A Sneak Peek

I want to give you guys a little bit of a teaser for future blogs. I've got another round of Friends posts coming up really soon. I'll just go ahead and announce the subjects now. Ryan Theriot, Lance Dunn, and Josh Manning will be the respective subjects of Friends IX, X, and XI. Also, I might be changing the format for those a little bit. Instead of sharing a specific memory, I may try more of a "profile" kind of style. We'll see how that works.

I think I figured out a good explanation for why this life can't be taken too seriously. The statement that "life is short" has become cliche, but it is no less true than the day it was first uttered. Some might say that that's a sad fact, and while it is in a way, it's also what makes life so darn funny sometimes.

Have you ever seen the effect when an playwrite take some classic Greek or Shakespearean tragedy and shortens it? The result is that it becomes funny. All the plot events stay the same, but somehow if they are all condensed into a single act, presented at hyper-speed, they become comic. Well, in light of eternity, the life that we are given here on Earth is comparable to a one-act, super-fast play. Terrible things happen, but overall it's just too quick and too temporal to be truly tragic. Real tragedy is only possible in eternity, where eternal souls are destined for one fate or another. Everything else is relatively comic.

~Ken, Born of Fire

50th Post!

Welcome to the 50th post of the Blog of Fire!

Wow. This is such a milestone. When I first started doing this thing, I didn't think I'd actually keep up with it. It's a good feeling to start doing something and to see yourself remain committed to it.

The Fall semester here at the University of Louisiana is officially back in full gear. I'm teaching two sections of English 101 this semester, as well as taking 3 classes. What this probably means is that I'll be learning things that I want to share with you on this blog. Just today in my Medieval Literature class I learned something quite fascinating that I would like to share with you now. Have you ever noticed that we have different words for the animals that we eat, depending on if we are referring to them as animals or as food:

chicken - poultry
cow - beef
calf - veal
pig - pork
sheep - mutton

Have you ever wondered why this is? I found out today. Before I tell you though, you need to know just a little bit about the history of England. (If you know all this already, I apologize for insulting your intelligence).

A long time ago there was a people group living in France called the Normans. They were originally of Scandinavian descent, but after settling in France they were pretty much assimilated into French culture. In the year 1066, these Normans, led by William the Conqueror, invaded England and conquered it. So for a number of centuries, England was essentially ruled by the French.

Thus, the French language became the language of the nobility, the upper classes, politics, academics, etc. Now, going back to that list of words above, all the animal words on the left come from Old English, while the food words on the right come from French. This is because at that time, only the upper classes ever got to eat meat. The lower classes would be lucky to eat meat once a year. Thus, the words that the French-speaking nobles used for those meats were the ones that stuck.

Pretty interesting, huh? I think so.

~Ken, Born of Fire

The Hardness of God

C. S. Lewis, fairly soon after his conversion to Christianity, stated that "the hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and his compulsion is our liberation."

I had to meditate on that for awhile before I was finally able to grasp it. But I have found it to be so true in my own life. The same God who pursues us relentlessly nevertheless refuses to force us to himself.

Sometimes I find that his pursuit of me is so relentless, that I question how free my will truly is. Other times, his call to me is so gentle that I am almost scared by the freedom that I really do have to say "no." It seems like because of my rebellious nature, the mere fact of choice can often in and of itself turn into temptation.

Am I making sense? I'm finding these ideas hard to express because the only real sense I have of them is from personal experience. When I find better words, I'll post them. For now I'll just say this: I'm sure that God is not a tyrant in any sense of that word, nor does he just "let me be." In this regard, it's easy to describe what he doesn't do. As far as what he does do, I haven't quite found the words for it yet.

~Ken, Born of Fire

Friends, Part VIII

Welcome to Friends, Part VIII:. The subject today is the young lady in the middle of this picture, Sally D'Avy, younger sister to Kelly and Molly, the subjects of those last two blogs.

