04.20.08
Excerpt from “True and Toxic”
I often feel safer delivering truth in love to a non-believer. Possibly my foreign message would find more audience within the foreign land, where to them, I am neither instantly welcomed nor instantly perceived as a threat. They may ultimately despise the message, but not until having given audience to it.
Maybe the barbarian culture has every bit as much conviction as the apostle, but one that is forged by trial and testing, rather than that of an untried theory. This means that attitudes of an open mind and a welcoming sense of danger are more likely to lie with those outside of the city. They are not protecting a kingdom. They are exploring one. They are seeking truth for themselves from whatever source they can find it. Therefore, the message of truth in love, albeit foreign and dangerous is worth trying, if a messenger as unique and caring as Christ were to present it.
Yet, ultimately, some will cast him off, challenge him, and even kill him. So it is with me. But in what ways, by some trickery of the enemy, have I been the guard at the entrance to the castle—the one who is killing the messenger?
[end]
If you are interested in reading the entire article, please click here.
04.12.08
The Old Man in “No Country For Old Men”
The former Sheriff, Ed Tom Bell, stares out to the fields through his kitchen window in the closing scene. He has just retired and speaks to his wife of two dreams that he had last night. Both dreams include his father. His father had apparently died young, and so any memory of him comes from the son who himself is an old man comparatively speaking, having outlived his father by 20 years or so.
In the first, he was given some money and he was suppose to meet up with his father downtown. The implication he makes is that the reunion never took place because he may have lost the money.
In the second dream, he and his father were riding horses through a valley on a cold winter night. It was dark and late and while the son was in the valley, he saw his dad ride past him and continue on ahead. It was clear that the dad was carrying fire in a horn. He could see the color of the fire, like the color of the moon. His dad didn’t say anything as he rode past. The son understood that his father was going to ride ahead of him, and soon, after the son journeyed on alone, he would meet up with his dad and he would have a warm fire prepared when he arrived. He continues riding on that cold night anticipating the place where they would stop and rest . . . but, the son reminisced, . . . he woke up. Read the rest of this entry »
04.05.08
Looking For a Christian (Dido “Life For Rent”)
Recently, I’ve been reading about some counter-cultural people. They saw little to no difference between their temporal and eternal identity as a Christian. There was little tension between them as heaven-bound, while they lived lives that were also tethered into their place historically here on earth as a Christian.
“Christian” was more than a mere name indicating what faith they chose. “Christian” was more than a label they hung about their necks, it was the life of crucifixion. They lived lives as though not for themselves, but the lives of someone else–everyone else. It may be seen as a religion. But all in all, it was not religion in the sense of what one does, what one believes, or where one fellowships on the weekend. It was a public declaration by their witness, verbally and otherwise, that their lives were not their own. Read the rest of this entry »
