“One story he especially liked told of the troubled woman who came to the Indian saint and sage Ramakrishna, saying, ‘O Master, I do not find that I love God.’ And he asked, ‘Is there nothing, then, that you love?’ To this she answered, ‘My little nephew.’ And he said to her, ‘There is your love and service to God, in your love and service to that child.’”
-Bill Moyers in his introduction to The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
Discuss.
(Everyone, please, for the love of all that is good, go download this entire cd right now for free from JoshGarrels.com)
I will arise and follow you over
Savior please, pilot me.Over the waves and through every sorrow
Savior please, pilot me.When I have no more strength left to follow
Fall on my knees, pilot me.May your sun rise and lead me on
Over the seas, savior pilot me.O Lord, O Lord!
Hey all!
It’s been a great year or two, but due to lack of recent comments from people other than ourselves and the fact that all of us have been crazy busy, we’ve talked and decided to deactivate mere at the end of next week. Sorry, guys! It’s just taking up too much of our time!
-Zach, Eric, Trey, and Riley
from Rebecca Reynolds over at The Rabbit Room. Check-enzie out: “The Hymn of the Crabapple Tree”
This is something that Andrew Peterson posted in a recent blog post over at The Rabbit Room, and I thought it was so brilliant that I had to share it:
“I am convinced that poets are toddlers in a cathedral, slobbering on wooden blocks and piling them up in the light of the stained glass. We can hardly make anything beautiful that wasn’t beautiful in the first place. We aren’t writers, but gleeful rearrangers of words whose meanings we can’t begin to know. When we manage to make something pretty, it’s only so because we are ourselves a flourish on a greater canvas. That means there’s no end to the discovery. We may crawl around the cathedral floor for ages before we grow up enough to reach the doorknob and walk outside into a garden of delights. Beyond that, the city, then the rolling hills, then the sea. And when the world of every cell has been limned and painted and sung, we lie back on the grass, satisfied that our work is done. Then, of course, the sun sets and we see above us the dark dome of glittering stars.
On and on it goes, all the way to the lightless borderlands of time and space, which we come to discover in some future age are but the beginnings or endings of a single word spoken from the mouth of God. Some nights, while I traipse down the hill, I imagine that word isn’t a word at all, but a burst of laughter.”
If you don’t know who Andrew Peterson is, then open iTunes right now (or whatever you use to get music) and buy his album, The Far Country.
For even in my failures
When I turn to gratify my flesh
I simply still am only yours
And my thirsty soul you quench.
Though I all too often look back into death
For life, ironically, to find within
Your common grace is here to bring me comfort
Your sacrifice to bleach the stains of sin.
For just as there are warm reminders
of summer in the dead of winter
You show deep mercy, grace, and love
In the darker hours to this sinner.
Amen.
Here’s what I enjoy about Ted Dekker‘s Circle Series and what I think makes it great. It meanders a little, but that’s how I do, so enjoy:
I started this series in my second semester of eighth grade, and finished the last book (Green) a few days ago.
I’m 20.
Which means I’ve been reading this series on and off for 8 years, haha.
Granted, Green was released long after the rest of the Circle Series (Black, Red, and White) but still. This is a hefty series. With two other multi-booked sections that take place in and relate to the same timelines as The Circle, to get all of the intertwining plot lines and character arcs, you have to read at least 13 books*. But they’re worth it, because they’re great.
Dekker writes books like they’re movies, in that all of the action happens fast and on top of itself. They are intense thrillers that keep your attention.
Anyway, The Circle Series is a quadrology (?) in which the main character, Thomas Hunter, switches between two parallel worlds when he falls asleep. One is set is the current time, and the other is set 2000 years in the future. My favorite part of the series is that the future world is a physical representation of the spiritual climate of the current one, while the entire plot is a loose allegorical account of Christianity’s history (and I mean all of it). I really enjoyed seeing that aspect of the plot come through. Also, Black, Red, and White are all sections of the same story, which Green is both the end and beginning of. It has been labeled as book 4 and book 0, because toward the end of it, it begins to answer questions and establish plot lines that make the whole series fit together. It’s crazy and exciting.
Anyway, I would seriously recommend this series to anyone looking for a fast-paced sci-fi action thriller, or just an interesting story.
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*The books are as follows: The Circle (Black, Red, White, Green), The Paradise Novels (Showdown, Saint, Sinner), and The Lost Books of History Chronicles (Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos, Lunatic, Elyon). If you want to read them all, I suggest reading them in this order: Black, Red, White, then The Paradise Novels, then The Lost Books of History Chronicles, then Green. If you don’t read all of them, then at least read The Circle! And maybe The Paradise Novels.
I’ve wanted to post something here for a week or so, but I haven’t had anything good enough to post, so instead I will share what has been encouraging me recently, and maybe all of those things together will make an interesting enough post! And maybe you’ll be encouraged as well.
This is a video that Riley showed me about an artist named Makoto Fujimura who is working on some abstract paintings for an edition of the ESV Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that are being published to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the KJV Bible. It discusses a little bit of the art/faith things we’ve talked about here before, plus the paintings are beautiful. It’s worth the 8 minutes.
I think my favorite thing about this, though, is that he is effectively making contemporary illuminated manuscripts, which is what the monks did when they copied down the Bible before the printing press was invented. They would use colorful paint and gold, silver and bronze leaf to embellish the first letter of paragraphs, and make really intricate borders. It’s kind of a cool parallel.
I came across this article from the gospel coalition about Jesus’ Prayer for us to God really interesting and encouraging.
Also, there’s been a fantastic song by Andrew Peterson stuck in my head for the past week. It’s called The Good Confession (I Believe) and it’s wonderful:
Download a .pdf of the chord chart here. I love his writing. If you don’t listen/watch to the whole thing (which you should!), then at least start from 2:55. Then you’ll be convinced it’s worth it and start from the beginning anyway. So you should just watch the whole thing 
Hey guys, today is Epiphany! It’s a feast day that celebrates the incarnation.
“Epiphany means ‘to make manifest.’ By the fourth century, Epiphany was a major annual celebration for the church. It is a season when we see Jesus’ divine mission revealed when the magi visit him, and then we remember his baptism, miracles, ministry, and his call for us to follow.”
Just something to think about. And maybe pray about?
Have a great day, friends!
