"As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you."

Mere Christianity

"I met Prince some years back---I believe in Prince almost as much as Prince believes in Prince, which is saying something---and he had 'slave' written on the side of his face. I asked him why he was doing that. He said, 'I don't own my master tapes. I don't own my copyrights.' Then he said, 'You do own your master tapes. You do own your copyrights. How did you do that?' I said, 'Lower royalty rate.'

-----Bono on the diminutive artist who was formerly good, and how U2 owns all their music. Rolling Stone, November 28th, 2002

I AM AUGUSTINE

"God will not suffer man to have the knowledge of things to come; for if he had prescience of his prosperity he would be careless; and understanding of his adversity he would be senseless."

You are Augustine! You love to study tough issues and don't mind it if you lose sleep over them. Everyone loves you and wants to talk to you and hear your views, you even get things like "nice debating with you." Yep, you are super smart, even if you are still trying to figure it all out. You're also very honest, something people admire, even when you do stupid things.

What theologian are you?

A creation of Henderson

I read an interesting piece on Herbert Asbury, the author of "Gangs of New York", in the New Yorker last night. Apparently Asbury was a lapsed Methodist, with three generations of pastors in his family. His comments regarding the church are generally bitter, which probably makes them all the more important for those of us who still attend service (much like we should all read Twain's "Letters from the Earth"). Anyway, there was one section in particular that stood out to me. Asbury wrote a book called "Up from Methodism" and in it he acridly described the story of a local harlot who would take men into the cemetary to offer her wares, and then try to come to church to atone for her sins.

"She was not wanted in the house of God. I have seen her sit alone and miserably unhappy while the Preacher bellowed a sermon about forgiveness with the whole church rocking to a chorus and sobbing, moaning amens as he told the stories of various Biblical harlots, and how God had forgiven them. But for Hatrack (the harlot) there was no forgiveness. Mary Magdalene was a saint in heaven, but Hatrack remained a harlot in Farmington. Every Sunday night for years she went through the same procedure. She was hopeful always that someone would speak to her and make a place for her, that the Brothers and Sisters who talked so voluably about the grace and mercy of God would offer her some of the religion that they dripped so freely over everyone else in town. But they did not, and so she went back down the street to the Post Office, swishing her skirts and brazenly offering herself to all who desired her."

And then this morning I was reading in Matthew 23 for my devotional, and I read this:

"Woe to you hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in."

A strong reminder to us all.

"We boast our light; but if we look not wisely on the sun itself, it smites us into darkness."

-----John Milton

Every Grain Of Salad
(Bob Dylan)

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dyin' voice within me reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.

Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake,
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break.
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles and, in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear,
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer.
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.

I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name.
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light,
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space,
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand

Biloxi Blues aired on Comedy Central tonight. I hope this means that a DVD release is imminent.

Toomey: Tell me, Jerome, if a piss drunk sergeant has a loaded .45 pointed at the head of a piece of dung that the piss drunk sergeant hates and despises, how would you describe the situation?
Jerome: Delicate. Extremely delicate.
Toomey: Right. I'll be honest with you, Jerome. It was my intention of getting Epstein in here, and putting this pistol to his ear, and blowing a tunnel through his head. But you'll do just as well.
Eugene: I'm sorry to hear that.
Toomey: There's something about you New York boys that riles my ass. You don't appreciate the Army, do you?
Eugene: There are some things I like.
Toomey: Such as?
Eugene: Mail. I like getting my mail.
Toomey: You shittin' me, Jerome?
Eugene: A piece of dung would never shit a piss drunk sergeant with a loaded .45.

I've just heard about a wonderful organization. It's called "Food Finders", and it's a conduit between the restaurant/grocery business and impoverished/hungry people. What they do is solicit vendors for food that would otherwise be thrown away (perfectly good food) and then they collect it and distribute it to the needy.

If you're like me, you're probably thinking, "how much food could needlessly be thrown away in a given month?" Well, to my surprise, Food Finders alone distributes about 350,000 pounds of food per month, which equated to about 27,000 meals per day in 2001.

On the 22nd and 23rd of this month, I will participate with this organization in a food drive to collect canned goods and turkeys. I'm very excited about this opportunity and I would love to see some of my friends out there as well. If you'd like more information, please email me for dates and times. We will be in the city of Los Alamitos.

"Freely you have received. Freely Give."

Chris
cstratton1@socal.rr.com

"He had always been more sensitive than the people about him to the appeal of natural beauty. His unfinished studies had given form to this sensibility and even in his unhappiest moments field and sky spoke to him with a deep and powerful persuasion. But hitherto the emotion had remained in him as a silent ache, veiling with sadness the beauty that evoked it. He did not even know whether anyone else in the world felt as he did, or whether he was the sole victim of this mournful privilege. Then he learned that one other spirit had trembled with the same touch of wonder. . . "

-----Edith Wharton, from "Ethan Frome"

"Secret Of The Easy Yoke" by Pedro The Lion, from the album "It's Hard to Find a Friend"

"I could hear the church bells ringing
they pealed aloud your praise
the members faces were smiling
with their hands out stretched to shake
it's true they did not move me
my heart was hard and tired
their perfect fire annoyed me
I could not find you anywhere

could someone please tell me the story
of sinners ransomed from the fall
I still have never seen you
and some days I don't love you at all

the devoted were wearing bracelets
to remind them why they came
some concrete motivation
when the abstract could not do the same
but if all that's left is duty
I'm falling on my sword
at least then I would not serve
an unseen distant lord

if this is only a test
I hope that i'm passing
cause I'm losing steam
and I still want to trust you

peace be still
peace be still
peace be still. . . "

"Magazine" by Pedro The Lion, from the album "Control"

This line is metaphysical
And on the one side
And on the one side
The bad half live in wickedness
And on the other side
And on the other side
The good half live in arrogance
And there's a steep slope
With a short rope
This line is metaphysical
And there's a steady flow
Moving to and fro

Oh look you earned your wings
Are you an angel now
Or a vulture?
Constantly hovering over
Looking for a big mistake

Oh my God, what have I done?

Wouldn't you love to be
On the cover of a magazine?
Healthy skin and perfect teeth
Designed to hide what lies beneath

And I feel the darkness growing stronger
As you cram life down my throat
And how does that work out for you
In your holy quest to be above reproach?

Wouldn't you love to be
On the cover of a magazine?
Healthy skin and perfect teeth
Designed to hide what lies beneath
What lies beneath