A Poem

Let me preface the process of this, and why I chose such a traditional or 'rigid' form of poetry. First, I prefer to explain this in terms of painting. If you are starting off, no one teaches you how to paint Picasso or Dali first off. We start with traditional realist methods to portray reality to encourage creativity in looking at objects and people so that the artistic process can go forward with skill instead of just some mad conception of what they want to portray. Otherwise you end up with crap like this:

Without craft and skill, then your poetry can suffer. And so, I wrote this poem in the most traditional of forms: a sonnet. Now, typically, there are only two versions of a sonnet, English and Italian. They both have 14 lines, and their differences lie in the rhyme scheme and stanza breaks.

Here is an example of an English Sonnet: {A,B,C,D, E, F, G added}

Shakespeare's Sonnet 34

A Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day, B    And make me travel forth without my cloak, A    To let base clouds o'ertake me in my way, B    Hiding thy brav'ry in their rotten smoke? C   'Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break, D   To dry the rain on my storm-beaten face, C   For no man well of such a salve can speak, D   That heals the wound, and cures not the disgrace: E   Nor can thy shame give physic to my grief, F   Though thou repent, yet I have still the loss, E   Th' offender's sorrow lends but weak relief F   To him that bears the strong offence's cross. G   Ah but those tears are pearl which thy love sheds, G   And they are rich, and ransom all ill deeds.

There are four implied stanzas, ABAB, CDCD, EFEF and GG. The A lines rhyme with A lines, the B's with B lines and so on. Each line is also in iambic pentameter, which means there are five feet of Iambs. These are a bit confusing to the layman. An Iamb is a metrical foot consisting of an unstressed then a stressed syllable.

An example of a single word iamb is outdoors. outDOORs. The 'door' section has the emphasis.

So one of the lines would be read, with emphasis on the italicized, 'and they are rich and ransom all ill deeds.'

I decided to follow this form, I don't feel like delving into the Italian sonnet. To sum up, it is also an iambic pentameter meter with rhyme scheme [ABBAABBA][CDCCDC] The final parenthetical can often vary.

So my sonnet is more similar to the English form, with one difference: It is iambic tetrameter, meaning there are four feet of iambs instead of five. The rhyme scheme is also ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG instead of the other way. I liked it because it moved it faster, but after thinking about it and the subject, it may have been wiser to use the pentameter for its dwelling power. My mind works better in tetrameter, though.

Now, I'm using this traditional form as a stepping stone to a free verse version of a poem to conceive my thoughts on the event, which was in Damascus, VA at a party. The woods erupted with literally thousands of fireflies, and it just was something I never think I'll see again (which is an element I want to add)

But anyway, here is the first draft of this iambic tetrameter English sonnet that I call "Herald's Sparks."

While walking down the grav'ly road
with friends beside and night so close
the party lights behind us glowed
and waxing night arose.

The three of us we gently wait
in grass so cool and softly rolled
down to the forest's pillared gates
where twinkling stars above patrolled.

And waxing eyes begin to see
the twinkling stars below the skies
emerging from the blackened trees
a host so bright - a thousand flies

Parading as some distant king
girdled with light will morning bring.

Please leave comments!

The Most Incredible Trip Ever Part V: "Pale Blue Dot"

So, I lieu of the fact that it has taken me absolutely forever to finish these posts about Brandon Kelly, Josh Henderson and I's trip to Boston in May of 2010, I have compiled a list of the links below for you to refresh your story experience as you read this new, and hopefully final installment in this epic saga. 

PartI:
http://thecoldword.blogspot.com/2011/04/most-incredible-trip-ever-part-1-smoke.html

PartII:
http://thecoldword.blogspot.com/2011/05/most-incredible-trip-ever-part-2-then-i.html

PartIII
http://thecoldword.blogspot.com/2011/05/most-incredible-trip-ever-part-3.html

PartIV
http://thecoldword.blogspot.com/2011/06/most-incredible-trip-ever-part-iv-stay.html

So, we begin at the close of the final show of The Receiving End of Sirens. Josh was dripping in sweat, Brandon seemed okay and I was almost at dehydration. Utter and complete exhaustion was beginning to set in as we pushed our way to the front for this picture:

The security guards were having a hissy fit to leave, but we still rebelliously took this.

Anyway, we began to funnel out and saw Michael yelling about All the Day Holiday to sell some merch and stuff, so we asked him if they were staying with us tonight. Nathan was beside him, and they both seemed excited to stay in our room. As we passed them, we saw Mark, whose nose was still running like some toddler and he asked, "Yo, we getting crazy tonight!?" Oh silly Mark.

So we told them to call us and I could give them a parking pass for the hotel lot and escort them to the room. Once we got back, we took a quick set of showers so they could have them for the morning. We lounged around the room for a while until Daniel called. We met them in the lobby, looking like a crazy rag-tag group of punk kids in this super nice (3-4 stars maybe?) hotel. I handed Daniel the parking pass, and helped carry stuff to the room. Josh, earlier wanted dinner, and like a good gluten intolerant person, wanted pizza. So just before they came we got 8 large pizzas for 40 dollars delivered to the room.

1 large pizza for every man.

They were delivered to the room as soon as they got there, and believe me, that room was packed. But we just all laid around wherever, on tables, chairs, the floor, the bed... maybe the bathtub. They brought up a few brewskies and we just generally had a good time joking, talking and enjoying one anothers' company.

