If My People

“If My people will humble themselves and pray....” that was the thought going over and over in my head as I prayed for and thought about the upcoming elections. In four days we will know who will win this election. The thing that I keep reminding myself of is that God knows now, and He “controls the heart of the king.”

Job 17

It appears in Job 17 that Job is in a state of utter despair. From the very start of this chapter in verse one we see that Job is wishing to be in the grave. He shuns the mocking of those around him and seems to be making the excuse for his friends that the truth about his suffering has been hidden from them. This seems like a very generous act considering that they are his friends and are sitting there watching him and yet seem to have little compassion. He is at a very low state emotionally and seems to be searching for the meaning of life. He seems to not understand what is going on and is trying to remind himself of good things. In verse nine he talks about the righteous but directly following that in verse ten he is sinking right back into despair. In verse eleven it seems as though he has already completely given up on life. He shows no sign of thinking he will ever come out of this hardship. He goes on in verse thirteen to beautifully explain, despite it's sheer darkness, how the grave is his home. This is a beautiful metaphor showing extreme comfort in death and no desire to live. It seems like Job is just waiting for the day he can die. It is just a matter of time until death overtakes him and he has nothing to live for until then. His life has become all about waiting for death. He has not hope. As we found in verse one he is in utter despair here again in verse thirteen. In verse fourteen Job seems to even give up on righteousness. Though he has been a righteous man it has profited him nothing. This seems to be a conformation that really truly he doesn't care about anything other than to be done with the life he is living. He doesn't even care about righteousness and wants to become as if he were family with corruption. I believe that the worm he is speaking about is death and rottenness of body after death. Even the ugliness involved with a dead body is better, in his mind, to him than living life the way it is now. In verse fifteen he asks the rhetorical question: “Where is my hope?” this isn't really a question as we know that he has no hope at this point. It is only one more beautiful way of pointing towards his hopelessness. In the final verse of this chapter he speaks again of death. This chapter seems to be full of both despair in death and a desperate desire to be dead and not have to live in the horrible existence that Job now finds himself.

Friends and School and Fun

Running, kicking, falling, jumping, sliding – an excellent way to spend an evening after taking finals and turning in papers. Playing soccer always reminds me of Central America, the dirt there smells different though (believe me, I know). It is so good to play with friends no matter where we are at any stage in life. I would have never guessed I would play soccer or softball with friends from college. I guess I always viewed college and beyond as a very serious thing where you just sit around and talk...after a few years you start sitting around and talking and knitting. We aren't to that stage yet. Maybe give us another 60 years and we can just sit around. For now, I need to move after sitting at an uncomfortable desk that has an arm that grabs around me and holds me down for hours on end. Yay for friends to brighten the day!

Friendship DOUBLES our JOYS and DIVIDES our SORROW.

Our lives are filled with joys and blessings without end and one of the greatest joys is to have a friend

Friction in Life

The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

-Chinese Proverb

Jaberwocky

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws theat catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought-
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in though.

And, as in uffish though he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

- Lewis Carroll


This is a poem that I'm using for study in my English 370 (Intro to language) class. Words that mean nothing are so much fun! I'm really enjoying all the nonsense that takes place in that class and in my homework. But now I must study for my midterm....there is nothing nonsense about that.

Response to What the Green Tree Said

"What the Green Tree Said" is a poem by MacLeish that I read and wrote about for my Scriptural Lit class. MacLeish, wrote several poems about the garden of Eden and the fall of man.

The opening words start boldly with “Wakening is forbidden” the fruit of that tree would show Adam and Eve good from evil as if it was awakening them from a sleep. MacLeish seems to start very strongly with the fact that they knew the fruit was forbidden and also reminds of of what the serpent had told Eve that the fruit would open their eyes, perhaps as one awakens and opens her eyes. Then he gives examples of nature to tell us who all this act would affect. It would affect the space, time, star, stone (representing earth perhaps), bird and beast. MacLeish seems to be suggesting that when Adam and Eve awoke to know good and evil inherently the rest of creation did as well. With the act of eating the apple accomplished now all of creation was a part of this awakening, not just the participants. Each of these are “wakers” who see what “has been hidden” the author seems to be suggesting that until now all evil has been hid from all of creation and will now be reviled. They will now be awakened to what innocence, of sleep, had hidden before. MacLeish says “Wakers will no longer rest” this line seems to be referring to the fact that once Adam and Eve took the fruit they were cast from the garden and never allowed to return. Creation had been spoiled and would never be the same again. In the last line MacLeish suggests that there would never be that sleep or innocence to nakedness and sin. They would never rest as they were commanded, or bidden, to by God when he said not to eat of that tree. The most interesting part of this poem may be that it is written in the perspective of the tree. The tree saw all that happened, saw the command being given by God, saw the taking of the fruit, saw Adam and Eve being cast out of the out of the garden. It makes me think of what it would have been like to be there and see all of this. MacLeish seems to be alluding in the title itself how sad it would be to see this awakening that would keep innocence from ever returning to creation.

Isaiah 18 1-7

This was a post that I made on Blackboard for my Scriptural lit class. I've been enjoying this class quite a lot.


Isaiah is warning the people of the destruction to come and the woes that will follow. In the writing of these verses we see much metaphor in these verses especially pertaining to the land and peoples of the earth. In verses one and two he makes reference to the land although these references could be meaning the country rather than the land as in the ground itself. Verse three even states “all ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth” it would appear that Isaiah is speaking to people who knew the earth well, perhaps to farmers. In verse four he goes on by giving a metaphor about plants or herbs and the harvest. In verse five he refers to the harvest of grapes as a metaphor of what will happen to the people. If they are truly farmers and keepers of vineyard they would understand very well about the pruning hooks to cut off the grapes. In verse six there is a reference of being left to the wild animals. It appears from the descriptive language that Isaiah and the people he is addressing knew about wild animals and had a fear of the destruction they could bring. Verse seven is when it is truly relieved that Isaiah is referring to the people. The people shall be pealed from the earth the waters spoiled. Although this is the first portion that shows blatantly that this section is about the people it seems that the people knew, because of their culture, throughout the chapter that these references about the ground were really about them. Isaiah, uses metaphorical language throughout his entire book so it is likely that these people used metaphor also. It also seems likely that they used story telling as Isaiah seems to use a lot of connectors or linking words as part of his language. It may be that these people Isaiah is addressing used a lot of metaphoric language in their every day lives and as a method for story telling. It is in the metaphoric rhetoric that we see into the lives of these people of the earth and understand their fear of the wild animals and their understanding of growing things. Also we understand the impact that Isaiah's words would have on theme in his metaphors. They would understand very well exactly the horror of what Isaiah is warning against.