Orange is the New Knack
Have you ever heard about prison literature? It is a literary genre characterized by literary work written while the author is confined in a location against his will, such as a prison, jail or house arrest.
Counting and crossing out tally does get old.
Check out a list of books written in prison at the end of this article. I was surprised by the first one...
Have you ever heard about prison literature? It is a literary genre characterized by literary work written while the author is confined in a location against his will, such as a prison, jail or house arrest.
I didn’t know it was a thing! I guess if you’re locked up somewhere for a while, you’d maybe be forced to pen down your thoughts.
Counting and crossing out tally does get old. You’d probably write a book too or a song, like Tupac did!
Check out a list of books written in prison at the end of this article. I was surprised by the first one.
Anyway, the only Prison Lit I’ve ever read would be the books of Paul of Tarsus. He was in prison when he wrote a good bit of the New Testament. The best thing about those books was the state of his spirit. He seemed content, hopeful and joyful, probably more so than the people he was writing to. He focused on teaching them about God, with the hopefulness of his imprisoned life.
Imagine if he had chosen to focus on his problems and magnify them. We’d have something like this:
“Well guys, hey, I’m still in these chains. I keep telling these guards that I’m a citizen of Rome. I’m a real Jew. A Jew of Jews! What else do they want from me? From the tribe of Benjamin. Did I mention I was circumcised on the eighth day?
He-llo!
The press is outside, I’d like my voice to be heard about this injustice. The food is terrible and I can’t wait to be home again eating Sister Phoebe’s lamb stew.
The prison cell has mold clusters the size of Corinth.
I don’t mind being interrogated but the breath on these guards. Help!
So I mentioned the other day that Diotrephes has been acting up. What’s his deal? I don’t have time for his pettiness.
Anyway, I’m still here.
Sigh.
It’s ok that you haven’t come to see me at all. Just continue living your best life while your friend is here rotting in prison. Please tell Carpus I need my coat, the one with the invincible stitches which I left in Troas. I hope Atrius hasn’t borrowed it and gone on his fishing expedition. That’ll be gross. It’s tailored.
There’s this particular guard who seems to be going through a lot and seems interested in Jesus, but I told him, “Hey, at least you are free and you don’t have these miserable chains around your ankles.”
Am I right?
He’s here again mumbling about believing in Jesus. I should share the gospel but I’m just not in the mood, guys.
Did I tell you about the watery soup of minestrone they serve on Mondays? Not my favorite.
Guys, I can’t even in this place. Lord, help.
Stay woke. Stay ready.
The soldiers can arrest you at any time. I can testify. ”
Well, thank God he didn’t write any of that nonsense!
I say this from experience, seeing past your chains and limitations can be hard. I caught myself complaining a few weeks ago, I probably sounded like this rant above. Till date Paul is my favorite Prison Lit author.
Instead of ranting like me, he wrote these amazing verses:
“Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.” Php 1:12-14
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice.”
Php 4:4
Perspective. Chains. Optimism. And some more perspective.
Other works written in prison:
Orange is the new black
Piper Kerman
A Prison diary
Jeffery Archer
Conversations with myself
Nelson Mandela
Pilgrim’s progress
John Bonyan
The Travels of Marco Polo
Rustichello da Pisa
Do you have a favorite Prison Lit? Which is it?
Something You Don't see Everyday: Girl, X-box & Serial-killers
While I was away on my blog break, I played a good dose of Halo* on X-box. I came to realize that in this game, there’s no such thing as beginner's luck- at least not for those seemingly algorithmically challenged. That just isn't how the game is programmed. At all! Lol!
First, my player was lost half of the time. I had too many "wait-where-did-everyone-go?" moments. I kept running to all the wrong places and arrived at the right places when the battles were completely over. I spent most of the time restoring Ed’s player whenever he was wounded. I was basically like the Red-Cross soldier-gamer. I also spent some time shooting at my men, because I wasn't sure who the enemy was. Laugh if you will. Lol! This was my first time.
The most intriguing thing about this game, other than the fact that I became a serial-killer of my teammates was the uniform of my soldier. It really caught my attention. The armour covers the entire body surface of the player. You can't actually see him, he is completely encased in this bulky, imposing gear of protection.
