The Mind of God 

 So recently a young child from China wrote this viral essay;

 “Time passes very quickly. It’s midterm season soon, I already began nervously preparing for the test, I must begin working harder, because if I don’t work hard and review well, then my grades will not go up, and I will be scolded by my parents, and if I get scolded by my parents then I will lose self-confidence, if I lose self-confidence then I will not finish my studies, if I do not finish my studies then I will not graduate [from university], if I can’t graduate from university then I will not find a good job, if I don’t find a good job then I won’t be able to make money, if I don’t make money then I can’t pay taxes, if I don’t pay taxes then it will be difficult for the country to pay salary to teachers, if teachers can’t get paid then they will not be dedicated to teaching, if they are not dedicated to teaching, then this will impact our nation’s future, if our nation’s future is impacted, then it will be difficult for China to advance and develop, and the Chinese people will degenerate into a barbaric race. If the Chinese people degenerate into a barbaric race, then the USA will begin to suspect that our nation has large-scale murderous weapons, if our nation has large-scale murderous weapons, then the USA will start a war with China and World War III will erupt, if WWIII erupts, both the strengths of both the USA and China will not be enough, if their strengths are not enough then they will use nuclear weapons, if they use nuclear weapons then they will destroy the environment, if the environment is destroyed then this will create a big hole in the atmosphere, if there is a big hole in the atmosphere then global warming will escalate and the glaciers at both poles will melt, if the glaciers melt then the global water level will rise, if the global water level rises then the entire human race will drown and die. Because it relates to the survival and security of the entire human race, therefore I must spend the remaining next few days on review in order to do well on the test, and thus prevent a tragedy from happening.”

I think about how God might think like this. It's interesting because the Bible makes clear two things. That we must work hard and that we should be like Children. This essay demonstrates the importance of working hard. But what about the fact that it was written by a Child? Children are always looked at as innocent but this is a great example of how they are beyond creative.

Many psychologists miss this when examining Children and many preachers only focus on how God wants us to be happy and carefree like them. This young child's brain had not succumbed to the ridged grammatical structure of most adults. He probably didn't have to try hard at all to let his beautiful mind run free. He was naturally creative. His mind was running away into some unknown place taking the history of the world with it like a dream, but he was awake.

That's beautiful.

So Christians claim that God made us in his image and we always hear about how we don't use a majority of our brain. I'm sure scientists have a good explanation but Christians like to say that our minds have the potential for more because their mind was created for more.

Everyday about politics, religion and....uh....video games. Sigh. But one of the reasons we fight is because our conversations limit the chain of events like this essay above contains. The kind that reach a reasonable conclusion

 Many of us don't understand God, some of us like to think we do but I have to ask the question maybe this is how Gods mind works. God foresees everything that will happen in ways that would make the thickest fiction novel break from it's hinges. It might be like this viral essay. It might explain why we are so confused when God does this or that. So let your mind run free and think about how God could actually be working, and how we just might not understand because it's too much to calculate.

 Hitchcock on Love

                   (what we can learn about one of the best story tellers in history)

We were watching an "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" episode on Hulu. 

The story was engaging at first. The actors were both wonky yet molded. They were interesting at the least. You could tell that Hitchcock had his creepy hands inside their brains while they were acting. He was trying to prevent their flaws and he was doing a good job at it. 

Then the end came. It was amazing. No one could ever guess. I wanted to go back and re-watch to find out how he pulled off this magic trick. When you turn off the lights and the t.v. your still thinking about how he did this. Not deep enough to be confused but deep enough to know it was doen right.

Is Hitchcock how love feels in our society? We're surprised by it. Many of us don't even understand it. We love others while we feel like no one loves us. Or maybe we only love ourselves too much and wish we could feel love for others more. Lastly we wish we could spend another night with those who are no longer with us. Why? To experience life with them a beautiful one that is only magnified by love.

The sad thing is we weren't ready for these surprise endings either.

