Come get Me

Craving the city, and an unbiased break from familiarity,
That limits the seeking and comforts the falling.
Yet here I am. Just stalling.

Christmas

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."

love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine;
love was born at Christmas, stars and angels gave the sign

Faith Never Fails.

To remember that we are nothing is to recognize that He is everything.

This morning, I woke to learn that the lovely, joyous Elizabeth Toon, was killed in Hollywood this weekend as she crossed the street after leaving a Birthday party.

I adored Elizabeth, and I can't pray enough that the pain of loss will create a precious place for grace and peace to flood in, in her honor.

A bit of coverage of the incident can be found here and also here; *Dallas Morning News later printed a lovely tribute as well. Pray for the families. Pray for the boyfriend, who is expected to fully recover. And pray that you never miss an opportunity to love and be loved.

The reminders pierce as they penetrate, and suddenly we find ourselves letting go of that which is precious, but not ours.

May we also be faithful unto death, to one day wear a crown of life.










'I have faith. Faith in our wondrous capacity for hope and good, love and trust, healing and forgiveness. Faith in the blessing of our infinite ability to wonder, question, pray, feel, think and learn. I have faith. Faith in the infinite possibilities of the human spirit.'
A dose of brilliance from James Brown, co-host of FOX NFL Sunday

Ambient Findability

Trusting in God. thinking on the run. How soothing a stay at home can be...

The Piney Woods have a way of lulling our worst tendencies away, and providing a comforting backdrop for some good ol' fashioned contemplation. -Daron

Just because we do not know the way, does not mean that we are lost. For we know our Maker, and that He will fight for us at all cost.

"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105 The end of all human endeavor is to be happy at home. Samuel Johnson

I'm not homesick at the moment; but I'm definitely not yet home.

We are Sorry

not to judge, but to love...

If formulas replace relationships, if we are trusting in steps, we are not trusting in God. One system words for people, the other against them...If we are preaching morality without Christ, and using war rhetoric to communicate a battle mentally, we are fighting on Satan's side...This battle we are in is a battle against the principalities of darkness, not against people who are different from us...In a war you shoot the enemy, not the hostage. (excerpts from Blue Like Jazz, by Don Miller)

For every time I have failed to stand on the rock for you, I am so very sorry. What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other? George Eliot

Royalty

We must accept that the only chains holding us are the ones we have applied or accepted. The hardest part in shaking them off is the surrender, but it is the key that frees us, allowing us to be shaken by the maker.

Choose to lay aside royalty and wear the sinners crown. Inherit the kingdom. "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. " Galatians 5:1

Oh to be a princess! This sweet stranger's words inspire:
Monday, January 17, २००५ "Poem i wrote"
Conceived in the womb to be born
First breathe, life is at that moment begun.
Purpose, time, dreams, vision and hope
All of these to be found out as it is shown upon.

Yet knowing that by the waking of the light of the daytime sun
To the nighttime moon of a calming glow,
That much greatness with emerge inside the soul
From the material instincts that will help make it grow.

This soul remaining secure in knowing
That it is the fruit of God’s invention.
Still within the open arms of the caring mother
Who’s intentions only hold hopes of good vision.

Until the time of the end
In which all that is known to be within this present time of living.
There shall be no hand to help take away
This memory in life’s new beginning

But upon that day may the soul,
Being made by the great inventor
Know that is not going to be taken by death

-Christiana Hahn, Myspace

Lost Angeles

i love the questions that 'are' la, the thrill of visiting a city built primarily upon big dreams, extravagant storytelling, healthy ideals, and unleashed imagination.

... so what are you all about?
... what's your story?
... your passion?
... your plan?

"Elegance doesn't mean being noticed, it means being remembered" Giorgio Armani

A Story to Tell, and To Persue

When I grow up, my dream is to become a philanthropreneur.

In the beginning God created; Part of the creator always lives in the creation, and I feel the stir within.

There is no legacy for who we are to be. No one else is better equipped to play the role of me.

We're designed for the chances we'll see among all shades of reality and we're granted access to the ultimate source of strength and wisdom in our very own Creator.

Until my days are done, may I remember my responsibilities were given to only one.

"When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your objective. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." (Emerson)


After all, it's the least we can do.

The Escape

i miss the city, particularily the sense of escape found where high ambition collides in intersections of interests.

