In the darkness

There is an old proverb, first recorded by Thomas Fuller, "The darkest hour is just before the dawn." The dawn is the beginning of a new day when everything is fresh and born anew. When we look east each morning and see the sunrising, we always know that we can begin again. There was a time when the whole world would look East to welcome each new day. Even in the darkest of days when the castles that have been built in the sand are on fire and the tide is coming in, people still looked East. Why look to the sunrise and the East though? The answer is a simple act of faith, but not faith in a man or a woman. We look to the sunrise because the One who created the whole of the universe wrote into our hearts hope in a new day. Hope not in a person, but just Hope. Hope in the darkness as freshly lite candle begins to glow brighter. Hope is not an abstract idea, as the sunrise reminds us. The sunrise is not abstract it is concrete and very real, hope is real as well. In the darkest hour the world has ever known Hope showed us a new light. In the hour humanity committed deicide, Hope stepped forward and took the strips for our sins. In the darkness Hope stood up and allowed Himself to be nailed to the cross. We are given a sunrise to remind us that after the darkness of the night, Hope has risen. People look east the Son has risen; Hope has risen.

To day is the very beginning of the sunrise. Christmas is the day when the Light came into the world to shine for all. Some choose not to see the Light, others only want to see parts of the Light so it is easy and not bright enough to change their lives. Others look straight into the Light and everything changes. Once we look fully into the Light nothing can ever be the same. Everything burns with a fire bright reflecting the Light. In the darkest night we become the lights reflecting the only real Light in the universe. Shine on the world around you.

It has been a long time.......

It has been a long time, since I have written anything in these musings. I will try to do better. Now that the house keeping is finished........

The Saturday past I had the great pleasure to see Great Big Sea in concert in Minneapolis. In today's rush rush society, where everything is wanted to be my way right away, the idea of slowing down and enjoying life is lost. The old wore down reminder, "Stop and smell the roses." There is more to this than an old saying, it is a way of life. When you slow down and allow your stress to subside life becomes a joy rather than a burden. Life is worth living, not a rush to the grave. Great Big Sea is a group that lives this out in their music and performances. They are out there performing for the audience and for the music. They are doing what they love and loving each day of what they do. In the performance they brought the petals of the music they carry with them and gently sprinkle them on the heads of all those listening.

It is not a complex idea. Take time to do what you enjoy and life is better. Do not just spend all of your time working and worrying. I am not advocating laziness, rather joy. Life is worth living. True joy does not come from money or power. True joy comes when we come to know the One who loves us and made us for Himself. The only source of true joy is Him. Want joy in life come to know the One who is Joy.

Cardinal Arinze Webcast Theology of the Body on Marriage

Christ centered education, formation for life.

In the life of a Christian there comes a time that we must learn that people have agendas of their own. People form agendas to get their own way and beliefs to be promoted. This is not learning or education, it is manipulation of people through finding data to fit conclusions that are already made. Education is a presentation of evidence and allowing people to come to conclusions that follow from the evidence. In any education people must be willing to say to others that they are wrong, presenting them with evidence and showing how the argument fails to follow from the evidence.

The biggest problem with arguments is in the meaning of words. The only reason this problem ever came into existence is because people started to forget that words have meanings and those meanings are important. The only reason that words are important is that words have in them the power to create, destroy and change. They are not simply arbitrary letters given a meaning through societal conventions. Words have a meaning for one reason and one reason alone. The reason is simply, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not" (Jn. 1:1-5). The Word was spoken in the darkness and all things came into being. What's a word? It's a name. A name for an idea, a thing, a place, etc. All words are really names of a sort. But what's in a name that gives it power? Moses asked that question and was answered. I AM.

