RIP Elisabeth Elliot, Rock and Roll Christian

Dave Grohl rhymes with rock and roll!

I’m not much for short posts, which may or may not be why my readership is low... and I completely understand. I mean, who has the time to tread all those meandering thought paths, click on all those song links, admire all those handsome men I post pics of…? Not many people, apparently. (If you’re reading this, then you do, and I love you for it!) But time is running out on the timeliness of this one, so I’m going to make this a short, sharp shot.*

First of all, if you were anywhere near the internet last month, then you saw this awesome story about how Dave Grohl broke his leg during a show in Sweden, went to the hospital to have it set, then came back to finish the show, seated in a wheelchair with his guitar in his lap and his bum leg in a cast. 

Johnny (still) Rotten

Anyhow, when I heard about this awesome feat, I thought, “How very rock and roll!” ‘Cos it is, isn’t it?  It’s like Keith Richards and David Bowie turning down the Queen’s offer of knighthood… Like John Lennon returning his knighthood medal “in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts.” It’s like refusing to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as Axl Rose, Ozzy Osborne and Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols did. “Next to the Sex Pistols, rock and roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain,” Rotten posted to the group’s website.

THAT is rock and roll. (As an aside, I saw Rotten on The Late Late Show in 2007 and after the band was ripping through Pretty Vacant, he patted his middle-aged gut and yelled out “FAT! FAT! FAT! is this year’s slim!” While Sex Pistols-esque antics may not be as “cute” coming from a 51-year-old man, I thought this particular monkeyshine to be exquisitely “rock and roll.”)

Give it the
Full Monty, luv!

Anyway, after learning about Dave Grohl’s little shavie over in Sweden, I started to think about what it would look like to be a “rock and roll” Christian. And I don’t mean a Christian who enjoys a good headbang to the sound of a blazing guitar riff or blistering drum solo… I actually am not sure how to SAY what I mean… maybe a Christian who goes whole hog – living outside of any kind of societal expectation. My friend Grace and I used to call it giving the Christian life “the full monty.”

And so, I’m thinking about this for a couple of days and the news comes over the wire that Elisabeth Elliot has gone to meet her Maker. In case you don’t know who this was, then … well, she was a Christian writer, speaker, missionary, etc. who had been doing her thing for many years. I used to hear her on the radio in my saturation** days, and honestly, she always sounded like she had a stick up her you-know-what. She seemed like one of those “just do it” kind of Christians who never struggled with temptation or anything. 

It's not a great movie, but
you'll get the gist of it.

That said, she tirelessly taught the gospel for years and years, and each of her “Gateway to Joy” broadcast included these words: “You are loved with an everlasting love – that’s what the Bible says – and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Now I don’t care who you are, that’s comforting. 

Anyway, she may not have sounded or looked all that “rock and roll,” but she was the real deal... It’s all recorded in a film called “End of the Spear.” What happened was this: She was married to a missionary named Jim Elliot who, in the 1950s, made contact with an unreached tribal group in eastern Ecuador – called the Huaorani (or sometimes the Waorani or the Waodani.) Contact was initially friendly, but for some reason he and the missionaries he was with ended up getting speared to death… and Elisabeth Elliot never saw her husband alive in his body again.

Elisabeth Elliot

And this is when it got real for our Betty… and as the click-baiters say, “You won’t believe what happened next!” And that is, she went down to the Huaorani village and mowed the whole lot of them down with a machine gun … OH WAIT! That’s not what happened! No... she... forgave them in her heart and mentioned them in her prayers every night. No... that's not it either! For real, here's what she did – she (along with her daughter and the wife of one of the other speared guys) went down to the village and forgave those people – both in her heart and in everything she did – learning their language, sharing God's love with them and living with them FOR YEARS!!!

Now I ask you… how rock and roll is THAT?! 

*Believe it or not, this is kind of a short post for me...!

**when, as a new Christian, I immersed myself in all manner of Christian media.

It's the least we can do.

