Category Archives: typing out loud
Prayer as an Honest Talk with God
With all the recent events, there’s been a steady stream of tweets and posts about prayer (#prayforboston, #prayforwest). The Huffington Post had an article on Psalm 46- “Be still and know that I am God.” Stillness at this point seems like an unlikely response. Even if we affect an outward stillness, how can we still our inward being? Besides, the whole nation is in turmoil right now. To adopt a meditative repose and quietly trust in “God’s sovereignty” seems a little feigned, detached, and impersonal. God’s sovereignty shouldn’t be an excuse for inactivity or lukewarmness. In my mind, prayer, in all its intimacy, candor, and uncouthness, does more than stillness because it gets your being in motion toward God. Read the rest of this entry
Tragedy and Change
Suffering makes it clear how essentially stationary is the history of mankind. -Hans Küng
The Boston Marathon bombing is a cruel reminder that despite all progress in our society, we are getting nowhere. School shootings and public bombings are perennial occurrences now. Beyond the grief, there’s a deep rooted, numbing familiarity; a growing accustomed to. The shock of the news is, incredulously, lessened now by the just slightly perceptible recognition of a pattern. That subtle lie may even start to work on us- “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue in this way from the beginning of creation (2 Pet. 3:4).”
On Owning a Dictionary
I own a dictionary.
A real one.
To add to the mystery unfolding in your brain, I bought this dictionary that I own. I know, I know. I’ve seen the reaction before. In fact, every time I mention this little detail of my life to someone I get it. Even the bookish lady who assisted me at the sales register voiced her surprise. “Wow, a dictionary. We don’t get many people buying these anymore.”
What is it about purchasing all the words in our language that garners such wonderment?
Despite many of my friends’ enduring expositions on electronic dictionaries and their ubiquity, smallness, and freeness, I am glad that I own a physical, hardbound, full-size dictionary. Weighing in at 8.2 pounds with 2076 pages, it is rather permanent in its placement in my apartment. It makes more sense to view it as a small piece of furniture.
