Truth on the rocks.

People need challenges. They need others to challenge them, and they also need to challenge themselves. I believe every aspect of our person, every nook, ever cranny, needs to be stimulated, questioned, and challenged. Otherwise, that aspect will die, or even worse, run away with the reins and go wild. That's one reason why I think we find people at the bars on a Friday night chugging the alcohol, and looking for someone to go home with. Their senses and intellect and heart have not been challenged, and so what's the point. They find something else that makes them feel alive for one night, and then it's back to their realities of dullness and consistency.

We should be constantly looking for things to awaken us, to bring our senses and our minds back to life. Sometimes I think that religion helps kill this. It tells us to go to one place to find Truth and Love, and to look for it in the other people that are going to that one place. And let me say this, the Bible is the ultimate source of Truth, but Jesus is not confined in the Bible. Jesus is alive.

One aspect of myself that I find hard to keep challenged is the part of me that looks for and finds Truth and Love everywhere. I picture myself as somewhat of a wanderer that picks up Truth and Love along the way, wherever it has fallen on the ground. But not a lazy wanderer, an impassioned adventurer - looking for Truth and earnestly seeking out Love. The problem is the church is not encouraging this quest, but the world does - the artists, and the lost, and the "weirdos", are all teaching to keep an eye out for that truth and transformation (they're just not talking about real Truth all the time).

But it's there - Truth. It's there in abundance. In the holy and the secular of this world. God created it to be there. He made creation to hold Truth; He made man to hold Truth. The fall just enabled us to carry around good Truth and bad truth at the same time. And so with the fall, the earth and man in it acquired tons and tons of lies along with the Truth. But we shouldn't stop looking. To avoid the lies, we shouldn't want to miss the Truth that is to be found out there. We just need help - we need the Holy Spirit to help us discern, and we need other people who are seeking Truth in all places like we should be.

If Jesus ate with sinners, why would Truth only be found in the church? I don't think it would, and I don't think it should. Jesus told His disciples that if they stopped praising Him, the rocks would cry out in praise. Rocks. If we look, we can find Truth there, too. And God created man, and it was good. The fall brought lies and evil into the equation, but God still created man to be good. And somewhere among all the deception and lies, is Truth - the Truth that we were created to be in His image.

That's why even the bartender has Truth for his customers, and why the drunk man speaks Truth without knowing it. And why I can be at a Dave Matthews concert, surrounded by a bunch of people getting high who are just looking for the wrong truths, and see Jesus, and hear Truth in the lyrics of the music that seems as if it was composed for the purpose of sharing and revealing Truth.

It's only Truth if it aligns with the words that Jesus spoke, and the words of the Bible that He has given us. But that's not the only place to find it. If it were, then what would bring the drunks at the bar to the church in the first place? I like to believe they found some Truth at the bar and it made them thirsty for more.

So please challenge me to do this, and challenge yourselves. Don't close your eyes when you're outside because you're afraid of the lies. Seek out the Truth. Go outside and get dirty looking for it. Uncover some beautiful Truth that God has spoken into this world, whether it be through creation, or through one of His created beings.

I think we believe that the only way Truth can be drunk is straight - cold, hard, Truth. I believe there is Truth in that statement. But sometimes when we find Truth, it's not in that form. We have to whittle away the lies and the half-truths that have been built around it to get it in its purest form. That's our job, though, to whittle away, and search, and passionately seek out Truth, wherever it may be hiding.

Drink it straight when you find it that way, but don't be afraid to order Truth on the rocks. You may just have to try a little harder to taste it, but therein lies the challenge. And when we're challenged, we grow.

#5

So as a senior, I'm compiling a list of some of my favorite memories in college. I'll probably include them on here intermittently.


#5
Sophomore year, I had just moved into the Pink House with Amy Bradley (now Grimme), Amanda Scott, Amanda Gentry, and Abby Anderson (now Perry). It had been raining all day, and was continuing into the night. Abby unfortunately was sick and already in bed. The rest of us decided that some fun needed to be had :).

So we piled into a car and made our way to the Texas A&M golf course where we proceeded to run rampant in the rain, through puddles and over nicely-mowed greens. During our adventure we saw a skunk, which AScott chased all the way to a bunch of shrubs, and I belly flopped (or actually face-planted) in a sand trap (which was filled with water, so I mistakenly thought it might be a pond....). I was actually dumb enough to try that little stunt again, resulting in a second equally painful face-plant.

The night ended with us racing back to the car, the only casualty being a couple of bruises from my mishap, and about 50 ant bites on Amanda Scott's legs.

I love college :).

I don't have a title yet, but this is a poem for/about my dear friend Renee

Laughter rings out in the distance strong and true.
It continues indefinitely -
Echoing across the wind,
The music carries without fading;
It is far-reaching as it travels
And penetrates ears to infect hearts with joy.

The joy is enduring and rich.
The source is surprising - a girl
Standing tall and thin, she does not hear the melody she sings.
Her sweet smile is somewhat sad and gives meaning
To the light in her eyes that mischeviously dances
With her soft, brown curls that get caught in the wind.

The cold wind wraps her flowing dress around her small frame.
It is as if she is frozen in time -
Waiting among the silent trees, speechless,
The deepest parts of her scream for warmth,
But sound is lost along the way
And what's left of her cry surfaces in hot tears.

The tears trace the lines of her face.
They are not in vain -
Carrying the silent screams of her heart,
They are warm rivers revealing a hidden source
Of heat that she does not see or understand,
But it slowly and steadfastly thaws her Spirit.

Her Spirit is learning what her laughter has always known.
She is free -
Trusting in the life-giving source in her soul,
She is not afraid, and boldly sings
The music from her heart she hopes to someday hear,
And she clings to this hope with faith.

This faith is unseen, but all around her.
It is slowly proving its presence -
Whispering Truth in her ear,
And softening her smile with its cool touch,
Her faith is not missing - it thrives.
After all, it is the wind that carries her laughter.