So the pizzas... we literally had 1.5 pizzas by the time we finished. I know I ate half of one, considering I hadn't eaten since 10:30, but Josh, who, remember is allergic to wheat, so that's bread, at an entire large pizza. 

Inconceivable!

But everyone had a slice for breakfast in the morning.  As the night drew on, people got a bit silly. Josh and David both decided it'd be a great idea to prank call the other rooms. This was horrifying to me at first, but now, knowing we'd get away with it, it's rather hilarious.

Josh would call this random room and just ask, "Hello, is Batman there?" To which people would ask either, "Who is that" or "No, I don't think so." We had caught these people right in REM sleep and were totally taking advantage of their grogginess. But the shenanigans stopped, and we got ready for bed.

All the Day Holiday gave us the beds, which was very gracious of them. And they slept on the floor. However, there was one space in the bed open, and Mark managed to get it with Brandon. Since the two of them were both having major allergy problems, it figured they should sleep together. As they got under the covers and the lights went off, I heard Mark turn over to Brandon and said, "Hey, I've got to sleep naked....It's my allergies."

Which, just thinking about it makes me laugh, if you knew Mark it would be 1,003 times more funny, but I'm really writing this for myself, Brandon and Josh.

So we finally went to sleep...


Then we woke up!
The guys got ready, we packed up, I got some of their Merch and packed it up in my bag. We said our goodbyes, I checked out. We got this awesome picture and prayed over one another before they drove off. They offered us a ride to the Greyhound station, but it was such a beautiful day, we figured it's be a nice mile walk.

So we began our trek to the Greyhound through the beautiful Worcester, MA. This was seriously one of the nicest towns I have ever been to in my life. Clean, elegant, well laid out and very very pretty. As we walked Brandon told us about this church service he went to that morning at a Methodist church we could see from our window. He said it was pretty, but didn't really have much of a spirit to it, which made us all a bit sad.

Anyway, I'll show you some pictures:

It took like 100 tries to get this!

As you can see, it's just nice and eclectic

Clearly not a bus

Their beautiful transportation center was being renovated

Anyway, we got our Greyhound tickets to Boston for about $15 and got into downtown within an hour. It was a sleepy ride. I read most of the time and by this time I was over halfway through with Camus's The Plague.

So we wandered around, and decided to go to Chinatown where it was Buddha's birthday celebration going on! Weeee! Well we saw they were giving away some free stuff if you poured water on some crappy porcelain statue, so we did it and got these little hanging things with some Chinese lettering on the back held up by a very pretty knot. I got the crappy one, which made me angry!!!

If you could zoom in, you'd see a sun disk (a reverse Swastika) on Buddha's chest

Anyway, lucky us, we got escorted to talk with this big name Buddhist Priestess about Buddhism. Lucky us. She was bald and had on an orange robe and spoke very good English with only a very slight accent and was very polite to us.

So she asked us about ourselves, and Brandon did most of the talking.

She asked our names and we went around: Brandon, Josh ... Cameron. She had a tough time with my name.


"Cameron? That's a very unusual name!"

A little later she found out we were Christian and tried to show us the similarities.

"Now you believe that if you do good, then that will get you to heaven right?" she asked.

"Well, that's not what we believe. We believe you can't do enough good to ever get to heaven. That's why we need Jesus," retorted Brandon wisely.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, "you are reformed!"

First of all, I was amazed that a Buddhist new that term, when 9 out of 10 American Christians have no real clue about reformed theology.

So in spite of the fact that she knew the differences, she went on with her self-help drivel, full of pithy statements and the importance of cleaning one-self up. She would talk about how people would seek advice from her, and this is straight from her lips, "I cannot help you, until you help yourself."

It made me sad to think about all the people who seek salvation from their own broken-ness but don't know about Jesus and his work to save us from ourselves. That's why I love Jesus, he's not an ambulance driver or some motivational speaker, but a heart-changer.

So we wrapped up conversation there, being happy about Jesus.

We walked away downtown in Boston, and Brandon and Josh were making fun of how she didn't know my name, and I went, "I should have said, 'Yeah, well Buddha's a dumb name." I haven't heard Josh laugh that much in my life. He literally squatted on the ground and laughed into the ground like he was vomiting happiness. Luckily, it was a holiday Sunday and almost the whole city was empty.

Perfect Band Picture

Anyway, we walked around for a while taking in the sights and such. We went to the site of the Boston Massacre and other nice places around Boston whose names I cannot remember. It seriously is the most beautiful city I have ever been to. It is the only city I would ever move to in the North. We went around to the Holocaust Memorial in Boston. It was very sad, but hopeful and every bit of its architecture taught a lesson and told, unabashedly about the horrors committed. It was a place of deep sadness and memory that just came down hard on all of us.

A plaque in the memorial.

We moved on to the Old North Church where Paul Revere did his thing with the lanterns alerting the Colonials about the approach of the regulars. Then we went on up the hill to Copp's Burial Ground which has graves that are hundred of years old. It is a very well kept place and is just astonishingly beautiful and peaceful.

Next we went to some dessert shop Josh recommended to us for a snack. That place was incredible!!!! I got some slice of chocolate cake, and I hate cake, but this was brilliant!

