If God is Good, is an excellent straightforward book of apologetics told by way of answering the question, if God is good why does evil exist? Written by Randy Alcorn, the book weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages, and yet I never found it dragging. I highly recommend this book to all with a Christian belief or for those who just want to know the answer to that question.
When I was at Idaho State University, I was required to take a Philosophy 101 course that was a survey of all the Philosophers and their philosophies. The course followed a pattern that basically summed up my disdain for philosophy. It would introduce the philosopher. Then it would summarize his or her philosophy. Then it would explain why that philosophy was ultimately discredited. It was basically an eight week course in mental thumb twiddling. “Hey, I know how the world works! Oh, no wait… never mind.” I asked the professor at the end of the course, “If all the philosophers have been proven to be wrong, why do we need to learn their philosophies? I mean, let’s be realistic, in any other area of study when you reach a point where you realize that you have gone down the wrong path, you don’t revel in it and teach it to future generations.” Needless to say, I was not asked back to the Philosophy Department.
I was already starting to realize that if you take a modicum of Christian belief, or even an open mind, you would learn that the Bible answers all philosophical questions about the meaning of life in ways that no other religion or philosophy does. It’s the only major religion where God appears to humanity, claims to be God, and does so in a historical context (not off in some desert, or in a pre-historic era, but at the crossroads of history during the height of the Roman World). There are faith elements involved, to be sure. But Christianity is the only religion that I know of that not only poses the tough questions, but answers them as well in a way that is consistent and irrefutable. It flies in the face of all other religions and philosophies because its not based on wishful thinking or bribery. And because its not based on human intellect, but divine wisdom, it is something easier to FEEL than it is to reason. We know it to be right, even if we don’t understand why.
There have been several books trying to explain why that is. These books of Apologetics have been written by some of the biggest Christian writers and philosophers ever known. St. Augustine, C.S. Lewis, and many others have all tried to write Apologetics to help non-believers come to Christ by explaining to them what the Bible means.
I’ve never liked books of apologetics because I thought they were trying to explain something to me that I knew infinitely better from having read the Bible myself. There was very little new revealed in these books – most books of apologetics are about as welcome to me as a summary clip show on my favorite sit-com. But If God Is Good… tackled apologetics from a different point of view and I felt sucked in to its premise long before I realized that it was still a book of apologetics. After I realized what it was, I kept reading because in answering its thesis question, it turned the Gospel on its head for me and explained Christ’s role as a victim of and a defeater of sin. The best thing you can tell a writer of non-fiction is that it allowed the reader to see things in a new light. It opened my eyes.
One of my favorite images painted by Randy Alcorn is of Christ on the cross absorbing the sins of the world. Sin, as most Christian theologians will tell you, causes the separation of the sinner from God. They can not experience God while they are under the punishment of sin. The theological implications of Christ on the cross then are that the very human Christ, who is also God, was separated from God by absorbing sin. He became apart from Himself so that He could die and thus defeat death. God became Not God in order to satisfy His own requirements for sin – while at the same time never really stopping to be God. Talk about truly mind-boggling. This image is one of many in this book that allowed me to see the Gospel in a whole new light.
Now, I don’t know that Randy Alcorn and I share too many of the same views on Christianity. He seems a little more evangelical than I’m used to. But after reading this book, I’ve begun to question some of my views. We all need books that push us off those pedestals of pre-conceived notions so that we can grow and learn and think. I don’t know that my views will change as a result of reading this book, but my views will definitely be examined a little more thoroughly than before.
Book: If God Is Good
Author: Randy Alcorn
Summary: Every one of us will experience suffering. Many of us are experiencing it now. As we have seen in recent years, evil is real in our world, present and close to each one of us.
In such difficult times, suffering and evil beg questions about God--Why would an all-good and all-powerful God create a world full of evil and suffering? And then, how can there be a God if suffering and evil exist?
These are ancient questions, but also modern ones as well. Atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and even former believers like Bart Ehrman answer the question simply: The existence of suffering and evil proves there is no God.
In this captivating new book, best-selling author Randy Alcorn challenges the logic of disbelief, and brings a fresh, realistic, and thoroughly biblical insight to the issues these important questions raise.
Alcorn offers insights from his conversations with men and women whose lives have been torn apart by suffering, and yet whose faith in God burns brighter than ever. He reveals the big picture of who God is and what God is doing in the world–now and forever. And he equips you to share your faith more clearly and genuinely in this world of pain and fear.
