Etymology

There was a movie that came out a while back, one of Bruckhiemer's early blockbusters, staring Sean Connery, and Nicolas Cage. The Movie "The Rock" was really a great action movie where a group of highly trained men have to break into Alcatraz to save San Fransisco from annihilation from the deadly vx gas. Nicolas Cage's character is named Stanley Goodspeed (I don't remember Sean Connery's character's name). At the end of the movie, Sean Connery's character asks Stanley Goodspeed if he knows the etymology of his last name. It seems like an odd question to ask at the end of a major action flick where people are blown apart the island of Alcatraz is shot to pieces and they barely survive exposure to the deadly gas, but there they are catching their breath and the question is asked. Goodspeed comes from the saying God-speed; a way of saying, farewell. A fitting way to close the movie. Wherever you go from here... God-speed.

The fact that words have a history is fascinating to me. It's almost like they have a family tree. Some of our words have Latin roots, some have Germanic roots. As I thought about how Goodspeed comes from Godspeed and how many words in the English language come from other much older words, I was struck by the fact that words are kind of like people, they have a history. The study of their history is called Etymology. As words have a history, a story of how they became what they are today, so do our hearts.

Your heart bares the marks of your history. The hurts, the joys, the high points and the low points are all marks left on your heart. They are part of the Etymology of your heart. The condition of your heart today is the result of all the places you have been and the people who have touched you, good or bad. digging into the history of a word can bring you some interesting information. Digging into the history of your heart can be interesting albeit painful or perhaps even insightful. What is good news for all of us is that whatever our history is, God redeems every last moment. God does not waste a single second. In fact many times he uses those things that we might think are useless and of no value.

The insight that can come from looking into the etymology of your heart can have eternal value. Don't be afraid of what you find because God can use whatever you have.

And so, Godspeed...

Tending

When you have been living on your own for a while, getting married is like running into a brick wall... Everything changes - and it can be uncomfortable. Although because it is marriage it might be more like running into a mattress. Either way getting through it takes some work. The way I go about living my life changes. I don't do stuff when I want to, and I do stuff that I don't want to (dishes, trash, etc...)

In the long run however, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. I know that there will always be someone there for me, someone in my corner who is cheering me on... My biggest fan. Tonight I get to take care of my biggest fan. She is sick on the couch right now, fell asleep about half an hour ago. I am trying to think of it as my honor and privilege to tend to her.

In my tending to her I could not help but think that we all from time to time develop spiritual sickness of one kind or another. The symptoms that we develop depend on what it is that we are sick with (sin of one kind or another). Jesus, the great physician, helps us understand what it is we are sick with if we are willing to listen. But the real issue is, who tends to us when we are sick? What people; who is it in our life that will help us in the times when we are sick? Yes. Jesus is there, but Jesus many times cares for us through others.

Sometimes we are so sick we cannot help ourselves and we need others around us to carry us; to confront us (lovingly ;-) of course) and get us through our times of spiritual sickness. Then again sometimes it is enough just to know that someone is there. Sometimes just having someone in the same room with us is enough. Tending to someone who is sick may take many forms but the point is that someone is doing the tending.

So tonight I tend to the woman sick on the couch, and one of these days she will tend to me...

Beginnings

So I have been wanting to do this for a while now and I finally sat down and forced my self to do this. I am one of those guys who tends naturally to keep to myself but almost always has random thoughts popping in and out of my head. Which brings me to why I chose this title...

I chose the title of my blog really from the combination of two sources. First my mind can tend to wander from one random place to the next and the idea of capturing some of them and getting those out "there" seemed worth while.

A vagabond (according to dictionary.com) means wandering from place to place without any settled home; nomadic. Ragamuffin comes from a book by Brennan Manning and basically describes those who are poor, blind, lame, prostitutes, persecuted, downtrodden, held captive, the least, the last and the lost... and yet find that they are furiously loved by God. I kind of feel that sometimes physically but certainly spiritually we have all been there. Hence a vagabond ragamuffin is one who sometimes wanders but is always caught by the crazy love of God.

So I thought I might take some time to actually type out some of those meandering thoughts. Perhaps to leave a marker for any who may come behind me. Even though I wander, meandering through an imperfect concept of God, his love and how I can wrap my life around that, if and when I fall, it will be into his arms and his crazy love for me.