Bye-Bye Christy... for now anyway

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think"

Christopher Robin to Pooh
A.A. Milne, Creator of Winnie-the-Pooh

I remember when I first heard that one of the participants joining nieuCommunities this year was a girl who had half-sleeves on both arms... I thought, "Oh good, a normal person."

Definition: nor-mal [nawr-muhl] - adjective
conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural; serving to establish a standard; approximately average

Ok, so my initial assessment was off a bit. Christy Lynn Scott is definitely not normal. That's not to say she's 'abnormal,' per se, she's just... well, she's special - wait, not in a 'short-bus, touch-me-and-I'll-stab-you-in-the-eye-with-a-fork,' kind of special... just special... to me, Jasheen and Gabrielle.

(and to think... I fancied myself a writer at one point)

Like most of the participants, Christy really didn't know what she was joining when she came to Glasgow this year. And like most of the participants, she had her (un?)fair share of personal and spiritual struggles. Aside from being Gabrielle's babysitter - of which she turned out to be spectacular - Jasheen and I got to know Christy most intimately as we journeyed with her through some of the more challenging times of her stay here. Our love and care for Christy grew more and more as she demonstrated a sincere level of vulnerability and honesty with us. And the one constant that we recognized in Christy, amidst times of loneliness, despair, frustration and even severe nightmares, was her unwavering commitment to find God in her circumstances.

Often times I believe that if we're not experiencing the JOY that we know comes from our wholeness in Christ, we think we're not experiencing God. When in fact, there are so many more ways for us to encounter God's presence in our lives. If life is hard or not-fun... if things aren't going our way or to our liking, we think God is absent. In other words, when we don't see God's goodness in our day-to-day lives, we assume He's absent... because of course, God is all about fun, fun, fun all the time, time, time.

Well I think I can say with accuracy, that the times Christy experienced God's overwhelming goodness while she was here, were few and far between, but that never stopped her pursuit of God, nor did it infringe upon her belief that God was still actively present in her life and circumstances. She intentionally sought out people and places where she could engage God and serve others - two of her highest values - and it was never a mystery that the Bible was a constant source of nourishment that she returned to regularly for strength and comfort.

I think it's safe to say that for most of her stay here in Glasgow, Christy was misunderstood - often times beheld at face-value, when there was so much more beneath the exterior. Jasheen and I were invited to see beneath the exterior, and we were blessed for it.

Christy left this morning, returning to southern California to begin a new chapter in her life. Grad school? Make-up artist to the stars? Aerospace engineer? God only knows. But she didn't leave before joining Jasheen, Gabrielle and I for supper last night at our favorite 'fine food emporium' in town - Kember & Jones (shock & awe - it was Christy's first time). We soaked up our last moments together and talked of plausible times in the near future that we might be able to see each other again. As tears streamed down Christy's and Jasheen's cheeks outside Tennents pub on the corner of Byres Road and Highburgh Road, it was hard to watch them hug and say goodbye. After one tearful goodbye two-and-a-half years ago, Jasheen swore never to get close enough to another participant to hurt like that again -- oh well, two-and-a-half years is a good run as far as personal oaths go, don't you think?

We'll miss you, Christy... and we love you!

James Banez: R.I.P.

It would be so cliche´ to say, "It's times like this that remind us how fragile life really is." But how else are you supposed to react to these kinds of circumstances?
I found out on Friday evening that a friend of mine from high school was in a fatal car accident on Highway 101 in California. I was really better friends with his sister, but we all grew up in church together. James Banez was around the EV Free Fullerton youth ministry for as long as I can remember. He was older than me... 5 years, actually, but he was always on our surf trips and at our summer camps... and like I said, I was friends with his younger sister, Charity. Which is where this tragedy takes a turn for the worse. On the day of his death, James was heading up to Palo Alto to comfort his younger sister. Charity and her husband had just lost their 3-month-old baby girl, Zoe, unexpectedly. James, his brother Allen and sister Sarah were on their way up north from Orange County when their vehicle was struck from behind and sent into the center divide. James (driving) was killed instantly, while Allen and Sarah were treated for abrasions, lacerations and other minor injuries and released a couple of days later. The driver of the other vehicle fled the scene of accident before CHP arrived and is still at large.
James (39) is survived by his wife Brenda and three children with one on the way.

What do I say about this? I mean, a family lost a two loved ones on the same day!!! Do I journey down some existential expose´ on life, death, what it all means, why, God, why??? I don't think so. I think I'll just remind myself that His ways are higher than my ways, and His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. And right now, I trust that He is enjoying the company of two of his beloved children...

James Joseph Banez & Zoe Elkington

News Story: http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_124122505.html

Sunshine

In the not-too-distant-future, the sun is about to peter out. A crew is sent to re-ignite it with a nuclear bomb; when they fail, a new team is sent to finish the job (seven years later). But they find that flying to the least hospitable place in our solar system and staying alive is no supersymmetric matter.

