Otherworldly.
September 21, 2009
My first seventeen years were somewhat exclusively written in Orlando. My stories were all interwoven with the heat and traffic, the crime and commercial zoning. We didn’t vacation much and I really don’t remember ever wondering how other regions of the country (or the world, for that matter) were different. Movies set against the backdrop of the Colorado Rockies or the shores of Maine might as well have been Narnia. Read the rest of this entry »
Countdown.
August 31, 2009
Twenty-seven days left. Until another page turns in God’s book where my years are numbered and until another candle is placed on the cake down here where we make wishes and carelessly blow through the pages of our lives. As you know from my last post, last week we heard the books slam abruptly closed on two young lives. And it made me stop and consider things.
In twenty-seven days plus another three hundred and sixty-five, I shall turn thirty. And I wonder where I shall be on that day. Better yet, who I shall be. There have been times in my life when I hoped to live in a certain neighborhood or reach a certain landmark achievement by the time I was thirty. More than one bathroom. Hardwood floors. Maybe have a book on the coffee table that I had written and have friends around the table who know me well enough that they didn’t have to read it to understand it, but would read it anyway because they’re just good friends like that. Those early hopes were Read the rest of this entry »
Seasons and Tail Winds.
August 21, 2009
Did I ever tell you about The Summer That We Were Homeless? It rivals the Winter at Madison Street, in that the temperatures were extreme and the living conditions were sparse and demanding. Before I tell you about the former, let me tell you a bit about the latter, so that you can appreciate the comparison.
623 Madison Street. It was a dilapidated old house, whose three stories stood abjectly on the corner, anchoring a long block of tired, ignored houses. If you squinted and cocked your head to the side a bit, you could perhaps imagine what turn-of-the-century life would have brought to this historic street, but upon making direct eye contact, the chipping paint and broken windows sighed an undeniable air of abandonment. Of life inhaled from the parlors and porches and instead exhaled into distant suburbs and rubber stamp duplexes somewhere on the outskirts of town. This was how we found her. 623 Madison Street. Read the rest of this entry »
Then.
July 9, 2009
Honesty that beckons fear.
Tracing steps that led me here.
Washed away in strings of years.
There’s no way back. No way back.
Yesterday was not my home.
In Egypt’s desert where I roamed.
As manna’s taste is too well-known.
There’s no way back. No way back. Read the rest of this entry »
Downpour.
June 29, 2009
If my head is swimming with thoughts, then my heart might be drowning.
Life can be so complex. And as beautiful as love is and as nurturing relationships can be, sometimes the risk and vulnerability demanded threatens to overtake my fragile soul. I really don’t even know what I came here to say. I find myself sitting in silence. Silence in the car. Silence washing dishes. Silence. I feel like the part of my life that plays out beyond my fingertips is like a snow globe. One filled with rainbow sequins that is sitting on a shelf in some city that has earthquakes often. I can’t see to the center of the earth to understand all of the whys, but I see the sunlight glimmering off the thousands of colorful sequins and feel the rumble beneath my feet. Perhaps it is in those moments that I have been picked up off the shelf and I am securely in God’s hand as he shakes and shakes. I am tired of trying to control all of the pieces. So instead I stand in silence and watch the colors swirl and spin and wonder what God is thinking. Read the rest of this entry »
Further More.
June 24, 2009
We have been so busy lately, which explains the silence around here. But our days are still quite red, so fear not, there are more entries to come. At present, I am sitting on the floor in front of a rigged computer in the middle of my emptied living room. The past couple weeks have been a blur of packing and hauling and organizing and garage sales liquidating.
I have been asked more than once, “Isn’t it difficult to sell your dining room table and your leather chair and all of your decorations?” Read the rest of this entry »
Where Have All the Flowers Gone.
June 8, 2009
Once upon a time (actually, this time last year…) this was my house. 1358 Pine Bluff Dr. This was where many chapters of my life unfolded. Painted into the red walls and hung on the fridge. Telling their stories from every stain on the carpet and every umber in the fire places. My stories. My life. Read the rest of this entry »
Tethered.
May 27, 2009
It is the end of May and that means that caps and gowns and graduation announcements are all around us. And the big question we hear in all the sermons and commencement speeches is “What are you going to do with your life?” or “How do you know God’s will?” Well, I’m going to interrupt the superfluous lectures taking place all over our nation and just cut to the punchline.
Run to the edges of every unique gift and talent He has given you and use them to change your world for His glory.
It is not so much about Read the rest of this entry »