When we realize that it is I AM (YHWH) gives all things being, than we realize that we must submit to One who is greater. The One who gives us being. In the Gospel of Luke (5:1-11) Jesus comes to the shores of a lake and is being followed by a great crowd of people. He got into the boat belonging to Simon and cast off from the shore alittle to teach the crowds. After He was finished teaching, Jesus told Peter to cast out into deeper water and cast the nets over the side of the boat. By doing as Christ commanded Peter caught a great catch, so great that he could not bring it in on his own. So is it with us, when we follow Christ and push out into the deep waters of life. Not staying in the safe shoals of what we want and personal agendas, but going into the depths of faith guided by Christ.

Do you ever get the feeling it's going all wrong?

It could be worse, this could be you.....

Roses, Suffering and the Cross

Human life is very fragile, much like the life of a flower. Almost all flowers wilt and die when their stems are harmed, so some flowers, like the rose, have developed defenses against the dangers of the world. A rose is also recognized as one of the most beautiful flowers in the world.

A rose is a flower, which reflects each person in a mystical sense. A rose blooms slowly over time with much loving care; it is the same way with our soul. Our soul requires us to shape and mold our life to Christ’s life. We develop defenses to protect the fragile bloom of our soul from the goats of the world who would come to eat it. The thorns do not come only from our own designs, but from the Cross. We must suffer in this world, because Christ suffered, pierced by our sins out of love for us. When we choose to follow Jesus, we must “deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow him” (Luke 9:23). As Christians none of us have any right to expect an easy life, but rather all Christians must expect and be expected to be imitators of Christ in all things. Pope John Paul II teaches in Salvifici Doloris, “The Redeemer suffered in place of man and for man. Every man has his own share in the Redemption. Each one is also called to share in that suffering through which the redemption was accomplished” (19f). In the denial of the world, believers come to share in the redemptive power of the cross through sharing in the suffering of Christ. Each person is to redeem the world around them by being Christ to the world daily. But how does one become Christ to the world? Each person must daily reach out to the lowly, the sick, the hopeless, the despairing, the hungry, the naked and the homeless, since Christ came forth to each Christian when we were in a similar place. Every person has spiritual needs as well as physical needs and as a community of believers, we must be attuned to these needs. Unity grows out of love lived each day in action for our brothers and sisters. We are not meant to be fighting amongst ourselves; people are not the ones who we are fighting in the world. Hollywood is not the enemy, nor are all the Larry Flynts and Bill Clintons of the world. They are our patients, the ones entrusted to us to declare the healing of the Gospel of our Lord. They are the weak, sick, and broken parts of the rosebush of the human race. Christians are the leaves of the human race, who are working for food that will not pass away (cf. John 6:27). The leaves give a rosebush strength and color by spreading the food to all parts of the plant, even the sick and dying parts (i.e. the Larry Flynts of the world). These sick parts are usually given more food (i.e. the time we need to spend praying for them) that rebuild the cells of the plant to become healthy. The beautiful blooms of the saints struggle to bring the sick and lowly to the glory of our Father’s loving plan, so each person may know the beauty of the love of God blooming in their lives. But with the bloom comes the thorns, each person must be pricked in order to become the rose that Christ sees in them. In the winter of society, when all things seem to be dead or dying, we can still look at the roses and see the thorns, remembering the beautiful scent of the rose. Michael Phillips said it best in his series The Secret of the Rose, “For those who love the blooms even the thorns have a scent.” May Mary, who is the Mystical Rose, guide us to her Son, so we may become the beautiful flower which he planted on the hill of Calvary.

(Originally published in the Ave Maria College newspaper in Ypsilanti, MI).

Ransom, Till We Have Faces and sharing in redemption

What follows below is an essay that I have been working on. It is alittle on the long side and is far from finished. But, just the same I would like some feed back about it.

