But what is, “Normal?”

In Alabama, there’s actually a place called, “Normal.” In Normal, there is a historically black college called Alabama A&M.

In high school, some friends and I visited the school. It was our senior year. We had a few “college,” days (days where you could cut school to visit local colleges) and we thought that it would be fun to go to A&M for half a day and grab lunch together afterwards.

Normal is normal in the sense that its school is like so many other public education institutions in Alabama. The outside seemed pretty amazing (to be honest, we weren’t expecting much). The inside of the school was literally falling Apart.

But that’s not really Normalcy.
Things aren’t really meant to fall apart.

My city is similar. The other day, the rain washed the streets of her accumulated filth. Grime, salt, trash, and decay cover her during most of the winter. When it rains like it did the other night, there’s a freshness to the pavement and a reminder of how things are supposed to be.

While the outside streets speak of the beauty of ingenuity and industrialism, they don’t speak to the reality of the people who walk them.

It’s a funny thing to think about. When friends visit (and friends, trust me, I mean no harm in this or disregard for our love of your company) I think that it’s hard for them to see the reality of what these streets hold. What we and many of our friends come from in terms of context is prime American suburbia. I think we even still see our home as an adventure rather than a place to live – a place to be, to engage, to hurt with, and to be angry about and for. When friends come, they see it much the same way – a fun place, exciting, cool, or scary.

But it’s not normal.

It doesn’t often compel us to worship.

It doesn’t often compel us to bow a knee to the most High Who has created the drug dealer, dentist, priest, or prostitute in His image. More often, it causes us to ask, “What are you doing? Can you hear us? Can you hear them?”

When God puts you anywhere, He intends to elicit some sort of action from you. That action at its very core is to Worship Him – that’s the normalcy of the life that He has drawn us (meaning me and my wife) in to.

More often though, I’d rather keep things just like Normal though – a quirky place to visit with friends just to have a day off from life, but not a place I’d like to learn, to grow, to minister, or to change.

Lazy Blogger...

What's better than thinking of posts that will make one ponder, inspire others, and draw the blogosphere to laughter?

Posting videos that will do the same.

Think (Ponder - we live in a dangerous world)

Inspire (This is one of the reasons I'm leaning heavily towards the man - the speech, not the celebrity endorsements)

Laugh (we did...)

Lazy weekend. Lazy post.

Recent Reads...

Thought I'd put a few of these out there for your perusal - I've been on a pretty "sad," and desolate way as of late (as far as the reading goes). When I say "sad," I'm speaking more about content (really, about the first two books listed under "What I've read").

Although, it may also be sad that the double edged sword of Oprah's Book Club is usurping more and more books (double edged that it's getting more people to read good books while also labeling me as a "book club" reader when people see her ever present "O").

Currently finishing up:
Spiritual Leadership
When Sinners Say I Do

What I've read:
The Road
Night
LeadershipNext

Coming down the pike
possibly, Into the Wild
Love in the Time of Cholera
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Some stuff on "Gospel Communication," and "Pastoral Counseling"

So, I've been on a bit of a reading frenzy lately (which is definitely better, I suppose, than playing games - at least more productive than). With The Road, the question may obviate towards, "Have you seen no country for old men?"

My answer: "No, but I want to."

In any case, I'm going to attempt throwing up some reviews here (one at a time so as not to overwhelm both you and myself).


The Road; The Review
The road is the ubiquitous experiential path that all men walk - that same place that causes you to hate life and mistrust others. Cormac McCarthy describes this metaphorical place by taking us through a post-apocalyptic world where happiness is hollow and hope scarce. At the end of the book, you're left wondering, "Who were the, 'Good guys,' and why is evil so rampant?"

Here is where McCarthy really connects with us on a gut level as at the end of the day, I think a lot of us are asking the same question.

We, however, do not live in a post-apocalyptic world.

At its very core, The Road compels us (or at the very least, me) to really confront themes of trust, hope, peace, and justice within our day to day goings. The Road is certainly a glimpse at how merciless and self serving man can be when driven to the point of dire self-preservation.

I don't want to ruin it all for you, but I would say that the end of the book really reveals a lot of grace and goodness that's hard to see through the father and son interactions throughout the course of their wanderings - it was (without any hesitation) a great relief.

Apart from the nature of the text, this is a very easy read (I read it on a round trip bus trip to NYC from Philly). McCarthy has a style that can be quite disarming on the one hand, and quite confrontational in another. There are no chapters, there are few breaks, and the prose is written is a sort of stream of consciousness style while still retaining the composure of being logical in what the writer is communicating.

While not for the feint of heart, it is worth the read for those who are willing to have their own assumptions about the goodness of self challenged.

This is definitely a brief (I may post it to Amazon as well), but I hope it whets your appetite enough to want to read it yourself (and then to call me so we can talk about it).