This speech still has so much to say to us.  While I listen to it I like to read the transcript (below).  Listen, read, and reflect.

Transcript of “I Have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

The only downside to pajama days is the inevitable dilemma after diner of, “Do I put on new pajamas now or just go to bed?”

To start a pajama day off right one must brew a fresh pot of coffee.  Coffee left over from the night before and heated in the microwave, my usual morning beverage of choice, will just not do on a pajama day.  No.  No.  No.  New coffee.  Fresh brew.

So yesterday I go to fill my pot with water and tragedy struck.  The pot slipped from my hand, crashed into the sink, and shattered into a gazillion pieces.  The horror!  The agony!  The pain!  What is a pajama day with no coffee!  It’s death.  That’s what.  Pure death.  Naturally I stomped over to the laptop and  jumped on Facebook to publicly morn the ruin of my day.  Thanks to a comment from my friend Rachel from high school all was not lost.  She suggested that I make coffee without a coffee maker.

“What?!?!?  Is that even possible?!?!” I thought.  ”Well, I have seen cooks do it over a camp fire in Westerns…so I guess it is possible.”  That is when my adventure began.

First I set up a filter with a glass bowl, the inside of my vegetable steamer, and a paper coffee filter.

Then I soaked the coffee grounds in boiling water.

Then I poured the thick brown sludge through my homemade filter.

And the end result?

Success!  An awesome cup of coffee!

Work from home pajama day is saved!

Oh, by the way, Mr. Coffee, I don’t need you.  I’m a survivor.  I’m like a warrior cave man living in the wild with only a sharp rock and a stick makin’ fire with twigs!  Oh yeah baby!  When the end of the world comes, we loose all electricity, and everything goes all Book of Eli,  just come on over to the Elkins’.  Coffee for everyone!

I’ve contacted the Nobel committee and told them I will not be attending the award ceremony, but they may ship my award for chemistry to my home address.

Therefore, I wanted to create a space where I can post longer stuff that is better edited.  From now on you will find that stuff under the “Revolution!” tab at the top.

Currently there is only one article finished.  I’m in the middle of three more.  I have 26 outlined in my journal and written in my head.   My personal goal is to get all 26 written and posted by the summer.  (Yeah Right!)

As I finish them I will be sticking them up there.  Feel free to download them and read them.  If you like one, pass it around.  I would love your feed back on them.  Hope you enjoy them!

I’ve been blogging through the well scenes in the Bible.  You can read previous posts here, here, and here.

Isaac makes me sad.  His well scene is in Genesis 24:1-11:

Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in every way.  He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh.  I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”

The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land?  Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?”

“Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said.  ”The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’ – he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.  If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine.  Only do not take my son back there.”

So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.  Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master.  He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor.  He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.

Isaac makes me sad because he is missing from his own story.  It starts here in the well scene, but continues through the rest of his narrative.  He is never the hero.  He is never the main character.  He isn’t ever really even the victim.  Things are always happening to him.  He is a pawn in the stories of others.  A side character in his own biography.  It is sad.

Yesterday I was having a rough day.  I was stressed and tired.  I came home and sat down at the kitchen table, pulled open my lap top, and began reading blogs mindlessly on google reader.   As I read, Jude (my 2 year old) played loudly in the living room. Logan (my 4 year old) lay on couch watching T.V.   Jackson and Wendy (my 8 year old and my wife) left for Jackson’s drumming lesson.  And Julianna (my 6 year old) gathered her stuff for dance class…and I just sat and looked at a screen, detached from all of it, absent from my own life.  I was like Isaac.  And it was sad.

I think in our digital age of unlimited access to distractions it is easier than ever to become an Isaac – to turn off, to disappear from our own story.  I find the temptation comes for me most when I’m stressed.  I’m learning that to combat the Isaac temptation I need to force myself to engage.

God doesn’t want this for you.  He wants you to be the hero of your story.  He wants you to bravely go with Him on mission.  He wants you to be present and find joy in others around you.  He doesn’t want you to be a side character.

If you suffer from this as I do, maybe this will help.  Recently I’ve been reciting this verse to myself:

Be on your guard.  Stand firm in the faith.   Be men of courage.   Be strong.  Do everything in love. – 1st Corinthians 16:13-14

This is the third part of a series.  It stands alone I think, but if you want to read the intro click here.  To read Hagar’s well scene click here.

Let’s start with a quick run through who Abraham is.  Genesis 1-11 is about the world falling apart.  God made a good world for us to live in.  He gave us everything we could need.  And we lived in a loving relationship with Him and with one another.  That is what the world was created to be.   Then we rejected Him and sent everything into chaos.

