Ends & Means

How did a "third rate burglary" taken down a presidency?  How could someone who had risen to such a position of power stumble at the most basic moral lessons our parents impart?  Tell the truth.  No little white lies.  No ends justify the means.  Be sure your sins will find you out (Num. 32:23).

Somewhere the big man began to lose his grip with mortality.  Like old King Saul, no longer "little in his own eyes".  Too big and powerful to fail.  No input needed, thank you very much.  Obviously I must know it all if I got to this place. Who would dare suggest otherwise?

We all need truth-tellers in our lives.  Those willing to risk our wrath to remind us we're mortal.  As a good friend of mine says, "Feedback is a gift."

(In case you're wondering, the building is The Watergate. Just a third rate burglary...)

Stay Connected!

This blog hasn't borne much witness to the fact that I'm a train fan, airplanes typically getting the top billing.  While my interest doesn't translate into much of a pursuit of a particular aspect of this subject, I do find them quite interesting.

Sure, there's a romance to riding the rails.  And the technology, though pushing the two century mark, is still fascinating.  (No, I don't like being stopped by a train anymore than the next guy.)

There's something about the way the engine provides power (motive force, if you will) which is transmitted link by link to the very end of the train, perhaps a mile back.  No matter which direction the engine is going, uphill or down, the very last car (enter a plaintive lament for the extinct caboose) will follow.  Indeed there's a fascinating place in the Canadian Rockies where the locomotives emerge from a mountain tunnel directly below and perpendicular to their rear cars as they navigate the famous Spiral Tunnel.

But of course the cars must stay connected to one another if that magnificent train is going to remain a unit and deliver its full load.  How sad when we stop looking for ways to get along and break the links that bind us together.  Our divorce culture has permeated every aspect of life, wreaking its full havoc wherever it is found.  And God hates it. (Mal. 2:16).

Symmetry

This post is really about asymmetry.  The engineer in me likes symmetry.  There's something about things balancing out that just makes sense. At first.  Until you see that God's creation isn't about straight lines or having everything equal on both sides of the line, real or imagined.  That there's really more beauty in the lack of symmetry.  If you don't believe it, just take an image of the prettiest face you can find and reverse one side and substitute the reversal on the other side--ugly!

Then there's the whole "yin and yang" thing which is really a sick joke played on humankind, right up there with karma.

But to return to the lighter side, the Rule of Thirds in photography is an example of how even our eyes and brains don't really prefer symmetry.  I don't think I did too badly on that here, do you?

Wedge

I can't think of anything witty or erudite to say about this (which is not to say any previous posts have fit that description). I just really like the picture and think my wife is amazing for creating such a delightful and tasty subject for my camera and palate at Christmas!