Not a Political Statement

The War Works Hard
How magnificent the war is!
How eager
and efficient!
Early in the morning,
it wakes up the sirens
and dispatches ambulances
to various places,
swings corpses through the air,
rolls stretchers to the wounded,
summons rain
from the eyes of mothers,
digs into the earth
dislodging many things
from under the ruins...
Some are lifeless and glistening,
others are pale and still throbbing...
It produces the most questions
in the minds of children,
entertains the gods
by shooting fireworks and missiles
into the sky,
sows mines in the fields
and reaps punctures and blisters,
urges families to emigrate,
stands beside the clergymen
as they curse the devil
)poor devil, he remains
with one hand in the searing fire)...
The war continues working, day and night.
It inspires tyrants
to deliver long speeches,
awards metals to generals
and themes to poets.
It contributes to the industry
of artificial limbs,
provides food for flies.
adds pages to the history books,
achieves equality
between killer and killed,
teaches lovers to write letters,
accustoms young women to waiting,
fills the newspapers
with articles and pictures,
builds new houses
for the orphans,
invigorates the coffin makers,
gives grave diggers
a pat on the back
and paints a smile on the leader's face.
The war works with unparalleled diligence!
Yet no one gives it
a word of praise.

-Dunya Mikhail, 2004

Quote...

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us...And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

-Nelson Mandela

Waking the Dead

"We live in a far more dramatic, far more dangerous story than we ever imagined. The reason we love The Chronicles of Narnia or Star Wars or The Matrix or The Lord of the Rings is that they are telling us something about our lives that we never, ever get on the evening news. Or from most pulpits. This is our most desperate hour. Without this burning in our hearts, we lose the meaning of our days. It all withers down to fast food and bills and voice mail and who really cares anyway? Do you see what has happened? The essence of our faith has been stripped away. The very thing that was to give our lives meaning and protect us-this way of seeing- has been lost. Or stolen from us. Notice that those who have tried to wake us up to this reality were usually killed for it: the prophets, Jesus, Stephen, Paul, most of the disciples, in fact. Has it ever occurred to you that someone was trying to shut them up?
Things are not what they seem. This is a world at war."

So I'm rereading John Eldredge's "Waking the Dead." I told Angie yesterday that I purposely avoid theology and analysis of God, Christ, the Bible, Christianity etc., because I spent too much time defining myself by what I knew. I think that's why John Eldredge's work appeals to me so much; he speaks directly to my heart. He doesn't try to convince me of anything, but reminds me of what I know to be true in my heart.

"The story of your life is the story of the long and brutal assault on your heart by the one who knows what you could be and fears it."

"I quit this."

So just two weeks after starting at CallTech, I am unemployed again...

It's of my own choosing; I just couldn't work there indefinitely. Not knowing when I'm leaving made me worry about doing that job long-term.

Or maybe I'm just rationalizing. I really hated it. Maybe that's all there is to it.

In other news, the team to IQ has gone from 5 to 4 and back to 5 with prospects for more in the near future. I guess we'll see how things go.

Also, the Team from church that went to Nicaragua gets home today. I can't wait to hear how things went for them.

Hopefully someone got to touch a monkey.