Friend, have you had no date of late? Or have you had dates galore but found them each a bore? Were you looking for Mr or Mrs Right, only to have to tell ‘em to fly a kite!

Did you think you’d met “the one”? Was the first date oh such fun? Full of laughter, not disaster — happy days, no dismays? When he was away, did you lay awake at night, missing him rather than dissing him, reminiscing of kissing him rather than dismissing him? But in the long run, hon, aren’t you glad it was done? Did it start with a tingle and a bang, yet end in a whimper and then a dang?!

Yet, please be honest, don’t you long for love? For the one given to you from above?

If so, sing with me this love song I just composed:

O, come after me! Please won’t you, my love?
For I will take care of you and love you.
I will whisper sweetly and coo like a dove,
And fit songs in your heart as a hand in a glove!

Don’t be blue, you know who, don’t you wish for this lyrical miracle to come true for you, too?

Has Match.com failed you? Or eHarmony railed you? Have you had to go through a bunch of baloney, yet still end up oh so desperately lonely?

Friend, let me say, that’s because you’ve been looking for love in all the wrong places! Checking out the wrong faces! No wonder you’re finding only nut cases!

What you need to spice up your dating life, and perhaps to find a wife, to put a bounce in your step again, so as not to give up hope on men, is . . . *drum roll please * . . .

Remember, when your dating life has gone to heck, the dead will be at your call and beck! You never need fear, there’s no looming doom. Rather there’s plenty of room for corpse brides and bridegrooms.

Of course, we can’t promise you a perfect date, as you might end up raw or live bait! But what we can and will guarantee, if only to a certain degree, is a little bit of burlesque — if you can stomach the grotesque!

So I bid you well, dear friend, may you find a date you don’t hate, and may it even be your fate to meet your soul mate. Now to close I give you one last best wish — hope you’re not served as the zombie’s next dish!

And, finally, no more rhyming now, I mean it! (Anybody want a peanut?)

I got one thing to say to all the lesser dating websites out there: eat your heart out! Otherwise, the zombies are more than happy to oblige.

One day not too long ago, I went to the hospital to visit my friend Eric, who was dying of a brain tumor. Months of fighting the cancer with chemo and prayer had seemed futile. I came to encourage Eric and had no idea how powerful his ministry would be to me. In that yellow-tiled room, lined with monitors and tubes that measured and maintained his life, Eric showed me the treasures of an eternal life that was his greater reality and glory.

I did not know how rough this beloved teacher’s day had been until I entered his room. His head was hurting so much that he was dizzy with the pain. He grimaced when he smiled to greet me, and we said little as I put a hand on his shoulder. His wife smiled gratefully and rose to let me have her seat beside the bed. Seeing her vibrant, always exuberant husband in so much pain had been hard on her that day. She went into the hallway to cry and to let go of the brave face that she usually kept in place for him.

Eric spoke earnestly in the few minutes that she was gone. ‘Bryan,’ he said, ‘please help my family not to hurt too much. I feel sorry for all of you. I will see Jesus soon, but you have to wait. I just pray that I can glorify the Lord through this.’

I continue to marvel at this faith in God’s eternal provision, and I continue to seek the depth of faith evident in Eric’s prayer. In the midst of great suffering, he offered a simple petition: ‘In my life, Lord, be glorified.’ Of course, Eric desired the return of his physical health. Without question, he ached about the future of his young family. Eric put it all before the Lord in prayer, but Eric also ended his prayers, ‘In Jesus’ name.’ That means that this faithful believer’s greatest desire was to have his life — and, if necessary, his death — honor the name of his Savior.

I would not pretend to tell you that I know why Eric’s dying rather than his living was more glorifying to God. Part of my heart still struggles to make sense of the loss of my friend. Yet this courageous man helped me to see, and wanted the world to know, that the God who loves us enough to sacrifice his own Son for us desired only the best for Eric, his family, and all the world that was touched by his life (Rom. 8:32). Eric was suffering in a fallen world where such experiences are common. Yet he had hope in a better world that many have yet to claim. If God could use Eric’s faith in a time of suffering to display to many (including you who are reading this) the reality and security of that better world (2 Cor. 4:17-18), then Eric was most blessed — fulfilled in his greatest desire. Because of the wonders of his Lord’s eternal provisions, Eric knew that ‘our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us’ (Rom. 8:18). God was revealing his glory in Eric, and that was precisely Eric’s desire.

