Category: Random Thoughts

Posted on

21 Days of Posts – Day 15 – Why I Write About Impossible Decisions

Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hello to all who have decided to follow along as I post for 21 days straight as part of our church fast. As you can see, each entry is numbered as a particular day, so if you are reading this and the title above doesn’t say Day 1, then you should stop now and go read from Day 1, or take a peek at Day 2 and pick a topic you are interested in. Thanks for being brave enough to join me.

Day 15! Woot! We’re moving along in this 21 days of posts.

First, I want to thank you for reading these. It’s fun writing them and I hope they are fun to read.

Today’s post expounds on why I write about impossible decisions. This is another one of those times, dear reader, where you may say “duh!” because lots of stories, particularly ones we cherish, are all about impossible decisions. We encounter self-sacrifice, heart-rending choices, and “no way out” situations all the time in books, movies and TV shows.

We are teased by these moments, because they invariably occur at the end of a chapter, or at the end of a movie in a series, or at the end of the current episode of our favorite show. We’re then made to wait, either long enough to turn the page, or for a whole year (or two) for the next movie to come out, or just a week or so before the next episode. The whole time we are debating in our head “how would I choose?” and wondering how our hero or heroine is going to choose.

Sometimes, a third party intervenes, and the impossible situation or choice is taken out of the hands of the lead character. We’re generally let down by such deus ex machina moments, unless it’s in an action movie, because that’s pretty much their bread and butter. We expect it then. Other times, and these are the ones we actually like more (usually), there is no sudden rescue and the choice, once made, results in loss, heartbreak, or other bad things happening that have to be cleaned up later (or not).

One of the best examples of dealing with impossible decisions is found in the CW show The 100. The show is loosely based on a YA series of books by Kass Morgan. The show runs right past the books in the first season and thank goodness for that. I can’t really recommend the books unless you just want to see the differences. With that said, I can’t really recommend the show to the age group the books were targeted for. There are themes and situations in the TV episodes which take place after the events of the books that are very adult, not “young adult”, defined as 12-18 year olds in the literary category. But back to impossible choices…

The lead protagonist Clarke Griffin, is quickly thrown into a leadership position she really doesn’t want. Time after time during the first season, and even more in later seasons, she must make decisions that not only affect her and the people she considers family and friends, but the entire human race. Your head and your heart ache for her as she is repeatedly forced to make decision after decision, none of which have good choices. I highly recommend binging on the first six seasons before the seventh, and probably final, season starts in April 2020.

Enough promoting a favorite show. The point of all that was to say that it really only takes a few of these gut-wrenching decisions to make a book, a movie, or a show your favorite. We vicariously participate in the decision process, weighing the options, seeing no good one, then trying to find that slim chance to escape the choice altogether. This is why I write these into my books. I want to drag the reader along on a journey with the characters and make them feel what the character is feeling. Done right, this is some of the best entertainment available. I hope someday you all will get a chance to read about the impossible decisions my characters will face.

But that means I have to finish, really finish, a book and as I have stated before, I hope these 21 days of posts help to jumpstart me on that journey.

One last list before this post concludes. If you are looking for books or movies that involve impossible decisions, without resorting to Nicholas Sparks style fiction, I recommend the following items:

The Divergent series by Veronica Roth. You have to read all three books to get the full effect.

A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. There’s a lot of words to slog through, but the choices and decisions made by multiple characters are intimidating and difficult. I don’t recommend taking the shortcut and watching Game of Thrones as so much detail is left out there, even with all of its adult content.

Rogue One, the best of the Star Wars side story movies, is an excellent example of impossible decisions (and sacrifice).

I hope you enjoyed this post and hope that you maybe found a new favorite show or book. Come back tomorrow as I expound on my thoughts on the church as a body.

Thanks for reading to the end!

 

Photo Credit – Photo by Jens Lelie on Unsplash

Posted on

21 Days of Posts – Day 14 – Why I Listen to Marshmello

Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hello to all who have decided to follow along as I post for 21 days straight as part of our church fast. As you can see, each entry is numbered as a particular day, so if you are reading this and the title above doesn’t say Day 1, then you should stop now and go read from Day 1, or take a peek at Day 2 and pick a topic you are interested in. Thanks for being brave enough to join me.

It’s Day 14 and I’ve decided to NOT change my topic, or artist.

Before we get started, I again want to thank you for reading these posts. They are short and many times have no point whatsoever, but I enjoy writing them. I hope they get me fired up and ready to finish a book this year, and I hope you get some amount of pleasure from reading them.

Marshmello. Nope, that is not a misspelling. The EDM artist and DJ, Marshmello, who wanders around in a marshmallow-shaped mask/bucket all the time, much like Daft Punk and Deadmau5 do with their headwear, is kind of a big deal on the music scene. His real name is Christopher Comstock. Ever since 2015, when he released an original track on the music website Soundcloud, he’s been making waves, and not just musical ones, everywhere he goes.