In Genesis 12 God decided that He was going to make it right.  He began a mission to rebuild His relationship with us and put right our relationships with one another.  To do this God chose one family: Abraham and Sarah.  In Genesis 12 God explained that if Abraham would follow, God would bless, and Abraham would become a great nation through which the world would be restored to God.

The problem was that Sarah was barren, and both Abraham and Sarah were old.  Where exactly was this family going to come from?  Abraham’s story is about a man struggling to trust God when everything else around him the tells him the opposite is true.  Abraham over and over tries to solve the problem for God.  Each time God supports Abraham but calls for him to trust and be dependent on God.   Now let’s look at Abraham’s well scene:

Fast Note: Abraham’s well scene comes in two pieces.  It is cut in half by Hagar’s well scene.  This is the Biblical author’s way of telling us that Abraham’s well scene should be somehow informed by Hagar’s. 

Abraham traveled from there south to the Negev and settled down between Kadesh and Shur. While he was camping in Gerar, Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She’s my sister.”

So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.  But God came to Abimelech in a dream that night and told him, “You’re as good as dead – that woman you took, she’s a married woman.”

Now Abimelech had not yet slept with her, hadn’t so much as touched her.  He said, “Master, would you kill an innocent man?  Didn’t he tell me, ‘She’s my sister’?  And didn’t she herself say, ‘He’s my brother’?  I had no idea I was doing anything wrong when I did this.”

God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know your intentions were pure, that’s why I kept you from sinning against me; I was the one who kept you from going to bed with her.  So now give the man’s wife back to him.  He’s a prophet and will pray for you – pray for your life.  If you don’t give her back, know that it’s certain death both for you and everyone in your family.”

Abimelech was up first thing in the morning. He called all his house servants together and told them the whole story. They were shocked.  Then Abimelech called in Abraham and said, “What have you done to us? What have I ever done to you that you would bring on me and my kingdom this huge offense?  What you’ve done to me ought never to have been done.”  Abimelech went on to Abraham, “Whatever were you thinking of when you did this thing?”

Abraham said, “I just assumed that there was no fear of God in this place and that they’d kill me to get my wife.  Besides, the truth is that she is my half sister; she’s my father’s daughter but not my mother’s.  When God sent me out as a wanderer from my father’s home, I told her, ‘Do me a favor; wherever we go, tell people that I’m your brother.’”

Then Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham, and along with her sent sheep and cattle and servants, both male and female.  He said, “My land is open to you; live wherever you wish.”  And to Sarah he said, “I’ve given your brother a thousand pieces of silver – that clears you of even a shadow of suspicion before the eyes of the world. You’re vindicated.”

Then Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his maidservants, and they started having babies again.  For God had shut down every womb in Abimelech’s household on account of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

At this point the story is interrupted by the birth of Isaac and Hagar’s scene.  We will skip that and jump to part two.  Keep in mind though that Beersheba is the same well Hagar was at.  Abraham and Hagar’s well scenes happen in the same spot.

At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.  Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants.  Show to me and the country where you are living as an alien the same kindness I have shown to you.”

Abraham said, “I swear it.”  Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized.

But Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”

So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a treaty.  Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, and Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?”

He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.”  So that place was called Beersheba, because the two men swore an oath there.  After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines.  Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.  And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Some thoughts:

1) Abraham makes a mess – We start the well scene with Abraham telling a lie that gets him in serious trouble.  I can’t imagine what that moment was like when the soliders came to claim Sarah, Abraham’s sister, for Abimelech.  What was going through Sarah’s head?  What was going through Abraham’s?  To make things worse, this isn’t the first time this stunt has backfired on Abraham.  He did this crap at the beginning of his journey with God.  I see in this scene another instance of Abraham trying to solve his own problems.  Instead of turning to God and trusting Him for protection and guidance, Abraham acts like he is on his own.

2) God cleans it up – God’s response to Abraham is great.  Abraham deserves to sit in the mess he made.  God would be completely justified in saying, “You made it.  You fix it.”  But God is a God of grace who loves us even though we are walking disasters.  Instead God stays true to His end of the deal and blesses Abraham.  He comes behind Abraham and cleans up Abraham’s mess.

3) Abraham’s character – Then we come to the well scene.  Abraham in the well scene speaks as a person of power, wheeling and dealing with Abimelech.  Abimelech’s surprise over the well is fantastic.  It reminds me of two business men sitting at a conference table to work out an agreement.  Abraham brings to the table a wild card surprise.  ”Everything in the contracts looks good…oh…um…except the well over there.  Yeah.  I’m going to need you to give me that well.”

