In 1990 I discovered a series of books that were wonderful fantasy novels. They were the Wheel of time series written by Robert Jordan. There are currently eleven books in the series and the twelfth is promised to be the last. It is an awsome series. Robert Jordan is the authors name and I do not know for sure, but he must be very excited about ending the series and the seeing the culmination of his writing. However, yesterday he died of a rare blood disorder. I did not know him personally, nor would I dare to say I know what he was like in the least bit. However, his premature death before finishing the twelfth book has gotten me to thinking.
There are many things in life that I dream of having. Sometimes I put those dreams off because of life cirumstances or just because I can do it later. I often forget that I am not garunteed a later. Some of the things I put off are very important. Like playing with my children, enjoying life, spending time with my wife and things like that. Other things are trips I would like to take, education I would like to have and so forth. I do not know if Mr. Jordan procrastinated about his final book. It does seem to me that the series could have been much shorter and his work could have been done before he died. I do not want to die not having accomplished my dreams and not having played with my children enough.
If you read my last Blog, then you know that I have a thirty-six year old friend that is dying. Her husband talked about all the places that they had wanted to go and see, but now never would. I do not want to be that way. Now, I am not going to rush off and get into debt so that I can go whereever I want to, but I will go play with my children and take a date with my wife.
God does not garuntee that all of our dreams will be accomplished. However, I do believe that God wants us to try and accomplish them. I am not planning on dying young, but who knows what will happen. One thing I do want, though, is to not have any regrets when I die. I do not want to say that I put things off too long and now will not be able to do them.
Mr. Jordan, I hope that someone will finish your series for you. As for me, I am going to get off the computer and go play with my children. Then I might work out for a while, because one of my dreams is to thin again one day. After I work out, I am going to have a family meal and talk to my whole family. Life is too short not to enjoy it and that is what I plan to do.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
My friend Danette
I have a friend named Danette. She is in the process of dieing due to cancer. She is thirty-six years old (maybe thirty-seven). Her awesome husband called us last week and told us that she is in the process of making her final journey to heaven. I am sad. Actually this is a vast understatement, but I do not have the words. I know that she is going on to heaven and I want to celebrate her life, but I am not ready to say goodbye or even see you later yet.
Danette is a wonderful lady. She is a great mom, a Christian woman, an awesome wife, and an excellent friend. I remember the first time I met Danette. It was in the basement of the Chapel at Oklahoma City University. We were waiting for class to start, I believe the class was Introduction to Christian Thought, but I am not sure. I think she started talking to me first. She introduced herself with a smile and we became friends very quickly.
The thing I think of when I think of Danette is her smile. Most of my memories of Danette contain her smile. Her smile is not a false happiness smile, because you are supposed to smile. It is a smile that comes up from her spirit and radiates true joy. This joy comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ. Ever since I have known her that smile has been there. She was one of many that helped me when my mom died, not because she gave any great word of wisdom, but because she was a simple presence that asked me how I was doing and meant it. Again, she genuinely cares for people and that is what showed through. Even now, as she is on her deathbed, she is still caring for other people. Victor, her husband, told us that she called in a father and son that had not spoken to each other for a while and helped them to find reconcilation. She said the other day, that God is not through with her yet.
She is not sitting in her bed, feeling sorry for herself. Danette is not that kind of person. Instead, she is still serving God. She has spent her life serving God and even in dieing she is serving God. I am inspired. Before I found out that she was dieing, I was kind of down and depressed. I felt like certain things in my life were not going well. Nothing big or huge, but enough to be depressed. I felt like going to bed and not getting out of it. Then I found out about Danette and heard the stories. Although, I am sad still, I now know tha God is still using me. Once again Romans 8:28 is brought alive to me. "All things work good for those who are called by God according to his purposes." This does not say that all things are good, merely that God works things for good even when they are bad things.
I am inspired. I hope that I would be the same in Danette's place, but I do not know. Her faith has always been inspiring, now it has gone beyond. She has a great peace, despite her horrible circumstances. I pray that I can have that peace and that faith the rest of my life.
Thank you God for blessing my life with such a good friend as Danette. Thank you for allowing her to be a part of my life. Help me to enjoy the rest of the time I have with her, no matter how little or how long it will be. Keep her strong, keep us being left behind strong. May your peace be with us all.
Danette is a wonderful lady. She is a great mom, a Christian woman, an awesome wife, and an excellent friend. I remember the first time I met Danette. It was in the basement of the Chapel at Oklahoma City University. We were waiting for class to start, I believe the class was Introduction to Christian Thought, but I am not sure. I think she started talking to me first. She introduced herself with a smile and we became friends very quickly.
The thing I think of when I think of Danette is her smile. Most of my memories of Danette contain her smile. Her smile is not a false happiness smile, because you are supposed to smile. It is a smile that comes up from her spirit and radiates true joy. This joy comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ. Ever since I have known her that smile has been there. She was one of many that helped me when my mom died, not because she gave any great word of wisdom, but because she was a simple presence that asked me how I was doing and meant it. Again, she genuinely cares for people and that is what showed through. Even now, as she is on her deathbed, she is still caring for other people. Victor, her husband, told us that she called in a father and son that had not spoken to each other for a while and helped them to find reconcilation. She said the other day, that God is not through with her yet.
She is not sitting in her bed, feeling sorry for herself. Danette is not that kind of person. Instead, she is still serving God. She has spent her life serving God and even in dieing she is serving God. I am inspired. Before I found out that she was dieing, I was kind of down and depressed. I felt like certain things in my life were not going well. Nothing big or huge, but enough to be depressed. I felt like going to bed and not getting out of it. Then I found out about Danette and heard the stories. Although, I am sad still, I now know tha God is still using me. Once again Romans 8:28 is brought alive to me. "All things work good for those who are called by God according to his purposes." This does not say that all things are good, merely that God works things for good even when they are bad things.
