Literary Black Jack

I heard a rumor that it was National Book Week or something, so I thought I would share a list of books I have read/will be reading this semester:

On the Road (Jack Kerouac)

The Feminine Mystique (Betty Friedan)

Rabbit, Run (John Updike)

Why We Can't Wait (Martin Luther King, Jr)

The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Alex Haley)

A Doll's House (Henrik Ibsen)

The Cherry Orchard (Anton Chekhov)

The Gossamer Years (Mother of Michitsuna)

Democracy is in the Streets (James Miller)

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (Tom Wolfe)

Rabbit Redux (John Updike)

The Virtue of Selfishness (Ayn Rand)

Life on the Edge (James Dobson)

Rabbit is Rich (John Updike)

Rabbit at Rest (John Updike)

A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams)

Cloud Nine (Caryl Churchill)

Fences (August Wilson)

How I Learned to Drive (Paula Vogel)

Proof (David Auburn)

Bright Dawn (S.K. Kubose)

Happy reading!

A Lazy Afternoon after a Midterm

I'm nearing the end of an incredible week.

The jury's still out on if it's the good kind of incredible, or the horrible kind.

Or the Third Kind.

Things I know for sure about this week:

I drink waaay too much tea.

"Big Booty" changed my life.

It's a definite fact that I can't live with anyone by Kelsea.

A day may start out sunny, but as soon as I walk outside it's going to storm.
Rain on the theater roof gives me a strange feeling of foreboding in the pit of my stomach.

And one more thing: SPRING BREAK BABY.

No alarms at 7:30 in the morning, no strange clumps of hair in the shower drain, no three flights of stairs to crawl up after a long rehearsal... this is starting to sound like heaven.

It Was a Profound Morning

"At some point in your life you've seen that there is something deeper and more profound than the ordinariness of grabbing your morning coffee."

-Anne Spencer

I Dreamed a Dream in Time Gone By

This dream I had was just too weird not to write down.

I find myself trudging into my house after what I suppose was a very long day... apparently at the coal mines.  I look in a mirror and my face is smudged with soot and my clothes are black and dirty.  I drag myself down the hall to my bedroom and pull back my covers to take a nap (dirt and all) and, between my sheets, I find a large cache of tortilla chips, lettuce, and shredded carrots.  And then I yell at the top of my lungs for my mom; she comes down the hall, sees the mess, smiles, and says "Well, the kids just wanted to have a picnic."

I then find myself walking into what I think is a roller rink.  Lots of teams are sitting around the rink stretching and talking.  From across the rink I see my darling friend Aydan in a turquoise tutu at the same time the she spies me.  We run toward each other and and bear hug.  We're talking but I don't know what we're saying, but I suspect it's about the tortilla chip salad in my bed.  As we're talking our equally darling friend Heather runs up to meet us-- except she's about three feet tall and is tugging on my shirttail in excitement.  Then, and old lady from the sidelines says, "They must be seals.  Look how they're hugging."

What does this all mean??

So, It's Been a While

And it may be a while longer.

Life is just... super hectic.  I feel drained.  I know that I'm in a world where most everyone acts differently than me... but I didn't expect this world to be so vastly separate from the one in which I want to live (vague enough?).  

The point is, I need prayers for strength, to live in the world and yet refuse to become a part of it. 

PS- God listens.

I was popping onto an online bible index to search out some suitable verses to leave this blog with, and the verse of the day was precisely what I needed to hear.

Job 23:10-11

“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed His steps; I have kept to His way without turning aside.”

If Job can endure all that he did and still praise the Lord this way, surely I can too.

Be strong and rejoice!

Your Jeans Will Wash, Just Like Your Soul

Tonight I had the chance to get edified at C of I's Late Night worship service.

A story about two men crossing the Red Sea in Exodus came up.  The men look down at the ground and all they see is mud, and they had mud in Egypt, so how is this Red Sea thing any different?  What they missed when they were looking at their feet was what was above them.  What is the mud compared to the walls of water God had just moved to create a safe passage?  Instead of finding God in the situation, they ignored Him for their earthly woes.  

They weren't looking up. 

 

I just began a new term at school.  And already, I'm overwhelmed.  I am up to my knees in mud.  Mud makes me grumble.  Mud makes me go through the motions, watching my feet squelch instead of lifting my head and my heart to the glory of all the gifts God has given to me.  He parts my seas EVERY DAY.  I just don't always see it.  I need to look up for God, to see what He has already put before my eyes.  There's a reason Jesus said "Seek and you shall find."  It's because what you need is already in front of you-- God knows you!  He wants you!  Just stop worrying about your mud, look up, and meet Him.

I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say
You're beautiful

I see Your power in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It's all proclaiming who You are
You're beautiful, You're beautiful

I see you there hanging on a tree
You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me
Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home
You're beautiful, you're beautiful

When we arrive at eternity's shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we'll sing
You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful

Translated with Love and Cheez-Its

Earlier this week I mentioned 1 Corinthians, so I decided to to open up the old Greek New Testament and do a little translation of my own.  Here's 1 Corinthians 1:18-25:

18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to the ones being destroyed, but is God's power to us, the ones being saved.

19 For it is written:  "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of those possessing understanding I will make invalid."

20 Where is the wise one?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the reasoner of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

21 For since in God's wisdom the world through wisdom has not known God, Good took delight through the foolishness of what is preached to save the ones who believe.

22 And since the Jews demand signs and the Hellenists seek wisdom,

23 now we preach Christ having been crucified, that which causes sin to the Jews, and foolishness to the Gentiles,

24 But to them, the ones called, Jews as well as Gentiles, Christ- God's power and God's wisdom:

25 Because the foolish of God is wiser than man is and the weak of God is stronger than man is.

As you can see from the handy (and handsome) banner, I'm going to, at least once a week, translate a passage from the Bible from the original Greek, to keep me in practice both in language and regular Bible-learnin'.

Also, in my bible study today we discussed a section of CS Lewis's Mere Christianity.  Because of this, I will be spending my break week from school reading this book, and posting what I think of it here.  There, y'all have something to look forward to now.