Steve Shryock Update

As of today, I've heard he's off his ventilator and is doing much better. Keep praying for him, for his wife Donna Gayle and their son Neil.

Thanks-

update stuff

hey everyone (or the 2.3 people who might read this)-

sorry I've been out of pocket in the blogosphere (that word is weird); things have been rather busy in real life. a good busy, but busy none the less.

first, a quick prayer request: steve shryock, a member of our church, had a number of bypasses done on his heart last week. all went well, but he has not been able to wake from the surgery. his vitals are all great, but he still needs prayer.

second, as usual, JD Walt has some great conversation going on at his blog. He has a conversation posted today from a friend of his from England in which they're discussing a temple-centric model of worship. here's a quote:

There are so many understandings of what was going on in Temple sacrifices, so let’s start with a taking of the best of creation and lifting it up to the Creator as a free offering being a reversal of the sin of the world (where people simply take anything from creation and worship that). Let’s add the
cost question: you give God the most precious thing you own, and when we
say “give”, we mean give completely – kill, give its life. You cannot have
it back. Yet amazingly the sacrifice is usually cause for celebration and
results in restored relationship between God and his people, not in loss
and grief.

To make a sacrifice is an honour and a joy, not a burden; to abuse the
honour is to curse God and defile his people.


if you have the time, go here and give it a read.

third, some music recommendations, if you're interested:

Ben Cantelon's Daylight Breaks Through could be the best worship album i've bought in a while.

Sam Amidon, or Samamidon, has an album called All is Well. very folk/banjo, very sufjan-esque, very pentatonic, very cool.

And get some Nick Drake in your life.
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Now playing: Nick Drake - Fruit Tree
via FoxyTunes

SB give a poetry lesson

Check out this poetry lesson from Strong Bad.

Hope your Memorial Day was memorable...

free gum?

So i came across this petition a few weeks ago: It's a petition to end the career of filmmaker Uwe Boll. He has vowed that if a million people sign this petition, he will never make another film. I've not seen one of his films, due largely to the fact that they look awful, and from reviews I've read, I've underestimated how bad they really are. All three of his american-released films are in the Internet Movie Database "bottom 100 films of all-time"list. The more I read and watch about this guy, the more of a jerk he seems to be, but that's just me.

So the people at Stride Gum have sweetened the pot a little: they've promised that if the petition gets signed by the 14th of May, they will give out 1 million packs of gum, one to each of the signers. With both my love for movies and my love for gum, I've decided to post this to encourage you to sign this petition. You know you want free gum, and you know you hate bad movies. Signing this may get us both free gum AND less bad DVD clutter to sift through.

On another note, LOST is continuing to blow my mind. Anyone who wants to bounce thoughts around about the twists we've seen in the last few weeks or predictions about the finale, bring em on.

Thanks to the people who've commented on the poetry stuff on here...I appreciate the feedback.

And happy mother's day, mom. I love you...

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Now playing: The Weepies - Can't Go Back Now
via FoxyTunes

a bleeding pine

1. covering

Who severed your limbs
I'll never know.

Nubs, like sad vacancy signs,
drip with old habit,
offering sap to branches
that were cut away.

Prosthetics would look forced
like an evergreen toupee:

one of these things
is not like the other,

evoking laughter and pity.

The scars you bear, though,
almost beg for something
to cover them,

to keep the secret
we all know;

to deny sight the truth.





2. the branch eye

I don't remember the cut--
just the echoing thud.

I looked up and saw
my dripping pine life,
sticky and clean and full.

I lie
among the rusted fallen,
the dead pine straw.

All of us
write love letters to
our old evergreen lives,

fighting the knife and gravity
for xylem and phloem,
wondering if we'll ever do anything

but die
and be dead.





3. under standing


You see things upside-down.

I need a tree like Peter's;
let the blood rush to my head
so I'll see things like You do.





4. the forest of no return

Leaky pine tree,
sing me hope
though your open knots:

There is a hand
that cuts and grafts
fallen limbs
with skilled, willing hands.

Planted firmly,
a waiting tree stands,
overflowing with sap,
evergreen life from open wounds,

full of home
and tomorrow.