Giving What We Cannot Keep April 29, 2008
Posted by Anya in : I won't keep things purposely vague , 2commentsWe watched Beyond the Gates of Splendor the other night. I highly recommend it. It’s a sort of documentary of the lives and deaths and work of five missionaries in Ecuador, of whom Jim Elliot is probably the best known. It has some fascinating interviews with the missionaries’ widows, friends, and those who killed them. (I had the privilege of meeting both Mincaye and Steve Saint — you’ll get to see both of them and learn about who they are if you watch Beyond the Gates.) There’s also a lot of actual footage, which is very cool.
That whole story is one which amazingly illustrates how a few people who will give up everything can be used by God to make huge differences. Differences which leave the world in a state of shocked awe, and can clearly have only been worked by God, “Who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”. (Ephesians 3:20)
We have been seeing that in our devotions at home, where we’ve been studying the Old Testament. Even when Judah had fallen far from obedience to God, one faithful king — such as Hezekiah — brought about incredible change and reform.
So what will God do in our lives — with our lives — if we will be totally faithful to Him? The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” What if we lived every moment asking, “What will glorify God the most?” (Incidentally, I’m sure that is what we were to learn from the Missionary Preparedness Test with its challenge of obeying our parents for a year — every time, immediately, exactly, and cheerfully.) Are we ready to obey God in everything which He asks of us, immediately, exactly, and cheerfully?
What if that means dying? Living to please Him, and then dying? To be honest, that scares me. I think it would be awesome, but it it still scares me. That’s okay, though. you can be scared in yourself and still trusting outside yourself at the same time.
And now for some thoughts from other heads…
Aaron Shust: “I will wait for Your plan to unfold… I know that I owe You my life… You watch over me/through the darkest valley… I love You more than life itself…” (various songs from Whispered and Shouted)
King David: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” (Psalm 23:4)
MercyMe: “And I pray that You will use my life/In whatever way Your name is glorified/Even if surrendering means leaving everything… behind.” (I Would Die For You, which was written about a young man who died as a result of a missions trip.)
Paul wrote, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain… this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison… I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Philippians 1:21, II Corinthians 4:17, Romans 8:18)
Jim Elliot wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
The words for the song The Prophecy, from the movie The Fellowship of the Ring, have struck me. “Hlasta! Qyetes Hfirimain…” “Listen! It speaks to those who were not born to die…”
That is who God has made us. Hfirimain. Those who were not born to die. Incredible word.
And at the same time, I was struck by the words from the song Suicide Note. “I had a dream last night…/…That maybe I was meant to die/For something that is greater than me… or all that I could be…”
This is also true. As Christians we are called to die. To ourselves and our sinful nature, which looks crazy, and, well, suicidal to the world (which is what Suicide Note is about), but as we die to ourselves, we come to live in Christ. To Christ.
It’s a central truth of Christianity. We live by death. Christ’s death for us. And God often uses the blood of His martyrs as the seed of His church.
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (I Corinthians 15:42-49)
I had a dream last night…
…That maybe I was meant to die
For something that is greater than me… or all that I could be…
Districts II April 27, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration, smiling is good for you , 5commentsVarious other quotes and stories…
The church was hot. VERY hot. So hot that I just walked in and opened the window in Mr. S’ room, without asking if it was okay if it was opened… (Rachel, who was keeping score, is always cold!) Samwise: “Hace muy calor.” [It is very hot.] I realized that he was sort of addressing me and finally agreed with him. Peter said that it took me long enough.
Speaking of windows and Samwise, he almost jumped through a closed window on Friday. He was going to run out the open door and re-enter through the open window. However, as soon as he exited the room, Andrew slammed the window shut. We all laughed. Sam came flying at the window at rather top speed and came to a screeching halt. Hadn’t quite forseen that happening…
Anyway, when I opened the window, the guys on the team in front of the window threatened to sue me!
Ben L: “If a bullet comes through that window and hits me, I’m going to sue you.” (I want to see how he’s going to do that!)
Evan: “If [something, I forget what] happens, I’ll sue you.”
At least they wouldn’t be suing me for dying of heatstroke.
I was high-fiving Miss Dance’s team. I got her, got Tim, got Sarah, got Michael, and was standing there waiting for Johnny. Given the fact that he was coughing his head off, I decided NOT to high-five him and instead just go with, “Have a good quiz.” But then he continued to cough and I added, “Are you okay?”
