Finding God in Ireland

This evening, just as we began the first concert of our Ireland tour, I saw God.  Well, not exactly; I didn't have a heavenly revelation or anything, but I saw something that just made it seem like He was peeking into the church sanctuary where we were gathered.  With churches on every corner, Celtic crosses in all the graveyards and tourist memorabilia, and the fact that we are on tour as a choir from a Christian College, one would think it would be easy to see God.  However, it had been cold, raining, and somewhat dreary almost the entire day, and with the jet lag still hanging over all of us, none of us had much energy and wanted nothing more than to eat dinner and return to the hotel for dinner, not give a concert.  Kind of hard to find God in that, no matter how many times we start our meetings in prayer.

This all changed, though, as we began singing Be Thou My Vision, the opening hymn.  Throughout the song, I had been noticing that the sun was shining a little more brightly than before, but as we started the fourth and final verse, I glanced up to see the sun shining brightly through the window.  Combined with the heartfelt worship going on around as the audience joined their voices enthusiastically with ours, it was as if God Himself had stepped into the room with us.  While we attributed the "confidence boost" to the applause from the audience after a later song, I think it was partially due to seeing the sun peek out just as we were singing to the "High King of Heaven, His victory won" saying "May I reach heaven's joys, O bright Heaven's sun." 

Sometimes, even though He is everywhere around us, it can be hard to see God.  I think it's in those times especially that instead of finding Him in the big things, He reveals Himself to us in the little things.  A kind word from an older man who reveals that he is dealing with cancer and won't have much longer to live, but was incredibly blessed by the music our choir shared.  The cross in the middle of a graveyard that has withstood hundreds of years bashing at it, including vikings and their hammers as they tried to bring it down.  Even the sun shining just a little brighter at exactly the moment you need it.  God is always there, we just have to be open to seeing it.

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Ireland Update:

We finally made it to Ireland, despite a three hour delay when they realized there was something wrong with our plane, so there is much jet lag.  Mostly over the worst of it, however!

Monday, after arriving in Dublin, we had lunch at the Man O War pub and visited the Monasterboise and Mellifont Abbey.

Today, we had a bus tour of the city of Belfast and then had an opportunity to wander around at lunch time.  Following that, we visited the Titanic Exhibition before our first concert.

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Photo Credit:
-title photo: http://chrisgilesphotography.com/images/gallery/900/sun-through-a-church-window-3251.jpg
-Ireland Photos: myself

When does Violence become better than Peace?

A few days ago, as preparation for my trip to Ireland, I watched a movie called “Michael Collins” which documented the fight for a Free Irish Republic.  In the discussion we had afterwards, I had several thoughts on the topic of the “correct-ness” of rebellion and fighting for freedom as a country.  In many cases, acts of violence against the government are viewed as terrorism, however depending on whose side you’re on (in the case of the American Revolution and the Irish Rebellion), these acts can also be viewed as acceptable and as “freedom fighting.”  So where do we draw the line?  What is it that makes these two concepts different from each other?

While watching “Michael Collins” I was somewhat conflicted about the violence portrayed in the film, especially by the characters the viewer is supposed to be supporting.  One particular scene left me questioning the ideals of the main character.  On Valentines Day, Michael Collins, called Mitch by most of the supporting characters, gives a heartfelt speech about why he hates the British so much.  He reveals that it is more due to the fact that they caused him to turn to violence to get the freedom he and other Irishmen felt they deserved.  However, not long after, he sends out small groups to murder the men sent after them.  While it can be argued that these soldiers were sent to kill them and they were only removing the threat to themselves, it doesn’t negate the fact that these men were attacked and killed with no way of defending themselves.

However, the scene that swayed me more in favor of the Irishmen than the British was the one immediately following.  In this, tanks and trucks full of British soldiers plowed onto a rugby field and began simply mowing down onlookers.  As much as I dislike violence and the thought of murdering soldiers at point blank and in cold blood, I even more dislike the idea of mowing down innocent citizens simply to make a point.  It is the difference between protecting yourself (albeit quite violently) and making a dramatic statement.

At the same time, how can we look at this situation and flat out say that the Irish were wrong in their actions – fighting for independence and freedom of religion – when that is the very same thing our American forefathers did?  When we look back in history, we do not state that all of the wars were good, rather quite horrific, but ultimately agree that it was an overall good and commendable thing.

Ultimately, I believe the decision about use of violence to achieve a goal comes down to one thing: our priorities.  What is it that we view as most important or beneficial?  Do we see human lives and peace as the best thing?  Or do we value the idea of freedom or whatever other thing we are fighting for so much that we are willing to resort to violence and killing others in order to accomplish it?

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This is the first of my blogposts for my Cross Cultural class, written while in the airport in Atlanta, waiting to fly to Ireland!

Photo Credit: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9070514.ece/alternates/w620/easteruprising.jpg

The Proverbial "Knight In Shining Armor"

I was recently scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed and saw a quote a friend had posted reading, "I hope my knight rides in wearing dented, beat up, and scratched armor.  Because if its shiny, they obviously didn't fight for me."  I've seen this around before and it's always bothered me a bit.  I mean, sure he fought for me, but if the way he treats his armor - something that should be very precious to him - is any indication of how he will treat me, I want nothing to do with him.  If he will fight for me, but ultimately leave me to rot along with his formerly shiny armor, then what is the point?

