Crazy Heart

I love this movie and my favorite song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxW2ja4m33w

Bright Star

This movie was so moving and enlightening. It was about the poet John Keats. His life as a poet was hard. He did not make allot of money and yet he was in love with Fanny Browne. The year is 1818 in London. Their destiny was to be together yet there was thorns in their side - people and illness. His friend advised him to not court Fanny Brown since she was more concerned for stitches and clothes. John fell ill to consumption. He died thinking all his work was in vain yet he is very popular today.

Here is his poem Bright Star:

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like natures patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
to feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tneder-taken breath,
And so live ever --or else swoon to death

This poem uses a star as an imagery to get to his point. John uses analagy saying he wants to be like a star who is steadfast but not alone that is unreachable (aloft) . The star is ever watchful (eternal), eternal ( patient) and unchanging (sleepless). The star watches over the snow covered mountains and cleansing waters as the priest task is- another analogy. He does not want to be alone like the star. He wants to rest his head on his beloveds breast and inhale hhe sweetness of her fragrant breath and hear the music of her heart. He wants this to last forever or if it were not possible he would rather die ( swoon to death). There is a spiritual element to this. He wants to be eternal ( awake forever) and yet he does not want to be alone (lone) .but awake forever in the lovers breast. To love means to be human and therefore not an unchangeable thing like a star. His love will not last forever so he would rather die the moment he is experiencing the ecstasy of love. Even though he wants love and immortality it is impossible.

The Listeners by Walter de la Mare

This is one of the poems that I was studying with Victoria that I like

The Listeners
"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest's ferny floor;
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller's head
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
"Is there anybody there?"he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men;
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred an shaken
By the lonely Traveller's call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
'Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:-
"Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word,"he said
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoeing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When th plunging hoofs were gone.

movies I am enjoying now

books I am enjoying now

ponderings

It is Sunday September 6th. Tomorrow will be a holiday and then school starts. I had to say goodbye to a special friend today Dianna Scholtens who is going to England for a few years. She is special in that she homeschooled as well and we got along wonderfully. We shared special moments together and shared precious thoughts. There is allot of changes coming and I pray that God gives me the strength and vision of these changing times. God has shown his authority through life of changes. I'll miss you Diane!

multiculturalism

Multiculturalism ideally tries to teach tolerance and yet the problem with that is there is always a culture left out and it creates divisions. And it happens in the democratic countries where decomocracy wants a safe place for other cultures and yet the problem is that when they come into our country they may fight against the nations efforts of democracy. What will happen to the immigrant and loyal citizen when the country asks for support? The immigrant may become exclusive and promote their own culture for political power.

There is allot of debate on muticulturalism today. I am going to deal with the mission part of the multiculturalism. Every culture has the sin of idols and selfishness. We need to be on guard of the evil in cultures and allways look for God and teach God to cultures. Ambleside Online does a wonderful job of teaching about culture and showing the children God and evil in each culture. For instance when studying Natives we can learn from them how they used Gods earth but we don't need to except their worship of the earth.

Multiculturalism started in Genesis where one man brought forth many cultures. We are to be fruitful and multiply on the earth. Multiculturalism is an expression of our mandate on earth to spread the gospel. But it also a curse where at the tower of babel people rebelled against God where they wanted one culture. God made a diverse culture to spread His Word. How do we do that? Paul is an example on how to approach multiculturalism. We need to understand the culture and the language so we can speak their language literally and spiritually. In the Old Testament the Jews were being over taken by the Egyptians and then the Babylonians and the growth of the Roman empire. The prophet Jeremiah instructed them to keep their traditions and rituals and yet pray for freedom. The apostle Paul's method was different. He learned the other cultures rituals and traditions and hoped to save a few that way.


Today the cultures want us to respect their idol worship of self and we must not listen or adhere to that. We must still preach God's truth, Christ will tear down the walls of God's people ( jews) and Gntiles. Hitler wanted one race and it fell. God intervened. There will always be God's people and Gentiles. It was there from the beginning of time. Abraham was God's chosen race and we will always have a mandate of gathering His race.

Muliculturalism is here on earth and there has to be a right train of thought in this. We are not here to be one but to spread God's Word. There are different ideas out there on multiculturalism and we need to have the right motive. We can talk of the pros and cons of multiculture or we can talk of our mandate. We must remember that God's Word is the ultimate authority.