Eric taught us all to pray, ‘God, you know my needs and my wants. They are plain to you and I ask you to provide for them. But, Lord, I love you so much that this is my ultimate prayer: Let my life be used to show the greatness and goodness of my God and his eternal love no matter what I face. Above all, I pray for the glory of Jesus’ name.’ This is the essence and beauty of praying backwards.

Excerpted from his book Praying Backwards.

Would we know that the major chords were sweet,
If there were no minor key?

Would the painter’s work be fair to our eyes,
without shade on land or sea?

Would we know the meaning of happiness,
Would we feel that the day was bright,
If we’d never known what it was to grieve,
Nor gazed on the dark of night?

Excerpted from Streams in the Desert.

Fave animated films

1. The Iron Giant. Brad Bird before Pixar fame. Originally from a story by Poet Laureate (and ex-husband of Sylvia Plath), Ted Hughes.
2. Beauty and the Beast. Beautiful songs, and, at least for the period, drawings as well. Just a tidbit: I wanted to be a comic strip writer and artist when I was a kid (although to be an astronaut was my first dream — which is so funny to me!). But, despite winning my 6th grade class’ yearbook competition and having both my drawing as the yearbook’s front cover and my short story among its leading publications (thank you, Mrs. Maxwell!), my dreams were to be dashed a few years down the road. This would occur when I learned that zany looking cartoon characters and silly satirical stories, and in fact artistic and literary aspirations in general, don’t exactly endear one to the high school football team — or at least not the one I joined!
3. A Charlie Brown Christmas. The first and the best of the Charlie Brown specials, I do declare! As an immigrant from Europe, I didn’t speak a lick of English, but I still understood that Christmas was somehow important because a certain “babe” had been born.

Fave anime

1. Princess Mononoke. My first and fave of grandmaster Hayao Miyazaki’s various films.
2. Robotech. Yeah, I know about Macross but it was the sanitized Robotech that I first saw and enjoyed.
3. Ghost in the Shell. Definitely not for kids though. Watch with severe caution. Genndy Tartakovsky’s work probably deserves a mention somewhere here, too.

Fave cartoons

1. Looney Tunes. Never was much of a Disney fan. Although there are a lot of good ones, my faves were mainly with Chuck Jones.
2. Duck Tales. Okay, this is probably the only exception to the above. I used to love watching Duck Tales.
3. The Smurfs. Or Les Schtroumpfs. Or I Puffi.

Fave comic books

1. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. IMHO, the best comic book ever written, featuring the best comic book character ever conceived! For one thing, witness Batman totally pummel Superman. The Dark Knight Strikes Back sequel was a let-down though, at least for me. But Batman: Year One was great, although it was more about Jim Gordon than Batman.
2. Marvels. Kingdom Come might’ve had more of an epic scope and overall better story. But Marvels first introduced me to the artwork of Alex Ross. Plus, I need to have Spidey in the top three somehow!
3. Rising Stars. J. Michael Straczynski is probably my fave comic book writer. Surprisingly, however, I’ve never seen Bablyon 5! Others include Chris Claremont, Jeph Loeb, Frank Miller, and Alan Moore.

Fave comic book or superhero movies

1. Batman Begins. I did see Batman: The Dark Knight, but I’m not totally sure what to think about it yet. Dark Knight was definitely better from a critical standpoint. But Batman Begins changed the tenor of how comic book movies have been filmed, which was uber cool in my opinion, without losing any of the comic book essence and just plain fun of a comic book movie.
2. Spider-Man and X-Men. A tie, mainly because I first saw them both more or less at the same time and so tend to think of them together. Wolverine and Rogue’s father-daughter like relationship, particularly with Wolverine protecting Rogue and Rogue opening up to and trusting Wolverine, resonated with me.
3. Sky High. Say what you will, but I really had a good time watching this flick. There are other “comedy” comic book movies like Mystery Men and the current Hancock. However, Sky High is not only funny, but also has a relatively good message for the entire family. (Hm, Unbreakable might be somewhere on this list, too, but I can’t decide. So I’ll just make this parenthetical remark about putting Unbreakable somewhere on this list.)

