Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Between valleys and mountains


Blogging.  The next technological leap for me.  I remember my first CD player in 1991 on which I played my first CD, U2’s “The Joshua Tree”…not need to recognize its brilliance, I am sure you already know.  I remember making fun of people with cellphones in college and at work in the bars for about 10 years before I got one in 2002, only because my girlfriend at the time made me, of course.  I remember getting my first DVD player and first personal computer…in 2004, yes you read that right.  I am some sort of a pseudo-ludite…always a few years behind apparently.  When I got that first computer in 2004, I took it home to put my old college floppy discs in it, to see some of my old college papers…old as in 6 years earlier.  There was no disc drive.  Apparently in 6 years, the world went from discs to jump drives, who knew? I also used to think blogging was silly as well.  Did I mention I am a huge bandwagoner!?

SO here I am.  I will just simply say that life is too short not to share thoughts, theories and insights with others…who knows, one person may find a helpful suggestion, a common thread of thought, a whisper of God in the universe…who knows…maybe we will even have a healthy debate.  Maybe you will read one of my poems, and decide you want to publish a book of them…no seriously, that would be grand of you!  Of course, there is also the cathartic aspect for the writer isn’t there?  There seems to be something deep, elusive and hopeful in putting words into the world…and waiting to see what happens, both as you type them, and as they are received.  Though generally, my emanations in this blog will and do come from a bent soul, it is more often than not, a peaceful soul.  It rests in God most of the time, and so finds the overwhelming weight of the world to be yoked to God’s purpose, though I get my selfish hands on it as well from time to time and mess things up good and proper.  Ah, trial and error, learning from my mistakes, etc…my wife loves this part the best!

We are a social species, and as an ex-bartender and current priest…I have been called into the center of some of our societies’ biggest communal arenas…bars and churches.  Maybe one thing I heard or saw or learned in those buildings may be worth this blog…maybe my mind will feel at ease putting the poetry of my convictions and the hope of my bent soul into some semblance of cohesiveness.  Maybe not.  At least the picture on the blog page, of the mountain in Switzerland above the valley near Labri’ where I lived for four months, is wonderful and glorious, right!?  I grew up in the Ohio River Valley (don’t drink the water!)…and yet I have always felt drawn to the mountains…Rockies, Smokies, Alps and Himalayas.  And so I still find myself always between the valleys and the mountains…walking, searching, asking and hoping.  And just maybe that is what this blog will be about…and maybe I will see you along the way, and we can talk.  And maybe, God will join in.