Forget the Varnish

Fear Not?

2012-03-03T08:49:00.002-08:00

2012-02-23T19:16:00.000-08:00

Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.-- Helen Keller ... I am so blessed

2012-02-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

like trees

2012-02-16T21:11:00.000-08:00

Tell me where we gonna go to lose ourselves tonight. Where’s the map you drew telling us where not to turn. We’re on this straight and narrow, but sometimes we don’t know the way; And we feel okay wandering Cuz we’re lost but not long gone. Trees grow up around us; Bark wrinkled in time. We run our fingers over lines Tracing history. If I took your hand and we flew, would you

I've come home

2012-02-06T13:44:00.001-08:00

2012-02-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

disbelief

2012-01-29T12:38:00.000-08:00

How can anyone look at creation and deny an artist? How can we stand in the midst of nature and say, "there is no God?" The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice

first snow

2012-01-19T19:38:00.000-08:00

We walked: fresh socks on fallen snow the sound of crunching beneath, ducking here and there under tree boughs as we sang our winter song. We climbed; up high on the hillside. Rides, set down on the snow, sleds; red pavement on white. Pushing as we tried to gain our momentum. Laughter echoes we can see its breath, frozen in time; confetti air.

plans

2012-01-16T07:41:00.000-08:00

When we plan the future are we trying to play God or are we trying to play it smart? Where is the line between a lack of trust in God’s plan for us and just being plain irresponsible? I have fears about the future, fears that cause my un-planning mind want to make like a crazy person and plan her whole life to a tee. Is it wrong that I don’t have answers when people ask me what I'm going to do?

things to look forward to

2012-01-14T09:25:00.001-08:00

I'm working on some articles about the porn industry and UFC (completely opposite topics, I know). Both articles will feature notes from both Christian and secular perspectives. Stay tuned!!!

the heart of religion

2012-01-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

I recently viewed this video and it inspired me to write a blog post about the topic. I’ve been thinking about religion a lot lately, which is not something I normally do (think about religion, that is, not just think). But first, I want to say that I don't agree with everything in this video. I don't think Jesus was against religion, religion is a framework within which we can

2012-01-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

I don't want a good man searching for a mate. I don't want a good man searching for love. I don't want a good man searching for a good woman. I want a good man searching for God.

up north, where it's safe

2012-01-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

I could feel my eyes begin to melt like Elphaba beneath water, heavily salted, soaked in sweetness. My heart beating each time with you, hitting wood to drum. I watched as a fire sparked in my chest, it warmed my soul. Me, feeling your every beat. You, lighting up. And when the music faded and we stood under the cement arch, amidst the devil`s teeth, you smiled.

alone

2012-01-10T19:20:00.000-08:00

photo via (we heart it)

2012-01-09T14:36:00.000-08:00

Why I always have, and always will, love fall. There's a beauty that can't be denied. I'm actually a bit glad this winter has not been full of ice and snow.

2012-01-08T15:23:00.000-08:00

I could give you no advice but this: to go into yourself and to explore the depths where your life wells forth. --Rainer Maria Rilke

carry me

2012-01-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

There is sadness in our lives; tragedy. I think I have seen my family cry more tears in the past 3 months than I have ever seen them cry in all the months before. I have often felt like Job. Like Satan is just waiting for me to crack, to curse God and be done with it all. But I refuse, and so does my family. Instead, I, in one of the most difficult times of my life, have found myself being

sparks

2012-01-02T20:38:00.000-08:00

I watch the sparks as they fly around your head and in my heart. Light saturated in blue, and red, and yellow, falling on our heads, mimicking the sun. Joy and passion lit on fire and shot, love, like rockets flying in the sky. Come down, come down Sparks fall down on our heads. They're ashes now.

everything is perfect

2011-12-31T09:18:00.000-08:00

Where are you? Why are you not why I am? Why are you not in the brush? Or the lens? Or the pen? Where are you? When can I create you? Painted in time; in pictures; in words. If I were to wish for perfection, to try and create it, to mold it in my hands, to uncover the canvas and see, could I create perfection? ... or would perfection get the best of me? photo via (we

2011-12-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life. --J Krishnamurti photo via (we heart it)

2011-12-24T20:06:00.000-08:00

"Never forget me, because if I thought you would, I'd never leave." ~ Alan Alexander (American artist)

2011-12-18T12:39:00.000-08:00

In the black we walk through the thick coffee-darkness, down the dug-out path, dug-out by the shoes of lost feet, feet that forged a way to save wandering souls. It is not the same as before, there is a distance I can’t place; a time uncountable; a weight immeasurable; and yet I could not wish to be anywhere else . We walk in the mud, dirt littering our soles,

and if my heart should somehow stop...

