Saturday, May 2, 2009

I am a Reader.

Since God jerked me from my troff of stupidity, I have slowly become more and more of a reader. It had been a while since I truly finished a book cover to cover, so finishing two books last week was particularly satisfying to me. 

'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac has been my introduction to the Beat Generation. Since digging into the book again I have been combing the web for articles by and about the Beats. Its got me wondering if the Beats, being a generation that grew up in the shadow of WWII  has any lessons for a generation growing up in the shadow of 9/11? The Church in America sure seems to be going through some re-thinking.

Emerging

Neo-Calvin

Relevant

The death of the 'seeker-sensitve' movment adds to my hope though...

'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy left me feeling doubtful if I could read anything other than another Cormac McCarthy novel next! I tried to pick up 'The Shack' but had to put it down, I felt like I was wading through the deep weeds of punctuation and adjectives...

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Fear and the nuclear winter


I just finished two books I've been reading. 'The Road" by Cormac McCarthy and 'On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. The later I have been trying to finish for the last three years, I had gotten so disgusted with the choices that the charecters, Sal and Dean were making when I first started the book that I only made it half way through. Three years later I finished the book last friday and boy what a fantastic journey that was, traveling east to west across the north american continent with a final journey to Mexico City.  It was a great intro to the beat poets!

A friend let me borrow his copy of 'The Road' Sunday night and I had it finished by Tuesday afternoon at second brake at work. Great read. Hope, fear and survival in a dark and brooding world. I very much identified with the man in the story. Making his decisions out of the fear of danger or loss. The boy in the story could see the fear and need in other peoples lives and vary much so wanted to reach out to them in spite of his fathers opposition. 

Looking back over this last move that we have made to Medford I wonder if there was some fear in that decision. Trusting only my own reasoning and making decisions quickly. I confess I made many decisions in 08' out of fear and selfishness. I pray that God gives me the courage to repent and trust in him. That I make myself accountable to good men around me. I'm sure that'll take some time to establish, but it must be done. Else I wander the barren land in loneliness.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Crash Landing





So here we are in Medford, like Abram coming up out of Ur into a strange land. How are we to explore this new land. How are we to communicate Christ?

Lord help me to be obedient!

Last night Julie and I had an opportunity to go out on a date for the first time since landing in Medford. We ventured over to the local Barnes and Nobel/Starbucks and spent our hard earned gift card on some caffeinated beverages. I always loved looking through the art/photography and graphic arts section. While Julie spends her time in the food and-or craft sections.

We went to Table Rock Church this morning and boy is it big compared to our Nazarene church in Creswell. Everything about the church was good. Great Sunday School for the kids, a right-on worship band and I liked that they do communion every Sunday. But, it just didn't feel right for us. Maybe if we spent enough time there and got connected into the core group. Maybe, I don't know. But this next week-end we are going to visit our old church New Song, which I am looking forward to.