One of the greatest gifts we have been given is the ability to share in the redemptive act for the sake of another. In the fiction of C.S. Lewis there are great examples of this idea in Perelandra and Till We Have Faces. In both of these books one character must suffer, so another may find a path to God. Ransom and Orual both suffer for another in the world around them to regain, in the case of Psyche, or never lose, the King and Queen of Perelandra intimacy with God.
In the case of Ransom the entire future of a planet rests on his intersession for the first parents of the planet. Not just in prayers and arguments, but even more so in actions. Ransom becomes the price paid for the future of Venus. The future of the world rests on the decision of the great Mother of her race to obey the command of Maleldil.[1] The command was not to reside on the fixed lands, but to live on the floating islands. The Un-Man, the fallen angel who entered into Perelandra through Dr Weston, tries to convince the Lady of Perelandra of the good of living on the fixed lands over the islands. The Un-Man attempted to show this through the example of Earth, because all men on Earth live on the fixed lands therefore it cannot be evil. The Un-Man is correct; living on the fixed lands in itself is not an evil. The evil is in disobeying a command of Maleldil. Throughout the arguments between the Lady and the Un-Man, Ransom knows that he is there for a reason but he cannot tell why he has been brought to the planet.
In the dark night, the night itself and the future were both black, before any action is taken Ransom is told something that he did not expect. The voice in his mind told him, “It is not for nothing that you are named Ransom.”[2] Ransom himself did not realize that there could be more than chance to his name being Ransom. He did not think that his surname would have anything to do with the act of ransoming any more than a mere pun. If he was not to be the ransom for this world, then it would have to be redeemed. Maleldil, Himself, would be the ransom for this world just as He was for the Earth. No matter the choice of Dr Ransom the world of Perelandra would be redeemed, it is just a question of when. Either at its beginning or later by Maleldil, whose name is Ransom also, for He is ultimately the only one who ransoms any from the bent one.[3] It is through Dr Ransom that Maleldil wishes to ransom Perelandra at the beginning. In Creation Maleldil uses others as instruments of his acts for the benefit of His servants. Either intelligent beings freely choose to co-operate with Maleldil, that is God, or they rebel against His will. This is the revelation that spurs Dr Ransom into action for the sake of others going beyond his fears and doubts.
The salvation of Perelandra comes when Maleldil casts the Lady into a deep sleep leaving Dr Ransom with the Un-Man. This gives Ransom the chance to deal with the Un-Man without corrupting the innocence of the Lady. The process of dealing with the Un-Man is completely unknown to Ransom. The only thing Ransom knows for certain is that he must act quickly. The first step Ransom takes is to attack the Un-Man with physical force. To the attack the Un-Man responds, “But this is very foolish. Do you not know who I am?”[4] Ransom has a simple response that he knows what he is, which one does not matter at all. The Un-Man proceeds to mock Ransom trying to get him to despair from the task at hand by way of the Crucifixion of Christ and the cry of Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.[5] But Ransom is not deterred by the mocking of this bent creature, not because it was untrue, but the voice of the Un-Man was that of perfect remembrance of events long ago. The words of perfect Aramaic pronunciation of one who was there when those words were uttered and remembered with relish of a victory over Maleldil. The suffering of that day did one thing. Ransom is co-operating in the same act. The act of the redemption of a world. The first world had already fallen into the rebellion of the Bent-One and suffered every day since. The world of Perelandra where Ransom now walks had not yet fallen for the lies of the Bent-One. It is on the razors edge as Ransom walks on it.
It is through the suffering that Ransom is now enduring Perelandra will be redeemed or else it will become like our world. The world of Perelandra will be either kept in the in grace or it will be brought back into grace. If Perelandra is brought back into grace at a later time than it will have to suffer each day sharing in the redemptive act that brought it back to grace. Humans use suffering as a proof that God does not exist. We do not realize that it is something very different. The silence heard in a suffering soul is not because God does not exist or care. Our Great Mother and Father chose to fall from the grace of unity with God, but there is a way back to the unity with God. To go back there must be a cost. Unfortunately, we can never totally return to the time prior to the fall, the affects will always be with us. The fall cannot be undone. God has the power to remove the results of the first sin, but there would be no point unless God was willing to remove the results of the second, third, forth to infinite by the same miracles. If the miracles stopped than we could end up in the same situation that we are in, otherwise the world is being controlled through the direct and constant interference of God.[6] In that case we would not have free will and not be able to love God, choosing Him above all else, choosing love. With the ability to love and choose also comes the chance for suffering.
In our world, that is Earth, suffering came into existence as a result of a choice. In the beginning Adam was told to eat from any of the trees in the garden but not from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day man eats from that he will be doomed to die.[7] When the woman was created the man told her of the command in regards to the fruit of the garden, so it was the case that God did not tell it to her. So the serpent did not lie in part, but in the end did. The lie was that the warning was given to the entire human race, not just man as in the male and that they will “become like gods, knowing good from evil.”[8] Man and woman already knew the difference between good and evil in virtue of having the gift of reason. As a result of listening to the lie of the serpent pain and toil was introduced into the world.[9] Suffering resulted from sin; sin would be healed through suffering. It could not be the suffering of just anyone though it would have to be a sacrifice without blemish or taint from sin. It must be one who is like to man but free of sin to be sacrificed for sin.[10] In Perelandra things will be different.
In Perelandra it will not be God who takes the suffering onto Himself but will be a sinner who was chosen to protect the first parents of this planet. Ransom must do what every Christian is called to do, bring Christ to the world. Lewis wrote, “…Ransom (to some extent) plays the role of Christ not because he allegorically represents him (as Cupid represents falling in love) but because in reality every real Christian is really called upon in some measure enact Christ.”[11] Ransom is not the personification of Christ, but is a second Christ as are all Christians. Not to say that Christians are Incarnations, but Christians are mirrors of Christ to the world. It is the task of all Christians to go out into the world and bring Christ to the world. Christ commanded it saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."[12] Ransom’s task is not much more difficult than ours. Ransom must teach about sin and death to someone who has no idea what they are, someone who is ‘young’[13], without leading her into sin and death. It is no different in the modern world that denies the existence of sin. Every Christian is called to bring Christ’s redemptive act to the world, so the world may be renewed.