I hardly ever address politics or current events – the last time was maybe in 2011? But I want to talk* about the whole Charleston/Confederate flag thing, and since no one's here to stop me, here goes... 

I definitely think taking the Confederate flag down at the South Carolina state house and any other public property it adorns is a good and necessary action. I mean, it’s the least we can do. But… really, it is exactly that… the very LEAST thing we can do. I mean… it’s like putting a Ninja Turtles bandaid on a long, deep, infected abdominal wound with oozing innards spilling out of it. Or maybe it's like putting merthiolate on a debilitating psychosis. 

That is to say, the evil of racism is very old and soul deep. It’s one of the world systems that the “prince of this world” wields like a deadly weapon… waves like a flag, if you will. That said, we can certainly perform this simple, tiny symbolic gesture… just to show that we’re at least willing to say that racism is a still a brobdingnagian**, festering problem, and we’re willing to begin addressing it.

Because it has to just be a beginning. Because how much is taking down a flag actually going to do...? Although… maybe a good portion of the population will no longer feel mocked every time they pass by the government building of their own state.

Of course, I say it’s the beginning, so there ought to be more steps, right? I just don’t know what they are. Prayers. Lots of prayers. Jesus was the most un-racist cat who ever lived, so we really should be embodying that part of His gospel… 

How? Again, I haven’t really worked that out yet – I’m more of a why and what person than a how person. I bet there are plenty of people who could come up with much better ideas than I ever could. So let’s start thinking about it… Let me know what you come up with – I’m all ears.

* If someone has already said this - and if it’s worth anything I’m sure they have – then sorry for the repeat sentiments.

**That's a real word! It means "giant."

Bill Mallonee / Lands and Peoples, a review

Bill Mallonee

I’m supposed to write about this album, Lands and Peoples by Bill Mallonee, but I’ve got a lot of stuff swirling around in my head right now and I made the mistake of reading a couple of other reviews… which makes it kind of daunting… because I start to think, “That writer just said what I was going to say… and better than I can say it!”

Like the review that ran in No Depression where the guy pretty much rants that Bill Mallonee periodically offers his beloved axes and amps for sale just to stay afloat, when he should be basking in the glow of the world’s enjoyment and admiration. His tunes should be sung from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf stream waters because he can write the hell out of a song and has his guitar-pickin’ fingers on the pulse of REAL American music made for REAL American people in REAL America! (So it’s not an accident that I make reference to a Woody Guthrie lyric.)

Anyway, that reviewer laid down a true word. Of course he tells you right off the bat that he's biased, and so am I. I don’t mind telling you that that one of Bill Mallonee’s thousands of songs – Double Cure – is one of my most favorite songs in the songosphere. This is the link to the only version I can find on the world wide web, so it’ll have to do, but i’m telling you, this song is pure gold. The recorded version just … glistens. It’s got this great soaring guitar riff intro that echoes one of the sweeping lines from that hymn, All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name. 

But this isn’t about that song, as awesome as it is. Of course it’s about his latest release, as I mentioned, Lands and Peoples. It’s kind of like a songbook of stories about… yeah, lands and peoples. You know, America. It’s evocative… Mournful. Joyful. Wrenching. Shining. Hopeless. Hopeful. Self-effacing. Full of grace. Mallonee’s plaintive voice is all of those things too. 

Because of the record’s quiet beauty, it works well in the background, and it's got lyrical depth that makes it one of those oeuvres you can just lie on your bed and let it wash over you, sink into you… Like I used to do with R.E.M.’s records when they came out. It’s also not a coincidence that I bring up R.E.M., because 1. this record has a bit of that Byrds/R.E.M.-esque chiming guitar sound, and 2. Mallonee also played in an Athens, GA, band – Vigilantes of Love. 

Mr. M used to be in this Athens, GA band.