Johnny: *very convincingly* “Yeah! *cough* I’m fine! *cough cough* *choke* No problem at all! Have a — *cough — great quiz!” *whacks himself in the chest* “Okay, good. I’m good now.”
Also as we were going into Mr. S’ room yesterday (this was before I opened the window) I realized that it was the especially hot room…
me: “Oh no! Not this room again!”
Meghan: “AAAAH, no!”
me: “Everyone take a deep breath!”
Meghan and I: *GASP*
everyone else: *stares at us* *starts laughing*
I’m just realizing that I have a lot of stories from Mr. S’ room…
Johnny: *jumps on a quote the two verses* *says them* *goes to sit down*
Mr. S: “I need your reference please.”
Johnny: “Oh. Yeah. Eight and nine.”
Mr. S: “No, I’m sorry, that’s wrong.”
Johnny: *heart stops* (You could literally see him freeze.)
Mr. S: “It was verses eight and twelve.”
Johnny: *verrrrry slowly starts to breathe again* “Hahaha. Wow. You scared me. I was like, WHAT????“
He explained to me later that he had almost passed out. I don’t think that was an exaggeration.
Also in Mr. S’ room, I was watching a quiz. Mark got one right. (He is in the habit of doing that, having come ridiculously close to have a perfect year.) Danielle started going crazy. Sarah, who was sitting beside her, gave her an odd look and then also started jumping up and down. After a minute, everyone in the room turned around to see what they were screaming about. A spider. Things took a few minutes to settle down. 
Uhhh yeah. Relevant quotes: “I had no idea what was wrong! I thought that you were so excited about Mark getting a question!” “Timeout for the audience!”
My team this year was fun. It was an all girls’ team — Joanna, Sarah, me, and Mary Beth — and Joanna rather suddenly realized that we all had blue eyes. Okay.
During the one time out Joanna whipped out her calculator (which is named Connie) and started calculating her average. (”Her score is so high she needs a calculator!”) This was obviously much to the amusement of everyone in the room. As I said in the last post, easily amused.
And to be fair, I ought to include myself in the “easily amused” category. During the top 15 quiz offs… where I’m not sure that a single question made it past the second syllable unless part of the reference had to waited for… Griffin decided to start finishing the questions and answering them for me. (Quietly, so that the kids quizzing couldn’t hear.) I actually started laughing. Oh dear. It really cannot have been that funny. Adrenaline does funny things to people’s minds.
Joanna: “Filthy language from your lips.”
Quizmaster: “Shame on you! That’s correct.”
Michael: *answers*
Mr. C: “…I’m sorry. You were in Galatians two.”
Michael: “Oh. Okay.” *walks dejectedly back to his seat*
Mr. C: “But so was I. Good job.”
(We seem to have some rather sadistic quizmasters who enjoy watching us squirm!)
Jordan and I were making plans for a new kind of Districts. Plans which involved everyone promising not to jump until at least the third syllable of the questions. There would be fewer errors, more points, and it seemed like it would make everyone happy. Jordan was in, and I was watching, a quiz this year where everyone in it (okay, there were only five people in it, but still) had perfect quiz outs. That was lovely. We should do it more often.
Unfortunately, we didn’t quite manage to get everyone else on board with that plan.
Abbi: *is sitting by herself in the corner*
Peter: “She looks lonely.” *goes to check on her*
Abbi: “Oh no, I’m just humming.”
Peter: *comes back* “She says she’s fine. And she sent me away.”
me: “Don’t bother her, she’s busy!”
Peter: “She’s humming!”
me: “Yes! She’s busy humming!”
Peter: *rolls eyes*
He and I tried pretending that we had never met before. I don’t think it was very convincing. ^_^
Griffin was sitting beside me during some of the top 15 quizzing (obviously, as he was telling me the answers, and you can’t be yelling them across the sanctuary!) and cheering for everyone. I don’t know if I made a face at him or what, conveying something like, Griff, that is my ear, and I used to be able to hear out of it!
Griffin: “Sorry if I yell.”
me: “You do.”
Griffin: *laughs* “I know.”
If?
Michael: *freaking out* “I don’t know what to do! I don’t know what to do! Call a timeout!”
…meantime…
Joanna (who was not on Michael’s team): *jumps up to call her own timeout*
Johnny (Michael’s captain, and Joanna’s younger brother): *jumps up frantically to call a timeout* “Timeout! Hey! Timeout!”