Sally is a good bit younger than Kelly and Molly. She's not in college yet, thus I don't really have the opportunity to see her very often, except for when she comes to Lafayette to visit her siblings. Despite the infrequency of our meetings, I feel a unique kinship with Sally. I often find myself unusually excited to see her and inexplicably exuberant in her presence. I think I can pinpoint the precise moment when this began, in a memory labeled "I'm SERIOUS!"

I forget exactly what the occasion was, but a bunch of us were eating dinner at some restaurant in Lafayette. Sally was in town, so she joined us. And at the time, I had lately been in the habit of doing this thing where I would be pretending to laugh at something, and then I would suddenly sober my expression, rip my glasses from my face, and say "I'm SERIOUS!" People would usually laugh a good bit, so I would jump at the chance to do it around anyone who hadn't seen it yet. Sally hadn't seen it yet, so I did it to her. She began laughing so much that tears began rolling down her face!

I would later learn that Sally's laugh-tears weren't an infrequent occurrence for her. Regardless, in that moment, it felt quite special for someone to laugh so much at my antics. The bond was forged.

Of course, I don't think that's the whole reason of why I've come to like Sally so much, but that was certainly the beginning of it.

Friends, Part VII

Welcome to Friends, Part VII, (I figured I've done enough of these now to warrant using Roman numerals). The young lady you see on the right (surrounded by all of her adoring admirers, or should I say "holla-ers") is Molly D'Avy, the subject of today's blog.

I remember the first time I met Molly, at a Freshmen Jumpstart, I knew immediately that she was a pretty cool person. First of all, she was a D'Avy, so that always counts for something. But I soon discovered that she was quite the talker, but in the fun way, rather than the annoying way. Over the past few years, Molly's penchant for verbage has led to some very memorable lines, including many almost random outbursts that come seemingly out of nowhere. I'll share two of favorites from Molly's "Random Outbursts" file.

One was when Molly, Kelly, and I were studying at Guillory. Of course you recall from the last blog that Kelly and Molly are sisters, and it's often very funny to watch them interact. They make each other laugh a lot, and you can't help but laugh with them. In this particular instance, they were going back and forth about something (I don't even remember what), then there was a brief silence, until Molly suddenly exlaimed to her sister, "WHY DON'T YOU GO SUCK ON A CHOCOLATE TOOTSIE POP!"

Another good one is from an incident at Cafe XA, where Molly and I are the Dynamic Duo of baristas. Molly was closing up the coffee bar and I was sitting on one of the couches, reading or something. I guess she was sweeping and there was an area of the floor that was wet and it was hard to sweep, or something like that. I could be way off. That's not important though. All I remember is, I'm reading my book, and all of a sudden Molly bursts out with, "Darn . . . cohesive . . . properties of water!" Yeah, that was definitely the first time I had heard anyone curse the bonding tendencies of H20.

Oh, and one more thing you should know about Molly. There's never a moment in her life in which she's not looking good. If you don't believe me, just ask her.

~Ken, Born of Fire

Friends, Part 6

I hope I don't overload anyone by posting 2 blogs in 1 day. I'm just in a blogging mood I guess. Anywho, you are now reading Part 6 of my Friends series. Parts 7 and 8 will soon follow. The subjects of these 3 blogs will be the 3 young ladies you see on your right, known to many as the D'Avy Sisters.

I'll start with Kelly. She is the oldest of the 3, the one of the left in the picture. As I was rummaging through the old memory vault, I found a file labeled "HAVE A GOOD NIGHT!" Ah, yes, that'll be a good one to share. It's one of my favorites.

Kelly and I became good friends primarily by studying together. We discovered that we were among the more studious students in Chi Alpha, so we were great study partners. On many days, we would be studying till after dark, so I would often walk her back to her apartment.

Well, on one particular night, it was already well after dark when we started, and Kelly had the great idea of going to CC's and getting a Mochassippi beforehand. Let's just say that Kelly + late night + caffeine = CRAZY! The funniest thing was when I was walking her home that night, we passed up a random guy that neither of us knew, and as we passed him up, Kelly suddenly turned and blurted out, "HAVE A GOOD NIGHT!" I laughed until we got to her apartment, and then I laughed some more until I got back to my room. That was awesome.

