Introspection

Dandelions are Beautiful

Leave a comment

You say the dandelion is a weed. You ignore its simple beauty, and classify it as a pest. You call it ugly. But it’s not just about a dandelion. Look at the children. They enter school and life so vibrant and open, and in a few short years they’re scared. They won’t draw some wild-eyed, fanciful picture anymore. They’re convinced that they must color within the lines. They think the dandelion is a weed too. But it doesn’t stop there. Look at the young woman. She sees her body in the mirror, and images from magazines in her mind. She’s no cover girl. The two don’t match. She must be worthless. Society has crushed her concept of beauty, and now she no longer fits that category. An inner battle is fought, and too often her body will lose, and the pounds will come dangerously off. She thinks the dandelion is a weed too.

But don’t they see? It’s a magnificent flower. It adds balance to the vast green field and puts amazing splotches of color everywhere. A dandelion isn’t a weed.

“Lord, search my heart, Create in me something clean. Dandelions–You see flowers in these weeds.” (“Dandelions” by Five Iron Frenzy)

Love

Finding a New Love

Leave a comment

This morning the church service was held outside. What a beautiful way to worship God. As a side effect, I now have a sunburn.

“So what’s on your mind?” she asks. You again, huh? Hmmm. Where do I begin and what do I say?

Projects, tests and papers bear down on me, and finals loom on the horizon. The sun has finally come out, and the warm weather is beckoning me away from my work. 15 people died in the Columbine massacre, and people struggle to understand. Bombs fall in Yugoslavia as the ethnic cleansing continues in Kosovo. Conflict guts my church at home, my mother breaks down crying as she tells me, and I’m 700 miles away and can’t do a thing. And my heart finds a new love that the old won’t understand. “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” the Psalmist cries out (10:1), and I understand the pain he feels. But I also know that “You are my Lord, apart from you I have no good thing,” (Psalm 16:2).

The pain she feels is tremendous. I can only imagine. “No, you can’t.” she retorts. Well, maybe I can’t. But I think I can. Do you think I planned this? Do you think I meant it to be this way? It’s times like these that I can only cling to God. I didn’t write the script. No man could write a plot so complex. I’m just stumbling along, trying to read my lines and adlib the ones I forget. Somehow He gives me the cues I need. I know it hurts. Your tears pierce my soul. You don’t want to believe that, because that would mean I have compassion, and you can’t hate me if I have that. But enough of that. It gets us nowhere. I don’t want to see you hurt, but this is the way it’s working out. There’s a plan behind it, and it makes no sense now, but someday it will. I’m following the way I know. I showed care and concern for you, and still do. And now I must move forward. I’m sorry. Don’t bury your rage in a ball. Don’t hate yourself. This is more than that. This is beyond all that. Can’t you see?

And so I step forward, knowing the past is shaky, but confident in the present. I hold your hand, and I know that only God could have put it there. So we walk forward, and move on to the next scene, “Line please.”

Love

Hold My Hand, Laugh and Talk

Leave a comment

How can things be so right, and yet so confusing? The chorus of a cheesy pop song from middle school returns to my mind. “I need to hear from you,” (Petra). A good friend and I used to sing those words in jest, referring to his girlfriend who had been ignoring him. The words return to my mind for vastly different reasons, but they still return. So much confusion and cloudiness can so easily be cleared up. I know it’s hard, but why must you take so long?

“Do you want to go for a walk you can hold my hand we can laugh and talk. You can lead the way, which way you want to go, tell me all the things I really, really want to know. Hair is gold and her eyes are blue I’m in love with the girl with the flower tattoo and if I wrote the perfect song you know I’d name it after you. t-shirt, sneakers, some faded blue jeans, pockets in the back ripped from the seams. Doesn’t really care what she hears or sees, what they think about her what they think about me. Hair is gold and her eyes are blue I’m in love with a girl with a flower tattoo and if I wrote the perfect song you know I’d name it after you. Do you want to go for a walk you can hold my hand we can laugh and talk. You can lead the way, which way you want to go, tell me all the things I really, really want to know. Hair is gold and her eyes are blue I’m in love with a girl with a flower tattoo and if I wrote the perfect song you know I’d name it after you.” – ‘Flower Tattoo’ by the W’s

(close enough)

World News

Columbine Massacre

Leave a comment

As the horror unfolds, it seems I can only ask questions. What is wrong with this country when such a thing can happen? What is wrong with people when they stoop to such a level? What is wrong with the rest of us that we let them stoop so low, and never stop to think of them?

Cassie Bernall, Steven Curnow, Corey DePooter, Kelly Fleming, Matthew Kechter, Daniel Mauser, Daniel Rohrbough, Rachel Scott, Isaiah Shoels, John Tomlin, Lauren Townsend, Kyle Velasquez, and William “Dave” Sanders, we cry for you. It breaks my heart to hear the 911 tapes, and hear the shots in the background. The shots could have been the bullets that ended your lives. They could have been the bullets that wounded someone. The more I hear of this tragedy, the more it breaks my heart. The picture of a bloody, wounded student pulling his way out a broken window will never leave my mind. When humanity stoops to this level, we must stop and ask ourselves what is happening. When young children can see the graphic carnage on the evening news, we must ask ourselves just what we are doing.