Somewhere between my player's serial-killer attempts, I realized that this must be how the devil and his goons see us! When they look at us, they do not see me, Ike, or you, *insert name*. They see the whole armour of God (provided we have it on). They see God. They see strength, right-living, truth, faith, resilience! They don't see the flawed people we see in the mirror. Think about it, all those insecurities, failures and imperfections, all transformed into all that formidability. They are terrified of looking at us! God makes sure that there are no vulnerable points...unless we take them off - even then he covers us with his wings and his grace.
Baddest! I don't even know why Satan bothers.
So strap on the armour, the whole gear!
Guard your mind and reasoning with the helmet of salvation (know and acknowledge that you have been saved and are chosen);
Protect your heart and passions with the breastplate of righteousness (do what is right guided by the sweet principles of God);
Keep your pants up with the belt of truth (lies have a way of causing us shame by baring our behinds, don't ask);
Run around and tell people about Jesus, with your shoes of the gospel;
Protect yourself with the shield of faith by believing all of God's promises and confessing them (there are ~3,573 promises in the Bible. I probably have read only 60. Read one below);
You'd notice that the other items in the gear are protective, if you don't have a sword, you might as well be a punching bag that can't fight back. Attack with the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. It is active and sharper than any two-edged sword and literally can slice whatever! Satan and his goons get an allergic reaction when you speak out loud God's words to his suggestions. Seriously, he can’t deal. CAN NOT.
Eventually a certain someone got tired of killing her mates, so a certain someone bought the LEGO game, but who is she kidding? She is learning to play Call of Duty this week (hello, guns). Wish me all the best any gamer could bear!
If you don't have a helmet of salvation and are not yet God's soldier, you can, right here! Don't forget to get your gear! Do you play video games? What do you enjoy about them? When last did you personalize a promise of God? Here's a promise of God, regardless of how sad this week has been!
“You are my servant, I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand...Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, “Do not fear; I WILL help you.””
Halo* Military Sci-fi video game.
The Existence of Holy Twerks and God's Soprano voice
I've always imagined God as the huge, shiny, shiny, glimmering, iridescent being, who sits on a massive throne, surrounded by cherubs and the 24 elders; angels flapping around Him like moths to a flame, a sea of glass in front of His throne, everyone singing in perfect tones and in complete awe of Him, praising, hollering in delight. I'm probably semi-right, according to the book of Revelation. Semi-right, because no imagination, narrative or words can actually truly describe what's going on up there*insert dramatic gaze at skies*.
I often wondered though, what God does during this time- when everyone is singing and jumping around and screaming about how great He is. Does He just sit on his throne and stare at everyone and nod in approval with stately composure and a side smile? What does He do when we (His peeps on earth) sing to Him? Does He catch the praise in His fist, examine them and separate them into "acceptable" and "unacceptable" baskets? Does He laugh and roll His eyes when I call Him pet-names? (Which I do. Smh. You should hear them)
When we sing to God or come to Him, we are automatically in this space where we are praising along with the angels, the elders, souls of saints (a.k.a souls of righteous guys made perfect) and it's all a merry, exhilarating wing-flapping experience, crowned elders tossing their crowns, creative expressions of love including dabbing, splits, holy twerks and shoki's- definitely merry.
I think-I'm not certain-but I think I may have found what he does when we sing to him.
I think when we come into His throne room with a love song or a worship song, His heart skips a beat, His pupils dilate, His fingers grip His arm rest and His breath is caught in His chest because the one He's in love with, just stepped into his presence. With every note and beat, whether or not you are on or off-key, His heart throbs along and suddenly-what does He do?
“The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing”
"Rejoice over you with singing" Hands down, the second most romantic thing I've seen in the bible. Rejoicing, hmm. He, maybe, gets up from His throne because it could be pretty uncomfortable rejoicing while sitting down. He's on his feet, among the bowing elders and angels and the flapping cherubs, and walks towards you, everything else fades and He stands just about a foot away, His eyes transfixed on yours, as you sing. Then suddenly, He begins to sing too! 😍😍 Of course, this quickly becomes a full-blown Bollywood set, where you and Him dance, laugh and sing about how much you love one another, I like to imagine the angels as backup dancers! He rejoices over us with singing. Can you even try to imagine it? God, singing, spinning on His heels and chasing you around an imaginary tree! Amazing!
What do you guys think? Ever tried Holy Twerking? Hehe.
Random Fish. Apparently pictures taken in the morning are pretty pretty.