Melancholy?

melancholy, n.
3. [Rare.] Pensive contemplation; serious and sober reflection...Syn.: see grief

pensive
1. Engaged in or addicted to serious or quiet reflection; musing: thoughtful...

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Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary of the English Language, 1939


I don't know if this exactly describes my mood, but sometimes I think that it does.  Don't ask me exactly why (1. I don't completely know, and 2. What I may know I don't always want to discuss)...but suffice to say while I may always be one for quiet reflection I do not want to be forever characterized as melancholic.  But how long will it last?  I can say that God only knows and mean it, and I do.  That should help my peace of mind, and in one sense it does because I ultimately trust that God will provide and care for me.  But sometimes in the immediate sense I still worry, I still ponder, I still wonder, I still contemplate...pensively...  I ask "why?" and I do not have an answer currently.  I pray that God will give me the patience to endure until there is an answer I understand...

~Matt

Sunset

This evening I stopped by Best Buy to pick up a new memory card (sadly I found out my camera is just a bit too old to handle an HD card, so I could only get a new high-speed 2GB card, :( ). Once I got out to my car I looked up to see this beautiful sunset. I had to grab my camera and take a few shots. I've learned before that if I take only one it will often turn out blurry, or something else will be wrong with it. So now I always take several shots of something like this that isn't repeatable.

Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name

This morning during the sermon I looked down at a verse in Psalms that the pastor was reading, and I flipped over to the next Psalm: Psalm 29.  I haven't read it in a while, but it was so refreshing to read that I thought I'd share it here.

Psalm 29 (NKJV, from Bible Gateway)

A Psalm of David.

        Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones,
            Give unto the LORD glory and strength.
        Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name;
            Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
         
        The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
            The God of glory thunders;
            The LORD is over many waters.
        The voice of the LORD is powerful;
            The voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
         
        The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars,
            Yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
        He makes them also skip like a calf,
            Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
        The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire.
         
        The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
            The LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
        The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth,
            And strips the forests bare;
            And in His temple everyone says, "Glory!"
         
        The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood,
            And the LORD sits as King forever.
      The LORD will give strength to His people;
            The LORD will bless His people with peace.

God is amazing.  The point of this morning's sermon was that no matter how long we study God we cannot simply compartmentalize him or fit our knowledge of him in a box.  Even in Eternity we will still have created, finite minds and we will never be done with the study of learning more about God!

~Matt

Tea Party!

I attended a tea party today. No, I didn't drink tea. This was a political rally, a grass-roots organized event (started by a Community Organizer, Mike Wilson, ;-)) intended to be in the spirit of the original Boston Tea Party. Many of these "Tea Parties" have sprung up across the country. The largest I've heard of was in Fullerton, CA with estimates that range from 8-15 thousand. The best numbers I heard today were 3,500-5,000 packing out Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. I was at the front of the crowd and didn't move around to get a good vantage point, so I'm sure others got better pictures of the whole crowd (or as much as they could capture via camera). I mainly concentrated on a few panoramic crowd shots and then shots of the speakers and as many signs as I could get. Here are a few relevant links:

Cincinnati Tea Party

Michelle Malkin's post on the event
Here is a picture from her website that I tweaked:


My Picasa Web Album of pictures


~Matt

Mini-reunion in Nashville

I got up extra early this morning (4:30) so that I could leave to head down to Nashville to visit my parents (and my grandma who is visiting with them). I was over at my sister's house just after five, and she had said that she would be ready to go at 5:30, but it was just after 5:50 by the time my car pulled away. *sigh*

It was a good drive down, one of my nephews came along, and we picked up my nephew Chris and his girlfriend in Louisville. Partway down Chase fell asleep, so I handed my camera to my sister and asked her to snap this shot, I thought that it was too good not to post.

What I didn't realize until I got here was that another nephew was flying in, and one of my aunts was in town, so she came over--and my brother lives here in Nashville, so we have a good number of family around this weekend (but only a small fraction of the total). It should be a good weekend, though I am still reading e-mails from work, ;-).

~Matt

Lights in the Sky

I am out at the front desk (the GSIC or Guest Services Information Center) at the Creation Museum this morning. One of my coworkers just walked in and said "look at the sunset." I said, "sunrise?" ;-), but I quickly pulled out my camera and grabbed a couple shots. I had to focus on a lighter patch of sky, otherwise the light was too washed out for a good shot, but I think it turned out okay. We had more snow last night, so the grounds look beautiful under a fresh white blanket.

~Matt

Mysterious tracks

This is the lake at the Creation Museum, frozen over and covered with a bit of snow.  Nobody was completely sure what these mysterious tracks were across the ice.  One popular theory was that they were left by security guards tobogganing across the ice at night after all the rest of the staff were gone.

