Rushing the Trees

There is an old idiom that recites 'don't lose the forest for the trees'. Often has that come to mind. The idea is of course that the thing we focus on, to the point of ridiculous, is often a detail in the broad strokes of life. We lose the larger perspective of life as we focus on the singularity of our chosen tree.

Sometime ago I lost myself in the forest, looking at all the pretty trees and noting their intricate details. Rushing from tree to tree and admiring what it might be like to try and climb them all. It's good to get close and personal with the trees, yet I failed to stand back and allow the simple beauty of the forest to overwhelm. Take that step back and breath it in. We can but view the beauty; our ability provides no chance to change the trees nor modify the forest, only that we can choose the perspective we take and the beauty may we appreciate.

A Worthy Venture

I've got a friend, well really a conglomeration of friends, who are collaborating in a form of online media with a positive bent on life. It's definitely worth checking out and learning a bit - and feedback would be appreciated.

http://ocsplora.com/

Pictures in the Sand

I'm not sure whether to continue the writing endeavor I once started on this blog. The beginnings of this once frequent stage were rooted in a journey that once seemed so clear. So much has taken place since I started this page, finding a place where I could let the world know what was going on and share my written heart when spoken words were not enough.

Recently, an epiphany from outside sources hit - the simple truth that we're all living a story that we wish to tell, a story that we wish will be a good story. Sometimes our choices cause our stories to change direction and take on a route that was never anticipated, a route that surely may ruin the story. Yet, it's often those twists that become the apex of the story. We look to challenges with disgust when they are really the things that change us the most. Those hard times, that's where a person grows. That heartbreak, that's the point at which a man or a woman grows to see that they become better because of it. I don't pretend that I will understand all that life holds, but I know that I want my story to be a good one, and I'm hoping that I will have the courage to continue to make the decisions which provide for a better narrative.

The question then becomes, in my mind, is shall we all live for our own stories, or will we acknowledge that the brief narrative we write with our own life is but a word in the overarching story of this small world. We write our stories in the sand, knowing that in short years the tide will rise to claim our fragile artistry and all that will be left is the memory of our sand drawings imprinted in the minds of fellow sand painters.

I think I will continue to write, and perhaps, just perhaps, my story will point to that who is greater than I and the Author of all our stories.

The Waiting Room

Sitting, I stare at the wall, thinking, wishing, hoping
It's the quiet stare of a man uncertain of the words that may come
Waiting for the door to open, the assistant to call a name
I am not alone in my sitting, others are here, waiting all the same
Anxious in the waiting, curious in the news of what is to be

The faces in the room with me betray signs of weakness
Pain, fear, suffering, slight glimmers of joy through the misty tears
We wait as a communal mass with few words but joined all the same
Understood is the unspoken

The door opens and a name rings out, a voice shrill and tart
Eyes watch the young man as slowly he stands, shuffling towards the voice
Another joins those who have already passed through the door
Where the door goes we who wait cannot see - healing we hope, we hope

Shifting in the chairs, uncomfortable in the stagnant air
Our minds turn to passing the time while we push down the worry
Reading of those on the outside who appear healed, doing great things - living
What hope is there for us who wait - can we too be as they are?

Simply, strangely, the time continues as we sit, we wait
Fear claws at our thoughts as the door swings through it motions
Will we be next? What lies beyond? Will we find the living?
It is the waiting that kills, the fears that paralyze, the dead that breathe

Of the greatest irony is this, as we wait, we believe healing is coming
Yet find that the swinging door leads only to that which we fear most
Living begins as the waiting ends - we need healing yet the door leads not there
Free is the feeling that betrays the fear and healing arrives on the wake of freedom
We are not chosen, we choose to be the living or the dead

Alabama

Well, it's been about a week and a half since arriving in Northern Alabama and I have to say that I quite enjoy life on a farm. There is definitely something to be said for working with your hands to produce a crop that will go on to feed many.

