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| I love The Chronicles of Narnia. I know they're kids books, but they're sort of the equivalent of comfort food to me. Whenever I can't sleep, I pull out my box set and read whichever one seems to strike my mood at that particular moment. I liked it a lot even before I understood the allegorical side of it (when I was little, the only parallel I saw was that Aslan was Jesus and the White Witch was the devil, but I didn't see a lot of the other stuff), but now that I'm older, as I read it, I see all these ways that C.S. Lewis is describing Christianity through different thoughts, words, and actions from each of the characters. I love love love how these books make Christianity so much clearer, so much simpler, than it's usually portrayed. One of my favorite images is in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," when Aslan breathes on the stone figures (whenever the white witch encounters a Narnian, she turns them into stone and towards the end, Aslan, Lucy, and Susan go to the White Witch's castle; this is after he's been killed and resurrected) and they come back to life. It makes me think of that song by David Crowder called "Come Awake," specifically the part where he says " Come awake, from sleep, arise. You were dead, now come to life. Wake up, wake up, open your eyes, rise from your grave, into delight. Bring us back to life." I used to not really like that song because it's slow and the melody isn't all that great, but I was driving to school one day and I was listening to it and I realized it's the shortest way a Christian can describe his or her testimony. I was dead. Jesus brought me back to life. And I love the image of Aslan, of a lion, breathing life back into cold, hardened, lifeless, beings, calling to them. It's amazing how loud and how powerful His call is, and it amazes me more that He would specifically call me. I know a lot of people say that Christianity is this sort of rip-off combination of many other, much older religions, but I just absolutely cannot see that. It's the only relationship /religion I know that requires no work at all. It's completely God-centered whereas every other religion I've encountered is man centered, focused on what we can do either to get to Heaven or to be considered "good" or to earn our standing, but Christianity says we can't do anything. We're completely powerless to change and wholly dependent on God. A lot of people also say that they could never be Christians because they don't want to use it as a crutch and I would probably say that Christianity isn't just a crutch. If we're going along with this analogy/metaphor, Christianity is a stretcher, a wheelchair, life support. There's no use pretending we're strong, able to be wholly independent. I'm weak. I know I am. I mess up all the time, but I'm so amazed and so grateful that God has called me away from that, has called me to life and every time I mess up, I'm reminded that I can never sin more than God can forgive and His love is boundless and covers me. I love that.
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| Cute: Whenever I go to my professor's office to discuss research stuff, I smile because his wall is plastered with charts of molecular data, alongside crayon scribbles from his kids (and his kids are too old now to have done those recently, so I'm sure those drawings have been there a while)
I remember too when last year I was really struggling with the concept of justification by faith alone (God only saves you based on your faith in Jesus' death and resurrection, not based on anything you do) and my friend pointed out it's sort of like when a little kid gives her dad her sucky drawings and stuff and the dad is so proud and so delighted and it sort of seems like the "good works" we do for God are like that. They're expressions of love, not duties with a wage attached. =) | | |
| oh summer. i was supposed to do research 2 hours ago, but instead i've been watching the episode of two guys, a girl, and a pizza place on youtube -__- | | |
| Did you ever read the Little House on the Prairie books when you were little? Of the three or four of you that read this, I'm guessing two of you did not and one or two of you did. Anyway, I was reading "Little Town on the Prairie" and there's a whole section that didn't even register in my mind as a little kid (which is sort of good because I was innocent but also sort of bad because it can also be thought of as ignorant). There's a point in the book where the town has these gatherings for fun and entertainment and one night, some of the men in the town put on a minstrel show. I didn't know what this was as a little kid and I actually only learned about it last year. I don't know why I was shocked because that book was written in the early 1900s, very recently after the emancipation proclamation and way before the Civil Rights movement or even the Harlem Renaissance, so (even though it doesn't excuse it at all) it was an accepted part of their culture. I'm up late (obviously) and when I stay up this late, I usually read, so that's what I was reading and I totally lost respect for her and for her dad. I used to love her dad because he was portrayed as this kind and gentle and wise man and in a lot of ways he reminded me of my dad and I also liked her mom, but I was reading it awhile ago too and her mom was racist towards native americans. I didn't really know how to feel after I reread it. I mean, it gives a pretty neat glimpse into what pioneer life was like, but it definitely doesn't condemn racism since racism wasn't condemnable in that culture/ time period. I don't know.
But...anyway I was reading that and I thought it would be neat if I wrote some stuff about my childhood so I could remember it. =) | | |
| I love how the red and black letters of my Bible call out to me and speak to my fears and questions:
Philippians 2:12-13
"12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
Jude 1: 24-25
"24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."
Philippians 1:6
" 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. "
Keep speaking, Lord. | | |
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