something new

i haven’t written anything since July 22nd.  and it’s not that i haven’t been thinking, but that i’ve been telling myself that the thoughts i’ve been thinking have been too dangerous for public consumption.  That also means that they are too dangerous for private consumption as well.  Just because i can’t say things nicely or in a helpful way doesn’t mean that they need not be said.  Leslie has been the one person keeping my alive.

we’ve married off a room mate, gotten another awesome room mate, been to new york, found out were going to have a baby, all kinds of stuff that i would love to be telling stories about…. but all of the exciting things in life get muted out in my head by the things that won’t go away simply because i don’t say them out loud.

first thought – standing by a bunch of sheep doesnt make you a shepherd.

and then ben warren called me from kenya and i talked to him instead of to this. sorry.

wouldnt it be easier

to just run away. I feel a bit nauseous. I feel a bit deceived. I feel a bit surrounded.

well parabola you’re looking mighty artsy today

Radiolab has made Math look so hip. enjoy…and also listen to their pod casts. They’re so interesting

 

 

Steven…i’m sorry but for as long as i live math will always make me think of you.

simple pleasure #5

baking….pies most specifically

simple pleasure #4

quiet.

.

simple pleasure #3

naps.

simple pleasures #2

the smell of old books.

its the simple things

its the simple pleasures that give us sweet tastes of happiness in this life. having the ability to appreciate the small things will get you more than any luxury will. its the simple things that will be like treasures when life begins to dull and sweet times are vastly separated by the bitter.
in hopes to become a better blogger i will try posting once a week (maybe even more often) one of my favorite simple pleasures.

today.
hot cup of coffee on a cool morning spent on the beach.

the clouds

this post has been a brewin’ since we went to Florida in April and saw a lightning storm from the plane on the way home.  It was…..well, see for yourself. It’s only 1:33 long.

We felt like that wasn’t ours to see.  Man wasn’t made for the heavens, he was made for the earth.  Nahum says that the clouds are the dust of God’s feet, that even where he walks is above us.  And there’s Psalm 104 that says, “You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;he makes the clouds his chariot.  Here, God is wrapped in light, but on the clouds.

Yet earlier in 2 Samuel 22, David says that he called on the Lord and he showed up and among other things, “He made darkness around him his canopy, thick clouds, a gathering of water.”  So God is surrounded by the cloud, obscuring our view of him.  It’s same in Psalm 97 with “Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.”  It reminds me of the early part of Independence Day when the space ships are coming through the atmosphere and the clouds are all in fire and you can’t see what’s going on behind it.

God is both in the clouds and rides upon the clouds.  There is so much we don’t understand, but can still be in awe of as God declares himself in these heavens and this earth.  Here are some other examples of this from our trip.

Christ in the suburbs

This has been on my radar a long time, as I grew up in what some refer to as “white bread land”.  I finally found some people who are processing through some of the same stuff I’ve had to go through in coming out of that situation.  Ultimately, I faced the question “is living in the suburbs wrong?”
Entrance stage right,  thesubtext.org

“Right now it’s cool to love the city and loathe the suburbs, but I do not believe this reflects the heart of God. I believe God has a love/hate relationship with this culture. My culture. And I’m working hard to maintain that balance in my own heart.”  -Joe Thorn

I want to go on record that I believe the theology of the city is weak sauce.  That if you truly believed what was said about the city, then you could apply that to the suburbs, the hay fields, the where ever you live.  God made all creation and called it good, so there is good to find and redeem in the suburbs too.  And it needs finding, because the suburbs are broken….just like the city is broken.  There is no more or less good you can do living in the city than living in the burbs.

p.s. Does this mean that cities are not important? No, but you don’t need a theology of the city to tell me that people are important.  FYI, there are lots of people in cities. People are important, people have souls, and their souls are eternally made to worship God.