Joanna: “Um, Johnny –”
Johnny: “TIMEOUT!”
Joanna: “Haven’t you used up all your timeouts?”
Johnny: “I need a timeout!!!!”
Quizmaster: “Um, yeah. You used them all.”
Joanna: *grins* “I’ll call a timeout for you.” (Which she had been going to do anyway!)
us: *looking for our coach — Mrs. B, Sarah’s mom*
Sarah: *sighs* “I bet she’s at the health food store. We drove in here and she goes, ‘Aah! LOOK! A health food store!’ and I’m like, “Moooooommmm!’”
*talking with Johnny between the top 15 quizzes* (He was very close to being in the top five at that point. Talk about wound up.) We decided that really, quizzing is simple. “Jump! And answer questions. Correctly. Two steps to success.” *grins*
Johnny did make it into the number five position, thus saving many people a lot of nail-biting. (The top ten go to Internationals.) So… I caught Johnny — that is, he caught me — out in the foyer. He was talking to Emily and began yelling at me. “Wasn’t it? WASN’T IT???”
me: “Wasn’t what? And good job Johnny!” *starts to walk away*
Johnny: “GET BACK HERE. Now tell Emily. Wasn’t it?”
me: “Wasn’t what?”
Johnny: “Wasn’t that last quiz AWESOME????”
me: “YES.”
Johnny: “Woo. Dude. I am just so obnoxious up there.”
Emily and me: “No you aren’t!!!”
Johnny: *grinning* “Yeah I am! I’ve got this jacket, and, wow, last year I had…” *runs fingers along face*
me: “Yeah, blue stripes… which I missed seeing.” (Actually, I did obviously see it, as he had used my paint, I just didn’t get to watch him quiz that way. *sigh*) “Augh, that was incredible.”
So then I got a hug from Johnny. Which was also incredible. (Johnny just is incredible. You have to know him.)
And I’d like to add that I was really pleased with how my friends did this year. Aside from all the top 10 people, who are good quizzers. I was proud of Michael (who as a first year quizzer did some absolutely phenomenal quizzing — Michael: “Hopefully next year I’ll know what I’m doing.” For a guy who “didn’t know what he was doing”, he did very well.) and Samwise did some great quizzing. He was content with how he did. I was impressed with how he did.
I know I’ve thought of a few more stories from Districts, but I think that’s mostly it for now.
And I did cry yesterday, but it was because I was hacking slicing an onion up. I came pretty close to it walking out of the building though. Oh well. To quote Antion, Hasta luego. I am confident that I’ll be seeing many of those kids again. Our citizenship is in heaven…
It’s Districts! April 25, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration, smiling is good for you , 3commentsOkay, so this is not actually live-blogging (are you insane? If I was trying to live-blog quizzing, I would not get to talk to anyone and hence there would be very little for me to blog about!) but it’s pretty close. 
Let’s see. Districts is actually at our church (well, not *my* church but the church where I go to youth group and quizzing… yes, I’ll try to can the parentheticals, or at least cut back on them…) so I don’t have lots of quotes from the car ride. Which could be a good thing, considering how last year it was all about Sam, Josh, and Andrew singing “We Are The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything”, and of course it was beautiful weather so we had the windows open… moral of the story: It is most difficult to pretend that you don’t know people when you’re in the same care as them.
ANYWAY. So we got to the church and I spied Peter running at us. I was extremely high on adrenaline — I still am — so I was yelling to him before we were even out of the car. Fun stuff. He told me that no one I knew was there yet except Bethany T… this was not entirely accurate as I know several kids from other districts, but it wasn’t far off. So I went inside and paced around and ran up and down the stairs and waited for people to get there and opened doors so we could get the bench seats in and all that good stuff.
And then… someone hollered my name… and then Dad hollered at me that Griffin wanted me. He was driving *gasp* and needed to know when we started quizzing. I’m so helpful. “Six? Six thirty? Something like that? Um… would you like me to find out?” Griffin: *sounding mildly sarcastic* “Yes, that would be nice.” I suppose so. I never know that sort of thing, though!
We went to announcements. Mr. S asked if there were any questions. someone [not Peter!]: “What’s for lunch?” Mike: “What’s quizzing?”
Mhmm. Thank you guys.
Then we headed in to our first quiz. And waited, because the H family was not yet there. This throws a wrench into things when the boys (Mark and Alex) are captains, and their dad is a coach, and their mom was handling stats. Unfortunately, they’re another cell-phone-less family, so we were compelled to be patient (!) and wonder for a few minutes.
