The People With The Roses - Whom You Love

I thought this was a beautiful story. (It's originally an excerpt from the book "And The Angels Were Silent" by Max Lucado.)

"John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with the rose. His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind.

In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II.

During the next year and one-month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A Romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn't matter what she looked like.

When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting - 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. "You'll recognize me," she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel." So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen.

I'll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened:

'A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose.

As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. "Going my way, sailor?" she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl.

A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her.

This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful.

I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. "I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?"

The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!" '

It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive."

Houssaye wrote:
"Tell me whom you love and I will tell you who you are."

Seize The Day!
-StrongJoy

The Big Problem With “The Essay On Man”: Misinterpretation

A couple of weeks ago I got so upset at Alexander Pope’s Essay On Man that we ended up having a big fight. I filled up the margins of the book with lines from Perelandra to console myself and really got a rant out. He didn’t get to respond to me – and so that made it easier :).

Actually, that is an exaggeration - I want to be fair to this great poet, who does, I think, have great talent and probably wrote the Essay on Man out of the best intentions. However, I do think it is important that we question the “greats,” – NOT because they are great but because they are human. The authors of the “classics” are often regarded as incredibly wise and thinking people but this is not always the case, and – as long as we do it humbly – I think it’s crucial that we remember to question them. They are not any less “human” than the rest of us and just as prone to mistakes. Although, of course, this isn’t to say that I don’t think we should admire authors for the wisdom that they display in their writings, I do believe that we shouldn’t idolize them or assume that they will always be right. That said, the lines that I particularly had troubles with were these:

“All Nature is but Art unknown to thee;
All chance direction, which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil universal good;
And spite of Pride, in erring Reason’s spite
One truth is clear – whatever is, is right.”

Now, of course, one cannot take Pope seriously here. He surely cannot mean, “Whatever is, is right.” It would be unjust to accuse him of that kind of simple-mindedness – as though he didn’t know about evil = slavery, suicide, addictions, sadism, cruelty, prostitution, oppression, castes, murder, love-of-money, etc….. He knew. So what was he trying to say? This is where the heart of the problem lies, and in reading the poem, one might almost say that he actually believed it was all “destined” to be in order to fulfill a greater good.

Dorothy Sayers (in The Mind Of The Maker*see end note) says, “The fact, however, that ‘all activity is of God’ means that no creative Idea can be wholly destructive: some creation will be produced together with the destruction; and it is the work of the creative mind to see that the destruction is redeemed by it’s creative elements.” Perhaps this thought is what Pope was attempting to express up there, but I guess the root question, the part that Pope didn’t explain very well, is this, “Because the evil was turned to good, was it then, ‘prepared’ that way?” Here is what C.S. Lewis says about that, “Whatever you do, He will make good out of it. But not the good He had prepared for you if you had obeyed Him. That is lost forever. The first King and the first Mother of our world did the forbidden thing; and He brought good of it in the end. But what they did was not good; and what they lost we have not seen. And there were some to whom no good came nor ever will.”

So I guess the answer is no. It was “prepared” to be beautiful, if we had obeyed Him. There was supposed to be no brokenness. And there is. But he made good out of it, and good was “Redemption.” Obviously He knew that we were going to disobey and there was going to be a Fall. But He had something else for us, and, as Aslan says, “No one is ever told what would have happened.” Perhaps the best line I know of on this subject is from "The Last Samurai." Those of you who have seen this movie will remember the part where Captain Algren is talking with Katsumoto and attempting to persuade him not to give up and to keep fighting against the odds, even though it will almost certainly mean defeat. Katsumoto says to him, “Do you believe a man can change his destiny?” and Algren answers, “I believe a man does what he can until his destiny is revealed to him.”

Well, that’s all I have to say on this subject, although I suppose you can see that everything smart in my post was not my own idea but quoted from one of the “greats” :) Oh, and if you disagree, do offer me your alternate opinion – I realize that this is a hard subject and I am totally open to other ideas.

Seize The Day!
-StrongJoy

*By the way, this book is pretty tough for me and requires my full attention. It is also full of metaphorical language and I would suggest being really careful in quoting from it, as certain passages could easily be misunderstood without the full context. I hope I have quoted her fairly and clearly, without muddling her intended message.

Edit: When I titled the post "The Big Problem With 'The Essay On Man': Misinterpretation," I didn't nessecarily mean that Pope had misinterpreted anything. I just meant that I thought his work was easy to misinterpret.