Just a smidgen of Boston Commons

So then we moved on to somewhere else, I believe it was Boston Commons, which is this incredible park right in the middle of downtown Boston. That place is beautiful. This park puts Central to shame. It is pristine! There is literally nothing out of place, all the gardens are well maintained and all the fountains were completely clean. There was a wedding shoot going on there, and it was incredibly touching how beautiful it was. We walked through there into some rich neighborhood and stopped in front of some nice clothing store for a while. And by a while, I believe it was about an hour. Our feet were killing us, we had to have walked around Boston for 5 hours taking in all the sights, and were planning on walking to Fenway soon, so we decided to rest. And, wow did we look like homeless dudes. Dirty, stinky, poorly dressed with backpacks.

They had many pretty sewing machines, though!

We sat outside and just waited for someone to tell us to leave, but no one did. As everyone walked by we just said thinks like - "Asians are number 1" "Dresses are number 1" "Being fat is number 1" "Being skinny is number 1" "Being white is number 1" "Being snooty is number 1" "Heels are number 1"

This spawned a huge amount of jokes about everyone who walked by and is forever immortalized by the three of us for just about everything.

So we walked on to Fenway, and then met some homeless guy and got dinner with him at McDonalds. I don't remember his name, but I hope he remembers us. We told him about Jesus and why we fed him. He seemed to ignore us, but I'd like to think that it meant something to him.

We got to Fenway, and there was a game about to go down. It was absolutely packed, and it smelled like beer and hot dogs like all baseball games should.  Then we caught a bus to downtown, then to the airport where we hoped to get inside the gate. Which didn't happen. By this time, my feet began to hurt very badly. I was suffering from tendonitis at the time, but didn't know it. It didn't hit me until I had sat for a while outside the gate.

So we did our usual shenanigans. Made collect calls to people under names like "Batman" and "Bilbo Baggins" [what's with all the B's?] and no one answered but instead said "This isn't real!" It was funny for a while. We grabbed some wheelchairs and some Arab lady took them from us saying that other people need them.

First of all, it was midnight. There was no one outside the gate at all. And what old people are going to use those wheelchairs at midnight!? But we gave them up. I stole another later and used it to get to the bathroom since I couldn't walk I was in such terrible pain. We pulled together some benches and tried to sleep. Josh went over to some restaurant and slept on their booths. I had no clue where he went. Brandon and I seriously thought he may have been arrested. But, being good friends we didn't do anything about it.

Sleep didn't really happen. It sucked. So when the gates opened at 6, we got our tickets and went through and waited for our flight for a few hours. Dawn came up and reminded us how tired we really were. We got on the plane, where I finished The Plague. I can't sleep on planes, so I just read. We had no ride from Raleigh to home, so we made calls and texts as soon as we landed, and luckily the incredible Caitlin Stevens offered to pick us up. We just crashed when we got back. Josh got Cookout, ate, and slept for 23 hours. I had an exam the next day and just spent about an hour studying. I got an A.

That was it. One of the greatest memories I have ever had. Now, leave comments, and tell me how awesome this story was. Here are some more pics.

Our favorite picture

This trip was number 1

A Harry Potter Forever Alone Comic

This is my first time really trying a comic, especially one based on a hugely popular meme and a billion dollar franchise. So be kind, commenters... if there are any....

My Garden and a handy Pesticide

So don't judge by the pics, but its actually doing pretty well considering there are weeds everywhere. I'm just going to say it makes it look more organic.

Oh and at some point while my tomatoes were just barely growing tomatoes, they began to get little white bugs growing on them. I never knew what species of bug they were, but I found a great home-made recipe for pesticides.

First, you take a spray bottle [I just got a 12 oz. one from Ace] and put one or two drops of dish soap. The only thing you need to avoid in the dish soap is antibacterial. For some reason, in every blog or article I read about this method, antibacterial soap is the worst choice, because it kills the plant.

So you've got one or two drops in the bottle, put about fl. oz. of water in the bottle and shake it up well. Then just spritz the part of the plant with the bugs lightly. They should be gone within two or three days. Don't do it more than twice a week, or it could be bad for your plant.

For me it worked great! I sprayed one branch that was covered in them, and ALL of them left.

Jalepeno flowers

Jalepenos, Crooked-Neck and Straight Neck Squash

My lovely tomatoes

 

 

It legitimately grew a half a foot the next day, and I'm 5' 7"

 

How does Star Wars Spirituality relate to Christians?

This article will attempt, in brief to analyze and compare Christianity with a little recognized aspect of the Star Wars religion and spirituality.

So to begin, let me just say, I love Star Wars. It's a great franchise that has really brought what was once a laughable genre to the forefront of modern film, literature and music [don't even pretend electronica isn't sci-fi]. I greatly respect the influence it has had over American society and culture and was a favorite in my early days. However, this article is not here to laud the praise of Star Wars but rather to analyze and conceptualize to the Christian why its force is dangerous to an orthodox worldview.

First, this article will not deal with the typical problems of the Pantheistic qualities of the force, though that may be touched on in several details. It can be cleared up with one Bible verse: Genesis 1:1. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Here we see that creation is no synonymous our bound to God, but created ex nihilo [Greek: out of nothing] or in the Hebrew bara [God exclusive creation, rather than man-initiated forming from existing matter]. Done. Moving on.