Fave comic strips

1. Calvin and Hobbes. By turns humourous and reflective, was there any doubt this would be at the top of my list?
2. The Far Side. Wacky and bizarre, just like mom used to make!
3. Peanuts. Snoopy’s “dogfights” with the WWI ace the Red Baron were great fun for me.

Fave computer animation (Pixar)

1. The Incredibles. Hands-down my fave of all their feature films.
2. Finding Nemo. I love the ocean, I love the song “Beyond the Sea,” I love the father-searching-for-his-son plot, I love the Great Barrier Reef and Australia, and I love a good clown . . . fish!
3. WALL-E. I could probably have done without the main message, but, well, even still it wasn’t entirely without merit. Plus, the romance between WALL-E and EVE was pure magic, and more than made up for any shortcomings. And I just dig stuff in space and references to scifi flicks from the past.

Fave serial inspired movies

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yeah, creating this category might just be a way for me to plug one of my all-time fave films.
2. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. No one I know likes this film except for me. Oh well.
3. Um, I can’t think of a third one. Plus, maybe I truly am a kid at heart, or at least an undisciplined one, because I’m already growing impatient already and already want to stop blogging already! I’d rather go outside and build a tree house or fort. Or dig up dinosaur bones. Or chart a cryptic map leading to my hidden, buried treasure while laying booby traps all along the way. Or race my friends on dirt bikes down the mountain trail. Or have a dip in the lake, and later cannonball right into the middle of where my friends are in the water so that they get doused with even more water. Or have an evening bonfire at the beach with family and friends, roasting marshmellows and telling one another fun and funny stories. Or sit up late at night with her my best friend gazing at the beautiful stars in the skies, basking in the soft, tender moonlight as it shines down upon our faces — and humbly giving thanks and adoring the One who created the heavens and the earth, who flung the stars across the canvas of the universe, who bound the chains of the Pleiades and loosed the cords of Orion! So, with that end in mind, happy trails, friends! I’m outta here!

Be sure to check out more videos from Student Life (e.g. How Does He Love Us?, His Grace, and for some lighthearted physical comedy, Failing Love: Cupid). There are loads of (mostly) good videos to go through.

[W]here we cannot understand we can still trust.

This requires a deliberate commitment of the mind. That hurts when our natural instinct is to let our minds and emotions dwell on our pain, loss, and disappointment. But it is a hurt that heals.

Scripture gives us a poignant example of this in the life of Jacob. He experienced a great change when he met with God at Peniel. But some time afterward, Jacob’s wife Rachel went into labor as they traveled from Bethel to Bethlehem. She died shortly after childbirth.

Imagine the scene. Jacob, who had wrestled with God and held his ground, watched helplessly as his wife lay dying. Just before she died she turned from gazing at her baby boy to look at her husband: ‘Jacob,’ she said, ‘Call him Ben-oni.’

That was Rachel’s dying wish. ‘Call him Son-of-my-sorrow.’ ‘But,’ we are told, ‘his father named him Ben-jamin’ (Gen. 35:18). Ben-jamin means Son-of-my-right-hand. Jacob would not think of his newborn son as the cause of his grief, but as the recipient of his highest blessing, the blessing of his right hand. He would not allow himself to become preoccupied with a question he could never answer — Why did God let her die when we needed her most? By God’s grace, even in the midst of tragedy, there would be blessing.

It is impossible to imagine what effort of mind and will it took for Jacob lovingly to decline his wife’s dying wish. But he knew he needed to commit himself to the principle that the Lord takes from us one blessing only to prepare us for another.

Excerpted from Deserted by God? by Sinclair Ferguson.

And shall I pray thee change thy will, my Father?
Until it be according unto mine?
But, no, Lord, no, that never shall be, rather
I pray thee blend my human will with thine.