It is actually quite a wonder to experience such vast tracts of farm land and consider the sights and sounds of an African village where living from day to day off the meager bounty of the backyard forest. I think that we fail to comprehend how significant our standard of living in the Western world is. Not only that, but I didn't quite understand what farming meant here in the States - I'm beginning to understand a little better each day.

It is fascinating to be transplanted into a world much different from that which was familiar. The accent, the warmness of people, the strange foods, the hot-climate culture, the tornadoes, the humidity arriving on the front of a storm - this all without leaving the country.

Life has a way of not turning down a road that I thought may have been the road to take. This is a good season in life, not simply for the poor pun made there, but the spring planting of corn and cotton is beginning to germinate some desires within.

A few more pictures, in addition to those below, can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/northernwood/AlabamaTennesee?authkey=Gv1sRgCMyypq26gNbWDg&feat=directlink



Planting corn


My responsibility to keep the seed plentiful


Jeremy on the fence and awaiting the cows


Jeremy playing spiderman on the wall with Jamie keeping an eye out


Hanging out and enjoying the view (actually, my forearms were exhausted)


Trying to look like I know what I am doing

The Resurrection

The blog lives and so shall I.

The journey continues on from Alaska to parts unknown. Well, that's not true, I do know where I'm headed next and its called northern Alabama. Home to a specific cotton farm for which I will become a working hand - two months out in the warmer temperatures enjoying work that is actually measurable at the end of a day.

Four months back in Alaska seems just a blip on the radar of life. It oft did not feel as a blip, nor can memory recall those individual moments that make up the whole of it. Certainly there is more to say and my ramblings nearly want to leap out on the page at the moment, yet late hours of packing and an inability to think beyond the day behind and the day ahead leaves little to say.

For now, the transition is coming and is anticipated. The days ahead may allow further thoughts to role from this head and perhaps pictures of a southern landscape.


These here were recent outings with Geoff to Flattop:

Suspension of Blogging

It will, perhaps go without saying that this blog has not been recently attended to with any form of 'blog-worthy' posting, and, the foreseeable future holds little promise for blogging - at least for the next two months.

THUS, consider this blog suspended until March 2009.

Thanks for your interest should anyone actually read this most recent post...

Recap of YWAM NZ

As a matter of summary and one-place-reference I've gone to the simple trouble of capturing the links to the blog postings from the past two years at YWAM and have inserted them below. As one last note (that may be quite obvious) I've gone ahead and divided this into 'Base Staff' and 'DTS Staff'.

Perhaps, in the near future, I can continue an escape into the prose of this current life. In the near future, perhaps...

the BASE STAFF era
New Zealand: The Beginning. Again.
Arrival
Comet McNaught & Community Living
The Bigger Picture
Time Management & MySpace

Value
Value + 1
The Last Great Race
Freedom Day, 23 March 2007
Hanmer Springs

The Sister
The Land of Auz
Good Tune-age
A Recent Update
Current Prayer Requests

A Quiet Place
New Post @ Skyline
Base Tour Online
Mt. Oxford, Attempt #2
What I Do.

Winter Calm... Uh, NO.
Silence
Noise
The Return
High Country

the DTS STAFF era
The Early Season: Prayer Requests
A New Season: Diversification
A Recent Journal Entry
Another Journal Entry, 9 May 2008
One Defunct Blog

Back on the Horse
Prayer Requests
A Sudden Departure
AFRICA!
Uganda!

Moving On
Internet in Africa: TIA
Catching Up
Once Upon A Time

Sharing, Again

To say that this post, among others is a bit overdue, may be erroneous. It becomes difficult to know who continues to seek out this corner of cyberspace for updates on the whims of this life.

I shared a message at the church here in ER just a couple Sundays ago, check it out if you like at the following:
http://www.skylinefamily.com/sermonarchives/dec212008.mp3

You may have noted an updated look - it's time for a change I say. There is some question as to how long the life of this blog may persist. In today's Facebook world there seems to be a decreased interest in anything blog related. Perhaps this blog will roll on - who can say?