Well, stay tuned to the Blog of Fire. Next will be Friends, Part 7: Molly D'Avy.

~Ken, Born of Fire

I Love This Poem

A while back, I was at a Half-Price Books in Texas, and I bought a book called A Treasury of Christian Poetry. I want to share with you one of my favorite poems that I've read so far in the book. It's by Stewart Henderson.

Pentecost is Every Day

I share and share and share again
sometimes with a new language
which, if you are so open
will take you behind the sky
and award you cartwheels across the sun
I give and give and give again
not restricted by the church calendar nor concocted ritual
for I have no need of anniversaries
for I have always been
I speak and speak and speak again
with the sting of purity
that can only be Me
causing joyous earthquakes in the mourning soul of man
I am and am and am again

Where's God?

Let's play a game. Consider it a literary version of "Where's Waldo?," but this version is called "Where's God?" I'll give you a sequence of events, and you tell me where you see God in these situations:

I realized recently that I completely forgot to fill out a housing application for the Fall semester, and that the only applications being taken for men at the time are for a waiting list.

I go fill out an application to get on the waiting list, and when I go to make the pre-payment, my debit card is declined. This is odd because it's been a full 24 hours since I deposited my paycheck.

At this time, I also find out that the tuition waiver that I thought I had for the summer didn't come. I later find out that it's because I only had 3 hours, and I'm supposed to have 6 to qualify. Whoops. I owe the university some money.

So now, not only are my chances slim of getting into the dorms, but even if a room opens up, it's looking like I won't have the money to do pay for it.

On this same day, only hours later, I find out about a few other alternatives that I may have to staying in the dorms.

So the question is, again, where's God in this whole situation? Is it likely that he's directing all of this, and wants me to live somewhere besides the dorms for some reason? It doesn't seem likely at all that he would cause me to forget to fill out my housing application, but it does seem more than coincidental that all of these things happened like this. Did he cause my debit card to decline?

I'm asking all this because I usually use a lot of caution in saying "God did this" or "God did that." I think Christians say that all too quickly sometimes. Sometimes. Other times, I think God really is working for some specific purpose, and I'm wondering if this is one of those times, or if it is all a simple result of my forgetfulness and ignorance. Any thoughts?

I just got through with a fun evening of grading! Now I just feel like writing as a way of relaxing. Yes, in a very weird way, writing is relaxing for me. The only way I can explain it is that when I get my thoughts on paper, they aren't in my head quite as much.

I kinda wanted to write something thought-provoking again, but I think I'm not mentally capable of that at the moment. So, this blog is going to take a "Random Thoughts" format:

I don't think anyone makes me laugh as much as Jacob. Except maybe for Clint. But it's in two very different ways. Comparing Jacob and Clint is like comparing apples and anything not remotely like apples.

Clint loves Skittles. You should buy him some.

I don't see Amanda J enough anymore since she moved out of the house.

I need a new journal.

People whose recent (though only temporary) departure from Lafayette makes it not quite as enjoyable here as it could be: Stacey, Kelly, Molly, and Alyce.

Civilian losses in Lebanon are very sad, but I can't say that I blame Israel. If it's indeed true that Hezbollah is firing missiles from Lebanese villages, then it's pretty much Hezbollah's fault.

It greatly boosts my self-esteem when Ciji laughs at every little attempt I make to be funny.

What?

The complex narrative elements of a good wrestling match is something few people understand.

Pandora.com is pretty much the most awesome music-related technology since the iPod.

Okay, that's enough for now I guess. It feels good to get those thoughts out of my head and into my blog. Oh, and be on the lookout for more Friends installments. I have so many more I want to do. I like spacing them out though, rather than doing them back to back. And per the request of Molly, I'll try some more thought-provoking posts this week, too. Peace.

