Article Archive
These are all the articles I’ve written on this site, listed in the order that I wrote them:
I BELIEVE IN GOD. Kind of dry right? Not many people believe in God anymore. A lot that do seem pretty crazy, or a little brainwashed. Sometimes they just seem scared. Sheltered. I may be all of those things. Of course, I don’t think I am, but I may also be wrong. I believe in God is a statement that seems so dry. I believe in lots of things. I believe in trees. I know they are real. I believe in stomach aches, and Christmas cards. I believed that vases can be broken, and so can hearts. I believe in love at first sight, and love at second glance, and a love so transforming and powerful that you can’t stop looking at it or for it. I believe in run on sentences. In the midst of all of this, I believe in God. Perhaps I can be a little more informative, and in doing so my heart would be allowed to open a little. You’d be able to see me in ways that most don’t, and maybe you’d catch a glimpse of something truly divine. Maybe If i did all this, you would give me your patient ear and we could be friends. I’d really like to be your friend. I believe we’d make good friends.
One of the great tragedies of my life is that I have never seen a Trapeze act in person. They seem so magical. I kind of idolize them. They must be really brave. If someone asked you to throw yourself through the air from one bar to another with nothing to catch you, would you do it? I really like it when there are several performers working together. Can you see it? The lone trapeze artist leaps into the air. Like a swan they float gracefully into dead space. There is no fear in them. Fear causes people to contort, writhing in fear. Falling can be very ugly, but with courage, falling is so beautiful. So purposeful. Then, the savior they knew was coming bursts into the scene. He isn’t hurried. His timing is perfect. The pinnacle of action. A moment later and there would be no one to save. A moment sooner and no one would need saving. Yet, they have no rush, their bar swings with perfect grace. Loving hands grasp loving arms. The crowd roars. Life can be kind of like that, like a Trapeze act at the circus.
When it comes to movies I can be kind of a snob. I’m one of those people who thinks life is more fun if we act all artist, and pretend that we find meaning in quirky artistic things. Of course, in the midst of my pretending parts of me are changed. There are some movies that really do touch me really deeply. One movie like that is “Where the Wild Things Are.” I’ve watched it over and over. It’s confused me, because I always felt this lump in my chest. A lump like there is something really profound happening all around me, but I don’t get it. I feel that way a lot. I wander through life feeling a little bit like a Child, and the whole universe has decided to talk about things I won’t be allowed to understand until I’m older. I like figuring things out. I like it when God uses the most unexpected things to teach me about Himself. This movie is kind of like that.
I like to listen to people talk. One of my weirdest qualities is I’m good at reading people’s language. I’ll never be good at reading people, but I can figure out what you say, what you aren’t saying and what you want to say. Okay. I’m no mind reader, but I can tell when someone is not saying something they desperately want to. As people, we really want to trust others with ourselves. You see it crop up when you are first learning how to deal with crushes. Think back to your awkward middle school days. Even talking with friends you looked for excuses that would PUSH you to tell someone whom you liked…which at the time was probably the deepest thing about you. Truth or dare. Sleep over guessing games. Even boys had their own versions of this, just with a lot more mockery. Part of growing up is learning to trust people with ourselves. We long to confess ourselves, but very few people know how. I’ll go first. I’ll go first because I trust that as you open up to others, you’ll find healing for yourself. I’ll trust that if you see my weakness, it can be your strength. I’ll trust that if you see my ugliness, in community it can be made beautiful. So here it is.
End Tables as the Meaning of Life
It’s the end of the Christmas season, and it’s gotten me thinking a lot about possessions. By possessions I mean stuff, the yard-sale waiting to happen that fills our homes robbing us of the square footage we fight so hard to purchase. I thought I’d clarify, or you might read through this whole article wondering when I’m going to mention demons, how they enter you and how to get them out. I’ll address that later in a self-help post entitled, “Exorcism and Exorcise: Cast demons from your friends and family and lose weight doing.” I just haven’t reduced it down into four easy steps, so I can’t post it yet. I have yet to figure out how a healthy diet helps you have unparallelled dominion over the underworld. Anyway, I want to talk about stuff. I’m starting to feel like we Americans have begun to believe that cool sunglasses and Ipad’s have replaced oxygen in the manifold list of things we need if we are going to last another 3 minutes.
Beauty and the Beast is a wonderful story. A beautiful girl learns to see past herself to see the inner beauty of another. Very Poetic. Then she kisses him and he becomes a handsome prince. I think Shrek is more poetic, though. A beautiful woman falls in love with an Ogre, then turns into an ugly ogre. I mean our world is full of ugly people, loved by God. I think life might seem more beautiful if we raised our children on stories that would teach them that love creates beauty, not the other way around. Would you still like the story if it was Beastly and the other equally Beastly Beast? My thoughts on the damage done to beauty.
Tonight I was working at Famous Dave’s. That’s all I seem to do, not that I’m complaining. It’s interesting what marks what season of life. This season is a season of work. I spend 40 hours a week cleaning tables, and talking to my incredible coworkers. They are people worth knowing. There is this beautiful girl who’d never believe it, even if the world told her so. Her name is Katrina, and by her own confession, people never like the first impression they get of her. Which is strange, because she really is kind. The problem is she is strong, the kind of strong that stands for itself. The kind of strong that is always a few inches too close to your face, and a few decibels too loud for your ears. It doesn’t bother me though. It makes me wish she knew that her hair isn’t too messy, and her face is gorgeous without make-up. My personal vendetta against her low self-esteem aside, she told us about her New Year’s Resolution. Well, that’s not exactly what she said. She said, “You guys want to know what my new year’s REVOLUTION is?” Then she giggled, and apologized. Her resolution was to have a valentine, and other typical worldly girl stuff. So I got home and that phrase got into my head…New Year’s Revolution, that’s what our world needs. So my question this year is: What’s your New Year’s Revolution?
Gardens are a fact. I live in a huge city, and never noticed a single garden. It’s never worried me though. They aren’t going away or anything. What I mean is I never woke up nervous to think that all the flowers were going away, and before long I’d be trapped in my concrete world of burger kings and board meetings. When I think about nature, it has this unconquerable grandeur. I mean we have been trying to conquer nature for years, but we can’t. We can’t because our souls need it to survive. Forests and Jungles are wired into us. I need lakes as much as I need water, sometimes.
There was once a little boy who was fascinated with Pirates. He loved to play in his backyard, pillaging villages and firing cannons at other ships. Sometimes he was fearsome, and sometimes he was heroic. In his sandbox he had conquered cities, fell in love with women, and escaped Davey Jones’ Locker itself. At school he would draw pirates. they weren’t dirty marauders, but glorious thieves of the sea. In his mind they were the Robin Hoods of the Caribbean, giving to the poor and robbing the rich…
Something most of my friends could tell you is that I love the imagery of Robots. I always have. I dabble in painting, and robots are my favorite subject matter. At first I supposed I just liked robots, but I’m finding whenever I look deeper into why I like something I find my soul always stands on something solid. I find it’s usually the fact that I see myself in the subject matter. Why I like almost any strange piece of artwork that I do, is because I find a piece of myself in it. Sometimes staring at an abstract work can feel like staring into some alienated part of my soul that I don’t fully understand. Something kicking around my heart, laughing at me fully knowing that it cannot be expressed by the mouth but only the hands. I see myself a lot in robots. I’ll tell you what I mean…
