"When I thought 'My foot slips,'

your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.

When the cares of my heart are many,

your consolations cheer my soul."

-Psalm 94:18-19

seeing the adventure

"Every great story has its battles, and every great story is filed with adventure. This is why we love fairy tales, romances, epics, histories, westerns, biographies--any story worth its telling. The Bible is absolutely rife with this sort of drama. We come to love the hero and heroine because they rise up to face all that the story requires of them. This is deep in the human race; the longing was given to us on the day of our Creation.

After God fashioned this dazzling earth, he gave it to us. Which is a bit like giving your fifteen year old the keys to a Maserati. But, he has his ways of doing things. When God gave us the earth, he also gave us all of the adventures that lay ahead. No one had yet climbed a mountain, or sailed the sea. No one had yet written a song or a novel. No one had yet discovered that strawberries make wonderful jam. God has 'hidden' joys innumerable in the earth he gave us, like Easter eggs waiting to be found in tall grass. Someone will figure out you can milk the cow, and if you let the milk sit you can skim cream off the top, and someone else will discover that the cream goes wonderfully in coffee.

The earth is rigged for adventure, like a sailboat. And our hearts have adventure written deep within, like sailors hear the call of the sea."

excerpt from Love & War by John and Stasi Eldredge

teach me again

the power of the forgiven's song.

No Ceiling lyrics,

by Eddie Vedder

Comes the morning

When I can feel

That there's nothing

Left to be concealed

Moving on,

a scene surreal

Know my heart will never

Never be far from here

Sure as I'm breathing

Sure as I'm sad

I'll keep this wisdom

In my flesh

I leave here believing

More than I had

And there's a reason I'll be

Reason I'll be back

As I walk

the hemisphere

Got my wish

to up and disappear

I been wounded

I been healed

Now for landing I been

Landing I been cleared

Sure as I'm breathing

Sure as I'm sad

I'll keep this wisdom

Iin my flesh

I leave here believing

More than I had

This love has got

No ceiling

marked by joy

Tonight, a friend of mine who is preparing to move back to England came over to my house to hang out for a bit. She is one of the smartest people I know, and so full of faith. Her presence is an inspiration.

We talked about various things, including my trip to Mexico, and her coming transition to a new job in England.

The conversation soon arrived at a discussion of why it is so hard sometimes to move on, to say "See you later" to a time you've loved fully, and follow God into new seasons and places. Leaving Mexico was really hard for me. In just 10 days, I felt so much love grow in my heart for the land and the people, and I felt that love reciprocated from some of the most generous people I've ever met. I not only made friends, I developed a love and affection for brothers and sisters. They may live in a different culture, yet we are all compelled by the same desire to see our true homeland, heaven, come and invade the earth.

It is hard to leave a place like that. It is hard to wave a goodbye, knowing full well that for the rest of your life, the faces and experiences of that time will stick with you, even if your own face is forgotten by them. Getting on the plane to leave Mexico felt less like leaving, and more like carrying forever a prayer for the church there, a longing for them to forever walk in the beauty of Jesus. And maybe that's the problem. Maybe where some people can leave a place, I instead carry places and people with me. I forget lots of things, but I don't forget the people who make it into my heart.

My friend understood, and that's why I knew I could talk to her about it. She could relate to the achy feeling that is present during transition. Even the thought of her being around for just another month, or even less, was another example of someone who is special to my heart needing to go elsewhere to follow God's lead.

But as I was saying goodnight to her, something started to stir in my heart, like a revelation that I was so in need of remembering...

"The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness."

-Sheldon Vanauken

There is a joy that Christians should possess in their love that surpasses human understanding, that even in parting and painful geographic separation, that joy is evident because it is so excited to release another to fulfill the plans of God. Tonight, I think I came to the realization that part of the reason for that joy is that in the end, we get to spend FOREVER together...with Christ and with the whole family. There is a bond in Christ's love that speaks of promises to come, of a homeland that doesn't end, where all the cultural separations and language barriers and geographical distances no longer matter. I look forward to that day, and it spurs me on to want to follow God even more radically, because I know that whatever the cost may be, the end of the story is more than worth it, even if it means temporary pain and loneliness.

So those are my rambling, underdeveloped thoughts for the evening. I'll probably go spend some more time processing what I just wrote, letting it seep into my heart and bring out deeper levels of courage to obey.

reading a book on Leonardo Da Vinci

The Seven Da Vincian Principles:

Curiosita--An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.

Dimostrazione-- A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.

Sensazione--The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.

Sfumato (literally "Going up in Smoke")-- A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.

Arte/Scienze-- The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination. "Whole-braing" thinking.

Corporalita--The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.

Connessione-- A recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena. Systems thinking.

"To Whom It May Concern"

Lyrics by: The Civil War Wars,

from their new Barton Hollow album

Why are you so far from me?

In my arms is where you ought to be

How long will you make me wait?

I don't know how much more I can take

I missed you

But I haven't met you

Oh but I want to

How I do

Slowly counting down the days

Till I finally know your name

Ooo the way your hand feels round my waist

The way you laugh

The way your kisses taste

I missed you

But I haven't met you

Oh but I want to

How I do, How I do

I've missed you

But I haven't met you

Oh I missed you

I haven't met you

Oh but I want to

Oh how I want to

Dear whoever you might be

I'm still waiting patiently.

We have all of these philosophies, carefully formed, intellectually and tenaciously pursued, put into intricate detail with fine sounding words and eloquently strung together sentences. Many of these philosophies are correct, based in truth, even inspiring. Yet in all the effort to live up to them, there is a consistent falling short, a seamless and constant need for grace. Not just grace for our own journey, but grace for others. Grace for the pursuit of truth, and grace in the midst of the desire to live out all that is revealed.