Lyrics that pack a punch

Every Grain of Sand

Bob Dylan

In the time of my confession,
in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet
flood every newborn seed
There's a dyin' voice within me
reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in
the morals of despair.

Don't have the inclination to
look back on any mistake,
Like Cain,
I now behold this chain of events
that I must break.
In the fury of the moment
I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles,
in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence
and the weeds of yesteryear,
Like criminals,
they have choked the breath
of conscience and good cheer.
The sun beat down upon the steps
of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness
and the memory of decay.

I gaze into the doorway of
temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way
I always hear my name.
Then onward in my journey
I come to understand
That every hair is numbered
like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches
in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream,
in the chill of a wintry light,
In the bitter dance of loneliness
fading into space,
In the broken mirror of innocence
on each forgotten face.

I hear the ancient footsteps like
the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there,
other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance
*(of the reality of man)
Like every sparrow falling,
like every grain of sand.

*of a perfect finished plan (different version)

I don't know about anyone else, but these lyrics cause some serious neron movement in my gray matter. Like nerons running marathons trying to understand and compute and react to what Dylan is talking about. Its thick like chocolate milk, with all of the goodness. I love how it sounds rolling off of the tongue when I attempt to play it. It has that feel of a song which moves the soul to consider the words. It taunts you with interesting metaphors and quizzical comparisons. And the underlying base note is that constant reminder that God has authority over all things in life, and how for some it is a terribly unbelievable atrocity, and how for others it is the most marvelous and exciting truth.

"In the fury of the moment
I can see the Master's hand"

Such a contrasting image here. I get the picture of someone in a severe rage suddenly stop in their tracks to observe a butterfly peacefully lighted on a flower. Or that sudden realization in the middle of the act, that you are sinning against a holy God.

"Oh, the flowers of indulgence
and the weeds of yesteryear,
Like criminals,
they have choked the breath
of conscience and good cheer."

Indulgence dulls the conscience, and ironically enough, destroys joy.

"I am hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan."

I love this line. Such a good reminder that all the work on our behalf is completed. The perfect plan is finished. Its done. Wow! Our job is the infinitely joyful task of telling people how good God is.

Peace,

Todd

Possible Teen Girl Squad Material

Heather and I were going through some of her grade school stuff, and we came across a story she called the "Pioneer Girl". I'll write out the essentials and insert some voice indications. For all of you strong bad enthusiasts out there, I hope you laugh a lot a lot a lot...

The Pioneer Girl

(narrator voice, typical scratchy teen girl)

N: One day Anna was walking down the path. She saw a sign it said: "The pioneer girl is coming to town!!". If you would like to see her sign address here.

Anna (insert cheerleader voice):"I wonder who the pioneer girl is??"

N: She signed up anyway. She put: "Blue house, white windows and red door."

N: She went to sleep thinking: "who is the pioneer girl?" The next morning Anna made breakfast for her younger sister Andrea (she also has another sister named Ashleigh. Ashleigh is only a baby, Andrea is five and Anna is fifteen) Bang bang there was a knock at the door.

Anna: "I wonder who that is"

Anna's Mom: "Please get the door Anna".

N: Anna got the door and there was a girl that she had never seen before.

girl she had never seen before (insert so and so voice): "I'm the pioneer girl, I'm fifteen"

Anna: "Oh. Come on in. I'm fifteen too. My name's Anna."

Pioneer girl: "I'm looking for a place to stay and I'm very good at knitting"

Anna: "Well you could stay here. I'll check with my mom."

N: (the Pioneer girl's name was Leah) Anna came back with a smile on her face.

Anna: "You're aloud to stay."

N: They all had a happy life. Leah helped alot.

THE END


Word for word folks. My wife to be is hilarious.

Anyone willing to draw an episode for this one? haha. Peace out.

Update

39 days and counting. I really need to get a tickerfactory thing. Noah my number is 743-7396, I'll be home friday. I would love to get together in the coming weeks, and experience some of the insight that Christ has granted you in the past months. We're Headed to the Loo today to search for apartments. I hope Hope Valley is treating you well Jer, I may be back in the weeks to come.

Quick thought: Jesus is the most offensive person alive. There is noone else who has scandalized and brought on the hatred of so many people.

I love you Paul; continue to dig into the word. The firm foundation of faith God has placed in you will be a resting place for those who waver. Make sure you share with them what you have learned!!

That's all for now. Heather and I are off to find some place to reside until we get to go home. I look forward to seeing you all soon, if not after I'm dead. Blaze friends, blaze, for time is short!

In Christ,

Todd Edward Anderson

Studying Brings Joy to the Soul and Honour to Christ

I feel as if I am having a difficult time being impressed by the magnificence of God. The problem of sin in the form of idleness, which has crept up under the guise of 'relief from the stress of wedding planning', has dulled my mind so that the strength of my love for God wanes, and my desire for Him diminishes. Heather and I pondered a solution, and so we have decided to attempt a touch more of a scholarly approach to Bible study, praying that we will once again continue that trend of deepening delight in our saviour. We chose for eachother a passage to analyze and write a 1000 word essay (min) concerning it. Now the purpose here does not demand a rigid form of expression, but it does require a purposeful thoughtflow, with application. I'm excited about it.

