The Dream 072715

Row row row your boat
Is life merely a dream?
Consider more than stumbling
To move from scene to scene

Row row row your boat
Is this all that life means?
If so we're merely parasites
We might as well be fleas

Row row row your boat
Is life a passing stage?
If so then we're just animals
Dancing in our cage.

Mexican Star Wars

http://www.visualnews.com/2010/11/01/star-wars-mexican-art/

Shit and Shine Ola

I won't be posting here soon.

The neighborhood gone to crap, so I'm moving.

Don't know where yet.

Just letting you know.

Vowel Movement

Multiple Choice

1. Fill in the blank: "depr_ve"
1. a
2. i
3. e

2. Match the definition to each choice:
a) deny (a person or place) the possession or use of something.
    [ ] 1  [ ] 2  [ ] 3

b) make (someone) immoral or wicked.
    [ ] 1  [ ] 2  [ ] 3

c) to disprove
    [ ] 1  [ ] 2  [ ] 3

Sunshine On A Dog's Ass

Every once in a while you get lucky,

Like, just when you're about to irrevocably say fuck it and call it quits, life sends you a little reminder about what that really means in the end.

So, unlike so many occassions, you get a chance to shut your big fucking stupid  mouth, before you do something terrible that you can't take back.

Sometimes you don't get so lucky, and your mouth doesn't get closed in time.

I Must Work Harder

You want a "cost of living" increase?
You want a "livable wage"?

So tell us what exactly is a livable wage?
What is your cost of living?

What if we gave this "livable wage" to everyone? Then what?

The money will have to come from somewhere, so where do you think that'll be?

Increased wages ceratinly can't mean decreased profits for the "company".

So realistically it will just wind up meaning increased prices for you...

So, fundamentally the whole suggestion is contradictory since, if you follow the logic to its conclusion, it undermines itself anyway, right?

You should go back to work before we replace you with someone who'd be happy making a lot less than you do.

Look, you just gotta trust the system...

... and the Lord.

Help Help I'm Being Repressed

Persecution...

...it can feel like "hating the sin but not the sinner" or "hating the religion but not the religious".

Maybe it"s both, maybe it's neither, and maybe, just MAYBE, that perspective about either can change depending on which end of the gun you happen to be on when the hate is fired.

d (-_-)b

The Finite Moving Toward the Infinite

The struggle of the finite to pursue and understand the infinite...

True the Christian faith it is paradoxical in that it is both futile and worthy, optional and required.

However where most people fail or fall short is in their comprehension of the multifaceted depth and meaning when applying the truth of God.

Our understanding of any given biblical text changes as we do. It takes divine revelation to go beyond an understanding based solely in our own experiences and apply truths to circumstances beyond our own.

That's what make the word alive though, its application is not limited to our own situation alone but all situations, and makes itself available to seen in many lights. When we believe our truth is God's truth we begin to make God in our image, a task far easier that allowing ourselves to conform to his.

Some answers are done a disservice by being casually dispensed, and cannot be fully comprehended without the benefit of having arrived at them in our own experiences and through our own reasoning.

It is difficult to judge the shape of things by the shadows they cast, although we may see them in relation to their source of light. So we who know that the reality of any given situation is more like varying shades of grey, should reserve any tendency toward judgement and pray for those whose perspective is limited to black and white.

There's a reason Jesus was known as a friend of sinners and had a reputation that preceded him.
He met people where they were at.

As one of my favorite movie quotes goes, "God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way."

Life is a beautiful struggle whose answers cannot be reduced to bullets points and regimented formulas with blanket applications.

db

I Cannot Lie

Random Axe of Kindness

The New Old Fashioned Way

My newest insult?

I'm going to start saying, "You old bean soaker!"

We'll just see how people like that!

Same as it never was...

Nothing was ever the same once we left California.

I dreaded coming to Arizona, but I couldn't have known that the sort of blissfully ignorant happiness I had known there was never to be found again.

Perhaps it was part of growing older, perhaps it was the heat, either way I hate this place.

Defacing Art

In the Beginning

I actually wrote and mailed a letter today, something I haven't done in a while.
Of course, I also sent some correspondence via Gmail, something I do everyday...
   ... I guess you could say mail & email I created them. ;)

While Good Men Do Nothing

Church burning...

It speaks volumes about the strength and unifying power of the church as a community of believers.

As a strategic maneuver of divide and conquer, burning a church is probably the most logical action such a hate could make since it attacks on two fronts, both the physical and spiritual at a very personal level.

It is a true test of faith to those within the church to see how it is handled.
Being hate motivated most instigators / perpetrators fail to consider the historic precedence of it as being a risky maneuver.

Its effects are often short term, and it can often be counterproductive, serving as a catalyst to unify the victims, and rally the support of others as well, in a common cause.

The immediate appearance of division, is often a period of regrouping.

It hurts to be sure, but Jesus speaks quite a bit about persecution and the enemies of the faith, although this is a little more multifaceted, since it incorporates racial bias and sheer terrorism in its attacks against the innocent.

I could quote plenty of comforting and powerful Bible verses, but if that's the community you're a part of you know them already.

God is God.

That said the lack of media coverage and public outcry against these horrific acts reminds me more of this quote, "It has been said that for evil men to accomplish their purpose it is only necessary that good men should do nothing." -  J. L. Bell 1916

Q) Small Church vs Big Church

A large church is the way to go.

The facilities and AV gear at small churches doesn't really make for a truly entertaining and convicting worship experience.

At small churches there's not usually, awesome hd photo backgrounds for the lyrics, and the sound isn't just bad but most of the time it's so quiet you're often times forced to listen to the horrible singers in the seats around you.

With good coffee and snacks in the lobby, at big churches you can sneak out during the opening band and grab a quick bite before the  speaker or "pastor" comes out to deliver their routine or TED talk.

Not to mention that at small churches you're more likely to be in an awkward situation when you see people you don't like.

Often times, at small churches, after sitting through a whole service with them, hearing their singing, people want to chat afterward too, forcing you to miss that golden 10-15 minute window to beat every other church goer to the restaurant before there a huge wait for a table.

Totally the opposite at a big church, it's great, because you can scoot on out of there to get a good lunch afterward with the people in your small group / home study.

You can have some small talk and maybe even talk about the next social project you can throw money at since you have the budget of a big church!

It's actually pretty awesome at a big church.

And let's be real here, people generally look and smell better at big churches. Don't even get me started on the difference in parking lots, or the convenience of 3 choices of show times on Sunday, plus the Saturday night option at the big churches. Super convenient in so many ways.

Face it, all small churches want to do is grow up to be big churches anyway right?

I wonder how many churches there are?

I guess I should just be glad there's more than one...