Star Wars at its basis has the Force as a source of power and interconnectedness throughout the universe. It is supernatural, but also in a way measurable. It not only can transmit information across light-years in an instant, which is impossible according to the Einsteinian model of the universe where data can only travel at the speed of light, but enables the user to throw objects, extend life, heal, perform miracles, or even cast lightning. It is a pantheistic god that is heavily connected to the life force of the universe. It is strengthened by the presence of life and draws energy from every creature.

Now as I'm sure you know if you live in America, there is a Dark Side and a Good Side. Sith on one side and Jedi on the other. Reportedly, according to the movies, there is supposed to be a balance with the force, where Good and Evil are equally represented and understood or able to function. [That is another problem, that may need to be dealt with at some point.]

The Dark Side is able to take control and mar the good. It can cause it harm and bring it under its Iron Fist. It has the desire to dominate the light and does so by slaughtering the good and implanting evil in its strongest representatives. It has the ability to overwhelm and dominate the light and cover it as the ocean covers the land. The Star Wars Dark Side seems to be part of the force, but a crazy angry self-destructive separate personality. There is no promise that good would permanently overcome, but have to live in perfect harmony with it [if that is somehow possible.]

For all intents and purposes, the force most closely relates not to Buddhist or Hindu philosophies, but the Gnostic beliefs of Manichaeism. This is a bit complicated to wholly explain, but put most simply, there is a good side and a bad side, represented by light and darkness. The light resides in a purely spiritual sense of the word, and by some cosmic war or happenstance, the spiritual light was sealed in physical matter that is a product of darkness. They believe the physical is evil and that the body cannot be held responsible for sin, but their knowledge of the light within will save their soul from destruction. At some point in the future, though, the good will overcome the evil, however, not without losing serious ground and being defeated and hurt along the way. The Good is able to be deteriorated and lost and hurt by evil.

Manicheanism: Evil is able to mar and consume the in-omnipotent Good.

In Star Wars, similarly, evil is able to cover up and incapacitate the good and gain dominance on a cosmic scale.

Christianity, on the other hand believes in a God who is omnipotent, and remains above any attempt by evil to mar its perfect, immutable face. The Christian belief of evil is that it is routed and uprooted by light and the redemptive good. Good unveils evil and redeems it with the purifying blood of Christ. Evil has no eternal place in the Christian universe other than contempt, defeat and eternal punishment in Hell. There is a place for the physical realm, and that will also be redeemed in the new Creation. Creation itself began as 'good' [not of its own merit, but by God's decree] but fell into corruption. God, however, remains unchanged. Evil resembles an ant going up against us, futile and a bit silly.

Augustine understood evil in a very interesting way, that evil wasn't physical or powerful, but non-existent. Evil is a lack of good. Good is not a lack of evil, but a tangible righteousness. Just as light, in any place overcomes darkness with no fight, so also Good overcomes evil with the smallest iota of effort. Evil has no place, and once Jesus comes back, evil will be gone. He has never been marred by evil, while we have, and we are made perfect in his works and sacrifices. He fills up our evil deficiencies with his goodness and righteousness. Where there was death and darkness, he routs it with life and light.

In our beloved Star Wars, the fight between good and evil seems never ending, and likely that in many cases, evil will win and good can do nothing about it. But for the Christian, he is a living example of the destruction of evil and its destruction by the introduction of the light of Jesus Christ into our souls by the illuminating fire of His Holy Spirit.

I think John sums it up well in his gospel about the utter destitution darkness faces at the mere presence of goodness and light:

Chapter1: 

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, [1] and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Goodness of the Lord alone is able to deliver us from darkness, and unlike the impersonal god of Star Wars and the Manicheans, his light pierces the darkness to save us from destruction. All of our efforts are in vain to overcome the darkness that scars our heart, soul and mind. So if you don't already, please trust in Jesus to be your goodness and joy, and lean into him for your righteousness.

Colossians 1:21- 23:
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he [Jesus] has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Isaiah 61:10
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.


Please comment! :D

Waking on the Wing: Blue Like Jazz - The Movie

Waking on the Wing: Blue Like Jazz - The Movie: "Blue Like Jazz has been one of my favorite books for several years now. When I heard they were coming out with a..."

NC Toast - Everyone Memorize This

So, I arrived at Global today and met up with Patrick, Jeremy and Caitlin, who were discussing the different emblems of North Carolina such as the state bird, saltwater fish, freshwater fish, and, believe it or not, we have a state trout as well, as if that is something other than a fish. Anyway, Patrick stumbled across the North Carolina State Toast, and I thought I'd share its beauty with all you other lovers of North Carolina.

The following information is excerpted from the North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 149, Section 2. The words are included within the statute.

CHAPTER 149. STATE SONG AND TOAST
SECTION 1

§ 149-2. A Toast to North Carolina. The song referred to as "A Toast" to North Carolina is hereby adopted and declared to be the official toast to the State of North Carolina, said toast being in words as follows:

Here's to the land of the long leaf pine,
    The summer land where the sun doth shine,
    Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great,
    Here's to "Down Home," the Old North State!

    Here's to the land of the cotton bloom white,
    Where the scuppernong perfumes the breeze at night,
    Where the soft southern moss and jessamine mate,
    'Neath the murmuring pines of the Old North State!

    Here's to the land where the galax grows,
    Where the rhododendron's rosette glows,
    Where soars Mount Mitchell's summit great,
    In the "Land of the Sky," in the Old North State!

    Here's to the land where maidens are fair,
    Where friends are true and cold hearts rare,
    The near land, the dear land, whatever fate,
    The blest land, the best land, the Old North State!