And the strangers. As a tree of the forest is nourished by the crowd surrounding it, the city will always be lush with dreamers, engulfing microcircles.

Culture Driven Life

in this culture driven life we get so distracted/fooled that we think of God as some being long ago, forgetting how active He is in every passing moment of our daily lives. We're in a simulation, and what we give is all we've got.

Unchained, we expose sin in the light and feel God's purification.

Teach me to manage what you have given me, making me productive in the work and the life you have chosen for me now. let my excitement about you promises fill me with energy and enthusiasm and let your spirit spread to the world through me. (diligent hands bring wealth - prov 10.4)

Therapy

"Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind. "
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Why I love Darcy Day... (another excerpt from her blogosphere, illustrated by friendship) This idea--that the future is yours for the taking--is a source of simultaneous solace and great discomfort for me. I love and embrace the belief that life is only yours to define, but am I the only one who fears, underneath it all (after my puffed up chest deflates and my big talk trails off), that I won't have what it takes to ever realize that kind of freedom? I mean, I do enough: pick up and move to New York...turn down a raise/"promotion" because it's not the right direction for me...walk away from men who are perfect on paper, but lack the essential spark...but I don't do stuff that makes me proud of myself often--which would be in any regular fashion. Daily, even weekly, strides would be more satisfying. If I get beyond a month, I start to feel a little (and then a lot) LOST, which is where I stand before you. I have this kaleidoscope of goals circulating in my mind CONSTANTLY. These are things I ache to do, that I need to have behind me at the end of my days as I look back on my life--that I know I will regret not pursuing if they fall through the cracks--and I'm not moving toward them. Instead, I'm playing this game of hopscotch around them, sometimes near them--but more by chance than with intent, so if I do get lucky and land on something special if won't feel earned. Two-time loser. I hope this is just a twenty-something thing. I hope I'll grow up and start to run toward my objectives as time moves on, instead of around in circles.

You are hypercritical, but that's what propels you towards constantly bettering yourself. I have always believed that those who are constantly proud of their own achievements are substituting those achievements for other areas in which they lack so greatly that they must sound the horns to distract attention away from the empty areas. Being content in where you are breeds complacency which in turn breeds stagnancy and laziness. Try to see your doubt as a gift, as a constant source of encouragement. Instead of thinking that the present is not enough, focus on the future being an eternal opportunity. It's okay to live it day by day. Each morning is a chance to accomplish something new. If you look too far ahead you cease to see what's in the immediate. If you set too many goals, none get the needed attention. If you question your ability, then you and you alone have allowed yourself to fail. You are brave, and strong, and beautiful and have a tighter grasp on your objectives than I think you realize. The beautiful thing about moving in circles is that life allows you to come around again, to fix the present based on the past, to mend old wounds and help those left behind. I think that circles are a beautiful way to live. Lainey

"I write to break down borders. My sensibility has always been global, to find expression through my poetry, plays, and films to bring individuals and worlds, seemingly apart, closer in understanding. The cafes I write in, are my libraries - from Paris to Prague to Los Angeles. I write to live out loud, and through the expansive reach of art, hope to achieve community through a common language." -James Ragan, Poet, Playwright, and Screenwriter

Power

Man's power is in his prayer. And where prayer goes, God follows. -Yogi Bhajan

You ask me how I know He lives; He lives within my heart. Anchor me, so that I may Tap the Reservoir -

If you live each day as if it were your last, some day you'll be right.

Dance your Life

I often think of what I'd do, 'if I could do anything,' and the confirmed answer: dance. perform. create. instruct. spread the good word.

"it's about collaboration; you have to leave room for their voice, because they are special. If an artist of dancer leaves the room (and is) the same person who walked in, it was a waste of time. It's all about growth." MIA MICHAELS. "if i repeat a step, or continue in the same direction, or don't feel that I'm exploring, I can be really hard on myself."

Step up to the inner monologue. This is/was my dream; I just had no idea it would arrive so soon. Growing up in this studio i learned so much more than dance and cheerleading. And those are the things i can hardly wait to get in there and teach again.

This is our privilege, not God's necessity.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

Wild, Untamed, Unchartered

I am taking time.
I have let go of the reins
I am finding my life.
I wish for you the same.
-Sabrina Ward Harrison



















To have the right priorities
a man’s focus must not be
on the head, but on the heart;
not on himself, but on God;
not on time, but on eternity.
Roy Lessin


What if there's a hope you never dreamed of, worth hoping for?


