First poetry attempt in three years... yippee

I watched the sun set this morning
The rippled reflection oddly more intriguing
Than the very world it showed me
Neither the world reflected
Nor the pond that reflects
Are seen for what they are
In much the same way I've lived
A life too nuanced for words
Faced with words too extravagant for life
Finding a thousand ways to say
I don't know anything

Lessons From Ricky Ross

I've started reading the blog of former drug lord, Ricky Ross. It's interesting to say the least; he's committed his remaining time in prison and his efforts toward education, both for himself and educating others through his blog. Most of his posts deal with urban culture, racial reconciliation, and the dangerous realities of the drug industry (needless to say, they're usually not entirely relevant for a suburban white college student.) Although, in his most recent post, I can say that I learned a genuine lesson. In his post, he discussed BHAG, or "Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals".

"Too often we don't think much of ourselves. We have a tendency to think other people are better than us or born with special ability. And when you think like this, you have a tendency to say, "what the heck," but watch out. We must have a certain level of unreasonable confidence. A confidence to say I can go with what others say they can't."

I think the Church, and society as a whole, has lost sight of what healthy confidence is. There's either a denigrating and restricting sort of humility that views others as having unrealistic capability, or plain arrogance that places that views the self as having special inherent capabilities that no one else has. What would it look like to level the playing field? To set ridiculous goals for ourselves, and know that we can achieve things we doubt? To know that even the successful had to start from the same point that we start from?

I learned a lesson from a drug lord... awesome.

Does Jesus Love Webber?

Is it possible for someone to love Jesus more than Jesus loves them? I would hope that the answer is a definitive NO...

That being said, I just found out that a friend of mine from high school, his nickname was Webber, came out of the closet a couple months ago... He's gay. He also loves Jesus. He was also one of the most spiritual people I knew, in the sense that he was always looking for Jesus. He served in various capacities at church, attended youth group every week, the whole nine yards. He also says that, throughout that whole time, this was a reality that he lived with, and hid from even the closest people in his life for fear of judgment.

I'm reminded of a certain Samaritan woman, she lived with certain realities that she tried to hide for fear of judgment as well. Then this man named Jesus spoke to her (a significant gesture in itself). He proceeded to tell her about the things she's done... She was set free by that act. She raced into town, telling of the man who told her everything she'd done. This was obviously no secret to the people of the town who knew her reputation, but this man had freed her from these haunting realities. He hadn't changed anything, but the things that once haunted her and drove her to seclusion were now the very things she first mentioned when she spoke of her encounter with the Messiah.

So back to the question: does Jesus love Webber? Well, I know that I love Webber, and just about everyone in his life loves him... I can hardly imagine Jesus being among the few who don't love Webber in the realities that he lives with. I can hardly imagine Webber loving Jesus more than Jesus loves him. What I can imagine is Jesus overwhelming him with a love and grace that he can't even come to grips with, because it's that substantial.