“There is not a flower that opens, not a seed that falls into the ground, and not an ear of wheat that nods on the end of its stalk in the wind that does not preach and proclaim the greatness and the mercy of God to the whole world.” – Thomas Merton

“My personal life may be crowded with small petty incidents, altogether unnoticeable and mean; but if I obey Jesus Christ in the haphazard circumstances, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God, and when I stand face to face with God I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. ” – Oswald Chambers

Monday, April 23, 2012

Briefs (and links a-plenty)

Music
  • I bought the pre-release of Andy Osenga's Leonard the Lonely Astronaut, and I love it. One of my favorite albums is the Normal's A place where you belong (largely written by Andy), and after reading Jason Gray's review of the new album, I realized that I was likely to love Leonard. I have not been disappointed.
  • One of the best parts of parenting is listening to children's music! This new release from Sandra McCracken and company is sure to be great, and the sampler available on Noisetrade makes that more than obvious.
  • I randomly remembered this song, and am once again smitten by it (despite the fact that, as one commenter on YouTube noted, Ben Folds has been married four times)
Reading and writing
  • I was up past midnight on several nights last week speeding through Andrew Peterson's North! Or be Eaten. I love the Wingfeather Saga books, and what I said about the first one pretty much holds true for the first one. On Thursday I was up 'til one o'clock because I didn't dare stop until Janner was out of the Fork! Factory!
  • TGC has an interview with Eugene Peterson, an author/theologian/pastor whose work (though I'm only partly familiar with it) I greatly respect.
  • I kinda wanna be a writer, but unlike Eugene Peterson (cf. previous bullet), I do not write a lot. My senior paper relied heavily on the research of Mark Yarhouse, and in an Edification dedicated to him, Gary Strauss says Yarhouse was challenged to "commit himself to writing at least one page a day intended for publication" (p. 25).  I, however, am like Kierkegaard who says (cf. next bullet), "I've walked myself into some of my best [blog posts]." Sometimes I imagine myself as a writer with great ideas, but mostly only when I'm walking to and from work, and out running.
Various

1 comment:

  1. I'm with you Ben...I'm more of a slash and dash kind of writer instead of the methodical organized type, too. Keep imagining though! Imagination is good for the soul.

    I just got a desk for my little den/office for my birthday, and I keep telling myself it's going to make all the difference between not writing seriously and writing seriously and regularly. Now I just have to assemble it.

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