making a playlist

there is a certain satisfaction that accompanies the building and creation of a playlist. the searching out of just the right songs... weeding out the good and the bad... organizing the track listing... meshing the right songs back to back - in attempts to create seamless playback... and then the anticipation of that first listen.

it feels good to create.

admit it.

and yet life is like the playlist... we spend a lot of energy getting our track listing set, so to speak... wanting things to be perfect so that our future will be bliss... but the beauty of the playlist is that is can be constantly adjusted and changed and corrected on the fly. life is the same. we never have to be content. we weren't designed to be content.

God sees the bigger picture. He sees how our 'songs' will mesh. he guides us and revels in our creations - with hopes that we will revel in His. we are his pride and joy - and if our eyes are opened we see that He is our joy as well.

life is a playlist. live it out... play it loud.





tentative title [Journey into the Morn]
SONG ... ARTIST
Intro … Trespassers William
Just Because … Jane's Addiction
Well Thought Out Twinkles … Silversun Pickups
Bloodhounds On My Trail … Black Angels, The
Seaside … The Kooks
Today … I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
Starlight … Muse
Way Back Home … Starsailor
A Place in Displacement … South
The Information … Beck
Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II) … DJ Shadow
Halfway Home … DJ Shadow
The Number Song … DJ Shadow
Fractions … Decoder Ring
Losing Color … Idiot Pilot
Paperbag Writer … Radiohead
This Is Not A Test … Radio 4
It Would Have Happened Anyway … Mogwai
Hush … Soular
Big Love [Live] … Lindsey Buckingham
Razor … Foo Fighters
Fare Thee Well … The Innocence Mission
St. Augustine … Band Of Horses
Jerusalem, My Happy Home … Ralph Stanley
Sinthtro … The Dears
Scattered Black and Whites … Elbow
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) … The Beatles
New … 100 Portraits
It's O.K. … Delirious?
Closer … Travis
RM - RF/ … Decoder Ring
The Boxer … Simon & Garfunkel
Spark … Over The Rhine
The Maker … Daniel Lanois
Outake 2: Sixty Seconds In Kingdom Come … U2
Our Secrets … Helen Stellar
The City Lights … Umbrellas
Into The West … Pilate
You Are My Joy … Reindeer Section
Salvation … Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Comforting Sounds … Mew
Polybackwards … Gus Gus

THE TEN: things googled this week

10. William Blake - Introduction to Songs of Experience (also: U2 - Beautiful Ghost / Introduction to Songs of Experience)
9. Pablo Escobar (and the fictitious film Medellin)
8. Kid Brothers of St. Frank (Rich Mullins tribute/info)
7. Northern Ireland
6. Definition of Sanctity
5. Yuri Gagarin (Russian Cosmonaut - 1st man in space) (also: featured in lyric in the song Mercury by The Prayer Chain - from the landmark album of the same title... a must have for any and all music guru)
4. Map of New York City
3. The History of the Relocation of Professional Sports Teams
2. Psalm 137 (read it all... don't skim over it)
1. Facebook (my new obsession?)

"feel"

"How do you feel close to God? I don't know. Read about the great saints, they didn't always feel close to God. Check out the Psalms - David often felt far away from God.

Closeness to God is not about feelings.
Closeness to God is about obedience.

I don't know how you "feel" close to God... and those that are close to Him don't know anything about those feelings either.

Obey - occasionally the feeling follows, but not always."

-Rich Mullins

6:46pm - July, 21, 2007

A cool breeze.
A melancholy spirit.
Green grass with weeds a plenty.
White puffy clouds.
A sparrow makes music.
Shadows and tall trees.
A stillness abounds.
Children play.
Distant, muted sounds.
An iPod plays instrumental bliss in my left ear.*
The wind picks up.
Refreshment.
A summer Saturday evening.
Blue sky overhead.
My 4 year old rides his bike.
Tiredness overcomes me.
Hide and seek across the street.
A cook-out near by.
Soaking it in.
Seeking grace, trusting instincts.
It's 6:46PM, July 21st, 2007.
And God is in this moment.

momentary pause for clarity

clarity... a state of being clear. a silent lucidity. a presumed capacity to perceive the truth directly and instantaneously. peace. stillness after the whirlwind. a search for hope after a door creaks closed... or is that just my perception? maybe God is teaching me a lesson about seeing His faithfulness, even through the cracks of a door not yet sealed. hope is always present in the light. and the light seeps through...


in the late 1930's, pre-World War II, a Navy submarine was doing dive testing off the New England coast. War was inevitable and the U.S. was already in the midst of secret underwater U--boat attacks. Failure of the main induction valve caused the flooding of the after torpedo room in the Squalus, both engine rooms, and the crew's quarters, drowning 26 men immediately. Quick action by the crew prevented the other compartments from flooding. Squalus bottomed in 40 fathoms (73 m) of water. Here's the rest of the story:

The Squalus was stuck on the bottom of the harbor off the New Hampshire coast. It seemed that all was lost. There was no electricity and the oxygen was quickly running out. In one last attempt to rescue the sailors from the steel coffin, the U.S. Navy sent a ship equipped with Navy divers to the spot on the surface, directly above the wounded submarine. Squalus was initially located by her sister ship, Sculpin (SS-191). The two submarines were able to communicate using a telephone marker buoy until the cable parted. Divers from the rescue ship Falcon, under the direction of the salvage and rescue expert Lieutenant Commander Charles B. "Swede" Momsen, located the submarine. A Navy diver went over the side of the ship to the dangerous depths in one last rescue attempt. The trapped sailors heard the metal boots of the diver land on the exterior surface, and they moved to where they thought the rescuer would be. In the darkness they tapped in Morse code, "Is there any hope?" The diver on the outside, recognizing the message, signaled by tapping on the exterior of the sub, "Yes, there is hope." He then proceeded to respond, tapping out these letters in Morse code. "J-E-S-U-S C-H-R-I-S-T"




Hope creeps in and rears its head at just the right moment... for those who believe and trust and obey. And hope does not disappoint us... because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. [Romans 5:5]

The waters are stilled. If they are stirred it will be His doing, not mine... and I shall respond. Clarity gives me hope. One way or the other - i will be diligent. I hope for a clear answer. I trust it will come.

what a process this has been.




*Divers were later able to rescue all 33 surviving crew members from the disabled submarine. Four enlisted divers earned the Medal of Honor for their work during the rescue and subsequent salvage.*

state of...

i am in a state of something... my mind is filled. can not concentrate. living amidst the whirlwind. three weeks + and still it whirls. somewhere there's a playlist in this moment. that would make it all better... that would answer all the questions. wake me when it's over. surely God will light the path for this journey.

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, ^[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.