bloggedy blog: the personal weblog of a music lover and aging punk wannabe

:: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 ::

We've got the power
Lest you dutiful readers fear I've been cast into everlasting darkness, the power came back on at 8:20 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5, and life began to get back to normal. What a pity, I say. I was starting to enjoy the freedom no electricity brought. Unable to do anything "productive," or to numb my brain with television or Internet access, I spent Tuesday afternoon reading, napping and praying. I even thought, for a fleeting moment between naps, prayers and reading, that I might vacuum the place. But then I remembered that the vacuum cleaner required an AC electrical outlet. I also thought about doing something more healthy, like going for a jog, but I decided it was too hot for that, and stayed in my relatively cool house. I was beginning to feel like one of the good ol' boys from the old TV series "Hee-Haw," who would spend their days idly on the front porch of some decaying shack, lazily batting away flies and occasionally whittling on a stick. Except I was reading, which was good for my mind.

I finished reading the book Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive, by John Eldredge. It was a fairly enjoyable read, but with its share of slow places. I like the way Eldredge reclaims the power of myth for Christianity -- not myth in the traditional sense of Greek mythology, but the power of mythic stories such as Lord of the Rings, etc., to reveal the deeper truths of the Christian faith: that we are in a battle and that we have a calling for battle. He ties in the mythic tales of film, such as Braveheart, The Wizard of Oz, the Rings movies and, of course, The Matrix, to drive home his point.

After finishing that book I spend some time in prayer, then flipped through some books on my bookshelf. My God, I have a lot of books I've never read, and some I didn't even know I had. I discovered a copy of Knowledge of the Holy, by A.W. Tozer, and have no idea where I picked that up. I read the first chapter and set it down. I'll read it later. Then I picked up A Curtain of Green, which is a collection of short stories by Eudora Welty and a book I hadn't read in a long time. Welty is one of my favorite short story writers. "Why I Live at the P.O." is a classic character study, and if you ever get a chance to read it, I heartily recommend you do so. I flipped to the story after that, called "The Whistle," and bookmarked it to read after dinner. I was two-thirds through that story when the power came back on, so I set the book down. Who knows if I'll ever finish it or not.

For now, I'm going back to my self-imposed blogging exile. Just wanted you folks to know that the power's back on.

:: Andrew 08:41 + ::
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