I am inspired. I hope that I would be the same in Danette's place, but I do not know. Her faith has always been inspiring, now it has gone beyond. She has a great peace, despite her horrible circumstances. I pray that I can have that peace and that faith the rest of my life.
Thank you God for blessing my life with such a good friend as Danette. Thank you for allowing her to be a part of my life. Help me to enjoy the rest of the time I have with her, no matter how little or how long it will be. Keep her strong, keep us being left behind strong. May your peace be with us all.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
What is wrong with being a "loner"
Why is that anytime someone does an unspeakable crime the media charactarizes them as a loner? I was watching the news the other day and they talked about the man who shot all the people at Virginia Tech. They said he was a loner, obsessed with the columbine shooting and just plain strange. The school should have picked up on these things is what the news program I was watching implied. Then there was a man who had molested several children, he was a loner and very strange. None of his neighbors really new him. Other killers and extreme law breakers were also charactarized as loners, strange or even monsters.
Perhaps I simply understand the term "loner" differently. First of all, I think a loner is someone who is comfortable with him or herself by themselves. They do not mind doing things alone and often enjoy being alone. A true loner refills him or herself by being by themselves. A loner will often go to parties and be around people, but will find themselves exhausted afterwards. People wear out a true loner. Most loners have little room for small talk and do not need to fill the silences in a conversation with noise. Loners often enjoy silence and quiet and do not find it difficult to be silent. Loners sometimes want to be by themselves, but are not anti-social. They have a few close friends and are very happy with just a few friends. They may on occasion avoid social activities and not like crowds a whole lot. They can endure crowds, but it wears them out quickly. Others sometimes see the loner as withdrawn, unfreindly, aloof and even arrogant at first. However, once they get to know the person, they realize that he or she is not that way.
It seems to me that these people who commit such horrendouse crimes are not true loners, but people who have tried to fit in and lack the skills or abilities to truly be a part of a community. Therefore, they feel shunned and wish to strike out in some way or another. They are sick, yes, but not true loners.
I also find it interesting that we must characterize these people as monsters, as well. It is like we must remove them from the human race in order to attempt to understand what they have done. If I understand the Bible correctly every human being is a child of God. Therefore, we are brothers and sisters to these "maniacs" that do these crimes. Hence, but for the grace of God we also could do these horrible deeds. In other words, inside of each human being is the capacity for great evil. We all have the ability to be a Hitler or Virginia Tech shooter or whatever. However, we also have a great capacity for good. The Bible tells us that humanity was created in the image of God. Therefore, we were created good. That capacity for good never leaves us, it just becomes damaged when we sin. Being created good, though, because of sin, we have a propensity toward sin. Hence, we will all sin. Some sins seem bigger than others, but the result of sin is the same, death. Of course, our sins are taken away by the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
All this is to say, though, I think we as Christians should be very careful in how we judge these so called "monsters." We, as human beings have the capacity for equal evil within us, just as these monsters have the capacity for good. Jung called the realization of such evil inside of us as "embracing the shadow." In order to truly embrace the good within us, we also have to embrace the shadow and realize our capacity for evil. In other words, don't remove these people who commit such atrocities from the human race, but remember that the same capacity is inside of you. To truly be human, though, is to live in the image of God we were created in. We are children of God, let us embrace our heritage.
Perhaps I simply understand the term "loner" differently. First of all, I think a loner is someone who is comfortable with him or herself by themselves. They do not mind doing things alone and often enjoy being alone. A true loner refills him or herself by being by themselves. A loner will often go to parties and be around people, but will find themselves exhausted afterwards. People wear out a true loner. Most loners have little room for small talk and do not need to fill the silences in a conversation with noise. Loners often enjoy silence and quiet and do not find it difficult to be silent. Loners sometimes want to be by themselves, but are not anti-social. They have a few close friends and are very happy with just a few friends. They may on occasion avoid social activities and not like crowds a whole lot. They can endure crowds, but it wears them out quickly. Others sometimes see the loner as withdrawn, unfreindly, aloof and even arrogant at first. However, once they get to know the person, they realize that he or she is not that way.
It seems to me that these people who commit such horrendouse crimes are not true loners, but people who have tried to fit in and lack the skills or abilities to truly be a part of a community. Therefore, they feel shunned and wish to strike out in some way or another. They are sick, yes, but not true loners.
I also find it interesting that we must characterize these people as monsters, as well. It is like we must remove them from the human race in order to attempt to understand what they have done. If I understand the Bible correctly every human being is a child of God. Therefore, we are brothers and sisters to these "maniacs" that do these crimes. Hence, but for the grace of God we also could do these horrible deeds. In other words, inside of each human being is the capacity for great evil. We all have the ability to be a Hitler or Virginia Tech shooter or whatever. However, we also have a great capacity for good. The Bible tells us that humanity was created in the image of God. Therefore, we were created good. That capacity for good never leaves us, it just becomes damaged when we sin. Being created good, though, because of sin, we have a propensity toward sin. Hence, we will all sin. Some sins seem bigger than others, but the result of sin is the same, death. Of course, our sins are taken away by the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
All this is to say, though, I think we as Christians should be very careful in how we judge these so called "monsters." We, as human beings have the capacity for equal evil within us, just as these monsters have the capacity for good. Jung called the realization of such evil inside of us as "embracing the shadow." In order to truly embrace the good within us, we also have to embrace the shadow and realize our capacity for evil. In other words, don't remove these people who commit such atrocities from the human race, but remember that the same capacity is inside of you. To truly be human, though, is to live in the image of God we were created in. We are children of God, let us embrace our heritage.
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