A rambling discourse on 'Greatness'

Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved? Odysseus, from the opening monologue of the movie 'Troy'.

When I was a boy I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. There was a paragon of greatness that called out to me. The hero to beat all heroes--with nothing but a loincloth and a hunting knife. That's right, good old Tarzan. I watched him every Saturday morning, read the novels (as soon as I learned to read well enough), and begged my daddy to buy the comic books. Tarzan was greatness personified. He could wrestle crocodiles, put gorillas in the full-nelson, and fight off any jungle denizen that dared cross him. He protected those within his care and feared nothing.

Adventure films have come a long way since Johnny Weismuller swung on a vine and did the Tarzan yell. A more recent one that caught my attention was the aforementioned 'Troy'. In the movie Eric Bana plays Hector, defender and eldest Prince of the walled city. He shares the screen with Orlando Bloom, who plays his younger brother Paris, and Peter O'Toole who plays their father Priam, King of Troy. And, during the movie's most confrontational moments, Bana faces off with Brad Pitt, who plays Achilles, the legendary warrior and unstoppable killing machine.

I've read some reviews that talk about Achilles being the hero. But when I watched it, I didn't quite see it that way. Achilles was loyal to no one. He didn't even want to get involved. Hector was defending his family and his home--and even the cowardly younger brother who brought the war to them by having a fling with Helen. Hector was the real hero of the story. Achilles only becomes an interesting character, to me, when he first begins to care about someone other than himself.

Like most men, I'm still drawn to larger than life heroes that do daring deeds. Adventure is hard to come by in these modern times (one reason why I think our society is so entertainment driven). Make me forget my mundane life for a while. Give me a few hours of vicarious adventure, so that I can experience the thrill, however hollow. I say 'hollow' because we do this type of adventuring from the sofa or the theater seat. Local sporting events bring us a little closer to the action, and yet we are still sitting safely in the stands.

The book "Wild at Heart" by John Eldridge explores this phenomenon to much greater detail than I have time for here. Go read it if you haven't already. Personally I think adventure is all around us, if we only have eyes to see. If we can as God does.

God looks at things upside down. Or as I've said before, the world has everything backwards and upside down. God alone has it right. Want to be great? Serve everybody. That's what Jesus said. The first will be last and the last first. I think there are many facets to what He was saying there, one of them being that when we get to heaven we are going to be really surprised at who the truly glorious ones are.

I think of my mother's mother as I write this. My grandfather left her when my mama was very young. From that point, my Mema raised her children alone. She never remarried. She was their provider and protector, and the example of what a Christian should be. Personally I can't remember her ever saying anything bad about anyone. She lived a quiet life and when she went home, it was a quiet death--very sudden, while she was talking to her sister, like God just reached down and took her. Which is what I think happened. She epitomized greatness. Godliness and sacrifice were evident throughout her life.

And yet, as a man, I still look for a battle to fight. Something I can put my hands to and wrestle to the ground. There is a need to conquer. I think this is a God-given thing. Masculinity is bestowed so that we can protect. To defend the ones we love. To achieve goals that are bigger than ourselves. To answer a call to war from our "Great King". To advance the Kingdom. Those are the things that pull at a man's heart.

All this to say, that as I've gotten older my view of greatness has shifted a bit. Yes there are battles to fight. The battle for the hearts of my children, for one. There is a war for their souls, and it's beginning even now. The world and satan will do what they can to deceive them and snatch them away. It's my job to arm my boys with the truth. To show them how to resist. How to draw close to God and see the devil flee.

I think there are dark days ahead. I think Christian men will have their hands full of adventure, if we just open our eyes to it. There is a Kingdom to advance and a war to wage. We just have to see it for what it is and learn how to wield the Sword. The quote at the beginning of this post is a good one. And I think, thousands of years from now, we will sit with our Lord in heaven and recount our battles, tell of the victories He led us in. The Bible mentions that even now we are surrounded by a 'great cloud of witnesses'. What we do matters. Our actions can and do have eternal significance.

