Over Thinking Stories

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God, Read, reading, stories, story, write, writer, writing

Has anyone ever thought about half-breeds in fantasy? Like half-elves? Half-vampires? How these people talk about feeling like they belong in neither world? Maybe it represents how we are not of this world but in the world. We are both soul and body. We talked about in my Global Perspectives class in college about being in a culture and how the most a person can be in two cultures is about 75% in each of the cultures. One can never really truly belong in one of those cultures. Maybe these stories are showing us how the feeling that we don’t belong is normal.

Or maybe I am just over thinking things.

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Rejection and the Opposite

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Agape, God, Jesus Christ, love, Rejection

We discussed rejection in chapel this past week. About the lepers and such.

Has anyone thought about Christ being temporarily separated from God to be sacrificed for our sins?

The ULTIMATE rejection.

I know my heart after it has been rejected. I have seen the agony in others from their rejections.

I cannot even begin to fathom it. The thought of it makes me cry.

I am so sorry to anyone I have ever hurt by rejecting them. I ask for your forgiveness. “Do unto others” and such. I don’t do that very well.

The good news is because of that temporary separation from God, Christ’s sacrifice saves us.

And what a beautiful salvation it is.

“What a beautiful love”.

Love is the opposite of rejection. Yes, true love (agape) does want to remove sin and that hurts, but love is about accepting another person as they are. Seeing what potential that person is and helping that person change the world.

I just need to remember, as the movie Amazing Grace says. “That I am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior.” Please, if you know me, keep me accountable to this.

It won’t be easy.

But I need it.

Until Our Next Meeting,

The Lost Writer of Rohan

Joy Leading to Grief: Re-Reading C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

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Aslan, Bilbo, C.S. Lewis, death, God, Grief, Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien, Joy, Lothlorien, Mr. Tummnus, Narnia, Prince Caspian, Re-Reading, Reepicheep, Rivendell, Surprised by Joy, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Eagle and Child, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Hobbit, the Inklings, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, The Two Towers, The Undying Lands, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

I have been blessed to attend a college where there is a C.S. Lewis class.  We started off in Narnia, traveled to Venus and back to Earth, fought dragons, read letters by demons, looked into the desires of mortals, are currently traveling through Rohan and the dark East, and will end in a land long ago when the gods still roamed the earth.

Yes, I have geeked out…repeatedly.

The last time I re-read The Lord of the Rings was probably in 2005 or 2006.  I re-read Narnia around the time Prince Caspian came out…2008ish.  So, about five-six years since a proper reading of LOTR and 3 years of Narnia.  I have failed as a fan.  I know.

Anyway…*shame* we have read a variety of books by Lewis and Tolkien in this course.  I have noticed a theme between these two writers.

Joy is a fleeting glimpse of another world and we are sorrowful when it leaves and spend our lives searching for it…but we do not quite achieve it…at least, not on earth.

Tolkien does not outright state it in his works, but Lewis states in Surprised by Joy (his spiritual autobiography) that joy is a glimpse of God.  Professor, I will have to agree with you.

You see, Tolkien and Lewis was both glimpses of joy for me in a dark time in my life (my father, perfectly healthy, was suddenly struck by a genetic heart problem that we never could have guessed).  I knew God and had been a Christian since I was five, but I was still growing in how I could relate to God.  Lewis and Tolkien gave me those “glimpses of joy” that they talk about extensively in their works.  Whether it is the woods of Lothlorien or a simple meal in a cold winter, joy comes in many forms, and we miss it dearly when it is gone. 

God put into us a desire for Him, for he is the Ultimate Joy.  I catch glimpses of “the Land Across the Sea” when Lewis describes the Emperor’s Lands and Tolkien describes the Undying Lands. 

And it HURTS.  Narnia pains me as soon as I see Mr. Tummnus with his umbrella, red scarf, and packages.  LOTR burns when I pass through Rivendell with Bilbo and the Dwarves.  I wouldn’t want it another way.  I am grateful to catch glimpses of God. 

This mixture of joy and grief is hard to explain to someone who doesn’t experience it the same way you do.  (Lewis does it well in his autobiography, but that is partly because I am someone who craves fairy tales.)  I remember crying in that awful (painfully, awful) 2010 adaption of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader when Reepicheep crosses over into Aslan’s Country.  I just flat-out sobbed for fifteen minutes and could not explain to my family what happened for another hour after that.  (Poor dears, they put up with so much.  They thought it was safe since ROTK Extended Edition was 2004 and The Hobbit isn’t due until 2012 at the earliest.)

You have all had those moments.  My mother’s had one when my father, sister, dog, and me fell asleep on her.  My roommate’s is when she sees God working in one of her friends.  My true moment of joy was when I held my baby sister for the first time, she woke up, didn’t cry, smiled up at me, and fell back asleep.  That sunset that is too beautiful to be real.  That bit of melody of a song that you never quite realize you knew…  It is all a little glimpse of God and his calling out to you.

If you want a better explanation of this, read Surprised by Joy and anything Narnia or LOTR.

