coda

signs and wonders are always doubted, and perhaps they are meant to be.

in the absence of certainty, faith is more than mere opinion; it is hope.

-mary doria russell, children of God

some of the best theology i've heard lately

from the book "children of God" by mary doria russell

"maybe God is only the most powerful poetic idea we humans are capable of thinking .... maybe God has no reality outside our minds and exists only in the paradox of Perfect Compassion and Perfect Justice.

or maybe ... maybe God is exactly as advertised in the Torah. maybe, along with all its other truths and beauties, judaism preserves for each generation of us the reality of the God of abraham, of isaac, of jacob, of moses -- the God of Jesus.

a cranky, uncanny God. a God with quirky, unfathomable rules, a God who gets fed up with us and pissed off! but quick to forgive ... and generous. always, always in love with humanity. always there, waiting for us -- generation after generation -- to return His passion. on my best days, i believe in Him with all my heart.

and on your worst days?
even if it's only poetry, it's poetry to live by -- poetry to die for. maybe poetry is the only way we can get near the truth of God ...

and when the metaphors fail, we think it's God who's failed us!
now there's an idea that buys some useful theological wiggle room!"

wash over me

talkin' messes up a good sunset
so i shut my mouth
and stared out at the waves and wondered
what a creative day we're having
how the waves made faces
and the tides covered our tracks

oh Lord, can i ask you a question
can you really wash away the me i left behind?

if so, i'll let you wash over me
cause i know you spoke the sun
and i know you sewed the mountaintops
i know you know how this book's ending
and i'll let you wash over me
cause i know you spoke the wind
i know you don't rewrite the past
but can you rewrite my heart
wash over me
wash over me

i must have chased a thousand sunsets
as i rode my songs to glory
just dying to be heard
but now my heart seems to be aging
and i see that being someone
is nothing without you

Lord, can i ask you a question
can you take a broken man and use the song he sings?

if so, i'll let you wash over me
cause i know you spoke the sun
and i know you sewed the mountaintops
and i know you know how this book's ending
and i'll let you wash over me
cause i know you wrote the wind
i know you don't rewrite the past
but can you rewrite my heart
wash over me
wash over me

well life's too short to cry over spilled sunsets
so i'll sit here on the shoreline and watch
as my old self rolls away, rolls away
with the tide

and let you wash over me
cause i know you spoke the sun
and i know you sewed those mountaintops together
i know you know how this book's ending
and i'll let you wash over me
cause i know you wrote the wind
and i know you don't rewrite the past
but can you rewrite my heart
wash over me
wash over me

can you wash over me?

-matt neely

this may be dumb but...

my favorite way to ride in my car is with the a/c on and the window down.

i love the wind in my hair and the coolness of the a/c.

it really is the best of both worlds.

maybe this getting up early thing isn't so bad

who knew that radios played such great songs at 8:30 in the morning?!

seriously, i heard u2's "i still haven't found", billy idol's "white wedding", the eagles' (my favorite band) "take it to the limit". i even got some 90's grunge rock in with "heaven let your light shine down". it was perfect. well, except that they were all on different stations and i only was able to catch the end of most of them. but still, that was some good music for me this morning.

i'm sure that it is not unusual for great music to be played early. it's for the commuters and the people with real jobs where you actually have to be there at a certain time in the morning. same reasoning for radios to play good songs at 5 for the people driving home or about ready to get off work.

and though i am impressed with morning radio, i think it highly unlikely that i will make getting up earlier part of my habit to hear the music. seriously, if i'm having major crisis with songs i'm hearing because i chose to come to work, say, at one in the afternoon, i can just turn on my itunes and pick whatever i want!

here's my heart

--prone
----------- to
----------------wander
-----------------------------Lord
--------------------------------------i
------------------------------------------feel
---------------------------------------------------it
--prone
------------to
-----------------leave
--------------------------the
--------------------------------God
----------------------------------------i
---------------------------------------------love


here's my heart

o take and SEAL it

seal it for Thy courts above