Author Archives: Dave

I was staring at Louise McClary’s Christ Dies this morning in the current issue of Image Journal. It’s an acrylic on paper, almost cartoonish in appearance. Honestly, not the type of art I usually get caught up in (the essay attached to the section describing her style helped). But there’s a lot of red in this piece. A lot of blood. A lot of pain. A lot upon which to meditate.

And for the first time in my life I made sense of a dream almost two years old now.

The dream was vivid, and was the second in a set of disturbing visions. It was at the end of a set of chaotic dreams, none of which I remember, but as I literally ran out of them, I was confronted by a black landscape and an enormous cross. The cross was huge, heavy, violently real. My course of running would have taken me around it, but I couldn’t go around, and as I staggered back (I think I actually fell to the ground) I realized that the cross was drenched in blood. Soaked. Dripping. And I screamed.

I woke up that moment, screaming out loud, swearing in fear. It took forever to get back to sleep.

Periodically over the last two years, I’ve tried to discover a meaning to that dream. I’ve prayed for an answer. I’ve analyzed it psychologically and theologically to no avail. But this morning as I focused on the pain of the Christ depicted on that page, I think I finally understood. I had been trying to run around that cross in my dream, and I couldn’t. It was too large, too imposing. The only way to move on was to go through it. Which means accepting what it is. Getting soaked in that blood as I move through, as I go over. The only other option when confronted with that obstacle is to retreat the other direction, to move backward.

I think that’s a critical picture of this thing we call faith.

“…punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds” (Isaiah 53:5b, HCSB).

I’m not saying I’m doing a good job of moving through, but at least I’m consciously trying not to move backward any longer.

As winter (hopefully) fades away and the first signs of spring (including sunshine and 70-degree weather) has returned to the southeast, I’ve actually been able to find my way outside to take walks and soak up the vitamin D lately. As much as I prefer the coast, I can appreciate the more mountainous area in which Karen and I currently live (the Blue Ridge mountains are visible on the edge of our horizon…personally, that’s still a little too close for me, but they’re cool to look at sometimes). And, as most of you know how depressed I can get in the winter, it’s nice to start seeing some green outside instead of just dead, bare, brown limbs jutting out of tree trunks.

There’s been a controversy lately about a university in Virginia that recently dozed off a hilltop that it owns and placed the school logo all over the top of the hill, so that it’s literally visible from almost anywhere in the city. A lot of people are pretty pissed off at the idea, saying that a lot of trees were cut down for nothing more than advertising (it’s spawned a couple of interesting Facebook groups).

Well, I’m not going to delve into the local controversy here, but I have noticed myself thinking about the environment more lately. Not that I’ve become a tree hugger or anything, but I do think that we do a generally lousy of job of taking care of our environment. Certainly we are in a financial bind in our country because we’re dependent on foreign sources of oil to power our love affair with the automobile. But it just seems to be popping up a lot of late. Yesterday, Dr. Heidi Cullen, host of The Climate Code, did a segment on some of the new hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles that recently debuted at the LA Auto Show, and discussed how amazingly low the environmental by-products of such vehicles are (not to mention the gas mileage made my jaw drop). Perhaps riding the same interest wave, CNN yesterday talked about “geoengineering,” and the wild schemes that some scientists are forumlating to save us from the threat of global warming. And while I’m not ready to become an activist just yet, I do think that we’re facing a problem here.

I have no clever solutions to offer, or snappy banter to throw out about the issue. I just think that God gave us creation for our enjoyment and expects us to be good managers of His property. Yet we seem to want to treat it pretty destructively. So other than the obvious step of buying a hybrid car, which I know isn’t in my budget at the moment, what practical steps are there to try to make a difference in this? If we start doing something about it, then what does it look like?

Let me know what you think.

I’ve come to wonder if materialism is truly the enemy of creativity?

I guess it’s because I’m hyper-sensitive to ads and nice cars and status symbols and other flagships of our materialized culture as I’m technically unemployed right now…I’ve been thinking about the cool things that I want and can’t justify spending money on at the moment.

Then I think about the projects that I have on the table that I have that insatiable desire to finish writing, and wonder why that can’t be enough.

I remember my artist friend saying to me last weekend, “you don’t need stuff.”

But we’ve created this monster of society that wants to have more, to buy more, and therefore to work more. To slave away, caught in the machine and not having any time to create. And, as Madeleine L’Engle says, we’re not truly alive if we’re not creating, because that’s what God designed all of us to do at some level. And this idea that we don’t “need stuff?” Well, that’s pretty Scriptural when you think about it.

So I wonder if less material cultures produce deeper and better art that America? I think this could be why we see so much shallow garbage produced that people call art. And I think that many of the most profound creators in our country are counter-cultural in the sense that they’re poor.

Poor in a material sense.

In realilty, though, they’re wealthier that we can imagine. That is the wealth I wish I had at the moment.

I read a post today about how a teacher was suspended because her students had pornographic pop-ups on their screens in computer class. Somehow, the legal system managed to make her the scapegoat. Leave it to the legal system. It disturbs me a bit that the blogger’s attitude was one of cynicism: “the internet has already corrupted your kid’s morals, get used to it.”

While I laugh at the stupidity of the legal system in this case, I also sigh with concern about the conclusion. Have we really come to accept our sexualized media? Can we not see the potential for damage here?

