io

inspired by the song Io by Helen Stellar
(featured on the Elizabethtown soundtrack)

a fresh rain fell today

a fresh rain fell today
after 10 days of sun.
it was cool and refreshing.

the birds of the air,
they are making music
showing appreciation
and giving thanks for the bath and the drink.

nature has its purpose.
perfect symmetry.
it gives. it takes. it provides. it needs.
can this be random?

God is in the falling rain.
He is in the songs of praise
from the nesting birds.

He is the symmetry.
the synergy.
the energy.
the supremacy.

he is the beauty of Monet
and the lyrics of Bono.
He speaks through:
the silver screen,
the small screen,
the LCD screen.
the iPod and the FM dial.


He is the joy of children
laughing; the peace of
a quiet stream. the
patience of a grandmother;
the gentleness of a summer breeze.

most of all He is love.
a personified love that is
known within the hearts
of all mankind... rejected and accepted.

His love is His creation.
His creation is us.

A fresh rain fell today
and i experienced God.

free

a self portrait of randomness

Not a fan of death… it’s so… final.
I’m tired.
Don’t know how to feel.
I miss the small things.
I somewhat feel guilty that I had (for God knows why) thoughts about my dad dying about a month or two before.
Fears come and go.
Less today than yesterday.
But it has forced me to put things in perspective.
Take nothing for granted.

Covetousness.
Big word. Big problem, presumably.
I’t’s too easy to lust after that which isn’t mine – or that which I'd like to own.
A home. Video equipment. More music (cuz I don’t have enough?)
I have never gotten used to the fact that I will never make money as long as I’m working in ministry.
But I don’t do it for the money… I’d be a fool, otherwise anyway.
I am thankful for the passion God has given me for youth ministry and creative worship.

It appears we have some ‘suspicious’ neighbors.
A few are teenagers – one with a banged up car with no muffler – who likes to leave 2 or 3 times a night, usually between 1 and 3 am. He’s gone for 10 minutes and returns.
It should be against the law to drive a car without a muffler.
‘sweet’ smelling smoke is often looming. it blows in through our window fan.
The other day, the inhabitants were partying at a children’s park (behind their duplex – beside our house) – alcohol and all… on the playground, mind you.
is it even any of my business?
They kind of avoid us…

I was on hold for 40 minutes today.

Nothing compares to listening to a favorite album that you haven’t listened to in a while.
This evening, The Joshua Tree brought me great joy.

I want to run.
I want to hide.
I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside.

Bliss.

(from melancholy to bliss... a self portrait that gives thanks to God for that which is beautiful)
LIFE is beautiful
MUSIC is beautiful
OPPORTUNITY is beautiful
I am beautiful (even when the lilly's don't look pleasing to the eye...)

i live

If you had permission to do what you really wanted to do, what would you do? Don't ask how, that will cut your desire off at the knees. How is never the right question; how is a faithless question. It means "unless I can see my way clearly I won't believe it, wont venture forth."

...How is God's department. He is asking you what.

What is written on your heart? What makes you come alive? If you could do anything you've always wanted to do, what would it be?

A man's calling is written upon his true heart, and he discovers it when he enters the frontier of his deep desires.

...Don't ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive because what the world needs are men (and woman) who have come alive.
[excerpt taken from john Eldredge - Wild at Heart]




DO THAT
WHICH MAKES YOU
come
ALIVE







LIVE.

a live

live [verb] 1: to be alive 2: to continue on 3: to dwell
live [adjective] 1: having life
live [adverb] 1: at the actual time of occurrence

what does it mean to survive?
choice: exist or live.

true living? follow Christ. receive your gift.

full. not empty.

embrace risk.

kick.

tornado stories

a massive F5 tornado ripped through Greensburg, Kansas on the evening of May 5th. reports say that 95% of the town has been destroyed. everything has been destroyed. this is mind boggling. at this point 9 people are confirmed dead.

i am particularly drawn to this story because the town in which i spent my youth was also ravaged by a tornado. the date was June 13, 1981. Early in the afternoon that Saturday a category 3 (max. wind speeds 158-206 mph) tornado 0.4 miles away from the Cardington city center killed 4 people and injured 56 people and caused between $5,000,000 and $50,000,000 in damages. the entire downtown of the small town of Cardington was destroyed - as were hundreds of homes - including an entire trailer park.













[downtown Cardington... more photos]

i remember seeing a mobile home literally wrapped around a tree. i was 7 years old at the time. my other memories include having a hard time sleeping - because of the lack of electricity and the loud noises of machinery and generators outside our house. Our church next door served as a soup kitchen and shelter for many weeks following.

i still have a t-shirt that reads I Survived the Cardington Tornado - June 13, 1981.

so yesterday, while listening to The Maxwell Show on WMMS 100.7 in Cleveland they were talking about the Greensburg tornado so I called in to discuss my own tornado experience. You can listen to that segment HERE [i'm the first caller... approx. 4 min 50 sec. in]. I said "hey, i lived through a tornado..." later he asked me me where i was at the time and i said "we weren't home at the time at the time the tornado touched down..." i didn't clarify that we were nearby at my grandma's house... but anyway - some guy (the third caller) said "what was that first caller thinking - saying he lived through a tornado - but he wasn't home at the time.".

well i still lived through it and the tornado tore up our town.... i didn't think much of it at first - then my wife started laughing - saying i got called out on the radio! then i couldn't stop thinking about it... i wanted so bad to call back and set the record straight so that i wouldn't look bad... but we were heading to Wal Mart... we needed ground turkey and a golf glove. so all through Wal Mart i started thinking about what i could have said. i guess this goes to show that little things can eat away at a man's ego.

to prove this fact - maybe that is why i have gone to great lengths to research the Cardington tornado - as if to validate my story that i told on the radio.

ego and tornado's... to powerful things that can destroy many...

the slam

Dead man walking.
Life loved. Life given. Life breathed...
But dead in sin. Made alive through the bridge
- the bridge leads to life - true life, not deceived life.
The bridge is Jesus.

No more death.

He took it upon him.
No more suffering.
Once + for all.

Different walks of life on the same bus...
on a journey... to the cross.
Discovering together,
through unity + grace + empathy + humility + respect
that a love for all is present.
the One who provides love + is the example of love.

Disciples on the same journey.

Love. Peace. Understanding.

[journaled thoughts found in a notebook... written during a TobyMac concert... 'The Slam' was playin', yo.]