Love or A Lifetime Warranty?

I dip my virtual pen in sorrow as I write this post...Lately there has been a dramatic rise in domestic crime. I'm not talking about violence, nor is this in reference to the recently rising abortion rate. But rather, this problem is one of a deep-seated, carnal nature...

I am, of course, referring to the onslaught of couples getting engaged and married this summer. America's single men and women are dropping like flies, and nobody, I repeat nobody has even attempted to do anything about this. Where is Barack Obama? Where is FEMA? Where is Oprah Winfrey to tell us what to do??? (see: The White House basketball court, notNewOrleans, and KFC)

...but seriously, mad people are gettin' wifed-up this summer.

What I'm actually writing about is a concept that intrigued me. Last night, Meg and I watched this film called TiMER. The basic idea was that people would get a computer chip in their wrist that had a countdown to the moment they would meet their soul-mate. The countdown would begin when both people recieved the chip. Eventually they would meet, settle down, raise fat babies, and live a happy life.
What's A Plot Without Loopholes? Of course, there were the rebels who refused the chip, or had it removed because they'd found love before they met "The One" (I promise, it's actually a decent movie). I wish I could say that in the end, love prevails, and technology fails, but I fell asleep for the last 2 minutes and missed the finale del grande. I have no idea what happened. Meg wouldn't tell me...rude.


A Related Ponder Regarding The Human Psyche
Would people really be that willing to sell themselves short, and miss out on the experience of love, emotion, and dating (or what I call, "practice relationships") because they are THAT desperate for a sure thing? If love were to blossom and flourish before meeting The One, would you drop everything and commit to love? Or would you cast it aside for Microsoft's lifetime guarantee? (see: getting pwnd by AppleCare) Would it cheapen the experience to have a lifetime commitment reduced to countdown form? (see, also: New Year's Eve, and Nuclear Holocaust)

There are 3 things that the Modern American wants:

1. To Be Loved and Respected

2. Instant Results

3. To Save 15% Or More On Your Car Insurance By Switching To Geico

The main character found herself in this very predicament, and found herself unable to admit what she wanted. She was blinded by the chip in her wrist. How many of us are in that same predicament? We are so obsessed with "finding the right person for me" that we don't even realize it when they are standing right in front of our face, saying, "Micah, I want to spend the rest of my life with you." We abandon love because we see something that might be a better option. It could work out better with this person. Bah, Humbug! (see: A Muppet Christmas Carol...the other versions are hella lame)

____________________

This brings me to one of the two best pieces of relationship advice I've ever recieved:

"When you find the girl that can put up with your antics for more than 6 months, and still be madly in love with you, snatch that up."

The other is, "if you want to know what your girlfriend's gonna look like in 30 years, take a good look at her mother. Merry Christmas."

_____________________

I'm not sure if the first one was a shot at my totally-easy-to-deal-with personality, but hey...my TiMER ran out in September 2007. (see: Meg's Freshman Year, and the picture below)

This is what most of our pictures look like.

3 years sure does work wonders

So kids, the moral of today's story is Once you find it, stick with it. There is no lifetime guarantee, or "One Specific Person" out of the 6.5 billion that is meant for you, but you're probably gonna find someone who's worth keeping around. This type of love involves making a conscious decision to stay faithful and true to a person for the rest of your lives. It involves taking that long, hard look at her mother and deciding if this is something you want to commit to or not. It involves late-night trips to CVS because your wife's pregnant and craving a Choco-Taco at 2am (what? who said anything about pregnancy? I'm too young to have kids!) (see: The thought that just ran through your head). You're Welcome.

Side Note: This post ended up having nothing to do with the intended topic...oh well.

New Muzak-Mother

Blog posting twice within a 24-hour period goes against everything I believe in, but I need to share the culmination of my Sunday evening.

I'm not usually the type of musician who records and posts their music on the web for everyone to hear...mostly because I am both insecure and a cynic, and would hate to make an example of myself. But I've been playing around in GarageBand, and feel somewhat competant enough to create (or in this case, arrange) something that wouldn't result in bleeding eardrums.

