bursting through clouds

when i left Kansas City, the weather was what i love: downright dreary. 38 deg. snow & rain. plain nasty. i love it because it forces me indoors: to a good book or conversation. and probably to some sort of warm beverage. but not beer. warm beer isn't good.

minutes after lifting off, our plane burst through the clouds to a still and bright evening sky. a few minutes later, we came to edge of the storm system. currently, i'm looking down on the beautiful flint hills. it all reminded me of the scene from Matrix Revolution. (i knew there was a reason i sat through two bad sequels!)

it seems funny to say, but i found the experience deeply refreshing. as the scene unfolded before me, my deepest self sighed and spoke: this is how life is. it's a struggle. something that you must work at, pour yourself into, risk. because genuine risk births Life at it's deepest. and somehow, if we quit risking, we quit living.


[for my Christian friends, i wonder if we should reconsider an alternative or at least an additional understanding of Jesus' words: 'For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.' could it be that Jesus is not (merely) speaking about some 'spiritual' reality, but instead how God ordered the world... risking is living... sacrifice is abundance... giving & serving is receiving...? thus, to risk and expend yourself possibly is the most fully human (and therefore Christian) thing one can do!]


last weekend, during a silent retreat preceding mine with Katie & Tyler, i was reminded of the scene from Meet Joe Black where Anthony Hopkins speaks of love. beautiful words, and i think they've got as much to say about life as they do romance:





[we're now over snow-covered western kansas. it may suck driving from kansas to colorado, but flying is beautiful!]