Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Creature

Close your eyes, now peer deep, deep into the darkness. Do you see it? For some you , you see the creature right away staring right back at you. The second you close your eyes the creature is there, waiting for you, preying on you. You turn and it pounces, and then you're gone. It devours many of you quickly, but from me, it flees. I invite you to join me on my nightly expedition I take in search of this elusive creature. I lie down and close my eyes. Black. Nothing. Emptiness... What was that? Did you see it? Oh such a quick glimpse of that escaping monster, but it was just a glimpse. Now, there is no more nothingness, there is solid ground underfoot. The hunt begins. This is no ordinary hunt, no firearms or weapons of any kind, only bait. For that bait, I offer myself. Yes I desire to draw the creature in by using myself as the lure. Oddly enough the goal of this expedition is to be eaten. However strange that may sound, it is the truth, for you see, this creature in which I hunt is called 'Sleep'. Most nights I seem to repulse the creature. I must wait until it is so hungry that is has no choice but to survive on my measly bones. Unfortunately, the creature does not like the flavor of me. Sometimes I cover myself in Ambien or Melatonin which entices this beast's hunger so that it would feast upon me quickly. The pills are like seasonings it can hardly resist. Lets start the hunt shall we? No seasonings tonight so we must be sneaky in order to capture the creature. The search always begins in the same place. It seems to be a kind of a cave with echoing walls. At all times these walls are bouncing off thoughts and ideas being dreamed up. If we are not careful we may get stuck in here for hours. Its too loud in here so the creature hides from this place. I'll teach you a secret to get out. All the really good thoughts or ideas cannot stay in the cave, they must break out to the storage area. All you have to do is wait for a good one and grab on. There's one now, grab it! The flight through the cave was not so bad, was it? Weird place we're in now though huh? All those good thoughts and ideas have to come here to be sorted. Its kind of like a filing shelf in a mail room. Rows and rows and columns and columns of cubby boxes. Each thought and idea get neatly sorted in theses cubbies for quick reference or decision making. There are different sections for different topics or things or people. The cave is quite chaotic, but here, here is organized. But still no creature to be found... Lets check up, yes up, look up. This is one of my favorite things here. Look at all the cogs, wheels, sprockets, cranks all of different sizes. Some massive, some miniscule. All intertwined and complex each affecting one another. The closest I can come to explaining this is like the inner workings of a clock, so many sprockets turning dials that all read a different aspect of time yet all speaking of the same time. One sprocket affects the year, another the month, another the day, another the hour, another the minute, another the second. All saying different things yet all saying the same thing. All these gears in here though are moving too fast, they need to be slowed down. Turn that dial over there for me would you? Its over on that control board. Thank you. Ah, now things are starting to slow down. The creature will be easier to find. I have a feeling where it might be tonight. Lets go over to the database archive. Another strange room huh? A room of just filing cabinet after filing cabinet. Open one up... Ha! That one is from my 11th birthday party. Me and three friends went ice skating. Oh look, there's Matt, there's Chad, and even Kris, I almost forgot about him! As you might have guessed these files are full of my memories. Each file contains a different memory, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Many times when I visit this room I open a random file and relive a near forgotten experience. When I'm lucky the creature will sneak up on me while I'm searching through the files. It's in here somewhere I know it... over to the left do you see it? Slowly, look slowly. Don't let it know you see it. Act normal. OK, it looks like we might have finished the hunt. Wait here while I nonchalantly stroll over there. Maybe, just maybe, It'll be hungry enough.
As I neared the creature I was swallowed in a single bite. Sweet, Blissful sleep overcame me, but it was an adventure to get there. I appreciated you accompanying me on my quest for the creature. And I do hope that you are much more appetizing to the beast than I am.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Night Time

Oh Night Time you fiendish brute. You plague me with your silence and taunt me with your darkness. You force me to look upon the emptiness that surrounds me. You cause me to simmer in my mind the thoughts of past and the ideas of could be. Why must you scream your silence in my face, Night Time? With your shouts of nothing I can focus on none else. Trying to sort through the ruminations, when will there be order? When will there be structure? Oh Night Time just go away, leave me for the morning. Allow the morning to devour me in warm light and cheerful noise, away from your incessant quietude. Be gone Night Time. Be gone.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Below Freezing

Its 29 degrees, this makes me smile. My grin from side to side, its nearly a mile. Even though snow will not come my way, the cold will comfort me here today. For some this temperature makes their teeth chatter, not me, It warms my heart as it goes pitter patter. The comfort the cold brings is hard to explain, I love it come sleet, snow, or rain. Lying in bed with big thick covers, its so cozy like newlywed lovers. Rain here tells me snow in the mountains, snow there means fun time with friends. No matter whats going on be it hardship, hurt, or trial. All I know is that the cold will always make me smile.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Joy of Friends

Friends make all the difference. The laughter they bring warms the chilly heart. The interaction they bring brightens the darkest time. Even while slowly sinking in the quicksand of finals and papers of school, Friends are the rope to keep your head above ground. The joy Friends bring can cure many an ailment. God seems to use Friends in astounding ways. He likes to bring Friends into our lives at perfect times. What makes Friendship so amazing? I'm not sure. All I know is Friends make all the difference.t

Monday, November 22, 2010

Crazy Worship

Have you ever watched people worship? They sway back and forth, lift their hands, say weird things, and sing to an invisible God. How odd a picture. Singing about blood and farm animals and eternity and devotion. Take a step back and watch the crazy people sing to this invisible God they have never seen before. Take a step back and drink in that picture. Everyone looks flat out strange. It doesn't make sense. Now take a step forward and immerse yourself in that worship. Feel the words they sing to their God. Feel their love and devotion and the crazy amounts of Faith it takes to be so careless with how they look. They do not care what people are thinking about them. They do not care that they look crazy... honestly, they should want to look crazy. Crazy is sold out for God, crazy is an uncontrollable love for the One who saves. Crazy is what worship is. It is not sane, stoic, and straight edged. That is not God. God is wild and unpredictable. How is it that we can worship a wild God without looking crazy, it just would not be right. We NEED to be crazy, we NEED to look weird, because we are not normal. We are Christians hopelessly in love and sold out in devotion for our God, for Jesus. Be crazy, be strange, be in worship of the One who deserves for you to show untamed love to Him. Be wildly and carelessly in love with Jesus.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Dead History

As I lie awake not yet asleep I feel I am in a tomb of drowsiness as I gaze upon a sea of never ending words describing the dry history that was. If only it was a tsunami of alive history that has been, one that could engulf the senses as someone reads. The words themselves could swirl around and drown the reader in a glorious rendering of the past. Why is it historians have yet to find this ability of entrapment? Oh if only people could see history through the eyes of romanticist, but one with a firm grasp on reality. The true beauty that lies within the real stories of the past could be unleashed in an awe inspiring symphony of adventure... but alas, I sit and read the dry sentences with the bland words of the dead history.