Thinking About Arguments

First of all, I would just like to thank Molly for providing a thoughtful and substantial response to the question I posed in my previous post. As for the rest of you: what are you waiting for? Get on the ball!

I have a new observation to make today, which is also about arguments, but not gender this time. Something I've noticed and been thinking about lately is that in my classes and just in general, people seem to be scared to voice their opinions about things, especially important world issues. My professor asked us in class recently why that is, and I couldn't think of an answer at the time. However, now that I've given it more thought, I've come up with a theory.

First of all, I think the question is actually misleading. To say that people are scared to voice their opinion would assume that people even have an opinion in the first place, and I don't think that's a safe assumption to make. It seems like a lot of people are apathetic or confused or ambivalent about many of the issues, and they don't formulate an opinion one way or another. So the question then becomes, instead of why are they scared to voice their opinion, why do they not have an opinion?

I think it's partly due to the failure of our education system, but moreso than that, I think the media gets a big chunk of the blame for this one, mainly in the way argument is presented on talk shows, news shows, etc. If you flip through the channels every now and then, you're bound to see people yelling at each other and really "fighting" with their words. They get emotional and upset, and often even resort to name-calling and insults. Let me ask this: have you ever met someone who talks a lot, and very loudly and assertively, and you rarely say anything to them because you simply don't feel like raising your voice to talk over them. I think this is what a lot of my generation is like. Everyone we see on TV has their snotty, stinky, loud opinion, and they're yelling it at us, and we just don't feel like thinking over the noise, so we turn our backs instead. It's not that we truly don't care what's going on in the world, it's just that the forum in which people express their opinions about those things is like nails on a chalkboard to our ears.

I don't know, what do you think? I'm mainly thinking about this for myself, trying to figure out why I've been so apathetic about politics and global issues for the majority of my life. And I'm not trying to fix all the blame onto something else. I blame myself, too. But I'm thinking that maybe the reason why I struggle to form opinions about such things is partly that I've rarely had a good way to do it modeled to me. Maybe.

~Ken, Born of Fire

An Observation

It starts at a fairly young age: we start noticing differences between ourselves and members of the opposite sex. It continues throughout the rest of our lives. Here's one I've noticed recently.

There's a big difference between the way men and women have discussions/arguments/debates. Men appear to be much more aggressive or assertive or blunt or something like that. I'm not exactly sure what it is. I've simply noticed that when I'm arguing something with another man, women often misinterpret the spirit of it. They think we are angry or upset or that something is wrong, when that's usually not the case.

I can explain it in terms of wrestling. Guys wrestle not to hurt each other or because they're mad, but for the sport of it. When we're wrestling, we're not "fighting." In the same way, when we're debating, we're not "arguing," per se, though it may appear that way on the surface. In the end, we're not mad, nor are our feelings hurt.

I'm not exactly sure what women do when they disagree about something, but I know it's fairly different from what guys do. I think this is a major cause of the "gender gap." When a man and a woman disagree with each other, it's harder to come to terms on the content of the disagreement because even the form of the disagreement is so different. In fact, I believe that it is frequently the case that the form is in reality the only disagreement, and prevents the two parties from seeing that they don't actually disagree. Of course, there is often real disagreement, but perhaps not as much as we think. That's just my theory.

Anywho, just some insight for the ladies. When you see us men disagree, just know that we're not "arguing," (in the negative sense of that term), and just let men be men.

What do you think?

Friends, Part 5 (For Real This Time)

Welcome to the long-delayed return of the Friends series. The person you see in that picture with me is my good friend Kevin Guillory. Yep, Kevin's my token black friend. ; ) Just kidding. I'm looking in the memory vault, and . . . ah yes, here's a good one: a file labeled "Late Night Rants."

