smelly things

remember those scratch-and-sniff things? of course they still exist, but i haven't smelled one in a while. now all we have are those horrid cardboard car scents: those leaves of aesthetic tragedy. the one i'm thinking of has a strawberry scent. it might have been strawberry shortcake - that little red-headed girl with strawberries painted all over her ginormous hat, a hat ten times the size of her head. this reminds me of those markers you can buy that smell, too, often like berries of some sort. i can remember the blueberry ones the best.

which scents do you remember? 

when Jodi and i (and sometimes Justin, Dan, Kaia or some other participant) would take empty milk jugs and stealthily place them on Mark Vust's doorstep (our Resident Director), i would sometimes smell the rotting milk. it didn't smell good. i'll give you that. but it was certainly a powerful scent.

smelling things reminds me of how much i love life. like when i'm in a forest and the scent of fall is in the air. there is an excitement to reality that can be forgotten amongst the drab de-odourized or fake-smellified places we live in. hardly anyone bakes bread anymore. touch, sight and sound are senses I use all the time. i'm usually expecting taste when it occurs. scent, though - it's usually so unexpected. it wakes me up to the wonder of the world around me, dragging me out of introverted thoughts and thrusting my earthly body with all its perceptions into the yet-beautiful remnant of the Garden of Eden.

squeaky

this left shoe of mine is very squeaky today.  his brother glides quietly along the polished floors, polite and well-behaved, as though lost in profound meditation in these silent monk corridors, while he obnoxiously shouts echoing obcenities at passers-bye that have the ill-fortune to be in the wake of yet another disrupting college student.

Thoughts from Kant

"In order to reach God, freedom, and immortality, speculative reason must use principles that in fact extend merely to objects of possible experience; and when these principles are nonetheless applied to something that cannot be an object of experience, they actually do always transform it into an appearance, and thus they declare all practical expansion of reason to be impossible. I therefore had to annul knowledge in order to make room for faith."  

Dogmatism in metaphysics: "Encourages them (youth) quite early and strongly to reason with ease about things of which they understand nothing and into which, moreover, neither they nor anyone else in the world will ever have any insight"

Warning: this post may change your life!

Today I received this envelope in the mail. It says on it "Opening this envelope may change your life!" My first reaction was "Yeah right. Whatever." Of course I didn't think it would for a moment. Then I realized just how wrong my perception was. Unconsciously I was thinking "I mean, it would be nice if it changed my life, but it's really not going to," instead of "If this was true, it would be the worst thing that could happen to me!" I'll let Paul elucidate: 

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:3-14).

Wow. To think that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. He had given us anything we could possibly need! Not only that, but "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Cor. 5:17). Sure, there are things in my life that I know need to be changed, but they need to be taken back to who I already am in Christ, so it's not as much a life change as it is a living up to what I have already obtained (Philippians 3:16). The media bombards us with messages telling us that we need to change, that we are insufficient and that they have what we need. For only $29.99, I can have the life I've always wanted. Consumerism thrives on discontentment. These are Satan's lies, which influence my thinking far too much. The truth is that we have been given everything of value in Christ, but even now the Father of Lights does not stop sending down every good and perfect gift from His infinite storehouse. Every day, if our eyes are open, we realize that we have been given more than we can comprehend. We are everything in Christ and have been given everything through Him, and yet still God's mercies and compassion are poured out with each new day (La 3:23). If there are any changes to be made, it will be Christ at work in me, for His love renews me day by day. In the meantime I'll praise Him for the innumerable blessings He has poured out on me.

New Every Morning Every day is a fresh beginning, Listen my soul to the glad refrain. And, spite of old sorrows And older sinning, Troubles forecasted And possible pain, Take heart with the day and begin again. -Susan Coolidge

self-destruction might be the answer

so reads the cover to fight club, the movie of a man who meets someone who he thinks is everything he wants to be only to find out that someone is his worst nightmare and that someone is himself. 

you see, on this globe there will always be a part of us which is that someone we once thought we wanted to be only to find out that he is everything we have grown to hate. that demon within started feeding with the first forbidden fruit and hasn’t stopped feasting since. he has grown oh so fat that one is scarcely able to step around him upon encountering oneself, especially in a culture worshipping self-indulgence and painless existence. the fattest demons are those who use the lie that alcohol will make them disappear. they are the ones that command constant drink or else their dictatorship is too painfully real. 

in the Christian’s life, such rulers have been cast out by the throne of grace. all-too-frequently, however, the empty hole where they used to be still resembles their form to the extent that they are able to press close to the believer and whisper their commands through the shadow where they used to reign. 

this is the old man. this is Satan’s treachery. this is true destruction. the only way to purge such evil is to self-destruct the bloated shadow of the demon once there. to, step by step and little by little, allow the burning light of Christ to incinerate all mastering passions until their ashes are blown out by the wind of new direction. 

otherwise one is left fighting between two masters. for hours on end. one moment the light will speak, declaring a new beginning, a fresh start, a burial of past regrets and planting of new seeds. the next moment the whispering demon will say he’s going to end it all. you will not see me again. this is my last day on earth. if i must go, so will he. i will cut his wrists and you see that evil prevails. 

there is pain in every chance to start again. it will seem as though a friend is betraying you. as though Christ himself had turned on the you you thought you wanted to be. in the moment, you do not realize this is the you of your nightmares. it was one of your only friends, your close companion who had called these strangers to lead away in handcuffs. you may curse him who brought you there, denying you ever knew the one you had once cared about so dearly. at the moment, with the darkness of the demon pressing close upon you, with his drunken stupor hanging over you like a cloud, you do not see that it was love that forced you to the place of healing. 

every day we make decisions. these decisions are the choice between life and death, blessings and curses. to take the narrow way and the yoke, the cross of suffering and the pain of death, or to choose the broad road, the life of ease and painless existence. with the acceptance of living death – death to self – there comes life everlasting. that is true courage: to face every day despite the pain. the way the darkness told you was courageous, the path you thought lead to life, only ends in torment. it seemed so easy, yet when you hit it you will never return. redemption seems so hard, but its yoke is light because the weight has already been carried. 

you may die, my friend. you might make that choice. you are the only one who make this choice, even though the demons whisper that they control you. you may live, though, for God has provided a way of life no matter what temptation you face. 

after you have done everything, if you stand, you will receive a crown of glory that outshines the sun. my Lord’s victory has been sealed. death’s darkness has been driven out by the light of life. your talons may snatch one or two sheep on the way down, Satan, but your fate is sealed, and one day soon you will meet the lamb you killed who rose a Lion, who will tear you limb from limb. 

I am redeemed. I will face pain, and I will have to fight through all of life, but I am redeemed. there is no power that can separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord, and one day I will stand with him in victory. on that day, death will be forgotten as the dance of life everlasting begins, and there will be no sorrow there. on that day, the murdered Son of God will crush the serpent under his feet for the all time and death will be killed by the power of the indestructible Life, a life which I will share for eternity – a life I began living the day I met my Lord and a life that I will live in full upon beholding Him face to Face.