Now, I see nothing wrong with the idea of a knight who has fought for me instead of some untried nincompoop who thinks he's All That because of his cool horse and nice shiny armor.  You know, the one who expects all the ladies to waltz into his arms simply because of his status as a knight.  In fact, this second idea would bother me almost more than the first.  Sure, his armor looks nice, but when it comes down to it, he can't do much but look pretty as he struggles not to fall off his horse.

Luckily though, these aren't the only two types of knights out there.  There's a third, one who possesses the better qualities of both former types.  He rides in looking weary, but his armor shines as though it's never been worn.  This knight has fought numerous battles to protect those he is loyal to and cares about, but still makes sure he keeps his armor polished and sword sharpened.  This is the man who will not only fight for me, but care for me.  This is a real Knight in Shining Armor.

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So apparently all my good blogging ideas come late at night... This is fun.  Anyway, just a thought I had regarding this particular idea that your "armor" has to look scrappy to mean you fought, and that if it doesn't, you obviously didn't work for anything.  I firmly believes that this applies to more areas than just relationships, but since the original post took it that way, that's the direction I took it.

Photo Credit: http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Knight+in+shining+armor+one+of+the+best+quotes+i_41c4f0_4416998.jpg 

Life is a Song. Imperfect, but Beautiful

Tonight, I had a piano recital at my college and, being the deep thinker that I am (especially when I'm particularly tired, and it IS the end of the week), I came to an interesting realization while zoning out on my drive home.  With thoughts ranging from my imperfect performance to the impatient drivers I encountered on my way to school, I realized that these two events share a common point.  In thinking about both, I was focusing on the bad things and thinking about the things I could have done better.

I tend to do this a lot in life in general - sometimes as I'm driving innocently down the road, my brain decides to remind me of That One Time when I messed up while taking Drivers Ed or as I'm thinking about a friend I remember That Conversation that I could have handled better, and the list goes on and on.  Instead of thinking of happy memories, such as the time my cousin and I were dragged to the front of a restaurant during open mic night to perform a song we had written, the first time I got to hold my niece, or even the A in a difficult class, I subconsciously choose the bad memories.

During my performance, I made several small mistakes, which I noticed immediately.  To the untrained listener, and even those with training who simply haven't heard the piece, however, it's difficult to hear the mistakes.  Instead, they hear the overall beauty of the piece, the big picture, rather than focusing on a few small mistakes that don't matter that much in the long run.  This is how it works in life, as well.  The people around us aren't paying attention to the mistakes we make (unless they're just rude), or if they are, they don't dwell on them and remind us of them over and over.

As a pianist, and a performer in general, it has taken me quite a while to finally get comfortable with making mistakes.  Not to the point of not caring, but simply to the point of not dwelling on them and basing my entire performance on a few mistakes and not taking any notice of the good things I did.  During my recital, I was able to recognize the mistakes I made, but I was able to recover from them and not let them get me down.  Instead, I focused on the difficult spots I'd been working on for weeks that I had played almost perfectly.

This is how I think it should work in life.  Instead of forcing ourselves to relive our mistakes, we should recognize them, fix them or recover from them, and move on with our lives.  We should focus on the beauty we create and experience, the areas where we have struggled in the past but finally overcome.

Ultimately, I think we have to understand that there are no perfect performers.  Even those who have practiced the hardest and longest and have sold-out shows make mistakes every once in a while.  And that's ok.  If we can accept them and learn from them, it's our mistakes that make life beautiful.

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Whoo!  Two posts in just a few days.  I think I'm avoiding responsibility... Only one more week of classes before finals and the end of my Freshman year of college, then off to Ireland!

Photo Credit: http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/120/2/a/playing_piano_by_predragstojanovic-d3f9ud3.jpg

Text added by me

Ireland Bound!

Greetings, friends! I come bearing an exciting update! Apologies for being AWOL on here since last semester (I mean, I only have 5 followers - the rest of my views come from those of you on FB who take the time to read these - so I'm sure no one has actually missed these), but I haven't really had the chance to write much exciting.  Unless, that is, you really want to hear about 60 different kinds of birds, environmental physics, or music theory. However, now that the semester is nearly over and I'm busy procrastinating from working on homework (yes, that's what I'm doing right now) and studying for finals in a few weeks (my school starts late, what can I say. Most of you other college folks are already done), I thought I'd let you know that I'll be updating more frequently in just a bit less than a month!

As part of the Greenville College Choir, I have the amazing opportunity to travel to Ireland and tour there for 10 days right after finals week. In order to fulfill a "Cross Cultural Credit" requirement, I will be writing blog posts for a group blog and I figure I may as well post them here while I'm at it and keep you lot up to date on what all I get to do while I'm over there!  So be looking for more of these posts starting around May 25 - hopefully there will be pictures involved :)

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Photo Credit: http://www.tenontours.com/assets/travel-to-ireland8.jpg

Edited by myself