Sarah: “You’d think they’d have been here a day early!”
us: *wait wait wait*
someone: “It’s a helicopter! I bet it’s them!” [It wasn’t.]
They did get there, and proceeded to confuse us by switching which team Mark and Alex were on! The only explanation which we could get, from either of them, was, “It’s a long story.” Oookay.
I did remember to show Griffin the clock and the shrubs. He laughed. Some people are easily amused…
…such as Dakota. He kept “killing” me with a truck until Samwise finally told him that it was mean and started playing more peaceably with him. Well, sort of more peaceably. They were building, but then it turned into wrecking. We are thankful that Samwise is studying chemistry, NOT engineering. Then I somehow started playing with them. Dakota: “Again and again and again and again and…”
Mrs. O (Dakota’s mom): “Next he’ll want to take you home!”
Dakota: “Ah you comin’ to da hotel? We’ going swimmin! Come swimmin!”
Sam: *blinks*
me: “No, we live here. Well, not here, but…”
Sam: “Close.”
Mrs. O: “PLEASE don’t tell him that you live at the church! He’ll want to spend the night!”
…Dakota wasn’t the only one confused about where we were staying.
Johnny D: *very hopefully* “So. Are you staying at the Holiday Inn?”
me: “Uh, no. Johnny. I live here. You can almost see my house from here.”
Johnny: “Oh yeah. DRAT!”
(He just wanted to play Marco Polo again, probably.)
He was also busy launching paper from a (fiberglass?) rod in the parkinglot… unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me…
But there it is for the night.
April 24, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , 1 comment so farLast night we were talking about temptation.
Pastor B: “Anna, is there a word for temptation in Chinese?” *
Anna: “I don’t think so.”
*laughter*
I’m going to miss youth group…
*This due to our girls who speak not much English coming in.
Quiz Practice Strikes Again April 20, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration, smiling is good for you , 2commentsThat is, Samwise was striking. The light. He suddenly jumped out of his chair and whacked it. He was trying to knock the dead flies (ew) out of it. Our tangent could have stopped right there. But oh no. Mr. G. looked into his cup (which had been on the table underneath the light) and made a face at Sam. “Thanks, Sam,” he said. “Now there’s flies in my cup.” We all laughed about hat for a minute and sat back down to practice… it could have ended there but, as I’m posting about it, it obviously didn’t…
Samwise cupped his hands and held them out to Andrew.
Sam: “Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup!”
Andrew: *laughs* “No, there isn’t.”
Sam: “Yes, there is!”
Andrew: “No, there isn’t!”
Sam: “Yes, there is! Look for yourself!”
Andrew: “No, there isn’t. I don’t need to look. We don’t put flies in the soup.”
Sam: *sigh* *fishes “fly” out of “bowl”* *holds it up* “Look at this. This fly. It was in my soup.”
Andrew: *coughlaugh* “That is not a fly.”
Sam: *looks at it* *indignantly* “Yes, it is! Then what is it?”
Andrew: *laughing* “It’s… erm… it’s an olive.”
Sam: *looks at it again* “That is not an olive. It’s too small for an olive –”
Andrew: “It’s a baby olive.”
Sam: “A what?”
Andrew: “A, uh, baby olive.” *grins*
Sam: *blink* “If it’s a baby olive, why does it have legs?”
Andrew: “It doesn’t have legs.”
Sam: “Yes, it does. Look.”
Andrew: “Those aren’t legs.”
Sam: “Oh yeah, really? Then what are they?”
Andrew: “They’re twigs. Olive twigs.”
Sam: “They’re what?”
Andrew: “Olive twigs. Look, do you grow olives?”
Sam: “Well, no –”
Andrew: “See? Then just trust me. They’re olive twigs.”
Sam: “Well… I didn’t order my soup with olives. Or flies.”
Andrew: “Yes, you ordered olive-tomato-parsley soup.”
Sam: “No, I didn’t.”
Andrew: “Yes, you did.”
Sam: “No, I didn– look, I remember. I did not order… olive-tomato-parsley soup.”
Andrew: “I distinctly remember that you did. Wait.” *pulls “notepad” out of pocket* *looks at it* “Yep, here it is. Olive-tomato-parsley soup.”
Sam: “WHA–?” *grabs “notebook”* “No, no. That says oregano tomato soup. Nothing about olives.”
