I'm still not sure about this whole blogging thing. I mean, is anyone really interested in reading my thoughts on anything? It's not like I have much to say that hasn't already been said, and probably said much better than I ever could. And though sometimes I like to think I know better than others, God has been increasingly showing me just how little I know.
But here it is... A little corner of the Internet where I'm going to share things from my life--pleasures I'm enjoying, struggles I'm enduring, lessons I'm learning. And perhaps God in His mercy will let there be something here that may help, encourage, or perhaps even bless you.
So I feel an explanation is in order for the title of this blog. "A swift sunrise" is an exerpt from one of my favorite lines in Lord of the Rings. Here is the entire quote: "White shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise." In the books, this is what Frodo sees at the end of his journey across the sea to the Undying Lands. In the films, it's Gandalf's description of what awaits him and Pippin should they be killed in battle. In both instances, it's a simple picture of a longing that is deep inside all of us: a longing for a better world.
This is a longing I've found in my own heart for a very long time. I look at the world, and I can see that something's wrong. Things aren't the way they should be. This was something that struck me, even (and perhaps especially) when I was an atheist. Why do I long for joy, yet this life gives me sorrow? Why do I long for peace, yet this life gives me worry? Why do I long for acceptance, yet this life gives me rejection? Why do I long to be part of a grand adventure, yet this life gives me monotony? Even as a child, I noticed it... this dissonance. I remember being seven years old, crying in my bed one night because I wanted someone to come and take me away from this world to a place where people were kind to one another, where goodness reigned and life was full. I absorbed myself in fantastical stories, filled with adventure and heroism and love, stories that gave me glimpses of how I wished life could be.
There's something wrong with this world, and for much of my life it's made me feel like a stranger in a strange land.
One of my favorite C. S. Lewis quotes is, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in the world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." It is this reality that first pointed me towards God. The reason that nothing in this world satisfies me is that I was created to find satisfaction in God. God desires to satisfy all my deepest longings with Himself for all eternity. And because of Christ and His work on the cross, that can begin here and now!
Yet I still seek satisfaction in things I know can't satisfy. I have, just a prayer away, the most satisfying Person I can ever know, and yet I so often settle for lesser pleasures. Why? Because I remain a fallen person in a fallen world, and my tendency is still to try to make this world work the way I wish it would, instead of looking ahead to the better world that God has prepared for His children.
This really represents the two paths that a person can go down in order to cope with the fact that we do not belong in this world. Either they can try to make the world work for them, or they can trust God while looking ahead to something better. I've been doing the first thing for so long, it's been a difficult-- even painful-- process for me to transition to the second. My overwhelming tendency is still to try to control my life in my own strength, futilely trying to make the world into what I wish it would be. But I feel that I'm at a defining moment in my life, when I'm learning truths about myself and God that could utterly transform the way I see the world. So a lot of what you see in this blog may be a picture of one man struggling to live out these truths in his daily life, as I try to give the fight up to God and let Him carry me into the better world I'm longing for.
But here it is... A little corner of the Internet where I'm going to share things from my life--pleasures I'm enjoying, struggles I'm enduring, lessons I'm learning. And perhaps God in His mercy will let there be something here that may help, encourage, or perhaps even bless you.
So I feel an explanation is in order for the title of this blog. "A swift sunrise" is an exerpt from one of my favorite lines in Lord of the Rings. Here is the entire quote: "White shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise." In the books, this is what Frodo sees at the end of his journey across the sea to the Undying Lands. In the films, it's Gandalf's description of what awaits him and Pippin should they be killed in battle. In both instances, it's a simple picture of a longing that is deep inside all of us: a longing for a better world.
This is a longing I've found in my own heart for a very long time. I look at the world, and I can see that something's wrong. Things aren't the way they should be. This was something that struck me, even (and perhaps especially) when I was an atheist. Why do I long for joy, yet this life gives me sorrow? Why do I long for peace, yet this life gives me worry? Why do I long for acceptance, yet this life gives me rejection? Why do I long to be part of a grand adventure, yet this life gives me monotony? Even as a child, I noticed it... this dissonance. I remember being seven years old, crying in my bed one night because I wanted someone to come and take me away from this world to a place where people were kind to one another, where goodness reigned and life was full. I absorbed myself in fantastical stories, filled with adventure and heroism and love, stories that gave me glimpses of how I wished life could be.
There's something wrong with this world, and for much of my life it's made me feel like a stranger in a strange land.
One of my favorite C. S. Lewis quotes is, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in the world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." It is this reality that first pointed me towards God. The reason that nothing in this world satisfies me is that I was created to find satisfaction in God. God desires to satisfy all my deepest longings with Himself for all eternity. And because of Christ and His work on the cross, that can begin here and now!
Yet I still seek satisfaction in things I know can't satisfy. I have, just a prayer away, the most satisfying Person I can ever know, and yet I so often settle for lesser pleasures. Why? Because I remain a fallen person in a fallen world, and my tendency is still to try to make this world work the way I wish it would, instead of looking ahead to the better world that God has prepared for His children.
This really represents the two paths that a person can go down in order to cope with the fact that we do not belong in this world. Either they can try to make the world work for them, or they can trust God while looking ahead to something better. I've been doing the first thing for so long, it's been a difficult-- even painful-- process for me to transition to the second. My overwhelming tendency is still to try to control my life in my own strength, futilely trying to make the world into what I wish it would be. But I feel that I'm at a defining moment in my life, when I'm learning truths about myself and God that could utterly transform the way I see the world. So a lot of what you see in this blog may be a picture of one man struggling to live out these truths in his daily life, as I try to give the fight up to God and let Him carry me into the better world I'm longing for.
