Great Expectations

GREAT EXPECTATIONS - Remember that old book from our school days? I hated that book. It was SO big. Why did we need to read it? How in the world would this help me later in life? I seriously doubted that some one would walk up to me on the street and put a gun to my head and shout, "Tell me the main characters and plot to Great Expectations or I'll blow your brains out!" Unfortunately I took the same approach to most books in school, particularly the text books. It wasn't until I became older that I found a love for books. Even now sitting on the book shelf next to my bed are about 30 books that I have read or in the process of reading. Some are books that I refer back to from time to time. Some are easy reading when I just need to dull my mind to drift off to sleep and there are others. like those written by C.S. Lewis. that can keep me up for hours mulling over a single paragraph. Each story is a world all it's own. Books allow me to go places I have never been and experience things I’ve never had the opportunity or the guts to. Sometimes the titles can be a little deceiving. Which make them a lot like our lives. On the outside our covers are shiny and inviting but what lies within the pages on the inside tell a different story.

If you were to title the book of your life what would it be? "All Quiet on the Western Front"? "The Red Badge of Courage"? "The Lost World"? "War of the Worlds"? "War and Peace"? "A Dream Within a Dream"? I could go on and on but I'm sure you get the idea.

As for me...I think mine would be "Great Expectations". We often start things off with Great Expectations. We have visions of grandeur. We start off with a skip in our step only to trip and fall. That is not to say that all is lost and we are justified to lay there in a puddle of self pity. We must pick ourselves up and continue on in the light that there are many obstacles that we do not see. Sometimes we know about certain obstacles but would never imagine that it could happen to us. Whatever the cause of our great awakening we will never be the same. Our innocence is lost and we will never be the same again. We are then left with a storm that rages on inside.

Not all stories have happy endings.  That is the tragic truth of life.  However, without the tragedy being so harsh then the comedies wouldn’t be so funny and the romantics so…well…romantic. The advantage we have is that the story of our lives have not been completed.  The ink is still fresh and the pages still crisp.  We can write our lines.  Not that all things are in our control because they certainly are not but in the game of life we are not meant to watch from the sidelines we were meant to play.

So, what is the title of your “book”?  What lines are you editing?  What pages are you turning?  Happy writing!

In the beginning

After much consideration and prodding from my wife I have decide to start a blog. The question at hand is what to write. Do I have anything to say? Who would want to read it anyway? I have never considered myself one who would blog but then again...why not? I do enjoy writing but up until now it has been confined to notebooks and some ancient files on a computer to which I have long ago forgotten the password. My wife seems to think that I am full of..."creative ideas". I would like to think of it as an expressive thinking.

I decided to name this blog "Somewhere in the Middle" because that pretty much explains my life. As much as I would like to take credit for that phrase I cannot. I got the idea from a song by Casting Crowns. It is the name of one of my favorite songs. I can relate a lot to that song. If you get a chance take a listen. It's from their album "The Altar and the Door". What am I in the middle of? I am in the middle of a lot of things. I am in the middle of my life, raising kids, working on my career, becoming the husband I need to be, the Christian I was made to be, the song writer I dream to be and the list goes on and on and on. Now don't misunderstand me. I may be in the middle of a lot of things but that doesn't mean that I am on the fence. I know what I believe but more importantly I know why I believe it. There are just some things that I cannot compromise on but I will save that for another day.

I invite you to join me as I work toward the other end of the middle.

WD