I'm Enjoying ...

Here is a quick list of stuff that I've been enjoying lately:

1.  The new ZAO benefit CD, "I Dreamed There Was A Fountain".  It's really one of the best artistic compilations I've heard in a long time.  It can be purchased by [clicking here].

2.  The "Campus Legend" mode on NCAA Football 2009.  Seriously, its remarkably addictive and so engaging.  Especially when you've been playing straight up for years.

3.  Military Shirts.  Enough said.

4.  Good coffee.  By good coffee I don't necessarily mean a brand, but more or less the experience of drinking that hot goodness in the morning.

5.  Short hair.  I've realized that the only way my head will look good again is if the hair is kept short.  

6.  Country Music.  Yes, I'm pretty serious too.  Not just the new Keith Urban stuff, but Willie, Waylon, and the boys.

7.  Beards.  I don't have to shave every day. which is an incredible advantage.  

8.  Jeans.  Lately I've been getting three or four days of use out of a single pair of jeans.  Then I spill coffee or bleed upon them, which renders them useless.  

9.  My wife.  I'm still learning what it means to be a good husband, but I'm glad I have that opportunity.

10.  The Banjo.  I recently acquired the last bluegrass instrument to complete the cycle.  I even played banjo on Sunday, which was a feat in and of itself.

tired.

I'm tired.  

I flew out on Friday morning to speak at a conference in Memphis.  It was a good opportunity to share with a group of college students that are very active and influential on their campuses. 

When I haven't traveled in while, flying really gets me nervous.  I completely loathe that first takeoff.  Once I'm up in the air, I'm OK.  But its that first take-off that gets me.   I have my own personal ways of coping with this, but the only thing you can do is sit back and let go ... right?

I guess that's a lot like life.  If you're ever going to go some where, you're going to have to risk something to get there.  You might lose, but where are you going if you do nothing?  I'm going to guess, nowhere.

This morning I led worship for our church with a group of WONDERFUL musicians and friends.  It's always fun to be here and play music with my friends.  I'm really thankful for them and the time they put in week-after-week preparing for this gig.  It is really a privilege to serve alongside them. 

This afternoon I helped with a memorial service, and tonight I'm starting a new series of lectures at our church.  

Thank God for rest. (and a great wife who does an incredible job taking care of me)

Bones.

My wife was reading a book to me as we were stuck in traffic on I-77 just south of Charlotte the other day.  Some joker fell asleep and ran into a sign along the edge of the interstate, so the North Carolina Department of Transportation shut the interstate down for the better part of the day.  Yay... memories.

The book is somewhat biographical in nature, and the story was engaging.  The writer of the book had been through a remarkable amount of trauma and consequently reconstructive surgery.  I have a six-inch screw in my left foot, so I could kind of sympathize. 

At one point during the author's recovery, his doctors instructed him that they would need to remove a metal sheath that protected his femur.  While this metal has protected his bone and gave it an opportunity to heal, it was also damaging them.

The doctors pointed out that the longer the metal plate remained, the more dependent the bone would become on the strength from the metal and the weaker it became on it's own.

While my wife was reading that to me, I was reminded of how Jesus often changes and alters the trajectory of our lives because the familiar erodes faith.  Its quite easy to trust within a context that factors to be predictable.  Real trust, the kind Jesus demands, isn't predicated on the outcome, its mandated by the person the trust is placed in.

I think we are a lot like bones.  Even good things, things that heal and restore, can, in themselves, become something we lean on for strength.  The ends of that is a whole different kind of breaking.

Sometimes, for our own good, we are made to be weak, so that through Jesus we might be made strong.  That weakness is full of hurt, pain, and struggle, but it leads to whole life.  In the end, that is what Jesus offers.

New Year.

Ok. I will blog more this new year.