Random Thoughts

I watched Chocolat last Sunday night. The idea was to watch the movie with a critical eye towards evangelism. I thought it was a good movie, and a good concept (and I don't just say that knowing the host reads this). I got caught up in the idea of chocolate as grace. Perhaps I was going for too much symbolism, because when the floor was opened for comments, I'm not sure I explained what I meant to say.

Philip Yancey talks about "grace avoidance." We might use the word leagalism, but some words can be leeched of meaning, and I think that one may be a good example. There is a scene where the stoic, good, righteous Pharisee of a character, seeming to have lost the battle tries to destroy the Chocolate. Stabbing, slashing, smashing, and breaking - he goes on quite the rampage. And then, a dab of chocolate touches his lips. He suddenly changes his rampage, gorging himself, rolling in the broken chocolate all around him, until he collapses weeping. He awakes the next morning, and is greeted by the kind shop owner, who gives him a glass of water.

In this, I see the effect of grace on a person who stubbornly avoids it. It is an amazing, other-worldly thing. It is so good, we hardly know what to make of it. The iconic scene where his tongue just touches the dab of chocolate made me think of "taste and see that the Lord is good." In the man I see the pull of grace, and the resistance of pride. "I don't want that, I can be good on my own, what would the others think." But the pride gives way before the irresistable pull of grace.

That's more of what I meant to say.

I also have thought (change gears.... now!) about the human body. My calves are aching from a hike I took Saturday. I often jog up the stairs at my apartment on just the balls of my feet, trying to cushion the impact so as not to disturb anyone else. I tried to do that today, just to see how my legs are. It hurt. A lot. I almost fell over. So thank God for calf muscles that work without complaining. It's just one of those things you don;t think of until you are deprived of it.

On another note (shifting wildly from point to point), I like photography. One reason why is that it gives me a chance to show the world as I see it to someone else. I cannot describe a sunset, a foggy morning, or a bolt of lightning. But if I can capture it on film, or find another visual representation of it, it gives me a chance to frame an image as it is framed when I see it. It is communication without the shotgun-pattern hit and miss bludgeoning of words I otherwise try to use.

Lightning is cool. It seems weird that I was driving home today counting nearby lightning not primarily by sight or thunder, but by the signal interruption on the radio. I drove through 3 distinct thunderstorm cells on my way home. I like the smell of the rain. I don't like other drivers reacting to it.