Friday, February 10, 2012

Come Roam the Gallery with Me!


There was this one time when you popped in here to see if I'd updated my blog, and I just happened to be standing there, and I said "Oh, hello there!" And you were so surprised, remember? Usually this place is deserted, so my presence was as unexpected as it was awkward.

We briefly exchanged greetings and quick pleasantries. I was just leaving, and preparing to set up the donation box by the front door to accept the 50 cents admission fee, but I decided to let you in for free that time, to nose around and see what goodies I posted for you that night. You remember, right? I bade you farewell, apologized for the mildly unpleasant lingering aroma (I mentioned a bowl of chili, I believe, in passing), and then left you to your devices.

You were relieved, of course. I mean, I'm a nice person to visit with on occasion, but you certainly don't want to hang out very long with me. I am quite annoying, after all. I tell the same lame jokes, my eyes dart around the room in that weird way I do when I'm feeling socially insecure, I shuffle my feet, I "casually" rub my nose on my sleeve a lot, paranoid that there might be something (shall we say) visually unpleasant in there...

Still, I sometimes post enough amusing items to make dropping by worth while, and that night you had 5 minutes to kill, so "why not?" you thought. Remember? So you moved your way through the gallery...


I'm sure you remember that night clearly. You stopped first by the Video Room...



But all I had posted was that video of a Chinese guy dropping a firecracker into a sewer and almost getting killed by the exploding manhole cover. Sure, you marveled a bit at how the man's jacket got instantly shredded off his body, and you were glad he and his kids were ok... but you questioned why on earth I would feel the need to share such a thing. Remember? You decided to give me the benefit of the doubt, and assumed I didn't have anything better to post. That was nice of you, thank you by the way. It was actually all about exploding methane...

So you left the Video Room and wandered the photo gallery. You saw the funny T-shirt design I posted, which was a riff on the "Can Haz Cheezburger" meme, but presented in the style of the old Soviet propaganda posters from the cold war...


While you generally find cats amusing enough, and you could appreciate what the artist had been attempting, nevertheless you found the color combination jarring and ultimately off-putting. You moved on.

Next, you saw that I'd posted a photo of a soldier over seas, holding up a letter he'd received from a well-intentioned schoolkid somewhere back in the states...


You chuckled a little, if you recall... and you tried not to read too much into the expression on the soldier's face. Was he more amused than concerned? Was he proud of that kid? Or did the letter drive home the truth that we'd been at war over there longer than some grade-schoolers have been alive? Will it end?

Pushing aside those thoughts, you moved on to a photo which could only be described as patently absurd...


You sighed, unamused, remember? People posing with statues, in an attempt to be funny. You paused... as you scanned your memory banks, you had to admit that there have been a couple of these types of photos that you've seen that have been funny... but this was not one of them. You plunged your hands into your pockets and moved onto the Theology Corkboard, hoping to find some reason to be glad you dropped by that night...

You skimmed my latest theological conundrum, and even though you vaguely recalled me waxing similar before in this blog, you had to admit it was an interesting topic to chew on.

"It's safer to not hear what God wants of you," I'd written. "If you don't know what God wants of you, you can't be accused of disobeying Him. It's safer to basically guide yourself through your day while keeping an umbrella of random Bible verses over yourself. Love your neighbor as yourself. Be holy as your Father is holy. Don't lie or cheat. General verses/concepts that deal with the way a representative of the King should go about his or her day each day. But as for really buckling down and finding out something specific from God, as far as what He'd have you do *right now*? Talk about terrifying! What if He asked us to do something embarrassing? Or that we didn't want to do? Or that we thought to be impossible? If we find out something specific from Him and we don't do it... then we are in trouble! If we find out and we don't do it, we are disobedient and rebellious! Thus, it is safer to not find out, and rather live in vagueness, trying to live by general rules and guidelines, as presented in the Bible."

You knew that I wasn't advocating such a life, but was merely confessing my own faults in a form that gave me a little bit of distance, to avoid having it be too uncomfortable to read. See, I had no clue whether other people wrestled with the same thing or not... but I sure wrestled with it. It was true of me - by nature, I'd rather live each day trying to be a good boy than risk the punishment associated with directly disobeying the clear request of an easily-angered God... of course, the rewards for actually obeying Him (what a novel concept!) are worth the risk to any sane person (not to mention the fact that God will assist such a person endlessly, for obvious reasons), but the fear and selfishness within me combine/conspire to keep me in the dark, day upon day, as my life crawls by, sadly free of concrete examples of obedience... I am apparently content with a form of Godliness, but deny the power thereof.

You pursed your lips a bit and nodded. You decided it was worth stopping by the blog that night, if only to learn from me by "reverse example".

As you shuffled to the door, you dropped 50 cents into the admission box. Thanks for that, by the way. That helped to fund my next caramel macchiatto.

