Invictus...

I went to see the movie Invictus with some friends from church recently. Good movie for those of you who haven't seen it. It's a bit of a sore spot for many Kiwi's due to the fact the Springboks defeat the All-Blacks in the final (possibly with some food poisoning involved), but a great story about the struggles in South Africa after apartheid ended.

I just wanted to share the poem the movie is named after. Nelson Mandela had a copy of this poem by William Henley in his cell while inprisoned for almost 30 years. It definitely has a humanist side to it, but there is a Christian side as well. I take the third stanza to be the hope we have in Christ, that we have nothing to fear in this world or the world after. The last verse as well. Not that we can make our own way to heaven, but that we are responsible for making the choice to walk that road or not. Or perhaps the whole thing could be taken as Christ's viewpoint while on earth. What do you think?

Invictus ("Unconquered")

Out of the night that covers me

Black as the pit from pole to pole

I thank whatever gods may be

for my unconquerable soul

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced or cried outloud

under the bludgeonings of chance,

my head is bloody, but unbowed

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

looms but the horror of the Shade

and yet the menace of the years,

finds, and shall find, me unafraid

It matters not how strait the gate,

how charged with punishments the scroll

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

Oops...

Well, so much for keeping this updated regularly. I told myself that when I got back from the States, I would try to put something up everyday. Two months later, and this is my first post. I guess maybe I'm not really the blogging type, I could never keep a journal very well either.



It has been an interesting couple of months. I feel at times like I'm spinning my wheels frantically, trying to stay busy, but not going anywhere. I've been here for almost a 15 months, and to be honest, am not sure what I have accomplished in that time. And yet at other times, I feel that I'm making a great difference in peoples lives. When one of the teens asks a good question or I can see that a connection has been made, I realise maybe that never would have happened. I don't think is because I'm doing anything spectacular, I just happen to be the right person at the right place.



There has been alot of time spent in reflection lately as well. I'll be leaving in 10 months, but to what? Likely back to university for prosthetics certification, but that's only if I get accepted. Maybe into the engineering field, but with the current job market (here and in the US), how smooth will that be?



*Disclaimer: To anyone reading this, I don't want you to think that I'm depressed about the work here or burned out. I'm just musing about what has been on my mind lately.