Easter reigns supreme

April 22, 2009 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

First off let me preface that I hate, I hate, I hate going to church on Easter

 

While the rest of the world anticpates any form of action, you continue to violate and misinterpret the season.

While I continue to struggle with life and all its many struggles, you continue to ignore and consolidate your resources.

While many of us are just learning what it means to be human, you continue to hold standards that you cannot keep.

Yet there is one day in which you polish yourself up with a buffet that entices the ever hungry heart (penance).

While you proclaim to have a solution to all the problems and all the pain, I am left hanging by every word and promise unfulfilled.

While you brag about your ambiguous vision, we are left to fulfill the work until we can work no more.

While you continue to grow and reinvent, most will continue to be left behind.

And so on this one day you manage to let your bridges down and masquerade so you might meet your needs.

While we both miss the point about this season, He continues to lend his ever reaching arms out to us.

While we continue to take advantage of His people, He continues to have mercy upon us. (I pray)

And when we think we have got it all together, He humbles us and He motivates our hearts by His Spirit.

And that is why Easter Reigns Supreme!

Finding the Seams

April 10, 2009 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

There is a place that lies between who I was and whom I am becoming.

A place of pain and sorrow and  a place of joy and celebration.

Much of life has been snagged upon the cruel world, where injustice mongers and hatred reigns

The thread that holds the very fibers of my being often grow thin, unweave and lose there place

Everyday is a start of finding the seams.

Who I was, was not a bad thing. Just misinterpreted.

Lost in the translation of who I wanted to be and what was settled for

Values change in the process of popularity and recognition.

The songs I sang often rang out of tune.

The cavern was made deep, and new seams had to be found.

Whom I am becoming can only be outlined by who shapes me.

It does not make sense to most, yet I do not need approval

what sets apart the present and the past is what unites it, the scars.

Yay, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death… for thou art with me.

Finding the Seams, tracks my progress to know and be known.

What I do not deserve

March 31, 2009 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

struggleI’ve gladly accepted everything I did not deserve.

Never knowning how to respond, I would willingly expect more.

The only fake thing about me is my response.

Quick and passive, with a hint of proper grammar.

So I walk between  the know and the how,

Torn by the fact that exposing myself places the ever diligent finger on the reset button.

I do not know what real connectedness looks like,

too much of my life is fragmented, yet overflowing with mercy.

So again I accept what I do not deserve,

What I cannot distinguish,

and the fact that  I am a complex part of a community just learning how to be.

A Different Direction

March 31, 2009 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

I had an epiphany this morning. A lot of the things in my life are not me, meaning I have only mimicked what I have seen others do well.  It is time for me to bring new life to my thoughts and creativity. So from this point forward this will be a creative writing blog with tidbits of my interactions in this crazy world. It’s time to dig in!

Mondays Scattered Thoughts

March 16, 2009 in Books, Scattered Thoughts, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

So lately I have been rereading “The Church” by Donald Bloesch (Great Read), and I came to chapter on worship in spirit and truth. By far this is my favorite chapter.  Here is a little tidbit:

“… True worship does not, however, reduce the human subject to nothingness; instead it elevates and edifies us in the knowledge that God is not only our Master but also our friend. Yet God is Master before he is Friend, and it is only as we experience the chasm that seperates us from God that we come to appreciate the irrevocable fact that God has bridged this chasm in Jesus Christ and that he is therefore with us as well as over and against us.

There is nothing new about his thoughts, its more about the way in which he says them. For some reason I keep coming back to the fact that God is my master, he is over me, and sometimes against me, as hard as that may be to wrap my head around . Lately I have allowed a callousness in infect my relationship with others and with God. My intentions were not evil just selfish, I figured I knew what knew and that was all I needed to know.

It wasn’t until this weekend that I really allowed to let it sink in. How? Well, honestly I realized the vitality of proper worship and teaching.  Jami and I attended Lifechurch.tv in Gilbert, AZ yesterday. I was really looking forward to going and hearing Stephen Cole lead worship (if you don’t know, now you know), he didn’t lead this week, but they had a kick A worship set. It was raw, it was infectious, it was intentional. They do teaching through video and it was just great all around. I found God in the midst, not that I had lost him, but it is always good to see him and meet with him. And I was reminded of his awesomeness, his power over me, and it was “Good”.

Goals for ‘09!

January 15, 2009 in Uncategorized | 3 comments

Goals for ‘09. Not to be confused with resolutions!

I thrive on goals. I need them to push me and to give me a sense of purpose. I also hate setting goals, they push me and give me a sense of anxiety. Nonetheless it stretches me.

