The other day, I stood on my balcony…having a smoker’s moment (minus the smokes of course). Gazing upon the scene before me… towards Belltown… the high speed elevator moving quickly up the lit up Space Needle… and the blinking red lights that sit atop the towers on Queen Anne Hill are a bit hypnotizing.

“How did I get here?”

I’m having one of those sleepless nights in Seattle… Don’t hate me for using cliche’s but I couldn’t help it. So many lights out there… I’ve heard the city actually gives electricity bill discounts to building owners to leave some of their lights on for the sake of maintaining a nice city skyline. Way to kill the romance of it all right?

I’ve been a star gazer ever since I can remember… but tonight, there were just one or two lonely stars, the city lights are too blinding to see much else…

God’s night sky can’t be plagiarized. No man made creation can compare to the millions of lights that exist on a clear night. If you ever looked up into the sky from the plateaus of the Oregon dessert or the darkened beaches of the Pacific Ocean… there are more stars in the sky than one might have ever believed to have existed… the darkness of space struggling to be seen in-between the twinkling… it brings a smile to my face to think that.

Seattle has a marvelous skyline… but witness the majesty of an ancient glory… God’s own handiwork – the constellations with which thousands of generations have found guidance in their travels.

There’s no need to create or discover something completely new to find our way through this life… He’s created everything we would ever need already.

I struggle to embrace all that is of Godly character and Godly substance – to abandon the empty shells of sinful deception… but in adversity, there is much strength to be gained… and in overcoming obstacles together within the body of Christ, iron sharpens iron… so Paul says to keep on fighting the “good fight”.

Is this a cRaZy! Deal or WHAT!?!

$9 for any CD (not including multiple disc sets) and that includes shipping.  This includes new releases.    It’s a discount through my employer…

Anyone interested in taking advantage of this offer?  Let me know

Does anyone feel like things are going so well… and then God gives you a wedgie?  Man… it took forever to get that wedgie out.

this morning at exactly 6:01 AM, all the world became as it should be…  looking out into what I call, “the ever changing canvas”, I longed to hear the sweet voice of Norah Jones… “Sunrise… Sunrise” 

There’s no comparison to starting a day properly… having your priorities straight and being able to finally change gears at will to the varying speeds of life.    I actually think I might have been suffering from some anxiety…   there’s a first for everything.

Christina… I can relate now…

I started the morning taking care of my personal business…
and then onto my QT…   it’s been a while since I sang with my guitar this early in the day… and it was good.    I think my body is finally adjusted to running in the mornings cause I feel amazing   …and for breakfast – a banana, broccolli, plain yogurt milk shake… it was an experiment…

On the way to work, just walking down the street, some random lady came running up, gave me a huge smile, waived a girlie waive and said “HI!”… and she scampered on across the crosswalk, going the other way…  I have no idea who she is… but God does

It’s been tough adjusting from a life changing mountain top experience to the daily grind of reality… but that balance is slowing it’s teetering and tottering…  and finally this morning… stillness. 

God is always good… but now life is good, too.  

Praise God.  Praise God.

I had a doctor’s appointment this morning… and while waiting, I always enjoy watching the fish.  Every doctor in this country must have a fish tank in their office. 

There was one fish that seemed to have a bit more ambition than the other fish.  It kept racing back and forth… it would speed up and then have to quickly slow down so it wouldn’t bump into the glass.  It would than turn around carefully, speed up again in the opposite direction and race across the tank only to slow down just as it was hitting full stride… and it kept doing that over and over and over again…

It dawned on me… I am living that life now, along with many other Christians.    God has given us the ability to swim the vastness of any ocean and yet we confine ourselves to the fish tank that no one forced us to be in.  I’m running myself ragged speeding up and slowing down, turning around carefully only to have to repeat the same stupid cycle…

Ever feel frustrated with the mundaness of life?  I’ve been feeling it a lot the last couple of weeks but didin’t know it… it’s finally surfaced to the conscious level and something has to be done.    To know something is right and not do it is sin according to the Good Book. 

Let’s go find an ocean to get lost in…

Faith… indifference?
visualize the unseen
struggling…
relinquishing daily…
…the intangibles - only
sourcing the most anxiety.  
…perfect love
Only He can fulfill…
what’s this in me?
I mustn’t be fearful 
but He tells me
time to engage…
He is foundation

My passion… my fear
transparent… open pages
No hiding places… 
everyone sees through me.

love and loving
know and knowing
understand and
be understood…
touch and be touched…

I’m only asking… sadly

loving?  loved?
knowing? being known?
understanding?
being understood?
touching others and being touched?

it’s not wrong I say
but it’s not right…
focused inward… NO! 
The solution: focus outward 
He’ll take care of your inner…
Matthew 6:33

transformation…
not inspiration. 
stop trying to be and just…
be. 

I need your Hand
Breathe…
Grasp…
Lifted up

Salvation

i can’t help but think…

God is so good… so good.

i decided to not post the bad news that I read every morning, but for once, bad news has turned into good news.  I posted a story about a woman who offered to sell one of her eyes to raise money to feed her kids about a week ago and now…

Help promised for Mother who offered to sell eye
Wed May 4, 2005 11:56 AM ET

DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia has pledged financial and other assistance to a woman who offered to sell one of her eyes for money, officials said Wednesday.

Abandoned by her husband, the 26-year-old Shefali Begum, mother of one baby girl, offered an eye for cash in a newspaper advertisement last month — drawing attention from all over the world.

Individuals and charities at home and abroad responded quickly, offering to send money so Shefali would not have to sell her eye.

“The Prime Minister called Shefali Begum to her chamber on Tuesday and pledged her a package of government assistance including a home, free food ration and educational expenses for her daughter,” a government official said.

“Shefali will now have protection from the state so that no human-organ buyers can approach her,” he said.

The prime minister gave her a check of an undisclosed amount to deposit in a bank account and earn interest.

“I cannot disclose the amount, but it’s a healthy amount, which will generate enough money to support Shefali and her daughter,” said the official.

Bangladeshi men have been known to advertise their kidneys for sale for cash, but Shefali is the first woman in the country known to advertise an eye.

Nearly half of Bangladesh’s about 140 million people live in poverty, unable to get two meals a day. Abandoned or widowed mothers are at the bottom of the economic heap.

Bangladesh law prohibits sale of human organ but allows donations to save lives. But donations outside the family often carry a price tag.