“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”

- Edgar Allan Poe in "Eleonora"

Potatoes!

An old man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig his potato garden but it was very hard work as the ground was hard. His only son Fred, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament.

Dear Fred,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over I know you would dig the plot for me.
Love,
Dad

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Dad,
For heaven's sake, don't dig up that garden! That's where I buried the BODIES!
Love,
Fred

At 4am the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Dad,
Go ahead and plant the potatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love,
Fred

(From http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~zeigleem/potatoes.htm)

Viking Wisdom

The Havamal is an ancient Nordic book of wisdom often used by pagans. But, as you and I know, truth is truth. Here are three passages:

If you find a friend you fully trust
And wish for his good-will,
exchange thoughts, exchange gifts,
Go often to his house.

To a false friend the footpath winds
Though his house be on the highway.
To a sure friend there is a short cut,
Though he live a long way off.

If you know a friend you can fully trust,
Go often to his house
Grass and brambles grow quickly
Upon the untrodden track.

From http://qdb.us/118151:

I rear-ended a car this morning. So there we are alongside the road and slowly the driver gets out of the car . . . and you know how you just get sooo stressed and life seems to get funny? Well, I could NOT believe it . . .he was a DWARF! He storms over to my car, looks up at me and says, "I AM NOT HAPPY!"

So, I look down at him and say, "Well, which one are you then?"... and THAT'S when the fight started . ..

All Hail!

After a victory over the enemy, when a Roman general was enjoying the triumphal parade around the city, a slave was assigned to crouch in the warrior’s chariot. As the victor basked in the cheering of the adoring crowds, the slave would whisper: “Remember thou art mortal.”

It is easy for us to see our time as the most important era. We, naturally, see things from our perspective. But time is a river that flows. Our time on earth is important, but it is only one frame in a much bigger film.

We cannot change the past, but by faithfulness we can shape the present and the future. We cannot change the world, but we can change our little piece of it. We will not live here forever, but we can change the time we have been given.

A Fearful Excerpt

Religion attempts to take something as organic as relationship and force it into regulations and rules. It simply does not work. In A Heretics Guide to Eternity, Spencer Burke and Barry Taylor wrote:

For years, preachers have appealed to people to join the church and experience Christian salvation using this phrase, “It’s about relationship, not religion.” The only problem is that it’s seldom true. In actuality, the relationship promised by religion is usually predicated on commitment to the institution as much as it is to God. You don’t have to be in a church for long to figure out what the expectations are—whether it’s tithing, teaching Sunday school, praying, or going to confession—and what they expect you to believe becomes even more apparent.

They continue,

Rather than facilitating a dialogue between followers and God, the church has a tendency to interpret individuals’ relationships with God for them. Rather than responding to the call of God on their life directly, individuals often find themselves responding to the call of the church. What seems like obedience to the teachings of Christ is often adherence to external and dogmatic belief systems. This “false advertising” of sorts has no doubt also contributed to the interest in new spiritual paths. [i]

Relationships are as unique as the individuals involved. While there are certain foundational principles for genuine relationship – truth, grace, honesty, authenticity, patience, acceptance, etc. – there is no one pattern that will fit everyone. Religion can become a hammer that will drive any shaped peg into a square doctrinal hole.

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[i] Spencer Burke and Barry Taylor, A Heretics Guide to Eternity (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006), p. 9.

True Freedom

"Man is free for God and his brothers. He becomes aware that there is a God who loves him; that a brother is standing at his side, whom God loves as he loves himself and that there is a future with the triune God, together with His Church. He believes. He loves. He hopes. The past and the future of his whole life are merged in one in the presence of God. The whole of his past is comprised in the word forgiveness. The whole of the future is safe in keeping in the faithfulness of God. Past sin is swallowed up in the abyss of the love of God in Jesus Christ. The future will be without sin, a life which proceeds from God." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The accompanying illustration is a painting by Rick Kelley entitled "Reflections on Freedom."