I pray often for my boys that God will give them a heart like His. That they will be world-changers for Him. I don't think this necessarily means that they will have ministries that impact millions of people. Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. But I do know that God has a destiny for each of them, and I want them to find it. God doesn't measure success in terms of numbers. Jesus asked his followers after the crowds left him. "Do you want to leave too?" He had twelve men that He brought in close. Three that were really close to Him. And He used these men to turn the course of history. He wasn't interested in building the next 'Mega-church'. He wanted to change lives, one at a time if He had to. And He did. He stopped to touch the untouchable, to reach out to the ostracized and hated ones.

That person that I barely notice, who brings a refill for my sweet tea, may be neck deep in a battle for their lives. I need to answer the call of my "Great King" and learn to reach out. (Daddy, help me do this!) I need to learn to wield the Sword, His word. I need to pray fierce prayers. I need to make sure that the world does not have more influence over my children than I do. I need to love my wife with passion. Live adventurously!

I think we can all have great impact. We just need to see what God is doing and get involved. Redefine greatness, and see with God's eyes.

Okay, reading back over this it is something of a rambling post, but I'll leave it as it is. Maybe there is something worth gleaning.

Motivation!

It's been a busy week around here, not much time left for blogging. I apologize to my hordes of loyal readers. I'm going to try to post some this weekend. But I need to put a disclaimer for February:

Outage is coming. What does this mean? For those of us who work at a nuclear power plant it means long work days. I'll be getting about twenty hours of overtime a week and that will be for the whole month of feb up until the tenth of march. So...if it gets really quiet around here, please don't abandon me. I will be back in full force soon.

I am bracing myself for the outage even as I type this. I am reciting those song lyrics that will get anyone motivated. You know the song I'm talking about. And if you don't, then shame on you, but I'll post the lyrics so you can become familiar with one of the most awesome pieces of music ever conceived. (Warning, this is not for the faint of heart.)

Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive
So many times, it happens too fast
You change your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

Chorus: It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all with the eye of the tiger

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds still we take to the street
For the kill with the skill to survive

chorus

Risin' up, straight to the top
Have the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive chorus
The eye of the tiger (repeats out)...

by Survivor

An unbiased critique

Here is some amazing artwork by a child prodigy that just so happens to live in my house.



My 5 year old son drew this. Pretty amazing! This is a self portrait, by the way. We had been watching The Incredibles shortly before he did this. Notice the red suit and the unmistakable 'i' in the center of his chest. He also does things like drawing the hands and feet and then drawing gloves and boots right on top of them. I'm not sure what the little character to his right is supposed to be. Have to ask him about that. I am impressed by the fact that he actually draws ears, hair, eyes with pupils and colored irises, and even nostrils in the nose.

Here's another one:



Wow! Another masterpiece. Notice the minimalist approach to the architecture. Monochrome with simple lines and soft, almost amorphous geometric shapes. And then right there, suspended on a thin web between two of the buildings...bang! A splash of trademark red and blue! It's like he instinctively knows how to strategically place and draw attention to a focal point. As with the previous drawing, he actually draws his subject (this time Peter Parker) and then layers the costume over him.

Even at such a young age, it is apparent that the boy is a budding artistic genius.

Smoke Signals - How Do We Forgive Our Fathers?

Here, I've just about figured out how to put these YouTube videos in.

Indie films

Yet one more aspect in which I am oh so cultured. (I mentioned poetry in an earlier post and was immediately persecuted by my one loyal reader.) I like a good independent film. Notice I said a 'good' one. I'll define that word someday.

There are plenty of pretentious, artsy-fartsy, films out there, and you stumble across plenty of them when you take a chance on an indie film. But every once in a while you find one that really shines. Here I'll talk about a few of these:

Smoke Signals. I liked this one so much that I bought a copy for myself. It is based upon the short story 'This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona' by Sherman Alexie, from his collection "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven".

