A Life Invaded

I wasn't intending to blog today, and I probably won't be blogging much in the coming days. Need to prepare for trials at the end of this month. But something happened yesterday that moved me so much so that I feel compelled to make mention of it here today.

* * * * *


Stephen Robert Irwin
22 February 1962 - 4 September 2006


So ends the story of the great Crocodile Hunter, who was killed by a stingray while diving in the Great Barrier Reef yesterday. But I look at the dash, the hyphen that separates 1962 and 2006... and I think it's one heck of a meaningful dash.


I recall Eugene Peterson's description of the explorer John Muir, in his book The Wisdom of Each Other, and I'll just share an excerpt here.

One December day a storm moved in from the Pacific -- a fierce storm that bent the junipers and pines, the madronas and fir trees as if they were so many blades of grass. It was for just such times this cabin had been built: cozy protection from the harsh elements. We easily imagine Muir... wrapped in sheepskins, safe and secure in his tightly caulked cabin, a fire blazing against the cruel assault of the elements... But our imaginations, not trained to cope with Muir, betray us. For Muir, instead of retreating to the coziness of the cabin,... strode out of the cabin into the storm, climbed a high ridge, picked a giant Douglas fir as the best perch for experiencing the kaleidoscope of colour and sound, scent and motion, scrambled his way to the top, and rode out the storm, lashed by the wind, holding on for dear life...


I think Steve Irwin really invaded creation, availing himself to the sheer power and magnitude of the natural wonders of this world. And this creation invaded him; it became a part of who he was, even until the very end, when his heart was invaded by a stingray's barb. I don't think his life was wasted at all, for indeed, how many can lay claim to having done the great things he did?


Jesus said;

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it."

--Mark 8:35


Our lives are never ours at the end of the line. I am faced with this question: would I rather live 40 full years, or 90 empty ones?


God never promised us safety, but He did promise us His grace and mercy; and the greatest promise we have is that of who He is, and He is good. C.S. Lewis will probably always be remembered for these words in the Chronicles of Narnia;

"Safe?" said Mr Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."


We need fear nothing in this life, because we know who is King here, and King in the next. To God be the glory for invading our lives with the riches of his mercy.

In the words of Shakespeare; may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest, O Crocodile Hunter.

Amen.

* * * * *

This was inspired by Physics class today (which I sat through because it was about relativity and quantum mechanics), and my personal statement for the UCAS application. I'm not sure, but I think it alludes a little to Steve Irwin as well.

It takes on an inverted haiku form, 7-5-7 syllables instead of 5-7-5.


Zero Gravity

Accelerate, so that you
Come closer to
Approximate gravity.

You cannot run alongside
(It is beyond you);
Only simulate the force.

Suspended animation;
Animated, yet
Suspended in mid-descent.

Creator and creation
Outside experience
Yet invading daily life.

Falling at nine-point-eight-one;
Zero gravity...
Deep calls to deep, and you reach

Out into an endless void.
Head spins, and you float...
Falling? Flying? Cannot tell.

For us only the trying
(T.S. Eliot's words);
Gravity... life abundant.