I am reading The Lost Message of Jesus by Steven Chalke and it has given me some thoughts. This particular chapter deals with the idea of being "saved" and "born again." Those words tend to make me cringe a little, and I'm glad to see that they do so to Steven Chalke too. It reminds me of a time during counselor training at Sky Ranch. While waiting to train on the jet skis, one of my fellow counselors asked me how I became "saved" and I told him my schpeel. Then I asked for his. And he said "This morning, I woke up and asked God to save me." And he says he is saved everyday. And I think that is beautiful.

In this book Chalke points out that in the Bible, Jesus only uses the phrase "born-again" twice and that was within one conversation with one guy--Nicodemus. "And yet it has become the basis for one of the most confusing, misused and abused, misunderstood and despised ideas in the history of the church." The Jesus of the Bible was more interested in the ongoing process of salvation. We are already saved and are continually learning to become and act like saved people all our lives. He quotes a bishop of the Church of England who, when asked if he was saved, replied, "I have been saved, I am being saved, and one day I will be saved." Isn't that beautiful?

My room is beautiful now too. I'm not as satisfied, though, as I thought I would be now that I'm all unpacked. It's just my room. The same. I like it, but it's just a room.

Class starts tomorrow and everywhere was crazy today--church, campus, the bookstore, Wal-Mart. I quickly returned to the sanctuary of my apartment, which is where I am now, snuggled in the papasan in the corner or my room.

It has been a really good past couple of days. I was worried that I would get bored when I came home, but I've been pretty entertained. I've caught up with a lot of people, gotten to know others better, been to two concerts, and yesterday, I made quiche for my family. Today is an open book and we'll see where it takes me.

Speaking of books, the biography I'm reading of Muhammad is intriguing. Muhammad sounds like a good guy. The world islam simply means to surrender and Muhammad taught that that is was people should do--simply surrender to the will of Allah. Allah simply means God, and Muhammad believed that Jews and Christians ("People of the Book") worshipped the same god as Muslims. Different people just had different din or, way of life, moral law. He was actually greatly perplexed when Jews and Christians would preach that their religion was the only true religion. Muhammad believed "it was idolatry to take pride in belonging to a particular religious tradition rather than concentrating on Allah himself." And to him, we were all related anyway, all descendants of Abraham. For sure the Islam of today is different than a lot of what Muhammad preached, just as Christianity has evolved from the time of Jesus.

It's an interesting read.

Along the same vein, I'm next going to read a book called The Lost Message of Jesus by Steven Chalke for a Sunday school class I'm going to help lead in the fall. From what a hear, the book is about looking at the teachings of Jesus outside of our Western bifocals. I'm excited. I'll let you know how it goes.

And remember how at the beginning of this post I said I was going to see where today takes me? Well, it looks like it's going to take me to Oklahoma! I'm going there with my Momma soon to see my new baby cousin, Mac. Mac Carmack. These plans were formed as this post was being written. It is a very exciting month in the life of my family, let me tell ya.

Wow, I had not idea people had such strong feelings about quiche! Thanks for all the support and comments.

I am celebrating my country's independence today be being independent. Hanging out with me, you know. I'm sitting in my apartment, vacated of all roommates. I've read a lot. I'm currently working my way through Achebe's Things Fall Apart and understand why it's such a classic. Later there will be fireworks and friends.

I was fooling with my Photobooth with some of my farm peeps and what we thought was going to be a picture turned into this.


So there you've met some new people in my life.
Earlier that day, we went swimming.

Today definitely felt like summer, and I'm not just talking about the sun and the heat. Both of those were involved in the day (but thankfully today I wore sunscreen) but there was also swimming in a pond. It was a sizable pond, though not quite a lake. I don't really know where the line is between pond and lake. I think it has to do more with depth than expanse. Either way, a dip in this body of water was very refreshing and very summer. It will be happening again soon. We did see one and a half snakes though. I say half, because one was just a baby. The other one was gliding along the surface of the water. It looked pretty cool, but was not a comforting sight.

And this is from page 248 of the aforementioned novel:

As well as touching on the sensitive topic of religion, Athena had gone further: she had talked about diet, a subject of national interest, more important even than wars, strikes, or natural disasters. We may not all believe in God, but we all want to get thin.

Ouch, America. That hurts. Oh wait, this book is set in England. Really--ouch, humanity.


The human mind is an amazing thing. I was thinking this while typing that quote. I was looking at symbols (letters) with my eyes that form into thoughts (words) that flowed into my mind and back out through my fingertips, which knew which buttons to press to transcribe those symbols to form those ideas again on this document. Wild!

"'How would you like to go to Palermo ten days from now?' asked Franz.
'I prefer Geneva,' she answered. She was standing in front of her easel, examining a work in progress.
'How can you live without seeing Palermo?' asked Franz at an attempt at levity.
'I have seen Palermo,' she said.
'You have?' he said with a hint of jealousy.
'A friend of mine once sent me a postcard from there. It's taped up over the toilet. Haven't you noticed?'"

That one is from page 80.

I'm going to hang out with Radiohead tonight. Woot! I'm not actually an active listener of Radiohead, but I appreciate them as musical artists and enjoy concerts. I hear they have memorable concerts. Woot!

I will soon begin the next phase of my summer. This past week as been hanging-out-at-home phase. Consuming. Food, time, money. Phase two will involve working, but with hanging out involved as well. Making new friends and learning. I'll let you know how it goes.

And apparently people would rather roadtrip than work at an organic farm with cool people. I guess we're different. I don't know why I made that poll, I had already made my decision. I guess just to know other people's decisions. You should take my new one though. It'll give me insight into the souls of my fan base.

"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out is mute. Only chance can speak to us. We read its messages much as gypsies read the images made by coffee grounds at the bottom of a cup."

That's from page 48 of a book I'm rereading--The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. I read it for my European Lit class in the fall and remember finding it intriguing. I'm now out to find how intriguing it actually is. So far, very much so. I heard a quote once, I think by C.S. Lewis or Winston Churchill or some other oft-quoted man, about how to really read a book, one must read it twice. I believe that to be true. And since it is in a quote, it must be true.

So, I know we've been over this, but I'm a senior now.

And I'm in a big empty house. I love the people who normally occupy this house, but it's also really fun for it to just be me (and Milan Kundera).