I pray thee hush the hurrying, eager longing,
I pray thee soothe the pangs of keen desire –
See in my quiet places, wishes thronging –
Forbid them, Lord, purge, though it be with fire.

And work in me to will and do thy pleasure,
Let all within me, peaceful, reconciled,
Tarry content my Well-Beloved’s leisure,
At last, at last, even as a weaned child.

Excerpted from A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliot.

Here’s their mission statement:

To be used of God to provide loving and safe homes for special needs orphans from any place on earth, in which they can be raised ‘in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.’

I’m sure they could use your help, too, in prayer, time, donations, and in other ways (e.g. doctors and nurses could perhaps volunteer their medical knowledge and assistance). Speaking for myself, may the Lord graciously allow me to one day help “bind up the broken,” too! I’d absolutely love to be able to do something like this, to support such a good, wonderful work and ministry!

Again, more info on their website. Please do have a look!

• From C.H. Spurgeon:
  

  ‘I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.’ (Hosea 2:14)

  The goodness of God sees us allured by sin, and it resolves to try upon us the more powerful allurements of love. Do we not remember when the Lover of our souls first cast a spell upon us and charmed us away from the fascinations of the world! He will do this again and again whenever he sees us likely to be ensnared by evil.

  He promises to draw us apart, for there he can best deal with us, and this separated place is not to be a paradise, but a wilderness, since in such a place there will be nothing to take of our attention from our God. In the deserts of affliction the presence of the Lord becomes everything to us, and we prize his company beyond any value which we set upon it when we sat under our own vine and fig tree in the society of our fellows. Solitude and affliction bring more to themselves and to their heavenly Father than any other means.

  When thus allured and secluded the Lord has choice things to say to us for our comfort. He ’speaks to our heart,’ as the original has it. Oh, that at this we may have this promise explained in our experience! Allured by love, separated by trial, and comforted by the Spirit of truth, may we know the Lord and sing for joy!

• From Samuel Rutherford:
  

  I rejoice that he is come and hath chosen you in the furnace; it is even there where he and ye set tryst [meet together]; that is an old gate of Christ’s. He keepeth the good old fashion with you, that was in Hosea’s days: ‘Therefore, behold I will allure her, and bring her to the wilderness and speak to her heart’ (Hos. 2:14). There was no talking to her heart while he and she were in the fair and flourishing city and at ease; but only in the cold, hungry, waste wilderness, he allureth her, and whispered in news into her ear there, and said, ‘Thou art mine.’

(In case you can’t view the above teaser trailer, this website likewise hosts it.)

She had great longings to die, that she might be with Christ; which increased till she thought she did not know how to be patient and wait till God’s time should come . . . “I am quite willing to live, and quite willing to die; quite willing to be sick, and quite willing to be well; and quite willing for anything that God will bring upon me! And then,” said she, “I felt myself perfectly easy, in a full submission to the will of God” . . . The same week that she died, when she was in distressing circumstances as to her body, some of the neighbors who came to see her, asked if she was willing to die? She replied, that she was quite willing to either live or die; she was willing to be in pain; she was willing to be so always as she was then, if that was the will of God. She willed what God willed. They asked her whether she was willing to die that night? She answered, “Yes, if it be God’s will.” And seemed to speak all with that perfect composure of spirit, and with such a cheerful countenance, that it filled them with admiration.

What a testimony! By God’s grace, I yearn to have this attitude as well, both in life and in death. I want to glorify God in how I live and in how I die.

But I confess I’m sadly exceedingly far from such a God-centered attitude, and am in so many ways and on so many levels utterly self-centered in my thoughts and desires, let alone my speech and actions — and even as I type these words. May the Lord conform me more to the image of Christ! Although it’s difficult to pray after these words from Robert Murray M’Cheyne and genuinely mean it, nevertheless I do pray, even if I pray haltingly because of my terrible sinfulness:

If nothing else will do to sever me from my sins, Lord, send me such sore and trying calamities as shall awake me from earthly slumbers. It must always be best to be alive to Thee, whatever be the quickening instrument. I tremble as I write, for Oh! on every hand do I see too likely occasions for sore afflictions.