I believe this moment gives us interesting insights into Abraham’s character.  Abimelech’s respect for Abraham, the reason Abraham is at the table, is because God has Abraham’s back.  Abimelech realized that to mess with Abraham was to mess with God.  All of Abraham’s clout comes from God.  But Abraham doesn’t seem to realize that.  There is very little humility shown on Abraham’s part in the conversation.   He doesn’t seem to see that everything he has comes from his relationship with God.

4) God’s place in the well scene – In comparison with Hagar’s story, God’s place in the well scene is also really interesting.  For Hagar God was the savior in desperate circumstances.  He comes to her at her lowest moment and gives her hope and future.  Similarly with Abraham, God shows up when Abraham has no other options but to depend on God for salvation.  Abraham has lost his wife, the one whom God’s promise will be fulfilled.  He is alone and powerless.  That is when God comes to the rescue.

On the other hand, at the well Abraham is playing from a position of strength in his well scene.  He takes the well from Abimelech and then offers it to God as a gift.  God doesn’t come to Abraham here.  Rather, Abraham calls to God.  ”This is for you!  Look at what I bought for you!”

I’m not suggesting that Abraham is wrong in purchasing the well or that he shouldn’t have dedicated the place to God.

At the same time, I don’t think it is an accident that the climax of Abraham’s story (Genesis 22 where God tells Abraham to take Isaac to the top of a mountain and kill him) comes after this moment of Abraham’s self-reliance.

I think when we compare Hagar’s well story with Abraham’s well story the question that lingers is, “Which well story do we want to have?”  If we want the intimate, face-to-face connection with God then we should admit that we are helpless like Hagar and seek Him for salvation.  If we want to call on God an give him wells we bought with sheep, then we should be like Abraham and pretend we are awesome.

You want to meet God face-to-face?  Admit your helplessness and need for His rescue.  He’s a God that loves to rescue.

When I was in High school I thought I was soooo smart.  School came easy for me.  Homework was a breeze.  Even the hardest class (Mr. Bryant’s European History) wasn’t to tough to wrap my mind around.  I graduated third in my class.  I told myself that I wasn’t #1 because I was lazy and didn’t work hard enough.  Not because the other two people were smarter than me.

Then I got to college.  Suddenly I found myself in a much bigger pond and realized that I was a much smaller fish.  There were people who thought faster, worked harder, and knew more than I could ever hope to.  And there were classes that I could not even begin to understand.  Physics for example.  Physics was completely lost on me.  Or Calculus 2.  Didn’t matter how hard I studied that text book or how attentive I was during lectures.  Calculus 2 was beyond my capability of understanding.

When it came to smarts… I was great in High school.  But I was just average in college.

Greatness is a myth of perspective.  It is relative to our surroundings.  It will change if when the objects we compare ourselves to change.  Therefore greatness isn’t real.  It’s a smoke screen.  It’s a lie we tell ourselves to justify our current pursuits, or to make ourselves feel better about our present circumstances.  When we back the lens of perspective up far enough we see that there isn’t actually anyone that is great.

Francis Shaffer talks about this in his essay, “No little people.  No little places.”  Shaffer used Moses’ staff as an example.  Moses’ staff parted the red sea.  It made the Nile turn to blood.  It transformed into snake, ate two other snake, and then turned back into a staff.  It was a pretty cool stick.  But in truth, it was only a stick.   It might have been straighter or stronger than other sticks.  But it was still just a stick.  Throw it on a fire and it would burn like the rest.  What made it’s life fantastic was that God decided to use it.

We can’t fully understand humility until we get that from God’s perspective none of us are great at anything.  We can’t honestly see others around us as “better than ourselves” in a Philippians 2 way until we accept that we are all broken messes.  We might be a little straighter or stronger than the stick next to us in the pile…but we are still just sticks.  We are all walking balls of imperfection struggling to find meaning and make sense out of life.

Philippians 3:4-11

Although I once had confidence in the flesh too.  If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.  More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ-the righteousness from God based on faith.

My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

Being great at something is a lie.  In comparison to Christ we all suck…but He loves us anyway.  Until we get this we can’t fully understand humility or what it means to love another person.

This is part 2 of a series on well type scenes.  To read part one click here.

We’re going to start with Hagar because she comes first, and because she is one of my favorite characters.  Hagar has a lot of first now that I think about it.  She is the first woman to have a child by Abraham.  She is the first woman to have a face to face with God.  She is the first person to name God.  She is also the first well type scene.  Let’s look at the passage and then we will break it down.

