"Fine, Just fine. Everything is fine!"
Not my exact words, but that is a close translation of intent. A round of golf, the latest digital camera, work, fine... just Fine.. Thanks for asking! Yet inside I am thinking... "Could we get out of here? I would love to talk with you more."
It wasn't obfuscation. My facade hid nothing dreadful or demeaning. Maybe it was laziness? Or just that the time wasn't right to let it all hang out. The shell is a bit of self enforced incubation. Timing is important. But I feel like a chick with a crack in its shell. I am driven to hatch.
I'll start with some innocuous details... *crack*
So how was my week?
MONSTERS!
Jack and I are working on a book. "Jackson's Monster Alphabet Book" is the working title. Here is a small sampling:
He is trying to get me to do the Greek alphabet instead, but I am pretty determined to stick with English. We can break into foreign markets once this one is a commercial success! :P Though, Lambda is for Luw (I AM DESTROYING!) would likely make a pretty good monster page!
HELL!
I am in bolgia nine of the eighth circle of Hell. Here sowers of discord are repeatedly sliced apart for all eternity by a demon wielding a giant sword. As much as reading this work affects my mood, what must Dante have been like when he was writing it? I recall C.S. Lewis commenting on the darkness of Spirit he persisted through when writing the Screwtape Letters. While fiendishly clever and fantastic, Screwtape was just a minor demon compared to those black wraiths that inhabit Dante's Inferno.
So how was my week? *crack* *crack*
THE GOSPEL!
You can't dwell in Hell for long before you find yourself craving merciful fare. Some thirty chapters from four Gospels full of Christ's parables, prayers, healings, pronouncements, promises, rebukes, and even a transfiguration have kept me from drowning in darkness this week. But still every time Christ talks about Hell, or the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, I find myself cringing, "That place is REAL!" Methinks we take it too lightly.
So how was my week? *crack* *crack*
PRAYER!
God gives direction, but he doesn't always tell you where to plant you foot on that next step. I am not anxious to know, as much as eager. I think it's time to widen the circle...
*crack*
*crack*
*crack*
1 comment:
Great book idea, Jack! If you get it done in the near future, we'd love to teach your "cousins" Chelsea and Colman the alphabet with it. Don't know about Greek, but if you come up with one for the Korean alphabet, we'll take that one too.
Erik, I recall C.S. Lewis talking about the Screwtape Letters. Gotta think Dante wasn't "the life of the party" while penning Inferno. Something I heard from Tim Keller fairly recently was that the horror of hell doesn't speak against the love of God, but actually affirms it. If Jesus was willing to endure it for our sake, the worse hell is, the greater his love must be.
Honestly, I try to avoid thinking about hell as much as possible. On many levels, I think this turns out not to be a good idea.
Doug
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