Tears for Lenses

Guest Post by David Stoddard

A year ago today he got up never knowing it would be his last day at home. Or, his first day home. I wonder if he knew or sensed anything different. I wonder if the day felt any different. I wonder what would have changed if he knew it was his last. I am sure he would have called to say good-bye. To remind me he loved me. That he was just going away for a while, that it was just a matter of waiting until welcoming me home. Would he have gone around marking things to give away to certain people? What would his last goodbyes have been like? What affairs would he have arranged, knowing it was his last day to get things in order? My guess: he would have called each one of us, told us he loved us, gone to sunset rock with mom and smoked a pipe. And waited.

Death interrupts life. It unmasks the brevity of life. It exposes the lie that we are immortal and time is in our hands. It unmasks how real mortality is; how near mortality can be. But the converse is also true: life interrupts death. It masks the hole which death leaves behind. It masks our ability to process the effects of death. Life marches on assuming you will keep up with its cadence. You still have to work. You still have kids. You still have responsibilities. But those things shouldn’t be the things which define us. There is a Real beyond the superficial things which seem to define our daily existence.

When do we have the clearest picture of reality? When do we truly see life as it is? The Gospel as it is? My natural assumption is that we see clearest when nothing hinders our view; when our vision is corrected and we don’t need glasses. So a dry-eyed perspective is the best. But what if we really truly see through tears? What if tears are the lenses through which we finally understand life, both its futility and the hope we have in the Gospel? What if we were designed to wear tear-filled glasses? What if we really only see the light when we realize we are living in the shadows? The shadows remind us that danger is near, that something large and ominous is coming but also that He is here. We live better, with a greater hope, when we live in the valley of the shadow of death-- with tears for lenses.

Written on the first anniversary of Dana Stoddard's passing on November 6, 2013.

Women Lust Too

Lust... Though men are not animals at the mercy of their sexual desires, it still remains a battle for them to keep their gaze and mind pure. But what about women? Are they off the hook? Turning the tables in a one-to-one comparison doesn't do anyone any favors because men and women struggle in different ways. Albeit, there are women who struggle with lust over mens' bodies, or even women's bodies in a same sex attraction, but I would venture to say the majority of us women, especially married women, don't think we struggle with sexual lust, endowing us with a perceived moral high ground over men. Our thinking goes like this: "How could men struggle with lusting after other women? I don't lust after the bodies of other men!" 1. The woman's struggle with lust When a beautiful woman walks in the room or is flashed on a screen or billboard, all eyes are transfixed. This includes the gaze of women. Whereas the sinful lustful inner dialogue

Are birthday suits better than bathing suits?~ Reflections on East German nudism

When the kindergarten beach trip pictures were finally posted, I became hysterical...with laughter. All the important body parts were, of course, covered and protected from the sun: every child was sporting a hat and sunglasses. The bathing suits I had packed for my children came back clean and neatly folded. A discussion with the teachers would not have helped. "What for?" would have been the response. Birthday suits are better than bathing suits! Still, I was left with the question of how to instill in my children a sense of modesty and propriety in a culture that clearly had very different values surrounding this topic. The FKK (Freikörperkultur, or free body culture, i.e. nudist movement) has become a hallmark of East German culture. Nudism has always existed in Germany, both in the East and the West, and was appropriated by radical representatives of various movements to signalize a return back to nature. The far right made use of it as an expression of G

Is the Church Ready for a Post-Abortion World?

Baby at 5 months in the womb My neighbor, a foreigner to Germany, my friend and prayer partner came to me one day, hesitantly excited about her new pregnancy. She had another child, a 5 year old boy, and a husband who was a friendly neighbor but not a Christian. She was hesitant because she did not know how he would react to her news. Eventually she told him and his response was, “you need to get an abortion, or else I will leave you and take our son with me.” My friend came to me very distressed. She knew abortion was wrong. We spent a long time talking, praying and asking God to give her the strength to withstand his blackmail. A few weeks went by. She knocked on my door. She told me she had not had the courage and that the fear of man had overcome her. There was no more baby. We held each other and cried for such a long time. I reminded her of the forgiveness found in Jesus. Ever since, she has drifted. I have moved away to another part of town and have very little contact w

Demonology 101

Shock After a few months on "our" mission field, a post-communist, dead, atheistic region, my family and I were reeling from the shock. No, not culture-shock, though there was plenty of that. It was the shock of coming face to face with demonic forces beyond our comprehension. Numerous strange events had transpired: liters of urine poured into our stroller, blood splattered on our apartment door, a small hole had been drilled into our front door indicating a planned break-in (the hole is used to insert a small probe camera), much sickness, poor sleep for us, and even sensing an evil presence in our bedroom. At first we thought we must be imagining things, but the horrid climax was the nightmares that tormented our two-year old son. For many months he’d wake up screaming bloody murder and we could not settle him back down easily. At two and a half, he was finally able to verbalize what he’d been dreaming about for the past few months. One of his most vivid dreams was a

An Upside Down Birth

Julien and Christina with Jonathan Dear Baby Jonathan, The nurses and doctors jeered and mocked. I could see them at the nurses' station. They couldn't understand why your birth was so momentous and why the whole family was there to meet you. These sorts of professionals see the miracle of life every day. Why was it different this time? They cannot look a deformed baby in the face. They would have preferred your parents get rid of it (you) in secret and put an end to this suffering months ago. But your parents were much braver and stronger than that. Instead of skulking away into darkness and taking your life into their own hands, they placed you into the hands of God, your Maker. They let Him make the decision of when to take your life because He gave you to them in the first place. It was not easy. They cried a lot. They had to say good-bye to you before they ever met you because they didn't know that you would be born alive. But you surprise

The Eowiggle

Search This Blog