    (1957, c. 777.)<.PRE>

Memorize it, commit it to heart, toast as often as possible, toast in every pub,

look awesome doing it. NC State Scarf is optional, 

but recommended. [http://ow.ly/5hEno]

Tolkien and the Gospel

So, in lieu of the upcoming release of The Hobbit into theaters and my recent foray into Tolkien literary studies, I decided to blog about something that is close to my heart: the Gospel and Tolkien's understanding of it and how it is expressed in his stories, specifically, The Lord of the Rings.

Firstly, Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic, who was very well trained in theology and philology, specializing in Nordic, German and Anglo-Saxon languages and literature. He is most well known for his Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, along with The Silmarillion.

Now, Tolkien wasn't an ordinary fantasy writer, who attempts to sit down, arbitrarily decide languages and histories that may effect the story as a whole, but moves on to another subject shortly after finishing. He spent years and all of his philological knowledge and theological understanding to mold a universe that is pre-Christian, pre-Judaic and largely Nordic while retaining elements of a God [in his universe: Eru or Illuvatar].

Tolkien, in writing LOTR did not set out to make a basic allegory of the gospel as CS Lewis slavishly did, much to Tolkien's chagrin, but instead used his understanding of human nature and pre-incarnational myth and story to mold a mythopoeia that speaks to humanity on an epic and multi-tiered level above race, culture, religion and creed. He made this to connect people to the transcendant, all-loving, all-powerful God who watches over the seemingly arbitrary chaotic events of time to mold a story of his own power, divinity and might.

Here is where we begin. Illuvatar, or Eru, sits alone, and in the beginning, creates the Valar, beings we would understand in our context as angels and Maiar, the lesser angels. He begins a melody, which he commands all beings to take part in and build on. In this he shows his power to imbue life and will, but remains in control of all of it. Each Valar has the ability to build on the Great Music, or tear it down.

There was one Valar, however, who wanted control over the song and over all things, his name was Melkor [Quenya Elvish for "He who arises in Might"]. Since Music was all there is in the beginning, he tried to take control of it. So, he drew other Valar to himself, including Sauron, and began to infect the song with a cacophony of noise and static to drown out Eru's making. In this, he failed, Illuvatar halts the song, and builds on and redeems the noise into his own song. Rather than utterly drown out Melkor, Eru brings it to himself to show his ultimate creative glory. At the third redemption, Eru halts the song, and reveals to the Valar that this song will be the theme of Middle Earth. Born in creative glory, marred by evil, redeemed and brought back to glorify the Lord.

See any parallels yet?

Melkor and several righteous Valar go down to Middle Earth to conquer or mold, respectively. Melkor constantly battles to destroy and conquer, marring all good things that the righteous Valar mold.

Here we should probably delve into Tolkien's understanding of evil. He understood evil in a largely Augustinian way. Evil itself did not have substance or power, but rather the ability to mar and stain the good. Evil is a force of destruction and unraveling. It cannot create, it cannot bind anything together, but fragments, shatters and breaks down. Good, however, has the ability to create and redeem. It builds great out of good and brings healing to broken-ness. It is growth, redemption, community and truth. Goodness is humility and also a yielding to the will of God, or Eru. Evil attempts domination of everything, and if it destroys everything, then it, in a way has made itself dominant.

Just as Jesus' mission was healing and redemption through humility, Melkor and Sauron's mission is destruction and rebellion through destruction. They cannot create community, they cannot heal, but give deceitful promises of riches and growth, if only to control and subjugate all things, even God.

This is why Sauron attempts so greatly to retrieve his ring. The Ring itself is power. It promises the ability to conquer all things, including Sauron. None of the characters in LOTR are lying when they say they want to use the ring for good to conquer Sauron. But multiple times, it shows us that this would only make them evil and the good they accomplish would be through coercion and power, rather than humility and good example and teaching. Gandalf even admits that if he used the ring, it would unravel him, in spite of his desire to do good for the weak. To paraphrase, he would empower the weak, but not strengthen them. To bring them out of weakness and despair would result in their reliance on him and on power, not on humility and Illuvatar.

The only good thing to do for the creatures of Middle Earth is to abandon all power and follow the will of Illuvatar, that is, to create and mold for good rather than evil and to give all power to the true creator, Illuvatar.

Just as Jesus gave up power to bring such great healing, so also the people of Middle Earth must abandon and relinquish power to become great. All must be laid down for the raising up of all good things.

This event is what Tolkien referred to as the "Eucatastrophe." Eu meaning "good" in Latin and catastrophe meaning "an unraveling or overturning" in Greek. These two seemingly contradictory terms from two opposed cultures comes together to make a beautiful, gospel centered paradox. The good catastrophe.

The Eucatastrophe of LOTR is in the unraveling of power, the destruction of the ring, and the sacrifice of Frodo and Sam's well-being, honor and dignity. They abandon all for the beauty of goodness and truth. They humble themselves and abandon power [which is complicated by the action as the Crack of Doom at the end of The Return of the King, but we won't get into that]. They stay the tide of destruction by unraveling the power to destroy and take pride in might. From this catastrophe, goodness flourishes in Middle Earth for a time.

The Eucatastrophe of Scripture is found in 3 places.
1. The Eucatastrophe of human history is completely changed at the Advent of Jesus in 0 A.D. Time itself now revolves around the birth of God into human history. The transcendant brings catastrophe to human history by becoming bound within time, relinquishing glory.