Even though Kevin and I were roomates for a year back in 2004-2005, I never got to know him as well as have during this most recent school year. We both went through our fair share of drama, and whenever we needed to just talk to each other about any of it, I would often get a phone call that usually went something like this:

Kevin: "Hey, whatcha doin'?"
Me: "Not much, just readin'."
Kevin: "You about to go to bed?"
Me: "Yeah, but you can come up if you want."
Kevin: "Alright, I'll be there in a minute."

We'd end up talking fairly late, but I never regretted it. He definitely helped me out by lending his ear, and I was always glad to be an ear for him when he needed one.

Kevin graduated this past May and is getting ready to do a Chi Alpha internship at Sam Houston University! If there's one thing I'll miss about Kevin more than anything else, it's definitely "Late Night Rants." I do have a cell phone now though, so I guess we can still have the occassional Rant.

Friends, Part 5

I'm bringing back the Friends series either later today or tomorrow, but first I want to tell y'all a funny story. I went to CC's last night at about 9:30 or something like that, and since it was fairly late, I didn't want any caffeine. But I wanted an iced latte, so I figured I'd just get decaf. When I ordered, I forgot to say decaf and didn't even realize what I had done till the drink was halfway gone. Needless to say, I woke up this morning feeling like I had been working on a really tough math problem in my sleep all night. Don't worry though. Another couple of shots of espresso this morning and I'm doing fine for now. Though I'm expecting that after lunch, I'm pretty much gonna collapse like a Jenga game. What? I said I'm pretty much gonna crash like a meteorite. What? I said I'm pretty much gonna fall like Reggie Miller taking a foul. Later.

~Ken, Born of Fire

Checkin' In

I know I haven't posted anything in a while. The thing is, I've been writing a sermon, and usually, after I've been working on it for a while, I'm not really in the mood to write much more. Anywho, I finished the sermon yesterday, and I'll be presenting it Thursday, so after this week, you should see me start to post more again. I'm planning to do a few more installments of the Friends series, so be on the lookout for that.

~Ken, Born of Fire

What color should my blog be?

I took some of those online quizzes today. One of them said my blog should be green! I guess I made a good choice. Another one said I act like I'm 25 years old, which is pretty close to my actual age (23, 24 in September). Another one guessed that among my brothers and sisters I was born 4th. I was actually 3rd. Close enough I guess. That's pretty cool that a computer program can do something like that.

For the class that I've been taking this summer, I'm currently reading a novel called The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman. It's interesting to say the least. I wouldn't recommend it, primarily because of the vulgarity of it. However, if you really just want to experience the absurdity of reading a single story that contains both vampires and pirates, not to mention circus freaks, automata, phantasms, centaurs, pimps, and African tribesmen, be my guest, but remember that I warned you. And if that's not enough, the book also waxes philosophic on time-space, religion, gender psychology, and reality perception. Like I said, interesting to say the least.

Death Was Yesterday

I breathed in death
yesterday

as I gamboled
right past the area
where I knew
there was a decomposing corpse
of a squirrel.

I had passed it a week earlier.
"Surely they've cleaned it up by now."

Nope.

So I breathed in death
yesterday.

Yesterday
that was
yesterday
I don't intend
to do it again, that was
yesterday.

Today I'll go a different way
because I breathed in death
yesterday
and that was
yesterday
and I don't intend
to do it again today.

Death was
yesterday
and I don't intend
to breathe it in
again today.

Ignorance and No Despair

When I walk through darkness
I yearn for the light of others.

At the same time,
God's hand moves me.

Thus
by these two processes,
these two
phenomena
these two
miracles,

I see unlit signs.
I walk straight
on invisible roads.

