The Fault in Our Stars

I just finished reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  Oh my gosh.  This is seriously the best book I've read in a long, long, long time.  It's so good that I'm not even sure what to say about it except that you should go read it.  Right now.  Seriously.

Love

Love enables us to walk bravely, to run confidently, and to live triumphantly. -Amish proverb

Something to remember

"The Mighty One, God, the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to where it set." -Psalm 50:1

My First Memory (of Librarians)

My First Memory (of Librarians)

By Nikki Giovanni

This is my first memory:
A big room with heavy wooden tables that sat on a creaky
       wood floor
A line of green shades—bankers’ lights—down the center
Heavy oak chairs that were too low or maybe I was simply
       too short
              For me to sit in and read
So my first book was always big

In the foyer up four steps a semi-circle desk presided
To the left side the card catalogue
On the right newspapers draped over what looked like
       a quilt rack
Magazines face out from the wall

The welcoming smile of my librarian
The anticipation in my heart
All those books—another world—just waiting
At my fingertips.

In the Library

In the Library

By William Stafford

You are reading a book, and think you know

the end, but others can’t wait—they crowd

on the shelves, breathing. You stop and look around.

It is the best time: evening is coming,

a bronze haze has captured the sun,

lights down the street come on.

You turn a page carefully. Over your shoulder

another day has watched what you do

and written it down in that book

you can’t read till all the pages are done.

This made me think about pentecost in an entirely new way

"Babel was about everyone speaking one official imperial language. Pentecost is about the borderless God who speaks in every language."

— Brian Zahnd (@BrianZahnd) May 22, 2013

Something that made me think

“God is not a belief-system.
Jesus is not a religion.
Christianity is not a check-list.
Church is not an address.
The Bible is not a book of doctrines.
Community is not a meeting.
Grace has no exceptions.
Ministry is not a program.
Art is not carnal.
Women are not inferior.
Our humanity is not the enemy.
Sinner is not our identity.
Love is not a theory.
Peace is not a circumstance.
Science is not secular.
Sex is not filthy.
Life is not a warm-up for Heaven
The world is not without hope.
There is no “us” and “them.”
Tattoos are not evil.
Loving the earth is not satanic.
Seeing the divine in all things is not heretical.
Self-actualization is not self-worship.
Feelings are not dangerous and unreliable.
The mind is not infallible.”

Jim Palmer, Notes From (over) The Edge