i can’t decide if it’s a blessing or curse that i tend to see the world through a theological lens. either way, it leads to some unexpected (and often humorous to most people, i’m sure) observations about the nature of both god and people.

so it was on last night’s midseason finale of amc’s the walking dead. in a nutshell, for those who have never watched it, the show is about a group of people trying to save themselves in a world that has been overtaken with zombies (a.k.a. walkers). generally, i dislike the entire zombie genre, but this show is much more about the interpersonal dynamics of the group. which brings me to last night’s deeply theological episode.

while in seminary, in a small group, i read richard foster’s classic, celebration of discipline. each week, we’d discuss a chapter with the weekly leader determined by who was struggling most with the particular discipline (each chapter was a particular discipline). the week i chose to lead—which amounted to sharing about my struggles while engaging the text—was the chapter about solitude.

i like to talk. and talk. and then talk a little more.

and not talking is a key tenet within the discipline of solitude. solitude isn’t just about silence, but it’s certainly a close ally. so when you love to listen turn your music up and play loudly with your kids and talk during the remaining hours of your day, silence can be a difficult discipline to master.

[the above photo was taken a couple days ago at her birthday party. yes, it was an alice in wonderland party and yes, olive was alice. ]

today, our little olive becomes a little bigger olive as she turns 3 years old. as much as one might tend to say, “i can’t believe she’s already 3″, i almost can’t believe she’s only 3. i really can’t remember a time when olive wasn’t here. avoiding all cliché, my life is deeply incomplete without hers.

today, we found out october’s track (10 days into november…): rich mullins’ creed.

ok, i’ve gotta admit, when i first learned it was a rich mullins song, i was disappointed. i actually really, really like rich mullins the person…but i’m not too big of a fan of rich mullins’ music. it’s not even that i dislike rich mullins’ music, but more that i’m just not into it. also, among the list of songs that were up for the vote, there are so many great songs that didn’t make it.

but.

with all that said…