Friday, May 23, 2008

This is your brain on hope...

I had bad dreams. I don't remember what they were, just that I was glad to get up. I read some Phillip Yancey, trying to make sense of the words of two New York pastors, Pete S. (Emotionally Healthy Spirituality) (I finished the book yesterday morning and promptly started watching Raising Helen for the umpteenth time) and Tim Keller, who I heard last night.

Tim Keller is one of those thinkers that makes your brain hurt because it's working to figure out how to process all these really big thoughts. WOW.

Which is why I need Phillip Yancey, who seems to know that I can be a "bear of little brain" and a ragamuffin.

An aside: I got to see some folks I hadn't seen in ages. I sat with the W family, I saw B and his brother A, and talked briefly with J and saw that A (his wife) is much with child. All of these (except for Mr. and Mrs. W) (oh, and saw S.U., passed along a hello to his wife L.) folks are younger than me chronologically and yet seemingly further along the road vocationally. I'm a late bloomer, what can I say? I most enjoyed talking to B's brother A, who I wondered if he'd remember me and I held out my hand and he pulled me in for a hug. Is it any wonder I still have a mini-crush? He was in New York, and just got a job back here, at the History museum.

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Okay, I'm just babbling at this point. The thing is, I don't keep a journal right now, except for this. But some of my thoughts are so raw that they don't bear sharing, so I'm writing in a code that I might be able to understand someday when I come across this.

In my surfings this morning, I found this wonderful video. I can't figure out how to "embed" it, so I'll just link to Heidi, who posted it. It features one of my favorite actors, Rider Strong, and happens to be a shameless plug for a politician. But even if you are not supporting said politician, you can believe that hope is something we all need, and if you grew up with "this is your brain (egg) this is your brain on drugs (fried egg)" this video is just fun. The artistry sort of reminds me of the conversations on the show Friends--Chandler and Joey would have a fight that mimicked the fight a husband and wife had about kids, but it was really two roommates fighting about caring for their pet duck and chick.

Yeah, I'm really babbling. I really have to go get ready for work now. This is a strange office I keep, reading morning email and blogs and trying to figure out my life...saw this name twice today, so will look him up later at work: Parker Palmer. (Heidi and Pete both mentioned him.) I think it was Heidi...

tootles. I get to have lunch with one of my favorite librarians K. today.

3 comments:

Katrina said...

The only good thing about nightmares is that moment of overwhelming relief when you wake up and realize it was just a dream.

I haven't read a lot of Philip Yancey, but I loved "What's So Amazing About Grace?" Sometimes it's nice to have someone else turn on the light bulb over my head so I can see what's been right in front of my face all along...lol!

Heidi Renee said...

tanx for the link! glad you're reading yancey, i echo katrina - light bulbs galores!!

Sarah Louise said...

Katrina,

Hey! Thanks for stopping by. Philip Yancey is one of the most down to earth Christian writers I know. And he reads everyone, so I invariably learn about other writers I should read. But he never shoulds you--his books are very non-self-help-y, which is why I return to them again and again. I discovered him in college when I read Disappointment with God my senior year (I was having a tough time and it helped.) Now any PY book that I own is heavily underlined and "annotated."

Heidi, hey you! Thanks for stopping by. Yancey rocks!!

xo,

SL