Gobblin' [it up]

My best friend stopped by... this lead to that...

and he decided to impress his new in-laws...

and i decided to be a one-upper and make a "flock of turkeys"...

... i'm thankful for friends, family, and construction paper.  Lord, you are good. oh, so good.  

truth light

no one knows you like your best friend.  there are many things that go unspoken and are just simply understood when being in the company of a best friend.

69 days separated me and my best friend from being with one another in person.  This is what followed:

spinning in circles in the parking lot. closing the door and sitting on the floor with the "truth light" in between us. speaking truth. laughing. remembering. dreaming. encouraging. and not speaking at all, just, BEING.

i'm so thankful for my best friend and for his heart and his new wife and the beautiful beacon of hope and light that Chirst shines through their marriage.

i'm so thankful for my other best friends that are 'newer' (over the past 4 years) and that the Lord has blessed me with.  we all celebrated love as one of our brother's was married off this weekend.  it was a weekend of joy, remembering, laughing, and best of all being brothers.  praise the Lord for the truth that was spoken and for the love that was shown.  my heart is full.  i am blessed.

economic home front

My sister asked me about the economy last week.  At first I forgot what time period I was living in so I was about to tell her about the economy of classical greece in contrast with the ideal "republic" that Plato wrote about, which took me 27 hours to read then I realized that I live in 2011AD not 389BCE.

Some say we're going into a double dip recession.

Some say the Fed and Obama are ridiculous in the way they annul one another's policies.

Some say America is addicted to __________ (oil, money, fame, technology, accessibility, "the good life.")

I would agree with any of those statements. I love the United States of America.  I am so very thankful for the freedom(s) that I enjoy because I am a citizen of this great country.  

But I came across a statement today and for some reason it has been ringing in my ear all day:

“Homes must once again become places of production if they are to provide alternatives to the global economic forces that form us into consumers.”

-a thought from Wendell Berry

say what you need to say

...because the words do not say what they mean.

Sometimes I want to articulate a thought but no matter how many times I change the words in my sentence I find dissatisfaction with the diction.  I think its simply because the words do not say what they mean.  "That's absurd," you say. "Of course the words say what they mean.  They're all in the dictionary with the definitions scribbled out right beside them explaining their meaning to the world."

This food is good.
God is good.
God made food- and now they're equal?
Please say it isn't so!

I've come to the conclusion that God doesn't speak English.

getmesomerhythm.

While sitting through a seminar I found myself drawing a picture of the earth shaped like a heart.  After that  I was inspired to write a few lines:

The world spins to the rhythm of the heart.

A Steady beat of love 

is all you need to dance.

The racing of the heart

before you take a chance.

As Ben Rector so beautifully put it "Dance With Me Baby." 

moving.

Driving down the road on a beautiful sunny day, the kind where nothing else seems right but to let your arm hang out of the window of the truck and your hand taps the rhythm to the music playing on the radio, on the side of the truck.

Then it happens.

"Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy." A hurricane in the middle of a sunny day.  A gentle breeze that brings you to your knees.  

As I travel, I notice the force of my tapping has increased.

"When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by Glory, and I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me."

How can you even see past my arrogance?  Did you happen to overlook my selfishness too?  What about that 'little' pride problem I have?  Hold on a second, you see your Son in me?  He's blameless?  Perfect?

Exactly, He said.  I'm going to love you through that arrogance. I'm going to love you through that pride.  And I'm as sure as {Christ}mas going to love that selfishness right out of you too.  I know it's hard for you to believe right now.  Yes, I know you've never seen this type of love before.  You're right, Halmark love is lame compared to this.  

Thanks for letting me ride down the interstate, in this old Ford truck, with you.  Oh, her name is bessie- yeah that sounds like a nice name- English still sounds a little bit funny to me, but I'm starting to get used to it.  Remember, Oh, how I love you.  Now live like it.

teach. me. patience.

The C.S. Lewis quote is scrolling through my mind... "I am afraid not that our desires are too strong, but too weak..." {ie. "Travis, my son, why settle for anything less than Me and the plans I have for you?"}