(Nicole Nordeman) Why Knot?

Romance Language

Such a great read.

"Love the Lord your God, and love one another. Love one another as he loves. Love with strength and purpose and passion and no matter what comes against you. Don't weaken. Stand against the darkness, and love. That's the way back into Eden. That's the way back to life."

On Wings of Love, Redeeming Love...

Filled

Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained. Helen Keller

The world is not short of resource. The only reason we have shortage, is because we have hoarding and waste. Therefore we hold the solution. Rather than Connect the dots, we’d like to create our own, or sit upon someone else's. War is not the answer and neither is complacency, so instead of blowing up our efforts, our manpower and our money, when will we finally be able to use training facilities to train people on the streets and put them to work, and devote portions of our intelligence agencies to working with developing nations governments.

I never forget that I live in a house owned by all of the American people and that I have been given their trust. More importantly however than material gains will be the moral and spiritual value. We must be the great arsenal of democracy. FDR

• More than 1 billion people around the world live on less than $1 a day.
• We are encouraging voters to contact their elected officials and the headquarters of candidates running for office to ask what action they will take to help fight global AIDS and extreme poverty and save lives in the world's poorest countries.
• Together, we're taking a first step toward making fighting global poverty a growing priority for American voters, and as we begin to look toward the 2008 Presidential elections, it's a first effort in a long-term strategy to make the over 1 billion people who live on less than $1 a day part of the election conversation.
• Africa has been hit harder by the HIV/AIDS virus than any other region of the world. Last year alone, more than 2 million Africans died from AIDS and another 24 million are infected with the HIV virus, approximately 2 million of whom are children.
• Over one billion people do not have access to clean water. Every 15 seconds, a child dies from a disease associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.
• Africa is home to 80% of the world's 15 million HIV/AIDS orphans.
• ONE is an effort to rally citizens - ONE by ONE - to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE is a coalition of over 2.4 million people and 100 of the nation's leading relief, humanitarian and advocacy organizations.
  

On Election Day, like every other day, there will be over 1 billion people around the world living on less than $1 a day. But unlike every other day, my vote can set in motion something that will change that.

As a voter and one of the 2.4 million members of ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History, I have been working to make the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty a part of the election conversation. For the first time in history we have the resources and know-how to end extreme poverty. All we need now is the political will to make it happen and that means voting and holding our leaders accountable. I encourage my fellow voters to contact our candidates and ask them what actions they'll take to help fight global AIDS and extreme poverty.

Beyond the attack ads and partisan sparring filling the airways are the life and death decisions that our newly elected leaders will make on our behalf. Fighting global AIDS and extreme poverty is something we can reach across party lines to do together, and it can make a better, safer world for us all.

Hault the waste of energy. Turn Jealousy to Contentment. Turn Anger to Love. Turn Competition to Peace. Remove the old self. Grace is not opposed to effort, as it is to merit. May I fill the vacancy with the things of that world for I want to be overflowing in the company of those I love; in a short time, we shall arrive.

WeakEnds

'He jests at scars that never felt a wound,' (Romeo)

Persecution and trial - the testing agents of where we stand. God never gives us more than we can handle, just enough to see who we really are. His truth is ours for keeps.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27. King of glory, here be found.

'you got to keep on keepin' on,' observes joe dirt

Burn baby, Burn

There's something in this world that light's everyone's fire.






In romance, as in spirituality, motives are selfless, driven from an authentic love for the other person. Seems we're designed to burn with passion, thus it would be most tragic for a person to know everything about God, but not know God... to know all the rules of spiritual marriage, and never walk the aisle.

There are some things which happen, that we never get over; once we've tasted we know; He is enough. I've been told that, if life in Christ is boring, look to find yourself again in Christ and never quit expecting enormous, miraculous, awesome things from God. Live it, and be blown away.

Soul-stilling in John 12.20, something sparks the soul, a passion and an urgency to see Jesus... His touch of salt will season. Jesus rubbed against the people, He did not preach at them. The people observed the confidence and understood... Peter and John had been with Jesus. Life speaks into life.

When God works within us, we reach even deeper to understand our brokenness and be receptive। As He does the work we find ourselves in bankruptcy, yet proximity is the saving grace, breathing a fire we can touch.

