Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Venting.

We leave our pride and our declaration that we think we are best.

We turn away from our performance that shoves a fist at your grace.

We give up knowledge that you may teach us rightly.

We give up vanity so that the world may see your beauty.


Have mercy on us, for we are a generation that is obsessed with ourselves. Don't let us steal your fame.

(Jesus Christ, that is, the name deserving glory.)

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

"i'm really lucky"

holy smokes. heard someone's story today that should be a movie. want to tell it, but feel like i shouldn't say the details... it involves walking through a jungle to another country ..for a month..with a baby..running away, and their village being burned. the person finally made it to america where they're living in freedom.. america's pretty awesome after all.

at the end of the story, they decided that they were "pretty lucky" to be alive, far less to be america.

Friday, February 12, 2010

happy old man

happy old man, looks to be 60 years old, walking down the hallway with a cart. on that cart, a laptop, playing music, a combination of north carolina bluegrass and accordian influenced austrian folk. Interesting. Physics teacher i believe, plaid shirt, dancing goofily like he was entertaining a four year old, massive smile on his face. I laugh at him, he laughs back, louder, let's say a loud chuckle. one of those moments you live for, really.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Results of poetry class:)

assignment was to write about a past memory in blank verse... this is about a village i went to this summer in Jordan:) wonderful memory.

"Not Just Sand"
The houses where are they? All I see is sand.
Sheep in a cluster, their shepherd in black,
A ghost-like apparition. Closer now,
A child running with a ball. A cloud
Of dust, obscures the source of it; not just
One child, a flock. More children run with him.
Dirt flying, sand stinging, their laughter I
Can hear. The ghost-like apparition, it's
A woman. Floating toward me, her hijab
Flaps in the wind, like a flag, a black flag.
Her face appears beneath. Her lips are fixed,
Eyes deep and black; her pointy jaw and cheek
Bones well-defined, a look suspecting me
To speak: "Peace be upon you", in her own tongue.
Her eyes now kind, her cheek bone softened with
A smile, for hospitality is in
Her nature. Her house emerges from beneath
The cloud of dust. A village under dust.
A school, a mosque, a garden, a hospital.
A circle of women clothed in flags, black flags,
I'm welcomed with a cup of tea, a kiss
Of mint. The smell of rice and chicken,
A dinner prepared for me. A brother holds
His sister in his arms. The father says
I am his daughter. This is not just sand.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Don't just listen.

tonite i began to sing one of my favorite songs from high school that i used to play on my guitar-- "Simply to the cross". I can not even count the number of times that I've played that song, far less heard it, but somehow in the midst of acquiring it as "one of my favs" I failed to apply that song to my heart. "Jesus, you will never fail".. and "Jesus, you are all I need" my ears somehow failed to hear.

"Mercy's found a way for me, Hope is here as I am free." (part of the song's chorus)

What joy there is that statement, for CHRIST IS all that we need. I heard JD Greear speak this weekend and he said that all people were made with a longing for something else, and other people are incapable of filling that longing. We were made to be satisfied in Christ and to find our fullness in Him.

SOmany times throughout my day I get upset, disappointed, for I fail to find fulfillment in my relationships with people, they fail to satisfy me.
They arenot able to satisfy, never will be able.
Christ satisfies, and in him there is fullness. THIS is joy.

quit listening.
open your ears and hear.