[1] Maleldil is the name of the Son of God in Lewis’ Space Trilogy
[2] C.S. Lewis, Perelandra, (Scribner, New York, NY), 147.
[3] C.S. Lewis, Perelandra, (Scribner, New York, NY), 148. The exact quote is “My name also is Ransom,” said the Voice.
[4] Ibid, 153.
[5] Mathew 27:46 and Mark 15:34. Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani means “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.” This is the first line of Psalm 22, which starts in pain and suffering, but ends declaring the glory of God.
[6] CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain, (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1996), 63.
[7] Genesis 2:16-17 (NJB).
[8] Cf. Genesis 3:1b-3, 5 (NJB).
[9] Cf. Genesis 3:16-19.
[10] Cf. Romans 8:3.
[11] Walter Hooper (ed.), The Collected Letters of CS Lewis: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950-1963. 1005.
[12] Matthew 28:19-20.
[13] In Perelandra someone who lacks understanding is referred to by the Lady as being young and is in need of teaching about the ways of Maleldil. She knows herself to be very young and is willing to learn.

Jack Sparrow - Captain Kidd

Everyone's favorite pirate.

Food, Cheer and Song....

So I was listening to the recordedbooks version of The Hobbit last week. A particular line in it jumped out at me: "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world," Thorin Oakenshield said to Bilbo. There is alot of truth in this. Imagine a world that valued peace, food and cheer above all else as the Hobbits did. Things would be very different from the world that we know where money, fame, oil, and prestige are put before all else. What would happen if we took a step back from our lives and took a look at our priorities? What would we find? Would we find division? Would we find peace and happiness? Would we find a complex net that we have wooven around ourselves to hide reality or would we find simplicity in life? In the world of Thorin and Bilbo it is food, song and good cheer that are found in lands of peace. Greed, wanting to be rich and have powerful, causes the problems in this world. All of those who came to the battle of the five armies wanted to the dragon's hoard. This caused war. Bilbo was willing to sacrfice all of his claim to his share of the hoarded treasure to avoid a battle for himself and his friends. It says a great thing when a person, or hobbit, is willing to go out of their way to bring peace about and do what is right as well. We would be much happier and merrier as well. So food, cheer and song are a good thing when they remind us of peace.

