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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Monday, July 21, 2008

  • Wandering in the Wilderness

    I experienced the movie “Into The Wild” last night.  Yeah, I say “experienced” because there really is no other word for it.  Spoilers are ahead, so if you haven’t read the story or watched the movie, decide if you want to continue reading.

    The film is based on the true life story of Christopher McCandless.  Chris was a bright young man, who, after graduating from college, donates his $24,000 life savings to charity, packs up his belongings, and begins a road trip around the United States.  Losing his car to a flash flood inspires him to backpack around.  His aim is to detatch from all the snares of modern life: careers, technology, relationships, and even his given name.  He wants absolute freedom, and his pursuit leads him to the Alaskan wilderness on his “Great Alaskan Adventure”.

    This trip is to be therapeutic, a journey to heal him from the torrents of his parents’ fake-fronted, abusive relationship.  He meets several remarkable people along the road, including a woman (Jan) whose son left home and she had never heard from him again, and an elderly gentleman (Mr. Franz) whose wife and son died decades before in a tragic car accident.  It amazes me that people still believe in coincidence when encounters like this happen.  Life is absolutely orchestrated so that certain people can be together, however briefly.  Chris effects these individuals even more powerfully than they effect him, though their influences on him become evident at the close.

    Chris arrives in Alaska in wintertime.  He finds joy in the simple beauty of nature, but is put through many hardships in order to survive the unforgiving northern winter.  He documents his existence in the wild while he is living out of the “Magic Bus,” which serves as his shelter.  Coming close to death by starvation and poisoning (by eating an inedible plant), he endures.  Once the spring thaw arrives, he is healed and ready for homecoming.  However, the land which was frozen solid upon his arrival weeks before, is now a raging river, cutting off his return route.  In his quest to escape the trappings of “civilization,” the wilderness has trapped him.  His food supply is scarce.  Over time he is unable to find any animals or plants which can sustain him.  He ultimately dies of starvation as we painfully die alongside him.  

    Before Chris’s final breaths, he recognizes that “Happiness is only real when shared".  How many of us need to go through the mental trials that Chris did before we too realize that?  Are we destined to wander in the wilderness alone?  Are we to emotionally starve to death in our own selfishness or clueless-ness?  Do we share what is really important to us with someone we love and loves us back?  Do we even recognize those around us who do love us, or do we shove them on the back burner in order to look up one more page, send one more IM, watch one more movie?  Think about the lesson that Chris learned.  Think about what it means to you. 

    Or what it should mean.

    ====================
    As a side-note, Emile Hirsch as Chris is hauntingly brilliant, hypnotic and mesmerizing.  Have you seen this?  I'd love your opinion.


Tuesday, July 08, 2008

  • Why Is It?

    Mrs. Joe American takes a shower in the morning.  She uses soap that smells like wildflowers, shampoos her hair with peaches and cream, conditions with mango.  Those silken legs are shaven with raspberry gel.  Her deodorant is cucumber melon.  Hair mousse is wild cherry and peppermint.   Her toothpaste is goofy grape (she pilfers this from the kids).  She steps into her "Meadow Fresh" (detergent now with 20% more FREE!) scented sundress.  She tops it off with a teeny spritz of lilac perfume.

    Then she steps out into the summer sunshine...and wonders why the bugs attack her.  Hrm.

Friday, July 04, 2008

  • Adam to Cain to Me

    I was reviewing Genesis a bit this week.  After the bites from the fated apple, Adam did some pretty bold and, imho, stupid things.  So the Lord is walking around the garden - a concept which blows my mind, to have God strolling among people - and asks Adam where he is.  Now even though Adam is hiding, you tell me that God has no clue where he is.  Is there a fig leaf big enough to shelter Adam from God's sight?  Don't think so.  God wants Adam to be accountable for what he's done.  It's like catching your kid in the cookie jar.  You just want to hear his/her story so he/she can fess up to it.  The opportunity to do something right.

    Adam even tells God he's hiding because he's all naked and stuff.  God concludes rightly that Adam must have eaten from the tree.  He was never ashamed of nakedness before. So God asks him, "Did you do this?"  (btw, all verses within are the Maureen Living Translation)  Again, God gave him a chance to do the right thing.  But instead of saying, "Yep.  I did.  Sorry about that," Adam whines, "But sheeeeeee made me," ratting out his spouse.

    Sure, God cursed the asp, gave Eve labor pains (way to go, lady) and made Adam to till the soil with lots of hard work, and banished them from the Garden of Eden.  But He did something that I found touching and poignant.  Even after all they did directly disobeying His orders, He made them clothes, better than the fig leaves they had fashioned themselves.  God helped them to cover their shame. 

    It reminds me of what happened just one generation later, after Cain rose up and killed Abel.  When God asked Cain where Abel was (again, as if God didn't know), Cain's response was something:  I don't know (an outright lie) and then he followed it up with a very smarmy remark, "Am I my brother's keeper?"  Whoa.  Not only did Cain tell a baldfaced lie, but then he slapped God in the face with that retort.  What brashness.  What stupidity.  So, God said, look, the ground ain't gonna be working for you anymore, so you'll just be a nomad.  Cain whined about it, "Oh poor me. I can't bear it."  But again among the punishment, God did something wonderful.  He protected Cain from being murdered by placing a mark on Cain. 

    Let's review.   Adam sinned and his reactions (in this order) were: shame (hiding) and blaming others (but it was her).  Cain sinned and his reactions (in this order) were: lying, insolence, and self-pity.  And in both instances, God is more than fair.  Like a parent who wants to show He still loves them, He doles out the punishment, but also mixes something really kind in with it.

    Sheesh.  God tried to give us everything.  Paradise in the form of the Garden of Eden.  And we wanted more.  When they did something wrong, God gave them the opportunity to confess, but instead they finessed.  Adam and Cain sound like people today.  Like me and you.  We are not far removed from our roots, even though they lived how many years ago.

    How do you react when you are caught doing something that maybe wasn't a really prime choice?  Do you lie?  Feel shame?  Blame others?  Do you blame God or act petulant towards Him?  Or do you accept your part?  I try so hard to accept my part and ask for forgiveness.  It's exhausting hiding and sewing fig leaves to cover up my shame.

    Interesting side note:  Cain may have asked the question "Am I my brother's keeper?" after he killed his brother the shepherd.  But it was many years later when Jesus answered that very question with an emphatic "YES!" before He - the good shepherd - was murdered.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

  • Out of the Mouths of Babes

    ...or something like that.  My nine year-old son said this in the car yesterday.  A spontaneous remark I thought I'd share.

    "Every single day is a holiday - a celebration, because we're alive.  We take that for granted sometimes."

    I wrote it down while I was driving.  Had I not, I would have forgotten exactly how he worded it and I thought it was important to remember.