Drawing a Blank

The world is a book an those who do not travel only see one page. Aristotle

i write for the same reasons i travel... to reveal, to unwind, to connect...

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. Mark Twain

The Republic of Heaven

He will return when every nation has heard. 6,900 people groups remain, and then we shall exchange Heaven for a place, and eternity for time.

Unfinished Business

I love lists and letters!

Excess baggage sits heavily upon its owner, weighs us all down, and is paid for by all. I don’t want to have unfinished business, yet I sure do linger sooner than I thank people. Indebted, I can’t repay them, but rather must in turn pay someone else instead. As Gerardo says, pay it forward.

To, and write

One day she left all the words scattered around the floor
In disheveled stacks around the coffee mugs
So that she might step out to get some air.
It was night. The streets were charged.
You had to look both ways.
She walked, she looked,
Walked some more,
So far that she
Lost her way.

By the time she did make her way home to the words,
She had lost track of their meanings: she knew
What each meant in isolation, alone, but
Not what she could make them say
When she would line them up
In arrangements no one had
Ever before considered.
This was her gift,
But forgotten.

She looked around the room for a long time, like
Amnesia. She recognized her many things, the
Couch, the table, photographs aligned along
Window frames, overcrowded bookshelves,
But the stacks of words, seemingly
Random all around the floor,
Making it hard to walk to
The bathroom: these
Confused her.

Much time passed. Weeks, months, even more.
She hadn't known what to do with the stacks,
All those words, though she knew not to
Throw them away. She moved them
Into corners and along one wall.
She learned to live her life
Around them, giving
Them their space,
Looking away.

One morning with time on her hands she gazed
Across the room at her stacks and two
Words, four stacks apart, combined
Themselves as though to speak.
The first word, to, she knew
Even upside down. The
Second faced her,
Write. Memory,
Command.

By that evening she had pulled out all her words
And begun rearranging them, barely aware
That the day had passed. The lines she
Made out of words so occupied her
That when finally she knew she
Needed to step out for air,
She set two cards just
Inside the door,
To, and write.

TIM KELLER

All this untapped energy - makes me feel so free

Finally, I was able to sneak over to BookPeople and purchase the entire collection of Sabrina Ward Harrison masterpieces. Having these to peruse was longer awaited than I ever knew; like one who watched our childhood and recalls our history better than we can, you tapped me into a deep, familiar yet forgotten space in my soul. Thanks SAB.




The universal power of art, the sounds and images that bring us to life.



I am afraid to show you who I really am, because if I show you who I really am, you might not like it--and that's all I got. SAB

What we don't let out traps us. We think, No one else feels this way, I must be crazy. So we don't say anything. And we become enveloped by a deep loneliness, not knowing where our feelings come from or what to do with them. Why do I feel this way? SAB

I think God leaves me alone to let me find my own strength because no one else can give it to me. Sometimes it is very lonely. But I know the lonely times teach me the most. I must let go in order to let anything in. No one can love me, for me. SAB

The more I look around and listen I realize that I'm not alone. We are all facing choices that define us. No choice. However messy is without importance in the overall picture of our lives. We all at our own age have to claim something. SAB

Ode to Songwriting and the classic theme of exploration.

Essence of Love

the people i find myself growing closest to are the very ones i hope to spend eternity with. What a blessing to be so nurtured, truly surrounded by angels.

At this time I’m most alive, experiencing things I cannot describe... When two hearts race, both win. I arrived here to rediscover and explore the things I love, now realizing my heart has been awakened and revealed much, pursued by a man who ran away with my heart. I pray he keeps running. My parachute. My shooting star.

The greatest gift, I now too have learned, is to truly love and be loved in return.

Sharing so much, and often when neither mouth is speaking. I treasure how much bigger our relationship is than one another, as if we’re each reaching high above our heads to elevate its existence; we’re living in a whole other dimension.

PRAY FOR PEACE

Thou ART

There is no art where there is no style, and there is no style where there is no harmony, and harmony comes from the individual.
- Oscar Wilde

no coincidences, just GODincidences

what's the greatest feeling you ever had?

surprises love admiration and talents deployed would take the cover of my book, so filled with chatting, crying, dreaming and laughing alongside family friends strangers and sweet solitude. so many blantant reminders and messages from God highlighting every blessed path.

