I heard the Bells on Christmas Day

This is the first of the song post. This song kills me with its gently reminder that in a dark world all is not lost. That is watching and there will come a time when all wil be made right.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

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I get caught off guard.

During the holiday season I love listening to Christmas music like everyone else. I just turn it on and sing along. As I go about my day doing what ever it is I need to do I find myself singing along in the expectation of a white Christmas and the coming of Santa. I enjoy the childhood memories of Frosty and Rudolph with his glowing nose and dentist elf friend.
But some times I hear a song and it stops me dead in my tracks. Sometimes I hear a song so deep and profound that my heart is moved toward the truths it speaks of God and Jesus. And every once and a while I'm forced to wipe a tear from my eye as the truth of the advent season pierces my heart and for a moment I truly long for the return of the Messiah in a way that is missing from any other time of year. So over the next few weeks my goal is to share some of these songs with you.

I'm so thankful

So I know that this post seems a but late being a week after thanksgiving but I was a little to busy enjoying the holiday to bother writing this. I love Thanksgiving. It might be one of the best holidays I can think of. Every year I'm around seems to bring a little more understanding of the thankfulness to me. Last year because I had the opportunity to be in a place where the idea of Thanksgiving was foreign, I had the chance to really look at it anew. How awesome is a day that is dedicated to enjoying all the good things in life? By that I mean family, food and fun. It a celebration of all the good things. I'm a firm believer in the necessity that ever culture needs a Thanksgiving. Its really hard to explain how truly great the day is when some one has no concept of it. My Czech friend Lucka has inspired me to think that we need to convert the poorly celebrated Velvet Revolution day aka Nov. 17 into just that type of day. What better way to celebrate the down fall of tyranny and oppression that by feasting and enjoying the company of those you love basically the years best party.

This year I was struck by two other thoughts that both have to do with the timing of Thanksgiving. The first is that its a Thursday, the middle of the week. it effectively renders Wednesday and Friday useless on thanksgiving week its like we end up with a five day weekend. How sweet is that in the middle of the work week in this very busy culture we have this holiday that is simple designed to step back take a breath and be thankful for life. Its the much needed time out we deserve to give ourselves. The second thought was how funny and ironic it is that Thanksgiving kicks of what is the busiest shopping time of the year. Thanksgiving a holiday the celebrates contentment a thanks for the things money can't by is followed by the supper indulgence of desire and materialism. Yeah that's you Black Friday and your 3am store openings. Its like we say I'm so thankful for everything I have my friends, my family and my life...NOW GIVE ME MORE STUFF!! (More about this to come with a Christmas themed post.) This weird ironic timing makes me laugh and cry but mainly I just eat leftovers and enjoy the coming Yuletide season. This truly is the best time of year...er well second best, I do love me some Easter.

Love, Happiness and Approval

I've had a lot of time to listen to people talk about love lately, I'm not sure why...maybe just because its on my mind more lately. Anyway I'm going to ask my readers who happen to also be parents to weigh in on this because thats where most of the thoughts come from and are directly apply back to.
As I've been thinking about love specifically unconditional love. I often have a hard time wrapping my head around this thought. Can you really love some no matter what they do, in-spite of their actions? As I would turn these thoughts over and over in my head I thought about examples of this unconditional brand of love, of course the two examples I end up looking closely at are the Love of God and Parental love. (Neither of which I can fully grasp although I'm beyond grateful to receive them both.)As I thought more about this love and about how I interacted with them I realized that my hang up was not because of Love but what I associated with it...how believed they were shown.I always associated love with two things, happiness and approval. I thought when you loved something then that thing always had to make you happy. To love something you had to approve of it.
Here are the problems with that. A) Love to be based on approval puts conditions on it. Approval is ultimate judgment when you approve than you pass a judgment that is favorable and disapproval is of course the opposite. B)What the heck is happiness. The more I look at it the more it becomes...fluff. Happiness is like the boy band crazy of the 90's attractive and powerful but ultimately...well lets just ask a where are they now question. If we allow happiness to determine love then we are left with "love" that is basically bubble gum good for a little bit but then its spit out and a new piece is inserted.
That brings us back to unconditional love. Its is something that is rooted in the giver. Something rooted in identity. I'm loved not because of my actions, thankfully, but because some one chooses to love me because of who I am to them. I seek to make happy and to find approval from those that love me. Its nice to have those things in order.

The god of Peace aka Si vis pacem, para bellum

This summer I realized something. People want peace. This summer we talked about kings and expectations. One of the questions we asked was "If your country was being invaded by another nation what action would you want your king to take?" The over whelming response was some from of "peaceful" diplomacy ie non-violence. This...just didn't sit well inside me. I mean I'm all for diplomacy and peace but I'm also for protection and being defended, not that those things are opposite but some times it sure feels that way.
There is an old adage in Latin "Si vis pacem, para bellum" which means if want peace prepare for war. In our modern world it seems like we have removed all room for action for violence. These thoughts arose out of Eastern Europe a place with a history riddled with violence and protest, the resistance under the Nazis, the velvet revolution, secret police and public beatings. A place where no one wants to stand up. But it isn't just this place. Look at the Middle East, a bomb goes of on a public bus or rockets are shot into civilian housing and a government reacts with a swift counter strike and they're the bad guys because the terrorist hide in the midst of civilians.
We made this ideal that good man can't at times be a violent man or take a violent action. A good leader can't declare war, by today's standards, but if you look at History's greatest leaders Lincoln, Churchill, Alexander, Ceaser they were great because of how they handled war. Lincoln knew that sometimes you have destroy before you can rebuild. It seems like sometimes as Christians we are ashamed or embarrassed about God and the violent actions he takes. Think about how the Bible describes Jesus and how he returns and wins the final battle.Go ahead read Revelation and tell me Jesus is some non-violent hippie.
I'm glad that we have the God of peace and not the god of Peace. A king who wars over us and protects us. A God that isn't afraid to get his hands dirty for the ones he loves. And I'm not going to apologize for him.

the sound of silence

One of the things I've noticed about life in America is that it is loud. There is always something going into the ears. Even during our "quite times" we listen to music or pray out loud lest we be distracted by the new sounds of a quite room. Being here in Czech is different people are just quite; it reminds me of the time I spent on the Reservations in South Dakota. The don't feel the need to fill the silence with useless words or questions that they, that we, don't ultimately care about.
I've had many discussions about this with Americans. Especial as it relates to discussion groups. For us Americans there is this uneasiness with silence. Sometimes I swear it causes physical pain to some people. But if we can sit in that silence I tend to find there is a beauty. the words you share seem so much more than sounds.
Last night I was sitting with my friend under the stars. We sat in silence looking at the sky, the stars, the milky way. It was beautiful and many times I felt the silence and just as many times i thought what can i say to him that he himself doesn't already see and what would I say about the stars that would them justice... so we sat there and it was...

I used to...

Some where along my life the past few years it seems I've lost all the answers. I'm sitting listening to some friends talk about all the loftier things in life. I used to think I had those things figured out. I used to think I knew what I was gonna do (change the world) and how I was gonna do it (insert well thought out plan), now I'm lost. Well lost seems harsh maybe more like waiting. Waiting and watching. Watching other blind people who have no more vision than I grope around in the dark thinking they can see.
I'm not sure whats worse the honesty of not having the answers, or the cynicism of laughing at those that don't know they are at the bottom too.