We did it!

I admit that I am a bit of a dreamer.  Some would call me an idealist.  Regardless, I choose to believe in "the better part" as it were.  That being said, something struck me recently and I just can't let it go.
Where I live in NH there is a mountain called MT Kearsarge that overlooks a better part of the area.  In addition to being home to a fire-tower and the Colby-Sawyer annual "Mountain Day" destination, it is also home to a number of hiking trails.  The longest trail, titled "Lincoln Trail", travels just under ten miles up the mountain and back to the original destination of Mt. Kearsarge.  This trail first ascends the little brother to Kearsarge, called "Black Mountain".
  Now what struck me about this situation is that Black Mountain was supposed to be purchased by a contractor and turned into condos on the side of the hill.  That would have knocked out the trail and really been an eye sore for those who live in the area or travel south on Rte 89.  So the nature conservation had to raise some money to  save Black mountain.
  Well, this story ends happily and Black mountain will remain conservation land.  I am super excited and very grateful that they were able to make this conservation possible!  However, what shocked me was the money it took to get there!
1.2 million dollars.
That's correct.
1.2 MILLION DOLLARS $1,200,000
That's a lot of money, and i do not know just where the money came from or even if it is to be paid over many years or what.
But what shocked me, besides the amount, was that a community could raise over a million dollars for a piece of land, but yet we can seldom give $20 to our church or put a five in a homeless man's cup.
The title on the flyer said, "we did it"
and
I am super pumped to keep playing in the forest on Black Mountain.
But it makes me wonder.
As if it hasn't been said enough, being the wealthiest (or at least second) wealthiest country in the world how come their is still so much poverty and pain due to problems that could simply be fixed by very small financial distributions.

Should we buy a mountain or a clean water for a village?
Should we buy a mountain or give some meals?
Should we buy a mountain or a battered w omen's shelter?
Is the world really a cruel an unfair place or are we?

Even though I love Black Mountain, when given the option, I would much rather spend, or rather, distribute my "expendable" financial resource elsewhere.

listen:

Sleeping at Last "emphasis"

Taking stock, counting blessings

"Hope for a better, November"- Jimmy Eat World

Dear friends, its time to stop and smell the, ugh, dying leaves and dried grass of another summer come and gone and a fall into the new year that is coming.  Autumn.  Fall.  Here we are, we are here.
How is your life?
Where is your heart?
What new dreams have you dreamt?
Where in the world are you?
Do you believe?
WHat can you do to get there?
What do you need to let go of?
Have you given your best?


"Not all who wander are lost"- JRR Tolkien
listen:
jimmy eat world- "futures"

Rescued and speechless

listen:
the Almost- "dirty and left out"





Redemption is different from reconciliation or forgiveness even.  Redemption is a building up, whereas forgiveness is most often a plugging the hole in the dam and hoping it will hold.  We often get caught up in what others think and what they will think if we do something or make a certain statement or action.  Yet it is not the act of forgiving, although this is nothing short of an amazing feat in itself, but the redemption that comes later, where we find the truest beauty in the frail human heart.
  Take for example the story of the prodigal son.  He probably doesn't feel that great telling his father all the things that had happened and especially not in the fact that he had already come to the conclusion (in his mind) that he would be lucky to sleep and work with the servants.  Yet we all know that his fate is sealed in his Father's love, the complete and unconditional love that accepts with open arms and leads to redemption.  I cannot imagine somebody being received in such a way and actually having the attitude or sickness to go back to the evil they had vacated.
  All this to say, although there are great amounts of pain in this life, when it comes to redemption, when it comes to light breaking through, when it comes to relationships being restored, it is all possible.  But we have to see it through.  I am so very thankful that redemption is a reality.  That we can bust out the other side, not just better, but wiser and more hopeful.
   Redemption can mean deliverance; but it can also mean rescue.  I cannot even begin to count the ways I have been redeemed and rescued over my relatively short life and this is available to all.  So why doesn't everyone feel redeemed?  If its available to everyone, what does it matter?

Because not everyone has been given the chance, and not everyone has been redeemed.  There are many situations in my own life where I have not felt redemption or even forgiveness, yet I can still find peace somewhere in between the Hopes and the brokenness.  Even though the redemption may never come, I take great comfort in knowing it exists, and no matter how messed up the situation is, deliverance is always possible.

Would that we would all find redemption, that when we offer "deliverance" and "atonement" that we would follow our words with a quiet prayer or a silent praise.

This is life; and redemption is a reality we all need,   
and,
I; rather WE, are never too far gone.