My Enemies Are Men Like Me

i have come to give you life
and to show you how to live it
i have come to make things right
to heal their ears and show you how to forgive them

because i would rather die
i would rather die
i would rather die
than to take your life

how can i kill the ones i’m supposed to love
my enemies are men like me
i will protest the sword if it’s not wielded well
my enemies are men like me

peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication
it’s like telling someone murder is wrong
and then showing them by way of execution

when justice is bought and sold just like weapons of war
the ones who always pay are the poorest of the poor

-Derek Webb (from the album Mockingbird)

Reading In My Free Time

As a sucker for a good Space Opera i picked this book up after it was recommend by George R. R. Martin on his website. It is the firt part of the Dread Empire's Fall trilogy. Williams spins a great tale with this book. Space battles, political dealing, royal balls, there is a little bit of everything in the book and the two subsequent volumes look promising as well. So much for my crappy book review...if you like SciFi this is definately one you should pick up.

Contemplating God

i've been reading Thomas Merton's book Ascent To Truth and i came across a passage that opened my eyes to the limited way i view God. As a bit of background info the book is about Christian Mysticism; specifically The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross. It is a difficult yet at the same time wonderful read that i would highly recommend. Anyway, Merton writes that our perceptions of God are limited to our perceptions of the world around us. When we hear someone say that "God is love" our understanding of this statement is limited by our understanding love as a construct. Merton says that our human perception of love is nothing but a poor reflection of what love truly is as it is found in God. To try to understand "God is love" through our human understanding of love is to make a huge error. The "love" that is found in God is far beyond our understanding or perception, it is the perfect, ideal "love" towards which we should strive everyday. This same principle applies to any other characteristic of God like justice, peace, or forgiveness. In addition, in God love is justice which is also forgiveness. When I try to understand how this can be i'm always baffled, but then again God's ways are higher than my ways. All this reminded me of a passage from C.S. Lewis where he wrote that whenever he prayed he always prayed "to God, not as I know you, but as you know yourself to be." It has been a humbling experience contemplating all of this but i hope and pray that through it i will come to a deeper understanding of God, myself, and my faith.

On My IPOD
Shapes And Sizes - Shapes and Sizes
Alexi Murdoc - Time Without Consequence
Hundred Hands - Her Accent Was Excellent
White Whale - WWI
Josh Ritter - The Animal Years