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Walking_the_Red_Road
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Name: Jamie
Birthday: 4/12/1987
Gender: Male
Interests: Missions, Disc Golf, Fishing, Reading, Golfing, Playing Baseball or other Sports with Friends, Optical Illusions
Expertise: Chemical Engineering
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
Member Since:
4/28/2006
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| Tonight is a cold night in Iowa City. Coming in from the cold, changing into pajamas, and putting on my slippers was a welcome adjustment. Now if only I had a fireplace....
I'm listening to a favorite song of mine that I came across last year - it's called "Ain't No Reason" by Brett Dennen. It speaks of things in the world that just aren't right. I'm sure that none of us would disagree with the fact that this world is messed up....especially with news of the recent shooting at NIU. This is how the song goes:
"Ain't No Reason"
There ain’t no reason things are this way.
Its how they always been and they intend to stay.
I can't explain why we live this way, we do it everyday.
Preachers on the podium speakin’ of saints,
Prophets on the sidewalk beggin’ for change,
Old ladies laughing from the fire escape, cursing my name.
I got a basket full of lemons and they all taste the same,
A window and a pigeon with a broken wing,
You can spend your whole life workin’ for something
Just to have it taken away.
People walk around pushing back their debts,
Wearing pay checks like necklaces and bracelets,
Talking ‘bout nothing, not thinking ‘bout death,
Every little heartbeat, every little breath.
People walk a tight rope on a razors edge
Carrying their hurt and hatred and weapons.
It could be a bomb or a bullet or a pen
Or a thought or a word or a sentence.
There Ain't no reason things are this way.
It's how they always been and they intend to stay
I don’t know why I say the things I say, but I say them anyway.
But love will come set me free
Love will come set me free,*I do believe*
Love will come set me free, *I know it will*
Love will come set me free, yes.
Prison walls still standing tall,
Some things never change at all.
Keep on buildin’ prisons, gonna fill them all,
Keep on buildin’ bombs, gonna drop them all.
Working your fingers bear to the bone,
Breaking your back, make you sell your soul.
Like a lung that’s filled with coal, suffocatin’ slow.
The wind blows wild and I may move,
The politicians lie and I am not fooled.
You don't need no reason or a three piece suit to argue the truth.
The air on my skin and the world under my toes,
Slavery stitched into the fabric of my clothes,
Chaos and commotion wherever I go, love I try to follow.
Love will come set me free
Love will come set me free, I do believe
Love will come set me free, I know it will
Love will come set me free, yes.
There ain't no reason things are this way
It’s how they always been and they intend to stay
I can't explain why we live this way, we do it everyday.
When I listen to the song, sometimes I can't tell if it was written with hope or with despair. It was probably written with a mixture of both. I hear hope. The interesting thing is that there is only one line of hope in the whole song - "Love will come set me free". I like how the writer personifies love. In this song, love is not an emotion or an action - it is a living thing that is actively involved in the world. Apart from this I'm not sure how the writer views love - but I can tell you how I hear this song and why it is so meaningful.
When I listen to the song - I hear this:
"Love has come set me free"
And I believe I'm filled with more hope than the writer knows possible. Because when I hear the word "Love" here, I think of Jesus. During His time on this earth, He showed us what love really is. To this day, He still shows me. He's more than an interesting concept or a topic of study - He is God. He is Love.
"This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." 1 John 4:10
Love has come set me free.
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| Tonight I am excited! I just heard that Shuchang (a Chinese girl that I met here in Georgia) became a Christian last weekend! It is so great - I don't think I've ever been so excited about anyone becoming a Christian before. I don't know Shuchang that well, but I can tell she's an awesome girl. The first time I met her was at a party on Lake Lanier. She sure loved going fast in the wakeboarding boat. Anyway, she's already been an encouragement to me. One night I really just needed to hear from someone, and it so happens that I got an email from Shuchang. Like I said, I am so excited that she now knows Jesus! Her life here on earth and even her life after earth are going to be joyful experiences because of it. Anyone Jesus followers who are reading this, please pray for Shuchang's family to learn who Jesus really is and make the same decision she did. Her family is currently free thinking and influenced by Buddhism.
P.S. Shuchang has the coolest nickname ever - 水滴. It means "drop of water". I don't really know how to explain it....but it does capture some of the characteristics of Shuchang. Maybe the main three it captures are "beautiful" and "full of life" and "refreshing".
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| Sometimes I feel an urge to write. I'm not quite sure what plants these urges within me. All I know is that when I feel the need to write....I cannot help but write. The funny thing is that the urge to write usually presents itself in the most inopportune times. It pops up the night before an important exam (after I've already stayed up too late studying) or the night before I'm going to see a friend I haven't seen for a long time (who I do not want to meet exhausted) or even after I have already thrown myself into bed. Many of these times, I would describe my mood as mellow. This makes me stop to think - "What do I look like in the portrait that my writing paints of me?" I'm not sure if the question presents itself out of concern or out of curiosity. I think that my writing oftentimes only presents one piece of myself. If I were to describe that piece....it would go something like this:
"I am full of feelings. Sometimes I know what those feelings are, but tonight I don't even know what they are. All I know is that there are feelings inside of me and it is dark outside and I am alone. I need to express my feelings....some type of feelings anyway. Coffee sounds good right now. I am tired and everybody around me is asleep. I'm going to make some coffee and sit down to write."
