Myst

I am standing on a beach. It is perhaps morning; the air is brisk and refreshing; the sky is grey. Behind me the beach quickly stops and is transformed into a mixed forest of deep greens and deeper shadows; before me is a silver lake enshrouded in fog. I can see perhaps ten feet in all directions because of the forest and fog.

As I wait on the shores of the silver lake, I feel an expectancy, for what, I do not know. I bounce on my toes, peering forward into the mist on the lake, waiting. Suddenly and yet slowly, the shadow of a figure appears in the fog- walking on the water. His arms are spread slightly outward. I continue to wait on the shore, staring hard, waiting eagerly for Him.

Suddenly I can bear it no more and I step gently with bare feet onto the mirror-calm waters. Treading gently and watching the figure coming clearer, I know it is Him. I look around to see the marvel of my walking and I begin to sink, but I look back and I am raised up again. I can see His face now, He is only two feet away, He is smiling. All I can do is fall in His arms and be held by Him, enveloped in the mist, standing on the water.

Of Heat and Polka

Blech. I know, I know, if it was snowing and 15 degrees (C) below 0, I'd be complaining of the cold. But still, I am sweltering hot. With the humidity in the atmosphere, the sweat does not evaporate off me, and thus blech. Also we are currently saving on utilities AND being nice to Mr. Environment Person by not using the air conditioning...I sincerely look forward to Tropical Storm Arlene heading up my way to carry the smog away. Bring on Tuesday! I never could get the hang of Mondays anyway...
*searches for transition*
Ah yes. Mondays = not very fun, usually. Polka = very very fun, always. Have any of you ever heard a good German Polka? If not, you are missing out. This is the happiest music in the world, folks, and if you don't have to smile just from listening to a tune like "Zing Ich La La", there might be something wrong. I mean, it bounces, it has the words "La la la la la la la la la la la la lala...", it has accordion...what more could you possibly want?!
Of course, I am reminded of a certain Far Side comic which depicts persons entering heaven and hell, and being given instruments: "Welcome to heaven, here's your harp." "Welcome to hell, here's your accordion." So apparently some people don't like accordions. To them I say pffft. No wait. That's not nice, or true. To them I say...it may be an acquired taste. But all this does not cancel out the fact that polka is indeed, very very fun. Feeling down? Go listen to some polka. Go now! Or finish reading my spraff. Your choice.
German (or any other language than English) polka is especially fun, because you get to make up the words. (If you don't speak German, that is.) Of course, this works with German waltzes too...but anyways, my sister and I always enjoy making up the words to said songs. Basically the technique is to listen and then figure out what they're saying sounds like in English. You get lovely lines like, "He slipped the band-aid on the eye" and "It was very disturbing until I just used the herbicide." Much, much fun on long car trips; excellent recipe for a belly laugh.
I bet it is even more fun if you don't speak english and try to do the same thing with our music...but I can't ask anyone to tell me what it's like because if you don't speak english I don't think you'll be reading this page. Hope you like the pictures and stuff though. Not that you understood anything I just wrote to you. *sigh*

Guten Tag!
(I don't know if that means goodbye as well as hello, but there you are.)

A Brief Lapse of Extreme Sobriety

[Clarification]
On Fairies and other Mythical Beings:
I do not place such things in the same category as Jesus Christ. I say this because a friend of mine (who is a Christian now) told me that, as a child, when she found out that Santa Claus and fairies "aren't real", she thought Jesus was the same thing. This is simply not the case. Jesus Christ is a factual, historical Person, whose existence and claim of Godhood is provable by logic and other evidence. (See The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis for more.) Not only that, but Jesus has changed my life and the lives of people I know for the better. And, at the risk of non-Christians thinking I am mad, I must tell you that I have heard Him speak to me. So yes, I believe in fairies, but I believe in and KNOW Jesus Christ to be real.
Other clarification: Should any of you one day happen upon a fairy, leprechaun, or alien, please test it to ensure it is really that and not an evil spirit. I truly believe (there's that word again; in this case it means I know as well as I can) that demons can take such forms in order to decieve mankind, and why not? If you would test it, I should think trying to get it to confess Jesus as Lord (without looking extremely ill) would be a good one.
Perhaps all this is more than I need say; maybe some of you think this is heresy, I honestly don't know. What I do know is that I don't want anyone to be decieved because of words I have written.
[/Clarification]
Whoo! Since this post and the last are obviously too heavy and sit in the stomach like lead, the next post shall be an attempt at some balance between ridiculous yet amusing essays regarding alarm clocks and overly serious discussion of movies. Probably something about Polka. :D

Kingdom of Heaven Review

Today's entry is a bit more substantive. I wrote this awhile back, actually the night I saw the movie.