This also reminds me that I wanted to encourage everyone else in a thought I had while watching the T.V. show House, which I don't really endorse, as the insightfulness of it all is buried beneath worldliness. But I gleaned one interesting idea. In each episode the doctors brainstorm the cause of some odd combination of ailments, ruling out problems, and testing theories. Each Doctor has a particular area they are specialized in, an area that they have studied intently and are skilled in both knowledge and practice in the application of it. In the same way I think we should continue to lean on one another's teaching, checking to make sure it is sound, but relying on the Holy Spirit to teach us about the nature of Christ, and how to become more like him, through the experience, study, and knowledge of other believers. Most people call this discipleship, but few really experience it. If we stop to think about it, we will continue to be discipled until the day we die. We may learn from people of any age if we truly began the process of learning. Like the proverbs continually say: "The wise man hears and increases in learning." (paraphrase). Living skillfully in God's eyes means being willing to learn from those who are wiser than yourself in a given area. I intend to refresh my life in this way. I desire to be taught more about the satisfying enjoyment of God's glory in the person of Christ.

Which reminds me. Noah keep posting your studies on Pneumatology. I am very interested in hearing your thoughts on what the Bible says concerning the Spirit's role in the Trinity, and how he relates to man. I'll be checking!

Give generously and without pride of the deep rich wells of knowledge and wisdom which the Lord has placed in your hearts for the enjoyment of all peoples. And be quick to listen to those who would do the same.

Peace my friends.

Ticking

46 days left... wow

Lots of things left to do, and time is counting down. I may put up a nice counter from tickerfactory seeing as AndyMack doesn't need his anymore! Congrats dude!

I'm in Peterborough at the moment, but the next couple weeks may see me anywhere from Hope Valley to Waterloo. Today I intend to have a lovely chat with some insurance companies... hehehe.

Peace friends.

Todd

intentshoughnal

I'm not sure where this post will go.






Notice how I didn't use the continuous tense, "will be going". Its either for two reasons. 1) I'm grammatically lazy like most North American English speakers, or 2) There is a purposeful attention-drawing point, which is most likely only noticed by you the reader because I mentioned it in grueling description. For those who were wondering, why did Todd write that the way he did, congrats, I applaud your intentionalness in being attentive to language. Because, it is important.

se v enThe things humans communicate are important. Therefore the medium and all the governing rules of it become immediately important. Not in and of themselves, but because they are the vehicle by which we connect with people. Like a language, or a grammar system, or a gesture, or specific physical contact. For written language, this culture finds it very tedious to spend time thinking about why someone writes the way they do. Like why did I indent this paragraph 7 times instead of 5. Did you check? Do you care? Probably not. And to be honest, on that point, I don't really care, because it makes little difference in what I am communicating. I believe the trend of today is that people are much more interested in dump-trucking (haha I just verbed a word) information by whatever means or words possible, as long as the core of the message is understood. Just get the gist of it. Just gist. You see? You can figure out the basics of what I meant. And it has become sort of fun to try and decipher what the crap people are saying on msn. A good puzzle. The best thing of all is that muddled writing indifferences (hehe) and protects the writer. Something can't be offensive if it is barely understood.

and I'm guilty of this the same way
you are. and i'm probably breaking my own rules. Which is the point I suppose. I would like to be (as far as possible) aware and in control of my tongue, or this electronic one, and every manner or means it uses to communicate. I thoroughly enjoy quality language manipulation, both in speech and in grapho. As long as it is done with a desire to enrich life, instead of out of pride and arrogance. Consider grapho for a moment. It refers to the greek word 'grapho' which represents the idea of writing. I could very well take pride in the idea that some people would not be able to reason out why I did that, or what it meant, or even further, that it had some Oobie-Doobie Greek etymology. And to be honest, I have abused language in what I say and write in this way before. That doesn't mean don't have fun with language. But be careful (that is full of the attribute of caring) in how you say what you say. Don't lord it over others. Furthermore,


and to the second point: which might be more impointant than the first one:

what we say always affects something. Broad, possibly vague, but I believe true. And thus howww we say it also affects something. Be intentional about how as well as what. Ask or watch Noah Salo write poetry, and you may get a good idea. I am very much still learning about this entire topic. God is an intentional God. This is dangerous. It means that nothing happens with out his intending it to happen. Do things come out of your mouth or keyboard which you did not intend. Do they come out of mine? God intentionally kills those who hate his name. He intentionally saves those who hate him. He intentionally enjoys fellowship with himself and those who love him. What he says, and the way in which he says it, he intends.

intentional11 this time.

where will you go.?
will it be
intentional

It’s a dangerous way to live.

I agree with Jer about the DW article in Relevant Mag. Check it out.

Luke and I are well, trying to live Christ in a culture that is very different from where we come from. I am encouraged though by some of Derek's thoughts here.

This was particularily interesting...

"I cannot think like an American. I cannot think like whatever it is I am. I have to think about one who looks ahead to King Jesus on the throne and His kingdom and Him ruling righteously and perfectly, because that is the kingdom that is coming. That is the government that we long for. That is not the government we are in now. There is a point at which, with what look like political decisions, where I have to pull back. Politics is a broken system, especially a two party system. It’s really hard. I think there is work to be done. I feel like there is kingdom building that can happen in that arena, but it is not ideal. It is really difficult."