verbosity

Humans are verbose.

Much of life is little conversations. Conversations over coffee, over lunch, over dinner. Philosophical musing on a porch, rocking or swinging lazily. Mandatory work meeting conversation. Conversations about co-workers... with other co-workers. Chit-chat while waiting for a bus with someone. Admonishment from one's own life experience when observing another one's imminent poor decision. Sports talk. Money talk. Church talk. Family talk. Nerd speak (one of which I'm particularly fond).

Life has moments without spoken words, moments of silence. Even then, there's often a conversation going on in one's own mind: 'What am I going to wear today?' 'What do I want to eat?' 'He always looks at me the weirdest way.' 'I miss my grandpa.' Reflection is wonderful, but it's still a conversation of sorts. Blogging itself fills the world with more words.

Very little of life (it seems to me) consists in pure action. Digging a hole for a fence post, perhaps. Fixing the plumbing (though that often is accompanied by curses under one's breath). A firefighter running out of a burning house with a little girl in his arms.

I wonder what it would be like if we could infuse a little more pure silence into our routines? I'm not necessarily referring to traditional views of meditation. I guess I simply mean... listening. Stopping. Ceasing. Being still. Looking for a circumstance that requires no words. That goes deeper than words, mere constructs, 'place holders,' can properly express. Discovering something new, something indefinable, unutterable. 'The thing itself' as Bonhoeffer (or Kant) would say.

I wonder...

reflection

So I have a blog. Here it is. A 'web-log' of my life. Or such of my life that I'll share willingly. I don't write here very much, because of... life. Living life. Which, as you can see by my tone and implication, I believe to be more important than sitting, writing things one wishes to impress others with. However...

REFLECTION is good. Refection is key. To what? To understanding, to putting things together, to learning, to valuation, to determining how to spend one's time. In other words, it's key to that which I lifted up as more important: living life. And living life well.

Thus, here presented are a selection of current 'goings on' in my life, some requiring true reflection and some simply to give you the kind of further comprehension of myself that only odd detail can:

This last fall I started working full time with Young Life (through my employment with Great Commission Ministries). I believe Young Life to be one of the great ministry organizations of the world, and I would LOVE to explain how well it works alongside the local church (which I believe in with my whole heart) to anyone who doesn't feel they have a good grasp on that. I've met some amazing college students this fall with whom I look forward to growing together in Christ!

In the last month, I accidentally deleted my printer from the list on my computer and CANNOT get it working again, despite hours on the internet, downloading new drivers, troubleshooting, etc. This frustrates me to no end. But I won't give up.

I went to the PASSION 2011 conference in Atlanta recently with some students and was quite challenged by the speakers, especially John Piper. I want to live a Christ-centered life and have a gospel-centered ministry, and I was struck by the truth that we who believe the gospel and would have others believe it also have the need to preach it to ourselves. All the time.

This is my current desktop background on my Mac. It makes me feel peaceful for some reason; I imagine myself walking along that high road on a clear and quiet day, looking down at all that beauty.

I'm currently reading some selections from Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil and The Geneology of Morals because of conversations with my philosophizing friend Addison. (I just now tried to spell Nietzsche from memory and when I checked it, I had put the z in the wrong place. Darn z.) Nietzsche was correct in many ways about the state of man, the desires of man's heart, the things man wants in life, and how these patterns shift with each rise and fall of a particular society. He was just biased against the idea of any common thread, which caused him to fail to see the problem of sin, which is the cause of each culture's 'relativity of morality.' We all, like sheep, have gone astray, Friedrich; each of us has turned to his own way.

I'm also currently reading Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein. I think part of the reason for this is that, as a kid, I tested at genius levels. I guess I just kind of figure that if I can garner some sort of surface understanding of the theories of general and special relativity, then maybe there's some truth to those tests my young self scored well on. The truth is, I'm scared to find out I may not be as smart as I think I am.

I love to write songs, even more than I like playing music. However, lately I've had some conversations with friends about playing out more with them in the various wonderful little venues Morgantown has to offer, and I'm quite excited at the prospect!