Ryan's Ramblings

a means to something bigger

"Security is mostly superstition.  It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.  Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.  Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."  –Helen Keller

“. . . an adventure is not an end to itself but a means to something bigger.”  -Jeff Goins

Spring break.  Hmmm . . . a time to rest and relax or, a time to "re-create" with a group of high schoolers at a children's home in India?

Here we go, on our way to something bigger.  Pray for us!

His infinite purpose of love

If we look at the Gospel story of the Passion as a whole and do not isolate the Cross from its context, one of the most impressive and revealing things in it is the air of strong deliberation and mastery which characterizes Jesus throughout those last days.  He is so manifestly not in the least a straw on the stream of events.  His enemies are not manipulating Him so much as He is manipulating them, not in any wrong way, but in the way in which God does lay hold of the wrath and sin of man and make them sub-serve His infinite purpose of love.  To the end He could have escaped the Cross by the simple expedient of going somewhere else; but He did not do so.  He deliberately directs His steps to it.  There is an atmosphere of mastery all about Him as He steadfastly sets His face towards Jerusalem.  Standing before the council, or before Pilate, there is no suggestion of fumbling or hesitancy.  Nor on the other hand is there any suggestion of a merely excited and fanatical confidence.  It is the other people who are excited, not He.  And it is always the excited people who are the weak people.  He says almost regally, “No man taketh my life from me; I lay it down of myself.”  He says—very plainly, quietly, with the direct steadiness of clear-sighted conviction—“Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power.”  The hereafter refers to their seeing.  He Himself sees now.  He is conscious of being in a very real sense at the right hand of power now.  He is with God now; the victory is His now.   –H. H. Farmer

The cross of Christ didn’t just happen.  It wasn’t a tragic and unexpected ending to a good story.  It wasn’t a case of evil triumphing over good. 

It was God working out His infinite purpose of love.

Through the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross—our sins are completely forgiven, we are able to relate with a Holy God, we are cleansed of all of our sins, and we no longer need to live as slaves (in bondage) to sin.

Easter Sunday is just two weeks away.  As we walk the path to the empty tomb to joyfully announce, “He is not here, He is risen!” let us remember that out of love Jesus walked through it all on purpose—the garden, the denial, the trial, the beating, the flogging, the mocking, the shame, the sorrow, the abandonment and the cross—for you and for me.

a battle to be won

“. . . these days, resistance looks more like Apollyon standing arrogantly astride Christian’s path; like the combined forces of the world, the flesh and the devil, pitted against my efforts to follow a call I’ve heard, a summons as wild and strange and full of longing as the cry of wild geese over a winter landscape. Resistance means there is probably something on the other side worth fighting for. Making art is waging war on all the inner demons and the outer distractions that would keep us silent and compliant in this world.”  ~Lanier Ivester

The battle rages.  The inner critics are caustic and the distractions alluring.  The embers of creativity recede under the strong draught of resistance. 

But silence, darkness and defeat are not imminent.

I have seen the fires of creativity burning brightly in a children’s home in India.  The children are without parents in a home lacking running water, electricity, computers, the Internet, bicycles, cell phones and TV, and yet beauty and art prevail.  In the midst of faith, hope and love—drawings, paintings, gardens, dancing, weavings, poems and songs radiate forth in illumination and victory. 

There is a war to be fought—within and without.  The resistance is great, but the calling to make art is greater.  We must fan into the flame the fires of creativity.  There is something on the other side worth fighting for. 

It is a battle to be won.

17,000

“Time always moves in one direction.  It’s a rare opportunity that passes us twice, and we only pass the road not taken once.  We must decide and grab on to our best future, and if we miss it, we may live a long life, but we will never live a consequential life.  The carousel passes the golden ring but once.  Grab it, and the horses leave their circular death and become steeds of purpose that you may ride where you will.” –Calvin Miller

I just flipped the page on my calendar.

-March 2013-

It is still early in the calendar year, but I think in terms of the school year.  The arrival of March warns me that the school year will be over in a blink.

All the challenges, frustrations, excitement, worry and work of moving our entire school site to a new campus is but a memory.

Most of the year's big events that filled the pages of my datebook with ink and my mind with anticipation, planning and preparation are behind me.

My oldest child’s first year of college is nearly done and my youngest child’s last year of high school is about to begin. 

Wow . . .

Last night my wife and I went out on a date.

Today is my 17,000th day of life.

I just flipped the page on my calendar.