2. The Eucatastrophe of God is completed in the Cross and the Resurrection. At this point, Jesus relinquishes power and the glory of complete domination and justice in an instant for 33 years of torment, pain and torture at the hands of those who he comes to save. God himself is overturned by his own justice to bring mercy. But the greatest part of the catastrophe is found in the freedom and healing found in the cross and the new life brought by his conquering of sin and death at the resurrection, which promises new life, the availability of the Holy Spirit and eternal life.

3. The Final Eucatastrophe is God's return to Earth to bring judgement and end all the pain of time to bring endless joy to his people, dwell among them, and bring destruction to the unredeemed wicked. In this his "Great Music" will be fulfilled and all the cacophony will be laid to waste.

This is the Gospel according to Tolkien. Let me know what you think, leave some comments!!

The Most Incredible Trip Ever: Part IV: "Stay Small" Also, the climax of the journey

So, friends, and family, please accept my many apologies for failing to update this story blog for so so long. Anyways, let's just jump right back in...

We left our heroes, Josh Henderson, Brandon Kelly and me, as they recuperated from the rigors of an insane 24 hours. Is that really all I've covered!? Geez. Sorry, sorry, sorry I digress...

Daniel and David

So we got an awesome meal and nap before we left to go see All the Day Holiday's set, which happened at about 2:30. It was really great! Those guys do a great job of rallying the crowd and making them feel appreciated and part of the show. They really produce a lot of energy for the scene they play, which is helped a lot by Mark's exciting drumming at the very front of the stage.

Nathan, Mark and Daniel

A funny detail about Mark at this point. He was suffering from some major allergy problems. He had taken several pills to try and loosen the incredulous amount of snot jammed in his nasal passages. So in the middle of the set he was just pounding away on those drums and throwing his head around swinging spit and sweat and not to mention a massive snot rocket or two everywhere. I mean it looked like those old nickelodeon shows with the exorbitant amount of slime. In the picture you can see him holding his head up, this is not because he's getting into it, but because he's keeping the snot from dripping onto his lap.

Fun stuff. But, these guys were great! They played really well, and did a great job with only half and hour of playing time. So after them, we left and walked around Worcester for a while. We had 2 hours until we had to return to the concert hall, so we wanted to see the city.

The Van we rode in. Nice Bumper!

Brandon. No clue.

Anyway, these were a few of the pictures I snapped. With this little lull I have a bit of time to meditate on a funny story the guys told us about that van. To begin, they were in the process of finding another van, a bus rather, which would give them more space and more storage room so they wouldn't be completely miserable riding around from concert venue to concert venue. And this van, was miserable. It was falling apart at the seams. There was rust in ever corner, dings on every door, and the bumper had just completely snapped from the body.

I was curious, so I asked what became of the elusive bumper. Well, they had been driving for several hours one day and decided to pull over and stop for a bit at some gas station. Something like that. They got out and slammed the door closed. The jarring force of that slam was enough to snap the hair or rust holding that bumper on, and it fell off in a terrible crash. Imagine if that had fallen off while they were on the highway. They would have been done.

So, to continue with the original story. We headed back in and saw this band called Moving Mountains, which All the Day Holiday had toured with at one point and become good friends with in that time. Michael, the manager, literally begged us to come see them. And I must say, I was thoroughly impressed! They were very good and their drummer blew my mind. They had this heavy presence in the room, which was probably emphasized by the heavy bass chords and drops throughout the songs. 

Another band that stood out from the rest of the guys there was some random stupid guys at the beginning. Their music was terrible, vocals - uninspired, music- again- terrible. What made them stand out was this:

dresses...

Anyway, they sucked. Moving on...

So Brandon, Josh and I sat up in the balcony for a few hours, catching maybe a few winks until the moment came for TREOS to play. In the meantime we saw some dumb emocore bands who couldn't hold a candle for the eucatastrophic beauty that was to come that night.

Dear Hunter was pretty good though, and we got a great look at the stage and got a good sit down break because, as you can guess, we were exhausted.

Josh is so tireds

 So finally, the concert commenced. We went down about 2 bands before TREOS was to come on, and tried to force our way as far to the front as possible. I managed to get on the second row just behind this chick who said she didn't even know who The Receiving End of Sirens were. WHAT!? And she wouldn't move. I was ready to punch somebody!!! I had to sit through some guidolicious bands until TREOS, which probably made their experience so much better than it would have been cold. We literally waited in there for an hour and a half for TREOS to come on, and I had to be crushed between strangers and sweat and flesh and ew it was so gross. Ugh. but I will not complain. I did get a nice picture of my misery, though. And another thing that made it so endurable was the fact that EVERYONE was there for TREOS and not for anyone else. There were people from Boston, from Maryland, Indiana, and Texas. It was awesome. One guy I talked to, which I'm sad I forgot his name, was telling me that TREOS was the only bad that suitably described our human condition and the cycle of misery we are constantly put in. Man, I wanted to tell him about the Bible, but being shoved in between 800 dudes is not exactly good for protracted conversations. Neither is the band setting up and drawing everyone's attention to the stage.

So they began...

