kids, man

Thank God for the ones who have allowed me in their lives. Not that I am not a kid, but the pseudo(fabricated)-gap between the high schooler and college student is enough for them to look to you and enough for me to learn from them. I can't even begin anywhere, so I'll just touch on the the overarching theme of WEAG Seek Youth Choir Tour 2011.

These kids love God.

With a passion that is undying and unashamed. They have no qualms praising him anywhere, wether on a beach boardwalk, city park or in a church. I have never seen a group of 100+ kids worshiping like they did. To paraquote the song "Praise Him in Advance," by Marvin Sapp, "They started singin', they started clappin', they started dancin', people were laughin'. The people knew they had problems and pain, but the kids knew that God did and would take them away."

These kids love the Lord. They are unashamed to spread his name on the busy streets of New York city and are uninhibited when it comes to praying for strangers. The fact that they touched so many peoples lives with their music was incredible, but that isn't even the half of it.

They found Him. A deeper meaning of who He is and shared His love to those who needed it. And they cared. Not about what they thought, but what about He wanted to do through them.

Being able to go on a choir tour again has been a beautiful experience for me. It was such an encouragement and I have learned a ton from these kids about what it means to really surrender yourself to Jesus Christ.

They are all beautiful.

I'm back at it

Well, as I had posted on a WordPress account a few days ago, I am getting back into this whole blogging thing. However, this seems to be the place to do blogging, and seeing that I already have an account here with some ancient posts (that are rather ignorant now that I look back on them), I decided to just stick with this one. Sorry Hevah J. It's just already here and is easier for me to use.

That being said, I will post a thought or something.

So. Yes, a thought.

Hmm. Well, this summer has been great. I've really been enjoying it and have had a great time interning up at WEAG and hanging out with all the crazy kids that go there. We leave for choir tour tomorrow, which will take us to Ocean City, MD, New York City, Utica, NY, and somewhere in PA. Should be a blast. I'm running techie stuff, so hopefully I will learn a lot about that!

I hope that you all can keep me and all of the kids and leaders that are going in your prayers for the next week or so. We are going in order to spread the love of Christ up and down the east coast, and I pray that not only the lives of those that will hear the music and the message that we bring them, but that also our kids would be touched and their faith would deepen (or begin, for those who have not yet heard or perhaps accepted the Call). I pray that you all are well and that everything is going well. I will try to find an iPhone app or something from which I can post little mini-blogs while I am gone, as I will not be bringing my computer along with me on the tour. Love you all, God bless!

I'd like to know. What you think.

Ignored

Sir Nicholas Beard

Small.

Pulling

to feed not only itself.

It continues.

Unrelenting, unyeilding

As a horse drawing carriage.

Work ethic of an ox

struggling, striving, straining

With knowledge of the fact that those

He lives with will die if he does not finish the task

I watch as it continues

Grabbing, grasping, grappling, gripping

the wafer pushing itself to its physical capabilities

after taking a break, but then he (she?) continues the effort.

Such strength from such a minute creature; Selfless and loving.

It teaches me, as I watch. I am

learning, living, laughing, longing, logging

the lesson I might learn from this unique creature.

How much it is exerting itself, how much the sluggard

could learn from it. But many will ignore the lesson God

allows us to experience through such a simple, small creature.

Many would say

Annoying

Nothing

Troublesome

I would say

Astonishing

Noteworthy

Tremendous

and now for something completely different.

So, we had air band last night at our school. A few friends and I decided it would make people smile if we did our own rendition of the Yes Dance. For those of you who haven't seen the original Yes Dance, here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyqUj3PGHv4

Here's our rendition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLRgHHbX1jg

Hope you enjoy :)

crushed, bro

Yeah it's old news. But now it's for REALS. And it hurts, for reals. Hey, I'll be okay. God's got a plan for me that's bigger than all of this. I think I know what I want, but it's not what I want. I want what God wants. And he's gonna give me that jam that's so sweet there'll be no(one)thing sweeter. Stoked about it hardcore, but kinda still bummin'.

You got this G-man, it's all you. Take it dude, I don't need it. But I still want to hang on to something that is too far gone and impossible to have.

I gotta put the past behind me man. I can't change it. There's nothing to do. I've made my decision, and it was the right one. I hate that I had to make it, but I had no choice. Is was that, or live in half-brokenness for the rest of my life.

How can I be beneficial to the Kingdom like that? I'm surrendering it. It's done. It's behind me.

I'm happy, and happy for everyone involved. I hope all goes well in all situations, I would never wish harm on any(one)thing. I'm stoked about it now. I'm happy for that situation. It's great :)

Hopefully we've all learned something from all of this. Hopefully we make changes to better ourselves. Hopefully we can live, love, and be in Joy for the rest of our lives.

I'm content. Patient. Waiting. Patiently? Maybe.

Not enough I'm sure. Circumstances will be engineered. Can I grasp what the future holds? Only when it's there in front of me. Until then it's futile. Be, live, love, grow (in Joy). That's where I have to be. That's where I'm gonna be.

That's where I am.

Right now.

It's my decision. That's what it's gonna be. Done.






I feel better.

round dos.

Here's a narrative one about my brother. He means a lot to me, so I thought I might write one about him. Here it is :)

(non) Sense

Sir Nicholas Beard

The jeep rolls into the driveway, a welcoming sound to my ears

(as my brother is now home: so close so near).

His footsteps are heavy on wooden stairs.

The door creeks and squeaks, the cold stands up my hairs.

I mock sleep, pretending to grow awake.

The springs of his mattress, they scream, they shake.

Welcoming… a warm feeling of safe.

I wonder what he ponders, as his weary eyes strafe.

We talk of nothing, but it is never nonsense. It is never this, but truly, it is.

Deep discussions avoid the room, as oil avoids water.

The drone of the fan is like that of the wheel, full of clay, of the potter.

But all this matters little, because we grow.

We grow through this, and oh, it shows.

We are building a foundation for a tower that will stand the test of time,

and we hold steadfast to these conversations, we will find them to keep us in line.

Who knows if he enjoys these moments (of insignificant importance) but I do.

And he must as well, this (at least) I hope is true.

poetry? what?!?!

I'm taking a poetry class this semester, so I thought I might post some of writings here just to have them in one more place than just my Poetry folder on my desktop. So, here's the first one we had to write for our class. It was a word list poem, so if it doesn't make sense, don't worry: it's not necessarily supposed to. It can though. I mean it does to me :)

Joy Horns

Sir Nicholas Beard

Softly braiding the scarf

the younger gypsy mirrors the action:

silk floating through the same.

Slicing the plum, swallowing through

throat holding stale, colorless

medallions… grinning. Hawks

push the winding river

onward as sun rolls back sky pillows

across the globe.

Lips blow:

over glass bottle-rim.

Merchants wash ancient cups outside

the theatre, filling pool over again.

Branches lifted over musty temple while

putrid egg’s lift into soft winds.

The worn, wretched clock

sings through cedars

while mannequins mold to respective

porches. Makeshift wooden crutches

roll onto the road

as children

push and comb through

tall, crunchy leaf-mounds, pulsing

with Joy that only

horns can shout.