There is a scene toward the end that is probably one of the most powerful visual expressions of forgiveness that I have ever seen on film. It is of the main character, Victor, dumping his father's ashes into a river, after travelling across the state to get them and take them to this place. It is so powerful, because all along the film we see where his father failed him and how it affected Victor. We also catch glimpses into his father's struggles and why he abandoned the son. The scene also contains a voice-over of another main character, Thomas, reciting the poem "How do we forgive our fathers" by Dick Lourie. (Wunderkraut should love that!) Go look it up on YouTube. I'd post it here, but I haven't figured out how to yet.

Another really good indie that is out now is "Once". It is more or less a musical. Irish musician Glen Hansard plays the male lead, a street musician in Dublin who is pining away for the girl who left him, while another girl enters his life and gives him the motivation he needs to get on with his life. The music is acoustic and melancholy. This is one that is out now, and should be easy to find. A good date film. Warning: the language is a bit rough in places, but not what I would call gratuitously so.

And finally: American Movie. This is so funny. It is about two lovable slackers trying their darndest to make a movie. It is probably the most hilarious documentary ever made. Mark Borchardt is so determined that you can't help but pull for him. I mean, the dude has his mama wearing a black hooded cloak out in the middle of the Wisconsin winter, enacting a scene for his film "Coven". It is at times almost a movie within a movie. If you can still find this one, snatch it up. One caveat: guys will probably dig this one, while women just won't get it.

There you go. Some good films for a cold weekend. Check 'em out.

Why I'm blogging

Wunderkraut has posted another killer ...uh... post, this time about blogging itself. (The kind of self-referentialism that I find vaguely cool.) He's been wondering where all the bloggers have gone. And says of blogger burnout:

That happened to me, but because I am a sentimental fool, I couldn’t quit blogging. So I changed my style. Now I write about my life, my job, my family, you know, boring stuff. But you know what? I don’t care. I enjoy writing. It soothes my jangled nerves. But I no longer do it in hopes of being a big name or of making a difference. Those that read me, like what I have to say, the other 280 some odd Google Image searchers per day just want my pictures.

So I asked myself, Why do I blog? Really for me it's very simple. I need some sort of creative outlet. I don't have the time for really in-depth writing right now. Or any means of painting. I could probably do some drawing, and maybe I will get back to that. But for me, right now, just the chance to sit down for a few minutes and pound out an opinion or two is a good outlet for creativity and expressing myself. Which is part of what creativity is: expression of oneself. Now let me end this post and put up at least one more with something that will almost resemble content.

I dig poetry

I like good poetry. One of my favorite poems is by a guy born right here in Georgia. His name is David Bottoms. Here is a link to "Under the Vulture Tree":

http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poems/poem.html?id=175602

Answers in Genesis

Carl Kerby

Wow! We had a great series of very informative presentations at church today. Carl Kerby from Answers in Genesis came and gave three talks. As a scientist (I have a BS in Biology with a Chemistry minor) and a former educator (I also have a BS in secondary education), I really appreciate it when believing scientists effectively show how the Bible and the evidence found in the world around us are NOT at odds with one another.

Much of what Carl covered, I had already studied, years ago. As a young believer entering college I wanted to know what I believed regarding evolution, and how to defend it--more to my own mind than to others; I was basically trying to innoculate myself from being brainwashed by the secular scientists I knew I would encounter. (There are also some wonderful Christian professors at secular colleges, I was pleased to discover.) As a result of this self-study, I was more acutely aware of the things in Biology that didn't fit the evolution model. Sometimes the professor would even point out these problematic areas. I remember the day my Biology prof admitted that we don't know (YET--he would emphasize) how proteins evolved.

See, the protein that reads the DNA is itself coded for by the DNA. So, the protein could not be there first since its code is contained in the DNA that it decodes. What? Never heard that? Yeah, they don't exactly teach you that in High School Biology, but evolution is still proposed as an all-but-completely-proven theory.

Basically, proteins would have to decode themselves before they could exist. So, without the protein there first, DNA would never be read and the protein would never be made. Likewise, the DNA couldn't have been there first since DNA is made and maintained by the proteins of the cell. Some theories about abiogenesis suggest that RNA probably evolved first and then DNA. But this does not solve the problem. RNA still has to be decoded by very specific proteins that are themselves coded for by the information contained in the RNA.

