R³

What many men seek is often under their nose. But for some the unknown is too hard to resist.
-Eragon, Uncle Garrow

Sometimes, it always seems that…
the past is regrettable,
the present unappreciated,
and the future enticing.

I need to learn to have earthly satisfaction and holy discontentment.

There is no insanity, only misunderstood ambition.
There is no impossiblity, only misplaced faith.

“I will kill your monster.”
-Beowulf

As our groups grow bigger,
we unknowingly have to deal with more problems.
Sometimes the problem overwhelms us,
such as to the extend that we lose sight of the situation in its entirety:
We have so many problems because we have so many people.
That in itself is a reason to continue fighting; the spirit of defiance

We don’t have a great pile of dirt,
we just have a trove of diamonds that needs some polishing.

Let me leave you with this immortal line.

A vehicle filled with wounded American soldiers lurches to a stop in the middle of a street where Somali bullets are flying in everything direction.

McKnight: You, get up there and drive!
Othic: But I’m shot Colonel!
McKnight: Everybody’s shot! Let’s go!
-Black Hawk Down

The energy needed to retreat might have
been just the amount needed to succeed.
-Fred Smith

Reporter: What makes you think God chose you [to change the world]?
Evan Baxter: He chose all of us.
-Evan Almighty

We asked the wrong questions in life, which is why we arrived at flawed conclusions.

We asked if we could change the world.
God asks if we would change the world.

Allow me to pick up from the implications of where I left off in the previous post. Changing the world is more then just changing the surroundings; it is about changing a life. Everyone can change the world, starting with his or her own life. Frankly, I used to scorn all these life changes. I lament that God seems to show less of his power on this side of the testament after Jesus came back. The Old Testament had opening of seas, stopping of sun, turning back of time, overnight annihilation of armies… and on this side of time, we only have the transformation of lives. It feels as though God has toned down His powers.

Obviously, this is another one of my flawed understandings.

In the Old Testament, despite God’s blatant display of power, those miracles failed to induce a change in the lives of the Israelites. Any repentance was temporal, done more out of fear of their own lives instead of the fear of God. In a way, the opening of the Red Sea was more of a supernatural atomic bomb; the surroundings changed, but the people didn’t. Yet though the death of Jesus, God achieved what no physical miracle could have done. He convicted the hearts of man and rescued them from damnation; He convinced them to repent. Clearly, a life-changed is a superior miracle compared to any supernatural miracle

God: Parting a soup is not a miracle, Bruce. It’s a magic trick. A single mom who’s working two jobs, and still finds time to take her son to soccer practice, that’s a miracle. A teenager who says “no” to drugs and “yes” to an education, that’s a miracle. People want me to do everything for them. What they don’t realize is *they* have the power. You want to see a miracle, son? Be the miracle.
-Bruce Almighty

In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talents — new creations. The new needs friends.

Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau’s, who is, in this critic’s opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau’s soon, hungry for more.

—Anton Ego, food critic from “Ratatouille”