Many people consider Sebastiao Salgado one of the new masters of photography. He has traveled all over the world documenting the lives and struggles of the working poor and oppressed. This video may be a bit long but watch and let it sink in if you have time.

Stop expecting things; practice anticipating.
Don’t try to control people; find ways to set them free.
Trust more; plan to be surprised.

Last night we watched the movie, Dan in Real Life, which ended with Dan writing this advice to people who naturally want order and control: “Plan to be surprised.” It’s a great line worth repeating, so I added a couple more thoughts that the phrase bringsto mind and here you go. BTW, we loved the movie. I jumped off the sofa laughing several times (I do that sometimes). It’s unbelievable but real, you know; hokey in the way life can actually be.

Back to the point, it’s so easy to settle for the best that I can expect (and then try to force others to comply). To accept order in exchange for mediocrity both for myself and others (or performance in exchange for embracing the life that’s been given to me). Anticipation requires trust and letting go (as do faith, love, and many a good thing) with no guarantees except that Love will have it’s way.

Dan in Real Life

Sondre Lerche (Composer). Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone 2007, DVD, $29.99

This is funny and makes a point I appreciate.

I discovered the Drew Marshall Show a week ago. He does a “Christian talk radio” show in Canada. I’ve never liked Christian talk radio (or most Christian media). But this show is like a breath of fresh air because Drew, the host, is honest about his struggles, doubts, and opinions. He comes off like a real person. Give it a try and maybe you’ll agree.

Today they posted an interview with William “Paul” Young, the auther of The Shack (and an interview with another one of my favorite authors, Brennan Manning). You can listen here.

The Shack

Wayne Jacobsen & Brad Cummings (Editor). Windblown Media 2008, Paperback, 256 pages, $14.99

The Shack is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. It’s a novel that portrays the love of God in a striking and powerful way; and that’s all I’ll say — except that it’s a page turner. I bought a whole case and sent copies to friends who I thought would like it (and apparently Drew Marshall did the same thing despite being a guy who “doesn’t jump on bandwagons”). The book has sold nearly 500,000 copies now — despite having an unknown author, being self-published, and having no advertising budget to speak of.

(BTW, Brennan Manning’s book, Ruthless Trust, is another one of my favorite reads in the past few years.)

My friend, Wayne Matthysse (in the photo), is the director of an orphanage in Cambodia. He has a heart of compassion, and he’s taken plenty of battering in life to help shape it that way. I can’t agree with him on some things, but I love being in conversation with him and learn so much. (I say this because there’s a link to his writings below). I stand by and respect him as a man of love. Here’s something he wrote on a recent very hot night in Cambodia (the only kind of night they have in April and May).

“There is a Wine that flows

From the Vineyards of the Lord,
Its sweetness aged in jars of clay,
It’s price none can afford.

And wise men say that he who taste,
It’s sweetness on his tongue,
Will understand the Mind of God,
And evil overcome.”

With tear-filled eyes, a dying father passed these words on to his son… then peacefully closed his eyes and surrendered his Spirit.

His wife had died while giving birth and so he raised his son alone. He had been a good father and a generous man, however, because of a physical handicap, had lived a difficult life and was never able to give his son all of the things he had hoped to.

Years went by and the son tried to make his mark on the World, but every time he would advance himself to a position of status, his father’s words would come back to him… and he would remember how his father had to struggled in a World that would not accept him as a whole being.

It was not a quick decision; more of a gentle pulling that caused him to leave Society and got him started on his Journey… in search of the Wine that his father had spoken of. He believed that if he could only find this Wine he could use the knowledge he would gain to heal the wounds of the World and to make it a better place for all of mankind.

His travels took him near and far, to places unknown to most. From finest crystal, he sipped the wines of Kings and Rulers but there were none that could give him the knowledge that he sought. And when at last, his fortune spent, he returned from whence he came, and sipped the wine of paupers, yet no knowledge did he gain, that would help him change the cruelty that he saw.

He spent his final years caring for abandoned and orphaned children in the house where he was born. And when at last he could journey no further he prepared himself to die. Tears came to his eyes as he remembered his father and the hardships he had suffered. He had hoped that in his lifetime he could repay his father’s love by finding the Wine he had spoken of, but now his journey too was over… and he had failed.

As the children gathered around his bed, he gazed into their tear-filled eyes and realized that he had failed them as well, for now he had nothing left to give them and they would return to being alone. Tears of Compassion began rolling down his frail bony cheeks and then upon his dry cracked lips. With parched tongue, he licked them away and in doing so, felt his body relax… and then a peacefulness he had never known before in his life, took over his entire being… for he realized that his tears had somehow lost their brine and at last, he could taste the Wine.

“There is a Wine that flows,
From the Vineyards of the Lord,
Its sweetness aged in jars of clay,
It’s price none can afford.

And wise men say that he who taste,
It’s sweetness on his tongue,
Will understand the Mind of God,
And evil overcome.”

Wayne Dale Matthysse
10 April, 2008
www.tsoham.info