Reality, so-to-speak

So... I've been thinking a lot lately of the workings of our society. Not in a political way, but instead in a sense of everyday lives lived throughout the world. I am heartbroken, joyous, appalled, and in awe of power of life. I'm not talking about the governing power of God here, although I cannot compremend that either. I'm talking about the everyday lives that all of us live out. The shear volume of individual events that happen to any and all of us on an everyday basis. Birth, death and everything in-between.

I just finished reading a grouping of 4 books, all of which have nothing to do with each other, but at the same time share a common theme. A life or lives affected by something. 1 book took me with a family on their life changing mission trip to Africa. 1 book helped me to relive adolescence by exploring a pond with a 14 year boy and to learn the joys and heartbreaks of fishing and hunting. The third book explored the idea that a single concept can change the world, but also broke my heart as a mother had to say goodbye to her child because of a random act of violence. The last of the 4 books took me to Scotland on a golf obsessed journey of two men in search of a fulfillment on a spiritual quest of golf and mystics. These are fiction books, but written from real life persepctives. These actives are not science fiction, and happen everyday around us. I find myself in awe of life and the magnitude of individual activities flurrying all around us as we try to make life work in our own little corner of the galaxy. I can't watch a movie or listen to the news without my heart pouring over this concept.

Today I found out that an old friend of ours is dealing with the tragic death of her Husband killed in Afghanistan. Her most trusted friend, father of her two children, and lover was taken from her not but 24 hours ago. I'm devastated for her loss, and grateful for the men and women who die for our safety and freedom to live as Americans. My heart breaks at the thought of young men and women dying violently, away from their families, and scared. I pray that God is glorified and that this young man did not die in vain, but is honored by all that loved him and lives forever in the hearts of his 2 precious daughters. God, please be with us, be our Father, be our Comforter, be our Friend.

I heard a song written from the perspective of a man seconds away from his scheduled death by the state. As he is being strapped to the electric chair, his heart cries out for a do-over. As the process roles on, he contemplates his actions, he wonders about his daughter and if she will ever forgive him, and searches the eyes of those who greedily want him dead and justice served.

We watched a movie last night about a young lady diagnosed with a devastating disease. Not fatal as much as mentally and physically crippling. She has comes to terms with the fact that her one shot a life, the only run we get at this, is not the quality of life that those around her get to live. She has to come with terms with the fact that its just not fair, while we live fat happy lives that we take for granted, she is going to struggle with envy and bitterness, pain and devastation, and death everyday.

In Japan, thousands die, everything is lost, everything. A dog stands faithfully by the ruins of his life and his companion, regardless of starvation and disease, that dog will not leave.