thoughts on Beauty (it's Good to Think about)

A. Crimson. Piece. Of. The. Sky. And. Land. Melted. Together.

Bright red lines the horizon, and it's beautiful! It's the kind of beauty that's startling, then stunning. Then it causes wonder in the heart of the beholder-- how could this beauty be so sharp, yet so pleasing to the senses that I want to soak up every moment in which my eyes are laid upon it?

Sleepwalker (a song)

Got up this morning

But something wasn't quite right

Things were a little off

Did my usual morning routine

But I knew it was somehow all wrong

Thought I heard someone call my name

Calling me to something more, to something real

But this is all so real

I know what I'm doing

I know what I want out of life

To be secure and successful

It's only a couple steps away

I can almost touch it

Went about the day

Doing what I usually do

Went to class, talked with friends

Then I had a little break

I was just gonna sit and think about nothin'

But then I heard it again

Thought I heard someone call my name

Calling me to something more, to something real

It was louder this time

But this is real

I do know what I'm doing, don't I?

I do know what I want out of life, don't I?

To be secure and successful

It's only a couple steps away

I can almost touch it

I realized it is all wrong This, this isn't real

I don't know what I'm doing

I don't know what I want out of life

I'm so alone

So I answered that voice calling my name

Then I woke up

Had it been a dream?

I had been asleep

But it all seemed so real

The voice was clear now

God, You're calling me

God, You're calling my name

You were all along

Well, I'm here

I was in a dream, just sleep walking

"Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

(Ephesians 5:14)

Chile Story

Would you like to make an impact in the kingdom of God? It's a support raising chili cook-off this weekend (Feb. 21st) and you're invited. Check it out here!

Ike Wasn't All Good, But Ike Wasn't All Bad Either...

A hurricane in Huntsville

• I got to know my neighbors well. Instead of imagining what fits into their ambiguous personhoods, I now know kindness and warmth as pieces of their character. I know a bit about their lives and they know a bit about mine. They helped me; I helped them. We shared, we talked, we laughed, we worried . . . together.
• I had a great excuse to leave the doors and windows open and breach the barrier between manmade and God-made, recycled air and fresh air, constraint and freedom . . . well, anyway. At night, lying next to my open bedroom window, I relished the sounds usually partitioned from me- tree frogs calling to each other (my favorite), crickets generating song, the wind through the tree branches. Clatter I had learned as a child to be true night.
• Candles are warming. Who doesn't love a candlelit room?
• This is a given: quality time. As in time to be creative instead of leaving it to technology. We played the newlywed game. There were no newlyweds among us. Oh, and the songs we crafted about Hurricane Ike out of restless creativity? Priceless.
• If you give a mouse a cookie . . . My story: if you give a girl some bug bites, it will make her remember being always outdoors as a kid. If she remembers being outdoors as a kid, she will want to quietly reminisce about such romantic times. When she wants to quietly and gleefully reminisce, she will need a place in which to sit. If you offer her a place in which to sit, she will request a spot outside so she can feel the breeze. When she's outside entranced in historical thought, she'll become susceptible to bug bites . . . . . . . Being one with the outdoors was kind of nice. Certain aromas reunite some people with their past. I guess that's bug bites for me.
• I walked. Walking is great exercise. Also good for the mind and soul.
• I had one good barbeque. Best I've eaten in a while actually.
• I got to see all the residents of Huntsville. 'Cause they were at H.E.B. and Wal- Mart when I was.

So Ike, even though we already shared a name, we shared much more: trouble and calm, darkness and refreshing, bad and blessing. Through it all, Goodness prevailed.

A tree must slumber in the winter to be healthy again in the spring. Just like its branches become cracked, weathered, and lifeless, so we faced a solemn outlook. But also like green buds sprouting in the first Spring thaw, shoots of good found their way through our storm. You weren't all bad, Ike. You weren't good, but you weren't all bad either.

Appropriate for V-Day...I think?

How passionate is the end of Judges 10?!!?

You can really see the hurt and fury and passionate love of God.

If this were a scene played out in a movie between a man and a woman, it would be very dramatic.

Let's take a glimpse into the beating heart of Love:

--"But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!"

--Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel's misery no longer.

The human race likes to choose its gods, but God is the only god who chose the human race.

The whole time Israel was oppressed, God bore their misery on his own shoulders. His heart was heavy with the weight of their misery, but it was what they had chosen. Israel chose other gods even though God had given them so much and done so much for them so that they would choose him.

Goodbye MySpace

MySpace

You were good to me while it lasted. In the beginning, you were fresh and exciting. But, well, all that I enjoyed about you at the start has now become overwhelming. Please excuse my inability to stand under your weight any longer. It's not you; it's me.... except for the part about how you have ads galore that feed my mind filth, I can't see the forest for the trees on your homepage, and you are not respectable in the eyes of society (at least the kind I'm in now) anymore. So really... it is you. Well, maybe it's that we're just not compatible anymore.

Anyways, MySpace, please accept the fact that you will no longer be my medium of written thought expression. I am giving that place to Blogger. Ok, yes; there is another. Consider this your warning: I will be taking back what I gave to you and giving it to Blogger. I would rather it that way. You need to know I'll take only piece by piece. Please don't be offended; I think this is what's best.

Melody