Gollum and scientists....not really connected though.

I was reading The Hobbit a couple weeks age and had an intresting thought about Gollum durning the riddle game. I have no evidence for this being true or intentional on the part of Tolkien. But I noticed the spelling of Gollum and what it actually was. In mythology a gollum was a creature that was made of mud, slime, or some other lower creature (frogs for example) that do not have a will of thier own. The realization that I came to was that Gollum was one of these creatures. When he took posetion of the ring he ceased to have a will of his own. He in fact ceased to be Smeagel, but became totally subject to the will of the ring. He no longer was one of the river people, but became a creation of the ring and subject to his will. In the taming of Smeagel we see the battle between two distinct creatures, one meak and innocent being Smeagel who longed for his freedom. The other creature is viscious and treatorous, Gollum. Gollum had become as the ring is, a cricle closed upon itself and empty in the middle.

But the short note concerning scientists is simply this: science must be guided by the true, the good and beautiful. The guide posts for all morality. There are limits to scientfic research, which it seems many present day scientists have forgotten or were never taught. The first is stay within the bounds of the truth of what things are and respect the dignity of the human person. The second is work for the good of all man kind. The best example of science getting away from moral teachings is cloning and embrionic stem cell research. The two are closly linked together. Both cease to respect the truth and dignity of the human person, by making them into tools to be used for the so called betterment of man. The one problem with claiming that the betterment of man is the reason is that embrionic stem cell research has shown no progress. There have been no medical cures from this research. Where adult stem cell reserach that does not involve the distruction of millions of babies per experiment has shown progress and has saved many lives by healing organs. The issue between the two is not cures it is money. There are billions of dollars in corporate grants given each year for embrionic research. Often this is by people who support Planned ParentHood and are funding the culture of death in our society. Perhaps my two topics are not seperate and scientists have become gollums to money, rather than scientists.

Something that stuck with me.

Over this past weekend I was reading The Lion, the Witch and the Woredrobe for the I really don't know how manyth time. But something jumped out at me. When Lucy and Suzan are hidding in the bushs just before the Witch kills Aslan. As he laid tied to the Stone Table shaved and seemingly in disgrace. Lewis writes this of that moment, "...the first shock was over the shorn face Aslan looked to her braver, and more beautiful,and more patient than ever." Christians know the meaning to suffering, we get it from Christ. Suffering is to heal the heart of the world and bring all back to the One who made the world. Aslan was the one who brought the world of Narnia into existence and promised that the greatest wickness of the Withc would fall upon Himself (see The Magician's Nephew). In that moment when the triump of the Witch seems most certian, the Great Lion looks more beautiful than ever. There is a beauty in the Cross of Christ as well. God is bringing down the worst of the punishment of all sin upon Himself, because no man could bare it. Why did Christ do this for us? Why did Aslan do this for us? Aslan and Christ did it for one reason alone....out of love. Pure, unconditional love for creation. Look into the eyes of any image of the crucfixtion or the Etche Homo (sp?) and you will see there the love that came to save the world. After you have seen that love nothing can be the same. Everything changes......

Lack of anything to say....

As the title of this entry says, I really don't have anything to say. However, I did come across a new video from Rebecca St James that I thought I would share. It is very similar to the skit Rag Man, if any of you are fimliar with it. It is very well done.

So passes the Crock Hunter Steve Irwin......

In this video Steve Irwin morns for a crocadile, now the animals will morn for him. Rest in peace.

Yes, It is true Steve Irwin has died this weekend.

