Fires and Clouds
Nine years ago, when I was still struggling through my bachelor’s Degree, I decided it would be a great idea for me to put together a Christian Literary paper. I took on the task of collecting submissions, editing submissions, soliciting advertisers, doing layout, arranging a printer and distribution.
Boy was I an idiot.
I have never been so stressed in my life. My girlfriend at the time said I was almost intolerable. I got her\, and anyone who would listen to me, to help out just a little. I finished it in the end, and when I look back, I’m actually pretty impressed I was able to pull it off.
There was only one issue. After that I decided it was impossible for me to continue.
Here is my first and only editorial for Fires and Clouds:
The Pillar of fire and the pillar of clouds were more than God’s method of directing the Israelites after they left Egypt. The pillars were a constant reminder that God was with the Israelites, that God had led them out of Egypt and was still leading them, that God was going before them. If the Israelites had any doubt, they only had to look up and see the pillar of fire or clouds.
Whenever I watch a cloud mutating in the sky, or a fire consuming a pile of wood, I am reminded that God is with me. I know it’s not quite the same. God didn’t set the fires and clouds in the sky in order to remind me that He is there, but whenever I’m faced with these natural phenomena my thoughts eventually drift to God and I seem to enter into an intimate interaction with Him. God doesn’t use the fires and clouds to lead me in a physical direction, but while I’m watching them the things I’ve read in the Bible or heard in church begin to make a whole lot more sense to me. I gain an understanding that I didn’t have before which helps me make decisions.
I have the same kind of reaction to some of the poems and stories in this newspaper. They may not make a direct reference to God, or suggest a specific course of action, but somehow I end up thinking about God. I end up being drawn closer to Him and He shows me how to see things more like He does. It’s not the poems or the stories themselves. They’re just catalysts.
Of course, not everyone reacts to catalysts in the same way. A poem that strengthens my link with God may cause someone else to grimace and dismiss the work as useless gibberish. In the same way, a story that doesn’t have a big effect on me may lead someone else to the biggest revelation they’ve ever had. That’s why I’ve included some poems and stories that didn’t do a whole lot for me. The only real qualification that I had for submissions is that they were well written and different… and I had some help deciding that.
I put this paper together because I wanted to help other people find their own fires and clouds.
(1996)
Boy was I an idiot.
I have never been so stressed in my life. My girlfriend at the time said I was almost intolerable. I got her\, and anyone who would listen to me, to help out just a little. I finished it in the end, and when I look back, I’m actually pretty impressed I was able to pull it off.
There was only one issue. After that I decided it was impossible for me to continue.
Here is my first and only editorial for Fires and Clouds:
The Pillar of fire and the pillar of clouds were more than God’s method of directing the Israelites after they left Egypt. The pillars were a constant reminder that God was with the Israelites, that God had led them out of Egypt and was still leading them, that God was going before them. If the Israelites had any doubt, they only had to look up and see the pillar of fire or clouds.
Whenever I watch a cloud mutating in the sky, or a fire consuming a pile of wood, I am reminded that God is with me. I know it’s not quite the same. God didn’t set the fires and clouds in the sky in order to remind me that He is there, but whenever I’m faced with these natural phenomena my thoughts eventually drift to God and I seem to enter into an intimate interaction with Him. God doesn’t use the fires and clouds to lead me in a physical direction, but while I’m watching them the things I’ve read in the Bible or heard in church begin to make a whole lot more sense to me. I gain an understanding that I didn’t have before which helps me make decisions.
I have the same kind of reaction to some of the poems and stories in this newspaper. They may not make a direct reference to God, or suggest a specific course of action, but somehow I end up thinking about God. I end up being drawn closer to Him and He shows me how to see things more like He does. It’s not the poems or the stories themselves. They’re just catalysts.
Of course, not everyone reacts to catalysts in the same way. A poem that strengthens my link with God may cause someone else to grimace and dismiss the work as useless gibberish. In the same way, a story that doesn’t have a big effect on me may lead someone else to the biggest revelation they’ve ever had. That’s why I’ve included some poems and stories that didn’t do a whole lot for me. The only real qualification that I had for submissions is that they were well written and different… and I had some help deciding that.
I put this paper together because I wanted to help other people find their own fires and clouds.
(1996)
posted by deadwriter at 11:03 a.m.
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