Patience

On my way to work this morning I was thinking about patience. Comcast, a phone/TV/internet provider advertises their high speed internet with a turtle couple called the Slowskys, who much prefer dial-up and loading bars: “Throw away the clock.” Turtles are slow. They live a long time, too. Why should they hurry?

Then again, why should we? Even if we only live seventy seven years, for what are we rushing? I thought about what things make me impatient. My conclusion is that whichever things they are, however important and dear to my desires, they are not what my life is about. God gave me life to glorify Him and spread the word about Him.

If everything I did was with that underlying or over-lying motive, I suspect my patience level would be huge. And I would be satisfied and fulfilled in my life. Maybe all this discontent is because I’m not doing that for which God created me. As Mark Schultz wrote, “I think I am running just to catch myself.” What if I stopped running to catch myself?

Speaking of throwing clocks away, I only looked at mine once on my way to work, and usually it’s at every stoplight, as I judge whether I’m on schedule to be at work on time. I made it.

To God be all glory.

When Aslan is Unseen

Prince Caspian struck me in another way. In a world trying to live without God, the story points out the vanity of any battle. If God did not intend the effort, then why are you fighting? And if you are fighting without Him, is there hope of success? Can there be success when you have no aim? In the movie asked the war council comprised of Prince Caspian and his council: a black dwarf, a red dwarf, the badger; and of Peter, Edmund, and Susan – “Who are you doing this for?”

The black dwarf a little later suggested to Prince Caspian that they seek supernatural help – but not from Aslan. Like Abraham trying to fulfill God’s promise for Him, Prince Caspian nearly took matters into his own hands by giving them to the White Witch’s. “You can’t do this alone,” she coaxed the prince and then the high king from her icy prison.

Were there only two options? Was Peter forced to decide between losing to Miraz when no help would come, or surrendering to the White Witch? Was it so hard to wait for Aslan? My favorite scene of the movie is Peter leaning back against the broken stone table in Aslan’s Howe, gazing at the sculpture of Aslan carved against the wall behind the broken ice curtain in which Peter had been tempted by the White Witch hours before. He is deep in humble thought, feeling the weight of his mistakes and rebellion. I know what it is to fear getting up again, because you’ve let yourself fall so many times. I know what it is to only wish to see the face of my Lord.

How do you follow in a world without answers? What is this faith that demands you choose when you don’t even know all the options? Is it fair to ask us to wait on what we are not sure will come? Why is losing sometimes the plan?

Peter’s story is different from ours in two important ways: First, Peter had seen Aslan, long ago, and witnessed his power firsthand. Secondly, Peter did not have any written instructions to guide him, but we have the Bible. Prince Caspian had neither benefit and so, as Jesus told Thomas, was more blessed for believing truth he had not seen.

To God be all glory.

Facing the Supernatural Part 1: What Narnia says about America

(read before Part 2)

Saturday night I went with some friends to see Prince Caspian, the sequel to CS Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Of the seven Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian is my favorite. I try not to think of allegory unless it occurs to me when I read CS Lewis. So my appreciation for the story is quite apart from any meaning of the novel. The story moves quickly, and there are fascinating characters and a glorious victory.

The movie, as Hollywood is wont to do with my favorite things, greatly altered the book. The basic plot was there, and some of the same events. I dare say the duel was taken call by call from the book. A major battle was added, and important events were out of place, which puts a very different spin on the themes of the book.

One point is the same in the book and the movie. Narnia has been invaded by a tribe of humans called the Telmarines. They killed or exiled every talking animal and mythological thing when they conquered, and have for some generations denied the existence of dwarves, fauns, centaurs, and talking mice along with anything supernatural. King Miraz rules a world he understands and controls. And in the story all of a sudden everything they never believed existed came marching up in front of their face.