Why are there no more examples like this?

We need more people with values like John Wayne had....

Of Beauty....

This is some more thoughts on somethings that I have about beauty from a conversation of tonight. I don't think I will get much sleep until I write something.

First of is beauty subjective or objective? The answer to this is simple to me, beauty can only be objective. The first question that must be answered is: "what do you mean by beuaty?" If you mean what is appealing to you or what you like, than beauty is subjective. But that is not beauty. This is merely likes and dislikes plan and simple. To say something is beautiful is to say something about it in itself. Beauty is in the nature of a thing not put in it from outside by the seer. Isn't that clear enough?

The second is the commonality of beauty in people. All people see things as beautiful, though not everything that is called beautiful is in fact beautiful. Even the darkest people refer to somethings as beautiful, but due to the twisting of the world they do not understand what is beautiful and only know it to be what they like. Even the most worldly people can see the beauty in a sunrise or sunset, these are a calling deep down inside of them to see the beauty that is comming out of these events.

The third thing may seem odd to many, but is something that I have come to understand as very important, it is in the names of things. In the sounds of words and names there is beauty that is denoted in the thing that is called so. This is possibly the hardest to express, but I will try. Words are not something we put on things as deconstructionists may claim, but are in the things. A table is not called a table because of some use or frame, but it is a table because that is the word from which it sprung from. It was after all in speaking that all of creation came into being. In the words that God spoke at the beginning brought all things into existance. Adam was to name all things, but being unfallen Adam was able to see what all things as they are. Adam did not impose on them a name, but spoke what they were and in these words is a beauty. Even in the sound of these words are beauty.

These are such few thoughts that I have on this matter. I have thought very much about objectivity vs. subjectivity of beauty. Beauty must be objective and in the nature of it. But if this is unclear ask me for more and I will try to answer it.

The Value of Doubt and Action

This summer has taught me few lessons and none more than this: there is an extereme value in doubt and action. The lesson has been in my heart and in the reading that I have done this summer. Don't worry I will try to clarify this as much as I can.

Doubt is a healthy thing when it does not lead to despair, but leads instead to seeking. When a person has honest doubts about beliefs and looks to the evidence for answers will look finding answers. Take belief in God, or for that matter disbelief in the idea of god, as a prime example. Many people do not believe in God because they do not know Him or have not met Him through the only path possible to learn about Him. The only one who knows the Father is the Son and any one who the Son choses to reveal Him to (cf. Mt. 11:27). How than are we to come to know Jesus? There is only one place where we can find about who Christ is, that is in the New Testament of the Bible. Jesus said "I and the Father are one" (Jn. 10:30). Than is it not true that the only way that we can know the Father is through the Son who came into the world. So in the pages of the New Testament we find Christ and through Him we meet the Father. It is through doubt that we will seek and we are told all who seek will find (see Mt. 7:7). Out of doubt we will be led to seeking the truth. These are what lead us to truth. Much of this summer I have felt like Aragon at the breaking of the Fellowship, being a poor chooser and all of the choices have gone wrong. This is where the need of action comes into this. This is taught in the Lord of the Rings best I think. Even when there is doubt and uncertianity in their actions. As Aragon knew, so we must learn, that when we make a choice we must follow it to the end and in faith. All of the fellowship is pulled into different directions and they do not know what will come of their journey, but they are being guided by a power greater than all of the powers in the world to the end that is for the greatest good, the distruction of the one ring. All of the fellowship are helping to do this task, so must we realize that all who act in faith of Christ bring salvation to the world. Yes, we are the messengers who carry hope into the world. Just as Frodo carried the fools hope for all and others help him with the task, so to do we carry in each action a participation of the salvation of the world that Christ alone achieved on Calavery. I could keep going about this, but I do not think that it would get any clearer. If you really want it to be totally clear read The Lord of the Rings trilogy paying close attention to the details, but also read George MacDonald's The Curate of Glaston trilogy. An irony in finding these older authors I have found lessons deeper than anything I ever thought to find.

