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

My Hope resides, the children are...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2390/1515342953_4d17f59a3b.jpg
When I go running, or biking for that matter, I don't think about anything but the task at hand, the physical effort, and the temporary escape from the busyness and/or stress from life.  That's why the people I meet along my "me time" best be pretty special... and of course, many times they are.  The natural highs associated with physical activity are really helpful to anyone in life and I find after adventures on the roads or in the woods, I am often better able to Love and be loved in this hectic life we live.  So it is always a pleasant experience to find something breathtaking on the trail or in another adventurer.
  After a recent run I stopped at the track to watch the descending sun caught up in fast moving, eastward bound storm clouds.  Upon walking back towards my car, I spotted a large man and a little girl walking just ahead of me, in the same direction.  The man was strong and tall, and had multiple ear and facial piercings.  The little girl was probably around five or six and was wearing a black summer dress.  The man was intimidating, the little girl was not.  It was some kind of contrast,
while here I am, skinny runner boy, coming up behind them.  But the part of this picture that was most striking was what the little girl was doing.  She was picking up pieces of trash and empty bottles.  Not just a couple here and there, then moving on,
She was picking up every single piece of trash within eyesight!
Not only that, but the impending figure of a man (i presume her Dad) was in charge of holding all the junk she found.
It was quite a picture.
I was moving at a faster speed then the two of them, so I was about to pass by and jump in my car when I decided, maybe to spare Dad some work, or maybe because I was motivated by the little girl; to start picking up any of the pieces on the other side of the path she had previously missed.  After collecting a number of pieces, I proceeded to walk by, and without a glance back, to smile, toss the trash and start my journey home.
But before I could ponder the equally captivating little girl and the light cascading through the clouds, I heard the little girl utter something to the effect of,
"hey daddy, he's helping too"
This scene just made my day for SO many reasons.  For the beauty I didn't expect to find, for the motivation of a young child, for the apple-of-his-eye type feeling the girl gave to her dad and for the innocent Hope of a child.
All of this coming in a town where the elementary school provides the motto,
"Here, the children are our future"
Yes, they are,
and,
if this little girl is any prediction of that,
I am not only excited, but I am awe inspired;
and on a stifling afternoon when I went out looking for a little run in the woods,
...I found my Hope renewed.

That we may all move like this...

Listen:
Joel and Janna- anyway (check these people outski)

High Horses: Horse Feathers

I have been sleeping on the futon because my bed is covered in laundry.  As I arose into the morning (there are no curtains in this room) my gaze turned to the many pictures and figures around my room.  My thoughts immediately turned to Lauren and the wonderful painting she had made for my birthday this past winter.  Then I looked at the giant CL picture of the Jesus statue in Rio De Janiero and I thought about Ewa, who had introduced me to the beautiful expression of faith in the Communion and Liberation movement.  Then on scanning to the TWLOHA spring tour brochure I thought of the amazing night Brianna, Andy, Alyse and Lauren and I spent hanging with Jamie T and Ryan from Sleeping at Last, Denny and Denny's!  Then I saw the wonderful picture of a "lily? Kristy had given me that arose after my cat passed away... and on and on. 
In the early morning sun, i thought, wow I am blessed to have such experiences and even better friends.  All of these experiences somehow leading up to this one young man that I am, every one adding to the character and life I hold inside me.  This also made me think about Ego.  As someone in the Christian fellowship here at CSC and having just graduated I have influence within a lot of areas and have made a great many friends and acquaintances around town.  But when something amazing happens or somebody asks me for help, it is easy to get excited and say, wow, "look what I can do". 

So upon looking around my room, my conclusion is that alone I can do nearly nothing.  But rather, it is with the experiences, the ideas, the music, the books, the Hope and the promise, all narrated by others and orchestrated by a God who cares more then we'll ever know or understand.  No, it is not me, but rather the presence inside me, that, in some round-about way, is also my own.

Then again, God gives me the reigns on my story.  Within reason of course, but their is the beautiful and majestic realization as a young Christian that Christ makes us move, helps us Love, yet he still allows us to Be.  What Love?  Can we even comprehend this divine paradox?  Everything glorious in the eyes of God, everything orchestrated, yet, everything our own, each DNA strand unique?

My original Hope for this poetic catch phrase, A DARING CORRESPONDENCE, is to find those things that hit your heart; you know what I mean, maybe a friends voice, a song by your favorite band, maybe a chance meeting, or an answered prayer- and see what and why those things strike us and what they mean in the grand story that is our own, or rather, a Story that belongs to and somehow affects ALL people.

I Hope beyond Hope that somehow, God willing, I can be a small part in you realizing you are amazing, that there's a light that never goes out, and it is NEVER too late to begin or pick up where you left off.  This is about faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love, THE GREATEST of these is Love. 

For we are nothing and everything in this world; in the same instant of time.  Now that is a beauty to unveil, a Wild heart to live-

"Where had you been?"

Horse Feathers