I wish I could say I knew more about that band, but I just don’t… although I became aware of that song Double Cure because it was on a compilation of V.O.L. songs that I bought through a Christian record club. (Remember record clubs? :-P) ’Cos Mallonee does love him some Jesus. Which is another thing I love about his stuff… that he loves Jesus. And it comes through, and not in a rusty hammer to the head way… but in a beautiful, sideways way that you can feel in your bones… that makes you feel like, “I’ll have what he’s having.” Even though his songs and his voice can be kinda sad… 

Because sadness can be sort of a doorway to actual Narnia, in a way – just like we learned from watching Inside Out. It’s the rare artist who can find and express the beauty in the sadness of ordinary life… grace amid the fallenness of this world. I guess it comes from being deeply familiar with these words of Jesus: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Not that it’s all beautiful sadness. Some of it’s just beautiful… like the song that says: “Ever since my eyes beheld your beauty and your grace, I’ll swing with everything that I’ve got.” And that there’s a baseball reference, if you're looking for Americana. There’s more where that came from, but like his Christianity, his American-ness isn’t forced nor are his songs in any way like those God-and-country songs that came out after 9/11. It's all just part of him. It reminds me of the time a pastor told me that my ministry was to be myself. Bill’s just being himself. And who “himself” is, among other things, is a beautiful soul, a dang good musician, and an evocative songwriter who deserves a lot more attention than he gets. 

You can (and should!) behold/purchase this stunning work of beauty and grace here: https://billmalloneemusic.bandcamp.com/album/lands-peoples-bill-mallonee-cd-vinyl-download-formats




DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional rock critic, although I always wanted to be (thank you, internet!) You may find that my reviews are informed less by objective analysis than by feelings and personal interpretation... but don’t people often choose music based on such things?

I spit out like a sewer hole, yet still receive Your kiss

If you keep up with me on Facebook you know that my 11-year-old son and I are huuuuuuuge fans of The Who. In fact, Bill recently drew this awesome pic of himself as an homage to the cover of the Who by Numbers album. Anyway, when we drive around town, just the two of us, we play every Who album we own on a systematic rotation for our in-car listening pleasure. 

And as I remarked earlier, hearing the songs repeatedly causes me to give them more than the passing thought I usually give to classic rock songs – the arrangements, the words and their possible meanings... these songs I've heard a thousand or more times... I may already even THINK I know what they mean, but... There's always some new flower of knowing that might bloom in this loamy brain of mine.

For instance, Pete’s hard rock rant, Who Are You... I’ve heard this song a GAZILLION times…  but I JUST realized that it’s a song that ANSWERS ITS OWN QUESTION!! Go ahead, click here and listen to it again… and listen to the WHOLE THING. In the first two verses, you’ll hear Roger Daltrey pretty much spitting out this tale of a night in the life of an angry, lost man….

I woke up in a Soho doorway

A policeman knew my name

He said "You can go sleep at home tonight

If you can get up and walk away"

I staggered back to the underground

And the breeze blew back my hair

I remember throwin' punches around

And preachin' from my chair

followed by the completely singable chorus which asks the song’s primary question:

Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

Tell me, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

'Cause I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

Then our angry, lost man goes home and takes a moment to reflect…

I took the tube back out of town

Back to the Rollin' Pin

I felt a little like a dying clown

With a streak of Rin Tin Tin

I stretched back and I hiccupped

And looked back on my busy day

Eleven hours in the Tin Pan

God, there's got to be another way

and asks himself again: 

Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

Tell me, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

'Cause I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

First of all, what a great description of a drunken, raging night! I should know – I’ve had one or two…(not lately of course!) I mean, can’t you just see lanky late-seventies Pete going through this ordeal in lurid, dimly-lit London locales. (SO MUCH ALLITERATION!!!) And knowing that these lines refer to a specific night in Pete Townsend’s life makes me feel like I have important esoteric knowledge. 

There’s a long blow-by-blow recount in Dave Marsh’s book, Before I Get Old; I’ll try to condense it here: So it’s the late seventies and punk rock is raging against the bloated excess of mainstream rock music machine and Pete and the boys are feeling the burn of it…  even though The Who may actually have invented punk rock with all their rebellion and instrument smashing, and telling the whole of the older generation to “f-f-f-fade away,” they took punk rock’s raging personally. 

