A Lowenbrau meditation

It's late, and there is a glass of Lowenbrau Original on my desk. Dylan is talking about Erick Von Schmidt, then singing his words, but they are not really his anymore. They belong to Dylan. A folk song is anyone's song, I suppose. The voice of the people, kind of like an independent newspaper, but with more interesting writing.

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"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart by pleasing to you, O LORD my Rock and my Redeemer." - Psalm 19:14

This verse has been such a comfort to me over the past week. Lately I've been struggling with my place in academia, trying to find a grounding point. It is so easy to get completely bewildered among all the "hollow and deceptive philosophies" that are presented, even in a Christian university. I find it a constant temptation to separate the spiritual from the academic, to fall into dualism. This verse helps me to find footing and to invite Christ to be the Lord of my mouth and my heart.

Are the meditations of my heart pleasing to you, oh God? Transform and renew my mind so that I can use the knowledge that I gain and turn it into wisdom, that I might be useful in your Kingdom. As I go about the daily tasks that you have given me, let me do so with bare feet, recognizing the burning bushes that show your intimate presence in this world.

a comment on the economic crisis in the United States of America

Is it naive of me to say that economic downturn would be a good thing for North American culture? Maybe then we would have to start caring about people and real life more than money.

Just a thought.

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Why is it that even though I spend so much of my energy trying to free myself from this consumerist culture the thought of economic uncertainty still scares me? I'll be one of the first people to tell you that money does not matter at all, but the headlines still give me shivers.
Maybe this world has more of a grip on me than I thought.
Maybe I'm a loud, obnoxious, self-righteous liar who can only see the materialistic habits in everyone else around me and not in myself.
Maybe I actually do care about all that stuff I swore I don't care about.
Only God knows...I'm sure He'll let me know somehow.

Tuesday October 7, 10:21 PM

As my two good friends Ben and Ben have both pointed out on several different occasions, my previous post has become somewhat hypocritical over the course of time. The fact that I really don't have anything to say about this situation makes me question the validity of having this blog.

love,
Ryan

p.s. and here we have an example of a blog post with no other purpose but to occupy space on the internet...if that is possible. Does the internet have space? What is space?