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Here’s my mom – “Grandma Pam” – with one of her Valentines on Christmas Eve.

And on a romantic note, here’s Pierce Pettis with “Song of Songs” (Note: There is some mild discussion here of the content of the book of Song of Songs, so you may not want to play it if you have young children about).

Pierce is a folk singer I discovered several years ago, and I’ve really come to enjoy his music. For more, check out his website or enjoy an entire concert online at Front Porch House Concerts. Beautiful stuff.

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Brother Maynard is part of a group of bloggers who are blogging through Advent this year, and I’ve been reading along a bit when I have time (which isn’t all that often). A recent post caught my eye – it’s a look at “O Holy Night” as an Advent carol. He writes:

The carol I’ve selected for the week is, strictly speaking, not an Advent carol, but a Christmas carol. However, this being the start of the second week of Advent, the theme is Peace, and I’ve selected a carol about peace: O Holy Night.

In the past few years, “O Holy Night” has become my all-time favorite Christmas song, and it definitely ranks as one of my favorite hymns. Regarding the last verse, part of which reads, “Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother / And in His name all oppression shall cease,” Bro. Maynard (a pseudonym, by the way) writes:

…the last verse I’ve quoted here is in no small part what makes this a radical hymn… and a call for justice. This being the peace-themed week of Advent, it seems to me there is no peace without justice. Justice was a bit of a theme for Jesus… loving our brother, breaking chains, the end of oppression. Isn’t that the thing for which we wait? Isn’t that a theme for Advent? The theme?

He goes on to quote Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes… and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.

Bro. Maynard ends with this: “This Advent, whose doors do we stand outside with the power to open?” I like this progression: From contemplation on the fact that we are helpless, powerless to open the prison door ourselves, to reflection on this – if I have been freed, what do I do now?

Good thoughts.

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Wow! Nine years ago Athena married me — isn’t she cute? The photo above is from over three and a half years ago — she may not look it, but Athena was eight months pregnant with Josiah.

In honor of my anniversary, here’s a bit of poetry for you, from a song I’ve been enjoying recently; “Mercy of the Flame,” by Mark Heard:

You can’t recall me on my own
And you are amused
But this knot is not a noose
I love her
I’d do it all again
Don’t pity me

I know what I’m doing
I don’t even feel the pain
Love ignites
And I have been so long
At the mercy of the flame

She’s a fever in my bones
I’ll never get well
You can laugh and you can tell I’m hopeless
I’ll take that chance
Don’t pity me

I know what I’m doing
I don’t even feel the pain
Love ignites
And I have been so long
At the mercy of the flame

At the mercy of a fever
I’m wax in the sun
Oh-she’s more than a flame
And I’ll gladly be burned
I’ll gladly be burned

Have my senses taken leave
I doubt if you know
You just see me growing old
But I feel it
I feel the same as always
Don’t pity me

I know what I’m doing
I don’t even feel the pain
Love ignites
And I have been so long
At the mercy of the flame

And a bit more love poetry for you, from Song of Songs (from The Message):

You’re beautiful from head to toe, my dear love,
beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless.

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.
Leave Lebanon behind, and come.
Leave your high mountain hideaway.
Abandon your wilderness seclusion,
Where you keep company with lions
and panthers guard your safety.

You’ve captured my heart, dear friend.
You looked at me, and I fell in love.
One look my way and I was hopelessly in love!

How beautiful your love, dear, dear friend —
far more pleasing than a fine, rare wine,
your fragrance more exotic than select spices.

The kisses of your lips are honey, my love,
every syllable you speak a delicacy to savor.

I’ll avoid quoting the parts that might, uh, embarrass you, and let you read the rest (of chapter four) yourself.

I’m off to take Athena out for an anniversary date — bye!

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The front page picture of a mother kissing her baby boy caught my eye; a bit fuzzy and featuring some heavy vignetting (darkened corners), it looked quite unusual for a newspaper photograph. Beautiful, for sure — but definitely not a standard news photo. Photographer Rajah Bose photographed the families using his standard digital slr, but he also used a Holga. A Holga is a cheap camera — you can pick one up for under $30. It features a plastic lens that is likely the worst manufactured in the world. Its lousy lens, because of its imperfections, can be capable of producing some gorgeous images.

Check out the slideshow that accompanies the story and enjoy a Mother’s Day treat.

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My older son has been watching Max and Ruby lately. Yesterday, he and his cousin watched an episode where Ruby (a rabbit, if you’re not familiar with the show) and her friend dress up as princesses.

Shortly after the show was over, I gave Josiah a piggyback ride down the hall, and stopped at the wedding portrait of Athena and I kissing. I pointed at the picture on the wall, “Josiah, who is that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do! Guess.”

“Mommy! Oh, it was Mommy’s turn pwetend be a pwincess!”

I told my wife the story, and she called me her prince.

