Thoughts

I read part of a poem recently by one of my favorite poets. It reads: I envy not in any moods The captive void of noble rage The linnet born within the cage That never knew the summer woods. I envy not the beast that takes His license in the field of time Unfetter'd by the sense of crime To whom a conscience never wakes. Nor what may call itself as bles't The heart that never plighted troth But stagnates in the weeds of sloth Nor any want-begotten rest. I hold it true, whate'er befall I feel it, when I sorrow most 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. At base, Tennyson contrasted a life of risk, and consequent pain, with one of security. He sides conclusively with the life of risk, and says he fails to envy those who have faced no hardship. I agree with him; and, for good or ill, his words are just as relevant today as they were in the nineteenth century. Like then, there are those today who choose to live their lives with as little risk as

Dear Mr. Lambdin, thank you for showing me how a man should act, and what a good man should look like. Thank you for investing your time and energy into me and others, simply because you cared about the spiritual and emotional development of young people. Thank you for joking with us, yet holding us accountable for our actions. Thank you for being willing to go beyond the typical teacher role, for being willing to share your life with us as people, to be genuine and unguarded despite your position of authority. Thank you for paying attention to me and laughing at my jokes. Thank you, more than anything, for not compromising your values, for living out what you believe, and for letting us see that about you. Thanks for your generosity and for bridging differences between people with your concern for us. You were (and are) respected by many of your former students, including me. Sincerely, Tony (class of '97)

Nope. What reason would there be to risk, and therefore live, if you could live forever? Life is lived most vibrantly when we are at peace with God, when we push beyond our fears, and when we find meaningful relationships. Living forever would give us ample reason not to push beyond our fears, because there would be no limit to the time we have to conquer them; and finding meaningful relationships would have us meet our loved ones' deaths again and again, enough that we might even long for our own. In the end, I believe I (and you, if you want) will live forever here on Earth anyway, but not in the manner we experience today. It will be one where neither the fears we want to conquer nor the relationships we fear losing will matter as they do today, because they will each in turn be cast aside (fears) or found the more meaningful (relationships) when we turn again to the first-- and most important-- reason for life: peace with God.* It is this purpose that will burn brighter than th

Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." I think God uses the events in our lives to change us and others, whether those events are personal choices or uncontrollable events. There have been no times in my life when I have been closer to God, and when I have been more willing to listen to him, than those in which I have felt so utterly alone. While I caused those events, or allowed them to happen, God used them to mold me into the man he intends me to be. At the same time, I believe that we-- and the choices we make-- are the product of both our experiences and our inherent makeup. There is a reason I'm writing on this subject right now instead of fighting fires or eating ice cream. Not only am I inherently interested in learning, but I've also been exposed to others whose answers to questions like this have sparked my own interest. Newton once wrote to Robert Hooke, "