Application 1

In life, like in the Ridge Haven Low Ropes Course, a useful exercise is to occasionally pause for spiritual applications. Here are mine:
The beauty of the Guatemalan landscape, formed by prehistorical geological upheaval and topped by a diversity of species presumably millions of years in the making, sharply contrasts with the squalor of the tenements built by agricultural laborers that consist of mud, block, metal siding, and rotting wood. I`ve seen pigeons, chickens, pigs, and cows (yes, vacas) living inside homes no bigger than the room you`re sitting in right now.
This contrast is a picture of the way humanity has been for untold millenia: we just don`t seem to fit in too well, just like a cow in a house. Look around: something inside your soul tells you that pre-fab housing material is not what you were meant to live in. Something true somewhere in your psyche tells you that, unlike the ruminations of beasts, your thoughts matter, cosmically. We all have a sense that we are fully responsible for the choices we make, unlike the behavior necessitated by Kingdom Animalia`s genetic programming.
Something inside me makes me ashamed of the bad choices I`ve made. Like that one presuming structure that mars an otherwise breathtaking Appalachian overlook, humanity`s frailties- my frailties- anger me, sadden me, and spark a sense of unfulfilled longing that C.S. Lewis refers to as ``joy.``
We should ask ourselves why we have these feelings. Why is my heart so stabbed at the memory of dad, who has now been gone over 10 years?
God has put these reminders in our hearts to keep us dissatisfied with what we have, with this fallen world. When a person loses this sense, he becomes like an animal and enters his own hell, never to feel joy again.
My prayer for the church today (in addition to my prayer that we would become readers and thinkers) is that we would become less comfortable with ourselves; that God would give us the grandly nostalgic yearning for Something and Someone, which is the only thing that can stir us to love and good works, works that God will accept because they have actually been offered to Him.