And young men will dream dreams.

Last night I had a dream.

I was driving on the highway and on the horizon I saw the lights of fire trucks and police cruisers. I was alone, and the radio was off. A cross wind was gusting across the highway in short bursts causing my car to occasionally tug to the right. As I drew closer to the emergency vehicles I saw small fires on the sides of the road that licked up the dry and dusty weeds at a feverish pace.

Old and gnarled trees had been ripped from the ground as if a massive hand had twisted them off at the soil. The strange thing is the remains of the trees could not be seen anywhere. Only the flat and slightly scarred remains of the trunks were left behind. Some trees with more than one trunk, or a more gnarled growth pattern found only half of themselves left after whatever did the damage moved on to its next victim.

As I drove by staring at the chaos, I saw the end results of other larger fires elsewhere. I saw the blackened and smoking remnants of churches, homes, schools, small apartment complexes, and retail establishments. Pale gray and white smoke was rising from entire suburbs and neighborhoods. I remember the highway rising up like I was on a highway overpass or a bridge and seeing quite extensive damage.

None of these buildings were on fire mind you. I just saw the after-effects.

I was on the highway by myself. I don’t recall anyone else driving or actually seeing any emergency workers.

I remember feeling great sadness and dread.

The skies were turbulent and angry like just before a freakish summer thunderstorm. The clouds were boiling, knotted and twisted. Blue clouds swirled tinged with gray. The air was heavy and hot. I felt more than heard “There is more coming. Seek cover.”

I wasn’t in Columbus, or any of the surrounding areas. Rather it was an amalgamation of several places i’ve been in my life. That’s how dreams often are I suppose.

In dreams emotions seem to be more powerful. I was filled with an aching fear about what I was seeing.

I think the thing that hit me the hardest was seeing the burned out remnants of a school.

I ponder the meaning of this dream and come away no wiser.

Creation

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.

The Earth was formless and liquid, and there was darkness. Then God spoke the words that men have uttered in reverence in the millennia since.

Let there be light.

In that instant, the universe was born.

From the death throes of an ancient and massive singularity, the universe exploded outward and began to expand. It was but a single resonating tone of creation that reverberated and echoed through the infant universe.

God waited and watched as space and time formed and expanded. It thrummed with new energies and the will of its creator. Superhot gases coalesced and cooled into cottony clouds of hydrogen, which God ran His hand across. He watched as eddies and swirls formed in the wake of His passing.

Taking some of the clouds into His hands, He compressed and shaped them into a softly glowing sphere. Critically, He held it up to His eyes to examine.

No. Not yet.

Then, smiling and humming softly to Himself as He worked, He continued to gather more and more of the hydrogen. The ball warmed under His touch. Light crackled under His fingertips as He moved. The sphere flamed to life and pierced the darkness like a beacon.

Carefully, He placed the sun into the proper position, and set it to spinning.

And there was light.

He turned His attention back upon the Earth, now lazily turning and circling the newborn star. The surface was covered with a vast ocean that reflected the light of the sun back into space. Seeming to glow from within, the incandescent blue sphere gently rode a current of gravity around the sun.

Let there be dry land in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters into seas and oceans.

The waters split open and parted as magma rose up out of the bowels of the Earth. Steam billowed and Hissed its protest as myriad volcanoes formed and spewed their contents forth. The Earth shuddered and shook violently under the force of creation and the planetquakes that rippled across its surface.

Mountains rose up where none once were and tsunami billowed away from the new shores with such speed and ferocity they circled the planet.

The glowing lava cooled, and the monolithic supercontinent took shape. Residual aftershocks still shook the planet, but now where once there was nothing but water the continent of Pangaea stood alone. Covering nearly a third of the Earth’s surface, it unblinkingly stared back into space.

The Earth waited for His next command.

Let the earth put forth vegetation and fruit-bearing trees.

He extended His hand towards the lone brown and charred eye of the earth. Light shot from His fingertips and encircled the globe in a crisscrossing pattern. Grasses and leafy plants shot up from the soil. Flowers burst open and turned their gaze towards the sun. Trees drew themselves higher up into the sky in song and spread their arms open wide under the gaze of their creator. Rivers and streams flowed and added melodic tinges to the chorus that rose up into the air. What was once brown and black and charred became vibrant and alive with green and blue.

Let there be lights in the heavens to divide the day from the night.

God stretched out His arms and turned in a circle to look at the darkness that surrounded Him and the newly created Earth. His eyes scanned the ether, and pinpricks of light began poking through the black shroud. More and more quickly scores of pinpricks appeared in the blackness until the heavens were filled with swirling stars and then galaxies. Seemingly at random, some of the droplets of light would dim, only to rage like a fire and then blossom into nebulae like the flowers blossoming on the Earth below.

All of space and time glowed and danced just for Him as He worked.

Stars and planets took form and solidified. An alabaster marble, the moon formed and swirled into place and began its dance around the Earth. The universe coalesced and took shape as He sighed happily. Like a craftsman, he fine-tuned His intricate clockwork mechanism.

All of eternity moved in a swaying dance of perfection as God sang the song of creation.

Let the earth and the seas and the skies bring forth living creatures. Let them be fruitful and multiply.

The seas began to swirl as thousands of different species of fish teemed in silvery schools. Following them were the great Whales, whose sweetly lamenting song echoed that of their creator. In the sky above, vast flocks of birds took flight, their trilling adding harmony. Across the plains of the earth, large herds of Buffalo, Bison, Elephant, and Rhino thundered and added rhythm to the tempo.