Until Our Next Meeting,

The Lost Writer of Rohan

Proof of God, Confession, Forgiveness, and Seat Belts: Devil

Tags

Agatha Christie, Agnostics, Atheists, Confession, Devil, evil, Existentialists, Film, Forgiveness, God, good, Hell, M. Night Shyamalan, Nihilist, Proof of God, Seat Belts

I took my baby sister to see Devil (because she likes horror movies and I like thrillers, especially around Halloween).    Seeing as M. Night Shyamalan is behind it, I was intrigued.

Okay, I figured out the plot twist thanks to being an Agatha Christie fan.  However, I was surprised by the spiritual depth of the film as well as the cinematography.  I won’t reveal everything but there were two main themes: Confession and Forgiveness.  If we do not have those two, we are damned to Hell (whether literally or figuratively).

Another great message is that, if there is a Devil, then there must be a God.  God is not mentioned until the very end of the film, but it is the whole point of the film.  I think that is what Nihilist, Existentialists, and some Atheists and Agnostics miss.  They think “Oh, there is evil in the world, so there must be no God.”  However, how can there be evil, if there is no good?

SEE THIS FILM!  It is a fun philosophical and theological film.

Until Our Next Meeting,

The Lost Writer of Rohan.

Also, there was secretly a “wear your seat belt or DIE” message in the film.

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

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Adam, Adam and Eve, Afraid of the Dark, dark, dark vs. light, Eden, Eve, Fear, God, Humanity, Jesus Christ, light, the Fall

I am watching a documentary called Afraid of the Dark.  It talks about all the different reasons why humanity is afraid of the dark.  I do not believe in evolution so I do not believe it has to deal with that.  Genetic memory?  Possibly.  I have not studied it that much.  Passed down lore from generation to generation?  Most definitely.

However, I think there might be a Biblical connection.  In Genesis, it talks  about how God visited and walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day.  Due to the way the Fall plays out, I think it was probably in the evening, near twilight.  So, I was wondering, “Maybe Adam and Eve were cast out at night.”  All of the paintings and drawings I have seen of the Casting out of Eden, shows it as a bright afternoon.  I think the closing in of darkness would be more poetic because they are no longer allowed to see God’s Light.  Without God, we are in darkness.  (Thus, people needing to see “the Light”.)  Christ refers to himself as “the Light”.  We are to be “Light unto the World”. 

I think we are scared of the dark because of our inner, unconscious desire for God, and our fear to be without him.

Just a pondering.

Until Our Next Meeting.

The Lost Writer of Rohan.

Between Being Called and Doing What You are Called to Do

Tags

Bible, Calling, Cure, David, Father, God, Goliath, hope, King, Lyre, Patience, Samuel, Saul, Sheep, Waiting

Maybe you know what your calling in life is.  Maybe you do not.  Maybe you have an idea of what it is supposed to be, but nothing is certain.  Anyway you slice it, there is going to be a waiting period. 

From I Samuel 16:13 until II Samuel, David is anointed king.  Before he becomes king though, he is an armor bearer and lyre player for the present king, Saul.  While doing this, he is still taking care of his father’s sheep.  Then, after defeating Goliath, he has to go on the run until the death of Saul. 

This leads one to wonder, why in the world would David have to wait so long to be king?  Because God said so.  God wanted David to grow more before he took such great responsibility (over these small things and such).  Does this help with impatience?  No.  Does it make the waiting easier?  Yes.  Hope is the great cure and the only real cure in this world.

Until Our Next Meeting,

The Lost Writer of Rohan

Alone

Tags

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, alone, Charlton Heston, Donald Miller, extrovert, fears, God, introvert, life, people, purpose, screaming, Soylet Green, stories, Twilight Zone, Yosemite Park

I was reading Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years which is when Miller discusses how life is a story and how good stories have a purpose.  He was talking about overcoming fears.  I thought about my fears and how some of them wouldn’t be as heavy if I just stood on top of a giant rock/mountain in Yosemite Park and screamed about my fears.  I then thought about how big of an idiot I would be because there would be tons of people in the park who would all hear me.  Plus, they would probably laugh at me, along with the man-eating bears. 

That is when I realized that truly being alone out in the world doesn’t really exist anymore due to how many people are out in the world.  We are all becoming more and more smushed together.  As someone who spends most of her time around people 24/7 and is an introvert, it is draining.  My dog is even an extrovert!

I’m getting off track.  No, I do not thick overpopulation is going to be how the world ends.  (At least, not until it reaches Soylet Green levels.  Hehehe…Charlton Heston: Soylet Green is people!  Okay.  Need to stop geeking out.)  I just think society makes it so we cannot be alone without going to Twilight Zone lengths. 

I already wrote a post on how being alone isn’t a good thing.  That is still true.  However, I meant that as in by ourselves.  Alone time with God is a good thing.  If we don’t do that, we forget who God is and our story doesn’t have a purpose anymore.

Until Our Next Meeting.