I once heard someone say that pornography rapes the mind. I think that’s true. Men have visual memories. I’ve discovered since being married that women experience emotional “pop-ups” that are beyond their control. Men, likewise, experience visual pop-ups. We can’t help that. God hard-wired us that way. So, when we see an image on the web, on a commercial, or in the window of Victoria’s Secret as we walk through the mall, it sticks with us, and can resurface at any given time with no warning and with potentially devastating emotional effects. Let’s say you’re having sex with your wife and suddenly remember the girl on the site you were looking at a few hours ago, for example. No one else need ever know: you suffer emotional ramifications. Most men don’t talk about it. Even the “accountability groups” that our Christian subculture has invented don’t invoke honesty, because men can become numb and de-sensitized to it. Their bodies can do things in disconnect from their hearts. Women think that’s disgusting, and, honestly, so do a lot of guys. But it happens. We’re made that way. We can’t help it. If we’re exposed to the influence, we function differently…just like alcohol.

When I think of pornography, though, I also think of the women that pose and act for it. I doubt many of them even recognize the damage they are doing to themselves. It holds an illusion of power, certainly. But what really happens to the mind and spirit underneath? The self-esteem? Do they suddenly value themselves so little that they want men to desire them physically as their only sense of self-worth? What happens underneath that happy and seductive facade? What sort of desperation? I’ve never gotten a tattoo because I know if I wake up the next morning and don’t like it, I’m screwed. What if a woman poses today, and hates herself for it in two weeks or two years? Too late. It will never be off the internet.

Pornography does the same long-term damage to adults that it does to children. The difference is that adults are able to justify it to themselves, to say it makes them feel powerful, to say it only fills a physical need in their lives. Child pornography is illegal, and correctly so. It is enforced with vigor by law enforcement agencies in the United States. It seems to me a small step to make adult pornography illegal, as well. Recently, officials in a foreign country (I can’t remember which one, and I can’t for the life of me find the article to link to…sorry) sentenced the man responsible for the majority of their online pornography to an enormous prison sentence. I think they have the right idea. A recent survey says that 42% of 10-17 year olds have seen pornography online, typically by accident. That fact that it can happen by accident turns my stomach. Make it illegal for those who put it out there to do so. Enforce it vigorously as we do against those who take advantage of children. Our society will improve as a result.

Pornography at its core is deceptive and opportunistic. It takes advantage of everyone’s basic urges, the urges that Scripture tells us should not be in control. It takes advantage of the way we were created, and uses it for evil. It has brought many men down, and it has done invisible damage to many women. I wonder how long we will continue to allow it do so. Our cynical resignation to the status quo is just unacceptable.

I’ll start with a disclaimer: when you discover the subject of this post, you’re intial reaction will be to stop reading. Please don’t. It’s not nearly as trite as it sounds.

I’m addicted to police reality shows. Karen constantly groans in disdain at how often I have Cops, or a similar program, on the television screen as I sit somewhat comatose on the sofa. Everyone deserves one vice, and this is mine. Mediocre sensationalist entertainment? Perhaps. But I can’t help it. It’s just cool.

About a year ago, before we were married and I could watch them whenever I wanted, I was channel surfing in search of just such a program when I paused on a show I really never thought I would be into: Dog the Bounty Hunter. I kept wanting to flip the channel, but I couldn’t. I was hooked. A few weeks later, I found it again. That was all it took. Then I was paying attention to when new episodes were scheduled to air. It had officially become one of my favorite forms of escapism.

Go ahead…laugh…

Done? Okay, now let me tell you why I’m relating this.

Duane Chapman, aka “The Dog,” is a fugitive recovery agent that became popular (some would say infamous) in 2003 when he pursued Andrew Luster, the heir of the Max Factor fortune, into Mexico after Mr. Luster fled there while facing charges for three alleged sexual assaults. The Dog found Luster, arrested him, and brought him back to the U.S., where he was subsequently tried and convicted. Luster is now serving quite a prison term.

The Dog was also arrested in Mexico for illegally detaining Luster. The business of bounty hunting, apparently, is illegal down there. He was eventually released back to the U.S.

Well, as so frequently happens, television rights were sold, and A&E developed the television show that follows Dog and his crew (all family members) as they apprehend fugitives from justice. His personality is engaging (perhaps in a voyeuristic way), and there’s the adrenaline rush that comes when they charge through the door and take the fugitive to the ground. Guys love that stuff. Watch an episode, though, and you discover that this isn’t just a business for the Dog. It’s a ministry. He makes every effort to turn the lives of these fugitives around. He prays for them. He prays with them. Frequently, he posts bond for them immediately after their apprehension so that they have an opportunity to turn their lives around again. Dog came from the wrong side of the proverbial tracks, and desires to see the life change that he experienced happen in others. His faith is unmistakeable, because his mercy and forgiveness demonstrate it.

You may have heard, though, that in September of 2006, Dog, his brother, and his son were arrested by U.S. Marshals because Mexico decided (Three years later? Sounds sketchy to me) that Dog should be extradited to face trial on charges of illegally detaining Mr. Luster. Interviews after they had appealed and posted bond revealed the pain and terror that this brought to Dog and his family. He actually stated that, if he went to a Mexican prison, he would likely not survive.

On February 15, 2007, Mexico denied Dog’s injuction request. They want him there to stand trial. For capturing a rapist.

I bet that, if you asked the three victims of sexual assault, they would call Dog a hero. I think anyone who prizes justice should call him a hero. God wants us to prize justice. Scripture says He prizes justice. Justice is what the Dog delivered. Perhaps outside technical legal boundaries. But he went when no one else would, so that a man who would later be convicted of violating three womens’ purity in the worst way would pay for his crimes.

Surely, America will stand behind him on this. Surely, we will not permit his extradition. His citizenship must count for something. His courage must count for something. His enforcement of the law must count for something.

So, if you pray, please do so for the Duane Chapman. It will feel odd at first, like you’re praying for a movie character. So use his real name. Because this is a real person, a real crisis, a real injustice.

After all, truth…and faith…must count for something.