Wilderness Wonderings...

Yes, there is something rather contradictory about such a title, but I have come to find this seeming paradox quite true.  In our culture at large, we come to value the unchanging, the steady, the constant.  I have heard someone say of another, “Oh, Mr. So-in-So…he is as steady as they come; you count on him like you can the sunrise.”  That’s a pretty high complement…one I've often wished to overhear being said about me…but probably never will.  That’s because I’m not in the ‘steady’ or ‘constant’ crowd.  I’m more likely to hear something like, “Oh, Jon…there he goes again…so fickle...chasing another dream….” I am a human…alive...and that means change.  Yet, in the midst of change, there ARE some constants.  For example, one unchanging aspect of my life is the love I have for my wife.  But, how I EXPRESS that love is ever changing.  At times, this love is expressed in a very physical way, through a closeness that I experience...

Inside my office...sitting, working...;      Outside...walking, standing, stretching, breathing deeply. Inside...clear, clean air goes unnoticed;      Outside...a hundred smells--some good, some bad, all noticed-- tickle my nose           with smells of life. Inside...walls of light grey, ceiling of white, carpet of faded, speckled purple;      Outside...my eyes feast on the palette of God's creation--colours of the rainbow in           a thousand hues. Inside...a steady 75 degrees;      Outside...cold mornings give way to warm afternoons which fade into cool evenings. Inside...seemingly unmoving air hums overhead incessantly, unchanging;      Outside...winds from off the Gulf rise and fall whispering in different tones as they pass through           leaves of live-oak...palm trees...the rubbery stuff of banana trees. In...

Reading, reading, reading!   Can't stop...won't stop--got to keep learning and keep the mind active. My present intellectual diet: The Next 100 Years: A Forecast of the 21st Century - George Friedman Brother Roger of Taize: Essential Writings Experiences in Translation - Umberto Eco Under the Unpredictable Plant  - Eugene Peterson I hope that you are reading also.  If you've found a really good book, share the title with us in the comments below. Hoping you all are off to a good New Year! ~Jon~

Happy New Year to all!  I hope that you are as happy to see this year beginning as I am.  2012 was a pretty good year…but this year will be even better! I wish you and yours the very best in the days, weeks, and months to come.  May we live well, live to the full, and live lives that impact others. More to come…!