Real. Lost.

Being utterly lost and dependent on the Father means more...when you are actually lost. Admittance of lost-ness can be an emotional response to perceived brokenness. But don't we usually have our skill-sets and honed routines as auxiliary tucked into our self-conscious? WE ARE A CAPABLE PEOPLE. WE ARE LEARNED, FORTUNATE, EXPERIENCED, TRAINED, CERTIFIED, BATTLE-TESTED. But what about when we are truly lost? What about when our toned forearms grope to find no next wrung? What about when through obedience God sets us in territory where our mental maps find not recognizable landmarks...where earth and air don't even follow the same rules as home? TRUE OBSCURITY. TRUE MISPLACEMENT. Where hopelessness is as seemingly optional as a footfall's response to gravity.  NO PRAYERS ARE LIFTED WITH THE UNDERTONE OF SELF-CONFIDENCE. Naked in a shrapnel storm. The horizon-line is a mirage. BARE DEPENDENCE. What do we do? Do we do?


The Lord is our sun and our shield. 
He gives us grace and glory.
The Lord will withhold no good thing
from those who do what is right,
O Lord of Heaven's Armies,
what joy for those who trust in you.
Psalm 84:11,12

The Holy Mystery of Today

Each and every day is a Holy Mystery where everything that we see, say, hear, feel and do is God speaking directly to us. What is He saying today? Why is it that we find ourselves second guessing his voice? Constant bombardment of our hearts and minds by everything around us makes it difficult to solve this Holy Mystery of today. Yet all the clues are there; laid out in front of us like a simple puzzle. But most of the time – for some reason that seems beyond our grasp – we can’t quiet solve it. We stumble around blindly, trying to force the square piece into the circular hole and call it “God’s will.” Now we’re wondering why things in our lives just don’t seem to be lining up. We get mad and impatient and take it out on everything and everyone around us, never wanting to look inward for fear of what we might actually see there. But the simple truth is this. Nothing in our lives will ever line up when we continue to force it. We don’t need to be a clever sleuth like Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys to solve the Holy Mystery that is today; we simply need to let go. A quiet heart is much easier to follow than trying to use a magnified glass to follow some footprints laid out in front of us. Embrace the mystery, look at the clues, see where they take you. Maybe the solution of today’s mystery has been staring you in the face the whole time. Open your eyes, quiet your heart, and let God’s will unfold in front of you today.

                                                             .:TD:.

RENT IS DUE!

Transform rent day into a Day of Triumph with Psalm 84:11 and Rick Ross.

"For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right."

Blowin Money Fast- Rick Ross

^^^
(lots of cusses, but what about that beat?!)

techně: mastery of any sort of craft

. ANYTHING that JESUS is LORD over, you can make ART of it .

Psalm 90:12: "...teach us to # our days so that we may grow in wisdom..."

"Wisdom is a life of proportion that corresponds to reality...so that there is LARGE concern for what is important and LITTLE concern for what is unimportant. So, seek the kingdom first and let EVERYTHING ELSE BE ADDED TO YOU IN GOD'S WAY AND TIME. So, be a WISE people, a COUNTER-CULTURAL people, a KINGDOM-ORIENTED people, a GOD-BESOTTED people, a RISK-TAKING people, a kind of people who when you come to die, whatever time that may be...a week or a hundred years from now...will be glad that you walked with God DIFFERENTLY from those that are so concerned with such inconsequential things!"
-John Piper

God does not make perfect people....but PERFECT MOMENTS!

under a sea of sparkling black

stars seem to dance in this clear midnight sky.
we ponder their figures and drink in the moon.


our bodies, they shiver; we breathe in and sigh:
the chill of the night has come much too soon.


eyes open we watch the face of a friend
delight in immortal dreams with eyes closed.


for a moment light and time almost bend
as hope embraces the futures we pose.


longings are hushed by the rustling trees,
the wind whispers grace over words taken back.


how cherished our gift of hearts such as these,
standing under a sea of sparkling black.


eyes open we watch the face of a friend
seep in this beauty and rest with eyes closed.


the cold dark ushers in a farewell, then
softly kisses us with silence composed.
                                        -jf

'JAZZ is what happens when people begin to live life together, life in concert,
live as an ensemble.  when we realize that we all dont have to be the same but rather we
each bring a different instrument to the song and as while we are playing the song then
we can play our instrument in the process we can syncopate and improvise
 and we call and respond and we learn to expect from one another.'

-if i were to tell you this man who is about to be on stage has been practicing the trumpet

for thirty years, youre going to expect something from him.  well if i tell you some man has been following Jesus for thirty years, what then?-

'what would happen in our churches if we learned how to practice christianity
together and in the stage of life we even assumed that each other were practicing?'

jazz.

-Robert Gelinas

Gnomes are so John 10:10...

Gnomes live John 10:10 hard. I need you to believe this.

 Gnomes get down. "The Boot-Slapping Dance."

Gnomes play hard.

  Gnomes partake on occasion.

Gnomes fill their lungs with fresh air.

 Gnomes know that the quiet moments are life-to-the-full.

 The best. "As the sun rises the father gnome reads a chapter from the SECRET BOOK."

Let us be like the Gnomes today, my friends.

what i've been learning, seeing, hoping for...

Community is forged in the prayers for like-hearts to yearn for community. Community is baby-steps, flashes of joy, bon-fires, a series of perfect, collective happenings that fuse neurons into memories of comfort. Community is a dance not choreographed by our desire for movement but by the One who spins the world on an axis of shalom and decorates our ticking hours and minutes with the intersections of others. Community is the need to pull a friend into the kitchen to tell them how much they mean to you because the laughter is too loud in the living room.