What a picture of our country! So content in our insistent denial of the supernatural, we wander along in a world we think we can control. If there is a God, he doesn’t interfere with the natural course. If God does redeem the soul, He does not give any power to the Christian. If a Christian has power, it is just excellence in normal gifts and talents. There are no demons and no miracles. Waters do not part. Men do not come back to life. Angels are legends for Christmas trees and graveyards. Dreams are not prophetic. Judgment is never more than consequences or human vengeance.

So we seem to believe.

If God sent undeniably fantastic events and figures upon the world, what would we do?

To God be all glory.

Facing the Supernatural Part 2: A World Reconciled to the Supernatural

(read after Part 1)

If God sent undeniably fantastic events and figures upon the world, what would we do? After we had reconciled ourselves to a new world completely different from that we’d imagined, would our lives be better or worse? In Narnia (spoiler warnings, but these books have been out for fifty years, so I don’t feel sorry for you) after Aslan was back and the dryads and nyads were dancing about with the fauns, badgers, giants, mice, bears, and chipmunks, there was a celebration. Flowers bloomed. Telmarines joined the festival, freer than they had ever been for seeing the world as it truly was. I imagine that, even if it were in a catastrophic form of judgment that God reasserted the reality of things outside our world able to pierce through, there would be a revival of saving faith. There would be joy and wonder and courage. Even if the awakening is slower and more gradual, even if it is happening to the unsaved as much as to the believer and a mass of the world reembraces paganism in a revolt against naturalism, GK Chesterton points out that the last things the pagans did is convert to Christianity. That was their climax. CS Lewis hints at that, but I think he sees paganism as something to be fulfilled, or seen without human’s taint. The revelry at the end of Prince Caspian is a pagan one redeemed because it is governed by, and centered around Aslan.

To God be all glory.

Questions and Faith: Between The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian

Prince Caspian takes place one year after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe ends. In that time, back in a country participating in a world war, expected to behave like a child and to study algebra and sit at desks and ride in trains and motorcars, dealing with a father who might never come back and a mother who is hardly there – how did the four children who had been kings and queens of Narnia for decades cope? What questions did they ask?

Why did that happen to them? What purpose did it serve in their lives? How could they use what they learned and what they went through in their own world? Could they use it?

Why had they been returned to earth? Didn’t Narnia need them? What would happen to their friends? They didn’t say good-bye. Would they see them again?

Was it real? Had anyone else been to Narnia? That lion statue looks like Aslan. The horse reminds them of their talking horses. Icicles terrify them. Fist fights are necessary, but way too boring. Who wants to wear school uniforms when you used to dress in the most ornate brocades and silks with embroidery? Why should you talk to any of these boring and impertinent human children? Can you really be friends with someone to whom you can’t say anything about years of your life?

Will they ever go back? Can they get back? How will it happen? When? Will they return as they were when they left? Do they want to go back? Is it worth going back to lose it all again when they return to earth?

To God be all glory.

Evangelical Manifesto

In light of the recent publication and subsequent discussion on the Evangelical Manifesto, I thought that it might be helpful to remind everyone what the word evangelical means.
It is from the Greek root: evangelizesthai "bring good news," from eu- "good" + angellein "announce," from angelos "messenger." So evangelicals should be about delivering, or announcing the good news.

Matthew 28:18-20, "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

To God be all glory,
Lisa of Longbourn

Napoleon of Notting Hill by GK Chesterton

I recently read GK Chesterton’s first novel, Napoleon of Notting Hill. It was a quick read, interesting and fast-paced. It follows the life and career of the most unique humorist of England, one Auberon Quin, who was elected by lottery the king of England according to the consummate democracy of his fictional future government. Auberon enjoys making people confounded and annoyed, by being himself completely ridiculous. I have a feeling that this would be an even less popular course in England than in America.