As he did in his best-selling book, Heaven, Randy Alcorn delves deep into a profound subject, and through compelling stories, provocative questions and answers, and keen biblical understanding, he brings assurance and hope to all.
Author Bio:
Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspectives Ministries and a bestselling author. His novels include Deadline, Dominion, Edge of Eternity, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, The Ishbane Conspiracy, and the Gold Medallion winner, Safely Home. He has written eighteen nonfiction books as well, including Heaven, The Treasure Principle, The Purity Principle, and The Grace and Truth Paradox. Randy and his wife, Nanci, live in Oregon and have two married daughters and four grandsons.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Devolutionary Thought - making order out of chaos
When I was in college, I wrote my senior paper on the idea of Devolution in Anthropological thinking. This did not go over well with my professors who did not agree with my central tenet that those of us in the West tend to think that our culture is the "highest" on the evolutionary rung. They thought that my paper implied a very Darwinian sort of evolution model to anthropological research, and that there was no right or wrong way to look at culture. I mention this not to debate the merits of my paper, especially since the paper was little more than an outline of an idea, but to say that this idea has stuck with me for years and its implications have shaped my life.
The basic theory goes something like this. If you buy into the idea that the Western World is the culture that works best, then you buy into all the cultural things associated with that. That THIS (look around you) is the norm. And that people wandering like nomads in Africa or living in what we would consider squalor in Borneo is not the norm, or not desirable. I further suggested that the world has been going downhill ever since we left the forests and hunting grounds of our nomadic forebears for the cities and supermarkets of today. Like I said, it was more of a sketch than anything else.
I was reminded of this thought last night while watching the first half of the incredible documentary, "God Grew Tired Of Us." This documentary follows the lives of three Sudanese Lost Boys from the time they had to flee Sudan, their ten years in a refugee camp in Kenya, and finally their acceptance into the United States of America in order to work and make a living. I found myself in tears at the description of their horrible young lives, and also in tears as the boys first encountered the United States and its complex culture. It wasn't condemning in any way, but certainly an incredible way to throw up a mirror on our society and to allow us to see this country through the eyes of others.
And again, this morning, I was reminded of this thought in relation to some news I received. I know people are going through hard times right now. I know people who've lost jobs and are, for all intents and purposes, completely broke - literally weeks away from homelessness. There are those that would argue, and maybe rightly so, that these problems were of their own doing. But what does it say of our HIGH culture that we can allow so many people to fall through the cracks and be destroyed by the very thing that's supposed to make us the envy of the world. Would these people really have been better off had they been living in mud huts, raising cattle, or hunting and gathering their food?
Yet, I think there are lessons in all this - things that I constantly remind myself.
All this is temporary. It's here today, it's gone tomorrow and we should never get used to our status. Ultimately, we are all one incident away from returning to our wandering nomad ways. The sooner we embrace the concept that the only thing tying us to a place is the fact that leaving it means changing the life we are currently living, the sooner we are able to embrace change as not only a natural part of life, but as an opportunity to start over.
Starting over means starting from the beginning again - not trying to jump from the top of one pile to the top of the next without all the intervening steps. If we lose a million dollar home, we shouldn't expect another one to fall in our lap as a replacement. We should expect that maybe we have to start with an apartment again. If we lose our 6 figure salary, maybe it means that our next job is only 5 figure, or 4 figure and that we have to adjust to that new lifestyle. If we're eating steak today, maybe it means we eat chicken tomorrow.
Some control of a crappy life is better than no control at all. Even if you go from a million dollar home, a fancy job, a car, and all the trimmings, down to a one bedroom apartment in a crappy neighborhood, a crappy job, mass transit, and food stamps - at least you're doing something. To try and hang on to the fancy life when you can't possibly hang on anymore, only means that you will freefall all the way to the bottom - and maybe never recover - because you will never grasp that life isn't status.
And most importantly, belief in something other than ourselves is a must. We are not infallible. Therefore belief in our abilities is a fallacy. We will fail. You can believe that. If you want to survive, I would suggest turning to God for guidance and support. He made the world and He made you. He is the ultimate safety net.
