Monday, June 25, 2007

• The Tangle of My Mind

  Currently Listening Drunken Lullabies By Flogging Molly Rare Ould Times see related

  Well, it's been some time since my last, rather lengthy post, but I have been enjoying myself away from the internet.  

  Thursday I went to a local cafe (aptly named The Rolling Pin) to meet some friends and discovered that some of my other friends actually worked there.  So we had fun talking and stuff.  Some really strange and random quotes from those conversations...  Then on Friday, I apparently went on some kind of a shopping spree.  I meant to buy Christine a birthday gift, and ended up spending $45 (which is really exorbitant for a tight-wad like me).  But for that amount I managed to get two books, two dvds, and three cds.  One of the cds was a Johnny Cash compilation for Christine (we both like Cash).  So I guess I did okay.  Anyways.  I rushed off to the mall to meet Christine, and showed up 20 minutes late .  But we had a great time.  We went to Romancing the Stone, which is an exotic store with all sorts of stuff (incense, Gothic lanterns, rainsticks, that kind of thing). We had a great time dancing to the music in the store---really scared a few guys from my college who think I never have fun and who saw us doing an Egyptian style dance to Indian pop.  And then we tried on kimonos and played with the hermit crabs they had on display.    And the evening just kept getting stranger....

  Saturday Mom and I went to our church's Missions meeting.  Bob Selph, the coordinator for missions at ARBCA (I think that stands for Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America), was in town for the weekend, so he showed us a bunch of slideshows about our missionaries in France, Switzerland, Canada, Chile, and Argentina.  It was realy amazing.  Sunday Mr. Selph preached on having a love for the lost (really convicting and heart-touching) and then after our Fellowship Meal, showed more pictures of Reformed believers in Africa, Malaysia, and China.   I had a great time fellowshiping with everyone there, and was greatly encouraged to finally have faces to connect with the names I've been praying for.  God's loving care and sovereign providence is so astounding and so matchless!

  Here are a few memorable passages from A Man For All Seasons, a movie based on a play by Robert Bolt.  It details the life of Sir Thomas More, who was Chancellor for Henry VIII during the time when King Henry was trying to divorce Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn.  More's approval of the divorce and concsequent establishment of the Church of England is paramount for the King's success.  But More, now a saint in the Catholic church, refused to go against his principles.  Rather than state his opposition openly, he simply refused to give an opinion at all.  This did not work, since eventually Richard Rich perjured himself in order to convict More of treason.  More was executed, but not before showing a great amount of courage.  So without further ado....

  William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
  Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
  William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
  Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake! 

  Cromwell: This silence betokened, nay, this silence was, not silence at all, but most eloquent denial!
  Sir Thomas More: Not so. Not so, Master Secretary. The maxim is "Qui tacet consentiret": the maxim of the law is "Silence gives consent". If therefore you wish to construe what my silence betokened, you must construe that I consented, not that I denied.
  Cromwell: Is that in fact what the world construes from it? Do you pretend that is what you wish the world to construe from it?
  Sir Thomas More: The world must construe according to its wits; this court must construe according to the law.

  Sir Thomas More: I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.

  Sir Thomas More: Why not be a teacher? You'd be a fine teacher; perhaps a great one.
  Richard Rich: If I was, who would know it?
  Sir Thomas More: You; your pupils; your friends; God. Not a bad public, that.
  

  Sir Thomas More: Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world... but for Wales?

  Sir Thomas More: God made the angels to show Him splendor, as He made animals for innocence and plants for their simplicity. But Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind. If He suffers us to come to such a case that there is no escaping, then we may stand to our tackle as best we can, and, yes, Meg, then we can clamor like champions, if we have the spittle for it. But it's God's part, not our own, to bring ourselves to such a pass. Our natural business lies in escaping.

  I really wanted to post some pictures of my friends Becca and  Jessie (Jess is at www.xanga.com/britlitlover),  my dog Brin, and myself, but either my internet provider or xanga hates me (probably both).  So those pictures may be coming later.  Till then, may God be with you!

  • 10:46 PM
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