Marshmello has collaborated with musicians across the spectrum, from pop queens like Selena Gomez, to R&B and rap artists, like Khalid and Crankdat to rock bands like A Day to Remember. His music ranges from extremely chilled to wildly chaotic, and the lyricists and lyrics range from the syrupy sweet to the downright vulgar.

Yes, there are a number of tracks of his I don’t listen to, as they glorify the same kinds of terrible ideas that some rap and rock music do – drugs, misogyny, “ghetto life”, gangs, promiscuity, and crudeness of all kinds. But the tracks that these thorny issues are absent from are almost all incredibly enjoyable.

Before I dive into recommended tracks, I feel obligated to explain exactly why I like Marshmello. That’s kind of the point of the post. I like listening to Marshmello for at least three main reasons.

First, I don’t just sing bass, I love to listen to bass, and Marshmello never disappoints when it comes to quality, deep, bass lines. Even in the songs I don’t listen to, the bass lines are awesome. Maybe I can find instrumental versions of those. (Ha ha)

Second, almost all of his work is multi-layered synths and electronic loops over which talented lyricists sing their songs. I grew up fiddling with music on early home computers and that electronic sound is a huge part of my musical psyche. I love the ragged waveforms and thick mixes that Marshmello puts together.

Third, I respect the wide collaborative arc that he has pursued. I’ve already mentioned some of the artists he has worked with and the number is growing. Being able to work with such a wide range of styles is a tribute to his skills as a music producer.

So, what’s safe to listen to from Marshmello?

I highly recommend Sad Songs, Room To Fall, and Rescue Me, all from Joytime III. There are other gems on that same album like Falling to Pieces, Run It Up and Down. The singles Alone, Happier, and Wolves are all excellent choices. That’s a good start, and further exploration I leave to you.

As I mentioned already, you have to be selective about which tracks to listen to, but the talent and the great music are worth the time to curate some lyrics. Google makes it easy to do this, and most of the time, if you know anything about the collaborating artist, you’ll have some idea what kind of lyrics will accompany the music.

So there it is, another look into my musical playlist. I hope it didn’t convince you I was crazy…

Thanks for reading to the end! Tomorrow we’ll circle back to an exposition on one of my recurring writing themes and the day after that, I’ll post about the concept of the church as a body.

 

Photo Credit – Q1q2q3qwertz  –  CC BY-SA 4.0

Posted on

21 Days of Posts – Day 13 – Chasing The Lion

Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hello to all who have decided to follow along as I post for 21 days straight as part of our church fast. As you can see, each entry is numbered as a particular day, so if you are reading this and the title above doesn’t say Day 1, then you should stop now and go read from Day 1, or take a peek at Day 2 and pick a topic you are interested in. Thanks for being brave enough to join me.

The title of this post sounds like fun..right?

There are people who do exactly that…chase lions, with nothing more than spears in their hands. We see the pictures of the Maasai hunting parties and are horrified to see them seemingly so woefully under-equipped to take on the fierce felines. The hunt is a rite of passage for the tribe and I have to assume that since the tribe still exists, they are successful more times than they are not.

But this post is not about actually hunting living, breathing lions – it is about chasing a big dream and daring to run after it, even when it scares us. It can be argued, as Mark Batterson does in his book Chase the Lion, our big dream should scare us, because we should be dreaming bigger than we could ever accomplish alone. Nothing but the power of God helping us should make our biggest dream possible. Our faith and trust in what God can do is an essential part of “chasing the lion”.

For me, “chasing the lion” this year is the somewhat less important, but still radically scary task of finishing writing a book. It’s a big goal, even with all of the nine or ten works-in-progress I have, because whichever one of those I want to finish will require completion of the first draft, then weeks of meticulous editing. Even after all that is completed, there is the task of selling it, whether I try to publish traditionally or self-publish.

I know, this sounds like a pretty selfish dream. Why chase this lion? Why not chase another, more impactful lion, one that directly helps other people and builds the kingdom of God? I have only one answer to that, and it’s not a great one. I feel that if I can complete a book, front to back, draft to final edit, blank pages to cover art and content, then I can take on something even more monumental. I feel that the lack of a completed book, with so many in progress, is a major failing, one that I must overcome.

Do I hope the book is successful? Sure. Is financial success a mandatory requirement for me to feel like I succeeded? Nope. If I can complete a project of this scope, I feel like I can do anything. It’s somewhat silly, and marginally selfish, but it is my reality for the present time.

That’s my lion.

What’s your lion? What dream do you have that is so big, so impossible to achieve, it scares you? Do you have one? It doesn’t have to be big to anyone else but you.

Don’t tell me about your lion. Just write it down (it really does make a difference to have it written down) and start running toward the dream, not away from it.

Tomorrow is Day 14 and I may be changing the topic a bit. It will still be about music, but I think the artist will change. That post is still rattling around in my big, mostly empty head, so we won’t know until tomorrow.

Thanks for reading to the end!

