Saturday 11th August: Living to Tell the Tale

"From a very early age, I´ve had to interrupt my education to go to school" - G.B. Shaw

What books are worth reading? Only those which you can read, and when finished, say that your understanding has been added to? Probably, but this leaves a vast array of reasons for reading. Escapism itself adds to understanding, if it only provides a relapse from the everyday which reinvigorates one´s perspective on life. Then there are those books which are defined Classics, or fashionably cultish authors (Marquez, Guevara, Camus - those whom communists, hippies or poseurs will say they read). If for no other reason than to be familiar with a noted artist´s work, these are worth reading, if not for the subtexts of philosophy, hedonism, cigarettes, alternative viewpoints, etc...

But what use is it for me to read Vonnegut and feign enjoyment? If it was to pass an exam or to impress a girl, maybe it would be worth the effort. But an education in itself?

The Gloaming

“It should be common in our churches to see people weeping in worship, overwhelmed at the sheer mercy of God. It should be common to hear people singing at the tops of their voices, passionately expressing the love that God has lavished upon us. It should be common to see people dancing like lunatics, freely and with abandon, responding to God’s salvation. It should be common to see people rapt in silence, lost in wonder, completely transfixed at the transcendence of our God. We have an amazing God, and our worship should be real, honest, authentic, engaged, expressive, and wholehearted; we should be holding nothing back.”

- Tim Hughes