Cutout

There is a very fun site called oneword.com. You have one minute to write out a bit of poetry or musings based on a single word. It is very fun. Today’s word was “cutout.”:

I cut out a cardboard cutout of my soul,

And set it up for the world to see.

But no one seemed to notice it,

because it was a fake facade.

Something immaterial cannot be seen or bought

It must be known and tried by careful loving thought.

Mystery

How incredulous I feel
When love is lost, with no pleasure of regaining it.

They say there is a fish for me
But there is little in the sea.
I prefer to search the sky
For a bird is far more comely to the eye.
And far more noble too I say!
But there is little known way
To capture a fowl as there is to catch a trout.

But a woman bears no similitude with a scaly nor feathery creature.
She is fair and beautiful and infinitely complex.

And she is not to be hunted but pursued.
This mystery is often misconstrued
To mean something too crude and desolate
To recount the plight of Montague and Capulet.
But those star-crossed lovers too were fools.
The game is played without rules.
But how can one win but avoid the pain therein?

The answer I see before me bare
Among much failure success is rare
I will avoid the women there, I see,
Until one is brought to me
And it seems too right to flee the plight again.

The Unlikely Commissioner

I don’t know if you guys have heard of this new book The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose. But it’s intensely interesting. This fellow, Kevin Roose, a student at Brown University decided to leave his world and try his hand in the world of evangelicism. He took a semester at Liberty University, The “World’s Holiest University” he says and attempts to portray evangelical Christians as they truly are, the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly. I happen to be a student at Liberty University. It is interesting to read this book because it’s like listening to a person completely different than I am coming from a separate culture tell me about my life. There is a good amount of criticism in this book. But he is fair and for the vast majority of his claims, I entirely agree. It is interesting to see the effect that my world has had on Kevin Roose as I read his memoirs. In one passage he describes the students’ openness particularly about their faith. He writes:

I’m still adjusting my mind to all the earnest God talk I’m hearing at Liberty. From time to time, it still feels like I walked onto the set of a Lifetime movie. But one thing has become clear: these Liberty student have no ulterior motive. They simply can’t contain their love for God. They’re happy to be believers, and they’re telling the world….

…It’s hard to watch Liberty students singing along to worship songs during convocation, raising their hands and smiling beatifically, and not wonder whether they’ve tapped into something that makes their lives happier, more meaningful, more consistently optimistic than mine. (Roose 64-65)

It seems that Kevin Roose’s time at Liberty has effected his spiritual state of being. And amongst all of his criticism (the vast majority of which I agree with) he has glorified God.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 ESV)

The world has seen our good works and they have glorified God. So if you are a follower of Christ, be encouraged! If not, then consider Roose’s words.

But what Kevin Roose did is fluky. The world will not come to us. We must go out into the world. They may see our lifestyle and realize it might be something worthwhile but they won’t know what it is unless someone tells them. Kevin Roose’s passage continued:

I still don’t get what that something is, or how it changes them, or how it can coexist with the sorts of socio-political beliefs that have made Jerry Falwell one of America’s most reviled public figures. It still feels like everyone on this campus is tuned in to a radio frequency I don’t get on my antenna. But with the help of my hallmates, I’m starting to piece things together. (Roose 65)

So you see, he’s seen there’s something different and he’s interested, but no one has told him what it is. There is no way anyone can come to the knowledge of Christ unless someone tells them. So What are we going to do? We will live our lives in a way that glorifies him, and others will see why it’s better. But we must also get over our fear and our apathy and tell them whether they ask or not.

¹⁴How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵And how are they to preach unless they are sent? …So faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of Christ. (Romans 10:14-15a, 17 ESV)