I have been captivated recently again with Billy Collins work. He is a poet and has a new book called Ballistics. You should pick up a copy and enjoy his thoughts and prose of life. Here is my favorite thus far. It is called: The First Night The worst thing about death must be the first night. -Juan Ramon Jimenez Before I opened you, Jimenez it never occurred to me that day and night would continue to circle each other in the ring of death but now you have me wondering if there will also be a sun and a moon and will the dead gather to watch them rise and set then repair, each soul alone, to some ghastly equivalent of a bed. Or will the first night be the only night, a darkness for which we have no other name? How feeble our vocabulary in the face of death, how impossible to write it down. This is where language will stop, the horse we have ridden all our lives rearing up at the edge of dizzying cliff. The word that was in the … [Read more...]
MY PERSONAL HELL…THE NEW EGYPT!!!
I am reading Rob Bell's new book "Jesus Wants To Save Christians" and it is kicking my butt. There is a paragraph that I want to share with you and it caused me to stop and take notice of where and what I am doing. "Sin always gains a head of steam when it goes unchecked. And that always leads to institutions and cultures and structures that are anti-kingdom. This leads to dehumanizing places, like Egypt had become, which these former slaves standing at the base of Sinai know all too well. And God's response is to form a different kind of nation, a "holy" one shaped not by greed, violence, and abusive power but by compassion, justice and care for one's neighbor." … [Read more...]
THIS YEARS PASTIME
Photos from yesterdays shoot of my new friends from the band THIS YEARS PASTIME and their assistant Melissa. Josh-Drums, Jordan-Vocals, Cal-Guitar Rockin' The Retro 80's Lovin' The Glass Top Cal Knapp-Guitarist and graphic designer One of my favs' of all time... … [Read more...]
FINDING OUR WAY AGAIN-CHAPTER 5
This entire chapter is about Paul and the way of love towards others. Here is another installment of a quote that I thought was great about our spiritual practice: "Without exercise or practice we will not experience transformation, but neither can we produce it through exercise and practice alone. There is another empowerment, utterly indispensable, variously indentified as the power of God, the grace of God, and the Holy Spirit." -Brian McLaren- Finding Our Way Again pg. 47 … [Read more...]
FINDING OUR WAY AGAIN-CHAPTER 4
This whole chapter has been so compelling to me. I wish I could just re-write it here for you to read. However, the one thing that struck me was the last few thoughts of the chapter. So...here it is: "I wonder what would happen if we were willing to risk everything so that people could be not just indoctrinated and informed by dogmatic abstractions and ritual observances, but formed and transformed by spiritual practices, people who learn a way of life so they can move together in moments of peace, shalom, salaam?" -Brian McLaren- Chapter 4 pg. 38 Finding Our Way. … [Read more...]
FINDING OUR WAY AGAIN-CHAPTER 3
"Comfort and power can become great enemies of true spirituality and true humanity, which explains why we often say that the prophets come not only comfort the afflicted but also to afflict the comfortable." -Brian McLaren- This book is rocking my existence right now. I hope you pick up and allow it to do the same to you. … [Read more...]
FINDING OUR WAY AGAIN
This past week I started reading the first book in a series of new books called The Ancient Practices Series that I want to share some quotes from as I read. The first book is by Brian McLaren and is entitled Finding Our Way Again. The idea was inspired from a great friend and writer that you can read here. Thanks Julie. Today I will share from Chapter One called Searching For An Everyday Sacredness: "Why are books on Buddhism so popular, and books on Christianity?"....He replied,"I think it's because Buddhism presents itself as a way of life, and Christianity presents itself as a system of belief. So I would want to get Christian ministers thinking about how to rediscover their own faith as a way of life, because that's what people are searching for today. That's what they need most." -Dr. Peter Senge- … [Read more...]
LET'S SOCIALIZE