Andrew: “Oh well. I thought that you said olive.”
Sam: “What? Look. How much do you get paid to bring my soup to me? From there to here.”
Andrew: “Um… how much is in your wallet?”
Sam: *thinks about this* “I don’t have a wallet.”
Andrew: “You don’t?”
Sam: “No. I am definitely absolutely positive; I do not have a wallet.”
Andrew: “Well, then, there is no way I’m getting you a new bowl of soup.”
Sam: “What? I think I want to talk to the manager.”
Andrew: *cough* “Well, I am the manager.”
Sam: *stunned silence* “…well, how about one of the other waiters?”
Andrew: “I am the Other Waiters.”
Sam: “What kind of restaurant is this?”
Andrew: “Actually, they’re out to lunch.”
*laughter*
It did have a rather Hitchhiker-ian feel to it.
But if you’re coming to Districts, watch out for the flies.
Laugh. April 17, 2008
Posted by Anya in : I won't keep things purposely vague , 1 comment so farThis has to be the funniest thing I’ve read in quite a while, so I thought I’d share it with you.
Prayer
Several scientific studies have shown that prayer may have an objective and positive effect on health outcomes. In these studies, the health of people who were prayed for improved substantially more than that of people who were not prayed for. This outcome occurred whether or not the person who was ill knew about the praying or believed in the power of prayer. Medical science cannot explain the connection between prayer and healing. [from the American Medical Association’s Family Medical Guide.]
Well. James could explain it. “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:14-16, ESV)
If all I had was one last prayer, I’d pray it ’cause I know You’re always listening. ~ Jeff Chandler, sung by Casting Crowns.
And in a way, it’s really sad that they cannot explain this connection. But I was still amused. God works in funny ways, ways that don’t always make sense to us. Ways in which we cannot take the credit for.
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1:26-31)
Quizzing “Practice” and Other Randomness April 16, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , 3commentsThere are reasons that we don’t tend to make it past Districts. “We” meaning the people with whom I practice. “Practice” meaning… well, sometimes I do have to wonder what it means.
The truth is, we laugh. A lot. We talk politics. We talk about whatever is going on — in the world, in school, in our lives. We also practice some quizzing. We talk about what the Bible means when it says such and such. We laugh — I already mentioned that, but it deserves being mentioned again. We smack each other and get frustrated with each other when the other people won’t buckle down and get to studying. We make up charades (if we ever do a charades quiz, I think we will have all the other churches beat. *grins*). We play tag-team quizzing. And by Districts quizzing, it is mostly down to the kids who love it the most and who have done the most of everything… laughing, teasing, and (hopefully) studying.
But even at Districts practice tonight, the practice-to-laughter ratio was… low.
Peter: “RECONCILED YOU BY CHRIST’S SON! And don’t say that’s wrong. ’cause it’s not.” *sits down*
Andrew: *cough cough*
me: “Peter. That was totally wrong.”
Peter: *glare*
me: “Christ’s son?“
Peter: “AGGGGH.”
Samwise jumped on a question about the verse He who has been stealing must steal no longer… but had no clue as to what it was about (stealing). The rest of us were trying to give him hints. So I grabbed the pocket knife which Andrew had been flipping around… Andrew gave me a most incredibly shocked look and then figured out where I was going with it. Unfortunately, Sam didn’t. Miss Dance tried saying to Sam, “Do you have anything in your pockets?” She’s too polite to be a pickpocket.
Our clock was rather unhelpful. I think Sam diagnosed the problem as lack of a battery. He became disgusted with it, and, after Mr. G suggested that we use it as a frisbee (apparently all that it’s good for at the moment) tossed it out the window. Yes, it is spring, and the window was open. It landed on a shrub. Sam’s comment? “Time flies.” Ha. Ha.
Observation: It is difficult to concentrate on quizzing when David is coming and sticking his head in the window and making weird faces at me. Open doors don’t bother me as much.
Miss Dance and I were high-fiving each other. Peter was fortunate enough to be sitting in between us. Mr. G suggested that we high-five him in the head. It reminded me of Never a Dull Moment.
Andrew was being odd tonight. (Not that it’s anything new, but I usually don’t end up sitting next to him.) He has a habit of coughing in such a way that you can’t tell if he’s trying to give you a hint or choking on air. I… being the dreadfully helpful person which I am… whacked him on the back. He gave me another rather startled look. Fortunately, he didn’t hit me back — if he had, I probably would not be here typing this.