Sandcastles

suppose you're going to be famous for one thing; what do u want it to be? with recent news as the poverty iceberg truly begins to drip, is it too lofty for us to aim to melt every drop to help us help the helpless?

i refuse to waste my life with/in a silly sandcastle that will inevitably return to sand. there's sandcastles all over the world, some with millions invested in them, others with weeping evacuees hiding behind them, every last one of them yearns more by the day, hungry and thirsty for more than any aid program, any possession could provide. the thought of all those who will never see or realize there is nothing here to satisfy us, only to hold, inspire, and remind us, because we were made for a whole other world we do not know! i want that to always turbo charge every thing i do. i want to reach out from that world, because i feel its evidence surrounding me, and i want to share it, because it burns so warmly and powerfully within me.

"If you have built castles in the air, Your work need not be lost;that is where they should be। Now put foundations under them." -Thoreau

my greatest fear isn't of failing, its succeeding at something that doesn't matter.
succeeding without having the time, interest or energy to keep an open,
available heart, to help plant and harvest along the way a field that will reap in the world that waits patiently for us.

I got involved with the One campaign last summer, and had been trying to get a job with their offices in DC but was quickly disappointed by complacency. In only one year, an audience of millions joined with the desire to allocate one percent of GDP to poverty. And due to responsiveness, they're expanding five more years, but seemingly only planning to lobby the Government, and recruit more individuals to sign the petition.

"Laughter is an affection arising from the sudden transformation of a strained expectation into nothing." -Immanuel Kant

What about consumers? And corporations? I was a bit too eager for call to action I suppose। Among my hopes were launching a college tour with ambitious, inspirational speakers to challenge a change, while promoting organizations (one's affiliates) who place people on the ground domestically and internationally to help (spring break trips, plus summer, and winter projects as well).

Government cannot resolve the issue of poverty single-handedly, because in corrupted systems such as Africa, those people need more than just money. They need the knowledge to develpe systems, backed up by hope from individuals who are contributing to the change. One of my biggest dreams is for more trusted means of assisting, streams that become integrated in people's lifestyles, such as credit cards with premiums that go to specific groups, etc... So much to be done, so much ability to help. I just wanna dive in.

Hope you're in good company, especially considering that most of the time, that's all that seems to matter. I love it how just one thing, one contact, or one person, can make a whole little mini-chapter of life fit perfectly into everything else.Grace and Peace- Always. Whatever you choose to do tomorrow, I look forward to following it.

Considering that our only purpose here is to build the kingdom of Heaven, make me more transparent everyday; share and reveal, to all who hunger and thirst, the God whose love for them they never knew.

"There can be no progress if people have no faith in tomorrow." -JFK

"It is hope that maintains most of mankind." -Sophocles

Anyways

I love the grace in this, but do not know the originator...it is not my own work, just my aim.







"People are often unreasonable,
illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
People may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be Kind anyway.

If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and
some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis.
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway. "

Time has Shown me, Infinity within Me

stumbled along a lovely perspective today

.... With every second that we breath, in each minute that our short lives tick, and in each
hour that we ponder, know that love so deep and pure lies buried below our surface like the sea that stirs our heart and the wind that swirls through our souls. We are - all of us - only bound by the limits of our own imagination - so dream on.

I have lived in Africa for 12 years, and also just returned from 4 years in Afghanistan and India. Seen a lot, learned something too, the most important being a reverence for all people on our planet who share the air that we breath, the land that we walk upon; and love, a common language to break down barriers and open closed doors! In overcoming hatred, fear, racism, chains and injustice we are expected to give back more than we take out, that way every drop of good is a drop in the 'good ocean'.

In a world of dust and bullets, every day love shines through, strong and hard, because deep inside we are bound by a common destiny, intricately woven together like a single story; the letters and words that brings our collective tapestry together. Knowing that pain in one is suffering in all, good people struggle for truth over dishonesty, though often against the flow of lifes tide. With love, all is suddenly possible, uncertainty evaporates and hope emerges like the morning first photon, the first flicker of a candle, the first drop of rain after drought.

We are born with nothing but our senses and take nothing but our experiences when we go. We do not take our cars, planes, bank balance and guitars - life is a zero sum game on the capital front! So what do we take from life? The only enduring form of growth - is spiritual. Each and every moment lived is an opportunity for interaction with the world of other people. An opportunity to be at one; whether standing still in quite contemplation or spinning wildly out of control. The love that you take is equal to the love that you make - an interminable law of nature.

