May 4th, 2006
 

My first email this morning was from JA Jance, the mystery writer, telling me her son-in-law is fighting "terminal melanoma--[My daughter and he have] a five month old baby. My heart is breaking."

I told her I would pray and sent her this quote from Louise Erdrich.

"Life will break you.
Nobody can protect you
from that, and living alone won't either,
for solitude will also break you
with its yearning.
You have to love.
You have to feel.
It is the reason you are here on earth.
You are here to risk your heart.
You are here to be swallowed up.
And when it happens that you are broken,
or betrayed, or left,
or hurt, or death brushes near,
let yourself sit by an apple tree
and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness.
Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could."

Then I heard from Lou Carlozo whose guest blog about CCM in reaction to my blog about CCM has caused such a stir. Lou is writing a book about depression and I can't wait to read it. He was at the first meeting of our little Center for Faith and Culture in 1998, which has led to the exciting new plans I've been telling you about.

I e-mailed Lou--"We make a formidable team! CFC is getting ready to launch our new show from the pub here in Seattle--By mid-summer it will be a daily podcast (and guest blogging will become more common) By fall it will be a weekly live event at the pub and a weekend radio syndication. Plus the retreats we discussed. I’ll keep you posted and involved!"

In the Arts section of the NYT there was a picture of the Vermeer Quartet playing with baritone Thomas Hampton at the new Gilder Lehrman Hall in NYC. Founder of Vermeer, Richard Young was here in Seattle last year. We enjoyed breakfast at 13 Coins and on the way back to his hotel we wept together as I prayed for his mother who was on her deathbed while he was on tour.

I walked into my office to hear a message from Sharon Frisco who produced the award winning CS Lewis/Kilns short "Living the Legacy." My daughter Jesse and I had dinner with Sharon a few months ago in NYC and Sharon wanted to know how Jessie is doing. Sharon is working on another Sundance-aimed short that she filmed at the CS Lewis Foundation Oxbridge event last summer. She takes on impossible projects, prays for magic dust and then watches God make miracles happen, but not without prayer, hard work and some tears.

All of these I mention are thoughtful creatives; They know what Mason WIlliams meant when he penned this little ditty about Dylan Thomas (to the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down") "Dylan Thomas is come and gone, come and gone, come and gone, Dylan Thomas is come and gone his blood turned to words." I

n addition to being thoughtful creatives, each is also my friend.

People like that I sign my correspondence "yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends."

When I was younger I thought a lot about "doing" things for the kingdom of God.
Now I think more about loving people in my day. I'm not saying I'm that good at it…
but I do know that Jesus said they would know we are his followers if we love one another.

Yours for the pursuit of God in the company of friends, Dick Staub.

PS. And remember, “these are the best of times and the worst of times, but they are the only times we have.” (For Now).

PS 2. If you haven't yet done so, register for our daily updates. You won't regret it!

If you have comments regarding this column please contact us at:

© 2001 - 2010 Dick Staub, CRS Communications.