World News

Columbine Questions

Leave a comment

Here’s some more thoughts on the shooting in Colorado. I wrote the following piece for the Table Tent:

I sat in the quiet of my room, enjoying a chance to stop for a moment. How was I supposed to know that somewhere else gunshots were shattering the silence? With anger, rage, and confusion, two students strode through the hallowed halls of their school, firing shots and throwing bombs. Blood flowed, people cried, and part of me died. Now the questions are being asked, and everyone’s coming up short. How do you know someone would take their life, and the lives of 13 innocent? The answer seems painfully clear to me. They were outcasts. Alone in their thoughts, they struck back in the only way they could. Did anyone stop to reach out to them? The blame is now being cast on lax gun control laws and violent TV shows, which certainly share the guilt. But what about you? What about me? Did we stoop from our righteous lives to show love to the outcast? Or did we ignore them, leaving them to wallow in their hate? Seven school shootings in the past two years. And those are only the “safe” suburban schools that the news media cares about. The problem isn’t desensitized violence, easily available weapons, and deadbeat parents, although they all contribute. The problem is the Christian who refuses to make a difference.

—

“Is there anybody out there? Does anybody care? Are the people really there? Is anybody seeking? Does anybody see? Or are they deaf and dumb like me?” (‘Anybody Out There’ by Burlap to Cashmere)

Love

The Fairy Tale Continues

Leave a comment

Life seems to happen so fast. One week things are one way, and the next week they’re completely different. So much can happen, and so much does. The person I didn’t think much of talking to, I now long to hear a word from. The feelings I ignored before, I now have trouble resisting. Yet it’s only been a week. One week.

“It doesn’t mean anything / Without You here with me / And I can try to justify / But I still need you here with me” (‘Here With Me’ by Plumb)

She holds my hand, and this fairy tale continues. She asked what was on my mind, and I let her into the maze. Where are we going, and what will we become? I don’t know, but I like it. The challenges lie ahead, and I want to face them.

“There’s no telling WHAT that young fellow will do!” (If I Ran The Zoo by Dr. Seuss)

Introspection

You Can Walk On Water If Only You’d Try

Leave a comment

The rain drips down outside in pathetic little drops. Not enough to get you wet, but enough to be a nuisance. I know April showers bring May flowers, but these aren’t showers. This is a leaky faucet. There’s just something annoying about it. The gray skies wear on your soul after a while. Standing in front of the window, you push your hands against the cold surface of the glass. You can see the rain dotting the puddles outside.

Somewhere out there, someone is hurting. And there’s nothing I can do. My thoughts turn to them, and my mind echoes prayers for them, but what more can I do? What’s done is done.

Just when you think you don’t understand, it all becomes so clear. There is a time for everything, and the great artisan has worked it all out so perfectly. You may be in choppy waters now–your boat may even have capsized–but the peace will come.

You can walk on water if only you’d try.

I have a rather eccentric art professor that claims the word “can’t” has to be the most offensive word to the ears of our God. “Fuck” must pale in comparison.

“You can do that,” she said with a confidence and assurance that I needed so badly. I looked up and caught her eyes, and my spirits were lifted.

An exchange of glances. Funny how one look can mean so much. What does yours say to the world?

World News

Silence Here; Shootings There

Leave a comment

I took a moment today, well a half hour really, to be quiet. I had a very busy day today, and at the time I was folding my laundry. My townhouse was empty, and for some reason I didn’t put a CD in or turn the radio on. I just folded in silence. Although my mind kept racing, it still felt very peaceful. Who would have thought that elsewhere gun shots were shattering the silence?

The increase in student violence in the past two years is shocking. It’s hard to believe that the worst killing spree in United States history was done by high school kids–to their fellow students. I know that people everywhere are in shock. Some people will blame deadbeat parents, violent movies or video games. But ask yourself, could you have prevented something like this? No one expects their children to do something like this. Do you know yours wouldn’t? People treat people like crap nowadays, and this is just one of the repercussions. God have mercy on us all.

—

Ever feel like you’re putting your head down on the chopping block? At times it feels that way, but somehow I know that God has it all under control. I can feel a hand on my shoulder, and despite all logic, I know he can make it work. Some how, some way, the peace will come. Rest your head on my shoulder, and it really will be alright.

Daily Grind

Kindergarten Hero & Tuxedos on Mission Control

Leave a comment

And now, more adventures from your favorite kindergarten hero, Kevin D. Hendricks. Today he read the thrilling account of one Miss Ridinghood and her encounter with a flesh eating wolf to groups of squirming children. And he read the story not once, but four straight times! He also comforted crying kids, banished a misbehaver to the corner, and amazed many a five-year-old with his rubber ball-kicking ability. (cue superhero music)

Today also brought a record breaking night for Mission Control. With only six hours of lead time Mission Control produced an extremely successful poster and e-mail campaign. The radio station is having a free stuff week (which is the norm for Mission Control), and my show was given the honor of giving away a free tuxedo rental. That’s a prize you just have to plug. Who wouldn’t want a tuxedo? Heck, even if you don’t have a date, it’ll extend your laundry window, or be a nice pick-me-up in the middle of the week (everyone smiles at people who dress up, trust me, we did it tonight for the show). Anyway, the last minute campaign worked extremely well. I was especially proud of the simple yet effective flyer I designed in under twenty minutes.

While I’m plugging my own radio show, we also added sound clips of the infamous Hostage Takeover to our web page. It’s a multimedia event! You can listen to the abduction and read the ransom note at the same time. What a deal. Check it out at: http://listen.to/missioncontrol (follow the link to the hostage clips).

A work-at-home dad wrestles with faith, social justice & story.