We did a really lovely tag-team quizzing effort… that is, it would have been lovely if someone had known the answer. Sam jumped and passed it off to Peter who gave it to Andrew who gave it to me, despite the fact that I had pointed out that I didn’t know the answer.
It’s strange how much James and Romans still come up. Samwise jumped on something that I was very glad that he, and not I, got, because my answer was straight out of Romans. Drupert tried something later about “Every good and perfect gift…” At least… we have good memories? We remember things three years later? Sort of like Butterbur. 
Now on to the other randomness.
We sang All in All tonight. That is classified in my mind as being a campfire song. Guitars. People singing. Stars outside. Good classes. Being a little chilly. And not having much of anything that needs to be focused on other than what you are learning in classes, what you are learning about God.
Those kinds of songs tend to make me want to cry.
Which is kind of crazy when I’m standing in youth group.
But, so it goes.
Today actually felt like the beginning of summer, so I ended up listening to or singing all sorts of summer-y music. Newsboys, Casting Crowns, Take You At Your Word by Avalon. Which brings me back to quizzing, and Districts.
Goodnight.
Time and Heaven April 14, 2008
Posted by Anya in : I won't keep things purposely vague , 3commentsAlright. Andúnë rather firmly hinted that he’d like a post on the subject of Time. Fair enough. He came up with an extremely interesting point involving the two books which I forced him (más o menos) to read. (I ought to call these two books something like The Crash Course For Being Able To Understand Anya’s Rather Eclectic Literary References, And, Consequently, Many Of The Divergent Trails Which Her Mind Takes In What Appear To Be Perfectly Ordinary Conversations, 101. But I digress.)
Here’s part of his email: I found a connection between A Severe Mercy and The Hitchhikers Guide. Watches. Sheldon Vanauken talks about time and thinks that modern man possibly has a watch fetish. Strange to see two authors notice the same thing and look at it as Nihilist and as a Christian searching for eternity.Man is always searching for eternity, with Sheldon Vanauken you see somebody who has found it. With Douglas Adams you see somebody who has failed in his quest for eternity but still senses the urge for it. An interesting contrast, don’t you think?
It took some thought as to what I could post about this. Fortunately, my brain kicked into synthesis mode while I was brushing my teeth. See, I was thinking about The Swift, which make me think about this video clip. It was incredible to worship with that many other people. So what will heaven be like? Heaven seems to keep coming up. With Pedro aka Mr. Tangentry, about the mysterious incredibility of it (but not really incredibility, because we believe it.) With Griffin, talking about the brokenness of saying goodbye, and the non-necessity of such in heaven. Also when I was listening to Jars of Clay’s beautiful song All My Tears (by Julie Anne Miller):
When I go, don’t cry for me
In my Father’s arms I’ll be
The wounds this world left on my soul
Will all be healed and I’ll be whole.
Sun and moon will be replaced
With the light of Jesus’ face
And I will not be ashamed
For my Savior knows my name.
It don’t matter where you bury me,
I’ll be home and I’ll be free.
It don’t matter where I lay,
All my tears be washed away.
Gold and silver blind the eye
Temporary riches lie
Come and eat from heaven’s store,
Come and drink, and thirst no more
It don’t matter where you bury me
I’ll be home and I’ll be free
It don’t matter where I lay
All my tears be washed away
So, weep not for me my friends,
When my time below does end
For my life belongs to Him
Who will raise the dead again.
It don’t matter where you bury me,
I’ll be home and I’ll be free.
It don’t matter where I lay,
All my tears be washed away.
(And that song itself reminds me of Rich Mullins’ song Elijah.
…Well, if they dressed me like a pauper
Or if they dined me like a prince
If they lay me with my fathers
Or if my ashes scatter on the wind
I don’t care
But when I leave I want to go out like Elijah
With a whirlwind to fuel my chariot of fire
And when I look back on the stars
Well, It’ll be like a candlelight in Central Park
And it won’t break my heart to say goodbye …)
All My Tears makes me think of Samwise. Around Christmas he and I were able to talk about dying — driving in snow and closing conversations with aDios (to God, short for go to God) offer a natural opening for that sort of discussion. We were able to say, very much, that we would not mind dying. And to reassure each other that we would not worry in that event. Be sad, yes. Be delighted for the other, also yes. (And a word of reassurance here… we weren’t being suicidal or morbid or anything of the sort. We were just being honest.) Something about Christmas — maybe it’s Advent — makes me long for heaven anyway. But I wish I could honestly have that conversation with all of my friends, and be so confident that while to them, to live is Christ, to die will indeed be gain (for them, although it would be a sharp and bitter loss to us). For the pure in heart will see God.