It started with the old favorite: Planning a Prison break and jumped between both albums pretty well. They did probably all but maybe 4 or 5 songs. I mean they were just unloading their music on everyone. After listening to two songs up front and snapping some awesome pictures, I had to go back and really enjoy this concert. I wanted to dance and sing and play with everyone else that was there. I wanted to find Josh and Brandon and scream, "Is this real life!?"

Here's a video from the concert:

But I had such an incredible time. I danced like crazy. I sang every song. People were throwing each other around, dancing together, screaming in each other's faces. I loved it. Josh and Brandon sat stoically watching from the back, I don't know why they didn't dance, especially Josh, geez. But he came out as sweaty as usual, even though he didn't do hardly anything. (I <3 you, Josh) Anyway, here are a few pictures:

 So, that was the concert, the climax of the trip. It was definitely an event that I will never forget, but the journey didn't end here, we still had a night of fun and excitement, and another day of travel and another night of experience. But, for now, the story must end.

Osama's Death: Triumph?

So I'm sure everyone has heard of the death of Osama bin Laden, leader of Al Qaeda, mastermind of the 9/11 plot. He is a man who is unabashed and unashamed and open about his hatred of Westerners, Americans, Christians, Jews and nominal Muslims. He is an emblem of hatred of the same caliber as Hitler and Stalin, and sought nothing but the destruction of his enemies to glorify Allah.

Well... not anymore. He is now dead. Now Christians are forced to decide whether to celebrate or remain ambivalent about his demise. "God does not delight in the death of the wicked" (Ezekiel 13) and "Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword" Matthew 26:52 are constantly jostling for position on the flood of Christian tweets about Osama's death.

I would argue that neither response exclusively is correct. Moderation, in this sense is the more appropriate response, especially in light of the person who died, the justice that was done, the safety that will come about it, and a chance for dignified conversation on the role of justice in the world to non-believers.

Total happiness in his death would be incorrect, because it would be to deny the Lord the glory due to him for being sovereign over the entire life of Osama bin Laden, and the acts the Lord permitted through Osama bin Laden for reasons we cannot perceive in this age. 

But we are surely not to rejoice in the death of the wicked, for God doesn't do that. To do so would be to pretend that we ourselves are not also worthy of judgment and justice - that we stand apart from Osama because he is "more evil" or "more deserving" of wrath. Apart from Jesus, we all deserve wrath, so to see him die apart from the grace of Jesus is indeed tragic for him.

However, there are other things to consider in this situation. We should be thankful that God exhibits his justice and that he is a just God. It says on several occasions in the Psalms that righteousness and justice are the foundations of God's throne. This should also cause us to fear and tremble before a God so full of unstoppable justice and righteousness that we cannot possibly be good enough for his law or standards. 

This is where we find a fountainhead of joy! For, on God's throne of Justice sits a God of Mercy. 

Let me set up an interesting Biblical example. The Ark of the Covenant was commissioned by God to be built as a seat of his glory where the sacrifices of the people would be atoned for on Yom Kippur. Inside the Ark rested the staff of Aaron - the first high priest, the Ten Commandments - the law, and a bowl of manna. Resting on the Ark was the Mercy Seat, on whose corners the blood of the Lamb would be spilled to atone for the sins of Israel. I hope this is beginning to sound familiar. 

God's Justice is satiated by the blood of a spotless lamb and received by Mercy so we may be in good standing with our Father.  In Jesus, the justice and wrath of God, which was saved for us, is fulfilled and satiated so that we can come into the presence of the Lord and so that his Mercy and Justice would be fulfilled and poured out with grace to the nations. 

So the death of Osama shouldn't be an occasion for celebration, but of introspection. The death of the wicked and the punishment of the unrighteous should remind us of the grace we have in the Lord, and point us toward his loving sacrifice to bring us peaceably to him.

It is neither celebration of Osama's death, nor mourning for his destruction.

I quote Dante, who in Hell, mourns over the torment of the damned. Here, Virgil reprimands him for weeping over the final judgments of God:

"...Who is more pathetic than the person 

Who agonizes over God’s just judgments?"

The poets emerge from Hell

 (Inferno, XX, ln. 29,30)

Instead of celebrating, reflect on your own sins and the mercy shown to you in Jesus. 

Instead of repeating Scriptures condemning those who celebrate, reflect on the nature of God's Justice and the mercy he shows you.

In essence, just look to Jesus, and use this as an opportunity to tell people about the God who forgave a sinner like you.

The Most Incredible Trip Ever Part 3: "Wanderers"

So as I said before, this blog series "The Most Incredible Trip Ever" was only slated to be 3 parts. At this point, I may have to revoke that statement and let the story unfold as it will.

Now, where was I?

The concert ended, and all seemed lost for the fellowship. Our choices were narrowing down on places to stay, and we had few options left. I spent a moment talking to All the Day Holiday's lead singer: Daniel Simmons, and pitched our story to him. He was a great guy, but didn't really offer us a place to stay. Oh well. So, we decided to leave the concert hall/ bar and journey back to Barbara's hot dog trailer and share company with her and Slim (the homeless guy I mentioned in Part 2). But, serendipitously, I noticed the drummer from All the Day Holiday was sitting near their van outside and playing drums on their equipment drawers.

I thought to myself, maybe just maybe he will offer us a ride. But I shrugged it off and we kept walking. As we got to the end of the block I told Josh and Brandon, "That's the drummer from All the Day Holiday; we should tell him our story and see what happens." We turned around. "If worse comes to worse, he'll say no, but at least we asked."

