I’ve had this photo on my computer for a number of years (I’d credit it if I could recall where I got it).
It’s always fascinated me.
What are your thoughts?
Do you relate to her?
You can also explore more at our Solar Crash: Broken Beautiful live event.
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I can’t recall where I was, but I had to take a photo of this art exhibit.
It’s intriguing because it’s making art out of something broken.
It demonstrates the truth that all of creation is broken. At the same time, it’s completely false in how everything is broken in the same places.
Sometimes sweeping statements like everything is broken, doesn’t really help.
We’re all broken, but you’re not broken like I am broken. We don’t fall and crack in the same spots.
Even shared experiences doesn’t allow us assume we’re fractured in all the same ways.
He’s a minority, she’s gay, they’re poor… they must feel like this…
Is that really true?
If people knew how you were truly broken, hurting,and struggling, how might they treat you differently?
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Along with beauty, 
brokenness isn’t spoken of much either.
We’ll talk about it conceptually or in generalities, but the closer we get to specifics, the quicker we seem to want out of the conversation.
People with physical disabilities have always struck a strange chord with me. Their brokenness is so blatant and transparent for everyone to see.
Do they wish people addressed their obvious brokenness? Are they tired of people feeling sorry for them? Do they feel a nagging sense of being robbed of base level human attributes?
And then I see photos like this from the paralympics…
People competing and pursuing dreams despite their conditions…
Would you say they’re any less human? Are their lives any less fulfilling?
And just because they’ve overcome some challenges, it’s not like they are without their continued struggles, hurts, and failures
And then there’s moments of overwhelming beauty
These photos make you think twice the next time you say “I can’t…” don’t they?
Maybe life’s not about how you start the race, or even the massive stumbles along the way, but about what you do with it all, and how you finish.
Some things might be undeniably broken, but it doesn’t always have to be that way.
Top photo by funky64, the rest are from boston.com
Join the solarcrash facebook page for the next live event exploring being broken
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You’ve probably seen this viral video before, but I’ve never gotten bored of it.
Matt Harding a video game designer figured there had to be more to life than his day job (been there before?), quit his job, and traveled the world.
This might not be what we typically associate with beauty, but beauty is written all over it.
The very act of leaving the status quo in search for something more is an act of beauty.
These sites and landmarks shown are glimpses of the spectrum of beauty that marks our planet.
I absolutely love the song (fyi – It’s called Praan by Gary Schyman sung by Palbasha Siddique), I have no idea what it’s saying but somehow it screams of beauty.
And the fact that people from all sorts of cultures can get together to do some silly dance is nothing short of beautiful.
This video has almost 30 million hits because something about it deeply resonates with all of us. Sometimes it may seem impossible, or too ridiculous, but every one of us long to be a part of creating and expressing beauty.
Your thoughts?
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Beauty isn’t mentioned very often within churches. Beauty is quite often pushed aside as being superficial, effeminate, fleeting, and purely aesthetic (which it can be).
But if you worship the Creator of heaven and earth, then beauty is inescapable. Christ himself is described as the ‘beautiful one’.
The word ‘glory’ is laced throughout the scriptures and carries with it the notion of the weight of beauty. Whenever the angels declare ‘glory’ to God they are proclaiming the overwhelming density and magnitude of the very source of beauty.
The scriptures go as far as saying that ‘the whole earth is filled with his glory’.
Our planet is chalked full of beauty.
If only we had eyes to see.
Coming soon: The next solarcrash event: broken-beautiful – Join our FB page, with details coming out this week. Let me know if you’d like to contribute.
Photo Credit: Runran
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Emerging from the rubble once again, the next live solar crash event will be on April 10th, 2010 at the El Mocambo Night club.
Join the Facebook page and see http://event.solarcrash.com with more details to follow.
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Have you ever opened the holy scriptures looking for wisdom and something just doesn’t sit right?
Sometimes it’s because it’s exposing some deep uncomfortable truth within ourselves.
Other times, the ‘holy word’ seems flat out wrong.
For example I’ve been preaching through Nehemiah verse by verse over the past year, and while it’s an extraordinary book, it ends on a disappointing thud. Not only because the people of God have abandoned all they worked so hard for, but the human hero of the story, Nehemiah, was a let down in the end as well.
Nehemiah is brash and violent in the last chapter. He attempts to restore order through tearing some families apart and literally giving some men a beating while pulling their hair out (Mark Driscoll calls it a ’scalping’ as if it was cool, but that’s another story). My NIV Men’s edition bible tries to redeem the end of this part of the story commenting on how Nehemiah was courageous in the end confronting sin.
I understand Nehemiah’s good intentions, but I disagree with how he handled the situation. You could call it sinful.
Are there passages in Scripture you personally disagree with? (I can think of plenty).
And what do you do about it?
Some folks like Brian Mclaren might argue we’re simply listening in on a collection of stories in human history, some emphasize Christ as hero, then there’s interpretative techniques like context, word analysis, descriptive vs prescriptive readings of the text… but still.
Are there particular moments where the Scriptures leave you hanging, unsatisfied, and shaking your head?
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Exploring the intersections of Leadership, Creativity, Church, and Culture