To sum all this up, both DNA and/or RNA and the fully formed decoding protein system would have to be present at the same time in order for the system as a whole to work. It's kind of a 'Chicken or Egg' question.

Here's a link to the article I cannibalized for the above explanation:

http://www.detectingdesign.com/abiogenesis.html

Anywho, I got a good refresher today. Carl didn't touch on the above example (probably didn't want to see eyes glazing over), but he did bring a lot of old ideas back to my mind. Ideas that were probably fresh to some of the others in attendance. He and I also had a brief conversation afterwards, when I mentioned the discovery of dinosaur soft tissue not long ago. (He said he did use that example in another of his talks.)

But for me the best thing about each of his presentations was that, time and again, he emphasized that we need to be grounded in God's word and realize that it is fact, not a bunch of fables. That it is supported by the evidence, not refuted. It all mainly has to do with the worldview you carry to the evidence when you begin to interpret it.

Go to their website; there is a ton of free material there. Get educated. And don't think it doesn't matter whether God simply created in six literal days or whether he set the wheels in motion and let evolution take over. It does matter. Either the Bible is true, or not. If we can't trust it to give us an accurate account in the first few pages, we will eventually reject it, compomise it, or exchange it for a doctrine that allows us to tell God what He really meant.

http://http//www.answersingenesis.org/

A day short and a dollar late

Man, I'm always the last to know about anything! Apparently Hillary died about three or four days ago. I guess that's one less Democratic candidate for the presidency.

And who knew she was also the first woman to climb Mt. Everest?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/10/edmund.hillary/index.html

Things that don't add up

Fred Rogers was quite possibly one of the coolest people who ever lived. When I was watching his show as a child, I felt like I really was in his living room and he was speaking just to me. Man what a great neighbor. One of my college buddies had an autographed photo of Fred Rogers that was personalized: To Brent, best wishes--Fred Rogers. Or something close to that. I was always jealous of that photo. I think it was actually this one, or one very similar:





The only thing that has never added up to me was this one puppet:




Lady Elaine Fairchild is scary and evil, and I don't want to go into her museum. It has to be a terrible, terrible place.


What was up with that puppet?

If I had a chisel

I love good art. (I'll define 'good art' for you someday.) If you scroll down to the bottom of this blog, you'll see one of my paintings that pays homage to Michaelangelo. It's called Redemption and depicts Christ, arms outstretched, upon a background that purposely mimics that of Michaelangelo's Creation scene from the Sistine Chapel.

Everyone knows Michaelangelo was one of the greatest artists who ever lived (or they should know it). What you may not know is that when he was 24 he completed my favorite of his sculptures, the Pieta. Five years later he finished David. I have a book of his complete works that my wife bought me a few years ago. If I had a chisel and could chisel in the morning, all day, and all over this land, there is no way I could even begin to approach his output. After all, the man lived to be 88, never married, and worked all the time.

I had a conversation about that very thing with a coworker of mine a few years ago. He is the father of four children and his response was right on target. "I've got four masterpieces I'm working on at home."

Yes! Sometimes I think we lose sight of the most important things in life. If I could paint a picture to rival the Sistine Chapel, it would still pale in glory to the masterpiece that each one of us is to God. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Here the word translated "workmanship", is the Greek word poiema, which means something which has been made, a handiwork, or something that has been written or composed--like a song or poem. (This is where our word 'poem' originates.) The word actually would better be translated "masterpiece".

And here's the incredible, unbelievable thing: God wants us to help in creating his masterpieces. I mean, the very fact that he uses my DNA in creating another human being, a human being that I get to shape and influence, is so overwhelming to me when I really sit and think about it. Why God? Don't you know how badly I could mess this up?

Yes, He does. And yet He still gives us that priviledge and responsibility. I've got a chisel. So do you. Whether you have children or not. Whether you are married or single. We shape one another all the time, by our actions and words. Pro 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

Let's go create a masterpiece with God.