Sometimes the hardest thing to do in a crisis is to step outside your life and view it with new eyes. By challenging the notion that my culture is right, I've been able to keep American Culture in perspective. This wonderful film has only reinforced that notion in ways that were profoundly moving. Yet, I believe that being able to see my life with outside eyes, being able to distance myself from my own world, has allowed me to focus on the things that are truly important and not the often self-serving goals of my culture. I am not guaranteed to come through these trying times without a scratch. But I am also not worried about it if I do. I already know what to do if bad times should befall me. And I know that no matter what my economic status, God will walk with me.
The basic theory goes something like this. If you buy into the idea that the Western World is the culture that works best, then you buy into all the cultural things associated with that. That THIS (look around you) is the norm. And that people wandering like nomads in Africa or living in what we would consider squalor in Borneo is not the norm, or not desirable. I further suggested that the world has been going downhill ever since we left the forests and hunting grounds of our nomadic forebears for the cities and supermarkets of today. Like I said, it was more of a sketch than anything else.
I was reminded of this thought last night while watching the first half of the incredible documentary, "God Grew Tired Of Us." This documentary follows the lives of three Sudanese Lost Boys from the time they had to flee Sudan, their ten years in a refugee camp in Kenya, and finally their acceptance into the United States of America in order to work and make a living. I found myself in tears at the description of their horrible young lives, and also in tears as the boys first encountered the United States and its complex culture. It wasn't condemning in any way, but certainly an incredible way to throw up a mirror on our society and to allow us to see this country through the eyes of others.
And again, this morning, I was reminded of this thought in relation to some news I received. I know people are going through hard times right now. I know people who've lost jobs and are, for all intents and purposes, completely broke - literally weeks away from homelessness. There are those that would argue, and maybe rightly so, that these problems were of their own doing. But what does it say of our HIGH culture that we can allow so many people to fall through the cracks and be destroyed by the very thing that's supposed to make us the envy of the world. Would these people really have been better off had they been living in mud huts, raising cattle, or hunting and gathering their food?
Yet, I think there are lessons in all this - things that I constantly remind myself.
All this is temporary. It's here today, it's gone tomorrow and we should never get used to our status. Ultimately, we are all one incident away from returning to our wandering nomad ways. The sooner we embrace the concept that the only thing tying us to a place is the fact that leaving it means changing the life we are currently living, the sooner we are able to embrace change as not only a natural part of life, but as an opportunity to start over.
Starting over means starting from the beginning again - not trying to jump from the top of one pile to the top of the next without all the intervening steps. If we lose a million dollar home, we shouldn't expect another one to fall in our lap as a replacement. We should expect that maybe we have to start with an apartment again. If we lose our 6 figure salary, maybe it means that our next job is only 5 figure, or 4 figure and that we have to adjust to that new lifestyle. If we're eating steak today, maybe it means we eat chicken tomorrow.
Some control of a crappy life is better than no control at all. Even if you go from a million dollar home, a fancy job, a car, and all the trimmings, down to a one bedroom apartment in a crappy neighborhood, a crappy job, mass transit, and food stamps - at least you're doing something. To try and hang on to the fancy life when you can't possibly hang on anymore, only means that you will freefall all the way to the bottom - and maybe never recover - because you will never grasp that life isn't status.
And most importantly, belief in something other than ourselves is a must. We are not infallible. Therefore belief in our abilities is a fallacy. We will fail. You can believe that. If you want to survive, I would suggest turning to God for guidance and support. He made the world and He made you. He is the ultimate safety net.
Sometimes the hardest thing to do in a crisis is to step outside your life and view it with new eyes. By challenging the notion that my culture is right, I've been able to keep American Culture in perspective. This wonderful film has only reinforced that notion in ways that were profoundly moving. Yet, I believe that being able to see my life with outside eyes, being able to distance myself from my own world, has allowed me to focus on the things that are truly important and not the often self-serving goals of my culture. I am not guaranteed to come through these trying times without a scratch. But I am also not worried about it if I do. I already know what to do if bad times should befall me. And I know that no matter what my economic status, God will walk with me.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Kenya Education - Mosquito Nets
Coming from an area that has very few mosquitoes, nets are not something I'm used to. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever had bug spray before - even when I went to Mississippi last year (20 degrees outside tend to make mosquitoes very inactive). However, mosquitoes are a huge problem in Kenya. Every year, more than a million people die worldwide from mosquito born malaria.