 

Photo Credit – Photo by Jeff Rodgers on Unsplash

Posted on

21 Days of Posts – Day 12 – Hurt

Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hello to all who have decided to follow along as I post for 21 days straight as part of our church fast. As you can see, each entry is numbered as a particular day, so if you are reading this and the title above doesn’t say Day 1, then you should stop now and go read from Day 1, or take a peek at Day 2 and pick a topic you are interested in. Thanks for being brave enough to join me.

Day 12…this one won’t be fun. The topic is hurt and nobody likes to hurt.

Let me clarify, normal people do not like to hurt, whether physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. Hurt is to be avoided. Hurt is the opposite of how we want to feel. Unfortunately, this life includes hurt, whether we want it or not. I almost wrote “includes hurt at no charge”, but that would be completely wrong.

There is a price to pay for hurt. When we are hurt, regardless of whether we stub our toe, fail a test, lose a parent, or rebel against our God, we want to remove that hurt, as quickly and as “inexpensively” as possible. We want the quick relief, the deus ex machina, the miracle, to happen as soon as possible so we can go back to living life unencumbered by pain and hurt.

It rarely works that way. Bodily harm must have time to heal and may require rehabilitation. A failed test will weigh upon us until we can redeem ourselves at the next one. Losing a loved one…well that one never really goes away, but we learn to grieve, then cope, then move forward. Good news, though…

Rebelling against God, resulting in hurt and disappointment with ourselves, is much easier to recover from. When we realize what we have done and that feeling of hurt and disappointment washes over us and we wonder how we could have ever done what we did, all we need to do is turn back to the Lord and ask forgiveness (1 John 1:9). We do need to forgive ourselves and move forward, but before we even ask God to forgive us, it has already happened (Romans 4:25).

Does this mean we are free from consequences? Probably not. If we indeed rebelled and made poor choices, then we will most likely have to live with the results of those choices. We’re forgiven if we ask, but we still suffer.

But what about those times when things happen to us, through no fault of our own, that cause us to hurt? We might ask the question “if God loves us so much, why do we experience hurt?”. If we’re suffering and hurting from something that has happened to us, maybe, just maybe, God needs us to hurt for a while. This world we live in almost guarantees us we will hurt from time to time. Jesus laid it out very simply for the disciples in John chapter 16, verse 33.

 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Why does God need us to hurt? Maybe we are putting something in front of him and not keeping him the most important thing in our life. Maybe that thing needs to be taken away, ripped from our clutching hands, whether we knew we were grasping it inappropriately or not. Maybe we need to learn something. Maybe we need deeper faith, and nothing except having something, or maybe everything, stripped away will awaken that faith.

Whatever the reason for our hurt, we can have faith that God will uphold us, will guide us, and will never forsake us.

Thanks for reading to the end! Tomorrow, the topic will be about lions. It should be fun.

 

Photo Credit – Photo by Tom Pumford on Unsplash

Posted on

21 Days of Posts – Day 11 – The Christian Life – Contentment

Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hello to all who have decided to follow along as I post for 21 days straight as part of our church fast. As you can see, each entry is numbered as a particular day, so if you are reading this and the title above doesn’t say Day 1, then you should stop now and go read from Day 1, or take a peek at Day 2 and pick a topic you are interested in. Thanks for being brave enough to join me.

Day 11 brings us back to the topic of the Christian life and specifically, the idea of contentment.

What does that word mean? It’s not happiness, because it is possible to be happy, but not content. If the thought that whatever is causing your happiness will eventually stop is always in the back of your head, then you do not have contentment, just happiness.

It’s not peace, by the world’s definition. It is possible to be content, but not be at peace, although these two fit together better than contentment and happiness. If we are truly at peace, in a Godly sense, then yes, we can probably consider ourselves content.

Paul talks a lot about contentment. Philippians 4:11 & 12 are common verses cited here for those looking to understand contentment, in the face of any circumstances.

11 – I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 – I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Paul went through a LOT. Shipwrecked, arrested, hungry, rejected, you name it, Paul experienced it, but in it all he was content, regardless of the chaos swirling around him.

In the first epistle to Timothy, we are warned against thinking that godliness is a means to financial gain (6:5). There was much controversy and many false teachers surrounding the believers. The oft misquoted verse of 6:10 follows shortly after this warning, attempting to explain why contentment in financial matters is important, whether wealthy, poor, or even enslaved.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Hebrews says this even more plainly in chapter 13, verse 5 –

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

The bottom line is this – contentment is a choice. We choose to be content, once we learn how to be. Unfortunately, it doesn’t usually come immediately as part of the “welcome to salvation” package. It must be learned and it starts with trusting that God’s plans are better than our plans (as mentioned on Day 9 of this series) and that he has us where he wants us, and how he wants us, for a reason.

Do we always see and understand His reasons? No, absolutely not, but as we learn to trust in him, we will eventually (and correctly) conclude that is doesn’t matter if we understand, just that we learn to be content and always be listening for what God wants us to do.

That’s it, short and to the point. Thanks for reading to the end!

Tomorrow’s topic is hurt – specifically why do we have to experience it, if God loves us so much?

 

Photo Credit – Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

Privacy Policy Proudly powered by WordPress