Life too is a story of roads not taken; of choices, of consequences, of gains and losses, of happiness and regrets, of love found and love torn apart. Yet, in each and every action, there is a Violet Symphony - an invisible feel - that guides us on. A winding road that brings us to the centre of the storm! A love that keeps you warm when winter bites hard! A smile that lights the way ahead! An unexpected stranger who makes your day and turns your life around! A fleeting touch or kiss that will be remembered until your dying breath! Of new adventures, young and old, beginning and ending.

Violet Symphony captures the spirit and mood of reflection and rebirth - of twilight days, denial and rediscovery, the pulse of life's rock and roll. Written and composed between late 2005 and spring 2006, and recorded at Sound Advice recording studios in New Delhi, India, Violet Symphony explores the spiritual journey of roads both taken and untaken; of highs to lows - stops to goes. The album is the synthesis of more than a little dreaming and scheming, bought to life by a serendipitous union of people from different backgrounds around a common purpose. In musical terms this is a distinctive mix of the 'alternative'; essential and vivid listening. The album was mastered in the UK.

This space, your space, virtual space, is an opportunity for learning, giving, loving and only taken what has been freely gifted. Live the life, live the dream.

jbrookerocks

Sky is Falling!

Light of the world, you stepped down into darkness, opened my eyes, let me see.



All this is too wonderful for me... delicate flower, making love, dancing with passion's breath, it is my dream to be you, to be the lover of God...

Mind your Mannerisms

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”- Ellen Parr


Realizing that the mind is given to us, we are no longer given to the mind. And oh to clear the heart of the mind..!

Wisemen

"...the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..."
-Kerouac

Hawaii

love this image. treasure this trip.

Austin

Could never put this place into words, but the picture and this quote are a great start... "Why live in a $200,000 house when you can live under a $20,000,000 bridge" -buddy at 2222 and mopac

Restless

Almost Somewhat Positive
there's always so much i'd rather be doing, than sleeping.

Lauren

she was born a day early, never one to worry
she'll hit the ground runnin, leave you wonderin
how a girl loves so much - how a girl gives so much

i'm so lucky, and i've got a phene,
there's somethin so true bout this dairy queen

she sees a perfect world; helps me see through those eyes
there's no where i'd rather lean, she's my wall
with lauren on my side, Heaven will call

Magnified

one person reaching out
one voice screams
whispers out to another soul

help me to live in the reality, in response to your goodness, revealed.


our lives laid down, yours magnified.

Unity of Diversity

::unity without diversity becomes redundancy::

Confetti

Simplify me. Less=More Confetti

From the Moon

Fascinating JAXA Project

Everyday Soul Lovin'

The power of interaction is astounding. love is all "l'amour c'est tout," and everything that inspire us comes from love. When we gather the things we love, we see a picture of love. love is that place where my heart touches your heart and adds to who you are as a person. lance secretan

Living on borrowed time, thankfully it's not up to us to figure out the meaning and purpose of our lives. Through His Word, God has provided written instructions to recognize why and where our skill intersects passion.


Let us love one another, for love comes from God. 1 John 4:7 NIV
I knew that love would surprise me, but I'm surprised how much.

Biodiesel

Biodiesel Blog

Texas is a great place to inaugurate any type of program (biodiesel potentially being the biggest, overwhelming amount of potential with). Being in England, the speed at which things are implemented due to its smaller size stops me in my tracks; so many systems are able to evolve quickly (be it speed cameras on the roadways, or credit card 'chip and pin'), all simply because the area is so concise. There's no reason Texas shouldn't be a leading force in launching great (and much needed) modifications, especially with the mindset and pride of still being our 'own country.'

Each Unveils a Piece

They all laughed at Albert Einstein. They all laughed at Columbus. Unfortunately, they also all laughed at Bozo the Clown. Winston Churchill

But I have been loved by people who know Jesus, and I don't know that there is any greater love, than from those who have been touched by the Messiah. I keep a list of things I've learned from angels along the way; it makes my soul smile.

