Can We Fix it?

It has been said before, but it bears repeating. I wish I'd said the following, but I'm glad someone did.

The last line makes the rest worth the trip.

God Sends Quails
The 77's
(from the album Sticks and Stones)

You fail
You try half-hearted and fail
One foot drags behind you
One foot tripping in front of you


You fail
You spit out manna,
God sends quails
Dry bones pile up behind you
More wet mirages in front of you


You can't go back
You can't go back


You failed
You sunk like Jonah to the whale
Big mouths follow behind you
Still small voice swallowed by you


You failed
You picked the right time to fail
Got your past behind you
Got your future in front of you


You can't go back
You can go on

The Thick Grey Line

or,

why does my box only have one colour?

See the box? It says "Bright and Vivid Colors".


Why is the only colour in my box grey then?
The world is in colour, but I only get to colour with one...

Fear Only You
from the album "Shades of Grey"
Youth Choir... (aka the choir)

I dream in living color
But I see in shades of gray
At the dawn of understanding
Praying for the full of day
And when the San Onofre sun goes down
On concrete power domes
I may shudder for a moment
But this world is not my home


I'm not afraid of the thunder in the sky
All I fear is the lightning in Your eyes
For I love only You
And I fear only You


When the reverend waves his sword and cries
"Go save the golden dream"
From the terrace of his mansion
He won't hear the children scream
No, I won't fight the war he wages
Flesh and blood won't conquer me
But the demons know my enemy
Is my idolatry

I'm not afraid of the thunder in the sky
All I fear is the lightning in Your eyes
I'm not afraid of the rulers in this land
All I fear is the power in Your hand
For I love only You
And I fear only You
For I love only You
And I fear only You

You gotta have Faith

So if its right when things are going well, if I know it is right when all is sunny and bright, or even when I can plan a bright future, doesn't that mean I have to believe it is still right when the end seems less certain?

I've been really challenged by my own fickle faith. I can see how God can get something done, so I allow Him to work by making choices for Him. Then, when things look darker, when I don't know how He's going to do it, I at very least begin to doubt.

I've thought a little lately about the verse that says, "Don't worry about tomorrow, each day has enough trouble of its own." When I live and react and trust, I'm dealing with today's trouble. When I worry, I'm taking on tomorrow's and therefore throwing away today's opportunities and responsibilities, adding things to this day that I just I don't need, things I can do nothing about!

Anyway, the word of the day, of every day, is now, not hope, but FAITH

I'm sorry, Hillary!

You know how it goes.



You're so smart.



After all, you're 16 or 22, or 37 (or maybe even older, I'll get back to you in a few years...).



Then, years later, you find yourself saying things you never thought would come out of your mouth, and here I go again.



I'm sorry Hillary Clinton.



I'm not doing research to go back and get Ms. Clinton's quote in context, but quite frankly, when she came out with "It takes a village to raise a child", ten years ago or more, I took great umbrage. After all, it took parents to raise a child. I assumed she meant, "give us your kid, we'll give you back a humanistic clone in a few short years." And maybe she did. But... she was right, it does take a village. It takes a whole lot of people all making mistakes in unison to help any of us to raise our kids into anything you might call civilized. It might be teachers, it might be neighbours, relatives or friends, but it also takes in a more general way, a culture, the neighbourhood, "the village".

We're reading a book right now at school called "I Heard the Owl Call My Name." Margaret Craven, in case you're wondering. Its a wonderful, quiet little book. Not typical adolescent fare, but a great life book. I read it years ago and it remains with me as a favourite. Anyway, one thoughtful section talks about "everything is the village." The mountain, the people, the language, the salmon, everything. Aren't we all products of that village? The more we grow up, a process we are all involved in, the more we see that we are made up mostly of parents/genetics, but partly heritage, partly cultural, partly friends, partly randomly interactions. Likely others, but my main point is not to list ingredients, but to see the bigger picture that we need a village of goodness to make us and now, more urgently, for our children.

Help out, or get out of town!

Man Bites Snake

Please, know that this re-post in no way endorses animal cruelty, it also does not not endorse not allowing yourself to not be not eaten by a giant scavenging snake.



NAIROBI (Reuters) - A Kenyan man bit a python who wrapped him in its coils and hauled him up a tree in a struggle that lasted hours, local media said Wednesday.

Farm manager Ben Nyaumbe was working at the weekend when the serpent, apparently hunting for livestock, struck in the Malindi area of Kenya's Indian Ocean coast.
"I stepped on a spongy thing on the ground and suddenly my leg was entangled with the body of a huge python," he told the Daily Nation newspaper.
When the snake coiled itself round his upper body, Nyaumbe resorted to desperate measures: "I had to bite it."
The python dragged him up a tree, but when it eased its grip, Nyaumbe said he was able to take a mobile phone out of his pocket and phone for help.
When his supervisor came with a policeman, Nyaumbe smothered the snake's head with his shirt, while the rescuers tied it with a rope and pulled.
"We both came down, landing with a thud," said Nyaumbe, who survived with damaged lips and bruising.
The snake escaped from the three sacks it was bundled into.
(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Jack Kimball)

No offense...

...to everyone from 1971-2004 in my life, but today marks the fifth anniversary of the best part of my life.

I love you.

"God's not Dead, and Neither are We"

This post will not interest 90 percent of you. You can stop reading. For the very few of you who are interested in the history of Christian alternative music say 70s-early 90s, this post is for you.

You may have noticed Jerry Wilson's name on the right side of my blog, let your eye wander over to the right and down a bit and you'll see.... yeah, there. Anyway, Jerry's a good guy who writes an interesting, sometimes funny, always thoughtful, right-wingish blog about various issues, usually political, but other things too. At the same time, he's been writing a book for a couple of years called "God's Not Dead and Neither Are We". It chronicles the histories of some of the alternative Christian artists some of us have grown to appreciate, people from, Undercover, the choir, Daniel Amos, Altar Boys, basically my old "record" collection. He's tried to unearth some of the vision, the hurt, the growth, the joys of their stories and some of you may be very interested to read this. You can buy it right here for only $15.99. Anyway, I look forward very much to reading this some day soon. If you do, consider this information. If you don't, why didn't you quit reading when I told you to?

Life Lessons from 12 Angry Men

We finally got back to watching another movie on our list . This time with another Henry Fonda classic from the '50's, 12 Angry Men.



I found this movie to be really, well, I was going to say "smart". But I think it was more that they didn't play their viewers as "dumb". I really find it insulting when imagination and thought are taken out of art so that it is "dumbed-down" for those enjoying it. It is insulting in poetry, music, art, movies and tv... I don't know about dance, I don't understand that!



The only thing black and white in the movie was the celuloid it was first imprinted on. I found that its touching portrayal of human nature, of prejudice and of misconceptions was very modern. It touches on prejudice, justice, social pressure, selfishness, hatred, anger and meaning in life. How can it go wrong. The logic of the arguing and why the jury seems to be arguing out what you'd think would have been all determined in the courtroom doesn't really matter, what you're seeing is twelve interesting people (Fonda's character is the only one who doesn't really develop) all showing remarkable parts of humanity. You'll see yourself and others you have known. And hopefully, you'll think and not get angry.