But you didn't leave a comment! O_O

Dave the Goof

10 comments:

Abbie Josephsen said...

Hi Dave! I like how you photoshopped in the bear statue pic into the first gallery picture :D very clever! And the propoganda poster colors work great :)
However, I disagree on your theology, mainly because I think it is a form of disobedience to knowingly not ask. The Bible says we should be asking, and that He does want to speak to us, so going about like He doesn't want to speak to us is just as wrong as hearing it and not listening to it. It 's like the little kid who is playing and mom calls him. Thinking he isn't going to like what she said, he just keeps playing, not doing anything wrong, being a good boy, but pretening that she hasn't said anything and she didn't call. That's my take on it (and unfortunately I do it too, so don't feel like I'm condemning you. That's what I've been dealing with recently too.)

David Wagner said...

Abbie: I actually photoshopped all of the pictures I used into the gallery photo... glad you noticed!

On the theology, I hoped it would be clear that I wasn't saying that was the right way to live the Christian life, but rather how I've noticed that my heart does it. I play it safe more often than not, instead of actually living. It was a confession, not advice... well, it was sort of advice by negative example. Hope that makes sense.

logankstewart said...

I'm with Abbie here. And not to sound condemning or judgmental, but eschewing responsibility and passively having a relationship with God just doesn't cut it. We're told in 2 Tim 2:15 to "do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." Some translations say "study to show yourself approved," which I think sounds even better More and more I'm convinced that our purpose in life is to know God (or love God, however you want to say it) and to be known by Him. Christianity is not a passive, inactive religion, but an intimate relationship with the Creator of the Universe, who came in flesh and gave us the Spirit when He left.

On top of that, there's no way that we can't not hear God's Word. Is 55:11 says that "[my word] shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." God's very words are what created everything, and if scripture says that it will accomplish what it sets out to do. God's speaking to us and leading us by the Spirit, and there's no way we can ignore it. We can surely try (and I certainly do), but we will ultimately fail. And what we don't realize is that while we're trying not to listen or trying to get by on our own knowledge, we're displeasing God and hoping that He won't care that we're ignoring Him.

Too many people, myself chief among them, are too content in their ways, happy to continue in their lopsided relationship with God. Our human minds just cannot understand how deep His love for us is, and we're (understandably) afraid that fully submitting is going to give God the right to have us do something embarrassing, awkward, uncomfortable, or flat out horrible. Thankfully He understands our reluctance, but I think it breaks His heart. He's telling us how much He loves us, and we're saying "I don't trust you."

Gah. Sorry. I'm very much tempted to delete this just because I don't want to sound judgmental or holier-than-thou or something. But honestly, this is a major problem for most of us. I agree, ignorance would be better, but that's no longer an option. After Adam & Even ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil, I think we were cursed to deal with this kind of stuff. And praise God that we don't have to deal with it alone.

logankstewart said...

Oh, and I completely get you. Our duplicitous hearts! How great it will be when we don't have to fight against ourselves and our desires will be to chiefly honor God.

Abbie Josephsen said...

Hi again Dave!
oh yes, I understand that this wasn't what you were advising, like you said, I knew that you weren't "advocating such a life but was merely confessing" :) This life makes it easy for us to be passive Christians unfortunately and even with what we hear from Pastor it still is easy to get caught in routine and do the good stuff without going deeper...

And whenever you wonder if other people muse over and wonder about different ideas like that one, the answer is YES! all the time :P

Rug Warrior said...

What if the fear is not that you will do something that is seen as failing... but actually fear of success?

I think many people live smaller lives that they were meant to... but i think most actually view their own lives as smaller than they actually are.

For example, you are a fantastic, entertaining writer. And when I meet with the Piranha group, there are always a number of them who tell me how much they enjoy your blog... but they do not post comments. The fact that you make people smile, laugh, and ponder is an "art" that few have... and a talent given to you by God, which you are cultivating and making better and better over time.

Isn't that what He wants essentially - to see something blossom that "gives" to others as well as the person it's coming from? Creating value in the world, making a difference?

No one judges us harsher than our own internal "critic"... some day God will post a comment on your blog and you will realize that He thinks you are doing awesome, and that He's proud of your mark on the world... not only this blog, but those 3 crazy kids you and Marla have. =)

Lisa

P.S. I mean "crazy" in a good way... LOL

Paula Titus said...

Classic Dave post...one of the best of the best (IMNSHO) !! Standing O!!
You are the best :)

Michelle said...

Awesome post! And some pretty thoughtful and incredible comments as well.

My 50 cents is in the mail :)

David Wagner said...

Thanks, everyone, for your awesome comments! Your (virtual) friendships mean a lot to me. Logan, I'm glad you didn't delete your comments, they were definitely worth reading.

PostCalvinist said...

bunch of cowards posting here. You know what I'm talking about.