Quickly, a type scene is a repeated setting and/or set of circumstances that reveal things to us about the characters involved.

First a little background scripture…

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.   Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.  Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.  When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.  Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.  Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.   And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children?  Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.  But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”

The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.  But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant.  Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.  I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”   Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar.  He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy.

To be clear, Hagar was receiving a death sentence.  She is being set into the desert to live alone, with no family for protection, and no way to sustain her and her son.

There is a beautiful phrase here I would be remiss not to point out.  When Sarah sees Ishmael “mocking” Isaac.  The word there is “Isaac-ing”.  Isaac’s name meas laughter.  So Sarah sees Ishmael “Isaac-ing”.  Deep right?  Totally paints the story of drama.  I’m telling you, Genesis is crazy rich with details like that.

Now that you know the background, let’s look at the well scene.

She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.  When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.  Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.”  And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob.

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar?  Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.  Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”  Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.

So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.  God was with the boy as he grew up.  He lived in the desert and became an archer.  While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

There are a few things that stick out to me right away:

• Hagar is the tragic victim.  She is helpless.  She did nothing wrong.  But still she suffers.   Can you imagine having to set your kid under a tree and walk away because you can’t stand to see him die?!?!  Wow!  That is intense.
• God is the defender of the weak and suffering.  Notice that He comes when He hears the boy crying.  I think that says a lot about who God is.
• God brings with Him hope.  The first thing He does is promise Hagar a different future.  ”This right here, this is not your end.  There is a different future for you.”
• The next thing He does is provide for her immediate needs.  Hope is great, but it don’t hydrate.
• Finally, there is a beautiful picture of grace here.  Hagar doesn’t deserve the well.  She isn’t important to the story.  This is the last time we will see her in the narrative.  But God provides a well anyway.  He saves not because of who she is or what she did, but rather because of who He is.

In the next post we will compare and contrast this with Abraham’s well type scene which comes immediately following this passage.

One of the things that stuck out to me this read through were the well scenes.  There are five well scenes in Genesis that I’ve found.  Before we jump into them though, let me first explain why they pop out to me.

In his magnificent book The Art of Biblical Narrative, Robert Alter describes “type scenes”.  He starts the discussion off by explaining:

A coherent reading of any art work, whatever the medium, requires some detailed awareness of the grid of conventions upon which and against which the individual work operates…an elaborate set of tacit agreements between artist and audience about the ordering of the art work is at all times the enabling context in which the complex communication of art occurs.  Through our awareness of convention we can recognize significant or simply pleasing patterns of repetition, symmetry, contrast; we can discriminate between the verisimilar and the fabulous, pick up directional clues in a narrative work, see what is innovative and what is deliberately traditional at each nexus of the artistic creation.

Think about your favorite romantic comedy.  There are all kinds of type scenes in romantic comedies that allow us to compare and contrast the movies.  For example, there is the moment the couple first meets.  Typically one person notices the other first and begins to pine away.  Tension in the drama arises because the other piece of the puzzle hasn’t clued in yet.  In You’ve Got Mail for example, Tom Hanks makes the realization that the love of his life is the woman whose store he is destroying.  Then tension builds around how Tom Hanks will reveal himself to her.

Another type scene I’ve noticed is the big fight moment.  It is the make or break point in the story when one member of the couple is going to have to overcome some hurdle if the relationship is going to succeed.  Recently Wendy and I watched Friends with Benefits.   There is a moment in that movie when Mila Kunis overhears Justin Timberlake saying disparaging things about Mila’s character to his sister.  Mila then has to overcome the hero’s failure for the relationship to continue.  Or in the movie The Holiday there is the moment when Cameron Diaz discovers that she is in love with Jude Law, but she lives in California and he lives in England.  What will they do?!?!  Oh the drama!

These type scenes aren’t just in romantic comedies.   Think of your favorite hero-action movie.  At some point there is a Hero Walk.  It is a moment in the movie when the good guys are about to kick some butt.  We see them walking toward the camera with determination and strength.  The clearest one I can think of off the top of my head came in the movie Tombstone.

So story tellers recognize these type scenes and play off of them to enhance your experience and their story telling.  For example, in the cartoon Monsters Inc. there is a hero walk, but the monsters trip and fall all over each other.  It is the story tellers way of saying, “These are the heroes, but don’t take them to seriously.”

These type scenes empower the story teller to set a framework for the audience.  When we see a hero walk we naturally think, “Oh yeah!  Now it’s on!”  Unconsciously other hero moments come to mind and we begin comparing and contrasting the art we are seeing with other pieces we have watched in the past.