Anyhoo, one night after a long day of business meetings – one of which involved the transfer of a sizable check, Pete goes into a pub and is none too sober when he spots a couple of actual Sex Pistols. He then rants and raves at them about the state of rock and roll – the stuff that’s bothering him about the whole life he’s living.

Actual Sex Pistols

But these guys, they love Pete and the Who and they tell him so. But he’s not having it. He knows he embodies a lot of what they think is wrong with the music business. Then he leaves and falls asleep slumped down in a doorway until a policeman wakes him up BY NAME and sends him home to his wife (aka - The Rollin’ Pin). 

So in the these verses he’s basically questioning the his own identity: “WHO ARE YOU??” he asks himself. “Everyone thinks I’m awesome, but aren’t I just a hack? Here’s the check to prove it!” and “The policeman knows my name, but do I know my own self?”

These are the familiar verses, but it’s the third verse that has just now sunk in. I was thinking how nice it sounded. I posted the lines on Facebook, because I love using song lyrics as status updates. Makes me feel all poetic, you know – without having to actually write anything. Anyway, it goes like this:

I know there's a place you walked

Where love falls from the trees

My heart is like a broken cup

I only feel right on my knees

I spit out like a sewer hole

Yet still receive your kiss

How can I measure up to anyone now

After such a love as this?

This is so lovely I made it a meme! PLUS
the background is actually Myrtle Beach!

And this cool guy I knew in college, Artie Sparrow (That’s his real name! Isn’t it lovely?), left this comment: “Fun fact: that lyric is about Myrtle Beach.” Of course it is. At first I thought Artie was joking because… well, you know… Myrtle Beach? The Redneck Riviera? But then I remembered that there is a Meher Baba center at Myrtle Beach, and Pete Townshend loves him some Meher Baba, and his bio Who I Am explains that this refers to a visit there.*

MB is his GURU... although I’m not sure what that means. I honestly can’t say I would equate Meher Baba with the Divine – but Pete does. So… when Pete says, “There’s got to be another way,” in verse 2, and then moves on to the beautiful, meaningful ponder that is verse 3 – that what he means, it is the love of the Divine that defines us – not whether we’ve invented punk rock, whether we’re are-nows or has-beens… (Jew or Greek, man or woman, slave or free…**) Who are you? Who am I? Who is GOD? Who does God say I am? If we ask these last two questions, we will know the answers to the first two questions.

It’s just like when Pete says in the gorgeous song Bargain – “I sit lookin’ ‘round, I look at my face in the mirror.*** I know I’m worth nothing without you. And like one and one don’t make two, one and one make one. And I’m lookin’ for that free ride to me - I’m looking for You!” (creative capitalization mine!)

Dang it! Fries are delicious!

And Pete wrote this one several years before he struggled with these issues in Who Are You. Which goes to show, that we KNOW things to be true, but that doesn’t mean we don’t struggle with opposing FEELINGS. I’m pretty sure I don’t have to tell you this. Like when you KNOW that finishing off your kid’s fries after you’ve had your own just might not be the best thing for you, but you really have to struggle with the truth of it because dang it FRIES ARE DELICIOUS!! Heck, even St. Paul struggled with the difference between knowing and feeling! Check out Romans 8:21-25!

Of course matters of identity are a bit more serious than consuming mass quantities of fries… But we see from the letters of Paul that his recipients need to be repeatedly reminded of the fundamental sweetness and glory of the gospel – that is, that God loves people so much He sent his own Son to save them.**** And that’s WHO WE ARE. People God loves and deems worth saving.

*I can talk more about this if you really want to know, but this post is already so long…!!

** Galations 3:28

***When we come to this line from Bargain in the car Bill and I both gaze wistfully into the rear view mirror. It cracks us up every time. If you want to read more of my crazy reflections about this song, you can read this post.

****John 3:16, of course!

Father Dark, a book review

Men in kilts... yes, please!

