Out Of The Box

Do You Hear What I Hear

I tweeted something about my wife and I not having children and it reminded me of one of the times that, I believe, God spoke to me. No I don’t mean that I hear voices, it’s more like impressions that in retrospect are undoubtedly from outside myself.

I don’t think God verbally speaks to people but He does put an unmistakable communication on the soul. I’ve heard it a few times but with some I was never sure if it was Him or only something I wanted or needed to hear at the time. There are three however that are especially poignant. The timeline of the following occurrences are not in sync. 

The first time that seemed so real was in a small church in Oklahoma that I had been “forced” to attend. As the pastor, at the end of the service, asked if there was anyone that wanted to “accept Christ” into their life I not only heard “go forward” I almost felt a hand pushing me into the aisle, which I was resisting strongly. But I did step out and went on to become a music minister in that church and eventually moved to Colorado and “planted” a church.

Another “strong” impression that, in hindsight was supernatural, happened while I was praying, asking God if I may spend my life with my now wife Amy. I will only say that It was a “little rocky” when we first began a romantic relationship, no one wanted us to be together.

As I prayed the words: “may I have this woman” an impression came upon my soul saying: Yes, but you will never have children with her. Years later, when I considered having a vasectomy reversed in order to have children with her, she was diagnosed with a problem that prevented her from ever having a child.

The third one that stands out for me had to do with alcohol abuse and surprise, my wife Amy again. 

There was a time, before Amy and I were married, that I fell into a dark pit of hopeless alcoholism. It was very real, with binge drinking until I passed out nearly ever night. 

After will power, interventions and even 35 days in rehab failed. I had no intention of stopping until one day when Amy came to me and said: “I can’t do this anymore, I’m leaving you”. She had said this before but this time I knew it was true.

At that point I turned and left. Walking around aimlessly and with an anxiety like I had never had before. I desperately wanted help, desperately wanted Amy to remain in my life. 

Finally, after walking in circles for what seemed like a very long time, I got into a van outside of where Amy was. Throwing myself, facedown onto the floor I prayed making a “deal” with God. Not the usual deal, that you often hear about however, I can recall clearly that the words came very slowly, very forced as I said: If you let me keep her I will never take another drop of alcohol as long as I live.

Just as I finally got out the words the impression came (this one was nearly audible) “get up, go to her”. With that I got up and went in, where she was and as our eyes met she said “I’m not leaving you. I love you too much”. I ask her: “when did you decide that?” She replied: “only moments ago”. 

I have not had a drop of alcohol since that day, not even in mouthwash or food. And it was not a struggle, all desire was taken from me as well a real healing. 

I know all of these things can be justified and explained away in other ways. But that’s what faith is all about. If we had absolute proof of God and then rebelled, which we would, there would be no chance of salvation. 

Be still and listen, you may hear and believe what I have heard and know. 

Kurt Vonnegut Explains Our Need For Drama

I ran across this years ago and always thought it to be so pertinent to my life, as well as the lives of many people that I know well. Here is the post of Derek Sivers word for word:

____________________________

I was at a Kurt Vonnegut talk in New York a few years ago. Talking about writing, life, and everything.

He explained why people have such a need for drama in their life.

He said, “People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories. Let’s look at a few examples.”

He drew an empty grid on the board, like this:

Time moves from left to right. Happiness from bottom to top.

He said, “Let’s look at a very common story arc. The story of Cinderella.”

It starts with her awful life with evil stepsisters, scrubbing the fireplace. Then she get an invitation to the ball! Things look up. Then the fairy godmother makes her a dress and a coach. Even better! Then she goes to the ball, and dances with the prince! This is great! But then it’s midnight. She has to go. Oh no. Sadness. Back to her humdrum life scrubbing the fireplace. But it’s not as bad as before, because she’s had this encouraging experience. Then, the prince finds her, and the happiness factor is off the chart! Happily ever after.

“People LOVE that story! This story arc has been written a thousand times in a thousand tales. And because of it, people think their lives are supposed to be like this.”

He wiped the board clean and said, “Now let’s look at another popular story arc: the disaster.”

It’s an ordinary day in an ordinary town. But something horrible happens! A child falls down a well! The whole town gathers to save her. Old grudges surface, but are belittled in the light of this tragedy. Rifts are bonded as people work together. The child is saved, and all is well. But notice it’s a little better than it was before, now that this incident has brought them all closer together.

“People LOVE that story! This story arc has been written a thousand times in a thousand tales. And because of it, people think their lives are supposed to be like this.”

But the problem is, life is really like this…

Our lives drifts along with normal things happening. Some ups, some downs, but nothing to go down in history about. Nothing so fantastic or terrible that it’ll be told for a thousand years.

“But because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think our lives are supposed to be filled with huge ups and downs! So people pretend there is drama where there is none.”

That’s why people invent fights. That’s why we’re drawn to sports. That’s why we act like everything that happens to us is such a big deal.

We’re trying to make our life into a fairy tale.

Americans Don’t Have Accents The British Do!

nickpatrick:

Reading David McCullough’s 1776, I found myself wondering: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents? If so, when did American accents diverge from British accents?

The answer surprised me.

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