Southern Hospitality

Yes it is still very much alive and well. My family took a trip this past weekend back to our old hometown. My buddy Wunderkraut and his wife had us over to their house Saturday night for a cookout. It was wunderful to see them. They invited some of our other friends over as well, and we got to catch up on things. The Wunders are great people. They have a lot going on right now, what with their trip to China just around the corner. And still they showed us the epitome of Southern Hospitality.

On Sunday we got to attend their church with them and see even more old friends. http://www.iwellspring.org/ Our former pastor and his wife were there, and afterwards a group of us went out for lunch. Just to sit and talk with folks you love, but haven't seen in a while, is a wonderful thing. It makes me think of all the reunions that are going to be going on once we all get to heaven.

Thanks Mike and Jen for making our weekend so special.

Lost in translation

No this is not about the movie, which I haven't seen.

I'm thinking of making routine posts about Bible passages that I'm currently reading/pondering. (Maybe I'll give it a really cool title like Cullen does when he blogs about the guitar. His "Because I'm all about the guitar" posts are incredible. http://halfapica.blogspot.com/)

But on to the topic at hand. Sometimes, after translating from the original language, we lose a little of the meaning. Especially in cases where there is one English word whereas the Greek has three. (Agape and Phileo are both translated Love when Peter and Jesus first talk after His ressurrection, but I'll save that example for later.)

What I've been pondering lately are the stand alone italicized words that you find in the Bible. In the KJV, words in italics indicate the use of additional English words where expressions in the original language require clarification. At least that what it says in the preface of my pocket Bible. And I think sometimes it's not what is left out that takes away meaning, but rather what is put in.

Case in point. In the gospel of John, Chapter 10 verse 30. Jesus is talking to a group of Jews in the temple. This is during the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. He has been surrounded and is confronted with the challenge: "If thou be the Christ tell us plainly."

Jesus answers them by talking about the works He did that bore witness to him. He talks about His sheep knowing his voice, eternal life, no one being able to snatch us out of His hand. Then He gets right to the point:

My KJV has his response in vs 30 as: "I and my Father are one." Keep in mind, the word my is added for clarity.

The NIV says "I and the Father are one." Again, clarity?

What's so misleading about this? Let's read it and leave out the added words.

"I and Father are one."

A bit more intimate, if you ask me. Let's get rid of 'the' when we talk about Father. Better yet, let's use our good old southern vernacular and just call Him "Daddy". After all, this is what Paul tells us to do in Romans 8:15

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba (Aramaic for Daddy), Father." NIV, parentheses mine.

Wow! With all this in mind, I think this is closer to how it went down:

"Are you the messiah or not?"
"...Me and Daddy are one."

Think about it.

My pledge to you

It has been pointed out to me by a source that will remain unknown, for now, that I made something of an error in my previous post. Specifically that I might be off just a bit with my estimate of how many people are actually reading this blog.

How far off you ask? I had the same question.

By a factor of thousands I was told.

Wow, that far off!

So my pledge now to my MILLIONS of readers is that I promise, even with such great numbers of rabid fans, that I will not let this site degenerate into some ad-laden, shameless self-promoting debacle of a site. I pledge to keep blogging only about the things that really matter. The things that are really key in life.

Like I am doing right now.

So, thank you, my millions of fans. Now if each of you will send me just a few dollars. Just one or two from each of you. Then I can go ahead and buy my own domain name and make a site that is worthy of such a populous readership. I will soon post a Paypal account button to let the money come rolling in.

As soon as I figure out how.

Blogging for dummies

Blogging for Dummies...should have read it. Thank you Wunderkraut for pointing out to me what I realized a few days ago and then promptly forgot. I have now enabled comments so that anyone can respond to my posts.

Sorry to my thousands of fans. Feel free to let loose with a flurry of comments.

Stating the obvious

Low tonight is:

24°F Feels Like 19°F

And that is for 6 am in the morning, about the time I will be leaving for work. Where is all this global warming when you need it? Come on Al Gore, didn't you just get a Nobel Prize for inventing Global Warming? Send just a little of that heat this way, whydoncha?