A light in the darkness

Warning: If you have not read through the section of The Return of the King about dark land, do not read this post, but save it for later. Yes, Emily this warning is for you, even though this is not a story ruiner.

In the heart of the of the darkness of Mordor we find this passage:
"Far above the Ephel Duath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for awhile. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master's, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo's side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep."

This is possibly one of the most moving parts of The Lord of the Rings. Even in the darkness of the heart of the evil land hope is found. The heart of Sam is peirced to the very center of his being with the fact that "the Shadow was only a small and passing thing." A small and passing thing? It is a shadow that comes from the devil, the one that that succeded in killing God for three days. But as Sam realized that there is a beauty that is beyond the darkness of the Shadow. There is something beyond it all. A beauty that no shadow can cover or touch to sully it. A beuaty that is pure as light. In realizing that beauty is beyond the Shadow, Sam was able to forget about his plight and rest without trouble. Corrie ten Bloom says something even more stricking because she was speaking of Hitler's Mordor. She says,"This darkness is very deep, but our God has gone far deeper. When you have been to Calvary, even Ravensbrook looks trivial.” When we know Christ in the dark places than all the darkness becomes trivial. That is all for the short comments I have for now.

The unknown and jumping without a net. Also the front lines...

It is summer and the heat has come, but along with that comes the summer tradition in my life of having to leap into the unknown. The past few years I really have not had to do this, because I knew I would be in school next year. I guess it is back to where I was before comming to Ave and having to leap without knowing where I will land. I can never see where I will land when I am at a major turning point of my life. The unknown, honestly scares the life out of me, but has to be left to One who knows all possiblities. I have a hard head and learning to trust is very difficult for me. I have trouble trusting my own instincts, even though they have very rarely been shown to be wrong. They tell me that God is in control and will look out for me as He always has. They also tell me that He loves me, wanting me to know, love and serve Him. He is my King and I will always serve Him. Fully serving Christ, now that scares me. To do that would be sainthood and there is no telling what He wants.

I came to Ave as a way of learning and not being on the frontlines of the Church for a time. I've had my time of sybatical from the fight and even that has not been without its conflicts, but none as serious or important as the ones I have been in pior to Ave. But I think the time has come for me to get back into the fight and serve Christ always. I must come to love my Master as Sam Gamgee loves Frodo. I have had a time without the strive that comes with being fully for Christ in the world. The time of total peace has gone, the battle for souls will go on. I always list my politics as 'other' because it does not matter about taxes, social security checks or whatever you think of in politics. What truly matters are souls. It is not for anything of this world that we should be fighting for but for souls. I do recognize that poltics can be used for this, but do any of us have the courage to do this? Do not forget, we are at war, and victory cannot be gained by strength of arms. I agree with Gandalf saying, "I still hope for victory, but not by arms."How than do still hope? We hope through Jesus Christ, who took the fight to the enemy but that was by bruising His own heel. He embraced His heel and became small. So to must we embrace our heel and become small. The only way we can win is through humility and simplisty in Christ. Christ is the only one who can achieve victory. We must walk up to the lines of the battle and do always service of Christ. Dropping to our knees and asking our King to lead us. We must become small, humbling ouresleves before Christ. But I think I have bantered on long enough, this is what comes out of me when we get stream of conciousness.

A God to Call Father

My thoughts as of recently turn towards life and the unknown, because so much of life is an unknown for me. There is only one conclusion that I reached that we are blessed with a God, who desires us to call Him Father, daily He proves Himself worthy of being called Father. He provides for the needs of each of us. He tells us shortly after teaching us to pray, I will address this shortly, Christ tells us that we cannot serve to masters God and money (cf. Mt. 6:24). Then He tells us a strange thing, "And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin" (Doyue-Remes, Mt. 6:28). What is our Lord getting at? It is something that is hard for most in this age of money and materialism, do not rely on money for your daily bread. You must work to earn it, but do not be ruled by money or worry about it. Look to the flowers and the birds they have all that they need, not toiling for more, they are provided for by God. Christ is telling us to rely on God as the birds, flowers and as a small child would look to their father. God gives those who rely on Him all that they need for their daily needs, yet He still wants us to tell Him our needs in prayer. Our needs not just our wants. We are told to pray for our daily bread (cf. Mt. 6:11).