The Personhood Amendment

Kristi Burton pledged her life to fighting abortion at thirteen. At nineteen she began the pro-life organization Colorado For Equal Rights, designed for the purpose of getting an amendment passed in Colorado that would define a human as a person "from the moment of fertilization." Now, as a twenty-one year old law student, Kristi is going to get to see the amendment on the Colorado ballot this November.

Watch this awesome little video to find out about the Personhood Amendment.

This story thrills me because I am interested in law and politics myself and I strongly believe in activism and grassroots support. It's always inspiring to read about (especially young) people who do hard things on such a high and far-reaching level.

Election day is almost here! Please pass this around, let people know about it. PRAY about it. Our country will only move if the PEOPLE move it - and that means you and I!

Seize The Day!
-StrongJoy

The First Movie

Check out the project I have been working on with Raora

With the participation of our younger brother and sister and some friends who came up for the weekend we've put out our first film production. Unfortunately the film quality is not very pristine, but our equipment is a little limited:) We're currently planning another video and working on picking up more people to cast - hey, if you want to star in your first movie, drop by and we'll cast you! :)

Seize The Day!
-StrongJoy

The Joys Of Goat-Ownership

Our farm has grown...quite significantly. To the original six cows (Which are, by the way, sticking around at last!) we have added three cats, twenty-three chickens, two dogs (the second one was dropped off at our house about three weeks ago and we have been unable to get rid of it.) and, the latest addition (as of five days ago) - sixteen goats.

A Few Of The Goats...

For the past several weeks, the goat-crazy members of our family (which would be myself and my Dad) have been doing a great amount of research and investigation on the subject of goats. We've received at least sixty e-mails on the topic and considered dozens of propositions. We've fenced in a pasture for them with electric fence (In my humble opinion, electric fence is THE solution to all fencing difficulties).

Unfortunately, the previous owners of our goats were either uninformed about caring for livestock or extremely negligent. As several of the animals were looking rather sickly, we had a big antibiotic and vaccination session. It lasted for about three hours on Saturday and was quite an experience. I was actually OK with it until around the tenth goat - she kicked me just a little too hard and flipped herself over before running off and jumping over the fence. We've also had to treat most of the herd for lice and some of them for foot rot - I must say that the veterinary work is my least favorite of the joys of goat-ownership...

Three of the goats in the herd belong to my sister and I - actually they were the three original goats. We bought them together as our first experimental investment. So far they haven't yielded us any profit - and we've spent a good deal of money on them :) - but it's been fun.

We do not have a herdsire yet. So far, the only buck in our entire herd is the little kid that my sister and I bought about two months ago. His previous owner had named him Earnhart Junior. (I had to innocently ask him who that was...) and tagged him J.R. Raora and I were not pleased with that name so his name is Jason aRgonaut. Unfortunately he is only about six months old and exceedingly spoiled. He'd follow us around like a dog if we let him.

Apart from the veterinary sessions, the process hasn't actually been that bad, but I am a little nervous about kidding season...

We are currently looking for another addition to the zoo...a donkey! Would you believe that one of the most popular guard animals for goats are donkeys?

Seize The Day!
-StrongJoy

A Day Without The Master

I just finished The Holy War a couple weeks ago. I didn't think it was Bunyan's best work. Some parts of it were allegorical to the point of being frustrating and it lacked authenticity at times but the story was thought-provoking nonetheless and it has some very good lines.

One thing I liked about the book was how well it dealt with the issue of playing with sin. In the story, when Emmanuel has the city of Mansoul under siege, the evil Giant Diabolus at first refuses to give up the city to Him. After a long period of parley, the Giant's emissary finally comes to Emmanuel with a new proposition.

"But, sir, suppose that my Lord would resign the whole town to you, only with the proviso, that he sometime when he comes into this country, may, for old acquaintance' sake, be entertained as a wayfaring man, for two days, or ten days or a month or so. May not this small matter be granted?"

Then said Emmanuel, "No. He came as a wayfaring man to David, nor did he stay long with him, and yet it had like to have cost David his soul. I will not consent that he should have any harbour more there."

I wrote this after reading those lines...

A DAY WITHOUT THE MASTER

"May I come again to see you?
Not often and I won't stay long
It'll just be for a single day-
When you get up, I'll be gone.

May I slip in after midnight,
Just to see how well you fare?
I won't attempt to wake you,
I just want to know you're there.

I will keep this poor heart quiet -
You won't even know I've come
Until day on the horizon
Lights my footprints with the sun.

Footprints gentle and unnoticed,
Barely marking your clean snow.
Oh, the Master will not mind it
Why, He'll never even know!

