Summer Reading

No matter where I am or what season it is, the book I read determines to some degree the way I view the world around me. Perhaps this is the way it is with all people. When a person is reading a book about birds, they would naturally pay more attention to the birds in the vicinity. They will spend brain cells in the tens of thousands pondering birds, flight, and the like. They will notice birds in grammar, advertising, literature, history, and every aspect of life. The topic that person is reading upon effects their entire worldview. This is all assuming the bird book is a good read.

I have read nothing directly concerning birds this summer. However, I have just finished two books that have profoundly influenced my worldview, shaping the way I watch tv, talk to people, even my consciousness. One is a biography, the other is a classic of world literature.

Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King Jr. by Stephen B. Oates is an examination of the civil rights leader, non-violent activist, prophet, preacher, theologian, orator, organizer, and human being that was instrumental to redefining freedom, equality, and peace in the American context, but also on a global scale. The book narrates King's life from birth to martyrdom, describing the gargantuan efforts he undertook to allow an opportunity for a free life to exist between both whites and blacks together. I walked through the man's life astounded by his commitment to non-violence, his humble obedience to God's work through his giftings. King had a dream, a different reality he strove for. In the midst of incredible emotion, physical, mental, and spiritual torture by segregationists, McCarthy followers, the FBI (especially the corrupt director, J. Edgar Hoover) and fellow blacks, King spoke into the heart of people to create change. Though the book did not try to hide his mistakes, I am even more astounded by King's work than ever. I highly, highly recommend this biography.

At the same time, I read Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. I marvel at Russian novels. I am moved by Russian writing. It is allowed to be insane in a Russian novel. Insane in love or guilt or nobility. Especially Dostoevsky's works. This was my third work from him (I have read The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov) and I am still reeling from the psychological and philosophical themes of the story. The main question asked is "Are there some men who are so brilliant, moral laws established before them do not apply, as they are actually the lawmakers?" Another story I ardently recommend.

Read these books.

Pursuit of People

Myspace.com is a home for those people seeking, finding, and establishing identity. I find immense intrigue in viewing the way people present themselves on the Internet. How does a person describe him/herself through an array of words and images, videos and music? Is this how each individual sees themselves or is this a mirage: a transparent hologram only as thick as my computer screen. Is this personality in front of me real?


People decry myspace, facebook, and blog sites as havens for superficial identity. Or maybe more properly articulated, recreational identity, a place where you can have fun with creating yourself, hopefully for the pleasure of other people.

As much as I have found myself wondering why I created a blog or a myspace as I give myself guilt-trips for selling out to the man, I have found one truth that has made it all worth it.

As I visit my friend's internet identities, I am struck by the surveys, random questionnaires that spring up in the summer when students are sitting at home, bored, lonely, on the computer. These surveys are made up of questions from I don't know wear that ask everything from "What is your favorite color?" to "Have you ever been kissed?" Yes, some of the surveys seem very personal, almost uncomfortably so. I would never ask some of the questions to a persons face that the same person would willingly answer on the internet. Why?

Surveys are not necessarily wrong, as some may wonder to be my opinion judging by the tone of the last paragraph. No, though I find them slightly presumptuous (why do I care when the last time you had ice cream was?), they are highly fascinating and deeply insightful, while guarded and limited at the same time. I always see deeper, more secret stories lurking beneath one-word answers, dying and fearing to be revealed at the same time.

Just look into the eyes. Stare at them, gaze, find the want, the need for help, for a hand. I love eyes. They tell so much about a person. There is weather in the eyes . Pupils cloud over as dreary skies, become dark as the night, light up, shine as the sun, cry as the rain, close as the dusk. Look into they eyes of another human. There is the real story. Sure, you will find no details, but you can find a heck of a lot more in a person's eyes than in a survey. People are desperately reaching out for an ear to listen. This is the truth that has dawned on me. Humans want to be pursued. They want to be understood, trusted, liked, loved, embraced, kissed, comforted, encouraged, rescued from hurt, and pursued all along the way

Perhaps that is why I write this. I want to be pursued. I especially want to be loved. I want people to say, "Gosh, Adam, you are a great writer" or "I took a lot out of what you said". Selfish, I know.

So I desire attention. Everyone I know, know matter how shy, is desiring this consideration. We are dying for it. Acceptance, grace for wrong stuff in our life.

But I should give more than recieve, right? How? How do I give more of this pursuance out? I don't want my writing to be selfishly motivated at all. I want to reach out to other humans. People are slipping away. I want to grab their hand and hold on.

How do I do this through myspace or email? Can words, as well crafted they can appear sometimes, really do any of this? I certainly hope so.

My hope lies in a question, actually two. My first, would Jesus have a myspace or a blog if he lived in today's culture? What would it look like?

What do you think? I'll give my answer in a few days.

The Count's World

As the spirit of July the Fourth descends upon the United States, I reflect upon my allegiance to a country whose ethics, morals, and even foundation clash with the way I see the world. I worship a global God. One who has homes all over the world, whom He is blessing every day. The United States, while having an incredibly captivating history, is only one nation among many in God's eyes.

When I was reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas last year, I found the following to be a summary for what it means to be a follower of Christ in a holistic and integrated way, without bowing before earthly thrones. The setting takes place in the regal home of Monsieur de Villefort, a sworn enemy of The Count of Monte Cristo who vies to avenge himself of the injustices suffered at this crown prosecutors hands. Yet Villefort knows nothing of the man whom he is dining with, especially the dark role in which he himself played in the Count's life. In an ominous scene, The Count skillfully explains the flaws rather as a fencer makes his thrusts in Villefort's ideology. Indeed the title of the forty-eight chapter is Ideology.

"The kingdom of kings are confined, either by mountains or rivers, or by a change in customs or by a difference in language; but my kingdom is as great as the world, because I am neither Italian, nor French, nor American, nor a Spaniard; I am a cosmopolitan. No country can claim to be my birthplace. God alone knows in what region I shall die. I adopt every custom, I speak every tongue...In this way you see, being of no country, asking for the protection of no government and acknowledging no man as my brother, I am not restrained or hampered by a single one of the scruples that tie the hands of the powerful or the obstacles that block the path of the weak."

I find in this passage the way I see Christ would live in this world today. Under no government, operating with no allegiances toward any nation, but blending in among the many considering every man as a brother, every woman as a sister. I find my mission statement for travel right here. I read this in New Zealand, away from the US bubble, and it changed me, awakened me.

It is true that I can attribute a good portion of my thirst to travel, my hunger for language, my interest in culture specifically to the figure of The Count. Simply because he is way cool. A man of mystery, of calm and controlled disposition, he is called the Noble Foreigner by many when he returns to Western Civilization. He is fluent in several languages, he is as well-read as any scholar. He can go anywhere in the world, and feel at ease, inviting experience to dine with him. As I read the book, I received the same feeling I usually reserve for a superhero. But no, this is simply a mortal man, albeit one who has become so well-traveled, so well-seasoned to the ways and customs of people, he can wield a power that truly no king can wield if he does not leave his kingdom. And that power is the allegiance, not to a government, but to a life of understanding, and in my case, a life of love.

I adamantly recommend reading The Count of Monte Cristo completely in its pure, unabridged form. Don't be scared by the page number. Once one gets into a classic such as this, there is nothing so powerful in the literary world.