by | Dec 20, 2006 | Uncategorized

Feeling It In All The Spaces

i have this one friend and a bunch of the times that we talk together
there is one conversation happening on the outside and another, entirely different conversation happening on the inside…

and what i keep wondering is whether or not you have any idea of what i’m talking about because you only hear half the sentences, but you keep hanging out with me so ok. that’s cool.

if i was going to tell you the truth i would say this. scott cleary is very cool.

and then i would go on to tell you about changing the world and making everything simpler and easier and smoother – where everyone feels like summer driving down the pacific coast highway in a cadillac riding low and smooth. that’s going to be a great great day. i can’t wait til we live there in that simpler place.

feeling it in all the spaces
i’m making up for missing out before
i’m taking back the armies i sent in search
of your borders, i’m surrendering

closing up the aching wounds that
hang around like ghost in deserted towns
packing up the sorrows in the attic
welling up, i’m surrendering

filling up the silence of my heartsong
lighting up the darkness of my room
stripping out the sadness of my old
vocabulary, i’m surrendering

i think i found a new way home tonight
i think i found a different path than where we’ve been before
i think i found a new road to your doorway and i’m
waiting til you open the door, put on a light for me
i’m coming home to surrender

taking all the backroads one last time
thinking all the thoughts so i can say goodbye
i’ve packed yesterday in boxes and driven them away
i’m asking you to stay, i’m surrendering

and your light is just as radiant now
as it has ever been and even when before
i used to be so scared of how honest you could be
now I’m craving the rush of your truth in me
how i’m surrendering the darkness, the sadness of me

by | Dec 20, 2006 | Uncategorized

I Was Tagged ..and I missed it for 4 days…

sorry steve .. you tagged me and I’ve missed it for a couple of days but thanks for the traffic.

5 Things.. you probably don’t know about me..

1. i occasionally enjoy cigars especially when served with 12 year old malt. i enjoy 12 year old malt on a regular basis.

2. i wanted to be a fighter pilot for the US Navy for a period of 3 years as a teenager. i also wanted to be a lawyer, a politician and a photo-journalist. i think i’m closest to being a photo-journalist.

3. i’m not a feminist or a liberalist.

4. i’m far more committed to church as a community concept than what I would be if i was in it for the enjoyment factor.

5. i am way more involved in mainstream pop culture than is cool and relentlessly rely on my much hipper and cooler non-theologian/non-blogger friends to keep me in touch with what is cool.

i tag…. Danielle (somewhere en route to the USA), Marko; Stu

by | Dec 12, 2006 | Uncategorized

honestly now — safety’s just danger, out of place

this lyric from harry connick jr.’s album ‘she’ has haunted me for years now…

the concept of truth telling is so important.. truth in all it’s forms.

truth told

truth demonstrated

truth disclosed

what does it mean to live a true life?

a life true to it’s purpose, true to itself, true to the lives around it?

this is the kinda life i want to live.

that we need to live with each other.

the joy of relationship is the intimacy & security of being free and willing to live in complete disclosure. honesty is as much in what you don’t hide, as much as what you say.

Somewhere Now Falling Through Space.

somewhere now falling through space
is the breath i will breathe
in the moment you pass into the room
and the sigh i’ll exhale as you go by

falling through space the light
that will rest in my eyes three weeks from now
from the moon to the sea at the end of the jetty
and the sunset glow that will make us

climbing into starlight
the moments we’ll hold on to as definitions
and glass balustrades holding our
fragmented selves together in salvation

by | Dec 3, 2006 | Uncategorized

I’m So Sorry For My Own Sake

I’ve been busy. Sorry. Running a two person business on your own is pretty much an intense all consuming experience. I think that I’m getting an ulcer as a result. And I’ve begun to notice some disturbing habits emerging – dark moods, endless tiredness, my body responding in different ways to normal.

I’ve been thinking so much about so many things. .. so look forward to posts on these topics in the coming days..

1. Young Adult ministry and practice
2. Youth Ministry cultural shifts

Also – I’m going to try not to pepper too much of my thinking with the unbearable sadness of last weekend’s trip to the hip church of the moment. It was sickening to walk into a room filled with people who 6 months ago were part of other churches .. one place, filled with that many young adults on a mission to ‘find themselves’ .. and ending up in a comfortably padded room of “you’re ok, I’m ok, God’s ok” is devastating. Obviously – i don’t have super clear thoughts on it myself, especially as another young adult has just left Windsor to join other friends there.

This is exactly the same pattern as what happened with another urban city church 8 years ago. Where can this be heading? I’m in love with the Body of Christ. I’m despairing of a generation of Christ-followers that ought to know better about the heart of Jesus in community. Where it comes from, how it makes a difference. Where has the selfless generation of young people gone .. those that wanted to live to make a difference, who wanted to give everything to a goal outside of their own necessity?

Ugh. Yup, lots of sadness around me at the moment.

In other news. I went to see a life coach which wasn’t necessarily an illuminating experience, but it was at least a positive one. I’ve decided that it’s going to be ok to let go of things I’ve been holding on, that have been holding on to me as well. Exactly how one goes about doing that I’m not sure – but I have a hope for the future that is vibrant and real.. so I’ll come holding on to that for sure.

Here’s to God at work in the places He is – and your Journey to join him.
(hattip to Tony Campolo courtsey of Marko)