One of the biggest issues that our partners in Kenya noted was that their children could really use mosquito nets for their beds. You would think that this would have been a problem long ago taken care of, but as this article below points out, nets need to be replaced or treated with anti-mosquito treatments once a year. When you're depending on the kindness of strangers just to eat, something like mosquito nets can often be overlooked. Yet, money spent to take care of children struck with malaria is far greater than the cost of nets. For just 50 Ksh (about 69 cents) a new mosquito net can be bought. It seems like a literal ounce of prevention.
MOSQUITO NETS
Mosquito nets are a very useful and practical way to prevent insect bites. There are a number of things to keep in mind when buying a mosquito net.
The mesh size should be large enough for air circulation but as small as possible to keep out the mosquitoes. A mesh size of 1.2 mm x 1.2 mm is the most common and recommended. For effective malaria protection, the mesh size that is recommended is 120-200 holes per square per inch.
Mosquito nets of polyester or polyamide are usually lightweight, long-lasting nets, and are available in different mesh sizes and thread thickness. On the other hand, cotton is susceptible to dampness, and weighs more when wet.
As for the shape of the net, it should obviously be wide enough to cover the person sleeping, without touching them. Rectangular nets offer more room around the person as opposed to the slanted sides of a tent or pyramid shaped net. Either way, the net should be tucked under the mattress. You can use screws, tacks, pins, or hooks to attach the upper point of the net above the bed. Pillows or blankets can be used to build a makeshift wall around the body to avoid touching the net. It is much more efficient to purchase a net that has already been dipped or sprayed with a high quality insecticide such as permethrin. The nets are pre-treated at the netting manufacturing plant and can last up to a year depending on the amount of exposure to sun and rain.
One of the biggest issues that our partners in Kenya noted was that their children could really use mosquito nets for their beds. You would think that this would have been a problem long ago taken care of, but as this article below points out, nets need to be replaced or treated with anti-mosquito treatments once a year. When you're depending on the kindness of strangers just to eat, something like mosquito nets can often be overlooked. Yet, money spent to take care of children struck with malaria is far greater than the cost of nets. For just 50 Ksh (about 69 cents) a new mosquito net can be bought. It seems like a literal ounce of prevention.
MOSQUITO NETS
Mosquito nets are a very useful and practical way to prevent insect bites. There are a number of things to keep in mind when buying a mosquito net.
The mesh size should be large enough for air circulation but as small as possible to keep out the mosquitoes. A mesh size of 1.2 mm x 1.2 mm is the most common and recommended. For effective malaria protection, the mesh size that is recommended is 120-200 holes per square per inch. Mosquito nets of polyester or polyamide are usually lightweight, long-lasting nets, and are available in different mesh sizes and thread thickness. On the other hand, cotton is susceptible to dampness, and weighs more when wet.
As for the shape of the net, it should obviously be wide enough to cover the person sleeping, without touching them. Rectangular nets offer more room around the person as opposed to the slanted sides of a tent or pyramid shaped net. Either way, the net should be tucked under the mattress. You can use screws, tacks, pins, or hooks to attach the upper point of the net above the bed. Pillows or blankets can be used to build a makeshift wall around the body to avoid touching the net. It is much more efficient to purchase a net that has already been dipped or sprayed with a high quality insecticide such as permethrin. The nets are pre-treated at the netting manufacturing plant and can last up to a year depending on the amount of exposure to sun and rain.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Bread and Circuses
I'm not entirely sure that I'll end up changing my mind on anything after reading Randy Alcorn's, "If God Is Good..." Some of what Dave Lamb suggests is true - some of what Mr. Alcorn writes is opinion parading as fact. I don't wish to live in a Post Modern world where good and evil are decried as a result of situational ethics, but I strongly suspect that when education, religion, and science are prone to the meddling of politics, the TRUTH is no longer knowable. There is at least a relaxing comfort in having someone say, "This is it. It's right here in the Bible in black and white. Don't take my word for it... YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE!" Of course, much of what they're saying is their interpretation of what the Bible says, but their convinced of that interpretations veracity and their conviction is refreshing.
The other day I wrote on my Facebook update about the cost of food in Kenya - five meals for $1. One of the comments that befuddled me was someone who said, "Yeah, but the meals aren't nutritious." In America, a meal that costs 20 cents is very likely not nutritious. In fact, pretty much any meal under about $5 is probably not nutritious. But in a foreign country where most of the food is grown on farms, raised in nearby ranchlands, or picked from nearby trees - their food is probably MORE nutritious than most food bought here.
