the drum|rob fairbanks

A Good Friday Special - Johnny Cash

A great one by Johnny Cash.  Bono on Johnny Cash: "Locusts and honey ... not since John The Baptist has there been a voice like that crying in the wilderness. ... Every man knows he is a sissy compared to Johnny Cash."

Sing it Johnny...

 

 

The Mystery of Good Friday - HT MH

After attending the services at our church last night, I am still speechless. Good Friday commemorates perhaps the greatest mystery in the history of the world. How is it that God Himself—the Creator of the Universe—can suffer death at the hands of His creatures?

via michaelhyatt.com

I have been following Michael Hyatt for some time (please check out his site for a wealth of good stuff) now and really appreciate his thoughts and writing.  He normally writes into issues of leadership and productivity, but found this a good re-blog for today – Good Friday.

Peace to you all!

Rob

 

Jesus and Social Media

 

A Story of Freedom - MiamiHerald.com

The day of freedom arrived for my mother, sister and me on April 25, 1961. It was several days after Fidel Castro’s military squelched the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion...

via: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/14/2167789/how-we-left-cuba-just-days-after.html#

This was written by my very good friend, Carmen Richards. I wanted you all to read her story. I have heard it before, but found myself weeping again as I read it.  Thanks Carmen for taking the time to write it out.  You're a star.

For more info about her trek check out: 90 Miles to Freedom

Alison Krauss - amazing

Simply beautiful (HT - Parker).  Sometimes music is the only way...

 

New Rules for the NBA!

 I just had to put this up before the NBA season ended.

Onion SportsDome

The Kingdom of God

"The Kingdom is primarily the dynamic reign or kingly rule of God, and derivatively, the sphere in which the rule is experienced. In biblical idiom, the Kingdom is not identified with its subjects. They are the people of God's rule who enter it, live under it, and are governed by it. The church is the community of the Kingdom but never the Kingdom itself. Jesus’ disciples belong to the Kingdom as the Kingdom belongs to them; but they are not the Kingdom. The Kingdom is the rule of God; the church is a society of men."

The Theology of the New Testament, George Eldon Ladd

 

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More Sex Talk - Pt 2

WHAT IS HEALTHY SEXUALITY?

Ok, here is the second half of my friend, Nancy Janzen's email about "Healthy Sexuality."  If you didn't get a chance to read Sex Talk - Part 1...then proceed with caution.  Just kidding.  Terrific and thoughtful stuff about sex and commitment - obviously cross-grain with much of the drivel-ish romanticism we get force-fed from the media/cinema.  Enjoy.

When you are married, you've committed to a person and a way of life or path.  It means that you are actually choosing some really great things and also quite intentionally saying, "There are in fact other experiences validated by our society as enriching, enlightening, and expanding of the Self and I will never have those experiences, ever.  I realize this is something I am giving up now and forever, even if someday, other kinds of sexuality sound much more interesting that what I signed up for." 

So why marry then, if I am closing option loops? Is it worth it? These are questions we used to have a context and vernacular for. We used words like virtue and commitment and heritage and legacy without flinching or feeling suddenly very unhip.   The truth is, marriage is wildly hip. It is probably the single coolest, hippest thing I will ever do. If I do nothing else well in my life, a marriage that stands the test of time says, "I am here, I am loved and I have given love."

This goes to core of who we are and yet we hardly ever even acknowledge this. Even our love stories only focus on "finding true love" and we seem to have very little ability to imagine narratives that involve two people loving and laboring and striving together for noble pursuits over time.  We joke about minivans and bifocals and helping each other with our walkers but you know what, if you love someone and you've worked hard to find a groove with that person and you are together and in love after twenty or thirty years, there actually is nothing else in the world like that. You can take all the trips you want, buy whatever you want, succeed however you choose, even have great kids, but having a truly amazing life partner by your side everyday, there are few things that can touch that that we get to experience here on this earth with another human being . 

Unfortunately, if you are playing the hook-up game now or even dabble with it when you're married, guess what...? You get booted back to Start with your crappy little game piece. You don't get a lot of those golden marriage moments that are exclusively on that path. You don't get to go by Gumdrop Alley or land on the $200,000 bonus square in whatever weird version of Life you decide to play as you make up your own rules. God actually sort of nailed this one, like the rest of the few very specific principles he choose to take quite a bit of time to get written down and communicated to us. I think because those rewards may not be as obvious, are not told to us in our stories or reinforced, we grab the immediate which excludes the golden. 

Yeah, so get excited about the pure joy of fidelity. Fidelity. It is so hot and amazing, you have no idea how sweet that is after twenty years which really, there is the paradox: marriage and vibrant sexuality is way cooler than people realize but is brewed slowly. It's so much more than just "being with the person you love for the rest of your life." That is sort of the starting point and what should probably be obvious, the selfish starting point. Then you add in purpose, peace, meaning, depth, accomplishment and the sacred. It's borders on being indescribable. 

To sum, I am choosing this person and this path and in doing so I believe the riches and joys to come, often less defined, glorified and tangible, are worth that exclusion and the pursuit of a life that will probably involve more discipline than I am aware of at this moment. I believe I am up to the task and I believe in doing so I am honoring myself, my God and my community.  I believe I will be greatly rewarded beyond all I could ask or imagine.

Disclaimer (again): This is written to an audience of people either considering marriage or already married.  I am speaking from my own experience and am aware not everyone married twenty years is as excited about marriage or fidelity as I am, quite possibly for very valid reasons. And no, my marriage hasn't been easy. Yes, he has great legs and I have straight, white teeth... Hardly a foundation in which to weather debt, food stamps, health issues, small business ownership, child rearing, and childhood sexual abuse issues we faced over the last 21 years of marriage. Thankfully, he picked his path and decided to stay. I am forever grateful to him, to Jesus, who saved us both so we could help save each other.

Give me your thoughts?  Is Nancy living a pollyannaish dream world?  Is there something to sex beyond serial-monogamy, partners, affairs?  Does this stuff actually make any sense?  

Lewis on Hell

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’  All that are in Hell, choose it.  Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.” 

(C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, p. 72)