Occasionally I do book reviews. I’m not great at it, but I do love to read, and I do love to opine. But I’m not going to lie to you, sometimes the books are just crap. And… more often, the books are really good. But, honestly, even if a book is good, even if I’m reading it with relish, most times I’d just rather be reading what I really love.

Now I have in no way been shy about my “literature” preferences. And I use quote marks because… well, I’m not sure that a lot of what I read could be called literature… For your reference, you can go here where I’ve confessed to a fascination with time travel/men in kilts and that genre of “literature” (again with the quotes!) and here where I reveal that I am a sucker for vampires. 

I have no idea why I love this stuff – it just pulls me in and doesn’t let go. And there are well-written examples as well as (often) poorly edited, self-published drivel, which I read nonetheless. For a fix, doncha know.

Wings of Desire
meets...

And all this is to say, I recently had the fabulous experience of plowing through, inhaling, devouring a review book without once having that “when will this be over so I can read some fantasy?” feeling. Because … well, the review book, Father Dark by Stephen L. Case, plunged my imagination deep into a darkly humorous – yet touching – urban fantasy that turned all my knobs just the right way. To eleven.

See, it’s an engaging, well-written yarn about an angel who is assigned a job in which he takes on the persona of an Episcopal priest in an inner city church… and then he proceeds to… well, let’s just say he Takes Care of Business. It’s like … Wings of Desire meets… I don’t know, something with vengeance and mauling… and priests. It’s awesome.

And, really, that about sums it up: Angels. Priests. Vengeance. Mauling. Oh – and a big reveal that will make your heart sing.

In Which You, Me and Pascal Drink Some Beers

This is us talking the meaning of life over brews...

Let's imagine that this, along with my last two posts, is us at my house, staying up super late, having a long conversation over beers... Of course it would be better if you were actually here to provide the other side of the conversation, and that can certainly be arranged... but until then, we'll just have to accept things as they are... 

...except I'll be wearing this.

With our first brew, we pondered the mystery of why some people "get" Christianity, and I postulated that maybe you kinda hafta WANT to get it. But then we had another beer, talked some more, and I kept thinking of different examples of people who did NOT want to get it, but did. Because God's a wild card – sometimes He does that shocky paddle thing rescue workers on TV do on somebody's cold, stony, unwilling heart. Now let's finish off the six-pack...

___________________

So God can, and does, on occasion, grab people who don't want to be grabbed... BUT in general, it seems illogical to me for a person to go around saying, as Homer Simpson does, "Don't say Jesus!"... but then wonder why He's not talking to them. But people do this. I've done this. And this morning in the shower, I realized that I wish I had asked my dearly missed friend, "Why is it so important to you that Christianity not be true?" 

And, well, it might not be right, but I have to wonder if it was because of her husband, who was a firm atheist. That is, maybe it was important to her that a belief system that condemned her husband NOT be true. And I have to say I totally get this.

The "shocky paddle thing"

It is a sticking point for many people, including me. Except... if the gospel is true, it's true whether I believe it or not. I mean, just because I don't want it to be true doesn't make it less true.

And this all sounds like I am convinced that everyone who doesn't believe as I do is going to hell.... but the truth is, I just don't know. Many Christians actually hold a universal view of salvation – that Jesus' death covered the sins of EVERYONE whether they believe or not.  And I LOVE this idea.... But the side of my mind that has been schooled in a BIBLE church thinks that Biblical support is stronger for salvation for those who believe. 

There are so many passages in the Bible that support this.* Jesus himself says that the work of the Christian is to believe in Him**... Which, when it comes to WORK, seems kinda painless... When you compare it to the level of perfection required to actually save one's own soul. If that were even possible.

When love comes to town
I'm gonna ride that boar...

Thing is, though... what God is thinking and doing and planning ... We're just looking in the mirror dimly right now, as our buddy Paul has said. We only have a partial picture, and that picture includes the Bible's revelation of God sending His Son to save us. So why not get on board with what we DO know? (Haha - I'm typing this on my iPad which is super difficult, and I typed "boar" instead of board... then I got a brief mental picture of myself riding a wild boar with huge-ass tusks – just hanging on for dear life!)