After all, how much does it cost to grow grain? You plow a field, drop in seed, water and wait. Plowing (other than the initial cost for equipment) only costs hard work. Water and sun are a free gift from God. Seed can't be that expensive - especially not versus the yield of such seed. The expense, it would seem, would come from things needed to sell such food (not consume it) - like packaging and fertilizer and preservatives and refrigeration and granary costs and delivery costs, etc... To grow food on your land to feed your own people, I can see a cost of about 20 cents a meal.
Do I think this person responded ignorantly? Were they just trying to cover up the fact that they don't want to give money to poor Kenyans? No, I don't think so. I don't think it was a question of race or indifference. I think it was mostly a question of perception. To their mind, sending a dollar to Kenya was only exacerbating the problem because these poor kids would be given bad food and poor nutrition wasn't something they wanted to pay for. Therefore, since they didn't trust the outcome of their benevolence, since they didn't trust that their money would be spent wisely to ease the suffering of the poor, they didn't want to waste their money at all.
This sort of attitude is unfortunately becoming widespread in this country. When there is no one person of authority that you can trust, then every proclamation is subject to suspicion and derision. If a scientist says that the world is getting warmer, you look outside and say, "Feels the same to me." Global warming is a lie. If a neighbor tells you that the bad economy is causing them to default on their mortgage, you say, "They never should have taken the mortgage in the first place if they couldn't afford to pay it back." If a new plan to fund health care for all people seems too expensive for the country, you say, "I've got my insurance and I don't want anything to screw that up." And on the flip side of those issues are others saying, "The World Is Going To Flood!" or "The Government Should Buy My House!" or "Free Health Care Is A Constitutional Right!" It's gotten to the point where nobody knows who's right or who's wrong, but we strongly suspect that we're right and they're wrong. And we strongly suspect anyone who disagrees with us of soft thinking or other moral deficiencies.
All of this is part of Alcorn's book and this part he gets right, because the one thing he returns to over and over again is C.S. Lewis's notion that deep down there are absolute goods and absolute evils that we don't want to admit to ourselves, but that we know. We can justify it anyway we want, but deep down we know that it would be GOOD to feed the poor, take care of the sick, and not kick people out of their homes. Very few people would ever disagree with these things. We all know that Greed and Murder are EVIL. But to have to confront these issues, to have to face the possibility that we've been complicit in them, even if we didn't do them directly, is not something we want to do.
No matter how much we complain, we want our bread and circuses a little too much - because the alternative means admitting that we're wrong.
The other day I wrote on my Facebook update about the cost of food in Kenya - five meals for $1. One of the comments that befuddled me was someone who said, "Yeah, but the meals aren't nutritious." In America, a meal that costs 20 cents is very likely not nutritious. In fact, pretty much any meal under about $5 is probably not nutritious. But in a foreign country where most of the food is grown on farms, raised in nearby ranchlands, or picked from nearby trees - their food is probably MORE nutritious than most food bought here.
After all, how much does it cost to grow grain? You plow a field, drop in seed, water and wait. Plowing (other than the initial cost for equipment) only costs hard work. Water and sun are a free gift from God. Seed can't be that expensive - especially not versus the yield of such seed. The expense, it would seem, would come from things needed to sell such food (not consume it) - like packaging and fertilizer and preservatives and refrigeration and granary costs and delivery costs, etc... To grow food on your land to feed your own people, I can see a cost of about 20 cents a meal.
Do I think this person responded ignorantly? Were they just trying to cover up the fact that they don't want to give money to poor Kenyans? No, I don't think so. I don't think it was a question of race or indifference. I think it was mostly a question of perception. To their mind, sending a dollar to Kenya was only exacerbating the problem because these poor kids would be given bad food and poor nutrition wasn't something they wanted to pay for. Therefore, since they didn't trust the outcome of their benevolence, since they didn't trust that their money would be spent wisely to ease the suffering of the poor, they didn't want to waste their money at all.
This sort of attitude is unfortunately becoming widespread in this country. When there is no one person of authority that you can trust, then every proclamation is subject to suspicion and derision. If a scientist says that the world is getting warmer, you look outside and say, "Feels the same to me." Global warming is a lie. If a neighbor tells you that the bad economy is causing them to default on their mortgage, you say, "They never should have taken the mortgage in the first place if they couldn't afford to pay it back." If a new plan to fund health care for all people seems too expensive for the country, you say, "I've got my insurance and I don't want anything to screw that up." And on the flip side of those issues are others saying, "The World Is Going To Flood!" or "The Government Should Buy My House!" or "Free Health Care Is A Constitutional Right!" It's gotten to the point where nobody knows who's right or who's wrong, but we strongly suspect that we're right and they're wrong. And we strongly suspect anyone who disagrees with us of soft thinking or other moral deficiencies.
