before, who is that??" This website can tell you, in painstaking and beautiful detail. It's fantastic. It also has information on objectionable material, so you can avoid a movie with stuff you don't want to see. In fact, by way of disclaimer, that may come in handy with my list, since even though these movies are very clean for the most part, there's a few movies on there with some stuff that you might want to skip. I know I skip certain parts of some of these movies when I watch them, so don't take my recommendation as proof that there's nothing bad in there. Be wise and skip it. Also, feel free to let me know if there's something you think I should remove from the list.
And with all the lists, feel free to suggest sites/bands/movies that I might like that aren't currently on there. It's always fun to see what other people think is the greatest and why. That's all for now... stay tuned for more poetry coming up soon.
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