Tree and Leaf

I saw a leaf this cold morning, floating down the river,
colors fading, glory passing, nearly drowning,
but leaf nonetheless, and glory nonetheless,
beautiful and sad, both nonetheless.

I am a leaf this cold morning, life rushing like a river,
colors flashing, vistas passing, always just a breath away from drowning,
but life nonetheless, and glory nonetheless,
beautiful and sad, both nonetheless.

Leaf and life, both intertwined, glory in spring, but first comes winter.

What's Wrong With Buddhism

Brian over at the Banty Rooster has posted an excellent explanation of what's wrong with Buddhism. Here's a snippet:

If anyone ever asks me what is wrong with Buddhism, I'll tell them: go watch Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. A life of consistent Buddhism is a life without love. Buddhism, at the end of the day, doesn't believe in relationships, as, in fact, one of the characters says in the movie ("friendship is an illusion"). To be in a relationship is to be attached; to be vulnerable to another; to share oneself with another. It is the ultimate "entanglement." Since Buddhism teaches that the only ultimate reality is a transcendent "one-ness," all forms of relationship, "two-ness," if you will, is an illusion and something to be denied. I love Li Mu Bai's final assessment: "I have wasted my whole life." Life without relationship - nay, the living with the goal of avoiding relationship, is worthless and bankrupt.

Do yourself a favor and go read the whole thing...

Girl Who Loves Horses

So in school today, Rebekah wrote a poem about who she is, and I liked it so very much that I thought I'd post it here:

I AM

I am an imaginative girl who loves horses
I wonder what it's like to ride on clouds
I hear horses cryding out in pain and longing
I see a rider beating his horse and my heart cries out as if I'm the one being beaten
I want to win the horse show

I am an imaginative girl who loves horses
I pretend I am riding my horse over clouds
I feel her heart beating as quickly as she runs
I touch the sun
I worry that we'll go too high
I wish I could own a horse

I am an imaginative girl who loves horses
I understand her feelings
I say "We will never part"
I dream that our ride never ends
I try to speak her language
I hope she understands my feelings

I am an imaginative girl who loves horses

What a strange and beautiful thing to hear something from your daughter's lips that you didn't know what there, and to think "Wow. Where did THAT come from?" And then to wonder what else is there which you haven't yet discovered because you thought you already knew...

Dealing With Telemarketers

On the lighter side, this is one of the funniest things I have heard in a long while - a creative approach for dealing with telemarketers... [HT: my lil brudder Nicholas]

Backyard Sunset, River Road

Leaves in sunlight never cease to amaze me. God is an artist. All creation is his canvas. And blind is the man who can look on such beauty with hearing the voice of God.

Good Night Moon

Missoula, MT, Monday October 9, while riding into town.

So today marks something of a new direction for SLD. Over the coming weeks, I'm going to be working on a new look and feel. Even more significantly, the content is going to become decidely more Missoula-centric (because after all, this is where we live and breathe and have our being, and just about everybody here sees life differently, in one way or another).

My desire is to exegete that vision, pointing out how God is working in many people, places, and ways (both within and without the church). And since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm going to try and talk a little less, and paint pictures a little more. All that to say, this blog is going to get decidely more artistic. And maybe a little less explicit. But hopefully no less implicit. Hope you don't mind (after all, God seems to speak this way as well...)

A New Perspective on the Life of a Cell

Wow. This is simply amazing. A stunning 3 minute video of what happens in your body on a cellular level - how white blood cells do what they do. It's an "artists representation," but it was produced in conjunction w/ the latest scientific research, so its probably as accurate as we can be at this point. Very, very cool. All I need now is someone to explain it to me ;-) [HT: Karyn T]