A New Blog for New Times

Filed under: "Just Because I Felt Like It"
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As I'm entering a new phase of life, I'm starting a new blog aimed primarily to write out the random thoughts and streams of consciousness in my head--whatever strikes me as important in the moment. But even in the blogosphere, you're never alone--even if it is a virtual community of friends, family, & strangers.

The title of the blog comes from the lyrics of song by Canadian folk-rock guitarist Bruce Cockburn, "Lovers in a Dangerous Time." It goes as follows:

Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open your eyes
One day you're waiting for the sky to fall
And next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste

When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you're made to feel
as if your love's a crime
Nothing worth having comes
without some kind of fight
Got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight

I love that last line. Interestingly, U2 refers to this haunting line in their song, God Part II: "Heard a singer on the radio late last night / He says he's gonna kick the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight."

As a Christian, it is especially meaningful to me. My whole worldview is framed by the thought that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, entered into the darkness of this world, took the worst that the Evil One could throw at Him, drew my sin and the sin of the world upon Himself on the Cross, and endured the judicial wrath of God in my place. Because of Him--His person, His work, His mission, His love--I have been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness and into His kingdom.

And He has entrusted His mission to His followers. We pray, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Things indeed are not the way they are supposed to be. His kingdom has broken into this world, but still awaits its complete fulfillment. So every time we dress the naked, feed the poor, adopt the orphan, take care of the widow, or give a cup of cold water in His name, we are acting 'kingdomly,' that is, we are showing a messed up, broken, narcissistic world that there is hope--the King is coming with healing in His hands. We are here as His ambassadors and heralds announcing the Good News that Jesus is Lord and giving a foretaste of His kind and powerful rule.

So this blog really flows out of this central conviction of the psalmist as he addressed his Creator & Redeemer, "In Your light, we see light" (Psalm 36:9). Or, to put it in the words of CS Lewis, "I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun; not only because I see it, but because by it, I see everything else." In this blog, you will find my random musings, insights, muddled thinking, reflections on things I'm reading and seeing, etc., as I kick against the darkness till it bleeds daylight.