Going Home

I’m going home
the old way with a light hand on the reins
Making the long approach.
—Maxine Kumin


Thinking of people journeying home. I find this song hauntingly beautiful. 

JRR Tolkien Reads The One Ring Poem

Happy Birthday Tolkien!

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

“Roads Go Ever On
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever ever on,
Under cloud and under star.
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen,
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green,
And trees and hills they long have known.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone.
Let others follow, if they can!
Let them a journey new begin.
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

“And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

“But it does not seem that I can trust anyone,' said Frodo.
Sam looked at him unhappily. 'It all depends on what you want,' put in Merry. 'You can trust us to stick with you through thick and thin--to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours--closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

“Go back?" he thought. "No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!" So up he got, and trotted along with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall, and his heart all of a patter and a pitter. ”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

“In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.

All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dínen.
"You cannot enter here," said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!"
The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.
"Old fool!" he said. "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.

And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the city, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of war nor of wizardry, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.
And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns, in dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the north wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

“It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterward were as nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again

“In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Thanksgiving

1 ship 90 feet long and 24 feet wide.
110 passengers and 15-20 crew.
66 days at sea, one bad storm, one death.
Landing at the wrong place and potential mutiny, but some quick thinking resulting in a civil covenant.
A year of starvation, fear, lonelieness, mistakes, bad decisions, and sickness. A year when 46 of the 110 people die. Imagine if 46 people in your church died this year of sickness and hunger. No home would be untouched.

But at the end of this first year of so much sadness and pain, what do they do? They invite their unbelieving neighbours over and they thank God for His mercy and grace. Not because they didn't love those who died. Not because the year wasn't really that bad. But because God told them to in 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Because Job did. Because Romans 8:28 had taught them that no matter how much they didn't understand, all things were still working together for good for those who loved God. And because they really grasped who they were as sinners and what God had done for them in Christ. They knew they could trust that the same God who sent His only Son to die in their place, to bring them from death to life, had a plan and a purpose for all that had happened to them, and at the end of the day they could rest in His sovereignty whether they understood it or not.

Because they had their eye on the big picture of who God is and what He had done on their behalf, they were able to genuinely thank Him for His love and care at the end of possibly the hardest year of their life.

It's a humbling thought.

U2 - Love Is Blindness (1993)

Twenty years on. Twelve amazing songs. Finishing with this hauntingly beautiful one. Happy Anniversary Achtung Baby! You were a big part of the soundtrack of my college years, and I still love every song!

Lyrics

Love is blindness, I don't want to see
Won't you wrap the night around me?
Oh, my heart, love is blindness.

In a parked car, in a crowded street
You see your love made complete.
Thread is ripping, the knot is slipping
Love is blindness.

Love is clockworks and cold steel
Fingers too numb to feel.
Squeeze the handle, blow out the candle
Love is blindness.

Love is blindness, I don't want to see
Won't you wrap the night around me?
Oh, my love,
Blindness.

A little death without mourning
No call and no warning
Baby, a dangerous idea
That almost makes sense.

Love is drowning in a deep well
All the secrets, and no one to tell.
Take the money, honey...
Blindness.

Love is blindness, I don't want to see
Won't you wrap the night around me?
Oh, my love,
Blindness.

U2: Acrobat

U2 - Ultra Violet (Light My Way)

Classic!

Lyrics

Sometimes I feel like I don't know
Sometimes I feel like checking out.
I wanna get it wrong
Can't always be strong
And love, it won't be long.

Oh, sugar, don't you cry.
Oh, child, wipe the tears from your eyes.
You know I need you to be strong
And the day it is dark, as the night is long.
Feel like trash, you make me feel clean.
I'm in the black, can't see or be seen.

Baby, baby, baby, light my way.
Alright now, baby, baby, baby, light my way.

You bury your treasure where it can't be found
But your love is a secret that's been passed around.
There is a silence that comes to a house
Where no-one can sleep.
I guess it's the price of love; I know it's not cheap.

Oh, come on, baby, baby, baby, light my way.
Oh, come on, baby, baby, baby, light my way
Baby, baby, baby, light my way.

I remember when we could sleep on stones.
Now we lie together in whispers and moans.
When I was all messed up and I heard opera in my head
Your love was a light bulb hanging over my bed.

Baby, baby, baby, light my way.
Oh, come on, baby, baby, baby, light my way.

U2 - Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World

Love this song - "And a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle
When you're tryin' to throw your arms around the world."

Lyrics

Six o'clock in the morning, you're the last to hear the warning
You been tryin' to throw your arms around the world.
You been falling off the sidewalk, your lips move but you can't talk
Tryin' to throw your arms around the world.

Gonna run to you, run to you, run to you; be still.
Gonna run to you, run to you, woman, I will.

Sunrise like a nose-bleed, your head hurts and you can't breathe
You been tryin' to throw your arms around the world.
How far are you gonna go before you lose your way back home
You been tryin' to throw your arms around the world.

Gonna run to you, run to you, run to you; be still.
Gonna run to you, run to you, woman, I will.

Yeah I dreamed that I saw Dali with a supermarket trolley
He was tryin' to throw his arms around a girl.
He took an open top beetle through the eye of a needle
He was tryin' to throw his arms around the world.

I'm gonna run to you, run to you, run to you, woman be still.
I'm gonna run to you, run to you, run to you, woman, I will.

Nothing much to say, I guess; just the same as all the rest
Been tryin' to throw your arms round the world.
And a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle
When you're tryin' to throw your arms around the world.

Gonna run to you, run to you, run to you
I'm gonna run to you, run to you, run to you
I'm gonna run to you, run to you, run to you, woman be still
Woman be still, woman be still, woman I will.