All of this is part of Alcorn's book and this part he gets right, because the one thing he returns to over and over again is C.S. Lewis's notion that deep down there are absolute goods and absolute evils that we don't want to admit to ourselves, but that we know. We can justify it anyway we want, but deep down we know that it would be GOOD to feed the poor, take care of the sick, and not kick people out of their homes. Very few people would ever disagree with these things. We all know that Greed and Murder are EVIL. But to have to confront these issues, to have to face the possibility that we've been complicit in them, even if we didn't do them directly, is not something we want to do.
No matter how much we complain, we want our bread and circuses a little too much - because the alternative means admitting that we're wrong.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Randy Alcorn - "If God Is Good"... first thoughts...
I read this last night and I thought I'd share it. It presupposes the argument that we all sin and therefore are equally guilty in God's eyes...
"Ironically, whenever societies recognize the human capacity for evil, evil is restrained and goodness is exalted. Yet whenever people view themselves as basically good, the greatest evils take place. Denying the doctrine of inherited sin leads to elitism and oppression. Why? Partly because people who view themselves as good place no restrictions upon those in power. But apart from checks and balances as well as moral accountability (implemented only when human sin is recognized), leaders inevitably become corrupt. Communism under Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot provide classic examples."
I'll have more thoughts on this in the future. Very interesting text. And somehow, reading about evil on 9/11 seems very appropriate.
Randy Alcorn
"If God Is Good... Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil."
Multnomah Press
"Ironically, whenever societies recognize the human capacity for evil, evil is restrained and goodness is exalted. Yet whenever people view themselves as basically good, the greatest evils take place. Denying the doctrine of inherited sin leads to elitism and oppression. Why? Partly because people who view themselves as good place no restrictions upon those in power. But apart from checks and balances as well as moral accountability (implemented only when human sin is recognized), leaders inevitably become corrupt. Communism under Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot provide classic examples."
I'll have more thoughts on this in the future. Very interesting text. And somehow, reading about evil on 9/11 seems very appropriate.
Randy Alcorn
"If God Is Good... Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil."
Multnomah Press
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
One Seriously Crazy Nightmare
Last night, I had a nightmare... all the more memorable because I can't remember the last time I had a nightmare... and especially, I can't remember the last time I had a nightmare where Pizza wasn't involved. So any of you Freudian types out there want to interpret, I'm all ears...
I was hurrying to my previous dream destination (can't remember where I was or why I was in a hurry) when all of a sudden a giant wave of water swept in like a flash flood. I was swept away with the current, but instantly realized that I had somehow been separated from my Bible. I turned around and there it was, just floating there behind me.
Then things get weird and dark. I tried to reach for my Bible, but I could sense something there - something very dark and very sinister - preventing me from reaching it. And I knew that I just had to get my Bible. So I started yelling at myself to wake up and grab my Bible. I yelled and yelled and yelled, desperately, as if my life depended on it.
About half a minute later, my eyes fluttered open. But I was still in the throes of this nightmare. As I turned my head to look around the room and confirm that I was, in fact, awake, all I could see in every part of my room was cartoon and animated demons (like something out of a haunted house almost). I shook my head until the cobwebs cleared and finally reached over and grabbed my Bible off the nightstand and hugged it to my chest.
Eventually, I calmed down and felt the normal quiet return to my mind, heart, and room. I gently replaced the Bible on my nightstand and then fell into a normal sleep.
It was by far the weirdest feeling I'd ever had - half nightmare, half real. I now remember praying once I had the Bible in my hand (can't tell you what I prayed about or if it was even coherent). Totally bizarre.
Heck! If I'm going to dream stuff like this without the benefit of pepperoni after 10pm, then I might as well start scarfing late night pizza again!
I was hurrying to my previous dream destination (can't remember where I was or why I was in a hurry) when all of a sudden a giant wave of water swept in like a flash flood. I was swept away with the current, but instantly realized that I had somehow been separated from my Bible. I turned around and there it was, just floating there behind me.