Too many of us are working ten to twelve hours a day aching and dazed. We hang out with our significants and our friends but some of us don't ever connect like we might want to. We think we do. Our friends fill the void just enough. But is it supposed to fill us up like a candy bar or a burger where we get sick and always want more? Are mere Facebook messages supposed to fill the void? Are a couple of good beers with friends tonight but not tomorrow supposed to do the trick? Or are we supposed to be containing a feeling that can't be described? One that edify our mind, our soul, our heart, our stomach, and our nerves all at once like a drug that can preserve our inner beauty. Not our outter. Do you need a good drug or do you need love?

What I'm about to tell you will be like an Alfred Hitchcock ending for some Americans. It will make you uncomfortable and make you scared but it will touch you at the same time. This is how God want's us to live. He wants us to pour out our hearts to him over and over again and to share this constantly with others. Too many Americans and American Christians adopt a shaky theology where the messages they preach sound like an episode of Family Matters or even worst. No classic values aren't bad. But they are boring. God didn't create us to live without passion. He created us to be reflections of him. An awesome being who changed history all by himself. The point is awesomeness exists as real as the light shining through the shades in your bedroom and alighting the architectural diversities of your room that sometimes touch our face and warm our bodies. But do you feel this is missing from the world?  Too many of us waste time arguing about politics, religion, and social adaptation that we forget about beauty. The kind that saves the earth. The kind that makes God promises as real as heaven just because a couple of words left our mouths and made someones day.

He wants you to kiss each other on the cheek. He wants you to get offended and want's you to be nervous. He wants you to be afraid that people will think your gay but to know that it doesn't matter what others think but only what that person understands about how special they are. He wants you to uncontrollably tell your friends how special they are. He wants you to tell your friends and strangers how they have so many intricate gifts and how we desperately need them in our lives even in the smallest of ways because without them life would be worthless. He wants you to spend time designing a perfect way to make this work in your mind because there is a better way. Contrary to what liberal Christians might tell you. God does promise these things.  

This is God's vision. Where our minds and hearts are painted out from our mouths like endless mountains underneath the morning sunrise. It's an amazing world where the complexities of the human soul are unearthed through the sound of our voices. Where love pours out of every single person on the street like flower pedals falling from a cherry tree while the wind carries them across the reflection of our mind while fresh air enters our bodies for free while it's the only free thing left.

It's the kind of promises where babies are born and new tingling nerves are felt in our hands, chest, and feet. The kind of beauty where people keep from killing themselves, that give peoples bodies the strength to keep going, and just simply gives someone peace for the first time in their life. The kind of beauty were you know your artwork makes peoples hearts beat faster even if your not famous. It's the kind of beauty that is masculine, not just feminine, and the kind of beauty that shows someone who they really are for the first time in their life. It's the kind of love that gives people the strength to die. It's the kind of love that shows compassion and embrace and for once without the distortion of sex ruining the montage.

Here's what's wrong. Again we come back to the freaky, awkward  Hitchcock. He seems obsessed with this tantalizing thing called death but not just death. The pain of it. The emotions it brings. But maybe there's a reason it was tantalizing for him. It sits right next to love. Maybe this is why? Jesus's death, his love, is one with pain. He felt pain and sometimes it will be painful for us to show our love.  

Jesus had blood pour out of him, he had a spear chop up his side who knows if it stuck on the first try.  He had needles jammed into his eggy soft skull.

Pain.

Pain is almost the equivalent to our fear when we want to show someone our love. It's something we have to overcome just like Jesus did.

Overcoming fears and opening our mouths is nothing in comparison to the pain that Jesus felt. He felt the worst pain anyone could ever feel. But are we too afraid to tell people how awesome they are? Or everyday to encourage them more? Is our job in the way? How about greed, jealousy, family problems, church, money? When you know someone needs it. Say it. After all the world could end tomorrow couldn't it?  Alfred Hitchcock didn't pull his cunning endings out of hat. He learned this from life its self.

This is love and it's not an action, consider it a reflex. One that you and me have been keeping secret.  It means nothing unless you give it away everyday for free without fear of consequence. Without second guessing.

Our friends and family might not be here tomorrow and if you show them this un-watched "love scene" it just might save them, cure them, or inspire them.

"There are some kind of men who are so busy worrying about the next life, they've never learned to live in this one."

"To Kill a Mockingbird"