(from the song "Abyss" by Slave To The System, fronted by Brother Cane founder Damon Johnson). Not sure exactly what he's asking for (I've got a notion), but it sure sounds like classic blues, doesn't it?
It's pretty easy to tell what your favorite albums or artists are ... they're the ones that you come back to time and again, which seldom let you down -- taking you to that "place" that good music does. I guess that place is called "bliss." I can count on the music from Damon Johnson to do that for me. Part blues, part classic rock, part singer/songwriter. When you've got that special something, that quoi, that element of special quality...you've just got it. You can't really coach this stuff. You can shape it if it's there. You can bring it out if it's there, but you can't fake this stuff. Jeff Buckley had it. I'm not sure every American Idol winner has it. When you hear it, you know it. You're drawn to it.
I'm having lunch today with a friend of mine. He happens to pastor the church I am part of. It might be funny to explore the edges of that "line" that someone has between friend and pastor. Maybe I could show up late, with disheveled hair... Mumble something incoherent... Dump a bunch of junk from my pockets on the table -- lottery tickets, traffic tickets, beer bottle caps, an empty pack of cigarettes, race track betting forms, an alligator clip with feathers attached ... what else could I dump on the table before I excuse myself to the restroom? What would he think? Would he make a phone call while I'm away? Would he have that "we need to talk" look on his face? I dunno, sometimes I get mischevious and want to pull pranks like this.
In Genesis 30, we see Rachel losing it. She gets jealous of her sister, Leah. She tells Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die!" I wonder who else heard that outburst. One thing that bothers me about stuff like that is other people hearing it. I know that it's no one else's business and I shouldn't live my life as if what other people think matters, but I don't want someone privy to my inner workings. I remember when my cat from childhood was dying. He was a wonderful pet that lived for 20 years. During the last week of his life I had a group over for the home church meeting we had every Thursday night. When I left the room his eyes followed me and he tried to follow, but hobbled and fell down. It was sad and my friends openly got sad with me. But inside I wanted them all to leave so I could experience this tender and sad moment alone. I'm not sure why, but those true human emotions we go through -- they're private. I don't want to cash in on some reality show and live my life in front of the camera. I have that morbid curiosity that most of America has, and I might strain my neck to watch some stupid reality show, but part of me inside knows it's lame. It's almost dirty. I hope for Jacob and Rachel's sake that this conversation happened in private.
Jacob became angry with her and said, "Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?"
Rachel did something that apparently wasn't too strange for that time. She said, "Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family." So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, and she became pregnant and bore him a son. She had another, too. Leah did the same thing with her maidservants, having two sons vicariously through Zilpah.
One day one of Leah's sons, Reuben, went out to the fields and found some mandrake plants. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." Leah refused: "Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?" Rachel bargained with her, using something that I didn't think she really had authority to do. She said, "Very well, he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's madrakes." So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. "You must sleep with me. I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." So he slept with her that night.
Now, doesn't that all seem a little strange? Jacob's sleeping with all these women and having this large family. That sorta thing would not fly today, would it?
Jacob made a deal with Laban so he could separate from him and be on his own. His deal was to take the spotted goats and dark-colored lambs. He watched over the animal mating and "rigged" it so that the healthy and strong animals in heat were made available to the strong ones, but the weak ones were guided towards Laban's flocks. What a schemer. I guess he beat Laban at his own game.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at January 31, 2007 10:33 AM