First let me say that I have learned much from this movie- more than the fact that both Orlando Bloom and Alexander Siddig are very good actors as well as very handsome. (Though Dr. Bashir did look old in that movie.:S)

At any rate, I learned a lot about war. It is not flashing elf-blades nor arrows, nor wizards on the Mearas. It is blood of men. Men, women, children, whatever. It destroys, consumes. And yes, it can free. It can be right.

But not when we fight for religion. I am a Christian. So I shall be forever. But it is not my religion. It is my title- who I am becoming. It says I am becoming like Christ. And if I am to become like Christ it will not be by killing those who do not know Him. It also will not mean that I will give any slack to false gods. I will love those who serve them, but I will NEVER say that they are anywhere near equal to the God I serve, the God that loves me and every human being on this planet. I will teach this love, and I happen to know that Christians are to be persecuted- never the persecutors. Reviled, we bless. Let us never forget. And if we must fight physically to defend those we love, let us do it ONLY when we know our God has told us to. Because our weapons are not made by men, not carnal. They are mighty in the Spirit- the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our Testimony. We do not war against flesh and blood but against powers, against strongholds, against principalities and hosts of wickedness in heavenly high places, those that exalt themselves above God and those that inspire war in the hearts of men, to set them upon one another. For while we fight each other we forget them, and are corrupted, and all are lost.

War as an entertainment- it is not. Never. But why do we enjoy the battles in Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Narnia? Is it because they are not too graphic or bloody? No. They are graphic enough. We enjoy them for one reason- those who are evil are destroyed, good wins in the end. Why? Because this is, our hearts know, the way things are supposed to be. We don't fight against people, but against the aliens, orcs, hags, witches- the devil and his demons. This is much more true in fantasy stories than in stories of real war, where many perish so needlessly. I am certain the minute most leaders die in battle they realize it was all for naught- a bit of land, some gold- what does it mean in the end?

And Jerusalem- Jesus wept over you, fair city, so fouled, so ruined. She who kills the prophets and stones the teachers. Jesus longed to gather her in close. But she is no longer the location of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is true that the Kingdom resides not in dwellings made with human hands. It lives in us, the bearers of the Flame, of the Spirit. The temples of the Living God and His only Son, Jesus the Christ, are in the hearts of those that love Him- truly.

What would the crusades have been like if those who purported to love God truly did? They wouldn't have happened. Humble servants like the original apostles would have gone on, sharing the good news, not killing people for it. But "Christians" were ignorant. God's Word was hidden from the people. They walked in darkness, superstition, where the Light of the World could have shone! (Younger readers (ie- below 15): skip to the next paragraph.)To think of the dead being not resurrected merely because their bodies burned, or that a mother suffering from manic depression-turned-suicide should lose her head, and go to hell, and have no head there- what blasphemy is this?

Jesus said to the thief by His side, whose body was broken, and probably burned, that he would be with Him in Paradise that day. If Jerusalem was Paradise, it didn't seem like it that day. The kingdom of Heaven is not of this world. If it were, Jesus' subjects would have fought for Him the day He died. They did not. But He proved too much for the grave- which is why I am desperately homesick.

The other thing I learned is about the heart of a man. Tell a man who he is- make him a Knight- and he has a heart to fight from. This is powerful. If men truly knew who they were, that they had something, someone, to fight for, we'd have less nice guys in this world, less men who are living lives of slavery, and more Knights in shining armour of light that no darkness can ever break- better than the best mithril coat ever made in Middle Earth. Men of God, servants of the Secret Fire, shine forth, valiant ones! Become who you were born to be!