What is love? It is the overwhelming desire to lose oneself in another's heart. Love is the drive to become something new, to unite with another soul and become one. It is life's greatest goal, and life's greatest tragedy. It is the greatest goal, because all of humanity seek it, yet it is tragedy because so few really live and experience it.
Love is a game that is played with those who are willing, and only those who are willing ever see it to the end. Love creates a team, a union of sorts, and binds souls and hearts together. At the same time, though, love is violent. It will often tear a heart from another heart, in order to unite it with another. And, in such a season, pain is rampant. Yet, is this pain not worth enduring, so that one's heart may be united with its true and proper companion? Indeed, it is.
In the end, Love is an intangible element of life- a mystery to all. Yet, it is the most lusted after of all mysteries in this life. What man and woman has never pondered the secrets of love? I am convinced that there are none, and any who claim that they have not, I would claim that they are liars.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Serve it When the Kettle is Hot
From my earliest memories, I can recall the love my paternal grandparents shared for one another. Married early in their lives, just as many of their peers, then have lived over 50 years together, enjoyed the birth of two children, and bore the death of one of those children. Their life together has been characterized by harships. My grandmother has been handicapped for my entire life, forced to live out the better part of her life in a wheel chair. My grandfather, on the other hand, has been forced to wait on her, even as his health has worsened and worsened. Now, in their frail age, they are more dependent on one another than ever, yet I don't know if I have ever met two people that are so genuinely happy.
Recently, my grandmother turned 79, and to celebrate my family went out to dinner. After dinner, I followed them home and spent the night with them. As a child, I had done this very often, however, since I had started high school I had not spent the night with them. (In hindsight, the time I lost with them has become the biggest regret of my life thus far).
While I was with them, I saw their reliance on each other. For breakfast, my grandmother drank a full cup of coffee, half a glass of milk, and 1/4 a glass of orange juice. My grandfather, of course, served all three to her, without even thinking about it. He knew just what she wanted, and he gave it to her. No need to ask her to say "when" or anything along those lines; he simply knew.
I also learned that before she wakes in the mornings my grandfather pours her a glass of water and sits it on the kitchen table, timing it just before she wakes so that it is ice cold.
The love that my grandfather has for his wife is one of passion; the type of love that many term as "agape". This is the love that I long for, to have a wife and love her the way I have seen my grandfather love my grandmother, the way that Christ loves the Church. At this point in my life I honestly want nothing more than this love, to make it mine.
Recently, my grandmother turned 79, and to celebrate my family went out to dinner. After dinner, I followed them home and spent the night with them. As a child, I had done this very often, however, since I had started high school I had not spent the night with them. (In hindsight, the time I lost with them has become the biggest regret of my life thus far).
While I was with them, I saw their reliance on each other. For breakfast, my grandmother drank a full cup of coffee, half a glass of milk, and 1/4 a glass of orange juice. My grandfather, of course, served all three to her, without even thinking about it. He knew just what she wanted, and he gave it to her. No need to ask her to say "when" or anything along those lines; he simply knew.
I also learned that before she wakes in the mornings my grandfather pours her a glass of water and sits it on the kitchen table, timing it just before she wakes so that it is ice cold.
The love that my grandfather has for his wife is one of passion; the type of love that many term as "agape". This is the love that I long for, to have a wife and love her the way I have seen my grandfather love my grandmother, the way that Christ loves the Church. At this point in my life I honestly want nothing more than this love, to make it mine.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Can I Smack You?
Theology Online (TOL) is an interactive forum, that is the home of the Truthsmacking elite!
Sporting an edgy MAC style layout, TOL is user friendly and convenient for all ages. Divided into three subforums- politics, religion, and the rest- it allows the user to go directly into his field of interest, and start smacking.
This forum is not for the easily offended. With infamous characters such as Sozo, Knight, and many others (I would list elected4ever, but he never says anything worthwhile) one must beware what you say. Since being on TOL I have been called a liar, a heretic, a false teacher, a terd, a jerk, and many other names. I have even been told to go to hell. Ironically, though, I have grown to love and respect these people very much. I have had some of the best conversations of my life on this forum, and I am very grateful. Even if they can be a little harsh.
Over all, I give TOL a rank of 9 out of 10 stars!
Don't be shy; give TOL a try!
Link: Theology Online
Sporting an edgy MAC style layout, TOL is user friendly and convenient for all ages. Divided into three subforums- politics, religion, and the rest- it allows the user to go directly into his field of interest, and start smacking.
This forum is not for the easily offended. With infamous characters such as Sozo, Knight, and many others (I would list elected4ever, but he never says anything worthwhile) one must beware what you say. Since being on TOL I have been called a liar, a heretic, a false teacher, a terd, a jerk, and many other names. I have even been told to go to hell. Ironically, though, I have grown to love and respect these people very much. I have had some of the best conversations of my life on this forum, and I am very grateful. Even if they can be a little harsh.
Over all, I give TOL a rank of 9 out of 10 stars!
Don't be shy; give TOL a try!
Link: Theology Online
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
On Salvation Outside of Christianity
Jesus once said, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me”(John 14:6), and many evangelicals understand this to mean that no one comes to the Father, except through Christianity. However, in 1997 Billy Graham said,
“I think everybody that loves Christ, or knows Christ, whether they're conscious of it or not, they're members of the Body of Christ…They may not even know the name of Jesus but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don't have, and they turn to the only light that they have, and I think that they are saved, and that they're going to be with us in heaven”( http://www.biblebb.com/files/tonyqa/tc00-105.htm).
In accordance with this, I believe that salvation exists outside of Christianity, but not outside of Christ.
“I think everybody that loves Christ, or knows Christ, whether they're conscious of it or not, they're members of the Body of Christ…They may not even know the name of Jesus but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don't have, and they turn to the only light that they have, and I think that they are saved, and that they're going to be with us in heaven”( http://www.biblebb.com/files/tonyqa/tc00-105.htm).
In accordance with this, I believe that salvation exists outside of Christianity, but not outside of Christ.
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