djmase: Gospel:
Here is the thing. The Gospel is actually about most of the things that you hear the soap box preacher ranting about, but in reality it is about infinitely more than that. The essence of every life-giving relationship lives and breathes within the context of the Gospel; that is the beauty of this concept. God is relational and in creating His perfect masterpiece, He made relational little sub-creators, gave them an abundant globe, and tasked them with relating to each other and to Him for their short terrestrial tenure.
The context for the Gospel is relationships, write that down.
Seek a fellow Gospel seeker. Seek to travel alongside of them in their journey. Seek to be their support. Seek to be scraped and scratched, dinged and dented by them. Seek to forgive and grace them. Seek to teach and learn from them. Seek to be taught the Gospel within the context for which it was designed. Seek to feel the thick heavy Gospel hope poured out by a loving Dad wash over you as your companion becomes your best friend, advocate, and love.Then marry them.
Then make babies that go and do likewise.
Amen.
People.
I met a man at Starbucks tonight named Simon Valencia and he was a really great guy. Him and his girlfriend, Marissa, came outside for a cigarette or two and I introduced myself and we began discussing some of our favorite music groups and I told them about Pomegranates and they told me about RX Bandits and it was a lovely conversation. They were both students and artists studying at separate schools here in Sarasota and Orlando. After a few moments passed Marissa went inside to continue working on her thesis, but Simon stayed outside and discussed music with me some more. I introduced him to few more bands and he continued to tell me about how art and video specifically have changed so much with the internet and the fact almost everyone has the ability to create and share videos, basically at any moment. We continued discussing various areas of art, particularly film and music, and he went on to tell me of a book he had recently finished. He couldn’t remember the name of the book, but it was something along the lines of The Political Economy of Noise. It sounded incredibly intriguing as he went on to explain the premise and how it described the idea of de-standardizing music and film and all the different art what with copyright laws and the way Spotify has changed the way we listen to music and the fact piracy is unavoidable and it was just very interesting to hear him talk about it all and to be honest it was slightly above my head, but I’d really love to read that book.
Anyway, I write all this to say, I love people. I really do. Here is a man I met and literally minutes later I felt as though we had been very good friends for quite some time. I can’t explain how beautiful relationship is to me. I love the fact there is a connection formed between humans as conversations develop. The depth of the human soul and our emotions astounds me and the beauty of relationships never cease to amaze me. I can’t explain it other than we must be created by a God who is relational and loves relationship and this is truly beautiful, but I’m sitting outside and it’s beginning to rain. So, farewell.
Light, a Beautiful Metaphor.
In Donald Miller’s book Through Painted Deserts he points out a beautiful truth. In Genesis, chapter 1, we have the creation account. Real quick I’m going to be talking about God so if you don’t believe in God and/or think Christianity is just some worthless organized religion filled with judgmental bigots who just want you to change I completely understand and have no intentions of painting a picture of Christianity like that. I just want to be like Jesus and He wasn’t a judgmental bigot, I promise. Alright, lets start over. In Genesis, chapter 1, we have the creation account. Interestingly enough the very first thing God creates is light, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” - Genesis 1:3. Now, this is interesting because this “light” is not to be mistaken with the sun, the moon, and the stars. Those are in verses 14-19. So the first “light” God created is a much less tangible existence, in fact it’s incredible difficult to grasp. We don’t see light we see what it touches, so in a sense light it self is invisible. Here’s something else, if you travel at the speed of light you are outside of time. It’s too fast. God in the same way is not hindered by time, he is outside of our finite views and time has no hold on him like it does us and that’s beautiful. So I say all this to point out something very intriguing. The first thing God creates is light and not the light we think of, but the complex, difficult to understand, confusing light. Then, throughout the rest of scripture, God uses light as a metaphor to describe himself, and it’s so fitting.
I often find myself very frustrated I can’t understand God, but lately I’ve been seeing the beauty of it. God is so large and outside of my small mind I couldn’t possibly grasp him. He’s huge, and based on what I believe he loves me, and I find this love to be really incredible, and undeserved. The complex Creator of the Universe I could never dream of understanding loves me. He loves you too. I don’t mean to preach, the last thing I want to do is force religion down your throat, I’d rather just let you know you’re loved regardless of beliefs.
Just to be real clear I basically stole all of these thoughts from Donald Miller.
It’s Been Awhile.
Well golly, it’s been quite sometime since I’ve updated this here blog of mine, and the reason, most likely, is due to the condition of my now former computer. My dear Macbook of five years or so has reached it’s breaking point. Due to a cracked screen and limited mouse response he rendered himself virtually useless. So I have moved on, and it was tough, but it’s happened and I’m beginning to gain a clearer understanding of who I am. Sure it was hard at first and occasionally I’ll think about all the memories and time we shared, but we both know it’s for the best and I’m better now. So go ahead and call me slut because I’ve gotten a new one and I’ve moved on and now that I’ve got a rebound the loss is pretty easy. Maybe this is all just a cover though and this new Mac hasn’t filled the gap but only widened it and caused me to question who I am and why I’m here and who holds my love, my old Mac or my new one. I’m torn and confused and it hurts. So I thought I’d write about it. I don’t know why I did this. It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything and it was tough to resist writing more than just a few sentences. I wrote all of this to say, expect to see me more, because Micah is back with a new Mac and a vengeance, that’s not true. I don’t believe in vengeance.
"The machine. The clock. Our own hands. The dirty second hand of time is always ticking – bringing us and all that we have worked so hard to achieve closer to the grave and the second hand store. In my fight with depression, lust, pride, and boredom I have found that the biggest challenger is often within me. The very machinery that I loathe and have fought so hard to defeat stares back at me from the mirror. This mechanism is always ticking. And in my spiritual life I have found that this is a part of me that has to die everyday if I am to be truly alive."
- Jon Foreman (via mondongos)
(Source: binnyyy, via thensings-mysoul)
The Previous Photo.
This is my new home. I have recently arrived in Sarasota, Florida and I will be here for the next nine months. I’m attending 24/7 Leadership Academy and am very excited to say the least. However, it was very difficult to leave home. I love people so much and I hate to leave those I love, but I know it’s for the best and the new relationships I’ll form will be wonderful. I met all the others I would be doing life with for the next nine months today and it’s a really great group of folks. My home sponsors are wonderful and doing an excellent job making me feel at home. I honestly will not have a lot of time to update my blog during the year, simply because we’re constantly busy, however I will do my best.
Change.
I just left home. It’s incredibly strange and difficult to fathom the amount of change my life will go through in the next nine months. My mind is a melting pot of emotions.
Listen.