It strikes me as strange that we don’t talk and wonder and dream of heaven so much more than we do. Do we shrink from the awe and the joy, the glory and the beauty? Or do we just forget? I certainly have no difficulty in anticipating something good on earth — going to Colonial Williamsburg, a quiz meet, communion Sunday, camp… and these are all so marred with sin that God could not even look at them without the righteousness of Christ. So why is it harder to look forward to — and talk about — the new heavens and the new earth? And I don’t mean that we need to “wonder” about it by buying every new Jenkins/LaHaye book that comes along, or in a church-splitting way, but looking forward to it. With wonder.
Better is one day in Your courts, than thousands elsewhere…
And here, finally, we come back to where I started with Andúnë’s point about Time. What is “one day” in the courts of God?
Better.
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain…
Can you say that?
My wondering of the night: Will we — accepting CS Lewis’ premise that something about Time is unnatural to us — be instantly (whatever that means in a timeless setting) used to being outside the ravages of time? Or will we have to grow used to it, make silly mistakes in our speech, and all laugh?
Time could not be wasted in heaven, anyway, because there we will worship perfectly and fully — in all of life, not just corporate, formal worship… and that’s what we were created to do.
Worshiping God is never a waste of time.
In fact, it’s the only way to redeem the time. And… I could write a lot more about this subject, but I’m still a spirit with a pre-resurrection body, which is temporal and in need of sleep.
And I will not be ashamed, for my Savior knows my name.
More Pictures from Colonial Williamsburg April 13, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , add a comment
The Governor’s Palace
Swords inside the Governor’s Palace (let’s pretend that I was holding the camera more upright than I actually was)… not only are they a lovely decoration, that way he also had them handy in time of need. :) I could think of a few people I know who would not really mind getting their hands on those swords. Myself, for starts.
Special for… McKenzie! Actually, we walked into the shop directly after this one and the smell of Williamsburg hit me. I’m not quite sure what all is in that smell… mostly the various types of soap, I guess, but you have to have cases and cases of it to achieve the proper C.W. smell.
The gaol… which I had really needed a picture of last year, when we were quizzing on Acts… because… well, I don’t actually remember exactly why. It had something to do with Antion wondering how that worked out in Acts 16 with the doors being thrown open and the jailer running out… and… *sigh* I really don’t remember. Oh well. But there is the gaol for you.
Houses and trees and people. *grins*
Tulips behind the Wythe House.
Stairs inside the Wythe House. They just looked interesting and photogenic. Behind the bottom part of the stairs is Mr. Wythe’s study. George Wythe taught Thomas Jefferson…
Greenness. I don’t remember what house this was in.
And there are many more pictures, but those took long enough to upload, so I’ll stop there.
Sometimes I have to wonder… April 12, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , 2comments…about myself…
First of all, the other day I was chatting with Abby. I was talking to someone else, too, I think, so maybe I could blame my spaciness on them. But probably not. Anyway. AIM popped me up the little message thingy in the corner of the screen, and I saw what Abby had written: “I can’t wait for the fall.”
My mind totally misconstrued that and read it with as “the Fall”, at which point I choked, blinked, figured out what she had actually meant, and promptly reported my brain glitch to her. She found it hilarious.
The same night, I was talking with Andúnë when Antion got on. It was rather important that I talk with Antion, so I did so, beginning the conversation, as usual, in Spanish. Silly me… I’m not sure why I do that, other than force of habit, and, of course, tradition.
Thus, in the midst of thinking in Spanish, I found myself answering something Andúnë had said. The instinctive response was to say Thank you in Spanish. I somehow remembered that he does not fully appreciate Spanish and managed to avoid doing that. The next auto-reply in my mind involved German. I also remembered that Griffin had scolded me the last time I said danke schoon because that is not, in fact, the correct spelling. Thus, I sent a message which said danke, forgetting that it, also, was not in English.
Shortly afterwards I realized that it’s pretty weird to end up speaking German to someone because you are speaking Spanish to someone else. The only excuse I can find here is that German is the language which I have been most forced to use on IM other than Spanish.
Anyway… that is it for now. Hopefully I’ll be getting up some more pictures from the whole Virginia trip soon.