You are always with the Master.
Do you think I do not see?
Surely you can take one day off?
Spare one day for me?

Get behind me, Satan,
For your words are poison rain,
And not even my poor, foolish heart
Will fall for you again

You took our joy and innocence,
You chained us up in Hell,
And as if that were not enough,
You want our hearts as well.

'But we are not your slaves
And will not be your slaves' we say
Our houses will not harbor you
Not even for a day'

For a single day you spent with David
And dug his feet a hole
And David, though his heart was pure
Had like to lose his soul

And if that boy after God's own heart
Could lose sight of the heart he was after
Than which of our trembling hearts can survive
A day without the Master?"
-B.J.J. aka StrongJoy

The Pain of Desire

"All men desire happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and to others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves." -Blaise
Pascal

I think this is profoundly beautiful and John Piper must have thought so too, because he wrote a book about it. The book is Desiring God and it is beautiful too.

Piper begins his book like this,

"You might turn the world on its head by changing one word in your creed. The old tradition says, 'The chief end of man is to glorify God AND enjoy Him forever.' 'And'? Like ham and eggs? Sometimes you glorify God and sometimes you enjoy Him, Sometimes He gets glory, sometimes you get joy? 'And is a very ambiguous word! Just how do these two things relate to each other? Evidently the old theologians didn't think they were talking about two things. They said 'chief end', not 'chief ends.' Glorifying God and enjoying Him were one end in their minds, not two. How can that be?...What does God say about the chief end of man? How does God teach us to give Him glory? Does He command us to enjoy Him? If so, does this quest for joy in God relate to everything else? Yes, everything! 'Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.' The overriding concern of this book is that in all of life God be glorified the way He Himself has appointed. To that end this book aims to persuade you that 'The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever."

I think we all know about what I call "The awe and the joy." C.S. Lewis says, "There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious." We might call it "heartbreaking beauty" because it HURTS. Ultimately, we desire it above everything else.

Desire is that burning, throbbing thirst within us for the "perfect." Everything perfect HURTS. It just hurts. It's hard to explain it because it doesn't seem to make sense. Why should desirable things hurt? But this is an addictive pain, a bittersweet pain. It may hurt us, but we can't get enough of it. And I guess that's precisely why it does hurt. It hurts BECAUSE we can't get enough of it.

So, what's the answer to the problem? Why can't mankind satisfy DESIRE? John Piper says that we are looking for it in all the wrong places. We are looking for the perfect in an imperfect world. C.S. Lewis agrees. He says,

"What Satan put into the minds of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could 'be like gods'- could set up on their own as if they had created themselves - be their own masters - invent some sort of happiness for themselves, outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history - money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery - the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy...God cannot give us a happiness apart from Himself because it is not there. There is no such thing."

And so here we come to the crucial point. The only thing that can satisfy desire is GOD. "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." (-Psalm 37:4)

Sonnet II

Sonnets again. You know I've never been big on sonnets but writing them gives me a sense of achievement and I'm learning to value the rhyme scheme a little more. In fact, I actually enjoy the sound of it now. I guess most all tastes are acquired :) Some of you may remember my first sonnet, written way back when...well, I have another one. I like to think that this one is better than the first one, but you decide. I'm an amateur and so I like every poem I write better than the one before it. :)

This poem came into being through a number of experiences. It touches a little on the "free choice" issue, which has confused me a lot in the past. God has given us the freedom to choose. Why can't we choose whatever we want? If there is only one acceptable choice, why doesn't He just make us choose that? Reading Desiring God (awesome book!!) really helped me to make more sense of that subject. In the poem, I wanted to express the idea that giving up our rights (including the "authority to choose") is The Choice. Submission. And John Piper would say that in return for it, we get JOY!!! "Joy inexpressible and full of glory." Who would not sacrifice everything they have for Joy?

I must admit the thing that moved me to actually write this poem (instead of just sitting around and thinking about it) was one of the last scenes in "The Empire Strikes Back" - the scene where Luke, completely battered and conquered, throws himself over the tower rather than give in to Darth Vader. That was the only part of Star Wars that made me cry. It was too beautiful.

It's reminiscent of Matthew 10:39- "He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it." Almost suicide. Dying to live - and essentially, dying for JOY! That's what Jesus has been asking from us for roughly 2000 years. Anya posted about this not too long ago: "Giving what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose."

Another thing is that I wanted to express a little bit of anger towards The Enemy. You know, the way Luke says, "I'll never join you!" That is why the majority of the poem is addressed to The Enemy and only in the last two lines do I switch over to address God.