Keep a green bough in your heart, and the singing bird will come~ Chinese Proverb The mills of God grind slowly but they grind finely. ~ Irish proverb

Simple Elegance

Simple to Simple vs Complex to Simple
Posted by: Natalie
May 10th, 2006

This post is a summary, mostly to serve as a reminder, of some of my thinking at this time about complex and simple…

The Short: An Analogy

Today we live in a world that would prefer to eat a table spoon of white sugar over digesting an apple for instance, and in the digestion ending up with sugar…as well as other nutrients: all benefit of having participated in the digestion process…

Worse still, many of us are now substituting the spoon of sugar for a spoon of ’sugar’ (nutrasweet etc) - artificial means of receiving our sugar needs, which doesn’t even off the energy rich potential of simple sugar - chemical filled, it is aso potentially dangerous…

We seem to keep reaching for the spoon of sugar, or ’sugar’ [sugar tm], which leaves us ‘full’ momentarily, yet what does such simple energy do? It quickly leaves us sluggish, de-energised and mal-nourished…

From Analogy to Reality

…We live in an increasingly complex world. Or perhaps we are appreciating and again seeing its complexity?

I should add that in my mind there are at least two types of simple, best illustrated by Einstein’s quote:

"Simplicity this side of complexity is worthless, Simplicty on the other side…priceless"

Curiously, many of our models and ways of seeing focus tightly on the need for simple on this side of complexity - quick fix, magic bullet, 10 steps until you…type models. Fixed and rigid over flexible dancing and dynamic.

The reason I find this curious is because it is like we are all ok to pull the proverbial wool over own eyes. We know that things don’t happen in clean neat little plans and packages…we know that things are interconnected and thus changes in one area have impacts on another area…we know that there is a natural time / digestion process enroute to coming to the great idea…and yet we seem to keep wanting to eat a table spoon of sugar…or worse still, something that isn’t even the simplication of the solution we are seeking in the first place…

I am not arguing against simplicity - I crave it. But I crave the real simple…elegant simple…why are we settling for the false (empty, un-nourishing, de-energising un-healthy) simple?

Why?

PS Somehow this quote sticks in my mind: "Alfred Marshall once said that short words are usually bad economics"

Trackback: What questions are you posing for your future?

An answer is always the part of the road that is behind you. Only questions point to the future. Jostein Gaarder

Tunnel Light

Sometimes on the way to our dreams we get lost.
And find a better one...


life is no straight and easy corridor along
which we travel free and unhampered,
but a maze of passages,
through which we must seek our way,
lost and confused, now and again
checked in a blind alley.

But always, if we have faith,
God will open a door for us,
not perhaps one that we ourselves
would ever have thought of,
but one that will ultimately
prove good for us.

A.J. Cronin


And so, for every dream, there is a Job, to be made, to be held.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were all meant to shine as children do. Its not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same as we are liberated from our own fear. Our presence automatically liberates others." - Maryanne Williamson

A Revision

I love this statement, that every day is a Revision, a flux of emotions and evolution of ideas.

A diamond is...

Forever... but not Eternal.

Why must we take certain things in the Bible literally, yet leave others as imagery?

I've had wack theories about marriage my whole life and on the ring thing. I could easily presume that, regardless of whether or not you've dreamed of this your whole life, it must be stunning to marvel over a stone resting on the flesh of your finger throughout your whole life to serves as a reminder, to you and everyone you meet, of the person who was specifically designed for you.

As for me, I oppose the idea of all that money sitting on my finger to 'symbolize' the most priceless gift in my life. The irony alone is silly enough. Don't get me wrong, I marvel over diamonds like the best, girliest, and most geological of us all. For Pete's sake, we're talking about a rock whose former old, dirty form developed an incredibly strong bond and became solid under immense pressure, and whose beauty was revealed only after being found, carved, and fully exposed...And no matter what you do to it from there, it's a diamond... forever.
How cool is it that someone long ago once chose the diamond, which, like the relationship itself, is most beautiful when Light is able to shine through it!

I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love, Ms. Mother Teresa smiled.

Love grows continually, eternally, as a constant reminder, reflection, and celebration of our union with God - the most glamorous gem we'll ever know!

If perhaps one day I were granted a groom to walk the world with, what a blessing it would be, and to share it with my church, not necessarily in the building, but in a sacred place in nature which God purely created, alongside a family of believers, a crowd who wishes to praise the beauty... Proof of my female being: a love Weddings and a longing to be spoken for.