Now, I'm not saying this is the only piece of me you see by reading what I write here. But in many ways, I think this piece of me prevails in my writing on this website. And I believe it is good to write in times like this. It is good to write because it helps me organize my thoughts.....and it helps me see what is important to me in life.....and it gives me some relaxing solitude. It is also good because I enjoy knowing that there are those of you who read what I write here - thanks for that. Although some of you may only know me through reading what I write here - most of you know me a little from being around me.
But for those of you who don't.....there is a Jamie whose heart beats quickly as he pushes himself out of an airplane, who creates reason for his older brother to ask "Does your music have to be that loud for you to hear it?", who laughs at the memory of his cockatiel unexpectedly flying into his bowl of cereal, who enjoys whistling a good tune, and who loves the thrill of running to make a tough catch in a game of Ultimate Frisbee. However, you won't often see those parts of me here. Why? Well, because in this moment I am not throwing myself out of an airplane. I am sitting down and drinking a cup of coffee.
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| Last night I watched my favorite movie up to this point in my life. The movie is called "Stranger than Fiction". Don't be diverted from the movie just because you aren't a fan of Will Ferrel - this movie is different from his regular performance. Will Ferrel plays a man by the name of Harold Crick....a man who begins hearing voices as he goes about his daily activities. In fact, the voice is narrating his life. I won't spoil the movie for you, but it is about Harold's journey to discover/overcome this voice that he keeps hearing. The result is a movie full of hope and despair...comedy and tragedy. One of my favorite things about the movie is that it can have me laughing at Harold's actions at one moment and then realizing his despair the next. At one point in the movie, Harold is trying to discover whether his life is a "comedy" or a "tragedy". The movie itself is a delicate balance of the two.
Another one of my favorite parts of the movie is it's focus on the small, seemingly unimportant things in life that help give us hope and bring us happiness. These are the types of things that I appreciate most in life. Those are the types of things that make my day when they take place. If you read one of my previous entries "Things I Like" - you can see some of the things I'm talking about. Actually, even today I had a subtlety occur that made my day. Well, actually I had a couple.
1) This morning I planned on going to church, but I slept through it. I just couldn't get myself out of bed and on my way. Maybe now you're thinking, "Hmm....sleeping through church is what makes Jamie's day?" Well, if you're thinking that then I'm afraid you're mistaken. I'm simply setting up the story for what really did make my day. Anyway, I'll continue. Once I finally got out of bed (around 11:00), I took a shower, grabbed my Bible, and went into the living room for some time alone w/ God. Then I began to play some worship music and simply sang out to God while lying on the couch. In the scheme of life, taking a few minutes to lie down and sing a couple songs to God in solitude may seem small and easy to overlook. But those 15 minutes....those 15 minutes of time where I closed my eyes and sang....I am completely satisfied with them. Even if I had the chance, I would not rewrite the actions that took place during those 15 minutes of my life.
2) This second one is maybe even easier to overlook. Tonight I made Malay tea....and that is the second subtlety that made my day. As soon as the tea's flavor dissolved in my tongue, feelings of my time in Malaysia completely filled me. It is so strange how memories can conceal themselves within a simple taste or a smell.
And there you have it - those are two of the most important pieces of my time today. And now I will close with a quote from "Stranger than Fiction" that reminds us of the small things in life.....which in the movie are represented by Bavarian sugar cookies.
"Sometimes when we lose ourselves in fear and despair....in routine and constancy....in hopelessness and tragedy....we can thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies. And fortunately, when there aren't any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin....or a kind and loving gesture....or a subtle encouragement....or a loving embrace....or an offer of comfort. Not to mention hospital gurneys....and nose plugs....and uneaten danish....and soft-spoken secrets....and Fender Stratocasters....and....maybe the occasional piece of fiction. And we must remember that all of these things - the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties which we assume only accessorize our days are in fact here for a much larger and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives. I know the idea seems strange, but I also know that it just so happens to be true."
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| I made it to Georgia on Tuesday and started work on Wednesday (two days ago). I'm working as a Co-op Chemical Engineer for Cargill in Gainesville for the next eight months, and I think I'm going to like it here. After my first day of work, I got to go see a Braves game with some coworkers - it was a lot of fun. I've always wanted to go to Turner Field, so in some ways it felt like a dream come true. I don't have much time to write because I need to run to the post office and get some stamps before the place closes. Maybe I'll write something else sometime soon....
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