Although Sunshine is not on my list of 2007 potential blockbusters, this proved to be a dark horse in the realm of sleeper sci-fi thrillers. While most deep-space films aspire to create a fear of the vacuous dark, Sunshine will leave you afraid the sun.

Helmer, Danny (28 Days Later) Boyle, proves again that there is no film genre that he can't successfully tackle. His venture into the claustrophobia of spaceship living, aggressively hissing pistons, bellowing alert signals, and clanging corridors stretching darkly into certain doom, certainly resembles any number of iconoclastic space odysseys from the past. But this rendition veers from the archetypal patterns we've seen before of monsters hiding in cupboards, or indeed the dark - this time Boyle cleverly employs the provider of all life as our ultimate enemy - the sun.

Boyle casts an ensemble of recognizable, albeit modestly famous faces, that you'll recall with familiarity - Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai), Chris Evans (FF's, the Human Torch), Rose Byrne (the girl who beds Achilles in Troy), and Cillian Murphy (starry-eyed survivor from 28 Days Later) - but that suggest any one of them could kick off as soon as the mission goes pear-shaped. As they swiftly and spectacularly do.

Disaster ensues when the crew realizes that the ship they were sent to replace hasn't disappeared at all, but is simply bathing in the rays of the sun. And despite the fact that this kind of heroism almost never ends well in sci-fi movies, they set off to rescue, or at the very least, salvage it. The ensuing madness yields world-class, white-knuckle cinematic brilliance, and also reveals that there is nothing new under the proverbial (sci-fi) sun.

If the fast-paced action of the film ever gave you time to examine similarities to sci-fi movies past (which it categorically does not), you might find yourself thinking, "Ooh, that's sort of like Alien"/"I remember that from 2001"/"Man, that seems a lot like Event Horizon"/"Gadzooks, there's even a nod to Dr. Strangelove" (if your particularly pretentious). There's the noble captain willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good; the cowardly, unqualified second-in-command; a bit where the airlock malfunctions; lots of violently flashing lights, and an onboard computer that sounds like a patient but unhelpful self-help tape. None of these should spoil the overall enjoyment of the film, but it does beg the question, "Has the narrow genre of People Go Mad in Space reached its creative critical mass?"

Of course, you'll only have the opportunity to weigh such considerations after the credits begin rolling, because Boyle is far too busy wringing you dry of perspiration before that. I have long stated, based on my limited ability to assess such things, that developing a compelling conclusion is the toughest thing to do in film making. Sadly, this is somewhat true with this film as well. As the tension escalates and the bodycount rises, it appears that we're well on our way to a genre classic, but in spite of the intense build up, the finale leaves a bit of an enigmatic taste in your mouth (perhaps intentionally). The result is that an otherwise gripping film closes with a bit of a fizzle rather than an explosive sunburst.

McRating: 8.5

Prayer Devotional

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

Romans 11:33

Thank You that you have me in the place You want me just now... that even if I got here through wrong choices or indifference or even rebellion, You knew my mistakes and sins before I ever existed, and You worked them into Your plan to draw me to Yourself, to mold and bless me, and to bless others through me. Thank You that, even if I'm here through the ill-will, ineptness or poor judgment of other people, all is well; for in Your sovereign wisdom You are at work to bring about good results from all those past decisions, those past events beyond my control - good results both for me and for others. Thank You again that you meant for good the terrible things that happened to Joseph, who was sold into slavery, exiled to a distant country, and later sent to prison on false accusations... and through all this You had him in the right place at the right time, for highly important reasons. I'm glad Lord, that You are the same today - well able to work things out for us, to turn evil into good. I stand amazed at the complexity and mystery of Your wisdom. How safe it is for me to trust Your reasons for acting (or not acting) and Your methods of working!
Thank You that I can safely commit my location and situation to You. I can be "willing for You to shift me anywhere on life's checkerboard, or bury me anywhere in life's garden, gladly yielding myself for You to please Yourself with, anywhere and anyway You choose" (source unknown). Thank you that I can trust You with my future places - ready to go, ready to stay.
So I rest in the fact that You have me in this place for this day, and I praise You that You will faithfully guide me throughout life to just where You want me to be, as I seek to do Your will.
And most important of all is my place in You. How delighted I am to have you as my dwelling place where I can settle down, feel secure and be content anywhere on earth... You are my blessed home, "where I can enter and be at rest even when all around and above is a sea of trouble" (Andrew Murray). How my soul delights to hide in the secret of Your presence... to take refuge in the shadow of Your wings, to eat at Your table, to drink my fill of the river of Your delights. How blessed I am, my King and my God, for You have chosen me, and brought me near, to live in Your presence, to behold Your delightfulness, to seek Your counsel... And to think that I will dwell in Your house forever!

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

PSALM 91:1