As always, I welcome suggestions and recommendations. All the poetry I post here is subject to ruthless editing :)

SONNET II
I know of all the things that I will lose
But I'll not serve you even for their sakes
For I have yet the power to refuse
Along with other things you cannot take.
I treasure them for they are worth the spheres
Worth more than galaxies that I could lose
But I hold still another treasure here
The crystalline authority to choose
The power to know the agony of the heights
To see the torture just as it will be
And throw my life, my treasure and my rights,
Like falling flowers into the ebbing sea.
I die, oh, God, unless I understand
My one choice is to reach out for Your hand.
- B.J.J. aka StrongJoy

Seize The Day!
-StrongJoy

Cowlessness

Yes, I'm still here and still alive. I do occasionally turn on the computer and check e-mails...and today I'm making a blog post! Woohoo! :) I do have a good reason for my long absence, though. It can be conveniently summed up in one word: cowlessness.

Cowlessness: The lack or absence of cows in the vicinity in question, and the severe mental distress following such occasions. *There is a higher known occurrence of this malady in rural areas, particularly where the fences are of a more ancient quality.
The story goes like this...a little over a week ago, we were the proud owners of three beautiful pairs of brand-new cows. They were the prettiest cows in the world, with special characteristics such as crooked horns, skittish behavior, healthy tendencies to run upon being slightly startled, etc.

Due to unfortunate problems in "ancient quality" fencing, we now own three pairs of cows, with much the same priceless characteristics but in a much different location. To speak plainly, our precious animals have vanished. Following days of fatiguing search, that involved specifically hour-long treks through chigger-infested grass, entire afternoons spent hiding by the gate to wait for the truant cattle (obviously I brought a book), evenings spent sitting in the gully stalking a family of field mice (to make up for our inability to stalk the cows) and other such thrilling and intriguing experiences, we have at last located the missing beasts.

Taming them is a gradual process of course, involving lots of molasses feed in a conspicuous yellow bucket, but we're getting there, and hoping to see them on our side of the fence again tonight.

I will try to post something more substantial as soon as possible, but wanted to let you know that this is not a deserted blog!...

Seize The Day!
-StrongJoy

It's Memorial Day - A Tribute To Our Veterans

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." -John Stuart Mill

I want to say "Thank you" to our troops. Regardless of what we think about politics or about this war, we appreciate you for doing what has to be done. You are heroes and we are blessed to have men who will defend our freedoms.

Seize The Day!
-StrongJoy

Almost Perfect...But Not Quite

I think this is one of Shel Silverstein's best works...I love the irony in the poem and the way he was able to get such a great point across to us through this simple poetry.

ALMOST PERFECT BUT NOT QUITE
"Almost perfect… but not quite."
Those were the words of Mary Hume
At her seventh birthday party,
Looking ‘round the ribboned room."
This table cloth is pink not white—
Almost perfect… but not quite."

"Almost perfect… but not quite."
Those were the words of grown-up Mary
Talking about her handsome beau,
The one she wasn’t gonna marry.
"Squeezes me a bit too tight—
Almost perfect… but not quite."

"Almost perfect… but not quite."
Those were the words of ol’ Miss Hume
Teaching in the seventh grade,
Grading papers in the gloom
Late at night up in her room.
"They never cross their t’s just right—
Almost perfect… but not quite."

Ninety-eight the day she died
Complainin’ ‘bout the spotless floor.
People shook their heads and sighed,
"Guess that she’ll like heaven more.
"Up went her soul on feathered wings,
Out the door, up out of sight.
Another voice from heaven came—
"Almost perfect… but not quite."
-Shel Silverstein

And yes, I regret to announce that I will be traveling AGAIN for the next two weeks, so I may not get around to the computer too much for a little while....


Seize The Day!
-StrongJoy

Hab Keine Angst Vor Menschen

Then I said, "Alas, Lord God! Behold I do not know how to speak because I am a youth." But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you." declares the Lord. -Jeremiah 1:6-8

One of the many repeated lines in the Bible, is "Do not be afraid," or "fear not." I didn't realize the significance of this until very recently. I guess that the reason I did finally start thinking about this was because I was reading the verse in German ("Hab keine Angst vor Menschen") and I loved the sound of it, even before I stopped to figure out exactly what it meant. The German version sounds so powerful and authoritative that it made me pause and think about the verse. In doing this, I noticed something about the line "Do not be afraid of them": it doesn't stop there. It goes on to say "for I am with you." And I realized that nearly every time in the Bible God says, "Do not be afraid," He concludes, "because I am with you."

Seize The Day!

-StrongJoy