Alter’s brilliant argument is that these type scenes, these repeated situations/circumstances, existed in Biblical times too.  The problem is so much time has passed and so little literature survived from the period that we don’t recognize them.  Alter believes though that we can begin to pick them up by looking at the different stories in the Bible.  And as we begin to see them the stories in Scripture open up for us in new ways.

Alter gives several examples in his book of type scenes he has spotted.  One of which is betrothal scenes at a well.  As I’ve been reading through Genesis again though, I think the type scene is more than just betrothal scenes.  I think the type scene can be expanded to conversations at a well.  These are moments when the action slows down and we see characters chatting at a well.   These chats give us insight into the characters and the plot.

As I said at the opening of this post, I’ve noticed five scenes like this in Genesis.  There are more scattered through the Old Testament narrative.  Then there is one in the New Testament that has really come alive for me as I’ve compared it to the Old Testament ones.

In this series I’m going to work through some of the scenes in Genesis, maybe one or two in other OT narratives (depending on how I’m enjoying the writing…because it is in fact all about me), and then I’ll attack the one in John 4.

If you want to read ahead before the next post go check out Genesis 21.

(Side Note: We knew the City Neighbors Party was a huge hit when one of the teachers said, “This party is so City Neighbors.”  I think in that at CNH that is the greatest compliment one can pay to something.)

All of this has me reflecting this morning on how incredible my life is right now.  So today I thought I would share five things I’m thankful for.

In this final post I’m going to share some of the phrases from my wall that help me remember the type of leader I’m supposed to be.

When I read a good quote or hear something that challenges me, I type it up, print it off, and stick it on my wall.  I’ve been doing this for about five years now.  There are currently two walls in my office at Valley filled.  For decorative purposes (and to keep my office from looking like the “crazy shed” in a Beautiful Mind) I put pictures in between the quotes.  Whenever I frustrated or need inspiration, I read the quote walls.

Here are a few phrases from my quote walls that help me lead through times of change…

1) “The tension is good.” – This was the theme of the catalyst conference a while back.  I’m not sure what they meant by it because I didn’t go.  But it reminds me that unanswered questions create tension for leaders.  My desire is to fill the void and release the tension immediately.  But if I’m trying to let a storm build so change is possible, sometimes the tension is good.  Innovation comes in the midst of tension.  Sometimes I need to sit on my hands and let the tension build.

2) “No man left behind.” – As a staff member I live and breathe the problems of my organization.  I therefore naturally work out answers much faster than my volunteer team members.  I have to consistently remind myself that I must be making a consistent effort to bring everyone along.  No skipping steps with teams.  No one left behind on step 3 when I’m moving onto step 10.  Everyone has to be brought through each step of the decision making.  It means I have to forcibly slow myself down for the sake of the team.

3) “Leaders challenge the process.” – This comes from Andy Stanley.  Brilliant leader.  It reminds me that if I was to see change than I need to be consistently encouraging innovation and asking questions that poke, probe, and sometimes trash the status quo.

4) “Universally understood.  Consistently applied.” – My friend Cory said this once in a staff meeting.  It is my goal for all communication in times of change.  I need to make sure that what I say is universally understood.  And that when I make a statement I consistently apply it across the organization.

(Let us all give Cory 10 seconds of silence while he gloats about making the wall.)

5) “This is just the Adjacent Possible” – The “adjacent possible” is a concept I learned from a Radio Lab podcast a while back.  It is the concept that new things can only come about if the necessary steps to that new thing have already been achieved.  Times of change are times of organizational evolution.  I have to force myself to remember that we will never arrive.  Each step is just one more on the journey to the next stage of evolution.

6) “Everyone has a plan until they get hit.” – This one is from Mike Tyson (back when he was still an amazing boxer…before he started biting people).  He said it right before a fight in response to a reporter commenting that Mike’s opponent had big plans coming into the match.  I’m a planner.  I like plans.  This reminds me that when storms get rough it is okay to let go of my plans.  When I’m getting hit my plans need to go out the window and I need to be present in the moment.

7) “No one is going to die on the table.” –  This one comes from my dad.  He was an amazing surgeon who had a lots of high risk cases.  Growing up, if I would ever get frustrated with homework, or with a football game, or with a relationship he would always look me in the eye and say, “It’s okay Jeff.  No one is going to die on the table if you screw up.”  Over the years the phrase has allowed me to make mistakes and not kill myself for it.  It has kept me from stressing out when things got rough.  It’s kept me sane.

I’ve got a ton more.  Maybe I’ll give some others another time.   Until then I hope these help you think through your current times of change.