bread&tea

what if i simply spoke spoke without hesitation without any remorse no consideration for policies or affections refused the guidelines of polite chat and small talk explored and expressed the train of thought in originality ? no harm meant none taken if taken with good intent after which the train could proceed all dialogue chained together with no stops only small breaks the purpose your realization my realization of everything simple and complicated becoming complicated and simple yet now understandable all this said and more with no thought given for consequences the implications of such thought consensually overridden to benefit those who dared speak in such a way what might be accomplished then? what sort of consequences would taint the gain? awkward knowledge of the other repeated eye contact acknowledging the other knowing the other knows what you now know too and that they share the same awareness of that liberating open yet closed friendship ...

Some movies I watch to be entertained. Some I watch to make me think. Some I watch to make me stop thinking. Some I watch because they entertain by being relevant in an intelligent, or maybe just analogy provoking artsy way. I Am Legend isn't the sort of movie I can watch often... but it's in that group of movies that shares the characteristic of thematic elements that you, the watcher, can take and read out and/or in your own ideas. An example of this in the film would be when another survivor implies the possibility that God caused the epidemic, to which Neville (the main character played by Will Smith) responds, "God didn't cause this, we did." It's easy for me as a believer to instantly relate that to Adam and Eve, and why/how sin and evil and suffering exist. There are several such scenes where easy analogies and relevant ideas pop up throughout I Am Legend, but I leave such controversial parts for you to think through yourself. Many times it's...

One of my friends recently got a tattoo which included the words, "Christ First, Christ Always". It's beautiful and inspiring... and slightly daunting. "Christ Always" can be taken and reasoned to mean that Christ is always with us, but put together with "Christ First", it resonates with a stronger promise. Christ first, and always first. An identity proclaimed as more than simply Christ with us, but Christ as who we are, at all times. Daunting or not, isn't it better that way? Oh yes. I've been mulling over over an interesting correlation between satisfaction and completion in Christ, and satisfaction and completion in everyday life. Satisfaction and fulfillment are desired in this day and age.... and the routes people take to get them are varied. I have always gotten the most fulfillment from doing something than finishing though. And though there's certainly fulfillment to be found in accomplishing a task set before you, the challenge ...

Graduating from high-school is an interesting experience. One day you're hitting the textbooks (sometimes literally), and the next day you're realizing that after summer, there's no opening that device of cerebral numbing again. I'm not downplaying education (actually, I am), but for quite a few of us, the last few years of high-school aren't used very efficiently. But they could be. Moving on from a potential rant.... Excerpts from real cards I received below. And just in case, if you see one you recognize giving me below, I still appreciate the card a ton! Really. Just not the factory-printed message. May this day be the beginning of success and accomplishments, and hope that each tomorrow brings much more than what you may wish for! You don't need to hear who hard you've worked or how proud you should be- because you already know that better than anybody! You deserve to feel wonderful about what you're accomplished. The road to success is ...

The other day I was talking with a good friend about complacency and the choice to remain in pursuit of Christ, instead of managing a gradual growth. The difference between the two isn't always easy to notice... as gradual growth isn't inherently bad, and there will certainly be times in life when God is really pulling on your heart to dive back into his overwhelming awesomeness instead of dutifully reading the word and learning wisdom. 1 Corinthians 8:1b-3, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God." And later in Corinthians 13:2, "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." The danger with becoming comfortable with gradual growth is that the heart can become hardened even if our minds become sharper; for love rarely comes ...

Ah. Good to be back finally. After a full month of summer camp counseling, followed by the fourth of July and a wedding, I'm ready to collapse and collect my thoughts.Unfortunately, with a mind born to ponder on somewhat lifeless analogies dredged from everyday objects and encounters - I simply ran into more things to think about. The wedding I mentioned was held at an art museum, and this glass piece stopped me for some time. It was quite beautiful. At first anyway. I'd say it was about a foot and a half in diameter. The designs were symmetrical and went all the way around the piece, and when I looked close I could see there had to be hundreds of cuts on this thing. As beautiful as it was though, it was also kind of easy to lose focus on looking at it closely, and when I saw it as a whole it looked pretty much like just a chunk of smashed glass. Ugly even. Very man-made. The thing didn't even serve any purpose other than to look pretty too. Exactly the way the wor...