So we awkardly walk up to Mark and introduced ourselves. He was a cool guy, really laid back. We told him our story about possibly staying in a homeless shelter and after hearing that he was like "No way, that's crazy!" We agreed. We continued talking to the band members and met the bassist David and the rhythm guitarist Nathan. They were awesome guys.

We chatted and talked and joked around. Their manager Michael raved about the merits of Parliament cigarettes (quite the oxymoron), and we watched drunk guidos shamble up and down the blocked off street for some guido-licious bar hopping holiday between flashing blue police lights. We joked about it for a while, and Daniel, who had come out at this point to talk to us, talked about how they don't know anything better for themselves. This sounded like something a fellow believer would say, but we didn't say anything at first.

Then Nathan mentioned that he was reading a book about Jewish history, and I asked him "Are you Jewish?"

"No, I'm just curious about the roots of my faith."

We had our proof. So I up and asked him, "Are you a believer?" He and the others confirmed and we embraced. It was great to find believers outside of Gastonia or Boone or Raleigh. It's weird to think outside of those spheres, that the gospel flourishes in a real way outside of our realm of understanding. We continued talking for a while and mentioned that we may stay in a homeless shelter.

Enter high homeless man named "Richard." This guy was quite a character. He asked for some money, which we refused at first, having walked by once earlier that night. He came back a second time, which we refused again. Obviously, he was on something if he didn't remember something that happened 15 minutes prior, and came by a third time and asked. Daniel, I believe, asked his name, to which he unloaded a cesspool of unrelated and violently ejaculated ideas. There was something about respecting your parents and how we're all like trees growing off our parents or something weird like that. He walked away for a moment and proclaimed "I am... a philosopher."

How lightly people use that term. He continued talking and raving before he finally saw a crowd he wanted to beg from and walked off. Josh Brandon and I looked at each other nervously and Daniel said words that were sweet honey to my ears, "Yeah, you guys can ride with us, we can definitely make room."

[Let me take a moment here to thank God for answering prayer in a way that goes above and beyond our requests. He granted us, not only a place to stay, but transportation to it, free bed and safe fellowship with believers. He does answer prayer]

So we packed up the van and helped them load their stuff like a giant complicated chess set. We crammed in the van and just thanked the crap out of those guys. It was an awesome ride. Mark called a buddy of his that turned 21 that night and in the middle of his conversation yelled, "You aren't drunk!? Are you okay!?" Probably a lot funnier considering it was 1:30 in the morning at that point.

They offered to let us stay with them in a hotel outside Worcester (which, you will remember, is where the concert was to be) and to take us to the concert hall the next afternoon before it started.

Anyway, the car ride was fun. Mark was sassy. David was sarcastic. Michael whined. Daniel had civil conversation, and Nathan stayed mostly stoic, discussing modernist literature with me in the back seat. [Which was great; I will talk anyone's ear off about that period.] We stopped momentarily at a McDonalds, which, strangely, didn't offer any dollar menu items at all after 2 a.m. Why!?! I remember I got a quarter pounder, and it was possibly the best McDonald's food I ever got.

A lot of the details get fuzzy after that, since it was so late. But we arrived at the hotel room, which was huge - more than big enough for all of us. They gave Brandon and I the pull-out couch. Josh slept on couch cushions and the rest of them shared the king. Daniel slept in the van with Nathan. I slept like a baby. I just left my earplugs in and slept like the dead.

His smile not = fatigue

So we wake up the next morning around 8. I remember Michael saying something about having to leave at 8 and so I rushed up and washed off a little and got packed. Josh was happy to wake up as you can see from the picture here.

I was just talking to the guys as they were getting ready. I asked Michael if I could help doing anything, since we were leaving later than we needed to.

"Let me tell you a secret: I tell them we need to leave 30 minutes before we actually have to. That way, we are always on time."

Ingenious, Michael. Ingenious.

The ride to Worcester

Anyway, so we go out and get in the car. A light rain met us as we walked out, bu no big deal. We drove to Worcester, and the guys stopped at the concert hall in Worcester. We got there at about 10, and helped unload in the rain. They gave us their stuff and we walked it inside. Yeah, we were roadies. Yeah, we went in the Palladium before the concert. Yeah, we set up gear.

Left: Michael // Right: Brandon

Yeah, we're awesome. Question answered.

[I should also mention: I never got how to say Worcester. Turns out, it's pronounced 'whis-ter' not 'wor-chess-ter.' Don't worried, I was heckled most of the time for it.]

Anyway, we set up, the inside was awesome, and it was huge, and perfect for the awesome-ness of the upcoming concert.

But the guys let us go after set-up, told us what time their set was (if I remember correctly, it was 3). So, Brandon, Josh and I go to the Crowne Plaza hotel to fulfill our reservations. This place was nice! I mean clean, chandeliers, roaring fire and tiled flooring. The clerk was nice and welcoming and told us about the Breakfast Buffet.

Elation

Excitement

Joy

...All from a Breakfast Buffet.

So we shower stupid fast, get keys for everyone, and rush down to the breakfast buffet. That was the best 13 dollars I have ever spent. I have never eaten that much bacon, sausage, biscuit or egg in all my life. The consumption was unparalleled. I om-nom-nommed the crap out of that food.

Josh at a lot of gluten, which all of us suffered for later on.

So we went and took a nap until All the Day Holiday's set that afternoon.

To be continued...