Impossibilities

"Free, come set me free! Down on my knees, I still believe you could save me from me. Come set me free, come set me free! Inside this shell there's a prison cell" (Switchfoot, "Free").


"You and I were two old and tortured souls repaired by a love of broken things. In a life, just some bodies growing old, no fear of the end, of anything" (Foo Fighters, "Statues").


"I could pull you from this cellar; we could break these chains together and you'll become just what you always meant to be" (Deas Vail, "Life in These Little Boats").


"Sometimes you find yourself waiting, waiting for someone to come around and it's hopeless hoping to be found. Then it arrives and says 'You're perfect, my love'" (Foster the People, "Broken Jaw").


"All the bright coloured fish tell of a treasure in a dull shell. 'Such subtlety, so easily missed!' You, my hidden pearl of pure and perfect love" (mewithoutyou "Tie Me Up! Untie Me!").

News

I don't think it's possible for the curse of human suffering to be displayed in a more effective way. I have loved this image for such a long time because it's soooo... clear. I wish I had words to describe its perfection (which was shot by magnusmagnus of flickr.com).

Sometimes I am completely overwhelmed by the burden of sin upon the world. The shear magnitude of suffering that exists at any given moment can threaten to topple my precarious mental shields. In those moments, it's a picture like this that reminds me that I'm not alone in my anguish; there are other people who can understand and appreciate the desire for a better world and the pain of its current state of existence.

Apathy is our worst enemy. Don't try to fix everything. Find one thing that needs healing and let God use you to stitch the wounds together again.

Crime and Punishment

I would just like to state for the records that Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is an incredible book. I usually have an exceedingly hard time getting through books written by Russians. The characters have ridiculously similar names with about six different nicknames. They have titles that change depending on which character is referring to them... brother, aunt, friend, or enemy.

In this respect, Crime and Punishment is no different, BUT the character development and quality of writing is so superb that this quickly becomes a trivial inconvenience compared to the thrill and fascination that develops while reading this book. The author brings such a deep psychological understanding to the style of his writing. The reader finds himself or herself immediately identifying with the main character, someone who is not at all likable but is portrayed in a way that connects with the reader. As a bonus, the ending is very redemptive and I closed the book after finishing it with a sense of hope and clarity rather than the murky darkness with which so many darker stories tend to conclude.

The book is not perfect, but overall it was a very good read. If you haven't read it then you need to put it at the top of your list immediately.