Stopping to Think

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman My rating: 5 of 5 stars This novella takes you inside the mind of a man and his memories, and walks you through the painful experience of losing those memories, only slipping out from time to time to help you feel how devastating this experience is not only for the man himself, but for his grandson and son as well. Backman’s prose is absolutely spot on. Delightful would be the wrong word given this subject matter, but the grace of his language is part of what makes the pain bearable. I lost my grandfather (on my mom’s side) almost a year ago, following several years of noticeable cognitive decline, and my own father has severe memory impairment following a stroke several years back. The pain I felt for ever character in this story was palpable. Devastating. And yet this book is so suffused with beauty. I suppose to give it a two word summary I would combine those two. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer ...

A young man went out into the world It was greatness that he hoped to find But as life’s pressures ‘round him swirled Those dreams crumbled in his mind Dejected by the “hand life dealt” Our friend’s thoughts did begin to waver And because great failure he had felt He hoped that drugs would be his savior “Just numb it all” he told himself As the needle slipped inside his vein He felt he fought the world itself For all that remained was pain He had lost both family and health Whilst success had been his chief endeavor But loss of job meant loss of wealth And he was without all earthly treasure He passed out one night beside the road And did not awake again on earth Could anyone have his end foretold? What would that warning have been worth? The tragic end of this man’s life Should cause each man to pause What do I value in my life? What has been my greatest cause? Will I come to the end and find That all I’ve lived for is but naught? To what h...

O come, O come, Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel. O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer Our spirits by Thine advent here Disperse the gloomy clouds of night And death's dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel. These are two of the verses to the familiar Christmas Hymn "O come, O come, Emmanuel." It is my favorite Christmas song, for a rather simple reason. In this song there is an incredible tension between an anxious, almost dejected, sense of waiting on the one hand; and a confident hope on the other.   On Sunday Andie and I started working through Desiring God's advent devotional, "Good News of Great Joy" (available free to download at http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/good-news-of-great-joy-free-advent-ebook ). And I have been struck by how little joy there is surrounding Ch...

The title describes exactly what I want to do.  Two years ago today a young man who has left an undeniable mark on many lives, was taken home by his Heavenly Father.  Why God decided Alex needed to go so soon, I honestly have no idea.  But the impact he made and the lives he touched in his short time here, is undeniable. Now I realize, as I hope you do, that Facebook is a poor measure of reality.  But I could not help but noticed as I pulled up my home page today, the number of statuses reading something to the affect of  "Alex, we love and miss you, RIP."  Obviously everyone put their own twist and touch on it, but that was the sentiment.  How does one person touch so many? Part of it was simply a function of his personality.  The dude was a show-off.  And he was good at it.  He loved attention, he loved the spotlight, and more than that, he loved to make people laugh and have fun.   Making people smile was something Alex absol...

Gently on my roof I hear the rain It drips on down the window pane My weary eyes gaze through the glass I wait and hope this storm shall pass This falling flood reflects my soul Where deeply I have sensed a hole It has come to where my body aches Because so oft my heart does break They say out yonder looms the sun Oh I pray those days would come That grey times from me would flee And my heart instead be filled with glee But indeed I know my need is more Than my circumstances have in store My deepest longing is for joy But life's schemes are so coy They steal from me that which I seek And make my place here feel so bleak In spite of this I thank the One Who gave for me His only Son And so I need not clear skies I need the One who for me dies To wreck my joy pain may endeavor But my joy in Him endures forever In circumstance it's found no longer So even when the storm grows stronger I know that I can still find peace For at last I've been ...