For all I know God could have some kinda plan for everybody else, but, again, I have been given the privilege to hear about his love and saving grace through Jesus, so it behooves me to grab hold of it. Most of my knowledge of God when I first grabbed on was purely theoretical, and while it is purely theoretical, it is easy to weigh it in your mind, like - these things that are said about God are lovely, these these things that are said are puzzling, and these things just seem down right unfair...

Blaise Pascal bet on God
and so do I.

But at that time, I was so desperate that the fairness or unfairness of God's grace was not even an issue. I just needed relief from my own self and soul sickness, and that's what He's selling, my friends. Not always immediately or even perceptibly at first, but ultimately and eternally. (Was that redundant?) Or rather He's giving it away. 

Once my knowledge of God broke out of the purely theoretical and into the experiential, well... I experienced a God who was so completely GOOD... And loving and merciful and kind and slow to anger and all the things the Bible says he is... That I have pretty much no choice but to trust Him with my soul and the souls of the world. 

Bring out your dead!

Have you heard of Pascal's wager? Well, French philosopher Pascal said people should live as though there is a God... because what we would lose if we don't and there is, is way more than what we would lose if we do and there isn't. And I have no intention of taking this risky bet with your soul. That's why I'm all up in your metaphorical face telling you about Jesus. I mean, sure God could be saving everybody willy-nilly, I would LOVE that... but that isn't the light that I have. I have to go with the revelation I've been given. 

So... Maybe God has plans I don't know about and, again, I would LOVE that! But I don't know about them, so I'm going to make sure you have all the info you need to grab ahold of His salvation.

Dig this simplistic but handy illustration: Say the whole world has the plague. ("Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!") Some people feel its effects and others don't. You don't, but someone tells you, "You have the plague, here's a remedy." Would you say, "No thanks.  I'm going to see whether I become symptomatic. Plus, I'm not taking that pill unless everybody in the world gets one. In fact, I'm not taking it unless everyone in the world gets well whether they take it or not!" 

Jesus, my drug of choice.

Well, maybe if you weren't feeling the effects of the plague, you could sit around and contemplate whether you're sick or not, and the fairness of everything... but if you were at death's door, you might grab that pill and gulp it down like a dying man... because you are. Dying. And then you could open up a clinic and a mail-order service and a website to help spread the remedy to other people throughout the world. Like on an airplane when they tell the adults to put on their gas mask first, then help the kids. 

Maybe they can get well another way, but what if they can't? And maybe you could argue that no one actually HAS the plague. But what if they do? That's why I'm always nattering on about Jesus and all. I know it's super annoying, but ... what if people really need it?**

AND what if the pill has great side effects like... i don't know – love, joy, peace and the knowledge and Presence of the Everlasting God?*** Then even if they didn't NEED it, it would still be a great high... Can I get an AMEN?

Anyway, I guess I should stop talking now. I'm going to say this is the last installment of this diatribe... but why limit myself? We can certainly make a beer run.****



*John 3:16, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:9, etc.

**John 6:29

***also maybe some trouble (John 16:33), but God is with you! It's like one of those drugs on a TV commercial where they list all the side effects, but if you're desperate enough with your disease you ask you doctor about the drug anyway because relief from your disease trumps everything!

****with a sober driver, of course....!

Postulation Incomplete

Top to bottom:
Saul/Paul
C.S. Lewis
Josh McDowell
Lee Strobel

So... When I last wrote, I postulated that maybe a person has to be open to the possibility that Jesus just might be the answer to actually gain access to the hidden, yet completely wide open mysteries of the gospel. Well, I did say that this might not be the case for everyone... and the more I thought about it, the more actual cases came to my mind of the opposite happening.

