Meursault

Hi. My name is Mike, and I've been a library junkie for about three weeks. I've met Chuck Norris, John Newton, T.S. Eliot, John Grisham, Victor Hugo and others through wonderful pages of paper. It's been so long since I last had free-reading time, that I've been really happy to have this time. This time of burying my head in books has been nicely balanced with time of working out my body and my soul.
John Newton impressed me with his deep humility, and his submission to telling others of the grace that saved him from himself. Chuck Norris... well, I did learn more about the martial arts. T.S. Eliot... I feel like I can relate to him a lot. Such a driven guy, who felt so alienated from the state of humanity on this earth.

I've been paddling a bit, here and there. There's a little trip up to Sylvania in about a week, which should be a nice time up north. It certainly is the season to get back into the water. I do miss tubing and water-skiing.

Seasons... it's good to remember the seasons of life, and that they indeed do change. They come, and they go. It's often easy to forget in summer that fall will soon be at the door. The drudgery of winter can often dispell the expectations of a warm spring. I find that it's refreshing in those days when thought can transcend the routine of a season and appreciate the beauty of the Lord who gives life and allows even the unrepentant their time to roam the earth's crust. Amazing grace.

Being part of a church that recently split from another church is a difficult thing. While some are excited to "move ahead," I find myself still a little grieved that the split happened anyway. Obviously it's not the first time there's been division within the church. There seems to be those who stoke the coals of gossip, of which I've probably been part of at times, and how greatly does it spread like an agitating virus! I think I've always had a pretty liberal view of gossip: why talk about someone else (if they're not around) unless it is strictly complimenting that person? One might say, "It's important to share 'concerns' about other people." If that's the case, why wouldn't those concerns be directly addressed? And once they've been addressed, does one person's conflicts with another person have to become a whole group's conflict with another person?

I've grown agitated with the thin grapevine within the church lately. Have we become too accustomed to a gossip thirsty culture, where newspapers and news programs tend to focus on the corrupt, the violent, and the sensational?