~Matt

Indy Children's Museum

Recently I had an opportunity to take a trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. Two managers from our department at the Creation Museum were taking a trip to the museum to talk to their Visitor Services department, and I had the chance to tag along. It was a great day (I took about 300 pictures, ;-)), but one of the best parts were the construction pictures. All of the construction signage used LEGO designs! They are going to have a LEGO exhibit soon (I'm planning on going back to see it) and so while they're also building an addition to the building they themed all of their signage!

~Matt

Snowy day at work

It was a great day yesterday, the snow started falling a bit after noon. I was sitting in the Portico (the glassed in entry area to the Creation Museum) and got to watch the snow fall on the grounds. It was slow enough that I was able to snap these (and a few more).

~Matt

Slightly Chilly

Ask anyone at work, I haven't worn a coat all winter. The only times I'm outside are walking between my car and the building. When I go home I have a remote starter, and I park my car in a garage inside my apartment building, so I don't have to go outside. Today I decided that it might be a good idea to wear a coat while walking inside. I took this picture of my car's temperature gauge once I stopped in the parking lot at work. Yes, that is a negative before the single digit. I thought that friends from California (especially you Mark, ;-)) would enjoy this frigid picture. :-D

~Matt

Yet more poetry

Well this blog has become quite irregular of late with little news, but I'm in a poetic mood, so I'm going to inflict more poetry on whoever still reads this, ;-). This is an older poem but one that I re-read tonight.

~Matt

The Divine Drama
Phil 2:6-11
(c)2004 Matt Graubner

For He so emptied Himself,
grasping after only humility,
to be a servant, to be a man.

Leaving behind the divine realm,
God came down to earth,
Son of God, Son of man.

Obedient even unto death,
can we not ourselves,
even palely imitate this?

Yet was not true honour,
bestowed on the Christ,
reverence to Jesus’ name.

Above all others is He,
the risen Lord of Glory,
as will all someday admit.

With Christ may we approach,
awesome throne of God,
our ultimate part to play.

Exalting, glorifying our God,
beyond the edge of time,
in His true realm forever.

Hope

Okay, I'm not sure this is finished, but I'd be curious to hear any reaction to this. I've been working on this for several weeks now--well mostly in pieces, but many of them finally fell together during Bible Study. I wasn't originally going to incorporate the spiritual elements or make it as obviously personal as it is, but it seemed somewhat fitting. Please tell me what you think of this poem if you read it. Let me know if it seems to be just a jumbled mess, or if perhaps miraculously it seems to flow and you can make some kind of sense out of it. Thanks.

Fire and Ice

Musings on Hope

(c) 2008 Matt Graubner

Hope feeds on ephemeral dreams,

- Building castles in the clouds.

It fuels our bright tomorrows,

- Promising days of bliss.

Hope denies the bleak façade,

- Always seeing a silver lining.

It outshines the sun and the moon,

- Suppressing the surging tempest.

Though I do dream the dream,

- I steal hope truly insubstantial

Vain dreams weave the fabric of life,

- I place my hope in my own strength.

When the Lord unravels the tapestry,

- I fear the dissolution of reality.

Vanity held seemingly so tight,

- Within the circle of affection.

An insubstantial thing of dreams,

- Only bound by fetters of hope.

The seed of dreams does sprout,

- Growing into a mighty tree.

Yet fruit plucked from the branches,

- In the mouth turns to bitter ashes.

Resting upon no firm foundation,

- Joy may wax but ever yet wanes.

When my dreams founder on shoals of reality,

- May He yet guide my feet onto His way.

The Lord should always direct my steps,

- So much more than my vain imagining.

When He destroys my house of cards,

- I should ever praise His Holy name.

The Lord gives and takes away in His time,

- All glory and honor are His in time.

~Matt

Home from Colorado

This is just one of the many (over 750) pictures that I took while I was in Colorado at Twin Peaks Bible Camp. I really should have taken more, but for some reason I was busy watching campers for much of the week, ;-). This is a picture from the summit (or near the summit) of Old Man Mountain (one of the two mountains in the camp name) of the camp grounds and some of the surrounding countryside. I so so enjoy panoramic shots.

The full version of this picture is available in my Picasa panoramic album.

~Matt

I'm in Colorado

I've been trying to blog lately, but don't expect to see much from me this week. I'm no in Colorado. I'm going to be up at Twin Peaks Bible Camp for the week--I grew up going up there every summer (my parents were the camp cooks) and I haven't been back in several years. It should be a fun time (actually I know it will be) and I'm going to take plenty of pictures. I hope to keep coming back during the summer, but I don't want to take the place or all the good friends for granted, so I want to record as many memories as I can with my camera! ;-)

~Matt