This song is called Mother, originally by Danzig, resurrected by Anberlin. I tweaked a few things from Anberlin's version to make it my own, but you'll find they are largely similar. Made in GarageBand on my MacBook, with just an acoustic guitar and an amp (poor man's rig). Let me know what you think--good and bad--I'm driven by constructive criticism.

Click me to download Micah's song. You know you want to. Nom. Nom. Nom.

^Link to the song

Fear: The Prelude

Anyone ever notice how people are more motivated by fear, than by any other emotion? Sure, we do things out of love, and we celebrate happiness, we mourn when we are sad, and act out in anger...but none of those things have ever deteriorated a marriage though lies and accusations, driven a priest to exploit his family in the name of self-preservation, or sparked a riotous frenzy that pits neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, or a family against itself.

I am referencing, for example's sake, The Crucible by Arthur Miller. In 9th grade, I played the part of Thomas Putnam in the fall play. Thomas was a pompous weasel, who exploits the town's witch hunt for personal profit, at the price of his family's ruin. But that is irrelevant (I tend to ramble. Please forgive me.)

2010 was an interesting year for me. I'll save the gory details for another post, but the latter half was a time of reflection and introspection. And more than that, I began to pay more attention to the words and actions of others. Bewildered by the source of my own motivation, I sought to learn what motivated other people. What makes them tick. What their words are really saying. What their silence is actually saying.

For those film buffs, and junior historians out there, you will often notice that the key element giving clout to a pivotal scene, or significant event is driven by at least one party living in fear--not necessarily of another, but at least for the moment of truth where all is at stake. Hitler conquered most of Europe through a doctrine of fear and oratory. Mel Gibson's character in The Patriot, as with all men, feared failing his family and the monster inside of himself. When cornered by a lion, and it roars it's fierce, soul-penetrating roar--a most terrifying sound--even the greatest of men are brought to their knees, at the complete mercy of what intellectuals consider a lesser creature.

Fear is the crippling force that the enemy uses to trap us in our own minds, and destroy us from the inside out. It is a never-ending battle between the knowledge of truth possessed by the mind & heart, and the fabrications & false perceptions of reality wrought by the presence of Fears Minions: Worry, Dread, Paranoia, Angst, Panic, Awkward, Apprehension, and Terror. As each enters our psyche, our God-given wisdom & free will are reduced to the likes of a marionette's string. A puppet's lifeline. Bit & Bridle. Imperius. A leash...controlling and consuming our every thought.................

Fear grips us.
Fear makes us lie.
Fear makes us insecure.
Fear makes us gossip.
Fear awakens Ugly.
Fear brings corruption.
Fear turns us against our family and friends.
Fear breaks up marriages.
Fear destroys friendships.
Fear brings you to hate yourself.
Fear skews reality.
Fear tries to escape from reality.
Fear leads to self-mutilation.
Fear tells you that you're not good enough.
Fear perverts the truth.
Fear drives you to cling to a substance because it numbs you for a little while.
Fear renders you immobile when your action could make the biggest difference in someone's life.
Fear leads a married man turn to pornography and mistresses.
Fear tells a teenager to kill himself because it would be better to die, than to tell his family that he's a homosexual

Fear is man's biggest adversary, aside from Pride.

BUT Despite All Of This...

Fear. Cannot. Conquer. Love.

1 John 4:16-19

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because He first loved us.

The human experience is all about discovery. And when we discover fear, it catches us off-guard 100% of the time. It has the element of surprise, but we cannot let it cripple us, for it's already been defeated. When Jesus allowed himself to endure one of the most gruesome forms of public execution that Man has ever concocted, He took the very spirit and nature of our Fear and drove it into the ground. So why do we allow it to linger, when we sample it's venomous brew? For the love of one man, one God, has already laid it to rest. My prayer for this new year is that we will be able to let go of our fears, and allow the sacrificial love of God to permeate throughout every fiber of our being. Let His love set you free this year. You are free.

~Matthew 11:28-30~