The Pen Is Mightier

have you ever tried writing poetry? not just venting frustration in a journal, but really trying to sit down and write something that could be deemed relevant and interesting to a mass of people. to fasion words and phraises through natural rhythms to move someone you may never meet, but solely basing it on the mere fact that if you can capture an essence of being human well enough that they can understand it.

try it.

theres much more to it than catchy phraises or jabs at pop culture. much more than trying to harness ones emotions in any sort of direction, although trying to hard at that will cause miserable failure. any sense of art and expression cannot be calculated or constrained into any sort of equasion. not to say that its not mathematical, because rythm, beats and measures are all based on numbers. its the ability to express something so precisely, yet knowing that success means that youve only tapped the surface. i once read something by edgar allan poe where he said that a poem is a poem as long as it keeps to its mood and purpose. a play is not a poem, yet may be so very poetic and even some songs can seem to be disjointed.you see, songs are the seemingly easiest form of poetry out there.

anyone can learn to play guitar.

but who says that gives any credit to the amount of talent stored up in ones pinky finger. i say little. when someone picks up the guitar to write someting catchy and get famous, is that really all that artistic? now if they are successful they will become recognized and even score some ladies while they are at it, but is that art or a means to an end? i wont go into the whole thing about whether doing something out of the ordinary makes it art, or if someones just being a little strange. id like to think that art became art because someone wanted to sit down and express all the ideas and concepts that they could no longer keep locked up inside their brain. all those who are famouse, their work speaks for them many years after they lost their ability to do so for themselves. i dont think they would have lasted so long if there wasnt a burning passion inside them to create masterpeices, symphonies, and words that can transend us to a different place, even for just those few moments.

i want that burning passion, and if i have it i want the guts to let it out of its cage. its not the ones that know how to do everything that have the bigger impact, but the ones who know how to make what they have fit into whatever is being shaped around them.

a starting place

i think one of the things we really need to start seeing is that the sunday school answers of how a Christian should live dont cover everything. that there is no one answer fits all. that there is no formula for a Christian lifestyle.

there are many principles that we have been taught, and many different situations that we will face in life. there are alot of different voices out there trying to tell us how to interpret whats going on, whether we should play it safe, go with our gut, or just carry on our own way and try not to think of it. the thing is that even if we have been in a similar situation in life, that doesnt mean we know the answer the next time. this is not the same test question that your political science teacher reworded to be nice to you on your exam.

if we only seek out the surface level of things, then were not gonna find the nitty gritty. were not going to find that by giving personal attention to something will reveal a story, and complications that require much more thought and effort. and the ability to care for whats going on, because if you put your heart into something, you will become attached.

if we were to give ourselves fully to the world around us, (no, we cant give ourselves to everything that becons because we would become exhausted, but the world that we can effect and have a heart for) theres no telling the effect that could happen. when we step out of our comfort zones, at first its a little rough, but when you get past that there is this whole other world out there, and its not as outright hateful or desiring to chew you up on the spot as you might think.

for us in America today, we have so many freedoms that its hard to imagine not being able to have a cellphone by the time your 15, or hanging out at starbucks with your friends a few times a week while taking advantage of their free wifi for customers. thats where we need to get off sometimes. we shouldnt ignore the freedoms we have, on the contrary, we should use that in a way that instead of feeling like we are being persecuted and become defensive and fearful of the outside world, to engage a culture that, while may be morally corupt (find a place that isnt... really) that doesnt mean we have to hide or try and push political agendas that further alienate us from those we are called to love and care for.

there is a pettyness in all of us that tries to explain why we are better than someone else, or how we need to wait for someone better to come along because these people certainly wont due (i am not advocating this political correctness though, not the make everyone feel equal to a sense that people who are talented somewhere else feel that they have an equal chance with someone whos really good and therefor will be humiliated because they want what they arent good at). i am saying that we cant just sit and wait for something to happen. there is a desire, a drive in everyone, when you start getting upset that no one is doing the things that are layed heavy on your heart, maybe that means that you need to get up and do something about it, especially when the people around you dont seem to see it the same way you do.

we cant sit back and wait for the moment when it all "clicks", for the moment when the planets align and we are that better person, and we most of all cant sit back and wait for the end knowing that well be ok then. weve got to let ourselves be moved by the world around, let our hearts speak the words that weve been wanting, but werent sure if it really added up. theres something more than sitting and getting by and we cant just go watch movies to produce the emotions that we could let ourselves experience in real life if we let ourselves realize we knew how.

weve got to step out and not let the fear of the unknown push us back to complacency and showing the world around us that were really not that much different at all, when we bicker the same way, when we divorse the same way, when we speak of an amazing love, but we fight amungst ourlseves as much as anyone else and we let the corruption prove to us that we cant get out there and show the world, one little light at a time, that there is something amazing, powerful, and loving about what we know. we need to show what weve let ourselves shrug off as head knowledge.

we have to attempt to connect to the world around us because no one else will do it for us.

