dusk approaching

Prophetic Mission: Ezekiel

When Ezekiel sees the glory of the Lord, he falls facedown.

God gives him a scroll to eat. Words of lament, mourning, woe. Speak my words to Israel, God says. You are my watchman, you are to warn my people to turn from sin and to do what is righteous.

Sweet as honey, Ezekiel says as he eats the scroll.

Then the sound of rumbling (the beating of the wings of the living creatures)was around him as the spirit carried him away. He sat overwhelmed, unable to speak for seven days.

Ezekiel said: I went in the anger of my spirit, and the strong hand of the Lord was upon me.

Sweet as honey? I wonder about those words, thinking about the valley full of dry bones. God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, to prophesy to the breath. These are the bones of the House of Israel, God said. These are the ones in their graves, without hope and without life because they have rebelled against the Lord.

Ezekiel told the bones that God would bring them back to life. Told the four winds to fill them with breath.

Sweet as honey. Redemption from exile. Forgiveness. Restoration.

God says: Then you will know that I am the LORD. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken. Then you will know that I have done it.

Nerdy humor, birthays, etc.

So I thought this was funny. I'm looking for a book for class that I refused to buy because it was ugly and technical looking (...my true criteria for which books I'm willing to buy is revealed: pretty and poetic, apparently?). Anways, I typed in "Focused Genograms" and up came the record, so YAY!, $20 less I have to be in debt for this venture. The funny part, now brace yourself, was that at the top of the screen the prompt asked me "did you mean focused ignoramus?" Bahahaha.

Gosh it's windy out right now. A little ominous, a little fallish. Men in hooded sweatshirts are attacking our front lawn with leaf blowers, pushing all of the fallen leaves further east. It seems like a funny thing for them to be doing on such a windy day. I would prefer to walk outside and be bombarded by a swirling whirling frenzy of leaves. Perhaps today in the very heart of the city there will be one gigantic leaf pile. I think I need to go wash my hands with some ghoulish soap, courtesy of Lindsey.



I've been taking long walks in and out of the city, alone and with friends, and sometimes with my midterm flashcards. It has been quite lovely. Court's birthday celebrations were so fun as well, including taaaaasty chilli she made, hanging out, and all around good times. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COURT!



I'm studying, studying, studying for midterms, and best get back to that now, but not before I read April's beautiful poem again. Here it is, for your reading pleasure.

I Can't Do Anything with this Dark

It's a quarter to 4 a.m.
And I can't do anything with this dark,
sleep, read, pray.
I can see only as far as the bus headlights illuminate,
along a bumpy Moldovan road,
On my was to Chisinau for clarification
or further vision.

My fellow travelers sleep
and I am asleep-awake in the twilight
world of jetlag.
This road leads past the lives of the living poor
whose barren vineyards are eery shadows-
appartitions who trail us, me, mile after mile
in this dark,
and I can't do anything

A fog settles in and not even headlights
are enought to cut through what I cannot see,
along a bumpy Moldovan road
on my way to Chisinau.
The fog breaks
The bumps increase,
We turn a corner
and I find I still can't do anything with this dark.

We pass a man walking in the night
and I wonder where he is going all alone,
so late, so early, without a light.
Perhaps he knows what to do with the dark,
and that is nothing more than go straight.
"Go straight," I hear him say as we speed by,
Our lights catching his eyes reflection,
illuminating. "Go straight," he whispers.
I catch a gleam of his life, and
breathe deeply the beauty of this,
a night when I could do nothing.

Because my blog is depressing Liz

From the Library...
I should be reading Thessalonians and studying a guide to psychological disorders, but I'm reading blogs and eating chocolate instead. It's Theological Libraries Month--Hip Hip Hooray!--which means we have colorful leaves hanging from the ceiling and candy on the circulation desk. And everyone is hyped up on sugar and a little bit happier.

There are predictions that fall colors will not come to St. Louis this year because it's been so blimmin hot. That's a sad thing. So I look longingly at stock photos of fall online and pretend that it's scarf and sweater weather, even though today's high will be close to 90.

I saw Over the Rhine last night and also a guy named Griffin House, who was quite good...sounding a bit like Ryan Adams with good songwriting. The concert was lovely, but left me feeling a little wistful and achey and distracted. But ah....what to do when these beautiful things work their way in.

My good friend April begins her two week stay with Word Made Flesh Romania today. I'm looking forward to seeing what God brings out of that time.

Check out SariBari's new website. Beautiful! Way to go Sarah, and my way talented roomie for taking pictures on her recent trip to Calcutta.