The Lost Writer of Rohan

Nighthawks and Noodles

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Blue Like Jazz, call out, Communion, Donald Miller, Edward Hopper, evil, family, God, human interaction, isolated, Jesus, loneliness, Nighthawks, talk, the Fall, Vietnamese noodle place

I went to a Vietnamese noodle place that recently opened up near my home.  I went there to meet up with my immediate family.  Everything was delicious, filling, and relatively cheap.  That isn’t why I’m writing this blog though. 

As I went home, I realized how isolated my family was from the rest of the restaurant.  We didn’t talk much with the staff or the single woman also in the restaurant.  I noticed how all of us were slumped down during the entire meal and I realized that it felt like Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks.  (If you haven’t seen it, click here.  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Nighthawks.jpg)  We may be totally alone, but we do not make the effort to make contact with those around us. 

Why is this?  Because loneliness forces us to become more and more withdrawn in ourselves.  Being alone is not evil.  (Even Jesus needed the occasional people break.)  It is too much loneliness that can kill us.  Babies die without human interaction.  Isolation is considered the worse form of punishment in the world.  In Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller talks about a park ranger who had been alone for several months.  He wanted human interaction, but he couldn’t remember how to talk to people.

Why is there loneliness though?  Why would God allow this?  Because he gave us free will.  Before the Fall, we had complete communion with God and others before the fall.  When we disobey God, we are ignoring our relationship with Him and ask to be alone with ourselves.   Afterward we ate the fruit, because we asked for selfishness in our choice to eat the fruit, God gave us what we wanted.  He had to separate Himself from us.  Hell is total separation from God.  We crave company because we crave God.  That’s how one is able to feel alone in a room full of people. 

Jesus brought us back into communion with God.  We just have to move out of our loneliness and call out.

Until Our Next Meeting.

The Lost Writer of Rohan

Robinson Crusoe

Tags

28 years, British literature, Castaway, Daniel Defoe, despair, Friday, God, hope, island, lost, providence, Robinson Crusoe, Swisss Family Robinson

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe is the father of all castaway fiction.  If Crusoe hadn’t been written, there would be no Swiss Family Robinson, Castaway, or *gasp* Lost.  (No, I haven’t seen Lost, so do not tell me anything about it.  I already found out some spoilers.)  It is an adventure story about a guy, Robinson Crusoe, stuck on an island for 28 years, basically by himself until the last three (when Friday, who I love, comes along).  I read parts of it in high school in my British literature course, but I wanted to read all of it. 

It is just a bit depressing.  No need to kill ones self from despair from this book.  It can be quite hopeful at times because of one thing: Providence.  Crusoe is eventually able to see why God would put him on this forbidding piece of land.  Why?  You’ll have to read to find out. 

Just so you know, God’s Providence is hard for me.  I want things to go my way so often, I do not want to let God have control, so he has to repeatedly hit me over the head until I get it.  It has a tendency to hurt…a lot.

Until Our Next Meeting.

The Lost Writer of Rohan

Two Books of Donald Miller: Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What/Love of God

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asthma, Bible, Blue Like Jazz, books, Donald Miller, Ecclesiastes, Fruit of the Spirit, Galatians, God, happy place, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Job, Lamentations, love, narrative, paranoid, people, Picture of a Shoeless Poet, praying, Read, Savior, Searching for God Knows What, strength, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, writer

I have attempted to read Blue Like Jazz three times and only succeeded twice.  The first time I tried to read the book, I was younger than I am now and my Dad was getting a heart transplant and so the book severely depressed me.  The second time I read it, it was a few years later.  I got through this time, but I really hated it.  I couldn’t understand why it was so popular among Christian circles. 

Then, about two weeks ago, I got into a mood to re-read Blue Like Jazz because I remembered Picture a Shoeless Poet  (http://pictureashoelesspoet.wordpress.com/) raving about Donald Miller.  So, I re-read it, and *gasp* semi-liked it.  Now, I am not saying Donald Miller is the greatest writer of all time nor that his books are uplifting.  He is a bit like Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and/or Job.  It is really depressing but you find out more about God.  Only read when you are in a happy place.

I really was now in the hankering now to read some more Donald Miller, so I bought Searching for God Knows What.  I liked this book better because Donald Miller had grown as a writer and there was a bit more of a narrative in this book compared to Blue Like Jazz. 

What I liked about these two books though, was that Miller was willing to admit that he didn’t have things figured out, except for the “things that really mattered”.  (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.)  Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior of the world. The Bible is true.  Jesus loves us.  We should love everyone.

Well, I prayed to God for me to love people.  I got an answer to prayer all right.  Just like praying for patience.  I ended up breaking down sobbing two days in a row from how horrible people were, how horrible of a person I was for not loving people, and how my asthma medicine made me paranoid, but that’s a different story).  So, warning: only pray to God to make you love people if you want to be tested to your limits (or beyond them).

After my asthma medicine stopped making me paranoid and started making me breathe again, I remembered how my church talked about how the Fruit of the Spirit (look it up in Galatians, the list all counts as one fruit) can only happen through the Holy Spirit in our lives, and not through our own strength.  I figure I was trying to love people on my own, and not through God and that is part of the reason I was in such a bad state.

Until Our Next Meeting.

The Lost Writer of Rohan