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Building 7, Apartment 7:8

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A friend lives in an apartment complex, and that is all I know.  What I want to do is find my friend and hang out, to be with him.  So I go to the front office and I ASK for my friend.  Whomever is available will give me some further information to help me find my friends so I can hang out with him.  I am told he lives in Building 7, Apartment 7-8.  So my next step is to begin a search for building 7, Apartment 7-8.  I SEEK out his building among the many.  I have to check the complex maps and layouts; I have to drive slowly to find the building numbers.  Once I come across building 7, I walk up to apartment # 7-8.  It has come to this point.  I am this close to being with my friend. Having asked and sought him out, there remains only one thing to do.  I have to KNOCK on the door, and he will answer. Having asked, I was given instruction; Having sought, I found; Having knocked, the door was opened...

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Your toolbox is not disposable

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A few years ago, I was working at a recovery ministry to the poor and addicted. My time there came with a certain amount of training, and that training was fantastic.  I was trained in several recovery programs and processes, but this training required me to engage myself with the process.  This training required me to actually look at myself, self-evaluate and wrestle with the issues which arose.  I dealt with wounds I had hidden.  I dealt with some addictive behaviors, some coping tendencies, and some past "ish".  I was trained in this fashion in order to truly walk along with the residents on their road to healing and recovery as opposed to being simply an instructor. My reflection on that time today has me realizing something; I have forgotten a lot of those things I had learned.  Sure, I could remember some of the technicalities and book answers, but I have nearly forgotten how to engage and participate in the process.  I was given some very valuable tools, and I have lost them to atrophied disuse.

It has brought me to a particular question.  Why did I receive those tools in the first place?  I may have received them simply for the job and not as much for myself in that once the job was gone, I ceased to use the tools.  It is as if I was given a toolbox of really nice tools, used them for one project and threw them away as though they were disposable.

Then it had me wondering what other sorts of tools I have lost because I discontinued their use.

The problem arises in the fact I have ceased to use the tools I was given in my life and I remain derelict in certain areas; I remain incomplete and unhealed in certain areas of my life.  There are tools I have lost, which need to be discovered and used.  There are likely other tools I have thrown away in the garbage can with the marking "apathy" upon it.

How many tools have I thrown away?  How many bits of wisdom from mentors, friends, others?  How many life-changing books, sermons, talks?

When we fail to use such valuable tools they end up being lost and perhaps thrown away.

How disappointing!  Those were some of my favorite tools!

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Favorite Poet: Propaganda [again]

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This is the first piece I had ever seen by Propaganda, and it had me hooked from the first word. I saw it at Catalyst West Coast, but this performance is from Catalyst Atlanta. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9A4-_9nuMo&w=420&h=315]

Part 1

10 Random Facts

A friend of mine, Malisa, recently created a similar post. Since I also love to make random lists, this was a idea to me. 1. I played football for 7 years and trumpet for 9. I hated marching band but loved concert band. I never had to march because I played football. I was a first chair trumpet player and an offensive tackle. I grew to hate playing football year round, so I quit my senior year. Once I realized, "I'll have to march now," I quit trumpet the same time.

2. I cannot start a movie and not finish it in the same sitting. My brain just will not allow it.

3. My first regular job was a bagger and cart wrangler at Meijer in Muncie, IN...BUT my first paying job was as the Easter Bunny in the mall.

4. I am outrageously introverted and mild-mannered and relatively soft-spoken, which is obvious to some and perhaps very surprising to most.

5. I love using dry erase markers on windows for meeting purposes. Who needs a white board when I have these dry erase markers in my bag right now. Oh, and...

6. I don't carry a purse. I carry a book bag. Thank you very much.

7. If I were not in full time ministry, I think I would like to be a window washer.

8. I love making lists. Yes, I sort of include to-do lists, but I am talking more about High Fidelity sorts of lists. My top 5 this or thats! My 5 hypothetical things I would want. I may enjoy doing this too much.

9. I cannot do a cartwheel, but I get urges to do them every once in a while. One of these days, there will be an hilarious show for all those around me...

10. One of my favorite childhood toys was a used word-processor. I loved writing even then. I wrote stories. I wrote letters to magazine editors just to see if it would show up in the "Letters to the Editor" section.

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Permission to worship [poem]

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You have been granted permission to worshipworship as if God actually hears you as if your thoughts are words to God

Worship as if the sky were a funnel to filter only your words to His ears

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Favorite Poet[s]: Commoners and Kings

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I love the written and spoken word. I try to soak up as much of it as I can. A while ago I came across Commoners and Kings on a podcast I frequently listen to. I was unable to find a lot on them to share, but recently I revisted their facebook and found a stream of videos they call "Street Series" of different impromptu poets they film performing on the streets of Southern California. This is one of the videos which happens to be one of the Commoners and Kings. Enjoy!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1JC5skwRsw&w=560&h=315]

Reading Between the Lines: a power sentence for [almost] every year of my life

Hidden in these sentences are the likes of divorce, adoption, and diabetes. Also there will be found marriage, birth, and milestones alongside brokenness, addictive numbing, and wounds. Good luck discovering those things between the lines as these lines are much thicker than the revealing space between. (I gave up trying to think of things for a few years I just don't really remember much about.)

*This was an idea I received here.

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1980 - Naked into this world I came. 1981 - Some of the best memories are those you don't remember. 1982 - It was never your divorce, but ours. 1983 - 1984 - 1985 - 1986 - 1987 - 1988 - Two families converge 'forever' with adoption??? 1989 - There is now more than corn in Indiana. 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - Time to be a man, boy! 1993 - 1994 - Wade out a little bit deeper. 1995 - Commit to your life's largest choice. 1996 - 1997 - Search for future while you relish tonight. 1998 - Release! 1999 - A bold use of poetry will get you married some day. 2000 - The end is further than we ever think. 2001 - The death of naive safety will never be forgotten. 2002 - Never take for granted a gift of grace. 2003 - A degree does not qualified make you. 2004 - Marriage slays any selfishness to which I thought I held. 2005 - Two converged families fracture with only a letter. 2006 - Shedding the man you used to be is a temporary joy. 2007 - Bodies stop producing insulin and emotions at the same rate. 2008 - Stir in a little Mexican, lots of insulin, and a charge of passion. 2009 - What.is.happening 2010 - My heart exploded with more love than I ever knew I was capable of. 2011 - New life is on the horizon.

You're Welcome: Future Me

I have a reoccurring post idea here called: “You’re Welcome”.

Every once in a while you come across a website that just steals your attention right from under you. You may not even know why, but you find yourself just mindlessly clicking through because you just have to see one…more…post.

These will be things I find to share with you; things before you thank me for showing, I’ll just say, “You’re welcome!”

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Have you ever wanted to write a letter to yourself? Sure you have. Have you ever wanted to write a letter to yourself you would read later...way later? Of course, right?

That is the simple premise of Future Me. It is such a great idea. It is simple to use as well. You write a letter to yourself in the future, set a date, and it will email to you on that date.

I set me letter to be sent to me a year from now. I wrote out some goals and hopes I have for myself by that point as a husband, a father, and a pastor.

You can also allow for it to be shared anonymously on the site. Take some time to read other letters people of have sent to themselves. Really interesting and inspirational...sometimes!

You're welcome!