1. Take more pictures (Jami and I are terrible at remembering to pull out our camera. so its gotta be  a goal)

2. Get a new job!

3. Road Trip with wife in June~

4. Read at least 10 books (it can be done)

5. Implement Spiritual Disciplines into weekly life

6. Train and Compete in a Triathlon (Join Me – Perris Triathlon )

7. Finish my backyard/start on bbq island

8. Get back into Tennis

9. Blog more consistently (sorry readers, all two of you)

10. Take Guitar Lessons (I know how to play, but I need help!)

Scattered thoughts

January 15, 2009 in Blah, Scattered Thoughts, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

For this weeks scattered thougths: Story Telling

I admire people who can tell a good story. I feel they have a very real connection between what they want to say and how it comes out. FOr me I force it a little too much. Not so much trying to impress but to use words in a way that invokes something that resonates inside of people.
I’m learning to branch out a little more. In what I read, in how I listen to people and general rhythms I can pick up on. Its still very difficult for me because I feel as though I am finding my voice still.


So what makes a good story teller?
- is it their tone?
- is it the command of language?
- is it the personality charteristics?
- Facial expressions?

The moments I enjoy the most

December 19, 2008 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

I was thinking yesterday about the little moments in life I enjoy the most. So I’d like to share with you a few.

Top 10.

1. Waking up in the morning and seeing my wife slowly wake up. I am the luckiest man in the world.

2. The first cup of coffee in the morning

3. Smoking a cigar with my dad

4. After reading for a while, realizing you’ve already read half the book, why not finish.

5. Having a full house

6. When my wife makes me laugh

7. When I can play a song on the guitar without messing up (rarely happens)

8. Writing poetry,thoughts, ramblings

9. Listening to people

10. (I had to move this one up) When Macy Mclean says my name.  so freakin cute.

Scattered Thoughts!

December 19, 2008 in Life and Love, Scattered Thoughts | Leave a comment

For this Weeks Scattered thoughts: Fishing

My wife and I recently went to Hawaii to visit family for about 5 days. It was a great 5 days. But for one of those days my uncle, his brother and I went out deep sea fishing on their boat. I had gone out the last time with them and had an amazing time. This time I couldn’t wait to get out there.

We cruised out about 2 or 3 miles. As we got out to the buoy we just did some standard fishing (nothing deep). It was calming to be out on the sea and I could tell that my uncle was in his favorite place. And then I started thinking.

What does it mean to be a fisherman? As a way of life I can only imagine it to be frustrating (says the guy from California).  Sometimes you don’t catch anything, sometimes you get a few fish, but every so often you get the big catch. 

So for the first couple of hours we just cruised around the buoy talking about family and traveling. And then it dawned on me. I wonder what these guys would think if they had heard Jesus say to them “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men”. I sat with that for a while as I stared off into the vastness of the ocean. Then I thought, wait a second what does that mean to me?…

Here’s some thoughts…

1. I feel we need to look constructively at the way we evangelize/witness to people.

- So much of what I have been disgusted with everyone is there ability to memorize but not real thoughts and no heart.  People who haven’t really allowed anything to simmer for a long period of time. I guess Lack of Discipleship?

- Too much of it is forced. I understand the urgency! but I don’t understand the constant bombarding of moral subjugation/oppression. Thats not what Jesus was about.

2. Its not just about telling people about Jesus! Its not just about telling people about Jesus!

- Its about living a life that exemplifies the characteristics of Christ. With all the mess, with all the pain, with all the joy. In its perfect incomplete form. Allowing people to see its not about a set lists of do’s and don’ts but a lifetime (process) of knowning and being known. Whatever that looks like.

3. Its not about pulling people into the church (the physical site location)

- its about teaching people to go out into the world as doctors, lawyers, gas station workers, truck drivers, policemen, CEO’s, stay at home mothers, people who just lost their house and represent Christ. And not even have to tell people the One’s name in which you go. Crazy huh!

 

Still more to come on this post….

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Bands I like!

December 5, 2008 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

This Week’s Bands I like: ALbert Hammond Jr.

Some of you may know him from his days with “The Strokes”. Providing a solid rhythm guitar, but his solo stuff is genius.  I picked up his first album, Yours To Keep,  a couple years back and fell in love with it right away. A mix of pop, rock and just all around good music. His second release ”Como te llama?”  is magic. Highly reccommended.

Check him out!

Albert Hammond Jr. – 101

 

Albert Hammond Jr. – Everyone Gets a Star

 

Albert Hammond Jr. – GFC

 

Albert Hammond Jr. – In My Room

Enjoy!