Great Way to Spend a Day (In 29 Easy Steps)

For all of my readers that live here in Lafayette, I would like to recommend to you a wonderful way to use a day off. I will take you through the whole process, step-by-step:

1. The day before your day off, make sure you have $1.50 in quarters, (that's 6 of 'em), and pack a book or two that you're reading.
2. When you go to bed that evening, set your alarm for 9:00 AM. (That may seem somewhat early to wake up on a day off, but trust me, it'll be worth it.
3. Go to bed, wake up when your alarm goes off, spend some time with God, eat breakfast, get ready for the day.
4. Plan to arrive at the Taco Bell on Johnston and St. Mary at about 10:15.
5. Wait for the Lafayette City Bus to arrive.
6. Get on the bus, put 3 of your 6 quarters in the designated slot, and find a seat.
7. Enjoy the ride.
8. Find the little string hanging above the window next to your seat.
9. After the bus turns from Johnston onto the street leading to the Acadiana mall, pull the string.
10. The bus will stop between Family Christian Bookstore and Barnes & Noble. Get off the bus.
11. Making sure to look both ways, cross the street and head to Barnes & Noble.
12. Browse.
13. Go to the cafe area and buy your favorite coffee or non-coffee beverage and a desert.
14. Sit down in the cafe and eat your desert.
15. Leave the cafe area, with your drink in hand, and find a comfortable chair in the store.
16. Sit down and read, while drinking your beverage, slowly.
17. After finishing your drink, find a good stopping point in your book and head over to the mall.
18. Enter through the Sears entrance, go through Sears and into the mall, and keep right until you find the food court.
19. Eat lunch at your favorite food court restaurant. (I recommend the Chinese food, Combination 1, Chicken Teriyaki w/ fried rice, and a medium drink. You'll be tempted to get the large b/c it's only an extra .09. Don't. It's too much, especially after the Starbuck's beverage you just consumed earlier.)
20. Browse the mall and do whatever shopping you might like.
21. Head back to Barnes & Noble.
22. Browse some more, read some more, and, if you like, between 2:00 and 3:00, get another beverage.
23. Spend some time just sitting in your chair, relaxing, pondering life, communing w/ God, and drifting off into space/sleep. Write in your journal if you keep one.
24. Keep track of the time. At about 5:30, or no later than 5:35, head back to the Sears entrance of the mall.
25. Stand by the entrance and wait for the bus.
26. Repeat steps 5-8.
27. Wait until you pass up Lewis street, then pull the string.
28. The bus will stop a little bit before St. Mary. Get off the bus.
29. Walk back to your home or your car.

If you need to, feel free to print out this blog. Follow all these steps and I assure you, you won't regret it. You'll be refreshed, relaxed, and ready for your next day.

Proverbs 3:6

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight." (Prov. 3:5-6)

I put the word all in bold because that's what I'm focusing on as I reflect on this proverb.

We are to acknowledge him in all we do. I so frequently forget.

What got me thinking about this was Zeke and Lane's wedding Friday night. At the reception everyone was celebrating and dancing and just enjoying each other's company, and I couldn't help but think how much the Lord was being glorified at that time. He must have been rejoicing at the sight of his sons and daughters laughing together and loving each other.

And don't think that the Lord himself was not joining with us in our celebration. I felt his presence there just as much, if not more, than I normally do in church. I believe that he, just as he prompts us to do in his word, rejoices with those who rejoice.

God can be found anywhere, and we deny ourselves so much when we only look for him in church and our prayer closets.

~Ken, Born of Fire

A Man Story

I had only held a shotgun once before in my life, and that was 10 minutes prior, shooting at a piece of cardboard. For that shot, I wasn't holding the gun quite right, and the butt of it kicked me like a mule. I could feel the bruise forming, so I was taking special care this time to press it firmly against my shoulder. I was being told that if I did that, it would feel like a push instead of a punch.

I closed my left eye and lined my sight straight down the length of the barrell.

Safety off.

Finger on trigger.

"Pull!"

A second later and I see it, almost hovering out there. Watching someone else do it, you think you have to react instantly. I felt like I had all the time I needed and more. I took aim, turned a few inches to my left, and the next thing I saw was a fireworks display of shattering orange fragments. And no pain in my shoulder.

Whether I was a natural at shooting skeet or had a simple case of beginner's luck I was content not to discover. I quit with a perfect record. I hope to come out of retirement soon though. Should it be offered, another shot at glory will be hard to refuse.