Hello. My name is Pete and I live in a refrigerator. I know what you all are thinking, wondering and dying to find out... the answer is no, actually rent is really cheap. But back to the what and why. Like I just told you, my name is Pete. My mom calls me P. K. You can call me Pete. And this is my story about how I became a real life hero and met the apple of my dreams. 

Oh yeah... I'm an apple. 

To set the scene please make an effort to throw out all preconceived notions of my kind and let the tale speak for itself. 

(stay tuned)                                                               -mds-

"Perhaps in New Salem I'll find out who I am. Perhaps I'll find out if, deep down, I'm a good man - or will I discover my feet are of very weak clay?   

I'm looking forward to finding out - or am I?    

I'm so confused.

Can everyone my age be this mixed up and not know who they are or where they're going?"


-at age 21, Abraham Lincoln

take it for what it IS.

"Poets have been decidely quiet on the subject of cheese."

                                                                G.K. Chesterton

Catch Our Disease

Dreamers...
Dreamers!
Come and join the movement.
You've heard murmurs in the streets
and somewhere deep inside yourself
a drum beats hard on the off-beats of life.
Few can actually grasp this movement,
for as the name implies --
it is a call to move.
MOVE-ment.

No longer shall we stand around stagnant!
It is spreading, like an infectious disease.
We all felt it when we first contracted it.
It starts like a sore throat or small cough.
Next thing you know they're trying to quarantine you --
trying to stifle the spreading of yet another misplaced dreamer
before someone else gets sick.

Dreamers...
Oh Dreamers.
Do you hear your call?
The enemy is coming, attacking from within.
Apathy threatens our freedom - our way of life.
Indecision threatens our relationships.
Stagnation threatens our well being --
our future...
our house.

We see it all around us,
parents standing in the middle of a graveyard of shattered dreams.
Wondering where life went.
Wondering how they came to this point.
One foot in the grave
and the rest of their body submerged to their neck in regret...
Death first!

We are the ones who will not settle.
We are the ones who will stand to fight.
We are the ones who will make you as sick as ourselves if you get to close.
So come on in and join the dream,
come on in and catch our disease.
                                                                              .:TD:.

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.                          

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow. 

- Langston Hughes

"You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others the permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear our presence automatically liberates others."  - Nelson Mandela

WHAT THE HELL?

     Ok. I need to tell the world about the craziness that is the "real world" (if you did not read the quotations as "quote unquote", then please go back and reread it for full affect) known to most as shopping malls. Three what the hells in a matter of an hour. So sit back, sip on some woodchuck and enjoy the isolated hour of my day.

     The first of the three scenes takes place at a dandy of an establishment that goes by the name of T.J. Max. How I ended up in this particular venue is a story for another day, because the girth of the sha-nan-a-gins happened inside not out.

     So. There I am. Minding my own beezewax. When I spot it. A Chiefs T... that just so happens to be coveted by my dear friend Brian Wehner. Its rarity was in its unexplainable low low price. In unforeseen excitement, my eyes quickly scanned the section for the appropriate size. Hot damn. Wouldn't you know, I got the last one on the rack. I nabbed the shirt and at the very moment I am searching my contacts for Wehn-dawgs number... my phone rings. Save your what the's, it was my mom. (She is in Florida and was just checking up on me) But five minutes later, Brian called. I announced heroically, both the find and the impending purchase of the day's holy grail, much to the chagrin (pronounced sha-grin) of my now elated buddy.

Had the story stopped there, the what the hell number one would have been an embarrassment and not worthy to put into a blog. But lucky for you and me, the shopping spree continued. Fast forward ten minutes and one sweet cardigan find. I am now leisurely posted up in the check out line awaiting my turn to exchange my money for their treasures.  "Cashier number 2 may help you" rapped a automated response robot from an undisclosed location. My time had come. I subconsciously took inventory after slyly checking my fly to reassure me of its closed state. "What the hell?!" The Chiefs T was no longer in my possession. I did a slightly dumbfounded and fully confused emergency exit around an elmo display and doubled back to my original position of discovery.

A long 25 minutes short... I proceeded to comb the T.J. Max for signs of witch craft, involuntary drug use on my part (ha-loose-en-a-jins), babes, trolls with infinities for Kansas City athletic teams, clothes-warps and the found-but-now-lost-again Chiefs T. A manager named Stu aided in my frantic search asking me dumb parent-esk questions like "where is the last place you saw it" and "are you sure there was even a shirt".  Stricken by defeat and haunted by demands from Wehner that I refrain from messing with his heart, I tuck my proverbial tail between my legs and exited the obviously haunted T.J. Max dazed and very much confused.

Yes, I agree. "What the hell?"

Due to a prior engagement...the final 2 "what the hells" will be posted at a later date.

MANIFESTO 347

3:47 originated as a common thread of familiarity and comradery between two friends yearning for fellowship and brotherhood. The concept has blossomed into a movement of love rooted in prayer, dreams, hope, timing, friendship, creativity, imagination and a belief that life is better lived together than apart. Two turned into three, which quickly doubled to six. Six inspired, dreamt, leaned, invited, danced, laughed, washed, hoped, road tripped, grinded, texted and believed that the dreams of a full life that had engulfed their world as well as their hearts was worth the ultimate pursuit. 3:47 binds the original six and teams them with the many others whose dreams are as big if not bigger. 3:47 is a time during the day where eyes are opened, dreams are dreamt big and life is not only lived but also embraced and sought after. 3:47 is a daily reminder that love wins, dreams are worth pursuing and “I am because we are.” 3:47, the time of our lives is now!!!

So join our dream team and keep swept into the movement. This is a blog about dreams. Pursue them. Renewing them. Creating them. Sharing them. Celebrating them. Encouraging them.