You're here with me (take me as you found me)

A good friend and wise man stopped by the nightwatchman post today.  Besides marveling at the view, the trail mix debris, the extravagant artwork (Andy and Lauren), and the beautifully decorated note card envelopes, he told me a little story from his life.  I would like to share a bit of it:
We were musing over love and relationships with young people (these days) and after grinning and chuckling he shared that when he was a young man, he was interested in deep and profound conversation with his (now wife) girlfriend at the time, and how during this one dining occasion they were not really talking,
and he took notice,
and instead of panicking,
or pushing conversation,
he loved it, every second.
Maybe it was in the simple presence that he really saw her, maybe he was overanxious.  Either way, she was there, and he was also there, and that in and of itself was a beautiful thing, a love confirming correspondence.

See Love, romantic love in its purest form, is found and formed in all the feelings and butterflies, late night phone calls, and long drives in the pouring rain.  However, it is confirmed in the jokes, in the down time, in the mundane, in the seemingly insignificant.  Not only that, but love is what we are all striving for.  It is the answer.  "It is the final fight"(John Perkins) 
Obviously we should not be so infatuated with everyone as we are to be with our spouse or even boyfriend/girlfriend, but this is a great place to learn the ins and outs of love and turn them externally, sharing them with the world.  We should not be so infatuated with everyone, yet somehow God is.  And he left us with this simple command.  Love me; and love one another.  He even gave us an analogy:  When He comes back, we shall be like a bride, and HE, the bridegroom. 

Is not romance in every bit of our lives?  Is it not the answer to how we should think of our neighbor, how we should dream of our futures?

Want to fall in Love?
That is not the question: love is present, has been since the start.
Rather the question is:

Want to see the world change?

Fall in Love

the details of this life are breathtaking
and
The lights and sounds call us closer
and
the Hope of the universe rests on us seeing it so 

Fall in Love



listen: (out Tuesday)
Anberlin album preview

freedom and us

"freedom isn't free"
and
"the only thing needed for evil to succeed in this world, is for good people to do nothing"

Are two quotes that come to mind on this 4th of July 2010.  The first quote in particular often connotates a military notion, that we must pay for our freedom with blood, sweat and sacrifice.  The second confirms this notion, that good men (and woman) have to step forth to push back the forces that seek destruction and pain in this world.  Yet we very seldom live this way.  We have come to a time and place where we cannot see, except through military means or media, the brutality and the struggle that is at play in a world gone mad by the hunt for power and advancing oneself over one's brother (or has it always been this way?) and here in America we have a very small glimpse of what it is to fight for freedom (except our first hand military warriors).  But we are not completely free as you suppose.  There are many, many people in this country who do not feel free.  Perhaps this is because real freedom, in its simplest, yet deepest sense is neither free nor evil, but rather infinite.  The real freedom our hearts seek can only be found in the simplest of truths and a child-like sense of wonder.  Freedom can only be found in Truth; and Love.  Freedom goes beyond a feeling, relationships, or political control, but rather a sense of belonging to a larger story and leading an existence that is found deep within, so deep that it may only correspond to your own Hopes, Dreams and Experiences.
And it is a battle, a struggle.
It is a lifelong venture.
Freedom is not free.
Nor is it easy.
But "we owe it to ourselves"
and...
"we can't just let it go"
Our entire existence depends on freedom and the pursuit therein; yet it is only a select few who choose to seek and defend it.  We all have a part to play in this, in every word we say and every action that stays.  Let us seek the truth, absolutely, and in doing so, let freedom ring, and let infinity answer the call of the feeling we are truly after.  At the end of the age, freedom is not a right, but rather a precious gift, and as such amazing gifts are, it is not to be kept to ourselves.    
The choice to pursue freedom is of such earth shattering importance,
that all of our lives hang in its balance, as do the words nobody ever wants to hear,
"it didn't have to end like this"-

listen:
anberlin- we owe this to ourselves (King)