Inspired on a fine evening by a little boy with a wooden sword defending the street of his childhood, King Auberon revives patriotism by designing a heraldry and history of each neighborhood and suburb of London. What he did not anticipate is that, aside from entertaining his whim by appearing before him in uniform, anyone would take him seriously. When Adam Wayne refuses to allow his beloved Pump Street on Notting Hill to be demolished in deference to a highway, he brings his sword to the king and informs his majesty that blood makes all ordinary things and landscapes sacred, and he will risk his own blood to defend his homeland (or city block).

The neighboring businessman and politicians do not take Notting Hill seriously. They don’t take anything seriously, though they are very grim themselves. Read this book for laughter, thought, and inspiration. You’ll never look at your grocery store the same way again.

To God be all glory.

Colorado Personhood Amendment

This week the Colorado Personhood Amendment submitted more than 130,000 petition signatures in order to put the proposed amendment on the ballot in 2008. This is huge, and I am very excited. The campaign is only beginning, with a battle coming in the next several months to get the word out.

Abort73.com, about which I wrote several months ago, has a collection of embryology textbook quotes and government on-the-record conclusions about when life begins. You can read it and other related information here. So far I haven't found any specific resources describing the implications of the proposed amendment. To be honest I have not looked too hard. A reporter for Townhall, Michael Foust, wrote an article summarizing the history of the amendment very well.

There have been some objections to this amendment from reasonable people. Some people at my church thought that petitions and anything government-related did not belong at church. I took my petition to church, and collected about ten signatures there. My opinion waffled. I offered it to my Sunday school class. It was in the bulletin and I stood in the foyer with it. Only a few times, with people I thought I knew well enough, did I ask if certain friends had signed it. I'm naturally a non-agressive person. There were other people taking the agressive position with their petitions at my church. That reassured me, actually, that the audience for my petition was covered, just not by me. I don't disagree with the other petition circulators.

One problem many people have begun to recognize and address at church is that we don't connect our education or our spiritual experiences with obedience and action. There are no laws against circulating petitions at church, and the amendment is definitely not associated with any political party. Church is a community gathering, a great place to talk about what really matters. What better place to invite people to sign a petition that is, rather than bringing politics to church, bringing truth into politics.

Another objection is that, while a Christian and a scientist and any thinking or moral person may realize that life begins at conception, the government should stay out of it. There is flawed logic here, but I think the problem is in the view of government. What is a government's role? What does the Bible say about it? Abort73.com says, "God established government to be His legal representative on earth (Romans 13:1,2). God established government to keep sinful people from doing evil against each other (Romans 13:3). While it is true that individuals are called to "turn the other cheek" (Matthew 5:39), the government is not (Romans 13:4). The government is called to execute judgement upon those who do wickedly. Arguing that the government must not restrict an individual's free moral agency, is nothing more than an argument for anarchy."

Finally, alot of people are worried that the personhood amendment is a sneaky way of outlawing birth control and contraception. Roe v. Wade pointed out the lack of concensus and official definition of person - the definitions by which the constitutional protections and due process would become relevant. The amendment closes the loophole, and gives legislators and judges a platform on which to act and enforce. But the question should not be, "Are religious people trying to tell me what to do and change the way I am used to living my life?" but, "If life begins at conception, what must I do to respect that life?" Ultimately, the fact that this amendment is out there, being discussed and advocated, is going to make people face the question: am I harming or killing a human life?

To God be all glory.

A Plea

I don't do this very often - or I try not to. If I could find a big red flashing banner to follow your mouse around when you're on my webpage, I might download the application. Here's what I want to say:


Comment. Pleeeeeaaaaasssssse.


I love hearing from the regulars, but I would be really interested to know whether the usual commenters are the only audience this blog actually reaches. They call this de-lurking. But I don't want you to just put your name down and tell me where you're from. The idea is to interact. Does what you read make you think? Have you thought of it already and have more to add? Do you have questions or arguments? Commenting is really easy, and you don't even have to have a username or anything.

As I said in my last post, it is so much nicer to say "We are" than "I am."

To God be all glory.