Closing His eyes, He listened to the chorus that is Life. He breathed in the incense of worship and savored the smell.

It was sweet and beautiful and innocent.

Perfection.

But not complete.

No. Not yet.

With a thought, God moved from the heavens to the face of the Earth. The sun was peeking through the clouds in the eastern sky, and a gentle rain was ending. His breath misted in the air. He looked around at the trees waving in a soft breeze. He stared at the sky and felt the rain wash His face clean. Closing His eyes, he took in everything around Him as life slowly hummed its song in His ears.

Opening His eyes, he kneeled, and ran His fingers through the soil and rubbed it into the palms of His hands.

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

The smell of the Earth permeated the air around Him. It was musty and rich and dry and sweet all at the same time. He gathered a large amount of soil in His hands and held it up to His face, savoring the smell. Some of it crumbled through His fingers and He watched it fall to the ground. Taking a deep breath, and letting it out again, He set to work.

Scooping the soil into a large mound, God first formed the torso. He shaped the muscles in the abdomen and chest until they were well formed and had a distinct shape. Then, he shaped the arms and the legs, giving them the same attention to detail. Carefully, he molded the hands and fingers and toes down to the most minute of details. Lips, closed eyes, and a slightly hooked nose took shape on a cHiseled face as He worked.

Finally, God stopped and looked at what lay on the ground before him.

Lying there, still dust and dirt and soil, was what would become man.

God walked around the man once, surveying His creation. He made some small adjustments here, and a reshaping there. Finally, he was done.

Almost.

He kneeled at the head of the man lying on the ground before Him and cradled the head in His hands. God’s forehead touched the forehead of the man he had formed.

Let there be life.

God put His lips on the lips of the man and breathed spirit and life into the body made of dust.

Mud and clay became flesh and bone.

A heart began to beat.

A breath was taken.

Man was alive.

And with that, God rested.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

I have uploaded the latest photos. Feel free to browse through them. I’ve also modified the banner image that runs across the top of the home page.

Enjoy.

-C-

Change is good, but dollars are better.

I’ve reworked the layout of the site somewhat. I merely shifted some things around to make navigation less of a chore. I also deleted some of the TypeLists (lists of links) that I found I was not updating as regularly as I had planned. Photo albums and the calendar are now on the right, and a list of my most recent posts is more easily accessible on the left. I’m also in the process of uploading more photos for all of you to check out.

Enjoy.

Rumblings

I find that the house seems a bit emptier now that Cheryl and Emma are not here. They have been at her mother’s for nigh upon a week and a half now.

I get to go pick them up on Friday though.

I find that sleeping at night is not as easy as it normally is when Cheryl is around. The last couple of nights I have lain in bed with my eyes wide open, only to find myself starting awake to the sound of my alarm clock the following morning.

I also miss my little girl. She’s going to have grown so much in the week that we have been apart.

She’s seven weeks old now.

Seven weeks.

Has time really passed that fast? Yesterday I was impatiently waiting for the hospital to release my wife and child so we could finally go home.

*sigh*

So there are dishes to do and laundry to do and cleaning to be done.

Feh. It can wait.

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I find that my Statistics class is progressively eating up more and more of my time. Hence the reason the frequency of my posts and updates has been dropping.

I find the subject endlessly fascinating, maybe because it is one type of math that I can actually do. My track record with math in the past has been less than stellar. I failed Calculus. Twice even. I almost failed Discrete Mathematics. But for the grace of God go I.

I find that I am spending an average of about 10 to 15 hours a week on it now. I don’t mind it since I enjoy it, but I find that other projects that I have going right now seem to suffer because of it.

Heck, I haven’t even been able to post (let alone conjure up) anything more to The Mark of Cain. I planned on using the launch of this site as a motivator to actually write the story and thus remove it’s evil scrapings from the inside of my skull.

Oh well. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And you know what else they say… there’s lies, damned lies, and statistics.

The Great (Semi) White North

Cheryl and I have been on vacation for the past week, which may explain to some of you my obvious silence. I’ve also posted a new photo album.

Windsor at this time of year is absolutely wonderful. Lake St. Clair is clear and crystalline. The Detroit river is a lovely jade green color. It’s been a tad warmer than I would like, but still enjoyable all around. I was able to take last week off and spend time with Cheryl’s family. Always a nice thing.

Cheryl has taken advantage of her maternity leave, and is spending her second week in Canada while I return to Ohio in order to keep making money to pay the man. I don’t have a problem with this as Cheryl rarely sees her family. Maybe on the order of five times a year. This is a good excuse for all of them to get together and for them to see Emma.

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I’m taking a Statistics class this term, and I am pleasantly surprised by how well it is going. I have heard horror stories about the class and how hard it is. So far I am on top of the material and am practically giving my fellow students in-class tutoring as I go.

I find statistics to be really enjoyable. That’s a far cry from Calculus or Geometry. Those I can’t stand. I do enjoy Algebra though.

Algebra – Compute points on a line. No problem.
Calculus – Compute points on a curved surface. *brain cramp*
Geometry – Compute points, and then prove that you did it. *Ergh*

So anyway.

It’s good to be back in school. I will be glad when I’m done though. I’ve been back in school since 2000, and I’m already suffering from Senioritis. (And I’m only a Junior.)

Oh well. Only five more terms to go till graduation. Not bad for a double major in information technology and management information systems.

Update on Dad

Dad is now home from the hospital. Thanks for all the prayers and support.