Shine a Light

Every month or so I go through a “I should make a blog” phase. So here I am, in the midst of yet another one of those phases, or maybe this is more of a post-graduate what-else-do-I-do-with-my-time phase. Either way, here goes my very best attempt at blogging. 

It’s a bit unnatural. For some reason talking to myself feels completely natural, but putting it into words just seems like I am one step closer to needing to be institutionalized. But I guess blogs wouldn’t exist if there weren’t a large number of people in the world that feel the need to put text to their thoughts, so at least I can blog knowing that I’m in good company. 

I think many people blog about a specific topic, or passion, or dreams. For lack of a better idea, I guess my blog will just have to be about me. My life. Where I’m at. Where I’m going. Where I hope to end up. Now that I sound sufficiently self-absorbed I guess I will jump right in. 

I remember almost exactly four years ago, graduating from Culver full of all kinds of assumptions and dreams about what college would be like. For the most part I think college lived up to everything I imagined it to be. It’s strange how different college graduation was though. Sure there are friends I miss, people I’m glad I never have to see again, and people who impacted my life in ways they may never know - from both high school and college, but I think the difference in my college graduation was the realization that the 16 year old safety net called school just evaporated. You know school comes to an end. From freshman year to the last day of senior year, you look forward to getting out, but then…you’re just that…out. And suddenly the world isn’t books, homework, studying, all-nighters, etc. It’s job, salary, rent, utilities, phone bill, car insurance…what we young folk like to call being a “real person”. You hear about it, talk about it, get lectured on it. But I don’t think a lot of us graduates really experience it until after the pomp and circumstance. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still more than happy to have graduated, but the excitement comes with more strings in college than it did in high school. 

Anyway, whether I like it or not, whether I’m ready or not, the next chapter starts September 5th. Finding the Falls Church Fellows program was definitely a blessing but also somewhat of a challenge. When you graduate from Carnegie Mellon, it isn’t exactly popular to say you’re pursuing ministry and an internship. It isn’t in the Carnegie Mellon culture not to interview and fight for the top positions at competitive companies. I guess now more than ever the Lord has been teaching me what it feels like not to be normal, not to want the same things as the majority, and I think it’s a lesson finally sinking in.

My four years at Carnegie Mellon were by no means break-down free, but in the end, the peace I have with my post-grad decision can only come from the Lord. It’s incredibly comforting to know that what many may see as the waste of a year, has the potential to be the most life changing year for me in my faith and in my career. 

Anyway, I guess I got a bit ahead of myself since there is much to do between now and September 5th, but maybe this whole blogging thing (which I still think is just talking to yourself) can give me a place to verbalize and comprehend what the world is teaching me. And maybe, just maybe, it’s more acceptable to talk to yourself on a blog than it is walking down the street…

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(Source: photooverload, via faithinthejourney)

triplee:

These are lyrics from my song iLove on my new album “The Good Life.” Anybody else suffer from iLove?

Verse 1:
My girlfriend’s name starts with an I
Shines bright like stars in the sky
Stays by my side, when its dark she’s the light
She befriends many, and we get lost in her eyes
Staring at…

Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, you believe in GOD ?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good ?

Student : Sure.

Professor: Is GOD all powerful ?

Student : Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent.)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Is satan good ?

Student : No.

Professor: Where does satan come from ?

Student : From … GOD …

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor: So who created evil ?

(Student did not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them ?

(Student had no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?

Student : No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student : No , sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.

Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class was in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class broke out into laughter. )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

P.S.

I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. And if so, you’ll probably want your friends / colleagues to enjoy the same, won’t you?

Forward this to increase their knowledge … or FAITH.

By the way, that student was EINSTEIN.

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spiritualinspiration:

Have a Blessed Day Everyone!

-Naeem <><

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