Then things get weird and dark. I tried to reach for my Bible, but I could sense something there - something very dark and very sinister - preventing me from reaching it. And I knew that I just had to get my Bible. So I started yelling at myself to wake up and grab my Bible. I yelled and yelled and yelled, desperately, as if my life depended on it.
About half a minute later, my eyes fluttered open. But I was still in the throes of this nightmare. As I turned my head to look around the room and confirm that I was, in fact, awake, all I could see in every part of my room was cartoon and animated demons (like something out of a haunted house almost). I shook my head until the cobwebs cleared and finally reached over and grabbed my Bible off the nightstand and hugged it to my chest.
Eventually, I calmed down and felt the normal quiet return to my mind, heart, and room. I gently replaced the Bible on my nightstand and then fell into a normal sleep.
It was by far the weirdest feeling I'd ever had - half nightmare, half real. I now remember praying once I had the Bible in my hand (can't tell you what I prayed about or if it was even coherent). Totally bizarre.
Heck! If I'm going to dream stuff like this without the benefit of pepperoni after 10pm, then I might as well start scarfing late night pizza again!
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Updates
I've been busy lately. Its that time of year for me at work where we're finalizing a lot of the new products for next year. So I'm getting a lot of testing done and going back and forth with manufacturers overseas on little things like packaging and pricing and artwork. Beyond that, I've got a ton of pokers in the fire that I'm working diligently to try and finish. But here are a few updates on previously mentioned issues...
Kenya - The trip dates are finally set. I'll be leaving here on Friday, February 5th and returning Thursday, February 25th. The cost for the airfare is $1407, of which I've managed to raise $407. So I'm $1000 short. Darn this economy!
Dane - We've resolved many of the technical issues and have been filming three of the past four weekends. This last weekend was our first with sound - and everything not only worked perfectly but looked pretty darn good too. It was the first time that I was able to "see" some of the movie finally coming together. Once we're done filming this current segment (it's a chase scene) we're going to do a rough cut and put it online as a trailer - hopefully on our new website.
Novel - I'm getting really close to finishing up the plot points for the third and final book in the trilogy. I'm doing the main synopsis for each of the two remaining books because the story is so complicated that I want to be sure that I don't back myself into a corner when I start writing the first book. Several things have already changed in the first book as a result of all this plotting (nothing major... just a few minor plot points) with the overall effect being a very strong story for the entire trilogy. I'm now just "casting" the final book, wrapping up some loose plot lines, and then I'll figure out how to make the third book entertaining, as well as devilishly clever. After that, I start writing. I'm only expecting about 120 days to complete a first draft of the first book once I get started (these things practically write themselves ;)
Other than that, I have a few other things to report on this week. I've been reading a great book by Steve Alcorn about the nature of Evil. Very fascinating. I've also been ruminating on the nature of turning 40, the idea of a legacy, and other terribly interesting topics. So come back again later and we can talk of cabbages and kings and other things.
Kenya - The trip dates are finally set. I'll be leaving here on Friday, February 5th and returning Thursday, February 25th. The cost for the airfare is $1407, of which I've managed to raise $407. So I'm $1000 short. Darn this economy!
Dane - We've resolved many of the technical issues and have been filming three of the past four weekends. This last weekend was our first with sound - and everything not only worked perfectly but looked pretty darn good too. It was the first time that I was able to "see" some of the movie finally coming together. Once we're done filming this current segment (it's a chase scene) we're going to do a rough cut and put it online as a trailer - hopefully on our new website.
Novel - I'm getting really close to finishing up the plot points for the third and final book in the trilogy. I'm doing the main synopsis for each of the two remaining books because the story is so complicated that I want to be sure that I don't back myself into a corner when I start writing the first book. Several things have already changed in the first book as a result of all this plotting (nothing major... just a few minor plot points) with the overall effect being a very strong story for the entire trilogy. I'm now just "casting" the final book, wrapping up some loose plot lines, and then I'll figure out how to make the third book entertaining, as well as devilishly clever. After that, I start writing. I'm only expecting about 120 days to complete a first draft of the first book once I get started (these things practically write themselves ;)
Other than that, I have a few other things to report on this week. I've been reading a great book by Steve Alcorn about the nature of Evil. Very fascinating. I've also been ruminating on the nature of turning 40, the idea of a legacy, and other terribly interesting topics. So come back again later and we can talk of cabbages and kings and other things.
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