Against Insanity, in Addition to Existence, for Life

Anne comforted herself sometimes by repeating that she was in the depths of despair, and her dreams were a perfect graveyard of buried hopes. In such a way am I writing today, to comfort myself by making the insanity of my life sound poetic.

First I must say that I am on the verge of insanity, but fear not – I have every intention of backing away from that brink. All it will take is a box full of cookies, much time with friends, and all the extra hours of sleep I will not be getting in exchange for said time with friends.

My office is much too busy, yet I am sitting, writing this at my office. Just prior to this, between imagining these sentences and answering the phone, I was reading a book, another partial cause of my near insanity. GK Chesterton has been writing to me of the ridiculous that makes life alive. Funny thing, imagining life to be alive. I think that is Christ. He seems to be around every corner of this world, which is a very good reason for sanity.

In fact I love patterns, even the poetic pattern of nuanced changes, the fact that my hair is brown and my corduroys are brown, I wear a brown necklace and in a startling change, a camel-colored bracelet. As all this is highlighted with gold, I find the effect most wonderful. It is a glittering accent to the pattern. A woman came to my office earlier with turquoise and brown beads on her shirt, and similar embroidery on the camisole beneath the shrug. Her purse I did not get a chance to study, but I have the distinct impression that it followed the theme in brown leather. My all white office upholstered and carpeted has recently been significantly altered by the introduction of a black chair in the doctor’s half. There is already a black chair in my half, but I sit in it, and thus have no comment on its effect on the décor as I have about this new one. Suddenly I am noticing that my clock is black, my appointment book, the mousepad, and one of the phones. All in all this does not have the art of consistency, but it does have the statement of contrast.

My voice is occasionally interrupted, when I frequently answer the phone, by a cough. It is insignificant enough to most commonly be silent and suppressed, but it has the annoying habit of altering my consonant pronunciation and taking away the warmth from my tone of voice. As a result Adam came out A-ar, and minute sounded more like the kind of cookie I’m about to eat: mint. This brings a vague recollection about consonant shift referred to but not explained (in the way of an insider that assumes you would know) in articles I have read about etymology and the devolution of language.

This I’m doing here, it isn’t life. It may be existence, this tedious survivatl – ok, so that was a typo, but it is so romantically Aztec that I’m leaving it as a tribute. Anyway, existence is “I think therefore I am,” the soulless I am. It’s ok when God says it, because He is Trinity, and I am is plural. For a human I am is not enough. I am satisfied only by saying we are. In fact this day has so far been broken by two instances of we are: when two young friends came to visit me while their mother picked up glasses – one can have the sincerest conversations with children; and the other was when the very friend about whom I was writing in my other post, the one about literature, came by with her two little girls. One is a genius who shared her flower by allowing me to smell it and by proclaiming it most accurately to be both pink and green; the other was asleep, but quite beautiful, just as was her mother, happily dressed in a maternity jumper with her hair all pulled up just like the joyful smile she is in my life. How can hairstyles be smiles? They just are.

Mine, by the way, is the result of getting up late this morning and loosing the braid I remember deciding to put in my hair last night, though I am unaware whence I stole the minutes in which to plait it. There is a large clip for emergencies fastened at present to my purse strap. At the end of my day, if I am tired of brushing the strands aside, I fiercely affix the jaw that is remarkably able to contain the entire girth of my ponytail.

Have you ever figured out under which circumstances you are supposed to use “that,” and which “which”? Microsoft Word is always objecting, and I’ve learned that if I have a comma, which is acceptable, but I can’t fathom why that would be. I do know that which is much more necessary when prepositions are used properly, and kept from ends of sentences.

Existence is a victory; "I am" is worth saying. Thinking is worth doing if the philosopher is correct in that it proves our am-ness. There is no meaning, no life abundant, alone. This is what I tell graduates as the primary lesson I wish people had told me before the first five years after high school. Don’t abandon your friendships; they’re more important than grades, money, or degrees.

To God be all glory.