The most glaring example, of course, is St. Paul himself, who as “Saul of Tarsus” spent a few years going around harassing, arresting and just generally making life hell for Christ's followers. Until one fateful day when he was on his way to do some damage to Christians in Damascus… See, Jesus Himself knocked him to his knees, saying, in the vernacular, "What the hey, dude? Why you gotta be such a hater?" And that was all she wrote for Saul... He was Paul after that... Follower of Christ, planter of churches, writer of letters that go a long way in explaining the hope of our glory in Christ. 

My point is that Paul was in no way open to the notion that Jesus was the Christ and that the Kingdom was at hand, but God somehow forced him to "get it." Why? I don't know. God did say that he had a job for him to do... Why him? Maybe he had some unique mix of talents and temperament that made him perfect for the job? He knew the Scriptures, could make arguments like the lawyer he was and was a real go-getter who didn't do things half way. Of course, God could have chosen him for much different reasons - cos He's like that. He sees things we don't see, knows things we don't know. It would be just like the God I’m familiar with to have chosen Paul for his weaknesses! 

Then there was author C.S. Lewis, an academic and avid agnostic, if there is such a thing. I mean wouldn't that be a bit like yelling "I DON'T KNOW!!!"? Anyhoo, here’s a quote right from Lewis’ pen: "You must picture me alone in that room at Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England…”

And there’s author Josh McDowell: In college, when “Flanders” told him that the answer to the question was Jesus he said this: “Jesus Christ? … I’m fed up with religion. I’m fed up with church. I’m fed up with the Bible.” “Flanders” then challenged him to conduct some unrelentingly thorough research into the person and claims of Jesus Christ… which he did “mostly out of spite to prove them wrong.” And, though his research led him to believe the gospel, he was reluctant to take hold of it. He didn’t want to admit that he had been wrong, and he didn’t want to not have fun. Just like me. He doesn’t say what tipped him over the line, but he was, nonetheless, tipped. 

Michaelangelo's The Conversion of Saint Paul

And what about that guy Lee Strobel? He was an investigative reporter / legal editor at the Chicago Tribune, when his wife converted to Christianity. Our atheistic boy Lee pitched a big fit and set about using his mad reporting skillz to disprove the resurrection, and therefore the claims of Christ. Since I’m using him as an example, I’m betting you can guess how THAT turned out! 

The weird thing about all of these examples is that each of these guys became what you call a “Christian apologist.” That’s someone whose raison d’etre is to argue in favor of the validity of the gospel. Not, as you may suspect, someone who goes around apologizing for the crazy stuff Christians do, although we probably need some of those too…!

Shakespeare's lady 
who "doth protest
too much."

Maybe there’s something about being a tough nut to crack that makes a person want to crack other people’s nuts? Wait, that didn’t sound right… Maybe they're just so dang thankful that they have to spread it around... Maybe their thought processes were just so deliberate that they feel like they can lay it out for people. Or maybe they’re like, “If a blowhard like me can be converted, anyone can! So here goes…” Or maybe it’s just moving from atheist blowhard over to Christian blowhard?

Whatever the case, the fact remains that God took hold of these people who had the OPPOSITE of interest. Or maybe they, as Shakespeare would say of Hamlet's mama, “doth protest too much.” That is, they just couldn’t leave it alone – and like me, they made the “mistake” of engaging with the God of the universe… 

The guys in U2 know about God's mysterious ways...

And that was the open door God came in through to grab them. Because, as U2 reminds us, He "moves in mysterious ways." That is, He CAN do anything, and He does things all kinds of ways, and He has His reasons... which I think have something to do with making "the riches of his glory known." This quote comes from Romans 9, which basically says, "God is God. Don’t question it.”

Well, it doesn’t EXACTLY say that, but … it kinda does… which goes totally against my natural tendencies. I mean, I got all kindsa questions and wonderings going through my scattered brain… and a lot more to say about this. But this post is already all kinds of unwieldy, so I’m splitting it in two parts… maybe even three! Like when I have to cut Bill’s Minecraft videos in half to post them on Youtube… 

Anyway… stay tuned for more… because this is really just the intro...