How were we meant to live?

As far as I can understand, this is the epidimizing question of living a Christian lifestyle:

Do we, as Christians, create a sterile Christian environment where we can actively participate in everything that we believe Christianity should be, OR do we allow ourselves to be a light to the darkness, all the while knowing that we are flawed and an imperfect witness to those around us?

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24 (NASB)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (NASB)

control...

every time i try to be in control of some sort of situation i get stressed out and frustrated when anything that deviates from the original plan comes my way. the thing is that when its not on my shoulders im quite layed back and confident that everything will work out ok. i think sometimes its just the implications that i could actually be in charge, even when other times i pretty much am but without the formality, i am fine with. i think something just gets to my head that says, oh crap, if i screw this up... well i screwed it up and theres probably nothing i can do to fix it if i do. eek. i dont like stress much. a also dont like thinking that its all up to me even when i know its not. im probably to independant for my own good. in most cases, im ok with being part of something, just not feeling that im on the very top of the pillar that might just come crashing down with nothing there to catch me while i barrol face first into the ground. does anyone know of an opening for first mate?

nothing at all

sometimes i wonder why people spend so much time blogging their lives down on the internet. i mean, i know i infrequent this stuff for random blurbs that i feel like sharing, but the way i see it, if were pouring out ourselves to an impersonal computer screen for who ever surfs by to see whats going on at our lives at any given moment, we are losing ourselves to a mass jumble of incripted binary that in no way fulfilling or can give us any satisfaction or support or feedback that is necessary for a healthy human existence. we all need outlets, but brick walls arent even good at giving good echos sometimes.


yes, i do see the irony.

thoughts from a driveway

faith in the unknown is the cornerstone of our belief.
if we are unable to have faith in what we do not know, then when the questions that will inevitably arise will cause us to ultimately crumble because we never stood firm enough for the ground to waiver. this doesnt mean accepting blindly as so many have before us and missed the genuin point for then we would only be like those so passionate yet treading the waters of our own pride. Jesus took the hearts of zealots and slowly formed their passions into a more effective tool to show his glory. as Christians we need to have a believable faith and passion that drives us to become something more in this process of the unsure and unknown which will always haunt the back of our minds until the time when God finds it fit to end our existence on this earth.

i have questions, i dont claim to understand. but without the hope that there is an answer beyond me(universal) to all of this, then we have no hope of something greater at all.

The Fleeting Sounds of Temporary

Its been a while since i have disected the words and phraises of the common man to trace them back to their original roots. For all of you who were afraid that i had forgotten about English, grammar and dictation, I assure you that I havent. today we are going to discuss the word "contemporary." thats right, "contemporary." Im sure youve all heard this word before in passing, or over the airwaves describing your favorite 80s classics such as Point of Grace or Philips Craig and Dean. Today we are going to take another look at this too easily tossed around word.

Lets start by breaking this word appart into its two main parts; "con" and "temporary." As you can clearly see, this word is simply made up of a very often used word and prefix. This simple breaking up of words can make even the most daunting spelling B challenge look like childs play.

"Con." i believe most of you have heard the joke about pro and con, progress and congress. well that is one of the many different ways to define the word, but it will be the one we use. Even though such applicatoins as "criminal," or the spanish word for "with" arent too far fetched of an interpretation. although were discussing english so anything south of the border is not accepted. Using the word "con" is to say that it is not what it appears to be, or to be fake. In other words adding "con" to a word shows that it is not at all what the root word may be seemingly implying.

Then we have the "temporary." I think we all know what that word stands for things that dont last. Such uses as fall fasion, the eighties and teletubies are all widely accepted and condoned for this word. We could use it in the deep philosphical way of saying that nothing will last at all, but thats sounds too psuedo intellectual and possibly depressing.


So now we have a word that combines the root of "fake, or pretending" and "non lasting". This leads only to one possible conclusion; the word "contemporary" truely stands for something that will stand the test of time and may only pretend to fade out of the spotlight or show that it has served its time and is ready to take its place on the shelf. Anything truely "contemporary" will, by definition, last the test of time to show that it is as truely remarkable as when it was first introduced decades ago and that the timeless harmonies shall ring true in ones ears for decades to come.

What is "contemporary" was, is and shall be for all of time as it freshens and renews to become more real and relevant to the changing world around it.