How He Loves Us

As i post this, i am moved to repent.
I do not love him the way i should.
I love other things more.
Like a child i play in the mud of wordliness and stain the beautiful raiment he has clothed me in.
I trivialize his affections.
Let me be candid, i take his love for granted.
I'm comfortable with the immense weight of all eternity hidden in the recesses of my heart.
Yet every time i desire to wet my tongue with his grace, he unleashes a torrential stream of love from his eternal storehouses.
His love is amazing.
AND
I still have little faith.
I try to do his will for him.
I am content for him to have his way as long as i am on the committee that makes the decisions.
I am obsessed with 'making up' for his 'mistakes'
Oh, God, wait a second... you forgot something here. Let me fix it for you.
As if i could hold the burning stars in place with my right hand,
or even hold my loose teeth in my fleshly gums with my designs.
I repent.
Renew my affections for your ways.
Break this heart in me.
Take me to your temple.
Let your praises echo in your sanctuary.
I will be spent in your service.
Then, you will no longer be jealous for me.

Jacksonville

I have a lot of ideas i should write about Jacksonville. Since i lived there for 6 weeks interning for a non-profit ministry called 2nd Mile Ministries, i have quite a few things i need to debrief still... i'm not sure if i will ever get to all of them, but for the sake of clearing out a couple of the good ones before i talk them to death, here's a few.

Reasons i loved Jacksonville/2nd Mile

~Church planing in the 'hood
~Andrae's (The Big Boss) laugh
~Swami... Garrett's (Intern) guitar playing
~The question game ("Hey, why are you wearing that shirt?")
~Jambo!!!
~My favorite day camper, Akilah. So cute.
~Ruth's ruthless Eyebrow and in a unrelated matter, her 4pm coffee runs.
~Heron saying... "Do you smell that?"
~Trying to do the 'jerk'
~I lived with 6 amazing interns.
~H. B. & Shilo Metropolitan Baptist Church
~Taking a large group of white people to Shilo
~Yo Fam!
~Jamison working the kids into an excited frenzy just to run around a circle screaming, "You Ain't Hype"
~Running in the monsoon rain
~Going for a Rita's Gelato or Brewster's Ice Cream run at 9pm
~Hardee's with Amp
~Having a house full of people and no car to leave--being brought face to face with the stark realization that you must walk in the the spirit or sin publicly.
~Mama B's breakfast
~Park nights
~Kobe Bryant On 'Em
~Stupid Dumb Idiot
~The upstairs. affectionately dubbed "Sheol" by virtue of the lack of AC. Coincidentally, i slept there most nights.
~A woman who sells herself (don't get the wrong idea. I get convicted every time i think about it because i have no idea how to love them the way Jesus would)
~Luna's (i have no idea how to really spell Mrs. Robinson's name) gentle spirit.
~St. Augustine, and yes, slapping pigeons.
~Knowing that i'd slap pigeons if i had to do it all over again.
~Meeting the Highschoolers and going to the beach the first day.
~Being the token white guy
~Our volunteer groups, Middleburg, Eastside, and especially the 'Bama crew.
~"The ocean is not endless"
~The old firehouse we transformed into a Safari!
~STAY LEFT!!!!!
~Pastor Rick Borque's Sermons on Isaiah

There are so many things i love about Jacksonville. it was such a blessing to go. My burden for the gospel to be carried there compels me to ask you to pray for God's hand to change the hearts of men to love Him in the hood.

Hanrland Sanders must be Rolling Over in his Grave

Hard times in the fast food industry. KFC introduces a line of grilled chicken. and let's be honest... KGC just doesn't have the same ring to it.



We'll see if the grilling gamble pays of, but until then, the Coronel must be rolling over in his grave.

A conversation between Master A and Mister B

Well said, sir.
But is that your linchpin?
Don’t bother to cross the wires if you can’t stay

You can’t be legitimate and lonely
If you’re bored, you’re probably boring
Sure, you could copy and paste your entire existence
But you can’t erase it(....................)Or give it back

Love your loving mother not the hired surrogate
She’s the fountain of who you are
“Who you were” and “who you are” like the two main ingredients of vinaigrette
Is it an infinite coincidence that they never mix?

Lead, follow or get out of the way.
Don’t sit idle by
Counter Renege Or Reply

I could measure my insides against your outsides
But who wants to rob their own grave with a fake gun?

"Tolerate" The National Bank

Jazz Indie Rock... and i love it.

I love Easter

Easter is such a special day. This year, i half-heartedly observed my own form of unconventional lent. I know that sounds like weak sauce, but i stood up to a giant for fourty days. My stomach. I partook of some form of rice and beans for lunch, giving up normal foods, to remind myself of what Christ gave up to become man.
During my meditations on the life of the savior, i was floored. my own insiginificance on the part of the gospel got up in my face and stayed there. You see, there are two impossibilities wrapped up in easter. One for God, and one for Man.

God Died.

Man Ressurected.

this is the height of the dual nature of Jesus. we know he is both fully God and man, and are familiar with the great possibilities of the life of a God/man, but what are the cons, the downsides, and the bad thigns of being God and Man? They are all wraped up in the fact that Christ orchastrated every event in his death, burrial and resurrection, and yet never should have died. His perfetion prohibited it. Yet, 'he who knew no sin became sin for us'.
This is where it gets complicated, because Christ had to be the perfect sinless sacrifice-the passover lamb-in order to be our redemption, and yet, in his boundless love, took sin on himself. the very sin he fought against. the very sin that separated creation and creator. the very sin that bears the hate of his holy prejudice.

I believe a proper understaning of Easter deflates narcicistic self-rightiousness. God did not die for you. He won you. He is not consumed with you, but we are fulfilled in him.

I don't mean to be hyper critical, and i mean to say this in love. i was singing in the shower friday morning a little song you might know. it goes,

you gave, you gave, your life away,
you gave, you gave, your life away,
you gave, you gave, your life away for me
your grace has broken every chain,
my sin is gone my debt's been paid,
you gave, you gave, your life away for me

this song of praise turned bitter on my tongue as i sang the last two words... "for me". If a man to believes the Almight Creator of the universe wants to be BFF's, he does not know God.

During the week of His Passion, Jesus was asked, "which commandment is greatest?" and he replied with Deut 6:4,5. a passage the Hebrews called "Shma" or "Hear".

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

This was the last question the religious leaders tried on Jesus, and with this answer he explaned the profundity of His Passion. The way it has been since the beginning of divine revelation, a call to love God. a call to be obedient sons and daughters, royal priests, and heirs. I love Easter because it tells me how to love God.

Love God.