I’m the pimply-faced kid in the above nine-year-old photo, by the way (though it’s hard to see the pimples, because I converted it to black and white — I did that intentionally).

Yeah, I’m in love!

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So, again… not much to say. I think I try NOT to think about things like this… I know that’s not the correct response necessarily, but it’s mine.

When these things happen, I suppose we have a choice as to how we will think about it-
Not at all- avoidance
Nihilistically- life is just a series of random tragedies anyway
Selfishly- I hope my freinds/family were okay
Sociologically- What caused this? How can we prevent it in the future?
Legally- Is now the time to talk about gun control?
Angrily- How could that man be such a complete monster? How could he lash out in this way?
Empathically- Oh how badly I feel for those who have lost someone in this senseless way
Theologically- This world is so, so broken. I long for the day when Jesus judges all the evil in the world (and in me) and puts it far, far away. I long for the Kingdom.

I find myself doing all of that in turns. But mostly, I want to do the last…
Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on us.

I agree with Bob — although I often don’t, I want to do the last.

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One of my favorite bloggers, Scot McKnight of Jesus Creed, has been doing a series lately examining one of my favorite poems — Song of Songs. His first post is here; the rest of the entries continue from April 2 on.

Another of my favorite bloggers, Steve McCoy, has been doing a series of poetry posts in honor of the month. The second poem he shared was “The Lanyard,” by Billy Collins. This is a beautiful, poignant tribute to a mother, made quite bittersweet by the fact that Steve was sharing it as he was about to visit his mom for perhaps the last time — she was dying of cancer. I checked back a few days later to read this: “It’s cold here in central Illinois, the day after my Mom’s funeral.” Steve has a small tribute to his mother here.

On a lighter note, I heard a hilarious poem on NPR earlier this week, entitled “The Revenant,” which also turns out to be by Billy Collins. I was unable to find the audio, but I googled it, and found that blogger Corky Alexander has posted it. Warning: This poem begins, “I am the dog you put to sleep…” — if you’ve recently lost a pet, this may be a bit uncomfortable.

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…would absolutely have to be VeggieTales! If you’re a parent of young kids, you probably know what I’m talking about. I got into the show back when I was in college, and now my three-year-old is almost as big a fan as me! I’ve always loved the show’s humor, and the subtle way the creators have made it entertaining for adults, without resorting to “adult” humor (like a certain movie that I’m not going to name here [which I really did enjoy] about a big green ogre voiced by Mike Myers).

Anyway, I’d known that Big Idea, the company founded by Phil “Bob the Tomato” Vischer and Mike “Larry the Cucumber” Nawrocki, had gone bankrupt some time ago, was now owned by another company, and was still making videos, but I didn’t know much more than that. I stumbled onto a blog the other day, owned by none other than Phil Vischer!

Phil has a long (11 posts!) story about the collapse of his dream, and what he’s learned through all of this. At the end of the LONG story, he writes, “A dream is a powerful thing. There is little more thrilling than seeing a dream come to life. And little more heartbreaking than watching it die.”

It saddened me to read Phil’s story; his passion and ultimately, anguish, are quite evident. His mistakes cost a lot of people their jobs, and cost him relationships with a lot of those people. Parts of the story, especially from the perspective of someone who owns a business, were excruciatingly, squirmingly, painful to read. There are lots of business mistakes to be learned from within — growing without a plan, setting goals that should not be set, spending too much money on the wrong marketing, thinking too highly of one’s business, overestimating the power of vegetables.

The things Phil learned that most affected me were much more personal. In a much shorter story at his new company’s website, he writes:

First, our relationships with God are much more important than our work for God. God doesn’t want us to be “busy,” he wants us to be available. He doesn’t want us to focus on “impact,” he wants us to focus on obedience. If we’re walking with Him, we’ll know when He has something specific for us to do. We don’t need to make stuff up. If we’re so wrapped up in the work we’re doing for God that we can’t even make eye contact with the person bagging our groceries, something in our lives is way out of whack.

Second, to be a Christian is to give Christ “lordship” of our lives. That’s what it means. He’s Lord, we’re not. And if we’ve given Christ lordship of our lives, where we are in 20 years is, frankly, none of our business. Where we are in 5 years is none of our business. What is our business, is what God has told us to do today, and whether or not we’re doing it. That’s it.

Phil’s story seems to be at a happy place at the moment; he is at work at a new creative venture, is still writing scripts for VeggieTales, and (most important to my son) is still performing Bob the Tomato’s and a whole host of other character’s voices.

Reading through parts of his tale again as I post this, I’m still struck with a profound sadness. “Phil’s ‘big idea’ died under the weight of Phil’s own ambition. Even though it was ambition to do ‘good,’ it still amounted to a failure to allow God to lead him on a daily basis. A failure to follow. To submit.”

I’m reminded of a song by Mark Heard: “And baby, don’t our dreams die hard, in the ashes of destiny…”

Humming to self: “And so what we have learned, applies to our lives today…”

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