2011-12-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

then in the forest i made my homelay down on hard and ancient stonethen if my heart should somehow stopi’ll hang on, to the hopethat you’re not too late -- James Vincent McMorrow

2011-12-14T13:49:00.000-08:00

New Music Blog: http://poetryandsoundmusings.tumblr.com/

2011-12-11T20:21:00.001-08:00

"Anything you do not give freely and abundantly become lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes." - Annie Dillard

your soul

2011-12-10T09:12:00.001-08:00

Step; take another. Take another now so you don’t sink. Take a step and walk into wonder, walk in darkness, but inside the light. Don’t forget it, That light there; that shining in your soul. They say it keeps the young alive, they say it makes the grave cry, that shining in your soul, that effervescent light. The dark may be here, covering like a wool blanket, thick, you cannot

disintegration

2011-11-26T11:03:00.001-08:00

I have 417 friends on Facebook. 417 friends who survived my last mass-deletion. I talk to maybe 20 of them on a regular basis. Maybe 15 through text/e-mail/Facebook. Maybe 10 in person or on the phone. About 3 of them know me really, really well. All else is just background noise. So what's the point? How has this "social networking" actually done anything for my friendships? If

gorgeous autumn sunset

2011-11-21T16:47:00.001-08:00

beauty

2011-11-20T18:20:00.001-08:00

There is beauty all around us that is waiting to be found, we merely have to go out and discover it.

tighrope

2011-11-16T19:30:00.000-08:00

"We are all wretched. We are all beautiful." "I'm walking the tightrope of identity. I've got Jesus in my heart but sin on my sleeve." Christianity is a walk of careful treading. We must be careful what we think, what we say, what we subject ourselves to, what we consume, what we believe. It is laborious. Impossible, if not for the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. One of

Jacob's Story

2011-11-16T17:23:00.001-08:00

"It's Jesus who changes abusers into protectors, He changes addicts into free men, He changes traffickers into rescuers."

first world problems

2011-11-16T16:13:00.001-08:00

The ridiculousness of this thechive.com post made me feel a little guilty... I have definitely done the charger one... but alas, life goes on and we recognize that though "it's all relative," some things are just plain ridiculous! Let's admit our ridiculousness (at least the bad parts) and then commit to changing it. http://thechive.com/2011/08/29/20-first-world-problems-20-photos/

New music!

2011-11-14T09:52:00.001-08:00

out of your poverty

2011-11-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been diving into the pool of information about simple living and community building and it seems to me that the two go hand in hand. This has been both a refreshing and daunting concept for me to learn. Refreshing, because I have seen movement by the wealthy toward being willing to live with less and recognizing the wisdom of the phrase, “live simply so that others may simply live.”

2011-11-07T13:41:00.001-08:00

2011-11-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all. -- Richard Wright

2011-10-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

The Midway State is a Canadian band that I've been following for about 4 years now. They just put out a new album this summer, and though not as good as their debut album "Holes," it still has that feel-good summer-night vibe that The Midway State is known for. Though The Midway State took a bit of a different direction from their normal style with the album, the pop feel of this album lends

the resurrected life

2011-10-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

Verse 1: I’m falling softly into the water, and I’m trying hard not to drown.But my tale is one of a lost souland I’m reaching the point of no return. Chorus: I’m dying to resurrect all that has disappeared -this sin is killing me,digging me a grave I fear, and I’m drowning beneath the soil of all I’ve done. Still the blood runs clean through me, it’s transfusing all of this;eating the dirty

A song: Autumn Sorrow

2011-10-12T16:38:00.000-07:00

things are brokennot like toysthat children left on the floorafter called out to play but like heartsbuilt up highand then let downnot so easily there sounds the melodyof the bird'smournful morning songwithout its harmonythe dissonance belongs there sounds the melodyof the wind between the treesof leaves falling to the groundso deadly you've got me crying out nowfor freedomfrom this autumn sorrow

on hope

2011-10-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

In the end we are all merely searching for happiness. We are searching for the places that our hearts can call home; places where our hope will not be broken. Sometimes we catch glimpses of these things. At dusk, when the sun is going down and the red and purple colours touch the horizon and we are reminded of how even the end can be a beautiful thing; when a baby is born and we are reminded that

2011-09-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

2011-08-11T14:41:00.000-07:00