In the beginning of that prayer we are told to call God, not the creator or Christ's Father, but Our Father. Not only is God the loving Father who guides the life of Christ through the world to the end of His divine plan, He is also inviting us into His family. Christ is the first of many bretheren, since it is through Christ that we are adopted into His family. We are to come to know God as Father and trust in Him for our needs. He is in control of the lives of all who will let go of themselves and pick up the cross daily following Christ always. There will be trials and difficulties, because the evil one wants us to turn away from our Father and become as the prodical son when he leaves his Father's house to live in a strange land. These are not new ideas. There is a question of why are there so few priests, religious and young believers who are faithful without end when in the early Church there were many teen martyrs. A large part of it is in the early Church, the saints looked them straight in the eyes and proclaimed Christ. We need to get back to that and the frist step must be with ourselves. We must come to call God Father and truly proclaim that Jesus is Lord over the entirity of our lives! As a good Father God allows us to suffer some, not because he does not care, but rather because He loves us. Fatherly love is hard love, a love that is willing to let their children learn some lessons for themselves......I hope this rambling makes sense. I'll stop for now.

Without a map

This post will mainly be something that has been on my mind of late. I'm pretty sure that it has been on other people's mind as well. The question of: "What to do with my life and where to go?" I would like to share some of my thoughts on this matter with everyone, because I have a feeling that I have been at this junction more than others I know. It is part of life to travel down a path not knowing where it leads. We do not have a plain and simple map that we can look at as we would look at a road map to plan a road trip. We cannot see how the different events are connect as long as we are in time. When we are in eternity we will be able to look at the path we walked in life and see the beautiful plan God laid out for us. But for now we do not have a map, but we have something much more important, we have a compass to guide us. This may seem odd but none the less true. I don't know how many people who read this have ever had to navigate by compass, so I will share alittle of what it is like. A compass gives a bearing to guide you through a dark wood or across a plain without regards to what obsticles are in the way. The bearing is a guide to an end and will not give us the middle path of the journey. Sometimes we will have to diverage from the path we were on due to a river or a cliff that we need to get around, but still we have the bearing to follow. The questions that remain are: what is the compass and what is the end which we are being guided to.

The later of these questions is quite simple we are being guided to Heaven and life with the Triune God. That is the intended end of every single human life. We are to be there with Him, but how do we get there. Now that is the annoying part for us. On our own it is impossible, but God in His infinite wisdom has given us a guide, a bearing to follow. The compass for each person has a name, the name above all other names, Jesus Christ. The only way to know where we need to go in life is to know the one guide we have through life. Know Jesus and you will come to know where you need to go. It will not be obvious at all. But walk the path that has been set before you in faith and in communion with Christ. Do this and you will always find that you are exactly where you need to be each day of your life. This may seem good in theory or else just make no sense at all. But it is very practical in reality. When you take your eyes off of Jesus is when you will get lost. I know that more than I would care to admit, but none the less it is true. In my life it is when I have lost sight of Christ that I have been lost. We will have times that we feel lost when we are following Christ, but if we are still following the path He has put before us and have not stopped looking to Him than we are not really lost. The only One who really should be in control of your life is in control of your life. It is a time to learn to trust and have faith in Him. Remeber that Jesus is Lord over our lives. Live that simple phrase and you will always have a bearing in your life and a compass to lead you.

I hope this makes sense and is helpful to someone out there. I felt that I need to write it. Any questions?